#also I think it's funny being at work and playing my music before we open because the server has got to be like

[elderberries-and-honey]

There wasn't much left to cover for the 1890's and I have decided to go ahead and say goodbye to the decade by wrapping things up in one swoop instead of a bunch of individual posts. Also, I apologise for how crappy some of these photos look on mobile so viewing from a desktop is probably best.

And with that, we are officially heading into the 1900's!

next / previous / first

Transcript Below The Cut!

Dear Diary, It has been too long since I’ve written, I know, even if it’s only for my eyes. The last six years have passed me by and I have no record of my life to show for it. So, I will vow it on this New Years Day to be better at it starting right now! And I will begin by recounting the last few years with the hope that someday, I can look back on these times with fondness. So much has happened, some splendid, some grim, but that’s the way life always goes, isn’t it? A constant upheaval, tossing you around from one thing to the next so abruptly; even the good changes can feel violent sometimes. And yet, I endure it; maybe I have even taken to embracing it. Life is funny that way, hm? Now, the last six years, well, where do I begin?

In 1894, Lawrence opened the funeral home. It was a little ironic, considering Valerie passed away that same year. She had been hiding her failing liver before we moved out to Windenburg, and passed on with her brother at her side. Beth and Oisin traveled to Wales together to attend the funeral; Lawrence, however, could not come away from work.

1895 was a much better year for our family We began it with Beth & Oisin's wedding! But little did we know, the best was yet to come...the birth of our Alison Aurora! Our family has never felt more complete but they could not be more different from each other; each of them unique in their own way. Oscar is our wild child, always in search of some sort of adventure. It’s as though he lives for being outdoors and running around; playing in mud and splashing in puddles. I believe he is the most like his father out of the three, a social butterfly with an inability to sit still. Our sweetheart, Atticus, is curious like his brother but reclusive like his mother. He is often shy and timid, but seems to have taken a real interest in nature, and I find him off in the garden often, studying the flowers and admiring their colours. We are alike in many ways, and spend the most time together; he was also to hardest to wean from my breast. Alison, or Rory as I call her, or ‘goofy girl’ as Lawrence calls her, has her father wrapped around her little finger. She like to keep us on our toes with her silliness; she loves to do funny dances when we play music on the phonograph. And, she has no problems keeping up with her brothers!

As for myself, well, my dearest diary, I am happy to say that I am now a working woman! I am a secretary for a local newspaper started by an Irishman.

all in all, i think we are very happy

[euphorix-moon]

Cool With You

Ellie x Fem!Reader

Wc: 1k

Synopsis: Another fluffy fic about you and Ellie going on your first date

A/n: I'm sorry i just can't enough of fluffy ellie fics. Love her too much

You smiled across the table, staring at the woman seated in front of you. Your date,Ellie . He still couldn’t believe how a string of chance encounters had led them to this moment. When you had left the music store in a hurry to catch your train, you had been a bit disappointed that you hadn't been able to catch the music store owner's number,thinking that you'd never see her again.

Thankfully, fate worked in mysterious ways, and you were now sitting with Ellie in your favorite restaurant in the city. It was slightly after 5, leaving the restaurant full of people who just wanted to relax and enjoy a nice dinner. It was also a perfect time for Ellie because she had just closed up her shop an hour prior.

“Order whatever you want; remember,  I promised to treat you!” You said with a wide grin while pouring out a cup of water and sliding it over to the other. You chuckled quietly to yourself as you remembered how she had spilled the cup of water in front of you not so long ago.

You apparently weren't subtle enough, as she looked up from the menu and gave you a knowing smirk. “What’s so funny?”

“Just thinking how cute you are,” you replied smoothly with an exaggerated pout, and you broke into loud laughter when Ellie quickly looked away from you. You watched as her ears tinged slightly pink. After a beat, Ellie shook her head and mumbled under her breath.

“What was that?” You had asked playfully.

Ellie huffed a deep breath, then looked up straight at you.

 

“I said, YOU’RE CUTER!”

The surrounding tables of guests turned to look at you and Ellie's table. You could practically feel your face burning with embarrassment at having the tables turned on you. With all this attention suddenly put on you two, you sank down into your seat and held up the menu to cover your embarrassed face, peeking over the top to see Ellie obviously enjoying the moment with a victorious smile on her own face.

Two can play this game, you thought to yourself.

You two made your orders; you had ordered spaghetti with meatballs, while Ellie had ordered steak with a side of mashed potatoes. Conversation and laughter flowed easily and naturally between the both of you. It was as if you guys had known each other for years, despite this only being the first official date for you two.

You leaned forward slightly and looked at Ellie with the most innocent face that you could muster.

“Ellie, could you close your eyes for a second?"

“What?” Ellie was distracted with her meal, mentally thanking you for showing her this gem of a spot.

“Just close your eyes and trust me.”

Ellie stopped eating, giving you a look of suspicion but she shut her eyes anyway.

You picked up a meatball that was on your plate and blew gently on it to cool it down. You then leant forward and slowly pressed the meat to Ellie's lips. The moment it came into contact, Ellie’s eyes flew open in shock, but before she could react, you quickly forced the meat into her mouth. She accepted it in embarrassed silence before slowly chewing it and turning an interesting shade of red, once again averting her gaze from you.

You burst out laughing and couldn’t stop creating a little scene in the restaurant yet again. "Oh my God! You're almost as red as a tomato! Your eyes were so wide! What did you think I was going to do?”

"I—well, I felt something on my lips and..." Ellie was sputtering, unable to look you in the eyes.

“You can always feed me too, you know; we can annoy everyone with our lovey-dovey PDA,” you teased while giving a wink.

Ellie shuffled in her seat and huffed.

“I’m going to eat your bank account dry on all our dates; just you wait.”

“Who said I’m going to pay for all our dates?” You rolled his eyes. “Oh, so you’re alright with going on another date with me? And I’ll pay next time.” You nearly dropped your fork at the fact that Ellie had indirectly asked you out on another date. Not that you minded.

It was now your turn to feel embarrassed again, you averted your gaze, seemingly finding your plate the most interesting thing in the restaurant.

*****

Luckily, both of your apartments were on the same train line, so you guys were able to spend more time together getting home. As you two walked to the train stop, your hands kept brushing against each other as they jostled through the crowd.

Suddenly, you felt Ellie's fingers lacing through your own and squeezing your hand gently. Ellie smiled at you,and you squeezed back with a small smile of your own in response.

You two spent the whole train journey without talking,simply enjoying the silence in each other’s presence as they continued to hold hands. It felt comfortable and easy.

Too bad this moment couldn't last forever, because you had heard the announcement of the next approaching station, and you knew it was your stop. You sighed and reluctantly pulled your hand free from the other, already missing the warmth of her hands.

“It’s my stop, so... I guess I’ll see you next time. Bye, Ellie.”

She didn’t answer, simply watching your back as you stepped out of the train doors.

Or so you thought.

When you had barely made ten steps across the platform, someone tugged sharply at your wrist, causing you to turn around in surprise.

The next thing you knew, a hand was around your waist,another was placed behind the nape of your neck, and a pair of lips were pressed firmly to your own.

Ellie was kissing you.

You couldn't do anything else but melt into those lips, because Ellie sure wasn’t holding back.

A long moment later, you two drew apart, panting breathlessly.

“I—wait—what about your train?” You may have been in a daze, but you wanted to kick yourself for letting those be the first words out of your mouth.

“I can always catch another,” Ellie answered, leaning forward to let hot breath tickle at your ears, which made you shiver involuntarily.

“Besides, if I recall correctly, someone wanted to annoy everyone with excessive PDA?”

You turned your face to meet Ellie’s eyes, a smile slowly forming.

“Well, I think I can do a better job than you at that.”

 

“Oh yeah? Prove it.”

A/n: Hope you enjoyed! As always feedback is appreciated :). Would you guys like to see some Holiday inspired fics coming up ?

[thislovintime]

Head premiered on November 6, 1968. (Edit featuring the two Tork songs - in the studio and demo versions, respectively - and a line from the movie.)

“What’s happening as time goes on is that the movie [Head] is becoming a chronicle of an age. At the time, it was just a chronicle of the Monkees.” - Peter Tork, The Monkees Tale (1985) Q: “What do you think of the music from the film ‘Head’?” Peter Tork: "Well, since I wrote and produced two of the songs myself, I think it’s fine. I did ‘Can You Dig It?’ And ‘[Long Title:] Do I Have To Do This All Over Again.’” - Goldmine, 1982 “The funny thing is that the lyrics [to ‘Long Title: Do I Have To Do This All Over Again?’] came to me right out of the air. I was just playing those chord changes on the guitar, and I opened my mouth and that’s what popped out. The song was weirdly prophetic. I had no idea that was going to be my attitude about anything having to do with music when I wrote that song." - Peter Tork, Listen To The Band liner notes (more about "Long Title..." here) “‘Can You Dig It’ is about the Tao. The hook line I wrote in my dressing room on the set [of the television series in 1967]. The chords for the chorus I’d written in college, and [they] had just stuck with me.” - Peter Tork, Head box set liner notes (more about "Can You Dig It?" here) "I think they're ['Can You Dig It?' and 'Long Title...'] the best songs in the movie [Head]. I love both of them. I thought they were just terrific. He had plugged himself into that whole Stephen Stills connection and was working with those guys. I think they fit the movie better than anything did. When those two songs start up in the movie, it comes alive for me.” - Michael Nesmith, Head box set liner notes “Thorkelson expressed a preference for the Monkees’ ‘Headquarters’ album, because it was the group’s first self-performed album […]. The soundtrack to the [...] movie ‘Head’ also is among Thorkelson’s favorites. ‘It was a little tinny, but back then I guess we were a little tinny,’ he said. ‘That movie will always look good,’ commented Thorkelson.” - The Bowling Green News Revue, May 24, 1979 "'When we made Headquarters, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven,' says Tork. 'My whole goal had been to be a member of a band that worked. The next thing I know we're making a movie and it doesn't have anything to do with the business of being in a band together.' [...] 'There's some weight behind the idea that Bob and Bert wanted to wreck the Monkees, to stop it cold in its tracks,' says Tork. 'I've never known for sure. Bert and Bob might have thought out loud: "Let's kill the Monkees!" Or they may have not thought so out loud but at some unconscious level, they were sick of the Monkees and wanted to do something else.' [...] 'It was a joy seeing a movie being made, but I didn't like working for Bob Rafelson,' Tork says. 'I did what he told me, but I can't say that I ever had any heart connection with him.' His favorite scene, in which he recounts what he has learned from an Indian mystic, was actually directed by Nicholson. [...] Tork has seen Head around 80 times but it took him years to work out why it bothered him so much. In the movie, the Monkees are hoodwinked, bamboozled, chased, assaulted, mocked, trapped in a black box and reduced to dandruff in the hair of actor Victor Mature, before ending up back where they started. In the words of the sardonic Nicholson-penned theme tune, 'So make your choice and we'll rejoice/ In never being free.' 'Most people are dazzled by the psychedelia, and that's fine, but for me finally the point of the movie is the Monkees never get out,' Tork says sadly. 'Which is to say Bob Rafelson's view of life is you never get out of the black box you're in. There's no escape.' So how would a Peter Tork cut of Head end? 'There might have been a scene where we get out,' he says wistfully. 'We jump in the water and get away.'" - The Guardian, April 28, 2011

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s2 episode 3 thoughts

here we go! this episode is titled "blood" which did not bode well for me, the girl who hates blood. but i am dedicated and pushed through in the name of our mission.

we open at a post office. sometimes, i think it would be fun to work in a post office.

but alas! our postman has received a paper cut. he licks it up which... can't be hygienic.

and then he immediately gets fired :( this is sooooo unfair

when he returns to his post his machine reads "KILL"!!! my first thought was that this was gonna be a little shop of horrors style thing where an inanimate object tastes blood and Likes it (Which is sort of what happened? but mostly not really)

((side note: need to see mulder and scully take on audrey two))

so it seems that the people are either being told by machines to do some killing or all the members of the town are experiencing collective hallucination...

mulder arrives. i was distracted by his fluffy hair. from the notes: "his hair is fluffy. he isn't saying much at this crime scene but his hair is fluffy"

! MULDER LORE REVEAL ! he played right field! (this was brought up when the policeman mentioned the suspect was on the softball team)

back to our post office friend, who is near a child with a random nosebleed whilst getting some money, and now the ATM is telling him to kill people

mulder points out that these are spree killings and not serial ones <-okay human embodiment of the nerd emoji.

it's a totally normal report on the crimes, no spooky stuff involved, and scully is reading it... until he mentions UFOs and she says to herself "i was wondering when you'd get to that" LMAOOOOO she knows him too well

we see a woman being lured into a dark garage by a mechanic and i thought i knew where this was going but i DIDN'T because SHE gets paranoid and the machine tells her the guy is gonna get her and she freaks out and STABS HIM

mulder arrives to the crime scene with a really funny looking camera. can anyone provide me more information about this camera? i'm curious

anyway, he shows up at the house of the woman who killed the mechanic, and we see another example of his bountiful social skills when he asks to come in and she says "i'm late for work" and he just barges in and says "you can blame me". i love this man so bad it's actually a problem. he WILL get inside of ur house.

but her microwave is telling her to kill him and she pulls out a knife and STABS him and i was yelling NOOOOOOOO! and then the cop he was with shoots her and VERY QUICKLY we get a cutscene to....

SCULLY AUTOPSY TIME!!!!!!

she thinks there's some sort of chemical that is making the people do this

we also see poor wet meow meow mulder's bandaged arm :(

back to the ex-postman, who is seeking new gainful employment at a supermarket in which there are guns for sale in the back, another reminder that this show is set in america. he starts to see evil things in the TV but resists (and it might be related to the blood drive at the store but? it's a little unclear tbh)

mulder running scene! getting his cardio in! the man is dripping in sweat! he sees a guy toss some stuff in a yard and it's... dead bugs?

so who does he take the bugs to? well, the weirdos who previously were consulted for another case: the conspirators at the lone gunman! famous for the one guy hitting on scully and ripping up her twenty dollar bill

so we're back to these freaks and he says he didn't see their latest issue because "it arrived the same day as my subscription to Celebrity Skin"

now, i had an educated guess here based on name alone, but needed to confirm what this "celebrity skin" truly was. a search brings you to an album by the band Hole, and i was like omg!!! we're gonna get an insight into his canon music taste!!!! there is nothing more i LOVE than learning a character's favorite artists <3

but, this cannot be... for the show takes place before 1998, when the album was released... so i dig further

chat, as expected, it is a porn mag. seems to have involved some unethical stuff. mulder: ur a sick man.

the even sicker man who previously hit on scully was like "where's your little friend?" and he counters with "she wouldn't come. she was too afraid of her love for you" and the weirdo responds with "she's tasty"

now i want you to buckle your seat belts for what mulder says next. buckled? secured? sat? everyone is in a safe position? okay. he says:

"you know, it's men like you that give perversion a bad name"

HELLO? hey. hi! quick question <3 what does that mean. mulder a freak confirmed????

(i mean i guess we DID already know he fucked phoebe on arthur conan doyle's grave, which is going to stick in my head forever, but. don't make it worse. sometimes he's such a Man)

anyway the weirdos at the lone gunman think it's related to pesticides. and then mulder asks to borrow their night vision goggles and the weirdest of weirdos is like "only if you give me scully's number!"

cutscene to him using the night goggles

(mulder, if you gave that creep her number, i will NEVER forgive you. so keep that in mind)

he's sitting in a field and it looks so natural, like he really belongs there. bring back sitting in fields. but then he breaks into the orchard and gets sprayed by some pesticides and thoroughly knocked on his ass

mulder's yelling at some guy to take responsibility for the pesticides that he thinks are killing people... a moral crusader serving on the front lines...

scully's here now, btw. she took his blood. which had to be a strange experience. and then she mentions that she FLEW 300 MILES in the MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT to come take his blood?

holy shit, mulder. she did that for you and you've been so broody and angsty lately and maybe even gave some dick her phone number. holy shit mulder, do not blow this. you cannot afford to blow this. she is soooo good to you.

anyway, he's seeing the same evil messages in technology the killers were now so that's a bummer

mulder proposes that this is some sort of subliminal messaging thing that is being activated by the fear-inducing pesticides and the cop gets pissed and leaves, to which he says "he's probably one of those people that thinks Elvis is dead"

so that's the SECOND line in this show about him being an elvis truther and i'm starting to think it's not a joke

back to the ex-postman. people are coming to his door to take blood and test for the chemicals in the pesticides and he's going bonkers. he's seeing "KILL" in his calculator, which is how you know things are rough. his watch even beeps and says "KILL" which i think would make a very very very very funny gif if anyone has that.

well, all of a sudden he's missing so the agents go to his house and knock. until.

scully realizes the door is open and just. lets herself in. i was laughing SO hard here. these bitches WILL get into your house. they will NOT wait for an invitation. truly a sign of soulmatism.

ex-postman was running running and they're like omg where is heeeeee he's gonna hurt people!!! scully is once again proving her genius status by saying that if it's a paranoia case, then all these guys in police uniforms need to get out of view.

(there's also this shot where mulder is like. smoldering. and she's behind him and man. height difference content i really really do love you and your work <3)

our crazed ex-postman climbs a tower at a college and is gonna start shooting but he's also hallucinating and laughing maniacally which i described in my notes as "entering his joker era"

mulder runs up and prevents a shootout using some handy jujitsu. neeeeed to see if this man is a black belt. for character driven purposes.

but he says that he knows the guy can't stop and overall it's an eerie situation because you can tell the pesticides are still in his brain as well. and his arm is bleeding again and this makes the other guy go into overdrive.

um. okay.

crisis averted...?

well, you sure would like to think that, wouldn't you? but the episode ends with mulder calling scully, and then HE sees more evil stuff in his phone! and it fades to blackness as her voice is heard through the speaker...

(i love that she knew it was him immediately. despite the silence. and that her train of thought went from "it's scully" to "mulder is it you?" to "mulder, what's wrong?" talk about a connection!)

hope he doesn't do anything too impulsive...

in conclusion: my very surface level interpretation of this episode was that it was warning us to not be controlled by technology, which i'm sure felt more relevant back in the day. but now that i have to click "don't sell my data" when i browse flavors of soup for sale online, i think we might just no longer be the target audience. or maybe it's even more relevant! an argument could be made both ways.

down with pesticides, though! i can get behind that! when's the last time you saw a bee? bring them back!

[atlasmarzz]

..heey.... so funny story this is all shit and giggles its not supposed to be good. my friends and i have a server on discord dedicated to talking and gushing about leon. we were talking and naturally came up with the scenario? idk i wantes to write something so happy first post on this app! its also REALLY long i got so distracted and wanted a whole ass story.

"he is so lana del rey" (ABSOLUTELY RANCID GRAMMAR WARNING)

NSFW warning! read at your own risk? uuhh, leon eats you out, p in v, unprotected sex (wrap it before you tap it), riding, praise kink?

you stood at the stove in the kitchen Leon and yourself shared. faint music playing in the background as you stirred the pasta that was currently boiling. at the moment, leon should be driving home from a tiring mission in the city today, what better thing to do than treat him with dinner?

as if your thoughts were the cue to the world, the familiar sound of a black jeeps' tires rolled into the drive way. the excitement of seeing your fiancé after a long day bubbled into your chest. you untied the apron that protected your clothes and hung it up, waiting patiently for the door to open.

the door handle wiggled slightly at the sound of keys attempting to unlock it. as soon as the click was heard, so was the creek of it swinging open. an extremely tired leon came slowly walking in, shutting the door behind him.

he was silent as he removed his work shoes and bomber jacket, sighing with content from finally being home. he stretched his muscles softly, trying not to cause pain. the smell of the pasta roamed the air.

"im home, love" he called out as his feet crept towards the smell.

"in the kitchen!" you yelled back, adding the sauce into the drained noodles.

your eyes were focused on the food infront of you, so you hadnt noticed leon coming up behind you until his hands snaked around your waist. his head rested on your shoulder as he spoke quietly.

"it smells nice," your spine tingled from his touch and voice, but you had smiled none the less, "i missed you today." he spoke again, leaving a light kiss on your shoulder.

"i missed you even more," you reply, spinning around in his grasp and wrapping your hands around his neck.

you leaned up and connected your guys lips quickly. when you pulled back, he had a small smile dancing on his features and his eyes were dull in the light. he pulled you closer into a hug, holding your body like it was glass.

"i dont think thats possible" he retorted, resting his head on yours as he rubbed small circles into your lower back.

you laughed lightly, trying to pry from his grip, "whatever helps you sleep at night, kennedy" you teased, turning around to continue cooking.

he rubbed his face and backed away to let me cook, "im gonna go shower, that mission was rough" he muttered the last part and you frowned lightly, "feel free to join" he finished as he walked up the stairs, leaving your face red.

he was such a god awful tease to you and he knew how riled up you got about it. you shook your head free of lewd thoughts and finished the pasta. you grabbed two plates from the cupboard above and plated it neatly, setting it on the counter, hoping it would cool in the time he showered.

over time, the steam from the pasta stopped and leon came down the stairs in a black tshirt and grey sweatpants. he knew exactly what he was doing to you when he wore them.

"you didnt have to, love" he said, kissing your head softly before grabbing a fork and digging in.

"well, you always work so hard, its the bare minimum to just cook you food" you shrug, taking a bite as well.

he chewed quickly and spoke again, "its delicious too, im surprised you didnt light the house on fire" he laughed before taking another bite.

"hey!" you shouted, shoving his shoulder playfully, "guess i wont cook for you anymore" you scoffed, rolling your eyes and twirling pasta around your fork.

"im teasing you, you know" he spoke with pasta in his mouth, smiling slightly.

"if you keep talking with food in your mouth, you can return the engagement rings" you retort, waving you fork at him and finishing your plate.

you ran the plate under warm water and set it delicately in the dishwasher. drying your hands with a towel, you looked up at leon with a cock eyebrow and pursed lips

"you love me too much" he said smoothly as he rinsed his plate and set it next to yours.

he stood infront of you and mirrored the position, clearly mocking you. you rolled yours eyes again and huffed out

"i hate you" you finally blurted, but he knew you meant nothing of those words

without responding, he lifted you and threw your body over his shoulder playfully, "mhm, like youll be saying that in about.. 30 minutes" he tilted his head in estimation.

"leon scott kennedy! put me down you-" you thrashed, but his grip on your back only tighten as laughter filled the air. you decided to give up, knowing where this was going anyways.

he used his free hand to open the door to your shared bedroom and closed it with his foot. he gently dropped you onto the freshly made comforter and leaned down to kiss me.

the kiss was light on your lips, but heavy in emotion. he broke it slightly, supporting his body on his forearms that trapped your head. he kissed the corner of your mouth and trailed them from your cheek, to jaw, and to your neck.

you tilted your head up and back into the blanket, giving him better access to leave red and purple marks. a ligjt gasp left your mouth as you tangled your fingers within his sandy blonde hair when he reached your sensetive spot, just like he always does. you had felt his lips curl into a smile as he continued to kiss and lightly bite the same area.

"leon- stop that-" you breathed out, hands going to grip at his biceps and push him back.

he leaned up to get a better look at your face, reaching up to remove hair from your view, "hm? you know.. your body talks more than your mouth." he whispered, his hands riding up your waist underneath your shirt, his cold hands makimg contact with warm skin, making you jolt.

you turned your head away in to sheets, trying to hide the embarrassment just because you know hes right. your thighs were pressed together to attempt at any type of friction due to lack of attention.

he noticed this action right away, his hands resting on your waist again, "see? arent i always right?" he asked lowly, his hands coming down to lift the shirt over your head.

he leaned down again and left light kisses and bites on your collarbone, trailing down to your chest, and down to your stomach. you opened your mouth the protest but no words came out. he was now knealing on the floor infront of your laying figure on the bed.

your hands came up to unclip the bra you had been wearing since leon skipped right past it. you had sucked a breath in as your chest had been hit with the cold atmosphere of the room. you looked down at leon as his eyes were glossed over with hunger.

his index fingers hooked the band of your shorts and panties. he looked up at you for the go ahead and you nodded, slammimg your head back into the bed as he slid them down to the floor, disregaurding them somewhere in the room.

"i thought you said you hated me?" he asked as he used his hands to spread your thighs apart, his breath hitting your soaking cunt.

"leon please dont-" you reached down and tugged on his hair, eyes squeezing shut in embarrassment.

"dont what, bunny? use your words now" he said, looking back up at your pathetic face.

"dont fucking tease-" you manage to stutter out, trying to lift your hips away from him.

he used his arms to pry your legs open and his hands to keep your hips down, completely restricting from resistance. he began leaving light kissed on your lower left thigh, working his way up but skipping over where it needed him most and going to your right thigh, repeating the same actions.

you whined out, "leon just- please" you begged, tugging at his damp hair again.

"well, considering you asked so nicely" he gave in, leaning in to kiss the top of your pelvis.

he dove his tongue out, flattening it against your clit and then harshly flicking his tongue around. he latched his lips around it, sucking like he would never get the chance again. he removed one hand off your hips and used it to prod at your soaked hole.

"l..leon! oh.. mph!" you gasp out, hips bucking at the feeling of his mouth working you to oblivion.

"hmm?" he asked, still having his lips connected to the bundle of nerves he was toying with, the vibration of his words sending a shockwave through your body.

without warning, he plunged his middle finger into your sopping arousal, making you let out an audible moan. his finger worked back and forth, hitting that spongey spot over and over again as his tongue sucked and lapped at your clit. he added his ring finger now, stretching your hole out and doubling the pleasuring spot he hit.

the coil in your abdomen only grew tighter the more and more he worked at you, "fuck leon- im gonna-" you squeeked out, arching your back as your thighs shook slightly.

he pulled his head back to speak, "go ahead, bunny" he encouraged, letting you release onto his fingers.

your hole clenched around his digets as your orgasm hit like a rock, leaving you breathless and leons chin covered in saliva and the wetness of your core.

he removed his fingers slowly, getting back up to kiss you. you tasted yourself on his tongue as he dominated your mouth again. he wiped his fingers onto the blanket before leaning up and removing his own shirt.

"are you alright, love?" he asked sweetly, towering over you and kissing your forehead.

you nodded slowly, trying to regulate your breathing from your high. you opened your eyes to meet his loving gaze, his slightly dried hair dipping infront of his face as he looked down at you. "im alright" i whisper, finally getting your voice back.

he only smiled before latching his lips back to yours, pulling his sweats and boxers down in one swift motion. he kicked them somewhere with your discarded clothes and stood between your legs. he broke the kiss, a string of saliva connecting it still as he went to wipe it away with his thumb. he moved to sit on the edge of the bed, grabbing your hips and pulling you up with him.

"youre being so good for me tonight, yeah? wanna be even prettier and show me how much you want this?" he muttered into your ear, helping you situate each leg around his own.

your sensetive cunt hovered over his hard on. your eyes were hazy as you looked almost down at him. you nodded and used your hand to guide his cock under your entrance. once you deemed it possible, you slowly sunk down onto him, taking in his length bit by bit. you dropped your head into the crook of his neck as you whimpered incoherent sentences.

his hands drew small circles into your back, his breath hitching as your pussy wrapped tightly around his shaft, sinking painfully slow, but he had to let you adjust. "its okay, love, take your time" he whispered, kissing the side of your head. his hands made their way down to your hips to help you.

after a moment you decided to slam your entire body down on him, "fuck! mm leon!" you moaned out, biting his shoulder as your nails clawed at his back.

he lifted his head, opening his mouth in a silent groan. "fuck, bunny, you take me s'fucking good" he muttered, gripping the flesh of your hips harshly.

you got the confidence to start rolling your hips back and forth, picking up the pace and building a momentum that felt right. you shoved your face into his neck again to prevent yourself from screaming out. "mph- so fucking full le- mmph!" you cried, working even faster.

he mumbled jabbled words of praise, his hands guiding your movements for support. he felt your nails dig into the muscles of his shoulders, creating vial red scratches along the surface. he didnt mind, he wore them so proudly whenever he did anything shirtless. he felt his release approaching as your pussy clenched down on him with every movement. "just like that my love- fuck" he breathed out

your words became nothing but begs and pleads for the band to snap in your core. your movements became faster but sloppier, you would do anything to finish at this moment, but you needed more. you lifted your head to look at leon in this moment, his hair tousled and sweat lining his forehead.

you pressed your forehead to his, "m fuck leon im gonna- so close" you muttered as leon reached every sensetive spot inside of you.

"me too- gonna come soon bunny-" he whispered, trapping your lips in a wet opened mouth kiss.

with a few more finally rolls of your hips, your band snapped again and you yelped out, "fuck! leon- i-" you said, your gushing cunt squeezing tight around him.

"i know, love, i know" he muttered, releasing himself into you, letting your head fall onto his shoulder and pant out, too tired to get off of him, "lets get you to bed, hm?" he offered, lifting you off of his cock, watching his release leak out of you. he layed you down softly and got up, grabbing a towel and cleaning you up.

he pulled his own sweat back on before pulling your panties back up and throwing his black tshirt over your head. you felt half asleep when he picked you up and slid under the covers with you his arms. he wrapped his arm around your waist and used the other one to prop his head up, watching over your sleepy figure.

"i love you leon" you mutter, your eyes falling closed and putting you to sleep.

"told you so" he said triumphantly and closing his own eyes, letting his own sleep find him, "love you too, bunny" he whispered with a kiss on the back of your head.

you both fell asleep, his arms holding you like you were glass

[moon-alight]

hi! I was wondering if I could request a fluff maki boyfriend imagine,maybe something where maki is just being an adorable and comforting boyfriend .

Also I love your work:)🤍

Of course I will <3 (I love him and want him to be mine)

Masterlist

Clouded - &Team Maki

Synopsis: You had been invited to watch practice by your boyfriend who suddenly realized how much he loved you and enveloped you in all the affection he could give.

Warning: fluff

Word Count: 571

'Come to practice' he said. 'It will be fun' he said.

You couldn't really blame him, after all, you were the stupid fool who believed him. He had been nothing but a little menace lately so when your precious boyfriend invited you to watch his practice, you said yes.

Now, you were doing your homework in a corner of the practice room while he was dancing and chatting with his members. You had watched a fair amount but you also remembered you had stuff to do for school -- an essay to be exact.

You hummed along to 'Hellevator' which was playing in the background for the umpteenth time. &Team was doing a cover and they were working hard to master the dance moves as best as they could.

You were too focused on your homework that you didn't notice the music had been cut off. You continued to write down random meaningless words as you had no idea how to actually continue.

"What are you up to, Schnucki?" Maki asked you as he joined you on the ground in the corner of the room. The German pet name rolled easily off his tongue.

"Making homework."

Maki hummed, he had heard the little edge to your voice. It sounded like you were very irritated and as much as he would like to tease you right now, he knew it wasn't the right moment.

"Which subject are you working on?"

"History." You smirked to yourself for a second before looking up at him with innocent eyes. "You wouldn't know anything about the second world war, would you?"

"Very funny." He playfully glared at you, knowing you implied to whatever had been going on with Germany and Japan back then. "Can't you make that essay later?"

"I mean, I could." You looked down at your papers and groaned. "I hate this!"

"I know, it sucks."

"Not you acting like you didn't get pardon for most homework because you are a 'hard-working idol' now?"

Maki looked at your pout and chuckled. He reached over, took your pen and turned the paper over to face him. He laid down on his stomach and began to write.

"What are you doing?" You asked with a frown, looking over at him.

"I'm making your essay."

"What?"

"It's not hard, I'm good at history." He assured you.

"Come on, everyone! Let's resume!" EJ said and stood back up with the rest of the team. "Maki? You coming?"

"I can't! I am making my girlfriend's homework!" The younger boy told him and continued to write unbothered.

"Seriously? This is more important than--"

"Than what?" Maki sat up and playfully glared at his leader. "More important than my girlfriend?"

"That's not what I was saying."

"No, but you were thinking it!" Maki replied and stood up. He took your hand and pulled you to your feet before grabbing your bag. "Now, if you excuse me, I have to bring my girlfriend, who I love so much, home so we can both finish her homework."

He took your hand and walked with you to the door. He tried to pull it open but it wouldn't budge. He tried again, harder but unfortunately, the door seemed to be locked.

"You are such an idiot." EJ mumbled. "If you want to make a dramatic exit, remember that this is a push-door and not a pull-door."

Maki chuckled awkwardly and pushed the door open easily.

[rocketrecord]

From Jackie issues 497 and 498, published 14th and 21st of July 1973. Transcription under the cut because why not

PART ONE: THE first time I met Elton John's mother, Sheila, she was busy making baked beans on toast for everyone who was visiting his house, Hercules, on the Wentworth estate just outside London.

Elton quickly explained that baked beans on toast, no matter how successful he was these days, was still one of his favourite meals!

Elton's mother is now moving to a house nearby, so she doesn't have to travel so far to see him.

Also when Elton is away, as he frequently is these days, his mother always stays in his home to look after it for him.

Sheila remembers her son's expertise at cooking when he was younger. She may now still cook him a quick beans on toast, and John Reid his manager and friend may make the grander meals, but Elton used to be and still is an expert at baking.

"When he was at school and I was out at work I often used to come home and find the kitchen full of flour and pots and pans, and there were all these cakes!"

Elton's mother remembers too that he first started playing the piano at an amazingly early age.

"He was playing all the pop tunes when he was three. We used to send him to bed, then he'd get up and play at family parties. The funny thing is that I can't play the piano myself, but my father played old military music

"When he was a bit irritated as a baby my husband would let him beat on the piano -Elton's little legs used to be hanging from the piano stool! In those days, of course, you weren't allowed to perform in public before you were 13 years old. I think without that law he could have been a child star. He could have won several talent shows I'm sure.

"It was when he was about eight years-old that he lost interest in music totally because he had the wrong teacher, but I managed to find a new one when he was 10 or 11 years old and she let him play all the pop stuff. I think other people had been forcing him into the classics when all he wanted to do was play pop. It just seemed to go very, very well after that and he took an interest again."

Even now Elton's mother plays a part in his musical career.

He always plays me over tapes of new material that he and Bernie Taupin have put together, and asks me what I think would make the right single."

Elton has alwas been very close to his mother, and they were talking eagerly about the “grand opening” of his new swimming pool. The pool is beside his large lounge and has been almost a year in the making.

Sheila's favourite Elton John album? Appropriately it's called the Elton John album!

"I love sad music," she told me.

"'Elton's alwavs been a sensitive and thoughtful person, and this comes out in his songs-particularly on that album. I've always enjoyed a good cry at films and things.

Even her house was named after an Elton John song track, Hienton." It was gold lettered on wood and Sheila is so devoted to it, that it's being moved to her new home at the back of Elton's.

Another person in Elton's life is moving closer to him as well:

Bernie Taupin, the man who writes all the words in Elton's songs.

Until recently Bernie insisted on staying up at his little cottage in Lincolnshire but has now been persuaded to move nearer to Elton so they can work more easily.

When we met, Bernie and Elton were just preparing to go to France and record at the same chateau where they made their album Honky Chateau.

"There will be a lot more rock'n' roll on the next album." Elton assured me.

Elton always keeps a sense of humour when he's talking about himself.

I’m not exactly your thin. lean, lank pop star," he laughed. hated my hair when it was long. So I had it all cut short and just lately I've had some green streaks added to each side just above my ears.

I think that mould green and orange go together!

"I guess I see myself as cuddly - certainly not sexy! I imagine that's why the audiences never try to rip my clothes off. Mind you, it's lovely because I've always had. young fans, especially up North.”

Elton told me of a recent dinner he'd had with a hero of his--the famous American comedian Groucho Marx, who was one of the Marx Brothers, whose films are often seen on television. Groucho is the one with the large black hat, moustache and cigar and the funny walk.

"It was while I was over in California and was renting a house at Malibu Beach. He agreed to come to dinner and although it was 100 degrees outside, they said that as he was now an old man he'd want a log fire burning in-doors. So we had to light one.

"He sat down in the lounge in his coat and his beret and insisted on calling me John Elton. He was amazing - you never quite knew whether he was taking the mickey out of everything

"Then I also met another famous old screen star Mae West. She was incredible. She must be eighty if she's a day!"

At his home Elton keeps two dogs. Bruce, the alsatian and Brian, a spaniel, and he's bought his mother Sheila a Yorkshire terrier called Fanny.

Whenever you call there they're apt to come bounding in from the garden demanding attention-especially from Elton, because he has to be away from home so much, they like a lot of his time when he is there.

Usually when guests are at his house they have to be kept out of the way, but they were allowed to bound into the room on one big occasion recently. That was when David Cassidy, his lifelong friend Sam Hyman and Rod Stewart came to dinner.

"David has his own dogs," ex-plained Elton, "and he was delighted to meet mine. They immediately sensed he liked dogs and made a great fuss of him.”

Next Week: The dinner party with David and Rod.

PART TWO: THE pop dinner party of the year took place at Elton John's house 'Hercules? on the Wentworth estate in Surrey, just outside London.

There was Elton, and there was Rod Stewart and there was . . . David Cassidy!

It was Elton's idea to get all three pop stars together during David's recent tour. He'd met David in California last summer and the two singers have become close friends.

David's visit to Elton was the closest kept secret of his tour. And one of the biggest attractions was Elton's jukebox, which he keeps in his large games room at the front of the house. Elton keeps the jukebox stocked with the current top twenty in America and England as well as some golden oldies. And David especially liked playing those old Beatles favourites, like Love Me Do. Please, Please Me and Yellow Submarine.

Elton let me into a secret: "I had an idea during David's tour that it would be nice to join him up on stage and play the piano for him. It never worked out but I thought it was a way of showing him how much ! liked him and liked his work. A lot of people knock him but I think he's very talented.

However, Elton may yet write some songs for David.

"Now I've got a record company, which I've called Rocket Records. I'm producing and I've written a song for Kiki Dee. I'd always written for myself before, and now I'm starting to write for other people, I don't see why I shouldn't try and do something for David. In fact I've written three songs for Kiki, so Bernie, who writes the words, has had to imagine he's a girl for those songs!"

Rod Stewart had told Elton that he'd like to meet David so Elton thought the dinner would be a golden opportunity.

Another guest at the top level dinner party was David's friend since schooldays, Sam Hyman, who flew over to Britain for the last few days of the tour. Completing the party was Elton's friend and manager John Reid, who did all the cooking!

What was the menu? A good English meal of roast beef followed by strawberries and ice crear with coffee and pear brandy to finish. The guests had red wine with their main course. Elton says the evening was very high spirited with David not leaving until four in the morning!

"I think David is really great," said Elton.

"He really works as hard as a navvy, you know. He's certainly not an idiot. He knows me now, but when I first met him he was so paranoid: he'd shut himself in his house for a year and a half because he was scared to go out in case he got ripped to shreds!

"When he came down for dinner he was completely at home, playing records and joking although he was very tired because it was at the end of his tour. He did ask me to write something for him and I'd really like to.

"There is such an awful barrier because he is a pop star. You have either to be a heavy group like Led Zeppelin or a pop star.

But what people don't realise is that he's a very good musician. The reason why I'd have liked to have appeared with him is because I'd like to have made a gesture to show that I appreciate his talent. I hate these musical barriers in pop music.

Elton has been spending this month in America on holiday.

“I like to go out there to California for a rest once a year. I'lI probably see David again then, although he's started work on 'The Partridge Family' again which means he works eighteen hours a day- he has to go into the recording studios when he's finished up at the film set. As I said, he works amazingly hard.

"I love Los Angeles, just for a month.

I just sit by the pool, go surfing and once a day I go up to Sunset Strip and visit the most fabulous record shop in the world called Tower Records. It's like a warehouse and has all these piles of albums. It seems to have every record in the world, past and present.

"I mostly look for ridiculous things, spoken word records and things like that literally every day. I reckon to spend half an hour a day there. I think I hold the record for record buying there. 6,500 dollars worth in a day! That was on albums and tapes.

“I’ve got this record library at home and I fancy myself as an amateur dise jockey. I did the Noel Edmonds show last Christmas, Boxing Day actually and we did the show together. I really enjoyed that.

“I catalogue everything in my collection: cross filed and everything! I'm a terrible collector of things. Actually I'm the sort of person who's got 700 bottles of Marmite and the same of Windolene."

Elton remains one of the friendliest of pop stars. It is typical of him that he has befriended David Cassidy, because he knows that stardom can bring loneliness, and also jealousy from other musicians. He went out of his way to help David and the dinner invitation was typical, also the fact that he saw that Rod Stewart was there too.

When we met, Elton was wearing a plum velvet jacket with musical notes embroidered on it. He's known for his wild clothes: in fact he can be said to have been a leader in the brighter clothes approach to pop with his gigantic platform soles and heels, his dungarees, and now he promises the wildest pair of glasses ever seen on stage.

"They plug in and have the words ELTON across them in neon! I'd also like to get into funny things like padded suits. You see, I haven't really got the sexiest body in the world so I like to have comedy in my act.

"When I toured America last, I had a tap dancer called Legs Larry Smith who used to come on stage. He was the only person who kept me sane. I get terribly bored when things get too serious.

"I have a lady called Annie who makes all my clothes. I just tell her any ideas I have and she does some drawings for me to choose from."

On the little finger on his right hand he was wearing an enormous sparkling ring.

"That's what I call my Liberace ring. It was bought at Cartier's as a present for me and it's made of gold and diamonds. It's sparkly and it's fun!'

And that's just about how you could describe Elton himself!

[becomingkatie]

anniversary trip to the mountains

Friday we left work a little early to drive down near Shenandoah National Park. We stopped in Sperryville to go by a brewery we used to like to go to after hikes in the area. They were in a totally different building, and when I asked when they moved they said October 2020! Which shows how long it's been since our hiking days! Yikes - we used to casually do hikes that required hours-long drives to the trailhead just on a regular weekend, but now we've fallen out of the habit. We'd both like to do it more, and were excited to hike this weekend.

After beers we got pizza (at a restaurant we've been to before that had also changed significantly since 5 years ago) and then checked into the house we were renting near Luray.

Saturday we did the Strickler Knob hike. In the photos of the sky (view from the house we rented) where the mountain does a lil step up to the right of the sunset - I'm pretty sure that's the peak/overlook we hiked to. The hike was pretty miserable, but in that way where being miserable with someone you love is kinda funny instead of just shitty. The bugs were awful and we didn't think about bug spray, just sunscreen. And I chose the wrong shoes instead of my hiking boots and suffered. It got rocky, and most of the rocky section was like the picture I posted, but there were a few "climb up this 6ft boulder" moments where I felt like I was at the climbing gym but with real life consequences if I messed up. The peanut butter sandwich at the top was great though.

We got cleaned up after hiking and then checked out Luray Caverns. We have driven past the highway signs for it so many times over the years, so it was nice to finally see it. Was it worth the $34 apiece to get in? Eh, maybe. I'm glad we saw it. It was bigger than I expected - like a longer walk to get through the whole thing. And there's an organ inside that vibrates the stalactites to make music, and it played "A Mighty Fortress is our God" and I cried despite not being religious. I grew up in a church with really old/traditional hymns and a very solemn service, and that music still makes me so emotional even though whenever I read the Bible I am like "boy this is FUCKED up."

From the caverns we got dinner at a little diner spot, then ice cream and cocktails before heading back to the house. The distillery had a dog who enjoyed greeting all of the patrons. I enjoyed being greeted by a dog. But it wasn't climate controlled inside so the 90+ deg outdoors was more comfortable than inside.

Lastly, we stopped by Patty O's cafe on the way home. There's an inn with a very fancy Michelin starred restaurant in Washington, VA, and the chef there opened up this more casual cafe across the street. It's super cute and I really wanted to try it, but the vibe was better than the food. There was a live bluegrass band playing, and although I was bummed at first because it made it hard to hear each other talk, it was a nice atmosphere. The food was good but not mind-blowing. We also got some treats from the bakery to take home, and they were similarly good but not amazing. Except the chocolate mousse. That was mind-blowing, as much as a simple chocolate mousse could be.

Overall it was a really nice weekend getaway a few hours from home!

[le-velo-pour-dru]

How was the concert?? Tell me everything!

OH MY GOSH OKAY OKAY OKAY SO. IT WAS AMAZING :D ❤️

So before the concert started and everyone was waiting in line, I got to meet the AMAZING @mayathexpsychic and @acaesic in-person!! :D 💖 It was amazing, they're both such sweet and cool individuals, and I had so much fun chatting and hanging out with them before the show. It definitely made the wait a lot easier and a lot more fun!! ^^ 💖

When we finally got into the venue, after some waiting, we got to see the opening act, Sego!! I didn't really know what to expect, cause I hadn't heard of them, but oh my gosh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They were AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🤩❤️ They were so good!! 😁❤️ I'm definitely gonna have to look into their music, I enjoyed their set a lot ^^ 🫶

After that. oh my god. The wait for Dallon to come out was EXCRUCIATINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG IT FELT LIKE IT TOOK FOREVER XD I never knew what to expect when one of the songs that was playing faded out, or when someone walked onto the stage only to be one of the people helping to set up. IT WAS LIKE TORTURE, I NEVER KNEW WHEN HE WOULD COME OUT AND IT FELT LIKE SUCH A LONG TIME X'D 💔

BUT WHEN HE FINALLY CAME OUT. OMG. HE COMMANDED THAT STAGE. THE SHEER POWER AND CONFIDENCE HE EXUDED WAS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING AS HE CONTROLLED OUR CHEERS WITH HIS HANDS. Also. HE LOOKED SO AMAZING???????????????????? HIS HAIR WAS SO PRETTYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY AND HE LOOKED AMAZING IN THAT SUIT. NOT TO MENTION THAT. HE IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PERSON I'VE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE 🫢💘 LIKE. HE IS STUNNINGLY PRETTY. HE'S SO GORGEOUS FHXGVKFHXCGJHCXJCGFXJHCGGJXCCJVJCJCJCVC ☺️💘 AND WHEN HE TOOK OFF HIS SUIT JACKET AND STARTED ROLLING UP THE SLEEVES OF HIS SHIRT OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH MY 🤭💞 The moment that he first walked onstage to the first few songs are kind of a blur to me, cause I was. ABSOLUTELY LOSING MY MIND XD I WAS GOING ABSOLUTELY FERAL CAUSE THE REAL DALLON JAMES WEEKES WAS RIGHT. THERE. OH MY GOD XD ❤️ So yeah I don't really remember them cause I was losing my MIND over him during them 🤭💖

As for how the concert worked, things have kinda changed!! For one, Dallon did a lot less bass playing and a lot more moving around the stage as he sang. Mad IQs used to be special cause he ditched the bass and was just a lead singer for a while, but he did that for maybe half the songs of the concert!! And I'm not complaining at all, Dallon is very fun to watch as he moves around onstage, he has a lot of fun with it and is just very full of energy and charisma!! It's a welcome change in my opinion :) 💖 As for the backing musicians, things have changed too!! Anthony is still his touring guitarist, but there's a new musician too who. I wasn't sure if he was playing guitar or bass or both, but his name was Isaac Paul. There's also a new drummer too, whose name is Ronnie Strauss! Dallon didn't really talk about Ryan during the concert, which I think was a tasteful decision on his part, BUT. HE DID MENTION HIM ONCE 🤭 As he was introducing the musicians, he said, "Turns out you can afford more people when you aren't being stolen from." WHICH WAS SO ICONIC. OMG. IF YOU'RE GONNA BRING HIM UP, WHAT A WAY TO DO IT X3 ❤️ IT WAS SO FUNNY HFXJGCHXFXCGJXFCJGJGXGJCVXVJJGXGJCGJCVJCGJC 🤭

And can I just say, I love Dallon's charisma onstage!! He would talk in between songs, and every time, he was just so charming and personable, it was a lot of fun!! :) ❤️ He's so good at connecting with the crowd, I loved hearing everything he had to say ^^ ❤️ A couple of highlights include:

He asked us if we all had good Christmases, and when we cheered, he said, "Well, that's neat!" in the GOOFUEST voice. It was so silly X3 ❤️

Before Kiss Goodnight, he talked about having fallen in love with Breezy years ago and still being in love with her to this day, and he shared that they did, in fact, kiss goodnight that night. It was really sweet 😊💖

He said that that night, we were all his date, and he was our date (if we're into that sort of thing), which. MADE ME BLUSH AND GIGGLE AND KICK MY FEET A LITTLE HEHEHEHE ☺️🩷 I WISH I COULD BE HIS DATE XFHGJJFXJGCXVJJCVVCJJCVCBJ 🤭💖

Before Choke, he gave a whole heartfelt speech about how much it meant to him that people came to see the show, and how amazing it is that the one thing unifying a room full of strangers is the music that they enjoy, and he finished it with, "Now, if you don't mind, choke yourself to sleep". IT WAS SO FUNNY FHXGJCHJCGXFJGJCXCJGJCCGJBC, HE'S SO AWESOME 🤭❤️

Anyway, moving onto something else: I don't tend to sing along with the songs during a concert, I prefer to just listen to how they're being performed. So while I didn't sing along with most of the songs, I had a lot of fun participating during the parts where he wanted the crowd to sing, like Social Climb and A Letter!! But the absolute peak crowd participation moment HAD to be Visitation of the Ghost!! 🤩💖 From where I was standing, it was pretty hard to see him during the crowd walk... BUT STILL!! I CAN'T BELIEVE I GOT TO EXPERIENCE A CROWD WALK LIVE OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG 🤭💖 That song overall is just. absolutely amazing to see live, it was a incredible experience and one of the best parts of the night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🤩❤️

AND. OK. I REFUSE TO SAY MUCH ABOUT DOWNSIDE, BUT. I LOVED IT SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH 😁💖 I couldn't really understand what he was saying, but the vibes of the song were sooooooooooooooooo fun and I can't wait to finally hear it on the album!! 😄🩷 Speaking of which, he said a different Gloom Division song will be coming out in two weeks, and I can't wait to find out which one it is!! Maybe it'll be Kiss and Tell, he used that phrase during the concert, so. maybe that was a hint :o ❤️ That's just a guess though, idk what to expect X3

Anyway. It was an absolutely incredible experience!! :3 💖 Dallon is an absolutely phenomenal performer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😄🫶❤️ He's an incredible musician, he has a beautiful voice, and he has so much amazing energy and charisma up on that stage 😁🩷 It was incredible seeing one of my favorite musicians perform live right in front of me, I had so much fun, and I'm so grateful I got the opportunity to go see him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🤩💖 I had such an amazing time and I can't wait to see him again in April!! ^^ ❤️🫶

[lucabyte]

HOWDY! *slams pile of papers on the desk* i have Inquiries. OKAY SO-

1.) i know the bridge between infurno and purrgatorio is Ali realizing they cant leave, so like, whats pawradisio???

2.) wtf happens ta Ali durin the 'age ???' section of their design timeline. what type cult stuff do they get involved w and how. its haunting me i needa know

3.) whats with the 3 year memory erasing thing in that one ali purrgatorio relationship chart. Really funny chart ive shared it w a few friends but also im staring intently at it like Huh What O_O

4.) what is mymk's final form? is it gonna be written, a comic, etc?

5.) got any music you associate w any mymk characters/ali? besides like, in canon reasons like Chrome more like any songs/artists/lyrics that remind u of anya em :0??

anyway yeah huge fan! also hope ur vacation's fun!

Hehe hi :)

1. We shall get there when we get there <3 my lips are sealed. Though I will say, there are further books by Dante one can animal-pun the titles of... Though they aren't part of the divine comedy..... (Alludes vaguely to plans that will inevitably take me years)

2. Okay so spoilers for Creature Feature, Ali's home setting (and @samhainian's thing) (because this is all a bit of an open secret) but Ali is, as I've alluded to previously, an Antagonist.

Creature Feature is a real world adjacent setting, set in our modern day, only with all manner of monsters and cryptids living secretly alongside humans. Ali lives in Wraithbrook, a hidden town populated primarily by monsters (albeit, most everyone still upholds a disguise, just in case). Being a (very) small town with an effectively captive population.... The post-high-school ennui tends to set in bad for people. Hope you enjoy the family businesses, kids.

So... This leaves the listless vulnerable. And boy is Ali a bit malleable. A trusted figure in their life takes advantage of this, part of an accellerationist group looking to break these confines, having singled them out as candidate for their most recent attempt to mold a magic user into a weapon to shatter the veil. And, well, if you've got a self-hating isolated guy who is predisposed to a bit of Catholicism already... Why not utilise the concept of the antichrist? They will be bringing a world together, in a way... And when you've been around as long as some immortal librarians have, doing a little bit of time dilation in the later stages of indoctrination isn't thaaaaat hard... Sooooo....

(But don't worry. They get better. Eventually. At least they look it. Everything is A-OK!!!)

(as for if purrgatorio is canon to this timeline....? Yes! But in a fucked up way! Can't make it too easy for the little guy....)

3. Okay so I was coy literally a sentence ago but yeah purrgatorio is set dead on like.. at the exact same time MYMK proper *should* start. Thus, it cannot exist at the same time as the main story... Ali's narrative powers keep them from being subsumed by the universe and just becoming a funny animal themselves.

But should a time come where Ali is *gone*, and the world is similar enough to the moments before they arrived? Well, the narrative can just pretend the time hasn't passed! Just, don't think too hard about your count of how many Halloweens and Christmasses you've had doesn't really line up....

(A normal person would simply name Purrgatorio noncanon, but hey, if Ali's whole thing is that they manipulate reality like a Narrative... Well. May as well use it! So once canon is over for both parties, things can start creeping back in. It's needlessly overcomplicated but I'm having fun)

4. Written with illustrations! An Online picture book, I suppose. I was initially damning myself to a comic, but after playing in the space with Purrgatorio, I realised I prefer prose. I'll probably write the thing in whole and then release it bit by bit as I work on the illustrations? I have a working outline as of right now and it's not a super long story lol. But its likely going to come after some practice with smaller projects like my reworking of Hazeclan and maybe Damonquest (name pending) (the latter featuring a cut main character of mymk lol)

So! ETA: a while. But we stay silly

5. OKAY.... so I can't link character playlists sadly since they don't exist (..... Yet.) and I'll stick primarily to our at present Purrgatorio cast.

I am like. Famously bad with identifying songs (<- usb stick full of songs on shuffle in the car as a kid) but I have been trying to put thought into this recently (my gold standard for this being my friend @teddymedley who's so good with character songs I did ask him for some vibe checks for this even)

So these are messy and some are like, inherited from earlier drafts of the characters so can be a bit off but I'll give a handful and their reasonings. (No links or embeds though I'm on mobile and Tumblr might eat my visibility if I do. I'll reply with some though)

[Ali Alighieri]

1. "Here comes the flood" by the Divine Comedy (self explanatory really, that animatic will exist someday I promise. This is THE big one to me, but @samhainian may have a different top spot opinion lol) Bonus: it has a demo version that also fucks supremely

2. "All the angels (demo)" by MCR. (Ali is not the MCR sibling, they're the P!ATD sibling. But I don't listen to panic lol)

3. "If you could save yourself you'd save us all" by Ween (peak "sorry what was that line just there?" song)

4. "In the meantime" by Spacehog (I like Spacehog. Everyone gets a spacehog song yaaay)

5. "Here comes the sun" cover by Ghost (not their style of music at ALL and you KNOW they're contrarian about the Beatles, but grim irony is such a vibe here)

[Chromium Mono]

1. "Manicure" by Lady Gaga (this is such a flippant "because I said so" choice lol)

2. "Let it grow" by Renaissance (this is such a nice cheesy song. I like to think of this as speaking to the actual nice loving guy chrome can be when he's not being a prickly bitch)

3. Kissing Ancaps by Patricia Taxxon (... GOD this song is way too cool or smart for chrome lol. It's a chrometab song to me because of the big words and cynicism. It's too modern and online for them but I'm attached to it... Also it contains a sample from let it grow)

4. "Run away with me" by Carly Rae Jepsen (more vibes based! Love some ms jepsen. But at least has a coherent theme wrt to eloping lol)

Bonus: oh god I really have to finish the voiceclaim video I was making. Premiere kept melting on me but I should probably let the world know chrome sounds like Donald Glover huh. The marshall lee to live action Simba pipeline.....

Bonus 2: @teddymedley suggested "Ratchet" by Bloc Party, with the phrasing "subject matter younger chrome sound older chrome" which I like!

[Tabitha Boss]

1. "Cable Rat King" by Gem Milsom (this one genuinely feels like a solid choice to me. It's polite and tentative and about depressive spirals, and is from the same album as the Number One Main Labyrinthine song, Pipes. That animatic will exist someday too I promise)

2. "This too shall pass" by OK GO (Preferably the brass band version. I think Tabitha would adore their videos, he'd be delighted by the moving parts and generally light tone. Also, Labyrinthine has a different "this too shall pass", being by Danny Schmidt)

3. "When will you die?" By TMBG (goofy song. But you get it.)

4. "Zeroes" by Spacehog (Spacehog again 👍)

Bonus: Jimmy buffet discography. He is living on island time baby

Bonus 2: @teddymedley assigned "Happy Hour" by Eels and I think the strange upbeat lethargic energy fits

[Lavender Wafeu]

Lavender is really funny because I honest to god don't think she listens to much music. This means I barely associate music with her apparently.

However @teddymedley did suggest "Black Rainbows" from Hawaii: Part 2, and I think that's better than any of my previous notes. Those previous notes being entirely the words "Little shop of horrors". She, Knives and Mafioso do also share an association with "Panda Hero" by Hachi but that's more visual to me?

I have however begun associating some Zelda OST tracks with her though... Hmmm....!

[Markus Felidae]

This poor bastard has shed and gained characterisation recently enough to have shook the MCR out of their system.... I don't have all that much for them.

Now. Hm. I think I'd have to go with some very on the nose musical tracks? My mind immediately goes to the opening track to Disney's Notre Dame, and maybe like, Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer from Cats? These are such dreadful picks lol. Sorry buddy, characterisation overhaul syndrome. They probably also would listen to P!ATD same as Ali though so do with that what you will.

Bonus: in Markus' earliest iteration over 10 years ago..hrm. long story short, 121 guns is so fucking unfitting but it's lodged there forever lol

[Lupus Felidae]

Lupus is associated in my head with the kind of dub anime opening best codified by 4kids era Pokémon. Like the ideal song here is that one from Yugioh. "No matter what"? That kind of cheese and boyish power of friendship. "OK!!" From the JP endings of anipoke goes here too it's cute to me.

"I can go the distance" from Disney's Hercules is also up there for the same vibes. She's just silly and having fun!

Bonus: "Don't let's start" by TMBG is a Miao song to me, but in relation to her family. So it's also Lupus and Markus' by association.

[Ess Somil]

The idea of an ess playlist is hysterical to me. I feel like it's a Mother 3 battle theme in that man's head all the time. What's your time signature boy.

Anyway, "Numbers" by Neil Cicierega. Since it is overwhelming enough of a soundscape. Or just "Doctor Worm" by TMBG. For that they live in the soil.

.... And that's probably enough!!! This ask is very long now! Sorry it took a while to answer lmaooo. I've been very busy but it's been nice to chip away at during my downtime! Thank you so much for the questions :)

[astrangetorpedo]

Lucy Dacus Brings It All Back Home

by Hilary Saunders | 9/2/16

Back in March, when Lucy Dacus and her band passed through Boise, Idaho to play the opening night of Treefort Music Festival, every single member of the group—rolling four deep—wore shirts and caps that bore a variation on their home state’s motto: “Virginia Is For (Music) Lovers.” Before their set, they had stopped in Bleubird, locally considered Boise’s best sandwich shop, and while they waited in a line that stretched out the door, Dacus and the boys chatted eagerly and earnestly with those around them—especially if they asked about their shirts.

Four months later at the Harrison Street Café, one of her favorite sandwich shops in her hometown of Richmond, Virginia, Dacus remembers the festival fondly. Her debut album No Burden had only been out for about a month at the time, courtesy of Richmond indie EggHunt Records, and Boise was the farthest west the band had ever performed.

A lot has changed since then. Dacus has toured with indie-rock darlings like The Decemberists and Lord Huron, and impressed festival audiences at South by Southwest and Lollapalooza. On September 9, Matador Records will re-release No Burden, with the hopes that its eight songs will catapult the 21-year-old further into the scene’s fickle mainstream.

Comprised of Dacus’ first recorded works, No Burden showcases the singer/songwriter at her most revealing. Her contralto, which she manipulates from a whisper to a cry, conveys both self-awareness and self-deprecation. Meanwhile, the band, comprised of a traditional guitar-bass-drums set-up, stretches its volume and dynamics to parallel extremes, allowing Dacus to transform from demure chanteuse to rock band leader—sometimes even within the same song. Case in point: on lead single “I Don’t Want To Be Funny Anymore,” Dacus laments “being the odd man out” and “being the biggest fan,” right before the song erupts into a guttural roar. The album’s seven-and-a-half-minute centerpiece, “Map On A Wall” opens with Dacus acknowledging her physical flaws and begging, “Oh please, don’t make fun of me / of my crooked smile and my crowded teeth / of my pigeon feet, of my knobby knees,” but the song eventually builds to a tense crescendo, Dacus repeating similar lyrics with more force and tenacity.

Sitting in a corner booth upstairs in the café, Dacus explains, “I make an effort to voice what I’m most sensitive about, because I know everyone else feels that way, too. The biggest hold-up, when it comes to insecurity, is when you think you’re alone in it. When you realize that you’re not, it’s easier to deal with. It’s just that somebody has to be the first person to break the ice of internal anxiety.”

Dacus grew up in Richmond’s neighboring town of Mechanicsville (its most famous export is Jason Mraz). She didn’t necessarily suffer from “extreme internal anxiety,” but she did drift in and out of the precarious social structures of the popular crowd in elementary and middle school. By the time she got to high school—the prestigious Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School, which is coincidentally located just down the street from the Harrison Street Café—she had found like-minded creative friends, and Richmond started to feel more like a home.

Although Dacus initially enrolled at Virginia Commonwealth University—also located near the café—to study film, she left after her second semester sophomore year to travel in Europe. Before leaving the country, she recorded what would become No Burden to help out now-bandmate Jacob Blizard on one of his college recording finals at Oberlin. It never occurred to either of them to release the recordings. “We were just going to put it on Bandcamp for our friends and family to see,” she says. “It’s the only accessible place for start up musicians to put their work.”

When Dacus returned, EggHunt Records’ co-founder Adam Henceroth saw her opening for his label’s own signees, Manatree. As Henceroth remembers, he only intended to watch Dacus for a few minutes.

“I sat in the front row like, ‘Hey lemme catch a few seconds of this before I meet this other guy backstage.’ Well, I forgot about whatever I was doing. Forty minutes later after being glued to her set, I was speechless,” he says. “The thing about Lucy is that, literally within 60 seconds of listening to her, you’re immediately drawn into her world. You’re caught in a tractor beam of sorts. She hits you square in the head and speaks to your heart.”

Both in person and on No Burden, Dacus radiates that emotional authenticity that Henceroth describes. Part of that stems from her Richmond upbringing—specifically, the fact that Dacus was adopted. That fact is a bit oblique on the record; she never sings about her experience directly. But the lessons she learned reveal themselves in certain places—the album title itself is a reminder that we are not a duty to those who love us. They reflect Dacus’ desire to seek meaningful connections, especially when we are at our most vulnerable.

“[Adoption has] totally impacted what I write, because one of first things I learned as a philosophy was that life is worthwhile,” She says, “So much so that a bunch of people had to sacrifice a lot so that I would have one. As a four-year-old, that’s what I already knew.”

The most impressive element of Dacus’ debut is that while so much of No Burden resulted from growing up in Richmond, its messages transcend the city that raised her and embraced her. And everyone from EggHunt to Matador to the fans she’s gained in the meteoric past nine months seem to realize it. “It’s real cool how Lucy has seemed to stay true to her roots,” says Henceroth. “She talks about Virginia a lot, and she never had any obligation to include [EggHunt] in her story, but she did. She comes across as really honest. You can hear it in her music. There’s no pretense. She’s not trying to be something she’s not. It’s all coming from her. That’s the magical part of it.”

(x)

[gncrezan]

i'm obsessed with aki, like it's not even funny. I JUST NEED MORE OF HIM IN MY LIFE LAWD HAVE MERCY. would you happen to have a bit more information on the loml...? if not it's aight big love <33

YOU CAN ALWAYS ASK ME ABOUT HIM i'm so sorry it took so long to reply i have been so everywhere but i have been meaning to find like sketches and stuff i have around of him :)

collated a bunch of old sketches of his family!! aki was originally going to be a part of a big like. chinese-zodiac inspired thing and his family in particular were the snakes (he's got the character in his last name lol) and him and his siblings all got snake characteristics . there is however nothing new under the sun and even though i thought this was cool my friend was like "oh like fruits basket" and i shelved the idea LOL

in the end he just existed in a vaccum, i had nothing to do with him, before i dragged him out of there with the intention to drop him into a simpler slice-of-life story with a bunch of terrible postgrad students. that story mainly revolves around like.. biomed researchers basically?? aki would have been an ex-STEM student who dropped out because he didn't want to do medicine anymore, but kept in touch with his friends from the course (the other cast might eventually also be forced into IFs LOL)

more under the cut!

i eventually completely veered off the zodiac-course and kept his base design and turned those scales into tattoos! he's got more in infamous, but in this universe it's just those snakes winding around his arms!!!! infamous tattoos are kind of not set in stone cause i plan to add more (inspired by the bandmates) and the tattoos are supposed to be based off them!! there was no way he'd stop at just seven's initials, he has a little thing for all of them!!!! bc we're only really two chapters into infamous tho i just want more time to "know" the bandmates and then give more him more tats (i have been reading asks about them and trying to assign stuff LMFMFMFAOOO)

what he has and i consistently draw him w are seven's initials, the snakes (leftover design from the kind of concept he was based off of), lotuses/flowers (could change!! i'm thinking rn that he gets everyone's favorite flower/plant tattooed), wave designs (i'm praying someone's a water sign), and he's also got the opening notes of their first song that they played as a band :)

the original version of him is also based vaguely off a friend i made in uni who did hair/makeup and which i still think is so cool and gave him that !!!! more specifically he sort of dropped out of a good-asian-kid stem course to do this, which freaked his parents out when they realised he was just Leaving to go cut people's hair. aki's pretty great at it, and is lucky enough to work at a good stylist agency <3

kills it at karaoke with his friends in this universe too :) his genuine passion for working as a stylist and love for his job translates into music for infamous, which despite how "i'm-so-cool-and-chill-about-everything" he tries to seem, is his biggest worry. he really really wants to succeed and stick it to his parents, and can't imagine what else he'd ever do. music is all he has and really gets lost in songwriting/singing :)

his stage name akiya is also a reference to the word for abandoned/empty houses in rural areas in japan. they're cheap to buy, but cost a lot to repair and flip. this is a stealth dig at his parents lol but aki passes it off as a portmanteau of his first/last name: he is secretly emo like this </3

also their band name, snakebites, in general is like 1) "what's cool when we are 16 and making this band when we are in high school" and 2) the band's shared birth year being the year of the snake (2001/i'm projecting) (they're still like 25/26 which makes infamous oddly take place in the future for me, 2027ish???) and luckily i don't believe the year it takes place matters to anyone so i'm just going with it <3 don't think about it too hard this is deep lore that only makes sense to me

their fandom name also call themselves snakes, and they lean into this for their promo materials (each member gets a government assigned snake breed) LMFAO !! aki lightly thinks its cringe but it's not hurting anyone, so he just told maya that he thought the name was great LOLLLLL !!! they have a vaguely edgy image because of this (and because ya know. lots of drama surrounding seven leaving) even though they're much more an indie rock band (sounding more like hippo campus, yona yona weekenders, young the giant) with a reputation for being wholesome

there's also a fun game their fans like to play called "using aki's hair, what era of snakebites is this" LOL <3

i hope this was kind of understandable <3 thank you for letting me cry about my boy <3

[eriexplosion]

God IDK if I'm prepared for Solitary Clone again tbh

Weak for the design of Desix really, I just love this fully enclosed city style thing

And GOD am I weak for Tawni Ames, like. My lady. I'm particularly weak for her in her mask with the voice modulation. Forget taking the dude hostage she should have just shot him. I had to look up his name (Grotton) because I refuse to call him the governor he's just some bitch that showed up suddenly.

CROSSHAIR THOUGH. THERE HE IS. He somehow looks even worse than Return to Kamino and several months (presumably) of recovery from his 32 rotations on an open platform. Terrified to think of what he looked like right when they found him.

The food has upgraded, now instead of merely 'cylinder' we also have 'Drumstick' and 'orb' not that Crosshair gets to eat any of them.

God I'm sorry it is so funny to me that Crosshair has managed to get less popular like it's awful for him obviously but like. He was always dreadfully unpopular HOW did it get worse?

I have a working theory that it's perceived favoritism. Like, he apparently has a bare box for a room and he sleeps on a slab without a blanket but it IS a private room. He gets called on personally by the Admiral, even though the audience knows it's pretty much just to be disrespected. They didn't bother going back for him on Kamino for 32 days but they DID go back for him and that's more than most clones get.

Alternate theory is that his vibes are just that bad because he's so desperate and lonely. Poor bastard sits silently at the end of the table and STILL gets abandonoed.

The way that Crosshair spends so much of this season in a variety of depression jammies

Rampart just casually like BTW HOW LONG DID WE LEAVE YOU FOR DEAD? JUST REMIND ME. I WANT TO KNOW WHY YOU'RE SO DESPERATE THAT YOU'RE STICKING WITH US AFTER THAT.

Seriously the fact that he can be like 'wow this clone is so loyal he forgave us for leaving him for dead' and instead of appreciating what he has he has to needle Crosshair about it. Just. "Left for dead and yet you still came back... why?" Smug faced bastard man.

"I'm a soldier of the Empire" because "I LITERALLY REJECTED EVERYTHING ELSE I HAD FOR THIS I DON'T HAVE ANY OTHER OPTIONS" doesn't play as well.

I really want the batch to know about this but I don't think he'd ever tell them. If there's one thing Crosshair is good at it's, for whatever personal reasons, choosing to present himself in the most unsympathetic fashion possible at every opportunity.

I wonder again if Crosshair was ever officially promoted. He still has a CT prefix rather than CC, and Rampart's super casual about putting him under someone else's command, referring to it as 'not ready to play commander again' it's like the entire title was just a good behavior courtesy rather than an actual promotion and so no official changes have had to be made. And now it's clear that Crosshair doesn't need good behavior courtesies or in fact any courtesy whatsoever to try desperately for approval, so why bother?

Really thought that he'd act out more against Crosshair over the false report thing but there's something so funny about the fact that he was doing this LITERALLY just to be a bitch because Rampart just is like that.

CODY

Crosshair looking at Cody's exact markings skeptically until Cody pulls his helmet off because the color is just as important as the design. Why aren''t you YELLOW?

"You're lucky I was available." I love that it takes literally 1 second for Crosshair's completely deadpan snark to come back when faced with Cody because what was he doing before this other than being miserable in his box of a room?

Cody probably is surprised but not because the batch went AWOL but because Crosshair didn't go with them. He doesn't know about the chips and Crosshair was the LEAST likely to follow orders before, not the most. Cody's experiencing Opposite Day over here.

Goddddd the musical cue after 'then they're traitors, like the Jedi' as Cody realizes that Crosshair is NOT safe to pressure on this anymore. I don't think he'd ever actually turn Cody in tbh but Cody can't know that. He's seen a LOT of clones act in ways he never thought they would after all. He's acted in ways he never thought he would.

Crosshair really seems to have dropped his attitude about regs like he uses the word once but he's completely chill with the new squad. Downright chatty practically, he's even said MULTIPLE sentences.

"He saw it coming. The galactic empire." Yeah fun thing about that Tawni, he DID see it coming true because that was. The plan.

I do love that they give people multiple outlooks - Serennians hate Dooku for obvious reasons, on Desix they don't really know how corrupt he was, so Tawni is almost admiring of him. In the end, Dooku and the Republic were corrupted and everyone is suffering for it but they can only see their piece of it.

Can't be mad that Tawni shot them down, Crosshair was told to come here and shoot her pretty much so like, her instincts were Correct.

Off to check the crash for survivors of which there are several literally no crash has ever had no survivors in Star Wars apparently.

Crosshair is so excited to get to shoot things again finally something he's good at.

The way he says "Trust me" just damn. The voice. The voice is so good.

I'm still not over Crosshair sitting COMPLETELY STOCK STILL WHILE BEING SHOT AT, ZERO FLINCHING LIKE THE RISK OF SHRAPNEL ISN'T EVEN REAL. And the shot straight down the tanks barrel, GOD.

The way that if things went different in all of this Crosshair might have actually found some acceptance with a squad but since the universe demands that Crosshair be as miserable as humanly possible as often as possible, that is not to be.

Love how they actually made the droidekas intimidating by bringing them into such tight quarters. Also the sound design on their rolling is done FANTASTICALLY.

Still, RIP Wyler :c

Seeing the tactics play out is so good. Yes I know our boys are on the side of evil but you don't have all the facts. (I love them.)

CODY SCREAMING NOVA'S NAME WHILE CROSSHAIR HAS TO PULL HIM OUT OF RANGE OF THE EXPLOSION.

Stairwell Scene Stairwell Scene STAIRWELL SCENE. Genuinely loved how they framed the fighting here, sticking them into interesting locations where they get to use the environment just. Adore.

POV: you still haven't bothered to train your hand to hand skills

Just yeet the puck into the air it's fine Crosshair will manage it's good. This shot is so completely impossible and improbable but you know what's more important than that? It is extremely cool.

"Nice throw." "Nice shot."

TOO BAD THAT EVERYTHING IS ABOUT TO GO VERY BADLY INDEED

THE CALLBACK TO MINA BONTERI GETS ME

The thing is that Crosshair was ordered to kill Tawni like, straight up ordered to kill her, and yeah he still has his rifle raised at this point but he was letting her talk, he was letting Cody actually negotiate, and when he was told to lower his rifle he did.

I remember right after this came out there was a lot of things about how Crosshair was BLOODTHIRSTY and FINE WITH KILLING HER and like he didn't jump to the task, not even when Grotton ordered her execution, he didn't do anything until Cody was threatened with consequences.

Crosshair isn't bloodthirsty, but he will do anything for people he cares about, including taking a shot that he knows Cody never would before Grotton even finishes saying 'consequences for disobedience'

The way Cody tried so hard though just, I love him, I adore him. All he wanted was for everyone to get out of that room alive.

THE WORST PART IS I think Cody fully understands why Crosshair took the shot too. The timing is obvious. And that makes him feel worse, because he did NOT want anyone to die for his sake. He didn't want Crosshair to kill her for his sake either. This whole thing was just too much.

I feel like his last moment with Crosshair in front of the memorial was him still trying one last time to get through to him, let him have a chance to say anything that might make this better (or make it seem like Cody has the option of trying to get him to leave the Empire with him) and Crosshair failed THOROUGHLY by doubling down on orders.

They both have to live with their choices and it's agonizing actually I am in PAIN.

Crosshair lying awake all night and then staring at the helmet when he wakes up.

GOD I am never over the absolute venom in Crosshair's voice when he's forced to spit out Cody's CC number to get Rampart to acknowledge it. It's the way he never argues his own number or his own treatment, but disrespecting CODY is different.

Also Rampart looks completely Disgusted that clones are out here having names still after all this.

His face on 'Problem?' is the most punchable thing I have EVER looked at.

Anyway I really do want to see Cody again post going AWOL but I would also be fine if we don't catch up with him until significantly later and he shows up in Kenobi season 2 or something. Unlike many people did when this aired I don't think they ever wanted to imply anything other than that Cody did in fact go AWOL, so I don't think we'll be seeing him as a CX clone or anything.

God this episode is still so good.

[future-dregs]

Ep. 1 & 2 Bullet Points

I was gonna post my thoughts about the episodes in real time, but then I got caught up in it and didn't do that. So now, I'm summarizing.

------

Sam had houseplants in his windowsill.

Can't decide if Dean was pacing around and making noise to test Sam/give him a heads up and see how he'd react, or if that was just him being a kinda inexperienced kid.

I like that Sam was fighting with his whole body. Like, he brought his feet and legs into it. Comes across more genuine that just punching. (Also his little end of spar pat on Dean's arm? Mwah. Falling back into the rhythms already.)

Sam kept his hand scythe. In the house. Didnt leave it as far behind you claimed baby. Because as Dean said, you know what's out there.

That's two "Sammy"s, an arm across the back of the diner booth and an in unison talking moment in close succession. Dean's playing for keeps.

John fucking Winchester. Freaked out by a vengeful womans spirit for real, or ninth level cat and mousing your kids?

Dean getting thrown and pressed over the hood of the car and his "squeal like a pig" comment are stacking up in my brain. Debating about if I wanna make a sexual abuse post or not.

Also, people have been saying from the day the show aired, but that is the second time Dean carried him out.

I dont want to talk much about Mary right now, theres some episodes in later seasons with her that I havent seen, so I dont feel I have enough contact to say something accurate. But I will say this- she knew better, and she should've done better, cause it ALL comes back to her and what she did and didnt do. She doomed her family, and everyone who touched them.

I think Dean was circling around to try again. In hindsight we know he was hanging out for hours before coming in (and oh how bitter bitter it is to see him young and "careless" like that, and have to amend it knowing how very very frightened he actually was) so I think it stands to reason that Dean would skulk around a little longer afterward as well.

Episode 2!

First off, really like that Sam's dream, though still with that beautiful early season low saturation, has more color, and brighter colors (pink in the bouquet, red candles, ect) than the real world does.

Also very funny to see Dean being the one who wants to open up and talk about feelings, and dealing with loss in a healthy way.

Also Dean offering the car to Sam for comfort because that's how Dean feels in control and comforted is killing me.

"Lookit this friggin bear!" My love my love I'm kissing you on the face.

Y'know you never see those shell necklaces anymore? But they kinda rocked.

Also I'm not gonna get pedantic about them getting the mythos wrong (don't get used to it, I LOVE being pedantic, esp with things I actually know about), so I'm not gonna mention it again, but oh! they got the mythos wrong.

Now. I've mentioned this briefly before, but its intriguing to me that in an episode about a corrupting hunger, we see Sam start down the path of vengeance AND get horny over his brother. He's growing enamored with Dean again, and he's watching him when he interacts with other people, looking for threats. Both physical, and not.

(I have a whole separate post in the works about Sam standing bodily between the victims and the threat, but suffice to say, babydoll I love you and you chosen efforts towards goodness from the bottom of my heart.)

Back to above point. Girl of the week kisses Dean's cheek, Sam comes over, sits on that side of him, and stares at that spot on Dean's cheek until he gives him the keys.

Fly by night away from here/change my life again/fly by night goodbye my dear - they knew how to use their music for effect. Also my introduction to Rush, years ago. Thanks guys.

So I think that about covers the thoughts I thunk while watching. Next time I'll try to at least make active notes if I'm not live blogging through it.

[vickyvicarious]

JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL. MY BOY IS BACCKKKK

omg it's been so long

"all I wrote down was... true." and then the pause... ajfklasdf

the HESITATION before "the Count" and the HATRED ohohohohoho

ooh somehow I always missed that Jonathan went to pick van Helsing up from the hotel. no wonder he was surprised to see him

heehee, Jonathan being charmed by van Helsing being charmed by Mina

that sting of music at "you have cured me." is spooky!

Love the delivery of "Doctor, you don't know what it is to doubt everything, even yourself. -No, you don't!... you couldn't... with eyebrows like yours!" Jonathan sounds almost lost in his own head/memories at first, and then like he's cutting van Helsing off forcefully, too forcefully. He realizes how intense he's being, tries to save it by turning things into a lighthearted joke

ohh, van Helsing has such a fun laugh when he isn't King Laughing.

Jonathan: "<3 I would listen to him go on praising Mina for a day <3"

more HANDSHAKES OF FRIENDSHIP I love them so much

ohhhh, Jonathan's voice when he says it made him choky. So cute.

Jonathan's ferocity on "I am with you heart and soul."

""The Westminster Gazette"—I knew it by the colour" Jonathan is so observant. I wonder if he went home and bought his own copy to read for what affected van Helsing so much. but he might be too busy with Count preparations

"Mein Gott! Mein Gott! So soon! so soon!" THIS DELIVERYYYYYY and the repeated "so soon"s continuing under the train noises. agonizing

I never realized that van Helsing didn't expect Lucy to be risen yet! This is the first he knows of her hunting down kids!

"Truly there is no such thing as finality." god Jack sounds so exhausted. He's had more sleep in the past few days than in ages but he sounds tired and miserable still. And once again he's isolating himself in work, not reaching out to friends for comfort.

"I had a letter from Arthur," the wistful almost laugh, and god everything that comes after about Art and Quincey. It is so apparent that he wants to be there with them, that he wishes he could be receiving comfort too, but he doesn't feel like he is the one who deserves it.

"he will only let out enough at a time to whet curiosity." he sounds tired here. in an annoyed way, but mostly just tired. he doesn't seem to have the energy to feel curious anymore, because what's the point? Lucy is already gone.

van Helsing STILL refusing to speak first, buddy he is outright asking you to just tell him. start with the vampires!

every single "____? no?" is so funny. he says it almost the same way every time, trying to find his baseline for Jack's skepticism

"For, had she live one more day, we could have save her." oooof

"Do you mean to tell me that Lucy was bitten by such a bat; and that such a thing is here in London in the nineteenth century?" van Helsing, this was your opportunity! if only he knew that Jack has noticed Bat Weirdness already, it would have been a great opening

so much corn

"Here I interrupted him. I was getting bewildered;" he sounds it, oh my goodness. Also still just upset and distressed by all this

"[harsh sigh] To believe what?" SO frustrated, ahhahaha I love it, and I totally get it

""In God's name, Professor Van Helsing, what! do! you! meannnn?"" bwhaahahahaa omg Jack Has Had Enough

"Oh, my friend, why, think you, did I go so far round, why take so long to tell you so simple a thing? Was it because I hate you and have hated you all my life? Was it because I wished to give you pain? Was it that I wanted, now so late, revenge for that time when you saved my life, and from a fearful death? Ah no!" VERY dramatic wording, some more Miette energy here

but seriously, Jack is so loyal, and willing to go so far for the people he loves

Dr Vincent sounding American is funny because that means so far the only people in London to namedrop vampires are all American. I guess that fits with vampire bats being from South America

"he said he wanted to play with the 'bloofer lady." so at least we can assume Lucy has that vampire charm going on pretty well. She isn't hunting via scare tactics or stealth. She's playing with them, or at least they think she is. thoughts about vampire hunting strategies...

"and standing back, politely, but quite unconsciously, motioned me to precede him. There was a delicious irony in the offer, in the courtliness of giving preference on such a ghastly occasion." this is funny for other reasons too if you think about how nervous van Helsing probably is too. also how he is trying to make sure Jack can't just leave

Jack is great at setting a spooky/sad scene.

the bag rustling noises! the coffinlid creak!

Jack's whisper... and his protectiveness over Lucy...

van Helsing's bone saw gets a lot of use for non-bone purposes

"all the dogged argumentativeness" ohohoho he's feeling so stubborn and almost petulant sounding. I love the sarcasm in van Helsing's "That is good logic."

the strong threat of breakdown of trust in van Helsing offering the key, so Jack will know he isn't messing with the coffin/corpse. And Jack just stubbornly refusing because that wouldn't be enough to stop van Helsing anyways

and yet despite his anger, his frustration and exhaustion and disbelief, he still doesn't leave. he willingly stands vigil.

the music as Lucy comes through. oh, I love it

"Are you satisfied now?" van Helsing has an edge of guilt and horror, the tired almost sigh on the last word. And yet this entire situation has NOT been predisposing Jack to buy in so he just gets even snippier and more sarcastic ("yes, it is a child!")

Jack and van Helsing sneaking up and dropping a little kid in the path of a policeman is such an absurd image. but it's really sad at the same time. I feel awful for these poor kids.