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#to people in person! cuz i sing better live than recorded!
bluiex · 1 year
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I am here to deliver two things. First one is a promise (I think?) and the second one is me combining hermits/empire characters into Six The Musical as I am currently hyperfixated on both.
Alrighty, first order of business. If Scar wins this next round against Doc, his toughest opponent probably, I will either make the completed Contract oneshot I was writing (5k word minimum although it’s gonna be more around 10k prolly) or I write a 5k word minimum oneshot of the Oasis Au. I really need Scar to win ok?
Now onto the Six x Hermit/Empires.
I do want to clarify, that I am, indeed, talking about the musical and not the actual wives, but the way how the musical portrays them. Furthermore, I know there’s kinda two versions on Spotify, the recorded and the live. I’ll be talking similarities to the live unless stated otherwise. Also, I completely understand that these are all gonna be super unpopular opinions but I wanted to share.
Here’s the little list of who I assigned to who first and foremost.
Catherine of Aragon - Tango
Anne Boleyn - Scott
Jane Seymour - Gem
Anne of Cleves - Ren
Katherine Howard - Scar
Catherine Parr - Pearl
Now for me to explain myself
I chose Tango for Aragon mainly due to how she acts throughout the entire musical. She lets her emotions lead her mainly, quick to anger or to resort to violence. Not to mention her way of talking just screams Tango to me. And I’m not saying Tango is quick to anger, but the rage thing y’know. Plus, I could totally see him singing No Way for some reason.
My second choice for her would be Sausage, but I definitely feel like Tango just carried more of her energy.
Scott and Boleyn are honestly so alike it’s not even funny. They both just try having a good time but are so extremely petty. Like Boleyn never letting anyone forget she no longer has a head and Scott would probably hold things over people’s heads. But yeah, so similar personality wise although, I’d argue Scott is a little more patient.
Second choice was Grian cuz he’s short.
Next up we have Gem and Seymour! Seymour’s song is extremely emotional and moving (despite the fact I dislike it until like halfway) and in my opinion, Gem’s someone who expresses their love easily. And she is also strong, her love for people unwavering what ever gets thrown at her, she is just an endless ball of love. I dunno where else I was going with this.
Katherine was my second option, but I felt like she’d have a more kickass version of the song.
(This is embarrassing but I wrote everything else before realizing I forgot Cleves and Ren. Lmao) So, again, I am goung based off the live version of Get Down and just Cleves in general. Her character acts pretty dramatic, like when she was pretending to have a terrible life. And then her song is just really fun and upbeat. And well, obviously Ren is someone who likes being dramatic and doing bits of rp and is also really chipper and overall always seems to be having a good time.
Now you might be thinking Doc would be my second choice since he’s German. However it was Etho. However, I thought Etho fit better with the recorded version rather than the live.
Now you may be wondering how I got Howard and Scar instead of Howard and Grian. And the answer is quite simple, because I want to. Anywho, obviously Scar is extremely attractive so obviously people would wanna hit that. But he can also be pretty oblivious and naive, just like how Howard was growing up and being taken advantage of. And well, ig this kinda goes into DL, but Scar kinda becomes resentful with Grian abusing his kindness by having a secret soulmate just like how Howard becomes resentful of just being used as a plaything.
Grian was my second option cuz of Ariana Griande.
And Lasty, Parr and Pearl. Both of these women are so strong and amazing for what they had to endure. Going into DL again, Pearl deals with her soulmate abandoning her by loving something else and becoming independent while Parr has to give up her life for survival. Both of them are just so strong.
And actually, can’t lie, Grian’s my second option here again too. Why? Well actually, it’s cuz of the need to survive. Grian always feels the need to please others to better his chance of survival through allies just like how Parr had to please the king in order to live.
I know it isn’t the best arguments, and I’m sure y’all could find better people to pair. However, that’s just what I thought of and since I’m a maladaptive daydreamer, I think of this too often I had to share.
Hope you enjoyed! Until next time!
-Cys
Tbh I know nothing of Six the musical- so this is all very intriguing, love how you put the characters with the musical, it makes sense why you picked who for who! and I love the pairings you got going on for it o:
BUT YES KEEP VOTING SCAR
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pendraegon · 9 months
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Love seeing the fob insanity u have going on <3 feels good to see someone else externalizing all the feels bc my god what a fucking show. When I bought the Tix it was basically on impulse cuz I don't listen to them as much anymore but my subconscious clearly knew what it was doing cuz that show converted me again fall out boy forever and ever and ever fr fr
if there is one truth about me is that i'm insane and that i have the personality of a dog with a squeaky chew toy and i will make it everyone's problem (right now being fob insanity tbh askjdfasojfdsoai)
AND LITROLEE LITROLEEEEEEEEEE IT WAS SO. ive talked about the show a lot to a bunch of people already and i know that im just repeating the same words over and over but it really was. spellbinding. speechless. patrick has the voice of a thousand vengeful angels about to smite a city. i went a bit crazy the entire concert and was just jumping around which was soooo fun (shout out to the girls behind me and my sis, our section was kinda dead but we were Out There For Real). arms race was out of this world. heaven iowa was.....patrick sounded UNREAL? BETTER THAN THE RECORDING???....hearing patrick sing the words true blue LIVE!!!!, i dont think i'll ever get over it. the fucking staging, the logo turning into the bright sun with the lights during love from the other side is permanently seared into my brain like holyyyyyyyyyyy shit, the spinning earth over hold me like a grudge....screaming along to chicago is so two years ago in my favorite place in the entire fucking world...literally unreal.
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brodyd0ll · 1 year
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2002 Sink Hole Zine Interview
An Interview with Brody (singer and guitarist) and Ryan (bass) of The Distillers by Kristin Belmonte. All photos also by Kristin Belmonte...
February 14th, 2002 - Valentines Day... Also the day the Distillers started their tour with the Suicide Machines and Sick of It All in New Haven, CT. But for being some mushy day all about flowers n love n shit, it hadn't been going so great for anyone. The Distillers were missing their guitarist, Rose "Casper", everyone looked tired and ...well just kinda haggard, and the day hadn't been going so great for me either. I know the band was supposed to do a sound check and I don't think they did. I wonder why? I walked into Toad’s Place (the club) about 2 hours before showtime, and the band was just kinda sitting around in the middle of the floor, with their equipment all over the place, just talking and what not. One of the other bands was doing their sound check, so it was pretty noisy. Brody was happy to show me her guitar which had just gotten a make-over; she spraypainted it white ("There’s white all over the place outside!"). So me and Brody went over to a corner table and started talking, but didn't even get 10 minutes into the conversation; it had gotten so fucking noisy we couldn't hear each other. So we went down a flight of stairs, and found the band room. "Nah". Down the hall, she found Ryan, the bassist. "Hey Ryan! Wanna do an interview?!" "OK". We settled on the women's bathroom, and since Brody had to take a piss, it was convenient. Ryan was equipped with a bottle of nail polish, and set to work on painting. He was very intent on his nails, I noticed. I think he was painting them maroon....
Sink Hole Kristen-So, you just released a new record last week, do you have an explanation behind the title, “Sing Sing Death House”?
Distiller Brodie-I was watching a documentary on “Sing Sing Death House”, the prison. I really liked the title as a reference for a person. Like in dream books, a house represents yourself, your body. Thats where it came from. Sing Sing Death House is not a catharsis, its just a representation of dealing with shit, like problems. SHK-It came out (the CD) on my birthday, by the way... Brody-Really? Happy Birthday! SHK-Thanks, it was a pretty nice present.
SHK-So what was the scene like, and people in general, back in Australia? Brody-Australia is funny, they’re really good at goofing on themselves...It’s a lot different though, there’s only 18 million people in all of Australia compared to billions in America over the same amount of land. The scene is good, but its small. I used to hang out at this punk club called the Art House. Really, I don’t know how it is-I haven’t been over in a couple of years. SHK-Do you miss it? Brody-Yeah...I miss my family and my old friends. SHK-Which do you like better, Australia or the U.S.? Brody-They’re similar and different. America is one big Colossus. I think I’d find it hard to go back and live in Australia after living and living so much over here.
SHK-Coming to America-did you just up and leave Australia-how did that happen? Brodie-Me and Timothy (Armstrong) had been going out for about a year when I moved to America to be with him. SHK-Thats sweet...but sad cuz it’s Valentines Day Brody-And I’m here and I’m not at home... SHK-Not exactly how you want to spend Valentines Day? Brody-You miss a lot of shit when your away on the road. You miss people’s birthdays, anniversaries, all that shit. SHK-So how are things with you and Tim? Brody-Great, we just had an anniversary. Four years of marriage.
Brody-(while checking out my bag) I love this band (pointing to an Unseen patch). SHK-Yeah, I saw them a couple weeks ago... Brody-They’re pretty great, I was just reading an interview with them.
SHK-So your drummer is from the Nerve Agents, are you sharing him, or whats up with that situation? Brody-Well, the Nerve Agents just broke up (this was breaking news at the time). They broke up less than a month ago and it really sucks cuz they were one of my favorite bands. I’m really still kind of delirious. It’s fucking shame, cuz they were so fucking good. Anyway, when Andy came to the band it was meant to be permanent, but it’s definitely permanent now.
SHK-So who are your other favorite bands? Brody-Well, like I said, I like the Unseen alot. I like the Death Wish Kids, I love Blitz. You know, the standard punk rock lineage-The Exploited, The Ramones. I like Rancid. (of course!) I can’t really think of any new bands I like.
SHK-What did you listen to when you were younger, when you first started getting into everything? Brody-I had just turned 12 in 1991 and Nirvana and Sonic Youth were blowing up and that whole scene was huge. I really liked Fang alot. Do you like Fang? SHK-Never heard of ‘em. Brody-Ahhh...ya gotta listen to Fang...(the sound of drums and guitars suddenly got really fucking loud) Maybe we should find someplace else to talk. Brody-(still) Where were we? Oh, I was telling you about Fang, you’ve gotta hear this band. They influenced so many bands. I swear Kurt (Cobain) listened to Fang, you can really hear it in early Nirvana. They were great, then Sammy (Fang’s lead singer) killed his girlfriend and everybody denied that they listened to them. He was a crazy motherfucker. Yeah, you should get a hold of a Fang record. I think its where all the grunge bands got their ideas from. Ryan-Totally, I think that whole Seattle thing kinda came from them. Brody-Cuz Fang was constantly touring up and down the West Coast all the time.
SHK-So whats your deal (to Ryan), you were working in a record store when they found you? Ryan-I really hate work, but you got to do it, so I always tried to at least work in record stores. It was a record slash comic book slash toy store, so it was fun for a little while. I’m really glad I’m not doing that shit right now-really glad. Brody-I liked that store. They had a really good collection there, good selection. SHK-What was it? (insert commercial here) Ryan-It was called Axis Records and Comics and it was just full of things that you wouldn’t find anywhere else. All kinds of odds-n-ends.
Brody-Are you from here? (New Haven, Connecticut) SHK-Yeah Brody-Whats the scene like? SHK-There’s a good amount of people depending on where you look... Brody-We got here last night and we were trying to find someplace open, like a magazine store or anything, and they were all closed. We had to drive to New Yawk... Ryan-The one thing I’ve noticed is all the buildings turn out to be college buildings. I see something that looks like a church, nope its a library. SHK-Its all Yale. All the dorky college Yaley’s walking around....
SHK-The song “Desperate” is about heroine addiction-is that about you, or someone you know? Brody-It was just in general. It affects a lot of people. A whole lot of people in the punk rock scene especially. That shit is fucked up and evil. It’s the devil, its not cool at all, don’t do it. Yeah, that’s what I say-Don’t do it!
SHK-Sourpuss...Tell me about that whole experience. Brody-(under her breath) god, I hated that band... SHK-Oh, you hated the band, okay. Brody-(playing air guitar) No, I didn’t hate it, it was just my first band. It started when I was 14. It only lasted 2 years. It was a girl band, punk rock girl band. You know a bunch of 14 year olds trying to play really fast and we didn’t really know how to. (the air guitar playing gets REALLY fast) We all learned together, so it was cool, but it was really just a fucking mess. SHK-How old were you when you first listened to punk? Brody-I was 13. My first band (that I heard) was Discharge. That’s really my favorite punk band, still. Fucking Discharge. Ryan-Me? About the same, 12 or 13. There was this guy who worked in the guitar store I worked at who got me into the Germs and The Bad Brains. I was a little skate rat when I was younger, so I was into that whole obnoxious Red Hot Chili Peppers shit, I guess that was what got me into it. SHK-Around here most kids start out with metal and graduate into punk. Ryan-I’m the opposite, I love metal!
SHK-So are you involved at all in Hell Cat? Brody-Me and Timothy sometimes go check out bands together. Kids send me their tapes all the time...
SHK-How long did you last in catholic school? Brody-3 years. I went to the first one, got kicked out, then the 2nd one lasted until about 3 years. I dropped out of school in the 9th grade. I hated school. It fucking sucked. I think everyone hates it. Is there anyone who likes school? I can’t function properly sitting in the same fucking position for a fucking hour. SHK-I used to go to catholic school for a while and it really sucked. Brody-Were you baptized? SHK-Yeah. Brody-Not me. I wasn’t baptized and that got me in trouble. I got in fucking trouble for drinking jesus’ blood and eating his flesh. “Your not a child of god” they’d say. Fuck you! I just want to get drunk off this shit. Man, they’re the same way. Catholics are drunks! Its kind of hypocritical in a way. They’re all pedaphiles, too.
SHK-Do you ever get pissed off about all the comparisons to Rancid? Brody-No! They’re a great fucking band and they’re my best fucking friends, why would that be bad? SHK-In everything you read in magazines and shit, people are ALWAYS comparing or linking you to Rancid... Brody-Thats naturally gonna happen cuz I’m his (Tim’s) wife, but I think thats really just lazy journalism. People are quick to jump on that without even trying to get deeper. What are ya gonna do?
SHK-Where did you get the idea for the song “Gypsy Rose Lee”? Brody-From Gypsy Rose Lee...It’s really about the women who brought me up when I was younger. There was this game we would play when I was real little and I’d be Marilyn Monroe and my friend would be Gypsy Rose Lee. She’d be dancing around with a cape and no underwear on-she was 5...
SHK-A lot of your songs talk about fucked up family life and... Brody-Everyone in this band comes from a dysfunctional family. A lot of people you meet in punk rock come from a dysfunctional family. SHK-Thats why we connect to the music. Brody-Things are a lot better now for my Mother and me. I think that with girls and their mothers you reach a certain age and there’s this undeniable tension. Your trying to leave the nest, she wants you stay...I think for me, I had to realize that my Mom was her own person. It was really weird-I mean when you finnally realize that your mother is her own human being with real feelings. When you realize that even though she’s your mother, she’s a woman with her own identity. It’s a weird thing to go through, but once you do, you’ll be a lot more respectful. I had to become friends with my Mom before we could go back to that mother/daughter relationship. I’m sure it’s like that with Dad’s and their son’s, too.
Ryan-With my Dad, I knew he was his own person, so that didn’t matter. With us, the problem was him relizing that I wasn’t going to be exactly what he wanted to be. My Mom and I get along great. With my Dad, it’s a little weird, but that’s just because he’s highschool football coach guy.
Sink Hole Kristen’s Friend(sorry, don’t know your name-editor)-What do you do for fun when your not on the road? Brody-I like bookstores a lot. I hang out with my friends. I’m kind of a homebody. We have 2 little kittens. I’ll cook dinner, chill out, watch movies, write... SHKF-What is your favorite movie? Brody-Godfather. SHKF-My favorite’s Scarface! Brody-Yeah!!! Scarface is good, I like Goodfellas, too. Mob movies fucking rule! Your (talking to Ryan) the only one who hasn’t seen Godfather! I can’t believe that. Ryan-Neither has Andy or Tony (guitar tech). Brody-That’s unbelievable. It’s one of the most famous movies in cinema history. Ya gotta see it dude. I don’t like the 3rd one, though-it sucked. The 1st and 2nd were awesome. SHK-Are you not big on mafia movies? Ryan-No, I love mafia movies! Goodfellas and Scarface are 2 of my favorite movies ever. Brody-Yeah, aside from the Godfather movies, there’s this French movie called Betty Blue (sp.?) that I like a lot. It’s the story about a relationship between this crazy fucking girl and her boyfriend and they live in this shack on the beach. It’s a funny movie-it’s all in subtitles, but it’s great. You HAVE to see it. That chick is so fucking beautiful! She’s the reason I dyed my hair black. She’s a crack-head now, but back then...She was fucking gor-geous! She had this gap in her teeth and (motions with her hands to show big tits)
SHK-Well, I know you have to go, but I have to end this interview with you describing yourselves in 5 words. Ryan-We are the Distillers. Brody-That’s 4 words dummy. She said words, not syllables. (mumbling) We’re fuckin’ pist as shit. Ryan-How about “hey we’re the Distillers”? (editor’s note-that’s still just 4)
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totaldramafan-lauri · 2 years
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Eurovision 2022 Opinions, Predictions, and Rankings
Here it is, with a couple days to spare!
It was hard to motivate me to start it, but once I got going, I started getting hyped again. This is suuuuuuch a weird collection of songs, and I can’t wait to see which ones stick the most! So many songs that can be described as....“unique”, combined with Maneskin’s influence causing an influx of both native-language songs AND rock songs, just.....it’s so interesting! And of course, as per usual, I like the vast majority. There are only two songs in the “indifferent” category this year, and one of them is....complicated. And no songs I don’t like listening to!
Obligatory warning: I’m not a music critic. I just like talking about Eurovision. Also, my opinions are a bit weird. I have quite a few underdog favorites, and I also disagree with some (not all) of the most popular picks. If you’re gonna read all this, keep that in mind. If you disagree with me, it’s not a big deal.
And also, I have no idea how any of these will be staged, cuz I like going in blind on that.
With that all said, on to the weirdness!
(In alphabetical order by country)
Song: Sekret Country: Albania Thoughts: First off, we have....one of the weirdest songs to talk about...And there are a lot of weird songs this year, so that's saying something. XD This is a song I wish I liked more than I did. But instead, I have similar thoughts to it that I did about "El Diablo", last year (until the contest) - Absolutely awesome chorus, but I'm not crazy about the rest of the song. That's about it! This song is....really disjointed, but the chorus saves it for me. There just...isn't enough actual singing for me. Now, will this song grow on me majorly after the live performance, like "El Diablo"? We'll see. For now, I'll at least say that I like the verses of this one a BIT more than the verses on that, so there's a chance. Prediction: Even though this is the song that's gonna open the show, I actually think it’ll qualify. Albania have had pretty good success qualifying in recent years, and with the exception of "Mall", this is probably their most...stand-out entry in a while. I say stand-out and not BEST, but yeah, this is getting them more buzz than they usually do. So, I'm gonna say that this will not be the song to break their streak. It's not a front-runner, though. In the final, it'll probably do....maybe a BIT better than they've been doing? But probably not top ten.
Song: Snap Country: Armenia Thoughts: While not one of my favorites, I'm not gonna dance around this: This song has some of the best lyrics of the year. Hands. Down. SO many good lyrics that I could list. "I'm writing a song, said this is the last one / How many last songs are left? I'm losing count" "My heart's been on fire / I've been spending my nights in the rain trying to pour it out" and of course "And if one more person says 'you should get over it' / Oh I might stop talking to people before I snap". This song shows just how HARD it is to let go of past feelings, even when you're trying your best. Getting over it is NOT easy, and yeah, I respect the heck outta this song and its message. Musically, it's pretty good too. Despite the singer not having a good time, it's not mopey and slow. It's got a pretty good clap-along beat to it. This is one of the songs that I don't think about very much, but when it comes on, I wish I liked it more. Prediction: Hmmmm, this one's tricky. It's gonna close the first semifinal, and I wouldn't say this is a good closing song. I don't think it'll leave a big enough impression after everyone else has performed before it. Not to mention, it comes right after flipping Norway! How many people are gonna be thinking about this downbeat song that requires you to pay attention to the lyrics, after THAT musical masterpiece? XD But, honestly, looking at the list...Yeah, I can still see this qualifying. Armenia have a pretty good track record, and the song is still getting plenty of attention before the contest. I think it'll make it. As for the final, um....Maybe it'll place around the middle (somewhere 15-20 maybe?) cuz I can't see it flopping.
Song: Not The Same Country: Australia Thoughts: This one's....hard to talk about....cuz it's GOOD. I haven't heard a Eurovision entry that stuns me speechless like this since "1944". It's not one of my favorites, but I still like and respect it so flipping much for hitting me so hard where it hurts. It's not just that the emotion comes across super well, it's that....I relate. I've been there. I've been that kid who was pushed to try to make friends, only to be made fun of, cuz my mind works differently. "You're not the same as the other kids playing the same games"....I've been that kid who never fit in quite right, cuz I never knew how to stop talking about my special interests. "They never liked the things that I would like", but I still tried, until I was old enough to understand what was "wrong" with me. This song hits so hard cuz it's REAL. The struggle is REAL, and it continues to be for those like me, who are "not the same". On top of that, this has one of the best voices of the year. This man can BELT, and it sells the emotion just...so perfectly! The reason why I can't call this a favorite is (not only are there other songs I love more) cuz...this is the kinda song that I don't always wanna listen to. I'm not sure how much I like it as a Eurovision entry because of that. But as just a song, I'm really glad it exists. I'm glad there's a song about this kinda thing. I hope more people try to understand people like me cuz of it. Prediction: And I'm really happy this song's getting attention. Even though it's a very heavy song, I do want it in the final. It deserves to be heard...so yeah, it's gonna qualify and finish on the left side of the board. The music video is a live performance, so we already know he's gonna sound amazing live. Nothing more to say.
Song: Halo Country: Austria Thoughts: This is my second-favorite song of the year, only being beaten by a certain very high bar that I'll get to later.....Point is, second place is great when first place is so hard to reach. XD I flipping love this song! But the thing is, I don't really have much to even say about it - it's just a really catchy, solid pop song with interesting lyrics, and that's about it! It's not really complex, but it doesn't need to be. It's the best possible "turn your brain off and enjoy" song this year. Part of me feels kinda bad that this year has so much diversity in music and yet here I am gushing over the regular pop song....but then it comes on again and I realize I can't help it. Prediction: I am...SOOOO bummed about this song's low placement in the betting odds...The music video has one of the highest view counts, so naively, I assumed that meant it was popular....But guess I was wrong! Now, looking at the songs in the first semifinal, I'm worried about it. I'm gonna still predict it'll qualify, cuz I'm gonna be optimistic. This song better have cool staging to go with the theming, and maybe that'll make it stand out more. But as it is....uh, yeah, I might be proven wrong, but I don't think it has NO chance. Of my two favorites in the first semifinal, I have more hope for this one. If it does make it to the final, it's gonna be nowhere near the top of the board, though.
Song: Fade To Black Country: Azerbaijan Thoughts: One of the slowest songs, but that doesn't mean it's bad! It's pretty good! Just...not really a stand-out song compared to everything else going on this year. XD The ballads tend to be the weakest songs to me this time, which doesn't always happen, but this year is just that weird that I'm not really in a mood to hear a standard ballad like this, pfffff. But I do enjoy this song when it comes on. I like the lyrics. And I really like how much it builds. I like ballads that build. And the buildup fits, with the theme of the song being "Please stay, I can fix this, I swear". When the song starts sounding more frantic, it makes you feel like he's running out of time...until it slows down again. So, good song, but far from a favorite. Prediction: I don't even need to check the betting odds to predict that this will most likely qualify just by way of being Azerbaijan. Of course, with it being in such a packed semi for me, I kinda wish it wouldn't, since it's actually one of my more least-favorites of that group...But yeah, it's probably safe. It's not AS guaranteed as Azerbaijan's past entries have been, however, to the point where if it does fail, I would actually understand. If it does make it to the final, it won't be doing so well if flipping "Mata Hari" ended up THAT underrated...
Song: Miss You Country: Belgium Thoughts: This is one of many growers this year! This song has spent a surprising amount of time in my head this week, which, when competing with stuff like the songs from Austria, Ukraine, and Georgia, that's quite the achievement! Granted, I don't LOVE this song, but I do like it a fair amount. I like the bait-and-switch of the title making you THINK it's gonna be a sad breakup song, but instead getting "Am I gonna miss you? NO!" with this cool R&B vibe that, again, is unlike anything else this year. I like how this song captures the desperation of trying to escape the pain, by going through a good dose of good ol' denial until you believe it. All the repeated "I'm not gonna miss you"s really give off that impression, while the verses are like "Yeah, I'm still trying to get over it". Armenia's entry, which is also about trying to move on, is a lot sadder. This song is more about being frustrated, and it hits all the notes it needs to. Not one of my favorites, but a pretty solid entry from Belgium. Prediction: Now, as much as I do like this song, I kinda....don't want it to qualify, cuz I have SO many favorites in the second semifinal that I don't want it to push out. XD But, in all honestly, yeah this is probably gonna qualify. It won't be a big favorite, but it has enough support to get through and then do decently in the final. I overall think Belgium will do better than they did last year.
Song: Intention Country: Bulgaria Thoughts: One of the best things about this wacky year is how it has more rock songs than the average Eurovision does, and good rock songs at that! Whether this is coincidental, or actually influenced by last year's winner, I dunno, but I'm not gonna complain...if it gets us stuff like this! Oh my god, this song is sooooooo good! It's not the BEST rock song this year in my opinion, but uh...that's a REALLY high bar to reach, and we'll get there....but this is still a top three song for me. It's my BIG underrated favorite this year. I have a few of those, but this is my favorite of them. Normally, I would understand why it's underrated, cuz it's a rock song and "rock songs don't usually do well in Eurovision"...but after last year, there's no excuse anymore. Bulgaria's last few entries have been successful, so why not this one? This song is GREAT, and I don't understand why it's being overlooked. It doesn't have as much of a "punch" as my number one does...and I wouldn't really call it "catchy"....but the beat is still good, the riffs are awesome, and I really love the lyrics. "The more freedom I gain, the less real life I'm recalling" is one of my favorite single lyrics of the year, and the rest is great, too. So yeah, a big thumbs up for Bulgaria! I wish I could love you enough to make up for all those ignoring you! Prediction: I know it's probably too late for this, but in my head, I'm still thinking this could turn around. I keep trying to be optimistic and being like "They could still gain momentum! They could still do it! The semi they're in is the weaker one, and it's the only rock song in it, so!" Like....no, brain, please don't get my hopes up. I wouldn't say it's completely doomed, and I'm still gonna root for it HARD (since it and Austria are the only two of my top seven in that semi), but...yeah, I....I don't think it has that much of a chance. If it does qualify, I will be flipping ECSTATIC, though!
Song: Guilty Pleasure Country: Croatia Thoughts: My least-favorite song of the year, but that doesn't mean I dislike it...or, rather, that doesn't mean I dislike all of it. I'm usually all for songs about forbidden love, which is what I thought I was getting the first time I heard it....and, well, uh...it is about forbidden love! Can't say it isn't about that! But, there's just....one big problem that I can't get past....She's married. She's married and she's daydreaming about this other guy and it's all just- no! No! There's no angst, there's no hints of the husband being a bad person, none of that! For all we know, the husband could be a nice guy, but she just- she wants to cheat on him, just cuz there's this other guy she likes more! I know that you can't control who you fall for, but....lady, try to hold yourself back! At least show some hints that this is a big no-no! I'm not gonna act like I haven't liked songs about cheating before, but not ones involving one of the parties being married! I would be on-board with this song if it weren't for these lyrics right here: "I'm with him until the death due us part / But he doesn't do for this hungry heart". I HATE that part so flipping much. "Teehee, I'm married, but he's not good enough for me!" Combined with the happy tone of the song, and ugh...Don't get me wrong, this isn't a bad song. Her voice is pretty, and the lyrics are technically well-written and clever. This song is overall in such an awkward place with me. It's so close to being a like, cuz it sounds so nice! But it's also so close to being my first dislike in years, cuz of that one part I hate! So, I decided to split the difference and put it in "indifferent". Probably not too fitting, since it does get a reaction out of me, but there's nowhere else to put it, so blegh. Prediction: I obviously don't want this in the final, but I dunno, part of me thinks it has a chance. I'm predicting it won't qualify though, cuz it's pretty low in the betting odds, pretty overlooked compared to competition in its semifinal, and also I'm being unabashedly biased against it. Keep the happy cheating song outta the final. XP
Song: Ela Country: Cyprus Thoughts: The newest entry in one of my favorite genres - the "I'm so in love with you that I can't think straight" genre! Yeah, I'm very biased towards this kinda thing, especially recently, when I've been listening to a lot of songs about that...for, uh, r-reasons...So, of course I'm gonna like this. There are songs I like more, though. This is only a borderline favorite...but that's still above most of the songs this year. It's not ALL bias, though...? I mean, it's got a pretty nice beat! And...it's got nice lyrics! Like, "Melodies, ringing through my head when you lay eyes on me"...*cough* Y-yeah, oops, sorry, I can't help it....D-dang it Cyprus, you did it again....A-and it's not the ONLY bias song this year, either... Prediction: I have a lot of favorites in the second semifinal (including my number one favorite), and most of them are underrated songs, so I'm gonna be soooooo stressed worrying about them that I won't mind TOO much if Cyprus don't make it...? As long as the songs I like more do? But I still really like this song...and honestly, I do think it'll qualify. I can't think of a reason it won't. It's doing decently well in the betting odds, it's getting attention, yeah I think it's safe. In the final, it probably will do about as well as Cyprus usually do - as in, around the middle of the board.
Song: Lights Off Country: Czech Republic Thoughts: When it comes to growers, there are two types for me: the "indifferent ---> like" type, and the "like ---> really like/love" type. There's a clear winner of the former category that we'll get to later, but this song right here is probably the winner of the latter. When I first heard it, I thought it sounded good, but didn't think much of it. This was probably cuz it was one of the victims of me listening to so many songs back to back, causing a few to blend together after a while. It only took a couple relistens for me to realize just how good this song is. It's still not a huge stand-out song, but it's very solid, and I enjoy listening to it even if it doesn't cross my mind that often. I really like synth music (although in that camp, France is doing that so much better...although Ireland would probably be a more fair comparison here, and yeah, I do think I like this a bit more than theirs). I do find myself forgetting the verses a bit more than I'd like to, but I will never forget the chorus. All the repeated "Where are you now"s really make this song sound a bit....desperate, but I like that kinda mood when it's done right. So, yeah, good song. Like it a lot. Prediction: Performing last, in such a strong semi, could mean bad news for the Czech Republic. But, for some reason, I don't think they're completely doomed? I think it’s possible for them to pull off a qualification...I counted all the shoo-ins right now, and counted eight songs, so there's definitely room for them! I wouldn't mind it, either! Would I prefer one of my three underrated faves make it instead? Of course. But pffff, like that's gonna happen. So, I actually predict that this will qualify. Why not, right? It seems decently popular! It's nowhere near big enough to be a top ten song, but I don't think it'll flop, either.
Song: The Show Country: Denmark Thoughts: This is a good song, but I'd like it a lot more if it didn't take soooo long to get going! I normally love a good buildup, but I dunno, this one feels like it takes too long. And I have no idea why it feels like that to me! I liked "Goodbye" back in 2018, which was another rock song that disguised itself as a ballad for...maybe even longer, so why does this one feel so slow? I couldn't tell you, and I wanna try to be fair to it. I think that my problem is that the slow beginning of this song did a lot less to grab me than the one in "Goodbye" did, but once it bursts, it sounds really good, so that's why I wish more of the song was like that. Cuz yeah, once it gets going, this is a fun, energetic rock song! Overshadowed by other energetic rock songs this year? Yeah, of course, but I still enjoy this one! I would say, however, that this is probably one of the most forgettable songs of the year, and I REALLY hate saying that about a Danish entry, since those are usually so good....but that's how it is for me. When I was trying to list off the songs in the first semifinal, this is the one I had the hardest time remembering. I wish that wasn't the case, cuz when it comes on, I enjoy most of it! So, it may struggle to stand out, but it's good for what it is. Prediction: Hmmm...I don't think this will qualify, honestly. Like I said, it's gonna have a hard time standing out, unless I guess it's performed really well. I consider the first semi to be the weaker one, so maybe it'll have a chance to steal a slot from someone? But I'm not really optimistic. If it does pull it off, then I won't be hurting or anything (unless it's Austria or Bulgaria they push out), cuz hey, it's not a bad song, and it means more rock in the final, but yeah, gonna say no.
Song: Hope Country: Estonia Thoughts: HEEEEEEEEEEY, sing your heart out, boy~! For all the people great and smaaaaall~! God, this is such a fun song to belt. Yeah, this is one of my favorite songs of the year, as well as what I consider to be the best country song ever entered in Eurovision....yeah, them's fighting words, I know. XD But geez, this is a good one! It's not the type of country I'd hear on the radio, but it still captures the wild west perfectly. But the genre isn't why I love it. My favorite thing about this song is how flipping triumphant it is! From the lyrics, to the music, this is a song that just....puts you in the mood to go accomplish great things. It's the feeling of "Heck YEAH, we're not gonna stand by and let ourselves get pushed around anymore! Rise up!" Sure, this is a song that didn't NEED the country edge, since it's not really about...being country, but that's fine, cuz that means it doesn't fall into any country music tropes (which, trust me, is a good thing). It's just an awesome song that sounds awesome, about being awesome. "When all else is lost, the future still remains our own!" C'mon, how can you NOT get into that? Never lose hope! Prediction: Luckily for me, this is one of two favorites of mine (the other one being right below) that I don't feel I need to worry about in the second semi! Woo! I'm happy this song's getting attention, cuz, when I first heard it, I expected it to be divisive! Turns out, people get just as into it as I do, and that's awesome. Cuz I already got three songs to stress over, so I don't need a fourth. XD In the final, this song will....probably not finish in the top ten? But I'm gonna be a bit more specific than usual and say top fifteen. Just cuz why not.
Song: Jezebel Country: Finland Thoughts: Last year, when the awesome "Dark Side" got Finland their best result in 15 years, I said this: "Finland should just keep sending rock songs". And that wasn't a joke! I completely meant what I said! Finland are clearly VERY good at rock songs, so it makes sense! I know that their rock songs don't always do super well (I haven't forgotten "Leave Me Alone"), but they still got their best results by trying it! And, lo and behold, they ACTUALLY DID IT! I was so surprised when it hit me that I called it! That was enough for me to be on board with this song, but yeah, there was no way it was gonna top "Dark Side". It'll probably take them years to send another song that go- NOPE! THIS IS MY NUMBER ONE, BOYYYYYYYS! And it wasn't even a competition! Usually, it takes some careful consideration for me to pick my favorite song of the year, after a close race between two or three songs, right? I picked this one out as my favorite after only three days. My love for it was that immediate. And then, this went on to be the only song of the bunch that I went out of my way to listen to on repeat. More than once. It's the only one I couldn't wait for on shuffle. Already, this song has etched a permanent place in my head, and I could not be happier! So, why do I love it so much? After all, the lyrics aren't anything too special or relatable. It's just a song about a dangerous woman. They are good lyrics, though. Fun fact: this song contains my favorite single lyric in all of Eurovision 2022 - "Your final kiss is to leave a scar on a heart". But the lyrics still aren't the best part here. Music-wise? This is my absolute favorite type of rock...The FUN kind of rock. Catchy and energetic, with a good-as-heck beat rather than just focusing on being heavy (I loved "Zitti E Buoni" for this too). EVERY little riff in this song is addictive. The one that starts the song, and returns frequently? An earworm. The one before the second verse? Perfect. THAT DANG BRIDGE!? BEST part of an already amazing song! I can't praise this song enough, it's just....soooo much fun to listen to! It's fun AND it pumps me up! This is a song I can just loop whenever I want a motivator to get stuff done. I can't NOT get energized when it comes on. Finland are officially the new Sweden for me, after four straight years of being in my top three. Can't wait to get hyped for their entries in future years!! Now, before I finish here, I will say this, all biases aside: Even though this was an immediate number one for me, I don't know if I'd consider this song better than "Dark Side", at least by a lot. The difference here is that "Dark Side" had really rough competition from other songs I loved just as much, while this song didn't. They're both really good songs that I'd say I love about the same, even if one was a number one and the other was a number two. Last year was just a REALLY strong Eurovision, so their ranks aren't really comparable. Moving on! Prediction: The best part? Even though they're opening the second semifinal (and I do think this is gonna be a really good opener!), I don't have to worry about the possibility of them not qualifying! Sure, they're not one of the fan-favorites, but they're just popular enough that I think they're gonna be a shoo-in regardless. Still, Finland have been underrated so many times, that I probably will still get anxious come the qualifier announcement...If they don't qualify, there is no justice. It will be some of the biggest loads of BS since Estonia 2017 and Iceland 2016. But that won't happen. I have faith in Finland. And I have faith in Europe for remembering that rock and roll never dies! Oh, and in the final, they won't do as well as last year, but will still do well for their standards. I accept that not everyone is as obsessed with this song as I am. XD
Song: Fulenn Country: France Thoughts: France at it again with yet another fan-favorite song! So, last year, I couldn't even remotely see the appeal of their song, finding (most of) it boring.....That is NOT TRUE this year. HOOOOOOLY CRAP THIS SONG IS COOL. This is my number eight, meaning it juuuuust BARELY missed my favorite section, but honestly...if I wanted, I would extend my favorites to a top eight just for this song. It DESERVES it. That flipping beat. Oh my god. It's the kinda song I can just...lose myself in, without paying attention to the lyrics. I do really like how it's in this really obscure language, but I barely notice while listening, oops...I just get way too absorbed in those addictive synths! Which, yeah, I'm a sucker for synths, and this is giving "SHUM" a run for its money, at least to me! I've seen this described as a "Celtic rave", and yeah, there's no other way to put it. I've never been to a rave, let alone a....Celtic one, pffff....but this song makes me kinda wanna try one. I can't dance, but when it comes on, my stimming almost becomes dancing. I adore this song. Part of me feels bad that I couldn't break it into my top seven, especially when I look at what my seventh place song is, I should like this one more than that one...but I just can't switch them due to personal attachment to my number seven. It's VERY close, though. I'm looking forward to rooting for this in the final, so go France!! Prediction: There's no justice in this world if this doesn't make it into the top ten, and as its popularity shows, that's what's gonna happen unless something stupid happens. So...top ten finish, moving on!
Song: Lock Me In Country: Georgia Thoughts: CIRCUS! MIRCUS! This song is one of the most unkillable earworms of the year. In terms of just catchiness and nothing else, this is definitely up there. Probably in the top five. But in terms of being a good song, not so much. I can't overlook just how unbearably catchy every single part of it is, but I can't think of anything else to say about it. It's short for Eurovision standards, making me wonder if they'll keep in that way live, or if they'll lengthen it a bit. But I don't mind it being shorter, cuz that means it doesn't overstay its welcome. I think this is the kind of catchy that can grate on you after a while, and it's just so....repetitive! And it's clearly trying to be weird too, and it kinda pulls that off, but there are other songs doing a more fun kind of weird than this is. This is just...It's catchy! That's its one trick! Moving on! (One thing I just noticed: I like how the music video was posted on April Fool's Day) Prediction: Georgia have had really crummy luck lately. They haven't qualified since 2016, and their entries are always really overlooked. So, I don't blame them for going silly this year. XD I don't think this'll qualify, though. It's stuck in a really strong semifinal, so it has no chance.
Song: Rockstars Country: Germany Thoughts: This song....exists, I guess. It's there, and it's not bad. But it's probably the most painfully average song of the year, and...yeah, I find it boring, sorry. When I first heard it, I thought it could possibly be a grower, but that never happened. It just gets so overlooked in such a fun year. I don't hate it, though. Far from it. It actually comes pretty dang close to being a low like, cuz I do like the subject, and there are a few lyrics I relate to ("I wish that I could just go back and be the way I was / I wish I'd still not give a damn about how I come across / I wish the way I saw myself had never gotten lost / in all the worries, all the thoughts, overthinking all the parts /So exhausted, always caught up inside my doubts and flaws") and yeah, there is emotion here. It does feel genuine. Sometimes I do wish I could press pause and restart....but, I don't think the lyrics are good enough to make me like the whole song, when it's so boring music-wise. I think that part of the reason I find it so boring is that, of all the songs this year, this is the one that sounds the most like something you'd hear on the radio here in America. That's not a good thing. It means that it doesn't sound new or fresh to me. It sounds like the type of music I avoid. And even among the other entries, in terms of songs I relate to personally, I like the Australian entry so so much more. That one has amazing vocals, and is about a more specific thing that not as many songs are about. This one...well, in terms of songs about nostalgia, I've heard better. Even in Eurovision. "Rock 'n Roll Kids" is still great. Prediction: I like how, after getting nul from the televote with their joke song last year, Germany are going in the complete opposite direction. XD Unfortunately for them, I....don't think it's gonna go over that much better. I mean, it's not hard to do better than last year, so yeah, it probably will accomplish that, at least. It'll still be toward the bottom, though.
Song: Die Together Country: Greece Thoughts: When I first heard this song, I was worried for a bit. But thankfully, it JUST manages to avoid the "too much of a downer for Eurovision" label, which I so far have only given to a select few songs over the years and hope to keep that way....There are only a FEW depressing lyrics in here, otherwise I like this song. I've always liked "staying optimistic in bad situations" songs, and while this one comes close to being too much, it avoids it by the end by just....BURSTING. That's my favorite thing here - just how BIG the chorus is. How it jumps out at you after the quiet verses. Overall, this song sounds almost like you're ascending, it's that grand. The fact that it's all cuz of just...being happy being with the one you love is really heartwarming, too. I like this song a lot, and the only reason I can't rank it higher is just cuz of competition. I totally get why it's popular. Prediction: Easy qualifier. As for the final....probably a pick for the top ten? The betters really like it, and I can't think of a reason I'd disagree with them right now. I can see this going over well. As a huge "Last Dance" fan, I'm kinda dreading how big the chances are of this doing better than it, pfffff.
Song: Með Hækkandi Sól Country: Iceland Thoughts: Iceland sending another song in Icelandic! And this won't be the last instance of a rare language this year, which....I approve. Loving the diversity. But anyway, this is a very soft, atmospheric song. I really like the mood it sets...it sounds kinda....dreamlike, in a way, if that makes sense? It's relaxing, but not boring. The vocals are really nice, too. Anyone who remembers my favorite song I praised to death in 2017 will know how much of a sucker I am for good harmonies, and this song has that in spades. Not one of my favorites, but it still stands out a lot to me. It's one of the ones my mind jumps to when I think of "like, but don't love" entries this year. I know I'm in the minority here, but eh, not the most egregious case of that. I really like this song and I'm not sorry. Prediction: The odds don't appear to be in Iceland's favor...but I wouldn't completely rule them out, either. I wouldn't be that surprised if they qualify, since there aren't THAT many killers in the first semi (there's...Ukraine, Norway, Greece, the Netherlands, and that's about it). But yeah, I'm gonna predict they won't qualify. I don't think they're gonna stand out enough, and the people who like this kinda music are gonna gravitate to Portugal instead (even though I personally like this song better, that's just me, and I don't have a say here). Will be more than happy to be surprised, though! Maybe Denmark's vote will help them. XD
Song: That's Rich Country: Ireland Thoughts: Yeah, at this point, Ireland should just try to have fun in Eurovision rather than send serious stuff. It's pretty clear that luck hasn't been on their side for years. XD And yeah, this song is a lot of fun! I really like the sheer amount of SASS here! SO many absolutely golden lines - "Take the mirror of your wall / Ain't you getting tired of your reflection?" "I think it's funny how you miss me when you never knew me / You were a lazy lover, I moved on to ones that move me" "You see me, NOW you want me?" That last one's my favorite cuz of the way she says it. XD It's been a while since I've heard a song that screams "DONE" as much as this does, and I love it for that. Not one of my favorites, but purely cuz there are plenty of other songs I like more. This is still one I'd really like to see get more attention than it does. Prediction: I do think this has a better chance of qualifying than the last few Irish entries have had. It's a really fun song. But, in the semifinal it was stuck in? Yyyyyeah, they got unlucky again. I can't see this standing out too well among such strong competition, unless, like, the staging is super good. I don't think they're gonna qualify, but hey, like I said, at least they're having fun! Ireland still have to wait for their year, cuz this is not it.
Song: I.M Country: Israel Thoughts: Hoo boy, this one....where to even start? Ummm....this may not be one of my favorites, but I have a lot of, uh....feelings....about it nonetheless, and....I-I have no idea how to explain without coming off as super weird to the Eurovision fans who don't partake in the same kinda...f-fandoms I do...So, I'll just say it bluntly: I'm currently really really really....i-into this one character right now, and this song's lyrics remind me of him. He's this....r-really smug, confident, charismatic villain who is an expert at reading people and getting them to do what he says....in multiple ways...S-so, the "You can say that I'm stunning, it's not a shame, cuz I know I am" part immediately made my stupid simp brain go there and I HATE it...Not to mention, his goal is to overthrow a king (role-wise, he's a lot like Jafar from Aladdin but more f-flirty, that's a pretty good comparison), so "I'm gonna take the crown, give it to me now"? I took that literally and hhhhhhhhh-! Again, I HATE this, cuz music-wise, it doesn't fit him. He would never sing this kinda thing! But I'm SO flipping biased that I can't separate it, and it sucks! When you get down to it, this is just another boy band "I'm awesome" song! Sure, I grew up with those, so I think I might've still liked it even without the bias, but the bias still helped it move up quite a few spots, ugh...It's a fun song, but I can't listen to it fairly, and I apologize... Prediction: M-moving on...I....I honestly have no idea how this song will do? It's being performed second, which is usually a death sentence (not to mention following Finland), and the betting odds are placing it low, so part of me wants to say it doesn't have much chance...but it's also from Israel! When was the last time they failed to qualify? Eight years ago (stillthinktheywereabitrobbedin2014BTW)? I do think they're a country that can easily rise above bad luck of the draw like that, so really, this could go either way. I think the staging will make or break this song. It's a fun song, but this semi is FULL of fun songs, so it needs to stand out, so early in the show, or it'll fail. But for my current prediction.....biases aside, ahem....my gut is saying they'll manage to qualify. We’ll see if I'm right.
Song: Brividi Country: Italy Thoughts: So, this is yet another big fan-favorite song from Italy. Big surprise. XD And it includes Mahmood, who did their runner-up "Soldi" in 2019, as extra pandering! Would you believe me if I said this song disappointed me on first listen? Cuz....yeah, it did...As my first impressions posts said, this song started out as my least-favorite of the bunch. After listening to so much high-energy stuff, this song just bored me, and I predicted that it'd end up pretty forgettable. And I did hold on to that opinion for a few days...but not anymore. ALL IT TOOK was me finally reading the translated lyrics, and yeah, I'm sold on it now. "Sometimes, I don't know how to express myself. I'd like to love you, but I'm always wrong". "I try to stay close to you, but I'm sorry if I mess it up". Not the best lyrics of the year (it doesn't beat Armenia and Australia in that category) but the emotion comes across very well. Both the love, and the desperation to keep that love when everything's going wrong...What is it with me and finding songs about unhealthy relationships interesting, pffff....I still don't love this song, cuz it's just a piano ballad that doesn't really build at all. It's not a song I wanna listen to all the time. And I don't really see it as a potential winner. But I respect the heck out of it now, in the same way as "Growing Up Is Getting Old" last year. Sometimes, even a normally-boring song can be brought into the like camp by lyrics alone (even if that didn’t help the German entry). And BTW, the whole "non- English song that grows on me after I learn the translated lyrics" thing? There's more than one of those this year. We'll get to the others, but this one was the biggest example. Prediction: At least a top five finish. I'm not gonna say it definitely won't win, cuz it might, especially with the juries. I think it'll be a sure bet to win the jury vote, but the whole thing? Ummmm...I dunno? With this competition, I can't really say. I know that I'd personally prefer Ukraine in terms of the big favorites, cuz I don't like this song nearly as much as other people do...But, putting my biases aside, it's still gonna be a top five finish. That's a sure bet unless something goes wrong live.
Song: Eat Your Salad Country: Latvia Thoughts: I know I've already said this like, three times already, but it bears repeating: This song has ABSOLUTELY NO RIGHT to sound as good as it does. When I first heard this song, I was SO BAFFLED by it, and even now, I'm still not really sure what it's doing here. Were there really no better options for Latvia? They had no choice but to send this thing? What...even is this? Is this a song that genuinely believes in its message, but has a sense of humor about it? Is it tongue-in-cheek? Is it a parody of environmental songs? What IS this?! Those flipping lyrics! It has to censor itself! I can't take anything about this seriously! And what I can't get past about this song is that....after the initial confusion wore off....I started to like it? Now it's my biggest guilty pleasure of the year, easily. I'm not gonna even lie here...Music-wise, this song is excellent. I love how much energy it has! Those horns are so good! I have a lot of fun listening to this, I can't help it! If it had different lyrics, it would probably be in my top ten. That's how much I like the sound of it. But as it is, my enjoyment is about half-and-half ironic and unironic....it's so weird! This is the most memorably bizarre Eurovision entry since "I Didn't Know". I think Norway and maybe Moldova are pulling off fun and silly better, but I still can't overlook this song and how split it makes me feel. This is a hard one to rank. Prediction: Pfffffffffff no way. Although, would you believe me if I said that, at first, I thought this had a chance? XD I mean, just cuz of how memorable it is? But nah, that was stupid of me. This song has no chance. Memorability didn't help "Euro Neuro", "Aina mun pitää", and "I Didn't Know", so why would it help here? At least I get to enjoy this song once! I hope the live performance is just as fun as it needs to be. XD
Song: Sentimentai Country: Lithuania Thoughts: This is the first song I've ever heard that's been completely in Lithuanian! Right away, it stands out, purely cuz of that! I absolutely love how many different languages we're getting this year, it's so diverse! But, uh, anyway, as for the song itself...It's a grower! I don't really have a lot to say about it, but I do like it. It's a very chill song, if that makes sense. This is more of really good background music for me rather then something I'll focus on, cuz there's nothing really that exciting about it to me, other than it being in Lithuanian. I can see why it'd be a bit on the overlooked side. But there's nothing wrong with just being mood music. There's a place for mood music in our lives. Prediction: Oof, the betting odds are not being kind to Lithuania...but y'know what? I'm actually gonna predict they'll qualify. They're not a shoo-in, of course, but they've managed to qualify with underrated songs multiple times in the past, and this song does stand out a bit compared to the wackiness of the first semifinal (I guess it does have competition from the few downbeat songs, though). But they are performing early, sooooo....Uhhhh....Yeah, this could go either way, and I won't be surprised if I'm overestimating this song, but I'm gonna predict it'll do it, even if just barely. Might bomb in the final though.
Song: I Am What I Am Country: Malta Thoughts: Of my top seven favorites, this is the one I feel like I'll have the hardest time justifying. Especially when I could've picked flipping France, and instead decided I liked this more. So, lemme explain - I know that songs like this have been played out a LOT. It's a fairly standard self-empowerment message...well, mostly. Maybe it's just me, but this song reads more as "You can't change me" rather than "I'm awesome", but point is, it's similar enough. A lot of people are gonna overlook this song for being on the generic side cuz of it. But....dang it, this song hit me so hard when I first heard it, and I never got tired of it! The lyrics are great and all, but the music really helped it make an impression on me. That big, soaring chorus is sooooo good! I've said it before and I'll say it again...I am a SUCKER for choirs in pop songs (like with "Amen" and "Too Late For Love"), and works SO SO well here, making the song sound so grand and uplifting. I see this as the optimistic version of the Australian entry. Yeah, I may not fit in, but this is how I'll always be, and no one can change that. I like being different! Take it or leave it, I am what I am, and that includes loving this song! Prediction: Unfortunately...this is one of three favorite songs of mine in the second semifinal that are in trouble. And of the three, I...I have the least hope for Malta. Don't get me wrong, I will  FLIP OUT if they qualify, but nah, I'm not counting on it...Like I said, this is the year of oddballs, and this song is gonna be seen as forgettable. If the live performance is really good, than maybe I'll eat my words! It's not a complete lost cause, cuz it's Malta, who have pulled off underdog qualifications before! So, it's not completely off the table, but compared to my two other underrated favorites, I'm probably not gonna get my hopes up too high for this one.
Song: Trenuleţul Country: Moldova Thoughts: What a good year to bring back Zdob şi Zdub, huh? With all these unique songs, they fit right in! Moldova's first ever entry has returned again with this happy earworm, and...yeah, there's not much to say here! It's fun and catchy, just as expected! I will say that...while the "Hey ho, let's go / Folklore and rock 'n roll" part does get stuck in my head from time to time, the rest of the song, well....It has STEEP competition this year. There are a LOT of songs competing for the "most catchy" title. I mean, Ukraine, Austria, Georgia, Serbia, and Norway all brought very catchy songs, leaving Moldova not SO LUCKY going against all that. I do like this song (I think I liked "So Lucky" more though), but it's not the best. It's just kinda...silly, but not as silly as other songs. Catchy, but not catchy enough. It feels like it's trying, and in a more normal year, this absolutely WOULD be the resident joke song you can't help but love....But 2022 is built different, and I gotta be fair here. It's a fun song, but yeah. This could ALL CHANGE with the staging though. I'm expecting amazing staging to go with this, just like in 2011. Give us the memes! Bring them on! Prediction: Probably gonna qualify, especially if the staging delivers. Moldova's entries always get the most attention when they're being as fun and memetic as possible, and with a song like this, by the "So Lucky" guys? Yeah, betting odds be darned, they're qualifying. If they somehow don't, it's gonna be close. I don't think this'll perform amazingly well in the final due to strong competition, but it'll at least stand out enough to not touch the bottom of the board.
Song: Breathe Country: Montenegro Thoughts: I! LOVE! This! Song! Oh my god, Montenegro knocked it outta the park with their return! This is the obligatory "I love this song that not many other people do, but I can't really articulate why" song in my top seven - it's not the only underrated song in my top seven, but it's the closest one that fits the "can't articulate why" part. At least with Malta's song, I could easily explain why I'm attached to it. Not so much here. This is a similar deal to Slovenia's "Amen" last year in that....It just makes me feel, and I can't make that come across in text. It just....sounds SO good. The simple, hypnotic, sway-along melody, combined with the way it builds and builds....and....it sounds good?! My stupid brain can't think of how to describe it! The vocals, instrumentation, and buildup just scratch my brain in the right way! Not every song I love needs a long description of things I love, I guess, but still...It really feels like I have little excuse here. The lyrics are good too, but they aren't my favorite part of the song. I still like the message of "Don't be selfish, help others". I had already made up my mind on this song when I learned about what inspired it...which is, yeah, the singer's mom dying from Covid...but I dunno, it doesn't sound like a depressing song to me, and I still adore it, so blegh. XP This is, without question, my favorite entry from Montenegro to date, finally dethroning "Just Get Out Of My Life" after so, so many years. Here's hoping they stay, and send more songs this good in future years, now that the bar's been set high... Prediction: It really pains me to see it be so underrated, cuz unlike with Malta, I really did anticipate this one having a chance....but, welp. Montenegro comes back, brings out a great song, but they always gotta be unlucky, huh....It's unfortunate, but...with the competition, I...I really can't predict a qualification here. I've come to terms with this being an underrated favorite of mine, so it hopefully won't sting that bad. Not to mention it being in the same semifinal as Finland means that hopefully the hype from that will cancel it out. I DO think it has more of a chance than Malta to surprise me, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up.
Song: De Diepte Country: The Netherlands Thoughts: Like with the Italian song, this one's a grower, especially after learning what the lyrics mean, but I'm still not nearly as crazy about it as other people. My main reaction to it is just...I find it relaxing, and....OK, I have another one, and I can't shake it, so even though it's weird, I'll say it anyway: this sounds like good driving music. Um, I don't drive. I just can't stop thinking that whenever I hear this song, and it's...weird, and I probably look weird for saying that, but uh anyway! The vocals are nice, and my favorite thing is that it's in Dutch - I love how many non-English songs we have - but the song doesn't really...jump out at me. And in terms of relaxing songs this year, I actually like Iceland's a bit more. But I still enjoy this song, I just don't love it. Sorry, but this is one case where I'm not on the bandwagon. Prediction: Qualifying. No doubt. It's in the top five in the betting odds as I type this. Granted, at the very bottom of it, but still there. And I can't think of any reason I'll fail, since the only real competition it has is Iceland, and...well, in that case, why not both. XD I don't really see this being a top ten song, but maybe the staging will change my mind. I'm gonna predict left side of the board though. This is good news for the Netherlands, since they were so robbed last year.
Song: Circles Country: North Macedonia Thoughts: Y'know, as I was listening to it again, I realized something....and this might be just me being weird, so sorry, but...this song is kinda like the counterpart to Azerbaijan's, isn't it? It's not intentional, obviously, but...the similarities are there! Azerbaijan's song is the hopelessly optimistic "Please stay, we can fix this!" and this song is the "Why are we still trying when we're obviously not happy? I'm finally making my decision" and...I dunno why I thought of this, but yeah, it's something I'll never be able to unhear. XD Hey, at least it's something else that makes both songs stand out more! B-but, uh, anyway, on to this song by itself...It's good! It's emotional enough to miss being boring, and I like the chorus a lot. But, in comparison to everything else, this is a song that winds up on the forgettable side. Unfortunate, since I really want Macedonia to catch a break. Prediction: I don't even need to look at the betting odds to know what to say here. It's Macedonia, it's an overlooked song, it's not qualifying. Bam, next.
Song: Give That Wolf A Banana Country: Norway Thoughts: This song is truly a masterpiece. There are no other words to describe it. It's too good for Eurovision, or for any of our minds to comprehend. It's so...masterfully crafted, with such raw emotion, that it nearly brings me to tears every time I hear it. With such powerful lyrics, such as "Want your grandma yum yum", and "If you don't like the name Keith, I'mma call you...Jim", this is a song that blows you away with its songwriting. I'm in complete awe of this thing, wondering why the Norwegians chose to send it to this silly contest. Do they really believe the feeble-minded general audience of Europe will fully comprehend such a powerful piece of music? Wouldn't it be too much to understand? This gripping story of the narrator accepting his grandmother's inevitable death by the jaws of the one known as Ke- I mean, Jim, opting to merely give him a banana as a peace offering, is really a message to all of us, that we can find things to be optimistic about, even in the face of tragedy...Because of that, we could all learn from this song in a way. It's not one of my favorites, but only because I'm a pleb with terrible taste in music. Let's all find our own wolf, and rather than be scared, let's give it a banana instead, and take the steps toward a brighter future....(inallseriousness,thissongmakesmelaughunironicallyandIflippingloveit) Prediction: Well, of course, this song is above this contest, b-but.....pffffff, sorry- U-uh, yeah, it's a fan-favorite. It's qualifying. It's probably gonna finish in the top ten, too. And, uh, yeah! No complaints honestly.
Song: River Country: Poland Thoughts: Another one of my borderline favorites! I would have never guessed that Poland of all countries would be in my top ten two years in a row, but here we are! And unlike last year, where I was completely in the minority with being in love with their entry (still am, BTW), I'm happy to say that that's not the case this year! This song's apparent popularity makes me very happy, cuz it so deserves it! There are a few songs this year that I'd describe as "atmospheric" - Iceland's, Portugal's, and the Netherlands' being other notable ones - and this is easily my favorite of those. While those other songs are enjoyable background music, this one actually grabs my complete attention. Even though, in my first impression post, I was initially interpreting the lyrics in kinda a....dark way, this song moreso perfectly captures the feeling of floating away and relieving all your stress...Just, escaping for a moment, and letting everything slow down. And I love this so flipping much? A stress relief song that's also very interesting and not boring? Hello, it's perfect? Honestly, this is probably one of the objective best songs of the year at setting a mood like this. And also the vocals are excellent, as just the cherry on top. Whenever this comes on, it's almost magical, and just makes me wanna...relax by the river, and forget all my troubles... Prediction: Even though this isn't one of my favorite favorites, I'm still so hype about it being in the top ten of the betting odds! Heck yeah, Poland getting attention for this! The second semi is gonna be a rough one for me, so it feels good not having to worry about this song at least. In fact, with THREE of my favorites in that semi on the chopping block, this could end up in my top five for the final. Which I'm totally cool with! This'll be the first time I've rooted for Poland so hard in a final since 2014! I do think this'll give them their best result in years, easily.
Song: Saudade Saudade Country: Portugal Thoughts: Probably one of the more relaxing songs of the year. I have similar thoughts about this that I do about Lithuania's entry - it's good mood music to play in the background rather than something to actively pay attention to. When it comes to the atmospheric background stuff, I really would rather actively listen to the song from Iceland. But this one is pretty good. And for Portugal, "pretty good" is a compliment, looking at my history of indifference to their entries. XD I do like the lyrics, especially ones toward the end. "I've tried, alright / But it's killing me inside / Thought you'd be be by my side, always..." There's definitely emotion there, and I respect that. Still, I wonder how unpopular an opinion it is to say that I liked "O Jardim" more as slow songs from Portugal go... Prediction: This song's getting a lot more attention than I expected! And I don't mind it, cuz it's in the semi where I'm rooting for the less songs. So yeah, I wouldn't mind if this qualified! Which it totally will, BTW. No questions. It's not a winner at all, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did....hmmm, about as well as "Love Is On My Side" did? So, right outside the top ten? Maybe a bit better. I think that's overrating it but blegh, my opinions don't matter here.
Song: Llámame Country: Romania Thoughts: Ahem...Why. The. CRAP. Is this song not getting more attention!? I genuinely do NOT understand! Romania have had plenty of popular entries in the past! Well, not recently, but still! There is no excuse to sleep on this song! This is one of their best entries in SUCH a long time, if you ask me! This song is so flipping cool! It's one of my favorites, and I can't even think of what to say about it! There's not much to talk about with the lyrics, cuz, like with the French entry, this song is about the beat. And it's a good beat! Might not be the most energetic in the world, but it's more...hmmm, what word to describe it....Ummmm....mesmerizing, I guess? Kinda just...something you can vibe to, and kinda just lose yourself in the music. I know this isn't the best comparison, but the closest song I can think of that captured a similar mood was "Fly With Me", the Armenian entry in 2017. That kinda thing - A downbeat song with an addictive melody. And c'mon, the instrumental breaks are just...phenomenal. Romania really upped their game this year, which is why I don't understand why this is so flipping underrated!! Ugh, they deserve better! Prediction: Romania's bad luck the past few years, combined with this song's low placement in the betting odds, has me really nervous about its fate. I obviously REALLY want it through (seriously, as someone who actually liked both "Goodbye" and "On A Sunday", this song is so much better and does NOT deserve to be overlooked like those were!), but for my actual prediction....I DO think this has a better chance at surprising me than Malta and Montenegro do, betting odds be darned, so...I'm gonna try to be optimistic and say that they'll qualify! Screw it! Nothing else this year sounds like this! And if they don't, and it's either Malta or Montenegro who surprise me instead, that's cool too! If all three of them don't qualify....Welp (at least I'll still be happy enough over Finland, unless tragedy strikes there). Uh, and as for the final, I don't think they'd do super well, but them just being there would be enough for me.
Song: Stripper Country: San Marino Thoughts: The last of the rock songs this year! This song is fun, but it's also the very definition of outclassed. I love the songs from Finland and Bulgaria SO much more, than I barely ever think about this one until it comes on. Unfortunate, I know, since this isn't a bad song, but...it's just really unlucky to have competition THAT strong. The only real thing that stands out here is that it's in Italian, which, yeah, love the language diversity but we've also heard it before. Oh, and the title being "Stripper", that's kinda hard to miss, too. XD This is one of those songs that I'd probably like a bit more if I heard it on its own, and didn't have to compare it to other songs. But I'm happy its here! Rock and roll never dies! Prediction: Kinda conflicted here. San Marino have just qualified two years in a row, so will this make it three? I, uh...I'm kinda half-and-half, but leaning a BIT more towards a no. Even though they're actually higher on the betting odds than I expected (although I don't really approve of them being more popular than Bulgaria), it's still San Marino, and they're also in a VERY strong semifinal, so I gotta be realistic here. It would be cool to see them pull it off, but yeah...I don't think that's gonna happen. I wouldn't mind if I got proved wrong on this (as long as Finland qualifies too), but it's not really a song I'm gonna root for.
Song: In Corpore Sano Country: Serbia Thoughts: Another country that took a risk this year! I've already talked more than once about non-English songs that grew on me rapidly after I learn what the lyrics mean. This isn't just one of those, but it might be the best of those. Here we have a unique song about prioritizing physical health over mental health, with Latin chanting at the end, all with a pretty good beat to go along with it. It's not one of the absolute catchiest of the year overall with the competition it has, but I have caught myself with the "Biti zdrava, biti zdrava, biti zdrava, bi- bi- bi- biti zdrava" part repeating over and over in my head many times. But this is a song that's carried by its lyrics. In some ways, I do respect this song more than I like it. It's not one of my favorites. But it makes an impression. And those "A sick mind in a healthy body, a sad soul in a healthy body" lines....I'm not gonna act like those don't get to me. Prediction: Should be an easy qualifier, for being a popular song that stands out among the crowd. In the final, it won't be a front-runner, but it'll still do decently well.
Song: Disko Country: Slovenia Thoughts: This song's cute (and so is the music video)! While it's not my favorite genre of music, I always seem to like it when disco shows up in Eurovision. It's always a pleasant surprise, and the songs themselves are usually pretty good (look no further than "10 Years" for that, pffff). This isn't a song I think about too much, but when it comes on, it's a treat. It's the kinda song I'd listen to just to put a smile on my face. I've actually been liking it more and more after every listen! It's been climbing up my ranking for some time until I found a spot for it. And that's all I can really say here! There's not a lot to unpack! It's just a cute, happy song that's also unique! I would say it needs more love, but yeah, this kinda thing would be pretty love-it-or-hate-it....I know what side I'm on, though! Prediction: Seeing this song toward the bottom of the betting odds is...kinda painful, but I saw it coming. Yeah, this won't be qualifying.
Song: SloMo Country: Spain Thoughts: It's no secret that I've kinda been disagreeing with the popular picks this year, and this is probably gonna be one of my most unpopular opinions, soooo here goes....Of all the upbeat songs, this one's probably my least-favorite. NOW HEAR ME OUT- this doesn't mean I dislike it! Not even close! I do like it! It's just...one of those songs that I enjoy in small doses. When I hear it too much, it...kinda grates on me? I know that this is a very loved song, and I couldn't tell you WHY it does that to me, but I gotta be honest here. But when it comes on after I haven't heard it in a few days, I do enjoy it! It's got a lot of energy! It's just a personal taste thing. I'd much rather listen to other fun songs than this one. When I compare it to the ones most similar to it, I even prefer Albania's entry - this song has better verses, but I like that one's chorus more than anything in this one. So, if you like this song, that's great, I do a bit too, but not nearly as much as most people. Also, there's only so much I can like a song that includes the words "booty hypnotic". Prediction: I'm fairly happy to see Spain get so much attention after the bad last few years they've had. I don't personally think this'll be a top five song like the betters are predicting, though. It's still Spain. It seems like whenever they send a song that seems popular (like "Say Yay!" or "La Venda"), they still manage to bomb. They're almost as bad as the UK in that aspect. I'm not completely ruling out the possibility of this doing well, but to be safe, I'm just gonna predict this'll be Spain's best placement in years.  
Song: Hold Me Closer Country: Sweden Thoughts: I hate to say it, I really do....but, in a year filled with such fun, colorful, catchy songs...Sweden's comes off as....comparatively boring....COMPARATIVELY, but still. This isn't a bad song at all. It grew on me a lot more than stuff like Germany's and Switzerland's songs. The singer has a nice voice, and I like the lyrics a far bit. I haven't heard that many songs about that specific type of breakup - the "It was the wrong time" kind - so that's one way it stands out. I like that there's no bitterness from the singer, instead, while she clearly doesn't wanna, she's not stopping them from leaving. My favorite lyric is "I'm about to lose the best I've ever had". And even musically, this song manages to have a different feel than the other ballads this year. Just goes to show that Sweden are still a cut above the average, even when they're "boring". Prediction: I do think that its third placing with the betting odds is kinda undeserved (might just be that there are people who just bet on Sweden every year cuz they're the safe choice), but yeah, I don't need to say much here. It's gonna qualify and do fairly well. However, I'm gonna be bold here and say that it'll do worse than the betters are predicting, kinda like Malta and "Je Me Casse" last year.
Song: Boys Do Cry Country: Switzerland Thoughts: The slowest song of the year, and one that I respect a lot more than I like. I'd still say that I like it a bit, but compared to everything else, this is easily on the low end. It's a bit unfortunate, since I do appreciate the message a lot. The lyrics are the only thing saving it from indifference from me. More songs taking down toxic masculinity, I say! It's just music-wise that I can't say I enjoy it any more. I'm happy it exists, but it's probably not best suited for Eurovision. Prediction: Oh...this is currently smack dab in the middle in the betting odds....Welp, that makes this difficult! Uhhhh...I'm gonna go with my gut and say....this is gonna be jury bait. It's probably gonna qualify in the same way "Love Is On My Side" did last year - because the juries loved it. This would be an overlooked song if it weren't for that fact. I'm sorry if I sound a bit harsh, but yeah...I kinda don't want this in the final, since again, it's kinda boring compared to almost everything else...but it does have a chance at making it through. And I gotta predict something, so yeah, I'm gonna predict it'll be the surprise qualifier. The first semifinal is the weaker one, at least to me, so it could happen.
Song: Stefania Country: Ukraine Thoughts: And so we come to the last of my borderline favorites! Even in a sea of unique sounds, this one stands out! But the reason I like it so much isn't just cuz of the cool instrumentation, or the impressive lightning-fast rapping, or any other specific details...It like it so much purely cuz it's just SO GODDANG CATCHY!! Seriously, that flipping chorus! And that woodwind instrumental! Those two parts are the biggest earworms of the year. That, AND at the same time, it doesn't get grating at all. In terms of just catchiness, I think this is number one this year, although I like Finland's and Austria's songs more overall. I just can't overlook this one, and I'll probably still be humming it next year. Prediction: ......So, uh...this is the favorite to win, and....I'm conflicted. I do like the song a lot, but....I don't think it's winner material, and...seriously, I don't think it deserves to have a whopping 42% chance in the betting odds, when the next highest is 15%! If the actual televote is THAT much of a curbstomp, I....I dunno if I'd approve. Now, getting this outta the way....Like I said in my first impression post, I knew pity votes for Ukraine were gonna be a thing. I totally expect it, I understand that, and I'm choosing not to get upset about it. I just didn't expect it to be that overwhelming, is all. I thought there'd be at least a BIT more people putting the music first, but eh, I can't complain. There might just be some people who do really like the song, like me, so yeah. Favorite to win, don't really agree, but I won't be mad if it wins cuz at least it's a really fun song. Y'know what? Despite EVERYTHING I just said, this is actually my favorite out of the current top five with the betters! So, if those are the options, then yeah, I'll be fine with this unless it's a curbstomp (and I don't THINK the juries will make it a complete one). It's a sure qualifier, and it's gonna place in the top five. Moving on. XD
Song: Space Man Country: United Kingdom Thoughts: And finally, the UK, back for redemption! This song and I have a pretty weird relationship. In that....it's a grower, but a lot MORE than I expected it'd be! I already liked it from the start, but after a week or so, I caught myself singing along to it, and....I knew most of the lyrics? I can't believe it either! I wasn't TRYING to learn the lyrics! The song just ended up sticking with me THAT much I guess, and...it's weird, because, when I hear this song, I don't EXPECT it to be something I'm crazy about, but it's just so...likeable! Now, it's not one of my favorites. But for how much it grew on me without me consciously knowing, it stands out to me. Also I like the lyrics. I like all the space stuff. "Gravity keeps pulling me down / As long as you're on the ground, I'll stick around" is my favorite part. Hopefully the UK will be able to do something with this, cuz it seems like people are agreeing with me....Seems... Prediction: Hoo boy....this song being fourth in the betting odds is kinda awesome. I don't think it's THAT good, but just seeing the UK up there is awesome. But the last couple years have burned me too much, so part of me is like "Yyyyyyeah, that's not gonna last". For now, all I really want is for it to just....give them their best result in a while. This song is clearly popular, and the UK have recently been doing by far better with the juries (exceptlastyearobviously), so when you combine the two, then yeah, this will probably achieve that unless something goes wrong. I'm not gonna predict top ten, and especially not fourth, but being around the middle will be a cause for celebration for so many in the UK. Please, Europe, they deserve it. Don't do that again.
Aaaaaaand there we go! That’s all of them! If you read all of that, thanks....and I’m sorry. XD I know I’m a rambler, but....I hope you had fun, at least? But now, here’s the important part, my ranking!
Favorites:
1. Finland 2. Austria 3. Bulgaria 4. Estonia 5. Montenegro 6. Romania 7. Malta
Borderline Favorites:
8. France 9. Poland 10. Ukraine 11. Cyprus
Like:
12. Australia 13. UK 14. Israel 15. Norway 16. Slovenia 17. Serbia 18. Iceland 19. Greece 20. Czech Republic 21. Ireland 22. Armenia 23. Belgium 24. Latvia 25. Moldova 26. Albania 27. Georgia 28. Portugal 29. Lithuania 30. Azerbaijan 31. North Macedonia 32. San Marino 33. Denmark 34. Netherlands 35. Sweden 36. Spain 37. Italy 38. Switzerland
Indifferent:
39. Germany 40. Croatia
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mrs-kelly · 3 years
Text
I’ve been kind of absent on here, but it’s because all I’ve been able think about this week has been perhaps picking up some live singing gigs?? weirdly??
Usually that stuff sounds complicated and scary but this week all I’ve been able to focus on is thinking of how to get started on that and contacting businesses that I know would let me perform.
Like, I’ve done it with a group before. But never alone. But now that stuff is opening up and getting back to normal I feel like I gotta take the chance while I can! Cuz one of my biggest fears as soon as disaster struck was that I would never be able to perform live again. So I figure I gotta do something about it???
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ptergwen · 3 years
Text
sensation
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w/c: 4.6k
warnings: some swearing, suggestive tings, and a pretty bad ending
summary: it’s the last night of your world tour, and tom has the perfect way to celebrate
a/n: i know y’all have been waiting for this one! everyone really loved when worlds collide but i ran out of ideas for it lol sorry... anyways my solution was to turn it into a oneshot :D based off the au!! i’m honestly nervous about posting this cuz a lot of you asked for it and i don’t wanna disappoint but i tried my absolute hardest to make it special <3 please enjoy
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“thank you so much! we love you!” you shout to the audience, laughing breathlessly when they shout back. one of your dancers pulls you into a side hug, you throwing your arm around his neck. “we’re so fucking lucky you chose us, that you came all the way here. i’ve seen some of you back at night one. wow.” your voice gets wobbly, thinking about how loyal your fans are.
the tour started in new york, and they’ve followed you here to london.
tonight is an emotional night for everyone. you’re about to wrap your last show before you continue again in the summer. touring the u.k. has been a dream, and you’re just as thrilled to travel the rest of the world after your break. it’s bittersweet because you’re going to miss the hell out of your crew and the millions of lovely faces you’ve sang to each week. but, you do get to spend your time off with a special someone.
he’s watching you from the sound booth, sending fond smiles and loud cheers your way. thanks to you, tom has been at every show you’ve played in england. he brought harry along this time because he’s also a fan and wanted to see you. well, tom is more than a fan at this point. you’d say he’s more of a boyfriend. you haven’t discussed labels just yet.
your dates have mainly been over facetime, since you live on opposite sides of the world with insane schedules. a heartthrob actor and international popstar is quite the combination. you’ve only seen each other in person a couple of times, the first being pretty recently.
zendaya brought tom along to hang out with you in los angeles. he happened to be there recording some lines for a movie. she saw your concert earlier that night and invited him to crash the dinner plans you’d made, resulting in the best surprise and most fun you’ve ever had. the other time you enjoyed each other’s company was one weekend in paris. that was... something.
besides those two miracles, everything between you and tom happens through a screen. you’ll down bottles of champagne or keep warm under blankets while talking about your days. it’s nice, having someone on the other end who listens and actually hears you. tom gets it. you both do.
finishing your tour in london is convenient because not only will you have tom to comfort you, but you get to stick around for a while. he’s invited you to stay at his place. you can’t wait to meet the other holland’s, his friends, and obviously tessa.
“fuck, i’m gonna cry. i’m already crying,” you announce to the crowd, though they can tell from the tears streaming down your face. more dancers huddle around you and turn your single hug into a group one. you’re laughing and sobbing and holding on tight to everyone. fans bawl their own eyes out, the fact that this is it starting to settle in. the onstage crew even gets choked up, seeing you like this.
tom pouts from where he’s watching. he wishes he could run up there and squeeze you tight, but he’ll have to save that for when you’re done.
“i love you all so much, literally every single one of you in this room,” you tell everyone for the nth time tonight, swiping a perfectly manicured finger under your eyes. “my lighting crew, sound crew, my band, my fearless fucking dancers-“ a hiccup cuts you off. people burst into fits of giggles, which is a much needed tension breaker. you adjust your headset so the mic doesn’t pick up any other bodily noises.
grinning, you rest your arm on a shorter dancer’s shoulder, then go on. “sorry, sorry. i just wanna say, like, three more thank you’s before i get out of here.” there’s a chorus of no’s and encouraging whistles at the mention of you leaving. you blink back more tears to delay the breakdown you’re going to have. “thank you to my friends who always show up for me.”
with a knowing smile, you glance over at tom. “and, thank you to my more than a friend.” he smiles back, both hands held over his heart. harry elbows him in congratulations. more screaming erupts from the crowd as they realize where you’re looking and who you’re looking at. this will be sure to spark some headlines. whatever, you’re used to trending on every possible social media platform by now.
“this is the big one,” you preface, taking in a breath while everyone quiets down again. “thank you to you guys. for trusting me, for caring about what i have to say in any way. i feel your love. i really do, and i hope you feel mine.” your fans yell that they love you back, dancers gently swaying you side to side, emotions on high. there’s one last song, and it’s over.
“this has been the sensation tour, and i’ve been your host. was i good?” you try to lighten the mood, earning a bunch of what sound like positive shrieks. the earpiece you have in makes it hard to tell. “y’all were even better.” exchanging looks with your dancers, you pull out of the hug so you can get to your mark for the finale. they follow your lead. music comes through the speakers.
“i’ll see you again soon, okay? i promise. here’s sensation,” you introduce the song, immediately bursting into more tears. it’s torture to say goodbye. thankfully, you have the most incredible fans on earth, so they sing along with you at the top of their lungs. that includes tom and harry, your ultimate stans.
when the show is over, you run right off stage and over to tom. he’s waiting on the side with actual heart eyes for you. you practically leap into his arms, a hand cradling the back of his head, both his arms draped low and tight around your body.
“you were so amazing up there! absolutely smashed it, darling,” tom breathes out. his face is smushed between your neck and mostly bare chest. “thanks, tom. seriously, thanks for being here tonight and every other.” you smile a tired smile and wind your other arm around his neck. he presses some light you’re welcome kisses to your skin. “mm, thanks for having me. how’s it feel to be done?”
you sigh, fingers running through his curls. “like the biggest relief, and also really sad.” you’re such a mess that you could cry again on the spot. tom senses it and lifts his head up to see if you’re alright. “super depressing,” you surprisingly reiterate without the waterworks. “i know the feeling. you’ll be back soon, though. you said it,” he murmurs, a grin on his lips as they brush against the corner of yours.
you’re about to kiss him properly, then one of your dancers comes up to you. you’d forgotten that there are still stage managers and security everywhere, too. you get completely lost in tom whenever you’re together.
“you killed, babe,” coco greets you, linking your arm in hers. tom takes the hint and lets go of you. he watches on with a smirk. “nah, you murdered,” you send the compliment back and bite your lower lip. “i dunno, i feel like someone murdered me!” there’s coco with her dramatics. she’s genuinely hilarious, your shared sense of humor playing a huge part in your friendship.
she brings your free hand to her heart. you gasp at how fast it’s going. “that shit is really beating, coco. are you, like, okay?” “probably not. it was the freestyle that got me.” coco went a lot harder than usual tonight, since it was her last big dance break for a while. she puffs air from her cheeks and nods to tom. “this your man?”
“yeah, you could say that. i’m tom,” he answers, holding out a hand for her. “coco.” she pulls it like you would in a handshake. you beam at them, one of your best friends and unofficial boyfriend finally meeting. “sounds promising. i approve,” coco mutters to you. bumping your hip into hers playfully, you take one of tom’s hands in both of yours.
“aw, we have your blessing or something? your permission?” you coo and get a push at your shoulder from coco in return. tom chuckles, his thumb running over the back of your hand. “no! i was gonna say you should bring him out back,” coco clarifies, like it was obvious. you’re not sure what she’s on about. “uh, what’s out back?” you question. “an axe?” tom teases.
coco gestures to the nearest exit. “we’re having a little goodbye party in the parking lot. fire pit, snacks. remember?” nope, you’d completely forgotten. the idea first sounded like the perfect way to end your night, so you agreed to go. that was before you were dripping sweat and mentally exhausted. now, all you want to do is unwind with tom and tom only.
the superstar life is one you’re happy to lead, just not at this exact moment.
“i do now.” you muster up your most apologetic smile for coco, tugging on tom’s hand. “i’m sorry, co. i think we’re gonna pass.” her jaw drops. you’re never one to skip these things. “aw, for real? it’s our last night!” tom threads his fingers through yours while you talk. “bro, we’ve been together for almost a whole year,” you laugh out, nuzzling your cheek into tom’s chest. “get sick of me.”
“never,” coco deadpans. she catches you gazing up at tom, relaxing as his arms hug your middle. she’s known you long enough to tell what’s a fling and what’s real love for you. this is something special, and she can’t get in the way of it. she’ll let you navigate this yourself. “ok, just for tonight. you’ll text me?” coco gives you a real smile, raising an eyebrow at tom. he gathers that’s a good thing. he’s in.
“mhm. maybe we can hang out tomorrow,” you agree and let your eyes flutter shut. all that’s keeping you up are tom’s strong arms. “tell everyone i love them.” “i think they know.” coco shakes her head lightheartedly. tom laughs at her. “be good,” she tells him and means it, rubbing your back on her way to the lot. that leaves you and tom alone at last.
custodians are cleaning up the arena, fans are piling out, and you’re clinging to tom while his steady heartbeat grounds you. this is the only after party you need.
“harry’s got the car when you’re ready,” tom mumbles, tucking a piece of damp hair behind your ear. you loop your arms around his torso with a hum. “i was kinda wondering where he went.” “yeah?” he gives you a small smile. “gotta ask what he thought... of the show.” yawns are creeping past your lips, tonight’s events catching up to you.
“i like feedback from the fans, or stans,” you elaborate in your sleepy state. tom uses his fingertips to tap your temple. “what about me? i’m your biggest.” “i’ll, um, follow up with you later.” your words are slurring. “right now, home.” warmth spreads throughout tom’s entire body, his house becoming yours for a bit. “your chariot awaits,” he affirms before helping you to your dressing room.
after collecting your things, you follow tom out to the car. harry is in the driver’s seat, and you two slip into the back. he exchanges a look with his brother through the mirror while you settle on his shoulder. you’re hugging his bicep, his lips pressing to the side of your head.
“thank you for driving,” you speak softly to harry. he starts to pull out of the spot with a nod. “no problem. get to say i was y/n y/l/n’s chauffeur.” tom clicks his tongue even though harry is joking. you snicker at his remark, joking back. “you want the job? better be a five star ride, then.” your banter brings yet another smile to tom’s face. his family is everything to him, so seeing you get along so well means the most.
“right, right. did you have a good time?” harry wonders, twisting to see behind him while he turns around. he also peeks at you snuggled up to tom before facing forward. “great, actually. did you?” you check, the grin clear in your voice. harry goes into full stan mode. “no shit! you were brilliant, y/n. god, every note was just like how you did it the studio.” he’s raving, which is much appreciated by you.
“good answer.” tom shoots his brother a wink. “‘s that what you wanted to hear?” he asks in reference to your conversation earlier. your response is a kiss to his shoulder. “yay. i’m happy you liked it, harry.” he buzzes with excitement, having his favorite artist care what he thinks.
not much is said for the rest of the drive. tom and harry make some hushed conversation about golfing this weekend while you struggle to stay awake. they’re obsessed with that damn sport. it’s honestly nice to see, that tom has something he likes to do when he isn’t shooting hollywood’s biggest movies. your free time will finally give you the chance to discover other hobbies.
you stumble out of the car upon arriving to the boys’ place, a backpack on your shoulders and tom’s hand held tight in yours. you’ve got only a few essentials with you for tonight. the rest is on the tour bus, so you’ll gather it after your hangout with coco. besides, everything you need at the moment is right here.
“home sweet home,” tom announces as harry unlocks the front door. his words bring a tired smile to your face. “finally,” you exhale, keeping your fingers laced with tom’s and following the two of them inside. “i could show you around a bit, give you the grand tour. or-“ tom stops talking, feeling your weight on him. harry huffs at how oblivious his brother is.
“mate, she’s falling over. save it,” he suggests and kicks the door shut lazily. you’re done in. you’ve been having to lean on tom since the show ended. “another time, then,” tom mumbles, securing his arm around your waist. “there is one thing i wanna see.” your voice is low, body curled into tom’s side. he raises an eyebrow. “and that is?” “your room.”
tom takes that in a suggestive way, like he does most things. “we’re getting right to it, are we?” he questions, harry gagging and you nudging his arm with your head. “not like that, dummy. ‘cuz i’m sleepy.” there’s a beat of silence. “ask me again in-“ “wow, look at the time!” harry interrupts so he doesn’t have to hear the details. he’s sure he’ll witness enough after it happens. “off to bed i go! goodnight.”
he rushes to get to his room, yelling out, “great show, y/n!” on the way. “thank you! night!” you call back, tom letting out a sigh. “div of the century,” he says under his breath. “must run in the family,” you playfully retort. that gets you a firm poke at your side. “where’s everyone else?” you glance up at him. there should be two other idiots and a lovely, furry lady running around.
“tuwaine’s gone to the pub, harrison’s filming late, and tess is at mum and dad’s,” tom fills you in, grabbing your arm and draping it around his middle. doing him one better, you hug him with both. you squint in confusion about the last part. “they watch her when i’m out,” tom answers your unspoken question. “ah,” you nod, then deflate ever so slightly. “i wanted to meet her, though. the other boys, too.”
tom smooths the pad of his thumb over your cheek. “you will, darling. it’s only for tonight.” he kisses the same spot reassuringly. “we’ve got loads of time.” “yeah, we do,” you agree, instantly cheering up and letting your head fall onto his chest. “now, where’s your room?” “just upstairs. you need some help getting in?” he’s only playing around, but you accept, tightening your arms around his neck.
“show me the way,” you beam at him. “happy to.” tom wiggles his eyebrows, you jumping up. your legs wrap around his waist, his arms holding you against him. with a satisfied hum, you squish your face into his insanely soft shirt. “what a diva,” tom sarcastically complains while taking you to the staircase. “doesn’t even say please. no manners from this one.”
“you try dancing in six inch heels for two hours,” you shoot back, patting the side of his neck. he moves one hand down to your thigh for a better grip. you’re nearing the top of the stairs. “think i’ll leave that to you,” he decides and squeezes your thigh. “look at me, carrying the whole music industry.” your face easily gets hot and your words turn to murmurs. “shut up. you should listen to other songs.”
you’re on the second floor now, tom going for the first door. he frowns at his rejected compliment. “no, i like yours. they’re my favorite.” “really?” your muffled laugh sounds from his chest. “what was the first thing i ever said to you?” he asks, a toothy grin on him even though you can’t see it. you recall the faithful night he slid into your dms while he carries you into his room.
he’d tripped over his words somehow, the fangirling fool. before that, he tweeted to the whole world that he wanted to see you in concert. it was a huge thing, and people were freaking out about it, even more so when your online interactions became routine. that’s nothing compared to where you are now.
you’re currently living with him and basically dating. possibly, in love. the base of it all really is your music.
“that you love me.” you pause for the ellipses. the corners of your lips turn up. “but, you really meant to say my work.” “both apply.” tom passes that off like it’s a side comment, carefully laying you down on his bed. you look up at him with a curious glint in your eyes. “what does that mean?” his cheeks flush, and he bites back the smile that’s growing. this was supposed to go... differently.
you sit up, breathing out a laugh at tom’s boyish behavior. he’s precious, truly. “you do love me?” those three words will change everything if he says yes. he takes both your hands in his and holds them between you two. you meet his doe eyes. “yeah, y/n/n. i do.” so, you were right. “i love you... and, that wasn’t how i planned on saying it.” signaling for him to elaborate, you tilt your head to the side.
tom sits down next to and faces you before continuing. “it was supposed to be romantic, right?” he rolls his eyes up to the ceiling, annoyed he ruined this. “candlelit dinner, flowers, that sort of thing. seems more fitting for the occasion.” you shift closer to him until your knees are touching. your face is lit up, voice dropped to almost a whisper.
“since when do we do things the way we’re supposed to?” you point out and set your hands on his shoulders. “we’ve gone straight from online dating to me moving in. that’s usually not how it works.” tom chuckles lowly. his own hands find their place on your hips. you’re so good with words. then again, you are a singer. “guess you could say we’re, um, spontaneous,” he agrees, fingers drawing circles on you.
you and tom have explored some of each other’s most intimate places, yet you’ve never shared a moment quite like this. it’s like meeting him for the first time again. he’s too tongue tied to spit out what he wants. you somehow know, anyway. what you cherish most about your relationship is that you two completely and totally understand one another, on every level.
“tom?” you speak quietly, butterflies filling up your body. “hm?” he hums back. this is one of those moments where it all just clicks. “i love you. i really, really love you.” you giggle out of the pure happiness that consumes you, tom joining in your laughter. “i love you, too.” he sounds like he’s said it a million times and he’ll say it a million more. he leans over so his forehead rests on yours. “really, really love you.”
your warm breath hits his face, eyes darting from his own to his lips. “i want you to be more than...” you trail off, unsure of how to phrase it. “more than... more than a friend?” tom pokes fun at what you said during the show. there’s less and less space between you with every second. “you mean, like, a boyfriend?”
“exactly. be my boyfriend,” you all but demand. you’re half asleep and desperate to be able to call him yours already. “bossy, bossy, bossy,” tom chastises, swiping his thumb across your bottom lip. how he goes from being shy and giddy to the cockiest person alive in minutes, you’ll never know. “please?” you throw in to sway him. your hand locks with his, slowly moving it off your face.
you run your tongue over your teeth. “at least kiss me.” “you don’t have to ask,” tom breathes, lips now ghosting over yours. “i was going to.” true to his words, he closes the microscopic gap between you, you pushing forward against him as you kiss back. your first kiss in love. his lips taste like the chapstick he always uses, and he moves them softly.
he places a hand on your knee, you opening your mouth so he can have access to it. instead, a yawn exits. tom pulls back with a breathy laugh. “you must be exhausted, yeah? let’s get you to bed.” he pecks your lips once more. “my girl needs her beauty rest.” that confirms your relationship. you scrunch your nose and grin wide. “and, she’s gonna get some with her boy.”
you’re reminded of how sweaty you are when you catch a whiff. “oof, wait. do you think i can take a shower first?” you grimace, fanning at the air for emphasis. tom uses the tip of his nose to nudge yours. “absolutely. need help in there, too?” he’s not asking in that way, only so nothing happens. the hospital wouldn’t be the most pleasant place to spend your break. plus, he doesn’t want to be without you too long.
“you know what? yeah.”
that’s how you end up intertwined under the hot water, letting it cascade down your back as tom hugs you close to him. you sigh in content and tangle your fingers in his fluffed over curls. you’ve learned that he’s super into having his hair played with. it’s endearing, how he instinctively leans into your touch, eyes closing as you tug on the roots.
he drops his head down to kiss your shoulder, dragging his lips to your collarbone in a way that tickles. they land on one of your breasts next. there isn’t anything sexual about it, only loving. just in case he gets too excited because it’s not uncommon he does, you gently put a finger to his lips. tom takes the hint and lets up. you continue combing through his wet hair while you step out of the water.
“do you ever sing in the shower?” he questions, drawing your naked body in closer to his. “sometimes, yeah. i honestly feel like i sound better there,” you admit and slide your hand down to the nape of his neck. tom’s tongue darts out to lick his lips. “not true. you sound beautiful everywhere, and don’t fight me on this one.” he smirks in satisfaction, you groaning at your loss.
“i really enjoy hearing your voice when it blares through an arena, though,” tom keeps buttering you up. you shake your head and settle both arms around his neck. “man, i just love you so much.” “i love you, sweetheart,” he murmurs back, you switching places so he can give his hair a final rinse. you watch him and his glowing body, admiring the sight.
“what a sensation you are,” you say mostly to yourself, which doesn’t stop him from hearing. “i see what you did there.” he eyes you while you do the same to him. your arms still around his neck pull him back to you. “tommy? do you sing in the shower?” you meant to ask him before, then he started throwing all those compliments at you.
tom scoffs, walking you back so you’re against the wall. “i don’t sing anywhere.” “what?” you gasp and put a hand on his chest. “you’re lying, you have to be. wasn’t billy elliot a musical?” he narrows his eyes at you as he tries to gage where you’re going with this. “that i did a decade ago, and way before puberty. couldn’t sing a word without cracking after that.”
your mouth is left hanging open in shock and disappointment. you bet he has a nice voice, and he’s downplaying it. “y/n,” tom begins, cupping your jaw with his palm. “since we’re living together now, there’s a lot you’re going the learn about me. good things, weird things.” he shrugs casually. “this is one of the weird things.”
“only because you make it weird! come on, let me hear you,” you request and wrap a leg around his waist. you’re giving him a hopeful smile. “god, no. you’ll hate it,” he almost laughs, a hand on your thigh. “i’m literally a singer. how could i hate something i love?” you refute, batting your lashes at him. “especially when someone i love is doing it.” “i love you, too. but, i’m not.” he’s quick to shut you down.
“drop a bar!” you try to coax him, which he already has a comeback for. “you first.” “i can’t. my throat is all scratchy from earlier,” you lie. tom presses his lips into a line, feigning pity. “aw, you know what’ll make you feel better? tea. i’ll go get you some.” he turns to shut the water off, so you grab his shoulders. “no, the steam is working. you can stay.”
“love,” tom addresses you in a warning tone that you can’t take seriously. he can’t either, a giggle escaping him. “my voice is shit. ask anyone, and they’ll tell you.” “i won’t believe them,” you hum, pushing back curls sticking to his forehead. “sounds like you just have stage fright. we can work on that, though.” “how?” he tightens his arm around your middle.
“i’ll bring you on for my next show. we’ll do a little duet.” you’re joking, though that would definitely be interesting to see unfold. “uh, never. what happened to you being tired?” tom cleverly deflects and digs his fingers into your side. you look down in defeat. “i forgot about that.” “yeah, yeah. no, seriously. we should really get to sleep, y/n/n.” he’s back to his sweet, attentive self. “‘s been a long night.”
giving in with a nod, you capture his lips in yet another kiss. tom never gets tired of them, and neither do you. you break it after a few seconds, lips lingering on his as they detach. “carry me?” you ask again, not caring how whiny you sound. tom presses a quick kiss to your forehead. “oh, you’re adorable. of course.”
well, you’ve found something to keep you occupied until the next leg of tour. you’re going to discover the many layers your intriguingly unusual boyfriend has.
468 notes · View notes
regrettablewritings · 3 years
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Hi!😁 I'll give you another ship with my dear Lucifer morningstar from Lucifer cuz as it turns out I'm a hoe for a lot of characters but what can ya do? Thank you!
Aw hell yii, somebody's talkin' my lingo! 😎
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Who the fuck put the Peeps in the microwave?: Lucifer. And no, it's not because he actually likes them or is curious about what would happen; he's seen plenty of Youtube videos enough to know exactly what happens. No . . . It's far more malicious . . . Generally speaking, you don't like the constant comparison of cats to the devil. But after getting to actually meet The Devil, you think that those believers might be on to something. Lucifer's whorey ways bleeds into his need for attention like red bleeds into white in the wash, and he's completely shameless about it. For example, if he feels like you may be focusing too much on work or, gasp, other people besides him, you run the risk of encountering a very . . . mischievous Luci. Not that he's not already a prankster, but he somehow becomes a bit more childish. Catlike in some respects. He puts your mugs up higher than what you can normally reach without having to climb on the countertop. He joins you at your kitchen table while you're reading over files for work and puts on his most angelic face, insisting he just wants to keep you company and will be as quiet as vermin in Dear Old Dad's house . . . then proceed to obnoxiously click a pen while pretending to solve a word problem, or eat cheese puffs obnoxiously loud. And then . . . the Peeps: The absolute prettyboy bastard used your microwave as a casualty of war, plopping the unplated, mutant-colored marshmallows directly on the glass and letting them go. To be fair, it technically didn't ruin anything. But at least he had your attention now -- because after fussing at him for making a mess, you were currently supervising him scrubbing not only the effected areas of the glass dish, but the rest of the microwave as well. Unfortunately, you can't say a lesson was really learned because now Luci knows that if he wants to get a rise out of you, what he needs is a bunch of candies from the bargain bin.
Who forgot to put the cat out before sex?: It's not that either of you forgot the cat was there -- it was that Lucifer wanted the bloody animal to give the both of you some privacy. And because Lucifer forgot the cat was there. He was simply too busy embracing you in a liplock and laying you down on the couch to notice the glaring eyes of the cat you had rescued from the shelter. Thankfully, you two didn't get very far before the lovingly-named Lucipurr released a meow, indicating that he had become flesh and bone in the few hours it had been since you'd last fed him. Suffice to say, after a startled Lucifer flung himself off of you and onto the floor, nearly breaking his ass on the coffee table (and the laughing fit that had induced on your end), the mood was killed. For the next fifteen minutes, that is. The next time he tried anything, Lucifer made sure that his efforts would be continued in the bedroom (but not before he did a complete check of every nook and cranny in there to make sure the furry bastard wasn't trying anything).
Who posts Vines/TikToks of the other doing embarrassing shit?: Lucifer absolutely lacks boundaries. The moment he discovered smartphones, social media, and all their potential, he was all in and recording as many videos of friends and coworkers as he could in as many awkward or unideal situations as they came. You felt bad for Dan being his constant target, but you were somewhat sure that Dan felt bad for you in a way: After all, you were dating the freaking guy and yet Lucifer had few qualms about posting a video of you, drunkenly singing karaoke in what was supposed to be a private room? Harsh.
Who breaks the most phones?: Lucifer does. He's not necessarily careless, but his part-time occupation does lead him to circumstances that tend to put his phone in danger. You, Chloe, Dan, literally everyone has told him to just leave his phone in the car if he's going to get it broken that often while on the job, but the dumbass never learns. Not that he really seems to care all that much: With his wealth, he can always buy a new one. Though, the only times he gets frustrated is when photos or videos don't quite make it to the transfer and things get lost along the way. Funny photos, suggestive videos, photos and videos of you . . . Photos and videos of you being funny or suggestive . . . Downright pornographic videos he had recorded of you -- Though don't worry: He's sure you'll be more than happy to help recreate the latter. He'd gladly help you . . .
Who dies first?: It should go without saying. It really should. But that doesn't make it hurt any less. Lucifer was always one to get caught up in his indulgences, after all: Somewhere along the way, he must've gotten too swept up in the thrill, the feeling of adoration. He tells himself this but it's really just denial. Closer to the truth is that it all really was just denial: He denied the idea that you would ever leave him, that you would ever die. Luci was never good with his own thoughts and feelings, but the way you made him feel was nearly enough to convince him that, in some way, you would just plain live forever. But of course, this was not the case: It didn't matter that you were fantastical enough to love and be loved by the Devil; you were still very much a human. Very much mortal. So susceptible to things like time and illness and injury. Lucifer was the King of Indulgences. It was extremely rare for him to experience regret. But when your time inevitably ran out, remorse filled him like smoke filled his lungs with every cigarette he ran through from the moment your funeral arrangements were decided. He could never regret knowing you, as much as part of him thought doing so would spare him this pain. He tried to think of how much better he might've been had he never met you, and it always felt like he was stuck in his own personal Hell Loop with everything going wrong over and over no matter how hard he tried to change it. He regretted that for as much time as he lived up with you, he felt like he didn't use nearly enough of that time to just . . . enjoy you. You in your mortality, your fleeting beauty and love that would nonetheless haunt him for however long he might go on for. So maybe . . . for eternity? This didn't feel like his own personal Hell Loop: This was his own personal Hell Loop. And until he learned to forgive himself, it would never end. So he'd be stuck here for maybe . . . eternity.
Which one I could see as being lactose intolerant: Neither. Unless they get brought down to mortal enough, Celestials generally don't suffer ailments, let alone from things like food allergies.
Who thinks they can do something really well even though they can't?: Lucifer . . . It's not that he's not smart. But by Dad, he is lacking in so much self-awareness that it can be maddening. He thinks he's pretty good at following Dr. Linda's advice (and, to an extent, he's progressing). But the fact of the matter is, he's incredibly troubling at best. Not nearly as bad as some patients, mind you, but when Linda admitted to you that one or two sessions of Lucifer completely misinterpreting her advice nearly drove her to consider adding a secret bar into her desk, you believed her and didn't blame her for one bit.
Who is more likely to get kicked out of bed?: Lucifer is a changed devil. But it's a very slow change. You're more than happy to understand and accept this, but that doesn't mean you have to let him and his issues walk all over you. Sometimes, the big dummy just says or does things without thinking -- or because he thought too hard and thought this was the best decision to avoid further strife. And you try to be patient with him about these tendencies, you really do. But that doesn’t erase your ability to be upset by these habits, or your right to be. And no amount of him buttering you up is going to be acceptable, even when he comes by your place, armed with a dish he so thoughtfully prepared for you. Nope, he can literally go to Hell with that (really, you’re sure the demons there would appreciate a nice beef wellington); you just need some space. Ironically, this may create a cycle wherein his need to make you happy again and have your attention on him drives him to constantly hover around you and attempt to win you over, which in turn just further frustrates you. It’ll likely keep going until you either snap or a loved one pulls Luci to the side and gives him a heads up that maybe he should respect your boundaries. After all, intention isn’t the problem here: It’s the actions taken. And as much as it hurts him knowing that he accidentally hurt you, he has to respect your need for time to cool off. He forces himself to go back to his place and tries to think less about how he feels and more about how you might feel, and try to work out ways to avoid similar incidents in the future. And even though the conclusions he comes to may not be perfect, you at least respect the effort -- particularly when he next sees you, no longer armed with snacks from your favorite bakery or bouquet-carrying teddy bears. Instead, all he has is an apology. It’s sheepish, and it feels foreign to someone who rarely experiences shame or regret, but you know his whole heart is in it even if he himself doesn’t understand entirely why that is. Which is good because that’s just part one of the process; part two involves him warming up that spot in your bed that’s reserved for him!
Who uses the computer the most?: You, absolutely. Lucifer's adorably but altogether completely crap when it comes to technology. Besides, he can easily find other things with which to amuse himself, and doing the paperwork is for other people anyway.
Thank you sooooo much for participating again!!! It really means a lot!!! ❤️ ❤️ ❤️
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calpalirwin · 3 years
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Better Now
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Summary: Putting yourself back out there after a heartbreak is never easy, but you and Ashton are learning that it’s worth it.
A/N: Big thanks to @jessalyn-jpeg​ for listening to me cry over Taylor Acorn songs while I figured out how to combine her latest releases into 1 fic.
Word Count: 2.6k
And away, and away we go!
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Aside from the composition book that lay open on the coffee table, the recording room was empty. Face contorting in curious confusion, Ashton picked it up, thinking one of his bandmates had left it behind. But as he caught a glance at the words sprawled across the lined pages in black inked handwriting he didn’t recognize he knew he should have closed it. Songwriting was a very personal thing, and he would hate for anyone to find his own songbook lying around and read the contents. But the words jumped out at him, and he found himself taking a seat, still holding the notebook open in his hands.
“And no one comes to save you, you learn to save yourself. The world, it just keeps going on while you’re going through hell. No, it’s not all that it’s cut out to be. ‘Cuz you can’t hide behind the silver screen. Love ain’t like the movies.”
“Jesus…” he whispered to himself.
“Excuse me?” a female voice asked from the doorway, and Ashton jumped, snapping the notebook shut.
“Uh…” he stuttered, staring at the woman with her hair messily thrown up, dressed casually in jeans and a tank top, a tired but wild look in her bright eyes. “Hi. Can I help you?”
She adjusted the guitar case strap on her shoulder. “Uh, I hope so? A notebook? Standard composition notebook. Black and white colored. Probably impossible to distinguish from any other black and white standard composition notebook. I know, super helpful description. You haven’t happened to see one lying around here, have you?”
“Like this?” Ashton asked, flashing the notebook in his hand.
“It would look exactly like that!” she brightened. Then, her smile faltered. “But that one’s probably yours, isn’t it?”
“Uh, actually no. It was on the coffee table when I came in. I, uh, thought it might be one of my bandmates, but it’s not their handwriting.”
“Oh, so you read it?” she asked. No anger or embarrassment. Just clarifying a fact.
Ashton rubbed at the back of his neck. “Sorry… I didn’t read a lot. Just enough to realize the handwriting was different.” He held out the notebook to her for her to take. “It’s uh, good by the way. Whatever you’re working on. Relatable.”
“Thanks,” she said, taking the notebook from him and flipping through the pages to confirm that it was in fact hers. “I really need to keep better track of my shit… Thanks for finding it.”
“Yeah, ‘course. And sorry again for reading bits of it.”
She waved a hand at his apology. “Oh, it’s fine. My fault for leaving it lying around. Sorry you can relate to it.”
Ashton shrugged. “Heartbreak: part of the standard human experience. Some of your lyrics actually remind me of a song my band put out once years ago. At the time I considered myself lucky to not be able to relate to it. But seeing yours… which is far more poetic than anything four teenage boys could come up with… I’m glad for songs like that. Makes you feel a little less alone in the drowning.”
“Yeah, I’m hoping this helps me at least start to tread water again. How long ago was the heartbreak for you?” she asked, then shook her head. “Sorry, you don’t have to answer that. I should probably be going anyway. Let you get back to your shit, and go off to deal with mine.”
Ashton chuckled. “Nah, it’s fine. It’s been about four months for me. So still recent enough to sting like a bitch.”
She smiled and laughed a bit at his words, but there was a sadness to both. “Two and a half months for me. So just enough to actually drag myself out of my bedroom.”
“And down to a studio where some jackass reads your most personal feelings. Awesome…”
There was a bit more realness to her laugh this time around. “Honestly, not a problem. It’s meant for people to hear, you know?”
“I suppose that’s true. I’m Ashton, by the way.”
“Y/N.”
“Good luck with the song, Y/N. Feel better soon, yeah?”
“Thanks. You too.” She turned to head out of the room, before pausing and turning back around. “What was that song? The one your band made that you couldn’t relate to at the time?”
Ashton’s cheeks turned pink. “Oh. You don’t wanna hear that one, trust me. Cringey teenage attempt at being emo punk.”
“Damn… Emo punk is my favorite.”
Against his better judgement, Ashton pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Alright,” he gave in, pulling up the song. “But you’re not allowed to make fun of me. Like I said, this was years ago.”
Y/N held out her pinky finger. “No judgement, swear.”
Ashton linked his own pinky with hers, and hit play. For the next three and a half minutes he watched her carefully as she stood there with her eyes closed, nodding her head along with the beat. On one hand, he was glad her eyes were closed because it meant that she couldn’t see him watching her, or see his embarrassment. But on the other hand it meant that he had no clue what she was thinking. He hit pause before it could replay again. “Like I said, some of your lyrics have a similar feeling,” he said with a shrug.
She opened her eyes as she nodded. “Yeah, I see what you mean. About thinking you’re getting the fairytale movie ending one second, and the next the ending is anything but happily ever after. Was one of those solos you?”
He shook his head. “Nah. I’m the drummer. So-”
“Lots of back up,” she interrupted with a knowing nod. “Is it because you don’t sing at all? Or just out of convenience?”
“Mostly convenience. In our earlier days we used to split up singing pretty evenly. And then we all got more comfortable in our roles. But I still sing from time to time in more than a back up way.”
“That’s cool. And I bet it makes recording stuff and everything so much easier. I have to do a lot of borrowing or outsourcing to get all the sounds I want.”
“Not in a band, huh?”
“Nope. Just your regular solo artist.”
“That’s gotta get lonely.”
“It can be. But it also means making things in my vision, and not having to compromise on that.”
“Well, if you ever need someone to lay down some drum tracks, or just some company so you’re not drowning alone, I’m here most of the time.”
She nodded, understanding what he wasn’t saying about an intrinsic need to stay out of the house as much as humanly possible. Away from the memories that haunted every aspect of being awake. “Thanks, Ashton,” she said, once again turning to leave, but found herself turning back towards him, another question on her lips. “Do you mind if I ask you something personal?”
“Go for it.”
“What’s the hardest part of breaking up? Of trying to move on, and feel like yourself again?”
“Honestly? Waking up, and seeing that empty side of the bed. Hits you like a freight train all over again. That kind of overwhelming sense of dread that you’re never gonna feel normal again.”
“But then you get up, and try anyway, hoping that today it hurts just a little bit less than it did yesterday.”
“But it doesn’t, and you start to lose hope that the pain will ever stop.”
“That’s the hardest part.”
“The fuckin’ worst. But hey. It can’t suck forever. Or, that’s what I keep telling myself anyway. That’s what finally gets me out of bed.”
“And hey! Maybe I'll get a hit song out of it in the process, too.” She feigned a smile, flashing her notebook.
“Oh, that’ll be a hit, no question about it.”
“Thanks. For uh… well everything, I guess. See you around, Ashton.”
“Good luck, Y/N.”
~~~
Y/N eventually did get the courage to ask Ashton for both his company and musical help, on a day when she found it harder than normal to get up out of bed.
She trudged her way into the studio, spotting him watching a coffee pot in the common living area. “Oh, hey,” he smiled warmly as she pulled open the fridge. “Making a fresh pot if you want any.”
She shook her head, grabbing a water bottle and taking a few sips from it. “Can I get your help today?” she asked in a low whisper, hoping to hide the wobble in her tone.
“Yeah, of course. Everything alright?”
She shook her head again, then wordlessly left for her recording room.
“So, what’s up?” Ashton asked when he found her a few moments later, cup of coffee in hand.
“You’re not allowed to judge me for any vulnerability today.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
“Good. Because this verse is gonna be really hard for me to record.”
He nodded, taking a seat while she set up behind a microphone. A soft guitar track started playing, and when she took a breath, Ashton prepared himself for lyrics of her most recent break up. So when her soft voice started singing, “ ‘Cuz after my dad died, even though she never let us see her cry, my mom was broken inside, ‘cause she just lost her best friend. Why don’t they prepare you for that? When the picture perfect life you had goes black,” to say he was shocked was a bit of an understatement.
There was a click of the track, and the guitar stopped, the headphones settling around her neck. “I’m sorry about your dad,” he spoke up softly. “I- that’s gotta be rough.”
“Most of the time it’s a dull ache. A small hum I can ignore if I don’t focus on it. But there’s a few days where the pain is all fresh, like I’m learning the news again for the first time. A shock to the system.”
“I like the juxtaposition of it all. Most of the time when people think of love gone wrong, or ending before we’re ready, it’s the break up. Because the alternative… it’s…”
“Unfathomable.”
“Yeah. It’s a pain that I can’t imagine, that’s for sure.”
“Lucky you.”
He chuckled slightly. “Nah. Not in the way you think. My own experience is fucked, but in the other direction. He left and never gave a shit.”
“That’s rough.”
“It was, yeah. I guess the small benefit is that I was too young to remember him leaving. So for me, he’s always been gone. Haven’t ever known anything different.”
“See, I’m grateful that I at least have my memories of my dad. Even if he’s been gone longer than I had him. But it’s like a double-edged sword. The memories bring some peace. But it also fuckin’ sucks that they’ll never be anything more than that. That I don’t get new ones.”
“Well, I dunno if talking about him helps you at all. But if you want to, you can.”
“You don’t mind? I don’t wanna bore you, or make you jealous.”
He patted the empty spot on the couch next to him. “C’mon, you asked for my help. Let me help.”
She gave a small laugh before moving to sit next to him. “Remember, you’re not allowed to judge me for being vulnerable.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
He listened as stories of her childhood fell from her lips. He offered her up the box of tissues on the coffee table when her words got choked, and would gently prompt her into continuing when she stopped to apologize. He provided her with stories of his own childhood when her own stories grew too painful to share, confiding in her the way she was confiding in him. And when the sun started to cast long shadows across the room, maybe not a lot of work had been done when it came to her song, but Ashton had helped her nonetheless, and both of them felt a little lighter than they had been in a while.
~~~
Help in the form of company was given with much less hesitance after that, with Y/N and Ashton seeking each other out with regularity. Some days would be spent with the two barely exchanging a word as they played out various melodies, or wrote new lyrics. Other days were filled with endless chatter as they shared ideas they had, and provided ideas on how to overcome any blocks in creativity, or just swapped more stories. And other days still, he would help her work on her song.
When Y/N finally finished her song, Ashton was the first person she thought of to share it with, dragging him excitedly into the room with her. “Jesus, this is the happiest I think I’ve ever seen you,” he teased with a giggle.
“Do you wanna hear the song or not?” she asked.
“It’s done?”
“It’s done!”
“Well, hit play! C’mon!”
For three and a half minutes they stood in the middle of the recording room while her song blasted from the speakers. 
“Well?” she asked expectantly when silence overtook them once more. Then, more quizzically, “Why are you staring at me like that?”
He had an amazed smile on his face, dimples cratering his cheeks, and a soft shine in his eyes. “Staring at you like what?” he asked in response.
“Like you wanna… I dunno… kiss me or something…”
His tongue darted out to wet his lips. Then the soft look was melting away into confusion. “Cuz sometimes I think I want to.”
“And other times?”
“I talk myself down because I’m not sure what I want, or what I feel. We’re both still getting over people who caused us a lot of damage. And I don’t always feel like I’m ready to think about starting a relationship with someone new. But I also know that I’m never going to be ready until I actually start doing it. And I really like the friendship we’ve built the past couple of months. I feel more like me when I’m around you. Like, not only am I no longer drowning, I can actually feel the bottom. But I don’t know if those feelings come from being around someone who can relate to what I’m going through right now, like some weird trauma bond. Or if it’s real “I like you’ feelings. And it’s not fair to you for me to not know.”
She nodded, both understanding what he was saying, and what he wasn’t saying. “What if I kiss you instead?”
“Please, don’t.”
“Because you’re scared we’ll hurt each other? Ash, if we don’t at least try, then we’re never gonna know what’s real and what’s not.”
“It’s partially that. But also… If we end up kissing… I’m not going to want to stop.”
“Then you better not be a lousy kisser.”
~~~
7 Months Later
Ashton got a small flash of deja vu as he saw the black and white composition book lying open, the beginnings of a song scribbled across one of the pages. “Just another hopeless broken heart cliche. And all my fairytale ambitions, I just watched them wash away.”
“Y/N?” he called out, curious to learn where this song was going, and also where his girlfriend could be hiding. “Babe?”
“But it’s too late for sorry baby, even if you’ve changed. I’m not letting myself break down, count me out. Oh, I’m better now,” her voice sang softly as it came down the hallway with her, a black pen twirling between her fingers. She paused as she spotted him standing there with her notebook, a smile lighting up her face. “Hey, you.”
“Hey,” he matched her smile, handing her the notebook and pressing a kiss to her head. “That’s nice. Whatever you were just singing. What inspired this one?”
“Just reflecting a bit on this past year,” she told him, as she quickly wrote what she’d been singing in the notebook before the lyrics left her head.
“Feeling a lot better these days, huh?”
“Better than I’ve ever been.”
__
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Life in Quarantine (Part 1) | Owen Patrick Joyner
Summary: A series about being stuck in quarantine with your best friend Owen and trying not to lose your mind over being stuck inside all day every day. 
Pairing: Owen x reader
Warnings: Fluff, minor swearing, lots of singing
Songs used: Don’t Let Go by En Vouque/ Washington on Your Side from Hamilton/ More than Words by Little Mix / Not a Pop Song by Little Mix  -- All credits go to owners of these songs
A/N: I know nothing about songwriting and none of this will probably ever happened in real life, but it just worked for the story, alright? Alright. Enjoy! 
Words: 3,372
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Part 1: Not A Pop Song
Norman, Oklahoma. My home town. The place where I was born and raised. The place where I learned how to live and love. Where I learned what heartbreak is. Where I met and lost friends. The town all my most valued memories reside. 
It’s also where I met my best friend, Owen. Our mothers were, and still are, college besties. So, us becoming friends was kind of inevitable. We went through everything together. Kindergarten, Elementary, Middle School and High School. Wherever you saw me, you saw Owen and vice versa. A lot of people often thought we were a couple, but that’s been off the table since day one. In Elementary School, Owen and I made a pact with five different rules to seal our friendship forever. The list only grew as we got older. But here’s the gist: 
1. If one is teased or bullied, the other takes revenge 2. Always sing and dance together whenever one asks, even if you don’t want to 3. Always share cookies 4. Always play together at recess 5. Always sit together at lunch
Then the additions from Middle and High School: 
6. We will never, ever, ever date each other or each other’s siblings 7. Ethan, Evan and Emmy are off limits too 8. Crushes too 9. Always go to Broadway shows together 10. Never lie even if you wanna do it for the right reasons. There is no right reason.  11. Always support each other’s dreams and successes 12. Always hate each other’s exes 13. Always share ice cream 14. Never share our secrets with other 15. Always go to parties together
That last one was added by Owen in senior year of High School when I didn’t want to go to a party since it was my exes party and we’re supposed to hate each other’s exes. But, since he’s been in LA for most of senior year to pursue his acting career, I really couldn’t say no. Him going off to Los Angeles for months, sometimes even longer, started in eighth grade when he landed the role of Crispo Powers in a Nickelodeon show called ‘100 things to do before High School’, which I religiously watched, of course.  Rule 9 tells you to. After High School, the two of us split ways. I headed off to Boston to study at Berklee College of Music to major in songwriting as it’s always been a dream of mine to become a songwriter, while Owen went to LA to further pursue his career in acting. We’ve tried to keep in contact, but daily calls turned into weekly calls turned into monthly calls. Five months in, we just try to at least check in with each other every now and then, which is what works best for our busy schedule. Then December 2018 came and changed my life entirely for the better. The representative of Syco and Columbia records said he was in need of fresh blood to co-write songs with none other than Little Mix on their next album.  They held a competition at Berklee College, and long story short, I won! Yay me. To say I was nervous to write with a girl group I’ve been a fan of since the very beginning is an understatement. But they were so nice to work with. We’d take turns flying to each other’s countries and wrote about five songs together of which only two made it onto the actual album. None of it made much sense to me at the time, it all just seemed like one big dream. Owen was pretty excited about it too. He knew how big a fan I was of the girls. Even though he wasn’t a big fan himself, he still listened to the album, mostly to listen to the songs I’d written. Over FaceTime, we even played a game called ‘Guess what song I’ve written’, and he’d gotten one right. The girls even gave you a full-time job as co-writer on more projects of theirs and even recommended you to other artists. This meant you had to quit college and become a full-time freelance songwriter. Thanks to Little Mix, though, you’ve gotten the nicest people to hire you. Since then, you’ve worked with artists like Meghan Trainor, Bea Miller, Isabella Merced -- who you could gossip with about Owen from her time working with him -- and even Harry Styles. The fifteen-year-old inside you didn’t know what to do with herself when that collaboration happened. But working with all those people also meant I had to move again. This time to Los Angeles. When I told Owen the good news, he immediately suggested you move in with him. It’s the thing you guys said you would do once you got older; get an apartment together. So, it was the only logical move. “Welcome to your new casa!” He said dramatically when leading me into the apartment. The tall white walls and large windows illuminated the entire place with a welcoming feeling. “Let me show you to your room, so you can drop off your excessive luggage and then I’ll give you the tour of the entire space.” I raise an eyebrow at his words. “Bro, I have excessive luggage because I just moved from Boston to freaking LA!” I exclaim, followed by an amused chuckle as I try to push him, but fail since he’s much stronger. From that moment on, I knew moving in with Owen would be the best and worst idea I ever had. 
And speaking of ‘worsts’. From March 2020, the two of us were stuck at home together due to the outbreak of the coronavirus. Just when I was supposed to start working with Little Mix on their new album. I would’ve been in London now, but instead, I’m stuck in LA with my best friend who doesn’t have a job at the moment since he’d just finished filming a new Netflix show called Julie and The Phantoms. What I heard from it this far, it sounds pretty amazing. I even went to Vancouver with Owen for a few weeks. It was a fun trip and gave me some new inspiration for some songs. “Hey, Nugget,” Owen says as he walks into the room we call our studio where I’m working. “I’m kinda in the middle of something, Ace. Can it wait?” I know I shouldn’t work out my frustration on my best friend, but it kind of fell out of my mouth before I could stop myself. “Sorry, Nugget, I’m kinda bored…” I sigh exasperatedly and bob my head to signal his permission to come in. “What are you working on?” he asks as he sits down on the armrest of the armchair I’m sitting on. “This Little Mix song I can’t seem to make work,” I reply and point to the notebook in front of me. “I’ve got a few good lyrics, but the melody seems impossible.” Owen takes the notebook from me and closes it before getting up. “Time for a little break,” he says and goes to sit behind his drum kit. “Guess what song I’m playing,” he then says and starts with the cymbals, then hi-hats and when a beat finally floats through the room, my brain starts to work. This is a game we’ve been playing every time I’m in need of a break or just for fun. We’d take turns in playing a part of a song on our respective instruments and the other has to guess which song it is by singing along. “What’s it gonna be? Cuz I can’t pretend Don’t you wanna be More than friends Hold me tight and don’t let go Don’t let go Have the right to lose control Don’t let go” A smile appears on Owen’s as I get the first song right. He always underestimates my love for girl bands from the 80’s and 90’s. Though, I think he might’ve given me this one because I’m so frustrated from working on that song. “Your turn,” he then says after having hit a couple more toms and cymbals. I think about it for a moment, and then start plucking the sixth string to create a more bassy sound. Owen stares at the guitar for a moment trying to figure out what song I’m playing. Then, his eyes widen as he recognizes the sound. “It must be nice, it must be nice To have Washington on your side It must be nice, it must be nice To have Washington on your side” I let out a loud whoop in excitement, choking the strings to stop the sound. “I still can’t do that rap though!” he actually sounds disappointed in himself. “Washington isn’t gon’ listen to disciplined dissidents This is the difference This kid is out!” I proudly yell out, earning impressed applause from my best friend. The smile on his face warms me up inside. Owen has always had the most beautiful smile, in my opinion. He has one of those smiles that could just instantly make you happy. No matter how bad a day you had. “Very impressive, Nugget,” he replies with a smirk that sends shivers down my spine. Ever since I moved in, he’s gotten more and more flirty with me. I’m not sure if it’s just a change in his personality that he’s acquired in Los Angeles or if it’s something else, but it’s there. Not that I mind. Something has shifted in me too since we moved in together. It’s even gotten me thinking about removing rule number 6 from our pact. “Your turn, Ace,” I quickly change the subject, just so I don’t have to think about him like that too much. Our dynamic as best friends is too good to ruin it all. Twenty years of that is a long time to just throw away like that. “Alright, an easy one,” he says and simply starts stomping the bass pedal to activate his bass drum.  It’s a slow, almost menacing thump that sounds very familiar. A little too familiar. “Oh, I need you more than words can say Oh, You saved me in ways I can’t explain Always been there for me, now I’ll do the same Oh, I need you more than words can say” It’s one of the two songs on Little Mix’s last album that I helped write. The song that means most to me since I wrote it with Owen in mind. It was a period of time where all I wanted was to see Owen and be able to talk to him and just spend time with him like we used to before his whole acting adventure. I think he’ll stop after the chorus, but instead, he picks up his drum sticks and starts playing the rest of the song on his drum kit. Deciding it could be a fun jam session, I start playing the chords on my guitar as well whilst continuing with the lyrics. “Won't forget, won't forget Won't forget when he broke my heart How you helped me through You turned, you turned, you turned a disaster into a dream Gave me the power, made my life brand new When the world try to break us, we found magic And we grew stronger, though every line, line, line Every night, every night, every night I strain and sing the truth Now, now they know that they gonna be alright, alright” The memories of when I wrote this song start slipping through my mind. I remember how alone I felt, even in a room with a dozen other people. I remember how much I missed Owen. “I find peace in every story you told I think of you, I'll never be alone It's true, true, true You know I do, do, do” My eyes lock with Owen for a moment. He shoots me a comforting smile that makes me feel right at home. And I don’t mean here. I mean home as in Norman, Oklahoma. “Oh, I need you more than words can say Oh, you save me in ways that I can't explain Always been there for me, now I'll do the same Oh, I need you more than words can say Oh, I need you more than words can say” We both stop playing and just look at each other for a while. I’ve never told Owen I wrote this song for him, but at the same time, I think he might already know. That doesn’t take away the urge to tell him though. “I wrote that about you when I missed you,” I blurt out without properly thinking about it. “Really?” he asks while coming out from behind his kit. Combing his long, blonde hair back, he makes his way over to me and grabs the guitar from my lap. “Yeah, I thought you’d know?” He chuckles, shaking his head whilst tickling the strings. I’d taught him a couple of songs on the guitar since we started living together. “You write with a lot of people, Nugget. Could’ve just been their words as well....” He isn’t wrong about that. Maybe it was a lot less obvious than I thought it was. “So, what are the guidelines for this one?” he questions. I grab my notebook again and open it on the page I was working on before he fluttered into the studio. “They didn’t want another pop song. Kind of more like a ‘fuck you’ to Simon Cowell for treating them so badly and telling them what to do and what to wear and whatnot,” I explain, showing the few lines I have already. Some of them Jade had sent me, others were Perrie’s, a couple were mine. “What are most pop songs about?” Owen queries. I know he’s trying to help me, but he’s kind of making me nervous with the constant strumming of the guitar. “Songs about falling in love, or drinks and drugs…” I sum up at the top of my mind, “Or heartbreak…” Owen nods his head whilst continuing to play the same few chords over and over again. I focus on the melody for a moment as my creative juices start to work again. “This ain’t another pop song ‘bout falling in love Or a party song ‘bout drinks and drugs No more singing songs ‘bout breaking my heart And my lonely nights dancin’ in the dark” I look up at Owen for validation. Nodding his head encouragingly, he keeps playing the same few chords but a little louder this time to support the flow of my lyrics. “If I’m a guilty pleasure I want this life forever I’ll take it all ‘cause anything is better Than another pop song ‘bout falling in love But if you wanna sing along say ‘I don’t give a fuck!’” Owen starts jumping around excitedly, and I can’t help but laugh at his adorableness. He used to get this excited whenever I sent him a demo of the songs I was working on. “Let’s record a demo!” he exclaims and, after handing me my guitar back, moves towards the recording equipment. “Let’s start with some guitar,” he says and that’s how our recording starts. First, the guitar, then Owen records some drums, and then I get behind the mic to sing the song all by myself. I can just imagine how amazing this’ll sound with the girls’ voices instead of mine. “No broken bottles Or glitter on the floor form the night before Ain’t no boy troubles If that’s what you came here for then you should know” I lapse back into the chorus one last time before we finish recording and put everything together. We listen to it a couple more times before sending it over to Little Mix and their management. Awaiting their answer, we head into the kitchen to make some dinner together. It only takes about half an hour before I get a call from Jade. “This song is epic!” she shouts into my ear before I can even say hello. “Exactly what we needed, Y/N, thank you so much!” I’ve grown accustomed to her thick Geordie accent, though it was hard to understand in the beginning. “Thanks, Jade! Owen helped me out a little,” I reply, looking up at Owen himself who shoots me a wink that sends a rush of heat from my head all the way to my toes. The girls all know about Owen. I’d told them about my best friend and how supportive he was, and they always teased me saying I was so in love with this guy. Which I didn’t realize at the time and always denied. Rule 6 clearly states no dating each other. “Give him a big snog as a thanks then!” Jade jokes, and I can even hear the others in the background. “I’m on Zoom with the girls at the moment. They say hi!” “Hi back!” I can’t stop the giggle from escaping from my lips. “I gotta go, Jade. Thanks for getting back to me about the song. I can’t wait to hear you guys singing it!” Jade snickers on the other side of the line. All while I’m watching Owen make some pasta at the stove. There’s something so attractive about him in the kitchen, I’m not sure what it is. Fuck, Jade is right. I am very much in love with my best friend and there’s nothing I’m going to be able to do about it. Stupid pact we made in the first grade. “We’ll call you later to discuss some more arrangements and stuff. Bye, Y/N!” “Bye, Jade! Bye girls!” I say loudly, knowing I’m probably on speaker phone anyway. “Bye, Y/N!” the girls chorus. I hang up the phone and look at Owen for a few seconds before bursting out into an excited cheer, dancing my way towards him. “They loved it! They loved it! They loved it!” I shout loudly, and cup Owen’s face in my hands before pressing my lips to his in an outburst of elation. I’m surprising yourself at first, but then melt into the familiarity of his embrace as his arms snake around my waist whilst kissing me back. He’s actually kissing me back. “And that’s rule number 6 out the door…” Owen mumbles when he pulls away. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have,” I mumble and step away from him, or at least try to. His arms tighten around my waist, restricting me from taking another step. “I’ve been thinking about talking to you about that stupid rule, Nugget. I’ve hated it ever since we were 16.” My eyes widen at his confession. Since we were sixteen? SIXTEEN? That’s four years ago. That’s even long before I realized I felt more for him than just a platonic love. “16? Why didn’t you say anything?!” Owen chuckles, retracting his arms from around my waist and instead tucking a strand of hair behind my ear before placing his hand on my cheek. “You were pretty enamoured with Ryan, remember?” My heart breaks at the mention of the prick’s name. Ryan was my very first heartbreak and the worst at that. Owen was in LA at the time, but when he heard the news, he almost immediately flew back to Norman Oklahoma to comfort me and eat ice cream together. “Besides, I was constantly on the move from LA to Norman, it wouldn’t have been fair to you…” “You’re the sweetest human being alive, Owen Patrick Joyner,” I tell him with a smile tugging at my lips, but then turn serious again as I flick his forehead. He lets out an ‘ow’ and shoots me a confused glare. “And the stupidest! I’ve been in love with you since I don’t know when, but I never realized until now! The girls from Little Mix even knew but I was too oblivious or stubborn to see it myself. If you’d told me, I probably would’ve realized sooner!” “Well… I told you now?” he tries, the cheesiest smile on his face that makes me roll my eyes. “I love you, Ace,” I whisper, “And not the platonic kind this time.” “I love you too, Nugget.” He leans down again after that, reconnecting our lips into a passionate kiss. The first of many. This ought to be a very interesting quarantine together.
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drabbles-of-writing · 3 years
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Reverse Au! Dump
Don’t mind my idea dumping here. Brain decided to have fun while I was at work and I have too many wips as it is, so… Thought I’d ask before I dumped, experience. Used morningmark’s comics as a base, so if you want reference. Now this isn’t all that well compiled, but here it goes.
~
Magic in the Other World is varied as it is crazy. So many styles over the generations and not a lot of organization. There are some that try to categorize it all, but that works as well as you’d expect. Some were lost, some erased, some weren’t passed down/recorded because “the power is all mine! Ahahaha!” It took a lot of time and collaboration, but eventually a sort of system was installed to help out. Still a lot of work to do, but its a step forward. Nowadays the term Wild Magic is generally reserved for those that aren’t all that well documented and understood.
Some Magics are very powerful and desirable, but also tend to be very high risk/high reward, kinda pass/fail, pretty literally Do or Die most times. So not a lot of people can use those or are even willing to. Story says this one guy named Odin hung himself on a massive tree by his own spear for nine days, no food water or rest in constant pain before he could unlock the secret of Runes. But it’s also said he gouged out his own eye to drink from the Well of Wisdom so… 
There are lots of different ways to channel magic too: wands, staves, jewelry, certain gems, familiars, potions, enchanted armaments, chants, scripts, etc. Each tool has its own advantages and disadvantages and play into a Witches’ style. Every Witch has at least two methods of spellcasting. Only children have one. Haven’t thought of how Luz gets her Palisman though. Maybe its one of those magic Artifacts like Dr. Strange’s cloak, Elder Wand, Thor’s hammer, or a Green Lantern’s Ring. Something that can’t be recreated because the secret is lost, materials no longer exist, too hard/dangerous to make, accident that can’t be recreated, etc. Happens more often than people like.
Camilla is sometimes called the Blue Witch. She’s a healer by heart and trade, but push her and she will become a one Witch Battleship. Bismark who? Aaaaand she just deleted a whole battalion. And the fortress behind them. Hide me. There are the very rare occasions, like count on one hand rare, when someone near and dear to her heart is in trouble that she takes up her other job. She’s especially terrifying when she decides to torture, those who know how to heal the body know best how to break it. Many shades of Blue, some are very close to Black. She doesn’t necessarily hate Humans exactly, but doesn’t have the highest of regard from past experiences.
Luz has training and is a proficient Witch for her age. Camilla and her father were adamant about having a general knowledge/skillset alongside her specialized skill. Jack of all trades and a master of none, still better than a master of one. She has gone through the system for her magic with varying success. Oracle magic? Zero talent. Bard classes? She can play an instrument, but can’t sing at the same time. When she does sing she tires too hard and messes up. It’s only when she doesn’t try, like absently singing along with a song or playing by her heart, that she’s good at it. Beasts? Can use them, but would rather play with them. Bleeding heart and all that. She does have a good handle on healing magic partly due to Camilla drilling necessary skills into her and partly osmosis. Her father arranged for some CQC lessons from an old friend of his which the girl loved. You get the idea. It wasn’t until she discovered Glyphs that she found her niche and her skills took off. Glyphs are one of those ‘eccentric’ or 'archaic’ styles since they haven’t been used in so long after being lost and are barely understood. She still has a long way to go, but she is on her way.
Luz never really had much in the way of friends, partly cuz of high profile parents which leads to certain pressures and a target on her head, partly because of her magic style and personality, and partly because of the trouble been going on. Luz grew up her whole life with this tension of a group of anarchists trying to burn society that’s just trying to do the right thing. The anarchists started small, but have been a growing problem the past few decades with talk how to 'reshape the world’ in not a good way. Anyone with critical thinking skills can tell this is a bad idea, but they are too brainwashed to notice. They harass anyone who doesn’t follow their rhetoric and attack anyone who even questions them. Luz’s parents put a real kink in a lot of their plans for years, which makes Luz guilty by association. 
Luz got caught in one of those sudden larger scuffles and was accidentally chucked/blown through a portal created by an attempted tactical retreat that went off course. Hence why she can’t go home because she hasn’t learned how to do portals yet. Those are high level anyway so how did these guys pull it off so easily? Luz has a hard time blending in obviously. Learning how to use a phone was a fun endeavor. Internet was a trip. Luz is amazed how these people can do all this cool stuff without magic. Keep a low profile sure, she can pass off as a weird out of town kid. Keep the beanie on, underperform in gym and stuff because some things don’t change, like genetics. Someone sharp eyed will see discrepancies. The Beanie has a small Glamor spell built in that covers her witchy traits but she forgot the ears which is why it sits like it does. Luz can erase memories in case she has an accident, but it’s less of a 'remove my face from this picture with a scalpel’, and more of a 'lemme just hack off the past hour or three from your brain with an axe.’ If she tries to take any more then she starts burning into some more dangerous territory and those Wiped are groggy and disoriented for a while after already. Then the magic attacks start happening and her heroic instinct/anti-bystander complex kicks in and there goes that. It runs in the family so Camilla isn’t surprised in the slightest when she finds out.
“Oh titan, why did you curse me with another me?” “I’m right here Mami!”
Eda has a shack very akin to Grunkle Stan. Lots of junk that Lilith can’t believe that people are dumb enough to buy. She’s also involved in some not so legal dealings on the side. Well, Eda isn’t actually hurting anybody and the tax dollars she should be paying would only go towards some politicians’ next yacht or another pointless overseas 'investment’ instead of where it’s supposed to go so. Eda does give some good intel on occasion and a place to vent so Lillith overlooks her. Lil’s more of the secret police for witches and a petty crook isn’t part of her job anyway. Eda understands Luz’s predicament and is willing to help. The cover story is that Camilla work in hospitals and has to work crazy hours while her dad passed away so is living with Eda for a while. King is that kind of critter that grew up weird and acts like ten different animals all the time.
Gus is the nerdy kid who infodumps on everybody, even if they’re not listening. Loves anything fantasy/sci-fi related and plays Minecraft too. A good kid at heart, but needs some social skills. Keep him away from anything more sugary than tea. Luz learned a lot listening to him. Not all of it is entirely useful, but still. Some of his ramblings give her some good ideas for magic and stuff, like putting Glyphs on cards.
The Blights are the cool rich kids obviously, and have some discipline and social issues. Big family name makes them intimidating for normies and a meal ticket for the unsavory. These kids need real friends. They decided to act out to get some attention from the parents who then decided to ignore them. “If you’re going to act like a child tantrum, get treated like one.” Ed is perfect for Drama classes, if he were allowed to partake. Can’t decide what Em is great at, hacking perhaps? Amity’s car is an inheritance from the only family to treat her as such Twins aside, even if she’s too young to remember it. She only remembers that she has feelings surrounding the car. All three of them were pretty impressed with Luz for standing up to them, calling them out on their shit, and not giving a crap about their family name. Being treated like a normal person is pretty weird. Can we get her to do that again?
Amity tried dating Boscha once, didn’t work out very well. Boscha is still hurting over Amity’s comment of “I’d rather go date the new weird kid (Luz) than go back to you.” It’s one of the reasons she goes after Luz. She has that kind of Bud personality from Spider Man, feels lesser and so acts out so much. 
“Wow, this new Witch is amazing. Not as cool as the original Witch.”
“What is it with the Witch with you?”
“Oh, she’s a hero. Looks out for the city and the little guy. She inspires me. Makes me want to be a bigger person. *sees Luz* What’s up Luz-er?”
~
And that’s what I got right now. I know there was more, but it’s lost to the void right now. Might come back later, maybe not. Lemme know what you think.
............
DAMN you weren’t lying when you said you had an info-dump this is *chefs kiss* you got me intrigued now
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steve0discusses · 3 years
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S5 Ep 3: Apdnarg is Really Hard to Spell
 Yo guys, people are getting vaccinated, the sun is parting through the clouds, and I felt so nice that I even stopped listening to quite so many throwback 00′s BTS mashups (and yet I keep clicking on these dissonant catastrophes thinking “this time it’s got to be better. This time they’ll figure it out.” and like, no. Turns out you can’t match Brittany’s Toxic with BTS’ Black Swan. You can’t do that.)
This must be a sign that things are getting better. If anything, it means my personal tastes are improving. I mean I only clicked on like 3 “Dark Academia” Playlists where I could pretend I’m some sort of spooky witch in an abandoned library with a bad music player and basic taste in classical music (like can we ban Satie from Youtube for a little while?). Hell, I might even do a prompt update to this blog!
Yeah, you heard me, I’m actually going to stay ahead of the update schedule for Yugioh Abridged (maybe. I haven’t actually watched cuz of spoilers, I just noticed the thumbnail pop up on Youtube and was like “Damn it, they came out of hiatus??? I got hurry UP.”)
Anyway, speaking of the sky parting.
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I’ll have you know my bro said this is actually more like a circumcision and it was one of the worst thing I have ever heard.
We get a chance to take in this lineup of confusing and varied character designs, and Joey. who is...still Joey.
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The animators probably had to hold a strike in order for them to put Yugi in the audience, lets be real. There are TOO MANY PEOPLE in this shot and one is wearing a turban where you draw every single wrap. I hope those artists charged by the line.
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Tea has a subplot where she’s just very frustrated with everyone she knows. They have been traveling together for like many weeks and got trapped in a foreign country so I get it. But at the same time, it’s kind of hard to picture Tea with female friends.
Because right now you got this 12 year old child, the other duelist who does not care about anything besides cards, and Kaiba’s 3 dragon cards that we’ve all collectively decided are female.
Hell it’s almost like the writers are asking themselves why Tea is here. Maybe they forgot. There’s no more ghosts to bus, no more people to knock out with her ass with random Olympic feats. Tea’s just sidelining.
(read more under the cut)
Mokuba is a itty bit bit taller this season, and so I guess that means he can legally climb on top of the cherry picker in order to give a riveting speech.
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Really says a lot about Mokuba that he is so unphased about talking to, I dunno...an entire planet of people. Kind of a shame we never see this courage from Mokuba used for anything other than talking really, really big and giving everyone around him a really hard time.
Mokuba takes a moment to dunk on Yugi Muto, as is Kaiba tradition.
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And then introduce the first pair of duelists, which obviously must be between the few people in this tournament that we actually know and care about.
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Thankfully, in between last episode and this episode, Yugi has figured out who his own Grandpa is. This is a relief, because Yugi is such a mess, that I was fully convinced it would take over half a season for him to recognize it. I mean how long did it take him to figure out he shares a body with a ghost? Like half a season?
Instead Yugi recovered gracefully from not recognizing his grandpa, but it’s not like he bothered to tell anyone else, so the rest of our cast is just gonna be like “Is he my hairdresser? The guy who delivers my mail? Who is this guy who made absolutely no significant changes to his outfit or voice?”
Like sometimes this show goes full Spongebob silly kid’s show and you never know when to take it seriously or not. They might be sacrificing the entire cast next episode. I really don’t know. But for now their big concern is who is grandpa??? Like an innocent card version of “Are you my Mother?”
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Faced with public speaking, Yugi decides to have a melt down.
We have seen him face monsters, we’ve seen him on TV dozens of times, he’s been in multiple competitions...but give a speech? Of course he can’t do that. The kid doesn’t attend enough school to know how to do that. Them’s learning skills.
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And that was when a newly assembled wife-jet spliced through the sky like a souped up razer scooter and deposited 1 fully equipped Seto Kaiba in a Buzz Lightyear jetsuit.
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THE RECOVERY.
Seto always watching over his Brother, ready to save this awkward party if it kills him (and it really should, that suit is held together by two seat-belts), making sure to get on that platform before Yugi starts going off about how he’s half an Ancient Egyptian. (Ah, life before social media. You could just be hella famous and also half a dead dude and people would just not know. I kinda miss the time before I knew literally everything about everyone.)
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Please admire how close those flames are to setting Mokuba’s heavily hairsprayed mane completely alight. It would be an unforgettable spectacle.
These were absolutely just random ass jet packs that Gozaburo Kaiba made to kill hell tons of people, right? Like Seto found it in the family cabin, clutched to the heart of some crispy fried corpse and was like “neat! Mokuba! I found a cool toy!” and just plucked that thing out of that skeleton’s clutches and has been flying around for months?
Like this is Seto Kaiba’s Butter Glider, right?
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Seriously what type of vehicle license do you need for one of these things? RIP My ‘Seto only has a scooter license’ headcanon.
Which I’m only even thinking about because I’ve had to try and make an appt with the DMV for days to get a freakin REAL ID. I went to sleep in 2019 and I could fly on a plane. I woke up in 2021 and it’s like “Want one last screw you?” and just...can 2020 please stop screwing me over? It’s March.
Anyway, the Jet is removed soon after, so no, this is not part of his new outfit. He goes right back to his Post-S4-Trauma-Normcore.
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After wrestling this competition out of his brother’s hands and confusing everyone in the audience, Roland must have gotten the memo to cut the microphone before Seto got too excited and we were quickly ushered on to the next stage of the tournament.
One sec...the BTS Mashup playlist I just clicked on did a Black Swan X 7 rings mashup and it’s the worst thing my ears have ever heard.
Holy crap. I had to actually turn down my volume. Like...Ariana Grande already has music that has way too many overlapping singing parts on it--and then lets just stick a 52-person boy band on top? That’ll fix it. Yeah. Go ahead.
Wow. Even I had to change the song and you know how much I enjoy pop culture mistakes.
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Spot the Mickey but like a million times easier because it’s a Massive Dick Shaped Dragon.
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Yep. That’s my grocery shopping outfit. Except maybe not a lab coat and a duel disk. Wish I had a duel disk, that would make social distancing just a hell ton earlier. Just a “Yo, only one person in checkout, please” and then bap them on the head with a propelled discuss/hologram.
Anyway, Grocery shopping/Doctor man dueled the Purple Hair Boy, and considering that Purple Hair got screen time and shook Yugi’s hand once--I think that Doctor man doesn’t stand a freakin chance.
Good. I hate him.
Also, every time he breathes he’s gonna fog up his glasses. I have experience in this area. He can’t read his own cards in the same way I can’t read my phone if I’m in the refrigerated aisle.
So the way this tournament works, is everyone has to sit in the stadium to watch the show. Kinda like showing up to a football stadium just to watch a recorded TV monitor...but then again...that is how it feels to watch a football game at a football stadium when it’s live (at least with the tickets I usually get.)
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And as we watch Grandpa waiting for his competitor, we find out that his competitor (Joey) is too busy eating snacks to give him the time of day.
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Why do cartoon hot dogs always have lettuce? Is that seriously supposed to be relish? Or is there a place in the world where you put lettuce on your hot dog?
Sorry, bro has just informed of his favorite hot dog order, which is absolutely terrible so I will share it with you: a Five Guys hot dog with ketchup, mustard, pickle relish, onions, mushrooms, pickled peppers, and you guessed it--topped with freakin lettuce.
My own kin. How am I over 30 and just finding out that my baby brother thinks it’s normal to walk into a restaurant with normal god-fearing law-abiding people and order lettuce and mushrooms on a hot dog?
I have fully failed him.
The rest of this episode is watching both Joey Wheeler and Mokuba have a shared panic attack while Seto does freakin nothing.
Please remember that Seto has both a jetpack and a dragon wife plane and could have easily solved this problem. But nah.
Then again, Seto Kaiba has given this crew so MANY rides, that maybe he’s tired of being the Soccer Mom for the team?
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Like they don’t actually say this episode, but Seto was the one in charge of like...this entire place, do you think he made the 2 for 1 special just to get Joey where it hurts the most? Or does it actually not take any subterfuge to screw Joey Wheeler because he’s just naturally this way?
Like Mokuba wasn’t there when Joey was told “stay right here, and then we will all go together to fight Dartz” and Joey was like “I’mma save Mai from herself although she told me not to!” and then he Hella Died. But, Mokuba did see the result, AKA, Joey’s dead body being carried on the back of Tristan. Maybe Mokuba never realized that Joey died because he went out of his way to be late?
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Lets do a tally of every time I can recall with my dodgy memory that Joey was threatened to be DQ’d/pretty much was DQ’d either by his own fault or no fault of his own
-When he wasn’t allowed to go on the boat to Murder Island because he was a stupid nobody kid who did not have a dueling glove
-When he wasn’t actually supposed to be in Pegasus’ tourney and was, in fact, secretly using half of Yugi’s entrance ticket the entire time
-when Bandit Keith stole the ticket that Joey got from Yugi so then Joey had to borrow Mai’s ticket although she had just used it so it really shouldn't have counted. Because, really anyone could have just piggy backed off of each other’s ticket until the whole boat went through that castle.
-When his account was hacked to get entered into Kaiba’s tourney when Kaiba very clearly told him he could not apply solely because he was Joey Wheeler.
-When he was late to his sister’s eye surgery because he got mugged by Marik’s Rare Hunters, so she almost refused to do the surgery.
-When Joey got possessed by Marik, and as Marik, threatened to murder everyone else in the tournament including both of the Kaiba brother’s who’s tournament it was, and then chained himself to Yugi Muto to throw both of them to the bottom of the ocean.
-I think there was a point when he threatened to attack Kaiba in Kaiba’s own tourney while not possessed? Like several times?
-when he got struck by Lightning and almost did not stand up fast enough after being struck by lightning, which is apparently a type of DQ in Duel Monsters.
-When he tried to save Mai from getting hit by a fireball, but then Yugi did it instead, and then so many people were standing on the dueling platform that Kaiba couldn’t possibly DQ them all.
-When he entered the restricted area of the blimp in order to hassle Kaiba into landing the Blimp, which Kaiba did not do.
-When Marik killed Joey before Joey could press the “go” button on his duel disk to play the card that should have won Joey the match.
-When he was dueling a lawyer in a digital universe but then the dice was like...weighted? So Noah had to walk over and be like “The hell is this weighted dice? This is my perfect digital world? How did you even do that?” and then Joey won because the match was no longer legit.
-When Joey yelled at Noah too much and so Noah turned Joey to stone for being a rude ass spectator
-When Mai was like “Wheeler and Valon, listen closely: do NOT murder each other” and then Joey did a murder on Valon so she was like “I guess I have no choice, I was very clear” and killed Joey straight up.
-When Joey decided to block Seto’s fireballs while Joey Wheeler WAS a playing card, somehow disrespecting both Dartz and Seto Kaiba at the same time.
-When Joey was playing cards but then got absorbed into a giant Leviathan and basically couldn’t play anymore after that.
-There’s probably hell ton of S0 stuff I just haven’t seen yet.
-This episode
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And Joey runs fast for a montage of wacky things that really have no business being in a theme park. Things like this:
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(remember when Bakura almost died from a rock that ended up being a balloon? It comes full circle.)
The stuff that the Kaiba brother’s think is normal and fun.
Anyway Joey fights off a bunch of hologram snakes and bats and everyone is like “Should we tell him it’s just holograms???” And it’s like wow, guys, how many times have these ‘holograms’ straight up murdered Joey Wheeler and everyone else on this cast? Too many? Because I have a google doc with so many deaths on it. 7,805,844,048, to be exact.
Anyway, he gets there with five seconds to spare and Mokuba’s like “well at least you were still entertaining while we filmed you in front of a live audience being a total spaz for 15 minutes straight, so I’ll let you go.”
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Grandpa and Joey start playing, Joey completely oblivious that this is just an older Muto, while Hawkins walks up awkwardly and is like “hey guys. I’m so sorry about this.”
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(welcome to my font choices, for those new here, I have to make weird font color choices to make sure it’s legible for the colorblind and also for the non-colorblind. This one is not much contrast, so I may change it up in the future, but for now, this is Grandpa Muto’s new font. I apologize to every graphic designer reading this. Please don’t tell anyone who has ever hired me for graphic design about this blog.)
What’s funny about this exchange is that after they find out that Yugi’s Grandpa is Apdnarg (HOLY my brain cannot get around the spelling for that, and I will not change it in the caps. I cannot do a ‘pdn’ ever again), they don’t stand on his side of the field or anything. Hawkins is legit Solomon Muto’s only fan during this exchange and like...damn. Way not to back your Grandpa, Yugi.
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Yugi immediately strides up to Mokuba to non-confrontation-ally inform him that he has stepped over a line and Mokuba is like “what are these things you say called ‘lines?’”
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According to Mokuba, Solomon Muto begged him to be in the competition so he could relive his glory days (glory days making no sense here, because the game has only been released for the past 15 years, so glory days is like...the before times that can only be referring to disgraced archeologists and Pegasus ((who is, in his own way...a disgraced archeologist, too))) and Mokuba was like
“You trained Yugi Muto, right? Hey that’s good enough for me. This drama is gold. People will eat it up. Hell yes. Don’t be afraid to abduct him a little bit. Maybe trap a couple people in a digital hellscape for a little while? Now we go by Pegasus house rules here, so fire as many lasers as you want, but just make sure not to hit anyone in the face. Oh man, we are going to be swimming in cash. Love it, Muto Sr, love it.”
But I dunno, I feel like Grandpa won’t make it past next episode. It is Joey. We kinda need him to make it past Ep 4 of the arc. If Grandpa Muto becomes the new Joey Wheeler, that will be a weird transition for this show to make.
But that’s all for today, as always, here is the link to read these in chrono order becuase there’s SO MANY that you don’t need to read backwards--don’t do it--just use the chrono tag (and I don’t know if you can add compound tags, but I did separate the Season from the Episode, so if you write S4, it should only pop up stuff from S4. I didn't’ do that to seasons 1-3 though because I just...didn’t.)
https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono
And because I brought it up: here it is, the best BTS Mashup that I found on my deep dive. Like legit--this one isn’t a mess:
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Most of other ones are horrible in a fascinating way. Like I’m not even a BTS fan, I think I sort of age out of that metric, I’m just bored and quarantined. And lets be real, we all appreciate a good bop when we hear it.
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hrrhmay · 3 years
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hii lovely! Hope you're doing fine and having an amazing day/night! Can I request for a ship with BTS and Enhypen, please? I'm also already sorry for my long description and for any mistake :) Thank you so much in advance ^^ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Physical:
-> My height is 162cm (5'4), I have a skinny body with a small hourglass shape, thin waist, long and straight medium brown hair, dark brown eyes and pale skin. People usually tell me that I’m naturally charming. I’m not a big fan of heavy make up, that’s why I’m barefaced 95% of the time. The color that best suits me is black, small face, soft skin, eye smile, kind of an aegyo-sal (however, only appears sometimes, idk, not sure if it really is) and bunny teeth.
I used to have double eyelids in both eyes, but now I have a double eyelid on my left eye and a triple eyelid on my right eye, (somehow I developed a third eyelid in the beginning of the year).
Personality:
-> My MBTI is ENFP-T, sign is Sagittarius, enneagram 7w8 and a Hufflepuff (tbh i’m a Huffledor, cuz I got Hufllepuff 43% and Gryffindor 42%). I’m an only child (04 liner). I’m the youngest, silliest and weirdest in my group of friends, I can be friendly or very shy at first, it depends on my mood. Love spending some time alone and thinking by myself, I’m very competitive, can do both sexy and cute styles, a scaredy cat, love perfumes and fashion, animal lover, midnight person, traditional romantic, very curious, like romance and horror movies, fav season is spring and fav color is purple since 2010, pretty talented at singing; dancing; drawing and acting. I LOVE playing video games since I was around 4 or 5 years old. Also LOVE stars, moon, galaxy and everything about the universe (and prefer sunset over sunrise). I’ve always been one of the smartest at my school, even tho I hate to study, it just seems natural. I also can speak 3 different languages.
-> Some random things that I like: flowers, I LOVE RICE, snowmen, rainbow, plushies, earrings, chocolate, walking, sky, clothes, amusement park, LOVE DANCING, crafting, drawing, singing and lavender and vanilla scents.
I’m very honest, kind, active/athletic (I can’t stand still for a long time, I have the necessity of keep moving), a bit sarcastic, bubbly, dirty minded, sincere, open-minded, loyal, very hardworking and love eating sweet things. (also rice, please, it’s just so good)
I have extreme fear of bees, whenever I see one I start screaming, running and (in some extreme cases) crying. (It’s maybe a phobia?)
Most of the time I just pretend that I’m strong and cold, but actually I’m very fragile with my emotions, I act like idc, but later I will surely think about and cry.
-> Some random facts:
- I can do a lot of things related to arts. Such as crafting, drawing, acting, singing, dancing, designing or painting. It’s just ask for :)
- I already was the school’s counselor president for 2 years.
- I can’t swim nor ride a bike. (Also it’s better to keep me away of the kitchen, I don’t really know how to cook)
- I can say that I’m really comfortable with crowds and not afraid to stay in front of everyone. I also feel very confident while on the stage, but very shy when people come to compliment me later and don’t know how to act.
I took both contemporary and street dance classes at the age of 10 (2015), as well drama classes. In the same year I also took a lot of different small classes, such as craft arts, drawing, accessories with beads, modeling clay and a few more, so I basically can craft anything on the artsy side (I even used to sell some of them when I was younger) I even have a tie-dye T-shirt made entirely by me :)) And in 2017 I took singing lessons.
I’m heterosexual and I’d love to get married, but only when I’m around 30-35. I also would love to design my own wedding dress <3
What I first notice on a person is their hair and clothing style (inside my head I’m just like “oh wow, they have such a nice style” or “omg, do they need help with fashion? This is awful” but I’ll never criticize).
I don’t have any problem with commitment, however I’m the type to get bored easily, so my partner might have to keep me interested and surprised to not fall out of love, although I’d always try my best to not let it happen!
-> If I had to be VERY specific, I would describe it like this:
My ideal type: is a guy who is at least 172cm but I would prefer his height to be between 175cm-180cm (although it’s not a must, he can still be a bit taller or smaller, I just slightly prefer taller boys), has black or dark brown straight hair. Ideal age gap 1995-2002, I’m totally into an older s/o, but I think it’s better if he isn’t older than a 95 liner, because the age gap starts to become too wide with even older guys, since I’m a 04 liner, you know?
I mean, already is a big age gap if he was born between 1995-1998, but I think I would be able to handle a max of a 9 years age gap. That’s why I put 95 liner limit.
But being honest, I guess I’d get along better with 1999-2002 (even 2003 or 2004), taking my age into consideration. I said 2002 because I’d prefer if he is at least 2 years older than me, but being just 1 year older or same age is already okay. I just don’t think I’d date someone younger, because I’m not really into it and would feel awkward being the oldest on the relationship.
An understanding boy, who knows how to respect privacy, romantic, honest, open-minded, knows how to dance (since it’s my fav activity ever, I’d love to record couple dance covers if the relationship is public).
Affectionate but not THAT clingy, I’d feel annoyed if he wanted to live glued to me 24/7. But still make me feel wanted and protected, that healthy feeling of belonging, got it? And also let me be myself without pressure ^^
I don’t really care about his nationality nor skin tone :)
I NEED to be reassured, because I’ll always think that they may not find me attractive anymore. Also because I’M EXTREMELY TERRIFIED at the thought of being cheated on, so I have to know that he will never do that. I’d be literally destroyed if that ever happened, because I use to trust people easily and would have been trusting him with my whole self.
In the end of the day, I just really need a person that I can trust and will be there to support me in any decision, even on the bad moments and give me advice if I’m doing something wrong. Also someone who isn’t afraid of commitment and would always be there to show his love.
I’d like if he usually takes the lead of the relationship, but I don’t mind leading it too.
I’m not VERY touchy, but would never let affection lack in a relationship.
Sometimes, when feeling more affectionate, I’d like to hug him all day. But it wouldn’t be so frequent.
I like to pat people’s head (yeah, just like a dog), I’d love if he lets me do it to him sometimes.
-> My fav skinship is holding hands, I could hold his hand for hours and would love to walk around like this. I’d love to cuddle under the blankets when it’s cold and while watching something on the tv or having a good conversation. I also would ABSOLUTELY LOVE when he kisses the top of my head and receiving backhugs too <3. I’d become very blushy when he steals quick peaks here and there and when he compliments me (I’m pretty insecure about my looks, so when he reassures me of how beautiful he thinks I am or how much he loves me, I’d absolutely melt). To complete, I’d appreciate when he caress my hair and let me rest my head on his chest while I talk to him about my concerns, plans or just having a calm talk.
All of these would occur occasionally :)
I’m very okay with pda, but if my s/o is uncomfortable with it, I surely will respect his preference.
-> I think the main pieces of a relationship are trust and communication, I need him to tell me about what’s going on his life, his thoughts, fears, concerns and problems. Like I mentioned before, I want him to be very honest with me, I hate it when people lie and hide important things from me. But still respect his privacy.
-> My love languages are mainly through small gestures with beautiful meanings/acts of service/words of affirmation. Such like a handwritten letter, lots of praises, flowers (I’ve never received flowers from a boy in my life, so I’d be EXTREMELY happy when it happens for the first time), an indoor dinner, matching pendants with meaning but not that obvious (like moon and sun, I think you got it) travel together, or even a plushie. I’d feel like a princess.
Someone who isn’t only a s/o, but also a best friend, who I can have fun and share everything with.
I believe in destiny (even in akai ito too), so someone who wouldn’t make fun of that, because I get sad/upset pretty easily tbh.
I have to cuddle something to sleep, usually it’s a plushie, so if he is okay with that, I would be more than happy.
Well, I’ve never been in a relationship before, so he would have to be a bit patient with me, because it’s most likely that I’ll want to take everything slow.
Finally, someone who shares the same liking as me for shopping and traveling.
Okay, maybe I was TOO specific and I’m wanting too much, but yeah, it’s only “ideal”, obviously he hasn’t to be 100% this way! Love is love and we never know from where it can come!
Hi!! Thanks for responding ☺️
For bts, I see you with Jungkook.
Jungkook is a traditional romantic, but he's also a little shy. He'd love spending time with you to sing, dance, play video games, or work out. He's also competitive, so he'd like that you have a competitive edge as well. He's incredibly open-minded, and would love you for who you are. He wouldn't get too clingy because he'd want both of you to be your own persons. He'd support you in all your endeavors, and be there to offer encouragement whenever you needed some. He'd love to be artistic with you, suggesting you both collaborate on an artistic project. He'd love holding hands with you. He'd always ask which hand you'd want to hold, his "ARMY" hand or his "blank canvas" hand. He'd love to get those necklaces that connect together. He'd make sure to tell you how much he loves you and how beautiful he thinks you are, but he'd do so in small ways. A small paper heart taped to your mirror, a cute "i love u" written on a sticky note stuck to your bag.
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For enhypen, I see you with Jake.
Jake would be such a great boyfriend for you. He's an animal lover, and would love going to the zoo with you. He'd even take you to Animal Kingdom at Disney if you wanted to go. He'd love talking with you about the universe and the many wondrous things in it. He'd be super respectful of your space and privacy. He'd want to make sure you were comfortable. He'd be protective of you in the sweetest ways. He'd trust you completely, and he'd give you every reason to trust him as well. He'd offer helpful advice if you found yourself in need of some. He'd love head pats, and get all giggly and blushy every time you gave him one. He'd be so proud of you, and think you're beautiful inside and out. He'd tend to show you his love in grander ways, to express how much he loves you. He'd not only give you flowers when he saw you, he'd also send you a small bunch of flowers when he's away from you, like at school. He'd love having dinner dates, whether he took you somewhere fancy, took you to your favorite restaurant, ordered takeout for you two, or cooked you something he made himself.
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otakween · 3 years
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07-Ghost - The World (Part. 3)
Episodes 21-30 of the 07-Ghost radio show! Aww man, I’m really sad it’s over. I had a lot of fun listening the whole way through. It definitely made me a Namikawa Daisuke fan. I look forward to spotting him in another role!
Episode 21
Kuroyuri VA’s second episode. Honestly, she was kind of annoying (sorry!) She wouldn’t stop cracking up at everything and it made the whole episode very chaotic. They started out by discussing: their ideal birthdays and nicknames they’ve had in their lives. They then played a “what would you do?” game where they had to pick the most popular reaction to various scenarios. This time the punishment was to speak like a servant/butler. The loser was...Namikawa of course (lol every time!)
Namikawa failing at keigo was honestly the highlight of the episode for me because, same. Apparently this episode came out close to the end of the anime. Funny that the show would go on for so long after the show was already over. I guess because the manga was ongoing and they still had DVD sales to boost? 
Episode 22
The first no-Namikawa episode in a long time (another scheduling issue). This time though we got two guests: Castor and Lab’s VAs! Saiga called it a “church special” lol. It did feel like a mini reunion. The opening discussion was “what do you do to calm down when you feel stressed.” Lab’s VA said he likes to be alone/have alone time. Castor’s VA said he likes to eat sweets lol. Maybe it’s because Namikawa wasn’t there to react, but they barely read any fan mail. 
For a game, since Lab’s VA was there they played a “flower language” game where they had to guess what each flower signified. Somehow the flowers were also connected to birthdays? I tried to Google this but couldn’t find much. I want to know my birthday flower! Anyway, the final corner was a “Last Supper” where they ate something that was supposed to taste like chestnut and another thing that was supposed to taste like sweet potato. For once, both experiments were yummy. 
Episode 23
In this episode Namikawa comes back and so does Lab’s VA (sorry, I should probably learn his name). I was honestly pretty relieved to hear Namikawa again because he’s really the heart of the show. They discussed their blood types and caught Namikawa up on what he missed in the last episode. I finally looked up what the heck “Namikawa ga Kamu” means (the name of one of the corners) and I think what they’re going for is that he snaps at the listeners who send him ridiculous mail lol. Kamu has a bunch of different meanings so it took me awhile to get that.
They played another flower-themed game. This time they had to guess which flowers out of a bunch listed were currently blooming. They kept saying “ah that one blooms in winter, huh?” and I was like “wtf? Nothing blooms in winter!” Damn you Japan and your higher temps! This time Saiga and Lab’s VA lost and their punishment was to speak like a maiko (I didn’t even know maiko had a unique speech style). The final segment was responding to listeners worries but I honestly struggled to understand what they were saying and spaced out a little, oops! Lab’s VA said he wants to come back, but was disappointed in the lack of food this time around lol. 
Episode 24 
Wow, a Bastien episode, how unexpected. I honestly forgot what Bastien sounded like because he was in so little of the anime, but he has a nice, deep voice. Probably second deepest after Ayanami. It cracked me up how he and Namikawa bonded over how they both voice dead guys. The started the episode out by discussing what kind of food they like to eat in November and then talked about how popular/unpopular they were in their younger years. One fanmail asked what they would give Teito as a birthday present and no one really knew what to say LOL (it is a hard question). Namikawa said a camera and Bastien’s VA said “Mikage” loool. 
I thought the game they chose for the Bastien episode “find the impostor” was clever, but it was hard to play along. It was another game where they had to pick “which one of these doesn’t belong” out of a list of 07 Ghost things, but they didn’t clearly read out the options so it wasn’t super interesting to listen to. Bastien’s VA lost and his punishment was to talk like a country bumpkin for the next segment. They ended the episode by doing the confessional-like corner and listening to listener’s sins. Amen. 
Episode 25 
Another Kuroyuri episode! I guess she was really available lol. This one was recorded around Christmas time so it was slightly Christmas themed. They talked about sock fetishes (for some reason lol) & read some more chaotic fan mail. One girl that wrote in claimed to be from Namikawa’s elementary school and they freaked out. 
The game they played this time around was “what do you want for Christmas” where each person listed a bunch of things they might want for Xmas and then the others had to guess what the correct answer was. Kuroyuri asked something along the lines of “what cup size boobs do most women want?” I’m used to boobs coming up a lot in stupid anime so I was kinda surprised to hear real people have that conversation lol. Namikawa was clearly uncomfortable and gave the “I think size doesn’t matter” speech haha. (By the way, the answer was C cup). Namikawa lost as usual and had to use “reindeer speech” for the following segment. His interpretation of this was to add “tona” at the end of every sentence (because tonakai = reindeer). 
The final segment was Last Supper and they ate things that are supposed to taste like melon when you eat them together (white chocolate + apple juice, cucumber + honey). Apparently neither hit the mark but at least they weren’t too gross this time. 
Episode 26
Jun (Hakuren’s VA) returns! They call him “Jun Jun” which is way too cute. I think he’s one of my favorite guests, just cuz he’s so iconic and has great energy for radio. In this episode they discussed what color each person would be (Namikawa = orange, Jun = black, Saiga = blue). They also discussed New Year’s resolutions because this was recorded around January. They played an 07-Ghost themed version of karuta which was fun to play along with. Guess who lost? (It was Namikawa lol). I totally didn’t get what his punishment was. He had to talk like “maro/daimaro” and I couldn’t figure out via google what the heck that is.
In the final segment they gave advice to listeners. One listener asked what they should do about a mouse problem. Namikawa at first said “move” but then changed his answer to “get a cat” lol. Very inspired. Only 4 episodes to go~!
Episode 27
A rare no-guest episode. Namikawa seemed very fed up and low energy in this one lol. This was recorded in January so they discussed new years again. It’s kinda cool hearing time pass in these. Oh how innocent times were back in 2009/2010. The only thing that really stood out in the beginning of this episode was that one listener called Namikawa “Namikawa D-Cup-san” and Saiga and Namikawa died laughing. This was in reference to a past episode where Namikawa called himself that but he acted like he never said that loool. Honestly, the best part of this show is just hearing everyone laugh at dumb jokes.
The game they played this time around was pretty creative. Basically while one person was blindfolded the other had to help them draw a picture of a 07 Ghost character with verbal instructions. As they did so, they had to stay in-character. It was really funny hearing Saiga switch from polite Japanese to Teito’s feral speech style. You don’t really realize how cartoony anime character’s are until you hear natural speech right next to it (or maybe that’s just me lol). Namikawa lost again (I felt bad for him this time cuz he sounded genuinely disappointed) and his punishment was to stay in Mikage-mode until the end of the episode. He said acting so “pure” was exhausting. 
Episode 28
Another Haruse episode. He was really cute in this one, he admitted that he was nervous about doing radio and was worried his voice would shake haha. They again talked about New Years and New Year’s resolutions. They also took some kind of “psychology test” where they had to describe what color/pattern handkerchief they’d want to receive from a girl. The color handkerchief = the color of panties they like or something stupid like that lol. 
For the game, they had to put 07-Ghost characters in the correct order. Saiga had to order the ghosts, Haruse’s VA had to rank the Black Hawks, and Namikawa had to organize a bunch of characters in the order they’re introduced in the manga. Pretty difficult. Everyone did about the same so they had to do rocks, paper, scissors to decide the loser. The loser was, of course, Namikawa. His punishment was to sing everything like an opera singer for the next segment.
The final segment was giving advice to listeners. One person asked for advice on dating someone older than you and another person asked about giving “the talk” to their younger brother lol. At least I think that’s what they said. These advice portions have some tricky Japanese. 
Episode 29
The first Konatsu episode, it’s interesting to see them bring in new guests at the very end. Konatsu was one of my favorite characters so it’s unfortunate that I found his VA really annoying lol. His style of humor was to just repeat the same obnoxious thing over and over again and I found it really grating. This was recorded in February so they discussed how much you should spend on Valentine’s day chocolate. They also asked Konatsu’s VA what kind of character Konatsu is and he basically said “I had like no lines, so I dunno” lol. Too true. I forgot Konatsu was even in the anime.
For the game they had to pop some balloons and the more hearts they got the better their score was. (I guess they put heart on pieces of paper and stuffed them inside the balloons?) For once the loser was the guest and Konatsu’s VA had speak in a Kansai dialect for the final segment. The episode ended with “The Last Supper” and they ate avocado with vanilla ice cream, which apparently is supposed to taste like mango.
Episode 30
The grand finale! They actually called it that too. I wasn’t sure if they were going to acknowledge this as the last episode but they made it special. They did a lot of reflecting on how far they’d come and how the show seemed long and short at the same time. This was an hour long episode but they basically spent the entire time reading listener mail (which is my favorite part anyway). No games, no guests. Namikawa’s “kamu” corner got special background music for the first time. Most of the listener mail was people saying their goodbyes and being sad that the show was ending. 
At the end of the episode some staff person came into the studio to thank Namikawa and Saiga for their hardwork and to give them chocolate. Very cute. The depressing part is that both the hosts and the listeners were talking about “if season 2 happens...” which obviously never did. Pooor 07-Ghost :’( 
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ethelphantom · 4 years
Text
Form A Family Of Our Own
Just silliness and fluff and lots of romance and attempts at humour here, and absolutely no angst. You’re welcome! It’s a continuation to the Timari Soulmates Secret Santa I created for @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry, though I’m just skipping things in the chronological order (aka the BartAdrien reveal but we all knew that was going to happen so it’s fine. This is also my Maribat March day 9, Sleepover at the same time. Have fun!
Ao3 | Part 1 | Part 2
This is Maribat -- don’t like; don’t read
_____________________
“Does everyone have everything they need? No one needs to use Mari to use the puppy eyes to get Dick to go to the store?”
Marinette laughed at Tim’s words while the others shook their heads. They had checked they had everything at least thrice already, it wasn’t going to change no matter how many times he wanted them to make sure of it. When Tim still didn’t look convinced, Marinette simply grabbed his wrist and stroked the skin with her thumb to help him calm down, just like he sometimes did for her.
After all, touching your soulmate’s mark would always be a comforting feeling.
Tim’s shoulders slumped a little as he relaxed before he turned to her and smiled gently. Marinette recognised this as a silent thank you, and so she beamed in response.
“Are we ready to ruin everyone else’s day now?” Conner then asked, leaning against the doorframe. He seemed to be trying to look relaxed and not in the least excited for this, but they all knew better, considering he seemed to be itching to go do just that.
“Oh yeah. I’ve got the cameras and the scavenger lists. Two teams of three, soulmates in the opposite—” Cassie began, but after she got the puppy face from both Bart and Adrien, she sighed in resignation. “Fine, soulmates in the same team. This is why I’m not supposed to look at either of them while giving orders. Damn it.”
Tim rolled his eyes. All of their friends were idiots (“Like you aren’t as well,” an accusing voice said in his head, and it was a bit concerning how much it sounded like Marinette), but they were also the best — Tim wouldn’t change them for the world.
“I love how the rule is supposed to be ‘no metas in Gotham’, but we’re getting like three metas and two that technically count as metas because Miraculous coming anyway to the home of the one that actually originally set said rule in place,” Adrien mused, remembering what he’d been told at some point after the reveal. And after they had already met Cassie.
Marinette let out an amused laugh. “Oh yeah. Anyway. Could someone please get our bags to the Manor so we can just start with the scavenger hunt?”
“On it!”
There was a flash as all their bags, Conner and Bart disappeared and Cassie took out a clock. She watched it tick for a few seconds before she lifted her gaze again to find her missing friends. “You’re slow. It took you two nearly ten seconds. We’re not even outside the city boundaries, boys.”
“Well, fuck you too, we were carrying five bags each because some of us don’t know how to pack small.”
Cassie simply flipped Conner off before she handed him a scavenger list. “You wanna be with Tim and Mari or Bart and Adrien? I’m fine with either one, just decide fast.”
“Bart. And Adrien, I guess.”
“HEY! ”
Idiots, the lot of them.
It didn’t take them long to sort out into teams and get to the centre of the city. Mari, Tim and Cassie stood on one side, looking down at the people that were all a lot taller than them. Mari cocked her hips and tilted her head, her dark blue sundress following the movement.
“Oh, you’re going down, Chaton.”
“I don’t think so, Buginette — I’m not sacrificing my win even if I’d sacrifice my life for you.”
“Okay, too far too soon, go away.”
Their lists were as followed:
Ask a cashier for the nutritional value of an inedible thing
Act like a stranger were famous and ask for their autograph
+1 if you can get them to take a picture with you
Offer a stranger a penny for their thoughts
Ask a stranger to sign your petition against the euthanasia of rabid puppies
+1 if you can get them to sign your palm
Lie in the grass next to a road and pretend to be making snow angels
Ask the opposite gender if they believe in fate
Ask a stranger where the closest local Christmas festival is
+1 if/when they say they don’t know, ask them how else do they appease the gods
Ask if you can get a discount on a thing that costs less than a dollar
+1 if you pronounce it horribly wrong
+1 if you buy the product with pennies
Ask a stranger if they have seen your cat and proceed to describe a full-grown tiger
Knock on someone’s door and sing them a Christmas song
+1 if the person is a stranger
+1 if you sing Frozen’s Let It Go after you’ve said you’re going to sing a Christmas song
Fake a cheesy proposal in a public place
Ask a cashier if dentists recommend using a toothbrush
Ask a cashier if they have healthy cigarettes
+1 if they say no, you yell “you’re lying” and run away dramatically
Ask a stranger if they can see anyone and point to an empty spot
“You’ve got two hours. The clock starts now,” Tim announced, set an alarm in their group chat so everyone would hear, and then they were all running to get things done.
❋❋❋
“Alright, Bart, go on. You’re the first.”
“You’re not allowed to complain if you wanted to do the same thing, then.”
“Remember, if it involves talking with someone, you can’t be going on your own pace, especially not with a civilian! The camera won’t be able to catch it!”
“Well, your cameras suck!”
With a blink, Bart was standing in front of a door and knocked on it. Adrien, who was right behind Kon, had to contain his laughter somehow because he knew that to Bart whoever lived there was taking ages, even if it was less than a minute — and thus bearable — to him.  
When the door was finally opened, Bart immediately started speaking. “Hello, are you interested in hearing Christmas carols?”
“...In the middle of the summer?”
“I know what I said.”
“Uh, no thank you. Have a nice day.”
Bart returned to them pouting. “They didn’t even give me a chance. I’m not that horrible of a singer,” he huffed, crossing his arms.
Adrien took Bart’s hand in his own and pressed a light kiss on his fingers. “Don’t worry, we still have plenty of time, and I doubt it was because of your singing voice. It’s just a weird thing to ask this time of the year. Try again.”
He did. Fortunately for Bart, the next-door neighbour opened their door much faster than the previous one.
“Hiya, are you interested in hearing Christmas carols?”
“Now?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I guess. Sure, go ahead.”
And then Bart proceeded to sing Let It Go off-key. The person listening to him even applauded his singing and gave him a candy (that Kon forced him to throw away or at least not eat until Tim could do a check up on it in case someone was trying to poison him or something. The Bat paranoia was getting to all of them.) It was fun.
“So, three points for us. That was a great start, Bart!” Adrien said, checking the boxes on the list. “You did film it, right Kon?”
“Obviously. I wouldn’t accidentally not. Hold the camera, Adrien. We’re going to a shop now and annoy the heck out of everyone. Tim is so not going to be happy when he realises some of us might get banned from the shop forever,” he snickered.
“I’m already feeling sorry for the employees.”
“At least we aren’t about to be assholes, really.”
“No, just weird as hell. Maybe they’ll get a story or two to tell others and discuss in the break room when they’re talking about the weirdest and worst customers they’ve had.”
“Do they really do that?”
“Oh yeah.”
“Damn.”
It didn’t take them too long to arrive at the store. Adrien and Bart went in first, pretending to be actually considering buying something when Kon came in and looked around for a moment. Then he walked to an unsuspecting employee. “Excuse me, do you have any of those clairvoyance foes? I was thinking of getting one.”
“I must ask you to repeat what you asked for, sir, I’m afraid I didn’t quite catch it,” the woman working said.
“It’s alright. I meant classical woes.”
“I’m so sorry, sir, I must say I don’t understand what exactly you mean by that.”
“Clarification folds, miss.”
“Oh, do you perhaps mean classification folders?”
“Yeah, that’s what I said.”
“...Of course, sir. Yes, we do have those. Do you want me to show you where they are, or would you like me to just point you in the correct direction, sir?”
“If you could show me where they are, that would be great.”
“Of course, sir. This way.”
The woman led him through the shop as Kon glanced behind himself and saw Adrien following them from a safe distance. Bart looked like he was practically vibrating, like he wanted to do something, but all he could do was jerking aborted movements. Actually, scratch that, he probably was vibrating. Of course.
“Here they are. Is there anything else I could help you with?”
“Is it possible to get a discount on these?”
“I— I’m afraid not, sir, but they’re only a dollar so…”
“That’s fine. Thank you for your help anyway.”
“It was no problem.”
Once the woman was gone, Adrien and Bart walked to him. “Oh my kwami, I pity her so much. I’m genuinely sorry she had to deal with you and I’m kind of considering going to find her and give her a tip for dealing with you,” Adrien snorted after he cut off the filming. “I don’t even care that’s not a custom in stores, I still want to do it.”
Bart laughed. “I’m gonna go do just that if you give me some money.”
Adrien did. He gave him twenty dollars. He could almost feel Wayzz shaking his head at the two of them even despite the fact Wayzz was with Marinette at the very moment.
“I hope you’re ready to keep recording cuz I ain’t done yet,” Kon said, earning an eye roll from Adrien.
“Sure. Let’s do this.”
Adrien kept his distance while they were walking to the checkout, Bart appearing next to him at some point. Adrien bumped his shoulder against Bart’s to express he knew he was there, the act soon returned. A smile made its way to his lips. They only started paying attention to what Kon was doing when they heard him speaking to the cashier.
“Excuse me, mister, but what is the nutritional value of this thing?”
“I’m sorry to inform you, but folders aren’t edible.”
“I am aware. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t have nutritional value.”
“I’m afraid I don’t know what it is, sir. I’d only be able to find out if they had given me a list, but unfortunately, they did not.”
“Oh, alright. Well, I’d like to purchase it anyway.”
“That makes one dollar.”
“Sure, wait a second.”
Kon pulled out his wallet and went through his money, counting it silently and quickly. Then he offered the cashier a handful of coins — all of them pennies. The disbelieving face on the cashier’s face, as he started counting, was miserable and a little sad to see, but no helping it now. Thankfully the product only cost a dollar, it didn’t take him that long to do it.
After paying, he went back to the end of the line, waited it, and asked the same person if they had healthy cigarettes. The cashier looked rather resigned at that point but stayed polite and told him that no, they didn’t have those because those didn’t really exist, and “are you sure you’re old enough in the first place?”
Kon gasped loudly. “You’re lying!” he yelled and ran dramatically out. The other customers didn’t even pay attention to him as if it was just another day. It probably was. This was Gotham, after all. Bart and Adrien made their way out behind him, slipping a twenty-dollar bill to the man behind the checkout and quickly apologised he had to deal with that, “please accept this.”
Then they were out and laughing, even if still feeling bad for doing it.
“Mari would kill me if she had to see that, honestly. She used to do this at their bakery and god, the stories she sometimes tells me,” Adrien said, shaking his head. “I hope that paying for them for suffering because of us was good enough. I don’t really know what else I could have done to compensate for having to deal with us.”
“No one does!” Bart told him before he snatched the camera from him. “Go on, your turn, Sunflower!”
The nickname was kind of fitting — blond hair and being a bit taller than Bart tended to do that. Adrien blushed a little at the pet name and then forced himself to get his thoughts back on the trail.
He buried his head in his hands before taking a look at the list. Then he grinned, getting a wonderful idea. Hopefully, he wouldn’t hurt anyone by doing it. If he was lucky (for once, considering he was the Bad Luck incarnated), he would end up finding someone who would ake it more as a joke.
Stopping someone who didn’t look like she was in any hurry, Adrien asked, “Excuse me, but do you believe in fate?”
“Yeah, I guess. Why?” she responded. Adrien visibly slumped in relief.
“Oh thank god.”
“...What is it.”
“My soulmate and I were just arguing about it a second ago and I needed a new opinion. Now I can tell him he’s very very wrong, and that we clearly belong together ”
The girl looked at him like he was a ghost. For a second, Adrien was afraid he’d hurt her feelings and was ready to apologise, but then she burst out laughing and doubled over.
“Oh my god. That’s wonderful and so hilarious! God, I was afraid you were about to flirt with me, dude, but that’s so much better. I wish you and your soulmate the best of luck. Buy him his favourite food, maybe he’ll then accept that you’re meant to be,” she said smiling and winked. Then she punched him lightly in the arm. “Go on, dude, your perfect happy ending is waiting for you!”
Adrien could feel a wide smile spread on his face. “Thanks, I will! You go get your happy ending as well, whether you’ll find it in a passion, person or a pet!” They exchanged numbers and names (her name was Zoanne, and Adrien had a feeling they’d become good friends over time), both excited about it, and parted in good spirits. Adrien waved to her as he walked to where Bart was staring at them.
Once he actually paid attention to how both Conner and Bart looked like (staring at him, Conner not even focusing on the camera), he tilted his head and arched his eyebrow. “What is it?”
“Dude.”
“What?”
“Duuuudde.”
“What?”
“Only you. Only you could make a friend while doing a scavenger hunt task and basically also pranking her. Wow.”
Adrien just shrugged. He wondered how the girls and Tim were doing.
❋❋❋
Tim was the only one of them who still had any sense of shame or embarrassment at this point (and they’d already completed most of the points on the list between the two young women), but he was determined to win and actually do something for the win as well so he wouldn’t be able to care. Soon enough, he was walking up to a stranger as Marinette was filming.
“Excuse me, miss, but have you seen my cat? She’s a sweetheart and I lost her when I was out with my friends.”
“Oh, you have a cat? I’m sorry, I don’t think so, but what does she look like? I could try to pay attention in hopes to see her later.”
“She’s a beautiful orange with white in her face, chest, belly and the underside of her tail, she’s about this tall,” he put his hand at about his waist, “and she’s got a lot of black stripes. Also, she’s a bit loud when she decides she wants to talk, but it’s not that bad.”
The woman backed off slowly as he was talking with a concerned look on her face. She was gone before Tim finished talking.
Marinette shook her head fondly and placed the camera in Tim’s hands as he returned. “Have fun trying not to laugh behind the camera!”
She wondered around like she was looking for something worriedly. When someone came to ask her what was wrong, she internally congratulated herself.
“Well, Monsieur, I was looking for the nearest local Christmas festival. Do you know where one might be?” she asked, looking innocently at him. “I really do need to find one, preferably close.”
“In July? Yeah, I don’t think I know where one would be at this time of the year.”
Marinette adopted a horrified expression on her face. “But— But— How do you appease the gods you might have angered, then?”
“The what?”
“The gods, obviously.”
“What gods?”
“Those,” she said and pointed behind the man. When the man turned around, he was greeted by the violet eyes of the fox god of mischief and trickery as well as the orange eyes of the pink tiger goddess of stealth and the brown eyes of the small but way too enthusiastic monkey god of jubilation. On any other occasion, she wouldn’t let civilians see kwamii, but this was an exception and she had Wayzz hide them from the view of every other person that didn’t know of their existence already, so it was fine. The most likely case was, the man would forget about meeting the kwamii or think of it as a hallucination of sorts later on.
When the man looked back to where Marinette had been, she was already gone. It was too much fun to mess with people a little bit. She knew the kwamii would be following her and perfectly capable of keeping themselves hidden when she told them so, so she didn’t worry about them.
Cassie snickered as Tim signed she was done filming. “That was amazing. I’ll go next!”
She walked to another stranger, Tim and Mari following her from a distance. Tim already had his camera recording. “Oh my god!” she gasped when she noticed a young person standing alone at the corner of a clothing shop. “It’s you! God, I never thought I’d meet you in real life!” When she ran to them and jumped a little as though she was excited, she also let out a squeal.
The person looked at her weirdly. “Excuse me? Have we met?”
“No, but now we have and it’s the most amazing thing! I’m such a huge fan. Can I please have your autograph? I want to show all my friends I met you!”
“Uhh…. Sure.”
Cassie handed them a piece of paper and a pen (which, where did she even get them?) and watched in anticipation as they wrote their name on it. Then she pulled out her phone. “Could I take a selfie with you? Please? I’m not going to put it all over the social media if you want to keep your whereabouts private, but I just want a picture.”
The person seemed to be already done with her, and probably guessed that this was the quickest way to get rid of her. They agreed and crouched a little to fit in the same picture easily. Cassie did a little peace sign, acting her role of an enthusiastic fan with all her heart. It took Tim and Mari their everything to keep from laughing.
When Cassie returned to them, flipping her hair, Tim handed her the camera. “Film this as closely as you can,” he said in passing and walked where there were as many people as possible, to the park nearby, Marinette and Cassie following in his wake. When Marinette was close enough, he made his way to her and swiped strands of hair behind her ear.
“Marinette, my dear, I love you more than anything in this world, you know that, right?” At Marinette’s slow but still a little confused nod, he continued. “I’ve thought about this long and hard, and I’ve decided I would like to take the next big step in our relationship,” he said loud enough for the people nearby to hear.  
“Every time I look in your eyes, I get a peaceful feeling. When I am around you, everything seems perfect. I promise that I will always be there for you in whatever you do and support you in ups and downs as long as I live. You give my life meaning and make it worth living. You’re the shoulder I can always trust to be there for me to lean on when I need it, you’re the one who I can always count on to be by my side. You were made for me, and I was made for you, and no matter what our souls are made of, mine and yours are the same.” Tim took a deep breath and looked at Marinette, whose eyes seemed to be glimmering as she bit her lip.
“In case you ever foolishly forget this one truth, let me declare it out loud for you, in front of all these people who are here to witness this: I am always thinking about you. I want to form a family of our own with you. Your words are written on my skin for the world to see who I belong to, a reminder for you should you ever doubt it. Feel free to doubt this world — doubt the stars are fire; Doubt that the Sun does move; doubt the truth to be a liar; But never doubt I love. I certainly have never had even a moment’s doubt of that. I believe in you completely. You are my dearest one. My reason for life. You’re the answer to all those lonely prayers at night when I wished for someone to be there one day, and every day I thank God or Fate or whoever gave me you that you’re here now.”
By then Marinette was openly crying and she had covered her mouth with her hands, but Tim kept on going. He was not done, and he was determined to make this proposal the cheesiest he possibly could. As the CEO of Wayne Enterprises, people were bound to notice, and he only had one shot at it. “And I will love you against all odds in this world. Let me defy fate, let me defy stars. Let me defy everyone and anyone who may deny love, who may deny our love. Above all, you are my love, you are my stars, you’re my galaxy.” Tim lowered himself on the ground, now on one knee in front of his soulmate, his Marinette. He produced a ring box from his pocket and held it open for her. “So, as my best friend and the love of my life, will you be my one and only or my everything?”
“Are you— Is this for real?” Marinette whispered, tears glimmering on her eyelashes and staining her cheeks. Tim nodded, biting his lip. He knew it was one of the things on the scavenger list, so he hoped Marinette wouldn’t take this as only one of them.
Marinette swallowed and smiled brightly. “Yes!” she breathed out and fell on her knees next to Tim, not really caring if the action had her scrape her knees. Tim placed the ruby ring with a diamond halo on her ring finger and pressed a kiss on her fingers before Marinette lost her patience, cupped his face and kissed him on the lips.
When they broke apart, they could hear the cheering of the crowd. Tim looked to the side to Cassie who gave him a thumbs-up, the camera still in hand, probably recording as well. Bart, Conner, Adrien and the entire family, as well as Jagged and Penny, were all standing behind them. Thank god he’d half-planned this and told them to get themselves over there at a specific time and to stay behind Cassie so they wouldn’t bother or distract him.  
Adrien just ran to Marinette once they locked eyes and hugged her, congratulating her for the engagement. Bart slapped Tim’s back and did the same. When Tim got nothing from Conner, he raised his eyebrow because there was no way Conner stayed quiet about this without a very good reason.
“What is it.”
“Well. Technically, this can’t be counted as a point since you didn’t fake a proposal.”
“Fuck off.”
“You know I’m right.”
“Go away you overgrown toddler with too many leather jackets.”
“That’s such a creative insult you’ve got there, Timmy. Sounds like you had it memorised, even. How long have you been waiting for a time to use it?”
Tim just stuck out his tongue at Kon as Marinette and Cassie laughed at them.
Kwami, did Mari love her friends (and fiancé — she was never getting over being able to call him that.)
❋❋❋
“Alright. We gotta do something that is like, something people do at actual sleepovers,” Cassie announced as she flopped down on the mattress they had dragged into the biggest guestroom in the Manor they could find. The mattresses were all in a circle around their snacks so that it would be easy for them to talk and eat. Two of the mattresses were also bigger so Marinette could share with Tim and Bart could share his with Adrien. “I don’t know, like, trade secrets or gossip or… Oh, I know! Let’s play Never Have I Ever!”
The sly smirk on Cassie’s face did little to assure Mari or Tim this was a safe idea, but they were going to do it anyway, weren’t they.
“You did bring the shot glasses, didn’t you, Kon? Get them out, like, now. We gotta do this properly! And Adrien, you got the tequila, right? Please tell me it’s not flavoured.”
Adrien took out the bottles from his bag. “They are flavoured. Coconut, mango and chipotle.”
“Oh for fuck’s sake.”
Marinette saw it as a good moment to butt in. “Yeah, that works. Tim, choose the flavour.” She looked at her beloved next to her, poking his side when he didn’t answer.
“Huh? Oh. Uh, mango?”
“Alright, we’re going with that then. Adrien, can you please open the bottle?”
He did, and the game began. To the surprise of exactly no one, Cassie was the one to start. “Never have I ever ‘cleaned up’ by piling everything into a closet or pushing everything under my bed.”
She smiled as Tim, Bart and Marinette reached for the bottle with various states of grumbling, filling their glasses and downing them.
This evening was definitely going to end with them drunk. The only reason some of them wouldn’t be was if they were simply damn tolerant, which was basically what all of them except for Tim were — Adrien and Marinette because of the long use of the miraculous, Cassie because she was half goddess and technically an Amazon, Bart simply because of his fast digestion (damned Speedster), and well. Kon was Kon.
This was not going to end well, now was it.
“Alright, I’ll go next. Never have I ever lied to a police officer,” Adrien said. Marinette looked at him like he was crazy before it turned sour as she reached out for the bottle once again at the same time as the rest of them did. “Wait, how have you all lied to a police officer?”
“Well, Kitty, it might be because half of the police officers were corrupt in Paris during Papillon's time of reign, and it was simply safer. That's one thing. A better question would be, how have you never lied to a police officer?”
Tim rested his head on Marinette’s shoulder as he explained his own reasoning. “Then there's the fact my brother happens to be a police officer. I've totally lied to him multiple times. Same with Commissioner Gordon at least once or twice.”
The rest of them nodded along. “Yup, lied to Nightwing, which means, lied to Police Officer Grayson. No regrets, 5/5, would recommend, he's too much of a mother hen sometimes,” Cassie stated.
It was probably good she stated it then and not a minute later, because only a moment after that, the door flew open and Jason marched in. Marinette and Tim buried their heads in their hands or the mattress, Adrien just shook his head, and the three others were staring at Jason like this was somehow that much of a surprise. A minute later, a mattress was pushed inside the room as well.
“Hey kids!” he yelled as he settled in and had Cassie, and Bart and Adrien move themselves away from one another so he could push his mattress between them.
“Jason, what are you doing here.”
The deadpan question shot at him was said in a tone with such an irritated undertone that Jason mock-winced.
“Well. Our dick of a brother—” Jason motioned at himself and Tim, “—sent me here to be a babysitter for a bunch of kids over the fragile age of 21.”
“Dick! ”
Dick looked inside from the door and immediately got thrown pillows at. He scrunched up his nose and looked at them with disappointment. That got him six disappointed eyes staring at him from around the room. “Well, you can’t actually blame me! There are two couples sleeping in the same room and oh my god also on the same mattresses and I am worried and concerned and this is my safety measure to make sure we get no babies after this night.”
“You do know Tim and I are getting married, right?”
“Precisely, you just made my point.”
“Besides, we wouldn’t do it in the same room with these guys anyway, and also Bart and Adrien can’t get children because neither has a womb?”
“Still.”
Marinette sighed. “Fine. As long as you stay away for the rest of the night. At least Jace could be fun. You, instead, are not fun when you’re trying to mother hen us at the same time.”
“Rude much.”
“Now go or I’ll throw you with Jace.”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“I would, and I could, in the transformed form anyway. I’ve thrown Chaton across the city, don’t test me.”
Dick huffed and closed the door. Jason laughed at Marinette’s words and patted her head after reaching towards her a little bit, over all their snacks and food.
“So, whatcha doin’? Drinking games?”
“Yeah. Never have I ever. You in?”
“Am I in? Oh, definitely. You couldn’t stop me even if you tried.”
“Sounds like trouble. I’m already regretting letting him in.”
A chorus of “same” echoed around the room.
“Alright, so…” Kon looked around the room before his eyes landed on Tim and a smirk tugged on his lips. “Never have I ever sneaked out of my house in the middle of the night alone.”
Tim frowned and drank a new shot. Marinette sighed, elbowed Adrien and took the bottle from Tim’s hands.
“Okay, Pixie, explain. You, sneakin’ out of the house, let alone in the middle of the night? Impossible.”
“Nuh-uh. Need I remind you, Ladybug. Papillon hardly cared about our sleeping schedule. Had to sneak out at night multiple times to save the city. Same with Adrien.”
Adrien nodded, agreeing with her. “‘S not like we had a choice in the matter, it was our sleep or the safety and lives of over two million people. Ga-bitch didn’t leave us much of a choice.”
It was Tim’s turn to interrupt. “And how have you never sneaked out of the house in the middle of the night? You, Mr. ‘I do whatever the hell I want, whenever the hell I want, fuck Batman’?”
“Well, with B it was easier to sneak away when it was the middle of the day and he thought I was somewhere else, and in the Alley, it was safer to either stay inside or stay outside through the night, not both. Also, no house to sneak out of at one point.”
“Oof.”
“Never have I ever died,” Tim shot with a pointed look at his brother and his best friends. Yeah, he was still a little bitter even if it technically wasn’t their fault, so sue him.
“Low blow, dude,” Adrien said as he downed the glass. Marinette shuffled next to him and the next thing he saw was her stealing Adrien’s newly filled shot glass.
He was, least to say, shocked when he saw everyone take a shot, his fiancée included.
“Akumas. To be exact, Desperada and Time Breaker, at the very least. Probably some others too. He’s never been that good at not dying, and there was one time when he had to witness me die like, 25 thousand times.”
“25,913 times, Buginette.”
“Sorry, 25,913 times. He saw me die that many times, and I remember exactly none of them. He probably remembers most.”
“Holy shit.”
After everyone had had time to think over it and let the realisation that two out of their three sunshines had died god knows how many times and had had to witness one another die as many times sink in, Jason simply grabbed the chipotle vodka and took a few gulps. “I need more alcohol to deal with this” had been his explanation, and when he’d been told he’d die if he drank too much, no one realised the mistake until it was too late, because…
“Been there, done that.”
Cue them groaning and hiding their faces in their pillows all the while Jason just laughed.
“Okay, back to the game. Never have I ever been related to a supervillain.”
“Fuck you too Jason.”
Both Conner and Adrien took a shot as they glared at Jason, and Kon gave him the finger.
The rest of the game went in the same style. Everyone was flabbergasted at how many times both Adrien and Marinette had to drink. Those happened with, for example, Bart’s question of drinking before the age of 21 (“We grew up in France, he was a rich ass bitch, what else did you expect? Besides, legal drinking age is 18 there.”), Jay’s of whether someone had peeked at another person in the shower (“Well, I suppose it could be called that. Chaton pretended to be in the shower every time I came over during an Akuma that came for his or Gabritch’s head, nevermind the fact he always had clothes on. It’s not like I knew.”), Cassie’s “never have I ever fantasized about a real person” (“I mean, I was a teenager with a huge crush on Ladybug…” “Gross, Chaton, gross.” “Don’t try and deny having a crush on me as well.” “Well, fuck you too.” “I think I’ll leave that for your fiancé.” “Oh my god, Adrien.”) It just went on and on.
After a few hours of different things, such as hide and seek in the dark (it went as expected — Adrien won. Damn that night vision of his even in civilian form), truth and dare (they were all superheroes or vigilantes, there was hardly anything they wouldn’t say or do in relatively safe company, especially when they were at least tipsy), strip poker (this one Adrien lost because he couldn’t stop making puns, Bart came second last because he couldn’t keep a straight face (“Well, it’s not like anything else about me is straight either.”), which, to everyone’s surprise, Marinette won (“Whaatt? I had to get really creative and good at bluffing during school and Papillon, why is this so shocking to you all?”). They stopped when the next thing to go would’ve been someone’s underwear), and they were definitely glad to finally just lie down and rest.
Then Adrien’s phone went off. He surged out from under the covers and unlocked his phone. In the darkness of the room, the phone lit up his face rather well. He was smiling. Bart pushed the covers aside and sat up next to Adrien.
“Whatcha doing?”
“Texting to a friend.”
“Oh, is that your new friend? The one you met while scavenging?” Bart sounded excited and got closer to be able to see the messages. Adrien just placed his phone so that Bart could see them more easily.
“Yeah, it is.”
Marinette sat up as well. Smiling, she asked, “Oh, you made a friend while scavenging? That’s so wonderful, though only you, Kitty. Only you could manage to do that.”
“Kon said the same thing right after it.”
“Of course he did. What’s her name?”
“Zoanne.”
Beside Marinette, Tim went still and paled. He swallowed audibly and forced himself to look at Adrien. “Do you know her surname?”
“Yeah, it’s Wilkins. Why?”
Tim buried his face in Marinette’s knees and thighs, whining. “Oh god. Kill me now, please. Maybe borrow the Cat Miraculous to do it. Or Jason’s guns.”
“Why? What happened?”
“She’s my ex and I might’ve left her in rather an unfortunate situation.”
Adrien stared at him. Then frowned. Then honest to god scowled. “Are you fucking kidding me.”
“Oh my god, Adrien swore.”
“She’s dating again, by the way. Some girl named Ariana.”
“Please tell me you’re kidding me.”
“Nope.”
“Fuck.”
Marinette raised an eyebrow at him. “Let me guess. You also dated Ariana.”
“Yeah.”
An amused sigh fell of Marinette’s lips as she stroked Tim’s hair. “You’re hopeless.”
Tim scrunched up his nose. “No, I’m not.”
Marinette gave him a look.  
“Okay, yeah, I am. Please kill me now. I can’t have you two be friends with nearly all my exes.”
“What do you mean nearly all your exes?”
“Cassie and Steph, and considering Adrien is friends with Zoanne, you’ll probably be soon too, and I’m sure you’re going to call Ariana your friend soon enough as well.”
“You’re forgetting I’m also friends with Tam.”
“Fuck.”
Jason just snorted. “Fuck, Babybird, you’ve got a ton of exes, and your fiancée and her best friend are friends with like, all of them. Damn.”
“Shut up, Jay.”
The next morning, both Tim and Jason were hungover, and Adrien and Marinette could definitely feel themselves having drunk the night before.
They thanked the kwamii they didn’t need to suffer as many or horrible consequences for the drinking and bought and or baked a ton of food for Plagg and Tikki.
___________
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shadowed-dancer · 4 years
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Thoughts on the Cats Movie soundtrack
Still haven’t seen the film, but I thought I’d give my opinion based solely on the music of this MUSICAL film, ignoring the CGI and any story beats they may have added (also for context, I’ve seen the staged musical and I actually enjoyed it)
Fun fact, all thoughts were written as I was hearing the songs, so it’s entirely my first, gut based reactions. You are reading it exactly as it popped into my head upon hearing bits of the songs
This ended up being way longer than I thought so it goes under a cut. Enjoy
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Overture
I wasn’t going to review the overture but there’s a weird synthesizer and I needed to point it out
Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats
It doesn’t sound right. The pacing at the beginning is off. Once the chorus kicks in it gets better (but it comes later?)
It got weirdly... techno? Idk if that’s the right word
There are a lot of solos especially during the “practical cats, dramatical cats” list. At first I didn’t like it cause I really love when groups of people sing together, but it grew on me
Although Misto (I think) quickly adding in “and magical cats” at the end of the list is really cute. I love my boy
Old Gumbi Cat
The man singing is great (Munkustrap? Idk if they changed it) but I miss Jenny’s preppy and peppy attitude from the musical
Also I miss the 3 girls who used to sing the “Buuuut when the day’s hustle and bustle is done”
There’s a part that I think is the mice singing? Not a fan. I’m scared
I don’t hear any tap shoes, hopefully she does get her tap solo in the movie but from what I’ve heard in reviews, I don’t think she does
I actually like the very end bit. I never liked the musical version where they sing “for she’s a jolly good fellow”. This one flows a bit better and rhymes when she says “thank you my dears”
Rum Tum Tugger 
Dang, this is funky! I actually don’t hate it
Is... is Grizabella the Glamour Cat cut? Or just not on the album? That was actually one of my favourite songs I’m sad it’s gone. I wanted to hear Demeter’s voice
Bustopher Jones 
It isn’t as bad as I’d feared. I was nervous about James Corden, but it’s pretty ok
It’s not my favourite song to begin with so it’s pretty meh. This version is good for what it is
Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer
This is so different and I miss the energy, but I actually don’t hate it. It gives off a very sneaky type of energy and I kind of like it
It’s hard to grasp a tune though
Also, I like Rumpleteazer’s voice. It’s cute
Old Deuteronomy
It’s pretty similar to the original tbh
Someone in the comments on the video said it’s still Munkustrap singing, in which case he’s doing a very good job!
I miss his duet with Tugger though
Also Old Deuteronomy no longer buried 99 wives, but instead lived 99 lives? Ok
Oh jeez I was not expecting her voice to sound like that
Beautiful Ghosts
It’s ... actually kind of nice?
I was worried, but so far I’m not hating a lot of these added “Oscar bait” songs (Never more alone from Les Mis, No one would listen from Phantom, Evermore from Beauty and the Beast)
“No beauty in my memory” is that a parallel to Grizabella’s line “I can smile at the old days, I was beautiful then”
She mentions “memories” a lot. Is she being set as a reflection of Grizabella? (wanting to be wanted and wanting to fit in)
“At least you have something” who is the “you?” Misto? The Jellicle tribe? A plural “you” referring to the world?
I feel like if she is singing this to Misto it will break up the pacing of the film, idk how to explain it. Like this song is nice but it’s slow, maybe that’s ok though cuz it comes right after Old Deuteronomy (the song)
Her voice is very pretty and I almost started tearing up. I was hesitant of them using Victoria as an audience surrogate (someone to have the cats introduce themselves to) but I like it. They seem to have made her an actual character
Oh shoot, epiphany! Is this song meant to replace the first “Memories” that goes before intermission? Because that’s not on the soundtrack. If that’s the case that’s actually smart
Gus
I miss Jellylorum singing about him. That being said, even though he doesn’t really sing, I feel it fits him fine
His Gandalf is showing. For some reason the beginning reminded me of Lord of the Rings where he is singing “the road goes ever on and on”
It’s odd not having Jellylorum sing about him. It’s less sympathetic when he sings about himself
Um, does Gus not perform a play about the Pekes and the Pollicles? I’m... actually ok with that thank you for cutting the run time down
For those curious, the Pekes and the Pollicles was moved in the Broadway revival and US tour to be after Gus’ song. It serves as him reliving his glory days by performing one of his old plays
Skimbleshanks
It’s kept the same fun, lighthearted energy that I loved so much
There are some weird pauses but I’ll let it slide
That weird electric/techno sound is in the background again
They cut it down... a lot. I don’t blame them though, it was a very long song. And the parts they kept are executed amazingly
Was... was that tap dancing? So maybe Jenny really isn’t a tap dancer any more. Dang it
Macavity
It’s no longer a duet... they’re really cutting all the fun duets, eh?
Where is Demeter? Is she ok?
Also Taylor Swift is British
Overall the performance is pretty good
“He’s outwardly respectible. I know he cheats at cards” ok that line used to make sense as a duet cuz it was like Demeter would say one thing and then Bombalurina would come and add to it/contradict it. Now it’s weird to be sung by the same person (at least I THINK that’s Taylor singing both parts)
Wait... is that Macavity saying “the Napoleon of crime”? Why is he present? I know something changed in the timing but does he steal Old Deuteronomy AFTER this song? Cuz that just seems weird. Like “Ok now that you know who I am, let’s go”
The alternative is that he returned after stealing her to taunt the Jellicles which might work? It may not have even been him who said the line though lmao
Mr. Mistofelees
Oh man they did my boy dirty
Why is he so breathy? Is he nervous? You’re supposed to be the greatest magician ever! What did they do to his character?
Also why is he singing about himself? Someone help him
The breaks after the chorus are starting to annoy me. It’s disrupting my jam
“Not long ago this phenomenal cat...” ok I know that technically that is grammatically correct if he gestures to himself, but because the whole song is now first person it just sounds weird
Wow, EVERY duet I cared about it gone. Like, I don’t even ship Tugofelees but I could respect it! And I obviously acknowledge they have SOME sort of relationship in the musical (platonic, one sided admiration, or otherwise) so why cut it? Also I loved Tugger singing this song. I’m just mad.
You know what? Scratch that, it didn’t even need to be Tugger, just SOMEONE sing with him holy corn
Oh ok wow so can Old Deuteronomy just not sing? I thought she was supposed to play Grizabella in the London production, why is her voice so scratchy?
This song in the musical was my favourite because of it’s fun energy and flowing beat. Well the beat doesn’t flow and the energy is gone so good news Skimble you’re my favourite song for this recording so far. Congrats
Ok but Misto singing “as meeeee” as the rest of the cast sings the chorus is actually kind of adorable
Woah woah woah wait someone else is introducing him at the end? Why couldn’t you have helped throughout the entire song?????
The meows... I can’t
Memory
Her words sound slurred? Is that just me? I know the song so I know what she’s supposed to be saying, but if I hadn’t known I wouldn’t understand a lot of it
Her voice is pretty solid aside from that though
I know people were mad Victoria sings with her, but with Beautiful Ghosts as her song, I think it’s thematically appropriate
Ok the climax is well done
Oh wait what? The energy just disappeared. Bring it back!
Off topic but if you want to hear a really good Grizabella, check out Keri Rene Fuller. I got to see her live and I legit cried her climax was amazing she belted it so loud it literally shook me, like I could feel the vibrations in my chest
The Ad-dressing of Cats
Oh no I have to listen to her sing a whole song
It sounds like she’s sing-talking. It worked for Gus, not so much here
Apparently she looks directly into the camera during this scene
Ok she did it before but I noticed it on this lyric. “To treat you as a trusted friend”. Old Deuteronomy used to go up on “trusted friend” but she goes down. It brings the whole energy down
She did it again on “Straudsberg pie”
I know she’s saying “aim” but it sounded like she said “end” which made the last lyric (name) sound like it didn’t rhyme. Oh boy.
To conclude, lots of changes. Not all good, but not all bad either. Some questionable casting and directions, but I’m excited to see it. Hopefully some of my questions are cleared up.
I may make a full review of the film once I've seen it.
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hag-lad · 4 years
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Digging Deeper
Thank you to my radiant wonderful friend @alienfuckeronmain for sending me EXACTLY the type of self indulgent wind-down activity I wanted on this otherwise depressing weekend! If anyone else wants to answer FORTY-NINE QUESTIONS about themselves, I’m super nosy and will read it all! @fight-the-seether @ptolemyofchaos @butchwizard @metalbutch @nyndelion @comrade-ziltoid @leatherdear @kristalknobb Enjoy, friends!
1. Do you prefer writing with a black pen or blue pen? I prefer black, but I always feel like I write neater in blue??
2. Would you prefer to live in the country or city? The city, but only if it has breathable air, green infrastructure, and decent public transit. So like... definitely no city in America lmao
3. If you could learn a new skill what would it be? The ability to quickly become fluent in another language! I’ve been struggling with Spanish for literal YEARS and it’s honestly pathetic. My brain is so stuck on English.
4. Do you drink your tea/coffee with sugar? Look pal. If I wanna drink sugar, I’m gonna have a soda, not herb water or bean juice.
5. What was your favorite book as a child? I was OBSESSED with The Wish List, by Eoin Colfer (of Artemis Fowl fame). I remember being so fascinated by how dark it was?? It’s an afterlife adventure, where the main character has to escape purgatory by atoning for her crimes of robbery and fraud and whatever. I had a crush on her, so basically this book made me want to pursue a life of crime, even though it explicitly condemns crime and depicts Hell as a very real and horrible place. I was in like fourth grade and was super morbidly curious about Hell and the possibility of going there! Lol
6. Do you prefer baths or showers? Baths... but only when I’m not actually dirty going in. A bath is leisure, not hygiene.
7. If you could be a mythical creature, which one would you be? 100% fae! I would build my dwelling within a sidhe mound, steal shiny things in the middle of the night, make bastardly little contracts for no reason, and cause harmless mayhem and mischief because mortals really are fools (go off, robin goodfellow!) Also I love mushroom circles and dancing in the moonlight.
8. Paper or electronic books? Paper all the way! I read much more content electronically, but it’s usually in the short story or article format. Books are much better in print, I think.
9. What is your favorite item of clothing? Probably my rust-brown overalls.
10. Do you like your name or would you like to change it? I’ve always hated my name but no alternative has ever stuck, unfortunately. My name is Amy, and I don’t think it fits at all. If I knew I’d never have to correct anyone on it, I’d probably just change it to Amelia?
11. Who is a mentor to you? My little brother! He’s this genius musician, and he has taught me so much about song structure, polyrhythms, guitar technique, production tricks, all kinds of trivia that really deepen my appreciation for music and the LABOR that goes into it.
12. Would you like to be famous and if so, what for? No, never, not for anything. I cherish my anonimity so much, I don’t even put searchable tags on this blog cuz I get an adrenaline spike from anxiety if too many people interact with me. I also just think fame is a fucking hideous construct. I don’t think it’s even slightly cool or desirable.
13. Are you a restless sleeper? No, I’m a fucking log. I can easily sleep for 12 hours straight. Thanks, depression!
14. Do you consider yourself a romantic person? No, actually. I’m very much in love, and it brings me lots of joy to do nice things with and for my partner! But romance feels very difficult for me to connect with. I’m super domestic, like, I love the idea of marriage but not necessarily a wedding, or a moonstruck romance or whatever. Those dramatic gestures feel very awkward for me.
15. Which element best represents you? EARTH. Specifically, like... dirt, or soil.
16. Who do you want to be closer to? I want to be geographically closer to my family. We’re thick as thieves, but we all live like 50 miles apart from each other. I miss my brothers and my parents so much, I feel so incomplete and depressed without them to hang out with, especially since quarantine.
17. Do you miss someone at the moment? See above! Lol
18. Tell us about an early childhood memory. When my little brother was a baby, he had this grey car seat with a folding mechanism which held his legs in place. It made a very satisfying clicking sound when the mechanism moved, AND when it was fully unfolded, it looked a lot like a Klingon battle cruiser. (Or so my five year old brain thought.) So! My older brother and I would take this seat out of the car CONSTANTLY so that we could unfold it and “sing” the Klingon theme music from Star Trek: The Motion Picture while we scooched our car seat battle cruiser across the living room floor, pretending to shoot phasers into the TV or the dining table or whatever else got in our way.
19. What is the strangest thing you have eaten? Gifilte fish, maybe?
20. What are you most thankful for? My family, including my wonderful partner and all the cats in our lives!
21. Do you like spicy food? Yes! But my tolerance for extreme spice decreases every year, unfortunately. So I can’t handle as much heat as I used to, but I do enjoy a good kick.
22. Have you ever met someone famous? Lmaooo I made the regretful decision to PAY FOR a meet&greet with Fall Out Boy in like 2006, which was so fucking awkward and painful, I vowed to never approach that level of lame again.
23. Do you keep a diary or a journal? TONS! I’m an obsessive record keeper. Some years I journal more than others, and I’ve found that it is super difficult to keep up with it while working full time. But it’s absolutely one of my favorite hobbies.
24. Do you prefer to use a pen or pencil? Pen for writing. Pencil for drawing, and math.
25. What is your star sign? Virgo sun, Aquarius moon, Scorpio rising 🙃
26. Do you like your cereal soggy or crunchy? Crunchy! A shallow bath in that milk is key.
27. What would you want your legacy to be? My artwork. I go through these aesthetic phases every year that I become super obsessed with/ focused on, and I’ve always meant to catalogue them in annual art journals, but I’ve NEVER FINISHED ONE! They always get pushed aside by the need to work, and I hate that so much. If I could just take a year off work and backfill all of my missed concepts into completed books, I would be so happy. But I literally have NO WAY to pay for that, absolutely none. I fucking hate capitalism.
28. Do you like reading, what was the last book you read? I love to read, but finishing a whole book has been A STRUGGLE lately! Right now I’m chipping away at Tending Brigid’s Flame, which is a quaint lil devotional for the Celtic fire goddess. Very new agey, like cheesy Wiccan vibes. I love that shit!
29. How do you show someone you love them? Quality time!
30. Do you like ice in your drinks? Only if I have a straw. Ice touching my teeth kinda makes me wince.
31. What are you afraid of? Incompetance, doing a bad job, letting someone down, taking up too much space, being a nussiance, etc
32. What is your favourite scent? Incense! Especially cinnamon, dragon’s blood, and amber.
33. Do you address older people by their name or surname? I always call people, regardless of age, by the name they ask me to use. Sometimes it’s a surname or title, usually it’s a first name. I’ll ask their preference if I’m unsure. But I definitely don’t default toward a surname, that’s weird.
34. If money was not a factor, how would you live your life? COMPLETELY DIFFERENTLY!!!!!! The need for money rules literally every single hour of my entire life, and I hate it so much. I’m naturally nocturnal, but my job requires me to get up super early and sit in a car for 11 hours a day. I wake up at 5am, come home front work at 5pm, spend an hour or two trying to unwind, then go to bed and do it all over again. I hate my life! Really! I never see the stars, I never exercise, I am completely exhausted and burnt out all the time, and I barely get any quality time with my partner. If money were no object, I would sleep til noon or 1, make art and hike all day, ride my bike and stargaze all night, stay up til 4am reading and playing with my cats, and sleep like a baby. My partner and I would cook dinner for each other and watch Star Trek and collaborate on art projects and I would be so happy.
35. Do you prefer swimming in pools or the ocean? Here’s my hierarchy: Private pool > ocean > public pool
36. What would you do if you found £50 on the ground? I’d look around to see if anyone obviously dropped it and try to give it back. If I couldn’t find anyone, I’d exchange it for dollars and deposit that shit into my account!
37. Have you ever seen a shooting star? Of course!! Hundreds!
38. What is the one thing you would want to teach your children? America is evil and needs to be destroyed.
39. If you had to have a tattoo, what would it be and where would you get it? Lmao this is so cute. If you HAD TO HAVE a tattoo! I really wanna finish my damn sleeves, they’re literally 9 years in the making and barely half finished. But I’d also love more art on my legs! I DESPERATELY want Ziltoid in a lacy valentine heart on my thigh.
40. What can you hear now? Our fish tank water bubbling and my fan on full blast.
41. Where do you feel the safest? Home alone, doors locked, windows covered, lights low. I absolutely LOVE to not be seen or perceived in any way.
42. What is the one thing you want to overcome/conquer? My fear of discomfort
43. If you could time travel to another era, which one would you choose? I feel like I’d want to be a teen in the 80’s and an adult in the 90’s. Does time travel work that way?
44. What is your most used emoji? 😭 or 😎
45. Describe yourself using one word. Defeated
46. What do you regret the most? Convincing myself that math was too hard or boring (or something?) when I was in middle school. I feel like I’m actually a pretty intelligent person who could’ve totally overcome that difficulty and gone on to understand all kinds of patterns and concepts which have eluded me to this day! It’s so frustrating to try and fight that formative self-concept, which now comes naturally but ultimately sabotages me. 💀
47. Last movie you saw? I made my partner watch Troop Beverly Hills, one of my childhood faves. It’s so fun! I love chick flicks so much.
48. Last tv show you watched? Deep Space Nine. Getting through the first season has been harder than expected. It’s actually my favorite Star Trek show?? (Orrrr maybe that’s TNG, ahh! It’s so hard to choose!) But season one is so baffling and awful! Why is there so much space capitalism??! And racism? And war? And drinking alcoholic beverages? #notmystartrek
49. Invent a word and its meaning. I used to call a single strand of curly hair a “curly quink” when I was a child. Therefore, a “quink” is a section of hair, usually a particularly cute or iconic one.
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