#he was selling their merch and i was like man this guys super nice and grateful that were buying this..

[joyridingmp3]

not me accidentally meeting the lead singer of alt. and not recognising him

[indecentpause]

Find the Word

tagged by @kaiusvnoir to find home, grass, pass, and stop! thank!

from The Black & Blues

home:

You don’t have the resources to ship from anyone’s home, so you can’t sell online. But you can update your myspace with photos of your merch and tell people they can get it at your shows! People’s reactions are super positive. Some of the bands you’ve played with get your permission to copy and edit the text so they can put the word out to their fans, too.

People leave all kinds of comments on your page:

I can’t wait to hold this CD in my own hands!

Congrats guys, you did it!

Dudes this is fuckin rad!

People are proud of you. People are happy for you. People are excited for something you helped put out into the world.

grass:

You don’t know how long you lie there, curled up around Josselin, hands tight in his shirt and knees pressed up against his back. But eventually, your head levels out, and your hands stop shaking, and your heart stops pounding so hard. Your mind starts to quiet down to where it normally is. A few minutes after that, your eyes and your head go heavy with exhaustion. Your head is still in Josselin’s lap, nose in his stomach, and you want to just fall asleep here. But you don’t want him to be uncomfortable.

You flex your hands and start to move away, but Josselin stills you with a hand in your hair.

“It’s okay,” he says softly. “You can stay as long as you need.”

So you settle back down and breathe in the smell of his clothes, clean cotton and lemongrass. And your eyes close, and you breathe.

pass:

You sit down beside Kris and Danny sits down beside you. Kris discreetly nods in Danny's direction, and you smile sadly and just barely shake your head. Kris looks a little sad on your behalf, but before he can say anything, the door opens and Josephine and a man who you assume is Morgan come in.

Morgan is tall, though not as tall as Josephine or Austin, and he’s thin and waiflike like you are. His hair is the same color and texture, and if he had green eyes and glasses, he could pass for your brother, or even your twin. He grins when he sees you and says brightly, “Hey, look at us! We match!”

stop:

“Meara!” Danny cries happily. He throws his hands up in the air. He gestures toward the man. “This wonderful man here is Josselin, and he wants to tell you how much he loves your voice!”

Josselin’s fair skin turns bright red. He nods, then says, “Uh, yeah, I really like your voice. I really liked watching you perform. It was really impressive for a first show.”

His hands are toying with something. You get a glance of green plastic.

Then the music starts, so you all have to crowd in so you can hear each other.

“I’m his girlfriend, Frankie!” she shouts.

“Meara!” you introduce yourself, even though Danny’s already done that for you.

“It’s so nice to meet you!” she exclaims. “Josselin could not stop talking about you. He’s never been starstruck like this before!”

“Frankie,” Josselin almost whines.

She takes his arm and pushes him a little closer to you. “He was too shy to say so so I wanted to bring him to meet you!”

If you didn’t know better, you’d think she was trying to set you up. But he’s her boyfriend, so that doesn’t make any sense.

tagging @drippingmoon @riftversus @theprissythumbelina @whimsyqueen to find cup, bottle, ice, leaf and wallet!

[obeymeluv]

The Bros and School Headcanons

I have other stuff in mind but this is something short I can put out for now.

It’s my headcanon on the types of school/college people the bros are. I guess you can consider it college AU?

Lucifer

The Type-A asshole everyone probably hates

Doesn’t originally start out that way, doesn’t mean for people to hate him. Soon LIVES for it. Seriously, it’s like his coffee.

Prideful AF. MUST be top of the class!

His motto: “Do it right, do it once.”

Runs on an insane amount of coffee and just as insane (read: little) amount of sleep

The type to remind the teacher about assignments that were due in class if it seems like they’re going to forget about it

Asks about extra credit on day one

If people ask repeat questions that were LITERALLY just answered, he gets pissy and silently suffers

Ends up a little sad and burnt out, wondering if the grade was worth skipping out on other opportunities

Says he’s not going to do it next semester, but gets addicted to that grade high

The “friends” he makes in class are usually fellow rivals and they have a hot and cold relationship that somehow works really well

When he drops the grade-chaser stuff, he’s actually really nice to be around. He has really deep, interesting conversations that are between philosophical and educational (you just have to pull his head out of his ass first)

Mammon

Some people wonder how he got into the class, some people wonder how he’s passing it

Mammon is the dude who looks like he doesn’t know about the subject but is an absolute FOUNTAIN of knowledge

Always has sunglasses on and has some kind of drink within arm’s reach. Usually a very big coffee with lots of espresso

Constant bedhead (even if he says he fixed his hair)

Tried sitting in the front row the first week, kept getting sleepy. Now sits in the back row towards the doors.

He’s either early or late. Never on time.

The one that brings a notebook and a pen to class. Nothing extra.

Usually falls asleep or cat naps. Says he learns through osmosis

This asshole is really good at auditory learning and gets by recording the lectures

Blows through exams like they’re nothing. He’s a good BS’er and gets C’s, minimum. Usually low B’s.

This guy laughs at the Type-A stresser’s and enjoys his minimum studying

Can be suckered into group studying fairly easily but most people won’t study with him because he turns study sessions into anything BUT studying

Knows people who know people. Could probably get his hands on old tests and stuff. If he can, it’ll cost you. A lot.

Levi

This poor baby has testing anxiety hella bad when it comes to subjects he’s not super interested in or that he’s already struggling in

If he likes the subject and feels confident in it, there’s no testing anxiety.

Also brings a drink to class. It’s an energy drink.

Always comes to class early and is usually in a pair of wireless headphones, browsing on his phone

A great visual learner.

His notes are written sloppily and kind of sporadically but they’re decently organized with notes in the margin and things like that

Doesn’t like asking questions out loud. Will either email the teacher, ask after class, or make a friend that isn’t afraid to ask them for him.

If he’s having a good day, he’ll try to make jokes that only make a few people laugh. It’s usually bad timing and he’s a little sad.

MUCH BETTER AT DRAGGING PEOPLE! It’s not something he thinks about. It just slips out! Before his face can overheat, he realizes people are laughing and he kind of basks in it for a while.

Has coordinated stationary; is probably animes he’s into or colors he likes

If he has a laptop, it’s absolutely smothered in stickers

The BEST guy to have a study session with. Something about being in a library or quiet area ramps up his focus and he’s like a second-hand teacher.

Very different from his in-class persona, but is often spot on with ‘If I were the teacher, I’d put this on the exam.’

Want to be friends? Comment on his merch. He’ll start a conversation if he sees a shirt/pin/bag/pencil or anything he likes. It helps if you offer Starbucks or snacks in exchange for being tutored

Satan

Takes pride in his grades but doesn’t go out of his way to make people hate him

Will casually drop his grades when asked, but won’t own up to being the top grade. Very vague (”I did okay. Just like I expected.”)

He more or less enjoys the satisfaction of seeing a good grade come back to him after all that studying

Prone to over-thinking

Probably the first one done, but he’ll do 2 or 3 look overs to check everything before turning it in

Low-key exhausts his professors with written assignments because he gives them a fucking book. It’s all technical and correct but, really, it was only supposed to be three pages!

The one that will yell at the obnoxious people interrupting lecture. Will throw things at them if they’re in reach.

Super protective of his books and class materials. Has a hoarding/scooping reflex when messy people spread out their stuff or unwrap food. The books are not to be desecrated!

If an obnoxious eater/drinker is beside him, he thinks about strangling them to the point where it distracts him from lecture

Usually reads ahead and works ahead

If he gets points off of something, he’ll want an explanation. If he feels the points were taken away unnecessarily, there will be words

If he gets too overstimulated with noises or just hits a point of being fed up, he’ll leave lecture

Rarely brings food or drink to class but can be found at the Starbucks on campus before class. Maybe after. Some days it’s both.

Best notes around. Very technical and perfectly organized. Not colorful or anything, but definitely the envy of people.

Sells his notes/study guides each semester for money

Asmo

That guy who can slide into any friend group

Socially sharp. Can tell who the most prepared are and has an instinct for who the strongest class partners will be

Makes friends with the TA’s before the professors.

Totally convinces that TA to give him hints about the upcoming exams

People either love him or hate him. Most people love him, some people hate them because they can’t be him.

Almost always has a drink and it’s rarely the same. Usually a healthy smoothie or one of the cute juice drinks from Starbucks.

The type to bring in outside food and pick at it while he listens to lecture. Tries to listen, anyways.

Really easily distracted. Gets bored with monotonous voices and HATES teachers who just read off of a powerpoint.

His notes are very colorful and aesthetic but may not be the most informative

Does his best to stay on top of assignments but usually has 2 or 3 big screw ups a semester

Somehow always gets his ass saved. Boy has good karma in stock

This is the guy that things ALWAYS seem to work out for, and they fall in his lap

Proposes cute/semi-extravagant study dates. They are rare and exclusive. Extended to a few choice people (no, it’s not to sucker anyone into giving him class notes.)

Aim’s for C’s because anything more is just a bonus. D’s and F’s are unacceptable.

Will drag a bad partner in a heartbeat. If they didn’t help in the group project, their name isn’t going on it.

Beel

Also one of the types that doesn’t look like he belongs, but he does

Is a fountain of random knowledge

Very strong memory, but not perfect. The type that needs a little push before the absolute WALL of information comes out.

Really strong test taker

Brings tons of snacks to class

Once brought a whole-ass meal to class. He ate it one-handed and took notes with the other.

The guy that somehow gets roped into favors by other people. It’s usually quick stuff and he’s good about setting boundaries to make time for himself and his studies

Want him to study with you? Mention about splitting a pizza or something.

Your hype man. Good guy to reassure you before tests if you get test anxiety

Sick and skip class? He’ll check in on you AND send copies of his notes

Doesn’t always get assignments in on time. Only late once or twice a semester. Either eats the point difference or convinces the teacher to give him an extension.

Will take you out for post-test fun errands

Belphie

Does he exist? You won’t find out until it’s time to take an exam.

Belphie does a lot of research before he signs up for a class. Would like to go 100% online but knows that isn’t realistic, so he combs teacher reviews to get nice, easygoing professors

Has a photographic memory, so all he really needs are the powerpoints and to check out reference copies of the textbooks from the libraries

Tries to take the same classes as his brothers so he can swipe the textbook for a bit

If his only option is a morning class, he DEFINITELY picks the same one as one of his bros to make sure he gets up and goes

More of a night owl

The one that’s addicted to caffeine, stays up all night, and somehow gets 7 assignments done. Has periods of intense focus then it’s back to not knowing what day it is. He just wants sleep.

Usually seen with Beel or Satan. Tends to show up at events with free food.

Loves finals week when they bring in dogs and pets.

Has wireless earbuds and is always listening to a podcast, Tedtalk, or something soothing

Catnaps through class. Even if he’s woken up from a dead sleep, he can answer whatever snarky question someone asked

Takes advantage of the meditation classes and alternative therapy walk-ins promoted by the Mental Health Clinic. He really likes guided meditation with singing bowls.

[shewhohangsoutincemeteries]

Episode 2 time!

Kate being starstruck over Clint is just a mood

Clint throwing the Molotov back at the tracksuits is peak behaviour

I know I freaked out about it before but Clint so casually blending in with the fire department and being the good spy agh

Fixing Kate up and teaching her how to properly clean and treat the wounds 😭

“I’m not selling halloween costumes or toys off the shelf” - so depressingly true that I’ve never been able to find nice Hawkeye merch

His stupid ass LARP armour being more protection than Nat ever got 😭

“I fought Thanos” is still incredibly funny to me

I’m obsessed by Clint’s storage/dropbox somewhere in the city, and wondering how often he and Nat used it in the past on missions or if it’s just a place he chose randomly to store the suit

Ik Jack is the red herring of the series but watching it again with the view of him being innocent is so weird bc he’s either just a super creepy dude or utterly oblivious and really just wants to fence and fight against someone as good as him and is like an excited little puppy

I really wanna know how long Clint was just pacing on the street corner with his bow and arrow just waiting to be caught, he looks so bored it’s probably been hours and the tracksuits are just that inept

Enrique (apparently a named tracksuit according to my subs) getting defensive over their choice of hideout and how all old warehouses are being converted to loft flats, I mean true bad guy lackey problems

I just fucking love this show istg if I didn’t have to get up for work tomorrow I would absolutely watch it all tonight

I am so sorry I wasn't awake for these asks lol

I don't know what I love more, Kate being in fangirl mode or Clint just being so tired and patient while she does it lol

THE MOLOTOV BIT IS SO UNDERAPPRECIATED??? LIKE IF BUCKY OR STEVE DID IT THE FANDOM WOULD STILL BE TALKING ABOUT IT? BUT IT GOT BARELY ANY BUZZ EVEN DURING THE TRAILER RELEASE AND IT'S SO GOOD??? LIKE HOT AS FUCK, HE DOES IT ALL IN LIKE ONE FLUID MOTION IT'S AMAZING

And I know I've said this before, but Clint in the fireman suit 👀👀👀 and I have literally never been into the whole man-in-uniform thing before. Seriously, actual picture of me during that scene:

The way Clint was with Kate was EXACTLY how I pictured him fixing up the reader in To Ashes, and I feel so VALIDATED

Speaking of Hawkeye merch, there's a person on tiktok who makes fandom inspired underbust corsets and I swear that's where ALL MY MONEy is going as soon as I start actually earning again. I need the Hawkeye, Wanda, and Tony ones in my life immediately

Is it a dropbox? I thought he just rented a locker at a train/bus station. Is that a thing? Or was it ever? America confuses me tbh lol

I'm always gonna be a little disappointed they removed Jack from Clint's backstory and we still didn't really get much in the way of circus Clint, but Jack is just so fun and the fact that his whole personality was just I LOVE SWORDS gives me life lmao. Me on any hyperfixation.

I was a little bummed they changed the line when the tracksuits find clint because the one in the trailer is so funny, but ugh, I love my highly competent boy. Just sitting there casually untying himself while being held hostage. A gem.

[nekomawrites]

boyfriend headcanons — setters

characters: Kegayama Tobio, Sugawara Koushi, Kenma Kozume, Oikawa Tooru, Akaashi Keiji, Semi Eita, Miya Atsumu, Koganegawa Kanji.

cw/tw: none

-He’s kind of awkward.

-But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t try to be a good boyfriend.

-The thing with Kageyama is that while he is new to romance and relationships, just like volleyball, he will give it his all.

-At the beginning of your relationship, you had to hold his hand a little bit and set the pace.

-Blushes so hard when you hug him or hold his hand.

-He doesn’t initiate any intimate stuff.

-Your first kiss was definitely an awkward experience.

-He may or may not have jumped when he realized how close you two were and head butted you accidentally.

-Honestly it’s such a funny story looking back at it.

-He hates when you bring it up to tease him.

-While he is not overly romantic, he is very considerate.

-Like, if he gets a drink from the vending machine, he’ll always grab you one too.

-Or if he knows it’s going to be cold, he’ll bring an extra jacket for you.

-Kageyama is the guy that, while he is still trying to figure out the steps of a relationship, he doesn’t forget the small things.

-He is probably the most romantic out of all of the setters.

-Suga is a TRUE gentleman and I will die defending this.

-Offers to carry your bag when you’re walking.

-Holds doors open for you.

-Always asks how you’re feeling.

-While he is a gentleman that drinks his respect women juice, make no mistake.

-He’s still very chaotic.

-Sends you cute messages throughout the day along with some words of encouragement if you’re particularly stressed.

-Loves holding hands.

-To him it’s such a soft and innocent thing, but he loves it so much.

-You two have a very natural relationship.

-Talks about you all the time to Daichi and Asahi.

-He tends to rant about whatever stupid shit Tanaka, Noya, or the first years got into that day.

-Always up for trying new things.

-Like? He sees a new crazy themed cafe?

-Or a store that sells nothing but merch related to some obscure anime you don’t even watch?

-Yeah, you’re visiting it at least once.

-He definitely keeps you on your toes.

-While everyone pegs Kenma as the kind of guy that is extremely antisocial and doesn’t like having a lot of friends, I don’t see it that way.

-It just takes a special person to get to really know him.

-So, you’re pretty damn lucky that you caught this setter’s attention.

-Kenma is very much like a cat.

-It takes a lot to earn his trust, much less his love, but once you do, you have it for life.

-He is very awkward at the beginning of your relationship.

-Oh, man, you’re going to have to help guide him during the beginning stages.

-But he’s also quite smart, so he will eventually learn to catch on to more relationship based things.

-More of a homebody, but will compromise with you on dates.

-HUG. THIS. BOY.

-He is definitely touch starved. Hug him. Play with his hair.

-Any physical affection is more than welcomed by Kenma.

-This bitch.

-He is a HUGE flirt. That will not change no matter your relationship.

-So, the only way I see him really getting serious about someone is if they challenge him.

-The thing about Oikawa is that he doesn’t like when things come easy.

-He always feels the need to earn his keep, whether in life or in volleyball.

-And your relationship is no different.

-While he has a plethora of girls waiting on his beck and call, he doesn’t want them.

-He wants you, the one that doesn’t even care that he’s the captain of the volleyball team, or that he’s a pretty renowned player.

-It’s because you see him as Oikawa Tooru, Aoba Johsai third year and not the Great King.

-And honestly? It’s so refreshing.

-I see Oikawa being a very good boyfriend.

-He will always want a rundown of how your day has gone.

-Doesn’t matter if he was with you for most of the day.

-Fill him in on the time that he wasn’t with you.

-Ok, ok, so Oikawa is definitely not the most emotionally vulnerable person, and it will take a while for him to completely trust you with his insecurities.

-But once he does, and he starts sharing his fears and aspirations, that’s basically him telling you that he loves you.

-Don’t get me wrong, Oikawa has no issue with saying I love you.

-If anything he’s definitely said it first.

-But when he opens up to share what scares him, what excites him, what makes him feel alive.

-That’s when you absolutely know that he’s your’s.

-Akaashi Keiji drinks his respect women juice.

-I will die on this hill.

-He is a very calm and collected person, but also very laid back.

-Akaashi is a very attentive boyfriend.

-He will pick up on the small things.

-Don’t even try to lie and tell him you’re feeling fine when you’re not.

-He will know.

-And he’ll have a remedy ready.

-He is also very detail oriented.

-He knows you inside and out.

-Basically he can read you like a book.

-Which is a good and bad thing.

-After getting serious, Akaashi will open a lot more.

-While he is more reserved, he isn’t completely closed off.

-He’s definitely more outgoing when he’s with you since he’s most comfortable.

-HE LOVES KISSING YOUR FOREHEAD.

-I don’t even have a reasonable explanation for this one.

-But he absolutely loves pushing your hair out of your face and placing a soft kiss on your forehead.

-It feels intimate to him.

-He’s truly a softy.

-This boy is a whole tsundere.

-Change my mind.

-It will take a while for you two to actually get together.

-But when you start dating, it’s like you unlocked another version of Semi.

-He loves cuddles.

-But he will never ask for them.

-You just know when he wants them.

-He’ll be extra pouty.

-You just roll your eyes, call him a baby, and crawl into his lap or pull him into your chest.

-Semi’s love language is acts of service.

-He has a hard time telling you how he feels, and you know this.

-So you learn to pick up on the things he does to show his love.

-Sangwoo has entered the chat

-Ok but really, how the hell did you get this man’s attention?

-His life practically revolves around volleyball.

-He has no room for extra relationships.

-He tried to dismiss his feelings for you, but sike, they came rushing back real quick.

-Atsumu is a bitch for PDA.

-Holding hands, hugging, kissing, he’s down for it all.

-WEAR. HIS. JERSEY.

-He will absolutely go FERAL.

-He’s a smug little bitch.

-He will publicly call you his.

-He has no shame.

-Will flirt with you non stop.

-It’s funny because when you met Osamu, Atsumu felt stupid jealous.

-And you knew that he was.

-But instead of fueling his jealousy, you teamed up with Osamu to tease Atsumu.

-And even though it was the two of you teaming up against him, Atsumu felt really proud that you and ‘Samu were bonding.

-He’ll never admit it though.

-Damn you really are part of the family now.

-Osamu approved.

-But Atsumu will take you on nice dates whenever there’s time.

-They’re not super planned out or even remotely romantic, but honestly it’s the thought that counts.

-He’s super soft.

-Everyone listen here because he’s actually BABY.

-Okay, for starters, he will be a blushing mess for the beginning of your relationship.

-He’s just so innocent and an actual relationship with a partner?

-He still has a hard time wrapping his mind around the idea.

-Like, even an action like holding his hand will send him into a blushing mess.

-It’s pretty cute.

-He’s actually a really good boyfriend.

-Very sweet and is always making sure you’re happy.

-Honestly to him that is priority; your happiness.

-Listen, Koganegawa will definitely be the dude to plan dates.

-If you happen to mention you are interested in trying a new cafe or seeing a new movie.

-He’s already mentally preparing for it, planning a day for the both of you to go.

-They may not be super intricate like the movies, but they’re still really sweet.

-Plus the fact that he puts time and effort into these dates?

-A true king.

[twokinkybeans]

The Arachnoids: ROCK BAND AU [Starker] - Chapter 3: “WORLD TOUR WISHES”

READ “CHAPTER 3: WORLD TOUR WISHES” ON AO3

Other Chapters: Prologue Chapter 1: Soundcheck Setback Chapter 2: Roadie Rush (To be continued)

Taglist: @crystallinecrimsonmoth​ & @staticwhispersinthedark​

Find the fic’s Masterpost here ^^

- 

Chapter 3: World Tour Wishes

The show is on fire. Not literally, of course, but Peter can’t stop smiling and jumping around the stage. The audience is super enthusiastic and responsive, much better than most of the crowds they played for so far. It’s the blessing and the curse of being an opening band when people don’t know your songs yet. It’s a great shot at promoting your music, but sometimes it results in an audience that sells you off as background music while they keep chatting to their friends. Peter doesn’t blame them, before he was in a band himself, he did the same thing.

Not this crowd. Some of the teens squeezed together in the front even wear some of their merch. Peter is 99% sure that all of this is a dream. That he’ll wake up any second now and sigh when reality comes crashes down on him. But then, he also knows that all of this is in fact very much a real thing and it has his mind blown. 

“This is our last song for tonight,” MJ breathes into her mic. She gracefully accepts one of the other roadies handing her her bass guitar for the final piece of their set. Quickly, she puts the strap over her head. “But that doesn’t mean the party is over! Who… Is ready for The Avengers?!” 

The crowd cheers and whistles and it’s a sign for MJ to continue while the energy is at its high. She nods, Ned brings his drum sticks together four times to count down to the beginning of the song. Peter’s fingers easily travel their way across his guitar and he stalks over to Ned, playing towards him. Ned laughs and adds a little more energy and the crowd breaks into yet another wave of cheers. 

“We were The Arachnoids, you’ve been amazing for us. Thank you so much and enjoy the rest of the show!”

-

The second they set foot backstage, the three of them break into a series of squeals and a very uncoordinated, jumpy group hug.  “Holy fuck, that was-” Peter rushes out and shakes his head in disbelief. MJ squeezes both boys into her sides and chuckles, just as amazed as the others.  “This, this is what I want for the rest of my life,” Ned states and Peter bumps into him a little more. “Yes, please, I don’t want this to ever end.” “Crazy, it was absolutely-”

MJ never gets to finish her sentence when suddenly there’s a scoff coming up from behind them. Peter turns around. “So,” none other than Tony Stark mumbles as he stares them up and down. “I didn’t know you’d be this young. You legally drinking yet?” Peter frowns, unsure what to respond.  “We’re young enough to not crash after one shot, unlike you,” MJ retorts. Tony huffs dismissively and shakes his head. “You must be… Venus.” “Pleasure to meet you.” “Mmmh,” is all the famous guitarist responds. He sniffs and looks around, clearly trying to find something he can use as an excuse to get away from them. Peter feels his heart sink. During the show, he’d somehow forgotten about the mood-killing presence that was Tony, and now it hits him right in the face.

“Alright, we’ll get going. Wouldn’t want to mess up your precious extra time to set up the stage.” The man raises an eyebrow, clearly not expecting that. He laughs. “Go on then, little spiders,” he sneers at the boys. “Follow your Queen.”

MJ keeps her head up proudly when she walks past him. Peter and Ned quickly follow. Peter can hear how Tony diverts his attention to someone else and he lets out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. “Fucker,” MJ mutters under her breath. “God, I didn’t know I could hate someone this bad. Seriously, what’s his issue?” She takes off her bass and sighs, carefully placing it in the designated standard. Peter does the same with his guitar. 

“I should go help the roadies with my drum kit” Ned whispers apologetically. “I’ll meet you back here to watch the show?” “Yeah!” Peter confirms. He feels a tad bit conflicted about having to watch The Avengers now. He still likes the music, obviously. He should just enjoy it as much as he can “I saw a bottle of champagne in the trailer by the way. We should celebrate after their set ends!” “Oh my god yes,” Ned piques up with newfound interest. “Well, they better hurry up then!” “Ha, gotta wait till midnight, honey,” MJ teases and she waves as Ned walks over to the stage again to help with the drum kit. Peter finds the cases of his guitar and MJ’s bass, and together they put them in there. 

“Guys!” Harley comes rushing past and he gives them a double thumbs up. “I don’t have much time right now, but you were absolutely amazing out there. I fucking loved it! I’ll talk to you after the main set, ‘kay?” With that, he’s gone again. MJ stares after him and Peter grins. “Harley’s nice, isn’t he, MJ?” “Oh, fuck you,” MJ snorts and shakes her head, her eyes sparkling playfully. “I’ll take back what I said earlier.” “Which part exactly?” Peter teases. MJ nudges him and wraps her arm around his shoulders.  “That, little spider, is anyone’s guess.”

Peter smiles and presses a quick kiss onto her cheeks and then grabs his guitar case. “Let’s get these back to our trailer and then we watch the show?” “Solid plan.” Together, they walk back to the trailer. Peter’s mind is still buzzing with a post-concert haze and he loves it. Tony Stark may not like ‘em, but everyone else seems to have a different opinion and that’s all that matters. 

-

The Avengers’ show is amazing. It’s very different, watching them play from the sides rather than the crowd. Peter never imagined his first time actually seeing the band live would be from this angle. He enjoys every single second of it. Ned found his way back to them easily and the three of them are vibing, singing along, and having lots of fun overall. At one point, some of the roadies and crew join their little party and Peter loves it. Loves this; meeting new people within the industry. He finally feels like maybe, maybe, this is what his future might look like. 

Just as with the soundcheck, as soon as Tony sets foot on the stage and starts singing or playing every trace of his appalling behavior has vanished. He looks like a true rock star out there. He is a true rock star. He owns the stage fully; pacing around with big strides, playfully cracking a joke here and there between songs. Even Natasha and Steve seem to loosen up slowly but surely. The redhead smiles wide when Tony walks over to her for a little guitar vs. bass play-off, and Steve’s motions become grander with every single hit on the drums. 

The stage lights, the smoke, the gravely warm voice coming from Tony’s throat combined with the audience singing along every single word… It’s magical. Marvelous. 

“Aaaahhh, thank you so much, everyone! Woah, what a way to end this beautiful year!” Tony breathes into the microphone, slightly out of breath after ending a particularly fast-paced song. He raises his hands and bathes in the cheers from the crowd. “Now!” He continues and looks behind him where there is now a projected timer, indicating it’s no more than one minute until the new year starts. “I want us all to count down from ten to one together! Anyone got any good resolutions… Nat? Steve?” Natasha laughs and she leans in a little closer to her mic. “What about a world tour, Tony?” “Ah!” Tony exclaims and bounces on his toes. “What a good idea! We’re definitely doing that! Should we drop the tour list after our show? Steve?” “Why not!” “Alright, that’s settled then!” Tony stops moving and cocks his head, glancing at the timer quickly. It’s at 00:00:13. He rubs his hands together and raises his mic towards the audience this time.  “Ten!” Everyone screams. “Nine!” “Eight!” “Seven!” “Six!” “Five!” “Four!” “Three!” “Two!” “ONE!”

“HAPPY NEW YEAR!” Everyone fucking loses it at this point. The pyrotechnics detonate the stage gerbs and it sets off in fountains of sparks. Peter grabs Ned and MJ and pulls them in for a tight hug. “Happy new year, and may it bring a series of life-changing events for our band!”

Harley stalks over towards the band and the other roadies with a large plate filled with long champagne glasses. He hands them out to everyone, wishing them a happy new year too. After he’s handed them to the backstage crew, he makes his way onto the stage to give the last three glasses to The Avengers. Tony raises his glass.

“Who’s ready to mosh?!”

-

It feels so utterly surreal now that everything’s over. Peter can’t quite understand the feeling. Happiness flutters inside him, but a hint of sadness clouds his brain as well. He wishes the night would never end, but it already had. The band had their little after-party in the small trailer with some random people from the tech crew and now they were packed up and ready to go home. It was only a short ride. They could’ve stayed here and slept in the trailer, but honestly, they were all longing for their own beds to crash in. “I’ll go get the van,” Peter says with a smile and grabs the keys. He’d only had one glass of champagne at midnight, and that’d been two hours ago so the alcohol has left his system already. He’s good to drive. 

The van is parked not far from the stage terrain, but he makes sure to dress up warmly to face the outside world. It’s not freezing at all, but cold enough to want the comfort of a good winter coat. He jumps out of the van and starts walking. He passes the stage and shakes his head. It looks so massive from down here, and he can’t believe he was on it. 

“Howdy, space boy?” 

Peter freezes, startled. He immediately realizes who spoke to him, though. Peter grits his teeth together and slowly turns to face The Avengers’ guitarist. He’s so done, so utterly done with the man’s cocky behavior. And you know what? Peter’s got nothing to lose anymore. They played, they had their fun out there, it’s time he stands up for him and his band. They might be young, and new to the industry- but he’s proud of what they’ve built so far.

“Seriously, what’s your problem with us?” Peter clamps his teeth together right after he’s said it. The surprise sparking in Tony’s eyes is worth it, though. “I beg your pardon?” “Everything we do, say, or even look at is reason enough for you to humiliate us over. I looked up to you, big, big time. Guess I was wrong about you.” Somehow, that’s enough to silence the other man. He simply stares back at Peter, clear astonishment written over his face. It confuses Peter.

“You got some nerve, kid,” Tony says, finally. His voice wavers. Peter shrugs, unsure what else to do. He expected Tony to fight back instantly, but the man looks truly thrown off-guard. Tony sniffs. “I gotta admit, I admire that.” “You what?” “I’m serious. People don’t talk back to me unless they know me. Until you and your band came hopping along apparently.” “Still doesn’t explain a thing.”

“Look, Bambi-” “Bambi?” “Spiderling, then. See, it’s nothin’ against you- or your little band. On the contrary, I think you kiddos got something unique going on out there.” Tony pauses for good measure. “The thing is, I’m just having an incredibly shitty day.” For the first time, Peter believes he can see through the cracks of Tony’s persona. He doesn’t look annoyed. No, it’s definitely no annoyance. It’s fear. “Oh?” Peter asks quietly, not sure how to handle the different turn of this conversation. Not sure which boundaries he might be overstepping.

As soon as the cracks showed, they’re gone again. Tony straightens his shoulders and presses his lips together into a thin line. “Right.” The man sniffs once. “I forgot how clueless I was when I was your age.” Peter snorts. “You got issues man, I hope you sort them out soon. People are fed up with you.” “You don’t know me. Or them.” “No, that’s true. But I do know that simple annoyance can turn into resentment real fast. Don’t be a dick.” “Oh, fuck off. You’re too young to be wise like that.” “And you’re too young to be so cranky.” Peter says and he sighs. He shrugs, feeling a little bit helpless. It’s actually rather pathetic how Tony behaves. It’s not Peter’s problem to solve.

“My band’s waiting for me. I gotta go.” Peter starts to turn around again but Tony stops him. “Wait, kid, what’s your name?”

“Peter. Peter Parker.”

And with that, he walks off.

-

Read The Next Chapter: 4 - Coffee Confusion

[popculturebuffet]

Ducktales Reboot Recap Reviews!: The Rumble For Ragnarok!

The Family wrassles for the fate of the universe as The Million Dollar Mallard , takes on the people’s champ. Dewey grapples with the perils of x-pac heat, while Huey grapples with the commentary booth and Launchpad actually knowing something. IT’s time for Ragnarok N Wrestling under the cut! 

Heloooo and welcome. IT’s your boy jacob mattingly here as always with... nobody. I just wanted to refrence OSW review. Anyway today’s crack is an episode that like the last two I looked forward to and did not disapoint. Admitley this is because i’m a casual wrestling fan; while I like things taking a shot at wrestling more than actually watching it (though if I had acess to AEW that’d change), I do highly respect the sport, and yes even if the winners are deterimined ahead of time and everything’s scripted it’s still a sport. Besides the obvious fact many have been injured and some killed or paralyzed doing it,  it takes a lot of effort to do it, injuries can happen even if your doing eveyrthing right just by freak accident, and you sometimes have to work AROUND said injuries to change the finish. And that’s not getting into not having any control about how sucessful you’ll be no matter how good you do if the bosses simply don’t like you or having to work though mounds of pain or other bullshit. The point is, these fine men, women and non-binary persons work their asses off so yes I felt it necessary to take a paragraph to honor that.  This episode itself does a good job too: it GETS why wrestling works and works it good. The premise is simple ish: Scrooge has decided to take his nephews and niece with him to his once a decade bout with Jormangadr, a nice call back to Last Christmas! and i’m glad we elaborated on that. And as you probably know, it turns out in the duckverse, vikings invented pro wrasslin. The why is really good and is why I don’t mind this episode despite the pacing this season being eh: While the plot’s moved pretty glacially the theme of legacy has been baked into every episode: From what it’s worth, to people creating a legacy for you, the theme has been far stronger this season than the past two , and it was strong there and it makes up for the main plot taking it’s sweet ass time to get anywhere. Here it’s at it’s strongest: Scrooge is aware that while he can still add a decade or two magically, he’s not immortal and won’t always be there. He knows he needs to pass the torch.. and thus he knows that by the next time this would roll around it’d be the kids turn. As for why not his actual children, I actually like the justifcation for not including donald and della as it works: “They can’t cooperate on a jigsaw puzzle much less the fate of the world”. Which.. is 100% true. The two love each other clearly.. but they couldn’t go thorugh a space battle for the fate of earth without squabbling, HOURS after reuniting after a decade. Their first interaction was screaming at each other. While their good siblings.. their still siblings. The triplets, while still prone to sibling fights are easier to work as a team, probably because there’s always a third to break up a fight, and now there’s a 4th in webby, it’s much easier to trouble shoot than with two grown ass adults who have fought their entire lives and aren’t going to stop now even if they do care about one another.  As it also turns out Scrooge is playing the heel, which he’s a natural at and does easily. And that’s part of the charm here: they do what MANY wrestling movies, tv episodes and what not have trouble with: what’s real and what’s kayfabe. Here the fight’s entirely a shoot, and suspension of disbleief on moves that would take coperation is easy because these ducks are badass and their fighting a pig, hella and son, and a world serpent that can shapeshift from actual serpent to sexy snake man. It dosen’t have to make perfect sense. But the ducks still play rolls because Scrooge knows his place here, and knows his crowd: To them, JOrmangadr winning means the end of humanity and a bigger world for them in vallhalla with quintillions joining them. While Team Earth knows it’ll be terrible, the only earthlings present are our family. So Scrooge is more than willing to be the million dollar mallard and put on a good show and play the bad guy. However things quickly go pear shaped as Scrooge, after winning the first matc against a pig guy with super strength granting hair, gets a chair shot and has to rely on the kids... and is down to half of them at that since Louie, the second he realizes theris a merch table, gets to work selling, even working the crowd with anti-scrooge and dewey shirts, while Huey settles into commentary with Launchpad. It’s now up to Webby, Dewey and Scrooge’s reinfrocments he called because he knew Dewey would probably maybe fail completely in beakly to save the earth.  But before we get back to that i’ll get to the commentary subplot real quick: It’s fucking hilarious and I like not only reuniting huey and launchpad, as their commentary in missing links was fucking great, but reversiing it: Golf is a very structured sport Huey likely had lots of time to study. Here, without checking his guidebook oddly but he probably simply didn’t have time and by the time he did felt discoruged, and without prep, i’ts launchpad, whose a huge fan of wrestling, whose the expert. Launchpad, being more instinctual and spur of the moment is able to combine his knowledge with his entusasim and be a hell of a commentator. It’s only when Louie advises Huey to do the oppsoitie of his usual instinct, structure and plan like hell, and just roll with it like launchpad that the boy excels. It’s also nice to get some Huey focus in what’s supposed tobe his season, but despite being a huge Huey fan that hasn’t bothred me much either: Louie’s focus also got staggred out over the whole season. Dewey... not so much, but clearly Louie having a good CHUNK of episodes, while still spreading the focus all around, was a direct reaction to that. I do question why the Dewey episode that could take place at any point is at this point in the season but I don’t knokw what else they have in the tank at this point so eh.  The main plot, as I made clear, though is Dewey. While Webby is actually DAMN GOOD at playing the heel, and it’s a nice bit of continuity as while she’s all sunshine and rainbows Webby both has a sarcastic streak as the series goes on and a good sense of battle quips, see the study the blade bit in timephoon. Dewey on the other hand thrives on approval and his attempt at getting the fans to pop with with looks like the bastard child of zack morris and 90′s superboy, mostly 90′s superboy, only makes them hate him.  But we do get a nice moment here. While Dewey does loose the team a match, Jormangarnder agrees to a battle royale for it, and Scrooge .. is entirely fine Dewey isn’t good at playing the heel. Besides preparing for it, which admitely makes the boy feel worse, he knows that not everyone can do the unpopular thing it takes to be a hero sometime. I’ts just not for everyone, and he gets that adulation and attention obessed Dewey just.. can’t take being hated and loathed. Scrooge is used to it, life and times more than proved that being rich means people will automatically look down on you for BEING rich and scrooge has had decades of that kind of shit at this point. Dewey is just an 11 year old boy. It’s okay he’s not there yet. But soon eveyrone takes a turn at jormanganr, even beakly who has a whole costume ready and likelky has been here before, and looses. Dewey is their last shot.  But Louie, as things look dire, turns from merch to inspiring his brothers, Huey as shown above and Dewey with the fact that, as he pointed out earlier when selling anti-dewey t-shirts, he always knew how this would turn out: and cheers or no, Dewey can dew this and can be there hero. And like Lex Luger he can turn from a heel to a face awfully face, finally letting himself be a heel.. and his determination not to give up, while Jormangander uncessarily toys with a child and pummels him, turns the crowd to his side. He pulls a stone cold, and witht hepigs help jackhammers the champ and wins the day. It’s a really great moment: Dewey still gets what he wants..by putting the world over his own desires and EARNING it. And with a final great shot, Scrooge steals the belt from dewey for a fun rematch between great uncle and grandson. Also Dewey piledriving a snakeman was fucking awesome. Great work.  Overall this was a great episode, while it dosen’t move the plot forward, which is a series wide problem and not just this season, it’s still great fun, great character stuff and really that’s why this season has been great: even double o duck, which was just okay, has been great and as we piledrive our way into hiatus, we can at least take comfort in getting a ton of great episodes and having more to come.. probably montsh and months from now but still, it’ll be worth the wait. Until then, i’ll be trying to do mroe reviews, so shoot me an ask or message if you have any suggestions. I take sugggestions as well as full on comissions, and there are no bad suggestions. Until next time, Later Days. 

[azrcxlfatale]

under the cut you’ll find saint’s intro, its just a brief run down for now until i get bio pages up but it should help get a sense of the boyo all the same !! he is gentle and friend shaped is all i can say ajjdfg. THIS HAS NOW BEEN UPDATED WITH LIKE FIVE EXTRA LIL MORE CURRENT HEADCANONS! [ they r just like for his own growth nothing major has happened with saint and he’s still fundamentally the same as he was bc he’s always been a more laidback and less tragic muse but feel free to read em bc they do help contextualise how he’ll be career wise and with grandmami] : 

   CHWE SAINT: 

so for the best part of his life saint was raised with his ‘grandmami’ as he terms her, but she’s better known to the whole island as ajumma solmi. for this reason he’s very doting toward her and a real grandma’s boy. he bakes with her often and they can often be found on street corners selling cheap priced but some of the finest flowers to the citizens because it’s grandmami’s tradition and its mostly done in hope to uplift the islanders and bring joy to their day in a small way and act of love. 

when i say doting i mean doTInG, he will help her in and out of chairs, help her cross streets, hold the groceries for her as she crosses, open doors for her even if grandmami insists he stops fussing because ffs saint ur making me look ancient and i’ll have u know i am still fighting fit and could knock any idiot on his ass with a fliCk of my finger. ajdhf. she is v fiery, if saint is like the picture of elegance and good manners then grandmami is the sTARK contrast. she has one hell of a potty mouth and just a no time for ur shit attitude. if anything saint is keeping her in line, not the other way around. 

his quirk is warp gate. he rlly just uses it to entertain himself mostly and help give his pals quick escapes when a prank of some sort has gone wrong. he can basically create portals out of a dark fog which can either be emitted through his breath or openings at the end of his fingers which he can activate, anyone can also use his portals to travel so long as he’s given them permission.

he just exudes sunshine rlly. is well known round the island for his out of this world smile which has been known to charm many. he is a very eligible and sought after bachelor but saint is like...not interested mostly bc he just like has no romantic awareness ahdhfhf not bc he doesn’t want it. and also bc he doesn’t like the way it’s mostly super young girls and guys just like awestruck by him. it feels a little too much like he’s a collective childhood crush by his groupies so yeah he is OBLIVIOUS. 

very humble and incredibly polite. just really down to earth whenever spoken to but being raised by an elderly person kinda makes u a little outdated, for this reason saint is kind of demure and bad at conversation mostly due to the fact he can easily talk for hours about his plans for baking with grandmami later, the book he read her this morning, the lovely walk they took in that gorgeous spot which he rlly recommends etc but he is god awful at talking about like typical young people stuff. 

lot of ppl think he plays hard to get, this is not true, saint just fr does not know how to fuckin speak and is the most oblivious person in the world to how to flirt, he’s easily flustered but bad at knowing when he’s being flirted with or if this person is just rlly nice and is usually too shy and respectful to rlly push luck by flirting in response hfhfjkg. USELESS. 

very 70′s/80′s aesthetic bby boy, sweet summer child. he is obsessed with old classic black and white films, had a collection before he moved to the island which he misses like everyday but luckily he has memorised ten million quotes. also collected records. obsessed with anything retro, is a collector of gaming merch. but he didn’t get to sneak much to the island :-( the only thing he rlly snuck was a small record stash. liked roller skating, bowling, drive in movies. dresses very retro but refined and classy with lots of layering. rlly good knowledge of classic literature. 

most likely to find him at the arcade in the funzone now on the island, he is a master at all the games but esp the old retro ones, usually goes early morning or late evening so he can spend hours uninterrupted on them and beat his high score everyday a bit more. if not there then he’ll be at zen’s computer gaming instead. he likes all tech really but prefers retro, he’s still figuring out modern. before coming to the island he was rlly getting into VR. if he’s not in either of these places, he’ll be on the beach in a volleyball match or doing a jog. still v much into his sports. 

ultimate sike power cause people think he looks like ur typical jock fuckboy but jokes on u he is pure of heart and dumb of ass himbo just blessed with ethereal looks, he is the breed of good lil boyo and that is all. 

obsessed with milkshakes and popcorn at the diners if he’s ever there u can guarantee that is what he is snacking on or treating himself to. his weakness is churros he fucken thinks that shit SLAPS. he’ll do anything if the prize is churros.  sMH someone help his diet. also loves fiddling with the jukeboxes there ajdjd. 

has two pet geckos one is peach colored and called zelda, the other is black and white leopard spotted and named zeus and he also has a chonk of a fluffy grumpy white cat called yoshi. he is the best. saint is a huge animal lover but probably still not on nyx’s level of dog worshipper. 

weeb. not as big of a one as nyx but he likes haikyuu, kuroko no basket, given, fruits basket, free! and yuri! on ice. he is very into anything that is slice of life or sports anime. 

has the nickname ‘koda’ bc of the movie brother bear, nicknamed after the lil baby bear cause he just reminds people of a baby bear ahdhd. 

he studies art, spends half his life in the studio working, big art nerd. once he gets in the work mode, he just does not stop for anything but water and snacks and goes at it all day into half the night. usually does big projects bc he loves a challenge. mostly paints, sometimes sketches. u know those vids of people mixing paint colors like a swatch of gold and turquoise? saint fuckin loves those so bad unf he does that all the time to calm himself. 

still lives with grandmami currently, he’s looking at getting his own place bc everyone tells him if he ever wants to have his own life then he needs to but he’s just v anxious about leaving grandmami on her own bc she getting older by the day and she’s all he has sO she cannot get hurt!! 

also in a bit of a dilemma with his art bc he kinda wants to make something out of it, like maybe teach some classes sort of thing and use it more as a career but right now he does not have the confidence in his ability and is mostly just doing it for fun and as a calming thing ( he’s an idiot he’s rlly fucken good pls someone make him take himself seriously )

never cusses but does say bitchin a lot, only ever uses fuck in bed basically so if u ever hear him say it then u know something next level has gone down bc saint refuses to swear even if he stubbed his pinky toe.

looks like a cinnamon roll but HE FUCKS!! boy is a kinky freak however saint has no shame or embarrassment like he will discuss it as casually as a discussion of what to have for dinner not bc he is like lewd but purely bc to him its rlly natural and like another form of art and he does not get the embarrassment or secret nature of it all like it is just factual to him that we come into the world like that and ppl enjoy it sometimes ajsj. 

gardening enthusiast!! has a fascination with studying plants and insects tbfh. still uses 70′s and 80′s kewl kid slang like unironically someone help him pls. sjjdjf. cute bonus fact: has freckles all over his shoulders and down his back. UWU. 

COUPLE OF CONNECTION IDEAS OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD??: 

i would love for him to have a muse for art and/or to be someone’s muse. also and maybe interchangeably someone to kinda be his art mentor and be like saint u could pursue this fr if thats ur dream, then do it pls share this talent dont let ART DIE!!

someone he does gardening and insect studies with who gets his nerdy enthusiasm over it. 

a regular who gets flowers from him and grandmami, maybe he makes a special bouquet for them every day which always has a different meaning in the flower language bc he is soft like that ajjfl

someone who he can take on loads of cute lil platonic diner dinner dates bc he is a huge foodie as we can tell. this one is super fun like I imagine they scam tf outta restaurants that are over priced and for the elite by being like we all kno married couples or people getting engaged, celebrating anniversaries etc tend to get better deals on their meals. so he’s essentially doing this one bc he likes ur muses company and enthusiasm for food but also bc it means cheaper high quality meals for both and a guaranteed good time.

someone to nerd out with him over classic literature or films bc that would be hella cute

maybe someone who is also close with his grandmami and rlly loves spending time with her as well so he kinda trusts them to take care of her and trusts their judgement when they r like saint chill let the lady live okay go and do ur own shit akskf

he usually jogs alone but it would be cool for him to have someone to do that with and like table-tennis and shiz cause he just loves fitness activities and active leisure stuff too. 

maybe someone who is tryna teach him a little more about how to uH TALK LIKE SOMEONE HIS DAMN AGE AND STOP BEING SOME RETRO MAN STUCK IN MODERN TIMES AJDJD

UPDATES:

so a lot about saint hasn’t overly changed because like he just is and has always been a very wholesome laidback boyo but just a few bits of like additional info for his personal growth can be added:

he’s owner and manager of the florist now, grandmami is also there most of the time and handles a lot of stuff when she’s feeling up to it but with her getting more tired more easily from her illness saint needs to head everything really.

he grew up in a neighbourhood on hosu which like consisted of his entire street pretty much being full of his aunts and uncles so now like it’s a street just littered with all his tiny cousins who like to follow him about everywhere and play ball games etc on the street with him and kinda take it over shs. you can hear their joyful playing from like streets over it’s very cute.

his mother gave him up when she realised she was pregnant with him and too young to raise him and that it would hinder her from pursuing the life she wanted with his father. saint doesn’t hold any resentment for her choice, it only bothers him that his grandma has always had a serious illness since the early days of talks of her having no choice but to take him on and that despite this his mother allowed him to be left to her care and another burden on her when she was already so ill.

grandmami is now at a point where she’s hanging in there but she won’t have long left and saint is essentially now her live in carer till her final days which is hard af for him but he refuses to let it show. he’s not sure how he’ll function when he loses her. right now he’s trying to extend the florist business into a wellness one as well and more of an apothecary so he can keep himself stable and busy.

this is more just a cute fun fact but he’s a Christmas Eve baby. uwu lil boyo was born on the night before Christmas bc of course he was sdjdj.

[tokupedia]

Japan World Heroes II Preview Night

The event started as all days do, with a nice brunch before heading out to the con.

In this particular case, I scratched off my food exploration list the fabled Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles, a staple of L.A. since the 1970s and one of the many reasons Chicken and Waffles has endured as a staple of American cuisine. What you see is the Carol C special, one large tender Chicken Breast with waffles and a Sunrise to drink (Its an LA thing. half Orange Juice, Half Lemonade, 100% tasty). 

After that indulgence, I headed to the convention hall. Last time, we shared space with a Lego convention. This time, there was a convention for rich fat cats only next door discussing how to market and profit from *ahem* the local herbal supplements, man.

Upon entry, one of the most notable things was the con had new sponsors/vendors, particularly the Legends Comics and Games shop and even Hasbro made a small contribution with a prize for the upcoming cosplay contest. This is good, this means growth by attracting more businesses and con-goers for future iterations of this still very young bi-annual fandom event.

CS Toys did coverage of the con and were setting up, I didn’t see as many high profile members of the Toku community I recognized this time around as I did last time, but I thought I caught a glimpse of one or two members of Team Tokunet getting ready for the big weekend. It’s fine, we all have busy lives and sometimes things just don’t work out, what matters is the passion we feel for this genre and that alone means we were all here at least in spirit.

Given who some of our guests were, the viewing room naturally had marathons of Dekaranger and Kamen Rider Blade as well as the Space Squad films.

Sentai Jackets returned to the con, this time with brand new merch!

They had little 2017 Power Rangers movie keychains! 

And metal badges, Power Coins, pins and buckles and all other sorts of shiny shiny goods were at Henshin Vault! I got a new Time Fire/Quantum Ranger badge later on. 

One highlight was that props direct from the vault of Toei Studios were on display!

GingaiOh’s/Galaxy Megazord’s sword, Gavan’s Laser Blade, some of the Black RX prop belts and the Revolcane..

Inside a protective case was an actual Kamen Rider Blade stunt helmet worn by Seiji Takaiwa himself! (Which was actually here before at JWH 1, but seemed more relevant given one of the celebrity star attractions)

Later on, they brought out mannequins and adorned them with the garb of the Child of the Sun and the man who Walks the Path of Heaven! Rider Suits! *geeks out*

After that shock of awesome, another vendor booth had a former Hollywood prop maker who was selling various oddities such as prop boots of the Yellow Ranger, old scripts of MMPR, vintage trading cards and comics, autographed photos and merch, even a production crew jacket from Power Rangers Lost Galaxy (though that might have been his). He also unwisely left a stack of hundreds on his table, just saying dude, keep it in a safebox or something so its secure, I only bring it up ‘cuz you seemed like a nice guy and I wouldn’t want to see you get robbed.

A gent by the callname of Nickranger was pleased when I became his first customer, I purchased the Kamen Rider 1 vs. Captain America poster and the Dekared/SPD Red Battilizer art poster. The latter was of course for Ryuji Sainei to sign later. (Mr. McLaren didn’t seem all that interested in the con based on facial expressions, so I didn’t want to be “that fan” and annoy him and gave him space. You have to be considerate of people even if they are famous.)

Lots of vintage toys and collectibles were on display, my first wallet bleeding prize was a metal Cheetah Core Medal keychain, which I wore proudly on the lanyard for the rest of the event. I also, in an oddball moment, prayed to it, hoping my desire fuels it so our precious KR Valkyrie whose totem animal she shares with the coin does not get sacrificed to the Curse of Yuriko Misaki next season.

Of course, if you were not into this stuff, there were bits of hidden prizes that might have piqued your interest at the vendor booths...

Such as Neoroids from various franchises, the Proplica of Sailor Moon’s wand the Moon Stick, DBZ goodies...

Stuff from Takara Tomy such as imported Transformers and Gaogaigar dolls and Chogokins, Gatchaman toys, Custom Lego Minifigs of Mazinger and various other characters, Disney pins...

And Disney owned characters artistically depicted as Meisho period samurai, ninjas, soldiers, noblemen and warlords from the mind of Kamen Rider and Godzilla concept artist Takayuki Takeya!

So yes, even if you have only a passive fan love for Godzilla or none at all, there was at least one bit of plastic nostalgia or curiosity to tickle your fancy and make your checkbook scream in agony. But never despair about that, as you are supporting local business, tourism and commerce. 

So the first day was dedicated to scoping out the place. A few repeats also appeared such as the Super Dimension Macross Store. The most disheartening thing was the lack of Garo representation...but that was by design in compliance with the “PG-13″ family friendly rules of JWH. 

Garo needs its own con or maybe it would be more welcomed in a spot at Halloween and Horror conventions where its nudity and gore would be more tolerated by its base.

Preview night was fun, but the full mayhem was about to begin....

[lopez-richter-fangirl]

So. Homecoming. Holy fuck. It’s taken me this long to even start to get my thoughts together. Very spoilery post under the cut. Like, as much as I can possibly remember of the show spoilery. Also rambly. And long. Ridiculously long. So you’ve been warned.

Also disclaimer, this is just homecoming to the best of my recollection and it might not be 100% accurate. So first of all the setlist (this was everything they sang but the order of songs in act 2 is a bit hazy, I think it’s about half right. Also I don’t think hardly anyone at the show could tell you exactly because it was just so overwhelming). They did medleys for all the non-Potter shows in act 1 in reverse chronological order, act 2 they did full songs from all the Potter musicals.

Act 1 TGWDLM, Join Us And Die, Show Stoppin Number We Got Work To Do, Make The Most Of It Ani, With My Own Eyes, Back On Top Gone To Oregon, Naked In A Lake, Speedrun No One Remembers Achmed, A Thousand And One Nights, Happy Ending Holy Musical B@man, Rogues Are We, Superfriends Status Quo, Kick It Up A Notch, I Wanna Be Me And My Dick, Listen To Your Heart, Ready To Go Act 2 Going Back To Hogwarts Harry Freaking Potter To Have A Home Different As Can Be (and reprise) Coolest Girl Cho’s Song Hey Dragon Granger Danger Guys Like Potter Wizard Of The Year To Dance Again Sidekick Voldemort Is Going Down Everything Ends Not Alone Days Of Summer Not Alone (reprise)

Thursday 25th The more I think about it the more I realise I really had no idea what I was expecting from the show. We’d been planning before they even announced what it was to fly out for it, but we had very few details. I didn’t even know they had an orchestra until like two hours before. I’d barely been able to watch any of their rehearsal stories. But I don’t think I’d ever been more excited for anything in my life. I was super excited for AVPW but also, it was my first time seeing any of them, the whole thing felt like a dream, and I had no idea how much it was gonna mean to me so it didn’t even hit me properly until the last night. Whereas I already knew exactly how special this would be, it was entirely once in a lifetime and I was nearly shaking.

Outside the theatre I’ve said it before but genuinely my favourite place in the world to be is surrounded by Starkid fans. Seeing people in cosplay, in merch, talking about the same shows and people I love, I just get such a sense of ‘this is home’. There was the classic waiting-in-line going back to hogwarts singalong. And some la dee da da day thrown in for good measure. Liam was walking along the line filming and doing interviews for the bts. Tessa got out of a car right next to us, we saw Jade and Traci and their friend Bella. They’re all gorgeous it’s insane and unfair.

Inside the theatre Spent over $100 on merch but honestly could have spent so much more, really I showed a lot of self restraint. They didn’t have the programmes though which I’m still heartbroken over. Saw Denise Richter which I was maybe too excited about. Didn’t speak to her or anything but even just to see her she exudes kindness she’s the best. Then we were hanging out in the lobby and Tessa was talking to everyone and hugging them and taking selfies and jumping in people’s group pics and I love her. Like she made my night even without me talking to her because she was SO sweet to everyone she spoke to and I was stood there falling in love with her by the second. Also, let’s talk about how cool the venue was? It looked unbelievable and they had a bunch of posters up with AVPM quotes. And the stage? Y’all have seen by now but they made it look like an actual homecoming dance and it was amazing. Considering how far back our seats were it was actually a very good view, it helped that I had an aisle seat so had a clear view of the entire stage. I’ve posted the pre-show playlist here, it was perfect, especially the JATP like, hell yeah to celebrating all their various projects. At this point I literally thought I was gonna die of excitement. AJ and Clark came on stage and as much as I was having great fun freaking out with the groupchat about how soon the show was I couldn’t wait to put my phone away cause that meant the show was starting. And then the lights went down.

Darren Very pleased to say it was not the Darren show, even though he did give the opening and closing speech. And as much as I have opinions about him, when he walked out for the first time it was a pretty special moment because it’s like, this is it this is really happening. The amount of energy in that room when he came on stage my god. You would not have believed there were only 1600 people there. The whole show people could barely get a sentence out without cheering, which in hindsight was probably annoying but it just shows how incredibly loved they are, and we were as grateful to them as they were to us. I loved the atmosphere in both shows, it was completely different both times and I’ll obviously get to the Friday night show, but there was something special about being in a room of majority backers, all of us seeing these show for the very first time, it was totally new. Again, literally no idea what to expect and it was the most exhilarating feeling. Darren did a little ‘look for your exits pretend we’re at Disney’ which was cute after being at Disney for two days beforehand. Classic starkid fashion, he told us they had no idea how long the show would run for. He made a G.L.E.E. joke so it’s nice to know he’s still on our side at the end of the day. I don’t know if it was him that talked about Starkid performing with a 13 piece orchestra for the first time, but I’m gonna bring it up here anyway. I’m so grateful they were overfunded and that they were able to have the orchestra, because it’s probably something they really wanted and it’s also something they 100% deserve. I’d sell my soul to hear every starkid song with that orchestra, it was magnificent. I really hope we do get an album because it all sounded SO GOOD. Unsurprisingly don’t remember much else of what Darren said because I was just so excited for the show to start.

TGWDLM medley  So as soon as the opening started playing even as Darren was still introducing people went insane, literally within two seconds I knew undoubtedly that this was gonna be the best two hours of my life (also the fastest. Often watching theatre shows I lose attention a little bit but there wasn’t a single second of this show that I wasn’t 100% in the moment they’re completely captivating, and it went by way too fast). Oh wow this is where we got to see Joey and Lauren for the first time. Fuck. I cannot describe to you how good they looked. Pictures do not do it justice. Thank god the mustache was gone. Thank god Lauren didn’t wear the boots. She was wearing my favourite hairstyle. Joey’s hair looked great. Their outfits were incredible. They literally could not have been more perfect looks for me and I’m so grateful. I could have cried happy tears at seeing them. This in itself could go on for five pages so I’ll leave it there. They all did the whole iconic zombie pose entrance. Corey sang Joey’s astronomical line which was kinda a shame cause I love the way he sings that line however I’m glad they did it like that cause Joey got to sing a lot in the show (still not enough for my liking but then again my liking is Joey and Lauren singing the whole show so I’m good). Wish they did Lauren’s ‘pines after a cute lil barista’ bit. Also kinda wish they did inevitable so Jon could sing because I love him and he deserves better @ starkid when are you going to hire me. However they made up for that when Jaime went ‘it is time’ and the room was absolutely electric because everyone knew exactly what was coming. That note had me shook from the moment I heard it on the digital ticket and I feel honoured to have heard it in person. Jeff was still her hype man. Jaime’s voice is honestly out of this world, she’s the person I’d most heard sing live but it was still mind blowing. She’s incredible I love her so much. Then Robert came on stage so like, room exploded again. Joey and Lauren should have been on stage doing their bit for show stopping number but again, what do I know? This song was 100% pandering but as much as it’s overhyped it is a good song and Robert fucking killed it, he actually impresses me so much. His voice? He did the hip wiggles, maybe even more than were in the show, and people went absolutely wild for it. He did the working boys bit and of course everyone lost their minds. And I loved it, I loved that atmosphere of everyone being entirely obsessed with every tiny thing these people do because that’s what connects us all. Jon did get to be a working boy (as did Mariah) and sounded great. They actually sang so much of this song holy shit definitely pandering. But they really were giving Hamilton some competition.

Firebringer medley Lauren Walker introduced this one, do I remember what she said? No, I was too busy wondering if they were going to sing Climate Change. They didn’t. You sang three songs from every other show but two from firebringer and one of them wasn’t climate change? Okay sure. This sounds like I’m complaining I’m not this section was still gorgeous and I loved every second of it. Hearing music from firebringer was amazing because it has some of my favourite music from all the starkid shows, and also because apart from TGWDLM which was so recent it’s the only show we hadn’t heard anything from since. They sang we got work to do which again, pandering and not even to what most people actually wanted if we’re being honest. But I’m happy about it because hearing Lauren sing that first line was a spiritual experience. Her voice? No words. So good. Can’t believe I got to hear it live? Properly?!? Also Joey got to be in this bless his heart and I couldn’t stop watching him doing the choreography. Lauren’s little expressions throughout the whole thing are adorable god I love her. Meredith sounded so good. Rachael got so much of a cheer when she sang her bit. Joey comforted Joe after the shadow bit. Then they sang from the proposal bit of the finale. Brian was pretending to be jealous when Meredith was singing to Lauren which made my life, p.s. Joey step up your game. The first time hearing Lauren sing ‘this is the dawn’ literally took my breath away. And with that orchestra!? (Will I ever shut up about the orchestra? The answer is no). The CHEERS for ‘we are womankind’. Hell yeah. And then Lauren did the arm thing like way to literally flex on us Lo. Not okay. They did the little Molag dialogue bit and Denise did the being-blessed-with-knowledge face. Watching Denise off to the side was honestly one of the highlights of the whole show. 

TTO medley

Now I’m questioning my memory but I think Jaime went offstage after Firebringer when she wasn’t supposed to because I’m sure I remember her not being on stage for this at first. Like everyone else was there and there was a moment where I was like ‘I feel like someone’s missing...’ and then Jaime walked on late. She did mention Julia having to remind her of her cues. Anyway. Gone to oregon was first and I was reminded what an actually good performer Jeff is. He’s great in that show. Corey got the cheers he deserved at his ‘wisconsin’ bit. Lauren singing Naked in a lake was beautiful. Even if not enough people sang with her when she asked for help (spoiler, we stepped up Friday). She was definitely trying to get us to sing the high bits cause her voice was tired and she didn’t want to but that’s fine. This was one of the songs from that show I really wanted them to sing and I’m glad they did, it’s so much fun. Also Lauren does kinda steal the show but watching everyone else in this song is great. Shoutout to the sax guy, I’m glad we as a fandom always appreciate the band/orchestra. I still can’t believe everyone just lets Lauren sing a whole song about skinny dipping but I’m here for it. Then they did speedrun which was. An experience. Still think Joey should have sung wagon on fire but would I have passed out most likely yes so maybe it was better off this way. I’m glad Rachael got a moment. The ‘faster’ bit was fucking insane I don’t know how they had the breath for it. Everyone clapped pace and I’m pretty sure we clapped faster than the song ever goes so, sorry guys that you had to go through that? I think I have a newfound appreciation for this song. It was either in this or possibly in Naked in a lake that Joey did something stupid and Lo looked at him and shook her head. There were a lot of little looks throughout the show and trying to catch each other’s eye across the stage and it was very cute and probably won’t make the cut even though it should it’s the best part of the show.

Ani medley Moses introduced it and he was wearing like the jacket that’s one of his costumes and he wore in the final SK10 livestream idk you guys I’ve seen that show twice. The Ani band is fucking great, they had Mark, Nick Gage (?? idk there was definitely a fourth person I was mostly watching Meredith let’s be real here), Clark and Meredith all sing. Meredith had the biggest smile on her face at all times it was a joy. Ani is such a fun song so many starkid songs are so fun. Also they added a key change (was it even a key change? I’ve never studied music whatever they did it sounded good.) Actually the whole arrangement of this medley I loved, I hope it makes the people who don’t appreciate the music in this show appreciate it. With my own eyes is my favourite song in that show and I’m very happy they did it. They should have had Denise do her choreo when they did Back on top tbh. I love Meredith in this song though.

Twisted medley Joe came out to introduce it but kept hyping everyone up about Ani first. I really miss Joe he has so much onstage energy. I knew they were doing No one remembers achmed but I was still so excited about it. It’s such a good song. And the whole ‘you ooze sex’ bit in the flesh? That’s all. Obviously the best part was everyone yelling tigerfucker. Experiencing that in person is unbeatable. Then they had Britney and Carlos sing their version of 1001 nights and it was beautiful, I very rarely listen to that version of the song but I should, Britney is unbelievable and I love her so much. I can’t believe she’d just flown in and had such a rough time right before the show, you wouldn’t have known it. Dylan walked out and I kinda thought they were gonna have him and Meredith do a quartet (starkid when are you gonna hire me??) but then he sang ‘and with my wife beside me’ and I was like :’) this is good. That part of the song always gets me and Dylan’s voice is a goddamn gift. I love the overlapping parts at the end of Happy ending too so it’s always a good choice. But why they didn’t sing dream a little harder when Alex was right there I do not know. 

HMB medley Pretty sure they had Julia introduce it? Guys it’s been a week gimme a break. Either way she definitely introduced something at some point and I’m glad everyone cheered so much for her because she was the glue of Starkid for a while. Nick Gage sang HMB and they had a reverb (again, is that the right term? not a clue) and he looked so pleased with himself every time we laughed. Then they sang rogues are we (rogues medley would have been better but in fairness that would have ruined the whole thing they had going). I do love Lauren singing we are the harlots and the hussies. A lot. But Denise does it so well. And Jaime’s ‘we’re rising up from the underground’?? I don’t think I have a single thing to say about any of the men in this song and I’m not sorry. Superfriends sounded very cool. It doesn’t matter how many times I see it, I always love the matching tattoos bit, and seeing Meredith’s story afterwards about how she was directing hers at Jade made it even better. I don’t even remember who sang Robin’s lines because I was too busy watching Lauren do the dance, she’s adorable. It was funny watching like five of them doing it cause they were the only ones who had learned it before and the rest not knowing it. Also, I don’t know which makes me happier, when they point into the audience for ‘I wanna be your friend forever’, or when they point at each other. Both are good.

Starship medley Denise introduced the show and um hi I love Denise she’s so cute. She said the thing about her mom calling Starship a show for dreamers and I still think that’s the most adorable thing. I will say for the rest of time that having Alex and Mariah sing Status quo was a weird choice. Also made me pissed that basically no one cheered for Alex but of course everyone went fucking crazy for Mariah. Not even that Mariah didn’t deserve it, but she didn’t deserve it more than Alex. Just saying. It did sound very good with the orchestra and they both have good voices, but I still think we deserved it sounding good with JOEY and the orchestra. I would have died to hear Joey sing that song. Moving on though. Kick it up a notch is always better in rogues medley but I do adore the Jim Brian and Jaime trio anyway. And it’s SUCH a good song. Then they sang I wanna be which I was psyched about I love that song (it was straight from Brant’s verse though like hello what happened to Joey rights). Hearing the older songs makes me wish so much they’d remount them because they all sound so good now it would be amazing. Joey’s voice is legitimately a blessing from the gods. 

MAMD medley Brian introduced the show and walked away from the mic before he said dick, which was funny but also reminded me of how they said this would be the most PG show starkid had done which is laughable. Joey did a whole bit in the beginning that reminded me a lot of his jekyll and hyde performance in shitty broadway. I love that man. Again, we deserve a remount of this show if only for Joey’s voice. Then we have maybe the most iconic moment of the thursday show which is when Joe had way too much excitement for his entrance, fucking sprinted on stage, knocked over the mic stand and had to rescue it, spraining his ankle in the process. And recovered BADLY, he was trying to figure out what to say to pull it back and Joey basically had to tell him to just sing already. I feel a little guilty now because it looked pretty bad, but it was really fucking funny. And then the cheer at the head tilt, why do we all love it so much??!? Then Joey sang Listen to your heart with AJ (him and Brian are a better duo fight me). I loved their little added dialogue, with Joey being like ‘do I smell?’ and AJ being like ‘so bad’. I always always love the little dance break Joey is the sweetest boy. I think I remember something like ‘am I doing it?’ ‘not even close Joey’. Then Alle Faye and Ali came out for ready to go and it went from their bit. It was really nice seeing them back together again. It wasn’t like nearly ten years had gone by at all. God it’s weird how nostalgic I was/am for something I wasn’t even there for. The ‘we’re finally ready’ bit sounded so gorgeous with the orchestra, I had it stuck in my head for days. They slowed it down, and we had everyone on stage, and it was just beautiful. The perfect way to end the act, which was over way too soon, and I was already feeling sad about the show nearly being over even though there was so much good to come. Wait how could I forget to mention the ‘my hormones are freaking out’ bit. Fuck all of them for that. Even if I pretty much just watched Lauren with a quick glance at Joey, which is an accurate description of what I did for a lot of the show.

Intermission First quick thing to say, as much as I wish we’d heard some more full songs from the non-Potter shows, I think I like that they kept it separate. The first half was celebrating everything they achieved since where it all started for them, and the second half was pure nostalgia. And even though I wish it wasn’t the case, more people know the potter shows so it was kinda nice that everyone was even more united than they had been for the first half. Secondly, what I should have done during intermission was used the time to recover, because the show was a whole lot of excitement and emotions and I knew it was only going to get worse in the second half. But instead I yelled to the groupchat and met @starkidmelly. More JATP was played, everyone was buzzing, I couldn’t believe I was there. I think it was a long intermission but it did not feel it, Nick came out on stage and it’s like oh shit here we go again.

Nick’s speech He worried me because he said he wanted to take a minute to get sentimental, and I’d already cried a couple of times it was too early in the show to do it again. But then he just talked about the movie Starkid and how it was a bad movie and made us all laugh which I appreciated. What I really did love was how much people cheered for him when he came out, and also for Matt in the audience when Nick shouted him out. Especially on that first night the happiness on Nick’s face at everyone cheering made me want to cry it was so special and he deserves every bit of it and you could tell it still comes as a surprise even now. Also I’ll tag it on now because I don’t remember exactly at what point it was, but at some point in the second act Corey was telling people to stop filming, which kinda made me mad cause they’d asked people not to film and he looked so mad, but was also kinda funny because like, it’s one thing being stopped from filming by an usher but it’s a whole other thing being stopped by Corey Lubowich himself. I probably would have volunteered to leave the theatre if I disappointed Corey like that tbh. But anyway back to Nick, he introduced GBTH with the original cast of AVPM and everyone fucking lost it.

GBTH So you already know what you’re about to be blessed with and then you hear that opening note and people are impossibly screaming even louder and Darren comes onstage and crouches down and it’s like nothing has really changed at all. I’ve been in a room of people singing this song before and it was magical, but this was even more people and even more special. This is where it all started, and there we were ten years later. And it was so surreal actually hearing them sing this in person. Darren put the glasses on and people went insane. The amount of anticipation I felt for Joey’s entrance was ridiculous, and he got the cheers he deserved (almost. he always deserves more). And no matter how many times we see it or how long it’s been it always makes me feel a lot of feelings seeing Darren and Joey on stage singing this together. Joey messed up the floo powder a bit and it was cute. Still iconic. It was deafening when Bonnie came out, which I guess was to be expected we haven’t seen her in nine years. I will say that she did look genuinely happy to be there, and they looked genuinely happy to have her there. Plus the line ‘why do you have to be such a buzzkill’ was so much more funny with the irony of her pretty much bringing the house down. The nostalgia factor ramped up even more here and it was pretty awesome to have that original trio back on stage after so long. Again, so much but simultaneously so little had changed in ten years and trying to articulate those feelings would require a hundred page essay. I didn’t expect them to change the original but I still think they should have kept Lauren’s altered ‘that would be cool’ line. It’s better. But I digress. Jaime got to do her bit and it was a masterpiece. But rest in peace to the whole Cho Chang and Cedric bit, you were deeply missed. Lauren’s entrance, do I even need to say more? Fucking iconic as ever. One of the best moments in all of history. I’m glad they kept in most of the dialogue-y bits although I do not remember what her accent was like. People delivered on ‘whatever I say’ and I love how that’s become our thing. The train bit always makes me emotional, even more so this time with so many people old and new onstage. I always think of Lauren saying she hates the train move but she should have told her face that. Dylan did his entrance from the back of the theatre aka right by us and it was magnificent, he held the note all the way down to the front. They added in the lines about sorting here so Tyler got to do ‘hufflepuffs are particularly good finders’ which was a good choice they did good on that one, Dylan’s ‘what the hell is a hufflepuff’ was drowned out by people still cheering for Tyler, it was a pretty great moment. I may have cried a bit at ‘it’s all that I love and it’s all that I need’. Just a bit. I loved so much that they got everyone to be a part of this song.

Harry Freaking Potter Have I lost all my memories of this song? Maybe. I remember it being amazing. Predictably I watched Lauren a lot, it’s very hard not to she’s so cute when she’s dancing. It’s funny to me how they hold out the mics for the last ‘harry freaking potter’ but most people are already cheering so they get nothing. They should have learned by now.

To Have A Home Was possibly next? I know I got teary again pretty early on in the act (saved the full crying at this song for Friday though stay tuned). I know I’m very far from being the only person who felt the most at home I’ve ever felt. How can you not, surrounded by so much support and mutual love for these incredible people who’ve done so much for us. Starkid is a huge family and it’s tangible in moments like that. And ‘to know this is real’ hits hard. Especially because you can really feel it from Darren, as famous as he is now being on stage with his friends is truly home.

Different As Can Be There’s just something about this song that brings so much energy and Joe and Brian are an iconic duo. And they brought the Quirrelmort vibes strong. Loved everyone shouting ‘prevails’. I’m super glad they did the reprise too. The reaction when they go back to back is incredible. Also, Joe’s ‘Quirrell’ was impeccable. 

Coolest Girl I will say to Bonnie’s credit that she did a very good job opening this song, considering how many people were there and how much pressure there must have been seeing as she’s suddenly making a reappearance after so many years. And she did get a lot of love for it. But Meredith coming out to duet with her actually made me cry, she looked so happy and they did a cute little ‘hi’ and I really truly consider this Meredith’s song, even if she didn’t originally sing it, so I’m glad she got to do it. It was a special moment having them sing it together with no resentment or jealousy. And then Meredith confirmed that Bonnie was pregnant again at the end of the song.

Cho Chang Of course Darren sang this. Of course. What would a starkid show be without Darren playing his dumb songs on guitar. But nothing beats a room full of people shout-singing ‘that’s in canada’ (side note, why did this stick so much? every time I saw it on the map when I flew to Canada it’s all I could think of). But also, idk why Darren introduced this song by saying he wanted to test if we knew the words like buddy pretty sure we know the words to your songs better than you do but sure.

Hey Dragon More of Darren playing dumb songs on guitar but this is also a pretty fun song so we’re letting it slide. Also he did say that he didn’t want to do this song and said they should cut it to make time for better songs but that everyone else made him do it, which does not surprise me. He obviously had to call out his own songwriting abilities from ten years ago, it makes me laugh every time he does it but this time he really came for himself with how bad the rhyming was and how the lyrics are dumb. I love that he can’t get through the song without laughing because it is pretty stupid but we love it anyway. They trusted us on the ‘la la la’s and I think we came through. 

Granger Danger Okay. OKAY. So after all that Darren was like ‘let’s take it to a school dance’ which did not register for me at all because that song has gone way beyond that and now it’s just Joey and Lauren’s song. But then Darren’s playing it (which I found ??? sweet?? for some reason? idk it was good) and Joey and Lauren are on stage and I’m like here we fucking go. This is what I’m here for. Cannot begin to describe how happy I was to hear this song. I literally had said I refused to die before I heard them sing this live and now it will forever be one of the highlights of my life. The amount of power on that stage. Also the amount of attractiveness. They honestly are a power couple. The most iconic duo singing one of the most iconic songs. Their stage presence just blows me away. And it always makes me feel things too because they’ve done this song so many times and when they were first performing it they had no idea where they’d end up and now they’re fucking living the dream together and I can’t believe how far they’ve come. This is a hole we don’t need to go down though. It absolutely is a crime that they haven’t had more songs together but it does make this one particularly special because it’s fucking THEIR song and there’s no doubt they love performing together and their chemistry is so good anyway anyway I swear I’ll get back on track. This song with the orchestra??!? Holy shit you guys it sounded so good. They managed to take a song I love with every inch of me and make me love it even more. They came out and did a handshake because they’re fucking dorks. My heart genuinely felt like it was about to pump out of my chest, the adrenaline rush from seeing this live was crazy it’s a fucking experience. Joey was remarkably in character when it got to Lauren’s bit but she could not be in character for the life of her when he was singing my god she just did not give a fuck. Her heart eyes were off the charts I swear to god I couldn’t believe that dumb girl. Also Lauren was practically making love to her mic stand half the song which was honestly unnecessary but I love her. And her looking at her crotch murdered me. And then Joey was looking at her for most of the ending and she didn’t look at him once so she sucks. As always the last note was heavenly. When do we get a two hour concert version of this song??

Guys Like Potter Maybe came next? I love the apocalyptour arrangement of this song but it was nice to throw it back to the original and Tyler’s great. Joe tried? We’ll leave it at that.

Wizard Of The Year I think this followed after purely because of AJ saying something like ‘that’s enough about that Potter boy’?? And then he only went and did the whole fucking mouse monologue. And the entire time I was sat there having an internal conflict between ‘this is one of the funniest things I’ve ever witnessed’ and ‘they could have used this time to do climate change’. Honestly hearing him pull that out was wild. But then he sang the song and some of the girls came out to do the ‘gilderoy’ bit (which was the best part duh).

To Dance Again The beginning of this song is always iconic. Most important thing to say here is how I’m even more impressed now with Joe’s dancing after seeing what his ankle looked like. Also, hearing all the tapping (thudding) from the audience brings me inexplicable joy. Lauren ran on stage before her cue when Darren came off and had to book it back off and I feel a bit bad immortalising it because I’m sure she’s glad they weren’t filming that night. While we’re on the subject, the Thursday show was a little messy but like, there were no HUGE fuck ups apart from maybe Joe’s in MAMD and it was all surprisingly well rehearsed considering they’d had barely two days of rehearsal and they’re all so so impressive. Still think they should have had a 40 person kickline but the three person Joe Darren and Brosenthal kickline was still pretty good. Also, I remember someone doing a very cool harmony? It maybe sounded like Holden? His voice is underrated. 

Sidekick I cannot remember for the life of me if this is actually where this song goes?? I don’t remember if Joey went offstage or not. I just know that he ended up alone on stage and I damn near lost my mind. I know I’ve said it before but Joey’s performance of sidekick genuinely is a show stealer and I never in a million years thought I’d get to see it live so I feel extremely privileged that I did. God bless whoever included this in the setlist you have my eternal thanks. It’s what Joey deserves (and what I deserve). His voice!?! The high notes?!? Still love the irony of Joey singing this song. Classic cheering at ‘am I the hottest’ because yes you fucking are. He messed up a bit and sang ‘am I the one who takes you home’ twice but we love him. He absolutely killed it and being reminded that they’d not long got back from SDCC and finding out he had a fever made me even more impressed because you literally wouldn’t have known it.

Voldemort Is Going Down More on Joey continuing to kill it (but maybe not in this order). It was good to hear this song again, it slaps. And they all sounded so good too. And there was a super cool little piano riff at one point. This song makes everyone so hype I love it so much.

Everything Ends Haha tear time (jk just about managed to save them for Friday). But it is very much when things get sad because you can feel that the show’s coming to a close. This was Robert’s duet with a person he’d never sung with before and it sounded beautiful. We got the return of Joe’s snape voice or am I imagining that? I don’t remember what he said but I’m sure he said something and it probably made me sad. Literally the whole end of the show is just a blur because I couldn’t believe it was almost over so quickly.

Not Alone Jaime. Just, Jaime. Incredible every time she sings this song. Also, so many AVPW feelings because this is what they came out and sang and this song has been extra special to me since. So I was in tears from the get go tbh. God I’m really really really missing AVPW today so this is a lot just thinking about it. And personal feelings about Bonnie and also how much I love newer arrangements of not alone aside, it was unimaginably special to see the original four singing this together again. 

Days Of Summer We knew they’d save this to the end (or at least so we thought) but it was still a bit of an asshole move ngl. Like, do you enjoy our suffering? Seeing everyone on stage together singing this song that’s at the heart of starkid, if there was anyone who didn’t cry I applaud them. Darren gave a closing speech where he didn’t thank half the people he needed to because he hadn’t rehearsed. I wish I remembered more of what he said because it wasn’t exactly the same as Friday, it also didn’t make me cry half as much which I guess was a bonus. They did the little going back to hogwarts reprise probably partly to make us all feel a bit better and got everyone on their feet for it and as much as I never know which house to say I still love that moment of everyone yelling their house. Then they had “curtain call”, except they faked us out because Brian stayed on stage with his fist in the air and I’m like okay what are these idiots up to now. And Nick came out to tell him they sang all the songs and Voldemort’s dead, which of course meant ‘dead?! *skips stone*’ and we all needed that laugh. And then Joe came out and they did the ‘okay is good’ bit so I was sad again and god they really messed with our emotions. And everyone came back out and did the not alone reprise and literally stomped all over my heart because ten years ago they did the exact same thing, except now they were on a bigger stage with a bigger audience and a bigger family and they’ve all grown so much and achieved so many amazing things in their careers and their personal lives and they’ve grown up a lot but they’re still these college kids at heart who love performing with their friends and making people laugh and I didn’t want to leave my seat after they all walked offstage because it really felt like my soul had left my body and I was just completely emotionally drained. And unbelievably happy that I was getting to experience it all again the next day.

Friday 26th The one thing I have to say about the line this time round is shoutout to the kid handing out red vines, I don’t know how many people actually wanted one but it made me smile. As we were waiting in the lobby we saw Denise x2 (Joey’s mom still looked like the embodiment of kindness and Denise always seems so happy to be there I love them both).

Anyway when we got to our seats I just sat down and was internally screaming because we were So Close to the stage and I was like how on earth am I going to survive seeing this much beauty. Also I knew that some people had different outfits and I was trying to figure out if Lauren and Joey were wearing the same thing cause that was the most important thing so it was an anxious wait. Then when they came out being that close to the crop top nearly killed me and Joey looked even hotter in that red shirt than he did on Thursday so like, I want that image tattooed on my eyelids.

Oh and we saw MK, Sean, Sarah and Whitney up in the balcony before the show started. This is how the conversation went down... Sophie: is that MK up there? Me: I think so, that looks like Sean Sophie: it doesn’t look like Sean? (spoiler alert, it was Sean)

Also to quickly go back to the live atmosphere, Friday night was INSANE oh my god. Whether it was that it was the last show or whether it was being closer to the stage but the room was absolutely electric, it seemed like so many more people - including me this time - were singing and fucking reciting all the lines like it makes me so happy that we’re all fucking nerds who love these other nerds to death and memorise all their shows. As was my plan, the first night I took everything in and then the second night I just got to enjoy it and make the most of it. So the Thursday show it was kind of like I was observing everything but Friday I was LIVING it, and I really was living. It was a fucking party. And I could anticipate what was coming and it somehow made it even more exciting than witnessing everything fresh for the first time. I was literally sat there having the time of my life for two hours and I hope they all saw it, they would have just seen me with a huge fucking grin the whole time (apart from when I was crying we’re not talking about that rn). Maybe the most fun I’ve ever had. It made all the money I’d spent to get there 10000% worth it because as amazing as the DVD is going to be and you bet I’m getting it (well the digital download shipping’s an outrage), you can’t buy the atmosphere in the room and it was incredible to be there.

Okay y’all know the drill now so this is gonna be quickfire:

Act 1

Seeing everyone doing their crazy eyes in TGWDLM up close was an EXPERIENCE. Jon was a stand out. Also Jaime. Being so much closer the energy was so much higher for Join us and die. I think that was really my main thing about Friday, aside from how emotions were even higher, was how crazy the energy was it was SO MUCH FUN. And Robert is pretty great.

Have I mentioned Lauren’s look nearly killing me? Yes? Good. The gay came out full force in Firebringer. Lo’s talent is out of this world and I feel so lucky to have witnessed it live.

So many more people sang for Lauren in Naked in a lake and she looked so happy my baby. I made eye contact with her at one of the points she was holding the out mic for the audience to sing so I’m glad she saw me (quietly but extremely enthusiastically) singing my heart out for her. Joey made Lauren laugh when they were dancing during speedrun and it’s the most adorable shit I’ve ever seen. Those two are genuinely in their own world half the time they’re on stage together and I live for it.

Carlos wasn’t there this night so I think Dylan should have filled in for his verse of 1001 nights but my ideas are worthless right? Oh have I mentioned how much I live for over a thousand people yelling tigerfucker? And Robert smashed ‘he fucked a tiger’. Also I’m sure they did it the first night too but I noticed even more Denise and Meredith encouraging everyone to cheer when Joe was doing the dialogue bit I adore them.

Brant got so out of time on I wanna be my god Joey looked like he was trying to telepathically tell him to slow down but he never really recovered. But the chaotic energy felt appropriate? It’s not a starkid show without a mess up.

Joe’s MAMD entrance was more controlled this time but honestly it’s a shame the fuck up won’t be on the filmed version because it was definitely a highlight (I hope you’re okay Joe). Mere and Brian had their arms round each other when they were singing ready to go and I was hit with the ‘oh my god they’re getting MARRIED’ feels. Look how far they’ve come. They were also making faces at each other during one song, I don’t remember which one, and giving Joey and Lauren a run for their money for being in their own world. Still not nearly as bad though.

Intermission 

I remember even less of this intermission than the first one. I was just in total shock. Also when we came back from the intermission Nick went ‘two people just got engaged’ and almost literally stopped my heart like I KNOW that’s not how it’s gonna happen but where did he expect me to go with it. And then he wanted to be reminded of their names but someone shouted ‘Joe and Traci’ so he had to be like ‘no I’m not talking about them’ which made me laugh a lot.

Act 2

GBTH was somehow even better this time round. It’s actually a spiritual experience. 100% my happy place. Also Joey didn’t have the headband the first night and I didn’t know I needed it until he came out wearing one on Friday, it was weirdly emotional.

To have a home was worse this time around because I had to come to the realisation that I was gonna leave this home behind. That’s always the worst part, it was the same with AVPW, it’s not just that I miss it it’s also that it’s this happy, safe little bubble where everything feels okay and it’s so sad to lose that. So yeah, cried a lot this time. Also Darren went offstage on Thursday too in the instrumental but this time he went offstage and ran round to the other side to come back on which was so much better good job Darren.

When Lo and Joey shook hands for granger danger they both had such cute smiles my HEART. Lauren still had heart eyes for Joey singing, she was just stood there grinning at him the whole time she loves him so much jesus christ. Also she was staring at him when they were both singing the ‘falling in love’ bit just saying. And they got super close to each other for the end but kept alternating looking at the other person and the audience so they were never actually looking at each other and it KILLED me I hate them. I also didn’t even think twice about singing Lauren’s part during granger danger until halfway through oops and now I kind of want to apologise, Mr Joey Richter I love you.

You could tell there were a fair few people in the audience who’d seen one or both of the other shows and knew what was coming so actually shouted out ‘what’s your fantasy’ when AJ was working up to the mouse monologue which made it even better. It was just as insane and funny the second time, but I still couldn’t believe they actually put it in there.

Back to Mr Joey Richter, he brought the house down with sidekick even more than on Thursday. He’s so talented y’all. You’d expect more cheering for ‘am I the one who takes you home’ but the urge for everyone to yell ‘definitely not’ is too much and it cracks me up. And he pointed at the very least in my direction when he sang the last ‘I love being at your side’ so I’ll take it for SURE.

They got everyone standing even earlier on in the show (during voldemort is going down) and I just felt a sense of elation, the whole show but at this point in particular, because everyone was there having a fucking amazing time and pouring out so much love, from our direction and from theirs, and I feel like that song really does do what it’s supposed to and make us feel united.

Everything ends made me cry a lot because it actually was the end this time, and starkid have some fucking heart wrenching goodbye songs that are supposed to make you feel better but really don’t at all. Not alone made me cry more, obviously. Days of summer was so much worse because it really was goodbye, me having to say goodbye to seeing them and one of the best experiences of my life, them having to say goodbye to each other. SO. MANY. TEARS.

Random point, Lauren looked so fucking cute when she came out in her varsity jacket with the sleeves pushed up because it was too big for her I just wanted to hug her.

Joey and Lauren kept looking at each other during Darren’s speech, Joey in particular kept trying to catch Lo’s eye which killed me he’s too soft. And Lauren pulled a face at the mention of a twenty year reunion like she felt way too old for that and he was smiling at her I hate them. 

There were a lot of tears, Joey and Tiffany especially and Lauren pulled her trying not to cry face. In the speech Darren said something about starkid bringing about this group of friends and Joey’s wide eyed already-crying-but-trying-not-to-cry-even-more-face was both heartbreaking and funny and I hope it makes it onto the DVD. I don’t remember much else of the speech other than that it was incredibly emotional and it very well summed up a lot of what we were all feeling about the show and how special starkid was. Also I made eye contact with Joey when we were both crying and we smiled at each other (tried to) and honestly that was a bonding moment for us.

And we saw Bob and Denise on our way out which caused a whole lot more feelings because those are their kids up there performing with all their other honorary kids and yep we’re done here.

I don’t really know how to bring this all to a neat end. I don’t really think there is one. It’s an experience that can’t fully be put into words, the emotions it brought up aren’t ones that I can properly label, and it’s going to stick with me forever. But it was a reminder of how special starkid is. Watching their shows at home, scrolling through their social media, of course it brings me so much joy it’s my reason for living. But getting to see them live and feel the impact they’ve had on so many people? Getting to do it with a friend I made because of them? I just wish I had the words or the time to give them the thanks I wish I could. I really hope they felt the sheer, deep love we all feel for them over those two days.

Anyway, I know this was way too long and half of it wasn’t information people care about but I’m done now. And I’m so excited for the DVD and (hopefully) album so I can experience it all again!

[daizyredz]

Ready for Abduction

You can read it on AO3, too.

Eric decided to take time off work and go to Roswell, New Mexico to attend a huge Area 51 party (no, not that one). He’d also wanted to see some of the touristy alien-themed restaurants and motels scattered around the area. He wasn’t looking for love, or even just a hookup. He was just genuinely interested in aliens and other paranormal things.

But when bumps into a guy covered in glow-stick jewelry and ends up falling on the ground, Eric immediately blushes at the hot guy who literally just landed on top of him between his open legs.

“U-uhm...” Eric had had dreams about moments like this, where he’d meet a hot guy through a clumsy encounter like in a romcom, but in those dreams he was usually more suave than this.

“Sorry! Wow, I’m so sorry. I can’t believe...” the hot guy says, blushing like crazy, which was super endearing.

“It’s...it’s okay. Maybe, um...we should get up?” Eric asks, hoping that the hot guy would rather stay on top of him.

“Yeah! Shit, yeah, that’s...yes. Here, let me help you,” the hot guy stands up, and wow is he tall, and takes Eric’s hands and pulls him up, too.

Is it weird that Eric is thinking about how they’re essentially holding hands right now? Probably. Anyway, the hot guy was taking his hands away way too soon.

“I’m Ira. Sorry that I...fell on you,” Ira said, rubbing the back of his neck bashfully.

“It’s no problem. Accidents happen. I’m Eric.”

“S-so...nice party, right?”

“Yeah, but not quite what I expected.”

“I know what you mean. I expected more alien-themed booths and stuff,” Ira said, looking around. 

It was mostly just booze and glow sticks and dancing. Which was awesome, but you could get this exact same thing literally anywhere else. Except for maybe the alien balloon animals.

“Yeah, same. Oh, hey, but there are still booths open down that way. You want to check it out?” Eric asked, pointing in the direction he’d last seen the booths about 20 minutes ago, not wanting to lose track of this guy yet. Not until he had the courage to ask for his number!

“Oh, sure! Lead the way, man,” Ira said with a smile that made Eric’s heart flutter.

Eric resisted the urge to hold Ira’s hand again and led the way down to where he’d seen the booths selling alien-themed merch.

“So, have you ever seen an actual UFO?” Eric asked.

“Not yet, but I hope to one day,” Ira answered.

[fandomsphere]

Here's day 2 of our AU Yeah August series. This one was also written by Emery. @auyeahaugust

Enjoy!

2. Convention by @emerywrites

Ships: Marc/Nathaniel

Author's note: For this AU the characters are aged up to about 19, and Marc and Nathaniel did not attend school together.

It was loud, hectic, and crowded. More people than Marc had ever expected had shown up for the first ever Ladybug and Chat Noir convention. He suspected that it had to do with all of the rumors that the super heroes themselves were going to make an appearance.

He admired Ladybug and Chat Noir as much as any Parisian, but they weren’t the reason he scraped together enough money for a ticket and forced himself out of his comfort zone to attend the convention. It was a certain artist who posted his fan art of Paris’s heroes on a blog. As soon as Marc had seen that Nathaniel was going to be selling his artwork at the convention, he knew he had to be there. He desperately wanted to meet the artist who had inspired him so much in the past year. But now as he stood nearby watching people walking by and admiring the art at the booths, doubts swirled within him, clouding his mind.

Was it creepy that he was attending specifically to meet Nathaniel? Would his favorite artist think him a stalker? Marc wanted to run. His eyes darted to the nearest exit and he took a step in that direction. A laugh turned his attention back to Nathaniel’s booth. The red-head was laughing at something a girl visiting his booth had said. His stomach fluttered at the sound. Marc shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He just had to work up the courage. Nathaniel didn’t have to know he was there only to meet him.

The minutes ticked by as Marc tried to make himself go over. Just as he took a step, a rather boisterous group of teens ran up to Nathaniel’s booth. Marc let out a shaky sigh. And, as if the artist could here it over his fans and the rest of the convention, Nathaniel looked up and his gaze shifted to Marc.

Marc bolted. He didn’t know why, maybe he was afraid Nathaniel would be able to tell just from looking at him what his motivations for coming to the convention were, or maybe he was just afraid of nothing… like he always was.

He got outside and felt himself deflate. His shoulders hunched as he wrapped his arms around himself. Other convention goers strolled past in their Ladybug and Chat Noir cosplay and holding their merch that they had purchased, completely unaware of the fool he’d just made of himself.

Marc pulled out his cell phone and called his friend. She drove for a rideshare app and he hoped that she would spare a few minutes to come pick him up to save him from any further humiliation.

“What’s up, Marc?” Alix greeted when she answered.

“Hey, could you, maybe come get me. This whole meeting Nathaniel thing isn’t working out. I’m just embarrassing myself here. I’ll pay you if you want. I just… I need to leave.”

“What? Why? What happened? Was he a jerk to you or something?” She sounded as if she was about to come out there just to beat up Nathaniel.

“No!” That would be quite the headline: “Small, Angry Rideshare Driver Murders Up And Coming Artist”. “Please, he would just think I was pathetic if he met me. I’d rather not put myself through that.”

Alix sighed. “Look, man, you are a cool guy. He would be so lucky meet you. I’m sure you guys would hit it off if you just gave him a chance… gave yourself a chance. Nath is a great guy. I think he’d really like you.”

Marc frowned in confusion. “You talk like you know him.”

“We went to school together. We lost touch after we graduated. I text him sometimes pretending to be the ghost of the goldfish he killed when he was seven.”

“You know him!” Marc shouted into the phone, attracting the attention of those around him. He blushed and turned away, speaking lower. “Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“Because I wanted you to do this on your own. Go talk to him. If he turns out to be a jerk now, call me back and I’ll come get you. Deal?”

Marc didn’t see what other choice he had. “Fine.”

After hanging up with Alix, Marc procrastinated going back to Nathaniel’s booth. He walked around, bought a hand-made Chat Noir plush, watched the costume contest, checked out some other booths, saw some cosplayers putting on a show, and even sat on a bench to contemplate his life choices for a while.

Finally, he made his way back to Nathaniel’s booth… just in time to see him packing up. His work must have been pretty popular. There were a few other artists who were throwing Nathaniel dirty looks as he put away the one print he still had left.

Marc wanted to kick himself. He had wasted the opportunity he had to meet someone so special. He buried his face in his hands. Now, he had to call Alix and admit that he had screwed up.

“Excuse me.”

Marc lifted his head to see… Nathaniel.

His heart leapt into his throat and he would have run if his feet hadn’t felt like they were glued to the floor. How was Nathaniel there, standing in front of him, talking to him?

“Y-yes?”

“I saw you earlier. You were watching my booth for a while.”

Marc blushed and nodded.

Nathaniel let the silence stretch for a moment as if he was waiting for Marc to say more. When he didn’t, Nathaniel continued. “If you want a print, I still have one left.” He pulled out an art piece from his portfolio case and handed it to him. “Free of charge.”

It was a drawing in a night setting of Ladybug sitting on the ledge of a roof, looking contemplative. It was beautiful. He wondered what Ladybug would think if she had gotten to see it. To him, it was a masterpiece.

Nathaniel rocked back on his heels and chewed his bottom lip. “Do you like it?”

Marc’s eyes flicked up to the artist then back down to the drawing. He wouldn’t be able to speak if his eyes were on Nathaniel. “I love it. The way you did her eyes is amazing. I can see the reflection of the stars sparkling.”

He let his gaze drift back up to see Nathaniel looking away and only just turning back to him. “You’re very talented,” Marc managed to breathe out.

“Do you want to get dinner?” Nathaniel blurted. “Together, I mean. Or drinks? Or coffee would be great to.” He rubbed the back of his neck nervously as he waited for an answer.

Marc’s mouth went dry. How was it possible, that Nathaniel was asking him out? He gripped the Chat Noir plush in his hand and tried to keep his voice steady. “I’d like that. Any of those… Any of those would be nice.” The look of surprise on Nathaniel’s face threw him. Marc couldn’t imagine why he would be expected to reject someone like Nathaniel.

“There’s a café across the street. Would you want to go there?” Nathaniel shrugged, as if he was pretending that he didn’t care as much as he actually did. “If you don’t, that’s fine. We could-”

Marc made a split-second decision, refusing to allow himself to second guess it. He shoved the Chat Noir plush in his pocket and grabbed Nathaniel’s hand. “Let’s go.”

Earlier…

“One second,” Nathaniel said to the convention goers admiring his artwork. He took a few steps away and answered his ringing cell phone. He glanced at the caller ID and sighed as he answered. “Hi, Alix.”

“Okay, Nath, I sent him back in. All you have to do is turn on the charm and not screw it up.”

“Obviously he doesn’t want to talk to me.” He glanced back at those standing at his booth. They didn’t seem too bothered that he was on the phone. “Are you sure that he likes more than just my art?”

“Of course I’m sure, stupid,” she said flatly. Then she continued more patiently. “I’m not the kind to play matchmaker, Nath. You know that. So, can’t you just trust that if I’m making this much effort that I must seriously think you guys would be good for each other?”

He shook his head to himself. She was right. Alix normally didn’t care about his love life. This Marc guy had to be something special if she was practically begging him to give him a chance. “Fine. I’ll try.”

“Great! And don’t sound so put out. You said yourself when I sent you his picture that you think he’s hot.”

Nathaniel gave a huff of air that was a suppressed laugh. “Okay, okay. I have to get back to selling my art. I have to pay for food somehow.”

“You still live with your parents.”

“Bye.”

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

The saga of the absolute shitshow which is my life, continues (personal rant)

In 2016, we had a tiny tiny fire from not having cleaned the exhaust fan in the kitchen. Basically it was so dusty it over heated and caught fire. I put the fire out, it was barely in the ceiling for longer than a few seconds because the cover of the fan melted through the whole lot fell out.

At the time we were told it was worth getting it checked because it was technically an electrical fire.

Fast forward 3 years.

We got a letter at the start of the year about having an electrical audit conducted... and promptly misplaced the letter. We haven't used the socket since the fire, kind of forgot about it all.

Two and a bit weeks ago

The guy from the power supplier turns up and tells me I need to have this audit done or I'll get fined. I'm like, ok. Will arrange. Went ahead and arranged. He said there were a ton of problems, but he's going to email through the issues so we can figure out a plan of attack.

Week and half ago. Same day as the fires here.

I get a call from the shire council, y' all American's have counties. We have shires. I miss the call and woman at the council leaves a message saying call me back about your property. I think she's probably calling because we were in the evac red spot.

No.

She's calling because a complaint was lodged to the council over the condition of our house. She isn't legally allowed to say who, but it was the electrician who conducted the audit.

He's complained to the shire our house basically needs to be condemned. He's ticked

Rubbish -

My mother is a hoarder. It's not bags of domestic rubbish. It's boxes of packed things from when my grandmother passed and when we moved in 6 years ago. There are small piles of "rubbish" which are stacks of clothes or papers because there's no home for them yet, or I'm sorting them out. All exits are open other than the laundry where the door sometimes randomly swings open, so there's a cupboard against the bottom of it, and the door with the cat run. There are still 3 door exists out the house.

To me, if you're reporting rubbish, you're reporting piled up scraps and rubbish across the floors. Unclean floors, bags of food rotten rubbish and filth everywhere. Not boxes of stuff with mostly clear floors. It's like controlled chaos.

Mould -

Apparently we have mould in the ceiling. Yeah. We know. We can't afford the hundred odd thousand to get it removed from the whole house so we treat as it appears.

Illegal electrical things -

The older owners bodged things. Bodged things spectacularly. Things you couldn't see to begin with because they covered it. We were told the extension shouldn't have been built where it was and a builder said it didn't conform to any code they knew for the state.

Our roof has a safety hazard silver insulation that was installed wrong across Australia, due to the government. It has the potential to be conductive as it was installed wrong

He's listed small dog and cat in a cage outside.

The woman from the shire was calling me to ask what all of this meant because she had no clue. We had no clue because he skipped us out of this, and went straight to lodging his complaint. How are we supposed to fix anything if we don't know what the fuck is wrong? I'm not a builder or an electrician. However. If all this electrics and insulation shit was illegal to begin with. Why did the house pass TWO building inspections before sale!???!! All he had to was pop his head up in the ceiling and he was like this all has to go.

Small dog and cat. Nina pees when she's excited. That was literally the only thing I could think of. We have four cats so we have three litter trays.

Now. Today. About an hour ago.

The ranger turns up at my front door.

We've had a complaint lodged to the health department that was passed on. Well. To the shire, who passed it onto the health department and then onto the ranger. It was over the condition of the small dog (Nina) and the cat on the property. Please note I want to kill the electrician by this point, because again I've been blindsided. The ranger is super nice and I'm not rude because the poor man just has a job to do. Basically my cats aren't registered and I wasn't going to get them registered because they're all indoor and never ever go out. That is why we have "the cage outdoors", it's a cat run connected to the side door in my bedroom, I still have another door to my room that leads outside because it's kind of an extension. Anyways. He's pleasantly surprised because surprise surprise, all my cats are healthy , sterilised and microchipped. Only Haruka isn't microchipped, so I have to organise that before I register her. Normally I have my cats microchipped and sterilised at the same time. They're all happy having the run of the house.

Seriously. Pissed. If you're going to complain and cause this rippled affect, you could at least respond to a damn email, or you know, send me your fucking report. We're on government payments. I buy my shit second hand, only when I can afford it. I don't splurge on merch every pay. I look after my mum because her anxiety and health issues are a ball unfun times. This house was supposed to be something good for us. A place to call home. Not a place that feeds depression, anxiety and makes you feel suicidal from the stress of it.

So. In the other part of the saga, my car has been of the road for about a year now. I don't have my licence because basically I have high anxiety and my car is only the car I feel really comfortable driving. Plus, the gear shift in mums manual is way too close... gimme the old school loose H. The money I finally saved up for her now has to go on the house. I love my car. She's my baby. And I'm being constantly pressured to sell her. With the condition she's in, I'll only get about $500 from the wreckers. No ones gonna buy her as she sits, because we don't know how much work she needs.

Your author is emotional wreck

[vertigoambrosia]

road to me new york

hey wxw this music does not work at all with the titles sorry

you really need to use something different...

ohhh is it part of the usual carat track?

hi i will never get over karsten’s gold bowtie and cummerbund

and the pocket square!

lolll they’re translating ’catch und auf die fressen’ as ‘wrestling and knuckle sandwiches’

go away andy

OHHHHHH KARSTEN DAMN

question: what is bobby’s ;logo

can’t tell if the editing is a bit choppy for is fucking chromecast

nah it’s chromecast

LMAO ‘you can’t see my makeup, i’m wearing sunglasses’

is that scarf on bobby new merch? cause it’s ugly

hah karsten is the only authority figure who does not get booed during the championship

um tommy we all know felix isn’t head ref...unless tas retired or something

karsten now made of tissue paper, must be checked on after tripping

i mean he kinda was bfore too but it made sense cause they were hitting him in the head and brain surgery

HAHAHAHA i am so glad the match was a squash

ok that shot of bobby gyrating while andy is in the corner is fucking hilarious

wtf i feel a lil bad for andy

OH DAMN TOMMY WITH THE BURNS

turns out i don’t actually feel sorry for him at all

attacking tommy is the Lowest

oh lord look whos here

calming andy down??

oh who dis

ohhh shit she talking some smack!

yeahhh let’s go amale

wrestlng is great because someone can say ‘hi maggot’ casually and not be acting like an asshole

hahaha ilja is so confused by ahura

HAHAHA HE HAS TO RETURN IT TO THE RENTAL COMOANY

it’s heavy breathing time

oh lord

the witch bitch?

let me guess: you’re not here to make friends?

oh dear her entrance video.....

tarkan aslan has ruined the ‘lay on the ropes’ pose - allison is not feeling herself nearly hard enough to use it

i guess ahura doesn’t help either

 i saw amale post on twitter about how she was sad tim was going back to the states cause he had been training her and it was super cute, so even if baby allison didn’t make me roll my eyes i’d still be rooting for her

well actually i’m not cauise they’re fighting yuu and kelly but you know what i mean

kinda is weird to have the word ‘hope’ in your title when french people can’t say h

that being said, amale is not muscly enough to claim she looks more athletic than the other women

:3 yuu is so cute when she chops people

“well that’s something to do in your spare time - witchcraft’ lmao rico

is amale related to crowchester

dude you can’t complaing about other people not being athletic and then do a hip attack come on

allison does that ‘screech and slap’ thing some women wrestlers do that  i fucking hate

just punch them jeez

rico trying to sell amale being real muscular and big shoulders - maybe it’s an in person thing

i kinda wish they had made this like, kelly and amale vs yuu and allison or something just because amale and allison are kinda rough

ok amale’s finisher is nice, gotta admit

hah kelly’s like WHAT

*andy voice* hello, fellow jungs

no andy what’s unfair is these shitty boys won’t get booed from nyc all the way back to germany

haha andy can’t remember tommy’s name

hahaha emo boy chris brookes

THE THUMBS UP FOR LOSER OMG

was pete just hiding in the bathroom

LOL anthony henry what is your hair

what is your face rn

nah but the workhorsemen are real good

also i miss people sending in promos from afar, especially before they debut

zzzzz jurn zzzzzzz

beast mode!

man what if irie wins on thursday? that’d be fucking wild

irie definitely lifts so where is his butt

irie learned an important phrase!

oh man i can’t wait to see lax confused and beat up alexander james

jurn is there too

rico believes in beast mode real hard since irie beat him at ambition

hah tas effortlessly catching the elbowpad

omg jurn just stay down

hi avalanche!

yeahhhh call out emil!

yaaaaaas

also i love that the theme of cerberus not quite being who the guys realy were, but adam’s image for them, is sitll going

i gotta say they’re def already overusing the slo mo turn towards the camera thing in these promo packages tho

but i’m glad avalanche has a clear post-carat direction -the jurn feud was pretty lackluster

also robert’s pretty

we already saw this pretty bastards segment but i cant complain too hard because the pretty bastards are funny

that being said i worry a bit about maggot being less ridiculous than ahura, cause that doesn’t seem like a tag team that stays together...

also it’s nmore fun if both of them are silly people

oh whoops maggot is the one hanging off the ropes in their opening, not ahura

man i’m so glad i’ve gotten to see ilja in person

i guess that’s why i’m so salty abouit him getting pulled from the new york show - he is really something special to experience

what they yelling at pretty bastards

HAHAHA DAMN maggot literally bounced off avalanche

‘one guy is very simple, and the other one is prince daddy persian over there’ lol rico

oh ahura you are gonna die

this boy forgot he was in a fight

frankfurt i understand the bastards are your boys, but how can you boo ilja and avalanche

prince boi botch a lil

now it’s ‘pimp daddy persian’

oh man i forgot about avalanche vs darby that’s gonna be something

avalanche could throw darby across the entire club, but darby absorbs up to 90% of damage, including self inflicted

this is a dude who did a coffin drop while his arm was still in a cast

god look at ilja

i like how the bastards sell against avalanche; it makes me laugh

do not interrupt the unbeseigbar

also, crowd how dare you not say the thing

ahura so ragdoll

i feel like its werid for the bastards to win this but if they don’t they’re not on the roster?

HAHAHAHAHAHA AHURA FORGOT HE WAS LEGAL

i appreciate how ahura is actually a good wreslter but still manages to be fucking dumb in the ring

rip prince ahura. died as he lived: pretty and stupid

hah ilja still mad ahura ignored him in favor of showboating

oh snap broken rules in frankfurt? isn’t that usually in dresden?

the graphic design for amerika is wunderbar is a lil ugly but i forgive it because i get they were going for the art dec thing and i like that

i hope the show is on wxw now so you guys will get to see it later

hah ilja being casually ‘hello marius’ is so forboding

*ilja voice* oh wow you’re continuing your open challenge. seems like it means a lot to you. it’d be terrible if someone...fucked all that up for you. walked in your match and ruined your dreams. that would be so unfortunate. by the way, i remember what you did in my title match. have a good day :D

this is an odd setup for a three way but ok

hahahaha rico pointed out julian isn’t blond anymore

oh and emil’s butt is covered again

i guess he’ll never go back to the ass trunks

emil vs marius is a weird singles matchip, especially for th enew york show

especially especially with emil’s cringey gimmick

like, who are you supposed to root for?

maybe julian will win and they’ll change it

(they won’t)

sometimes i call julian juju for no reason

holy shit that was the first time i’ve seen a spanish fly where i understood what was happening

i actually should have expected that but i didn’t!

obviously i would have preferred julian, but lets see where this goes

has emil won a wxw title before?

hahahaha ilja you dick

i like how wxw isn’t sure what to do with ilja since he’s not going to new york and signed to wwe so he’s just hanging out chatting with people

*ilja voice* so sad about your title. but good news! I’M GONNA MURDER YOU IN DRESDEN

veit package!

they went over the nyc card like twenty minutes ago and i already forgot who david is fighing there

VEIT DO I PRONOUNCE THE V AS F OR NOT

i’ve never been able to get a good picture of david’s entrance cause he spins too fucking fast

OH SNAP DAVID DROPPED ALL HIS NICKNAMES

he’s also sold like 10 of his trunks, but that’s not quite as meaningful since he had so fucking many

but i mean, if you want some david starr panties pm him i guess

hahaha rico called veit ‘pure thickness’

graps time

veit’s cravat suplex looks better when it’s done on a small guy

or maybe david just sold it better

oh RIGHT david’s fighting lucky!

our child!

david i love you to death but that lil fuzzy child is in new york for teh first time

aww david :(

as you know, i have an personal emotional investment in david succeeding so his next promo will def make me sad

what is sebastian’s shirt

*veit voice* i beat david so now i don’t have a problem with anyone

oh lucky

honey

‘is everything okay’ oh you nice hearted lil boi

OH HONEY THAT WAS NOT THE RIGHT THING TO SAY

heh lucky is so not into david’s shit rn

schadenfreude are the teenagers who think they’re the only teens who like film photography and old movies

i saw on twitter lucky asking tas to cancel this match poor thing

pete’s so hot

awww lucky

we haven’y seen him hang his head like that since he and tarkan lost the tag titles

ivan of course is the one calming down lucky

kyle fletcher is being such a lil shitbar

LUCKY TOLD RICO HE’S ALL ABOUT FRIENDSHIP

aww the match started and he’s still trying to convince everyone to be friends

i lovr when lucky gets really happy about the crowd rooting for him

pete sweetie you are not holding the moral high ground here

NO EVERYONE STOP FIGHTING oh honey you....cant’ do that

this conflict is so stressful

chris keeps pushing lucky around

lucky honey your cool commenwellath friends are jerks

also if you’re sitting out then its 3 on 2

does wxw know that amerika is not actually a song praising america?

my true husband, ivan kiev

zacky has been demoted because i hacen’t watched

“and now, the stud of the team, pete bouncer, back int he ring” rico.....

woah wtf is schadenfreude doing to ivan

what are these tag moves

yeah let’s spread eagle him and then you kick him nothing weird about that

it’s interesting to see lucky go to like, basic grappling rather his usual speedy boi offense

ok i like rico bringing up that lucky is a very loyal boi but doesn’t always make good choices about who to be loyal to

see: tarkan

GASP

THEY HIT LUCKY

my child is angered! and confused@

never gonna get sick of ivan’s leg lariat from the skies

aww something tells me lucky’s gonna leave both groups :(

my child

??? andy? and the shitbois?

well anyway the right bois won

but lucky is getting in trouble when they get backstage

ivan u dead?

KYLE SHUT UP STOP YELLING AT LUCKY

i can’t hear what he’s saying but we all know he’s being a little shit

here comes the lecture

oh lucky um schandenfreude are not pete and ivan’s friends

[bpd-tallia]

So there’s this guy at my work who is a meninist and while had made some valid points, I’m super fucking pissed because the fact that he’s a meninist, means I need feminist. 

Other reasons I need feminist: 

Women being told they need to stay in the kitchen and make a sandwich (joking or not) 

Being asked “What were you wearing” or being told that you “were asking for it” whenever someone sexually harasses you. 

Being told not to tell anyone about your sexual harassment because you will ruin those men's lives. 

Those men do not get their lives ruined after you do someone. 

The fact that most characters in media are men. (White cishet men, but that’s another discussion). 

Young Justice had a mostly female viewership and they drove it into the ground because they wanted to sell toys to boys. 

Lots of men do everything to get into a woman’s pants then just leave her afterward. 

Some men take a condom off during sex, then leave when you’re pregnant. 

Men refuse to use a condom in the first place, then leave when you’re pregnant. 

As soon as a woman goes through puberty, people start oversexualizing her, even if she is a minor. 

If a man is a confident go-getter and aggressive, he is a MAN but if a woman is like this, she is a bitch. 

Men act like you owe them something when you are nice to them. 

Men throw fits if an all women cast is in their favorite reboot (*cough* ghostbusters *cough* 

Transwomen are losing a privilege when they transition.

“When are you gonna have kids?” “I don’t want kids” “Awww you’ll change your mind when you’re older” (A discussion that I have had with my family literally every Christmas since before I even had a period. Seriously I was like ten when we had this conversation)

Lesbians being oversexualized. (Gay men have their own problems, but that’s a post for another time) 

One of my male friends saying they didn’t believe that over 50% of gamers were girls. (Comics are the same way). Women being oversexualized in both of these and having ridiculous costumes/poses. 

My paster opening up a magazine and reading “It’s the women’s job to please her man” and the whole church agreeing. 

Women having to tell their men that they have a headache because their men won’t take a normal “I don’t feel like banging” for an answer. 

A man actually divorcing his ace wife because she said she didn’t want to have sex with him. (Ace people having their own set of problems, too, but as an ace woman, I’m putting this under here).   

The entire girls’ aisle STILL being pink. As if boys can’t like pink and girls can’t like blue anymore. Or as if boys have to like army men and trucks and girls have to like dolls and baking sets. 

Girls playsets being all towards cooking/cleaning/taking care of babies/grooming/make-up. (Where the fuck are the girl superheroes?) 

Gamora not even being on any of the GOTG merch (for a while. Idk if they fixed this). 

Catcalling is still a thing. 

Guys sending dick pics to women who didn’t even ask. No one wants to see your dick. 

Revenge porn is a thing and it can ruin women’s lives. I have never heard about a man’s life being ruined by a dick pic. Seriously. Men do this shit all the time. 

Being picked on is an acceptable way to show a girl you like her. (This probably can go both ways, but I usually see it more with boys picking on girls) 

As a mother, I taught my daughter to defend herself. If someone put their hands on her, she could smack them. I would not be mad. She punched out a boy who put his hands on her without permission. I was looked down for teaching her to do this. 

Girls cannot where Speggetti straps to class because boys will not be able to concentrate. 

I’ve heard about a couple of comic artist being told they need to change their female leads to boys because a female lead wouldn’t be as popular. 

A weather woman being told to “cover-up” with a jacket when the only skin that was showing was her shoulders. 

When men have lots of sex people praise them, but when women have lots of sex they are whores. 

90% of our politicians are men. 

Men are still regulating abortion, and thus telling women what to do with their bodies. 

A woman gets mad, she’s on her period. Always. Doesn’t matter if she has a valid reason to be mad. 

There are like a million pills for not being able to get a boner, but we barely know anything about the female reproductive organs. 

[ts1989fanatic]

Spencer Pratt Reviews Taylor Swift's Reputation Tour

"If the world felt more like a Taylor Swift concert, I don't think there would be wars."

If you've paid any attention to Spencer Pratt's Snapchat in the last eight months or so, then you know he's one of Taylor Swift's biggest fans, if not the biggest. On Saturday, he finally got to live his dream of seeing Reputation performed live, when he attended Taylor's show at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena with his wife Heidi and their son Gunnar. It was the first time Spencer had ever seen Taylor, but he's already thinking about rearranging his schedule so he can go see her in Colorado. Here, Spencer weighs in on everything from the openers to the costumes to Taylor's mid-concert surprise guests.

On the opening acts, Charli XCX and Camila Cabello

"My only issue is I wish the openers just covered Taylor songs. I kept thinking they would be so good if they were singing Taylor songs."

On meeting Taylor

"Right when Camila Cabello is winding down, I'm like, 'Oh my god, I don't think we're gonna meet Taylor, she's gotta go on stage.' And then I get an email like, 'We're coming to get you guys, stay in your seats.' Then we go backstage and Taylor's mom talked about how wild it is that we met Taylor ten years ago...and we're still in each other's lives. I was like, 'We're in Taylor's life? AHHHH!' Taylor brought up my hummingbirds and was talking about what a pure love it is. Then it hit me, I was like, 'Are you on Snapchat?' And she's like, 'No.' She only knows my IG story. I was like, 'Oh my god, I'm quitting Snapchat again.' So Taylor in her freakin' robe in her dressing room, holding Miracle Baby. I'm gonna have to have Heidi talk."

Heidi: "So we get in there and they're so nice offering to take the photos, and then I put Miracle Baby in her arms and he was so happy. He loved her. She held him for a while and he's really heavy, so I think she was probably like, 'OK, here's your baby! I’m not babysitting, I’m about to go on stage!'"

"I just run right in and I'm like, Please take Miracle Baby! Give him your energy!' My dad can't even hold Miracle Baby, he's so heavy. I could have gone home for the rest of my life happy right then and the show hadn't even started. She literally left us and walked on stage. I started thinking she's not a human. That's the level."

On the opening number

"She has this like trailer going off about all the media [that starts the show]. It's kind of like a little highlight sizzle reel about how the media was turning on her, like a little movie. It got me so pumped up. I was like, — sorry media — 'I HATE YOU MEDIA, WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO TAYLOR?!' And then this ghost says, 'REPUTATION,' and then it's like, [sings opening notes of "...Ready for It?"] 'Are you ready for it?' Then '...Ready for It?' drops and it's like, oh my god. The album is insane bumping loud in your car on eight espressos, but two skinny margaritas, front row, when that goes off? I swear to god I thought I was gonna explode.

I didn't realize until last night, but her album is designed for a stadium tour. It’s designed for that level of sound and light. The coolest part about getting there at 12:00 is watching hundreds and hundreds of 18-wheelers with the Reputation art on them loading in. It looked like she was invading Pasadena. My heart's pounding right now thinking about it.

It was easily the most fun at an event I've had in my whole life, times 100. And the fact that I'm looking over and Miracle Baby's got his headphones on, right there, like could reach out and touch Taylor. He's listened to this album as much as I have. He's a real fan! It was just so magical."

On his run-in with Taylor's security

"I had the most realistic dream a couple months ago [where] Taylor grabbed my phone from me and did a Snapchat with my phone, and that ended up happening. Then also in that dream, Taylor's security jumped over a fence and tackled me. They thought I was some crazed super stan. I told people all this stuff months ago, I’m not making this up."

Heidi: "I heard!"

"Heidi heard. But last night out of nowhere, all this security and the sheriffs jump over the fence and surround me and grab my diaper bag that I'm carrying. Like, 'How did you get this backpack in the building?' It's not really a diaper bag, I just call it the diaper bag because I put diapers in it, but it's the biggest Gucci backpack you can buy. Keep in mind you're only allowed to have a clutch the size of, like, a sticker, or a clear handbag the size of a sticker. It couldn't look more suspicious. And I rushed the stage into the Snake Pit. Heidi said I looked like a psychotic fan. So they all circle me and grab me and open up my bag and everything. I'm like, 'It’s just diapers! We're with Taylor!' So they emptied out my whole bag right there in the front row. My dreams literally were like premonitions."

On how Taylor's performance compares to other concerts he's seen

"I think everybody else should just quit. There's no competition. Nobody's gonna bring that level of performance. How does she do that? How many espressos is Taylor getting? She is running and flying, she's in cages, crossing stages."

Heidi: "You're turning into a poet!"

"Flying in the air, in these like...Heidi, help me! Help me, Heidi! Nobody's even in the realm of this. I never went to a Michael Jackson concert, but I...feel like it's that level of superstardom. I don't think anyone's ever gonna catch this. Maybe people say things about her right now, but 20 years from now they're gonna look back and be like, 'Who was this?' Obviously I knew she was a huge superstar, but I didn't appreciate the level of actual performer. You think of performers that are good, and everyone's like — I'm gonna have the Beyhive coming for me — Beyoncé's amazing. She's also got like 15 years on Taylor. Fifteen years of performing and practice, and Taylor in my opinion is right there at that level right now. People are gonna be like, 'How did you say Taylor's like Beyoncé?' Well I said it, OK? I said it."

On Taylor's fans

"Taylor's fans are like the best humans. I've never been anywhere where the energy was just so electric but, like, pure. I felt like I was at a birth or a wedding. It felt like everyone was like a big family. Everyone's dressed up like it's freaking Halloween, too — the amount of time and energy people put into their looks and outfits and makeup. I'm so upset this isn't every Saturday night.

My only issue with the whole experience is it's over. If the world felt more like a Taylor Swift concert, I don't think there would be wars. I don't want to shade anybody, but you don't need to take a bunch of drugs and go into the desert for Burning Man. Have a skinny margarita and go to a Taylor show. You need to trip out? You don’t need to go to EDC and OD. Just put on one of these Taylor wristbands and just get in the middle."

On the merch

"I got a black hoodie, I got the Taylor PopSockets, I got the snake ring, I got the Rep hat, Heidi got the gray sweater. My one issue with the tour is they don't sell baby clothes, but then when Taylor was holding Miracle Baby in her dressing room, she did say he's definitely the youngest human in the entire building, so it made me think that's probably why they don't sell baby merch. I'm not sure how many babies are buying merch."

On Selena Gomez's surprise appearance

"I'm not gonna say which one, but Selena's best friend DM-ed me and was like, 'It's gonna be so amazing.' I felt like she was telling me she knew the secret, so I was telling everyone I think Selena's the [guest], and when Selena came out I was like, 'Oh my god, everything in my brain is happening!' Selena gave a talk that was like — I mean I'm all about women empowerment and all the hashtags women wanna have, I back that — but whatever Selena said I was just like, 'Say that every day on the internet!' It was like, 'Yes, girl!' And then after meeting Taylor, obviously we only knew Taylor for so little time, but I was like, 'I feel that Selena! That is who she is! Yes! I'm voting for her!'"

On the other celebrities in attendance

"Kobe Bryant was sitting to the left of us. That's when you know Taylor's a superstar, when I was not even Snapping him. I was like, 'I don't care about you, fool.' Any other setting I'd be like, 'Kobe, Kobe, I love you!'"

On the stage, costumes, etc.

"It's definitely on a Cirque du Soleil level. If Taylor wasn't even there and they were just playing the music with the lights and the pyrotechnics, it would be worth paying the money, like if it was just a live show in Vegas without her. That's how good the dancers are, the costumes. When were backstage with these dancers, their costumes are legitimate like, Mad Max, Game of Thrones–level leather. I bet each costume is like 10 grand. They look like action movie outfits. The snake that comes out of the stage? It's like Universal Studios level. It looked doper than King Kong. I was like, 'How's she beating King Kong right now?'"

On how much he'd spend to see Taylor, if Taylor hadn't gifted him with a VIP pass

"I would easily drop 25 hundo. Because it's a priceless memory! People are like, 'They're so high priced,' but when you see the amount of budget that goes into it, there are a lot of people that are needing to get paid. That money is not all going in Taylor's pocket. I saw 200 18-wheelers. The gas alone! She performs for hours. So you spend $2,500, I'm obviously not good at math, but if you do the math on that, what you're actually paying Taylor per minute? She's worth more than even that. She's a wizard. Let's just go ahead and say it. She's a dang wizard."