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beardedmrbean · 2 months

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TikTok influencer and model Sara Beth Clark spent tens of thousands of dollars on tattoos in her twenties, despite being told that she would "regret them later."

Now in her mid-thirties, she’s in the process of getting a large, full-color tattoo removed from her upper arm. She has another tattoo on her chest that’s been the “most limiting” in her modeling career, but the removal process on that part of her body would be “incredibly painful and time-consuming,” she says.

After sharing her experience on TikTok in 2023, she received backlash from tattoo fanatics. “There's definitely a stigma around being like, ‘You were right, the older people were right,’” she says.

But she's also received hundreds of direct messages from people sharing her sentiments and seeking support for their “tattoo regret.”

While it once haunted the Harry Potter, Disney and infinity sign tattoos of the Millennial generation and the cheeky tramp stamps of the early 2000s, tattoo regret has come for most generations, with Gen Z poised to be its next victim.

What is ‘tattoo regret’?

Brooklyn-based tattoo artist Gabs Miceli would categorize tattoo regret into “immediate regret” and regret that comes later on, like “when you start to hit certain milestones in your life.”

“I've seen some people who have loved their tattoos consistently the whole time they've had them,” she says. “And then I've seen other people falter in their attraction to them soon after getting them.”

This summer, tattoo regret reentered popular conversation on TikTok after young women expressed concern over how their tattoos would look in their wedding gowns. These videos often spotlight patchwork tattoos, a style that’s become increasingly trendy in the past five years and consists of clusters of uncoordinated flash tattoos rather than a cohesive sleeve.

Miceli says tattoo regret has always been around, but the ability to share and document these experiences on TikTok makes it seem more prevalent.

“(We’re) able to hear people’s experiences and opinions now more than ever,” says Brooklyn-based tattoo artist Phia Walla.

Shifting trends may be increasing tattoo regret

Miceli says people may be acting “more on impulse” and basing their tattoos on “what people think is attractive at the time.”

For example, patchwork tattoos can rush the tattoo process, as some clients will get multiple tattoos in one session to fill a section of the body.

“I think a lot of people don’t necessarily regret getting tattoos altogether, but regret the decision to stick to one similar style in such a high volume in such a short amount of time,” she says.

Miceli also notices that newer clients are more likely to experience tattoo regret.

“People see influencers being tattooed and try to adhere to those (aesthetics) rather than taking their time,” she says.

She has intervened by suggesting design changes or offering to reschedule an appointment when clients seem unsure about their future tattoo. She hopes that influencers speaking up about their tattoo regret will encourage people to put more thought into the “implications of (getting) a permanent body modification.”

Clark also adds that your tattoos’ style are indicative of the time in which you got them, and can seem dated later on.

“It’s a funny thing to have so much of your body covered with something that is not the trend anymore," she says.

For young people, she warns that trend cycles are moving even more rapidly: “Certainly this patchwork style isn't going to be the cool thing forever and people are gonna be like, ‘Oh, you got that in 2022.’”

"You’re not just getting an image marked in your skin," says Walla. "But a moment in time."

Perceived stigma can shape tattoo regret

For Clark, her regret doesn’t stem from the design or appearance of her tattoos, but how she feels she is perceived because of them.

While working in nightlife, she “never thought about a future” where her tattoos would matter in a work setting. But once she changed careers, she realized that her tattoos make it so she “can’t blend in places.”

“There’s rooms that if I walk into them, it becomes very obvious that I stand out in a way that I would prefer that I didn't,” she says, adding that none of her friends are as tattooed as she is.

Clark was later diagnosed with autism and partially attributes drastically altering her appearance to her desire to fit in.

“Once I had my diagnosis, I did a lot of therapy around that,” she says. “It would be nice to be able to look in the mirror and see the person that I feel like I am now, which wouldn't be someone with tattoos, because I don't need that armor (anymore).”

How to cope with tattoo regret

Miceli says it is most important to “be gentle with yourself,” because tattoo regret is more common than you think.

“As humans, we are constantly changing and what we like is constantly changing,” she says. “That’s who you were at the time and you should honor that person.”

She tells her clients to get a tattoo “when you feel like you want it” because it reflects who you are in the present moment. However, she offers the reassurance that there are “avenues to help you feel comfortable in your skin again,” such as laser removal and cover-ups.

Walla says that going to the right artist and being in a “clear headspace (during) the decision-making process” can help prevent future regret.

And for Clark, practicing acceptance is crucial.

“For me, regret isn’t like an ever-present or overbearing feeling. I barely register my tattoos on a daily basis because they’ve been a part of me for so long,” Clark says. “It only hits me occasionally, if I’m going to a certain event or wearing a certain outfit.”

“I let the regret feeling guide my future decisions, but it does not overwhelm me,” she adds. “I accept that my tattoos are a part of me.”

#nunyas news #some are more sure than others

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mikazuki1709 · 10 months

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Portfolio: Kaeluc Fics

I am currently trying to organize my stuff here on tumblr a little bit. This is a list of all the fics I wrote about Kaeluc. It's a lot because I have been obsessed with this ship for years now. 😂

To this point I have written 171.436 words about them. I guess you could say I love them a totally normal amount. 😝

🦚 🦉

*~♥~*

2023:

A warm place to call home - One stormy night, Kaeya knocks on the door of his former home with a fluffy bundle in his hand. What starts as a simple incident soon and unexpectedly turns into an opportunity for the relationship between two estranged young men (G-Rating, 4.611 words)

For better, for worse, forever - Almost ten years have passed since Kaeya and Diluc got married, and together they have seen good times and bad. As they reminisce, they decide that after some really tough years, it is high time to make some beautiful new memories (G-Rating, 2.168 words)

He loves me, he loves me not - Young Master Kaeya is a man with many admirers. When he one day receives an anonymous love letter, hope awakens in him that it could be from his Diluc, who he is secretly in love with. His attempts to find out who is behind the letter cause his sworn brother a great deal of awkwardness (G-Rating, 4.901 words)

Husbands - The day of the wedding is finally there and many things go through Kaeya's mind while he waits for his future husband to arrive (G-Rating, 1.212 words)

Letters of love and affection - While Kaeya knows many ways to show affection, sometimes an old-fashioned handwritten letter still remains the best way to express his feelings (G-Rating, 1.013 words)

Make your move - When Kaeya comes to the Angel's Share to relax after a long week at work, he finds Diluc teaching chess to the traveler. The sight stirs up complicated feelings in him, but Diluc shows him that the game they used to play so much when they were younger and happier can still teach him a lesson or two about life, love and everything in between (G-Rating, 2.277 words)

Moonlight dancing - After the wedding, Kaeya and Diluc welcome their guests to the winery to celebrate with them. There is music and there is dance, and Diluc cannot help but reminisce about some fond memories from the past (G-Rating, 1.583 words)

More than mere child's play - Diluc overhears Kaeya playing a game of Truth or Dare, and perhaps he is a little too interested in the truth his former sworn brother has to tell (G-Rating, 1.575 words)

Sharing a blanket, sharing warmth - At several points in his life, Diluc finds himself forced to share a bed with Kaeya. In retrospect, it is always these nights that become important for the two of them (G-Rating, 2.930 words)

The joys of summer - Newly married, Kaeya and Diluc set off on a journey to Inazuma, where they discover the beauties of a foreign culture together (G-Rating, 2.843 words)

The language of the heart - The guestlist, the decoration, the flowers - Diluc would never have expected the wedding preparations to be this complicated. Luckily, Adelinde is there to help (G-Rating, 1.756 words)

Two glasses - It is no secret that Diluc neither likes the taste nor the effect of alcohol. Still, in the night before Kaeya's birthday, he sits down with a bottle of wine and a lot of thoughts in his head (G-Rating, 1.041 words)

Warm - Kaeya has always loved it when Diluc has held his hand. When they get closer again years after their falling out, such touches are suddenly no longer a matter of course, and Kaeya cannot help but miss them (G-Rating, 1.388 words)

Would you still love me? - When Kaeya returns from his trip to Sumeru, Diluc immediately notices that something is wrong. It takes a lot of patience before his friend finally pours out his heart to him in a special place on a frosty spring night (G-Rating, 2.499 words)

2022:

A Cavalry Captain's struggle - As the Knights Of Favonius' Cavalry Captain, young Diluc has to present his profession to the children of Mondstadt's kindergarten. He asks Kaeya to help him with this task (G-Rating, 1.390 words)

A game of truth - Kaeya challenges Diluc to a game of chess. The loser has to drink a truth potion, the winner gets to ask three questions. However, he has not expected that Diluc, just like him, agrees with certain ulterior motives (G-Rating, 1.755 words)

A lazy lunch break - Kaeya and Diluc are enjoying their lunch break together at Windrise. When Diluc falls asleep, Kaeya uses the chance to look closely at his friend's features and discovers a detail he enjoys more than anything else (G-Rating, 844 words)

Close to you - Kaeya is worried because Diluc is clearly overworked and needs some rest, but is too stubborn to admit it to himself or anyone else. Only after he has fallen ill does he realise that Kaeya was right and accepts his request to take a short vacation together. They set off together for Liyue, where they spend a few pleasant days and grow closer again, both emotionally and physically (E-Rating, 9.561 words)

Comfort Habits - When Diluc gets a report that Kaeya was seen at the Statue Of The Seven, catching crystalflies, he knows immediately what the other needs. But with things being so difficult between them, is he really the one to offer him comfort? (G-Rating, 2.165 words)

Everything I want to see - When they were children, Diluc made a promise to Kaeya, but was not able to keep it back then. For a long time, the promise seems forgotten and unattainable, but many years later they both find out that it just took a little bit longer than expected for the right moment to arrive (G-Rating, 2.605 words)

Fools in love - Kaeya bought a gift for Diluc but does not dare to give it to him. Rosaria is annoyed, but still decides to help to finally get her favourite drinking buddy back (G-Rating, 715 words)

I'll be here - When Kaeya borrows a shirt from Diluc, the sight of the other's body, so clearly changed over the years they have been apart, triggers an inner turmoil in the redheaded man (G-Rating, 903 words)

Lost and found - Mondstadt and the Windblume festival just belong together, but although Kaeya loves his adopted home, he does not only hold good memories of the celebrations (G-Rating, 2.829 words)

Seven Flowers - Young Jean tells Diluc and Kaeya about a flower magic that can show you who you will spend your life with later. When Diluc wants to try it out, Kaeya worries: who does his sworn brother hope to see in this prophecy? (G-Rating, 1.229 words)

Small favours - When Diluc asks Kaeya to put some sun lotion on his back, who is he to refuse the request? (G-Rating, 1.260 words)

Sunburnt - Kaeya is having a good time at the Golden Apple Archipelago. Seeing him like this brings a lot of complicated emotions back to Diluc (G-Rating, 1.332 words)

The brothers - Young Diluc and Kaeya are confused when the other Knights Of Favonius suddenly seem to look down on them and no longer even want to talk to them. Jean helps the two to clear up the underlying misunderstanding (G-Rating, 1.105 words)

The empty room - Little Kaeya is feeling very lost and lonely after his arrival at the Ragnvindr estate. When Diluc finds out, he does his best to console his new friend (G-Rating, 889 words)

The fever - Kaeya falls asleep at the Angel's Share because he has caught a fever. Diluc wants to take care of him, but struggles with his own contradictory feelings (G-Rating, 1.448 words)

The picture - While looking through the drawers of his desk in search of a quill, Diluc discovers an old picture of him, his father and Kaeya. It brings back a lot of memories and he can't help but wonder what his former sworn brother did with his copy of the photograph. When he coincidentally finds out the answer a little later, it unsettles him a lot (T-Rating, 6.137 words)

The promise - Even in the city of freedom, not everybody agrees with young Kaeya and Diluc having a relationship. Master Crepus has his own thoughts on the matter, but his life ends before he can share them with the two young men. Many years later, be it by chance or by fate, his message reaches them after all (G-Rating, 6.151 words)

The question - There are times when Kaeya just feels insecure and alienated from himself. One night he finds a little comfort in a place where he had not expected to experience something like this ever again (G-Rating, 1.591 words)

The secret plan - It is not a secret in Mondstadt that Kaeya Alberich does not like to celebrate his birthday. Diluc thinks that this is not okay, and he is not alone in his opinion. With determination and dedication he sets about preparing an unforgettable birthday for his beloved (M-Rating, 11.760 words)

The tattoo - Kaeya tells Diluc that he wants to get a tattoo. Diluc soon regrets not telling his friend that he does not like that idea at all… (G-Rating, 774 words)

The War In Your Eyes - Kaeya wakes up in his appartment after a night of drinking. Next to him lies the corpse of another knight, pierced by his sword. He has no memory of what happened and no idea what to do now. Diluc learns of the suspicions against his former sworn brother and can no longer pretend to be indifferent. Both have to work together to clarify what really happened and are forced to face their greatest fears and doubts in the process. (T-Rating, 39.624 words)

The winter storm - Nobody wants to be alone during the darkest days of the year around midwinter. When a snowstorm sweeps over Mondstadt, Kaeya and Diluc suddenly find themselves separated from each other, but at the same time in unexpected company. They find out that even spontaneous changes of plans can have their very own charm (G-Rating, 5.064 words)

Things left unsaid - It was a rainy day when both Diluc and Kaeya lost everything that was important to them. Estranged from each other, they parted ways. But does it really have to end like this or can their relationship be mended? (E-Rating, 18.557 words)

Today, here and now - Diluc's birthday is approaching and Kaeya is unsure what to do: He wants to be there for him because he knows very well that it is a tough day for his friend, but does Diluc want him around at all? And is there anything he can do to help and make this day the happy occasion Diluc deserves in honour of his birthday? (G-Rating, 3.311 words)

Trapped - The Acting Grand Master informs Diluc that Kaeya did not return from one of his missions. Diluc does not hesitate and sets out to find him, but things don't work out the way he had planned it (G-Rating, 2.562 words)

Under The Summer Moon - Kaeya was hoping for some quality time with Diluc at the Golden Apple Archipelago, but their travel group grew a little bit bigger than expected. When he wakes up in the middle of the night to the bright light of a huge moon, he knows their chance has come (G-Rating, 2.704 words)

2021:

A suspicious gift - Diluc receives a mysterious present that sends him down memory lane (G-Rating, 433 words)

A very peculiar feeling - Young Kaeya wonders: Why is it that he can't hold his sworn brother's hand anymore without getting nervous? (G-Rating, 643 words)

For better or for worse - Once upon a time, two boys swore an oath to each other. Many years later, one of them is no longer sure if the other even remembers it (G-Rating, 1.646 words)

Leaving you breathless - Diluc can't accept losing to Kaeya. Luckily, he has a plan (G-Rating, 235 words)

The black market auction - Kaeya tries to infiltrate Liyue's underworld undercover. When Diluc also turns up on the scene, he fears for the success of his plan. What brings the other man into the city in the first place, and can Kaeya stop him from revealing his identity? (G-Rating, 2.166 words)

The dessert - It is Kaeya's birthday and Diluc invites him to the winery to have dinner together. It turns out that he has prepared a special treat for dessert (T-Rating, 1.080 words)

The last waltz - The last dance of the New Year's Ball always has a special meaning in Mondstadt, so Diluc gathers all his courage to be able to dance it with someone special to him (G-Rating, 798 words)

The secret competition - Everybody in Mondstadt is excited about a new kind of game. Kaeya and Diluc also enter the competition for the first place (G-Rating, 1.520 words)

The Windblume offering - For his achievements in the Knights Of Favonius, young Diluc is appointed as Windblume Star. But what flower will he choose as an offering to Barbatos? (G-Rating, 810 words)

Walking in your shoes - Kaeya and Diluc find out what it means to take the other's position for one day. They both handle the situation quite differently (G-Rating, 1.265 words)

Who wants to be a pirate? - Little Kaeya is not happy with always being the one who has to play the pirate (G-Rating, 778 words)

#kaeluc #ao3 fanfic #fanfic #portfolio #masterpost

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stuckybingo · 6 months

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It is time to Resurrect Stucky!

Reclists Part 1

Back in December, the call was put out for fans to create a Stucky Renaissance on Tumblr. We at Stucky Bingo are all about our two favorite centenarians and participants for this event helped to create a series of reclists for all of our fellow Stucky enthusiasts to enjoy.

This reclist is dedicated to the Round Robins created during the last few rounds of Stucky Bingo!

Stucky Bingo July 2021 Round Robin by buckybarnesdeservestobehappy, Ruquas, Laevateinn, Politzania, LLightz, ralsbecket, UisceOneLove, eachpeachpearplum (Teen, 2.6k) Thor finally comes good on his promise to give Steve and Bucky a trip to space for their wedding present.

Stucky Bingo October 2021 Round Robin by PoliZ, captainfantastic, Girl_Back_There, Laevateinn, ABrighterDarkness, buckybarnesdeservestobehappy (Mature, 2k) Not even exhaustion from Bucky's job as a mechanic can stop his boyfriend Steve and him from donning a creative couples costume for Tony's Halloween party.

Stucky Bingo November 2021 Round Robin by buckybarnesdeservestobehappy, beemotionpicture, lattebiscuit, Laevateinn, PoliZ, ribbonsflying, Girl_Back_There (Teen, 2.5k) They’ve been together forever, but now that there are only a few people left in this hellscape of a planet, Bucky’s even more grateful for Steve Rogers.

Stucky Bingo December 2021 Round Robin by buckybarnesdeservestobehappy, MarvelousMoons, TrinityDay, PoliZ, ABrighterDarkness Bill Longbow (General, 2.1k) “Sorry, you guys,” Natasha apologizes. She knows Bucky can hear the whole conversation even without the speaker. “I know we aren’t supposed to call, but it’s an emergency.” “I know,” Steve says, already mentally running through everything he’d have to do before Nat picked him up. Would he have time to say goodnight to their daughter or would Bucky have to explain? “It’s Sam—” At that even Bucky started to lose the edge of his annoyance, worry creeping in instead and he leaned closer—“He just lost a really embarrassing bet.” It takes a second for Steve to process the words, but Natasha is already going on. “See, he seems to think you have enough self-preservation to put your phone on do not disturb on your anniversary weekend.”

Stucky Bingo January 2022 Round Robin by Politzania, buckybarnesdeservestobehappy, ABrighterDarkness, TrinityDay, Bill_Longbow, Girl_Back_There (Teen, 2k) Ever since the Hydra prison factory escape, Bucky had been keeping a distance between them. Sure, he’d been the first one to lead the cheer once they got back to the camp, and he’d even teased Steve a little about the uniform. But the easy give and take they’d always had between them -- the friendship that had slowly transformed itself into so much more -- it was gone.

Stucky Bingo February 2022 Round Robin by buckybarnesdeservestobehappy, Politzania, b_a_r_n_e_s, ABrighterDarkness, lattebiscuit, Girl_Back_There (Teen, 2k) “Sergeant Barnes? Can you hear me?” The woman’s voice sounds tinny, “You and the Captain are being--” the rest of her words are drowned out by a burst of static. Sergeant Barnes - the name sounds strangely familiar, but he can’t place it. It’s probably an advertisement for one of the shows he and Steve listened to one evening. He fiddles with the radio knobs, trying to tune the station back in, but all he gets is music.

Stucky Bingo March 2022 Round Robin by TrinityDay, Lattebiscuit, Hkandi, plutosrose, Laevateinn, Girl_Back_There, buckybarnesdeservestobehappy (Teen, 2.4k) When a mission goes wrong, Bucky takes Steve up on his offer to do something neither were planning.

Stucky Bingo April 2022 Round Robin by Politzania, Laevateinn, LLightz, ABrighterDarkness, TrinityDay, buckybarnesdeservestobehappy (Teen, 2k) During battle against a wizard, Steve turns a little green, and Bucky wonders what's gotten into his man.

Stucky Bingo May 2022 Round Robin by buckybarnesdeservestobehappy, Politzania, LLightz, Girl_Back_There (Teen, 1.6k) Steve has a plan to make Bucky jealous, but a red-headed hiccup he didn't see coming might end up being the help that Steve needs.

Stucky Bingo September 2022 Round Robin by Politzania, sparkagrace, Laevateinn, Dogsled, ralsbecket, TrinityDay, ABrighterDarkness, buckybarnesdeservestobehappy (Teen, 2.4k) After all these years, Steve and Bucky get the life they deserve, and Bucky gets some birthday presents. He's happy to share one with the man he loves.

Stucky Bingo October 2022 Round Robin by buckybarnesdeservestobehappy, Politzania, cable-knit-sweater, Dogsled, J_Snow_Writes, TrinityDay, Girl_Back_There (Teen, 2.4k) “Welcome, ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to Avenge Your Love, the newest and biggest show on the Marvel Network, designed to match a man of honor and bravery with the love of his life. I’m Nick Fury, your host for this adventure, and I’m here with Captain Steve Rogers of the U.S. Army. Captain, tell us a little bit about yourself.”

Stucky Bingo November 2022 Round Robin by ABrighterDarkness, Politzania, j_snow_writes, Dogsled, Sivan325, Girl_Back_There (Teen, 1.7k) “There…might’ve been a bit of a hiccup on the mission.” “A hiccup.” “Just a tiny one.” “Well, I would certainly say that’s tiny alright,” Bucky drawled, moving in closer. “Do I even want to know what sort of tiny hiccup landed you with a baby?” “Would you believe me if I told you that this is actually-ah-Natasha?” Steve grimaced with a shrug. “I think ‘magic’ about sums up the hiccup.”

Stucky Bingo December 2022 Round Robin by Buckybarnesdeservestobehappy, Politzania, writerfroggo, j_snow_writes, Sivan325, buckyismybicycle (General, 2.1k) It's December. The weather is cold. Time to reminisce with hot chocolate and dancing.

Stucky Bingo January 2023 Round Robin by Politzania, Sivan325, j_snow_writes, buckybarnesdeservestobehappy, cherriontop, TrinityDay (General, 2k) Steve still didn’t think that actually adopting a cat was a good idea. After all, with the kind of jobs they had, they could get called away at a moment’s notice and be gone for who knew how long -- and who would take care of it in the meanwhile? Steve had mentioned the problem to Sharon, who not only was less than sympathetic but made the situation worse by waiting until Bucky was in earshot to say, “Hey, I think Nick’s cat had kittens. You guys should adopt one of them!”

Stucky Bingo February 2023 Round Robin by Dogsled, Sivan325, Purpleicedteas, Girl_Back_There, buckybarnesdeservestobehappy (General, 1.7k) When Russian figure skater Bucky Barnes defects, he can only skate for the Team USA if he skates with a partner. What he and Steve Rogers find together on the ice is golden.

Stucky Bingo March 2023 Round Robin by Politzania, Dogsled, Sivan325, TrinityDay, Girl_Back_There, ralsbecket (Teen, 2k) It wasn’t that he hadn’t noticed Bucky being struck. He’d thrown out his shield to block the worst of the damage from the exploding debris, but he’d noticed Bucky clutching his side throughout the fight. Steve knew. But in the middle of it there had been no opportunity for pause, no moment where he could check that Bucky was okay. He kept moving, and that was what mattered.

Stucky Bingo April 2023 Round Robin by Dogsled, buckybarnesdeservestobehappy, Sivan325, TrinityDay, Politzania (Teen, 1.7k) Bucky loved his friends, and he didn’t really blame them for interfering. How could he? Clint was right; in the two years since they’d come here together for uni, Bucky’s ladykiller days had spontaneously ended. It was always about Steve, now. Steve this, Steve that. Nevermind that in all that time Bucky had probably said maybe 20 words to the man.

Stucky Bingo May 2023 Round Robin by buckybarnesdeservestobehappy, purpleicedteas, Sivan325, Politzania, Girl_Back_There (Teen, 1.7k) If Steve were honest with himself, he’d been at least as curious as Bucky to discover what had happened to Becca. She’d been the closest thing he’d had to a sister growing up, and he remembered how kind-hearted she was, even if she did get into nearly as much mischief as he and Bucky did along the way.

#stucky #resurrect stucky day #stucky bingo #round robin

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swissmissficrecs · 2 years

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Most kudoed Sherlock fics from 2022

The 10 most popular fics* on AO3 completed in 2022 with Sherlock (TV) as the main fandom. Kudo counts as of 1 Jan 2023.

1. 3497 kudos - Teaching Sherlock by Sherlock1110 (148K, E, Johnlock, Mystrade) Sherlock is 24, his older brother Mycroft has had enough. John Watson is known for training subs, looking after them until they're ready to leave and never getting emotionally attached. At least that was what he thought until he met Sherlock Holmes, the troublesome submissive who no one could tame.

2. 1718 kudos - Helpless Here Below by Mottlemoth (66K, E, Mystrade, Johnlock, Warstan) Mycroft Holmes and Greg Lestrade barely know each other - so John Watson has always believed. When he witnesses a surprising moment of care between them, John starts to wonder if there's more going on than meets the eye

3. 1378 kudos - Indefinite Lines by ArwaMachine (298K, E, Johnlock) Sherlock and John find themselves faced with a series of seemingly disparate cases that are growing increasingly connected, increasingly personal. They must unravel the mystery laid before them by a particularly ruthless set of criminals before the danger is upon them, or else run the risk of being cleaved apart forever, lines scattered to the wind.

4. 1237 kudos - Shift by stopthat (46K, E, Johnlock) Sherlock is tired. John senses a shift.

5. 1219 kudos - Plenipotentials by Ginevra_Benci (54K, M, Mystrade, Johnlock) The first thing your soulmate says in your presence writes itself on your skin as they say it, usually on your chest, arm, or hand, or—if you’re very unlucky—on your face. Greg was very, very unlucky.

6. 1091 kudos - The Impenetrable Mind Palace of Muggle Sherlock Holmes by suitesamba (27K, M, Johnlock) Sherlock is obsessed with the new neighbor - the one who's rented Mrs. Hudson's flat while she spends a year abroad. There's something odd about the amiable man, but Sherlock just can't put his finger on it. And when has Sherlock Holmes ever failed at deducing someone?

7. 992 kudos - Matchmaking for Solitary Animals by ArwaMachine (71K, E, Johnlock, Sherlock/OMC, John/OMC) Upon moving back to Baker Street following Sherlock’s return from the dead, John finds that Sherlock is a bit more keen on entertaining gentlemen callers than he once was, a fact that seems to make John irrationally angry. Intent on proving that he’s not a total dick, John decides to make it his mission to find Sherlock a boyfriend. This, as it turns out, is the worst idea John has ever had.

8. 812 kudos - What Have You Done? by DownpourOfFeels (62K, E, Johnlock, Warstan) John Watson’s wedding was over a year ago now and his friendship with Sherlock Holmes is deteriorating. With a new daughter in the picture, bills to pay and a job to hold down, there’s no time for solving cases - and he’s not as happy as he thought he might be. On the other side of London, Sherlock has never felt more alone. Crushed with regret and running out of distractions, he sneaks off one night to get high - but as he trips, Moriarty escapes from his mind and comes out to play. Will John and Mycroft get there in time to save him?

9. 802 kudos - When It Rains by BlueMoon0nTheRise (98K, M, Mystrade) Ever since Greg Lestrade saved Sherlock's life, Mycroft Holmes' protective streak started to extend to him, too. Whenever Greg is injured or ill, the older Holmes is always there in the background, ensuring that he recovers. And over time, Greg starts to return the favour, when he can.

10. 774 kudos - A Question of Honour by MizJoely (47K, E, Sherlolly) Revolutionary War AU. Colonial spy Molly Hooper is caught sneaking into the quarters of British Army Captain Sherlock Holmes and is saved from hanging only by his assertion that she's actually his mistress. However, once she and the handsome enemy captain are forced to spend time alone in his quarters, will the lie become the truth?

*I excluded collections of standalone ficlets posted as a single work and fics that were actually completed earlier but posted "extras” in 2022.

#best #rec list

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ozonecologne · 2 years

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Review: Keep On Ramblin’

It’s been a big year for Radio Company! They had their first live concert on December 19, 2022 where they debuted two songs from a new album to be released early the next year. That day has come, so let’s dive on in! Is it worth the listen?

This new release does not follow Radio Company precedent. Instead of being called the expected Vol. 3, the album has an actual name: Keep On Ramblin’. From what I can find, the reason for the change is that this album was planned to depart from Radio Company’s usual style of rock and jazz and instead lean more into bluegrass, folk, and especially country. Keep On Ramblin’ is being presented to us as a completely different project, but it doesn’t look that much different in terms of construction; the album still only has 10 tracks – same as Vol. 1 and one more than Vol. 2. The run-time is just slightly longer than either of its predecessors: Keep On Ramblin’ is just over 38 minutes long, more than Vol. 1’s 36 minutes and Vol. 2’s 34 minutes. Also notably, the longest song on the album is 5:39, a length that Radio Company has never attempted before. The shortest is under 3 minutes long at 2:58. The final track off of Vol. 1, Dume, is the only song in their catalogue that’s shorter. There is quite a range in the material to go along with the style shift.

For anyone that cringed when they read “country,” hang in there. I can only assure you that this isn’t Blake Shelton country, this is Emmylou Harris country. It’s not Dolly Parton, but maybe a little Loretta Lynn (if we’re being generous). I’m going to tell you now: if you don’t like country music, then you’re not going to like this album. It is going to bore you and sound a little kitsch. I also don’t think that it will convert anyone that might not have enough exposure to country music to actually like it. This album is clearly made for people that already relate to this kind of thing, and it doesn’t try to ease you in.

MUSIC

This is immediately clear from the first track, Right Kind of Trouble, which I can really only describe as hokey. This one is not like Radio Company’s usual openers, which are pretty gut-punch strong. This is a much slower take, almost bumbling, featuring Steve and Jensen in equal measure. Even though it plays to the beat of a horse rider bouncing in their saddle, it does still manage some cool electric guitar around the 1:40 mark. The tempo also starts to increase around 2:25 after a pretty nice instrumental buffet, and it is undoubtedly the best part of the song as the power builds.

While there are still some traditional rock notes as somebody shreds a guitar in the background, that opening twang never goes away. And Forever Ain’t Long slows down the pace enough that you can really get used to it. This is the first real slow dance scene song on the album, the kind of thing that plays at the end of a wedding reception by the time most people have already gone home. Jensen takes lead on this one, and his voice is really steady in this middle melody; this is the sweet spot for him and he sounds pretty professional on this one.

One problem that I have (which will recur throughout the album) is that Steve’s harmonizing doesn’t always feel super intentional here. It’s a little limp in the background and keeps fading in and out. I’m not sure if this was an intentional mixing choice, but if it was then it wasn’t a good one. The choir coming in behind for the bridge almost makes up for it.

Around the 1:45 mark, we get a surprising piano solo, which is very much giving saloon. You really don’t hear many of those too often anymore (though maybe there is a reason for that), and it’s admittedly a pretty fun touch. We get some more traditional guitar solos later, but this one stands out for the group. This definitely is not a modern or hip album, and it’s not trying to be.

Steve takes over for Every Light, with its now customary twang, while Jensen takes a higher register in the back. At this point, I’m still a little confused about the harmonies; they lack some commitment beyond the first track, which is unusual for this genre! For a two-piece set, Radio Company is making duets that aren’t really duets, and that feels like a mistake when you’ve chosen the perfect vehicle to deliver that. There’s also not much call and response – another staple of folk country. Look at something like Golden Rings for example and look at how strong both parts could be.

Maybe downplaying the country duet is Radio Company’s way of “modernizing” country, but I think that if you’re going to make an old-fashioned album then you need to commit to an old-fashioned sound. Turn up the mics, you cowards!

That being said, the fiddle rocks. The most interesting part of this song is the belting repetition at 1:54, but then they never do it again? What was that even about then? The whole song is as flat as a midwestern highway without the instrumentals cutting in.

The first major departure (and the first thing I’m actually impressed by) comes with Ain’t No Tellin’, which opens with an organ. The notes are much softer and more graceful than anything else so far, and Jensen takes the lead with an incredible head voice that sounds just beautiful. The longest song on the album is long for a reason; it starts as church music that slowly transforms into a solid electric guitar solo, and we even get a brass section coming in towards the end. It’s the most complex song that actually takes itself seriously, and I think we could have pushed it even further: a more sustained choir, longer solos, more, more, more!

I’m impressed by how much Jensen’s vocal ability has improved based on this song alone. Listen to 3:40 to 3:46 with that sustained note and then the run immediately after – he’s exercising a lot more control than in the past, even at 4:25 when he starts to get more gravely the way he likes to do but can’t always achieve.

This song is worth all 5 of its minutes, which I rarely say about songs that long. I love the slow fade out at the end but hate Jensen’s forced laughter at 5:19, which brings us right back into the realm of cheesy again.

...Which is probably a good thing seeing as the next song is You Made Me Blue, a Steve song that doesn’t fit with Ain’t No Tellin’ at all. It’s got some more fiddle on it, which I do like, but the lack of transition kind of ruins the vibe. And I thought we were doing so well with that this time around!

This is a square dance song that’s extra good for stepping. It’s really charming in its own way, and I’m weirdly endeared by this one. Maybe because I love Blue Kentucky Girl so much? These opening harmonies feel intentional, which is immediately more country to me (and they even do call and response later in later choruses)! It starts like that anyway, but then as the song goes on the harmonies get pushed to the back again. Steve fronting with Jensen being soft and weak in the background is not a formula I super enjoy; I’ve said before that Steve’s vocals are almost too clean and I reiterate that here. Still, I actually like this one for how distinctive it is.

The title track, Keep on Ramblin’, is fine but reminds me of an old complaint... inconsistent capitalization. In the title of the album, the word “on” is capitalized, but in the song title it isn’t. That’s weird, man! Hire an English major!

Jensen fronts here in a pleasant register with a richer tone than Steve’s, but he’s not pushing himself. It’s a little boring. There’s some nice picking around 2:20, and the backing vocals are giving me I’ve Just Seen a Face, but the Dawn & Hawkes cover. Like, listen to 0:47 – 1:02 of Keep on Ramblin’ and tell me you don’t hear that. Those are all the parts that stand out to me on this one.

Sadly there’s no Akon to be found on Sweet Escape, and to be honest, I’m getting bored at this point in the album. The truth is that most of these songs sound really similar to each other and I can’t remember most of them except for Ain’t No Tellin’ and You Made Me Blue, which are really clearly distinguished from one another. The rest all follow a pretty standard formula. I’m not sure if this is an issue with the quality of the music (probably) or if it’s just a matter of sequencing (definitely) – but there isn’t enough variation to break up the songs. I guess I like the “ooh ooh oohs” in the background of this chorus, but that’s about all that stands out here.

The harmonies are a lot more balanced on Return to Me. Like Right Kind of Trouble, Steve and Jensen are on equal footing on this one, even if the note at 2:04 is a little weird.

This one kind of rips off Sam Cooke’s Bring It on Home to Me but it’s obviously nowhere near as good. We get more of a brass feature at the end, which is nice; I didn’t realize how much I missed the brass section until it came back in this one. They tend to feature more heavily than this in Radio Company projects! This song has a pretty weird ending in that it’s pretty abrupt, like they just chose not to finish the phrase. This is the shortest song on the album and I don’t really think it should be?

Restless Man is another slower song with Jensen at the front. There’s a strong piano but Jensen is vocally a little less strong (I wonder if this song was recorded earlier in the process?). It’s another sobering moment of the album that I find myself gravitating towards just because the rest of it is so homogenous. We get the dynamite combination of the harmonica and the fiddle around 0:45 that continues on, and there’s also some nice layering around the 2-minute mark. There are lots of great instrumentals on this one and the variation is so needed. This one is fine, but looks better in comparison to what’s around it. I’m missing any kind of emotional journey or payoff.

The album ends with Velvet Sky, opening with a slow fiddle introduction in what I think is kind of a weird way to end an album. And you know what? I think it’s because Steve here inexplicably reminds me of Alan-a-Dale. This is for some reason giving me Oo-De-Lally, and there’s already a more impressive version of that out there so I’m not really seeing the point.

The song starts in earnest at 1:08, adding in some more layers where the vocals become a bit firmer, and ends by just trailing off. It’s like we’re watching Robin Hood and Little John walk deeper and deeper into the forest as the screen fades to black, leaving merriment behind them – the party’s still going, but they’re taking it elsewhere. Or, perhaps the audience has finally gotten tired enough from their evening of dancing to walk away, leaving the band behind in the barnyard to stumble back home and sleep it all off. For what it’s worth, at least it ended the same way it began.

STORY

Radio Company writes more... efficiently than they have in the past on this album, with vague impressions and mixed metaphors that really do their damndest to create clear characters. On Vol. 2, we got the story of Roy and Lori on Truly Forgotten, but this album has broadened the idea of doomed lovers to span a full album. The bare writing works against them on occasion in confusing the point of view in several places and withholding important information, and so I can’t say with certainty that I follow the complete arc of an album narrative. However, maybe being vague is the point, so as to not give too much away.

We open with the familiar trope of a devoted speaker that just can’t seem to win the heart of their beloved in Right Kind of Trouble. No matter how hard he tries, it’s never enough to make her stay: “It’s not if but when you’re gonna go / By the time you leave, well, we both know / Who and what we are.” He even idealizes her to the point of sainthood: “Slow down baby / Before you fall from above” – fall off her pedestal, or from Heaven, etc. It’s clearly an unhealthy balance of devotion and flippancy where the “black magic woman” keeps leaving the speaker over and over again, even as he begs on bended knee for her to stay.

But maybe, the speaker alludes by the end, that’s not such a bad thing? This kind of tenacity at least proves that the lover is strong and dependable, in that she sticks to her guns: “But you just won't break at all / You're the right kinda lover.” This is a person that can be counted on not to break under pressure, if only because she seems not to care too much about the speaker.

This idealizing and yearning continues into Forever Ain’t Long, where the speaker pleads for his lover to “take me to heaven / Or wherever you're from,” to a time “before the hurt came along.” We learn that at least one of these two is really in denial about how dysfunctional the relationship is, and try to just ignore that or push it aside:

The truth is in knowing, only makes it feel wrong, so we go right back to that old feeling we want it to be

Wouldn’t it be nice to return to the very beginning of a relationship, before any problems start to set in or things get difficult? Wouldn’t it be nice to never fight, or butt heads, or deal with anything tough? Our speaker yearns for that ignorant bliss when we can still project our lover as an angelic fantasy. The title of the song comes from the phrase that the speaker repeats, “Take me forever, forever ain’t long” – denial is a fundamental part to making their relationship work. Forever IS a long time, but the speaker doesn’t want to acknowledge that. He even begins to doubt if it’s worth it to stay as things become more complicated: “all the hours I spent here / Was it wasted all this time / Cause I'm slowly losing all hope.”

In Every Light, we discover through third-person narrative the picture of a troubled salt-of-the-earth soul that lives for the thrill and pushes his luck and can’t be tamed even by the person who loves him most – all very familiar stuff if you ever read any bad boy!Harry Styles fic on Wattpad in 2013. We learn that this person is caught up in “cheap tattoos and booze” and keeps “runnin’ every light that came upon them / Proved his love with the pedal down to the floor / Though she knew he was a wanted man / And always dreamed of having more.” This is someone that “rambles,” that cannot be tied down and lives passionately and in poetic pain, “hid[ing] in darkness.” This is the emotionally unavailable antihero that our lover romanticizes and pines for.

Ain’t No Tellin’ speaks to the false bravado that our rambler carries and also to his deep conflict, first hinted at in Every Light (he was “destined for a life of being torn”). The song opens, “Oh the fact is / Cold but true / Ain’t no tellin’ / Who I am.” This is the exact opposite of the line in Right Kind of Trouble that suggests certain actions tell us everything we need to know about who we are. But the rambler doesn’t seem to be self-aware enough to understand himself so easily; he speaks one minute of unbridled sweetness and laughter, only for anger to replace it the next. (This same disquieting anger appears on Vol. 2 in tracks like Quarter To, so this inability to make sense of oneself because we contain darker aspects has clearly been weighing on these writers for some time.)

It is perhaps this very fear of self that makes the rambler so distant, and provides insight into why he acts the way he does: “When you need it / And you know that I’m a little far away / Ain’t no tellin’, no, / Where the hell I am.” He’s running from himself just as much as he’s running from love, because what is love if not looking right down into someone, seeing them for who they are, and choosing to stay with them? If we don’t know what is really underneath the performance we give to the world, how can we ever feel ready to accept unconditional love? If we are unsure of who we are, that would mean to trust someone else to know better – would they give us what we need, even if we don’t know what to ask for? He asks his lover over and over again, “who are you / holding onto now,” unsure of her intentions.

As in Vol. 2, the solution lies in faith, though the advice here sounds less wise and more placating: “Just believe in / Every time / When we feel it again.” Rest assured, things will work out even when we’re not our best selves, because we can always believe we’ll get back to that original feeling that first brought us together. That will never go away. This moment is connected with Forever Ain’t Long and that original desperate denial we need to make an unsatisfying relationship work; it’s also connected to Right Kind of Trouble, when the rambler says,

When you’re lonely You can hold me close Oh then go and leave me Needing and knowing We’re one in the same

So maybe we DO know who we are: we are the same, at least there’s that. This assertion diminishes the fear of abandonment with the knowledge that being apart cannot destroy their relationship – the foundation has always been strong.

But is that enough to keep a relationship together, despite its problems? When is the right time to cut someone off?

For this couple, maybe that’s the right thing to do. You Made Me Blue is a celebratory breakup song: “You made me blue / For the last time.” The speaker is finally free, having given up on the promises their lover used to string them along with for so long. You promised we’d be happy, and you left me instead, the song says. So, good riddance! We get the repetition of things “going wrong” in the relationship, causing the lover to leave them and “[take] everything I had” with them. The speaker reflects on that desperation from Right Kind of Trouble and realizes that they actually deserved a lot better: “I was doomed the day we met / But now I see / That you’re no good for me.” The lover went from being TOO good to NO good at all, one extreme to the next. But instead of getting too down about it, the speaker revels in their newfound freedom. It’s a blessing, actually, to be left!

The song ends, “Yeah, you’re out there and / I’m here taking care of me / I don’t care / I’m just happy being me” but it’s just another denial. Letting go of those dreams of “more” mentioned in Every Light of course would be painful, but the speaker refuses to acknowledge that, and I’m left unconvinced by the end.

Keep on Ramblin’ is a delusional continuation of Every Light post break-up: “Left town again for no reason / Hit the floor I was away” echoes the “pedal down to the floor” line in Every Light. The reference to a “life of crime” later also suggests this link to the “wanted list” and “bad crowd” in Every Light. The rambler continues to live in denial of the hurt that he causes and the pain that he feels: “Nothin’ wrong bout how I’m livin’” and, “Time is only passing if you think of it that way / This life of crime is lonely, but only if you let it in to stay.” If we just “keep on rambling,” keep moving, keep running away from our problems, then maybe they’ll never catch up to us. If we never gaze into the abyss, it can never gaze back. This is why the rambler packs up and leaves “for no reason,” and why he doesn’t care to feel the passage of time.

It’s never really clear in the album who’s doing the leaving when: they both seem to be constantly leaving each other, even though it also seems like neither of them really wants that. That’s how relationships are, I guess: a series of miscommunications can break us, when not saying how we really feel is the greatest possible sin.

Sweet Escape is all told to us again from a third party: he (the rambler) said all of what we’re about to hear – his words are being reported to us from someone else. The flawed rambler thrives on attention: “He said, ‘I want to be the one people turn to / Even if it means I may be wrong.’” He needs to be needed at whatever cost. And just as things go south, his desperate bid for control comes out in narcissistic claims that “I had planned it all along.” Nothing’s wrong, everything is going according to plan. He’ll continue to boast and brag and wind the lover up with hot air even “knowing somewhere in the dead of night / A better man with a bigger fight may show / And give it a go.” Some day, someone with more integrity may come along and force him to face consequences for the way he treats people, losing his beloved forever – the rambler fears this, but will never confront it. In the meantime, he’ll continue living freely, “sail[ing] through waters [that] no one [else] has the nerve to,” actively trying to “reach rock-bottom… in a bottomless sea.” More thrill-seeking, more self-destruction, fueled by the impulse to destroy ourselves.

Return to Me is a little tricky to place. There are two possibilities for this song as I see it fitting into this story of the rambler and his lover:

1. This song is from the point of view of the lover waiting for the rambler to come back to her. On the one hand, it may represent a kind of yearning that can set in even after the elation of a break-up with someone toxic in You Made Me Blue, but feels like a moment of weakness that sets a journey of personal empowerment back a few steps. In the first line, the lover asks, “How far will you go?” And even though the lover does say, “I can't wait another day” – she’s through waiting around for them – she also confesses that “I’d go to the end of the world for you / If only you return to me.” She once again proposes marriage like in Forever Ain’t Long – “Ride with me / Round the lakeside / Got a raincoat and a veil” – impulsively jump into my car, run away with me, let’s get married. A moment of doubt as well for the abandoned lover, attempting to rationalize the behavior that hurt them: “Maybe I deserved it / To be left this way / I’m not sure / How I was so blind.” Maya Angelou wrote, “When people show you who they are, believe them the first time” and maybe that’s what the lover is saying too. He has always shown himself to be unreliable and untrustworthy, so how could I have expected any different from him? Maybe our relationship breaking has always been my fault, from expecting too much from someone that could never deliver. I should have known better. It’s a very familiar feeling.

2. On the other hand, this song could also still be from the perspective of the rambler, whose running has finally caught up with him to the point where he now understands the finality of the lover’s decision to leave him in You Made Me Blue. The line about “riding round the lakeside” would make sense given the rambler’s repeated association with cars, and instead of a rationalization we may find a moment of clarity: “Maybe I deserved it / To be left this way / I’m not sure / How I was so blind.” Maybe my actions really do hurt people, this was never as casual as I liked to make it seem, and I deserve to be left behind for treating this person who really cares about me as disposable. Maybe she was never really indifferent to me – maybe I just kept pushing her away all this time.

I don’t think it really matters which interpretation of this song you go with, and I prefer to think of it as both at the same time. These two people can think the exact same things for different reasons, which perhaps shows how well-suited they actually are for each other. For once, they are totally in sync. The irony is that they’ve also never been further apart.

The latter interpretation does make more sense as we enter into the epiphany of the rambler, our “Restless Man.” He confesses that he’s “had my time / Spent it livin’ off my mind / When all along it’s wrong that led the way” – he’s finally seeing his actions clearly and knows that he hasn’t been making the best choices, for himself or for others attached to him. He’s still not promising his lover perfection – “Ain’t saying I’ll be the greatest,” and it is definitely a “gamble” – but he knows that he cannot continue the way he has been living so far. He has to change. He pleads, then:

So keep on coming around To comfort me Oh and find us A place to land And slow down This restless man

The song ends with a desire to slow down, or, more accurately, to be made to slow down: exercise some of that strength that we saw in Right Kind of Trouble and make me new, the rambler asks. The question mark hangs in the air as we approach the last song, the end to the rambler’s journey.

I can’t fully make out Velvet Sky, and as the final track to the album maybe that contributes to the reason I find it to be such an odd ending. There’s enough to suggest here that Velvet Sky may be a reflection on the life that the rambler has led now that he’s decided to settle down (to a point). He’s seen everything he’s needed to see in the world: “I've walked down every street / Dragged both feet across most all the land / Bathed on every beach / So I know each grain of sand.” BUT, the song goes, the only thing that’s stuck out to him after everything is the sky over the sea. What’s left unspoken and what could give our rambler some peace is that the sky is the same everywhere. It’s constant, and you can’t outrun it. The speaker repeatedly mentions that the velvet sky is “the one thing that I love” – not a person or a home or a feeling, but the open and inviting sky, which has never abandoned him and never can. However, it’s later clarified that it’s the sky over the ocean that makes him happiest because in silhouette there he can see “where a sail finds a friend in the wind.” The sight of two boats on the water is his favorite in the world: an indirect way of saying that a loving partnership really means the most out of everything to him, where in Sweet Escape he only “sailed” alone.

While the wording is troubling, it’s suggested elsewhere that the rambler has abandoned the rambling lifestyle, as he is left “prayin’ I won’t end up just like the one who ran away / If in fear is where I'm livin’ for the most… away from all this wretched sin.” There’s still some uncertainty, some fear that this won’t work out and that the change won’t stick, because that beautiful velvet sky out there still calls his name. But this line does seem to imply that he’s through “running away” and doesn’t want to be the guy that does that anymore. The biggest piece of evidence that things are ending on a good (if complicated) note is that “you’re headed toward the shore to follow me.” If he is still running away, at least someone is running with him instead of away from him.

Ultimately, it does little to resolve the fundamental issues at the core of the rambler’s relationship with his lover about identity and darkness. There’s also an argument to be made that this last song implies that the rambler has been left alone and abandoned forever, rejected, longing for something he can never have. “Pay me no mind” he dismisses, and he “drink[s] wine from a bottle each day,” recalling the “booze” he was mixed up with in Every Light.

The story of this album poses a flawed but passionate character afraid to do any self-reflecting, and then refuses to ever force that introspection. It seems to me at least that the rambler never fully solves his own problems, and what little peace he may find comes at a cost. The album instead, I think, poses a challenge to its listeners: will you run? Would you stay?

For what it’s worth, I don’t think that any of this comes across well in the music of the album – there’s a total disconnect here between form and content.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Keep On Ramblin’ fits into country canon without standing out. Most of it is, and I do hate to say this, mediocre bar music. This is not the sweeping indie rock with quiet ambition that I was just getting used to from Radio Company; I wouldn’t put these songs on anywhere other than a backyard BBQ to fill in the spaces between better and more recognizable performers like Willie Nelson and Gram Parsons. It’s fine, but they just don’t go far enough here for my taste. Too many cliches, not enough belting or strong feeling, weak harmonies, and the instrumentals barely even get started before they’re over. There is no discernible arc in either the music OR the story that I can find, and if there is one then it’s too much work for me to even want to unearth. A lot of it more or less blends together, and it’s not an album that I care to think too hard about.

I grew up with classic country music and I appreciate it. I’m trying to be impartial about the style change, but I have to be honest: I just like this less than Vol. 1 or Vol. 2. I know that Radio Company are capable of better! As of now, my favorite project from Radio Company might actually be Vol. 1; I did not expect to feel that way, but that’s the project I feel most nostalgic for out of all of them so far.

Track ratings out of five stars:

Right Kind of Trouble ⭐️⭐️

Forever Ain’t Long ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Every Light ⭐️⭐️

Ain’t No Telling ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

You Made Me Blue ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Keep on Ramblin’ ⭐️⭐️

Sweet Escape ⭐️⭐️

Return to Me ⭐️⭐️

Restless Man ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Velvet Sky ⭐️

Average song rating: 2.5/5

Favorite tracks: Ain’t No Tellin’, You Made Me Blue, Restless Man

#radio company #text #music review #music #this album is EXTREMELY dean winchester coded fyi #the rambler is dean. jensen is dean. jensen wrote a dean country album.#and it should have been much better than this so everyone boo this man #i started this review so early this morning and i've been looking at it ALL DAY i need to be done with it #if i'm incoherent sorry!!! i rewrote this like 8 times

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piastriblogging · 2 years

Text

yukierre get married in vegas

they do it as a joke but also they’re super drunk and just like the karaoke everyone encourages them bcs it’s good content like ilies vlogs the whole thing but the footage is subpar and they all believe that thing that’s like it’s not actually a real wedding

except it is and they find out after abu dhabi and laugh about and then a few hrs later yuki has pierre cornered somewhere and says something nonchalantly about annulment and pierre avoids him for the whole winter break

it’s easier, if he avoids him, to pretend yuki really wanted to marry him. or that he doesn’t exist, whichever is less painful at any given moment in time.

AND IT SUCKS ESPECIALLY bcs hed convinced yuki to move TO milan, FINALLY. and alpine keeps trying to get him to move closer to their HQ and he keeps saying no and they keep saying at least france and he keeps saying no…. but…

anyways it’s stupid of him to think he can avoid this and his friends tell him so but he can’t help it he just keeps thinking if he doesn’t see yuki then yuki can’t tell him he doesn’t actually want him in any ways that’s emotionally real and he just. he can’t. not now.

and he can’t avoid yuki forever because they’re best friends and legally married in the united states and live in the same city that’s only so big so running into each other is inevitable

i’m imagining a scenario where they run into each other and yuki talks pierre into going to some sort of cafe or something. idk. 😐 i’ve never been to italy. but they talk and get coffee and it’s very awkward until yuki is just like you cannot avoid me, you tell me to move to milan and then you don’t even hang out with me i thought we were joking about the whole not inviting me to your house thing. and pierre can’t rlly say anything except sorry bcs he doesn’t want to lie… but it’s fine bcs it’s yuki and he’s got no clue why pierre is being so weird and he’s been busy so he’s jsut like. DONT do it again 😠😤

and the rest of brunch is good and fun and then when they’re about to part, yuki is like oh also we should take care of the annulment before the season starts, nyck knows someone who knows a lawyer who can take care of it all for us and pierre feeling like shit just nods

at the end of the day pierre will do whatever it takes to get yuki’s eyes on him, hands on him, attention on him. he always wants more but he’s also a good catholic boy and will take what he’s given. he goes to confession and tells the father he’s been greedy and selfish and he says fifteen hail marys and leaves €300 in the donation bucket and tells himself he will not make this a problem anymore

if they would just idk have sex about it they would be fine but they WONT bcs yuki likes to play hard to get and pierre is so catholic it’s killing him.

actually i’m starting to think this is maybe 100 degrees off from actual pierre characterization bcs tbh he does often go for what he wants. but i feel like it might be different w yuki where he’s been messing around about it for so long that to make it serious is to risk their entire friendship. like chasing instagram models is easy bcs there’s always another instagram model. but yuki is the only yuki he has.

anyways after the annulment pierre goes back to flirting w yuki 24/7 ala 2022 and it’s whiplash from ignoring him practically all winter but like. he’s got nothing to lose there’s nothing between them they fucked and they got married and now they’re not married and not fucking

i’ve thought about it too hard and lost the original plot of the movie but anyways ensue an insane year of pierre desiring yuki carnally and yuki being still mostly passive but probably actually more responsive than before bcs like. babes they got married so…

blah blah blah idk idk idk they have insane sex blah blah blah talk about feelings yada yada tada happy ending ????

#tbh i have no grasp on character here. like this is not at all making any sense. i don’t really care.#idk what i did here #i ALSO wrote this high but it was saturday MORNING #just s things waking up at 7 am writing up whatever the fuck this is in the longest twt thread ever #and then going back to bed and forgetting all about it #actually i think he’s just going to have a lot of lustful and intense sex w yuki #and pretend he doesn’t deeply desire making an honest man out of him #mine #yukierre

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bizarrequazar · 2 years

Text

GJ and ZZH Updates — January 1-7

<<< previous week || all posts || following week >>>

This is part of a weekly series collecting updates from and relating to Gong Jun and Zhang Zhehan.

This post is not wholly comprehensive and is intended as an overview, links provided lead to further details. Dates are in accordance with China Standard Time, the organization is chronological. My own biases on some things are reflected here. Anything I include that is not concretely known is indicated as such, and you’re welcome to do your own research and draw your own conclusions as you see fit. Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, concerns, or additions. :)

[Glossary of names and terms] [Masterlist of my posts about the situation with Zhang Zhehan]

01-01 → The Legend of AnLe Weibo posted a new promotional still of Gong Jun and Dilireba.

→ Gong Jun’s studio posted his schedule for the month: 01-03 Fresh livestream, 01-04 magazine photoshoot, and 01-05 to 01-07 show recording. BGM was Everything by eevee.

→ Charlotte Tilbury posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun.

→ Gong Jun posted a collection of travel photos from his trip to Yunnan. (1129 kadian) Caption: “Happy New Year!” He also commented on it, “The last one is because I saw a lot of people wanting the original picture” regarding a photo that had been included in the photos he posted on 12-17. He posted the same photos on his Xiao Hong Shu, caption: “Happy New Year It's booming and in a trance!” and as two posts on his Instagram [here] and [here], captions: “Happy New Year! (I hesitated for a long time whether to post a story or add a frame on ins, or post separately, after thinking about it I’ll just post separately😂)” and “Last stop!” He also commented on the second Instagram post, “Sorry, new phone, still not used to the input method 😂”

Half an hour later, Gong Jun commented on his Weibo post, “This is the original picture right?” and “I think it’s 70m, but my colleague said that a picture is only a few hundred k... Reposted” (referring to the photo quality I think.)

Fan Observations: - Some fans believed that the outfit he was wearing in two of the photos is the traditional men’s wedding attire of the Hani people native to Yunnan. Some fans from the region commented that while it is Hani dress, it’s not wedding attire. (Discussed further under 01-03.) - He edited the Weibo post at 11:51, 511 kadian, then again at 12:02, a kadian meaning “love us, love you forever.” No apparent changes were made, as far as I can tell the photo quality referred to in his comment is the same. - GJ solos bought water armies to inflate the likes on their comments so that they could line up pfps as the top comments under the Weibo post, leading to fighting between them and CPFs. After Gong Jun’s comments, CPFs were able to line up pfps and the fighting lessened.

→ Hsu Fu Chi posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun.

→ Colgate posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun.

→ Honor posted a promotional video spoken by Gong Jun.

→ Tiffany & Co. posted four of Gong Jun’s photos from 12-31 highlighting their jewelry.

→ The Golden Shield Audiovisual Centre posted a New Year’s greeting from Li Xuezheng, ending with “As literary and art workers, we must overcome difficulties, maintain our original intentions, and forge ahead. You may not see spring in the end of winter, but spring will finally come with the east wind!”

→ Gong Jun’s studio posted his 2022 year in review video. Caption: “2022 has been loaded, and the time has gathered into a year's full harvest. Witness the training of acting skills with works, and measure progress with the stage. @ Gong Jun Simon collided and developed in many fields, and met the challenge with enthusiasm. 2023 is starting, may the years always be new, and write the unknown into more possibilities.” BGM is French Vanilla by O’SHAN and Celebrate by Joakim Karud. Fan Observation: While there were two things included from August,* neither of them are dated. He erased August again. 🥺 *Things from August: Go Fighting!′s airing (filmed in June and placed there sequentially in the video) and the VogueFilm cover (08-23). He didn’t include the Downy livestream he had on 08-30 despite including other livestreams.

01-02 → Gong Jun posted a promotional video he did for MARRSGREEN to his personal Weibo. This was reposted by MARRSGREEN.

→ A Singapore radio station aired one of the stolen songs, referring to 813 as an “oopsie” in the discussion introducing it.

→ The Instagram posted a video from the bike trip, a photo of various earrings, and two photos of custom earbuds that look like Zhang Zhehan’s.

→ It was found through Douyin follow recommendations that Zhang Su has both of the Chens’ phone numbers in his phone’s contact list. QuelleVous followed this up saying that he also has one of Wang Peiwen’s (the fake girlfriend’s) phone numbers, unsubstantiated at this time.

→ Colgate posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun.

01-03 → QuelleVous posted screenshots showing that Gong Jun’s manager 大熊 (Da Xiong) has a marketing account on which she profited from posted casting leaks until summer 2021. QuelleVous says that she has another account with more malicious content, and that she is still posting similar leaks. Gong Jun does not know about these accounts.

→ Fresh posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun advertising their livestream later that day.

→ Hogan posted Gong Jun’s rehearsal photos from the previous week highlighting their coat. They later also posted six of his New Year’s Eve photos highlighting their shoes.

→ Gong Jun appeared in a livestream for Fresh. [recording] [text translation with clips] Fan Observation: He said that the Hani clothing had been rented for him by his parents. Some fans refuted this, saying that it usually has to be custom ordered; other fans refuted in turn, identifying the place the photos were taken as a homestay that rents out these outfits and pointing out that some of the decorations had fallen off of the one he was wearing.

→ Gong Jun’s studio posted six photos of him from the livestream. Caption: “At the beginning of the new year, the warmth continues. Freezing boss @ Gong Jun Simon 's working moment, starting a warm winter adventure⛄️”

01-04 → One of Gong Jun’s staff posted a photo of his New Year’s gift baskets to them, which included a candle from BEAST, a 361° frisbee, Charlotte Tilbury lipstick, Fresh products, two L’Oreal facemasks, a Tangle Teezer hairbrush, and Colgate toothpaste. A certain snack brand was notably absent again.

→ Gong Jun posted four photos of himself holding a record of Li Ronghao’s new album signed “To Gong Jun, in 2023 let’s free soul together” to his personal Weibo. (11:00, 511 kadian with the date) Caption: “In the new year, go to the world together!” He left a comment on it that said, “Every song is good, listen to it all!” He also posted the photos to his Xiao Hong Shu, caption “Leave me alone! Rainbow farts* mode is on!” and his Instagram, caption: “Showy, stinky, rainbow ass, so nice!” *slang for praising excessively, he’s bragging about getting it

→ Hsu Fu Chi posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun.

→ Yang Yang posted three photos of himself and Gong Jun from the livestream.

→ QuelleVous posted records showing that the tea shop was fined 5000 RMB on 12-29 for violating food manufacturing regulations.

01-05 → The streaming release of the third stolen song, which was supposed to be on 12-29 but was delayed with no given reason to 01-06, was delayed again without a specified new date. A rumor spread that iTunes and Spotify had blocked the new song due to the manipulation of the previous songs’ statistics (sources: x x), supported by Xie Yihua making posts emphasizing that fans should “follow rules.” Whether or not this is actually the case remains to be seen.

→ Whalers who had paid the 20k RMB and given their personal information to apply for the brand’s live event that was supposed to be held on 11-23 recieved their consolation gift for it being cancelled: a notebook, an unsigned photo card, and an individually numbered keychain. This was limited to whalers on mainland China.

→ Hsu Fu Chi posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun.

→ The clothing brand YES BY YESIR posted photos and gifs of Gong Jun from the Little Shoulders music video highlighting their shirt. (11:50, 511 kadian) Fan Observations: Some candy with this brand: Zhang Zhehan used to wear it quite often. Gong Jun has previously worn it in photos released on Qixi 2020 and Valentine’s Day 2021.

→ Kangshifu posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun.

→ The Instagram posted a seven minute deepfake video of “Zhang Zhehan” playing guitar and singing. (Damage control.)

01-06 → #TheRealZhangZhehan trended on Twitter.

→ Colgate posted a promotional video spoken by Gong Jun. They also later posted a photo showing that they have decked out a highspeed train in advertisements featuring Gong Jun, which will remain in place for the next two months.

→ Gong Jun reposted a post by Deng Chao promoting the latter’s new movie. Added caption: “On the first day of the Lunar New Year, go to the cinema to watch ‘Ping Pong of China’!”

01-07 → Addition 01-08: A Malaysian radio station posted its top chart for the week, placing the unreleased third stolen song in #1. These rankings can be bought, so it is likely a sign that the delay of the song’s release was not planned.

Additional Reading: → Flora’s daily fan news → I’ve put together a post collecting sources about the stolen songs. → Just my opinion: I know the “Gong Jun secretly got married in Yunnan” rumors are meant to be fun, but I think it’s best to avoid spreading them too much considering part of the smears used against him last April claimed that he was secretly married. Better to err on the side of caution.

<<< previous week || all posts || following week >>>

This post was last edited 2023-01-08.

#Zhang Zhehan #Gong Jun #Word of Honor #woh cast #lld timeline

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winter-tospring · 2 years

Text

"gays don't even think about wedding cakes, they just think about surviving" being here able to do this is special enough, but extras bring even more warmth and heart to the day. I didn't know what to want to celebrate. but we got a surprise wedding cake that apparently took hours to make, with ingredients previously unknown. and it was such a unique cake experience to eat it. we cut it together, hand in hand on knife, like we were told to do, and a tiny triangle was dislodged from the whole - mostly icing, which prompted a "your life will be sweet" interpretative comment.

the woman who read us our lines to repeat said she was excited to be here, and she wore black, like us. I cried right when it started like I knew I would, because holding hands and looking into your favorite person's eyes as they affirm their love and commitment to you in front of someone else just was bound to do that. It's the words you hear in movies all your life and then you're given them and you're giving them back, and it's surreal and yet I was so firmly planted in the moment, that's when it hit, so real, after all those steps and those years. the lady said you can kiss now and we hugged, and that's the kind of thing that makes us perfect.

we wore masks, so we chuckled, and she makes decisions faster than me in public, she's so easy going even though she says it's a shield to make strangers like her and treat her well, which I don't know how to do until I trip and have to catch myself with a smile and a joke and then anxiety dissipates because they've seen me now, I'm just a little clumsy human like them. I don't remember what she said exactly, but we smiled behind the masks, I could see it in her eyes and hear it, and we hugged tight under the white flowers arch. my love. it's always perfect when it's her. and it's gonna be her forever.

I could feel it when we got back, the gates of a new life opening. it feels like anything is possible. the home we want to build, just for us, lush and safe and exactly how we decide it. we danced without having it planned, which is how all best things happen. wedding songs playlists have a lot of sad songs, how is that? do people just listen to the melody and not the words? I had sweet home Alabama stuck in my head all day, and Lover was played, and random songs, and then backstreet boys for 10 minutes.

she said we walked hand in hand into HomeGoods. I didn't even notice. I find her so naturally, I wouldn't understand if a brick hit me cause we're both girls and a guy has a problem with it. I would forget some people think there's something wrong with this. it's only love, the realest love.

we found gifts, and we felt so married, to me; together, looking for something specific, partners in all things, in a public place, strolling and loving the time unfolding slowly cause we're together, and I want to know what she's stopped to look at, what she's thinking about.

my wife. my wifeeeee. My WIFE, my wiiife!! she smiles so bright I'm starting a reminder to take pictures of her. we giggle and say "my wife" to each other a lot, and then make incomprehensible noises of disbelief and joy.

we met on here, so I feel like it's a good idea to post about this, because it's thanks to here that I know her. talk to the people you admire in secret, so you can admire them to their face. I seem to be brave about this only when it seems to intensely matter, and I seem to be right about it mattering.

december 19, 2022 🖤

#Dust #🦊🦝#T #Journal #Lesbian #Lesbian marriage #gay married in space #Is a tag omg #Not mine but now I'm curious #I didn't know or hadn't thought about the meaning of feeding each other cake at your wedding. I didn't know it's supposed to represent that #we'll be taking care of each other. It gave me a flashback to that orange masterpost on here #giving food and making food as an act of love.#So when we did that yesterday #it was even sweeter than I thought it would be #And left me with an affection for the tradition #Which is something I hardly ever have for traditions

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parcequecestnotreprojeeeet · 2 years

Note

Hi, it’s me, Fanfic Anon #2. Happy New Year everyone! Wishing you all a happy and healthy 2023. This is a New Year’s Eve piece. Hope you all enjoy.

He was standing outside on one of the balconies, quietly reflecting on the year, taking a moment to himself away from all the lovely, but loud chaos of his family milling about inside, the crowd gathering now that he had finished recording his speech.

It had been quite the year. There were some real highs: their 15th wedding anniversary, his re-election, getting to take trips around the world again, including the US state visit, the World Cup (even if the finish proved ultimately disappointing). But there were some really low lows this year too, and the heavy weight of the world on his shoulders, especially as war was waging once again on the contient, devastation everywhere, it couldn’t help but colour his memories of the year.

"There you are!" Brigitte exclaimed, finally finding him. "Come back inside! It’s freezing out here," she commanded gently, always taking care of him.

He turned around and smiled at her, which despite his best efforts, didn’t reach his eyes. "I just needed a moment."

"What’s the matter, chéri?" she asked gently, now approaching him and wrapping her arms around his waist, trying to comfort him.

"I’m just reflecting on the year."

"Mhmm," she wordlessly encouraged, reaching out to press a quick, comforting kiss to his cheek.

"A lot of good happened this year, but I can’t stop thinking about all the bad too. A new year is supposed to be a fresh start, but you know as well as I do that tomorrow won’t be one for all the people freezing without power, or starving without food or -"

"Chéri," she cut him off before he could keep spiraling any further, pressing her finger to his lips gently to stop him. "We know that we can’t stop the suffering right now, all we can do is our best to help. You are doing more than your fair share."

"I just look at our grandchildren and -"

"I know. I see them too when I visit the kids in the hospitals we’ve taken in, or those in our schools. But I remind myself that there is always hope. And that’s what a new year means to me, hope."

"How did you get so wise?"

"I fell in love with a philosopher."

"You never needed me for anything."

"On the contrary, I need you for everything. I need you to get up in the morning, to smile, to breathe.

"You know, before I met you, I was a very anxious person -"

"Oh, come on."

"No! I was! Ask Sebastian, he’s old enough to remember. I worried about everything. And then, one day, I realized I had stopped."

"What happened?"

"You happened. I’m never worried now because I have you."

"Brigitte -"

"So. This new year will be hard, and will be sad, and challenging, and wonderful, and marvelous, and glorious. Good things will happen, and bad things will happen. But in each and every step of the way, I’ll be right there with you, by your side. Always and forever."

"We should probably go back in," he told her after a few moments of silence, wrapped up in each other.

"In a minute," she replied, snuggling further into him. "I just want to savour this a little longer."

A short time later, when they had made their way back into the living room, surrounded by their family as the countdown started, he pulled her into the corner, wrapped her tightly in his arms and whispered, "Happy New Year, mon cœur," before ringing in the new year locked in a passionate embrace.

Helloooo fanfic Anon #2! ❤️

Happy new year to you too! ❤️

Manu being all thoughtful and reflecting on 2022... It sure was one hell of a year. Hell in good and bad way. But again, he has Brigitte to reasoning and calming him racing ideas/thoughts ❤️

Brigitte’s words on how much Emmanuel changed her, so beautiful 🥺🥰

Nothing like starting the new year on each other’s arms! 🥰

Thank you so much, fanfic Anon #2! ❤️❤️❤️

#fanfic #fanfic anon 2

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purple-cat-demon · 2 years

Text

I posted 548 times in 2022

12 posts created (2%)

536 posts reblogged (98%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@cheri-translates

@xxgoblin-dumplingxx

@hifftn

@thatfanfictionchick

@yourssinfullyquiche

I tagged 525 of my posts in 2022

Only 4% of my posts had no tags

#mlqc - 370 posts

#mlqc gavin - 322 posts

#cheri sundae - 228 posts

#artist: norelle-n - 67 posts

#mlqc spoilers - 65 posts

#mr love queen's choice - 60 posts

#love and producer - 60 posts

#mlqc cn - 54 posts

#恋与制作人 - 34 posts

#artist: 喵哦哦哦哦哦 - 33 posts

Longest Tag: 135 characters

#the truth is it's like this. bc i started last summer and gave up but. today was a shaw day and i said screw it its getting. finished.

My Top Posts in 2022:

A little update of sorts:

I finally got back to Forever Starts Under the Ginkgo Tree after suffering a gnarly writer's block. Not quite done writing this last part but I'm getting there~

I started an origin story for my two OCs that will tie into my Dungeons and Dragons group, but it's a story that's been in my head for a LONG TIME.

Started writing down notes for Hazel and Gavin's Wedding Fic. (Then I started remembering all the details of my wedding and got a little overwhelmed 🤣)

4 notes - Posted January 9, 2022

Ya know, it just occurred to me that I have failed to use the nickname "Hazelnut" for any of my Gavin x Hazel fics...

5 notes - Posted August 16, 2022

So I have the first part of my OCs Origin Story typed out; eagerly getting the second part finished so it can be typed out, and still writing out the third part.

I have so many scenes in my cracked little mind that need to be written and honestly, it feels good to be this invested in my own characters 😅 Now if I could just DRAW these OCs, I would be ecstatic~

I promise I have not forgotten about the last part of Forever Starts Under the Ginkgo Tree! The material I wrote out for that last part seems off to me so I'm trying to revisit it and rework it somehow so it hopefully doesn't sound redundant or boring... I do plan on keeping the morning s*x part though😏

As always, I am forever grateful for your patience and thank you for enjoying my works!

6 notes - Posted April 2, 2022

Forever Starts Under the Ginkgo Tree Part 9

Pairing: Gavin x Hazel

Genre: 🔞Smut🔞 romantic/domestic fluff

Word Count: 4,714

Warnings: wet dream leading to actual sex, unprotected sex.

Beta by the lovely @sin-with-quiche

Dear GEEZUS, this has been a very long time coming and I have my finicky Muse to thank for that (the highly distractive little brat), but yes, this little saga is finally done after about 2 years in the making?? So I hope y'all enjoy the final instalment of Forever Starts Under the Ginkgo Tree~ 💙 thank you all who have been reading it and have been very patient for each instalment~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~Sunday 7:30am~~

"Wakey wakey, my love~" Hazel gently whispered in Gavin's ear. A soft moan came from her fiancé, still touring dream land.

"Ngh, how is it that you're awake before me," he shifted towards her, "and here I thought I wore you out last night."

In a swift move by her deft fiancé, Hazel was back on the bed and under him, playfully laughing as he snuggled into the crook of her neck. A hand had snuck up her pajama top and lightly fondled her breast, his fingers gently pinching an already hardening nipple.

“Mmm, how are you this frisky so early in the morning, my love," Hazel giggled

He smiled into her neck before kissing it.

“I could ask you the same thing,” he answered, nibbling her ear before trailing back down to her neck. Lifting his head, he leaned in for a kiss while his knee parted her legs enough for his hand to move downward. Hazel anticipated that delicious next move—

A few moments passed before Hazel opened her eyes to find Gavin had disappeared.

“Huh,” she sat up and looked around, her bleary gaze settling on the sleeping form of her fiancé next to her.

‘What the hell? That was a DREAM?!’

Silently waging war on her rudely overactive imagination, her small tantrum roused the officer from his sleep.

“Mm, what’s wrong, my love?”

“Nothing…,” she whimpered, thoroughly duped by her very convincing wet dream.

Gavin sat up, shifting closer to his visibly dejected bride-to-be and nuzzled into the back of her neck, taking in her scent.

“You sure nothing’s wrong," he wrapped his arms around her torso and rested his chin on her shoulder.

“Y-yeah, I just had a super realistic dream, that’s all," she shivered at his touch.

“Oh? And what was it about?"

Hazel felt her face get uncomfortably warm as she recalled the unfinished business of her lewd dream.

“W-well, I guess you could think of it as a continuation of our…session last night.”

“Is that right,” he inquired, mildly intrigued by this dream of hers. He glanced over at the clock on her nightstand, it read 6:56am, he then had an idea.

“Judging from your cute pout, I’d say this dream of yours was…unfinished?”

Hazel squeaked at his deduction, squirming in his embrace as one bold hand found itself in her pajama bottoms.

See the full post

17 notes - Posted July 20, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I just gotta say, I wholly adore this card art so damn much~ Just look at these two 😍

I'mma just leave it here for y'all~

*note: it didn't actually take this long to evolve this card 🤣

33 notes - Posted January 11, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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chiefdirector · 2 years

Text

I posted 178 times in 2022

176 posts created (99%)

2 posts reblogged (1%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@softcaius

@chiefdirector

I tagged 176 of my posts in 2022

Only 1% of my posts had no tags

#chiefdirector - 172 posts

#marvel - 54 posts

#anonymous - 53 posts

#talks - 50 posts

#headcanon - 39 posts

#masterlist - 34 posts

#request - 34 posts

#oneshot - 16 posts

#whumptober2022 - 14 posts

#eternals - 13 posts

Longest Tag: 52 characters

#doctor strange in the multiverse of madness spoilers

My Top Posts in 2022:

Hi! May I please request headcanons on what being Married to Erik Lehnsherr (from X-Men) would be like?

Being married to Erik Lehnsherr would include…

He is the worlds most protective husband

He has already lost so much in his lifetime so he won’t allow any harm to befall you if he can prevent it

Hell hath no fury like it

Erik would want you to be safe at all times. He would teach you self defence and expect you to keep up to date with your skills

He would also try and turn your mutation into some form of defensive skill.

Don’t try to argue with him on this. You will lose

You’re the most precious thing in his life, he can’t bare to have any harm come to you

He will be the big spoon at night, it plays into his thoughts about keeping you safe

But when he has a bad day, or another one of his nightmares, you bring him into your arms and just whisper words of praise and affection to him. He needs to hear it far more than he would ever admit.

Your wedding would have been a small ceremony. Very private.

Just the two of you and the closet neighbours you have

(They were only there to witness the wedding legally)

You would stand with him in his fight for his fellow mutants but you would also be the only one to talk him down when his ideas get ahead of himself or the cause

He can’t be angry at you, no matter how hard he tries.

He dreams of starting a family with you, mini yous and mini hims but he never tells you of this as he is too scared to be rejected and lose you forever

But the day you broach the subject with him, he is overjoyed. Scooping you up and taking you to the bedroom the second the words left your mouth

Speaking of the bedroom. Once the man starts, he is insatiable

If you didn’t know better you would say his sex drive is his mutation. Its just down right impressive.

He would leave you little notes if he had left your home when you were asleep and return with either flowers, or some kind of sweet for you to share as an apology.

Overall, Erik is one of the most caring, doting husbands and any wife would be lucky to have him.

Masterlist | Buy me a coffee?

559 notes - Posted March 12, 2022

OMG, I just read your "dating Harry Hook would include" and it was so good! And I really liked the part where, reader would sometimes hide Harry's, hook when reader was mad at him so I was wondering if you could write something on where reader hides his hook when their mad at him (fem or gn reader please :)

Hidden | Harry Hook | Descendants

He had messed up; Harry knew that.

He had messed up big time, and now he was paying for it. But there was two things he couldn't figure out: Number one was what exactly had he done wrong, and number two was why did (Y/N) had to take his damn hook again.

It should've been on his dresser, or what used to be considered a dresser but was looking more towards scrap wood these days, where he had left it. But it wasn't. Only one of person had a key to his room, his partner, (Y/N). And that is how he knew he messed up, they only took his hook when they were mad.

"Come on, (Y/N), where did you put it?" He muttered to himself as he tore apart his room looking for it. He had to go collect some debt and it was always a lot easier with a tool to threaten them with.

He was so lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice his partner lean in the doorway until they cleared their throat. "Looking for something?'

"You," He snapped his head up and quickly approached them, "took my hook! Where is my hook?"

They hummed. "It's usually on the dresser, have you tried there?"

"You know I have. Just tell me."

"What's the magic word."

"Now." Harry tried, but (Y/N) just shook their head at him so he tried again, "Please...?'

"Nope," They hummed once more, before turning around and leaving Harry to find his hook alone.

Masterlist | Buy me a coffee?

619 notes - Posted May 2, 2022

Can I request 16. “You’re really pretty. You know that right?” with Alex summers?

Warm | Alex Summers | X-Men

Fluff 16: “You’re really pretty. You know that right?”

The mansion, for all its glory, had a sucky heating system. Charles always ran warm so he never noticed how cold it was in the winter so he never had it replaced. But now it wasn't just him here, he also had his first class of mutants here with him as well, all training to be better. So he upgraded the heaters, but that meant removing the old ones and leaving the mansion even colder than usual.

"Stupid Charles and his sucky heaters!"

Alex laughed at (Y/N) as she entered her seventh minute of bitching about the temperature. He didn't see the problem, his mutation meant he was warm at all times, it was a pain in summer but now, in January, it was perfect.

"Come here." he said, opening his arms.

(Y/N) cocked her eyebrow in question before following his command, moving into his embrace. "Oh, this is nice."

"Oh I know, a beautiful girl in my arms; what could be better?" Alex said as (Y/N) ducked her head into his chest in embarrassment. "What? You’re really pretty. You know that right?"

"No-ones ever called me that."

"Then the world must be blind."

Masterlist | Buy me a coffee?

666 notes - Posted January 5, 2022

Dating Michael Morbius would include...

A/N: at the time of writing this, I don’t know much about Jared Leto but I do now (july 2022) I do not condone any of his actions, and I am not posting about his characters any more but I will not be deleting my work as I think that erasing content around someone problematic is like silencing an issue. If you would like, I am linking articles about Leto and his actions here, here and here

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You would meet at work where you would be brought onto his team to create artificial blood

he would develop feelings for you silently, never speaking up as not wanting you to feel burdened to stay with a man living on borrowed time

but you would begin to notice as he may be a genius but emotional complexities aren't his forte

when you asked if he was okay, he would let his feelings tumble from his mouth, cursing himself as he did so

initially you'd laugh at the whole situation before you confessed you felt the same, kissed him on the cheek and got back to your work.

for the first time in his life, he was left dumbfounded.

As the end of the work day approached, he asked if you wanted to join him for dinner later in the evening at his apartment, leaving enough time for him to receive his treatment and for you to get dolled up as you put it

He would try to be romantic throughout your relationship

Flowers left on your desk

The occasional love letter tucked away

He kept a lot of trinkets from your time together

He did all these as a way to make up for him not being the most able bodied a lot of the time

Even though you would constantly tell him that you didn’t need him to be able bodied. You needed him to be himself

Milo would tease him relentlessly until he met you

Then he would just whisper to Morbius “Treat her well or I may just have to steal her myself.”

Movie nights are common as they allow for you to spend a few hours uninterrupted whilst not being too strenuous

Working together and being in a relationship can be hard so any arguments will be shortly diffused on Michaelend.

When he comes to experimenting with vampire bat DNA he would value your input.

Initially he would offer for you to take it if you also had a chronic condition but would retract that offer once he learns the consequences of his so called cure

You would keep track of his new abilities and help him try to curb the thirst

If you got hurt by his bloodlust, he would try to end the relationship to not see you hurt again

But you would stick by him as he had always done for you

As you loved him and knew that he loved you too. And that was enough.

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722 notes - Posted April 2, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Dating Logan Howlett would include…

Okay so we know big man Logan has no time for emotions

Or at least that is what he leads people to believe.

Deep down this man is soft

And when you are alone he isn’t afraid to show it. Just don’t expect the same treatment in public.

He loves to cuddle at home

He just like having you close so the position doesn’t matter to him but he does favour having you pressed tightly against him

It makes him feel calmer having you so close

He is very protective of you, which can easily go into possessiveness

He doesn't mean to be but he doesn't allow his guard to be down around many people, so he like to keep those people safe

You have to do the cooking as he cannot cook anything

It's a miracle that he has survived this long with his knowledge in the kitchen

He also hates technology so don't expect anything fancy in your home, you have a landline and a tv that is from the 80's and that's about it.

Except from his truck, which he updates every few years

He isn't very social, but Logan encourages you to go out with you friends

But if you go too often he wont stop you but will grumble about it under his breath

He will try to stop you from getting wrapped up in Xavier's messes if you are a mutant, but if you insist on helping, he will join you

Charles learnt this and used it to his advantage very quickly

You would be good friends with Ororo

He has plans to marry you, but would hold off for his own anxieties about not being enough for you

He would, in the end, just ask you as you were falling asleep, getting a soft 'yes' as his answer

Dating Logan comes with its challenges, but you find it is worth it in the end

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881 notes - Posted May 13, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #chiefdirector

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upismediacenter · 2 years

Text

LITERARY: Dream Diary

Hello.

I am a person just like you. I won’t tell you my name, age, sexual orientation, or where I’m from, but I do want to tell you a few things about me.

The thing is I am a person, just like you. Well, not exactly like you. What sets me and you apart is my photographic memory. I discovered it when I was a kid, because every time my parents asked me about an event that happened in my life, I just seemed to remember every detail of it. It just occurs naturally, like remembering how many steps I took yesterday, or memorizing the tracking numbers of the items I ordered online. But something that has been a passion of mine is dreams –knowing if my photographic memory works in dreams. What? You don’t believe me? Fine. I’ll write down my dreams and thoughts to prove it. It might also help me learn more about myself—what’s been boggling me and if my unique skill can help with it.

Are you ready to know them?

Here we go:

Saturday, October 8

11:46 PM I dreamt about my life as a college student. I feel anxious. I feel nervous. Although I already feel ready for college life, mine won’t start till next year.

Sunday, October 9

12:19 AM Something’s on my mind. I’m sweating bullets and I have never felt this feeling before. What if I don't get accepted into my dream college? What if I regret the courses that I picked? Who will be my friends? Will I even have friends? There’s a hundred thousand questions running through my brain. I hope I can still sleep tonight.

12:43 AM How many schools should I apply to again? 1? No, that’s probably too risky. But I would be mistaken to think of it as just a game. That’s right, at least 4 schools have opened their gates for brand new students. I think I’ll try all of them.

1:06 AM I think I will start praying again, and I’ll pray like I’ve never prayed before.

Monday, October 10

12:06 AM The most remarkable dream happened tonight, and it was filled with trains and robots. I was at a train station with my friend, and we were running away from something. I don't know what it was, but my friend was yelling, “We have to get away before it kidnaps us!” We bolted inside the next bullet train that stopped by, and we went on our way to escape. It sounds like a good science fiction/action movie in my opinion.

12:18 AM I remember my dream friend’s name: Monte. While we were on the train, he told me that he used to work for a company that develops artificial intelligence in hopes that it will help people in their everyday lives. But things changed when the company experimented on combining humans and robots (they’re called man-droids/robot-men) to the point that they had to kidnap people because nobody was willing to volunteer for trials. He said that we’re lucky to escape, but warned that they’re always watching.

1:15 AM I can remember waking up in a bed with strobe lights (this is different from the first dream that I had). I was in an apartment with a great view of the city skyline. It just stops there.

Tuesday, October 11

12:00 AM “Will you take this man as your loving husband, and promise to cherish your love forever?” “I…I do—” “STOP THE WEDDING!”

12:46 AM Something has been boggling me. Social issues. Why am I thinking about it in my sleep? My brain can’t comprehend all of this.

12:48 AM Update: It’s 2022, why are there still people with big egos? Grow up please, don’t act like you’re always the center of attention when you’re in public.

1:14 AM Do I know someone named Bobby? Or is it spelled like Bobbie? I think he was my neighbor who moved out three years ago because of divorce.

No, I think it’s the pizza delivery rider.

2:23 AM Another thing on my mind: it’s 37 minutes before the witching hour. I have to sleep now or I will get nightmares.

Wednesday, October 12

12:09 AM What’s a good isekai anime name? I think it should be creative and crazy at the same time.

12:30 AM Ok, I have narrowed it down to two titles: That Time I Got Reincarnated as A Human to Go Outside for the First Time During the Pandemic and That Time I Got Reincarnated to Write A Story About Why Pineapple Belongs on Pizza. They both sound familiar, I can’t put my finger on it as to why.

1:46 AM I dreamt about something that felt important. I saw a star. It was up on a mountain very far away from where I was. Something (or someone) told me that it was my destiny to capture the star and protect it. But they also told me that a lot of other people want it too. Some of them are stronger, smarter, and faster than me. I didn’t know who these people were, but I had to accept the challenge and I manifested it in me that I would be the one to get that star.

Thursday, October 13

12:02 AM I have been thinking about the dream I had yesterday. What did it mean? Why did I dream about it? Is it some sort of symbolism of the events happening in my life? I will not lie, it is a very good dream, but something tells me that my mind has a message for me, and I just cannot interpret it properly.

12:55 AM I dreamt about… John Krasinski? Why was I dreaming about him? This is a first for me.

12:58 AM Update: I think I was dreaming about John Krasinski and Emily Blunt. I think I’m still amazed to this day that they’re husband and wife. But every time I see John Krasinski by himself, I would never think that Emily Blunt is his wife. And every time I see Emily Blunt by herself, I can never tell that John Krasinski is her husband. I know I have photographic memory, but why do I have to keep reminding myself about it? That part makes me laugh.

(I will say though, John Krasinski is a good-looking man. Emily is lucky that she married a guy like him.)

1:21 AM I dreamt about two queens on a stage standing before me. I said that it was their last chance to impress me and the judges in order to stay in the competition. I wished them good luck, and hoped that they would not mess it up.

Friday, October 14

12:07 AM Yesterday I wished at 11:11 pm, hoping that I would pass all of the college entrance exams that I will take. I also wished for more blessings for my family. I hope it works.

12:27 AM Just like Doctor Strange, I have been thinking about all of the possible paths that would shape my college life. A lot really depends on which university I will go to: the course that I will take and the people that I will meet. But my intuition tells me that the one path I hope to take will be traveled, and I know my intuition is always right.

1:44 AM Ducks. I just spent 30 minutes dreaming about them. I found out that it is better to raise ducks when they are in a group, as they are social animals.

I think that’s cute. Quack quack.

2:18 AM Since it is almost the weekend, I get the chance to stay up late and sleep whenever I want. But I have to be prepared because next week is the most stressful week I will face (so far).

It is the calm before the storm.

Saturday, October 15

12:03 AM Someone just spoke to me. They did not have a face, so I will just classify them as an entity. This entity said that I have been brave this week. Why? Because I faced all my fears that I knew past me would never try to dive into. They knew that a lot of emotions were being expressed, and they thought that I, a nobody, could be so stressed and happy (and sad and energetic) at the same time. They were so proud of me. But alas, this is only a dream, although I think I can recall this scene from Detroit: Become Human.

12:59 AM Quack quack. Quack quack. (Note: I’m sorry, I can’t stop dreaming about ducks.)

Well, I can conclude that all of my dreams and thoughts this week have been….interesting, to say the least. I guess college admissions really stressed me out. Could I possibly have been a duck in my previous life? Wouldn’t that be funny? A duck with photographic memory quack quack —Anyway, I hope that I proved you wrong, dear reader. Dreams can be remembered, and it just goes to show that every dream is different depending on what you were feeling before you slept. On that note, I think you should try and take note of what you're dreaming about, and then look back on it the next day.

Until then, I will see you soon. It was nice talking to you.

#MC2023 #justlikeMagiC #literary #english #Shiny Ducklett

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