#banjo music playing in the background

[supercritter]

I don't usually post my art on here anymore, but here you nerds go. Yeehaw

[rulesforthedance]

I’m not amazing at any one musical instrument, but I’m decent at many, because that is what’s expected of music teachers (which is what I was for nine years) and because it is my nature to be proficient at many things and great at none (I’m not saying this derogatorily, I actually think it’s a fine and useful way to be). And when people find out that I play a bunch of instruments, they’re always wistfully like “oh, I wish I’d learned to play an instrument. I always wanted to play [specific instrument].” And I’m like, do it! Learn to play an instrument! It’s not that hard. There’s this misconception that you can only do it as a kid and that’s so far from the truth. You probably won’t become a world-class prodigy if you start as an adult, but the vast majority of people who start as kids won’t either, lol. And there are advantages you have as an adult. You have intrinsic motivation. You have a greater ability to stick with something that doesn’t immediately yield your desired results. Even if you feel like you don’t and are frustrated with your attention span and executive function, you’re still almost certainly better at those things than a five-year-old. You have mature motor skills. Depending on the instrument, you’ll likely sound ok sooner than you would have as a kid. Learn an instrument! Defy the fallacy that you’re stuck with only the skill set you’ve acquired by your mid-twenties! 

[oliverreedmasterass]

My GVF Predictions for 2024

Sam will attempt to grow a beard similar to George Harrison circa 1970. He'll nearly get there, but when he starts braiding it, his friends and family tell him to shave it off

A new music video will come out for either Sacred the Thread or Farewell for Now out of the literal blue

videos of Danny singing Bon Jovi in a Nashville karaoke bar will unearth

Josh will get another piercing

GVF will issue an apology, revealing that they accidentally deleted the files for the Broken Bells music video

Jake will commit to speaking in nothing but latin for an entire interview

Some cryptic sign will be dropped that Oliver Reed isn't dead

Something's gonna come out of that mystery song that they've been playing during their jam sessions on stage, I swear

Josh is gonna try to bring back shoulder pads and he may or may not pull it off

At least a few members of GVF will accidentally make their way into the background of a Mastercard commercial like Michael Clifford did in 2014

Danny will get another tattoo of something goofy, like a frog playing a banjo or a dorito bag

Sam will want to get a tattoo too, but talk himself out of it while it's happening so he's left with a dot tattooed on him, which he calls a freckle tattoo

GVF will release a new curated spotify playlist, but it's just Nicki Minaj's Pink Friday album

Josh will tease a new short film about space pirates with Jake cast as the evil, latin-speaking three headed villain

New outfit debuts all around for the next leg of the Starcatcher tour, including more capes, more sparkles, and more chains

Josh has spent their entire break trying to figure out how to apply pyro to his microphone so he can shoot shit out of it, which he will test during their next performance

GVF holiday single drop, but they're all giving their worst Frank Sinatra impression and it's a clusterfuck

[bokettochild]

lol I’ll guess that u listened to Monster while writing that scene? And yes I love Christian music. I care about the lyrics I’m listening to so Christian is what I tend to fill my playlist w. Plus, since I’m a Christian myself I like to support those artists and know they exist bc they’re less common than secular music.

On a LU note, favorite genres per boy? And do they focus more on lyrics or melody?

Oh fantastic! I was a bit wary of suggesting just the Christian artists I grew up on, but I'm glad to hear you enjoy it too! I tend to be more careful with what I listen to as well, but sometimes you don't get a choice (and that sometimes is when your room-mate doesn't give a darn).

For the LU boys:

Hyrule doesn't have a lot of experience with music, but most of what he hears in his era is folk music, much of it passed down from Legend's era (or just straight up written by Legend). He'd enjoy most stringed instruments, I think, but especially because stringed instruments are the best for group songs (the musician can sing too) and he loves the sense of community the music creates.

Legend would be a mix of folk and work songs, since, again, it's something he would have grown up around. He'd be pretty versatile about music though, but I think his favorite instruments would be the piano and the violin/fiddle. Still I think blues and jazz would be something he's really enjoy as well, or just anything really soulful, although he'd have to be in the mood.

Twilight is a country boy, need I say more? He's a fiddler himself, I think, but the banjo and guitar are special too. Mouth organ is a maybe, sometimes it's too much for his ears, but the way it compliments other music is something he really enjoys. French horn is something he really lives though (since it plays so prominent a role in Ordon's music)

Sky is accustomed to the lyre and flute family, but I think he'd really enjoy communal music like Legend, Twilight, and Hyrule. He'd probably get a rush from rock, but only in small doses, as I really can't see this man being a metal head. If he had the chance to hear a full orchestra though, I think he'd be utterly blown away and just dazzled! Same with a proper choir performance. He feels like the type of guy who'd enjoy a vocal arrangement as much as an instrumental one.

Time is a rock man. 80's style dad rock. He cannonically says things like "groovy", so this is cannon to me. (also @cantankerouscanuck got me hooked on the idea). He likes softer music too, but his happy music is the heavier stuff. The ocarina may be what he;s known for, but this guy performed with the Indigo-Go's, he knows how to handle a guitar!

Wind is a pirate, so like Legend, he's used to working songs mostly, but I think he'd also enjoy rock, like most 13-year-olds do at one point or another LOL. He'd be mostly versatile though! Anything with a beat makes him happy mostly (RIP Wind, you would've loved rap)

Four isn't much of a musical person, as none of the colors can agree and the chaos is a bit much, but when split, let's just say that they cover the full spectrum of musical interests :)

Warriors is one that I headcannon to come from a poorer background, so instruments weren;t much of a thing where he's from. Vocal arrangements and folk music were common, but because I love the idea of a Celtic Captain, there was a piper who came to town once and a bit and the music was much adored by a young Wars. Now that he's come city side, he's very fond of piano, but that deep love of the pipes will never leave him <3

Wild isn't much used to music, but I think he just likes anything you can play on an accordion, since the association with Kass and the Rito makes him happiest. Don't tell me that they don't all adore and treat "the champion's descendant" like one of their own! Rito village is his home away from home, but Kass's music is a constant no matter where he is. He'd like other music, I think, especially "exotic" music like what we hear played in Gerudo Town (Naboris' Theme slaps!) but the accordion is the sound of home to him.

[exhausted-think-bucket]

Paul's first glimpse of John as described in The Day John Met Paul by Jim O'Donnell

A small shred of grass away, both thumbs in the corners of his peg-legged pants pockets, another teenager is also having fun. Fifteen-year-old guitarist Paul McCartney listens for a rock and roll heartbeat; looks down Lennon’s throat for inflammation of the lyric. He finds the older teenager’s health to be solid as a rock. This may be a garden party, but McCartney can tell that the guitar player is not garden variety. In frisking Lennon’s technical knowledge, he follows the guitarist’s fingers and deciphers the fact that he’s playing banjo chords. In taking an inventory of Lennon’s singing background, he can tell that Lennon doesn’t know all the words to all the songs. The young man makes note of and accepts these limitations. But, laserlike, he transpierces the limitations—sees past the banjo chords and wrong words and comes up with other perceptions. To start with, Lennon’s creative extemporaneousness etches itself across McCartney’s mind. He likes how Lennon makes up words on the spot—suffuses the music with a teenage Liverpool touch. In addition, without even knowing all the words, the guy still captures the triumph of each song.

Secondly, the fifteen-year-old is taken by the concrete actuality of the band—the simple fact of its existence in the real world. Here’s a cluster of local blokes—around his own age—up on a stage playing not-half-bad rock and roll. And thirdly, McCartney realizes that, for the first time in his life, he’s looking at someone who cares about this crazy new music as much as he does. He knows that he and Lennon share a good friend—rock and roll. He can tell that they both listen to the same sounds and, more importantly, hear the same messages. And, most importantly, the music really matters to them. It has been one thing for McCartney to hear the music on the radio or on records or to see it in the movies or on stage, or even to see local bands that fool around with it. But he can tell that this guy isn’t fooling around. This music means something to Lennon—and he means business. McCartney holds a sharp eye on this fellow who is in his own age group, in his own city, and playing his own music. It is as if Lennon is incarnating the music for McCartney—rendering the sound waves into something as real as shore waves; taking the notes McCartney hears in each ear and bringing them together into sharp focus behind his eyes, lifting the music off the radio air-waves and putting it into Liverpool air. The deeper mysteries of rock and roll begin to crystallize behind McCartney’s long, dark brown eyelashes.

[bambi-kinos]

McLennon male/female AU

So way back in June 2022, I was talking with some friends including @dovetailjoints about this Paul McCartney manip where his face was converted to a woman's:

I promptly lost my mind on account of being a huge d*ke so I started spinning up a McLennon m/f AU about it. I still think about it a lot but I also don't know if I'll ever write it or not. Looking at @erinarigby's beautiful rendering of John and Paula reminded me of it, so I am publishing these notes for the pleasure of the reading audience.

I might still return to it at some point but I am currently waist deep in my longfic and have different projects lined up after that.

John and Paula are at the fete together but Paula is being crowned the Rose Queen or whatever it was that was happening in the background. Her best friend is Dot and her closest guy friend is Ivan and she's too busy basking in the attention of winning a competition to give a single fuck about John Lennon. She already knows her worth so who gives a fuck about that guy? They do NOT have a fateful meeting at the church hall.

(The secret is that she quietly follows him on the bus and has his route memorized. Light stalking of the teenage girl kind and I bet Dot has been helping but they treat it as a big joke.)

Ivan and Len both know Paula from school before they went to gender segregated academies or whatever. Paula actually finishes her education here because her dad wants her to do it and I bet she would have been a daddy's girl through and through. Mike is still her little brother and she vacillates between doting on him and bullying him. (Older sisters can be really mean to their younger brothers, I've noticed.)

Ivan still sings her praises to John but John does not take this in the slightest bit seriously. He and the rest are convinced Paula is Ivan's secret girlfriend (it's actually platonic between them, George is the one who carries a torch for Paula) and that Ivan wants her around so that he doesn't feel lonely at Quarry Men practice.

Things finally come to a head when Paula helps Ivan carry his tea chest bass to a QM band practice. The mythical J. Paula McCartney! (She won't tell anyone what the J stands for because it's embarrassing.) Paula's face definitely catches some unwanted attention so she deliberately plays up being Ivan's girlfriend to escape it. I imagine she's pretty cold about this kind of thing and probably much more ruthless than AMAB Paul because she has to play for keeps to be taken seriously.

Then she notices John playing with banjo chords. She says something. This goes very, very poorly.

John could take direction from an AMAB Paul who showed off his skills but Paula just rocks up and makes fun of him to his face. "She doesn't even play! Ivan, muzzle your bitch and get her out of here." Doesn't help that John is immensely taken with her but he doesn't like this at all.

Years of slapslap (no kiss) ensue, Paula eventually does make her skills known to John in someway but he's able to put her down for being a girl and therefore not a threat. I have no idea how they would both develop musically but I imagine that any attempts at a collaboration between them would go immensely poorly at this stage. John would not be able to put aside the sexism and Paula would needle him mercilessly.

Eventually though they come to a sort of détente which means that their two social spheres get some measure of peace after some 2 odd years of them screaming at each other during house parties. Everyone else can tell they want to fuck each other's brains out but they both frequently declare their public loathing of each other. For some reason John makes it his business to know what the guitar girl from Allerton is doing with her time and who she is spending it with. As she gets older this might even become a more reasonable proposition as Liverpool is still a rough neighborhood and she insists on walking home by herself after dark. Eventually she and Ivan stage a public break up so that John realizes its "over" (lol) between them and stops bothering poor Ivan about it.

George is more territorial about Paula which is cute coming from a pipsqueak that John easily has 30 pounds over. Unfortunately Paula does not see George that way.

At some point Paula becomes a bit of a woman about town and starts seriously dating men. John muscles his way into this, for some god forsaken reason, and makes a nuisance of himself running off Paula's dates. More screaming matches ensue but John seems incredibly agitated about something that Paula doesn't understand.

At some point in the détente John makes it into art college. Paula makes sure to mock him to his face for being an academic failure and reminds him that he'll never graduate because he doesn't have the guts. To this end John does in fact buckle down out of pure spite. I don't know if he would actually finish but I think he'd actually develop as a painter and a sketch artist just to show her up. I don't think John Lennon of all people could bear a beautiful woman mocking him for his inadequacy.

John might go on two dates with Cynthia but I think she would be a little unsettled at how he manages to insert Paula McCartney into every single conversation, but not in a jealous way. Cynthia tracks down Paula at some public gathering and asks her if she's being bothered by John. A trio of Dot, Paula, and Cynthia forms. SLEEPOVERS etc. John settles down because Paula isn't actively dating anyone here, she has her galpals and they are extremely epic friends.

Something happens that triggers Paula and John running off on their own. I'm imagining John stealing a college teacher's keys and they drive out to get some lunch somewhere. It's an unexpectedly good gesture from John Lennon who Paula usually dismisses as a cad.

I think at some point during this conversation John would admit that he knows Paula is a good guitar player -- its just that he can't really own up to it in public. A unique moment of vulnerability from him and she responds in kind. She tells him she thinks he's the best singer she's ever heard. For the first time things are not shitty between them. John probably ruins this by honking her breasts.

Paula graduates secondary and has to decide what the fuck to do now. It is 1960, they're going to go to Hamburg eventually but not yet. John has managed to establish something with Stu and I think Paula sent George John's way because he needed support that he refused to accept from her because she's female. She's been a loner for all her life, it's not a big wrench now.

George has had a front row seat to John's Paula obsession for years now and he's both intrigued and weirded out and wants to date Paula himself.

I'm imagining some scenario where John finally goes…why not try it. What's stopping him. So he finds her at an outdoor market and he actually tries to be smooth. He catches her eye on the other side of the road and nicks a wildflower bouquet. He trips comically and almost goes down but then appears three stalls later. Paula is laughing, yes yes she thinks it's funny. He waits at the end of the strip and gives her the bouquet and they spend some quiet time together. Nothing sexual, John is just ready to try something he's never attempted before: treating a woman like a person.

Paula reciprocates and buys him something to eat probably. He really is very handsome and very intelligent. She likes him better without the quiff and says so. He succeeds in making her laugh. His hair is so red and he's still the beautiful boy she saw on the bus.

They're watching the sun set over the Mersey when she says "I was accepted to [university.] I'm leaving at the end of the week. I'm studying music."

John goes quiet but doesn't really react except to congratulate her. He knows she will do well.

He goes home and it goes poorly.

Cyn and Dot throw a big good bye party for Paula to celebrate her leaving home. Their pearl is escaping into the big wide world. Paula is deeply unhappy. Something is missing. She gets very very drunk. George shows up and tells her that John and Stu have secured a gig in Hamburg. They'll be leaving at the end of the week too. For some reason John was really, really intent on leaving all of a sudden. Paula definitely locks herself in her childhood bathroom and cries her eyes out.

John notably does not put in an appearance at the party even though Stu and his hot friend Pete Shotton definitely do along with George. Everyone knows that John and Paula have a thing so where the hell is he? Even if they don't like each other they've still been a big part of each other's lives -- John has an arrest record because he punched out the guy who spiked Paula's drink a few months ago and she screamed bloody murder in the police station until they let him go. What gives?

John still does not put in an appearance. Someone sees a creeper by the front door but he slides away before anyone can see him.

Around 4am Paula finally drags herself upstairs upset and wasted and not sure why she's unhappy. She hears the rocks clatter against her window and by the time she pokes her head out John is risking death by climbing up the drainpipe. She almost screams but helps him inside instead.

John is a MESSY PERSON and he promptly goes to pieces in her arms. What am I supposed to do without you, he sobs. Aren't you going to miss me? Aren't you going to think about me? Don't I matter to you at all?

They have another small argument but its not very serious and its clearly flirting at this point. They're both pretty bombed so they just end up stripping and holding each other.

Jim finds them the next morning. It goes poorly.

Paula decides she's going to Hamburg with John. He told her they need a fifth person and he gave her the eyes. She knows what he wants and she knows what she wants and she isn't wasting money on some stupid school. She doesn't want to be a music teacher anyway.

Jim informs her she is not going to Germany in the company of four randy boys much less with the town ne'er do well John Lennon. Paula bides her time and packs a bag and her guitar. She escapes out the window the morning that they're set to leave for Hamburg and shows up at the last second. John hugs her tightly and doesn't let go for several hours. She just blew her uni placement to be with him.

Hamburg happens. It goes poorly but also very well. John suddenly gets a lot more sensitive to their accommodations. If it was all blokes he wouldn't care but now that they're out of the cradle of Liverpool he's suddenly sharply aware of how many people are watching them, and watching Paula, and how vulnerable she actually is. Paula adjusts to the German catcalls and otherwise refuses to appear ruffled. Honestly don't know how to render this particular section except that John would get an early education on how a woman and a bandmate can be treated. This isn't Cynthia being pawed at by a German sailor, this is his bandmate Paula having to dance away from blokes trying to climb up the stage to get to her. "Alarmed" doesn't quite cover it.

For Paula its an education. She's never performed live in front of an audience before; this version of Paul never performed with the QM. Gelling with the band out of no where is a hell of a challenge but Hamburg still makes them. She surprises John by engaging in the loogie races and by being intrigued by the sex workers around town. I think that she and John still wouldn't be having sex at this point because John is still absorbing all the new experiences and it's easier to keep her on a shelf where he can admire her tits without actually trying to fuck her. In John's mind he's keeping the upper hand by not ruining Paula by having sex with her. In his mind he's protecting her from something; he doesn't feel worthy of her and if they get physical he's scared of making her "dirty."

Paula still has ways of unsettling him though. Imagining John's face if she shows him the underbust corset she bought without a shirt to go under it. He's only seen her nipples in the dark before so seeing her dressed up like one of the street girls makes him pretty feral and that's on top of the prellies.

Paula only performs dressed this way once which results in some mass chaos at whatever club they're performing at that night, kek.

Honestly Hamburg is still intensely deranged and Lennon and McCartney's fixations one each other becomes even more pronounced once they start writing songs together. I can't imagine how their music would change once they have access to Paula's vocal range. Probably something more Nightwish-esque as I think Paula being a woman would make John more tolerant or intrigued with operatic styles just because he wants to hear her belt it.

George still gets deported for being underage but I think John and Paula end up staying in Hamburg together because Paula doesn't light a condom on fire this time. She's too busy putting it on John. I like to think they spent Christmas in Germany performing and boning.

They finally make it home after New Year's. Paula is half dead and John is barely a person because he's full up on amphetamines and sex. Mimi won't let John into the house because he had the nerve to take off with a scarlet woman to Germany without asking permission which means…

Jim does not officially let John into the house so Paula sneaks him in through her window. The band recuperates through out January and John gets used to sleeping next to his lady. It's a quiet hibernation period that they think back on fondly later.

At this point Paula is somewhat disgraced for running off with John Lennon and once again John gets to see this up close and personal which is discomfiting for him since its his actions that are visiting these consequences back on Paula's head. He didn't quite understand how intense the judgment was before he saw it aimed her way. It forces him to grow up a little.

But he still takes her to Paris. Common expectation is that they're running away to get married. Neither of them want to get married yet but they're also doing the Lennon-McCartney dance with each other where they become screamingly jealous of anyone who looks at their partner.

Things progress to 1963. They meet Brian, shit happens idk. Beatlesmania kicks off. I have this idea that maybe Paula crossdresses as a man. She is beautiful but she still has a strong jaw and her breasts are small enough to bind without much effort. She is also still the tallest member of the Beatles and she easily has a full inch over John in height (which regularly leads to the best erections of John's entire life.) Being an Amazon has its advantages and this one means she can present herself as a man to secure a unified front with the other Beatles.

I am unable to render how Beatlemania would change if Paula was the single girl in the Fab Four but I can imagine how it would change their look -- 3 beautiful matching boys and the sole female. Lots of color play in my mind going on and of course there's the quiet understanding that Lennon and McCartney belong to each other.

Paula "accidentally" gets exposed as a woman when John loosens her undergarments as a prank and her breasts pop out during a performance. (I don't think anyone would see her nipples, it just be immediate cleavage and a button pops off her jacket.) I am unable to render how this would go, I can't imagine anything except a huge uproar that would send the Beatles into the stratosphere. This would become a moment that gets debated for decades, whether it was a prank from John or if John and Paula came up with it together.

Paula has incentive to do something like this: Brian won't let John and Paula get married because it would disrupt the Beatles image.

1965 - the big one, I think. Paula can be a woman in public now which results in the photoshoot that breaks the world. Referred to only as "the Beatles wedding." It's just too good to pass up.

Paula gets to model a few hundred different wedding gowns (most of these are separate from the boys just because there's so many and she looks good in everything) with various accoutrements anc accessories. There is a portion where the boys will be dressed up as grooms and they'll be getting special sessions with her each.

John is a complete and utter bastard leading up to and throughout the days of this shoot and its commonly conjectured in Beatles fandom circles for decades afterwards that he was seething with jealousy and humiliation -- he should have married her years ago so that this kind of spectacle couldn't come to pass, and he knows it, but he can't change it now and he's furious that she's dressing up as a bride when she's not even really his. And on top of it George and Ringo are getting to see her before he does and they won't tell him what she looks like.

"I hate you and I will never forgive you for as long as I live," is what George tells John when he asks how it went, what she wore, what it was like. John is hurt and confused.

"You're a lucky man John Lennon. Don't squander it," is what Ritchie tells John when he asks about it. "Make sure to brush your teeth and whatnot though."

John is nervous as hell even though its just some stupid photo shoot and they've done thousands of those already. Brian won't let him drink to calm down so John now has to face Paula in her wedding gown while completely sober.

There's a modern trend of "photos of grooms seeing their brides in their dresses for the first time" and I think all 3 of the boys would get these with Paula. It might even be enough to power several magazines, idk. Collectors items and whatnot. The McHarrison issue, the McStarr issue, the McLennon issue…

Photogs definitely capture the moments leading up to the reveal and then the seeing, the shock, the surprise, the awe. George started laughing and flung himself at her and danced her around, Ritchie did that presses-his-fist-to-his-face thing men do sometimes when they're overcome, yes, Paula is an absolute joy. She made sure to insist on having all different dresses per day because she didn't want repeats. Her boys deserve something brand new every time.

John though. Oh, John. Very nervous, trying not to be, clearly hating the camera, he doesn't turn when he's supposed to and he only reacts when she touches his shoulder and calls his name. Honestly I can see them leaning into a beauty and the beast angle with these two.

If there was any doubt before there isn't now. It's love. Everything else fades away and it's just John and Paula being themselves, except they were always in love, weren't they.

The world promptly goes completely insane upon the release of the Beatles wedding photographs. They got what they asked for and then some. Honestly John and Paula probably have one iconic photo spread of just the two of them that day and in that timeline, that portrait blots out pretty much anything else of cultural significance from 1965-1968. The world turns on but the wedding portraits from that day is what ends up being the most iconic part of Beatlemania.

after that IDK, I'm not really capable of thinking past that. I just like the idea of the wedding photoshoot and how John and Paula came from those humble beginnings. I think they'd definitely have children together but I don't know if they could manage a stable family unit or if they'd be able to save the band from the break up. But there wouldn't be any faffing around about "the Lennon and McCartney rivalry" or "they always hated each other." The wedding shoot was too real.

Notably, John and Paula did attend the premier of A Hard Day's Night with Paula in a white dress and John in a black tux. Symbolism.

I think by the time the Get Back sessions happen John and Paula have an almost three year old and Paula is heavily pregnant with their second or third child. Instead of the deadline being Ringo's acting job they're trying to get one last project in because the second baby is due in February.

I think with Paula's height (she would still be taller than John after all and this time she's wearing high heels to make the point) and her androgyny they would also get some mileage out of early boundary pushing by dressing her up in the boys clothes, so the Shea uniforms would definitely make an appearance unchanged except Paula's tits are out to here and John spends a lot of the stadium concert unbuttoning her jacket every time she buttons it back up.

Just occurred to me that Help! would be a much more straight Dr. No parody especially with Paula as the built in Bond girl. AHDN would be more similar as a documentary with surreal comedy elements but Help! would definitely be more ridiculous and Johnny gets his girl in the end haha

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

These are all my notes from last year. Thought you guys would appreciate. As I was writing this out last year, I remember being caught between two impulses: the "John and Paul would be a pregnant teenagers couple" idea (which I see many other based users have agreed with!) and then the "Beatlemania but if Paul was a woman" idea. In the end I went with the Beatlemania Paula because that's more interesting as a story especially with Paula having to exploit her androgyny for success. That being said I think Paula would absolutely be the Domme to John's sub, there's no way a Beatlemania Paula doesn't have John's balls in a cage and John liked being controlled by a strong woman. He's not allowed to finish until she tells him that he can.

I remember thinking that they would have their first child in 1965, with the idea being that Paula is pregnant during the Beatles Wedding Photoshoot, which would take place sometime in the winter so that the fashion designers could sell their wares with Paula advertising them. IMO Paula would make John wear condoms for years but once Ed Sullivan happens John makes a disturbingly sincere plea to trash them and Paula assents. Two months later she's pregnant after John's been climaxing inside her multiple times a day <3 But honestly, she's rewarding him for being so fucking brave all the time, he's unironically earned it.

I also think that a female Paula is still has full on baby rabies and by late 1964 she's desperate to get pregnant by John so they can finally start their family. There's an element of rebellion too because she'd be furious with Brian for not letting her and John get married and retaliates by having out of wedlock children.

[aguineapigcouldntdothis]

physically, I am in my home in utah. mentally, I am in that one guinea pig village in tasmania that posts videos of their guinea pigs running on turf and eating from mini picnic tables with banjo music playing in the background

[haunted-plush]

Cars Music Headcanons Because why the Fuck not

Lightning

Got a red electric guitar because he thought it was cool

Tried to learn to play but stopped after a week because he wasn't immediately good at it [adhd curse...]

After he crashed into Radiator Springs and finished his big race he got lessons

Average singer, passable enough to sing while he plays

His favorite band is System of a Down

Mater

Doesn't own a banjo but knows how to play

*Does* own a fiddle but rarely takes it out because it's actually one of the more expensive things he owns, the only object he took with him when he left home actually, and he keeps it in the case most of the time

REALLY good at playing it, he could play just about anything and can improv at any moment

Yes he actually knows how to do proper scream vocals

His normal singing voice is very deep and rich

Great whistler

Sally

Good singer, she's shy about singing in front of people but when she's by herself she has a really pretty voice

Knows enough about piano to claim that she can play it

Not shy about dancing, if a song comes up she likes she will get up and dance without getting embarrassed

Favorite song is I Wanna Dance with Somebody, close second is Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

She said she wished she could get better at piano, which she can't do because she doesn't have one, so Lightning got her one for the lobby of the Cozy Cone as a gift

After a few months of practice she invited everyone to come down one evening for a little concert, and she played a few really beautiful songs for them, everyone thought it was lovely

Doc

Likes to have the radio on while he works in his garage

Sometimes he has it on when he sits outside with a cigar by the little firepit, but just as often he'll just listen to the fire cracking and enjoy the quiet

One time Lightning asked him why he doesn't like to have it on all the time when he sits out there and he said "the best music is the sounds of mother nature" which Lightning thought was the cheesiest thing he'd ever heard

He likes the sounds of the crickets and the coyotes at night

He secretly used to be in a band when he was young, Lightning found photos of him playing drums one time [he never told anyone about it though]

Generally likes dad rock with no specific bands or musicians

Flo and Ramone

Flo picks the music at her cafe and Ramone picks the music at his tattoo shop

Flo's favorite is Dolly Parton, she got into her music through her more pop focused songs, but she learned to branch out to her country also

Ramone's taste overlap with Lightning, and when he knows Lightning will visit his shop he'll put on some metal for the background

Sarge and Fillmore

Obviously they have very different opinions on basically everything, but surprisingly there are a few songs out there they both like

Sarge isn't big on music in general, he would listen to tornado sirens if he had the choice

Fillmore can play basically any stringed or woodwind instrument

Over time Sarge learns to live with Fillmore's Beatles vinyls he's always playing

Luigi and Guido

They both listen to music basically exclusively in Italian

They love singing the songs they play in the shop while they clean as loudly as possible

Sometimes they get weird looks from the customers when they do that but they ignore them

One time Luigi tried to take Guido to the opera but Guido kept falling asleep so they just left early and Luigi took him to get something to eat

If this gets notes I'll make a part 2 ig

[borathae]

↳ Index [Chapter 27 - Guilt]

Warnings: nightmares, Jimin is finally bettering himself, she keeps overthinking, Yoongi is going through it this chapter hahaha not in a bad way, this is both very sweet but also has sad moments

Wordcount: 7.1k

a/n: we stan a man wanting to do better

The kitchen is filled with the smell of food. The air dances in the music of Hoseok’s playlist. The latter is currently showing off a dance move to Yoongi, who shows him his support by nodding his head as his arms are crossed in front of his chest.

“Are you getting the peppers soon?” Seokjin calls over his shoulder.

“Yeah, yeah soon. God, I was showing off my moves”, Hoseok whines, stopping his dance, “sorry hyung, it’ll have to wait.”

“Yeah, yeah”, Yoongi dismisses him but overall he looks very content with himself.

“What did you think of it?”

“It looked good”, Yoongi praises him which makes Hoseok show off a huge grin.

“You guys seem to have fun”, you call their attention.

“Oh guys, finally you’re done. The entire house heard you”, Hoseok says.

“What do you mean?”

Hoseok rolls his hips in a sexual way, making weird faces as he does.

“Eh-hey”, he says, wiggling his brows.

“You’re so gross, will you finally get the peppers?” Seokjin hisses.

Hoseok stumbles away with a cackle, soon disappearing in the pantry.

“Did you actually…”

“No. He’s gross and listened in”, Seokjin answers you, studying you from head to toe, “how are you doing, Taehyung?”

“Good thank you for asking. And you?” he says.

“Good, yeah”, Seokjin purses his lips in preparation for what he will say, “I’m glad you’re feeling better.”

“Oh uhm”, Taehyung lowers his gaze shyly, “thank you, that means a lot to me.”

“Mhm yeah”, Seokjin turns back to the stove, stirring the onion with bright red ears.

“I’m happy too”, Emma says, giving Taehyung a sweet smile, “we have to do another dance party soon. I’ll get my Banjo then”, she adds.

“Certainly!” Taehyung nods his head vigorously, “oh, I haven’t played folk in so long, we ought to do it soon.”

“Definitely”, she says, flashing him one last smile before returning to her task of dicing the pumpkin.

Taehyung looks at you with sparkling eyes. Did you see that? He says with that look, we are finally getting along. For the first time in far too many months his eyes carried honest life in them again and you are so happy that they do, hoping that it will never die out again. 

You lean in to peck his cheek, telling him that you were happy with it.

Taehyung inches closer to Seokjin and Emma afterwards, joining their middle.

“Can I help somehow? The food smells amazing already. What are we cooking?” he asks.

“Roasted pumpkin and pepper soup, it’s best for autumn days like today”, Emma tells him.

“Oh, that sounds lovely. You know, we were thinking about having a winter holiday party, perhaps we can cook it then too.”

“A winter holiday party? That sounds so much fun.”

“Definitely. I have already planned everything…”

Their conversation soon fades out into the background.

“Good morning”, you greet Yoongi, “did you sleep well?”

“I didn’t sleep.”

“Why? Are you okay? Did the conversation take so long? Are you okay? How did it go?”

“It went alright. He'll think about himself."

“And he is still alive, right?”

Yoongi scowls at you, “I told you that I wouldn’t kill him, didn’t I? Stop distrusting me.”

“Gosh, no I didn’t mean it like that. Thank you for talking to him.”

“Mhm”, Yoongi nods his head.

“So why did you stay awake all night?”

“I followed a supposed trail to Namjoon.”

“And? How did that go?”

“It lead to nothing”, he says and huffs out air.

“Gosh, that sucks. I’m sure we’ll find him soon”, you assure him.

“I hope”, he murmurs then goes to study your face, “you look…” his eyes flit to your middle then back to your face, “…well rested.”

“I am”, you pull him close to you, kissing his lips that way.

“Mhm”, Yoongi hums in acknowledgement, stepping back as inconspicuously as possible before that could happen. He ignores the confused look you send his way because of it.

Hoseok returns with the peppers.

“So guys, about this morning. I assume we are all goody good again?”

“Jesus christ Hoseok, you’re such a pervert. Can you stop talking about it?” Yoongi hisses.

“I’m just asking. They were really going at it.”

Yoongi frowns, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“Yeah and apparently forgetting their training”, he murmurs, sending Jungkook a look.

“In my defence”, Jungkook begins, “I was only doing what you told me I could do. And Taehyung took watch.”

“I did”, Taehyung turns, looking proud.

“I know”, Yoongi answers him dryly, studying him from head to toe.

“And? What do you think of it? Did I do well?” he asks, nudging Yoongi’s chest.

“I guess.”

Taehyung grins proudly, “see? I told you, I know a thing or two about control as well. Now you don’t have to be his only teacher anymore, I can help too.”

Yoongi turns his head to the side, tightening the grip he has on his own arms, “mhm.”

“So you listened in too”, Hoseok says, wiggling his brows, “you pervert.”

“Hey, don’t call me a pervert. You did it first”, Yoongi complains.

“Did I?” Hoseok wiggles your brows.

“Whatever, I only did it to make sure Jungkook stayed in control.”

“Mhm sure and it wasn’t because you’re into it.”

Yoongi frowns again, giving Hoseok a little growl and a flash of his fangs.

Hoseok snickers.

“How about we all agree on not listening in on people having sex from now on, yeah?” you say, feeling like getting swallowed by the ground would be way more comfortable.

“I only did it to make sure you’re safe”, Yoongi murmurs, pouting which earns him one of your looks.

“In my defence, I listen in on Seokjin and Emma too”, Hoseok says.

“Yah!” Seokjin exclaims, head snapping up quickly, “what did you just say? Come here you little bastard”, he says, soon chasing Hoseok with a spatula in one hand and a dish towel in the other.

“Hoseok, Seokjin can you two behave?” Emma tells them with fondness in her eyes, “we need those peppers.”

“I’ll cut them”, Yoongi says, snatching them and a cutting board.

“Thank you hun, you are a darling”, Emma says, returning to the soup.

“I want to do something too”, Jungkook says.

“I wanted to bake bread”, Yoongi says, “the recipe’s in my book.”

“On it, bread it is. ___, Tae do you want to help me?”

“Of course!” Taehyung exclaims, hurrying to Jungkook’s side. He back hugs him, swaying their bodies from side to side with his chin resting on his shoulder.

“Just tell me what to do”, you say, staying between Jungkook and Yoongi.

You end up reading the ingredients while Taehyung is the one getting them and Jungkook is stuck with the duty of kneading. Every now and then he giggles when Taehyung decides to nibble on his neck or shoulder, telling the older vampire to stop it whilst never really fighting him off.

Yoongi in the meantime finishes the peppers and brings them to Emma, returning to your side afterwards.

“The dough is – Tae stop biting me – the dough is finished what should I do next?” Jungkook says with Taehyung nuzzled into his neck.

“Maybe start with a little less biting and more kneading?” you tease.

Taehyung lifts his head, grinning boyishly.

“I feel like you want to tell me something, darling”, he says.

“Of course not, you little sweetie just aren’t helpful”, you say, nudging his arm.

“But Kookie smells so good”, Taehyung pouts, resting his cheek on Jungkook’s shoulder, “I want to eat him.”

Jungkook gulps, staring at you and Yoongi with big eyes. His cheeks are rosy.

“Didn’t you do that enough this morning?” Yoongi throws in, eyes sparkling in unsure anticipation if his joke was funny.

Taehyung widens his eyes then snorts very ungracefully.

“Oh dear hyung, did you just joke?” he says.

“Why?” Yoongi crosses his arms in front of his chest.

“Nothing, you are simply hilarious”, Taehyung stumbles away from Jungkook to instead hug Yoongi, getting stopped by Yoongi raising his hand in a stopping motion before he can.

“Okay, don’t overstep your privilege now.”

Taehyung laughs, “come on, just one hug.”

“No, you’re making it weird. Fuck off.” 

“Okay then”, Taehyung says and falls around Yoongi’s neck instead.

Yoongi freezes up, staring at nothing with widened eyes and his arms stretched from his body. 

“What did I just tell you?”

“But I want to”, Taehyung murmurs into Yoongi’s shoulder. 

“Why?”

“Because I want to. You deserve a hug. For helping me last night and for talking to him and for being a great friend. I felt so alone lately, but now I don’t anymore. Thank you, hyung.”

“Uhm. Yeah.”

Yoongi pats Taehyung on the back twice, carrying an awkward look on his face.

“Are you done now?” he asks. 

Taehyung shakes his head, pulling Yoongi closer. 

“What are you doing? Can you”, he huffs out air, “can you not?” 

“But hyung, I love you.”

“Get off of me”, Yoongi says, wiggling in Taehyung’s hold. 

Taehyung snickers, “no.”

“Just piss off”, Yoongi hisses, pushing at Taehyung, “seriously Tae, I’ll break your arms if you don’t let go.”

Taehyung gives Yoongi a tight squeeze.

“No. Leave me alone. I don’t want this”, Yoongi complains, fighting the younger vampire vehemently. 

Not that he ever truly uses his strength. He is just weird about all of this. Weird and nervous like nothing else.

Taehyung giggles and finally steps back, flashing Yoongi a boyish grin.

“You’re so cold-hearted hyung. Do you not love me back?” he says, earning himself a dramatic eye roll, “do you not love me, hyung?”

“You’re so weird sometimes”, Yoongi fixes his shirt, looking to the side in shyness.

Taehyung cackles. Now everything is just how it is supposed to be. Safe for you.

Taehyung forces his arms under your own arms, hugging your middle that way.

“Oh you”, you squeak before giggling loudly, “gosh, you cutie what are you doing?”

“I’m hugging you”, Taehyung smiles brightly, “have I told you today that you are beautiful?”

“Gosh Tae”, you rest against his chest, “you’re flustering me so much.”

“So are you guys all a thing now?” Hoseok asks.

“What do you mean?”

“I just mean, you four”, he gestures between you, “are you all dating? Like a foursome thing?”

“No”, Yoongi says instantly, “we’re not.”

“But you all seem really close.”

“That is because Yoongi doesn’t know what he is talking about”, Taehyung says, “of course we are dating”, he says and tries to take Yoongi into a group hug with you and Jungkook.

“Can you let off?” Yoongi hisses, fleeing instantly, “just because we agreed on getting along, doesn’t mean I wanna date you.”

“Did I say something wrong?”

“Yes, I’m not dating you. Get that out of your head.”

Taehyung grins, “I’ll get you there eventually. I got Kookie too, didn’t I?” he says and nuzzles his nose into Jungkook’s neck.

The latter giggles loudly, “god Tae, you’re tickling me.”

“Tch”, and with that Yoongi turns away, ready to leave.

“Hey hyung, don’t leave”, Hoseok says, holding his wrist, “sorry for asking.”

“It’s fine, you couldn’t have known with all the clingy shit going on”, he assures him.

“God hyung, why are you so grumpy today?” Taehyung asks with a pout.

“I’m not grumpy”, he throws back, “can you give me space?”

“Of course, that’s a given.”

“Thanks. I’m gonna leave now. I need to meet someone.”

“Who are you meeting?” Seokjin asks.

“Just someone important. See you later.”

He leaves the kitchen in big steps.

“Well, that didn’t go as planned”, Hoseok mumbles, “shouldn’t I have asked?”

“I don’t know”, Jungkook says, looking at you just like all the others do.

“What?” you ask them,

“Can you talk to him?” Taehyung asks you, “he listens to you.”

“Y-yeah sure, I’ll talk to him”, you say, hurrying after Yoongi with an irregular pulse.

Deep down you hope that he has already left and you don’t have to talk to him. What if he brings up what happened with Suzy? Maybe that is why he is so pissed off today. Because he is angry that you had fun this morning instead of being sick in guilt. What if he wants to talk about it now? After all, he is the only person who didn’t talk to you about it yet. You have no idea what you should say if he decides to make this day the day.

Yoongi however is still present, putting on his coat. He looks at you through the mirror.

“Do you need something?” he asks.

“No uhm, Tae sent me”, you tell him.

“Ah”, Yoongi looks away, fingers working quickly to close the buttons, “what does he want?”

“He just wanted to know if you are angry at him.”

“A little yeah.”

“Do you want to tell me?”

Yoongi exhales loudly, looking at you again. He shakes his head, walking away from the mirror to put on his boots. He sits down for it.

“Okay uhm. What should I tell him you told me?”

Yoongi lifts his head, “are we in middle school that you have to play messenger? Why can’t he talk to me personally?” he hisses.

“Sorry, you’re right. I’ll tell him that”, you say, turning on your heels.

“No, wait”, Yoongi stops you.

You look over your shoulder.

“Come here”, he says in a soft voice, patting his thigh.

You waddle to him and sit down on it, avoiding eye contact.

“Can you look at me?” he asks, placing his fingers under your chin to turn your head gently.

You do so with heated cheeks.

“I’m not angry at you. You know that, don’t you?” he says softly, caressing your chin.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Good”, he lets go of your chin, placing his hand on your thigh instead. It feels warm and heavy on your lap, “is there anything else you want to talk about?”

“No!” you exclaim instantly, jumping up from his lap, “there is nothing to talk about. I just came here for Taehyung, you know?”

Yoongi studies your sudden panicked face with his brows knitted in confusion.

“Okay”, he says, looking away to finish closing his boots.

“Okay then. Then that is talked about too, I’ll tell Tae that you want him to talk to you personally and then we have nothing else to talk about.”

“Yes, okay?” Yoongi stands up, studying your face with even more confusion.

“Okay bye, we’ll see each other later.”

“Princess”, he takes your hand gently, preventing you from turning away.

“W-what?”

“Can I not get a kiss at least?” he asks, mind going haywire in sudden insecurity. Why are you literally drowning in the scent of fear? What did he do? He wonders those questions as you stare at him.

You nod your head and lean in for a kiss. Yoongi makes sure that you deepen it with his right hand holding your face and his left hand pressing you close by the small of your back.

“I’ll miss you”, he murmurs between kisses, “I’ll miss you like crazy, princess”, he whispers, sealing his words by kissing you oh so deeply. He breaks the kiss, letting your lower lip slip from between his teeth. It leaves your lips so tender, “you’ll miss me too, won’t you?” he asks as quietly as possible.

“Of course I’ll miss you”, you answer him, stubbing his nose with your own, “please be careful, my love.”

“I’m always careful”, he says and his voice carries a certain lightness to it all of a sudden, “be careful too, my princess. Don’t leave the house without the others, yeah?”

“Yes, okay.”

You open your eyes at the same time as Yoongi. He is blurry from being so close to you, but you can’t quite pull back yet.

“That’s my best girl”, he whispers, caressing your cheekbone before taking a step back.

He puts his gloves on afterwards, eyes locked on your face, “if you need anything just call me.”

“Okay.”

“You know that you can talk to me about anything, right?”

You lower your eyes, nodding your head.

“Good”, he says, slinging his arm around your waist just to pull you into him and kiss your cheek, “so is there something you want to tell me?”

“No uhm, no please just be careful my love.”

“Mhm”, he nudges your cheek with his nose, “I will.”

“Good”, you say, daring to look into his eyes and meeting fondness in them, “see you later.”

“See you later, my princess.”

Yoongi leaves after one careful look at your face. You won’t see him for the rest of the day and you’ll go to sleep alone after taking a way too long shower where your mind wandered to the most traumatic day of your life.

Lights flicker. The air smells acidic. The walls are red, the carpet on the ground is soaked in blood. The realisation of where you are is instant. You turn and run.

“No please no”, you beg, “wake up ___ wake up, you’re dreaming!” You can hear yourself but you don’t listen. Someone behind you is calling your name. A woman. She is calling you a murderer. Over and over again. You look over your shoulder. She has gotten closer than last night. Her face is still hidden. “Wake up!” you scream, reaching for the door which lies closed before you. “Fucking wake up ___!” you scream, ripping the door open.

Your eyes open. The room is dark. The air smells nothing like the stinging stench of blood. Exhaling shakily, you sit up and turn the lights on. The room appears in front of you, pulling you back to reality just enough to calm down your racing heart. You aren’t sleeping anymore. You are safe again. You are safe.

“I fucking hate this”, you press out, rubbing your own forehead to still the memory of the lasting dream, “I need air.”

You leave the lights on and leave in nothing but your pyjamas and slippers.

You regret your clothing choice once outside. The night is punishing, making you shiver within seconds and yet you don’t mind. Feeling cold means that you can at least feel something other than that awful, awful guilt in your stomach. It sits so heavy in there, reminding you each night why you shouldn’t do things like laugh or joke with the others.

The bench on which you sit down is wet under you, soaking your bottoms until even your skin is soaked. You take this sensation over the burning of blood soaking through your shoes. Each and every single night. Every single fucking night you are walking through too much blood. It’s so exhausting.

“Fuck”, you press out, lowering your head. A shiver runs through your body so aggressively that you physically have to exhale to make it easier to bear.

You are so tired.

A sound beside you makes you lift your head again.

Jimin is sitting next to you. He acknowledges you with a nod of his head, but turns it to look at the view instead.

You turn away too, locking your eyes on the one star you can see on the cloudy sky. It is almost flickering, as if it was fighting for its right on the sky. As if someone was trying to snuff it out while it screamed in order to be acknowledged as important. Flickering, flickering, flickering. Like those lights in your dreams. Endless flickering. You shake off the memory, squeezing the edge of the bench. Jimin doesn’t react.

“Are you just going to sit here?” you ask into the silence.

“Should I do a handstand instead?” he throws back.

You let out a tired chuckle, kicking a little pebble into the nothingness of the night.

“I don’t want to talk.”

“I know, I don’t want to talk either.”

“Okay, good.”

“Good.”

He settles back. You stare at your own feet. Your stomach is so tight in guilt. You hate feeling like this. You would do anything to turn it off. You sneak a glance at Jimin. Turning it all off…

“How does it feel?” you ask him.

“Didn’t you say you didn’t want to talk?”

“Yeah well…” you lower your head.

Jimin sneaks a glance at you then looks away. He thinks that you smell of fear, guilt and tiredness tonight. He wonders why you do, but doesn’t want to ask.

“How does what feel?” he probes.

“Turning off your emotions.”

Jimin is silent, which makes you sneak a glance at him to see if he hadn’t heard you. But he did, staring at you with slight shock in his eyes.

“I keep wondering”, you say.

He breathes out and looks back at the sky.

“Why do you want to know?”

“Because I want to know.”

“I see.”

“So? How does it feel?”

“Like taking a deep breath after being underwater for too long”, he answers you.

��Does it work instantly?”

“Yes, it’s instant. One moment you are hurting so much that you want to scream and kick and claw at something and then you flip it and it’s gone. All of it. All of the pain, the loss, the guilt and heartbreak. It’s as if it never even existed”, he sighs, “and that’s when you finally feel free.”

“And it really helps? You truly feel nothing?”

“Oh no, you still feel. But it’s more that all those things which really hurt, stop affecting you and all those things you enjoy feel like one endless epic acid trip. You’re there, but you’re not really there. There are consequences but they don’t affect you because they can’t hurt you. You know?”

“That must be nice.”

Jimin turns to study your features.

“It’s not”, he says coldly, “because you become an asshole. A cold, heartless asshole and once you wake up? Once you flick that switch? All those moments where you hurt strangers or the people important to you come back to you and then. Ohoho then”, he touches his chest, “then you really want to die. Because nothing hurts more than waking up from a good dream only to realise that you were the nightmare of so many others.”

“But at least you won’t feel like shit.”

“True, except when you do. Tenfolds.”

“I guess.”

“But why are you even asking? You’re human, it’s not like you can choose.”

You stay silent long enough that Jimin finds out that your fingers have been fumbling with the necklace around your neck all this time. The one carrying the vial of Taehyung’s blood.

“No”, he says, “don’t even think about it.”

“Why not? At least I could have an option.”

“An option? Now stop it”, he pulls your hand away, “you’re seriously considering throwing your life away because of what? A bad day? A random sad mood?”

“I killed someone.”

“So? We all did.”

“It hurts”, you barely get out and then your eyes fill with tears.

“I know. Your first kill always hurts the most.”

“I can’t stop thinking about it. When I, I close my eyes I, I see her face right before I killed her. It’s still so clear to me as, as if I was doing it over and over again.”

“It’s terrible isn’t it? You feel nothing in the moment, but feel like fucking shit afterwards.”

“Yes”, you croak, doing the unthinkable of letting out a sob.

Jimin watches you bury your face in your hands and then begin shaking in your sobs.

He pulls a grimace of helpless distaste.

“Don’t cry”, he says.

“I feel so awful. I, I can’t do this. Not even getting killed by you and Namjoon traumatised me as much. I, I had nightmares, but felt fine. But this is consuming me. I can’t stop thinking about it. It’s all I’m thinking about. It’s not leaving me.”

“And it probably won’t for a long time, but it’s only natural to think about it. You killed someone and that shit is awful.”

You sob miserably.

“Hell, most people live their life without ever knowing how it is to kill. But you’re not most people and if you hadn’t done what you did then we’d all be dead. All of us. Tae, me, the others. We’d all be dead.”

You lift your head from your hands to look at him.

“You saved us. What you did wasn’t murder, it was our rescue.”

Jimin scoots closer and gives your arm a soft tap. Just once and then he pulls back again.

“You’ll feel guilty for quite some time. You’ll also think of that bitch’s face for a long time. But I hope you don’t feel ashamed in front of us. Because we don’t see you as someone deserving of shame. We all killed people and what you did?” He shakes his head. “None of us even consider this a killing. You did the right thing.”

You sob.

And Jimin reaches out and taps your arm again.

“Especially Yoongi doesn’t see you differently”, he says and being called out on the one thing which has been hurting you like nothing else feels suffocating. But it feels especially suffocating because it came from Jimin.

You stare at him, “what do you mean?”

“Because Yoongi to you is what Tae’s to me and I know how I felt whenever Namjoon made me kill people in front of him.”

“Oh.”

“And I know Yoongi. He doesn’t see you any differently. Hell. Knowing him, he’s beating himself up about what happened.”

You sniffle.

You look away.

You wonder if what you are witnessing is actually real.

You come to the conclusion that it is and look back at Jimin.

“How do you do it?” you ask him.

“Do what?”

“Live with blood on your hands? How do you do it so you don’t see yourself differently?”

He laughs with pain in his voice, “honey, it’s a little too late to ask me that”, he says but furrows his brows in seriousness when he sees how nervous you look because of it. He takes a deep breath and releases it by exhaling through his nose. “By covering it in more blood?” he is only partially joking but it makes you laugh nonetheless.

Jimin allows a tiny chuckle to slip past his lips as well, giving your arm a soothing pat. “And by pretending that what I did was the right thing? Or that it wasn’t my fault in the first place”, he says, staring at the night with lifeless eyes, “all those massacres? Just because I needed to sustain my body. All the torture? I did because Namjoon wanted me to. My wife?” He lowers his head.“I haven’t found an excuse for that one yet”, he confesses in a whisper.

“It was Namjoon’s fault”, you say.

Jimin turns his head, locking eyes with you. It feels as if this right here is the moment he truly looked into your eyes for the first time. That this right here was the moment where he allowed your connection to be real.

“Tae told me how you got turned. It was Namjoon’s fault.”

“You know my story?”

“Yes, Tae told me. He wanted the world to know the real you.”

“And you listened?”

“Of course I did. It meant a lot to him. You deserved it too. I feel like you were really trying to be better in those last few weeks before your death. “

Jimin pulls his arm away and scoots back. He seems flustered.

“I’m sorry by the way. I tried running as fast as possible, but I couldn’t get there in time”, you tell him.

“Don’t”, Jimin says, “I died for a good cause. Besides, I’m still here am I not?”

You nod your head.

“Do you know how it is?”

“What?”

“Afterlife.”

“Peaceful.”

“So you were there?”

“Mhm-hm for a while. It was a meadow. It was endless and the sun never set. I kept running because I could smell my favourite food in the distance. So I ran and ran and realised that I was so incredibly slow because I was human again. And then I cried and ran faster because I finally understood what happened and it made me so incredibly happy and excited to finally find my peace.”

He exhales shakily.

“I fell then and someone dragged me back. And I screamed and cried and begged those hands to let me go. And the smell became lesser and lesser again until suddenly I saw nothing and felt as if I was being burned alive.”

He lowers his eyes.

“Then I woke up again and looked into Thea’s face and I knew that I was back on earth again”, he whispers, carrying heartbreak in his voice.

“I’m sorry, this must have been awful.”

“It was.”

“But you have Tae back.”

“Yes”, Jimin smiles honestly, “I have him back.”

“I’m happy that you do, because Taehyung is happy when you’re with him.”

Jimin sneaks a glance your way. For just a second he seems honest in his emotions. Gratefulness and maybe just the slightest bit of fondness. But then he flusters and the honesty disappears.

“When you’re not being a complete and utter manipulative asshole that is”, you add, “you were being a really shitty person when you told Tae that I was the one forcing you to bite me.”

“I know”, Jimin says, lowering his eyes, “I’m sorry. I was scared that he’ll hate me otherwise.”

“Yeah well, if you keep being a dick to anyone he cares about, maybe one day he will.”

Jimin snorts, lifting his brows in agreement, “I heard this quite a lot those past few days.”

“Yeah ‘cause it’s true. I know you have good in you. All those great stories Tae told me about you are proof enough.”

“Tae’s a dreamer.”

“So why did you sit with me right now and listen to me be sad?”

“You’re sitting on my thinking bench”, he answers you, making you snort.

“I don’t think that’s it. I think you actually want to be good, but don’t know how to start.”

“You sound like Yoongi”, Jimin murmurs, looking to the side with a tense jaw.

“I mean, at least now you know that two people think that way.”

Jimin shakes his head.

You study his face long enough that he sends you a look. 

“What?” he asks, lifting his brows in a challenge. 

“I just don’t know what to make of you.”

“The fuck do you mean by that?”

“You’re acting like a dick most of the time and yet somehow I never really...I don’t know, you’re not a dick to me.”

He scoffs, “and why should I be?”

“I don’t know. Maybe because you’re a dick to everyone?”

“That’s not true. I’m just a dick to people who deserve it.”

“Yeah? Like Yoongi?” you ask in a scoff. 

“We talked about that shit. You don’t gotta dwell on it anymore”, he hisses.

“You did?”

“Yeah.”

“That explains why you seem chill tonight.”

“I guess.”

He looks away and seems embarrassed by the conversation.

“I still gotta ask though. Why were you never mean to me? Except the one time you lied about the club, but even there you listened once I sat you down. Why do you even listen to me in the first place?”

“I don’t know what you want me to say. I’m not a total dick all the time you know?” he says and clicks his tongue.

“I like you when you aren’t. You know?”

“Ew, please don’t.”

“Mean.”

“Sorry.” 

“Was that an apology?”

“No? The fuck’s you on about?”

You scoff and chuckle.

“You’re so weird sometimes.”

“You’re weird.”

You laugh and to your surprise, Jimin lets out a little chuckle as well. 

You and he exchange a look. 

“Why is it so hard for you to be good all the time and not just sometimes?”

“It’s not hard, I’m just not a good person.”

“Didn’t you just say that you aren’t a dick all the time?”

“Not being a dick all the time and being a good person isn’t the same thing.”

“I guess”, you nudge his arm, “so why can’t you be good? Is it because of Namjoon?”

He turns his head quickly, looking at you with widened eyes.

“Why are you always asking me that?” he hisses.

“Because I want to know.”

Jimin grinds his teeth, lowering his eyes in anger.

“So what if it is because of him?” he spits, “what good does it to you to know that it’s because of him? It won’t change the fact that I’m still an asshole.”

You study his features long enough that Jimin feels the need to turn his head away again, shifting in embarrassment.

“Your days are going to be peaceful from now on”, you whisper.

Jimin glances at you with disbelief deep in his eyes.

“I’m positive that they will be.”

“Tzt.”

You look at Jimin. He is picking at the skin on his fingers, staring at the ground with fearful eyes. Perhaps he is wondering when those days will end again. Like they always did in the past when he thought himself safe only to be reminded that chaos exists. Taehyung told you about those days. There was a farm, apple trees and a woman named Ava, who sometimes loved to dress up as a man. And that chaos came after one year of tranquillity and that they lost everything again. There were many stories like that. Many stories that felt like hope, but ended in chaos. You think that Jimin feels just like this right now. That he wonders when those days of hope will be shattered by the cruel hands of chaos again.

“Should we hug each other?” you ask quietly.

Jimin turns his head to you, “what kind of request is that?”

You shrug your shoulders, “I don’t know. I just figured that maybe we both need a hug tonight.”

He falters, punching his own palm repeatedly as his eyes run over your features. Then he exhales, straightening up. He scoots closer, placing his arms around you in complete silence. You wrap your arms around him as well, resting your chin on his shoulder.

He shudders in an almost angry exhale. His face falls against your neck, lips brushing against your skin in the process.

You bury your hand in his hair, making sure he stays close, “now let’s stay like this for a bit.”

Jimin doesn’t have his eyes closed because quite frankly he would hate himself if he gave in to his urges. He looks outside at the endless night and the painting of light and shadow the moon cast onto the earth. He doesn’t like the hug while at the same time hoping that it would never end. Namjoon took everything from him. He thinks of it. His life, his people, his lovers, his bond with Taehyung, his carelessness, his restful nights and his feelings. Namjoon ruined him. There is no person in his life who hurt him as much as he did.

Jimin closes his arms around your waist as tightly as possible.

There is no night where he doesn’t have trouble falling asleep, let alone sleep longer than an hour for nightmares of all the torture he was put through pull him awake again. Jimin hasn’t slept well ever since he was turned and he is so exhausted.

So, so exhausted.

He closes his eyes for he felt so terribly tired. He closes his eyes and lets those shadows on the ground disappear from his vision.

You thought that you wouldn’t enjoy the hug but you do. He feels good. His arms are strong but his hands are gentle and there is something in the way he holds you that lets you know that he understands way more than he may tell you. You can’t explain why, but it feels good to be understood by Jimin. The others may have killed a few people, but Jimin actually enjoyed it at times. So to be understood by him feels comforting. He, who wants to be better, tells you that you, who did something so awful, can be forgiven too. The thought comforts you greatly.

And so you close your eyes, pulling him closer until you have his scent in your nose. Orange blossoms. Just like Taehyung told you all those months ago.

“Thank you”, you whisper.

“For what?” 

“The hug.”

“I’ll kill you if you tell anyone about this”, he murmurs.

“Don’t worry”, you let out a little scoff, “I’m not telling anyone. Idiot, just accept the hug.”

“Hah”, Jimin lets out a deep breath, “fuck, now you made it weird.”

He breaks away from you, putting distance between you and him while his eyes are looking to the side in embarrassment. He touches the side of his neck.

“You uhm”, he clears his throat, “you don’t stink.”

“Thank you?” you have to chuckle, “what a sweet compliment.”

“God, shut up”, he groans, “you’re so annoying.”

And with that he stands up, stomping off in an almost childish manner. You snicker to yourself. Poor boy, he is so obviously flustered. It is almost adorable.

You follow him.

“What?” he hisses, looking at you through the corners of his eyes.

“Nothing, I’m just walking.”

“Yeah? Do you have to walk next to me?”

“Oh come on, Jimin. Our titties just touched in a deep hug, stop being so stuck up.”

“Hah!” he rolls his eyes, “you’re stuck up”, he murmurs, making you grin.

Childish baby.

Soon you arrive by your door. He is avoiding eye contact at all cost.

“You uhm”, he says, reaches out to tap your shoulder only to pull back before he can touch you, “sleep tight.”

“You too.”

“Sure.”

Jimin turns and struts down the hallway.

“Jimin?”

He stops, looks over his shoulder.

“Yeah?”

“Thank you for listening to me. I really needed it tonight.”

“Sure, uhm..thanks too”, he says and turns.

You sneak back into your room afterwards, closing the door on the world. You won’t be plagued by another nightmare that night.

Jimin stops when he is in front of Taehyung’s room. He touches the doorknob, hesitating to turn it. In the end he does.

“___?” Taehyung’s voice is small and weak in sleep. 

“She’s not here.”

“Jimin? You are back? I, I thought you left”, Taehyung sits up and locks eyes with Jimin. Despite the darkness surrounding them, they can see each other clearly. The darkness never bothered them anyways.

“No, I’m back. I just left to think for a while.”

“I see. What are you doing here?” Taehyung asks, “are you here for sex? Please just give me a moment to find my strength.”

Jimin feels a twinge of guilt in his chest for he finally sees his own faults. He really treated Taehyung as nothing more than his willing sexdoll, didn’t he?

“I’m not here for sex. I was wondering if I could sleep here with you tonight”, he answers him, watching how Taehyung is struggling for words.

“S-sure”, he stutters out in the end, pulling the blanket to his chest in nervousness.

Jimin rids himself of his clothes until only his briefs are covering him. Taehyung looks at his bared body then at his face. There was unsure curiosity in his eyes, but also fear.

Jimin can see it so clearly now and it hurts him because he sees so much of himself in Taehyung’s eyes. Oh it hurts even more because while Namjoon never promised Jimin love, he did. He promised Taehyung love and yet Taehyung still looks at him with the same fear Jimin felt when Namjoon would undress in front of him.

“Open the blanket”, Jimin says, “you are not hogging all of it.”

Taehyung does so willingly but with nervousness in his scent.

Jimin lies down on the right side of Taehyung’s pillow and after a second of hesitation Taehyung places his head on its left side. He is gawking at him with his balled fists pressed to his chest.

Jimin reaches out and cups Taehyung’s cheek, aching when this makes the latter flinch.

“Can you remember the last time we fell asleep together naked?” he asks him.

“No”, Taehyung whispers.

“I can. It was after the hunt we went on and we shared a bath and drank wine and talked about the play you were planning on writing”, Jimin caresses Taehyung’s cheek, “and then we talked in bed for hours without bothering to get dressed. We talked until we fell asleep.”

“You remember?” Taehyung whispers.

Jimin nods his head, “the twenty ninth of December 1765, it snowed so much the next day and you insisted on staying in bed. It was your birthday that day and I gave you new paints. Remember?”

Taehyung opens his balled fists, placing his relaxed hands on the pillow between their faces. He nods his head with his lower lip trembling sadly.

“I think of those days a lot. Sometimes when Namjoon hurt me, I turned my consciousness off and lost myself in the memory of them. I didn’t mind the pain then”, Jimin confesses, “they’re the only detailed memories I have. Next to the one of our days on the farm.”

“Why are you telling me all of this?” Taehyung’s voice is barely audible.

“Because”, Jimin scoots closer, making Taehyung’s breath hitch, “I have never loved someone as deeply as I love you, Taehyung”, he says in a language the two vampires haven’t spoken in centuries. Jimin thought that he had already forgotten it, but he was wrong. It came so easy to him now that he can talk to Taehyung.

“Oh”, Taehyung gets out and sobs. He trembles as he sobs, contorting his face into a grimace of painful relief.

Jimin pulls him close, kissing his forehead before letting him hide his face in his chest.

“I love you too, Jimin”, Taehyung answers him in their mother language. He sobs afterwards. He sobs and sobs and sobs.

And Jimin pulls him as close as possible. He feels guilty for Taehyung should have never been pushed so low that confessions of love make him cry so miserably. But he also feels happy for he realises that hugging Taehyung feels like paradise.

He feels his own tears roll down his cheeks just seconds later. He realised that you were right. He is safe from Namjoon and he can finally be tender to Taehyung. He felt like crying in relief afterwards and so he did and Taehyung kissed him and held him and cried with him until they fell asleep in each others’ arms.

Jimin has no trouble falling asleep. He holds Taehyung and Taehyung holds him and all those demons lurking in the shadows can’t hurt him anymore.

[its-all-just-ink-man]

I really want to learn banjo, mostly because of the specific type of music I listen to but also so I can do the following:

1. Learn to play a bunch of Bendy fan songs on my banjo (from classics like Build Our Machine and The Devil's Swing to newer jams like No Running and Bring Her To Me)

2. Create some kind of human size doll/dummy and put it in a black morph suit and then dress it up as Sammy Lawrence (white pants with suspenders, boots, Bendy mask)

3. Cover Bendy songs on banjo while cosplaying Twisted Alice and make it look like I stole Sammy's banjo and he's just tied up or dead in the background

*Twisted Alice voice* Can I get an amen, little prophet?

[anonymouspuzzler]

oh baby it is WIGGLE WEDNESDAY (note: still do not know when these are going to queue up). also, Gramble is here! these two have a fun dynamic and Wiggle especially is easy to put in Absurd Situations so there is a lot of good art of her. thanks again to @incorrectbugsnaxquotes for many inadvertent inspirations!

(alt text/image IDs under the cut!)

[Image 1 ID: Two small doodles of Wiggle. On the left is a shoulders-up drawing of Wiggle, smiling and waving with her left hand, with stars around her and text reading "the Wiggle of prosperity". On the right is Wiggle on her side, kicking one leg out and playing her banjo, with text reading "Happy WIGGLE WEDNESDAY (it's monday".]

[Image 2 ID: A drawing of Wiggle recreating the Sonic "alone on a friday night?" meme. She is on her side with her legs crossed, propped up on one arm with the other gesturing up, saying, "Alone on a Friday night? Thank you for practicing social distancing".]

[Image 3 ID: A drawing of Wiggle recreating a screenshot from Brian David Gilbert's "Unraveled". She is standing in front of a board with multiple slips of paper reading, top-to-bottom and left-to-right, "THE 10 DEFINITIVE PURPOSES OF MUSIC", "1. CREATE or CONTROL EMOTION", "2. REMEMBER OR SHARE INFORMATION", "3. ENTERTAINMENT", "4. JINGLES", "5. MARK TIME IN A GROUP", "6. [mostly cut off and unreadable]", "7. AMBIANCE", "8. CREATE OR MAINTAIN SOCIAL GROUPS", "9. [mostly cut off and unreadable] ". Wiggle is standing to the right, pointing up at #3, one hand on her hip and expression serious, saying, "Bangers only."]

[Image 4 ID: A 2-panel comic of Wiggle, recreating screenshots from Brian David Gilbert's "Unraveled". In the first panel, Wiggle is drawn from the waist-up, smiling cheekily at the camera, holding a mug in one hand while the other is on her hip, saying, "There's Red Bull in this mug." In the second, she is drawn from the knees-up, motion-blurred as she kicks high in the air with a manic grin, screaming "HIYA!"]

[Image 5 ID: A three-panel comic of Wiggle and Gramble. In the first panel, Wiggle is bent over whispering into a phone, looking worried, saying, "Darling, I need you to come pick me up right now." The journalist, represented by a little doodle of them from behind in a speech bubble, responds, "...why?" In the second panel, Wiggle is looking back over her shoulder at Gramble in the background, standing on a stepstool to grumpily wash dishes in a sink, as Wiggle whispers, "Gramble is passive-aggressively doing the dishes he asked me to do six hours ago." In the third panel, she's turned back to the phone, looking utterly terrified and whispering grimly, "This house isn't safe anymore."]

[Image 6 ID: Drawing of Wiggle in a lunge, one hand on her hip, the other gesturing around her. She is wearing an oversized baby carrier labeled "#1 BOYF CARRIER" in which Gramble sits with all his limbs limp, looking confused and slightly flustered. There are stars all around Wiggle along with cursive text reading, "fashion, bitch".]

[Image 7 ID: A doodle of Gramble sitting on Wiggle's shoulders, screaming "TOO HIGH TOO HIGH AAAAA" and rearing back in a panic, knocking her sunglasses away in the process. Wiggle, who has Gramble's panic-grip right over her eyes, is visibly grimacing.]

[Image 8 ID: A single-panel comic of Gramble and Wiggle. Gramble is sitting on the ground cross-legged, looking worried and saying, "I know you're deflectin' by makin' jokes about how hot you are--" Wiggle, kneeling next to him and clutching him tight with both arms, visibly ugly-crying, screams back, "IT'S NOT A JOKE. I'M A LEGIT SNACK".]

[Image 9 ID: Wiggle posing like a supermodel in a massive sunhat and tall platform heels with ankle straps. To her right is Gramble looking up starstruck and blushing, hands folded in front of his chest, with text next to him reading, "tall wonan."]

[Image 10 ID: A two-panel comic of Wiggle and Gramble. In the first, Wiggle is standing with one hand on her hip and the other on her chest, looking dismissively over her shoulder and saying, "Oh, come on, I wasn't that drunk." Gramble, standing next to her and looking up worriedly, responds, "You tried to color my face with a highlighter because you said I was important". In the second panel, Wiggle, clutching a flustered Gramble's head with both arms, retorts, "That's because you are."]

[Image 11 ID: A drawing of Wiggle and Gramble recreating that one meme with the tall woman. Wiggle is standing and speaking into a microphone in her right hand, while Gramble is stanced up to her left, staring up at her.]

[Image 12 ID: A drawing of Wambus, Wiggle and Gramble recreating a meme. Wambus is seen from the back in the far-left foreground of the image, while Wiggle, glaring sternly, is holding an anxious Gramble on her hip on her left side, pointing at Wambus with two fingers with her right hand.]

[Image 13 ID: A drawing of Gramble sitting on the ground with his hands on some kind of scratching post, rearing his head back to expose all his te Gramble eth.]

[Image 14 ID: A single-panel comic of Gramble and the Journalist. Gramble is sitting at a table with a striped tablecloth, head resting in one hand, looking lovestruck and saying, "Remember when Wiggle made that romantic dinner for me?" The Journalist, face obscured by steam from a hot drink, is walking over to the table placing one mug labeled "Do the Wiggle" down while holding another labeled "8 AM DEAD LINE". They respond simply, "...she microwaved you a pizza."]

[Image 15 ID: A three-panel comic of Wiggle and Gramble. In the first panel, they are sitting side-by-side on a bench, Gramble looking anxious, Wiggle looking flirtatious as she says, "Has anyone ever told you they love you?" In the second panel, Gramble, looking anxiously back, asks, "...Do my parents count?" In the final panel, Wiggle, leaning away slightly and looking worried, replies, "...yes.", to which Gramble, head in hands and looking miserable, says, "Then no."]

[thislovintime]

Photo by Bob Campbell.

"[Peter] had already gained a reputation as a pretty good banjo picker. Actually, he stood out from the crowd, because he seemed to have a more complete formal music background than the others. For instance, he played the first baroque arrangement of an Elizabethan folk song that I had ever heard — and if you listen to Donovan’s latest LP, you’ll see that that is exactly what he (Donovan) is doing now." - Lance Wakely, 16, March 1967

[dustedmagazine]

Daniel Bachman—When the Roses Come Again (Three Lobed)

Continuing the trajectory of his releases over the past few years, Daniel Bachman moves further into the world of musique concrete, this time around combining played, found, and manipulated sounds on a laptop. Named for a Carter Family song, the words of which provide the titles for the tracks, When the Roses Come Again is a densely layered and highly detailed recording. Snatches of often heavily treated fretless banjo (sometimes with slide-like effects, as on “Till the roses come again”) and guitar share space with other sounds apparently attributable to a mouth bow (a simple one-stringed instrument for which the mouth serves as a resonator), fiddle, and samples of bells and harmonium, though these are less obvious.

The tracks are generally concise (only two exceed four minutes), but they blend together into a kind of suite. There is a satisfying balance among those that are fairly noisy, bordering on industrial (though not aggressive), such as “As I wander, I will ponder,” those that are more melodic and less dense, such as “Happy hearts that feel no pain,” and those in which the emphasis alternates between texture and melody, such as “On a summer over yonder.” Nearly always, a drone of some sort either provides the background or dominates, and the electronics or treated sounds sometimes create a rhythm, as on the closing track. The resulting blend of sweeter, more bucolic tones with shimmering and percussive electronics is initially disconcerting but comes to feel organic, like a kind of palimpsest.

It’s been fascinating to observe Bachman developing his approach to Americana from Takoma school guitar excursions to the very modern sounds featured on his recent recordings. His increasing attention to the overt symbols of roots music exemplified by his use of Carter Family material has coincided with increasing incorporation of technology and its artifacts (such as the recurring buzzes, hums, and rattles heard here). Whereas last year’s Almanac Behind used a similar approach to address the weighty, almost suffocating issue of climate change, the focus here is personal, on the cycle of death and rebirth that defines existence. This is, in other words, still serious music, yet it is not necessarily somber. Probably not coincidentally, When the Roses Come Again provides the perfect soundtrack for a drive through a land of woods, farms, and small towns dotted with Dollar General stores and cell towers.

Jim Marks

[cozyaliensuperstar7]

Brittney Spencer 👑🤠

Brittney Spencer (born September 8, 1988) is an American country singer–songwriter. Spencer received notable attention following a viral Twitter video showing Spencer singing a cover of a song by the Highwomen. The video drew praise from fellow country artists and prompted the release of her first extended play (EP) titled Compassion (2020). She has also released several singles, including 2021's "Sober & Skinny". Spencer has since performed on the Country Music Association Awards and has embarked on a world tour.

Spencer is a native of Baltimore, Maryland. She developed an interest in music from singing in church. "Church, for me, was very cultural. It’s spiritual, but also very cultural. Families like mine, we couldn’t really afford singing lessons or anything like that, so I just sang in the church all the time," she told Baltimore magazine. She was raised as an African Methodist Episcopal. Spencer also came from a musical family. Her father was part of a quartet band. A friend from church got Spencer interested in The Chicks, which developed her interest in country music. From there, she developed interest in artists like Taylor Swift. She attended magnet schools in her teen years, including the George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology. During this time she learned to play guitar and piano. Spencer also took vocal lessons from a coach who taught her how to sing in a recording studio. She began by singing background vocals for R&B and gospel artists including Jason Nelson. In February 2013, Spencer moved to Nashville, Tennessee to pursue country music full-time.

Tanner Adell 👑🤠

Tanner Adell is an American country music singer-songwriter. Her debut album, Buckle Bunny, was released in 2023.

Adell was born in Lexington, Kentucky, and was adopted and raised in Manhattan Beach, California. She spent summers growing up in Star Valley, Wyoming. She learned to play piano and taught herself guitar, then studied commercial music at Utah Valley University. She was raised in the the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and completed two years of missionary service in Stockholm.

Tiera Kennedy 👑🤠

Reyna Roberts 👑 🤠

Reyna Roberts is an American country singer-songwriter and pianist. She is known for her July 2020 debut single, "Stompin' Grounds" as well as multiple appearances on NFL's Monday Night Football.

One of the few visible Black women in country music, Roberts is known for advocating for "acknowledging the past" of country music, which includes acknowledging Black artist mentors such as Lesley Riddle, and learning the history of the banjo and the term "Music City" for Nashville.

Roberts was born in Alaska and raised in Alabama and California. Both of her parents were combat engineers in the Army. She was born two months premature, weighing two pounds; when her family heard that she might have cognitive, physical, visual and vocal developmental issues, they used music to aid her brain development.

The first time Roberts performed music was at the age of three, when her mother took her to a karaoke bar in Alaska. When she was 10 years old, her family lost their home but paid for a storage unit to store her piano so Roberts could continue practicing the instrument. She continued playing in the family storage unit for three years.

Throughout high school Roberts competed on her high school wrestling team, and she began songwriting to woo the captain of the team. She recorded the resulting song, "Lying to Myself," in 2014. In 2016, she released the EP "The Beginning," which included the song "I'm Coming For Ya" and went on the Spring High School Nation Tour. She toured around the U.S. and opened for the Plain White T's.

[flimflamfandom]

Okay I guess I gotta do a LackaSona!

That sounds more dismissive than it really should - truth is, I've had an idea for one sitting around in the back of my head and frankly I dunno why I never put it down (probably too busy ranting about Frepper and such)

I cannot draw and I haven't got the funds to attract an artist. So you'll have to picture him in your mind's eye! Which I'm sure we can do.

BELOW THE CUT: The past, present, and more, of luthier and multi-instrumentalist ARTHUR KEANE!

BACKGROUND

ARTHUR KEANE was born August 16th, 1904, in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Living a mostly quiet life as the son of a violinist and vocal teacher, Arthur was the youngest of 3 siblings, and was always a bit small and sickly as a child. Because of this, most of his schooling was done at home - his mother taught him to read and write, and his aunt (a school teacher, who lived just down the street) helped with the trickier bits.

His parents taught him to love music, but his aunt taught him to love guitar.

She was a virtuoso on the instrument, practically - she played it, banjo, mandolin, just about any fretted instrument you put in her hands, she could play it. And she did, indeed, teach him just about everything he knew from an early age!

PRESENT DAY

Just like today, it was hard to find work as a guitarist - bands were getting louder and louder each passing year, and there were many limits on the bandstand. So, to chase his dream of making money on the instrument, he shipped himself all the way across the country to St. Louis, Missouri, to apprentice for a local luthier (a maker and repairer of string instruments).

These, in 1928, Arthur is well known, and still works for his mentor, Mr. Boggs. Arthur plays regularly in clubs and speakeasies when they'll have him, and is even building his own instruments - he's even built himself a new fangled, state-of-the-art resonator, like those Dopyera brothers out in California!

HOW'S THE FELLA LOOK?

As he stands, he's fairly average - He has solid cinnamon fur, big brown eyes, and stands about Rocky's height. Maybe an inch or two taller.

He wears round glasses, and normally just plain work clothes, like blue chambray shirts (he lives by those) and plain slacks and shoes - when he gigs, of course, he dresses up (he does have an all black suit he wears) but typically he's got some sort of denim on, and often forgets to remove his leather apron full of tools. He wears a flat cap.

He has one spot that's out of the ordinary - his left ear is cut about halfway down its length. This is due to an accident while playing when he was young - it's a sore spot.

ARTHUR AND THE GANG

Arthur gets along well with the Lackadaisy group, if only because once after a gig at the Marigold he was stiffed 50 cents for 'running long'. He works at other speakeasies in town though, and doesn't participate in any illegal business...there was that one time he technically became an accessory by telling Rocky which why a truck came by but that's one time!

Arthur, in truth, is a very soft hearted man - he could hardly be convinced to do something like CRIME. He's just a quiet man who likes his instruments. And Lacy Hardt.

He really likes Lacy Hardt.

-

That's about all there is to Arthur Keane! He WILL be getting written about soon!!! I think.

I hope. (I've got a busy end of the year.)

[artemispanthar]

I don't think I ever posted about this dream I had a few months back that was straight-up a creepypasta story conjured by my subconscious. It's nothing too wild but it's stuck with me. It went like this:

In the dream, it was like 10+ years ago when my little sister was still little and I lived in the house I lived in at that time. We were watching some cartoon on Nickelodeon and towards the end there was a little banner at the bottom that read "Up Next: Worried & Anxious" and I was like, hm, what a strange name for a show and decided to check it out.

So the show comes on and it's a sort of puppet/muppet style show like Sesame Street or Bear in the Big Blue House. It opens in a room with bright colored walls and cartoonishly proportioned furniture. The back wall is a big sliding glass door and outside is a colorful drawing of a sunny day. Bright, generically happy music is playing

There were two kids who looked maybe 12 years old standing in the middle of the room with identical big mascot-type heads that looked like cartoon child heads with curly hair. The heads looked like they were made of stone (kind of jagged) but painted so they were colorful. For the mouth was a cut out for the kids' in the costumes faces. The kids' faces were off-center like they were trying to pull the mascot heads off but weren't able to and they both looked distressed.

The camera focuses on one of them and a voiceover (the sort of classic cartoon little boy obviously voiced by an adult woman voice) says "I'm Worried!" and then the camera switches to the other kid and a different voiceover (noticably the same VA slightly changing her voice) says "And I'm Anxious!"

Frantic discordant music starts playing and the camera zooms to look out the sliding glass door and it cuts to another scene where it's like, the foreground is grass with a dirt path and it's rotating backward while the sunny sky background scrolls up to give the illusion of motion. A garishly red, pointy puppet is jerkily wobbling as though it's walking up the road. It kind of looked like a jinjo from Banjo-Kazooie with a bunch of red springs sticking out of its body (like... have you ever stretched out a metal Slinky? The springs looked kind of like pieces of stretched metal slinkys)

The camera slowly zooms on the puppet and I get the feeling the puppet is approaching the house and that that is really really bad.

And then I woke up so I have no idea what would've happened if the red puppet ever made it to the house.

Anyway, I had this dream months ago but I still think about it. I kinda think it would make for a neat analog horror short