#i need. to play my instrument sloppy style..

[autistic-shaiapouf]

If I could completely wipe my mind of what it means to be proficient with a violin I would do it

[jowrites]

ENHYPEN - ROMANCE: UNTOLD Review

(an unserious review)

I have always checked out ENHYPENS releases and casually listened, but this is my first comeback being a full stan, and who stans SHINee and BTS. Here is my review nobody asked for. Enjoy!

XO (Only If You Say Yes) MV: 8/10. 2 points deducated because I was confused especially at the end lol But the mv was creative and the boys were so so pretty!

Full Album: 9/10

I have always thought ENHYPENS albums were pretty mature and not your normal music from the boy groups today, which is why I appreciated and liked them. But this album is another level of maturity and oozes GROWTH.

The direction they are going with their sound is amazing. I normally do not care for these kinds of albums but they still somehow managed to keep that ominous and mysterious concept with an upbeat romance album. This wasn't childish or sloppy, this was done extremely well and the members voices fit each and every song on this album. Nothing was off and that needs to be celebrated. This wasn't rushed and they were very careful with what worked for the boys. I am extremely impressed, another reason why I became a fan. They impress me with their incredible talents. I just want to tell them they did a GREAT job, because they really did. This is my favorite boy group release of the year!

Each song:

Moonstruck: 12/10.

The most anticipated song off the album! Did not disappoint! I am so glad it's not an intro and a full song! This song was just my style and the second verse is absolutely magical along with the chorus! I just wish it was longer. This is going to be on repeat.

XO (Only If You Say Yes): 7/10.

The song is catchy and nice. I'm surprised because I normally don't enjoy songs like that, but the arrangement is really good and it's not some chaotic, sloppy mess. It works well and it's cute. I will add it to my playlist.

Your Eyes Only: 9/10.

This song surprised me. This is not what I was expecting but I really, really liked the chorus and I can see myself getting more into it than I thought. The boys' voices are absoluetly magical and is up there with one of my favorite songs off the album.

Hundred Broken Hearts: 7/10.

Song is not my style but I dig it. I appreciate that it's actually good! It's not a song that you just don't want to listen to and turn off. Even if you don't like it you can appreciate it and it actually reminds me of Hannah Montana in a way. Some of Hannah Montana songs I did not like but I still knew and appreciated because they were done well and this reminds me of that.

Brought the Heat back: 10/10

BOP! A BOP! BOP! Okay, this song I knew I was going to like from the teasers, it's right up my alley! But I enjoyed this way more than I thought I was going to. Also, Jake and Jay in the Bridge! BRUHHHH! A song you can dance to, even if you're sad.

Paranormal: 8/10

As I was listening to this all I could think about was 1D lol Why is Enhypen a better version of 1D? This song caught me off guard and it was not what I thought it was going to be at all. I really liked the chorus and I just couldn't stop thinking about their talents. Why are they so good at singing?

Royalty: 7/10

My least favorite song off the album but not a complete skip. I really dig the instrumental aspects. I like the upbeat sound and how nice it sounds.

Highway 1009: 10/10

Heeseung did an amazing job composing this. I really like how you can focus on their voices and the lyrics, they're so sweet and they sound so nice. You can really tell they're talking to their fans and that's so special. Jake's voice really stands out to me in this song and his rasp ugh one of my favorite fan songs I've heard. It's insanely sweet.

XO (Only If You Say Yes) (Eng. Ver.) ft. JVKE: 9/10

I already like the english version more, which, I know it's the same song and I normally hate english verions...but this is made to be played on the radio. It's such a bop! And JVKE's feature is so good, I'm glad he gave this song to them because THIS is a GREAT collab. When the feature sounds like an official member and it works. Fantastic!

[bmpmp3]

ive loved it since i first heard it in project diva x years ago, but listening to Tsumi no Namae again (with slightly higher quality headphone audio rather than my vita speakers <3 ) i didnt realize just how crazy the production choices of this song is. wait hold on lemme hashtag musicpost for a minute. im busting out the timestamps

immediate tone setting. bagpipes??? or something like that right out the gate which is wild. clock winding, gear crunching, and real human woman whispering (i think in english but ive never been able to find official lyrics of that section) as well <3 im a sucker for using human voices with synth voices i think it adds a lot of neat texture

the instrument choices lean into a fantasy musical-esque soundscape for obvious reason (the whole song is basically a little original fable or myth type story complete with trickster goddesses and breaking fate's curses etc etc) but the composition is plenty pop rock which is a fun juxtaposition im always a fan of but like SPECIFICALLY those drums that start around a minute in. im not sure what it is, the speed? how loud and hard the drums are? it works so well to give it a forward momentum while also being a bit uncanny. maybe im just imagining how tired the drummers arms would be hitting at that speed and with that amount of power for this long........ but yeah it gives it this unexpected, sorta otherworldly feel, like its just a fraction of a fraction faster than you'd assume. theres like hints of clapping and stuff in there too i think? so much all together but so so so good

and speaking of how tired those drummers arms would be, i do love that this song is six and a half minutes, i love stuff over 5 minutes like YES i am going to waste SO MUCH TIME staring into space and listening really hard (i like to listen to songs on loop <3 half an hour is gonna go away in just a few plays) i love love love love love it

1:38 mark THE BANJO????

1:43 ouuhhhh that we-will-rock-you-type boom-boom-bap-type clap-clap-stomp percussion. ouhhhhhh yesssssssssssssssss.

1:50 the banjo and the flute are now making out in the background. they are making out sloppy style

2:00 there's like this drum breakdown thats incredibly poppy and rock-y which also goes back to the like fun blends of instrument choice and composition

2:23 am i crazy or is there like a tiny tiny little bit of like a static sound as a piece of percussion in this quieter bit... love a mix of fantasy with digital artefacting

2:45 IS THAT A HINT OF SOME MANNER OF BASS INSTRUMENT IN MY LEFT EAR I HEAR..........

3:50 WHAT is that little sound near the right.... it sounds like one of those medieval instruments but i cant remember which one.... and the banjo has made a return

3:58 THE BASS COMING IN ON THE LEFT

4:35 okay the whole bridge section is crazy but first of all. the dynamics between the deep bass-y sounds going between the two ears.

4:40 and what on EARTH is THAT. like a glitchy static-y bit of vocals going on both sides. AND the flute-y sounding thing is going NUTS up there

4:45 and this is what always makes me lose my mind. that really REALLY deep, circular, almost string sounding instrument? is that a god damn hurdy gurdy. i dont know much about instruments can you tell...... BUT for real that like again adds this haunting, extra bit of synthetic uncannyness to the medieval fantasy fable story

5:18 WHAT is that long like droning sound. is that also bagpipes. whats that classical piece thats supposed to teach you how to differentiate the parts of an orchestra. i need to drill that in my head im fighting for my life out here. ANYWAY those background notes with also these bits of like chattering? people talking or playing?

5:24 RANDOM BIT OF MEDIEVAL VIOLIN

6:08 and ending off with the glittering little chimes.... awesome

i dunno just holy shit man. this song goes everywhere it wants to. theres a banjo.

[cyberth0t]

CONCEPT: Abducted by mindflayers in the middle of seducing a wealthy magistrate with the intent to rob him afterwards.

I had to restart my main BG3 playthrough because Patch 4 borked up my modded save beyond repair. But we're back, baby! This time, I am going to document it better.

RIVER

HALF WOOD ELF. SWORDS BARD. CHAOTIC NEUTRAL. other aliases: Red River (stage name; often simply known as "Red"), Loud-mouthed Ginger Bastard

(I thought it would be hilarious if this Tav got yoinked in the middle of getting it on sloppy style, still wearing a cunty lil outfit. I was right.)

More character info below.

An unwanted bastard son of a lesser lord in Baldur's Gate, River was raised by distant relatives in the Lower City. He was mouthy, stubborn, and clever, which naturally meant his presence was a constant thorn in the sides of his caretakers. He ran away as soon as he could manage to join a troupe of performers, and quickly learned how to be charming on top of everything else. River outgrew the troupe (which was admittedly full of second-rate street magicians and drunk old clowns) and joined a travelling band, where he learned to play instruments, sing, and distract audiences while his friends picked their pockets.

By the time he reached adulthood, Red River was a menace to polite (read: wealthy) society. He is banned from several establishments in the Upper City for being the cause of many brawls and duels, and once inciting a small labor revolt.

Despite this, he is a surefire crowd pleaser in the Lower and Outer City, where, prior to abduction, he was beginning to gain some fame as a solo act. In addition to his musical prowess, acrobatics, and comedy skills, he can also swallow swords and juggle balls (sometimes he does it at the same time, and sometimes he does it in bed).

River is delightfully chaotic. He is easy to laugh and quick to make a joke, and can get what he wants from most people without trickery or deceit. As for the rest, well...he just uses trickery and deceit. He is a trickster with a heart of gold--he would never swindle the poor, weak, or vulnerable, and goes out of his way to help those in need. However, he feels no qualms about robbing the wealthy (or middle class), no matter how benevolent they are. Additionally, he places the needs of only his dearest loved ones above himself, but puts his desire for coin, sex, and pleasure above the needs of mostly everyone else.

[caravelmp3]

UNDER THE CANYON MOON

pairing: josh kiszka x female!reader warning(s): mostly fluff, just brief mentions of alcohol and sex  word(s): 2k note: hi hi hi !! this is just a little something i wrote up the last couple of days with the inspiration of light my love, canyon moon by harry styles, and the interview where josh talked about road-tripping the u.s. last summer <3 i don’t write one shots often but let me know what you all think bc i might shuffle some more out soon lol. hope you all enjoy !! :) 

The Los Angeles sun was hot, beating down onto the city basking in its late-summer hues. You parked your car on the street in Silver Lake and carried a bag of food and drink tray to the door of a recording studio, more than prepared to be swarmed by hungry boys who had been cooped up in the studio since five a.m. on the dot that morning. They had a breakthrough the night before with a new song, and after getting home and going to bed for a few hours, the creative juices started flowing again and they were back in the booth. 

A windchime on the door sang as you pulled the door open and walked inside, greeting their manager who was at a table by the door. 

“The boys here?” 

“Down the hall,” he nodded, pointing a finger in the direction of the hallway. “They’re more rowdy than usual so be prepared,” 

You laughed and turned down the hall, walking towards the studio. The walls were decorated with memorabilia of rock and roll greats and record plaques, and among them, you spotted a picture of the four boys with their Grammy award. It seemed like time had passed so quickly. They won the award for the first album and they were already working on their third, shooting them further into stardom. 

“Coffee’s here!” You shouted in a really bad New England accent when you noticed the recording light was flipped off above the door. 

You stepped into the room to a chorus of cheers and “thank god you're here”’s that made you laugh while sitting the food and drinks down on the table and they all rushed over. You handed out the specific orders and pointed to which drinks was theirs when they got handsy and tried to grab everything from her out of both excitement and some desperation for caffeine. 

“Our savior,” Jake said, reaching out and grabbing your shoulders to give them a gentle shake before taking the coffee you were holding out to him, and then you handed Danny’s to him, too. 

“Just the coffee girl here,” 

“Well, you’re a little bit more than that,” Josh said, walking over to the table to grab his full cup. 

You pressed a hand against the table, leaning over to him. “Just a little?” 

“A little bit,” he shot you a wink before swiftly pressing a kiss to your cheek. 

You were more than just a “little more” than the coffee girl, you were typically their designated drunk driver, the one who took all of their candid photos, the mediator in times of need, and well, the girlfriend of the lead singer, too. 

Everyone in the studio took their food and drinks and scattered among the seating area in a break from recording. Instead of one tiny room with all of them cramped together, they had a wide open space with booths for the different instruments and bean bag chairs and big comfy, velvet sofas, and there was dim lighting with deep toned rugs that gave off the vibe of a more relaxed feel rather than the fluorescent-light, tiled-floor feeling that made them feel rushed and confined by rules they didn’t set themselves. 

You liked the studio, too, and often took naps on the sofa while listening to them play instruments individually in the recording booths and while they were writing. One night they had found you at two a.m., bundled up with a blanket on the bean bag chair after they spent the night writing in the front room on the piano, but it wasn’t the first time as you often napped in their Nashville recording offices, too. 

“You guys been busy today?” You asked jokingly while lowering onto the sofa armrest, receiving nothing but glares shot in your direction. “Okay, okay, touchy subject,” 

With a mouthful of bread, Sam pointed to Josh, “Josh finished a song, didn’t you?” He was grinning. 

You hummed in joy and surprise, grabbing Josh’s knee as he sat next to you. “Really?” 

It had been a rough few days for all of them as they tried to shuffle out a few more additions to the new album. It felt incomplete with something missing, but they couldn’t quite put their finger on what it was exactly, so they attempted to bring back and revamp old songs, write and record new ones, but nothing seemed to stick, until now. 

“Yeah, wanted to wait and show you later, but someone can’t keep his trap shut.” Josh said, pretending to be serious before cracking a smile and taking a sip of his coffee. “Just wanted it to be a surprise,” 

“Well it can still be a surprise, I’m surprised now,” you said. “Can I hear it? Or read what you got?” 

Josh nodded and stood, grabbing your hand and pulling you with him. There was a little recording room fit with a piano inside, his writing journal placed on the music stand where he had scribbled notes and keys and melodies in pen. He picked it up and handed it to you. 

“Nothing seemed to click until last night, when I started putting it together.” He said. 

“Is that why you wouldn’t tell me what it was when you all got back to the house?” 

Josh shrugged, pinching his bottom lip between his thumb and forefinger. “Yeah, yeah, I wanted it to be special when you first heard it.”

You sat the coffee cup down onto the floor while lowering into the small chair in the corner, holding the journal like it was the most delicate piece of art in the world. In silence, while Josh watched on anxiously, you read the words he had splayed across the blank page. 

     Can you light my love?      Flames glowing bright as the sun      Deeper than oceans you run      Watch as our world has begun 

     Your mind is a stream of colors      Extending beyond our sky      A land of infinite wonders      A billion lightyears from here now

You felt your throat tighten, tears tempted your eyes. 

It was a love song. 

“Josh-” 

“Oh god you hate it don’t you, you dread it, despise it,” 

“Oh shut up, I’m in tears right now, you know I love it.” You looked up at him with a smile and a sniffle. 

His words across the page were sloppy, some cursive, written in different pens of different colors, some lines crossed and scribbled out, others underlined. 

“Your mind is something I will never fully understand.” You told him as he sat down on the chair next to you. “How the fuck did you come up with this-” 

“I was thinking about our trip out here, the week we spent driving out and all of the stuff we did… and how I think I fell more in love with you.” His voice softened. 

You reached out, placing your arm on his shoulder, fingers playing with his curls. “I can’t put it into words how much I love it, how much I love you,” you said, “and you make me sound so lovely when in reality I know I was a pain in the ass that entire trip.” 

“Yeah, but my pain in the ass,” he kissed the inside of your arm. 

Two weeks before the boys left Nashville to head to Los Angeles, Josh called you at midnight with an idea in mind – the two of you renting a camper to drive out to L.A., falling into all of the tourist traps along the way and stopping in random small towns to sleep while exploring the in between, which would definitely beat the boring four-hour flight. And you, half asleep and across the country, agreed. 

It would be fun. Right? 

And it was. Every time someone asked how it went, you called it “the most magical week of my life.” 

While the others waited behind for their flights the next week, you and Josh set off from Nashville, heading west with only the destination in mind and a trusty map in hand. Everything else just came to you both. 

The first stop was three hours in the trip, in Memphis. You and Josh roamed Graceland on Elvis Presley Boulevard and had lunch near Sun Studio before taking in the mementos and relics at the Blues Hall of Fame where Josh talked your ear off, rattling off more details about each band and singer than was on the info-cards on the wall. 

Then it was two hours to Little Rock, falling asleep in the back of the camper after a take-out dinner outside of a random supermarket. Sitting in lawn chairs in the middle of a parking lot, you held Josh’s hand under a blanket and watched the pink sunrise over the hills, and then it was back on the road again. 

From Oklahoma City to Amarillo, you fiddled with the map when Josh got lost after a wrong turn in a small town where he insisted on seeing the giant 66-foot LED soda bottle sculpture, and in the middle of northern Texas, he made it up to you by cooking your favorite dinner. You thanked him in a quiet whisper as you crawled into the bed with him that night, sliding under the covers where he greeted you with warm hands and kisses against your neck that made you squeal with the tickle of his mustache and he grinned against your lips. 

Josh got to choose the music all the way through New Mexico – Neil Young and Crazy Horse to John Denver’s Thank God I’m A Country Boy, and you were only able to squeeze in Joan Baez every hour when you stopped to stretch your legs on the side of the road, belting the words to him while he laughed at your voice cracks. 

And after you both pitched the tent in the Petrified Forest in Arizona, Josh hummed the tune to some new song while you two sat under the midnight stars in the canyon with a roaring fire, his arm around you, his sweatshirt draped over your shoulders. When he tried to start telling you a scary story after you heard a weird noise outside the tent, you blindly hit him in the dark and accidentally hit his nose, causing you both to burst into laughter after the initial panic left. He laughed loudly into your shoulder as you held his face in shock, catching the scent of your lavender lotion, and his body relaxed when the laughter died down, feeling so at peace in his life with you there. 

It was the tail end of the trip, but the excitement hadn’t died down yet. After showers in the camper in the middle-of-nowhere-Arizona and five hours west, you and Josh found a bar outside of Las Vegas that resembled Coyote Ugly, so you both had a round of tequila sodas and margaritas before walking around the small town that evening and sleeping off the tipsy-headaches in the air conditioning. On top of the covers, you looked at Josh napping in the sunshine, cheeks flushed red, curls poofy from the wind, and you felt your heart grow in your chest before falling asleep next to him. 

And then came Los Angeles, the final stop, the dreaded one. But you and Josh didn’t tell anyone that either of you were sad to be back with them in L.A. when they asked, and instead, you two smiled and hugged everyone after piling out of the camper in the drive-way of the Silver Lake house. 

Cleaning out the camper, tossing cheesy novelty t-shirts at each other and laughing at how many socks you two managed to lose along the way and how many bug bites were added, watching the developed clips Josh had filmed of scenes in the desert and you asleep in the passenger seat, you both were nostalgic about a trip that just ended. 

It was so easy, so freeing to just be together on the road, with only the destination in mind. It revealed a part of them that the other didn’t see often, like your tendencies to get your lefts and rights mixed up while giving directions, and Josh’s equally awful sense of direction didn’t exactly pair with the fact that he was a maniac while driving in the first place. 

But those parts were just added to the long list of why you and him loved each other in the first place. So you became the designated driver after Amarillo and Josh stuck to telling you “left or right” for the rest of the time. It was a compromise, another reason why you two worked so well together. 

It was a form of love in itself. 

“We’ll have to drive all the way back to Nashville then, so you can write more songs about me.” You teased. 

Josh rolled his eyes but cracked into a grin a second later. “Let’s not get too carried away,” but he would be lying if he said he wasn’t always mentally reliving the night under the canyon moon.

[pillage-and-lute]

In All that I Have Done

Sad. I recommend listening to Arvo P ärt’s Spiegel im Spiegel while reading. Very, very sad, cannot stress this enough. Non-explicit major character death. (Happens of old age but still)

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

More than forty years after the fall of Cintra one Professor Pankratz put down his pen. In the last ten years his hands had lost some of their surety, but his quill didn’t shake when he put it down. 

He ran one hand down his face. His beard had started going silver just after he’d adopted the style, but both it and his hair were now fully steel grey, with not even a hint of their former color. He adjusted his spectacles, tweaked the fashionable, but less than flamboyant hem of his doublet, and began to read what he’d written.

The last will and testament of Professor Julian Alfred Pankratz, Viscount de Lettenhove. 

I am writing this, sure and sound of mind, if not of body, in the event of my death. For many years I had a living, de facto will, that is, who ever found me dead by the roadside could loot my body for what they wished. As I got older and my body forced my errant heart to settle down I realized that this could no longer be the case. I fear I have put this off much too long, but happily, it seems I was not too late.

To my remaining family, my baby brother Alfons and his wife Iwona, I leave the rights to my songs and other works, and the royalties to them. Have fun. Alfons, Iwona is a beautiful woman and I would have wooed her, but that you were so in love I couldn’t bring myself to steal her away. I write this with a chuckle, Iwona my dear, because if you’ll remember we met first, and I introduced you to my brother only after you’d hit me in the head with a frying pan for flirting. 

I have also set up a trust, a portion of the royalties will be funneled into it for your son, Mikolaj, although he is a strapping young man who may never need it because he is a fine craftsman, as these spectacles he made me can attest. With luck he may spend it on marriage, should he ever woo that baker lad who made those charming blackberry tarts.

To the grandson of my friend Priscilla, Gaj. You have just been born and are a wonder beyond belief. Your parents are lovely people and you are lucky to have them. They should feel lucky to read this since I fear I shall be long dead before you learn your letters. However; there are times I wish I had fathered children. There are also times I remember what those who do go through and am thankful I did not, but you are a miracle. In the hope that you are given the very best of education, I have put in a word with the university. Should you choose, you will have the best schooling the Continent can offer, free of charge, with the compliments of Oxenfurt. Just, when you are someday a raging young student, sloppy drunk on a night out, think of me, if you can think at all. 

As I have of late stayed in quarters provided for me by the university and their gracious staff, I shall relinquish it all in return, as well as whatever items are held within not listed here. There shall be money in the vase by the fireplace for my funeral, as well as a generous tip for the maids, who have been wonderful and kind to an often forgetful and frail old man who is too much in his feelings.

My wardrobe I leave to whoever wants it, apart from my best blue doublet. (The sky blue one, which brings out my eyes) I should hope to be buried in it.

And finally, to my dearest and truest friend, Geralt of Rivia I leave a note, a song, and a gift.

Jaskier once again scrubbed his hand over his face. His study held a chill, despite the fine summer day, or perhaps it was just him. He got cold so easily these days. His breath rattled a little as he took a deep breath and hauled himself out of his comfortable chair. Melitele’s great gorgeous thighs, but his knees ached today. Jaskier paused at the mirror to tease his hair into place, advancing years never having divested him of his style. He flashed a wink into the mirror and shoveled a little coal into the small fireplace. 

He settled again at his desk, a different paper in hand, separate from the will, and began to look it over. This letter held none of the fine penmanship of the other, instead the letters were blocky and easy to read, better for the eyes that may have gained much in a mutation but skipped lightly over letters and switched them about.

My dear Geralt, it read. In all that I have done, I have had but one masterpiece. Critics may disagree on my greatest work, but I know it exactly, and have since the day of it’s birth. My opus was not Toss a Coin, or even the rehabilitation of yours- and all witchers- reputations. My masterpiece was my relationship with you, a wonderful and awful secret masterpiece of the heart, mind, and soul.

I know you do not dally about with words, but lest you misunderstand this last, most important of missives, we must discuss them. The word awful is now so said as to mean the same as terrible, but this cannot be true at all. Terrible is that which inspires terror or creates fear. Awful, or aweful, if you will, is to inspire awe. To be full of it. Sometimes that awe is fearful, sometimes reverential, perhaps a condemnation and sometimes a blessing. You, my friend, inspire awe. And in me you inspired something much greater than that. In all my years, which are so few compared to yours, nothing has so inspired love in me, as you. It has been my life’s greatest blessing.

When this letter comes to you, regardless of how it comes, it means I am gone from this world. I fear it shall indeed be soon, but I do not fear death. Weep not for me, my friend, instead let me bury in this parchment what there is left for me to say.

More than forty years ago I asked you to come away with me. All these decades later I still dream that you would, yet, I understand why you did not, and why you pushed me away. I offered you my heart that day, but it was the heart of a being you would watch wither away, as I’ll admit I have done. You could not be my forever, knowing that I cannot also be yours. There is no apology, no tears, no explanation needed there. 

Indeed, even for casting me away I need no words, and you have always had few to give, my friend. You didn’t keep me away for long, after all. I am like a magnet, drawn to you. Even now I feel your pull, like the tide to the gentle lady moon, but I cannot follow. 

After the mountain we met up again and again, our lives orbiting eachvother like planets, but we never clung so close as those first twenty years. That is the fault of Dame Time, a tricky mistress, as she collected her dues for twenty years of hard travel and ill care on my body.

I wish I could have given you more of my years. I find I am angry, and yet not so. At once, I could have had more time beside you, had somehow things been otherwise, but I know I had more time with you than might have been, perhaps more than I could reasonably expect. Someone, some goddess, or Life, Time, Destiny, or Fate, gave me enough time to finish the masterpiece that is my love for you, and that is enough.

You read here the ramblings of an old man, but I shall burden you with a few more sentences. 

You may recognize the case to which this letter is attached. Inside is my lute, as given to me by Filavandrel. I wish you to have it. I know you have never been musically inclined, but to me this instrument means so much more than music. This is the physical being of us, and all that may entail. I hope that you keep it, and treasure it how you will. If ever there comes such a person that you wish to play it, for whatever reason, gift it to them, but I beg you, tell them to whom it belonged, and how it came to belong to you. 

And finally, I leave you with a few unsung verses that I feel someone ought to read.

To the edge of the world May this letter be born That it comfort and heals you Although it brings you to mourn

I wrote every song And traveled along For my faith in a witcher and my friend before all

I hope you be blessed and continue your quest To be a friend of humanity As I go to rest

That's our epic tale My champion prevailed Defeated every villain And continues the tale

Toss a coin to my witcher, O valley of plenty...

love, Jaskier.

Professor Pankratz carefully rolled up the parchment and slipped inside a waterproofed tube, tying it with a blue ribbon that would likely only be lost in the parcel’s travels. He did it anyway, then he trailed his fingers over the finest instrument he’d ever played. Hand tremors meant it had sat silent for many months, but he plucked a few, slightly out of tune strings in a familiar tune. Then he put Filavandrel’s lute away, slipping the note in it’s packaging into the outer pocket of the case.

There was a funny feeling, he felt as he sat back in his large desk chair, to completing your greatest work, but he knew at least one being would remember it forever. He took off his spectacles and leaned back in his chair, the fire in the grate convincing him to doze. His eyes slid shut, and Jaskier greeted eternity with open arms.

[onestowatch]

Let’s Talk About Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop... and Its Music

The 2021 Cowboy Bebop live-action is… certainly something. It's not a secret that there's a sense of dread that brews for rabid anime fans every time news of a beloved classic getting a live-action adaptation arises. You forebodingly wait in anticipation, hoping for the best (Alita: Battle Angel) and preparing for the absolute worst (Dragon Ball: Evolution). I will say though, nothing has given me more anxiety than the phrase “Netflix's Cowboy Bebop.” Prior to the announcement, Netflix's only stateside live-action project was the Death Note movie, and we all know how that turned out.

Now, a review of the show could quickly turn into a manifesto criticizing all the things it missed the mark on or decided to omit from the timeless anime. But today we're gonna focus, or at least try to, on how the adaptation measures up to fan expectations and one of the defining elements that earned the original its cult following—the iconic score. 

Cowboy Bebop is a show famous for its ability to build an entire universe out of disparate film and music genres. Each episode adopts a different style to suit the subject matter and gives each of the characters and far-off places our ragtag group of bounty hunters visits a distinct identity. The styles of music are incredibly diverse, ranging from straightforward big band jazz, blues, acoustic ballads, hard rock, country, funk, electronic, hip-hop, and experimental compositions and elements. The music often inspires the visual scenes and vice-versa, a direct byproduct of the significant collaboration between Yoko Kanno and Shinichirō Watanabe. 

One hallmark of the show is its high-tempo jazz accompanied fight scenes that serve to accentuate the fast-paced action. Although most of the songs are instrumental and play as background music, some numbers are accompanied by singers ranging in Japanese, English, and French. The band also created short compositions called vitamins to enter and exit commercial breaks along with custom title cards.

Let's start with the first episode of the Netflix adaptation. I do think the opening fight scene of the live-action, which is a direct callback to the 2001 Cowboy Bebop movie, was a strong start. The production team did a great job matching the energy of the fight and the "almost sucked into space" chaos by seamlessly transitioning and layering energetic horn sections and whimsical and spacey percussion. Overall, the music in the first episode was pretty much what I had hoped it would be; however, there was one scene that made my stomach sink and audibly ask my laptop, "How could you mess that up?" 

The anime's wordless, "Asteroid Blues," sets up the wordless, tragic finale. Spike and Katerina, in a shocking silence, say everything they need to say in a few meaningful looks before she meets her unfortunate demise, evoking feelings of bittersweet loss. The show's first episode, named "Cowboy Blues," has the characters talk over the spacey and sax-fueled track, the first of many crimes this show commits against Kanno's iconic score and the new material she wrote for it.

At the beginning of episode two, "Venus Pop," as Jet tries and fails to catch Teddy Bomber, the opening notes of "Tank!" begin playing, leading organically to the credits, which then play the opening again for some reason without the spoken word. This sloppy editing mistake could have been an opportunity to make the cold open and OP one cohesive, fluid experience, but it feels like an afterthought. To be fair, that isn't the worst part of the episode; it's definitely Julia and Vicious, but that's an article for another time. Moving on, I will say that another personal highlight was the way the show directly integrated Kanno’s music at Ana's jazz club, even if that was at times the only highlight. 

Skipping ahead, in Episode 6, "Binary Two-Step," "Space Lion" was teased as Spike gazed at an old photo of him and Julia, but it was sadly cut short before it could add any weight to the brief scene. It would've been more ideal if it had played out through the credits, letting viewers exist in that state of nostalgia for a moment longer instead of abruptly ending once the credits rolled.

The finale, "Supernova Symphony," in a nutshell, could've been so much more for more reasons than one, but again, this is an article about music. As Spike and Vicious are trading bullets, quips, and out-of-place quotes, it leads to a shot for shot recreation of their legendary standoff, which kicks off with the most generic samurai flute sting to ever hit my ears. After the fight ends and Julia shoots Spike, the scene ends with a stripped and oddly hollow version of "Green Bird" as Spike falls from the church tower into the dark water below.

So how could it be better? Well, the filmmakers seem to have an undeniable appreciation of the intricate, sonically-crafted world Kanno has created with Bebop but not a full understanding of its effect. Burning each and every song into their minds is just step one, but step two is using the music as an effective leitmotif to instill emotion and motivation in each scene. They can have music say things the characters can't or won't say in order to move the story along, or realize the power of silence, allowing the space for Kanno’s impeccable, emotionally-laden compositions to shine.  

When it comes to adapting an anime like Cowboy Bebop, it doesn't matter how hard production works at creating costumes and sets or how accurately the actors bring to life their animated counterparts, or even if they were to somehow retroactively add back in the show's more political and philosophical themes; if the show’s music isn’t at its heart, it's not Cowboy Bebop. The music department and the sound department should be one and the same instead of two separate entities that seemingly don't communicate with each other.

As stated above, Cowboy Bebop is something. It's not a 1:1 adaptation, but it is something I do intend to rewatch, because there were things I did genuinely love about it. Given its weeks-long residency in the Netflix Top 10 ranking, it's likely staying around for at least another season. Hopefully, the show creators can run with the very audible constructive criticism of fans and make what’s to come better than what we’ve seen and heard. And if they don't, oh well, whatever happens, happens.

Want more anime and music? Check out our list of The Best Anime to Watch If You Love Music.

[ssa-daddyhotchner]

Undercover - Chapter 7

Chapter Selection

Everyone had gone back to work; Reid was on medical leave and wouldn't be back for a few weeks. 

JJ and Garcia were constantly checking up on him so he didn't slip again. He was talking now instead of avoiding us. 

I was at my desk doing paperwork when Emily approached me, "Hey so me, JJ, and Garcia were going to do a girls night. I feel like we haven't hung out as often as we should, you wanna come." 

Without hesitation I said yes. I needed to just get drunk.

I pick up my phone an text Aaron. 

y/n- Hey....Me, Garcia, Emily, and JJ are going out tonight so I might not be over tonight

Aaron- oh ok have fun just not too much. I don't need guys all over you

y/n- I'll try and there's no need for you to be jealous

Honestly the thought of him being jealous was really hot. 

Aaron- Little girl you're mine...remember that

Those word stuck with me for the rest of the day. By the end of the day the girls had left for the night. They texted me that they'd be over in an hour so I could get ready. 

I went into Aaron office and looked around. The blinds were closed and there was no one in the bullpen. 

I walked over behind his desk and leaned. He stopped working when he saw me. I let out a small, "Hey." He grabbed my hand pulling me to sit on his lap. "Hey yourself, how was your day." I threw my arms around his neck. 

"Better now. I'm actually looking forward to hanging out with them. Emily had mentioned earlier we've never really hung out." 

Aaron pecked my lips. "She's not wrong all of your time has been with me." I smiled, "I'm not complaining." 

I saw the time and realized I had half and hour before they got to my apartment. "I need to go there gonna be at my place soon", He didn't let go of me. 

"Hold on", I stopped trying to get out of his grasp and looked at him staring back at me. 

"Do you know what time you'll be home." 

"No but I'm hoping before 1am." 

"Well whatever time you guys do finish up....if you can you don't have too. I want you to come over." He mainly wanted supports he's been having a tough time. "Do you even have to ask, you're stuck with me." 

He let me stand up but before I could get up fully he slapped my ass. I turned around in shock and he just smirked and continued working. I laughed and walked out. 

I got to my car and drove home. It was 6:30pm and they were going to be there in half and hour. 

I took a shower using Aarons shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. I smelled just like him and the smell of mint brought me some peace. 

When I finished my shower I heard some knocks at my door. I opened to see Emily, JJ, and Garcia in party dresses. 

"What are you doing go get your ass changed." Emily said, bringing me to my closet. "Wear this one." JJ held out a black spaghetti strap dress that stopped around my mid thigh. 

The other two gasped, "Yes wear that one." Garcia said while JJ gave me the dress. I walked into the bathroom putting on the dress. I looked good in it, I took out my phone and sent a picture to Aaron. I walked out and their jaws dropped. 

"Holy shit y/n", Emily exclaimed

"Damn okay." JJ said while smiling through her teeth. "Oh my god you look so good." Garcia said while getting me a pair of black heels. I put the shoes on, got my clutch and we left. Getting a cab to go to the club. 

Arriving around 8 the club was almost full we made it inside without a problem. It was dark, loud, and hot. There were people everywhere, crowding the bar and dancefloor. 

JJ managed to get a booth in the corner. Emily went to get us some drinks, I got a lemonade vodka.

She returned with the drinks. "So y/n seeing as you're the newest what's been going on with you." Defiantly not fucking our boss, "Nothing really." They stared at me, they knew I was hiding something. 

JJ said, "Are you sure about that, no guys...nothing?" I really didn't want them in my business. 

I was about to answer and I felt my phone vibrate. "Ooo you get a text?" The annoying part was Garcia could easily hack my phone and find out. I didn't answer her but when I read the text I couldn't keep the smile off my face. 

Aaron- Little girl you look stunning. If you were here I'd rip that dress right off 

The comment went straight to my core. "I'm gonna ask this one more time, are you sure there's no guy cause you know I can hack your phone right." 

The thought of her doing that scared me. "Ok.. ok there is guy. But please I just wanna keep it to myself."

Emily speaks up, "Out of respect we will leave it alone, can I ask one question." I nod nervously for what she's gonna ask. "Is he.....you know." I smack Emily's arm but I answer, "You have no idea." There faces were priceless. 

Finishing our drinks Garcia goes and get us another round. She starts getting vodka shots for everyone. I didn't know how much I had until I started to slur my words and stumble. I grab JJs hand and drag her to the dance floor. 

I put my hands on her hips swaying back and forth. Her hands going around my neck, I guide her hips to the music. The music is booming though the room. 

I felt It in my legs and chest, Emily comes over and steals JJ from me leaving me alone until Garcia came over. 

As I was dancing with Pen I looked over an saw JJ and Emily getting a little close. They seemed to be really in the moment. 

JJ had her hands on Emily's neck; Emily's hands on her waist and hips with her mouth nibbling on JJs ear. I turned my attention away, I felt like I was intruding even though it was happening in public. The room around me started to spin and I was getting nauseous. 

Garcia was the most sober out of us, she brought me outside; she decided I had a little too much. Pen took my phone dialing the last number I called. 

"Wai- n...don do that." I tried to snatch my phone away but she sat me on the floor and waited for the person to pick up. 

I heard the deep voice on the other end and my heart dropped. "Y/n were you still coming over. Do I need to pick you up." Garcia's jaw dropped and she looked at me with a smirk. "Hello sir.....yea y/n needs you to pick her up." 

I heard him sigh, "Where" She gave him the location and he was here within minutes. His car pulled up and he stepped out. Garcia helped me up. 

I gasped, "Baby...wha-t are you doin he..." 

When I saw Aaron I stumbled over to him giving him a sloppy kiss. He caught me and kissed me back before looking at Penelope. She was smiling the whole time Aaron just gave her a look and she stopped. 

"We'll talk about this tomorrow, please don't say anything." Hotch told Garcia; she didn't say a word walking back into the club. 

I couldn't carry my own weight; Aaron picked me up bridal style and put me in the passenger seat. 

I woke up to breathing on my neck, I didn't remember what happened my heart dropped not knowing who was next to me. I turned my head and saw Aaron and I relaxed. 

"Morning", he said kissing my neck. "Hey", I felt like death. Every time I drink I forget about the torture in the morning that reminds me why I don't drink. 

"There something you need to know....last night, Garcia called me to get you." I froze, some how I knew exactly what he was going to say and I dreaded it. 

"You kissed me in front of her." I knew it, the one thing I didn't want the team to know about. 

"Did she tell anyone?" I sat up going to the bathroom. "Not that I know of, I told her not too but its Garcia." He was right about that if anyone loves gossip its Pen. 

I took shower and went to the kitchen. It was the first time Aaron saw me hungover and his heart ached. 

He saw the pain I was in and just wanted to help. Sadly there wasn't much he could do. 

My head was pounding, I couldn't stop shaking, and I was throwing up. "Here." Aaron handed me a trash can and some ibuprofen. 

I sat on the couch with him watching tv and fell asleep in his embrace. His hands slightly tugging on my hair to relive some of the pressure. 

________________

I was laying down with Aaron and I just felt off. His chest was pressed to my back holding me close while I stayed awake all night. 

I was suddenly so sad, I wasn't tired I just wanted to cry. I struggled to get up and look at the time, 1:35am great. 

I unwrapped Aarons arms from around my waist and stood up going into the bathroom. I had dark circles under my eyes like I hadn't slept in days, I just felt...weak. 

I closed my eyes and put my head down. I heard foot steps behind me, Aaron was leaning on the doorway looking at me through the mirror. 

"Baby what are you doing up." He asked with his morning voice. His eyes almost completely shut like he was going to knock out right there. 

"I don't know, I jus-," I sighed. "I don't know." I walked over to him patting him on the chest going to lay back down. 

"No there's something wrong, I can tell", He turned around. I was deciding if I should tell him. 

"Lately I've just been sad. Like I just wanna break down crying for no reason; maybe its just stress." 

He walked over to me kneeling down between my legs, putting a hand on my knee. "How about we go out. I wanna take you some place." I was confused; where would we be going at 1:40 in the morning, but we got dressed and walked outside to the car. 

The winter air was crisp but not too cold. Getting into the car he started driving; it was calm and quiet with light instrumental music playing in the background. 

My mind wondered as I looked at the sky through the window. I was thinking about life, the fact that we don't understand it as much as we'd like. I was snapped out of me thoughts when the car stopped. 

I looked at the clock, 2:30. We left the apartment at 1:40, driving for almost an hour. I looked around and saw nothing. He got out of the car opening my door for me. He grabbed my hand helping me out.

I saw nothing but grass and trees. We were on a huge ass hill that overlooked a forest, it reminded me of the clearing we found; but this was different. 

"Why'd you bring me here." I saw Aaron expression change. "I used to come here when I was stressed or needed a break. Usually around this time." 

Sitting on the hood of his car he continued. "I always came here alone, this was my way of escaping in a sense." 

Gazing at the sky it was black with tints of blue, purple, pink, and orange. The grass was overgrown, breeze had a slight chill, the wind rustling the trees. I was staring at the stars, there was no light pollution.

I was just space and seeing it clearly was reliving and damn near therapeutic. He put his arm around me holding me against him, throwing a blanket over us. 

I let out a deep breath and drifted off to the sounds of Aaron humming a song. 

I woke up to arm shaking me, "Princess we got to go." I sat up groaning, "Why." 

"We have work", getting back into the car I stretched. "Oh right", I felt a bit better; he helped me. 

__________________

When we got to work Aaron and I automatically went to Garcia office. We walked in and she turned around in her chair. 

There was a huge smile on her face, "Oh my god... I'm so happy for you guys." Closing the door behind us Aaron said, "You didn't tell anyone right." 

"No sir I didn't tell a soul...if you don't mind I have a few questions." We nodded and sat down. "

How long has this been going on." She pointed between me and Aaron.

"About five months now, and to answer the following question I'm aware I've been here five months. We started dating soon after yes." I said putting my hand on his. 

"Does anyone else know"

"Rossi but no one else and y/n and I would like to keep it that way please."

I stood up grabbing Aarons hand pulling him up. "Y/n we're gonna have to talk later." 

Garcia said while winking at me. I huffed and smiled walking out to my desk. 

__________________

A few hours have passed and honestly I was really horny. It had been a few days since we last had sex and I needed his touch; I felt deprived. I took out my phone. 

Y/n- Close the blinds

Aaron- Why

Y/n- Just do it

I saw him in the corner of my eye close the blinds

Y/n- Are you gonna be busy today 

Aaron- No.....little girl what are you doing

Y/n- Call me to your office

Hotch opened the door, "Y/n can I see you in my office please." I walked up the ramp opening the door closing it behind me. I pressed my back to the door and locked it. 

Hearing the click Aaron looked at me raising his eyebrows, I walked over to him quickly sitting on the desk in front of him. 

I pulled him up with the collar of his suit pressing my lips to his. He snaked his arms around my waist. Moaning into the kiss I pulled away. 

As I looked at his face, seeing his swollen lips and dilated eyes it turned me on even more. 

"Just fuck me", He crashed his lips to mine pushing his tongue into my mouth. He pulled me off turned me around and slammed my chest on his desk. 

"You couldn't wait till we got home", he pulled my pants down and slapped my ass. 

Clenching around nothing I sat up facing him, He tugged at my panted taking them off completely.

Aaron standing in between my legs I glanced at the growing bulge in his pants. I palmed him, him groaned in my ear while unbuttoning my shirt. 

I unzipped his pants pulling them down just enough to pull his cock out. Stroking his shaft he took off my underwear. 

He ran his cock up and down my slit before sliding in. Letting me adjust to his size before continuing, thrusting in a out. 

I littered kisses down his neck and up to his jawline; purple circles started to form. I moaned into his neck, his hand finding its way around my throat applying enough pressure for my vision to blur. "Fuc-"

"Let me hear you baby", the knot forming in my stomach. His other hand went to my clit rubbing fast circles matching his movements. 

His groans and curses could be heard from the bullpen. Pounding into me I couldn't form words only whimpers. He turned me into a moaning mess. 

His thrusts getting rougher and faster I started to come close to the edge. He brought me closer to him; my body almost completely with his. 

He added more pressure on my throat, "Fuck Aaron". My hand tugging on his hair pulling his head to the side putting my head into the crook of his neck. 

His movements started to falter as I felt him starting to twitch inside me. I reached my orgasm, I clenched around him bringing him to finish inside me.

My body shaking slightly. Seeing white spots I didn't notice Aaron had already pulled out and was cleaning between my legs with a tissue. 

"You feel better now", Aaron let out a chuckle putting his hands on my hips helping me down. I put my underwear and pants back on. 

I went up to Aaron setting a deep and loving kiss on his lips. My hand pressed the back of his neck bringing him closer. 

"Little girl if you don't stop I might just have to bend you back over the desk." I just stared at him. 

"I'm gonna hold you to that. Love you" Sitting back down and continuing to work, "Love you too."

I walked out of his office sitting back down. From the looks of it, I didn't think they heard us, but I did notice a pair of eyes staring at me.

Rossi and Garcia. 

__________________

@marie1115 @appleblossoms-posts @mac99martin @donttellanyoneireadfanfiction

[konpithepuppy]

[TRANSLATION: Myojo 05.2021]

7 MEN SAMURAI CROSS TALK + SOLO INTERVIEW

Scans not mine

Neither an English nor a Japanese native speaker

Feel free to correct me, thanks

7 MEN 侍 I AM THE KING OF STAY- HOME!!

Very comfortable indoor pride

Playing instruments, playing games, the modes of indoor living of 6 people who seems good at spending time at home were checked! With 3-people discussion, the pride they have in their rooms got them excited...is the stay home king determined!?

THE REACTION OF THE TWO ON YABANA'S MUSIC ROOM IS...!?

Rinne: If you talk about indoor type, isn't that Banasan (Yabana)?!

Yabana: If you talk about paleness of the skin, then Konpi (Konno) is also an indoor type, but what type are you really?

Konno: I like going out to have fun, I also love going shopping if I have time. To be stuck at home everyday is impossible for me.

Rinne: Rinne will feel bad too if Rinne stays at home all the time. Recently, my younger brother teaches me game when I am at home.

Yabana: Konpi has a younger brother too and I wonder if he is an outdoor type. I have a younger sister, and she is the type who likes to draw more than to play outside.

Rinne: When you talk about indoors, a scene where someone is staying in the house all the time and making a bomb or something then the police will come comes into my mind (LOL).

Yabana: That is probably not "hikikomori" but a "tatekomori"! What crime drama us that~?! In my room, since I can just sit down and I can reach everything everything like my personal computer, guitar, bass, keyboard, all of my music instruments, it is super~convenient that I can stay in there all the time. (T/N: hikikomori = homebody; tatekomori = barricading oneself while being besieged)

Rinne: Bana-san's room looks like a music studio. Somehow, you seem like you are eating cup ramen every day.

Yabana: I do eat cup noodles.

Konno: And then, it looks like your [Yabana's] partially consumed plastic bottles were scattered around.

Rinne: And those trash will pile-up and explode LOL.

Yabana: It won't explode! Moreover, I don't have half empty bottles. But since I have around 3 plastic bottles that I have emptied, then I guess I can't deny that.

Rinne: But you know, if you leave a half empty juice bottle for several days, the content may explode.

Yabana: Throw it properly (LOL). I don't like going out that much but I want to see the actual thing when I go buy things.

Rinne: Rinne also wants to see the actual thing when buying! Since I wrongly bought a ladies wear on the internet.

Konno: Hu~h! Why? You liked the design?

Yabana: Ah! The one with a drawing of a tiger? You looked like a body builder who is doing a muscle training in the coast of America (roar of laughter).

Konno: Oh that sort (LOL)!

Rinne: It was small that I can't wear it, so I gave it to a kouhai.

Yabana: Even though it is fun to be absorbed at something that you like doing at home, this doesn't bring quite a good image for you two. More than hating to go out, I just find troublesome having to dress up to go out.

Konno: You declined Taiko's invite too.

Yabana: That's a story in the past. He suddenly told me late at night, "Let's go to theme park tomorrow!" so there's no way I can go. If it's a date then I'll think of it as an event like a formal event and I will go tho.

Rinne: "Formal event" (LOL). Well then, a date at home is good for you, Bana-san, right? Rinne doesn't know what should Rinne do tho.

Konno: I think it's okay to stay at home once in a while. Like watching movie.

Rinne: Konpi didn't have the image of watching a movie!

Yabana: Certainly. Since he is always watching YouTube videos.

Konno: I go to cinema too, I even go alone.

Yabana: Well then, if you have a spacious house, what will you do in a date at home?

Rinne: We'll play hide and seek!

Yabana: What you want to do for indoor and outdoor are the same!

Motodaka Katsuki x Nakamura Reia x Sasaki Taiko

REIA'S HIGH TECH LIFE IS SOMETHING TO BE ENVY AT!

Reia: As for me, since staying indoors has gradually increased, I've been playing games at home all the time, everyone in my family also plays a competition game.

Motodaka: In the past, we play shogi in a tournament style at our home and I win by a landslide!

Sasaki: If I'm at home, I am watching television at my room all the time. There are also time when I don't open the curtains in my room all day long.

Motodaka: Huh? Why?

Sasaki: Coz it is troublesome to do it.

Motodaka: What~ that is not good. You need to get some sunlight.

Sasaki: It's just that, if the room is always dark, there will be molds, right? That's why before I go out, I hurriedly open the curtains then I make sure to hurriedly close it.

Reia: Opening then closing it right after?

Motodaka: That doesn't make sense (LOL)!

Sasaki: The curtains in our house are automatic. I open the curtains in the morning, then I will set a timer so that they will close in the evening.

Motodaka: That's amazing! Isn't that great?! Well, my room doesn't have curtains in the first place.

Sasaki: Huh? You don't have one? What do you do when you're going to sleep?

Motodaka: We have a curtain in the room where I sleep, the whole family sleeps there together.

Reia: So it's a type where the children sleep in between their parents. Isn't that wonderful too?!

Motodaka: That's why I settle down in the L-shaped sofa in our living room. Since you can fall asleep when you extend your legs on the vertical part of the sofa, that spot is also popular in our family. I hug my tuna stuffed toy while watching television there.

Sasaki: For real!? Just how much do you love fishes!?

Motodaka: Moreover, it's not like with the ones that look cute that are being sold at aquariums, this one is a real thing. Santa-san gave this to me last Christmas.

Reia: Santa-san knows Katsuki's preference! I often unconsciously place cushion between my legs at home.

Sasaki: It calms you down when you place cushion between your legs, right? I also hug a long body pillow. I have a rule in which even though I didn't go out for the whole day, I still must take a bath. Lately, I like nigori-yu bath powder.

Reia: That's quite a taste, right?

Sasaki: I don't want to see my body when I take a bath so I use nigori-yu (LOL).

Motodaka: We are using carbonated bath powder in our house lately.

Reia: We're the same! But we have a lot of varieties. I haven't used nigori-yu even once tho. Speaking of baths, I change the showerhead. There are 4 types of water current [that you can choose from].

Motodaka: Is that a showerhead where the water becomes like a mist?

Reia: Yup, that.

Motodaka: There's also something like that in the garden in my house.

Sasaki: That's a hose (LOL)!

Motodaka: Yup (LOL).

Reia: When you use that showerhead in the bathtub filled with hot water, the water will turn into a thick white silky bath with bubbles.

Motodaka: Really? That's great!

Reia: Also, I have a new automatic trash bin, and I plan to buy a big television and sound bar. Since my father likes latest appliances, I get informations from him so I came to like those appliances too.

Motodaka: Isn't Reia's room amazing!? That's an ideal house.

Reia: Do you want to come to my house to have fun?

Motodaka: Can I? I want to go!

Sasaki: I want to go too. That seems fun!

Reia: Well then, let's gather at my house next time~!

Motodaka & Sasaki: Ye~s!

How do the rough samurai-tachi's on stage spend their time at home? A close-up of their sumikko life! (T/N: sumikko)

Samurai-tachi's Indoor Mode of Living

Konno Taiko

In contrary to my beautiful skin that doesn't seem to take ultraviolet rays, I am active. In my room, heavy bass sounds can be heard. I play western music with the speaker of my choice.

Sugeta Rinne

Even during day-off, I absolutely get up by noon. I am into bathub with television, jacuzzi, and bubble bath powder. I am the type who take long baths and I stay in there for an hour.

Yabana Rei

Mainly, I live in a sloppy instruments room surrounded by music instruments and music equipments. It is troublesome to dress up for the sake of going out but I make distinction between pajamas and loungewear.

Motodaka Katsuki

I love eating that I search for cooking videos when I have time. If there is a drama series that I am into, I'm the typo who will watch it until the end in one go, so there are times when I don't sleep and just keep watching the drama.

Nakamura Reia

I am a gamer. Thinking of how I can live without taking a break from gaming, I purchased an AI speaker. I am enjoying the high tech lifestyle where electricity and air conditioner can be operated through voice.

Sasaki Taiko

Because I have a refrigerator that I got from a friend in my room, I don't have to go to the kitchen even though I am thirsty. I also have my diligent side where I vacuum my futon without fail everyday.

[c-atm]

Dance in the Pale Moonlight chapter 1

Based on @meku95 awesome Witchanddemonau

      She groaned as she walked out of the Delmarva public library finishing her shift and not just because of the idiocy she endured all day. Not even cause of her co-workers, who at times are annoying as all hell. No no...The source of the young witch in training groans, stood on the steps of the library surrounded by curious and flirty females and males. 

 Wearing his signature dark pink three piece suit, victorian-style bubblegum pink shirt, diamond collar pin, black loafers stood Steven Diamond Universe. In addition to his normal standout attire he placed on a pair of shades  to cover his eyes and a hood to cover his ...other features(despite being able to 'glamour' them away.) On his shoulder sat a purple owl.

She sighed at the sight of his rabid fandom and the whining they made when he pushed pass them to get to her side.

"You're looking quite lovely today, My lady." 

She grimaced at his slick tone slightly, before leading him around back into an alley for some privacy. When it was clear that no one was following them  She growled at him. 

“Steven.. Why are you here?”

“Can’t a familiar see his beautiful summoner, without summoning?”

“Not when said familiar is a demon with horns and such.”’

He chuckled as he pulled his hood and shades off, ignoring his lady’s protest, revealing..His slight tan skin, human like eyes and slight freckled face..completely human-like and teasingly smirking.as he folded the hood over his forearm. .

Connie turned away feeling her face grow a bit warm.‘ Sheesh.  His playing is gonna kill me.’ 

“So why are you here, again?.” She folded her arms  above her chest as she arched an eyebrow at the person in front of her, trying to ignore the budding affection that seems to grow just a bit every time they meet.

“I was just...around the area and figured I’d stop by.”

She kissed her teeth at his very weak answer.“Uh-huh…” With a nod, she looked at the dove on his shoulder and with a sweet smile she asked. 

"Amy. Why are you and your 'Big Bro' in the city?"

"He got into it with Pearl again!"

"Amethyst!" 

"Steven, really?"

He stiffened at her slightly dissatisfied tone, his pride of a familiar wouldn't allow him to look bad in his mistress's eyes. 

She sighed tiredly. It was common but still she rather not her master in witchery and her friend and partner... be at odds with each other so often.

."So..What was it about this time?" 

As the purple bird was about to answer, he pressed his index and middle finger on her beak, keeping her shut.

"Nothing to concern yourself with, my lady. Just a bit of a hiccup on a mission is... ah!

He waved his index finger in pain as Amethyst flew from his shoulders to the lightly chuckling Connie's. 

"You kind of deserved that, Steven."

"Mean! That was mean Big Bro."

Steven only snared in response as Connie rubbed the birds under belly caringly inciting a smug look on Amethyst face.

  "So...What happened on the mission?" 

Steven and Amethysts looked at each other  before Steven sighed in defeat, nodding.

   From Amethyst story, The Crystal Witches found the whereabouts of a demon who uses music as a weapon, lurking in North Delmarva. It was supposed to be relatively weak, enough  for two of them; Steven and Pearl..Amethyst tagged along as well.

  The demon had been masquerading as a street performer and had set up in the very center of a shopping market. It was said that the demon was targeting humans, bewitching them, making them it's slave and stealing their vitality for power...Specifically it was targeting humans with aptitude for magic.

    When they arrived they saw evidence that the information was correct. The residents were passed out appearing to sleeping peaceful and bodies with an unnatural tone of gray to their skin. They decided to split up Steven and Amethyst to the west and Pearl to the east, agreeing to inform the other when they made contact.

   The market was completely under the demon siege, the deeper they went in finding more of the same. Steven and Amethysts stopped when they heard  a lullaby being played on a ukulele, before running towards the music, they paused as they watched the purple hooded demon slowly drained the vitality of a group of young teens. The good thing is that at the time, they had the element of surprise; it seemed it was too engrossed in it's meal and performance to even register them.

Seeing this as a perfect chance, Amethyst attacked the demon first..and was unceremoniously kicked back to Steven side. Steven attacked almost immediately in a ready to send the demon back to it's world, harshly..Only to be obstructed by a small condensed forcefield of vibration keeping Steven back. With a strum of it's instrument the barrier  explodes throwing Steven, and A few unlucky bodies back. He landed hard headfirst through a pole, Amethyst was able to catch the humans that were thrown in the explosion and get them to relative safety.

By the time Steven was done shaking the cobwebs out of his head and Amethysts was done checking on the humans, Pearl was steadily beating the demon back, exhausting it's borrowed strength with quick spells and hand to hand combat. Steven and Amethysts watched as Pearl broke the instrument In the demon's hand with a stab of her staff, the gathered vitality returning to the people. The demon growled before leaping back and vanishing in a purple mist, leaving a musical note in the form of energy before that too disappeared.

After they made sure the humans were indeed gonna be alright..Pearl and Steven got into it.

Pearl reprimanding them both for not calling her when they found the demon, sloppy fighting, and being foolish enough to try to fight it alone and putting the demons victims in potential danger..

Embarrassed Steven retaliated, stating they saw a chance and took it..Also they forced the demon to use a great amount of it's stolen power before her arrival, allowing Pearl to get the upper hand, and even then she couldn't finish it off. 

From there it deteriorated to petty insults towards each other all the way back to the temple with Amethyst trying to play peacemaker.  It was when they were at the temple things got more heated and personal. 

"That's enough Amethyst, no need to talk about it anymore."

Steven interrupted as Amethyst before she said too much. Connie turned to her familiar, looking concerned at his dark tone.

"Ah!..I..I'm sorry bro."

"Not your fault. She was just mad…" He turned his attention to Connie and gave her a sly smile. "As to why we are here? Garnet stated that she saw our 'friend's is somewhere in the city. I was hoping to have you join in our investigation. "

Connie sighed tiredly, but smiled nonetheless. "Sure, but I haven't felt anything around her though."

"Neither did we, but Big bro just wanted you by him. He was worried!" 

Steven smirked and shrugged..She wasn't lying. "Demon hunting is second priority when up against even a moment with you, my beloved lady."

Connie groaned at his flirting, her face hiding it's red. "Let's just get going, can we do that?"

"Lead the way, my lady."

"Can we get some food while we demon hunt, I want a torta!" Amethyst squawked on the young witch's shoulder, making Connie winced at the loud sound. 

"Amethyst get off Connie shoulder, yeah? Cover yourself with the hood."

Amethyst with a disappointing groan leapt from the witch's shoulder and down to the ground, when Steven tossed the hood upon Amethyst, covering her completely. 

The sounds of bones cracking could be heard as the purple bird shapeshift into a body of a robust female human, short in stature. Under the hood was plump lips,a button nose, amethyst stone freckles, purple hair covering the left of a pair of violet eyes, and light almond skin with purple streaks. Overall she was what some would consider exotically attractive. 

She gave the witch in training a smile before giving her a hug around the waist. 

“Can we get those tortas now?”

Connie had to giggle at the childish request before nodding, returning the hug as well. 

“My lady! Where’s my affection?” 

Connie scoffed at Steven complaining as she pet the smaller girl's head. “You be quiet and let’s go search.”

Steven whimpered teasingly but followed along closely behind giving a chuckle towards the witch; one that Connie couldn't help but blush at.

As they walked off the property grounds a regular walked by glancing at the trio from their right peripheral, suspiciously. Steven locked eyes with them for a moment before giving a slight grin and continuing on his way. 

As they walked the populated city, Connie couldn't help but smile at the adorable actions of her demon cohorts. Amethyst stopped and looked at almost every food shop, magazine and comic stands and toy store. Each time smiling brightly. 

Steven, for his part, took a more attention towards the task of actually trying to find the demon presence at each stop. She watched as his eyes always narrow for any magic signature. As his nostrils flexed for any non-human yet familiar smell. As his ears twitched for any sound with an unearthly presence. She had to admit, her familiar was impressive when he was determined. It was an begrudgingly attractive trait.

 That didn't stop him from joining his 'little sis' in window shopping though, or taken his mistress's hand and leading her into a shop they found interesting. Her protest usually ignored to the point of her allowing it..To the point of her almost interlocking hers with his. A few hours into their investigation/playing and with the sun setting...

They didn’t find any demon.

Amethyst did get torta though..So that was one victory. 

Connie found herself sitting on a bench as stretching a bit tiredly, as the demon duo found interest in a clothes boutique.

'This..This was a great way to spend the afternoon actually..' 

Connie allowed a smile on her face at that thought. she actually needed this she realized. If it was any other day, she probably would have headed home. Get some witchcraft training, read a book..All alone in her home. 

"Probably would have summoned Steven just to kill the boredom." Her smirk was a bit cynical. 

Her home was almost always empty but that isn’t very new, comes with being orphaned against your will..that and becoming ' the quiet, cold. occult girl' as she heard people around the village she lives at called her. The little snickers and sneers about her being too weird, too uptight, too self-centered and such behind her back..It seeped under her skin for some reason. Her smile dropped into a frown.

“Whatever..They're just idiots, who doesn't know anything about the truths of this world. .. Who cares about them?” She hated how sadden her voice sounded. She leaned back before looking back at the troublemaking demons. Steven trying to get Amethyst to stop taking clothes off of random mannequins with little success. A small smirk on her face as she looked at her familiar, reprimanding his ‘little sister’ actions, before whispering something in her ear. Getting a smile from Amethyst ,who seemed determined in whatever the task he gave her. 

She felt a small heat in her cheeks when he looked at her from the corner of his eyes.and waved towards her.

“Silly demon.” 

She was a bit surprised at warmth in  her voice as she waved back before watching Steven smirk and walk out of view.

 It was then that she felt a chill down her spine..and not the delightful she gets from Steven at times..No this one was caused by the feeling of being observed. She stood up, fist clenched as she looked for any sign of an enemy.

The seal on her right glowed and surged with magic as she looked around. Her senses heighten  and more sensitive to magic signatures. She looked at the billboards..nothing..The arcade..nothing…

' Steven come to me.'

The Crest glowed at her thought and almost instantly, rising behind her from the shadows stood Steven. His face determined, and still glamoured as a human but his eyes took their original black and dark pink.

"My lady?" His voice was cool with a bit of a worry but low.. A whisper.

"Is Amethyst still with you?" 

"She's staking out on the wall..It's definitely somewhere in this area.." 

"No kidding..I feel like it was watching me. just for a moment." 

His lady's abashed tone caused the familiar clenched his fist in rage..

' To cause discomfort to my Connie..I'll see this demon dead before dawn'  

He grinned gently towards his contractor, his eyes still vigilantly searching.

"Admiring your beauty to the point of losing concentration..Can't blame them. Your visage is quite distracting, my lady."

Connie lighty smirked,  grateful for the attempt at humor.

"Not enough it seems..It's back to masking its presence."

Steven was about to agree when a female scream was heard to the west. Steven quickly crouched in front of her, looking back expectantly, who nodded before climbing on.. 

Steven knew it was serious but.he couldn't  help the warmth he felt having her so close..Arms around his neck, knees and calves squeezing his sides, and his hand folded behind him as a makeshift seat for his lady. The fact that she always seem to instinctively press against him too was  bonus.

He leapt from street lamp to street lamp heading towards the growing crowd and the presence of a fading heartbeat along with its magic.. The closer they got, the stronger the scene. They stopped on a tree limb above the crowd, watching as the police and ambulance scattered the crowd and  the paramedics went to put the body in a bag or at least attempt to .as soon as the body was touched..It broke and shattered like brittle brimstone.Though it did give Steven enough time to confirm the identify the body through smell..along with other traits.

"It's the demon, we were chasing..Someone got to them first." 

The way he spoke compounded the concern in Connie. She expected him to be more relaxed but, she could feel his anger radiating off him 

“Isn't that a good thing? Wasn't that what we set out to do?"

He glared deepened  just a bit.

"It's not the result...t's the method."

They got a quick glance at the body before it broke..and it was a sight he wished his lady didn't see.. 

The demon..It suffered..The look of pure torment on the corpses face told him that much. It was gray.. stone gray and hellishly thin...much different from the last time they met..signs of being drained of spirit and magic.

 Rather it was the landing from the drop, which Steven figured due to the splattered blood..or its executioner;  the body was mangled like a rag doll. Its bone snapped and pushing through its thin skin, ligaments torn open by what seemed to be claws..jagged claws..all for the world to see. The demon was used an example or an exhibition, to whom..Steven couldn't say, but they were certainly relished in their brutality and by the tightness of Connie's grip. She felt the same discontent at the visage.

There was one other thing he got as well. The residual presence of magic from a human and a non-human. 

"This..we need to inform the witches of this..."

Connie voice wasn't that of fear but of resignation. She would have loved to investigate and try to find those responsible, but the look on Steven face said it all...They might be over their heads. She got a nod of affirmation from her familiar. 

"Amethyst" 

Almost instantaneously the limb above them shook and the demoness poked her head out of the foliage. looking quizzically at the duo.

"Yes Big Bro?"

"Go home and inform the witches."

His voice left no room for argument or questioning.

Amethyst still did the latter though. " What about you?"

He smirked before nodding his head towards Connie. "I'll be accompanying my lady home.Before heading back here."

Connie grimaced, faced red. "Hey now! I didn't agree to that!"

"Well, how else will I be able to protect my beloved lady?"

Connie gave him a gentle tap on the back of his head. A love tap. "I'm quite capable, thank you."

Steven gave her a small smile."Of course..But I need to be sure your safe,Connie. It'll calm me."

'He's hiding something...His eyes, there's worry in them.' Connie thought with a frown on her face at the false smile. "Sure.."

He nodded as he turned to Amethyst. "Hurry up, now. I'll be there later."

Amethyst, a bit disheartened at her Big bro somber tone, nodded reluctantly. Before she left though she whispered into Steven's ear, who eyes widen in thought…

"Take it with you..I'll collect it later Now go home and mask your magic."

Amethyst  smiled a bit at his usual  mischievous tone of voice. With a nod the demoness threw the hood to her brother, before  leaping from her branch before transforming into a owl..with a box in its beak. 

He watched for a moment before turning to Connie. who nodded.. They climbed down from the tree slowly, unnoticeably, blending into the busy streets..

Or so they thought. Not to far from them, someone watched with longing, envious eyes behind a chain link fence. On there palm was the crest of a contract.

[mauserfrau]

Eyeshine, Part 1 - Bordertober

HEY KIDS WHO WANTS TO SEE THE TWINS ON THEIR SHIP HEADED TO PANDORA.

IT’S REALLY TINY.

AND THEY’RE HAVING ENGINE TROUBLE.

...or are they?

Lots of Tyreen eating and some other general nastiness from her.  Appreciably Claustrophobic.  

The jump brought them to a space so empty it didn’t even seem black.  No— darkness rested between other stars, far off and distant.  Here was a clear nothingness, out of reach of the rest of the universe.  

Tyreen drifted at his shoulder.  He could feel her fuming.

Neither of them had made much sound since they’d stopped.  The lights were low, the gravity still off and wherever they were now, it seemed like there hadn’t been a sound there since the galaxy formed.  A word from either of them would disturb this.

Besides, this wasn’t Pandora.  This wasn’t even the Pandoran system.  Or any system.  This was nothing.

“Stars move, you know,” Troy said, fumbling the silence apart.

“It’s only been like twenty years,” insisted Tyreen.  “They can’t move that fast.  We should at least be able to see it!”

He gestured a spiral with his hand.  Did she even care that the star cluster where Nekrotafeyo had grown spun opposite this one, that they were blue-shifting verses each other and that had choked the navigation system?  He decided to summarize.  “I think the computer’s a little off and umm...”

“Umm what?”

“I might have overcompensated for stellar drift since I ended up doing it manually.”

“Troy!” She made his name sound like she’d broken something.  He half-expected a slap.

“Look.” He forced calm into his voice and turned to face her as he spoke.  

She was livid, her whole body tense and her hair standing on end.  

“We can’t run out of power.  We jumped just fine.  We have water.  We have food.  We have a working toilet.”

“And where are we!”

“I’m gonna run an extrapolation and figure that out while the jump drive resets.”

“Can’t you math it in your head?”

“Um.” Sighing, Troy turned back to the view screen, focusing first on the blank reach where their ship rested, then letting his vision float to the stars.  The blackness lived between them, but in some strands there was no between, only points of light thick enough to make mist out of each other.  “I kinda don’t think so.”

Tyreen groaned and swam off towards the bed.

*

Tyreen moved better in zero g than he did.  Troy was always twisting around to his left to push, pull, founder.  Still, he hated to turn the gravity back on.  There was something about watching her float above the bed with the covers billowing around her.  She seemed so right like that, singular and and easy and in this case put out.  

Her Coeus reader was flickering lately.  She ended up groaning and setting it loose to float through the cabin where Troy caught it.

She also said— “Hey, turn the heavy back on.  I gotta piss.” 

“Alright.  On three.  Three.” Troy threw the switch.  His back crunched as weight returned to his spine through the seat at the command console.  His sister landed with a thump.  Their foodstores yelped and howled and shed feather-forms along the floor.  Tyreen caught herself with a huff and pulled herself into the water closet, giving the cage of spindly hexlings a sour look before she shut the door.  One of them shrieked after her.  Troy shushed it and went back to the console.

The keys pressed easier with weight back in his body.  He pulled up the extrapolation program.  Another likely set of coordinates failed a final round of testing and ticked away.  The system was working to match the spectrographic information of visible stars to known clusters as far as he could tell.  Color seemed such a tenuous way to determine place, but that might have been the emptiness intruding on his thoughts more than anything rational.  Besides, he kept thinking he had somehow spied the white supergiant that held Pandora out among all the other points of light.

Troy was tempted to ask his sister to try.  She was the siren.  She might be able to do it if she listened across all the dark matter between them and that place.

She was still in the water closet.  

Troy let the extrapolator run in the background and idly tabbed into the superstructure of the ship’s hard drive.  It had been made to be piloted by someone with little skill, all of the command icons in welcoming jelly style art with three to four clicks needed to access any functions more complicated than the gravity or the sublight engine speed.  He’d picked the interface up fast enough, but modifying the OS to accept a jump drive had been more hours of frustrated keystrokes than any actual handiwork.  

Every system responded in good order.  He’d done the same check once they’d cleared Nekrotafeyo’s gravity well and before the jump.  The only difference was thousands of light years to nowhere and the bottom falling out of his stomach halfway there, not more than a heartbeat.  

He even dug into the audio system.  If Tyreen asked, he wanted to be able to tell her literally everything was fine.

A handful of loose example recordings bothered the top folder.  Troy thought about moving them, but the system considered their poor placement de rigeur and complained when he tried.

Tempted to try, he clicked down the list, which was when he realized: one of them had a different date than the others.

He leaned over a speaker and hit play, curious what had been loaded on this particular sound test file.  Since that was probably it.

Instead, he heard Dad say, “Well, if it isn’t my favorite little minx.  Yeah, that’s a good girl.  Let me see those eyes shine.  I love it when you...”

He slammed stop.

There was somebody else on the file too.  They were laughing that bubbly way he knew happened, but he barely remembered as something he’d experienced in his own life.

Troy stared at the file.  He breathed again.

A thump sounded behind him and Tyreen came tripping out of the water closet, pants around her ankles and her underwear yanked up in her fist.  “What the hell was that?”

“Ah, system check.  Since we’re here, you know.”

She growled and she sat down right where she was and in the puddle of her pants.  “Warn me next time.”

“Your intuition didn’t tip you off?”

Those words didn’t even merit an answer.  She closed her eyes and turned her back to him.

The ship was so small he only would have had to lean out of the chair and he could have had his hand on her.  She wasn’t in the mood though, not about that, not about anything to do with Dad and definitely not about playing siren anytime before they made planetfall.

And well, then she wouldn’t be playing anymore, would she?

*

Maybe that fact had settled funny someplace in her stomach.  Troy just knew that after a while she stole her Coeus back and stood in the corner, smacking the screen.  The extrapolation program ticked off another hundred coordinates that didn’t suit, approaching 50% complete at a crawl.

Tyreen peered over his shoulder, but said nothing about the progress bar.

It looked like half of their chances for finding themselves had been spent.  Troy thought it was more of a best match situation.

He wondered what he would do if he was wrong.

The jump drive ticked down to usable quiescence.  Tyreen swore and started to get back into bed.  Instead she kicked her pants off and stretched out belly-down on the floor which was chalky with the bookmarks of the night they’d left.

It had only been two days.  He thought.  The active time on the sublight engine monitor was somewhat misleading.  Startup had taken so long, but he’d been fumbling all over himself, movements thick with the shock of what he was about to do.

What Tyreen said they were doing.

Like, she just… dragged him.  Now?

Now there his sister lay, looking like she’d melted into the ground.

“What’re you staring at?” she muttered without looking up from the well of her arms.

“Mm.  Nothing,” Troy murmured.  “I was thinking about when we were kids.  That game we’d play about not getting off the bed back when we only had the one and...” Well, he thought about that a lot, even though it hadn’t been bothering his mind in that moment.

Tyreen sat up, still hunched over.  Her Coeus rattled in her grasp.  Eventually, she tipped it into one of the charging slots.  “I’m eating now.  You want in?”

“Sure.”

Food was something to do anyway.  Troy hauled himself out of the chair and got himself into the cupboard after some of the stale rye bread they’d taken from the stores back at the homestead.  He checked it for mold and then also took a plum.

Tyreen picked over the cages with a tongs.  Did she want manta eggs? A hexling or two? A flush of air coral and sprat? One one of the lonesome baby Djira mewing in their own slime?

She took two eggs.  

The two of them hunched together on a sheet of tanned air algae.  Troy’s plum was sour, but he sucked the pit clean while Tyreen stared at him.  As he reached for the bread, Tyreen shoved one of the eggs at him.  “Open it for me.”

Troy sighed.  Speaking of games from when they were children— Tyreen could have eaten the egg regardless, but he’d gotten awfully good at spinning the tops off with his knife and one hand.  He smiled and he did this for her now, placing the egg on a spare sack so that his sister’s leavings would spread through the ship, get into the Instruments.  

The egg squished as she pressed her fingers inside.  It turned to dust and glass.  “Hmm.  That was fresher than I thought.”

“Good.  Want me to do the other one too?”

“Sure.”

So, he sliced again.  He was going to have to wash his hand before he finished his own super as much as the second egg leaked.

This time, his sister stared at her dirty knees.  “Are you sure you didn’t fuck everything up?”

“If I did,” Troy said softly.  “Then we’ll deal wi-...”

Tyreen sucked the other egg down, sloppy now, sand leaking between her toes.  She grabbed the piece of rye and stuck it in Troy’s mouth before burrowing into the bed and covering her head with the pillow.  

Troy chewed thoughtfully and then moved to clean up.  The baby Djira chortled in their cages as though night had fallen.  Well, it was that time by the engine clock.  

*

[theycallmegothboy]

1-100 >:DDDD REVENGE!!!

FELIXXXXXXXXXXXX >:(( 1. Spotify, SoundCloud, or Pandora?  -spotify  2. is your room messy or clean? -it’s pretty messy i guess  3. what color are your eyes? -blue and grey

4. do you like your name? why? -yeah it’s fine 5. what is your relationship status? -single 6. describe your personality in 3 words or less -certified intrusive thot 7. what color hair do you have? -brown and rn it’s red 8. what kind of car do you drive? color? -i dont have a car 9. where do you shop? -hot topic, goodwill, target 10. how would you describe your style? -comfy emo 11. favorite social media account -of mine, probably discord or youtube 12. what size bed do you have? -twin >:(( 13. any siblings? -i have 1.5 brothers  14. if you can live anywhere in the world where would it be? why? -probably vancouver, idk canada seems lit 15. favorite snapchat filter? -i like the one with devil horns and a tail but its cute 16. favorite makeup brand(s) -i dont wear makeup 17. how many times a week do you shower? -i used to shower every day, but i dont do anything that gets me dirty so like maybe 3 times but if i leave the house then i shower 18. favorite tv show? -stranger things 19. shoe size?  -8 or 9 20. how tall are you? -5′6 with shoes >:(( 21. sandals or sneakers? -sneakers wtf 22. do you go to the gym? -lol no 23. describe your dream date -making some pie or something together and then eating the pie and then sitting on some rooftop looking at stars 24. how much money do you have in your wallet at the moment? -quite a bit actually but i’m saving up for a phone lol so soon it will be like maybe 10 dollars lmao 25. what color socks are you wearing? -not wearing socks but the ones i had earlier were white (ankle length) 26. how many pillows do you sleep with? -just one but it sucks 27. do you have a job? what do you do? -NO BUT IM TRYING TO GET A JOB BUT THE FUCKIN PEOPLE THERE ARE GHOSTING ME AND WONT REPLY TO MY EMAILS SO LIKE SBJHBJS 28. how many friends do you have? -like 4 lmao 29. whats the worst thing you have ever done? -idk nothing super bad but i do a lot of small shit that makes me feel guilty when i realize what i did 30. whats your favorite candle scent? -juniper rosewood 31. 3 favorite boy names -leo, clay, charlie 32. 3 favorite girl names -ivy, uh... idk thats all ive got 33. favorite actor? -no clue 34. favorite actress? -no clue 35. who is your celebrity crush? -not a celeb but i’d smash danny phantom 36. favorite movie? -nightmare before christmas or edward scissorhands 37. do you read a lot? whats your favorite book? -no, but my fav book is probably the prince and the pauper? idk 38. money or brains? -CASH MONEYYYY jk probably brains but if your entire personality is being “smart” like fuck off lmao   39. do you have a nickname? what is it? - a bunch of people call me son (see #49, #100), some call me rat, dumdum, goth boy

40.how many times have you been to the hospital? -just once i think when i was birthed. i also went once with my brother cause he kicked some scissors i left out on the floor and it sliced his toe the fuck open and he needed stitches and i watched him get the stitches and almost passed out :/ 41. top 10 favorite songs -please dont make me do this i dont have it in me 42. do you take any medications daily? -yea i take 20mg of vyvanse but i need to get it raised to 30 cause 20 is Not Enough 43. what is your skin type? (oily, dry, etc) -i got some dry fuckin skin yall dont even know 44. what is your biggest fear?  -it depends. the dark is a pretty constant one though 45. how many kids do you want? -like 2 or 3 eventually 46. whats your go to hair style? -in my face, looking stupid 47. what type of house do you live in? (big, small, etc)  -it’s pretty small 48. who is your role model? -i dont fuckin know lmao  49. what was the last compliment you received? - “i belive in you, my son, you’re an amazing human being“ (same friend mentioned in #100, not actually a parent of mine) 50. what was the last text you sent? -”no it’s a raccoon“ YOU GET NO CONTEXT LMAO 51. how old were you when you found out santa wasn’t real? -i dont think i ever hardcore believed in him, maybe i did though i remember sleeping under the tree one christmas eve waiting for him but i was like “oh yeah that makes sense“ i guess 52. what is your dream car?  -i honestly dont give a shit as long as it actually fucking works 53. opinion on smoking? -cigarettes? fuck no that’s nastyyy. weed? that’s fine i guess but wait till you’re like 18.  54. do you go to college? -no. am sophomore n highschool 55. what is your dream job?  -musician/palentologist 56. would you rather live in rural areas or the suburbs?  -fuck the suburbs lmao, but also im tired of rural, so like.. semi urban?? 57. do you take shampoo and conditioner bottles from hotels?  -no but i take the little soaps >:)) 58. do you have freckles?  -yes 59. do you smile for pictures? -awkwardly, yes 60. how many pictures do you have on your phone?  -dont have a phone but i have like 12 on my computer currently. 4 are of me, the rest are of my cat or random shit 61. have you ever peed in the woods?  -yes 62. do you still watch cartoons?  -cartoons these days kinda suck but like if they were good fuck yeah i would like gravity falls can come hang yknow? 63. do you prefer chicken nuggets from Wendy’s or McDonalds? -i had nuggets from mcdonalds today so i guess them? i dont really care 64. Favorite dipping sauce?  -i got sweet and sour but i dont like it that much. that schezuan sauce was great 65. what do you wear to bed?  -wouldnt you like to know? ;))  66. have you ever won a spelling bee?  -NO ive only been in two. the first one i misspelled the word “turmoil“ cause i had never heard it before and the second one i spelled the word “owed“ as “ode“ cause i was thinking like ode to joy and then i felt like a big Fool afterwards :(( 67. what are your hobbies? -lol what hobbies 68. can you draw?  -i am physically able to draw, but not well, no 69 (haha). do you play an instrument? -yeah i play a few 70. what was the last concert you saw?  -i saw Chicago in either georgia or tennessee i cant remember in like 2016 71. tea or coffee? -hot coffee, iced tea. NOT the other way around. (i love both though) 72. Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts? -starbucks 73. do you want to get married? -sure why not 74. what is your crush’s first and last initial? -dont have a crush 75. are you going to change your last name when you get married?  -idk maybe 76. what color looks best on you?  -i dont know but i wear black a lot and that’s pretty dope 77. do you miss anyone right now? -yeah  78. do you sleep with your door open or closed? -closed 79. do you believe in ghosts? -on the fence. not 100% “oh my god look at these gHoSt oRbS i need to sage my house!!!“ but i accept that there’s some things i wont understand about the world and that i have no answers to. i wouldnt be surprised if there are, and i wouldnt be surprised if there aren’t. 80. what is your biggest pet peeve? -whatever my adhd decides i viscerally hate with a firey passion right at that moment  81. last person you called -my brother (the 1 of the 1.5 from #13 and the one who sliced his toe in #40) 82. favorite ice cream flavor?  -chocolate is dope 83. regular oreos or golden oreos?  -regular double stuff. if you say golden, mint, peppermint, or thin oreos i’m gonna have to euthanize you, i dont make the rules.  84. chocolate or rainbow sprinkles? -rainbow cause it’s prettier  85. what shirt are you wearing?  -queen shirt from hot topic 86. what is your phone background? -i didnt get a phone between question 60 and now but my computer one is some mountains with the moon in the background 87. are you outgoing or shy? -really depends on who i’m around 88. do you like it when people play with your hair? -YES FUCK AAAAAAA (this girl played with my hair literally once in middle school and i was like oh shit and i had a crush on her until the end of middle school true story,,, so ashley if you’re out there-) 89. do you like your neighbors? -to the left they’re fine and their dog is nice but idk what happened to the horses so that’s sus but that’s where our cat came from so they can hang  guess, behind me they’re fine but their boys are loud, to the right they’re fine, and even further to the right are the dope neighbors and waaaaaaaaaay far to the right is a llama and he’s dope as hell 90. do you wash your face? at night? in the morning? -whenever the fuck i remember to/have the energy 91. have you ever been high?  -i dont think so but i wouldnt put it past myself 92. have you ever been drunk?  -not that i can remember, no 93. last thing you ate?  -sloppy joe from a can 94. favorite lyrics right now -”not gonna waste my life, cause i’ve been fucked up“ 95. summer or winter?  -fall. fuck you 96. day or night?  -night but i like it when it’s actually night and it doesnt get dark at like 4 fucking pm cause that makes me depressed 97. dark, milk, or white chocolate? -dark is good, milk is fine, white is only suitable for fancy stripes on chocolate covered strawberries 98. favorite month?  -i vibe with september 99. what is your zodiac sign -sagittarius (was almost a scorpio but i was holding out >:))) 100. who was the last person you cried in front of?  -in person, my mom like 6 months ago, on a discord call, my friend (i love you by the way, you’re the best,,, i dont think he has tumblr but im just putting it out there) like a month or so ago. i hate crying in front of people, i turn into such a hyperventilating snot monster which is not suitable for human gaze and thats the real tea :/

felix this took like 2 hours of my life i will never get back i hate you and i hope you’re happy with what you’ve done <3 <3

also anyone who wants to stalk me, enjoy this information that im handing to you on a silver platter :)) <3

[takemealivelh]

We’re not done here yet, okay?

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 9

2.3k | Mentions of alcohol, sex and cheating | FEEDBACK IS ENCOURAGED AND APPRECIATED

For the first time, I wasn’t able to know what was going through his mind, it both terrified and relieved me. I didn’t move, my jaw slightly trembled when his body got even closer to mine. His hand reached for my chin, and his lips crashed into mine.

Deep down I knew it was wrong, but I’ve always craved what I can’t have. His hands found shelter in the crook of my neck, I kissed him fast and furious. It felt epic, blood-rushing, stars-exploding, synths and strings playing in the back of my head, sinful. I wanted him all.

His lips were sober and my mind was lucid, my forbidden fruit tasted like heaven. For a moment, all these scenes flashed through my closed eyelids; holding hands in the queue of a coffee shop, cuddling on a winter day, playing with new sounds in the studio after rehearsal hours, fucking him deep in a hotel room in Germany. Then, his tongue traced my lower lip and my mind went blank.

“Luke?”

We pulled apart as soon as we heard the knock on the door. My heart started beating fast against the back of my jawline, recognizing Erin’s voice.

“Yeah!” Luke almost choked at the sudden intake of air. “In here!” He smoothed the wrinkles off his shirt where I had grabbed him, pulling his body closer to mine, wanting to melt him into my skin. His face visibly paled, I collected the heat in my own cheeks, burning red.

As soon as Erin stepped into the dressing room, I pulled out my phone and stared at the lock screen, pretending to be busy. Even if she hadn’t witnessed her boyfriend and his sound tech making out, I was sure she could perceive the tension in the space between us. If Luke was a good actor, I was not. Luke could keep his face straight for a long time just to keep a prank going, like that one time he and Ashton started a water balloon fight before the show in Glasgow. I almost ruined their plan because I couldn’t stop laughing or stuttering when someone asked me why the guys were taking so long in the bathroom.

Erin asked us if everything was alright, I saw the shadow of her moving body reach out to Luke and wrap an arm around his waist.

No words were necessary, our tongues had done enough.

I shook my head as if I’d just gotten an upsetting text and headed towards the door in silence, it was only when I heard my name on Luke’s lips that I stopped on my tracks.

“We’re not done here yet, okay?”

His arm was slouched over Erin’s shoulders, his eyes were dark with regret and hope. Her brows were furrowed together with worry.

I didn’t reply.

-

While the band walked the red carpet and gave similar answers to different interviewers, I was backstage with the crew of the venue. Men moved large equipment from one side of the stage to the other, women talked on their phones about strict schedules. Cameras were tested and microphones were checked for the hundredth time that day. I sat on a plastic chair, next to the mixer, going over the post-it notes I’d prepared with Michael and Calum earlier. Luke’s words had been haunting me since the moment they fell from his lips.

We’re not done here yet.

Did he mean that? What was he after? My mind was a whirlwind of thoughts. He had Erin but he wanted me. Was that it? After all this time, he still wanted me. Why? How? He’d told me himself that it was too hard to be with me, which was true. So, why did he want to go through that again?

Maybe he missed me as much as I missed him. It wasn’t fair to his girlfriend.

I pulled out my phone and looked for Erin’s Instagram. Pictures with her friends, pictures of her on the way to a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert. Fuck, I wanted to be her friend, I liked her. She seemed smart enough to know when to leave and yet, she was still with Luke. I was disappointed in his behaviour. I couldn’t believe he was still pulling childish acts out of his ass. Had he not learned anything?

But I still wanted him. Why?

Why did I suddenly have the need to be around him? Why did my skin itch at the thought of his fingers? Why did I want to hear every stupid joke, every silly anecdote, every clever idea that he had in his mind? Why now?

Because he has Erin.

I felt bad about wanting to go after him.

The night went by in a flash and suddenly it was 5SOS’ turn to perform. They gathered around the backstage area before going in, fist-bumping and wishing good luck to everyone, including me. Calum patted my back and Ashton gave me a weak smile before heading out to a cheering crowd. Michael checked the guitar volume in his in-ear and kissed my temple good luck as he’d grown accustomed to doing before any big gig. I slid the faders up to 0 and pressed play on the recording multitrack session.

Luke’s breathing against my earlobe almost made me collapse on top of the console.

“Meet me afterwards. We need to talk.”

His eyes lingered on me for the time it took him to walk onstage. I felt naked.

I liked it.

Talking was the last thing I wanted to do.

-

As soon as their performance was over and they rushed backstage to put the instruments away and to receive the compliments from the rest of the team, I saved the recorded act and made sure to have the mixer ready for the next sound guy. When I was done, 5SOS were back on their seats, surrounded by the other attendees.

I spent the rest of the ceremony in the dressing room, not doing much at all. I could’ve gone home, I could’ve hung out with the rest of the venue crew, I could’ve sat next to the stage and watched the rest of the performances. Instead, I waited for everyone by myself.

I waited for him.

I remembered our encounter back at Ashton’s place. Luke’s shirt gliding off his shoulders, his hands squeezing my thighs, his sloppy kisses on my lips… All my memory could do was complete the gaps between reality and my fantasies. Was this feeling anything more than lust? Maybe it was, but I wasn’t sure how to handle it.

Close to midnight, the show was still going. I decided to play around with the makeup and the little elastic ties I had in my backpack, along with ten spare plug cables and a Shure SM58 just in case. The lightning was enough to sit on the floor and re-do my look in the full-length mirror. I sat down with a bottle of beer I’d brought from the backstage area, and wondered if Luke thought I was sexy.

“It’s always nice to hear you’re sexy from another sexy person”

I scoffed the memory away. He was drunk and I am insecure.

“You’re a nice view, you know that?”

We’d been so close. So physically, flirtatiously close. Now I wanted every inch of space between us to disintegrate.

Yet again, the image of his girlfriend popped up in my head. I dropped my head down, ashamed, and scrolled through my phone one more time. The last picture she’d posted was of the venue we were currently in, before we’d even done the soundcheck. Luke’s laugh was frozen as he carried her piggyback style. A kiss to his cheek.

My heart sunk.

Erin had always seemed happy around him. She liked that Luke was goofy and that he was interested in her job and hobbies. She’d told me about one time he’d taken her out for her favourite food and they ended up drunk playing carnival games. I couldn’t understand how Luke could sweep her off her feet like that if his heart wasn’t fully into that relationship. But maybe I was imagining things, and Luke didn’t want me either, and he was just this fuckboy that I didn’t know he was...

My mind was spiralling out, going to ten different directions, all equally disturbing.

I looked at my reflection in the mirror, the reds and purples in my eyelids. I did want to impress Luke, I wanted him to be aroused by me.

Maybe I can only be with someone as the other woman. I pulled the costume quite well.

When the boys came back into the dressing room to pick up their stuff, Michael was the first one to notice me all dolled-up.

“Whoa,” he half laughed, half whistled. “Hot date after this? Isn't it a little late for a conversation?” Calum laughed behind him and pushed him towards the guitar case on the other end of the room. They were drunk. Michael’s eyes were droopy and Calum couldn’t stop fumbling with the pockets of his jacket.

I rolled my eyes, “who said anything about a conversation?” my tone was playful and teasing, knowing it would amuse them. Deep down, the guilt and confusion kept me glued to the wooden floor, still in front of the mirror.

Ashton was quick to pick on my remark. He seemed like the most put-together, but when he erupted in his signature giggles, I knew he was hammered as well. “Damn, boys! We got our girl here being a wild one tonight,” he smiled at me from behind. “We’re going to an after-party, you coming with us? Or is your lover boy meeting you somewhere else so we cannot intimidate him?”

That’s when I noticed Luke was leaning against the door, blue eyes going through my body like daggers. I could feel the exact point in the small of my waist where he was practically burning his mark on.

“Where’s Erin?”

At the mention of her name, I peeled my eyes away from the scene. Focusing back on the boxer braids I’d made earlier. They’d taken me at least 20 minutes per side and a 10-minute break in between, to rest my arms. As Luke explained that Erin had to be up early tomorrow, I caught him stealing glances at me through the mirror. He didn’t look drunk, which was weird, but also kind of nice. I re-applied the berry colour to my lips and smudged the edges with my fingertips.

“A’ight then,” Ashton shrugged with a sigh, “and hey, wild one,” he tapped my shoulder once I was back on my feet, fixing my backpack on my shoulder. “Great show tonight.”

“We were good,” I smiled at him.

“Yeah, we were.”

They were quick to say their goodbyes and rush out the door to the after-party, except for Luke. He shoved a hand in the pockets of his pants and rubbed his eye with the other. “Nah, Im’ma head back home. I'm tired.”

Calum, Michael and Ashton disappeared, their laughter echoed through the hall. Luke was still leaning against the door when he sighed. “I broke up with her.”

I remained silent.

He looked for the thoughts racing through my head, narrowing his eyes at me. I didn’t know how to react. I was both surprised and relieved. Both scared and excited. Awkwardly, I kept readjusting the straps of my backpack, not wanting to stay but not wanting to leave either.

“I didn’t want them on my case, you know how they are…” Luke turned his head to check the hallway. Empty. He took a few steps closer to me, I looked down at my feet. His boots came into view and I almost gasped when I felt the warmth of his body almost touching mine. “Right after we…” the faint laughter in his tone gave away that he was nervous.

Unknown territory for the both of us.

“She knew something was up, she…” he sighed and searched for my gaze, “please, look at me. This is really fucking hard, okay?” The soundwaves of his chuckle vibrated against my temple. I was twitching in place. “Please.”

Even though I’d only had one beer after their song had ended, I felt my skin buzzing. Chewing on my lower lip, trying to stay sane and adequate through it all, I looked at him. Curly hair tucked behind his ears, gold glitter along his cheekbones, long lashes framing his blue eyes...

“I want you.”

My breath got caught in my throat, almost choking me. “Luke, I-”

I tried to pull away from our closeness but he grabbed my arms and held me in place. He looked for the truth in my eyes as my name rolled off his tongue as if it belonged there.

“You were right. Fuck, all of you were. I know what you all were thinking about, that Erin was a rebound, that I wasn’t being fair to her, that-”

“Luke, you-”

“Let me finish!”

He let go of me and strode back to the door, closing it. I said nothing.

Here we were, alone again.

“I was a dick to Erin, I know that. I led her on when I didn’t mean it… Not because I didn’t enjoy her company, ‘cos I did…” Luke trailed off and shut his eyes hard, cursing himself under his breath. He started stuttering and I couldn’t make out the words coming out of his mouth. “Fuck!” he whispered and nearly threw a punch to the wall. “You’re making me go crazy, you know that? I tried to get over you, but…” Luke took a deep breath and let his back collapse against the door, his body quickly glided down until he was sitting with his head between his knees.  

I watched. Luke had never been this vulnerable, not around me at least.

His muffled laugh travelled to my ears, his gaze found me again. “Listen, I don’t know what to do. I’m so in love with you that it hurts...”

He made me weak. I dropped to my knees and tossed my backpack to the side, crawling towards him almost at the speed of light. His cheeks were hot against the palms of my hands, he looked into my eyes like a deer scared to be hit. I could sense the fear in his breathing, the dreadful idea of handing his heart to me and me destroying it. His eyes pleaded for mercy.

“I don’t… I love you, okay? I’m tired of pretending I don’t.”

My fingertips traced circles against his skin, my thumb grazing his lower lip. Luke closed his eyes and gave into my touch, leaning into it.

I wasn’t sure if I loved him, but I definitely cared for him. My heart was beating fast, my stomach was swirling with butterflies. It was clear that I fancied him, I loved spending time with him, I loved it when we were together being the dorks we were.

And I was as scared as he was.

Leaning against his lips, I took a deep breath against them, closing my eyes. “Don’t break my heart, Hemmings.”

“I wouldn’t dare to”

-

TAGLIST

@brown-eyedshell @thew0rldneedsmcreycghurt @myloverboyash @hopeless-renassianceluke @dukesnumber1 @rip-lukes-balsamic @angelbabylu @cal-pal-cuddles @ashtons-favorite @1dthewantedlove  @problematicprincessa@heartbreak-5sos @bloodmoonashton @lilacsos @irwinkitten @singt0mecalum@sublimehood @sugarcoated-pain @5sosnsfw @cal-puddies @lashtoncurls@cal-pal-cuddles @dweebluke @rosecoloredash @hotmessmichael@calumspeachy@ashtonsunshine @wonderland-irwin @irwinkitten@ashtonandcalslefthand @post-traumatic-mess @damselindistressanu @c-dizzle-swizzlex @mycollectionofnuts @calteahood

[darlingnisi]

A Night at the Park

(Picture by Paisley Park)

So I like to go to Minneapolis this time of year, every year. I was waiting around for an event whether it be for PRN Alumni or otherwise...and then saw Paisley Park announce a live music concert, an EP release party by a one Nooky Jones. I hadn’t heard of them before but upon seeing the promo for it, I booked as I love the sound (and didn’t REALLY need that much of a reason to get up here anyway).

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A post shared by Paisley Park (@officialpaisleypark) on Aug 1, 2019 at 10:27am PDT

So I got VIP for this as well as an Ultimate Experience tour while I was here to see what had changed since my last ones.

I won’t rehash the tour and will actually let Chuck Earling explain what goes down as it was the same experience. I will say there were a few new things since my last Ultimate tour like P’s driver’s license circa 1997 or so, the My Name is Prince vest (love the low budget way it was made lolol)...and handwritten Soft and Wet lyrics in a spiral notebook from yesteryear. Also shout out to Heidi the tour guide! I love having guides who did hang out at Paisley over the years to bring the personal touch and stories to the experience. 

If you didn’t catch my quick debrief while leaving Paisley, check here! TLDW : Asked about Celebration 2020. They said it’s definitely happening, but they weren’t sure when yet.

Okay so fast forward to the Nooky Jones event.

As a VIP ticket holder we were allowed into the NPG Music Club room before the event to meet the band members and have a drink.......

Yes. THAT kind of drink.

Y’all know how the purple bubble gets upset when such things are mentioned. For the record though, from folks who had private dinners at Paisley, wine was often served there by Prince, especially in the later years. It seemed to be more of a licence/liability thing as to why it wasn’t at parties than a hard no morality thing. Much easier to manage when you’re enjoying a glass or two with a few people you trust to act responsibly vs a few hundred!

Everyone that I saw was very respectful at this event. No one sloppy drunk. No drinks allowed near the couches or artifacts. Everyone did a great job adulting and respecting the space! 

After a while we were invited into the soundstage where they had P’s clothes set up timeline/runway style on one side of the room, his Bently, BMW Roadster, and Prowler in another section, a stage set up for The Gold Experience/Emancipation clothes in another section, and a Piano and Mic stage in another section (all of the artifacts were on elevated stages about 4/5 feet high and behind velvet ropes as well for their protection). There was also a DJ playing here with party lights sweeping the floor. It was a great vibe!

Some people danced, some talked, some sang along with the music, some checked out the displays around the room...and of course the merch store was open...a lot to do while waiting for the main act! (Again bonus points from me for #TeamIntrovert you can just keep to yourself and have your own experience if you want and feel entertained!) 

Nooky Jones took the stage without too much waiting around and they were fantastic! They did their own music as well as covers of other soul songs (and P too!)

Check out their EP Like Candy! It’s available everywhere!

Toward the end of their set they opened up the NPG Music Club again which I was grateful for. I went back in there to sit down in the quieter space. Super appreciate that that was an option! 

As the main show ended, folks who did that VIP package migrated back into the club room as did the DJ who spun a mix of Prince and other artists. Haha Lizzo, Bell Biv Devoe, Bobby Brown....maybe the running man happened? Maybe it didn’t. Overall it was a good test run as Paisley Park as a night time adult music venue! I remember standing at the back of a packed soundstage, looking around at everyone having a great time, looking at the silhouette of Prince in the moon hanging on the wall, looking at his symbol glowing in the corner, listening to real musicians playing real music with real instruments and I couldn’t help but tear up. My heart was so full to see the tradition Prince started of showcasing talent continuing on while he oversees from the spiritual realm.

I hope these events continue and that they will be as well supported as this one was! Sold out! It super helps when they announce things well in advance so that people can plan and budget to be there! Week of tix to Minneapolis are close to 1k each!

Only complaint : Real food please! Due to the lack of late night options in Chan since Perkins closed, it would be good for people to have food as an option for these events as well! Also, does it realllllly have to end at 11? Was just getting my second wind and it was time to go! Haha...

(Also if you guys bring back the concert screenings and announce those well in advance in a Concert/Party combo, that....would be amazing.)

[splashesdarling]

A comprehensive evaluation and ranking of all Mariah albums:

Y’all want to dive deep into Ms. Mimi’s discography? Well too bad, we’re doing it anyway (skip to the end for rankings).

Mariah Carey (1990) Mariah’s debut is a great collection of songs, but a great collection of songs and a great album are not one and the same. The songs individually (with the sole exception of Prisoner) are fantastic, but there is no real album cohesion, in either sound or theme. Its main purpose was to introduce the world to Mariah’s voice, and it does so with admirable panache. 

- Album Highlight: Alone In Love. Album Lowlight: Prisoner.

Emotions (1991) Mariah’s Debut album introduced the world to her voice, Emotions introduces the world to Mariah THE ARTIST. Her skills as a songwriter and music producer are on full display, as is her voice, which is allowed more freedom and spontaneity her second album out. Carrying the listener to dizzying highs throughout a distinctive yet cohesive album.

- Album Highlight: Till The End Of Time. Album Lowlight: None.

MTV Unplugged (1992) Its sole reason for existence was to prove Mariah’s voice was not a studio creation, MTV Unplugged proves it, though the performances are held back by some sloppy music cues and Mariah’s obvious stage fright. There are some lovely live instrumental rearrangements and vocals, but there are better live performances from Mariah. 

- Album Highlight: Negligible. Album Lowlight: Negligible.  

Music Box (1993) Serving as a transitional period for Mariah musically, Music Box sees Mariah experimenting with new sounds and singing styles, most of which work wonderfully and those that don’t are at worst only forgettable. Much like her Debut, Music Box is a great collection of songs, but as an album experience it’s lacking. The album doesn’t inspire you to listen from beginning to end, rather you skip to the songs you want to hear. 

- Album Highlight: Everything Fades Away. Album Lowlight: Hero.

Merry Christmas (1994) Do you like Christmas music? Do you enjoy talented vocalists? Do you like when talented vocalists sing Christmas music? You’re in luck, but the rest of us will have to wait for a real new album.

- Album Highlight: AIWFCIY. Album Lowlight: It’s a Christmas album, the entirety of it is a lowlight.

Daydream (1995) The title is apt, this dreamy album is a pleasure. Though cohesion is still an issue, it's not so blatant here. Many of the songs tie into a central theme, and soundwise there is a through line. That is not to say the songs that deviate bring the album down, quite the contrary. For the first time Mariah’s hip hop, r&b, and soul inspirations and deep-seated love for the genres are coming through clearly, but they’re somewhat held back, which would become blatant with the subsequent release of Butterfly.

- Album Highlight: Always Be My Baby. Album Lowlight: (If only for me) One Sweet Day.

Butterfly (1997) Mariah Carey crystallized. Her first album to truly capture the woman she was and the phenomenal artist she is when unrestricted and allowed to express herself freely. From the lyrical artistry, to the pitch perfect production, Mariah’s breathtaking vocals and the depth of the album as a whole, Butterfly still stands as Mariah’s magnum opus. The album is cohesive, while still allowing each song to stand easily on their own. Some will argue the exception is her cover of The Beautiful Ones, but I wholeheartedly disagree. If taken on its own perhaps, but within the context of the album it is as essential and beautiful as each of the other tracks featured.

- Album Highlight: Outside. Album Lowlight: None.

#1′s (1998) A celebration of Mariah’s (then) 13 #1′s. The inclusion of I Still Believe, When You Believe, Sweetheart, and a newly duetted Whenever You Call, along with her established hits makes this a worthwhile listen. 

- Album Highlight: When You Believe. Album Lowlight: Do You Know Where You’re Going To.

Rainbow (1999) Often overlooked due to its busy musical production and the arguable disappointment at its relative weightlessness in comparison with Butterfly, Rainbow is underrated but undeniably disjointed. A half and half of an album, with half cohesively flowing from one song into the other (this is even the first use of interludes by Mariah) while the other half stumble the album’s momentum and flow. For the most part it’s an easy listen, the melodies, vocal layering, and production making for an enjoyable experience, but the album’s failings sadly result in a missed opportunity on the whole. 

- Album Highlight: Bliss. Album Lowlight: Did I Do That?.

Glitter (2001) Intended as a soundtrack more than a traditional Mariah album, however it doesn’t embrace the concept or style of a soundtrack enough to differentiate from the rest of her body of work. Glitter contains the absolute peak of Mariah’s ballads, while the non stop party anthems are fun enough to bring the house down, and there are touching dives into the somewhat autobiographical story of the character Mariah plays in the film from which the album takes its namesake. Audio clips from the film are included only sparingly towards the start of the album, uncommitted interludes if anything, they add nothing to the listening experience and serve only to undermine the album’s strengths. 

- Album Highlight: Lead The Way. Album Lowlight: If We.

Greatest Hits (2001) Released a scant three months after the critical and commercial flop of Glitter, the message couldn’t have been clearer. Ironically the strength of Mariah as a vocalist, songwriter, and music producer highlights exactly why writing her off as they did with this release was a resounding mistake. 

- Album Highlight: Take your pick. Album Lowlight: Here in the UK we had Against All Odds feat. Westlife included, soooo.

Charmbracelet (2002) The only album to close in on Butterfly’s position atop Mariah’s discography. Generally overlooked and ignored by even the lambs themselves, Charmbracelet is a criminally underrated masterpiece. The revised priorities of musical production and vocal arrangement following the somewhat overproduced Rainbow and erratic Glitter, Charmbracelet is a bracing reminder of Mariah’s overwhelming talent and ability to imbue her music with such beauty and poignancy, to invoke both personal evaluation and universal truths. It is also, incidentally, my favourite Mariah album, just in case you hadn’t guessed it.

- Album Highlight: Yours (fight me). Album Lowlight: None.

The Remixes (2003) Much like the release of a Greatest Hits album following Glitter’s critical and commercial failure, so too was The Remixes released following Charmbracelet’s lukewarm reception. A reminder of Mariah’s talent and decade long stretch of hits across Billboard’s various music charts, another plea for listeners to realise you can’t write off talent like Mariah. The first disc of this two disc set features the club remixes (most courtesy of longtime collaborator David Morales), the only real stumbles are the Heartbreaker/If You Should Ever Be Lonely Remix, which doesn’t blend together or sample each song well enough to justify itself or its inclusion here, the other is the Hq2 Remix of Through The Rain. I appreciate the need to promote the newest album of original content but we know Mariah can do better. The first disc is somewhat of a letdown, as the exclusion of certain club remixes are especially egregious (Always Be My Baby and The Roof specifically) The second disc (featuring the commercially released singles remixes) fares far better, and probably would have been better served being released separately. 

- Album Highlight: Thank God I Found You (Make It Last Remix). Album Lowlight: Through The Rain (Hq2 Remix).

The Emancipation Of Mimi (2005) Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, which is amazing given how needlessly bloated the album is. The album benefits from the cohesive sound and style utilized throughout and from containing an abundance of chart ready songs, but ultimately the experience is dampened by all the throwaway filler. There is no justification for the inclusion of To The Floor when we have Get Your Number, no reason for a Part II to So So Lonely when Part I was so forgettable, Circles, Joyride, and I Wish You Knew are too similar in sound and lyrical content to appear almost one right after the other. The highs of TEOM are likely to make you giddy, but the interruption from second-tier material drags the album down. The album is 19 tracks long when it should have been a brisk and memorable 13.

- Album Highlight: Fly Like A Bird. Album Lowlight: Makin' It Last All Night (What It Do).

E=MC² (2008) Much like Rainbow, E=MC² is often overlooked due to its busy production, and make no mistake the album is very busy production-wise. The album lacks the restraint even Rainbow was capable of. That is not to say the album is bad by any means, far from it. The biggest issue of the album is the lackluster beats. Generic for the most part, missguided in certain cases, and overall a less engaging and original sound than we’re used to from Mariah. What saves the album is the infectious fun of it all, Mimi’s celebrating and you’ve been invited to the party. Not that it’s one long party record, there’s an array of lyrical depth to be found hiding within the deluge of uninspired beats, that is if you’re willing to stick with the album long enough to hear them. 

- Album Highlight: I’ll Be Lovin’ U Long Time. Album Lowlight: Cruise Control.

Memoirs Of An Imperfect Angel (2009) THIS is how you do a long album. 17 tracks long but, unlike TEOM, there’s no filler, no redundant repeats. The album is long but tight and cohesive, flowing effortlessly between songs, rewarding for those willing to listen from beginning to end. The first time since Rainbow that Mariah had used interludes (Glitter’s half-assed attempt does not count), though they’re more satisfying here. Mariah is telling a story with this album and the languorous pace and the breathers the interludes provide enhance the album’s listening experience. I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention the lyrical skill on display throughout the album, it’s deep but Mariah still has plenty of fun here, the line ‘it's going down like a denominator’ is a personal favourite. 

- Album Highlight: The Impossible. Album Lowlight: None.

Merry Christmas II You (2010) Do you like ‘modern’ Christmas music? Do you like iconic artists slumming it? Do enjoy watching music icons try desperately to reinvent Christmas classics with a ‘modern’ twist? First, what is wrong with you? And second, please don’t come to my house during the holidays. 

- Album Highlight: When Christmas Comes (it’s actually sweet, just avoid the duet version). Album Lowlight: All of it.

Me. I Am Mariah… The Elusive Chanteuse (2014) The album delivers on the epicness of its audacious title. One of her best albums, period. Many balk at the 62 minute run time (74 if you go Deluxe) but it’s well worth the time. This album is an experience, Mariah said that if this were to be her last album she wanted to say everything she needed to say with it, and she does (and then some). It’s a beautiful and inspiring album, managing to balance that classic Mariah sound while still sounding fresh and new. The album is a tour de force, and had this been Mariah’s last album? She would have been going out on a high note. 

- Album Highlight: Meteorite. Album Lowlight: None.

#1 To Infinity (2015) For the love of God, stop releasing greatest hits compilations whenever her albums underperform. Yes, sadly MIAM...TEC failed to grab the public’s attention (for context, the biggest songs of that year were Happy, Dark Horse, All Of Me, and Fancy, soooo, there’s clearly no accounting for taste that year) so we got an updated #1′s album, given that by this point her initial 13 had increased to 18. If you enjoy her #1s the album’s a great way to have them all in one convenient disc, Infinity the song is fine but nothing special. Fun fact, the UK release swapped out Someday, I Don’t Want To Cry, and Thank God I Found You for Endless Love, Without You, and Against All Odds feat. (SIGH) Westlife. Because when you’re buying a disc featuring Mariah’s record breaking 18 American #1′s, obviously you don’t actually want those original songs of hers, you want 3 song covers because they went to #1 in the UK!

- Album Highlight: Take your pick. Album Lowlight: (Why do you keep doing this UK?!) Against All Odds feat. I hate you talentless bastards.

Caution (2018) Mariah could have gone out with MIAM...TEC, but thank God she didn’t because then we wouldn’t have been blessed with this gem. A brisk 11 tracks (only 10 if not for the internet, because apparently Mariah doesn’t want us to have nice things) go by far too quickly, they’re each so enjoyable you don’t want them to end, and though they each have their own distinctive sound they blend together to form a cohesive whole. Mariah is clearly through trying to appeal to the general mass public in any way, shape, or form, and Caution is all the better for it. Mariah has nothing to prove at this point, and she knows it. This is an album made entirely from a place of self-assuredness and an unsuppressable love for writing, singing, and producing music. May she never grow tired of doing so. 

- Album Highlight: Giving Me Life. Album Lowlight: None.

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

Overall Album Ranking:

#1 Butterfly

#2 Charmbracelet

#3 Me. I am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse

#4 Emotions

#5 Caution

#6 Memoirs Of An Imperfect Angel

#7 Daydream

#8 Mariah Carey

#9 Music Box

#10 Rainbow

#11 Glitter

#12 E=MC²

#13 The Emancipation Of Mimi

#14 MTV Unplugged

#15 Greatest Hits

#16 #1′s

#17 The Remixes

#18 #1 To Infinity

#19 Merry Christmas

#20 Merry Christmas II You

[microshiner]

The problem with owning a van

At 1 PM on Sunday afternoon, I am sitting alone at a four-top table in the middle of a large buffet room. Soccer is on the TV in front of me and soccer is also on the TV behind me. I don’t know who is playing, or what the score is. I don’t have my glasses on, so I can barely see the screen. The room is fairly packed and full of conversation, although not in English, so despite all the activity I sit alone with my thoughts. I have three plates of food. What I would consider to be the main plate, the one I have been digging into the most fervently, is a mixture of lo mein noodles, sweet and sour something or other, wontons, french fries, onion rings, chicken nuggets, garlic bread,  steamed mussels, and ice cold jumbo shrimp. I also have a large plate of salad. The third plate is a pool of sauce, mostly ketchup.

As cliché as this might sound, I am not in Vegas, and unfortunately, not hungover. But I am running on no sleep and walking with a severe limp, having trekked a good sixty or so miles back and forth across a festival site over the previous few days carrying everything from amplifiers to old wooden tables to dollies of Red Bull and Blue Moon.

Such is life in the summer months - full of festivals and constant events, keeping the bills paid while slowly draining the sanity. For many of them, I am fortunate enough to be on the press side of things, where my main responsibilities are observing the action and conducting a couple interviews along the way while keeping a steady stream of booze flowing in, because I heard a rumor once that alcohol helps prevent your ears from being damaged by loud music. It acts as a protective layer between the blasting speakers and your ear drum. I’ve got to look out for my health in these situations.

If I remember correctly, the guy that told me that felt it necessary to scream it at me from right in front of the stage as he was plugging his right ear with an index finger and holding a can of Coors Light in the other hand.

I was far from the media this weekend, though. More like a grunt laborer. But hey, you gotta do what you gotta do, and I did manage to score a couple vouchers for the food trucks. In the end, it was probably worth a few days of schlepping gear in and out of a Ford Econoline.

That’s the problem with owning a van. People are always wanting you to use it. I could make a monthly payment if I had a dollar for every time I’ve had to come up with an impromptu lie like, ‘Oh, yeah man, I won’t be able to help you move today because my van is actually missing the engine right now. Must have gotten stolen overnight or something. Sorry.’

One can only be so much of a workhorse. Two, however, can be just as good as four or five, as I learned last week from a band called You Knew Me When at Jagged Mountain Brewery in Denver. I was finishing off a long work day with a pint and had the chance to talk to the group before they took the stage (in this case, the corner of the tasting room) for a happy hour set and get the lowdown on how they make a living booking tours based around breweries and distilleries and what their music is all about. This two-piece has the sound and style of a full band, and then some.

The husband and wife duo of Cie (pronounced ‘See’) and Karisa Hoover hail from Nashville, the home of country, but they wanted to do something a little different. Cie comes from a heavy metal background, Karisa is about as close to the definition of an indie girl as you can find, and while their sound is certainly far closer to indie than metal, good metal to me wears its heart on its sleeve the way punk became known for, and with a glance at Cie’s lyric sheets, you will find plenty of heart.

Their live performances are full of that same heart. Heart, and booze. You Knew Me When traverses the region hitting primarily breweries and distilleries, sharing their craft music with hordes of craft guzzlers night after night and doing a fair amount of ‘sampling’ along the way. “We have a limit of two drinks before we play,” Karisa says. “I’m drinking kombucha right now so that I can adhere to that rule.” I think back to the time I’ve spent on the road and wonder why the hell I never of thought of that. So many sloppy performances could have been marginalized.

The two met while attending Belmont University in Nashville, Cie learning up on PR and marketing and Karisa studying music education. Together with their musical prowess, and following a wedding and several years together, they felt they had the necessary skill set to uproot from the shackles of everyday life and become a full-time touring band. The two did not start playing music together right away, but over time began to feel that their artistic juices could create one heck of a punch.

“I think it was really the creative drive,” Cie says. They decided, after putting together the band, to take a one year sabbatical from work and see what they could make happen musically.

“Three years later, here we are,” says Karisa with a laugh.

Traveling with only two people, both Cie and Karisa hold multiple instrumental duties. Cie sings, plays guitar, and handles foot percussion, while Karisa holds down the piano, ukulele, glockenspiel, cymbals and, oh yeah, does some singing herself. “When we started touring, we decided to just do the touring thing with just the two of us, so it was like, how can we create more of a cool sound with just the two people so that’s when we added the kick drum and she added some cymbals. We added stuff to fill out the sound as a duo.”

You Knew Me When is approaching their 100th brewery, quite an accomplishment. I haven’t even drank at that many breweries, let alone gigged. I just met these guys, but I am proud of them. They also have quite a few distilleries under their belt, with WildRye Distilling out of Bozeman, Montana being their favorite (also noted is Willie’s Distillery in Ennis,. Apparently, I need to visit Big Sky Country). They are doing it, and since I have no two drink rule on this particular night, I stop by State-38 Distilling on the way home to celebrate the band’s accomplishments.

To be honest, I have never tried locally made tequila here in Colorado, and I’ve been meaning to check these guys out for a while. Owner and Master Distiller Sean Smiley has built a solid reputation for his products- they are one of the few I’ve actually seen in the small, corner liquor store down the street from my house. Their tasting room boasts a wood-paneled bar and similar flooring, giving it a rustic finish that feels very Colorado appropriate.

“We’re a 100% agave distillery,” says lead distiller JT Tewinkle. They distill tequilas, obviously, but also a Blanco Agave Spirit and an agave-based vodka and a gin, both the world’s only. Add to that list North America’s only one-year aged Anejo and you’ve got yourself one of the most impressive menus in the country, let alone the 38th state which they call home.

It was during the aging process for the Anejo that Sean and JT came up with the concept and plans for their agave-based vodka and gin. “We started off with the Blanco and the Reposado, and then we were literally sitting on our heels for a year for the Anejo, so we had to start looking at other things we could do,” Tewinkle says. “There’s two rules with vodka - it has to be distilled at 190 proof or better, and it has to be filtered. So basically that means you can make vodka out of shoe leather if you (follow the rules).”

This is apparently the case with a lot of the mass-produced vodkas you see on the shelves at liquor stores and bars - when you read ‘distilled seven times,’ it often means that they started with garbage ingredients and had to distill it that many times just to get to 190 proof, meaning their bragging of a high number of distilling cycles is little more than a bad marketing ploy. “It’s a trick of the vodka industry,” Tewinkle informs me.

He and Smiley have known each other for twenty years. Smiley started the distillery and hired JT as his lead distiller almost immediately, confident in his knowledge of tequila and experience in the bar industry. “I’ve been a tequila guy my entire sixteen year career, so it was a very easy segue to learn how to make it. Plus, I have a chemical engineering background from college, so that didn’t hurt.”

I am lead into the distilling area behind the tasting room and poured a sample of the Reposado straight from the barrel. Their agave is 100% organic, right out of Jalisco, Mexico. All products are distilled and bottled in-house from agave to glass by the two themselves.

“I love distilling,” Tewinkle says. Smiley does as well, as I gathered from email correspondence, and it shows in their product line. I have yet to taste anything near what they are doing with their agave liquors. Back in the tasting room, I familiarize myself with a few more of their products. Not a bad cap to what has been a good day - nothing like a little craft agave to restore your sanity.