#is just turning the whole thing into soup and I should put keith sometime else and try again...

[chiropteracupola]

wip ask game: bath, goat, cat (knowers know)

flight of the heron tam lin au:

“A nice, quiet post, with just enough work to keep your hand in, as it were.” He finished the phrase with a little flourish of his pen, and had Keith been in a slightly worse mood, he might have slapped the thing from the man’s hand. But he had not, and instead nodded in dejected acceptance. “It’s most certainly not a trip to Bath, but perhaps the mountain air will do you good.” Keith had made some dispassionate noise of agreement and left, stepping outside to stare out over the neat lines of the camp before him and the likely ruin of all that he had worked so diligently to achieve.

no instances for goat... very disappointing of me.

flight of the heron ladyhawke au:

So Ewen leaves his shirt and plaid folded on the shore, and allows the tiny wavelets of the loch to lap, cold, against his ankles as he steps into the water. He turns to face the hills just in time to see Keith bat an experimental paw against the water and recoil in disgust — and at that he cannot resist laughing, for the way that Keith the cat shakes out his fur to rid himself of wetness is, he knows, a perfect mirror of Keith the man in ruffled discontent.

[bird-in-a-cage]

5 + Harringrove please

Hi anon, thanks for the request! The rest of the list can be found here.

I had an idea for this one pretty much straight away, I hope this lives up to what you were expecting! 

#5 - I feel stuck. And everyone is moving without me.

Clawfoot

The master bathroom was Mrs Harrington’s pride and joy, whenever she was around long enough to use it. Steve remembers the remodel taking forever because, above all else, a clawfoot bathtub was essential. Apparently it had been extremely expensive too, something about the floor needing strengthened, causing more than one bitten off fight around the dinner table Steve was too young to understand at the time. But he remembers them. Vividly.  

Now neither parent was really around, Steve claimed it for his own. Left his toothbrush and hair products all over the sink in front of the mirror that was bigger than the one in his bathroom. Left towels on the pristine white tiles for far longer than they should have been there. But the tub was his favourite part. Especially after a long day of being a minimum wage drone with nothing really to do other than think too much. 

He turned the water on, waited for it to get hot to the point of being almost blistering before allowing the tub to fill, before stripping off the Family Video uniform and sinking into the bath with nothing more than a small hiss as the heat attacked his skin in sharp prickles. But it was good. He needed this. The pain stopped the thoughts from swelling too far. Thoughts about how he was going to be stuck in Hawkins forever. 

Usually he was able to brush off the ever increasing self doubt, it still lingered but he tried not to let it show to the outside world. Still the same Steve he’d always been, just more mellow now. Less concerned with popularity and being king. Surviving three near death experiences in quick succession will do that. Little things didn’t tend to matter anymore. He woke up breathing in his own bed every morning. Sometimes that was enough.

Robin got into college today. It was her day off but she came into the store to show off her acceptance to UCLA to major in languages, and to tell Keith to go fuck his stupid job and his stupid hair and his stupid cheeseball breath. Steve was happy for her, of course he was, but it was just another piece falling away. Another support beam crumbling down.

He sunk into the red hot water up to his chin. Let the prickles sink down to his bones. He was growing to like being boiled alive. Sometimes it was nice to feel like a lobster the moment before it realises it's going to be slathered in melted butter and served for dinner.

With Robin going there was no one left. Dustin didn’t count, he was a high school kid now and Steve couldn’t hang around high schoolers anymore. It was too weird. He didn’t want to be known as that guy. Nancy and Jonathan were happy in Washington last time he’d heard. He hadn’t spoken to Tommy in years, but he apparently left town to travel around a bit, find himself. And Billy was dead. Everyone left seemed to be able to just pick themselves up and carry on. Why couldn’t Steve? Why, every time he closed his eyes, could he still smell fireworks and smoke? Why could he still see tunnels in his dreams? Why was he still being chased night after night by monsters no matter what new drug the government appointed therapist put him on?

The tub was the only thing that brought even a second of relief. The feeling of pain mixing with pleasure to create a weird soup. Every small movement and splash echoed around the tiles. It was calming. It almost wasn’t real. Time didn’t exist.

Steve hated that therapist. He would talk for almost the full hour every week about how he couldn’t sleep through the night without keeping the lights and the radio on, about his nightmares when he could finally drift off that caused him to panic and sweat and scream with no one to hear it, about how a bus with burnt out brakes screeched outside Melvalds not too long ago and Steve felt his heart stop because it sounded like those monsters coming back. All he would receive in return was silence, a pen scratching on paper, a new prescription.

Robin wouldn’t talk about what they’d been through. The only other person in the whole world who would maybe understand even just a small fraction. Steve had tried to bring it up once, after a sleepless night where the room was swirling and it felt like those Russian drugs were back in his system again somehow, but was shut down with a simple “I don’t want to talk about that”. Steve had to respect her wishes, it would be unfair to just dump his trauma out in the open. That was probably just how she dealt with it. Pushed it aside and moved on. Steve did talk about it though, when she was doing returns or sorting new releases with headphones on and music blaring loud. He would say things to her she would never hear. At least, she never acknowledged she could hear anything. Everything said with a smile so, even though no one was listening, no one would suspect anything was true. All just a joke. Same old Steve Harrington.

“Hey, remember that time we nearly died and no one would ever find our bodies if we had? Yeah, fun times.”

“I don’t think my parents would come home for my funeral, probably just send a card in the mail. Funny though, ‘cause I’d never be able to read it.”

“Hey, so, last night I cried so hard I threw up. Imagine that! I’m too old to be doing that shit anymore, but, here I am. A pathetic mess.”

“I feel stuck and everyone is moving without me...”

“Everyone deals with life in different ways,” was all the advice the therapist would ever give, even when Steve was begging for more. Something that would actually help. But really, the sessions were only there so they could gadge if anyone else knew about what happened. Who Steve was talking too, who was important in his life. It was just the government keeping tabs. God forbid they actually help.

Steve’s sigh echoed around the bathroom. He sucked down one last breath before slipping under the water completely, letting it burn and soothe and burn some more. Letting the heat attack the thin skin around his closed eyes and flood his ears. Holding his breath until his lungs ached and he could feel his heartbeat thumping louder and louder. Forced himself to stay down, stay under as long as possible, putting his hands over his mouth and nose, pushing his bare feet into the porcelain of the tub to fight the urge to rise too soon. Until all he could hear was his heart. Until all he could feel was burning. His lungs on fire and every inch of skin alabaster pink. Nothing mattered at the bottom of the tub. It was a million miles away from everything. Misery didn’t exist down here. Sadness and the inability to just move on, like it was the easiest thing to do, didn’t exist. All that mattered was his baser instincts fighting through to survive.

The first breath was always the sweetest. The first gulp of steamy oxygen. Gasps and splashes echoed around the bathroom, bouncing and reverberating. Water sloshing over the sides of the tub and dripping onto the tiles. Still alive. This time. That’s all that mattered.

Still alive.

[mwelxn]

Last week, ex-Guns N' Roses guitar slinger IZZY STRADLIN' gave PAUL ELLIOTT exclusive details of exactly what went down with his shock departure from the former Most Dangerous Band in The World. In part two this week, Izzy previews his Stones-influenced upcoming debut solo LP 'Ju Ju Hounds', and reveals that yes, he DID almostjoin forces with this week's K!cover stars The Black Crowes!... By Paul Elliott Kerrang! Magazine - Sept. 1992 "...And that goes for all you punks in the press / That want to start shit by printin' lies / Instead of the things we said / That means you, Andy Secherat Hit Parader, Circus magazine, Mick Wall at Kerrang!, Bob Guccione Jr at Spin..." - 'Get In The Ring', Guns N' Roses Although Mick Wall no longer works for Kerrang!, Axl Rose's anger at the publication has not abated. Guns N' Roses' outspoken frontman routinely bitches about Kerrang! when the band play in London, Presumably, the root of the problem was a feature of Wall's on the Rock In Rio festival in which he accused GN'R of aloofness. Kerrang!gave Guns N' Roses their first British magazine cover in 1987, but Rose chooses to remember only one comment from one journalist. And that, it seems, is the bunker mentality behind the Guns N' Roses/Kerrang!/'Get In The Fucking Ring' feud. Former GN'R guitarist Izzy Stradlin' is equally bemused by it all. "I just write songs," he shrugs, grinning. "I honestly don't know what that was about or what was said. Axl was mad at Kerrang!, right? There were so many things that pissed him off..." It's said that Bob Guccione Jr, editor of US rock periodical Spin, was baited by Rose on 'Get In The Ring' simply because Spinprinted the contract which Guns N' Roses attempted to force on all journalists interviewing the band. The contract sought to censor the press. "I didn't even know about this contract," Izzy protests, "so when I heard Axl was mad about it, I was going, 'What?'! "If I were a journalist I'd probably just tell somebody to shove it up their ass too, cos I guess that'd be like somebody telling a musician how to write a song. "I wasn't aware that Mick Wall was one of the guys in that song. The only one I knew about was Guccione. I was sitting back in Indiana watching MTV and I saw that thing about Axl challenging him to go fight, and Bob said, 'Okay'. And I didn't hear anything else about it! "Axl's real critical of himself, and his anger seems to propel him in a lotta ways. That song 'Get In The Ring', I really love a lot of the lyrics just cos they're really aggressive. Axl played guitar on that track as well, that was the first time I saw him play electric guitar, and he did pretty well. I was digging it cos it was good punk energy. But with all the names at the end I was thinking, shit! I wouldn't have slagged people off on my record." - Izzy's Record, his first since quitting Guns N' Roses, is titled 'Ju Ju Hounds' and is as cool a rock 'n' roll record as anyone has made in the last 10 years. Like The Black Crows', Izzy's music is simple, intuitive, soulful. Both he and the Crowes have covered reggae standards, but where the latter play a lot of blues, Izzy's more of a punk. Axl calls 'Ju Ju Hounds' "Izzy's Keith Richards thing", which is as good a description as any. Izzy's LP has the same lazy charm as Keef's 'Talk Is Cheap'. "I read what Axl said," nods Izzy. "I think Keith Richards is great, but I don't think he has any songs that play as fast as 'Pressure Drop' (Izzy's souped-up cover of the Toots and The Maytals classic, also recorded by The Clash). I wish he would - It'd be great to hear him do that. "I called Keith last week; he was in the studio. I'm gonna try and hook up with him in New York sometime. There's a part of me that wants to take a tape of my record along and play it for him, and there's another part that's going, 'Fuck it, I'll just say hi and listen to his record'." Izzy's such a big Stones fan, there's still disbelief in his voice when he speaks of his friendship with Keef and fellow Stone Ron Wood, who guested on 'Ju Ju Hounds'. "We got together with Woody in LA. We did an old song of his called 'Take A Look At The Guy'." - A Stones CD plays as Izzy talks. The album is 'Black And Blue', one of the Stones' most laid back and most underrated works, featuring classic heartbreakers 'Fool To Cry' and 'Memory Motel'. plus the reggae number 'Cherry Oh Baby', covered by UB40. "I got into reggae partly through the Stones," says Izzy. "I guess it just bled over from stuff like 'Black And Blue' - it's killer. The thing I love about reggae is that it's not technical music where things are perfect; it's very freeform, just a groove. You can lay on a beach or a couch and just absorb it It slows down your heartbeat too, those drum beats and the slow pulse of the bass. It's like a tranquilizer. " 'Pressure Drop' is in this great movie called 'The Harder They Come', starring Jimmy Cliff as a ghetto kid who goes big time with guns; he shoots his way to the top. It's really cool. "There's an energy about 'Pressure Drop' that I love, the rock-steady rhythm. It's very loose, but at the same time it gets the point across." - Guesting on 'Pressure Drop' and on 'Can't Hear 'Em' (a reggae number of Stradlin's which features on the 'Pressure Drop' EP released this week, a month before the LP) is reggae star Mikey Dread, who worked with The Clash on their 'Sandinista' LP. Izzy met Mikey through bassist Jimmy 'Two Fingers' Ashhurst. "Jimmy saw Mikey play in Chicago and got hold of him the next morning. It turned out he was in the hotel right across the street from the studio we were using. We were just gonna do one song dub, but we ended up recording four songs with Mikey, for him. Jimmy and I played bass and guitar on them. Mikey did his rap thing on 'Can't Hear 'Em' and I think he sang some backups on 'Pressure Drop'. His guitar player did a reggae rhythm, real quiet, just a plunky, straight-through thing." Was Mikey surprised that a former member of GN'R loves and can play reggae? "I don't know but it was a trip working with those guys. Mikey had worked with The Clash before, so he must've been familiar with our style." So he didn't think that the way you speeded up 'Pressure Drop' was sacrilegious? Izzy smiles, "His first comment was, 'Y'know, man, this was a big hit in England'. I'm supposed to look him up when I get to New York. He's gonna take us to some place to get us some suits made - they do 'em overnight." - The whole of the 'Pressure Drop' EP has a raw feel evocative of Guns N' Roses' debut EP 'Live Like A Suicide'. 'Came Unglued' is as fast and lean as the obscure GN'R tune 'Shadow Of Your Love', while 'Been A Fix' has the hangdog vocals and fuck-off riff of late '70s Stones (it's also reminiscent of Aerosmith's 'I Wanna Know Why'). "Basically, I just wanted to get back to what really gets me off, just a basic rock 'n' roll band, a couple guitars, drums and bass. Simple. "The album's better, I would think, it's more mixed. The EP's just got three slammers on it, and a reggae song. The album's got a couple of acoustic songs, a coupla slammers, some basic rock tunes and one reggae song too. "The title of the LP came by accident in the studio. I was singing a backing track to something, and when I played it back it sounded like I said, 'Ju ju hound'. It doesn't mean much really." - Before Izzy began recording his album and EP, his name was linked with The Black Crowes, who at the time had not announced a replacement for Jeff Cease. So was he offered the gig? "I don't think so," Izzy shrugs. "When I left LA after I split from GN'R, I went on a road trip to New Orleans. From there I called my brother and he told me I'd got a fax from Rich in The Black Crowes. I had no idea their guitar player had split. "I stopped by Rich's home and he said, 'Maybe we should get together and write some songs'. I said, 'Let me take my stuff back to Indiana and get my house in order'. I love The Black Crowes, but because it was immediately after GN'R, I don't think I was ready to make any quick moves. I thought I'd just go and ride trials for a while. "I just wasn't interested in playing guitar at that time. I don't think I touched a guitar for about a month. I was getting off on riding, but, it got cold, Winter came, and I was sitting in a room with a guitar in the corner and it's like, 'C'mon, play me'! Once I started playing again I thought, this is the one thing that seems to make sense. "I started putting a band together in January. I was sitting in Indiana thinking, fuck, man, how do I find musicians? I couldn't just run an ad in the local trade paper. You wanna find somebody you can relate to, and the guys I got are all seasoned, proven. "I hooked up with Jimmy in LA. I'd known him for years, when he was in The Broken Homes. Once we'd got a drummer, Charlie Quintana, we'd recorded these basic tracks, so I asked Jimmy what Rick Richards from the Georgia Satellites was doing. Jimmy told me the Satellites broke up. This is how outta touch I am! "Rick's playing is so natural. I'll just throw out a coupla chords and he'll bounce stuff of it. He knows how to make it work." - Album and EP feature a number of guest musicians, including backing singers the Waters Sisters, who lift the chorus of 'Can't Hear 'Em' in much the same way that the I-Threes sweeten classic Bob Marley tracks like 'Could You Be Loved'. Barbara and Joy Richardson do likewise on The Black Crowes' 'The Southern Harmony And Musical Companion'. "The Water Sisters did 'Knockin' On Heaven's Door' for GN'R. Man, they can sing," Izzy adds with a smile, "but I can't see us going out on tour like that. I think we'll keep it real simple." Izzy's keeping everything simple these days. Guns N' Roses are no longer The Most Dangerous Band In The World, but they'll never be free of the controversy and all that bullshit. Stradlin' is, and he's happier for it. Simply, he's happy just to be back playing rock 'n' roll. It's all he ever wanted to do anyway.

[thebluesideofmyworld]

I Like Me Better (Chapter 18)  - A Solangelo Fic

Chapter 18: Don’t know about you but I can feel it in this room

(Chapter 1 || Chapter 2 || Chapter 3 || Chapter 4 || Chapter 5 || Chapter 6 || Chapter 7 || Chapter 8 || Chapter 9 || Chapter 10 || Chapter 11 || Chapter 12|| Chapter 13 || Chapter 14 || Chapter 15 || Chapter 16 || Chapter 17) || Read on AO3

Chapter Summary: Where the only one who realized that it was some sort of a date was not Will, nor Nico.

Nico sat on the stool, watching Will who was taking out some stuff from the fridge.

“I don’t know that you can cook,” Nico said.

Will turned his head. He flashed a half-smile at Nico as he nudged the fridge’s door with his elbow to close it.

“Well,” he said, and put some vegetables on the counter. “I didn’t know either that you can bake.”

Will shrugged his shoulders as he flashed another small smile. He turned around so that his back was facing Nico.

“What are you going to make?” Nico asked, trying to ignore the fact that he was staring at Will’s ass who was opening the cabinet door.

“Beef and broccoli,” Will said without looking at Nico. “Now if only I can find that… Ah, there it is,” Will said, and reached out for something on the top shelf. Will was tall enough that he didn’t really have to tiptoe to reach it. But still, his shirt went up as he stretched his arms up, to reach whatever it was that he needed. A strip of skin peeked out, the glorious skin a nice contrast of Will’s white shirt that he was wearing.

Nico had to forcefully look away from the sight in front of him before his train of thought went too far. He gazed around the apartment. The floor plan was basically the mirror image of Nico’s apartment, with the same basic furniture. But the knick-knack and some small details around the room were what made it different. While it looked a bit more scattered than Nico’s, there was just something that made it looked warmer.

The sound of door creaked opened, followed with footsteps coming from one of the bedrooms made Nico turned his head.

“Hey, Nico. How is it going, man?” Austin greeted him as he leaned his shoulder against the wall.

Nico flashed him a smile. “Am alright. How are you?”

“Not so bad,” Austin turned his head to Will. “You’re cooking?”

“Uh huh,” Will said, lifting his head up from the chopping board. “And Nico’s joining us for dinner,” he said, grinning at Austin.

“Really?” Austin’s turned his head back to Nico.  “You’re staying tonight?”

“Will offered me free dinner, and hey… I am just a college student!” Nico said, shrugging his shoulders.

“It’s probably ready in an hour,” Will said as he was pouring soy sauce into the bowl of beef strips.  “Beef and broccoli, and I am also making eggdrop soup.”

“That, sounds amazing,” Austin said, then his eyes darted back to Nico. For a split second, something flashed across Austin’s face, but a grin quickly took over his face before Nico was really sure about it. “Unfortunately, I think… I’ll have to pass tonight,” Austin said, angling his neck a little to look at Will.

Will stopped chopping onion, looking at Austin with confusion. “Huh? Why?”

“Well,” Austin said, straightened up his back. “I just remember that I need to go to the computer lab. My laptop is not fast enough for me to do my MatLab coding.”

“Oh, damn. I’ll save some and put it in the fridge,” Will said.

“Yeah,” Austin said. “But hey, at least you have someone to have dinner with tonight, right Nico?” Austin winked at Nico before he turned around and went back to his room.

Nico felt like he was not supposed to blush at that, but somehow he felt his cheeks were warmer.

Will himself didn’t seem to care as he already continued chopping the onion.

“Hey, Neeks? You know what, I was just starting to watch this TV show…” Will said as he put aside the chopped onion, and took a broccoli. Nico quickly forgot about what Austin said and listened to Will talking about the TV show.

About ten minutes later, Will was still trying to convince Nico to also watch Voltron, when Austin walked out of his room, his backpack on his shoulders.

He waved at Nico and Will as he walked past them to the door.

“Bye, Nico. See you later, Will.”

“Bye, Austin. Good luck with your codes,” Will said, as Nico gave a small wave at Austin.

“Anyway, where was I?” Will asked after Austin left.

“Your theory about Keith and Lance,” Nico said.

“Ah, yes… So, in like episode 4 of that season, there was this scene…” Will kept talking while continued working with the ingredients. Nico sat on the stool, watching him fondly as Will talked passionately as he kept on working with the kitchen utensils. There was just something endearing to see Will doing something so…domestic like this.

“And I swear that Keith was only being -“ Will’s fiery explanation was cut by a chirping sound from his phone that was lying on the kitchen island. “Hold on a second,” Will said, grabbing his phone. He looked at the screen. “Austin,” he said as he slid his finger on the screen. “Probably making sure that I save some food for him.”

Nico popped a grape into his mouth, but then he saw Will’s brows furrowed down.

“What?” He asked, a bit concerned when he saw Will was slightly frowning. “Is he okay?”

“I don’t know,” Will said. “I just… don’t understand what he said in his text.”

“Oh? What did he say?”

Will looked up from his phone for a second. He pushed away a lock of hair from his forehead. “He asked me whether I wanted him to stay somewhere else for the night.”

Nico’s brows furrowed down in confusion. “Huh? Why?”

“I don’t know,” Will said, already looking back to his phone as he typed a reply. “Maybe he forgot his key and didn’t want to keep me awake waiting for him? I am asking him whether he forgot his key.” “Probably,” Nico said. “If he needs his keys, we can go to the computer lab to give it to him. Or I can stay with you to wait for him?”

“Yeah… We can do that,” Will said absently, still having his eyes on the phone. A second later, his phone went off again. Nico watched as Will read the message. Will raised his eyebrows. He shrugged his shoulders as he put his phone back on the kitchen island.

“Never mind. He has his keys with him. So we don’t have to worry about it.”

“Oh,” Nico said, popping in another piece of grape. “Okay. Good, then.”

At the back of his mind, he still didn’t understand what Austin meant, and probably Will didn’t either. But Will continued talking again, this time gushing about a character named Shiro, and that thought quickly disappeared from Nico’s mind.

***

“This is nice,” Nico said two hours later as he rested his back on the couch. On the TV screen was an old episode of Parks and Recreation. He made a deal with Will that he might consider watching Voltron if Will would watch Nico’s favorite TV series.  So once dinner was ready, they brought the food and placed them on the coffee table, and Nico introduced Will to the city of Pawnee and its absurd citizens. Next to him, Will chuckled. Nico turned his head, finding Will was staring at him with a soft smile on his lips.

“What?” Will asked.

Nico raised his eyebrows. “What what?”

“What is nice?” Will asked again, and Nico really hoped that Will didn’t have that soft smile on his lips, that Will’s eyes were not that blue, because those things were just too distracting.

“Well, you know…” Nico rested the back of his head against the couch.

Being with you was nice. Doing anything with you was nice. Doing nothing with you was nice.

“The dinner,” Nico said, bracing himself to glance at Will.  At first they sat at the opposite ends of the couch, leaving a respectable distance of personal space between them. But three episodes of Parks and Rec later, between laughing at Tom’s sassy dialogues and chuckling at April’s sarcastic remarks on practically everything, they were only separated by a throw pillow between them now.

Will chuckled. “Well,” he said, stretching his legs to the coffee table. “Good to know you like my cooking.”

“Hey, if the whole pre-med school doesn’t work out, you can actually start a restaurant. Or a catering service.”

Will laughed lightly, but kept his eyes on the screen.

“We should do this again sometimes,” Nico said, focusing his eyes on the screen as he tried to ignore how his heartbeat went faster. Will laughed at something that April said, then glanced at Nico.

“Do what?”

“This. You know, dinner, watching TV…” Nico moved his hand in vague circular motions. “Just…you know… relaxing.”

Will snorted at that. “Yeah, like we have the time to do some relaxing stuff…”

Something heavy filled in Nico’s chest. He let out a sigh as his shoulders slumped down a bit.

“Yeah,” he said, staring at Ron Swanson on the screen.

It was quiet for a while except for the dialogues coming from the TV, and Nico started wondering whether he should go now. Not that he wanted to but it was almost 11 now and-

“How about this Friday?”

“Huh?” Nico turned his head to Will again. “This Friday? What’s with it?”

“I can cook dinner again and maybe…to make it fair… You make something that we can have as dessert?” Will said.

Nico blinked. “But…you said you don’t have time?”

Will slowly turned his head at Nico, his cheeks were faintly tinted with bright colors. And it took a lot from Nico not to grab Will’s face and kiss that shy smile from his lips.

“Uh… Relaxing for just once a week won’t kill, I guess?” Will said. He sounded hesitant, but there was something similar to unspoken hope in his blue eyes. Will cleared his throat, then continued. “But I mean, if you are busy it’s-“

Nico quickly grabbed the throw pillow and used it to hit Will’s shoulder. “Hey, you are the one who said you’re too busy!”

The color on Will’s cheeks was even brighter now.  “Well… I mean-“

“I’ll make some Panna Cotta then,” Nico said, cutting Will mid-sentence.

Will’s brows shot up. “What is that?”

Nico grinned. “You’ll see on Friday,” he said, making a mental note to go to the store tomorrow to grab some gelatin.

Will chuckled. “Will it go well as a dessert for some Mediterranean food?”

“Hmm…” Nico tapped his chin lightly, pretending like he was contemplating an answer. “I guess so?”

“We’ll see on Friday, then,” Will said, a grin spread across his face.

“Yeah, Friday.”

“And since I watch Parks and Rec, I guess it’s only fair if we watch Voltron that Friday,” Will added. He schooled his face into a serious expression, but the twinkle in his eyes betrayed it.

Nico snorted. “Yeah. Sure.”

It’s Monday evening, and Friday is only a few days away.

Yet, Nico felt Friday was a bit too far away.

He would wait, though. He’d wait.

Author’s Notes:

Chapter title is from Thru by Vallis Alps 

Austin is a good roommate. Too bad Will was too oblivious.

Comments and feedbacks are always welcomed. Thank you for reading :D!

[auskultu]

The Rolling Stones: Our Fans Have Moved On With Us

Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 4 February 1967

LET US consider that unique phenomenon – the Rolling Stones' public image!

When the Stones began rolling approximately three years ago they founded their personal approach upon a direct appeal to young peoples' impatience with authority and the basic premise that no one likes to be told what to do–especially a teenager. The Stones became "the defiant ones"—representatives of the eternal struggle between youth and the aged; champions of the "it's my life and I'll do what I like with it" school.

The parents spotted the declaration of war upon their authority and rejected the Stones – the Stones promptly rejected the parents.

Today there exists a huge social barrier between the older generation and the Stones – a barrier which some critics argue must be broken if the group are to "appeal to a wider market" and make the transition like the Beatles into films. Since their early days the group has progressed immeasurably both musically and lyrically – take a good listen to 'Ruby Tuesday' – and Jagger, with the exception of that recent abortive presentation on the Palladium TV, is without equal on stage as an agitator and interpreter of musical excitement.

Any improvement in the group as entertainers has been largely overshadowed by the regular bursts of shock publicity and personal life exposes in a National Press apparently as dedicated to a policy of "with the Rolling Stones only bad news is good news" as the group themselves are to their uncompromising attitudes and opinions.

I took up the subject with Brian Jones in a bar off Kensington High Street last Monday, where he supped a pint of Guinness and flicked fag ash into his untouched oxtail soup at irregular intervals.

"Why should we have to compromise with our image?" posed Brian. "You don't simply give up all you have ever believed in because you've reached a certain age.

"Our generation is growing up with us and they believe in the same things we do – when our fans get older I hope they won't require a show like the Palladium.

"The recent pictures of me taken in Nazi uniform were a put-down. Really, I mean with all that long hair in a Nazi uniform, couldn't people see that it was a satirical thing? How can anyone be offended when I'm on their side? I'm not a Nazi sympathiser.

"I noticed that the week after the pictures of me taken in that uniform appeared there were photographs of Peter O'Toole in the same newspaper wearing a German uniform for a film he is making. But no one put him down for wearing that!

"The photographs taken of my flat in a terrible mess recently was another misrepresentation. An Italian film company was filming in the room and we pushed everything into one corner to make room for the camera crew. We were not even aware of the photographs that were being taken were for publication in a paper here.

"You've seen my flat – I don't live in that kind of mess normally. I've complained to the Press Council about the whole episode."

At this point enter Mr. Keith Richard in his maroon leather jacket, University of Hawaii T-shirt and orange necker-chief, full of apologies for being late as he had forgotten it was his chauffeur's day off. How does he see the possibility of coming to terms with the older generation as the Beatles appear to have done? "You can't suddenly become accepted overnight by cutting your hair, putting on a suit and saying 'Look, aren't I nice? – it's not us – it's not honest, and why should we?" asked Keith.

"We haven't got the same PR set up as the Beatles," added Brian, "Anyway, I think you must realise that certain of the Beatles share a great many of our ideas and opinions."

We moved on to just who exactly are the Stones fans now. Brian obliged by describing one who had 'passed on.'

"'Margaret Stokes' was a Stones fan three years ago but she 'copped' out," he said. "Now she's probably married with a kid and another on the way. She and her husband go to the same pubs as her parents and they are both bored with life. If she goes to see a pop group at all she'll go and see Dave Dozy and Speakeasy!

"Sometimes we get the old characters like the one we met in a country club over the weekend. He came up to us and said he was a fan and that he'd been in the business 40 years and prophesied that we'd be all right 'as long as you keep yer 'armonies." "Our real followers have moved on with us – some of those we like most are the hippies in New York, but nearly all of them think like us and are questioning some of the basic immoralities which are tolerated in present day society – the war in Vietnam, persecution of homosexuals, illegality of abortion, drug taking. All these things are immoral. We are making our own statement – others are making more intellectual ones.

"Our friends are questioning the wisdom of an almost blind acceptance of religion compared with total disregard for reports related to things like unidentified flying objects which seems more real to me. Conversely I don't underestimate the power or influence of those, unlike me, who do believe in God.

"We believe there can be no evolution without revolution. I realise there are other inequalities – the ratio between affluence and reward for work done is all wrong. I know I earn too much but I'm still young and there's something spiteful inside me which makes me want to hold on to what I've got.

"I believe we are moving toward a new age in ideas and events. Astrologically we are at the end of the age called the Pisces age – at the beginning of which people like Christ were born.

"We are soon to begin the age of Aquarius, in which events as important as those at the beginning of Pisces are likely to occur. There is a young revolution in thought and manner about to take place."

Returning the conversation to any kind of level related to pop music proved difficult and a chance remark of mine as to Gene Pitney's marriage brought the retort, from Brian.

"You've been trying to reduce the conversation to that level all afternoon!" However we did manage to ascertain what they thought of Max Bygraves' action on the Palladium last week when he produced a can of arcosol and sprayed the stage on mentioning the Rolling Stones by name.

"Brilliant," said Keith sarcastically, "I mean all that and 'Tulips From Amsterdam' too!"

"Did he do it without wearing a wig," retorted Brian. "I mean that's a bit avant garde for Max Bygraves – putting down the Stones without wearing a wig!" We stepped over Max Bygraves and conversationally circumnavigated the death of President Kennedy – something else that Mr. Jones has very definite opinions about – and cares about almost obsessively. A neat swerve in discussion bought us to what if anything or anyone is following the Rolling Stones.

"I'd like to see the Move," said Brian. "They are really an extension of our idea of smashing conventions. Those kind of smash ups they have – destroying TV sets, cars, etc., are all a part of dissatisfaction with convention.

"Pete Townshend's tendency to smash guitars is a physical reproduction of what is going on in his mind – I wish he'd write a book!"

A somewhat disturbing interview was rounded off by Brian insisting that the Muzak version of Ravel's Bolero was turned up over our heads – "it builds to a great climax" – and we finally left the restaurant – Mr. Jones in his Rolls – Mr. Richard in his girl friend's dirty red sports car, and me by cab.

Nothing it seems is going to change the Rolling Stones – except perhaps old age!

[aramkrikorian-blog]

10-9-2018

waking up. tired. rain. rain on the boots. the boots are torn. shoes. are wet. leather shoes. uncomfortable shoes. comfortable shoes. the daily walk. walking in uncomfortable shoes. ears clogged. not sick. ears jammed up. sticking fingers into ears with toilet paper when in the bathroom. library. salvation army. need to take a piss. need to take a shit. bathrooms. looking for bathrooms. embarassed. look like shit. haven’t showered in a bit. lighters are dead. no flame for cigarettes. the rain. it ruins the cigarette shorts i collect off the ground. talking to myself. not really. lots of people doing real life following. they want me to participate in interactive games with the audience. im not a star. im not taylor swift. she shouldn’t do politics yet. she doesn’t know what she’s talking about. democrats. republicans. green party. lame . parties. people. birthdays. rain. dogs. leashes. masters. slaves. negative conditioning. positive associations. flashbacks. larissa. lory. jessica. ashkhen. hasmig. who and what happened and where am i. did the babies really get aborted. are people messing with my mind. the information. is it true. not true. ears clogged. i can barely hear sarcastic remarks. god is watching over it all. proverbs. Better to live in a desert than with a quarrelsome and nagging wife. peacock in the desert. seattle. pike street. pike market. prospect park. GAR cemetary. ducks. weird tattoo store. weird tattoo aesthetic. cornish college. security guards. smoking cigarettes. asking for cigarettes. not comfortable. SEATAC. orcas. the oceans. pier 70. pier 66. starbucks. starbucks reserve. st james church. gospel mission. millinair club. tweakers. not that many. many or not. not known. know nobody. alone. thoughts. suicide. Virginia Mason hospital. lutheran church. food. food under the bridge. housing help. library on 4th street. newspapers. news. 90 minutes of internet time. homeless resource guide. backpack stolen. all work gone. no more work to look over. wanted a house on frontenac. didn’t get it. went to ferrari dealership - you say you’re a gangsta but you never popped nothing. you’re a real wanksta. songs. curses. nirvana. cause i’ve found god - rethinking what i said about kurt cobain. he is dangerously not well in Lithium. sounds llike the psychiatrists put pills in him and he blew his brains out or heroine or the pain of his wife... she breaks mirrors. weird flashbacks. lorys brother was administerered lithium wh en i was administered seroquel. psychopharma DEATH TOLL. bodies keep stacking. kurt cobain. lithium. lake washington blvd - curt cobains house. i didn’t know. i did a free navigation of the city. i felt things, bro. now i regret what i said about kurt cobain. lady was wearing a nirvana song list tshirt. bruce lee and brandon lee’s graves. crows. bible... scarecrows. 3-6 mafia lord infamous used to call me scaRECROW what is this... where am i. same motifs. same symbols. used by different people at different times. 1 big symbolic soup. trying to make sense of it. untangle it. which came first the word crow or pigeon. beautiful pigeons. appearance of pigeons in ones timeline over time. typing in the library. ‘the kind of kind guy that won’t take no for an answer’ - wanting to buy a house on frontenanc and give it to brent and tim ... tim gave me an umbrella. brent hooked it up with cigarettes - lighter. they were good guys. lyft people circling around. feel guilt and shame resentment everywhere. saved by the dell poster. PRIVATE PROPERTY everywhere - including the seattle sports stadium ... safeco field? seahawks lose to larams - kendrick lamar. lemurians of mt shasta. greyhound... buses. the animals. a great dane takes a fat piss on 700 7th ave...  the courthouse night, doing a speech. finding weed on ground smoking it. speaking at the school ... getting more weed. fed a larabar. ara. ara gets funding again in march. rosenstein is out? cohen is out? melania is in africa - visits a former slave in ghana. beautiful work. thank you mr and mrs trump. kushner? scooby dooby doo. airbnb ... valuations. memories. pains. people. upgrades and promotions. growth. new ideas. scholarships. college. essays. schools. making sure the kids are going to be safe. at least putting a line on the older ones and going to go back and ensure the road is well paved for the younger ones. newspaper room 6th floor. bathrooms on floor 7 of library also on floor 1... and maybe on 3 and 4.. .but not sure. haven’t been higher than floor 7 as far as i recall. lady in front of library - obese with lighter and cigarette - i ask her for a light she says “why are you chasing me?” - not a question. it is a question. it is something inside of a question. an accusation. a false accusation. a controversial, extremely controversial false accusation. it implies more. profile equivalent of a stalker. im not a stalker. a chaser. but i will become one if she wants me to. if the shoe fits ill wear it. or ill just wear it once and throw it away anyway. copy and paste this text and put it into a text to speech application and just listen to it ... let me know if it sounds good. borrow phrases from it. let it brainwash you. because it’s all real. really really really really real. kim and kanye. blessings. armenians. what the heck. little children in library walking around... happy looking. global warming. will it kill all the little children that look so innocent to my eye. and to my eye the world looks ok. but to the instruments... they’re reading something else. that’s how gas kills doesn’t it... it didn’t smell. it just killed. mount olympia. sculpture garden at the pier has a lot of gardners but a lot more dog shit. its impossible to sit in the grass. there was SO MUCH dog shit there. mcdonalds sued for a million dollars. dont do it. all these ridiculous articles on Medium. i joined medium but i cant even press a button to write. ridiculous. double daniels. daniel lives here. so does erin treg. ill try to not mention too many names i guess. maybe they can comment on posts and take them out. fuck ilya golub. fuck olga. fuck all those people. nikolai and m8s and ara and etc etc. let them live their lives but these are weenie people. someone should keep a permanent weenie hat on their heads. stop stuffing dicks into everyones head aram. stop it. note to self. exercise more discipline in the language that i use. lockwood... he was an author who blew his braINS OUT. but he was typing like an animal in the family garage. he released a book. i wish one day i can get back to literature reading again. i miss pynchon. i miss delillo. did they write any new books. are they still alive? im going to check google right now and trust the answer. dellilo alive. i heard roth died. 5-22-2018. wow . the number 22. number of hebrew characters in the alphabet. the number of arab league countries. 22 is a heptagonal number. which means 7 sided polygon number. who knows what that means. its just important. who knows. philip roth died on 5 - 22 - 2018. wow. i miss his work. american paradise or something or portnoy’s complaint. who was that guy. i remember being in oregon 4 years ago and digging deep into literature. is my brother dead? did shant eat a heroine shot? people on the bus were saying weird things. is my father dead? i don’t even know. i remember jolie writing things on the wall. like prophecy that turned into reality. maybe the whole thing was a joke. the name. keith. she used names. she said things. JR JR JR> what is JR.. it’s on the inside of larissa lip . who knows. maybe real or not. nick. wtf. heroine. fresno. people talking to me. gangs this that. greatful dead family. where are we. what is this. acid. meth. heroine. crack brillo pads. what is all this. what happened. where is everyone. dope shooters. not a lot of people left around - “ Cage The Elephant - Shake Me Down - YouTube “ urban dictionary. JR> some caring guy. larissa’s boyfriend. hope they’re still together. been talking out loud to her. sometimes i feel her. saw a lookalike of Lory. or i actually saw lory. maybe when larissa and i were in santa cruz.. we were being watched and played for fools. she kept saying she saw nicole. the aramark logo. the mark from seattle. the people out there. here. chris while. erin triggie. daniel ex of jessica. who knows what people do. say. where am i. what has happened to me. how am i homeless. what is this. what happened to me. i used to be an OG. lol. what am i now. can i even handle it. unlikely candidate. why do people even half respect me. what is going on. scholarships. colleges. high school kids applying for colleges. stanford early application this year is november 1... and the regular is january 2. i remember 2004 applying for fafsa and all that. scholarships. this that. getting accepted. man. SAT scores are still going. its insane how out of touch you get despite trying hardest to stay in touch. eventually the kids evict you themselves. couple library rats tried to trade me bluetooth headset for some molly in front of library and for some crystal. i said no to both. i saw mad guy tweaking dancing fuckin hard at millionair club today - i looked at him and said “brother i love you so i dont want to see you here, like this, ok?” - where is HOMIE RESCUE TEAM - what are we going to do? should we just laugh at this guy. should we just let him die off. should we kill him? what do you think? i have to read news... china and america. usa. and china. and korea. and russia. and some games and calm down and 110 billion dollar pump into USA. turkey and saudi arabia ... and pushing and shoving and ghana and america visits and angola 500 million president running to london who knows... where are we.. like flies buzzing around on The Blue Marble. what happened to sitting at home and enjoying one another in peace. where is my wife. why do i call her my wife. im forgiving people. im rescuing people. im saying im going to quit cigarettes. people look so shady. they look so protective over their assets. ive lost more than i think or know or can count or i dont know whats going on. 

i wanted a ferrari 812 a portofino i saw was pretty i like the color rosso and i wanted a 488 spider and a home on frontenac and i wanted a powerboat like 70 footer or 77′ and i wanted to go to bahamas or caribbean and have sex with my wife and procreate and have children and relax and sleep and rest and have a home on 18 acres in snoquamish and all that stuff and have a Dodge ram 2500 

just read about Satyrs for the first time. rams and satyrs and greece and dionysus and debauchery and Pan and apollo and challenging gods and losing and winning and secretive & lustful and wanting to fuck and permanent erection (piss boner) - very interesting. 

also very interesting is the PT Barnum effect ... basically .. .have you ever had a boner? have you ever wanted to have sex with many women? have you ever flirted with a woman? h ave you ever challenged someone bigger than your own size (like David?) - who knows. Ram. Aram. Random Access Memory. bighorn ram. it was in a shooting game i played on hunting game on computer a long time ago. 

gods .. shoot downs. being destroyed. FLAYED Alive. the Flaying of Tarsus. hubris. arrogance. humility. cold. hot. 

there is this fucking idiot laughing in the library. this fucking tool idiot. he is in the library and he laughs like a clown. i wish joe pesci were here so he can jam and smash on the guy. but he’s not so if i do it. in front of the cameras. it will pr;obably get me into some sort of toruble. who knows. anyway. 

iris murdoch. philip roth. thomas pynchon. all these people. time passes. pynchon delillo still alive still kicking. 

birth days were the worst days. slowly getting over the doldrums. what is it called. weighing yourself down . idioms. expressions. the power of idioms. lists of idioms. lists of ethnic slurs. lists of sociological terms. lists of profiling terms. lists of lists. endless lists of words and referrents and objects and feelings. 

Jimmy hendrix park seattle. the numbered avenues. Ballard. the draw bridges. the seaplanes. the boeing. the SAM . art museum. the fountains. the trees and parks. the lake washington. the lake union. the puget sound. the alaskan viaduct project. 4 months. all the little pieces of seattle. the 4 seasons. the goldfinch bar. the bars. the loyal inn. mark matthews park. he was a presbyterian minister. here we are. some guy still laughing so i told him to shut up bro that hes fucking annoying. then another guy joins in... he does a little goat laugh. so i fucken do a sheep laugh too. fuck these guys. play whack a mole all day. 

seattle is amazing. minus these idiots in it. can someone genocide them. or get rid of their bodies tonight and feed them to the orcas k25 and k13 ? .. k13 is dead. k25 is getting skinny. 

The latest official count is 77 orcas among the three pods. That reflects the death of K-13, a 45-year old female named Skagit.

the count of orcas is 77 orcas. i wanted a 77 or 70 foot yacht. i wanted to call it Septuagint. there are al ot of 7s in the bible. 

oh Gosh. oh man. david reigned for 7 years 6 months. 76. 67.  6s and 7s. 42s. wow. and 7 male descendants of Saul hung before the lord. 7s. the 7 times 77 forgiveness.. yesterday the sevenfold punishments in leviticus. i like stuff like this alot. 

7 for all mankind - i remember such days. the time is 12:12 Pm on 10/9/2018. 

who knows these things ... the Lord is playing on all tracks concurrently. im less annoyed. i see all these defective personas in one day. i dont know why. but its getting better. people getting chin checked. a lot of people getting tagged. 

the rats are getting smashed on worldwide. Meng. etc etc. interpol. this that. internationally. locally, domestically. the Great Awakenings. when we enter into slumbers and turn into zombies turn into psychic vampires. we need to clean the algae every once in a while or else there’s just bodies and piles of bodies of humans. we dont really care about the dead of the past. we really dont’ give a shit or dedicate any time to remembering or researching the dead of the past. a list of wars by death toll. largest natural disasters by death toll. 

to have faith. to try to pray to God. to say im not here to destroy the catholic church. people say and come up with the worst and weirdest things. if you can only see this writing post you will see i hop around so many places. 

a poison dart frog, a dog, a porcupine, a snake, a cow - i’ve been compared to such animals. after a while all the terms of endearment eventually get to me.. its annoying its not cute. people speak they did the worst things to me and im pretty done for trying to recover. maybe i will maybe i wont maybe someone will kill me or ill magically die.. it wont matter - i see that kurt cobain and bruce and brandon and jimmi hendrix theryre all dead and the stars are all dead the “stars” ... revelation says 

Revelation 6:13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, like unripe figs

and the woman and the dragon and the red dragon ... and ir ead revelation and imagined myself as satan last year but i dont think so. i think the others are satan becasue they twisted my brains in and out.. and i cant wait for the rest of revelation to be carried out so that i can witness the end of the world. im very tired of how twisted and disgusting things have become.. im not just angry or wrathful.. i would like to actually see the end of the world... i would like to see Jesus im going to try and be ok until that happens. .. and its so sad that people are just.. .its so sad. 

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+12&version=NKJV

love, 

aram krikorian