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lacrossepapi · 5 years

Note

oooh what about steter 10+16

Sorry this took so long! But fun fact: I was hit by four seperated devasting personal blows right after I received this prompt and then went into a huge depression spiral that involved dropping out of school and attempting suicide again so this is a Very Dark fic. And I don't mean the events just like the tone of the writing is dark and I'm so sorry for that. I'm feeling better now and I'm hoping the last half of this shows that.

So some content warning: mentions of Eichen house and torture and heavy angst

De-Aged + Mutual Pining

Ao3: Link

Stiles watched Peter from across the room. The older man walked as if there was an ache in his shoulders that would not let him stand tall. Stiles hated it. Peter had been a diminished version of himself since Stiles and Lydia had dragged him out of Eichen and told Scott to buzz off. Peter was pack, but just barely and it showed. Being an outcast wasn't new, the others didn't treat him nearly as badly as they had before sending him to Eichen, but something had changed in that hell hole.

Peter never looked weak or wounded, even when he was bleeding out in the Preserve after saving their asses once again. Peter wouldn't allow anyone to see him look vulnerable, but nevertheless Stiles saw. Peter's mental state was worse than it'd been since the fire and the only ones who noticed couldn't do anything to truly help. Except the spark, who had watched the man he'd been harboring a crush on for years be sent to his own personal nightmare and come out the other side worse for wear.

Stiles missed Peter's smirks. The fragile lift of the werewolf's lips these days was a pale imitation at the best of times. Stiles missed Peter's huffs of laughter. He hadn't been graced with the sound since the night before he'd been imprisoned. Most of, Stiles missed Peter's wit. He hadn't had the energy or want to verbally spar in the months since the rescue and Stiles missed their banter as if it'd been a physical part of him.

Learning ancient Sumarian would be easier if there was anyone who could teach it to him outside of the internet. He was honestly lucky to even find the spell that'd send him back through time for three days. This time around Stiles wouldn't let them go through with it. No matter what, Peter wasn't going to go through whatever torture he'd endured in that place. And when Stiles returned to the present he would return to the man he'd fallen in love with.

Peter sighed, a weariness in him he couldn't seem to shake. What would today bring? More quiet observation of the handsome human boy, that'd somehow became a man, and a spark, without anyone noticing? More rueful debates with himself on whether it was smarter to stay with the spark and banshee that'd rescued him or flee from the pack that had imprisoned him? Perhaps today would bring a spark of life Peter hadn't felt in months.

Speaking of Sparks, his was watching him again. Observing him the same way Peter had been watching the man.

"How are you today?" The soft way Lydia spoke to Peter made his teeth grind and his hackles rise.

He was not a wounded animal. He just didn't have anything to say these days, and even if he did there wouldn't be a point. No one listened. No one cared. So why should Peter waste his energy helping the people that imprisoned him to be tortured by that man for months? He shouldn't. Lydia had mostly tolerated him before he was sent to That Place, but now she practically treated him like a broken doll. He wasn't broken. It would take more than that to break him. That more than was currently watching their exchange with a frown, which alerted Peter that he'd been silent too long.

"I'm peachy keen, darling. And why are you gracing me with your presence this evening?" Even though he said the normal words his tone seemed to fall flat.

Lydia looked at him for a moment, her eyes scanning his face before she sighed, "When was the last time you ran under the full moon?"

The question struck him like a slap to the face. The past four full moons he'd been unable to get out of bed. It hadn't seemed worth making an effort to sit up, get out of bed, put on clothes, brush his teeth, put shoes on, and leave his apartment. Not to mention all the things he'd have to do to get him shifted and into the deep part of the preserve. Even so, he can't believe he had gone four months without running under the full moon, four months without feeling her rays on his skin. And those were just the ones he'd missed since escaping that place. Peter had never gone more than one moon without running with the other wolves, expect the six long years he was in a coma.

In a lot of ways Peter felt like he was back in that hospital bed. Alone. Abandoned. Unable to move on. Stuck in his head with his traumas.

He realized too much time had passed once again when she placed a petite hand on his.

"Seven months." The voice that left him didn't sound like his own as it rasped over two words.

Lydia nodded solemnly.

"This month we're coming over." Stiles' voice startled him out of the quiet moment.

Peter looked up into Stiles' determined face and found all his complaints dying on his tongue. He nodded, unable to tell the spark 'No'.

The full moon was only three days away, maybe he'd feel up to running by then.

Lydia nodded as if they'd settled a business contract and stood up from the step below him, dusting off her skirt. With her departure Peter was left alone with Stiles, their eyes burning into each other's. Stiles looked as if he had something to say, yet said nothing as he scent marked Peter and left.

Stiles left Peter on the stairs, a heaviness settling in his chest as he heading out the giant metal door of the loft and down to his Jeep. He'd do it tonight. He was going to go back in time and save him.

Except, when Stiles finished chanting, animal blood covering his body and floor, nothing happened. He snatched his phone off the floor outside of the ash circle, uncaring of the blood he was smearing the screen with, and promptly threw it back down when he saw the same date as when he'd put it down.

It hadn't worked.

Somehow, somewhere Stiles had screwed it up. Or perhaps the spell itself was a dud. He had no way of knowing because he certainly wasn't going to try it again. He'd put all of his intent into the spell, chanting words he was sure were correct. He had had to sacrifice a chicken and coat himself in it's blood, while sitting in the middle of an intricately designed ash circle. The most important part was that he had to focus on why he wanted his body to go back seven months. And that was Peter. A frankly, easy subject to focus his mind on. And maybe he'd gotten a little distracted thinking about kissing Peter, but oh well. No harm, no foul, right? Nothing had happened which wasn't ideal, but it wasn't the end of the world.

Stiles was still going to help the older man. No matter what.

Peter woke the next morning feeling oddly relaxed for the first time in, well, months. He felt energized in a way he couldn't quite place. That is, until he sat up and tried to step out of bed. His feet didn't land on the ground, causing him to fall out of bed instead of simply stepping out.

As he lay on the ground, irritated and confused, he looked at the small chubby hand in front of his face for a moment before jerking back and looking wildly around.

How had a child gotten into his room without him noticing? And why did it trip him?

And where had it gone now?

Questions were flying through Peter's head rapid fire, until they all came to a screeching halt as he realized that there was no one else in his home, that he in fact, was the child.

"What the fuck?" The words came out soft and much higher pitched than he thought they would, startling him again.

Peter only knew of two magic users in town, and this had the very distinct buffoonery of one of Stiles' magical accidents. He growled, the sound much less menacing with his prepubescent vocal chords, before ripping his phone off the charger and dialing Stiles.

It took three calls for the infuriating young man to answer, Peter's chubby little foot tapping a furious rhythm all the while.

"Peter? What the fuck, man? It's like six in the morning." Stiles' voice was deeper and rougher than usual, the sound alluring in a way his current body couldn't fully process.

"I'm aware of the time Stiles, but are you aware that I don't care if you were sleeping? It seems I have been caught up in a magical issue and it stinks of your kind of ridiculousness."

Stiles sounded more alert when he replied, "you sound so girly right now, even if you are being an asshole. Whatever happened couldn't have been me. My spell last night definitely didn't work."

Peter rolled his eyes, wishing he could growl at the man but not wanting to embarrass himself further.

"And what, pray tell, did you try to do last night?"

"Shit."

"With me now, dear boy? I don't know what the intended purpose of the spell was, but it seems my body has been reverted back to its adolescent self."

"Fuck, Peter. I'm so sorry. I'm coming over right now."

And with that Stiles hung up on Peter, presumably to quickly get dressed and come fix his mistake.

Though the situation was highly irritating, Peter had to admit there was a certain release that came with his altered state. His mind was no longer weighed down by the images of the torture done to his body every time he looked at himself. His body no longer slowly by the years it had endured, six of which he hadn't actually been living during.

By the time his doorbell rang he had made himself and Stiles coffee just how they both liked it and was reading a book. He hopped out of the chair and opened his door to the sight of his frantic pack mate.

For a moment neither said anything, Stiles just stared open mouthed down at Peter, his body going uncharacteristically still.

"You're a fucking kid!"

Peter slammed the door in his face and walked back to his hair. He was not going to be some freak show exhibit for Stiles to stare at, the man could figure out how to fix it on his own for all Peter cared.

The door opened and Stiles poked his head in looking sheepish, "I'm sorry. It was just a shock. I won't stare at you like that again. Can I come in?"

Peter sighed, closed his book, and waved the idiot in.

"So I think there was an issue with my translating or maybe my pronunciation because I was supposed to go back in time seven months ago, but it looks like your body reverted back to being seven years old." Stiles fiddled with the edged of his sleeve, eyes locked onto the floor as he spoke the last part, "The bad news I can't fix it, but the good news is, it'll only last three days."

Peter stared at him for a long moment, the man growing increasingly more uncomfortable as the silence stretched. He loved this person. God how his heart swelled, childish nerves alight inside him. And yet, he was also seething.

"Time travel, Stiles? Are you kidding me? How many times have I or Alan told you that even if you get every aspect perfect time travel spells have a tendency to go haywire? Give me the spell and tell me what you were trying to do, you foolish boy." Peter stuck his hand out angrily, his chubby palm a sour reminder.

Stiles only nodded and handed Peter a piece of paper where he had translated out the spell, and already Peter saw issues.

"The spell says it will time alter the focus of intent at will. What did you think it said?"

"It will alter time at will with a focus of intent." Stiles was frowning at the floor now.

"And the part you've written down here says seven years not months. And the verb use makes it seem less of "years ago" more of "years." Full-stop."

"I didn't know." Stiles mumbled.

Peter reached out and pulled the young man down into the large armchair, that would usually be too small for both of them.

"Stiles, look at me. Why didn't you come to me with this? You know I can read Ancient Sumarian. What were you trying to do?" Peter's voice was too childish to be soothing like he had wanted, but Stiles still relaxed.

"I was going to go back and stop them from sending you to that horrible place."

The words hung in the air between them, echoing in Peter's mind. Stiles had fought for him then and was going to go back and make sure he would never be sent there.

"Oh my sweet boy." Peter wrapped his small arms around Stiles as tears welled up in his eyes.

He would perhaps never be the man he was before his traumas, but with people like Stiles, and Lydia too, beside him he could heal better than he had ever though possible.

#steter #peter/stiles #two tropes #de-aged peter #magical stiles #peter Hale #stiles stilinski #kyla writes #anonymous #answered #ask #asks #ask games #mutual pining #angst #mentions of past trauma

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ckret2 · 5 years

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Out of all the human music, what do you think Ghidorahs heads would enjoy most?

It took over three thousand words to answer this question and I enjoyed every second of it.

So!

Did you know that dogs can communicate with each other through their pee?

I swear this is relevant to the question.

Dogs pee to mark their territory. And they have an incredibly sensitive sense of smell compared to humans. From a few drops of pee, they can tell another dog’s sex, whether the dog’s in heat if it’s female, whether the dog’s been spayed/neutered, which direction it was traveling, how long ago it was in the area, whether the dog’s stressed or sick…

So if you ask a dog what their favorite pee scent is, what are they gonna say? Probably something relevant to the data they’ve evolved to put into and get out of dog pee. They’re probably gonna say something like “mine, because it’s familiar and means that I’m home somewhere safe,” or “the smell of a lady that’s dtf” or “the smell of stress because I’m an evil dog sadist that relishes other dogs’ suffering” or “the smell of neutered dogs because it means there’s gonna be less fights in this neighborhood between horny dogs” or “i don’t care as long as there’s LOTS of dogs because play pals!!!” Something like that, probably. I’m making this up as I go.

If you ask a human what their favorite dog pee scent is, the answers you get are probably going to be “They have different scents???” or “idk, whichever pee smells the least" or “my puppy’s pee smells different when she’s sick, so, uh, whichever scent is Not That One.”

Ask a human what their favorite kind of music is, or assign a favorite kind of music to a human character, and it tells you something about them. If they say that they like 90s anime themes & JRPG soundtracks, then that’s going to tell you something about them. It’s going to tell you that either they’re from Japan and grew up with that on TV, or they’re a weeb. “Counterpoint: maybe it just tells you that they like that kind of music?” Yeah but where were they gonna stumble on that music if they aren’t either from Japan or a weeb? If they only like the music because of its sound, then they would also be interested in Hasidic Jewish music, right? After all, anime/JRPG music and Hasidic music sound a lot alike:

https://ckret2.tumblr.com/post/187677604232/krakenpocalypse-jewishmagpie-tlbodine

But you never see people say “I like JRPG soundtracks and Hasidic music,” because people don’t like music because of the way it sounds. They like it because of the way it sounds AND because they were exposed to it (you can’t enjoy music you don’t know about) AND because they were exposed to it frequently* AND because they feel at home in a community that values that kind of music AND because that kind of music is accessible to them AND because that kind of music has positive associations for them AND because either they heard a bit of that music and sought out more just like it or because they’re in a place where they were passively exposed to a whole lot of that music… etc etc etc.

(*Fun psychology fact! Understanding certain sounds as “music” is learned, not just innate—if you hear a new song and it immediately sounds pleasantly musical to you, it’s because you’ve heard enough songs similar to it that your brain auto-interprets it as music. Which is one of the reasons why music in genres that you don’t listen to as often might “kind of sound all the same” or “blend together” or fail to hit any emotional chords in you the way that songs in genres you listen to all the time do. It’s not because you found the One True Emotionally Gripping Musical Genre and everyone else is listening to genres that don’t have that emotional punch for some reason; it’s because your brain is tuned, just like an instrument’s strings, to resonate with those kinds of songs, and other people’s brains are tuned to resonate with other kinds.)

I swear all of this is still relevant to Ghidorah headcanons.

So anyway, if somebody tells you that they’re into anime themes and JRPG soundtracks? It tells you either they grew up in Japan or they’re a weeb. If they tell you they’re into anime themes and Hasidic music? Then they grew up in Japan or they’re a weeb, and also they’re Jewish or close with Jewish folks which is why they were exposed to Hasidic music; OR, they’re a tumblr user who was into one of the genres, saw that same hundred-thousand-note post I linked above, and looked up the other genre. If a millennial says their favorite band is Backstreet Boys, that implies something very different about their overall musical tastes—and possibly their social circle, their fashion taste, their TV and movie preferences—than if they say their favorite band is Evanescence. That’s not to say you can’t be a goth-as-fuck dressed-in-all-black purple-dyed-hair vampire-lit-devouring Grown-Up Emo Kid if your favorite band was Backstreet Boys—but it doesn’t correlate as highly as Evanescence does, does it? Someone whose favorite band sings about the light of Jesus filling their soul probably has very different religious beliefs from someone whose favorite band sings about blowing Satan in a cemetery.

And all of those associations are massively intensified if we’re talking about fictional characters instead of real people. Me, grown up goth that I am, driving to work singing along with Evanescence songs and songs about blowing Satan—when I was a kid I had a phase where Backstreet Boys was my favorite band, and what’s that say about me, my personality, and my overall identity? Ultimately, not a lot, except that they were everywhere when I was a kid, I could name four of their songs (more than most artists!), and I thought three of them were pretty good. People’s tastes are varied, weird, pick up strange chunks, and drift around, and it doesn’t always tell you something deep about their character.

But, if you create a goth character but say when they were a child Backstreet Boys was their favorite band, why did you, the writer, assign them a favorite band that goes against their type so hard? What are you trying to say about them? Did something happen in childhood that changed them from the kind of kid who’s into pop (generally perceived in fiction and sometimes reality to mean a person is normal, well-adjusted, optimistic, mainstream, average, boring—or “has good taste” to other people who like pop) into the kind of kid who’s into goth music (generally perceived in fiction and sometimes reality to indicate a person is sad/angry/anxious, pessimistic, counterculture, overtly rejects the mainstream, weird, mysterious—or “has good taste” to other people who like goth music)?

Is it because something sad happened in their childhood and changing their style/music was how they coped? Is it because they met someone important to them who opened their eyes to The Beauty Of The Dark And Macabre? Is it because they were only allowed to listen to parent-approved pop as a kid and chose to dive into the most out-there genre they could find as an act of rebellion? Is it because they became a vampire and that’s apparently just what vampires do? Is it because they realized they were unconsciously faking being attracted to guys because they thought that was normal and picked an appropriate boy band to latch onto, but when puberty was kicking in at age 13 they saw a cute girl with black nails and clothes at the mall and went “hecc im love girls” and grabbed the first album they could find with a female vocalist in similar makeup on the cover?

What’s this character’s backstory? What’s the significance of that decision? Why did you give this character that favorite band? Why did you choose to have this music in this character’s life? Why pop, punk, jazz, rock, metal, rap, country? Why American, Japanese, Indian, Spanish, Arabic, South African? Why that mainstream, or why that obscure? Just the decision to make their favorite artist “Benjamin who plays his guitar at the local coffee shop” versus “Veniamin who plays his guitar in a coffee shop in Greece and puts the videos on YouTube” tells you something about whether they find their Obscure Favorite Artist in the local community or in Internet deep dives (unless they actually live in Greece). All those decisions tell, suggest, or imply something about that character’s position within their surrounding human culture.

That’s the key here: within their surrounding human culture. What music a character listens to suggests a whole lot about the millions of intricate connections they have with their surrounding culture when that character too is a human.

Assign a favorite kind of music to a non-human character, and you say something about them, too. What you say about them, before you say anything else, is “the way that this character’s brain is wired to interpret sound waves into pitch and rhythm is nearly identical to the way that human brains are wired to interpret sound waves; and furthermore, they’re familiar enough with human culture that they know and recognize different ‘categories’ of music and pick categories that they do like based on their assigned similarities versus categories they don’t like based on their assigned similarities.”

And that ain’t something that can be said about Ghidorah.

See I told you all that would be relevant.

To say “Ghidorah likes rock,” you first have to give Ghidorah the capacity to differentiate rock from rap, from country, from Bollywood, from 8-bit chiptunes, from whatever the fuck Tchaikovsky was up to—and even humans aren’t born with the innate ability to sort songs into categories like that. Hell, even humans who are familiar with music have a hard time telling apart different kinds of music the deeper and deeper you get into specific genres. Like, do you know the difference between Electroclash and Filthy Electrohouse? Probably not? Would saying that Filthy Electrohouse is Electroclash with a house kick help? No? What about saying that Filthy Electrohouse is basically the same as normal Electrohouse except that Electrohouse evolved out of House whereas Filthy Electrohouse evolved out of Electroclash? No? Sound like gibberish to you? You probably know the difference between rock and metal, though, even if only vaguely. Try explaining it to an alien who’s never heard either genre before. To the alien whatever you say is going to sound like explaining Filthy Electrohouse because they haven’t got any of the background understanding of the genres to sort them apart.

(And if you want to know more about what the hell is this Filthy Electro French Clash House thing, may I recommend https://music.ishkur.com/# as an absolutely terrifying but very interesting guide to the complete history of electronic music and its subgenres? I like to click on random things and listen to them. The above genres can be found way at the bottom under Eurotrash.)

So the tl;dr is: I can’t give Ghidorah favorite music. Not in a normal “oh, they prefer to listen to death metal/Italian opera/Tibetan throat singing/golden oldies/traditional children’s lullabies” way because all of that, any of that, implies a knowledge of and connection to human culture that not only do they lack, but just imagining asserting a preferred genre/artist like that mentally strains my internal willing suspension of disbelief.

And I had to say all of the above to say that tl;dr because, like, listen. Listen. “I can’t give Ghidorah favorite music” is a boring, uninteresting answer. It’s a lack of information. “I can’t give Ghidorah favorite music because the vast cultural background knowledge necessary to understand music on humanity’s terms is as alien to Ghidorah as the nuances of dog pee smell are alien to humans.” That, that actually says a lot about Ghidorah, and I think that it says something interest.

So with all that said! Lemme tell you what kind of music they do like.

Because they do like music. A whole lot. Lots of music from lots of alien species.

It’s just human music that’s unfamiliar to them. They will gain familiarity with human music—as soon as they gain access to a means to hear human music (and I do have that in the works!)—but the way they interpret and categorize it won’t necessarily have any correlation with how humans do.

Ghidorah’s wired for singing. Loooves singing. I haven’t decided yet whether that’s a natural dorat thing and over time they added in music from other species as they learned it, or if it’s specifically a trick that they picked up after being fused together and needing a way to weaponize their empath abilities. In either case, their singing is tied directly into their empath capabilities. Half of the “songs” they know aren’t “songs” in any conventional sense, but “the sounds that they figured out would interact directly with the way a target species’ brain functions in order to cause whatever emotion they want their target to feel.” I’ve talked about this before in my Ghidorah-as-siren post. https://ckret2.tumblr.com/post/185784244462/ghidorah-as-siren

(Things like that—specific sounds that directly cause emotions in a species due to an instinctive response rather than a learned reaction—are precedented in real life! There’s a certain sound frequency that causes humans to feel fear/panic/dread/paranoia and sometimes hallucinate ghosts, and it’s theorized that this sound might be found at a lot of “haunted” locations: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2003/oct/16/science.farout )

So, when Ghidorah does this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA-QJUyBdJU

That’s literally a song, from their perspective. It’s a short song, but it’s a song. It’s a “become afraid and rampage against anything threatening (which means everything)” song. At the end of The Glorious Resurrection of Bouvet Island (here https://ckret2.tumblr.com/post/187594976987/the-glorious-resurrection-of-bouvet-island ) when Rodan is “ whistling a high soothing note” and then they do this:

“It took him a while to notice that the middle head had started copying his whistle, letting out a single endless note at the exact same pitch. Then the other two joined in, turning it into a high, trilling, reverberating sound, an “ii-lii-lii-lii-lii.” The sound got into his head, made him feel like he was floating. Made him feel like he was in the safest place in the universe.”

They heard Rodan making a sound (something like a single long high-pitched bird whistle) which Rodan instinctively knows as a “soothe somebody” sound; they learned the sound, and from it learned something about how Rodan understands and processes sound; and they immediately turned it around and used it to soothe him. When Rodan immediately feels Super Safe, that’s not just because they’re being all nice to him—that’s full-on song-based dorat empath mind control he’s under the effects of.

So a loud trumpeting roar that induces “be afraid and smash things!” feelings is a song. A single high-pitched continuous note that induces “you’re extremely hella safe!” feelings is a song. So far, those are the only two Earth songs they know, because those are the only two songs they’ve got that work on Earthlings. One they composed themselves, and one they remixed from a song Rodan accidentally taught them.

Based on this, the human definition of “music” and Ghidorah definition of “music” are very different. Our music can be included somewhere inside his definition; but his definition is far broader than ours and includes things we’d never hear as musical.

Ghidorah can sing, like, non-mind-controlling songs too. He does do that. Just sing for fun rather than for megalomaniacal world-destroying reasons. Songs composed for normal reasons! All the ones he knows at this point are alien but he could sing them. There’s a mention in the one-shot from Gigan’s perspective that he likes Ghidorah’s singing and wants to expose him to more.

However, he doesn’t have to separate “normal songs that sound like actual music” from songs that can evoke emotions. Especially if the song itself is somehow intended to evoke an emotion, it’s pretty easy for Ghidorah to learn the emotion that it’s supposed to cause and actually weave that into the song itself. Because, generally, if a species goes “ah yes this song should inspire This Emotion,” then they’re likely to include sounds that physiologically/psychologically help induce that feeling in the brain. Humans do it! So if he’s singing a sad-sounding song with sad lyrics, the odds are good that if a member of the species that produced the song hears it, they won’t just think it sounds sad, they’ll be telepathically forced to feel sad.

The songs they most enjoy singing are ones that can make use of all their musical abilities. Of course, they’ve got their voices—and when they’re singing, they tend to go for higher pitch ranges. You ever hear this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eogtlyDg4Y

Dude can pull off soprano if he wants. If they do hear enough human songs to be familiar with them, yes, they’re going to sing along with the music—and yes, they’re going to do it even if they don’t know the words, which they won’t, because they’ve probably never heard a human voice except when it’s screaming loud enough that they can faintly pick it up from five hundred feet above. They’re going to sing anyway. Don’t pretend you’ve never tried to sing along with a song in a language you don’t know and ended up going “AAA LALALA DA DADA GSDKLFJGLKJ” as you sing.

But like it’s not gonna be limited to human voices because they’ve been all over the galaxy, what separates a “voice” from an “instrument”? Nothing! They can sing violin & viola parts. They can sing brass instruments. They can sing piano.

You know that their tails rattle? Like rattlesnakes? They’ve got maracas on their tails. They can keep rhythm to music with their tails. Or their feet, if they’re on a hard enough surface that they can tap their claws.

You know this scene? With the wing thing?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhDdXXr9dfQ

Ever heard a tesla coil sing?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-f6GijQXaBI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee5evlN8Bbs

Yeah they can do that. Probably with greater actual range than a tesla coil. I imagine it works best on synthesizer music and some electric guitar. Probably other things too that I haven’t thought of, but uh I listen to synthesizer & electric guitar so that’s what I think about when I imagine singing space dragons lmao.

Their preferred music, therefore, is going to be stuff that 1) give all three heads parts to sing, 2) also lets them use their tails and wings, and 3) ideally, gives them some interesting emotions to steal/replicate/inflict on others. Which is very broad! Covers a lot of things, no doubt!

Eventually, yeah, they’re going to probably develop more specific human musical preferences—but the preferences are going to be based on their own alien criteria, and it’s also going to be based on what human music they have access to. At least initially? That means that their musical taste is going to be limited to whatever music they can pick up on AM radio in the Gulf of Mexico just off the northeast tip of Mexico. Which, depending on the exact stations available where the Rio Grande dumps into the ocean will probably mean “the current chart toppers in Mexico & the US” and “extremely local Mexican music.“

It took over three thousand words to reach that answer. I hope you found the journey rewarding.

#reference #writing #music #king ghidorah #ghidorah #godzilla #headcanons #(this is as much about Music Itself and about The Act Of Writing as it is about Ghidorah)#(if u wanna scroll for a while the ghidorah stuff is in there tho)#(like uh... a little over halfway down)#sableghoste #ask #(i didn't edit this because it's bedtime)#(enjoy typos)

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izzy-b-hands · 6 years

Text

Murder House, Part One

This is my @mtl-trick-or-treat for @enydart! I hope you like it; I had a lot of fun writing it! I also started something for your Treat prompt, so if you like this and want that one as well, just let me know and I will finish it and post it asap!

This was for the Trick prompt, asking for ‘something gross with Murderface.’ I went to something that most people find gross (though maybe not the Dethklok boys, since they see so much of it lol)-murder. But I had to give Murderface some fun and happiness too since he gets shit on so damn often, so hopefully this is gross enough!

Fic under the cut because this got long; RIP and my apologies to mobile users if the cut isn’t working on the app. I was actually going to try and fit the whole thing in one post, but found out there is a post length limit (who knew!) so I have split this into Part One and Two! I will post Part Two by the end of tomorrow at the latest (it just needs a few final touches!)

The ads for the haunted house played constantly from October 15th on . Radio, TV, even billboards plastered all over. He did his best to ignore them, even though he wanted to take a flamethrower to any billboard or screen that had the ad on it for even a second.

The rest of the band, however, was harder to ignore. By the fifth night of the ads playing during their favorite evening TV shows, he was ready to snap listening to them comment.

“Look at thats; you ams the most famous of us now,” Skwisgaar snickered as the ad played.

Lights flashed and flickered on the big screen as it showed the haunted house actors depicting the murder-suicide that had sent him to his grandparents. There was even a chubby baby actor sat in the middle of the gore-’Baby Murderface looks on in horror!’ exclaimed the ad’s dramatic narrator.

“Ams thats legal?” Toki asked, pointing at the screen. “To use your lifes like thats and makes a haunted house so...sads?”

“Amn’ts even haunted really,” Skwisgaar replied. “Just sads. A sads house. What ams scary about thats?”

Pickles shrugged. “Well, someone sold their rights to their life story years ago. That’s scary, if you ask me. Cuz then they can do shit like this, and you’re shit outta luck to stop them. Ain’t that right, Murderface?”

He wanted to just rage. To tell them to shut the fuck up, or he’d set fire to the living room just like he wanted to set fire to the haunted house and anyone who was involved with it. But he’d been upset constantly, since the ads had started. It felt strange, but he was almost tired of being upset and yelling about it. He just wanted to do something to get rid of it.

“Whatever, juscht schut up about it. They were schupposed to make a cool movie out of my life,” Murderface sighed.

Nathan chuckled. “You uh, you really thought they were gonna do that? Buying the rights to your life story; that was gonna make a really cool movie?”

“Yeah, why the fuck not? People make movies about all kindsch of dumb schit; you can make a movie about anything basically!” Murderface spat back.

“Okay, Murderface, look--thing is, they gotta have a cool fun story, to make a cool movie. A movie about your life...that’d be pretty sad, dude,” Pickles said. “I mean, who the fuck would wanna watch that?”

“Well, once he joins us, I mean...that’d be a cool movie,” Nathan said.

“Yeah, but then that’s just a Dethklok movie,” Pickles replied. “And that ain’t what he wants; he wants a Murderface-only movie. But nobody’s gonna go see that, or if they did they’d like...I don’t know, cry themselves to death or something.”

Murderface bit his tongue. They were in a rhythm now, going back and forth to talk shit about him. It was easier to try to stay quiet and ride it out.

“Yeah, probably. Can you see it? ‘Saddest movie ever, millions cry themselves to death and stab out their own eyes’,” Nathan said. “Huh. Actually, that would be brutal as fuck. Murderface, you should call them--tell them to nix this haunted house bullshit and make the movie instead.”

There were tears at the corner of his eyes, even though he didn’t want them there. He tried to look only at the TV, hoping no one would notice them.

“Oh geez, look yous mades him cry now,” Skwisgaar tutted. “You eggs him on like this, when he ams already a big crysbaby, makes it worse. Ams you just a big baby Murderface? No, so knocks it off.”

“He likes attention, that’s all he wants,” Pickles started.

“Yeah, I says thats, like a big baby,” Skwisgaar interrupted. “Needings all this attentions.”

“Oh fuck you! You’ve got moviesch and booksch written about you!” Murderface protested. If anyone could talk about being an attention-needy baby, it was Skwisgaar.

“Yeah, but I has to have them all takens down. Dids not authorize anys of thems, so they amnt’s accurate. I don’ts want them, but people makes them anyway.” Skwisgaar replied testily. “And does yous mean Toki’s book? Because that ams nots something I wanted either.”

“Oh fuck yous, Skwisgaar,” Toki scoffed. “Yous ams just as bad. What theys calls an ‘attention whores’.”

“Oh, and what ams yous, Mr. Gives-me-a-solo-rights-now-or-I-cries?” Skwisgaar shouted.

It devolved from there, and he tuned it out. They’d forgotten to keep making fun of him, at least. But there was no watching the show with that much yelling over it; the cue to head in for the night.

His boots thudded against the stone floors, and then against the wall of his room as he kicked them off and tossed them into a corner.

“Schtupid executive asscholes. Schtupid Halloween. My life ischn’t scary, or schad, or anything--it’sch mine. How’d they like it if schomeone did that to them?” he grabbed an ancient dagger from its spot hanging on the wall and slashed in front of him. “Or better yet--Michael or Freddy or schomething could come and cut them down. Just schome creepy freak coming after them.”

He let the dagger clatter to the floor. “They’d never schee it coming...”

And there it was. The perfect revenge, to make sure they’d never take anyone else’s life and turn it into some stupid attraction. To show them he wouldn’t take this lying down.

Or that someone wouldn’t, at least.

After all, Charles did have a few limits legally. He got them out of a lot of shit, but some of it was going to simply come down to being careful. There wasn’t too much work to do anyway--the website for the haunted house listed two main executives from the studio he’d sold his rights to, a team lead for the attraction itself, and if he could take out a few actors in the house too, well that was just icing on the cake at that point.

It wasn’t a lot of murders for Charles to have to make disappear, but it was enough work if it was Murderface, famous bassist committing them.

But a faceless, nameless boogeyman could get the job done.

The outfit was easy to draw up, his ideas flowing like water. A little bit Michael with the black protective jumpsuit, and a touch of Freddy with the knives, all hidden in specially designed pockets so it wouldn’t look super bulky. The mask was fitting of any horror movie monster--blank and emotionless, unknowable.

Really, the mask was his masterpiece. Made of a flexible material so as to still be comfortable, with specialty coatings on the front to make it difficult for any victim to stab or shoot through it. It wouldn’t stop everything, but it would help keep him from getting outright killed. Not that he planned on giving them much of chance for that. Last, it would be painted a dark shade of blue, almost black, the color he figured would make it easiest to blend into any shadows. Only holes for the eyes and a few hidden ones near the nose--anything more felt too risky, too much of a chance to potentially be recognized.

The bonus of being this rich was that no one would ask questions when he ordered weird shit. Hell, he commissioned random costumes for Planet Piss all the time. Charles would make sure the orders got processed as quickly as possible, and then his work could begin.

It was almost therapeutic, all of the planning and designing. It made falling asleep easier and quicker than it had been in weeks, and for the first time in awhile, he slept with a smile on his face.

--------------------------

The three days that followed were all tense excitement. Excitement for waiting for the outfit to get there, excitement to get started. With the main businessmen taken out of the equation, it would be easy to get Charles to start the legal side of things--to file lawsuits for everything from defamation to claiming he never sold his rights at all. And then the thing would be shuttered for good.

The suit arrived first. Thick material, meant for an industrial setting, slow to stain or tear. And it fit like a glove.

“I’ll corner thosche asscholes in their penthousches, and paint the wallsch with their gutsch!” he crowed as he finished buttoning it. It was a bit weird not wearing his shorts, but some sacrifice would be required to pull this all off.

Now he could only hope the guys wouldn’t question the deliveries he was getting. They almost always did--for anyone. Pure morbid curiosity, or hoping it was something fun to be shared.

So of course, they asked.

“Uh, you quitting on us or something?” Pickles asked on the morning of the fourth day after the Plan had started, as they all dug into their breakfasts. “Going into construction?”

“Of coursche not,” Murderface replied. “How’d you find out what it was anyway?”

Pickles shrugged. “I smoke up with one of the gals in the mail room. She lets me look at all the mail that comes through here. Kinda fun.”

“What the fuck, how long has she let you do that?” Nathan asked, his fork still halfway to his mouth as he stared perturbed at Pickles.

Pickles shrugged again. “Couple years now. Why, you ordering nasty sex toys or something you don’t want me to see?”

Nathan flushed pink, and glared down into his pancakes. “Don’t be an asshole. Just don’t want you going through all my shit.”

“Yeah, you’re ordering nasty shit. I’m gonna watch out for your stuff more now,” Pickles grinned.

“Juscht fire her,” Murderface said, grateful the topic was drifting away from his mail. “Then he can’t get in there anymore.”

“Nah, he won’t,” Pickles replied. “You guys all know her--the one with those green eyes.”

“Damn it,” Nathan huffed. “She’s nice. Always leaves a little note on my mail when she brings it to my room with a smiley face. I can’t fire her.”

“Told ya,” Pickles smirked. “So, ya going to your shitty haunted house or something? Making a spooky costume, Scaryface?”

“Yeah, might use it for Halloween” Murderface snorted. “But, itsch really for Planet Pissch. Got a...concept album idea going.”

“Ams it piss?” Toki asked.

Skwisgaar rolled his eyes as he sipped his coffee. “Whats does you think, Toki. What’s else woulds it be?”

“Wes should does a groups costume this year,” Toki said. “Then wes can all goes to sees the sads Murderface house!”

“I woulds be ups for thats,” Skwisgaar replied. “Gots to be somethings cool though, Toki.”

“No, no, what the fuck, no,” Pickles protested. “Thought you Swedes were antisocial, why the hell do you wanna do a group costume?”

Skwisgaar glared. “Because I ams Swedish, I can’ts have friends? Wes can’ts have funs with a groups costume? Ams I meant to hates fun?”

“I just figured you wouldn’t think it was cool,” Pickles replied. “Don’t gotta be a douche bag about it.”

“Oh fines then, I goes as the personifications of nihilism,” Skwisgaar scoffed. “Ams that an acceptable costume for mes, Pickle?”

Murderface ate in silence as the argument grew over the group costume idea. He’d get used to even more arguments if it meant they’d forget to ask him about what he was doing.

Still, Pickles potentially seeing his mail made him worry. When the mask showed up later that day, he made sure the mail team knew to bring it straight to his room.

But it was Charles who knocked on his door and had the package in hand.

“Look it over, if you want changes made we’ll send it back right away,” he said, watching as Murderface tried to open the package without letting him see too much of it.

“Serial killer...that’s a fun costume,” Charles continued as Murderface turned away to examine the mask.

“How would you know?” Murderface asked as he felt Charles sit on the end of the bed. “Can’t see you getting dressed up for Halloween much.”

Charles only shrugged. “So...will it work?”

Murderface turned and stared. Did he somehow know? How the fuck could he know?

“For your costume?” Charles asked, an eyebrow raised.

“Oh, yeah. Perfect,” Murderface replied, relieved. And it was, exactly the way he wanted it.

“Good,” Charles said, a small smile on his face. “Have fun putting it together. I’m sure you’ll look great.”

After Charles had left, he pulled everything on and stood in front of the mirror near his closet. The whole picture--suit, mask, boots, a pair of black leather gloves--looked good.

Except...

His hair ruined it. Everybody knew his hair, the fucking curly triangle. He had to hide it.

A thick winter beanie didn’t help, and the mask fit funny then. Any other hats would likely be the same result.

“You gotta go,” he told the reflection of his curls. “We’re ugly asch schit anyway, being bald ain’t gonna make a difference.”

He called for a klokateer from the hairdressing department, and changed back into his regular clothes while he waited for them.

The klokateer had to have run, she was so out of breath. “Sir, you needed someone immediately. How may I assist you?”

He pointed to his hair. “Get rid of it.”

Her eyes were only barely visible with her hood on, but he could see them go wide. “Uhm...maybe we could just try a different style? Going straight to bald is a big change, sir.”

“I. Want. It. Gone,” he replied. She’d run to Charles in a minute, he was sure of it.

“Uh, we’ll need the clippers, not these,” she said, holding up a pair of shears. “Just let me go get those.”

He sat on his bed and waited for the phone to ring. She’d have run to Charles, begging for help as to what to do without being seen as being disobedient. A moment later, his Dethphone rang loudly.

“Murderface, I’ve got a very scared and confused young woman in here saying you want to chop off all your hair. Is this true?” Charles asked.

“Yeah,” Murderface replied. “Why’sch that a big deal?”

“Well, it is a very sudden image change. We’ll have to do all new publicity photos, promotions. And it is a bit random--why do you want to do this?” Charles asked.

“Want a change, that’sch all,” Murderface sighed. “Can’t a guy want to change schit up?”

Charles sighed. “Of course. I’ll send another hairdresser to you. This one’s a bit too shaky to do the job now.”

Murderface tapped the ‘end call’ button, and flopped back against his pillows. The guys would hate having to take new pictures, but they’d get over it. Besides, maybe they’d have to make a sacrifice or two to help his revenge as well.

It was a male klokateer this time, silent as he sat down a chair and propped a broom and dust pan near the door. He was silent all the way through the cut as well, but that was just fine.

When the klokateer had cleaned the floor of his curls and left, Murderface put the outfit back on.

It made a world of difference. Now, he looked like a proper faceless killer.

Now, all he had to do was start killing.

-----------------------

The next morning, he was glowing. There was no other way to put it. He was excited beyond belief to get started. Granted, he still needed to do a bit of research to figure out where each victim would be. But there were multiple social media accounts for each person, so it would be easy enough.

The biggest worry right now was the reaction to his hair, or the lack of it. The guys did not disappoint as he joined them at the breakfast table.

“What in the fuck dids yous do?” Skwisgaar asked, dropping his fork. “And why?”

“I wanted to,” Murderface replied. “Felt like something different. Not bad, right?”

“Ugggghhh,” Nathan whined. “We’re gonna have to do new promos now. I hate promo photos.”

“Yeah, but they moved that green-eyed klokateer to the makeup team,” Pickles said. “Charles found out she was letting me in the mail room and uh...look, it was either move her or lose her. But you could talk to her more now, since she’ll be at the promos shoot.”

Nathan smiled a very small smile. “Would be nice to say hi...”

“Yeah, cuz you think she’s pretty. Even with the hood,” Pickles teased.

“She is,” Nathan said. “Don’t make it weird when she’s around us, okay? We don’t wanna creep her out.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t ruin it for ya,” Pickles replied as he shoved a forkful of eggs into his mouth. “You’ll get your chance with pretty mail girl.”

“Not ifs Murderface gets it firsts,” Toki said. “Ams almost normal lookings now.”

They all stared at Toki, then at Murderface.

“Huh...you do look decent. I mean, still weird to see, but I don’t know, it works somehow,” Pickles said, breaking the brief silence.

Nathan nodded. “Still not getting her number though.”

“I won’t even try,” Murderface replied, rolling his eyes. He could worry about getting groupies with his new look after all his work was done. Normally, he’d have been all over the idea right away, but this was different.

“Nots going to beats my numbers,” Skwisgaar muttered. “But yous looks okay. Almost goods, even.”

“What can I schay, I know what looksch good,” Murderface smiled. “I was right about my schorts being schexy as hell, now with thisch--I’m gonna be irresistible.”

He shoveled his food in quick as the conversation moved on to some bullshit about Toki wanting more groupies at the end of each concert. He had more important concerns. He’d get the suit ready with all of the knives he’d set aside for the project, and figure out where to go for his first target. If he could, he’d head out for it tonight.

As soon as he was done with his plate, he dashed back to his room and started putting them away. It was fun, with so many hidden pockets to fill. He’d never get caught without a weapon, and once he was done it would go back to its spot--no murder weapons to be left behind.

“Perfect,” he breathed as he finished the suit and held it up in front of himself.

“Is it?”

Charles’ voice made him jump. He hadn’t even heard him come in.

“How the hell...what the...you should learn how to knock!” Murderface yelled, carefully folding the suit in close to his chest, as if he could somehow prevent Charles from seeing it any further.

“Sorry,” Charles replied, a smirk on his face.

Murderface felt sweat pooling on his face. Charles wasn’t supposed to know about this part of things. Just to know when the assholes were dead, so he could start the legal paperwork. “Uh...now you know my costume is really perfect! I’m gonna look great!”

“You will,” Charles agreed. “Also, 4242.”

“What does that mean?” Murderface asked.

“The first executive you’re going to kill. The code to his penthouse door is 4242,” Charles replied matter-of-factly.

Murderface knew his jaw was hanging open, but he couldn’t help it. How in the hell had he figured it all out?

“All the details for your orders lead to someone far away from here. Some ass in Ohio who keeps trying to scalp Dethklok tickets. If the worst happens, and they start tracking anyone down to nail for these killings, it’ll be that jerk. Not you,” Charles continued.

“How did you--” Murderface started.

“Does it really matter?” Charles asked. “Point is, you’re doing a good job of keeping your tracks covered--I’m just going to make sure they stay covered.”

“How do I know you aren’t gonna fuck me over though?” Murderface asked. If there would be anyone to turn him in, he would guess Charles would be the first to do it.

Charles looked genuinely hurt at that. “Look, I get it. I’m not fun, I don’t seem like the type to let you get away with this. Just--just know I’ve got my reasons for wanting you to be successful in this endeavor. I won’t fuck you over.”

“What, you’ve got bodies buried out in a desert schomewhere too?” Murderface asked, snorting.

Charles didn’t laugh. Didn’t chuckle. Didn’t move an inch. That was scary as fuck.

“Uh, never mind. You don’t gotta anschwer that,” Murderface said quickly.

Charles sighed. ‘Look, he leaves for the Bahamas soon. So we need to get you out to him by this time tomorrow. And to the rest fairly quickly too, if we want this thing shut down by Halloween.”

“You...you don’t like the haunted housche either?” Murderface asked. He’d figured Charles honestly didn’t give that much of a fuck about it.

“Of course I don’t,” Charles scoffed. “Makes you look bad, and by association, the band. You don’t deserve it, and neither do the guys. But I haven’t found a way to touch them yet legally, so this...well, it’ll be perfect.”

Murderface was struck. Granted, he was just as concerned about the band as he was for him, but...someone gave a shit. Honestly, truly, cared.

“I’ll let you know when the plane is ready. Get packed,” Charles instructed as he turned and headed for the door.

“You know where they all are?” Murderface asked. “You’re schure?”

“I wouldn’t send you if I wasn’t,” Charles replied as he left. “I’ll have an alibi for your absence, in case any of the guys notice. So just go with it, okay?”

Murderface nodded, and rushed to pack as Charles footsteps faded down the hallway.

In six days time, all the assholes would be dead, and everything would be good again.

The excitement was delicious.

-----------------------

The plane ride was quick, yet not quick enough. Still, before he knew it, he was in front of the penthouse building. It wasn’t too far from Mordhaus, only about fifty miles. He’d expected to have to travel longer, but was glad he didn’t have to.

It was a busy enough place that crowds bustled around him, and he could drift past people through the doors without anyone glancing at him. The security guard was asleep, and there was no one else in the lobby. He didn’t want to jinx it, but it almost seemed like it would be easy.

Then again, it wasn’t like there was much to stare at. He looked like any other guy coming to stay with someone in the building, in a black tee and jeans that Charles had waiting on the plane for him. The black duffel bag that held his suit and mask looked like any other travel bag. He was just a visitor, no one to look twice at.

It was an incredibly freeing feeling. He’d never thought he would miss being anonymous, but it was nice for a short time.

The service elevator wasn’t even hidden; he found it down a hall just off of the lobby. On the ride up to the penthouse, he changed, his hands shaking. He stowed the bag in the small room that housed the upper level entrance to the elevator, then started down the hall to the door of the penthouse.

The design of which was gross even to him. It might have been called a penthouse, but it was technically the first two top floors--in his mind, it was bigger than a penthouse then.

But he wasn’t there to argue exactly what this guy’s home qualified as. He punched the code into the door panel, grabbed a large kitchen knife from one pocket sheath, and started into the dark home.

A bachelor, and it showed by the state of the penthouse. There was still a pile of coke laying on the living room table, which was just showy and ridiculous to Murderface. Erotic art covered the walls, and while he owned a few of the same pieces himself, even this was a bit of overkill. You could barely see the wall behind the art there was so much of it.

A light shone in the darkness, probably a bedroom. He moved towards it, as quiet as he could manage.

“Jasmine?” a raspy voice called out. “I didn’t expect you tonight, baby. I’m not gonna pay you for a surprise visit; I hope you know that. But I’ll be happy to have some company.”

This was it. Murderface gripped the knife tight, and charged into the room.

The executive was in a open robe and boxers, and stared in shock at Murderface.

“What in the--” he started.

Murderface stepped forward and shoved the knife into his open mouth. It was hard to yank back out, but the choking noises were incredibly satisfying to hear as he stabbed again and again--the man’s fat gut, his chest, slashing across his arms as he back up and fell to the bed, raising them to try and defend himself. Blood was splattered across his mask, and sweat dripped down his face, but he was enjoying the exertion--which would figure. The only exercise he’d enjoy would have to be illegal.

Finally, the executive stopped moving. His intestines were falling out of him, and blood drenched the silver silk sheets and painted the walls. It was glorious.

“One down,” he muttered to himself. “Two and how many extras to go.”

He checked three times for a pulse before he left. The walk out was as easy as the walk in too--he changed again in the elevator, using a rag in the bag to wipe his boots clean, and walked past the same guard who was still fast asleep.

The air tasted sweeter outside. It was cliche, but so true. He felt good--he always talked about doing shit, but so often didn’t. It felt amazing to finally do something.

And he was excited to do more.

------------------------

He slept on the plane ride home, not bothering or caring to check the time. He’d get home when he’d get home, and deal with any questions from the guys if any of them were up. He hadn’t left too late, so they were likely to still be stumbling around watching TV or something.

Sure enough, they were all squished together on a couch, seemingly half asleep. They bounced back to wakefulness once he walked in though.

“You dog!” Pickles shouted. “We heard about her; Charles told us everything! Toki was right, the hair was the problem. Now you’re getting models!”

He grinned as Pickles charged towards him and slapped him on the back. He kept a tight hold of his duffel bag as he was steered towards the couch. He didn’t want any of them getting curious and searching through it. This was a hell of an alibi that Charles had given him.

“So?” Skwisgaar asked expectantly.

“What?” Murderface asked. “The model?”

“Yeah!” Nathan exclaimed. “How was she?”

“Uh, amazing, of course,” Murderface replied, hoping he sounded less awkward than he felt. “Juscht wild, you know how models are.”

“Looks at him,” Skwisgaar chuckled, and gently patted his cheek. “Still all sweaty and disgustings. Goods for you!”

Murderface just nodded and smiled. This was all good and fun (though it would be more fun if Charles also could supply him with an actual model to date) but he was still tired. And he needed to get his stuff into his room and clean it all up.

“Look at that grin,” Nathan laughed. “God, are you finally gonna be fun? That’s awesome, if you are.”

“Yeah!” Toki added. “Then wes all gets ladies for afters our shows, and everybody ams happy! Oh wowee, we gotta takes you out to celebrates!”

“Yeah,” Murderface agreed as he stood from the couch. “Schome night later this week maybe. Or hey, what about Halloween? Big night out to celebrate!”

They cheered. They’d never been this enthusiastic for one of his suggestions before. Was it the hair, the alibi and fake accomplishment, or the real confidence from the murder that he’d been missing all this time to get them to really like him? He wasn’t sure, but he knew he wasn’t ever going back to what he was before.

“That sounds like fun, and I hate to interrupt the planning,” Charles said, suddenly in the room. They needed to put a damn bell on him. “Can I borrow Murderface for a moment though? After all, I’m sure he needs to actually get some sleep now!”

Their happy laughter echoed down the halls as Charles gently pulled him away from the couch and to his room.

He shut and locked the door, and gestured to two plush armchairs at one wall of the massive bedroom. “Have a seat. You deserve the rest. Scotch okay?”

Murderface nodded and took in the room. It was very...Charles. Richly yet plainly decorated. All black and red, almost something out of Dracula’s castle with the velvet everywhere, yet nothing stood out about it to declare it as Charles’. The chair was comfy, if nothing else.

He dropped his back by him as he dropped into the chair, and gratefully took the glass of scotch from Charles.

“So...how was it?” Charles asked.

He took a breath. “It wasch...amazing. I can’t wait for the next one.”

He felt his cheeks flush as Charles grinned.

“I’m glad you had fun. I figured you would, but I wanted to check in just in case. I’m proud of you for this, you know,” Charles said. “This is quite an undertaking. But you’re doing wonderfully.”

Murderface nodded. “Thanksch.”

The silence sat for a moment before Charles broke it.

“You want to know why I’m so invested.”

He nodded. “I mean...I get it. You take care of usch, and all our bullschit. But this...you’re really exschited for this.”

Charles tossed back the scotch in his glass and smiled. “Well. I can’t tell you everything. In fact, there’s more I can’t tell you than there is that I can. But I--I had my own reasons to do this sort of violence you’re doing now. The why doesn’t matter so much anymore, not to me at least. But that’s because the people I needed dead are in the ground, rotting, and no longer a threat to me. And that is...very freeing.”

“You feel safe,” Murderface found himself whispering, so quietly his speech impediment didn’t have a chance to start.

Charles nodded, but his eyes were on his empty glass. “Yes. I suppose that’s the best way to describe it.”

“Did you enjoy it?” Murderface asked.

Charles chuckled. “I think you know the answer to that already.”

He nodded. “Yeah. Bet you’d be out here doing these yourschelf if you could.”

Charles sat up a bit straighter. “I mean...it would be fun. To do it again. Even just once. But I don’t want to take away from your fun.”

“I’ll need help at the haunted housche,” Murderface replied. “I’ve got to take out the team lead, but there’ll be a bunch of actorsch we can take down too...I don’t want to be overwhelmed by anyone fighting back. You could come with, if you think you can make it.”

Charles looked happier than he’d ever seen him before. “If you really want me to; I’d love to. I don’t get out very often anymore.”

“It schows,” Murderface scoffed before he could catch his tongue. He looked nervously at Charles, awaiting the lecture.

Instead, Charles threw his head back and laughed. “Fuck. It does, doesn’t it? All work and no play...Yeah. I’ll come with for the haunted house. You can have fun with the second executive on your own first though.”

“I schuppose you’ll have all the info for me about him by tomorrow?” Murderface smiled.

“Of course,” Charles replied as they slowly stood and went to the door. He unlocked it, handed him the duffel bag, and patted Murderface’s back gently as he walked out. “Get some good sleep--you’re going to need the energy.”

“What? Isch this guy schome sort of Olympian-executive or schomething?” he asked.

Charles shook his head. “But you should be well-rested before these, uh, little adventures no matter what. Better form, and then you won’t tire out halfway through things.”

Murderface nodded. “Hey...uh, thanksch. For all of thisch. I mean, I’d probably be fine on my own too, but--”

Charles just nodded back. “I get it. Have a good night, Murderface.”

The door clicked shut behind him as he started down the hall towards his room. He was definitely ready to sleep some more. But the morbid curiosity was gnawing at him too--what other skeletons did Charles have in his closet, and what exactly had he done to put them there?

Maybe he’d find out after Halloween night, if he could get him to join them for celebratory drinks. He hoped he would.

-------------------------

#text post #I don't do many Murderface-centric pieces so this was a treat #I tried to keep it in character but give him some extra depth #hidden depth that I've always figured his character had but he was too lazy to show lol #bless the boy he just wants to be happy and not deal with bullshit #also I suppose this could read a little bit Murderface/Charles in some bits but I swear to god that just happened and wasn't planned lol #a happy accident we could say #LeeH writes

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writingsoftheunderworld · 6 years

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Footnotes of Life

Well here we are, first post. Hopefully ppl will like this.

Short reminder if you’re curious about Dana go check out her bio here - desktop only or here - mobile users . For more world building check it out here - desktop only or here - mobile users.

BTW, I take requests! Check out the RULES here - desktop only or here - mobile users before asking for stuff.

Now this story is gonna be a roller-coaster of emotions with DamonXDana, hope you enjoy.

THE BEGINNING

Mystic Falls was such an interesting place in that Dana hates everything about it. She knows a lot about it too, is the problem and the reason the old bats that make up the Elder’s council sent her here. The past three times she’s been here. And now again. If she never heard of this town after this assignment it would be too soon.

Thankfully she had leverage, built upon since the 1800s when she’d first arrived here looking for one Katherine Pierce who’d caused problems for the Clan. Now she’d been sent back following the rumours of a new doppelganger having popped up. Elena Gilbert, 17 years old. Pretty tragic back story for someone that young, even in Dana’s experience. But it did give her a bit of an idea as to what she should do. The Founder’s Ball was coming up and she had extensive training in dancing. Plus blackmail. Pretty persuasive blackmail. It would all work out.

Seeing the Lockwood estate through the taxi’s windows she drew in a deep breath and took out some cash to pay the driver. Here she went again. Not like she had better stuff to do at home. A month old little girl, a sad, closed off ex husband, the nicest asshole she ever met for a best friend and co-parent. Yes, her life was free, the council knew best after all. A broken heart to nurse and a surprise pregnancy notwithstanding.

She rounded the car, popping open the trunk and lifting her luggage. She set it down next to her and waited until the taxi took off. And where the shit was she supposed to be living in this hell-hole? She sighed for the millionth time since having heard about this mission and jumped when her phone dinged. Reo again. His hair was longer than when he’d been a teen, back when they first started really talking, styled to the side, same weird hairstyle choices as ever. He was holding their daughter in his arm, smiling down at her as the baby blew a bubble, the picture having been taken at just the right moment. Why was she here? When she could be there, with her daughter and her best friend?

Grumbling under her breath Dana turned and pulled at the handle of the luggage, heading for the house. The big anti-vamp meeting was about to begin she knew.

“What the FUCK, dude?!” the luggage had fallen, Dana on top of it, her back on its edge. Great, not her back hurt too, not just her head. She turned toward the cause of her fall, a man – brunet, ice blue eyes, not very tall – smirked mockingly down at her.

“You should watch where you’re going, lady!” he said, tone scanting, eyes colder than their color. Dana recognized Damon Salvatore immediately. And hated his guts just as fast.

“You arrogant little shit!” She yelled, pushing up on her feet, trying to ignore the protest her knees sent her way, picking up her phone and luggage. Thankfully nothing was broken, except her patience.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you” he smirked at her. It was threatening, the tone, the look. But he was messing with the wrong person.

“Oh really, douchebag?” she got up right in his face, green eyes filled with rage. She could deal with the council if she killed him slowly, she thought as she saw him smile as if amused. The man was so conceited that it actually hurt her brain.

“Dana! Damon! So good that you’ve met each other!” Saved by Carol Lockwood. Well played Mystic Falls, well played.

“You know her, Mrs. Lockwood?” Damon was all charm, but underneath Dana felt the murderous rage. Good, she’s have fun winding him up and seeing him pop a blood vessel or two – like his heart.

“Yes! Come, the meeting just began. I’ll explain everything there.” Carol sent Dana a look that begged her not to kill Damon. Well, Carol at least knew who she was talking with, or what. Too bad Damon was never gonna find out, not even after Dana was done staking his little girlfriend in the ass.

MOVING IN TOGETHER

“You know you could just let me do that right?” she cocked an eyebrow and smiled sweetly, too sweet. Damon scowled back and just shifted the weight of the boxes in his grip.

“Oh I’m sorry madam spider, I didn’t know you’d arrived!”

Dana laughed, yelped and then leaned the tiny mountain of bags against the side of the building. She took two seconds to just breathe, work up her courage to go up the flights of stairs. She watched as Damon sped up to the main hallway and almost dropped her bags a second time laughing when he had to stumble to a stop because his boxes were falling over.

“Maybe you should tie them down?”

“Maybe I should tie you down instead?” he quipped, not even trying to look at her. Once he had them back in his grip, he resumed his trek down the hallway to the main staircase, all the while cursing the fact that the electricity hadn’t been patched up yet. He definitely would kill for an elevator right about now. Dana watched him go, mourning her arms already. Going up three flights of stairs had her panting, more so than if she had sped through the island from one end to the other and she was happy to see Damon must have felt the same way as he had just dropped the boxes onto the loveseat and then collapsed onto the bed. His feet were hanging out, one leg swaying to some imaginary rhythm in his head. She smiled and stepped inside, kicking the door behind her to squeeze through the bags, but not enough to close it. She lay them gently at the foot of the loveseat and then turned back. She stepped between Damon’s legs and waited for him to either look at her or say something. Luckily he didn’t disappoint.

“I refuse to do anything, but sit here, no matter how seductive you look at me, babe.” The soft look she’d had on gave way to a tiny amused snort before she bent a leg onto the bed and swung herself onto Damon’s other side. She only scooted a little bit so she could touch the side of her face to his hair.

“Trust me, anyone calls for me right now and they’ll meet a short and painful death.” she said, paused then seemed to think better as she amended. “If I get up at all.” Closing her eyes, she missed Damon nodding his head in emphatic agreement, but she did sneak her hand around his, lacing their fingers. “Think we can just sleep?” she added, voice already slurring in exhaustion.

“Probably. It is our island.” he mumbled back, hooking his heel to the bed frame and lifting himself up a bit more comfortably. Dana whined at the disturbance, glared, then immediately resettled, her head now rested on his ribs. She sighed, content to just fall asleep when Damon’s pocket began buzzing and ringing. With an over exaggerated groan she lay back on her back, staring at their newly painted ceiling and questioning how she’d gotten here, a 26 hour awake, just got out alive person while her boyfriend was confirming that, yes we did in fact forget to bring any sheets for the bed Bon. Dana smiled to herself. She was pretty sure she wouldn’t change anything about it even if she had the chance.

“Come on, tell Bonnie to go out dancing and let’s sleep forever!”

“Bye, Bonster! Go and get some and let me sleep.” Damon’s hand had fallen, the phone no longer in his grasp, just sitting face up, shining with a picture of Bonnie in a Santa hat glaring playfully. Bonnie for her part didn’t wait for anything more, aware better than anyone just how exhausted both vampire were and Dana couldn’t help but wonder how Bonnie herself wasn’t just a tired version of a zombie like she felt and Damon looked just about now. She shrugged at her own question, her shoulder jostling Damon who’d already snoozed off. He turned bleary eyes to her, questioning.

“Phone.” was all that needed saying. In seconds Damon was asleep again, his phone still between them. Dana questioned if she should just be the bigger man here and actually put the phone on a table or something, if maybe she should take either of their shoes off, but ultimately lost the fight with awareness about halfway through the first question.

A DAY IN THE FAMILY LIFE

A loud bang resonated throughout the house, startling Dana and causing baby Seth to fuss in her arms where the two of them had been reading. Dana had decided to spend some time with her babies today, finally having found a moment of respite after long months of fighting and worry and heartache. She and Damon were slowly getting back to the ease with which they’d gotten used to those first six months of being together, after the year-long separation, and both were grateful for the short peace that had enveloped their livelihood.

“Damon!? What was that?” she slowly got up, cradling her nearly one year old baby in her arms, gazing softly at her baby girl asleep in her crib. She lowered Seth beside his sister, raising the railing separating the two in order for their sleep to go without a hitch and turned on the baby monitor both in the room and that she always carried with her and left. She rounded a corner, a long stretch of hallway before her, nothing out of the ordinary about it, except for how empty and quiet it was – everyone had been so sweet to give them these few weeks to get reacquainted – and called out for her husband again.

“D? Baby? You there?” she felt her anger rising, hating it when he didn’t answer like this – when anyone didn’t deign it to answer when someone was calling out – and walked outside. The sight of the large pool greeted her, the vaguely messy dance area looking abandoned in the wake of this exodus that was their friends going to their own houses for once. She closed her eyes and listened a bit, trying to remember where the loud noise had come from; and maybe see if she could hear any other indication of what it could have possibly been.

Another loud bang echoed through the quiet.

“Goddamnit Damon, I swear to fuck if you broke something I will –“ she cuts herself off, mouth hanging open, no words peaking through, a snort of laughter lodged in her throat. Her chest and belly give a few stuttering motions as she struggled not to collapse on the floor laughing with tears streaming down her round cheeks.

“Do not” began Damon, on his ass, his formally grey shirt peppered with streaks of various colours and materials, his hair a bird’s nest – quite literally as Dana saw branches sticking out alongside some feather that she had no idea how they came to exist in their house. “laugh.” he finished with a half cough half chock, the dust around him combining with the smell of all that paint creating a caustic gas that he could not utter a words through. Dana gulped back another guffaw, tears gathering at the corner of her eyes as she fought the instinct to laugh and nodded as seriously as she could. She watched as Damon slowly unrolled his bent knees, stretching out long legs before him and then slowly struggled to get up only to slip backward in a flurry of rainbow and chicken feathers on some pink paint, bringing down the last remaining industrial shelf that supply room had had. The pure shock on his face and oddly shaped drawing on his shirt – which to Dana resembled a very unfortunate looking whale – were what broke her already thin control and she laughed as loud as she could, bending down at the waist, hand covering her face. It was only much later, after Damon had fully gotten up and washed up and Dana cleaned the supply room, after the kids had woken up and cried for food, after Damon re-enacted the Battle of Hogwarts with an old doll of Caroline’s standing in for Voldemort and a stick figure made by Dana’s nephew as Harry that he told her what exactly led to the disaster.

He’d wanted to get the dollar he’d dropped two days prior to buy Dana the kitsch-y, devil-lookalike little sticky wall hanger for their bathroom. Dana wasn’t sure whether she laughed more at that explanation or the aftermath in the end, only that she’d gotten her family day after all, as odd as it had been.

COMFORT

“Damon?”

She was sitting on a lounge chair, the water of the pool reflecting the soft light of the night time. Her feet were tucked underneath her thighs, cross legged, a blanket around her shoulder. Her hand peeked through the soft material, wiggling her fingers and smiling a tremble of a smile. Her eyes were glassy, the straps of her bright orange nightgown had fallen down her shoulders, as seen through the tiny gap.

“Hey, Dana.”

He approached her perch, sitting on the end of the lounge chair and putting a hand on her left knee, massaging it. She winced, her smile fading slowly as he continued the motion. He knew she always got sharp jabs of pain whenever thoughts of her past invaded her waking moments. She let her cold fingers grip his wrist, feeling for his pulse underneath the skin, the thrum of his blood reminding her she still had people in her life that loved her.

“I’m not okay, Day.”

She whimpered and Damon’s heart broke. She didn’t cry, not yet, just let her head fall onto the headrest and unfurled her legs into his lap, pulling the blanket around her torso tighter, as if doing so would hide the ugly scar splitting open her sternum. It didn’t, not to her, who could feel the pulsating pain of his fingers digging into her flesh, even now after so many centuries. Dana squeezed her eyes tight, breathed in a deep, shaky breath and looked back at Damon. His blue eyes sparkled in the light of reflected by the ripples of water around them, never moving from her.

He nodded, both to himself, but also as a way of reassuring her, and shifted, crawling over her and then gently easing himself to the side, sliding under her body, curling an arm around her shoulders. She shuddered, turning her face towards him, large green eyes gazing up at him, so vulnerable and pained and he let his legs entangle with hers, felt her arms bury themselves into the back of his Henley as she embraced him. He kissed the top of her head, breathed in her scent.

“I’ve got you, baby. You’re safe.”

He felt her borough her face into his chest, hyperventilating and shaking her head. She tightened her fingers into the material of the shirt, a trembling mess against him. He felt the tears soak his chest, felt her empty, chocked out sobs resonating with the beat of his heart, watched her legs curl further into the space between them as she curled up into a ball against him. He rubbed calloused fingers down her arms and carefully cupped her cheek. He thought she might fight him when he tried to lift her gaze to his, but she went pliant, leaning into the touch, planting a watery kiss to his palm. Dana smiled, a broken, twisted little smile and opened her eyes again.

“I’m sorry. I know I should be ove-“

“Shh, I’ve got you. I’m right here. Just sleep.”

She blinked back her tears, rose on her elbows and pressed a soft kiss to his temple, lingering there and breathing him in. He pulled her up further, cradled her into him, cocooning her in his arms. She sighed, still shaky, but gentle and relaxing against him. Nodding sluggishly, her breath evened out. She was still awake, her eyelashes tickling the side of his face, but calmer. Dana, snuggled up, nuzzling his skin, sniffling softly and shaking whenever she closed her eyes for too long.

“I’m right here. I’ll protect you, baby. You can let go now.”

He whispered, feeling her exhale and seeing her melt further into the warmth of his body, lean into the softness of his caress. Wrapped into him as she was, so close she could feel his every move, from the twitch of his thigh when he rearranged, to the rise of his skin when a cold breeze washed over them, she let the tension coiled inside her go, gave all she had left to him and sighed.

“I know.”

VALENTINE’S DAY

Damon was concerned. His wife was acting odd. Well, worse than she usually did nevertheless and for the life of him, he couldn’t stop the worry from mounting as he saw her bouncing in place again and giggling uncontrollably. Honestly, he worried for her mental health on a normal day, today he worried for his own too.

See, when Damon heard that Dana wanted to plan a nice non-Valentine’s Day Valentine’s Day, he was excited. He might not have celebrated a lot of holidays, but he liked to think that this one in particular he’d be pretty good at. So when last year Dana asked, gently and apologetically, if perhaps they could just not do anything for Valentine’s he’d been a tiny bit... disappointed. Which he didn’t mention, yet somehow his wife had heard or realized and took it upon herself to rectify the situation this year. In her own style. By celebrating on the 13th instead. A non-Valentine’s Day... Valentine’s Day

“So, what exactly are you planning here, D?” he had to ask, if only for his own peace of mind at this point.

“Not telling!” she sang in his ear, pecking him on the cheek and waltzing away. He turned to look after her, but found he’d been intercepted by his brother instead, no doubt tasked by Dana to distract him. Hours later, Stefan drunk and swaying against the wall thinking he’s dancing on the bar, Damon finally get the text calling him back home. He rushed over, half slumped Stefan dragged after him and dumped on a chair by the poolside, already asleep before he even gets to sit his brother properly, and stopped in their hallway. Soft music sounded from the bed room, and he strained a bit to recognize the song. “I choose you”. His heart stuttered. That was her song to him, blasting from the speakers in their bedroom, her voice mumbling the words. He walked down the corridor, the smell of deep rich chocolate and lulling rhythm of her voice drawing him in.

“Dana? What-“ the words were stuck in his throat. The room was much the same, except there were white Christmas lights decorating every corner, casting the area in deep shadows and soft edges, the quality of a dream. Dana was dressed in a dark red blouse, a plunging neckline and hem stopping at her thighs and making it clear she wore only a pair of black lace panties underneath. She was swaying to the rhythm.

“Damon! Wait! No! Go back, go back.” she rushed to him, her high heels clicking on the wooden floor of the hallway as she pushed him back around the corner. “When I tell you, you come in, ok babe?” with a grin she ran back inside. He heard her shuffling around, turning off the song. When she called him back inside, he was bemused and not sure what to expect, except for his heart to stop beating a salsa beat in his chest. The song was turned on. Her voice rose, sure and harmonious this time. She strutted toward him slowly, gazing from half lidded eyes and led him to sit on the edge of the bed. She settled her knees on either side of his hips and held his face in her hands, caressing his cheeks.

She smiled and winked at every “I choose you” she sang, circling her hips to the soft tempo, her eyes mapping his face and her hands following the road left behind. She let out a breathy “you” when he bit the pad of her thumb and he leaned into her when she let the digit trace his lower lip. The song was ending soon.

Damon snaked sure, wide palms up her legs, pulling her thighs straight up, pressing them into his chest as he nosed at her cleavage and licked up her neck, the line she was singing breaking as she moaned. Pushing at him softly, he eased up, blue eyes hazed as the song beat into his chest, into his heart. Warmth spread through him as she gently pushed him onto his back, leaning over him, letting her weight settle into his bones, her warmth into the chill his clothes had brought with them from outside.

“I love you, Damon” she whispered as one last “I choose you” echoed from the stereo. Dana’s lips met his, soft and innocent and oh so loving and he felt a tear slid down his face, disappearing into the bed sheets below, leaving her none the wiser about it. He flipped them over, licking her neck with short burst that had a riotous laughter bursting from deep in her belly.

“I know, Dana.” he grinned down at her, saw her huff and pout and bend down to kiss her again, tracing her upper lip and letting out a sigh when her tongue met his. “Te voglio bene assai.” he crooned in her ear once Caruso swarmed around them, his song this time. Her eyes reflected the love back at him, so much love he could barely breathe and knew she saw the same in return as water gathered in her eyes and tears fell through her wide grin as she mouthed along to the song.

For non-Valentine’s day Valentine’s Day, it ended up pretty syrupy, especially after Dana showed him where she’d put the melted caramel. They ended up eating more than making love, but who could blame them really.

A NIGHT TO REMEMBER

Damon took a step forward onto the sandy beach, letting the summer sun bathe his face. He was home, finally, after dealing with nearly a month of shit in Mystic Falls. He took out the sunglasses from his jeans pocket and put them on, pulling onto the lapel of his leather jacket. The sand crunched beneath his heavy boots, the sun warmed the leather, attracted to the black colour of it, sweat gathering at the small of his back and sides, but he ignored it. He had an entrance to make and it would be good. Damon looked up at the large building, the size of a tropical getaway hotel, the house he and his wife of three years had built together. Heading east, toward where their apartment was situated, he ran at vampire speed toward where he knew the entryway stood, hurrying up the stairs and slowing to a relaxed walk when he reached the hallway near the kids’ room. He had a plan for him and Dana reuniting, but she could wait a bit, he had two little demons to greet and shower with attention.

It was about two hours later that he left the two to their own devices, together with their older half sister, having been thrown out on ground of “being too old, Daddy!”. He couldn’t really argue with that and he also wasn’t able to be away from Dana much longer. Being back home like this, seeing her presence in every crevice of their house, intermingled with his, seeing Seth soft cheeks and Izzie’s green eyes, so much like their mother sometimes, had him thinking about her even more.

He followed the sound of loud music to the poolside, where he knew she would be at this hour, night having fallen. He heard her before he saw her, spinning around in circles around her best friend and sending mischievous glances at Stefan, no doubt wanting to torture him by dragging him out to the dance floor, singing loudly with the current song. Damon swallowed down his laughter as he didn’t want her to know he was there yet. He waited at the outskirts, leaning against a palm tree, eyes twinkling as she shimmied and swayed her hips absent minded to the beat of the next song, talking with Tony. She let her head fall back in a loud burst of laughter at something the other man said, then in a flurry of movements, she salsa’d her way toward the bar.

He loved moments like these, calm and happy, peaceful and insane. He loved her. His eyes traced her curves, the swell of her hips falling into the slope of her spine leading toward her rounded ass, the soft swell of her breasts. He saw her short hair ruffling in the breeze, her glasses glinting in the light of the lampposts. She was wearing her mismatched pyjama again, the flowing nightgown, cotton and white, worn out barely doing anything to hide the bright pink underwear she wore. She had purple socks on and nothing else. He shook his head in disbelief, the absolute disaster of her outfit out staged only by the confidence with which she wore it. He thought she never looked more beautiful than in that moment, balancing two drinks in her hands, each step toward where she’d left Tony and Stefan waiting a half skip to the beat of the music. She truly was ridiculous.

He chose the moment when she turned to look at the stage, jumping up and down, drinking from her glass and cheering on whoever had deigned to sing tonight from their friends. It was a Bon Jovi song, he thought as he made his way toward her, finger of his lips to signal to the other not to say anything to alert her of his presence. Sliding his hands around her waist, he felt her relax in his hold, no doubt recognizing him. She leaned into him, letting her weight fall on him, head falling onto his shoulder, a gentle smile on her lips as she mouthed the words to the song. He nosed at the sweaty skin of her neck, enjoying watching her squirm and yelp at the tickling feeling. When she turned around in his arms, she blinked her half-lidded green eyes and grinned wide.

“Hey, D!” she switched her hold on him, one hand going to his shoulder, the other gripping his hand and they began swaying in place. It was nice. It was home. Another song followed, and another, and another, then suddenly it was Black Velvet. Dana had taken a break from dancing and Damon himself had gone off into the large mob of people, but the throngs of the song drew his eyes back to hers and as she rose from her place, he returned to her. The song might not have been about sex, but the way she began moving and mouthing the words was. Damon was entranced as he followed her lead now, like a sailor toward a siren, ready to drown in her.

“Let’s ditch them, babe.” she whispered, grinding her ass into him, breathy voice and closed eyes. He grinned, bent and picked her up bridal style as she yelped and hit his chest in retaliation. But didn’t struggle much when she realised he was taking them to the bedroom. He put her down on the soft carpet and stripped of his outfit, deciding to match her look, worn pyjama pants with a guitar patter and fuzzy chequered socks. He decided to forgo the t-shirt, expecting it would be a bit redundant if they decided to go ahead with what had brought them here in the first place. Dana smiled sensually at him, one eyebrow raising suggestively and turned on her phone, the slow notes of a guitar filling the bedroom.

“I had an idea a few days ago and had no one to try it out with.” she began, taking him by the hand and pushing him down onto the bed. Damon lay sprawled out, rising on his elbows to look her, legs open, dangling over the edge, relaxed. He was intrigued. He wondered if he was about to get the rare lap dance from her, and from the way she began circling her hips, her hands caressing her body, it seemed that way. She played with her breasts, twisting the nipple, kneading the flesh through the nightgown, sucking two fingers into her mouth and trailing them down between her breasts, winking. He smirked and shifted on the bed, settling down, for now willing to ignore the growing erecting tenting his pants. She pulled off her gown, throwing it haphazardly behind her, landing onto the lamp and gangling there, leaving her with a large comfortable pair of pink panties and those ridiculous socks. She turned and bend down quickly, back arched and hips jutting out, making a show of taking off her socks, tripping and readjusting with a laugh, cheeks red from exertion and arousal.

Damon followed her lead, taking of his socks as well, palming his hardened cock through his pants, biting his lower lip to stifle a moan, failing as a snort of laughter bursts through anyway when Dana twists too hard and bumps her shin on the corner of the night stand, cursing loudly. The mood doesn’t break though, if anything, the laughter only fans the flames, leaving Damon speechless when suddenly it’s gone and Dana is on her hands and knees, inching her way to him. She pushes her hands up his legs, kneading his thighs just this side of too painful as her knuckles graze him. his head halls back with a loud groan and he feels her answering, pleased smile against the stuttering skin of his belly. Her tongue traces around, mapping the ridges of his abs and dipping below the waistband for but a split second. Her thumbs flick his nipples and her teeth graze his side as she slowly nips and licks and sucks downward. She pulls his pyjama pants off with her teeth, low enough to free his cock from within its confines. She rises to her feet and stretches above him, knees bracketing his hips, hands on either side of his head, a wide grin on her flushed face, an answering one on his.

“Hi.” she whispered softly, blinking down at him. “I missed you, babe.”

“Me too.” He wound his arms around her, caressing down her spine and feeling as goose bumps rose in the wake of his touch. One hand tangled in her hair and pulled her to him, stopping just before they could fully kiss, breaths intermingling, green to blue staring at each other. Her grin softened and she closed the distance, opening her mouth at his probing tongue and matching the pace he set. It was a gentle kiss, a welcome home kiss. It fit the still strumming guitar in the background.

“I want to fuck you to the rhythm of this song.” she mumbled against his lips, separating them, drawing back and waiting to see what he thought, a challenge in her darkened gaze, feet beating the melody out of bed, suspended there.

Damon closed his eyes and listened to the music, feeling the beat in his chest. Dana had a lot of wacky ideas when it came to ... anything really, so this didn’t surprise him in the slightest, what did surprise him was how fitting the song was. He hadn’t even realized they’d basically moved with it this whole time. Even now they were following its melody, her body moving back and forth on top of him, hips grinding to the notes almost unconsciously.

“Sure, go for it.” he grinned and grabbed her wrists, in a swift movement having pinned her beneath him instead, grounding into her with sure moves. Her head dug into the bed spread, hair a mess, mouth open in a silent gasp. He let his face morph, veins rising underneath his eyes, fangs elongating. She opened her eyes and moaned at the sights, her panties growing wetter, by now soaked through. She hooked one leg around his upper thigh and pulled him closer, rising her hips into him, the tip of his cock massaging her clit. She grinned defiant, not one to give up the fight so easily. He grazed the swell of her right breast with his fangs, nipping and breaking the skin. With a hiss of pain, she grinded harder into him, one hand clutching at his hair, the other digging nails into his biceps. He sucked at the small puncture wound.

“Day-“ the gasp is forced from between her lips when he snaked a hand into her underwear, adjusted the angle so that the only thing separating them was her panties and his pants, circling her clit too fast. Her head thrashed from side to side, biting her lower lip, scratching his arms, fingers finding purchase into the sheets beneath them. “Oh fuuuck!” Her back arched into his touch, so close to an orgasm, when he suddenly pulled away, a shit eating smirk on his lips and she growled, tears of frustration gathering in her eyes.

“I have a few ideas too, baby.” He pulled off the last article of clothing and watched as she almost ripped hers off as well, then she smiled, sweet. Too sweet.

He was pinned, arms locked at his sides by her shins digging into them, her wet heat inches from his face. She was bent over him, her warm breath making his erection twitch, as if maybe the right angle would catch the softness of her lips. He couldn’t move his head at the angle she held him, he could reach and swipe his tongue inside her. But she could so she did, gentle little kitten licks down the underside of his dick, harsh sucks to the head, quick rapid fire bobs up and down his length. His head was swimming, Dana was in heaven, his moans and growls and the gentle bucking of his hips under her hands and mouth everything she’d ever wanted.

When Damon was close, she stopped, hovering just out of reach, her lips still close enough to lightly graze of oversensitive tip, precum gathering and rolling down onto the bed sheets. “You’re right, babe. This was a great idea.” She purred and he felt the vibrations in his whole body. He shuddered and bucked up harder. Her left knee gave pain filled twinge then and he took the advantage, sinking one finger then two into her, caressing and twisting and curling at just the right angle that she screamed out his name. The song picked up tempo. They didn’t even hear it.

“Damon, if you don’t –“ Dana was going crazy and sick of his teasing when he took out his fingers, licked them clean, making an obscene amount of nose as he did so and slowly sunk into her. Her legs tightened around him in reflex, her back arched and her mouth opened in a silent scream. They were both too strung up at this point to mess around anymore, so Damon set a punishing pace, the long month of separation echoing in the desperation of his thrusts. Dana matched his rhythm, rising her hips in time with him, licked his neck, bit at the space behind his right ear that had his hips stuttering and his breath catch. He caressed y inside of her knee and she moaned, kissing him frantically, teeth and spit and lips mashing together.

“Come on, comeoncomeon-“ she mumbled under her breath into his ear, he swore against her hair. He pulled at her, slipping out and turning onto his back, guiding her to sit back onto him. She sat down in one quick motion that had her feeling him deep in her belly. Damon let her set the pace now, the guitar faster and louder in the background, matching their own rhythm. She rose slowly and thrust down hard.

“Oh fuck, Dana” Damon groaned, fingers digging into her hips, no doubt leaving bruises. She repeated the motion, uuuup and down, uup and down, up and down!, again and again and again.

“So close, Damon” she moaned his name, breath stuttering in her lungs. He nodded along, helping her, moving her bodily over him when her thighs began trembling and her belly quivered and his arms shook.

They were both so close, so unbelievably near to the edge, all it took was two well angled thrust, one hard push into her. And then the song ended. Her movements lost momentum, his hips twisted the wrong way and the cresting pleasure was lost.

“Fuuck. No!” she cried out, collapsing onto his chest, eyes wet, body still too sensitive to be touching his so much. Damon growled in frustration and punched the sheets. They lay like that for a few seconds, with Damon still buried deep inside her until a hysterical laughter gripped her. Her whole body trembled above him as she laughed, startling shivers of pleasure from both due to the movement. “Typical.” he murmured, kissing her sweaty forehead and chuckling as well as she rose on shaky hands and kissed him deeply.

“Love you, babe.” she whispered and lay back down, nuzzling his neck. “Gimme two minutes. Fuck the song” she added with a deep breath.

“Love you too. But next time, loop the goddamn song.” he caressed her sides as he spoke. Goose bumps rising on her skin and he knew she didn’t need two minutes anymore.

“Next time, huh?” she swivelled her hips and saw him chock on a moan, tired, happy smile on her lips.

“God, I missed you.” he spoke as he thrust up into her once more, heat curling in his belly again, felling her shudder at the motions.

“Fucking guitar riff!” she cried out in retaliation, stuttering laughter in her belly as he resumed a slower pace than before. They fell asleep sated, curled around one another, in a silent room.

LIFE HAPPENS

“So how about that dinner you owed me?” Dana bats her eyelashes up at Damon. He’s leans further back against the desk in their bedroom, quirking an eyebrow, blue eyes shining in amusement.

“Owed, is it?” She laughs, long and loud. Nods. Yelps when he rushes to her and jumps out of the way, giggling when he snorts into the pillows as he lands. “That was unfair.” He grumbles, turning onto his back and looking up at the plain beige ceiling. Dana settles back down, curling around him, head on his shoulder, nuzzled against his neck, hand on his heart. He sighs. Shifts his weight. Clears his throat. Plays with the hem of her t-shirt.

“Do you really have to go again?” it comes out as a whine, but there is something more hidden below the surface as the woman further boroughs her head into the crook of his shoulder. They lay like that, in silence for a few seconds, neither willing to disrupt the calm and quiet. Dana’s mind a whirlpool of thoughts, from worry about how volatile Stefan is being recently, since the almost murder of their mother, to joy at being able to hold onto Damon a few minutes more. When Damon’d come back with a ridiculous reindeer beer mug, she’d figured the worst had passed, yet now here he was about to leave again.

“I’ll be back tonight, you know that, babe.”

“True” grumbling under her breath, she springs from where she was laying, all manic energy and crazy smiles. “Alright! You go do ... whatever you do in that hell-hole and I’ll go see who’s around here.” She kissed him on the lips, tugging a bit on his lower one as she pulled back, winked, turned, and skipped out of the room. Bemused, Damon set about to change out of his current sleep wear, boxers and an old shirt of Dana’s that had fit him last night well enough.

Mystic Falls was as per usual a cesspool worth of horrible things on the verge of happening. He wasn’t sure whether the memories of the Phoenix stone were still that fresh in his mind, or perhaps simply no longer being used to being there, but Damon was anxious. Anxious, like when you see the dark storm front approaching, anxious like feeling the air drop in a room following an argument, anxious like struggling to smuggle your younger brother outside of father’s study so neither of you are met with a too sharp tongue and even shaper whip. He stays though, long after nightfall, helping Wannabe Deputy Dumbass clean up the newest mess created by whoever had decided to come to their little cursed town that day. He was looking forward to home more so than any other time since maybe actually being rescued from the Phoenix stone.

It’s quiet when he arrives back.

Well, perhaps quiet is too much, there’s still a too loud poolside with too many people drinking and dancing and talking, there’s still a full house greeting him, lights blaring from the windows and shining from the small shopping district they’d made out of boredom, but there is something wrong lingering in the air. He can almost taste it he thinks, as he descends the stairs and heads to the main area. Dana isn’t there tonight. Not particularly surprising, seeing that she does tend to hole herself in their bedroom and binge watch things online often enough, but it is that anxious feeling swirling in the pit of his stomach that sets his teeth on edge.

She’s in bed when he arrives, sleeping.

He joins her, quickly returning to the earlier outfit he’d worn before he left, not yet having been picked up by anyone. She turns in her sleep, groans, scrunches up her face and pushes closer to the edge of the bed. She dips a hand over, dangling it there for a few seconds more, then quickly switches onto her other side, pummelling the pillow with her face, arranging it. Damon lays down at her back, pushing her towards the wall. She’s a warm, reassuring presence against his chest, content as a cat on a radiator.

Damon falls asleep, legs tangled with Dana’s.

Dana wakes up in a cold sweat, breathing harsh and heart racing out of her chest, the last vestiges of her nightmare clinging to her awareness still. She closes her eyes tightly, forces her breath to even out and not turn into a full blown panic attack tonight. She’s still shaking, cold from where the blanket had fallen off of her.

Damon sobs in her ear. She freezes.

Dana plops back on her back, feeling the overheated skin of his forearm rubbing her too clammy one. As another gargled sound rips its way out of his lungs, she pushes up onto her elbow and softly caresses his cheeks, his arms, his chest. His breathing is heavier, his eyelids moving brusquely. She tries waking him, mumbles out his name, tells him to get up. She doesn’t want to yell out tonight, her vocal chords already abused enough due to her own nightmare.

Damon stirs, eyes fluttering open, hand twitching his hers.

Dana lets him calm down, tries to wait for him to be fully conscious before she can say anything. The room is dark and shadows play at the corner of her sight, sending shivers down her spine at cold blue eyes surrounded by snow. Damon pulls her to his chest, arms tightly wound around her, plastering his sweaty hair to her cheek. She waits, spying demons in the night, dancing just out of her periphery, closing in faster than she can control her lungs. Damon’s the first to speak.

“Nightmare.”

It is both a question and an answer in equal measure. He knows she has them every so often, sometimes she remembers them in the morning when she wakes up, mostly she just never know she’s had one to begin with. It is rare to find her awake this deep into the darkness. She nods. The demons are getting closer in the night it feels and despite the heat of Damon’s embrace, she’s cold.

“Was it Lily?”

Her voice is clear, deep with sleep and fear. She talks when she’s nervous, she barely utters a word when she’s terrified. He tells her everything he can recall, if only to fill the void of night. His mother, Lily, yes, but his father as well. He was a child again. He still could feel the bruises from his father heavy hand and his mother’s ignorance. He makes a joke out of it, despite the ache in his eyes that tells him nothing is funny right now.

The anxious feeling lingers well into the morning.

When he wakes up, he’s covered in blood. Dana is in the shower, struggling not to let the cries echo as the deep gashes her nails had inflicted on her chest still haven’t stopped bleeding. They are silent when she returns to bed. Him ignoring the bandage taped to her chest, her not mentioning how red and puffy his eyes are. The darkness retreats from the bedroom, the feeling fades. Now all that is left is piecing each other back together again, as they must always after something like this.

Pieces have gone missing again.

“You owe me dinner, babe.” she whispers into his hair, barely controlled emotions masked by however little energy she can muster, the smile a dead carcass on her lips.

“I can work with that.” he wiggles his eyebrows, licks his lips, but there is nothing seductive about it yet, just a facsimile of what their banter should be.

They try to soak up the warmth. The demons howl. The anxiety chocks.

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gigsoupmusic · 4 years

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BOOM! : FloodHounds 'Something Primeval'

"Come together, it's all or nothing now!" These are the lyrics bellowing over raw and chugging guitar riffs and pounding drum crashes on the new track 'Something Primeval', words seeming inconsequential at the time lead singer, Jack Flynn, wrote them down, but now seem more poignant than ever. Along with Jack, drummer Lauren Greaves and bassist Joel Hughes make up the rest of the trio known as FloodHounds, a band who have steadily gained a reputation for their raucous live shows as well as their undeniable ability to write blues infused indie rock bangers. The band's new single, 'Something Primeval', is the second of two tracks recorded with producer, Thomas Mitchener, an occasional member of Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, and producer of two Rattlesnakes albums - an influence you can feel throughout. The first track 'Out of Time' was premiered on BBC's Introducing as their Record of The Week. Check out FloodHounds latest track 'Something Primeval' below: We had the pleasure of having a very socially distanced chat with lead singer, Jack Flynn, check it out below: What's the origin story for the band? Some mates of mine were doing Litter Picking at Glastonbury (great little life hack for guaranteed Glasto tickets) and became friends with Lauren’s mates from Leeds. We were all on a big night out in Leeds together and I was saying how our drummer had escaped to Australia and I couldn’t record, when someone said; “Lauren’s a drummer!” She subbed in so I could record a few songs, and never left. After that, we’d been planning to audition a load of bass players, when another Sheffield musician Jamie Heawood introduced us to Joel. He came along and it turned out he’d learnt a whole set of our songs in just a few days and fitted in so well that was it. Job done! Which artists would you reference as an influence on the band's sound? I was brought up on Hendrix & The White Stripes, all the classic “guitar” stuff. For ages I only seemed to like bands that had all split up or died before I had even discovered them, which was annoying. But that’s all changed, now we pretty much only listen to brand new music, because there are so many incredible bands around right now. Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, Kid Kapichi, The Blinders, Saint Agnes, BlackWaters, Strange Bones, Calva Louise, Demob Happy, the list is endless. Joel hops between old school punk like NOFX to Childish Gambino. Lauren loves a bit of everything from the electro swing of Dutty Moonshine to filthy blues rock like Gary Clark Jr. What was the inspiration behind the new single? I had come up with this swampy, chugging little guitar riff, which I felt had a kind of sinister tone that could soundtrack some sort of hunter moving through the jungle. I don’t know maybe I had some Attenborough on in the background or something but it just sort of set me off with a bunch of animal metaphors basically questioning how deep our primeval instincts run, and whether to trust them or not. Sort of concluding that our advantage compared to the animals is our ability to come together if you want to solve problems and survive. Not literally though! I wrote the “come together, it’s all or nothing now” lyrics way before social distancing was the new normal. What have the band been up to in quarantine? We’ve been rearranging our songs for a few live streams, like the one we did one for Jägermeister which is up on their YouTube channel now. It’s been a great opportunity for songwriting and we’ve got some feisty new tracks that I’m dying to get started on. We’ve also recorded an entire acoustic album at home. I went a bit overboard, adding strings and other instruments we’ll never be able to orchestrate in real life. But it sounds mega. Acoustic is fun but we’re a noisy rock band so now we’re recording some electric sessions individually in isolation to compile together for a ‘live’ video at some point. Other than that, Lauren is growing an avocado tree in a pint glass on her window sill, and Joel is conducting some very serious experiments combining different flavours of hot sauce for the ultimate taste sensation. What's one album or artist that you've had on repeat during the lockdown? I’ve been listening to a lot of Black Futures. They’re such a cool hybrid between electronic music and punk rock. It reminds me of The Prodigy. They build the tension like a masterful DJ, but when it gets to the drop it’s not a bleep bloopy synth line, it’s an absolutely filthy guitar riff and a monstrous drum kit with a screeching vocal thrown in for good measure, it’s great. I might even have to download a virtual drum machine and figure out how the hell to make our own remixes. I mean now is the perfect time for that sort of experiment right? Is there anything fans can do to help support young bands such as yourselves during this time? Without gigs, it’s pretty hard to raise funds to record new music, so buying a bands merch is probably a straightforward way to do it, and get something back yourself! Even if you already have the T-Shirt, buy it as a gift for someone else, the band will appreciate it big time. Other than that, if a band is releasing anything new, give it a share either publicly or just privately pass the link on to somebody you think might like it. Have you learnt anything about yourself while being stuck inside? Seems a perfect time for self-reflection. That’s a hard one. I’ve kind of just buried my head into writing, recording and keeping busy rather than stopping and reflecting too much. Maybe those reflections will come out in song form without even realising. I guess I’ve learned to enjoy the little things more, and that you can survive on a lot less than you thought you could as long as you prioritise what is really important. If you could choose any 3 musicians/artists (dead or alive) to quarantine with, who would they be and why? Well all drummers are banned. You can’t have them scratching their rhythm itch by bashing away on the walls like something out of STOMP every day. Same goes for the Iggy Pops of the world, after a week they would do your head in and I bet he’d leave the flat in a mess. So I’d probably go for some relaxed jazz or reggae musicians, maybe a couple trip hop producers who aren’t too high intensity, so let’s say Charlie Parker, Fat Freddy’s Drop, and Zero 7. Plans to tour or go back to normality have been put on hold indefinitely but does the band have anything planned going forward? After we’ve released ‘Something Primeval’ we’ve got a music video filmed in Sheffield’s gothic looking medieval bear pit in on a freezing Sunday in February to put out, then we’ll be doing a few live sessions where we can. But yep once we’re allowed out I think it’ll be back to the studio to get the next batch of tunes ready. We’ve got so many songs up our sleeve now so it’ll be tough deciding which one makes the cut for recording but that’s part of the fun.

FloodHounds Official Site - https://www.floodhounds.com/ FloodHounds Official Merch Site - https://floodhounds.bigcartel.com/products FloodHounds YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/user/FloodHounds FloodHounds Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/FloodHounds FloodHounds Twitter Page - @FloodHounds Read the full article

#bluesrock #FloodHounds #indie #NewMusicFriday

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imagine-buckycap · 7 years

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An old record player- Bucky Barnes X Reader

Prompt: Steve drops off a box full of Bucky’s old belongings, and inside Bucky finds an old record player and you two make fools of yourselves dancing around in your pajamas

Word count: 1906

Warnings: none

A loud knock sounded at your front door, you put down the spoon you were using to stir the cookie batter and looked over at Bucky, who was in the middle of wiping some batter off his cheek, his “kiss the chef” apron covered in flour. He just shrugged at you, not knowing who was at the door either. You padded down the hallway, grabbing one of Bucky’s sweatshirts off the back of the couch and pulling it over your thin pajama shirt. You looked through the peephole to see Steve waiting patiently on the other side of the door, bouncing on his heels slightly. You opened the door, Steve offered you a big smile.

“Hey [Y/n], sorry to bother you on such short notice, but I was cleaning out my closet and found this box of old stuff that used to belong to Bucky before, ya know,” Steve explained, offering you a big box, “BUCKY’S THINGS” was written on the side of the box in big,thick, black lettering. You took it, realizing it was a lot heavier that it seemed.

“What’s in here bricks?” you wheezed, resting the box on your knee to keep from dropping it. Steve just smiled, shaking his head lightly muttering something about a record player.

“Steve do you want to come inside for a minute, me and Bucky are making cookies,” you offered.

“Na, me and Sam are heading out to go see a movie in a bit, I still can’t get over the special effects on some of those, they sure are something else,” Steve remarked. Silence hung between the two of you. A loud clattering come from inside, telling you Bucky was inside making a mess of the kitchen.

“Ok, well thanks for the box, I’m sure Bucky will be excited to go through these things. Drive safely!” you thanked as Steve headed back down the path to his running car parked in your driveway. You backed up into the house, being careful not to let the box slip from your grip, you closed the door with your foot, hopping to regain your balance. You waddled down the hallway, the box blocking half of your line of sight.

“Hey who was at the- what is that?” Bucky inquired as you stumbled into the kitchen and set the box down on the table with a big thud.

“Steve brought over this box filled with stuff that used to be yours, before the war anyway,” you explained. Bucky froze and looked over at you, setting down the measuring cup he was using to scoop dough onto the baking sheet.

“Do you wanna open it?” you asked, wondering if his life before the war was something he’d rather not talk about. In fact, you knew virtually nothing about his life pre-war. He set the bowl of cookie batter down, licking his finger clean of the sticky dough. His eyes danced over the box, curious and unsure.

“Yeah, let’s open it,” he decided rubbing his hands together in anticipation. He stepped closer, untying his apron and tossing it onto the counter. He looked at you, smiled and took the lid off the box, a puff of dust erupting into this face. He waved the dust away, looking down into the box. There were a few books, the covers torn and the pages yellowing, a slinky, a razor and some really old shaving cream, and three little brown matchbox cars, just to name a few items you could both see at first glance. Bucky began taking things out and setting them down on the table, looking at each object carefully, turning them over in his hands slowly before putting them down. You stood next to him, watching him carefully, trying to read his emotions. He laughed quietly upon pulling out a rough sketch of him making a funny face, you could only guess that was drawn by Steve. Bucky’s mind was ablaze with vivid memories from his past, they were all coming back as he pulled one thing after another from the box.

After pulling out a pack of gum, an old torn baseball cap, and a few old yellowing photos, he gasped lightly.

“Oh my gosh,” He whispered, slowly reaching both of his hands down into the box, pulling out what appeared to be another box. This one was leather and had a handle on one side, it looked almost like a briefcase. He set it down on the table gently, you peeked over his shoulder to see what he was so surprised about. He clicked open the clasps on each side of the handle, lifting the lid up to reveal a black turntable and a bunch of knobs and switches. It was a record player, one that had obviously been enjoyed by its users. The corners of the box were beaten and dirty, and there were a few rips in the leather on the top of the box.

“Oh my gosh, I can’t believe he kept this old thing. This was falling apart in the 40’s, I can’t believe it’s still in one piece,” Bucky chuckled. He looked back into the box, his cheeks stretched into a wide smile. He pulled out four or five records and set them on the table alongside the player. Those were the last things in the box. He set the box on the floor. His smile was wider than ever.

“Let’s see if this old thing works,” he proposed, wiggling his eyebrows at you, carrying the player into the living room, trying to find an outlet into which he could plug the cord. He eventually found an outlet by the coffee table, setting the player down and plugging it in.

“Here Doll, pick a record for us to listen to,” he instructed, handing you the pile of records, all the covers were ripped at the edges from years of use. You rifled through the pile, settling on a record by Frank Sinatra. You handed the record to Bucky. He smiled at your pick.

“Great choice, Doll,” He mused as he pulled the the record gently from the sleeve

“Ok. Now let’s see if I remember how to do this,” He muttered, placing the record gently on the turntable, he then pushed the needle flush against the record and flipped the power switch. He sat back on his heels, looking at the player expectantly. Suddenly the first notes of a song floated out from the box and bounced around the lofty living room. Bucky’s face lit up, a small gasp passing by his parted lips.

“Ya know Doll, I used to dance to this song every week at the dance hall,” he told you, his eyes focused on the floor, reminiscing a time since passed. He shook his head, and stood up, offering you his hand. You glanced down at his gesture, knowing he wanted you to dance with him. You took his hand and he pulled you flush to his chest, his feet beginning to move to the rhythm of the music floating about the room.

“Disclaimer, I have no idea how to dance to this kind of music,” you informed him, stepping on his foot.

“Sorry! See? I told you I have no idea what i’m doing,” you huffed.

“If you can jump around and bounce up and down at one of Tony’s parties to what you guys now call a sad excuse for music, you can surely dance with me to this kind of music,” Bucky assured.

“I am offended, the music of our time is not sad, it’s revolutionary,” you defended, trying to sound matter of fact. “Whatever you say, Doll” He chuckled, letting go of your hand and backing up away from you, beginning to hop and sway, his dance moves getting worse by the second.

“What in the hell are you doing?” you asked, a laugh threatening to spill past your lips.

“Dancing, what does it look like,” he retorted, flailing his arms about, wiggling his eyebrows at you.

“And what exactly is the purpose of this horrendous dancing,” you pondered.

“To prove you can too dance to this kind of music,” He answered, continuing to snap his fingers and flail his arms. You burst out laughing and reached for your phone to take a video of your boyfriend dancing like a fool.

“Oh no ya don’t, Doll,” he chastised, grabbing your hand and twirling you around the living room. Your phone falling from your grip, landing softly on the couch. A giggle escaped from you as he continued to spin you around the room. He then let you go. Your head spun and butterflies flittered around in your stomach, you had never seen this side of Bucky before. He was lighthearted, and his demeanor was carefree and spirited. His chest rose and fell with his labored breathing as he jumped and swayed around the room, totally engrossed in the music playing, not a care in the world. Locks of dark hair fell into his eyes, and he sang loudly to the song playing, despite the fact he wasn’t all that great. He threw his head back, his mouth was wide open as he sang, his lips curving up into a smile as he finished the last note of the song, his head still turned toward the ceiling. You smiled at him as he turned toward you, the next song was starting.

“C’mon, dance with me,” he instructed jumping up and down like he was at some sort of rave. You sighed and joined him, jumping up and down, singing off key (along with the songs you knew anyway, many of them were too old for your to know), and pulling funny faces at each other. You two danced like this through most of the records until finally Bucky set the last record of the pile onto the turntable.

He grabbed your hand and gave you one last twirl, pulling you close as you came out of the turn, he slowed his dancing to match the music. You two swayed and drifted along to the music fluttering around through the room. You pressed your cheek to his chest, his heart galloping against his ribs, you could feel every beat against your cheek. His heart slowly calmed, the beats becoming regular, steady and calming against your cheek.

“See? I told you that you could dance to this music,” Buck stated matter of factly. You smiled.

“Oh I knew that all along, I just really wanted to see you make a fool of yourself dancing like an idiot,” You sneered. He sighed, biting back his smile. You two continued to step and sway, your foot coming down hard on his. He gasped, gritting his teeth to keep from cursing.

“Who’s making a fool of themselves now?” He taunted, his words reverberating around in his chest, his laugh vibrating against your cheek.

“Shut up…”

You two continued to dance until the record ended the repeated soft scratching was the only sound in the room. You looked up at Bucky in the silence, he looked down at you, smiling as wide as ever. He pressed a quick kiss to the tip of your nose.

“Don’t forget to remind me to thank Steve for dropping this box by,” Bucky spoke, pulling you even closer to his body. He was thankful for you, and you were thankful for him, terrible dance moves and all.

Masterlist

@tiffany-lester72

@shamvictoria11

@derpycp

#Bucky Barnes #oldschool #this makes me so happy #fluff #dancing #why did i do this to myself

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pillarsofdamnation · 7 years

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Otayuri Fic Rec List

I came for the Victuuri, but several of my favorites had a side pairing I wasn’t expecting to enjoy so much: Otabek Altin and Yuri Plisetsky. I’ve seen some of the wank on the otayuri tag, so if you don’t like, don’t read.

I love long fics (>10,000 word count) and have this insane need to keep track of the ones I really enjoy. Here are both competed works and WIPs that I am following they are all complete now.

UPDATED: January 27, 2018 (Based on fics I was reading in May 2017)

Guys, there are 16 fics here. I now have another 30 to add, but this post is getting too long. I will work on this in the weeks to come!

For this list “canon” are typically set post S1, “au” is a completely different universe and "au - canon divergent” is an au where one or both are still competitive figure skaters.

I. Completed works

A cat in a corner by AphroditeB00w [E, 82,800 word count, complete although not marked done yet)]

(au, mafia, violence, slow burn, assassin/enforcer!Yuri, Part 2 of Shadow People) "You don't own me." Yuri spat at the stone-faced man across from him. "No," Altin agreed mildly, adjusting the cuff of his suit. "But you are owned."Yuri Plisetsky is a reluctant underling in Yaakov's organization in mother Russia. But everything starts shifting and stirring up when he starts working with Otabek Altin, the informant for the criminal gods. His once slumbering sexuality is shocked awake, and the careful facade covering his hate for Yaakov is cracked when he learns that Viktor is not dead after all.

A Heart Beats At Night by magicalyoyo [T, 154,000 word count]

(au, vampire!Yuri, werewolf!Otabek, elements of canon, angst, Victor/Yuuri side pairing) A lone figure ran along the sidewalk. Otabek would have mistaken him for a motivated jogger, if not for the sinewy, fluid movements and familiar figure. He jerked his bike over, skidding to a halt in front of the runner.

Otabek’s heart was pounding a sickening, dizzying rhythm, but he schooled his face into stoicism as he pulled his helmet off to get a better look.

“Yuri Plisetsky died two years ago,” he growled. “What the hell are you?”

a silver splendour, a flame by thehandsingsweapon [M, 113,200 word count]*** Main pairing Yuuri/Viktor with Otabek/Yuri is a significant side pairing

(au, angst, mcd (with qualifiers), fantasy, slow burn, magic) Fantasy AU. When a magic user’s craft fully matures it manifests in the form of a spirit guardian. Mages and elves bearing these familiars spend a year presenting them to each of the high courts throughout the year’s festivals. Both Viktor and Yuuri have their reasons for hiding the full extent of their gifts – Viktor’s been hurt before, when his own powers were used against him; Yuuri’s been warned that everyone will want his; what will happen when Yuri comes of age, and in doing so, makes two very bright stars finally cross?

A Stiller Doom by Tessa on Ice [E, 68,400 word count]***

(abo, angst, social justice, violence, abo, au-canon divergent) “It is in vain ot say human beings out to be satisfied with traquility: they must have aciton and they will make it if they cannot find it. Millions are condemned to a stiller doom than mine, and millions are in silent revolt against their lot. Nobody knows how many rebellions ferment in the masses of life which people earth.” - Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre. NOTE: fic is currently unavailable due to an AO3 issue, but will hopefully be back. Really enjoyed this one. A lot of political drama.

Adventures in Personal Growth (verse) by stutter [E, 23,700 word count for series)

(canon, pining, dom/sub elements, rough sex, read the tags) "When Victor was his age - younger, even, Yuri thinks, shame blooming in his chest - he’d made the whole world fall in love with him already. The long hair, the soft smile, the way he moved like he had a secret in his skin and he couldn't wait to share it with you. Yuri’s watched the tapes over and over. He could skate any of Victor’s early routines in his sleep. But he can't - the thing Victor could do so easily, the casual, guileless charisma he threw like a shadow - Yuri can't manage it on a single person, not even some moody Kazakh with a dumb haircut whose eyes are too far apart anyway - "(In Park Guell, Yuri takes a hard fall. Otabek picks him up.)

All the Right Notes by pastelplisetsky [T, 42,800 word count]

(au, music, slow burn, fluff) Yuri Plisetsky is an incredibly gifted piano player, known for his passionate and somewhat violent playing/compositions. But in order to compete in the famous Eurasia United competition (completely fictional), he needs a violin accompanist. Although he’s dreamed about this competition for years, he’s always worked better alone. Until a little-known, solemn, lovely violinist walks into his life. Inspired by Yuri’s Allegro Appassionato in B Minor, his free skate song.

the birth of comets takes place on the tip of your lashes by apollothyme [T, 16,600 word count]***

(au - canon divergent, angst, hurt comfort, blindness, friends to lovers) His second visit to an ophthalmologist occurs five months later. Just like during his first consultation, he doesn’t understand any of the medical jargon coming from the doctor’s mouth. Only now, after he’s done explaining everything in complicated, convulsed words, the man turns to Yuri with a smile on his face and explains everything once more, this time using terms Yuri can understand. Yuri listens. He bites down on his bottom lip and he does not cry.

Endurance and Peach Tea by chapstickaddict [T, 11,500 word count]

(canon, pining, slow burn, fluffy fluff) Yuri hummed. His body didn’t uncurl, but instead of pressing his face into the fold of his legs, he rested it on his crossed forearms. Tilting his face towards Otabek, he looked for the bronze metal. The colorful ribbon snuck into the folds of his jacket, hiding his prize from view. Yuri reached out, and Otabek let him pull the ribbon to bring the metal into the light.It was beautiful. Heavy and ornate, with the front masterfully detailed. The perfect symbol of success. Yuri flipped it over, admiring Otabek’s name carved along the back. Wait.“Did they spell your name wrong?” he demanded, straightening. Otabek made a noise beside him.

It takes three years for Yuri to figure himself out and get his head on right. He drags everyone along for the ride. Otabek is the only one to go willingly.

From Almaty, With Love by BoxWineConfessions [E, 115,900 word count]

(canon, pining, slow build, slice of life, part 1 of series) It’s quiet here. Even if the car alarm on the neighbor’s goddamn BMW has been going off for the past twenty minutes. Quiet, even though the alarm’s got the neighbor’s dog howling like crazy, and the neighbor works second shift and isn’t there to comfort the dumb dog. It’s quiet…They haven’t spoken to each other since that morning, when Yuri went off to go see his tutor, and Otabek went off to do whatever the hell it was he did in the mornings before he hit the rink. “You’re used to the noise?”“Yeah, but…I think I like the quiet too.” Or: Yuri spends the summer with Otabek in Almaty.

Half a Chance by ratherunneccessary [M, 55,900 word count]

(canon, angst, fluff, slow burn) Yuri has never cared about anything as much as he cares about skating. Until, one day, that changes. Or, Viktor falls in love with Yuuri, Yuuri falls in love with Viktor, Yuri falls in love with Yuuri, Otabek falls in love with Yuri, and somehow everything turns out okay.

I Will Not Break by kanekki [E, 39,000 word count] series Accuse Me Thus [E, 121,400 word count in 3 part series]

(canon, divergent after S1, DARK, rape/noncon, depression, anxiety, references self harm, references suicide, child abuse, part 1 of a series) Yuri has been supporting his family with his skating since he was a teenager, but now they are barely making it. How long will he be able to hold it together before everything falls apart? Series summary: After his gold medal win at the Grand Prix Finals, Yuri Plisetsky’s life completely falls apart. With the help of his boyfriend and skating friends, Yuri tries to pull himself back together.

in flesh and bone by csoru [M, 32,100 word count]

(canon, angst, long distance relationship, pining, hurt comfort) After recovering from an injury that cut his previous season short, Yuri makes a comeback with a new coach, a new country of residence, and a relationship upgrade. Still: perfection takes effort.

In spite of the world by Stone_Heart [E, 100,100 word count]

(au, fairy!Yuri, soldier!Otabek, domestic, hurt/comfort, war, slow burn, bonded) There was a shuffling from above him, loud banging noises as it came closer. Otabek braced himself. This person helped him. But… A pale face peered over the stairs, looking at him. He blinked back. Those eyes… bright green and ferocious. Those eyes were what he looked for on a battlefield. Not the scared eyes of a peasant or the pudgy eyes of a spoiled king. No, those were the eyes of a soldier.

Neon Pink Motorcycle by goldheart [M, 74,700 word count]

(au - canon divergent, angst, soulmate/soulmark, pining, slow burn, past child abuse) There are certain moments in Yuri Plisetsky’s life that he likes to forget happened at all. The time they were chased from the apartment, the landlord angrily spitting and waving threateningly at them when his mother couldn’t produce enough money for rent. Babushka’s funeral. The first time he fell in competition.He cannot forget that, under the black band he wears around his wrist like a shield, his soulmark may as well be nonexistent.

You’ll Live Without It by HyperionHero [E, 24,400 word count]

(canon, angst, fluff, pining) "Yuri smirks, thumbing the material of Otabek's hoodie underneath his team Russia jacket. When he catches himself smiling he blushes and pulls his hand back to his phone. It's fine, he tells himself. Friends totally wear each other's clothes..."Yuri Plisetsky is surrounded by love. It's like a sickness, claiming his friends, his rivals, the attention of everyone he knows. He avoids it at all costs... but what Yuri doesn't know is that love has a knack of sneaking up on people. Sometimes it brews for years, right under your nose, and you don't notice it until it's staring you in the face - taking the form of a stoic Kazakhstani man bound in leather.

Unsteady by otayui_oh_nice [E, 140,000 word count]***

(au, rockstar!Yuri, DJ!Otabek, abusive family, mostly fluff with some angst, Slow burn, tattoos) Otabek was going to kill JJ. He was going to take the next flight to Canada, hunt him down and kick his ass. Leo: I tried to stop him but he went and did it anyway, I’m sorry! (link)- Or: JJ uploads one of Otabek's remixes of Yuri's songs to YouTube and Otabek freaks out.- Or: what happens when you take episode 1, replace figure skaters with musicians and exchange Victuuri for Otayuri. Aka another strange AU no one asked for.

#yoi #yuri plisetsky #otabek altin #otayuri #fic rec #long fics #complete and wips

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indutime · 8 years

Text

A First Date

Here’s a story I’ve been telling a lot lately.

Coffee Meets Bagel is a dating app, and as with all modern dating apps, it comes with little gimmicks. For CMB (that’s what its veterans call it), a chat line between a matched pair lasts for only 7 days. This time limit is used to instill a sense of urgency to trade other contact info, grab a date, and presumably sprint to the altar.

In one such chat line, I had matched with a consultant currently residing in San Francisco. Conversation was sparse but interesting and I got the feeling she genuinely wanted to trade words as opposed to simply answering questions. I get a notification on my phone reminding me that the chat line is about to expire and make a mental note to ask for her personal contact info soon and go back to playing video games (probably).

And so of course, I forget, and the chat line expires. I desperately try to find some sort of loophole in the app to reopen the conversation, but those devs at CMB aren’t bluffing. When they say 7 days they mean it.

After about a week, I decide to Google the only things I knew about her from her profile: her first name, her job and her location. First result was her LinkedIn profile. For those not in the know, LinkedIn is basically a social network for people who really care about their jobs and also comes with a paid premium option to unlock special abilities. One of those social network super powers is to message someone without having added them as a connection. “I’m not going to add her on f-ing LinkedIn” and so I move on with my life.

Two weeks later I add her on LinkedIn.

To accompany my invitation, LinkedIn graciously allows users to add a 500 character limit message. Here is that message:

Okay I know how creepy this looks but I was bummed we didn't trade more info before the chat line expired. I figured what the hell and just searched "(her name) san francisco consulting" and you were first. This is probably the absolute worst way to connect so if you want to ignore this, I totally get it

She accepts my request a few hours later and responds, “nice sleuthing”

I ask her if she’d like to meet up (for professional purposes, obviously). She says she does, but unfortunately she’s out of town for the next couple weeks for a business trip. I ask her if she would like to trade alternative contact info and she politely declines, and states she’s enjoying chatting through a social network for built for professionals. Oddly enough, I don’t mind either. I’m a sucker for quirky stuff like this. Over the next two weeks, conversation remains sparse. All throughout the days I refresh my LinkedIn homepage hoping to see a new message in my inbox and find myself cursing this “quirky” website.

After two weeks, she’s returning back home so I ask if she’s free that coming Saturday. Indeed she is, and asks me where I’d like to go. I’m not really much into the fine dining scene and ask her if there’s any place she’s been wanting to try. She eventually decides for us to meet at Burma Star at 5:30. And on that Friday before the day of the meeting she finally sends me her phone number. “Big milestone,” she says.

I take the train to my office a few hours before the date. The office is empty, save for Jonathon (who’s always there for God knows what) and Mitch, who’s live-streaming a new game called Nioh. I have a Sunday School lesson to prepare for the next day so I take a seat at my desk. Suddenly, I smell something awful. I had smelled it earlier on the train but had just assumed it was someone else with bad B.O. But now as I sat alone, I knew it had to be me. I take off a shoe and take a strong whiff. Bad move. But at least now I’d found the culprit. I then realized I had been wearing the same socks that I had worn the day before and had slept in all night. And boy, my feet sweat. So I head over to a window and place my shoes on the sill and outstretch my socks over a houseplant. Maybe airing them out for a while will get rid of the embedded smell. I wet some paper towels in the kitchen and wipe my feet down to get rid of any residual stench.

I take a seat next to the window and realize this process is not going fast enough; it was now an hour a half or so until the date. I couldn’t solve this problem by just waiting around, I had to take action. Then I remembered I had found a healthy orange off the street a few days prior and had kept it at my desk as a snack should I ever need it. But I wasn’t hungry. I was desperate. I peel the orange and place the peels inside my shoes. I take a few pieces and place them on top of the peels. I take another piece and rub down my socks with them, hoping to create some sort of citrus filter.

It was a fruitless effort (insert pun acknowledgement here) and deep down I knew there was no way this smell was going away without washing them. But there wasn’t enough time to dry them. Then I remembered my company had handed out dozens of free socks a few months prior and I kept a pair in my bag for any sock emergency I might ever have. This was that moment. I reach into my bag to pull out the fresh pair of socks and thank the Lord for my gift of foresight.

It was just about time to go and I take one last sniff test for the three troublemakers. My feet smelled decent, my new socks smelled like nothing, and my shoes smelled like someone sprayed orange zest in a tennis player’s gym bag. But hey, two for three ain’t bad.

My office is in the SoMa district of the city and the restaurant is in the Mission. I take a quick look at the map and find out it’s a walkable distance. I’m always fine with walking especially if it’s a great day in the city. I had been paying for Ubers all week and didn’t want to do more needless spending. And besides, I needed a way to work off my first-date nerves.

Right outside the office, I run into another coworker, Oblanca, who asks me “You know it’s Saturday right?” I put in my headphones and start listening to Elbow’s newest album for the first time. I check Maps to see when Google estimates I’d arrive at the destination. 5:50 P.M. Not good. I text her, “Hey, it’d be super cool if you’re also going to be late.” She asks how late we’re talking here and I reply 15 minutes. Immediately I realize that 15 minutes is a little too late to be late for a first date. And so I start running. After half a mile (yes, really. I just checked on Google Maps) I realize how sweaty I’m getting. This was everything I sought to avoid. So I cave and hail an Uber and text her that I’m actually going to be right on time. “Great, now I’m going to be 10 minutes late,” she responds.

I actually see her walk into the restaurant about a minute before me. I take off the baseball cap that I had been wearing all day to hold my hair back and stick it in my jacket pocket as I enter the restaurant. She doesn’t see me enter so I approach her and she smiles and gets up to give me a hug. Her smile lights up her whole face. She’s wearing a thin black turtleneck. It complements her long black hair.

As it turns out, exercise does not help to get rid of nerves. The adrenaline from the run is only adding to it. I’d also never had Burmese food before (except a Burmese food truck that shows up outside our office sometimes) and there were a thousand things on the menu that I couldn’t decide between. I start talking about the VR project I had been working on and I can tell by her face that she doesn’t care. But I can’t just leave the story unfinished so I painfully finish the boring tale of the technical problems we’re encountering with the project. I’m rambling. I’m not making eye contact. She’s much prettier in person. I look and sound like a moron.

She recommends the fermented tea leaf salad, a Burmese staple. And we each order another dish; her, the garlic noodles with duck and I, the “Tofu Tower.” I get a beer and she orders a whiskey cocktail. Alcohol finally settles my nerves a little and we’re able to get into typical light-hearted first date conversation topics, like politics and religion. She’s very intelligent and well-spoken and extremely charming and surprisingly witty. I don’t fake my laughs or smiles.

She asks me of bad habit that I have. “No stupid answers like, ‘I’m a perfectionist.’” The first thing that comes to my mind is that I don’t brush my teeth at night. (Yes, I know this sounds really gross. It started off as laziness in college but I’ve never had a cavity in my life. So hey, the proof is in the pudding.) But I’m not going to tell her that on a first date for obvious reasons. The first time I had told my previous girlfriend about it, we got into a straight up argument. So I say bad posture. She’s not pleased with the answer and we both know it’s a lame response. So I start off with another disclaimer, stating that what I’m about to say may be a potential dealbreaker and confess my dirty little secret. To my surprise, she laughs. Laughs harder than she has all night. I ask why she found it so hilarious, but she’s not entirely sure. She suspects it was because the long disclaimer made her expect some really bad habit, like hard drugs, but it turned out to be so innocent yet still gross. She says my answer is now the gold standard for every time she asks the question. I finally feel like I’m over my nerves and settle into a groove, like when you finally find the perfect rhythm to a song you’d been trying to write for weeks.

Let me preface the rest of this by saying there’s a pattern that occurs throughout this whole date. I’ll do something really dumb or say something really stupid and then offset it later by something really smooth. And then screw it up later with something else.

So I ask her what’s her bad habit and she doesn’t have an answer. “How do you not have an answer to your own question?” I ask. She tells me I’m supposed to come up with a new one. “That’s not how it works,” I say, “for example, my go-to icebreaker question is what’s your best poop story?” “What’s a poop story?” “You know, some funny story about pooping your pants.” I can tell by her face this was not resonating well with her and I had made a big mistake by bringing up poop on a first date. So I say that I actually have another icebreaker question that I like to ask. But I pause, and say that I’m realizing there’s a theme to icebreaker questions. She asks what it is, so I tell her, “Let’s say, hypothetically, there’s a technology that will allow you to never need to pee again. What is your price ceiling on a monthly subscription to that sort of service? What if #2 was part of the deal?” But she actually answers seriously and it starts another solid conversation.

Prior to the date, she had told me that she was going to a concert that night with her friend and that the latest she could leave was 8. I hadn’t been checking the time all night, so when she gets up to go to the bathroom, I’m assuming the date is coming to an end. I stop her as she passes by and say, “Hey, you know for $10/month, you could still be sitting here.” She gives me a laugh and playfully hits me on the shoulder as she leaves.

When she gets back to her seat, she proposes a new plan. Let’s pay for the food now and head somewhere nearby for drinks. I ask her about her show and she says it turns out the doors open at 8 but the band she wants to see doesn’t come on until 9:30 or 10. I happily agree to this new plan. And so the check comes and we both throw our cards in without a word about it. She finds a bar nearby on her phone and when we get the to-go bag, she says “Let’s motor” and we head out.

The night is brisk but bearable and the cold, quiet air is a welcome relief from the stuffy, noisy restaurant. She asks if she can ask a personal question. “Go ahead.” “Why did you break up with your ex?” It’s at this point I realized that I had been mentioning my ex quite a bit throughout dinner. Even in purely unromantic anecdotes. I still can’t say why I did. Usually when I tell those stories, I’ll refer to her as my friend. But for some reason that night I kept mentioning her as my ex. “I talked about her a lot didn’t I?” “Yeah, you did,” she says with a smile. I answer the question and we head into the crappy little dive bar, never to say a word about my past relationships again.

We agree for her to grab the first round and I’ll grab the second. She orders a whiskey ginger and I order an old fashioned. She changes her mind and orders the same thing. When asked if there was a specific whiskey we wanted in it she asks for Bulleit.

The bar is dark but quiet, aside from a few fans watching the basketball game on TV. The Warriors are playing in OKC for the first time this season and the game is coming to an end. Golden State is about to win. She’s a basketball fan but doesn’t follow a specific team, if she did, she’d follow the Pistons. I inquire why and she says she likes their coach, “Pop...Popolitch...?”“Popovich?” “That’s him!” “He coaches the Spurs.” “Oh yeah the Spurs! I really like them.” I agree, and we talk about Kawhi Leonard for a bit.

I grab the second round and drop the drinks off at our table before heading to the bathroom to pee. The room is narrow and dimly lit. There’s graffiti all over the walls and a hole in the door where a lock used to be. I try flushing but the toilet is busted. I wash my hands and head out, stopping by the bar to tell the bartender about the toilet. When I return to the table I rest my elbows on it with my hands clasped together. She reaches out to touch my hand for the first time and in surprise I look at her and ask what she’s doing. “Just making sure you washed your hands,” she says with a sly smile.

She continues to be as charming as ever. We talk about our terrible eyesight, television shows and stereotypes associated with our ethnicities. She’s Korean but I ask to hear her Vietnamese accent because I know every Asian does one. She refuses, but as a Vietnamese person, I open the floor for her, telling her I won’t consider any of it racist. She does it on the condition I do mine first so I do. Hers is mostly an impression of the Phở waiter at the restaurant she frequented in college. It’s oddly guttural but still funny.

She asks why I had asked her how long she’d been on CMB (she’d been on it for about 6 months). I shrug and say it was just an icebreaker. She tells me it was a pretty loaded question and I ask her to explain. “Well, if I had said something like a month, you might think I had just gotten off a relationship and that you’re just a rebound. Or if I said something like two years, you’d think ‘How has this chick been on the app for two years and not found anyone yet?’” “Good point, I’ll keep that in mind for the next date I go on.” I give her a smile and she laughs.

I ask her if she honestly thought it was creepy that I found her on LinkedIn. Without hesitation she says no and in fact thought it was quite endearing. I ask her if she’s told anyone that she’s meeting a dude that she met off LinkedIn and she says no. I didn’t know how to feel about having told a dozen people about her already.

We head out to walk to her show and I plan to take a car back to the office from there with the leftover food. The night’s colder now but I’m also drunker now and therefore run a little more warm blooded. She walks up from my left and links her arm beneath mine. “So Josh. Did you have a good time tonight?” she asks. I tell her I did. It didn’t sound genuine when it came out of my mouth, but I really did. She points up at the moon and says, “Look at that, it’s a full moon. Are you going to turn into a werewolf?” I didn’t have anything witty to say, so I awkwardly let out a, “haha....yeaaaah.”

I really need to pee during the walk and kick myself for not just going at the bar (that hypothetical technology would be really convenient right now). I tell her and she feels the same way but at least she’s going to be at a place with the proper facilities soon. She starts shivering and chattering her teeth. So I slowly start pulling off my jacket, stating that she’s left me no choice. She refuses and we both acknowledge how cheesy the whole thing is but I do it anyway, saying that I get warm when I drink.

We cross a street and stop at a corner for her to check her phone to see how far away the venue is. “It’s about a block away.” “Cool, when’s your friend going to be there?” “About five minutes.” “Cool.” She stands about three feet away from me, looks at me and says,

“So...you can kiss me now or later.”

Keep in mind here that I was not looking to kiss anyone that night. I was going into this date with the expectation of not getting any, and that was completely fine with me. I wasn’t even going into the date with the intent of getting a second date, I just wanted to not look like a total freak. So with that mindset, I was completely caught off guard. Not to mention I still really needed to pee. So I panicked.

“Uh...later, I guess.”

And I keep heading towards the venue, not even staying long enough to see her reaction to getting rejected. I even left her behind as I walked ahead of her.

But now I had time. Now that the door was open, I could mentally prepare myself for the moment. Now the plan was to kiss her in front of the venue before her friend got there and before I ventured off into the night back to the office.

We get to the venue and I call my Uber; it’s about five minutes away. I ask her when her friend is showing up and she says about two minutes. “Okay Josh, you got two minutes to do this,” I tell myself.

About fifteen seconds later her friend shows up. We introduce ourselves and shake hands. I welcome her to our little LinkedIn event and look towards my date to see if she caught my joke since I knew her friend didn’t. She’s smiling and gives me a wink. She admits that she actually did tell someone about meeting someone off LinkedIn and that person was standing right in front of me. It was her best friend, she tells her everything. So, we have light small talk for a bit and laugh and I’m dying inside and it’s time for them to head to the show. I hug her goodbye and jump in my Uber. I get back to the office and finally pee at a urinal. I felt like I could fill a milk jug.

Jonathon is unsurprisingly still at the office and I debrief him on the whole ordeal. I decide to text her, “So, I’m going to blame not kissing you on my very burdening need to pee. But I should have anyway.” “Yes you should have!” she responds, “But that’s okay, next time I’ll turn you down and we’ll be even.”

Second date’s next week and I’ll probably still be extremely nervous.

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rafi1228 · 5 years

Link

The only beginners course that’ll teach you how to play all of YOUR favorite songs + 36 shortcuts, hacks, tips & tricks – Guitar Course

GUITAR

Created by Cooper – Guitar Songs Masters

Last updated 5/2019

English

English [Auto-generated]

What you’ll learn

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—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Do you LOVE listening to music, and especially to songs with guitars in them?

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—

Why should you listen to me?

Hey! My name is Alon Cooper and I am 29 years old. I have been teaching music, both online and face to face, to tens of thousands of students in the last six years – while traveling four different continents and jammin’ and performing with many different musicians. I am mainly a guitarist, pianist and harmonica player, and I also play other instruments including the flute, trumpet, bass and more. I am constantly looking for the best ways and shortcuts to teaching music effectively – and with FUN. The student feedbacks show that I do it very well. (:

My guitar blog, GuitarSongsMasters-com, (founded in 2014) where I share my tips for playing music, has a monthly readership of over 100K people from over a 150 different countries and is one of the world’s top five most read guitar blogs*. I am also the founder of the Harmonica Jamz-com courses and blog that has been online since 2016 and has thousands of happy students here on Udemy.

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The system in this course is geared towards one thing: giving you the ability to smoothly and joyfully play YOUR favorite songs.

No one quits guitar when he’s actually successful at playing his favorite songs.

By the end of the course – you will have at your fingertips the ability to literally play 1000’s of songs – whichever ones you choose to. How?

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DELIVERING THE RESULTS. Some of the core videos that will give you the keys to unlock 1000’s of songs:

5 Principles for Achieving a Clean & Beautiful CHORDS Sound.

My Method for How to Easily Find the Correct Strumming Pattern for Any Song. (I struggled for years until I came up with this unbreakable method)

Where to Find the Best Chord Charts for Your Favorite Songs and How to Print Your Own Custom DIY Chord Books of Your Favorite Songs.

My 2 Hacks for How to quickly SUPER-LEARN New Chords, and Shortcut Your Way to Playing More Songs.

How to SWITCH Between Chords Effortlessly, and Overcome the #1 Beginners’ Block to Fluent Song-Playing.

The Methods and Apps that Will Help You Develop a Rock Solid Sense of Rhythm and Sound Like a Pro.

Tricks, Hacks and Techniques: (Partial list, see the curriculum for the rest)

The 13 Most Useful Guitar Apps in 2019 – apps that will actually help you improve much faster.

How to Find the Correct Strumming Pattern for any Song – just by listening to it. (I know I have been struggling with this one for years until I figured it out)

8 Ways to Develop Your Time-Keeping Skills and Get the PRO Sound

6 Tips to Easily Conquer Any Barre Chord. (like the F chord)

4 Ways to Avoid the Notorious Pain in the Fingertips that Every Guitarist Encounters.

My Favorite 13 guitar accessories – things that’ll actually improve your guitar life.

How to Find That One Chord That Finishes the Song Perfectly.

6 Ways to Customize Your Guitar and Add Bling (;

8 Golden Guitar Practice Tips to Improve Much Faster

How to Make Your Guitar 3X More fun to Play

And more lessons that will enrich your skills and sound, with newer ones added regularly.

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97$ Value Bonus: The Guitar Songs Masters Complete E-Books Library: On top of everything that’s above, you’ll get 8 more fancy guitar E-Books that’ll help you improve your guitar life.

The 14 Best Guitar Apps That You’ll Actually Use

11 Guitar Practice Tips for Speedy Improvement

The Complete Guitar Chords Cheat-Book

The 13 Best Guitar Accessories That You’ll Need

My Secret Songbooks Link-Bank: Get Access to 7 Songbooks with 5000+ Songs

9 Cool Ways to Customize Your Guitar

Improve Your Sense of Rhythm Cheat-Sheet

5 Fun Techniques to Spice-Up Your Cover Songs

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FANCY PRODUCTION AND VIDEO QUALITY:

All the lessons are shot in 4K resolution in a boutique music studio.

Multiple camera angles.

Split screen teaching for increased clarity.

Fancy graphics and animations flying in and out.

Recorded through high end microphones and finished by a well known audio engineer.

And just about everything else that’s available in 2018 to give you the best user experience and help you learn. You won’t find a similar level of production in all of Udemy’s other guitar courses.

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“Outstanding, the teacher is first of all outstandingly talented and plays over ten instruments, and I also highly like his teaching style: very bright, no “hmmms” and such. And the idea of learning using my own favorite songs really works and feels great.” Harry Hofstra, California.

Printable SONGBOOK: ON TOP of the lessons, you will also receive a printable PDF Beginners Songbook with over 35 songs that you’re encouraged to play while taking the core lessons, ALL THE SONGS ARE ACCOMPANIED WITH A DETAILED VIDEO LESSON that will show you the process of how I take any song from an online chord chart – and turn it into real, live music – the exact process that you will learn to repeat with your own favorite songs.

Some of the songs you will learn, ranging from classic rock to pop, country and more:

Ed Sheeran – The A-Team

Bob Marley – No Woman No Cry

Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here

Oasis – Wonderwall

Green Day – Time of Your Life

The Eagles – Take It Easy

Ben E. King – Stand By Me

Jason Mraz – I’m Yours

Bob Dylan – Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

You Are My Sunshine

Outkast – Hey Ya

Old Crow Medicine Show – Wagon Wheel

Leonard Cohen / Jeff Buckley – Hallelujah

Florida Georgia Line – Cruise

Bright Eyes – First Day of My Life

Red Hot Chili Peppers – Dani California

Sublime – What I Got

Rolling Stones – You Can’t Always Get What You Want

And many others – while even more songs’ video lessons are added regularly.

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Remember – I don’t want you to pay for the lessons only to quit after two months. My mission is to get you to pick up the guitar and develop that PASSION and motivation that will keep driving you to make music for the rest of your life.

Why shouldn’t I take another course or just watch free YouTube lessons?

Two reasons:

1) Your time is valuable, and trying to learn your way through random lessons on random guitar topics (instead of using a systematic, logical and proven approach) will never get you as far as a systematic method. Even more, using random YouTube lessons will make it way more likely that you’ll quit the guitar.

2) I understand you. Just like how I learned independently how to play the guitar – I know your wants and needs – and I am here to shortcut your way to the success which is playing all of your beloved songs. I built this course as the DREAM GUIDE for independent learners that I wish I had at the time – and could have saved me literally thousands of hours of struggling around before I found and developed those shortcuts and methods myself.

Can’t wait to hear your stories after you’ll be successfully jammin’ all of your songs with your friends.

Cheers,

-Alon

*According to SimilarWeb-com stats.

**According to a study by Fender – google “90 of new guitarists”.

“Explanations are very clear. Lots of great ideas on how to go about learning and practicing the chords fast. Very pleasant and relaxed presentation with lots of great ideas and examples. I look forward to continuing the class!” Fred Bogdan.

Who this course is for:

People who love music and want to play the songs that they love – out of their own hands.

People who started playing guitar in the past but never made it through the first stages.

People who have some experience on the guitar but want their playing to feel much easier and sound much smoother.

Size: 5.2GB

DOWNLOAD TUTORIAL

The post PLAY YOUR FAVORITE SONGS: THE GUITAR SUPER-COURSE (2019) appeared first on GetFreeCourses.Me.

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jumpsitehq · 6 years

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150+ Best [ROMANTIC] Love Status Quotes and Messages

Whatsapp is an Instant Messaging app for Smartphones. Now a day Whatsapp was installed on every smartphone. All the Whatsapp user are like to change status at the time. So we have collected some the Best Romantic Love Status Quotes and Messages. Want to send a really romantic love quote to her or him, or update your Facebook or WhatsApp status with a love message? Finding the right words is a lot easier than it sounds. We also have a great collection of Mother Daughter Quotes.

Love Status Quotes and Messages

1. “When someone asks me: How is life? I just smile and tell them that she is fine.” 2. “Life provides us with countless beautiful people, but I have found that there is only one person that makes life beautiful.” 3. “Everything is perfect when I am with you, yet nothing is perfect when we’re apart.” 4. “Missing you is an indescribable ache that never goes away.” 5. “Thinking of you is easy, but knowing that I won’t see you today truly hurts the heart.” 6. “No matter what happens today, tomorrow or a million tomorrows from now, I will always love you. This I promise you.” 7. “Love is beautiful because everything is perfect. You are perfect.” 8. “Every night I go to sleep hoping and wishing that dreams come true. Every night, in my dreams, I am with you.” 9. “Dreams are what we aspire to have or do in life, but the only dreams I have are of you.” 10. “Love is the beginning of everything in life; it leads to unimaginable happiness.” 11. “When I dream, all my dreams are of you. The countless nights I used to stay awake are gone as I can’t wait to be in your dreamy embrace.” 12. “Placing someone above you is an impossibility.” 13. “Grandma and grandpa will be just how our love story will unfold. Romeo and Juliet never got to grow old together.” 14. “The day after forever simply doesn’t give me enough time to love you endlessly.” 15. “Now and forever. These are the two things I think about when I say I love you.” 16. “What would I be if I could be anything? I would be a tear that swells in your eyes, trickles down your check and ends up on your lips.” 17. “When we first met, I dropped a tear in the ocean. As time went by, I realized I had a better chance of finding that single tear than of not loving you.” 18. “Why would anyone ever ask what love is? Love is love; it is unexplainable and unimaginable. Love can be the best thing in the world, or it can lead to the deepest pain a person will ever feel in their lives.” 19. “There is no reason to say I love you without a way to prove that it is undeniably true and sincere.” 20. “Love is best described as a rubber band. You hold one side, and I hold that other. As our love grows, the rubber band stretches, and we hope that the other person doesn’t let go and allow love to smack us right in the face.”

Love Whatsapp Status

21. “How can a person be too busy? If a person truly loves you, they will find the time to spend with you.” 22. “Love starts off as cute, innocent and sweet. What new lovers don’t understand is that love doesn’t turn beautiful the moment it begins. Love is like wine; it gets stronger and more beautiful as each day passes.” 23. “You can feel the wind, but you can’t see it. This is exactly what happens with love. You can feel it, but there aren’t enough hours in the day to explain it fully.” 24. “If I can be yours, you can be mine, and we will both be one love.” 25. “There isn’t a person on the planet that doesn’t know how to love. Everyone knows how to love, but few people know how to love forever.” 26. “From the moment I saw you, I couldn’t keep my eyes off of you. Years have passed and I am still in a trance when you come around.” 27. “How many times have you crossed my mind? I’m not sure you ever actually left.” 28. “Love is like an attack that is meant to hit all of your senses at one time. Your heart, head, eyes, lips, smell – everything. It just seems like the world comes to life when you’re in love.” 29. “Words will never hurt as much as losing the one person you truly love.” 30. “I fell in love because of a smile, but I stayed in love because of your heart.” 31. “Perfecting the love we can give is far more productive than trying to find the perfect person to love.” 32. “When you’re gone, I long for your embrace, your touch, that smell that makes every other scent in the world seem dull and plain.” 33. “I swear to you that this moment in time, this very second while we’re together, I will never forget it as long as I live.” 34. “I wanted to tell you I loved you the moment I met you, but that would have been too soon. Now, I want you to tell me you love me the moment we’re together.” 35. “The happiest time in my life is occurring as we speak. I have never been as happy or complete as I am with you.” 36. “Deeply loving someone can take away your heart, but it can also give you a strength and passion that you never realized was possible.” 37. “I think a soul is comprised of two people’s hearts that have melded together in love.” 38. “The beginning of all the knowledge and passion in love starts with one thing: a loving heart.” 39. “Men are already in love the moment they see a woman, but when she speaks and listens to him, that is forever.” 40. “What have I always wanted? This is a question often asked, but the answer is always the same: you.”

Whatsapp Status Love

41. “The beginning and end of anything that is worth it in life start with love.” 42. “I love life because it has brought me to you; I love you because you have shown me life.” 43. “I love you for you. This I know is true. But I love you forever, this is something I feel in my heart.” 44. “The soul is a magical thing; an unexplainable part of every person’s life. The soul only really displays itself when someone it loves dearly is not in their arms.” 45. “Maybe dreams will come true, but for once, my dream is fulfilled in you.” 46. “I need you. I want you. I love you.” 47. “I am not the person that chose to be with you. My heart chose you.” 48. “Love is just love. No matter how much you want to explain it, love will always remain a mystery until you experience it.” 49. “Experience has shown me that you can lust over many, but only truly love one person.” 50. “Why does love have to have an ending? The moment one of us lets go, we can still love the other with every last fiber of our being. I know I love you in the same way.” 51. “Love that’s new is sweet; love that is sweet is true, and the sweetest love of all is loving you.” 52. “You are the beating of my heart, the rhythm of my music, the essence of my soul.” 53. “Smiles and love will brighten up your day, but no one’s day will be as bright as mine because I am with you.” 54. “The blazing hot sun doesn’t have the same burning passion that I have for you.” 55. “The stars in the sky may twinkle at night, but your love is the light of my life.” 56. “The night may be cold, the night may be dark, but the night is my favorite time of day because I am in your arms.” 57. “Nothing in the world can brighten up my day as much as making you smile.” 58. “Thousands of smiles have crossed my face all thanks to you. It’s amazing how in one second, love can make you smile, laugh, cry and feel complete.” 59. “If loving you means that I have to spend the rest of my life afraid that you’ll let go, it is well worth it.” 60. “The scorching sun in the desert provides an everlasting thirst, but your love creates a lasting purpose.”

Lovingyou Good Morning Message

61. “The light of your love is as bright as the blazing sun, and only the stars at night can tame your brightness.” 62. “If I run away with you, does that mean that we will never be apart? If so, I will start running as long as you follow.” 63. “I died the moment you left me, I was born the moment that we kissed. My life was truly lived the second we spent time together.” 64. “Every morning provides me with the chance to live out my dream life – my life spent being with you.” 65. “Falling in love with just you, again and again, and again, seems like the best way to spend a life.” 66. “I always wanted to be your friend, until the moment that we were friends. As soon as we were friends, I wanted to forever be your lover.” 67. “Your name is etched in my heart and soul, and will never be forgotten. You are the last remaining piece to a heart that was never quite whole until you were in it.” 68. “Maybe the world is going to hell and maybe there are a lot of things I will never understand, but the one thing I know for certain is that you have made my life worth living. I love you.” 69. “The night is worthwhile because I dream of you. Opening my eyes in the morning is worthwhile because you’re by my side.” 70. “Thinking of you is almost euphoric. The moment you cross my mind, I have a tendency to smile, laugh and feel like the world is perfect.” 71. “Perfection and imperfection are one in the same. I love you perfectly in my own imperfect way.” 72. “In your eyes I see hope, I see dreams, I see that the world isn’t as simple as people make it out to be. The world is complex, and that complexity is only displayed when you love someone more than you love yourself.” 73. “Who wants to spend an eternity in heaven when spending a moment with you is possible?” 74. “I see the stars in your eyes. In your smile, I see heaven. In the clouds, I see you – my angel.” 75. “True love doesn’t need to run smooth. It just needs to run until perfection is found.” 76. “If you view love as a never-ending journey, you will see that it started the moment I met you and has ceased to end.” 77. “The best thing in the world was finding you. The second best thing in the world is loving you.” 78. “You can be a million miles away, but you will forever be close to my heart.” 79. “Kindness and love flow through your life so effortlessly that it can’t help but spread to everyone and everything you come in contact with.” 80. “The complete world has been reshaped. The trees are swaying differently, flowers smell different, and the stars seem to be brighter. All of this is a consequence of falling in love with you.”

Loved Status for Whatsapp

81. “I will hold your hand if you hold my heart.” 82. “Breathing is effortless, but it isn’t as natural or easy as loving you.” 83. “I have seen the path of love. The path is narrow and hard to traverse. The path of love requires just one person to pass through at a time, yet still be with their lover. The path can only be walked when two people become one.” 84. “Your love is like a flame that grows in intensity and power. The longer I love you, the more I realize that life wouldn’t be worth living if you weren’t around.” 85. “What do you know about love? I know that it both starts and ends with you.” 86. “You are my first thought in the morning and my last thought before I go to bed. No matter how far we are from one another, we’re never truly apart.” 87. “By night time, my heart has pounded so swiftly that the only thing that will calm it down is the touch of your sweet embrace.” 88. “I used to be afraid of the dark. The sense of being completely alone was something I couldn’t overcome. Now, our hearts are so intertwined that the dark is overcome with your love.” 89. “God asked me what the best thing that I experienced in life was. Do you know what I said? You!” 90. “There is no right or wrong place for love. It kind of just happens, and then you’re stuck with it.” 91. “Whoever said that love was worth living for wasn’t lying. There is no better reason to live than to love someone so utterly completely.” 92. “In a heartbeat, love comes crashing through the door, overthrowing our lives and making it perfect.” 93. “You may be a million miles from me, but I can still feel the warmth of your heart.” 94. “It may seem impossible to you, but no one in the world has loved you as much as I do at this very moment.” 95. “The moment that you said I love you, I knew you were the one for me.” 96. “To be loved is to be extraordinarily lovable – just like you.” 97. “You’re every reason, every hope that I’ve experienced.” 98. “There will come a day when one of us leaves this earth. That is the day that true love will die.” 99. “It all seems perfect. Your smile, your hair, the way that you love me and I love you. It is the definition of perfect.” 100. “Who the heck wants perfect when you are in the world?”

Lovable Status for Whatsapp

101. “There are no rules when it comes to love – just values.” 102. “Accidents don’t happen when we meet people. Every person that we meet in life crosses our path for a reason.” 103. “Loving someone means you’re not selfish. Love means even if a person doesn’t choose to live their life with you, you just want them to be happy.” 104. “Unfortunately, you need to care less to see if someone will actually care more.” 105. “There is no 2-second rule when it comes to love. You can’t put it down and pick it up later without fear of someone being hurt in the process.” 106. “Love is not a sprint. The strongest, most beautiful love is love that has been through a marathon and still stays together.” 107. “You can be the strongest person in the world, but love can make you feel invincible.” 108. “True love and happy endings don’t exist. True love is the one thing that has no ending at all.” 109. “I think it’s only fair if I ask you to give me your heart because you already have mine in the palm of your hands.” 110. “You must always love the person that deserves it most; not the person that requires it.” 111. “I never wanted to be infected by anything in my life, but I want to be infected with your never-ending love.” 112. “There are times when you simply don’t want to fall in love. It is something that many people don’t want, but what people don’t realize is that your heart will never truly ask you for permission.” 113. “What does being in love and being drunk have in common? You will lose all control over what you do.” 114. “You think that I will stop loving you? The sky will turn bright red and the stars will cease to shine before I stop loving you.” 115. “There has been a lot said on magic and how there is no way that it can be real. I always felt the same way, but I realized that magic is what you feel when you love someone. Magic and love are something you’ll never fully understand until you experience it like I have with you.” 116. “A quote is the only way I can try and express my feelings for you.” 117. “Love is what it feels like to be rich. You’re on top of the world, and no one can bring you down.” 118. “Love is the same for rich people and for the poor. It is the one similarity that we all can experience.” 119. “Finding the right person is only half of the way to finding love. When you’re with a person, you have to work hard to create a relationship that will stand the test of time.” 120. “You either love me or you don’t. But, no matter what you choose, I will always love you.”

Love Statuses for Whatsapp

121. “You may find someone prettier than me, someone, that is more outgoing than me, someone that looks just perfect in that dress, but you will never find a person that loves you as much as I love you.” 122. “Beauty fades. Happiness is a roller-coaster. But love – that is forever.” 123. “The bridge between happiness and our soul is forged with love.” 124. “Touching your lips. Holding your hand. Hugging you at night. That is what I picture when I say I love you.” 125. “There are millions of times I wish I told you I loved you, but they all seem to collide together the moment I see you.” 126. “The sun is blazing and the ocean waves are crashing against the rocks. Everything is perfect and I owe it all to you.” 127. “You are so very special to my heart. I hope you stay around forever so that I can remain as happy as I am with you.” 128. “The dreams and hopes that I have in life always seem to start with you.” 129. “I can’t imagine my life without you. It would be empty, dark and void of love.” 130. “This magical thing we all call “love” has come into my life like a speeding bullet and robbed me of all my senses.” 131. “It is not every day that we can look into a person’s smile and see all of the stars in the sky – it is only the days that you’re in my arms.” 132. “I believe that a person can keep falling in love. I have fallen in love with you countless times.” 133. “Nothing in this world is impossible except that idea that I could stop loving you.” 134. “I only want to be closer to you when I am with you.” 135. “If I let you into my arms, will you allow me to shield you from all of the pain in the world and love you endlessly?” 136. “You’re like a diamond: impossible not to stare at and admire, but irresistible the moment it is touched.” 137. “Love and pain are one in the same. We can love someone so much that it hurts, or we can leave all the pain behind us with just an ounce of love.” 138. “I don’t think that there is another person on the planet that is like you. You’re one of those rare, few people that are a once-in-a-lifetime creation sent down from heaven to be the envy of the world.” 139. “The world is brighter the moment we touch, filled with love the moment we kiss, and sad the moment we depart.” 140. “Breathing and loving: the two things we hope that we never have to choose between.” 141. “It’s hard to find the words to express how I feel about you. I have tried and always come back to just one word: love.” 142. “Loving you is easy because you make life worth living.” 143. “Life by yourself with no one by your side is not a life that I envy. I envy a life where someone is by your side at all times.” 144. “I live for you. I breathe for you. I love you.” 145. ““I love you forever” doesn’t seem to express the lasting love I have for you.” 146. “It may seem crazy and it may seem wild, but I have always dreamed that you would love me and only me.” 147. “There comes a time in life when you have to go into battle together to fight for love.” 148. “Love is not meant to be restricting or cruel; love is meant to fill the heart with warmth, and free the soul from misery.” 149. “Misery is what a lover feels when the person he loves is no longer in the room.” 150. “A picture is worth a thousand words, and any picture in the world cannot fully capture the meaning of a love like ours.”

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stevenvenn · 7 years

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Steven's Nifty 50 of 2017 - #10 - #1

Here are my favourite albums 10 - 1 (of 50). These are in no particular order just how I saw them relating to each other. Doing a true countdown would be too nerve-wracking. You can listen to my favourite cuts from each of the albums on Spotify and watch them on YouTube (links below). You can also read my thoughts on the albums below the links broken into 5 posts counting down by 10s. Enjoy and feel free to comment.

Spotify playlist:

https://open.spotify.com/user/stevenvenn/playlist/7qSpcgdwXuoLtIStRQeRto?si=k2-fQcaNS8-ox0abedMa6Q

YouTube playlist:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqUMf7mP_mnMOmDl94VCPIJPFliPf62a5

NOTES

1. Spoon – Hot Thoughts (Matador Records)

Britt Daniel and crew are back again in 2017 with the extremely catchy and inventive Hot Thoughts with producer extraordinaire Dave Fridmann on the board this time around. Sounding more jaunty and dark as well with the addition of more keyboards and synthesizer textures (courtesy of newer member Alex Fischel), Hot Thoughts demonstrates the progression of a band that knows it’s unique place in indie rock and does it very well, always trying new things. Daniel once again is the man of action with his energetic vocals over very sophisticated musical creations. Big drums and percussion programming from Jim Eno once again demonstrate the true backbone of any Spoon album and he’s incredibly accomplished here on this their 9th studio album! A lot more dancey and groovy than some of their earlier works, Hot Thoughts is in constant motion. Hands down one of my go-to bands of all time, I always enjoy all of their sonic explorations and this release is no exception.

2. Death Bells – Standing at the Edge of the World (Funeral Party Records)

The full length debut lp from Sydney, Australia’s Death Bells fits neatly into the category of recent indie rock bands from Interpol on down who have found inspiration in the post-punk era. You can hear the tradition of bands like Killing Joke, Chameleons, Joy Division, and early Cure informing their sound, but they are still creating something unique and genuine. Death Bells tend to lean more on the big beat/bass-heavy sounds of that time in British music. Standing at the Edge of the World doesn’t have a lot of reflective quiet moments with the band opting more for a big sound clad in a black leather jacket. “Only You” is easily the standout track that just kicks. Their live shows must be incredible based on the energy and muscle found on what they’ve committed to record.

3. The Courtneys – Courtneys II (Flying Nun Records)

The second album from this all-girl trio from Vancouver, BC have all the makings of that slacker band you were totally into in college back in the day. The band who sang about crushes, breakups, waking up at noon, going to shows, road trips and living the good life in your early 20s. The fuzzy power pop of this trio is both sweet and ferocious as well. It’s no surprise that they’ve found a home on New Zealand label Flying Nun that has a long tradition of scrappy but amazing indie rock bands that swing a little punk at times (The Bats, The Clean). They remind me of spunky Pacific Northwest bands like Bratmobile and Sleater-Kinney in their early days, with The Courtneys’ awesome rock licks and power. Also how often do you have indie rock bands with a singing drummer like Jen Twynne Payne? Levon Helm eat your heart out.

4. Cherry Glazerr – Apocalipstick (Secretly Canadian)

Speaking of scrappy, L.A.’s Cherry Glazerr kick a lot of ass in a furious and groovy way. There’s so much raw power buoying up their sexual politics and social commentary. Clementine Creevy can sound at times like a sweet 90s ethereal shoegazey singer in the mold of Lush’s Miki Berenyi. But like Berenyi there is also a certain amount of sass with a bit of a wink and nod to rock chix that were badass and uncompromising. Cherry Glazerr’s dancey moments are often offset with aggressive rock jags that would make Joan Jett jealous. Beauty and the beast.

5. Diet Cig – Swear I’m Good at This (Frenchkiss Records)

If you are a member of a drums and guitar duo you have to really make things count because there’s nowhere to hide. No layered guitars and synths, multiple singers, just the electric guitar, your vocals, and tight drumming. Diet Cig manage to kick out the garage pop jams in an incredible way with so little at their disposal. There’s an emotional reactivity and rawness to Alex Luciano’s singing that gives her tales of awkwardness, broken hearts, anxiety, and frustration an incredible power and immediacy. There’s a new confidence in the millennial generation to take on the world on its own terms without any compromises.

6. Alex Lahey – Love You Like a Brother (Dead Oceans)

Ever met a girl in a bar or at a party that just owns the room with her personality and ferocity? That girl is Melbourne, Australia’s Alex Lahey to me when her debut full length kicks off. This power pop lady is one firecracker. She doesn��t care about prissy drinks and quaint tunes. She’s got stuff to say! You feel like she’d chug a Fosters with the dudes, then jump on stage and take the mic away from the singer and steal their guitar. This is a true RAWK affair with touching songs of awkward relationships, dead-beat dudes, and overindulgence. There’s also a ragged surf touch to the title track that just makes your head bob uncontrollably. I think that there are big things ahead for Alex Lahey. One of the most underrated talents to debut in 2017.

7. Lorde – Melodrama (Universal Records)

Pure Heroine was a pretty and intimate debut from New Zealand’s Ella Yelich-O'Connor who goes by the name Lorde. But since that minor masterpiece she has grown older and more confident both in her ideas and in her singing voice which now has a power that puts her into the league of an artist of like Lady Gaga. Where Pure Heroine had minimal hits like Royals, under the hand of Bleachers’ Jack Antonoff Melodrama is a multi-coloured, cathartic, epic of a sophomore album. It also has an almost light concept album feel of one’s identity emerging from the life of the “party”. There’s a confidence and power that promises that Lorde will continue to be one of the most important pop artists of her generation.

8. Jay Som - Everybody Works (Polyvinyl Records)

San Francisco’s Melina Duterte’s sophomore release Everybody Works combines a lot of interesting multi-instrumental styles but it all works. There’s jazzy grooves like “One More Time Please” and the slick soul pop of “Baybee” matched with raveups that J. Mascis of Dino Jr. would have loved in “1 Billion Dogs” that cranks along. Like her touring contemporaries Mitski and Japanese Breakfast, there’s a lot of intimate experimentation with different styles and arrangements that serve each song’s character. When we get to songs like “Bedhead” and “For Light” there’s a middle of the night confusion when one is between nightmare and wakefulness in the dark wondering “where the hell things are going” with a touch of the existential and melancholic. Everybody Works is a unique and diverse collection of instruments and textures that coheres into one interesting and surprising work.

9. Future Islands – The Far Field (4AD Records)

The groovy mix of synthpop, slinky bass, and heartbeat rhythms would seem to paint Future Islands as all sweetness and light at first glance. Pop that seems to float along without too much concern for being too precious or pretty. But the secret of Future Islands success is the contrast that comes from Sam Herring’s vocal style and intense lyrics of love and loss. This combination of the two ensure that Future Islands are in a unique position to both entertain and engage the listener on many levels. We’re watching the world fall apart but we gotta dance to the melodic groove.

10. Fazerdaze – Morningside (Flying Nun)

Auckland, New Zealand’s Amelia Murray has crafted a beautiful debut that delivers on the promise of her early self-titled dreampop ep. This is pretty much a solo bedroom pop affair for Murray that’s sunkissed on songs like “Lucky Girl” and infectiously fuzzy on songs “Misread” and “Little Uneasy.” There’s a breeziness and seeming effortlessness on Morningside that just charms my ear. There’s also a nod at times to the 90s sound of Pixies and feminist rockers like Liz Phair and Veruca Salt at the same time. There’s a definite intimacy to Murray’s dreaminess that really shows the musical talent of a young artist who already seems pretty wise beyond her years.

#nifty50of2017 #bestof2017 #stevenvenn #music

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jamiekturner · 7 years

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Health & Fitness Apps for iPhone and iPad

Trying to find the best health and fitness apps for iPhone and iPad? They’re surely in this article. Unless there’s a new one that came out last week and we didn’t update the article yet.

In case that you are trying to work on your diet, lose weight and eat better, your iPhone can be really very helpful device, yet only in case that you own the right app.

We have researched online and created a list of the the best health and fitness apps for iPhone to help you to live a long and healthy live.

Without further ado, here are the fitness iPhone apps you’ve needed this whole time.

Check out these health and fitness apps for iPhone and iPad

Apple Health

The Health app makes it easy to learn about your health and start reaching your goals.

It consolidates health data from iPhone, Apple Watch, and third-party apps you already use, so you can view all your progress in one convenient place. And it recommends other helpful apps to round out your collection — making it simpler than ever to move your health forward.

MyFitnessPal

This one of the most popular fitness apps for iPhone in the world, and it’s easy to see why. Its strength is in its database of millions of branded and non-branded foods and drinks, meaning you can manually log what you’ve consumed with the minimum of frustration – it knows specific foods’ health information.

You can sync the app with a few specific fitness trackers too, but if you don’t have one it syncs just as well with MapMyRun, a companion app, to auto-update all your runs and workouts. If you carry your phone all day (who doesn’t?) then it will record, pretty accurately, your exact calorie-count for the day. It’s great!

7 Minute Workout

Another of the most popular apps for fitness is the 7 Minute Workout Training Challenge, offers workouts that take up very little time and require no workout equipment. It’s nicely designed, offers plenty of workouts and also has a good tracking system with fun badges and awards when you meet your goal.

It’s a free app, but watch out for the in-app purchases for additional workouts and routines.

Fitbit

Live a healthier, more active life with Fitbit, the world’s leading app for tracking all-day activity, workouts, sleep and more.

Use this fitness app for iPhone on its own to track basic activity and runs on your phone, or connect with one of Fitbit’s many activity trackers and the Aria Wi-Fi Smart Scale to get a complete picture of your health—including steps, distance, calories burned, sleep, weight, and more.

Couch to 5K

This low-cost app is part of a larger Couch to 5K campaign that aims to help people ease into the routine of regular running. It promises to train you up over nine weeks to be ready for a 5-kilometre race.

It has a clever coaching feature that talks to you during your workouts to help you train. The app is able to record your runs using iPhone’s on-board GPS capabilities, plus pipe in your chosen music while you’re out. It also is compatible with Apple Watch for the ultimate running companion info.

Activity Tracker

This is an app for those who don’t want to use Apple’s built-in health options while also wanting to save some battery life. Utilising the updated processors in the iPhone 5s and later, ActivityTracker tracks your steps, distance, calorie burn, active time spent and even stairs climbed all on the app on your iPhone.

It doesn’t require GPS to track all these things, thereby saving battery life. It has the handy option to import all your current Apple Health data should you want to switch and also has Apple Watch compatibility, but you don’t need a Watch to use the app on your phone.

The interface is clean and clear and will help you set achievable goals for fitness without the need to fork out for a wearable device. Advanced features are only £2.99 as an additional in-app purchase – well worth the spend.

Nike+ Running

If you like your fitness apps branded by multinational corporations, look no further. Nike was actually very early to the connected running scene, selling its famous Fuel bands with little devices one strapped to one’s shoes.

No more – it’s all about the app now. It’s not unique to the market, but it has excellent app integration with Spotify and social media channels. It also links up to your Apple Watch. So strap on those Nikes and get outside.

Yoga Studio

If you like your exercise a little slower paced (but no less taxing!) you can save an awful lot of money on yoga classes by getting this app. It is excellent, and will take you through 65 video-led classes at a range of difficulties to get you flexing in no time.

It’s a cheap and easy way to get started – you could always get up to an above average shape at home on your own before signing up to a class if you’re nervous of taking the plunge.

Carrot Fit

Carrot is an AI construct that threatens, inspires, ridicules, and bribes you — whatever it takes — to get you moving. It’s a wonderful motivator that features a “7 minutes in hell” workout that will require you to do 30 seconds of 12 punishing exercises, and will berate you if you don’t.

Argus

Argus is a neat all-in-one activity tracker that monitors your sleep, heart rate, calories, and more. The app offers challenges to overcome, as well as the option to build your own workout plan. You can even add food you eat by scanning the barcode on the label to track your calories.

Lose it!

Lose it tracks food intake and fitness activities. Plug in your height, weight, age, and how much weight you are trying to lose (if any at all), and the app constructs a recommended net calorie intake based on how many calories you consume and how many you burn.

Lifesum

Lifesum is a weight loss app that works with apps from Withings and RunKeeper to give you an accurate assessment of your daily calorie intake. It even features a built-in barcode scanner that can pull up nutritional data on millions of items.

Fitocracy

Fitocracy is for the competitive. The personal trainer lets you track workouts and encourages you to work toward real-life goals through a leveling system and in-game achievements you can share among your friends and the Fitocracy community.

V-Traning

If you’re looking for a personal trainer, this app will automatically show you all nearby trainers on a map. You can find out about their experience, training style, certifications, going rates, and more. There are user ratings for some trainers, too, and photos of past clients.

You can request and book times through the app and have one-on-one interactions. If you’re a trainer, you can also create six-day training and nutrition plans for your clients, and send them from directly within the app. You also have access to a calendar with appointments and reminders for training sessions.

Fitstar Personal Trainer

This app creates a custom workout based on your fitness level. It learns from you as you use it. You choose workouts, and then you tell the app whether the exercises were too easy or too tough for you.

The information is used to create a workout routine that fits your level. It will also track your overall fitness, as it’s compatible with the Health app, Fitbit, MyFitnessPal, and Strava. The freemium app is also compatible with Apple Watch, though some features require a subscription to use. Sadly, the latter will run you anywhere between $8 and $40 annually.

Weight Watchers

Weight Watchers has an official app that promises to help you in your journey to a healthier lifestyle, and helps you track and share your weight loss progress with your friends. Since the Weight Watchers program is about tracking points, this app also makes it easy to keep track of your food intake, since everything you eat has a point value.

The free app is compatible with the Apple Watch, too, but you’ll need to subscribe to Weight Watchers Online if you want to make the most of it.

Spring Running Music

Music is a powerful workout companion. Spring detects your steps-per-minute and sets a musical beat to it. All you have to do is start moving, and the app will match the music to your rhythm via its 50+ playlists and stations. The app tracks your runs and supports the Apple Watch.

Strava Running and Cycling

Strava is an excellent tracking app that monitors your runs or cycling route via GPS. It also gamifies your cardio workout and pairs with leaderboards, achievements, and challenges, bringing a competitive spirit to your routine.

Zombies, Run!

In this story-based workout app, you’re Runner 5. Your mission? To help rebuild civilization by retrieving critical supplies outside of your virtual base. The app keeps track of your distance, as the story and instructions play out, but fear not, you can still listen to your music as you run.

Runkeeper

Runkeeper uses GPS to map your runs, while logging the speed and distance run. Users set goals, then get audio distance and time updates during the run. There’s great music integration — you can listen to your favorite playlist and switch tracks within the app. It shows a variety of real-time information and is compatible with the Apple Watch.

Charity Miles

Run for charity with this app. Running this app before beginning your exercise routine will earn 25 cents per mile for your selected charity (bikers earn 10 cents per mile). You will, however, have to share your activity on Facebook for the charities to receive the donations.

Map My Run

The app accurately tracks distance, pace, and gives a robust workout summary that you can save and share. The app also counts calories burned and charts your elevation profile. The best part: You can control music and incoming calls while in the app.

Runtastic

Doctors recommend at least 30 minutes of exercise every day. This makes Runtastic the perfect app for those who like listening to audio books or podcasts while exercising. “Story Running” allows you to download stories for $1, and each track is about 40 minutes in length, making it perfectly suited for your running needs.

The app is also optimized for both Android Wear and the Apple Watch.

Daily Yoga

Geared toward beginners, the app offers short classes with accompanying music, along with a library of different poses and exercise routines. More advanced features and courses require a $13 3/mo. subscription.

Airplane Yoga

Not afraid of being that weirdo in the airport? Airplane Yoga will guide you through meditation techniques or simple exercises to lessen tension on your back and neck while flying. The app includes videos that demonstrate poses.

Pocket Yoga

With more than 200 illustrated poses and detailed voice instructions, Pocket Yoga is a guide that’ll run down poses and exercises. Additionally, you can preview various practices and play your own music. The app will log progress every step of the way.

5 Minute Yoga

Not enough time in the day for a short yoga session? This app wants to help by offering yoga activities for five minutes. The barebones app is good for beginners, as it offers simple poses with a timer to make sure you’re doing them for 5 minutes.

Salute the Desk

You don’t always have the space to practice yoga, but with Salute the Desk, you can partake in yoga sessions anywhere.

This app has four main screens — the Sit Tall screen to improve your posture, the Salute the Desk screen which guides you through various stretches, the Zone In screen where you can choose stretches to target a specific body area, and a Guided Relaxation screen that’s intended relieve stress. It’s great for people who are on the go, or at home.

GymBook

GymBook is a visually attractive app that tracks your strength workouts. You can make your own routines, but the app displays neat GIFs of 50 preset exercises and how they affect the different muscle groups.

Pumping Weight

Lifting can be intimidating. Pumping Weight has a well-designed interface and clear instructions for targeting specific muscle groups using a melange of everyday exercises. The app will ensure you vary your exercise routine and even tracks your weight, body fat, and BMI.

Fitness Builder

The simple app records the number of reps you do and how much weight you’re using. It also has a diverse catalog of workouts. The fitness builder app even lets you keep track of your workouts and allows you see the progress you’ve made.

Strong Lifts 5X5

Strong Lifts 5X5 is one of the best ways to gain muscle and lose fat, but is probably too intense for inexperienced lifters. The app coaches you through three 45 minute workouts a week, focusing on the largest muscles in your body for optimal effect.

PumpNLog

PumpNLog is easy to use. The app is a simple log for detailing your progress in the gym. You can create custom workouts and exercises, log photos, and enable notifications of your achievements and record-setting days.

Strong

Here’s another aesthetically-pleasing workout tracking app that lets you easily enter information about your workout session. Hitting certain milestones unlocks achievements, and the app lets you add your own routines to your workouts. It also has a range of cardio exercises, but the app’s primary focus is on progressive barbell routines, such as Starting Strength or Stronglifts 5X5.

Jefit Workout

Designed for bodybuilders, Jefit keeps track of all your reps, sets, and the weight you’re lifting, Jefit provides a number of different workout routines designed to target specific muscle groups, and allows you to design custom workouts.

Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock

Set your phone on your mattress, and it goes to work while you’re sleeping. It provides metrics that give you a snapshot of your sleep quality and has a fantastic alarm function, the app will wake you when you are at your lightest sleep

Sleep Bug

For some, background noise is essential for a night’s sleep. The app offers a wide variety of ambient noises, ranging from busy city streets and babbling brooks, to campfires and torrential downpours, along with a pretty slick interface.

Pzizz

Pzizz creates a different soundtrack every time you use it. In theory, this helps keep the app from becoming familiar. It uses a randomization algorithm that gives it over 100 billion different sounds. Most are binaural beats and tones that help induce a state of relaxation.

Headspace

This app aims to make meditation simple, so that you can improve your focus and relieve anxiety. It starts at the foundation level, which teaches you the basics in 10 meditation exercises that are each 10-minutes long. The app tracks your progress, and there is a buddy system where you and your friends can motivate each other.

After the free Take 10 intro, there are additional packs that you can download for offline use if you subscribe, which will cost you $13 a month or $95 per year. This app is also compatible with Apple Watch.

Pacifica

This is a great app for tracking your daily moods, so you can better manage your stress and well-being. The app gives you the tools you need to break the cycle of whatever is causing you stress, and though the developers don’t promise quick results, the app is set up so that you achieve your goals one step at a time.

Here, you’ll find deep breathing exercises, positive visualizations, and meditations that are set to a slew of relaxing background sounds. A built-in health tracker also helps you make your way toward your daily health goals. The app is free to download and use, but you’ll need to pony up $5 a month, or $35 per year, for complete access.

7 Cups Anxiety, Stress & Depression Chat & Therapy

This is a great app for dealing with depression and unwanted stress. It provides 24/7 support, allowing you to chat with someone one-on-one whenever you feel like it. Therapists are available in more than 180 countries, and in one of 140 different languages.

You can choose one of these therapists, each of whom comes with their own profile, so that you know which area they specialize in. The app is free to download, but subscriptions start at $13 a month.

Relax Melodies P

If you’ve ever felt like you needed a good night’s sleep, then this app may just be the one you’ve been looking for. You can select different sounds and melodies to create your own mix, and then you can combine them with a meditation exercise to help you relax and fall asleep.

The app even gives you the ability to create alarms, so you can use it as your alarm clock. The app can even run in the background, meaning it won’t stop playing if you close it.

CycleMeter

The best bicycle-ride tracking app I’ve tested is Cyclemeter by Abvio. This iOS-only app collects a wealth of data, is very accurate, contains several well-thought-out features, and appeals to fitness enthusiasts who participate in more than one sport.

Despite the name, you can use Cyclemeter to track walks, runs, and other activities. It does not include a calorie-counting component, but it is packed with data about your biking outings.

Digifit iCardio

If you want real hard stats about your workouts, accelerometers and GPS aren’t enough. You need a heart rate monitor…and an app that can access the information it collects. One option is the Digifit iCardio app for iPhone and Android (it’s called simply iCardio in Google Play).

You can pair it with any supported heart rate monitor to track your runs, bicycle rides, and other workouts. Digifit iCardio records heart rate, of course, but also distance, time, and pace.

All the components needed to track heart rate can add up, so plan to spend somewhere in the $50 to $100 range to get full use of this app. If you’re in the market for a heart rate monitor, I recommend the MIO Link$78.80 at Amazon wristband.

Endomondo

Endomondo tracks your runs, bike rides, and other outdoor activities with good accuracy and a simple interface. Its training plans and coaching features, which are limited to Premium subscribers, definitely improve the Endomondo experience.

FIT Radio

FIT Radio is a music-streaming app that specializes in DJ-created mixes that maintain a consistent beat. You can browse mixes by genre, DJ, or type of workout, such as Spin, Zumba, or yoga.

If you like exploring new music and never want to think about putting together a workout mix on your own, FIT Radio is a great fitness app to try. FIT Radio is free to use, but with the free level, you get only one genre of music (the “FIT Radio Free” genre) and only a few mixes.

A premium membership gets you more than 25 genres and stations, access to more mixes, unlimited skips, track list information, the ability to save favorites, DJ profiles, and no ads. Premium membership costs $3.99 per month, $27.99 for the year, or $79.99 for a lifetime.

My Asics Run Training

The My Asics app by sneaker company Asics helps you create a training plan for running a race. Whether you’re on route to your first 3K or your fifth marathon, there’s a great deal of value in getting a race-training schedule for free. It’s usually a premium feature in other run-tracking apps.

My Asics isn’t the best at tracking runs, but it gets the job done. The reason to use it is for the training schedules, as well as the customizations that come with it. If you can use the app to track your miles and pace and do well, then it will offer to push you harder in your program. If it realizes you’re a beginner with a long way to go, your plan will adjust to stay within your reach.

Pact

Pact, formerly known as Gympact, is an app that you use to wager money on whether you’ll go to the gym or complete a workout. The app verifies if you’ve hit your goals by making sure you check in to the venues where you said you’d pump some iron.

If you reach or exceed your goals, you earn cash. If you don’t, you have to pay up. The pot is communal, and there are a lot of slackers out there pouring money into it.

Pear Personal Coach

The Pear Personal Coach app talks you through runs, at-home workouts, yoga routines, and even training programs for running races. Real human voices make the audio part of the experience excellent. The app is free, but in-app purchases can add up. The Android version is called Pear Interactive Coach.

Runtastic Six Pack Abs

The Runtastic Six Pack Abs app will leave your midsection muscles burning for days—or simply tighten that tummy, depending on the difficulty level you choose. It’s a solid coaching app that targets abs through a wide variety of exercise moves.

A human voice (available in several languages) counts through your sets and reps, while a video of an avatar shows you the correct form for each exercise. Some of the training programs are weeks long, and there’s plenty of variety along the way.

Sworkit

Sworkit coaches you through workout routines that are designed to meet your goals, whether it’s to improve your cardio health, become more flexible, increase strength, and so forth. Within sections, you can choose to work on certain parts of your body, too, such as doing a strength workout that focuses on your core.

One extra feature I like is that Sworkit’s includes music options from Spotify, so you can stream a premade workout mix. Paying for a Premium account unlocks even more workouts.

Touchfit: GSP

One of the most fun and challenging workout apps I’ve tested is Touchfit: GSP. The GSP stands for Georges St-Pierre, your workout coach and MMA World Champion. He created a number of muscle-boosting routines that he’ll coach you through while you use his app.

First you complete a test workout, in which you rate different exercises as easy, tough, impossible, or “need to learn.” Your answers from that and subsequent workouts inform the app going forward about your difficulty level.

The more you exercise, the better the customizations become. You’re always challenged without being asked to go beyond your capabilities. Touchfit is similar to FitStar, but St-Pierre’s strict style is very different from Gonzalez’s upbeat nature.

Vida Health Coach

Need a professional health coach to help you meet your fitness goals? For $15 per week, Vida Health Coach gives you in-app access to a personal coach who works with you one-on-one no matter what your health or fitness objectives are.

Once a week, you can talk to your coach by phone or video conference, too, to get real advice. The coaches have a range of certifications and specializations, so if you have, say, gestational diabetes, you’ll be able to work with someone who understands your special needs.

Blogilates

We first fell in love with Cassey Ho while watching her Blogilates videos on YouTube. This app takes things to the next level—you get access to all of her videos, plus an online forum and monthly workout calendar.

Motion Traxx

Listening to music can be the perfect way to add extra oomph to your workout, but crafting the perfect playlist is tricky. That’s where Motion Traxx comes in. The app combines coaching from world-class trainers with music designed to set the perfect intensity for every phase of your workout.

Yonder

Think of this like Yelp for the outdoor enthusiast. Enter your location and find dozens of suggestions for hiking, biking, kayaking, and skiing with reviews and tips from fellow outdoorsmen and women.

Yoga Wake Up

What better way to ease into the day than with a quick morning yoga flow? This app delivers a 10-minute sequence at your designated wake-up time. Each sequence is a little different. Some focus more on meditation, while others hone in on holding poses and setting intentions. Yoga every damn day just got a whole lot easier.

Freeletics

Looking for bodyweight workouts? Freeletics has more than 900 that last anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes. Whether you choose to work out in the kitchen, on the subway, or in your office, you can rely on Freeletics to deliver a great workout for your fitness level.

Fooducate

Foodcuate makes grocery shopping surprisingly fun. Open the app, scan barcodes, and get a quick read on how healthy each item is. It also tracks sleep, mood, and hunger levels. Then Fooducate analyzes all of the information and provides feedback to help you meet your health and fitness goals.

ShopWell

The field of calorie-counting apps is heavily saturated, but ShopWell still manages to stand out. The app is all about personalization.

Enter in your height, weight, age, and allergies, and then it scores every food you can think of on how healthy it is for you—the closer to 100, the better. And it even makes individual recommendations for similar, healthier products to eat instead.

SideChef

So you’re totally game to try out new recipes, but fiddling with your phone to follow the directions while your hands are sticky is a huge pain. That’s where SideChef comes in. The app provides step-by-step voice command instructions. If it’s going too fast, you can ask SideChef to repeat directions without ever having to get your phone dirty—or worse, waterlogged.

mySugr

Most of us can’t remember what we had for lunch yesterday, but diabetics don’t have the luxury of not paying attention to their food and how it affects their blood glucose levels.

It’s very tricky to keep mental notes, and a pen and paper just doesn’t measure up to the tracking capabilities of this app. Wonder why certain days you feel crummier than others? mySugr can be your diabetes detective to determine the foods you need to cut back on

Thrive Market

Buying healthy food has never been easier and cheaper. Thrive Market is basically the Costco for natural and organic products. Pay a yearly fee ($59.95) and have access to insane deals on everything from coconut oil to kale chips. The app makes it easy to shop for groceries whenever you’ve got the time, and then Thrive sends your order right to your door.

Rise

We have the best of intentions when it comes to eating healthy, but Rise is the app that really keeps you honest. It pairs you up with a nutritionist, and every day you send them photos of the food you’ve eaten.

Based on your specific goal (losing weight, gaining strength, feeling more energized), your nutritionist will help you tweak your diet. At $14.99 per week, it’s cheaper than IRL appointments with an R.D.

Dietbet

Just like its name implies, this iPhone fitness app forces you to put your money where your mouth is and show you’re not full of hot air when it comes to your weight-loss goals.

Users enter into a challenge where they can bet they’ll lose either 4 percent of their weight in four weeks or 10 percent of their weight in six months. Progress is monitored by DietBet’s referees, and the pot is then split between everyone in your group who makes their goal weight.

Noom Coach

Dieting can be so complex. Don’t have time to check your macros (or don’t know what those are)? Time to download Noom Coach.

Unlike other calorie-counting apps, Noom uses the stoplight approach (green is good, red is not so great) to label healthy food. And you can join in on challenges with other Noomers to get even more motivated to meet your health goals.

Zova

Zova is a personal training and fitness app that houses Zara, your smart trainer that tracks and evaluates your workouts. Taking your activity into account, Zara then coaches you through walks, runs, and other workouts, pushing you to get fitter, without pushing you so hard that you die (that’s bad, mmkay?).

Zova will even kick things off by asking your your Apple Health data, which will end up helping it paint a better picture of your overall fitness, helping to better tailor workouts to your specific needs.

You can enable Siri to start workouts with Zova, and Zova will send you notifications to get moving and stop being a lazy bugger.

Fitness Buddy

If you’re new to weight-lifting or any type of strength training, Fitness Buddy is gonna be your… buddy. Recommended by Heathline features over 2,400 exercises and shows you detailed diagrams, videos, and animations to help you nail your form and perform every exercise safely and effectively.

There are over 1,000 videos to show you what to do, using all manner of equipment, like dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells, Bosu balls, and more.

You can track your workouts using the simple interface and search to find your favorite exercises or exercises for your favorite muscle group. You can also track your body weight and other metrics, like arm and thigh size.

Full Fitness

If you want to just pay for a damn app and not have to subscribe to anything, getting the full experience from day one, then go with Full Fitness.

You get it all, right off the hop: hundreds of exercises and how to do them, images and diagrams, video instructions, a calorie tracker featuring 90,000 food items, progress tracking, and much, much more. You’ll get a complete picture of your overall fitness level for $2.99.

You get iCloud support with Full Fitness, so you can save your progress and take it with you, no matter the device. The app can even track multiple users, so if you share a phone or are getting into fitness with your young kids, it’s perfect.

GoodFoodNearYou

Perfect for frequent travelers, this app recommends healthy food options based on your location, which is tracked by GPS. It targets popular casual dining restaurants, fast-food restaurants, grocery stores and convenience stores nearby.

Tap one of the suggestions and a lengthy list of healthy menu items appears, complete with calorie, fat and carb totals. Once you decide on a place, simply let the built-in map guide you to gastro-satisfaction.

Nutrition Tips

Did you know that cut melon must be thrown out after two hours? Or that the leanest beef cuts include round steaks and roasts? Or that oysters contain protein, calcium, phosphorus and iron?

This colorful app has fun factoids like these and more than 500 others to help you have a safe and healthy diet. Each tip is written on a sleek Post-it look-alike. Swipe the page or shake your device for a new tidbit.

iTreadmill

Too busy to hit the gym? Turn on this fitness app for iPhone, put it in your pocket and go about your day as it accurately tracks your steps, distance and average speed.

While most pedometers aren’t equipped to work in pockets and purses—you normally have to carry them or holster them in nerdy belt straps—this one is. You can even set the Pacer Dial, which ticks off beats to keep you marching up to speed. The counter automatically pauses when you stop and restarts when you move again.

GymGoal ABC

Learn the ABCs of weight lifting with your new gym buddy. Like its for-cost brother ($4.99), this app has 280 exercises with animations and written instructions, 52 workout routines (adjustable for four levels of expertise) and the ability for you to add your own images.

While you can’t log your daily workout routine, there are calculators for computing target heart rate, BMI, BMR and body fat percentage. Got flabby arms? Choose the body map menu, select the biceps option and you’ll be presented with more than 50 arm-toning moves.

WaterMinder

WaterMinder is sort of like MyFitnessPal in that it helps you track what you’re putting into your body. But unlike the comprehensive MyFitnessPal, WaterMinder is laser-focused on one task alone: tracking water intake. And before you squawk too loudly that MyFitnessPal can track water too, I know, but…

WaterMinder is the last of these fitness apps for iPhone and it has an awesome interface. It’s simple and fun: there’s a body that fills up with water as you add it. When you move your phone the water sloshes around. It’s a good visual indication of how close you are to your water goal.

Lark

Lark is like a little health and fitness assistant (not quite a personal trainer, but more of a coach) that helps you get a handle on your health.

Lark’s main feature is feedback: you enter in things like what you ate for the last meal and Lark tells you what’s up. Maybe it’s just me, but Lark is super positive too. It could find negative things to tell you (like you ate too much sugar today), but instead it seems to focus on positive reinforcement which is nice. It’s almost like talking to a friend.

If you liked this article with the health and fitness apps for iPhone, you should check out these as well:

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Best News Apps for iPhone and iPad

Best iPhone apps of the year

Apple Watch Design Guidelines – What You Should Have Known Already

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from Web Development & Designing http://www.designyourway.net/blog/tech/health-fitness-apps-for-iphone-and-ipad/

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