#...and it sucks sometimes to know that we're time travelers but in a very narrow sense. but i still love what we have got...

[uncanny-tranny]

There's something so insane to me about being able to create and recreate vintage or even ancient music, clothes, fabrics, building architecture, anything, really.

I watched this video about a lady who knit a WWII-era vest, and it was really unique, because the cable work would eat up yarn, when there were shortages of fibers. This pattern would have likely been used by people to send overseas to soldiers, and now it's being created in a time where this war has been over for generations. What were the people making this pattern thinking of? What about the people making the vest? Could they fathom a world where world wars didn't happen back to back? Could they imagine what peace felt like, or did it fade like a distant memory, a faint friend? All we have now are the remnants of their efforts, a "simple" vest that would warm the bodies of countless people the knitter would never have imagined were here on earth with them.

We're reaching across time to learn about other people - we're reaching our hands out just to grasp anything tangible. And when we've take hold of something, all we can do is say I love you I love you I love you

[slashscowboyboots]

The Stars Are a Part of Us: Different Speeds (Part 4)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Tag list @izzysdenimjacket ​ @warrendemachokeme @awrestlinggirlwholoves80sbands ​ @smokeandmirrorz ​ @sodalitefully ​ @roger-taylors-car ​ @lost-in-the-80s @whisperess33 ​ @shawolat ​ ​@80snikki @rumoured-whispers

Warnings: Underage sex, drug use, drinking, implied violence.  18+ ONLY

Notes: Track #2 is by the sadly underrated Cowboy Junkies.  It was released in '93, and I wondered if I should include in a fic set in 1987, but then I realized this is fiction and there's no rules!   Yayyy!  It's such a killer song I had to add it.

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

Checkout was at the ungodly hour of 11, and of course none of the band was anywhere to be found, just Karen perched on a chair in the lobby, still reading her book.  Love’s Surrender was the title of it, and Izzy snorted through his nose.  Surrendering was probably the last thing this uptight broad ever did.

“Fun night?” she asked, her eyes not leaving her page.

He shrugged.  “‘S’all right.”

She lowered her book.  “Heard you met Kasey.”

Izzy blinked.  “Uh, um, yeah.”

She rolled her eyes, exasperation pulling down her mouth.  “Oh, of course you don’t know her name,” she snapped.

“She didn’t know mine either,” he retorted.  “She thought I was Axl.”

Karen sighed.  “She blew him too.”

“Huh.  I thought he was with Velvet.”

Her eyes met his.  “Velvet insisted on it.”

Izzy furrowed his eyebrows.

“Hazing ritual.  She made Kasey suck him off in front of everyone, then he announced that Velvet was better at it.  Velvet always does the local talent dirty.”

Izzy closed his eyes.  “Fuck,” he breathed, “you bitches don’t take any prisoners.”

She gave him a hard look.  “You’re the wildest band in LA.  Did you expect angelic whores?”

Izzy frowned, then said, “You’re not just here because of us, are you?  You protect her from the other girls too.”

“No.   She’s everyone’s little sister, although I’d kill one of them for doing something to her.”  She narrowed her eyes at him again.  “I’m here because I think I need to be.  Cause if I didn’t, I’d be sitting this shindig out.  This is definitely my last rodeo.”

“This is your third tour, isn’t it?  You were with Def Leppard too.”

Her eyes widened, and Izzy nearly licked his lips in glee.  “Steve is Steve Clark.  I found out some dirt about you,” he smirked.

“Choose your next words very carefully,” she said in a low voice.

“You were a groupie.  Were you running naked through the hallways too?”

She stiffened, eyes widening and her face going pale, and for a second Izzy thought she was going to slap his face.  “No, I was trying to keep him from killing himself, you fucking asshole,” she gritted, then slumped down.  “I thought a blow job would put you in a better mood.  Guess you’re just a dick 24/7.”

“Sissy!” Celestia cried, flopping down on Karen’s lap.  

“Hi, Sis.  You and your beau doing all right?”

“Yeah,” Celestia answered, centering herself on Karen’s legs.  She was taller than Karen, and was nearly crushing her.  “Did I tell you he has an anaconda?”

Karen made a face.  “Celestia, I don’t need to hear about that.”

Celestia giggled.  “No, he has a snake!  His name is Clyde.  He has some bearded dragons too.”

Karen shifted in her chair.  “That’s lovely, Sis.  Who’s taking care of them?”

Celestia hung onto Karen’s shoulders.  “Uh, he says someone named Yvonne.”

Karen took a deep breath.  “Is that his girlfriend?” she asked gently.

“His ex.”

“Uh huh.  And she still has custody of his pets?”

Celestia nodded.

“Then she’s not an ex.  An ex would’ve poisoned them.”

“You think he still has a girlfriend?” Celestia gasped.

Karen shot another look at Izzy.  “I think they all do.  Probably a few kids they don’t know about too.”

Celestia leaped off Karen’s lap.  “Omigosh!  Slaa-ash!  Do you have any kids?”

Slash took a sip from a styrofoam cup and pulled his top hat down over his eyes.  “I don’t think so,” he muttered, throwing an arm around Celestia.

Izzy shook his head.  “You have a really cynical view of the world, don’t you?”

Karen snorted.  “I’m never wrong.”

Izzy took a drag from a cigarette.  “Actually, you are.”

“Is he still seeing Yvonne?”

“Hell if I know.  But I don’t have a girlfriend.  Mine got married.  And not to me.”

Karen looked down.  “I’m sorry.”

“Yeah.  You write a song about a woman, and she dumps yer ass when you’re drying out.”

“Was it ‘Sweet Child of Mine?’”

He shook his head.  “I co-wrote the music on that, but no.  I wrote ‘Patience’ for her.”

Karen’s eyes widened in amazement.  “You wrote ‘Patience?’”

He stood up and stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray.  “Yeah.  And you’re wrong about something else too.  I’m not a dick 24/7, although you’ll never find that out.”  

Izzy leaned over his seat on the bus and looked down at Karen, still engrossed in her book.

“What do you do for fun on the road?” he asked her.

She didn’t look up.  “I’m having a love affair with my vibrator.”

“Oh, ha ha, smartass.”

She turned a page.  “You think I’m joking.  It’s Japanese and has different speeds.  I’ll never need a man again.”

Izzy didn’t say anything, but he could feel his eyes getting bigger.  Guess you’re not the prude I thought you were.

“Wow, that shut you up,” she chuckled, looking up at him.  “Are you bored on the road already?”

He nodded.  “I don’t get fucked up anymore, and that took up a lot of time, y’know.  I’m not scoring or getting drunk and now I have just…...time.”

“Yeah.  Well, I like to read, and being with my sisters.  Sometimes, I like to see the towns we’re in, get out of the hotel a little.  I like shooting pool.  I really like karaoke but I doubt if they have a lot of that here.  I’ve seen your itinerary and it wasn’t promising, they’ve got you out in Bumfuck most of the time.”  She knitted her eyebrows.  “You’re a guitarist, why don’t you play guitar?”

“That’s what I did last night.  I don’t know if I can do that every night.”

She cleared her throat.  “I’m sure there’s a Kasey in every town.  I doubt you’ll be bored for long.”

He shrugged.  “That does it for you?  Reading all the time?”

She looked up at him.  “I rather enjoy being bored.  There were many times I was on the verge of a heart attack, and I longed to be bored.”

“Steve kept you hopping, huh?”

She held his eyes for a long time, furious, then dropped her head.  “Yeah, he did.”  She looked up.  “Is that what you want, me to talk about him?  Fine.  I was in love, he wasn’t, end of story.”

He saw the pain etched in her face, and he let it drop.  He lit a cigarette and asked, “You’ve seen our itinerary?”

“Yeah.  The record company doesn't have a lot of faith in you, do they?”

He shook his head.  “They think we’ll be dead by the end of this week.”

“Those seem like good odds.  Where’s your record at?”

“At?”

“The top 100.”

“I dunno, 101 I guess.”

“Is it moving up?”

Izzy blinked. 

She sighed.  “Okay, how big was your record deal?”

“Two hundred fifty grand.”

She sucked air between her teeth.  “You know you have to recoup your costs, right?  I’m guessing you have a slew of lawyers and a bunch of court fees too.”

Silence.

“Izzy.  Have you talked to MTV?”

He shook his head.  “They won’t play our video.”

“You made a video?  For how much?”

“$75,000.  With Nigel Dick.”

“Ooh, you used a name.”

“That’s bad?”

“Yeah, cause he’s the only one who made money from it.”   She lit a cigarette.  “Izzy, are you aware you guys are broke?”

“We're getting a per diem.”

“You’re in the hole is what you are.  Who are you signed with?”

“Uh, Geffen.”

“Huh.  So just one man owns your ass.”

“So what you’re saying is that we’re in debt to the record company?”

“Yeah, big time.  I mean, Hoss, if your album tanks, you could be sued.”

He exhaled.   “How do you know all this?”

“Because I paid attention when the suits showed up.  I knew there had to be a reason for a record exec to leave his wife and kids to hump it all the way out to BFE to talk to the band.”  She lit another cigarette.  “”Pyromania’ started moving up the charts, and the suits came more and more frequently.”

“Def Leppard are millionaires.  I mean, their music sucks, but they made a shitload of money off of it.”

“It took them awhile to make it, though.  They had to pay back Mercury, plus they used Marilyn Monroe’s image in the ‘Photograph’ video and it cost them a bundle.”  She shook her head.  “Your attorney fees will keep you in the red for a while.  Especially if you keep playing these podunk towns.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah.”  Karen took a drag.  “Well, maybe the record company is looking out for you.  They probably figure you can’t kill yourselves out here in the boonies.”

“IZZY!” Steven shrieked, slapping him on the back.  “Howya doin’, brother?”

Izzy smiled.  “I’m all right, man.  How are you?”

Steven was nearly hopping up and down in his dingy white hi tops.  “I’m so excited, man, we’ve got a gig tonight.  We’re gonna ROCK Canada, aren’t we, Izz?”

“You bet your ass, Stevie.”

“You!” Steven shouted to Karen.  “You, what’s your name?  Donna?”

“Karen.”

“Yeaah, Karen.  You really should fuck Izzy, girl!  He’s cool.  Like the coolest brother you could ever have.”

Izzy smirked.  “She says she doesn’t need a man, she got a device with different speeds.”

Steven looked horrified, then he grinned.  “Well, let him use it on you.”

Karen blinked, and Izzy cleared his throat.  “Dude, she’s not into that,” he said.

“Too bad.  Fuck, that girl I’m with is insane, man.  She ate that girl Kasey out last night for like an hour, man.  Then they sucked me off at the same time!  I’m living the dream, Izz.  I don’t want this tour to ever end.”  He hugged Izzy, then went back to his seat and snuggled up to a sleeping Absinthe.

Izzy raised an ornery eyebrow at Karen.  “So, different speeds, huh?”

“Absolutely not.  And you can’t borrow it either.”  Her eyes slid to Steven’s seat.  “Coke always make him like that?”

“Yeah, he takes a while to come down.  He’s pretty hyper to begin with.”

“Well, you should have a high energy set then.”

Izzy rested his arms on the top of the seat.  “You’ve seen us play.  What do you think?”

Karen fought a smile.  “You don’t suck.”

“Says the woman who traveled with Def Leppard.”

She gave him the middle finger.  “Keep it up, Hoss, and I’ll ram my Japanese precious where the sun don’t shine.”

Izzy puckered his lips and made obnoxious kissing noises, then said, “Promises, promises,” and flopped down in his seat.

[chocolatemin]

TIME (ONEUS FANTASY AU)

Amber's POV

Hwanwoong told me to hold onto him tightly since we will be using teleportation to go to the tree called "The Gate of Memor". It will take too much power and I might not be able to bear it. "Ready?" He wrapped his other arm to my waist and looked down to me. I took a deep breath before nodding. He smiled at me before saying, "Alright, close your eyes here we go!" I did as he told.

I feel like we're falling very fast so I hugged onto him as tight as I can while having my eyes closed. It is true that I might not be able to bear it if I won't hold onto him tightly. I am being dragged away by the strong force but he pulled me closer to him until I can hear his heartbeat, "We're getting closer to the gate, don't let go." Then, I felt a strong force pulled us down and a strong wind blew against us.

"We're here." I opened my eyes and let it wander. We're in front of a large tree with large roots. The size doesn't look normal but its appearance does. "A-amber, you can now let go of m-me." My eyes widened and realized I am still hugging him. I quickly let go and apologised, "Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot."

"I am deeply thankful to your help and kindness," I smiled at him and continued, "And in exchange, I left the lamp, incase you need it while travelling; the dagger so you have something to protect yourself when you are not able to use your magic; and a few cents incase you need to buy something from the Winter Realm. I know you will not accept those if I give it to you here." I scratched my neck and smiled at him awkwardly making him release a deep sigh.

"Amber, you know you don't really have to do that— I owe my life to you when you found me in the Winter Realm. I could have died there and no one will ever know." He put his hand on my shoulder, "I should be the one thankful." He returned the smile. "I've got to go now, thank you for saving my life back there. Goodbye, Amber." He removed his hand and bowed like a prince. I returned the gesture, "Thank you, Hwanwoong, and please take care. Until we meet again?" "Until we meet again." He said before smiling once more and vanishing in a blink of an eye.

"I can't wait to go back." I whispered to myself and thought of going back home. I miss my older brother, I still can't remember him except that I know I have a brother. I'll finally see him again! A bunch of white butterflies came flying towards my direction caught my sight, it is forming into a shape... of a human. I think? Suddenly, it glowed and revealed a boy. He smiled as if we know each other.

"Hello! What brings you here?" His voice is calm and soothing, his face has a nice smile especially his eyes. "Are you perhaps the guardian of the tunnel?" "Yes, I am. Do you need anything?" His smile never leaves his face, creepy but okay... "I was wondering if you could take me to the tunnel? I am Amber, by the way." I reached out my hand which he gladly took and we shook hands, "I am Seoho, nice to meet you!" He took his hand back and spoke, "I can take you there, but in one condition." "What is it?"

His smile faded, "You must give the most important thing you have right now in exchange." "M-most important thing?" He nodded with a smile. I don't have anything except the keys I used to cross the different realms. I took out the keys and showed it to him, "I-I don't have anything with me except these." "Are those important to you?" "I'm not sure, but I wouldn't be able to go here if I don't have these keys. I kept it because I thought they can be used in the future." I sighed before adding, "I thought that what if I need all of the keys to unlock the last gate?" He took the keys from my hand and smiled. "And that makes it the most important thing you have now, right? I shall take these in exchange." I chuckled nervously, "I don't have a choice, do I?"

The keys emitted a yellow light before disappearing from Seoho's hand. I squinted my eyes at Seoho who's smiling face turned into a confused one. "Wait, haven't we met before? You somewhat look familiar to me..." My eyes returned into its normal size while he's the one narrowing his eyes right now. "This is the first time I've seen you, maybe you're mistaken." "Well, if you say so. But before I forget the reason I'm here, can you now take me to the tunnel?" "My pleasure." He took my hand and smiled before a blinding light surrounded us. In a snap, we were transported outside the tunnel.

"Here we are, welcome to the Tunnel of Memories! Now, let's go inside." We started walking towards the mouth of the tunnel and I noticed he hasn't let go of my hand. "Seoho?" "Yes?" "Can you let go of my hand?" "Not yet. We haven't reached the Mirror of Life." "Oh, okay." I mentally smacked my head for ending the conversation with awkwardness. I could have replied with a different choice of words. Mygosh, Amber. What are you doing? I shook my head in disbelief.

I didn't notice we stopped walking until he called me, "Hey, Amber, we're here." I snapped back into reality and looked him. "This is the Mirror of Life, I will guide you till the end of the tunnel, be careful not to get absorbed on what you'll see on the mirrors. Okay?" "Okay." "Now, let's get going, just walk straight ahead. You can look at the mirrors but be careful. You might get sucked in it." I noticed he isn't holding my hand anymore and I started walking. At first nothing happens to the mirror so I looked straight in front. So sudden, the light in the tunnel changed from green to blue then to purple and into different colors making me a little dizzy.

"What is happening?" "Don't pay attention to the lights and keep on walking. Don't stop on your tracks." His voice raised a bit and scared me. "Yes, I will." After sometime, the lights stopped changing and that's when something started to appear from the mirrors. I saw a little girl playing with her mother, then slowly growing up as we walked further. I remembered he said a while ago, don't get too absorbed by the things I'll see in the mirror so I averted my gaze into it.

"We're now in the middle of the tunnel, don't let your guard down." Seoho spoke out of the blue causing me to flinch a little, but what he said scared me. I looked at the mirrors again and now saw a young lady walking alone at night heading to her house. She was welcomed by no one and she headed straight to her room. She plopped down, and after sometime, I think she had fallen asleep already then I averted my eyes again and looked at Seoho. "Are we near yet?" "Yes, we're at the end." We both stopped, and in front of us, there is a mirror showing a lady, who looks exactly like me walking on the street. "Why does she look like me?" He only answered after a few minutes, "It's because that girl... is you." I am shocked at his answer and wasn't able to take my eyes off the mirror. She is standing near the pedestrian crossing waiting for the signal to turn 'walk' when a man came running and pushed her away causing her to stumble to the pedestrian crossing. She looked to see who did it but when she looked to her side, a speeding car came crashing into her body.

The mirror suddenly turned black then flashed another scene. Now the girl which is me, according to Seoho, is now sleeping on the hospital bed. Everything is blurred except for the girl sleeping tight. I faced Seoho and asked, "What am I doing here? If I'm there, sleeping?" He looked at me with sad eyes, "You've been sleeping for several weeks. Come on, let's go." He held my hand and stepped out of the tunnel. We are now in front of a huge circular gate.

"In exchange of the four keys, here is the hourglass, flip it and put it in the hole on the gate." I turned my gaze to Seoho, his other hand is glowing and after the light disappeared, he is holding an hourglass that looks exactly like the one in my room, he then handed it to me.

"Thank you, Seoho." I thought of my older brother. Even if I don't remember his appearance and name as of now, I'm so excited to see him.

"Hurry, it's time for you to go back. Everyone's waiting for you." Seoho smiled then let go of my hand and took a step back. I flipped the hourglass then put it in the hole on the gate and he spoke, "See you, Amber. Goodbye."

"Goodbye and thank you, Seoho." We waved at each other and everything went white.

» T I M E «

I opened my eyes and met a white ceiling. Where am I? I sat up and saw my brother sitting on the couch with his head held down. Did I fell asleep? What happened? I can't really remember what happened a while ago. My eyes searched for a clock and it says 4:50 PM. Was I asleep for too long? Beside my bed is an ECG monitor meaning I'm on a hospital.

"You're awake! Thank goodness, I was really worried!" My brother walked up to me.

"Why am I here? What happened?" I asked.

"You were involved in a car accident this morning. I was really worried when the doctor called me and told me what had happened. How are you feeling now?"

"I think I'm okay, except my whole body hurts."

"Do you want to eat anything?"

"I'm not hungry."

"Here, water." My brother handed me the bottled water before continuing, "I'll go talk to the doctor so you can now go home, just wait here."

"Sure." My brother exited the room quietly while I am left confused. What did I dream of while sleeping? I really can't remember. Why do I feel like this already happened before? This feels deja vu to me. I tried remembering my dream, but I failed. I feel like everything is connected to it. Or maybe I just hit my head very hard? Right, that's why I'm here, heh. I probably won't remember some things.

I heard the door creak open and my brother entered with a doctor and nurse. "You may now be discharged but you should rest after. You can't go to work for a week and you must stay home."

—

"Amber, I cooked dinner, come down! Let's eat!" I heard my older brother shout from the kitchen. I stepped out of my room and carefully walked down the stairs, "I'm coming." I replied calmly and headed to the kitchen. I saw my brother preparing the plates and flashed his infamous eyesmile.

"Seoho, what did you cook for dinner?"

-END OF CHAPTER-

[A/N: and that's the end of TIME! I hope you enjoyed Amber's journey and I'm sorry for the lame ending it was kinda short but yeah, that's it. This has been berry, now signing off, until next story! (if ever) :'D]

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