#man this archival project was simultaneously

[dearly]

-

[alatusperegrinus]

Dan Heng thirst drabble (x Reader)

Dan Heng is the most gorgeous man you've ever met in your life. Every time he speaks, you couldn't help but to stare at him in awe. He may be kind of aloof, but his eyes are expressive. And, Hyacine was right to notice it, Dan Heng is a sensitive person.

And you love that the most about him.

You thought he wouldn't notice the way you look at him. But he can feel the way you soak up his words, the way your eyes slowly trace every part of his face. He feels it through his bones. And when your eyes meet and he notices you looking at him, you don't look away as if embarrassed, instead, you smile at him sweetly before you look away. If you were lucky enough to see it, you'd realize that you just made Dan Heng blush.

Luck is not enough to describe what you feel right now.

Dan Heng sat up in his futon in the Archives, watching your every movement in a drunken gaze and flushed cheeks. You were propped up on your elbows and laid comfortably between his thighs. He let out a poorly restrained gasp when he felt your lips and tongue slowly work on his flushed tip.

"Ha-hah, (Name)..."

Yes, this is not just luck. This feeling surpasses the gaze of an Aeon.

Every sound he's made had you so turned on and wet by the second. You focused on worshipping his cock in your mouth while watching his facial reactions. You could feel Dan Heng's hands grip your shoulders as if it'll help him ground himself.

He's so much more gorgeous like this.

Eyebrows scrunched. Droplets of sweat sliding down temple. Bottom lip's red from him biting it. Droopy eyes doing its best to stay open just to remember this scene.

Yet you'll never know how much you're making Dan Heng feel delirious. You'll never learn how long he's been craving this intimacy from you ever since he's realized this longing for you.

His eyes rolled harshly when your tongue kept teasing his frenulum. Dan Heng groaned, "F-fuck, I might... ngh-... cum-!"

The words he uttered made you more eager to finally see him cum, you used your hand to frantically jerk him off while simultaneously sucking his tip.

"N-not too... fast-!" His body went taut, a telltale that he's reaching his peak. He whimpered deliciously, shivered, then released his hot cum on your tongue in which you swallowed and moaned with eagerness— as if you found it delicious, it made Dan Heng insane.

[wonders-of-the-cosmos]

Mariner program

The Mariner program was conducted by the American space agency NASA to explore other planets. Between 1962 and late 1973, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) designed and built 10 robotic interplanetary probes named Mariner to explore the inner Solar System - visiting the planets Venus, Mars and Mercury for the first time, and returning to Venus and Mars for additional close observations.

The program included a number of interplanetary firsts, including the first planetary flyby, the planetary orbiter, and the first gravity assist maneuver. Of the 10 vehicles in the Mariner series, seven were successful, forming the starting point for many subsequent NASA/JPL space probe programs. 

The name of the Mariner program was decided in "May 1960-at the suggestion of Edgar M. Cortright" to have the "planetary mission probes ... patterned after nautical terms, to convey 'the impression of travel to great distances and remote lands.'" That "decision was the basis for naming Mariner, Ranger, Surveyor, and Viking probes."

Each spacecraft was to carry solar panels that would be pointed toward the Sun and a dish antenna that would be pointed at Earth. Each would also carry a host of scientific instruments. Some of the instruments, such as cameras, would need to be pointed at the target body it was studying. Other instruments were non-directional and studied phenomena such as magnetic fields and charged particles. JPL engineers proposed to make the Mariners "three-axis-stabilized," meaning that unlike other space probes they would not spin.

Mariner 1 and Mariner 2

Mariner 1 and Mariner 2 were two deep-space probes making up NASA's Mariner-R project. The primary goal of the project was to develop and launch two spacecraft sequentially to the near vicinity of Venus, receive communications from the spacecraft and to perform radiometric temperature measurements of the planet. A secondary objective was to make interplanetary magnetic field and/or particle measurements on the way to, and in the vicinity of, Venus.

Animation of Mariner 2's trajectory from August 27, 1962, to December 31, 1962. Mariner 2 · Venus · Earth.

Mariners 3 and 4

Sisterships Mariner 3 and Mariner 4 were Mars flyby missions.

Mariner 3 was launched on November 5, 1964, but the shroud encasing the spacecraft atop its rocket failed to open properly and Mariner 3 did not get to Mars.

Mariner 4, launched on November 28, 1964, was the first successful flyby of the planet Mars and gave the first glimpse of Mars at close range

This archival image is an enhanced contrast version of the first Mars photograph released on July 15, 1965. This is man's first close-up photograph of another planet -- a photographic representation of digital data radioed from Mars by the Mariner 4 spacecraft. Data was either sent to Earth immediately for acquisition or stored on an onboard tape recorder for later transmission.

The pictures, played back from a small tape recorder over a long period, showed lunar-type impact craters (just beginning to be photographed at close range from the Moon), some of them touched with frost in the chill Martian evening. 

Mariner 5

The Mariner 5 spacecraft was launched to Venus on June 14, 1967, and arrived in the vicinity of the planet in October 1967. It carried a complement of experiments to probe Venus' atmosphere with radio waves, scan its brightness in ultraviolet light, and sample the solar particles and magnetic field fluctuations above the planet.

Mariners 6 and 7

Mariners 6 and 7 were identical teammates in a two-spacecraft mission to Mars. Mariner 6 was launched on February 24, 1969, followed by Mariner 7 on March 21, 1969. They flew over the equator and southern hemisphere of the planet Mars.

Mariners 8 and 9

Mariner 8 and Mariner 9 were identical sister craft designed to map the Martian surface simultaneously, but Mariner 8 was lost in a launch vehicle failure. Mariner 9 was launched in May 1971 and became the first artificial satellite of Mars. 

Mariner 10

The Mariner 10 spacecraft launched on November 3, 1973, and was the first to use a gravity assist trajectory, accelerating as it entered the gravitational influence of Venus, then being flung by the planet's gravity onto a slightly different course to reach Mercury. It was also the first spacecraft to encounter two planets at close range, and for 33 years the only spacecraft to photograph Mercury in closeup.

Venus in real colors, processed from clear and blue filtered Mariner 10 images

Mariner 10's photograph of Venus in ultraviolet light (photo color-enhanced to simulate Venus's natural color as the human eye would see it)

This mosaic shows the planet Mercury as seen by Mariner 10 as it sped away from the planet on March 29, 1974.

source x, x | images x

[apdreadful]

Two sides to every phone call..or, still Buck

Tommy’s phone dings in his pocket.

It’s a text from Chimney

Chimney: I want to go on the record, I tried to talk him out of it.

He starts to reply asking what Evan has done now, his phone rings.

“What’s he done now?” He asks as a way of greeting.

“Your man is gearing up to do something really stupid. Or more accurately not gearing up”

Tommy could hear Evan’s voice in the background “You called Tommy! What the fuck Hen?”

“Well god knows you never listen to any of us” she replies.

“Put him on” Tommy says torn between wanting to laugh and also throttle his husband.

“You’re part of my team” he hears Evan grouse “Where’s the loyalty?”

“He was part of my team first. Also, do you really want any of us to have to explain to Tommy why you went splat?”

Tommy hears a rustling, presumably Evan taking the phone, and then a masculine sigh “Hey”

“Evan” Tommy says softly

“Yeah?”

“What were you about to do that Hen and Chimney both had to reach out to me”

“Chimney too?” Bucks voice rises an octave “Et tu Bruté”

“Did you just quote Julius Caesar?”

“Yes. I do know how to read, babe. I’m more than just a pretty face”

Tommy pauses for a beat, and when he speaks his voice has taken on a different tone “I am both annoyed and totally turned on by you right now. A state which I am becoming more and more accustomed to”

“You got a boner?” Evan stage whispers.

“OH MY GOD!” He hears Hen exclaim “You’re on my phone! No boner talk on my phone”

“Sorry babe. Hen wont let me talk spicy to you on her phone. Apparently her phone isn’t into dick either” He snickers.

Tommy manages to bite back his laughter knowing that will only encourage him more.

“Evan” he repeats.

Buck clears his throat. “Yes?”

“What were you about to do?”

Buck hesitates “Well..Crawl up an apartment building, balcony to balcony”

“Without a harness!” Hen yells.

“You are all the worst kind of tattletales” Evan grumbles. “It’s only like six stories”

“Evan” Tommy uses the tone that always gets Bucks attention.

He hears Bucks small intake of breath “Babe. You cannot use the bossy bedroom voice on me when I’m at work” he says huskily.

“Oh for fucks sake! Give me back my phone. Ya’ll are worse than a bunch of horny teenagers”

“You’re the one who called him to tattle on me and handed me your phone”

“Not for you to have phone sex with him. I swear the two of you are actually worse since you got married.”

“Awww thanks Hen” Buck says sweetly.

“That wasn’t a compliment”

“I’m choosing to take it as one though” he volleys back.

“Evan, please do not attempt to climb up a building without a harness” Tommy asks.

::Silence::

“Evan?”

“Ok. I won’t”

“Thank you. I’ll see you tonight. I love you”

“Love you too” Buck replies.

“Be safe” they say almost simultaneously.

Tommy grins as he ends the call and slips it back into his pocket.

“Judging from the dopey ass look on your face. That was Buckley”

“Don’t be jealous, Hayes” he winks.

Buck:

Buck hands the phone back to Hen “Still think you’re a tattletale.”

Hen narrows her eyes at him “That was surprisingly easy”

“What?” Buck says as he heads to the rig to get a harness and ropes.

“Did he threaten to put you over his knee if you did it anyway?”

Buck snorts out a laugh “Like that would have been a deterrent..He asked me not to go up without a harness”

Both Chimney and Hen gape at him “That’s it?? He asked you?”

Evan shrugs “Yes” after a few moments he adds “He’s my somebody, that person that needs me to come home to him”

Hen smiles softly and gives Buck a one armed hug “I like this married Buck. He’s a lot more sensible”

“Regular sex will do that for you!” He quips with a wink.

Hen makes a gagging sound “Never mind, still Buck”

<a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/55979032"

[wafflewarriors]

love love love the latest chapter <3

Ahhhh thank you so much! <3 I'm literally grinning like an idiot at my phone right now.

I was really excited to dig into Stan's "good" memories because they're so revealing about his emotional starvation. The fact that his treasured memories are mostly centered around basic human kindness— speaks volumes about how low the bar has been set for him.

What really kills me is how Stan doesn't even seem to realize how tragic it is that these count as his "good" memories. Like, my dude, the fact that you consider "not getting arrested while freezing by the side of the road" a highlight... that all your "good" memories are still fundamentally stories about being hungry and cold... oof.

And Caryn... double oof. I love writing how her love is simultaneously healing and harmful. She's just trying to mother him— feed and clothe and fuss over him like he's still her little boy, not realizing that treating him like nothing's changed is just highlighting how much everything HAS changed.

I wanted to show how even "help" has been weaponized against Stan in the past with the psych ward memory. This bitter understanding that recovery isn't about healing, it's about saying the right lines to the right people. Stan didn't get better, he just got better at pretending to be better.

God, I just love writing this broken man trying so hard to be worthy of love while being completely unable to recognize that he already is.

[archivewriter1ont]

Echo and the Cadet Batch Chapter 9: Meeting the Vode (Part Three)

Art by @shyranno

Summary of Chapter 9: Cody, Boil, Waxer, and the others are brought into the secret and things with the baby Batch get more chaotic as it becomes harder to keep them quiet. It turns out that not many haven’t already found out about the baby commandos on board.

Sneak Peek:

For an instant, Rex fought the urge to scold Cody for his language in front of the littles. Then everything started happening too quickly for him to give it another thought.

“Cody!?” 

The four little voices rang out simultaneously, their tones an ecstatic melody of disbelief and excitement. The patter of small feet thundered across the floor as each cadet tried to beat his brothers to the stunned commander.

Wrecker, having the longest legs at this age, was unsurprisingly the winner. “Cody!” he shouted again, his unrestrained joy making Hardcase and Jesse both grin in the background.

Cody remained frozen just inside the threshold, his jaw hanging open and his hands a little in front of him, spread out in shock. For a moment, Rex wondered if he really had broken his ori’vod.

Then Wrecker skidded to a stop in front of the commander, wrapped his arms around his armored thighs, and picked him up clear off the floor in a tight hug. “You’re here!” he yelped.

Cody jerked back to life, eyes widening in alarm as his combat boots left the tile. “Wrecker–!” his warning cry was cut off as he tipped forward.

Wrecker may have been able to crush his favorite reg into an off-the-ground hug on Kamino, but Commander Cody was no longer the cadet the young 99s knew. In the present, he was nearly two hundred pounds of muscle and grit, not to mention that except for his helmet, he was still wearing all ninety pounds of kit. And all of that weight was too much for the much shorter Wrecker to handle. Rex caught a glimpse of the big cadet’s surprised eyes and the way his lips parted in a shocked o right before he and Cody went crashing to the ground.

“Wrecker!” Rex was in motion before the word left his mouth, already leaping to pull the commander off the smaller cadet. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about Cody at the moment… he just cared about Wrecker more. 

He was man enough to admit that part of it was self-preservation. He didn’t want to be the one to face an angry Echo if one of his vod’ikas got hurt.

It was a needless concern, a fact he realized as soon as he heard the giggles coming from beneath a still-surprised Cody, who was scrambling to get up. 

“You got heavy !” Wrecker laughed. As Cody fell backward onto his rear end, the cadet rolled over and giggled again, eyes sparkling merrily. His gaze grew awed when he focused on Cody’s face. “Hey, you got a scar, too!”

Cody reflexively reached up to touch the scar that carved a c around his eye, his gaze never leaving the cadet. “Wrecker,” he said plainly. “Rex, that’s Wrecker .”

Rex was trying to hold back his own amusement now. It wasn’t often he got to see Cody this thrown out of sorts. The poor commander was completely buffaloed by what he was seeing, sprawled on the floor with a pitiable expression of confusion etched onto his face “Yeah, I know. It was kinda hard to miss.”

[the rest is at the Ao3 link above!]

[14muffinz]

4/?

C1 (and prompt) / C2 / C3 / C4

She should really be used to being alone by now.

When she’d finally been settled enough in her own skin, the first thing she’d wanted to do was fly far, far away from Amity, explore the world that she’s just been given the opportunity to experience. She was twelve, simultaneously in weeks and months, and the thought of being tied to a person or place made her skin crawl and bile threaten to spill from her throat.

It’d been good, too, is the thing. Nothing was stopping her from being who she wants to be, and there was no need to look over her shoulder. It was interesting, and it was exhilarating.

Ellie spins on her heel just to feel the pressure, and restarts her circuit of the hallway.

Somehow, the most fucked up part of it all, to her, is that her entire half-life got rearranged by a single phone call. She remembers Sam’s voice, quivering and threatening to give out, and Danny’s roaring anger. She remembers “Vlad fucking snapped” and she remembers “you need to get to a portal now” and she remembers running, but she doesn’t remember the explanation for arriving back in Amity to find the Ops Centre as a crushed heap of metal in the street, and a hole in the roof peering into the Dr’s bedroom.

The air had reeked of fear and despair, that’s the most distinct thing to her, now. Danny, Sam, and Tucker were all in the lab. Danny had a thermos suspended in midair using an ectoshield, and it was jerking with the strength of Vlad’s pounding on the walls.

Taking Vlad to Walker’s prison had been long overdue, and had then turned into a two person job. Danny had left as soon as the transfer was completed, but Ellie stayed as long as she could, not trusting Vlad not to break out as soon as he was left unattended.

By the time she’d tried to go back to Amity, all the artificial portals had been barricaded.

She reaches the other end of the hallway. She turns sharply again on her heel. Logic dictates that these are the highest security cells in the Infinite Realms (at least, the part that could be travelled to in a reasonable amount of time), but Danny once broke out of this prison, which means that Vlad could do the same at any moment.

Ellie cannot falter. She doesn’t know why the portals had to be blockaded, but she knows that the barriers have not been disturbed since. What she knows is that it happened after Vlad’s attack, which means that it’s crucial that he not be let back into Amity.

No matter how much it hurts. No matter how much her silent Fentonphone taunts her.

⠀

⠀

“Hey, girlypop,” Ember greets, gliding in like she owns the place, despite Walker glaring her down.

Ellie still remembers the moment where Ember had discovered girlypop as being a fairly common bit of living slang. Based on her initial reaction, it won’t be leaving her vocabulary for at least a decade or two.

She tries her best to manage a grin in response, but she knows that it’s weaker than her usual. Growing up sucks. She can see the concern in Ember’s eyes, even as she rushes forward to give Ellie a tight embrace that she gratefully leans into.

When they part, she gives Ellie a smirk, and then glances to Walker standing stiffly at her side. “Wanna get outta here before the old man skins me to double-death?” She prompts.

She looks at the door leading to Vlad’s maximum security cell. Ellie doesn’t know if she can leave him unguarded.

Gruff as always, but with a feeling of caring that slips out the longer Ellie knows him, Walker says, “I’ll take up your shift, kid. You need a break.”

Walker… well, he can’t be trusted, but his prison has been the only fully functional one in the realms for a long, long time, and he still commits a sizeable portion of his afterlife to improving it.

And right now, catching up with Ember sounds really, really nice.

So the two allow themselves to be led out of the prison, and don’t stop their forward momentum until they’re flying through the Realms, presumably in the direction of Ember’s lair.

She spins so she’s flying upside down, because while there’s not really a sense of up or down in the realms aside from the one you’re currently following, allowing herself a bit of silliness is always a comfort. “You heard from D?” Ellie asks, unable to make the question sound hopeful. She doesn’t have hope, because if Ember was contacted and not Ellie, that probably means he didn’t have time to contact everyone he usually would.

She’d worry that Danny simply forgot about her, but she knows that he isn’t like that. They don’t call often, but without fail, he’ll know what country, and even sometimes what city, she was visiting when she last checked in. She doesn’t think she’s capable of doubting him anymore.

They don’t have lungs to sigh from, but Ember manages a similar effect. “Nah, I’m pretty sure everyone on the other side are too freaked to use any ghost tech, even in Amity.”

She flips back around. “Woah, woah, what? Why!?”

Ember stops her forward momentum, and Ellie does the same, tail lashing. “Shit, girlypop, you haven’t heard?”

Ellie can feel an ectobeam charging around her clenched fists, so all she can do is hope that it doesn’t hit anyone or anything when she has to release it. “Heard what?”

For a moment, Ember looks like she’s trying to offer comfort, but it vanishes behind her mask. “The ghost hunters ‘been cracking down. Nobody’s allowed to go through the portal, and the whole Phantom squad had to skip town. Me ‘n Syd have been working our asses off to keep people from breaking the barriers.”

As she speaks, Ellie can feel everything in her grow progressively colder and colder, until her entire body goes numb.

Unceremoniously, she drops her flight, falling for ancients-know-how-long before dropping onto patchy blue grass. She stretches her arms so that they both wrap all the way around her, and she’s half-aware of her body becoming more malleable as she fights to control the breaths from the phantom lungs of her ghost form.

⠀

⠀

It takes far too long for things to begin feeling real again.

She finds Ember’s tail tightly curled around one of her legs, and can feel the hum of someone transferring ecto in order to help her stabilise.

“I’m sorry,” she croaks, because it’s all she can find the words for.

Ember gives a soft pat before backing away. “It’s fine. It’s a real shit situation to be in, and we don’t got a way to help.”

No shit.

That’s not a very productive thing to say, so instead, Ellie asks, “Do you know if they all made it out of Amity okay?”

Ember purses her lips.

⠀

⠀

“Skinwalker!” the figment of Pamela Manson cries. “Monster!” added Jeremy Manson. “Spectral scum!” Cried the GIW agents who’d chased her down the streets.

Bubbie had slept through the whole thing. Sam doesn’t know who she would have sided with, and doesn’t know whether or not she wants to find out.

Sam runs a hand through her hair, and turns up the volume on her phone. She forces herself to breathe in, breathe out, and focus on the music. If she focuses on anything else, then they’ll have to waste another hour on the road before they can finally stop for dinner.

Tucker presses against her side. Despite there being a perfectly usable window seat, he consistently takes the middle seat in order to stick to Sam’s side. He and Val have been playing digital battleship since the last stop, not bothering to tally up their wins. Currently, this round is looking like a win for Tuck.

Jazz slightly tweaks the temperature, so slight that it’s likely not noticeable. Sam can’t hear much past her music, but there’s a speaker on the car door next to her, and she can feel the hum of Jazz’s audiobook.

In movies, being on the run involves much more adrenaline and car chases.

In movies, ghosts aren’t the good guys.

In movies, it’s not a bunch of kids who haven’t even done anything wrong.

Unfortunately, this isn’t a movie, and Sam tries hard to remain calm as she switches from Panic at the Disco to Avril Lavigne, because in real life, letting herself yell or cry could put them all in jeopardy.

She cannot think about Pamela and Jeremy, the hatred they aimed at her based purely on the GIW’s word. She cannot think about Bubbie, waking up to find out that Sam had been kicked out of her home. She cannot think about Danny, who’d been a shell of himself when they’d set out on the road, and who broke off a month ago with barely a goodbye.

[kayleeofcamelot]

You're never gonna shut me up

written for week three of @steddiesmuttyseptember (sorry for the late update)

Part 3 of the Bombshell Series: Part 1 Part 2

Prompt: rough | lingerie | aftercare | sneaking around

Rated: E

Word count: ~9.2k

Tags: Modern AU, Soft Dom Eddie Munson, Top Eddie Munson, Sub Steve Harrington, Bottom Steve Harrington, Dom/Sub, gags, blow jobs, teasing, anal fingering, anal sex, edging, BDSM, lingerie

After their impromptu session in the Sub’s SUV, it’s like a switch has flipped. ‘S’ is responding to Eddie’s text messages eagerly, awakening a bunch of new ideas and desires in the Dom.

They agree to meet up again on Friday, but Eddie is not expecting the mysterious ‘S’ to show up dressed like a treat - in nothing but pretty lingerie under his coat.

Read the full story here:

A baby blue lace bralette is covering parts of the man’s gorgeous chest, only the outline of his pert nipples visible under the fabric. Sparkling gemstones are woven into the mesh, reflecting the light and making the chest shine.

The panties are a matching set to the bra, consisting of pale blue thong, covering only the most private parts, and a matching see-through pantie made of the same lace. The bulge of the Sub’s cock is very prominent, the view intoxicating.

Shamelessly, Eddie palms his own cock through his pants, mesmerized by the man’s beauty.

...

“What a shame that you have to keep quiet. If it was up to me, I’d never make you shut up,” Eddie grazes his other hand around the rim while keeping his middle finger on the Sub’s prostate, alternating the intensity of the pressure on it, causing ‘S’ to wiggle his hips, trying to grind back onto the finger. Before the sensation gets too overwhelming, Eddie retracts his hand a bit, starting to pump his fingers in and out, determinately stretching the man’s hole. Whiny little “ah ah ah”s quietly echo through the room as Eddie runs his other hand along the fabric covered length of the hard cock. ‘S’ groans and tries to adjust the angle of his hips accordingly, seeking as much friction as he can.

“Look how wet you are for me, sweetheart." Eddie dances his fingers through the precome soaked thong, that’s barely containing the erected cock. He wraps his hand around the length, dragging the sticky fabric over it, simultaneously pumping the fingers into the hole.

...

‘S’ throws back his head, wailing in desperation, kicking his legs. Eddie uses his full body weight to hold the Sub down, waiting for him to calm down. Then he leans over and wipes away tears of frustration that have gathered in the corners of the man’s eyes. ‘S’ turns his head and spits out the gag, batting his lashes at the Dom.

"Please, Eddie. Please."

Eddie caresses the moles on the high cheekbones, slightly shaking his head.

“Not yet. Last one, okay. I promise you'll get to come soon."

"No! Now. Please."

The wide eyes and the waver in the Sub’s voice nearly make Eddie cave, but he knows the climax will be so satisfying if ‘S’ holds out a little longer. Plus he remembers the man’s bratty attitude, grabs his chin and forces to face him, throwing his comment right back at him.

"What did you say last time, sweetheart? 'Where's the fun in that'?"

[dollarbin]

Shakey Sundays #48:

Harvest

Perhaps you’re wondering why it’s taken me well over a year and a half to dedicate a Shakey Sunday to Neil Young‘s most famous record.

I’ve avoided the album this long for one simple reason: Harvest is boring. 

My cat confirms this: she did not even wake up when I plopped the thing down beside her just now. Read on if you are not yet convinced...

Don’t get me wrong. Young has plenty, perhaps dozens, of dumber records. Landing on Water? Dumb. Life? Dumber. The Monsanto years? Dumbest.

But at least those records are entertainingly infuriating. Harvest's songs are dull. Its mixing/engineering is murky. Its cover is drab. The footage of a drug addled Nash and Crosby seeking to ruin Alabama makes me satisfyingly furious. But said footage does not appear on the record itself. And so the whole thing just puts me to sleep.

Consider the record's overblown Jack Nitzsche tracks, There’s a World and A Man Needs a Maid. The later is a sublime piece of Young's art. Whether he's singing it solo with bizarre keyboard interludes during his 76 acoustic tour or with its original, primal chorus in the days before and after the original record's release, A Man Needs a Maid always terrifies me in all the right ways. But the song needs a full orchestra like I need Paula Abdul and Donald Jr. hanging out together in my house getting friendly with a monkey and a platypus: not on any level.

Sufjan Stevens recently demonstrated that There’s a World is actually an incredible song. But it took 50 years and the death of Stevens' beloved partner for anyone to uncover the depths and sweetness hiding behind Nitzsche's gongs, flatulence and oboes.

And then there’s the record's two boring, ubiquitous hits. Old Man and Heart of Gold are just about the only songs you'll ever hear played in a public space by Neil Young. When I hear Neil welcome Linda in for the choruses while hunting through Abba records at my local Thrift mart or while I'm fighting my way through hordes of teeny bopper, cute-bag-seeking, Trader Joe’s types I feel simultaneously bored and pissed: why can’t they play any other Neil Young song? The dude has a few thousand of them! 

I mean, wouldn’t it be wonderful to consider whether you want your potato chips dill pickle flavored or jalapeño dusted while listening to Sample and Hold? Life would be so much better if Homegrown kept us company while working our way through airport security and Sedan Delivery bounced around the DMV.

It took the Massey Hall piano version of Heart of Gold in which the song merges with and answers the questions asked by A Man Need A Maid and that same show's forlorn, shaggy dog, intro for Old Man to make each song interesting all over again for the first time since 1972. 

I admit it: both songs are great pieces of music. Kenny Buttrey's cymbal work alone, which finally emerged from the original pressings' sonic murk via the Archives project, makes each of them worth your three minutes. But hearing them today is still like eating my father's homemade, stuffed-with-stale-breakfast-cereal meatloaf: they’re sustenance, of a sort. I guess. But I'd rather just spoon Dijon into my mouth unsaddled. No offense dad!

And then there’s The Needle and the Damage Done. That song, with its cryptic setting and deft balance of terror, loss, and warning, totally blew me away the first, second and maybe even the fifth time I heard it. But when Young busted out yet another paint-by-numbers rendition of the thing during MTV Unplugged instead of any other song in his entire oeuvre I permanently unplugged all my interest in the track. And that was 33 years ago.

And don’t even get me started on Are You Ready for the Country. The song might be satisfyingly Shakey if Young didn’t take it so seriously; he really thinks he's got something good going on in the track, and that's embarrassing. And, the song would be totally GREAT if it had different lyrics, a different melody, different time signatures, different musicians, a slightly different title and was performed by Sandy Denny. Until I hear that version I never want to hear Are you Ready for the Country ever again.

Come to think of it, that dream version almost exists. Let's wake ourselves up by listening to it:

Out on the Weekend, however, is pretty damn good. I’ll grant you that. I, too, would like to pack it in and buy a pick up. And I'll tip my hat here to my famous brother's affection for the person standing beside their mother at the top of the stairs, screaming in the rain on the record's otherwise dull title track. 

You'll note that I actively refuse to paste any of these far-too-well-known songs into this post. It bores me to tears just to think about googling them. Go bore yourself, if that’s your thing. I'm still listening to Karen Dalton.

My criticisms are not unique. Young’s terrifying, mad scientist and cocaine fiend of a producer famously argued that he should have issued the record straight to dumpster bins rather than putting it out at all. David Briggs felt that Young's reckless soul was better revealed on the uncut, untouched and unblemished Massey Hall show and so he pushed for that concert's release in place of Harvest. Obviously that didn't happen.

But imagine a world run by David Briggs, a world in which no one even heard Havest's Nashville studio cuts until the Archives series 50 years later.

I love that world! I’d like to live in it. We’d all have free, perfectly accessible, healthcare. I'd have a full head of hair and look like Charles Atlas. There would be no wars, little free libraries would stand beside little free record bins on every street corner and Neil Young would be busy enforcing environmental, economic and social justice through his role on the US Supreme Court as we speak, instead of dedicating his summer to playing dull tracks from Harvest for the highest bidder with The Chrome Farts.

Now that's a harvest worth reaping!

[jamisonsilvadrawsbad]

In his career as a noodle delivery boy, Xiaotian had experienced many unfortunate customer interactions. Today though? This had to be the worst. Walking up to the steps to the front door of a literal mansion, polished marble and his well worn nearly unusable shoes with zero tread did not mix well. Extra extra extra hot, extra extra extra spicy Sichuan Chongqing noodle soup boiled him alive as he slammed into the steps with a thud with enough force to send his ancestors reeling. A low whine eked out of his throat like air from a balloon. He took a moment to wallow in his misery. Fucking Mondays.

The sound of the front door opening startled Xiaotian from his pity party and suddenly his day simultaneously got so much worse and so much better. Leaning against the door frame was possibly the hottest man Xiaotian had ever seen and as an artist that was saying something. His college's figure models were unnecessarily attractive.

Dyed red hair in a high pony spilled behind his back like a cross between fresh blood and molten lava. Hazel eyes smiled at him through the cutest pair of tiny glasses perched on the edge of a perfect button nose. A red jewel adorned the center of his forehead matching the litany of red and gold earrings jingling lightly to match the low crackle of his breathless chuckle. Thick corded arms with oil staining porcelain skin were crossed over a pillowy chest covered in a black sleeveless spandex turtleneck that was practically painted on to lean man. His dainty waist that Xiaotian swore was small enough that if he grabbed it, his fingers would touch and if that wasn't just about the most cold shower worthy thought he'd had all year.

Poetry about the sexy man aside, said man was waiting patiently for the red hot soup that Xiaotian was currently wearing. Today was the worst. Slowly, he managed to push himself off of the ground. Noodles fell off of him, slapping to the ground wetly.

[sooperlative]

suffering will be your teacher

I don't think it's too late to share this one :)

Rating: E, for violence

Tags: Time Travel; Scarless Zuko; Zuko & Zuko's Crew; Jee has only had Zuko for a day and a half but if anything happened to him he would kill everyone on this ship and then himself

Summary: Zuko falls asleep on the evening of his official coronation, when he’s twenty-one-years old and has finally reached his majority. Zuko wakes on the morning of the Agni Kai with his father, eight years earlier. This is annoying for several reasons, like the fact that the War is still ongoing, that he has zero friends, and that Ozai is not in jail. It’s time to scheme.

Also, here are some ficnotes under the cut, if you're interested in some of my reasoning in regards to how the Agni Kai went in this universe. It's a bit spoilery but not if you've read chapter 1:

I’ve received a small handful of comments being shocked and/or delighted by Zuko deciding to burn Ozai the way Ozai burnt him: hand over the face like wiping away a tear, and then just going to town with their natural flamethrower ability. Whether this would be seen as in character or not, I wrote it in because I think it’d be in character, and I suppose that’s a rather important bit of writing lol. 

You can probably interpret it as Zuko perpetuating his family’s violence, or suddenly being okay with being goaded into a fight. But here’s the thing: he’s not okay with it. I’ve tried to hint at Zuko being disgusted with himself post-burning, yet simultaneously satisfied—because, hey, he’s back to fight-or-flight mode. He’s gone from the relative comfort of a palace filled with people he’d show his soft underbelly to, to the metaphorical viper’s den that was the palace when Ozai still ruled. Despite it having been a few years for him, Zuko still knows that it’s dangerous to be there, and that he cannot, under any circumstance, show aspects of his natural personality that may be deemed as weak. He’s the Prince and kindness, or mercy, will be punished. And he also doesn’t want to be burnt again—he’s not going to take that challenge lying down. 

So Zuko takes a risk. He fights back and uses his own experience to get his father to his knees. He burns Ozai before Ozai can burn him, despite the detail that harming the Fire Lord is probably illegal. And yes, like Azula told him, a simple burn on the shoulder would’ve been enough… but with someone as dangerous as Ozai, it’s better to incapacitate him. Ozai clearly doesn’t care about fighting fair and nobody would’ve stopped him either: in the show, Zuko went on his knees, refused to fight, and begged for mercy, but Ozai burnt him anyway without any sort of protest from anyone there. Zuko was in an inescapable and incredibly violent situation where the only way out was violence from his side. It’s an easy choice at that point, I think. 

Additionally, it’s also a revenge fantasy come true. I do believe that during the confrontation between Zuko and Ozai in Day Of The Black Sun, Zuko would’ve considered killing his father for a moment—or at least harming him. He doesn’t because it’s Aang’s responsibility to do so, and because killing your dad at age 16 after a lifetime of loyalty is kind of…. hard, but I’m certain there was a brief moment he thought about it. And burning your father instead, in the exact way he burnt you in another life, with him on his knees instead of you? Possibly a little bit satisfying. Zuko was granted a chance and took it. 

So, he’s scarless (if you have trouble imagining it: think of his face in the flashback of The Storm, plus his Fire Lordly face in his fever dream in The Earth King). I can hear people go like, “But Soopsie, that’s not our Zuko! The scar is a very important part of his character!”, and that is very fair. But keep in mind that he’s a 21 year old man who only occupies the body of his thirteen year old self, and he’s actually older than the Zuko of the show. I also think it’s not the scar which makes Zuko Zuko, but rather the mental/emotional scarring that lies underneath. Ozai still very much burnt him. There’s just not any physical proof right now. 

(I also don’t need to do any physical character design for this, which is a plus. He’s a lot less recognisable rn)

[maukree]

"He makes me sleep with him," Peter blurts out. He's so tired, his brain's filter is practically non-existent.

Mr. Stark, who's been tinkering with something that looks alarmingly like a miniaturized nuclear reactor, drops it with a loud clank. He turns around so fast, Peter's half-convinced he's going to get whiplash just from watching.

"Care to run that by me again?"

Oh, fuck.

"What? No! Jesus," Peter waves his arm, trying to backtrack from the conversational cliff he's just hurled himself off. "Not like that."

or

The one where Peter has night terrors, Bucky is simultaneously the least difficult and the most confusing man in the compound, and everyone's a good bro.

[unknown171204]

Starmania 1979

The French singer, author and composer Michel Berger one day heard about some astonishing news :

Patricia Campbell Hearst, the daughter of a billionaire, kidnapped by radical terrorists, decides to join their movement out of love (more like Stockholm syndrome) for one of her captors !

This true story will fascinate Berger to the point of seeking to create an album inspired by this story :

This will be the “Angelina Dumas” project

Ultimately the album never saw the light of day and only one song that remained of Berger's work :

Frustrated by what he considers to be a bitter failure, Michel will not let go of what he (rightly) thinks is a good artistic vein

His wife will introduce him to the Canadian singer Diane Dufresne, who in turn will introduce him to the work of her lyricist Luc Plamondon, the creative and friendly current will be immediately present enough to resume the angelina project as a duo

The story will completely change direction even if the original spinal column of the story is still present , Angelina will be renamed Cristal is will belong to the epic of :

The story takes place in an undated future ( despite a now outdated reference to Y2k and the 80s )

Humans now live in underground galleries redeveloped into a huge city called Monopolis

The only mirage of happiness for ordinary citizens is the number 1 television show "Starmania" where everyone can become a star for only one night ...

We simultaneously follow the lives and actions of several characters :

Johnny Rockfort : A young anarchist leader of the terrorist group :

Les étoiles noires ( black stars )

Sadia : A transvestite student with a questionable morality, creator and co-leader of les étoiles noires

Marie Jeanne : A depressed waitress who works all day at the Underground café

Ziggy : A young homosexual record store , mythomaniac and ambitious, he changed his name in homage to his idol David Bowie

Cristal : The young and pretty star presenter, she is the one who directs and presents the most popular show on Monopolis :

" Le Jeux De La Starmania "

Stella Spotlight : The declining sex symbol of an aging generation

Zéro Janvier : An extremist politician running for president of all the West

Gourou Marabout : An extremist politician also competing in the presidential election

Roger-Roger : the TV presenter who serves as a storyteller

the full album :

Brilliantly the duo Berger / Plamondon went out of their way to organize the broadcast of a special television program in 1978 in order to present the songs to as many people as possible :

The show was performed for a short month

Only 33 performances at the Palais des Congrès , but it is considered one of the greatest French musicals !!

DISTRIBUTION :

Daniel Balavoine : Johnny Rockfort

France Gall : Cristal

Fabienne Thibeault : Marie-Jeanne

Étienne Chicot : Zéro Janvier

Diane Dufresne : Stella Spotlight

Grégory Ken : Ziggy

Nanette Workman : Sadia

Roddy Julienne : le Gourou

René Joly : Roger-Roger

Due to his short presence on stage, the show did not have the right to a complete recording (it is today considered a highly sought after lost media) but fortunately the audio of the show has available in its entirety !

To get an idea of ​​the visual identity of the show I had to dig into the TV archives :

Rehearsals :

Full live audio of the show :

Single :

Monopolis / Quand on arrive en ville / Le blues du business man / La complainte de la serveuse automate / Ziggy / Le monde est stone

But the most memorable song is " SOS d'un terrien en détresse "

A song renowned for its difficulty and which launched the career of Daniel Balavoine then, years later, that of Star Academy 2004 winner Grégory Lemarchal :

ANECDOTES :

The original album contains two songs missing from the final show :

Petite Musique terrienne Part 2

L'air de l'extraterrestre

This extraterrestrial is a deleted character who only appeared physically in two production ( Francis Martin in 1980 and Marc Gabriel in 1986 , in this last version we discovered that Roger-Roger was in reality an alien ) the song, or rather its theme, will be recycled in several subsequent versions :

...

The show also contains several unreleased and missing songs from the album that will never be reused !!

La serveuse et les clients

Jingle de Stella

Sex shops , cinéma porno

Les parents de Cristal

Le tango de l'amour et de la mort

...

Claude Dubois (the original voice of Zéro Janvier) is the only one of the singers present on the album who did not reprise the role on stage, unfortunately it was because of his drug addiction, he took his revenge in 1989 when he replaced Richard Groulx for some representation

( thanks to miss-starmania for the archive picture and additional information )

...

Michel Berger abandons his role of Grand Gourou to Roddy Julienne without any explanation ?!

...

in the original album the song '' ego trip '' is sung… by Ziggy ?

Legend has it that Diane Tell simply didn't like the song so it was Éric Estève who lent his voice

...

In this version, in addition to randomly attacking wealthy people in the street, scratching their cars and raping girls in parking lots, les étoiles noires of 79 are a bit more extreme than in the other versions … Roger Roger specifies that the terrorists deliberately disconnected the oxygen ventilation of an entire neighborhood, killing all the residents ! This free murder will be deleted from other versions

...

The name Johnnie Rockfort (a complicated pun to translate which can mean "strong rock'n'roll " or just the cheese of the same name ? ) is perhaps not a coincidence , the producer of the show Roland Hubert, not being convinced by Balavoine, completely unknown at the time, he fought (in vain) with Berger so that the role was offered to the rocker Johnny Halliday

...

According to the memories of France Gall, during one of the performances a disgruntled spectator had fun whistling throughout the show exhausting Daniel Balavoine who patiently waited for the curtain call to jump into the audience to beat him up while he was still wearing his bulky costume ( the one below )

...

France Gall speaks about the show :

More Starmania ? Curious to discover other French musicals ?

My Masterlist is here :

[philosopherking1887]

Rating: M

Ships: Oswald Cobblepot/Edward Nygma (endgame); Oswald Cobblepot/Jim Gordon (temporary but substantial)

Fic summary: Jim and Oswald agree that the relationship between Edward Nygma and Lee Thompkins is a disaster waiting to happen, so they come up with a desperate plan: plant evidence that they're having a secret affair to spark jealousy in Ed and Lee and draw them away from each other. Their plan is both complicated and helped along by simultaneous crises involving the brothers Valeska…

Chapter 23 (of 24): No Man's Land. Gotham has been cut off from the mainland and descended into near-anarchy, save for a few pockets of order and relative safety -- most importantly, the Green Zone, where Jim Gordon leads the ragged remnants of the GCPD in protecting a few hundred stranded civilians; and the territory that Penguin rules from his fortified citadel in City Hall and protects by controlling the city's ammunition supply. Running out of ammunition and food, and losing his tenuous hold on order in the Green Zone, Jim takes a desperate risk and goes to Penguin to propose an alliance.

LOL, did I say "no more increases to the chapter count" when I posted the last chapter? Well, I lied. Again. Because what was supposed to be a short epilogue turned out not to be that. And it was getting so long that I decided it would make sense to split it into two chapters (and there was actually a decent place to do that, fortunately). So here's Epilogue-ish-thing Part I.

[whispersleo]

Cure you

⌞ I could play the doctor, I can cure your disease ⌝

"Who would’ve thought that all we needed to do was open a bottle for you two to become best friends?" Rook laughed, a spark of amusement in his eyes as he watched the two men, Davrin and Lucanis, snort in unison. That simultaneous sound, barely held back by their lips, drew a shared half-smile from them, as if that simple gesture symbolized a silent truce between the two.

Additional Tags: Dubious Consent, Drunk Sex, Masturbation, No Beta we die like Davrin, Threesome - M/M/M, does spite count, Demonic Possession, Demon Sex

𓆩♡𓆪

Series: Part 1 of Disease

This man is driving me crazy. Like, what the fuck do you mean I fell asleep at four in the morning writing three drafts??? I'm a grown ass man and I can't stop thinking about a fictional character. Anyway, I hope you like it if you decide to read it. I'll be posting the other two parts soon, promise. I also have some art commissions to work on-.

[tired-gae]

these violent delights have violent ends - a Lokius Oneshot

Written for 2023 Fictober prompt #29, "That's all? Easy."

Fandom: Loki (TV)

Rating: Gen

No warnings!

Summary:

Mobius is one of the strangest mortals Loki has ever met.

He's simultaneously the most snarky individual he's had the pleasure of meeting (barring, perhaps, Tony Stark) and also somehow the most patient anyone has ever been with Loki.

He smells faintly of saltwater and cigarette smoke, despite having never smoked a day in his life.

He can be cruel when he needs to, but he is an exceedingly emotional man. He's not built for the power he has. He works hard to hide it.

And Loki, despite himself, is hopelessly in love with him.

Originally posted: October 19th, 2023

Wordcount: 704

Mobius is one of the strangest mortals Loki has ever met. He's simultaneously the most snarky individual he's had the pleasure of meeting (barring, perhaps, Tony Stark) and also somehow the most patient anyone has ever been with Loki. He smells faintly of saltwater and cigarette smoke, despite having never smoked a day in his life. He knows far too many things about Loki for comfort, and yet Loki finds that he's more comfortable around the man than he has any right to be. Mobius puts him at ease, and the feeling of his hand on Loki's shoulder tugs far too many heartstrings. Shortly after he'd told the man that he'd never had candy before, (a small and unintentional lie, as Alfheim had various confectionary treats he had enjoyed as a child, none of them resembling Kablooie in the slightest) he'd bought Loki a pack of M&Ms out of a vending machine stationed outside the courtroom. He'd shoved the bag in his pocket at the time, and Mobius had warned him, "Those'll melt if you leave 'em in there too long." (They didn't. His Jotunn nature is good for something, at least.) He's infatuated with jet skis, a Midgardian invention which Loki can now recite a number of facts about due to Mobius's ramblings about them. He can be cruel when he needs to, but he is an exceedingly emotional man. He's not built for the power he has. He works hard to hide it. And Loki, despite himself, is hopelessly in love with him. He isn't sure what to do with the feeling, at first. It scares him, to be in love. It's a weakness, a vulnerability. And while it seems like those are popping up a dime a dozen these days, being in love is a new one. He thought he'd experienced it in the past, short-lived dalliances with boys in Asgard (Fandral being a memorable example), but nothing had been like this. And the worst part? Loki caught a glimpse of tousled grey hair around the corner, rushing towards it. When he rounds the corner he drinks in the sight of Mobius's face, missing the lack of recognition in his eyes in his relief.

"We made a terrible mistake." He didn't realize it until he'd lost him. B-15's eyes flicked between the two of them when the elevator doors opened. "Mobius. Loki." She greeted both of them, as she did often now. It was odd to find one without the other these days.

Mobius gave her a mock salute. She didn't react, and he sighed, dropping his hand. "Alright, lay it on me, what's going on?"

She adjusted her tie, putting a hand on her hip where her pruning stick used to be. She looked overworked, but everyone did nowadays. You don't rebuild an institution from the ground up easily. "Casey requested your help. Both of you. Apparently he's been trying to repair a Tempad and something's been messing him up." She turned away from the elevator and began to walk away. The two of them rushed out of the elevator to catch up. "I would've just sent him to Ouroboros, but he's busy."

"That's all? Easy." Mobius murmured, a smile playing on his lips. He bumped shoulders with Loki as they walked behind B-15, and Loki grinned back. Loki isn't scared that Mobius won't like him back. "You're the god of mischief, right?" Mobius asks him rhetorically, and Loki tilts his head, smiling at him over the pie that he was pretending to enjoy for Mobius's sake. (Well, maybe he is. Just a little bit.) "You're the problem." X-5 tells him, and he can see Mobius shift on his feet in his peripheral, clearly wanting to deny, wanting to comfort - but not wanting to interrupt whatever fragile machinations he's sure Loki's attempting. Loki is scared that Mobius will never like him back, but he's far more scared that one day, he will.

Because inevitably, he will hurt him. Loki walks away. It isn't the first time he's done it. But he walks away all the same. He'll bring the man a slice of pie, later, while they're waiting for the world to end. He's never been skilled at apologies.