#missing persons in Brisbane

[wirt-and-wirt-by-products]

Killing myself in front of a flight attendant to permanently change the course of their life forever

[prettygirlgerard]

Gerard wrapped

You collected 21,908 Instagram live screenshots this year! Nice job!

Your top crying song was The World Is Ugly!

You experienced 674 moments of weakness where you mumbled “in the face of extermination say fuck you.”

You bore witness to a whopping 5,621 upskirt shots in March alone!

Your most watched video was My Chemical Romance - Cemetery Drive (acapella) - Brisbane 14/3/23

You’re no stranger to Tumblr hashtags, but this year your favorites were #outta the way gay boy im about to get it and #i miss my wife!

You developed 3 new fetishes!

You revolutionized the world of real-person fan fiction a whopping 1 time! Let’s shoot for another screenplay next year!

You planned to get matching tattoos with 12 mutuals!

You remained unemployed for the entirety of the MCR Swarm tour! Talk about dedication!

[dulcevenganzaa]

hiii so i decided to put together my research skill and love for fashion to look up some of the sunglasses gerard's been wearing this leg of tour since i've seen some people wondering about them and personally i just really like some of these. so, this is what I've found so far 

Black SL 421 | Saint Laurent / they've been wearing these all tour basically, seen before in the NA shows (Montreal, St Paul, Oakland, and most recently in Brisbane) - they're sold out rn but they usually retail around $350 - $400 

YY5010 | Yohji Yamamoto / (worn in Aotearoa and never seen again 😔) These are kinda hard to miss, the particular design of the bridge is a staple of the brand, another thing is that they're pretty hard to get a hold of? they're not on the official website as far as i could tell, but they're listed in sites like grailed, the model in the link varies a little but they're the same basically

Lemtosh Sun (Flesh) | Moscot / these were the hardest to ID, pretty much bc there are like a million models that look like this, i am certain these are the ones he's wearing, what gives them away are the rivets (tiny screws) and that curve on the inside of the bridge, he really seems to favour these lately lol but he also wore them a few times in the states iirc

Tristan | Jacques Marie Mage / i wasn't too sure about these ones at first since they look like generic wayfarers at first glance but they do have that curve on the top and the rivets match pretty well, this are the most expensive on the list so far, and they come from a relatively young brand from LA that manufactures some models in Japan < so hence the price im guessing 

GG1119S 001 | Gucci / these are a complete shot in the dark tbh since they're a pretty generic model, you could look up any brand and find their own version of these but Gucci's model is the closest one i could find so far, not a 100% match, if you look at the model G's wearing the bridge has a more pronounced curve and as i looked through other pics the temples don't match either and they seem to be way rounder?

[jade-green-butterfly]

Each OC/self-insert has a very special place in my heart, especially my newest one - Jadie, for she is inspired by my old dog, Maddie (1996-2004) a sweet English Cocker Spaniel who was and always will be, a important member of my family when I was growing up - making Jadie extra special~🫶 If y'all wanna know more about Jadie, I brought her to life in Picrew but fleshed her out with her own BIO when I got more into Bluey, all thanks to my dear buddy, CJ on tumblr. Such a wholesomely super cute show which really tugs at your heart strings and makes you laugh, including me~💙🧡

Jadie | Female | English Cocker Spaniel

Occupation: Sweet Shop Owner

BIO: Was an exchange student at Chilli's school for a year, where she befriended her until she unfortunately had to leave and go back home to England. Although she still kept in contact with Chilli as pen pals over the years.

But when she grew up to the age she is now, Jadie finally got the opportunity to officially move back to Brisbane, Australia and (unbeknownst to her) find a house in Chilli’s neighborhood, and also set up shop as a new sweet shop owner. Although she still has no idea of the lay of the land yet, up until she spotted by the Heelers and a wholesome reunion took place~

Jadie enjoys playing along with Bluey and Bingo’s games whenever she visits or the Heelers visit her. She likes to make a positive out of a negative, and usually has an answer for the kids’ curious (and sometimes cheeky) questions. And whenever she gets bashful or very embarrassed, she hides her face behind her long wavy ears. I saw a lot of adorable and dashing characters (Bandit becoming a comfort character for me) in the series, but one who stood out the most and I took a strong liking to, was Busker - voiced by Joff Bush, the man behind the show's music. He has real charm, and I adore his voice and personality, his character over all - I thought he'd be make great match with Blueysona~🧡🐶🤎💘💚🐶🤍 Very much so that I was inspired to draw Busker and Jadie on their future wedding day, thanks to Bandit's older bro, Radley and his beloved Frisky getting married, along with Bandit and Chilli's own lovely wedding photo~😊But the main inspiration was the beautiful 'Happy Marriage Song' from the Sailor Moon Cosmos Movie~🥰 I even drew Jadie and Busker's future children - two lovely twin girls called Maddie and Bonnie, in tribute to my two former pet dogs IRL, Maddie (as mentioned above, 1996-2004) and Bonnie (2007-2023) Dearly missed but always loved~💕🙏 Hope you all like, peeps!👍💞🫂 I am super chuffed of how all of this turned out and stay tuned for more Coossy cuteness, coming soon!💗😍

*~Reblogs are also deeply appreciated as well, so please do reblog as well as like! Thank-you kindly!~*

Busker (c) Bluey/Joe Brumm/Ludo Studio Jadie (c) @jade-green-butterfly (Me~!) Jadie Sketch (c) @dragon-cookies/@dragoncookiesdraws

[qnewsau]

Tom Daley drops one last Speedo video before Olympics ends

New Post has been published on https://qnews.com.au/tom-daley-drops-one-last-speedo-video-before-olympics-ends/

Tom Daley drops one last Speedo video before Olympics ends

The Paris Olympics Closing Ceremony wrapped this morning but overnight, British diver Tom Daley has squeezed in one last Speedo thirst trap, getting his diving friends in on it too.

The out Olympian put up the video after teaching himself, his diving partner Noah Williams and fellow Brits Jack Laugher, Kyle Kothari, Jordan Houlden, and Anthony Harding the viral dance moves to Charli XCX’s Brat track Apple.

All six of the athletes wore speedos and shoes as they filmed on a rooftop before they went to the closing ceremony in Paris.

“BRAT Summer Olympics ,” Tom wrote.

  View this post on Instagram

  A post shared by Tom Daley (@tomdaley)

“How did you get them to agree to this?” one follower asked Tom.

“I already miss the Olympics,” another person said.

Helpfully, Tom tagged all of the Olympians who joined him in the video. They’re all below:

  View this post on Instagram

  A post shared by Tom Daley (@tomdaley)

  View this post on Instagram

  A post shared by Noah Williams (@noah_w9)

  View this post on Instagram

  A post shared by Jack Laugher MBE (@jacklaugher)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kyle Kothari (@kylekothari)

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  A post shared by Jordan Houlden (@jordanhoulden)

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  A post shared by Anthony Harding (@antharding00)

Tom Daley won silver in Paris

The Paris Olympics closing ceremony wrapped up early this morning (AEST). Actor Tom Cruise and American musicians including Billie Eilish performed as Paris handed the Olympics over to the next host city, Los Angeles. They’ll host in 2028, before the Olympics comes to Brisbane in 2032.

Earlier, Tom Daley and his diving partner Noah celebrated winning the silver in the men’s synchronized 10-meter diving.

Tom won his first gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, and took a long break after his triumph.

The British superstar athlete said he returned to the sport because of his family, specifically his six-year-old son Robbie.

“Robbie was like, ‘Papa, I want to see you dive in the Olympics’. And that was that,” Tom told BBC Sport.

“When your kid asks you to do something, you do it.”

More on the Paris Olympics:

Adele reckons Aussie Raygun was ‘best thing at the Olympics’

Olympic pole vaulter’s bulge costs him a medal in Paris

Tom Daley models jumper he’s been knitting poolside

Tom knitted diving partner Noah Williams a ‘c**k sock’

For the latest LGBTIQA+ Sister Girl and Brother Boy news, entertainment, community stories in Australia, visit qnews.com.au. Check out our latest magazines or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

[astheswarmitcalls]

PART 4: THE BUSINESSWOMAN

This is the final part of my 4-part analysis of MCR5, the Masterpost for which can be found here. Link to previous part found at the bottom of the post. If there's something I missed, or you'd like to add your own spin/elaborate on something I brushed over, by all means I'd love to hear it!!

We fucking made it. This is my magnum opus. The apotheosis of my life’s work. This is what it is, what it’s all about. This is MCR5.

I alluded to the character of the Businesswoman a good 11,000 words ago during my deep dive of The Foundations of Decay. ‘She will always be the whore.’ Yeah, that’s her. I also omitted her when talking about FEMCR because I wanted to do it here. She is the only character to appear more than once on tour, aside from Cheerard. The latter appeared in two US shows, Nashville and LA, but the Businesswoman appears in 8 shows total across three countries. We also know it’s the same character apropos of Marina Toybina’s Instagram post, and her appearance evolves throughout. Strap yourselves in, we’re in for a ride.

AUCKLAND: FIX FAX FUCK YOU “But it’s not the end. It never ends. Because WAR never ends. Because war never ends. WAR!!!”

The first appearance of our lovely lady. As opposed to Cheerard and our Nurse, she’s a lot less cheery, which is what leads me to believe her story isn’t particularly sparkly or sweet. She screams a lot. The blazer and mid-thigh skirt are this nice grey, and due to the specific cut of the blazer, I believe this specific ensemble is utilised for this performance only. I believe the black tie stays consistent throughout the rest of her appearances. She has black heeled boots and black stockings.

I’ve seen a lot of people speculate that the ‘Vampire Mansion’ is where MCR5 is going to take place, and all these character Gerard is portraying on tour are residents of the mansion. With how little we know about MCR5, it’s possible, but I don’t believe this narrative to be as likely. It’d be so much fun, don’t get me wrong, but the fabric of each concept album has intrinsic ties to the psychology of the band at that point in time. Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge is a love letter to horror flicks, but also deals heavily with grief and loss since Gerard and Mikey had just lost their grandmother. The Black Parade is about death and moving on but has those personal undertones in the lyrics about addiction and mental illness that are pulled directly from the band’s experiences. Mikey Way talked about how the band’s stay in the Paramour Estate had exacerbated the issues he was facing, and that Gerard was looking into having him committed.

Two weeks after Mikey left, Ray and Gerard wrote Famous Last Words which of course fits into the storyline of The Black Parade, but also is a direct response to Mikey’s departure and the emotions Gerard was feeling at the time. This pattern of the albums pulling from the band’s experiences at that moment in time is a reason why I don’t think the Vampire Mansion MCR5 Theory is so credible.

Back to the Businesswoman. We know Gerard’s stance on war from the numerous on-stage rambles they have across the tour. The backdrop of the tour is quite literally a warzone, and there’s references to war and 9/11 in the lyrics of The Foundations of Decay. They spoke out about the war in Ukraine (the band was supposed to play a show there, but it was cancelled), and war is this tragic, persistent thing that never seems to end. 2022 and 2023 have been rife with it.

This character is surrounded by war, by terrorism and bloodshed. She’s bitter and angry, and she has every right to be. ‘Fix fax fuck you’ has this sharp tone to it that introduces this character incredibly well. We already have a gauge of this person, and her setting. The next outfits build upon that.

BRISBANE NIGHT 1: EVERYTHING UNDER CONTROL “I will not wear a hat in this outfit! And so we move on, we move on, we move on to war! You know what’s in store? More fucking war!”

(Sidenote: The drawings on the speakers from Mikey’s kids are so endearing.)

The Businesswoman outfit appears a little more conservative here, but it’s our same favourite gal. She’s got sheer black stockings and heels with straps. Her skirt’s just below the knee tonight. She loses the jacket fairly early on in this show, as well as her tie; most photos are of the 1st photo where the outfit is stripped down significantly. I’ve found it incredibly difficult to find decent quality pictures of this show with the full outfit, I think Gerard just Does Not Enjoy Australian weather.

I’ve heard some claims that ‘Everything Under Control’ was what came over the speakers at the World Trade Centre during 9/11, but I can’t find a source for this. At this point, there may be a little bit of plausibility with the Businesswoman Theory. Similar outfits two nights in a row? That’s new but maybe they’ve got a limited wardrobe. They are halfway across the world anyways. ‘Everything Under Control’ seems a little vague, you could tie to just about anything, if it isn’t a reference to 9/11.

Would also to mention here, Gerard Way arrived in New Zealand with a Gucci shopping bag. I’ve done my research and can’t pinpoint exactly what part of the Businesswoman outfit he may have shopped for, but my guess is the sunglasses, shoes or coat. She’s a luxury girl. She doesn’t deserve any less. (EDIT: I found it, but I’m going to leave this here as I add more.)

BRISBANE NIGHT 2: HERE COMES THE AIRPLANE “I have two kinds of perfume on this tour; one smells very calming, like the last day of summer, the other smells like a hospital. It gives me anxiety. Do you know which one I’m wearin’ tonight?”

If you had any inhibitions about the 9/11 ties to the Businesswoman, this should do it. ‘Here comes the airplane’ implies she’s some sort of accountant or secretary working at the World Trade Centre when the attacks occur. A 9/11 narrative for MCR5 would be macabre no doubt, but no more than the content of the preexisting albums. Skylines and Turnstiles was written in direct response to the attacks, and the band itself was formed in the wake of the events. I don’t think it’s coincidence either that they played that song at this show.

MCR5 as the 9/11 album would be this beautiful dichotomy of old and new; building on the birth of the band itself but speaking to the rebirth and healing that is so integral to the psychology of their return. The Foundations of Decay is all about moving on from your past, and that’s exactly what this band is doing.

The blazer is darker than the one at the previous two, and the skirt is shorter again. They added a grey trench coat and these elbow-length black leather gloves that are remarkably cunty. I can’t tell if these are the same sunglasses to the Auckland show, or if they just have a few pairs and recycle them through the tour. Ms. Businesswoman has a briefcase, likely the same one as the night before, and I can’t find a good picture of it so please just take my word for it. She’s wearing the same shoes as the previous night.

I actually solved the Gerard Gucci Mystery 8 hours ago (I’ve been working on this for about 10 now). The skirt he wears at this show is shorter than the rest and tweed. I found a Gucci skirt that’s $1975AUD and looks incredibly similar if not exact. If it isn’t this skirt, then it might be the perfume. If it’s not the perfume I’m totally lost.

Fun Fact: This was the show my barber was at. Amy you are so fucking cool.

MELBOURNE NIGHT 1: TERROR “See you in church! I’ll see you in hell! Punish! Punish!... Gorgeous! Gorgeous fucking violence!”

The order of the Australian shows stumped me for a few minutes. Auckland to Brisbane is all fine and dandy, but then they jump down to Melbourne and back up to Sydney instead of travelling down the east coast. Maybe Sydney just has a nicer international airport.

At first glace I thought this was the same blazer/skirt combo as the Auckland show, but the pockets are different. It’s also not dark enough to be the suit from Brisbane2. This is incredibly pedantic, but the Brisbane1 skirt goes past the knees, and this cut sits just above; being able to differentiate the skirt lengths is vital because otherwise it’s fairly difficult to tell what show each photo is from. The shoes are the same pair from the Brisbane shows, and the gloves make yet another appearance. The trench coat also makes a return, and tonight she’s wielding a black umbrella with a dog head on the handle. I’m not looking into it too much. She’s a dog person.

The ‘Terror’ written on the drumhead could refer to the feelings of many at the time of the September 11th attacks. Our Businesswoman character is amid the action, she’s terrified. Also terror as a root word for terrorism, which coincides with war. My immediate thought was ‘Tower of Terror,’ which is a Disney park attraction, but also,,, tower,,,, twin towers.

MELBOURNE NIGHT 2: BARK BARK BARK

This is the first time in 4 shows Gerard has worn a normal outfit, and the last night of him wearing this. As for the drumhead message, we have a few references to dogs, like Gerard howling before House of Wolves at Firefly Festival, but it’s not something to read into. That’s sort of hilarious thing for me to say, considering I wrote about 400 words on the colour green, but I digress.

SYDNEY NIGHT 1: UNKILLABLE

She’s back! She’s bloody! She’s never looked better!

Based on the style and skirt length, I’m confident this is the same outfit as the Melbourne outfit, now with the boots from the Auckland show and no stockings. Most photos of this show will have her with her jacket still on. Our favourite professional woman in back, now with a pretty nasty head wound. Her preceding appearances as Very Much Alive and the incriminating drumhead messages imply that she has perished in the 9/11 attacks. ‘Unkillable’ could reference how this character is a survivor, her inability to die and her curse to continue to walk the earth even after her death. I did make mention of zombies earlier, and how they could be a metaphor for MCR5’s themes of rebirth. As we’ll see, Ms. Businesswoman refuses to be laid to rest. More likely, it’s a reference to Frank Iero’s accident in Sydney that nearly took his life. Copy and paste everything I just said about My Chem weaving their own experiences into the narrative of the concept albums.

SYDNEY NIGHT 2: UNKILLABLES

Our girl is still dead!

This looks to be the same as the Brisbane1 outfit, now with the Auckland boots. She’s bloodied up, and now she’s got these gnarly whiteout contacts that make her look Extra Dead. Like the Brisbane1 show, she loses the jacket at some point, and I think the blood gets sweated off in some of the photos.

Not much to add about the drumhead, could be in reference to the full band; they’ve overcome quite a lot and continue to make art alongside their rocky pasts.

TOKYO: GEMINI

Our girl is extra bloody tonight!

This looks to be the same as the Melbourne outfit with the same heels. Gerard took them off at some point in the show and was walking around barefoot. I learnt this trying to find pictures of this show; just too many with his dogs out. They have both the briefcase and the black umbrella. We have an exponential increase in blood, and a return of the whiteout contacts.

As for ‘Gemini’ it appears fairly left-field because astrology historically hasn’t been a motif within MCR. None of the members are Geminis (I checked, unfortunately), but do you know what the symbol for Gemini is? That’s right. The twins.

My line of thinking is so skewed, genuinely. Maybe Ms. Businesswoman is an astrology girlie.

OSAKA: ENDLESS NIGHT

Exact same outfit as Tokyo, but the blazer comes off, and there’s a little less blood. I’m going to make a flowchart because I’m having the hardest time trying to place all of these photos.

‘Endless Night’ is a lyric from Vampires Will Never Hurt You, which Gerard has cited as their favourite vocal performance they've ever done.

Before I start the spiel, here’s the flowchart:

I see a few potential storylines for MCR5 that centre around the Businesswoman.

The Businesswoman was working in the World Trade Centre when it collapsed, but she was able to make it out. The album would follow her complete mental dissolution in the wake of the events, where she imagined she had died in the attacks. We would explore her reckoning with healing and her eventual rebirth. She is subject to sensationalism from her peers as a woman surrounded by tragedy, which only exacerbates the issues she is having. Only when she has completely broken and dealt with her trauma, she is able to move forwards. Alongside healing, the album would feature anti-war sentiment throughout. We would continue the swarm/rot/vermin/decay imagery as a metaphor for her decline and eventual resolve. This narrative would be more grounded like The Black Parade, but still have fun in its lyricism and concepts.

Alternatively, the Businesswoman perishes in the attacks, but is stuck in a time loop that would have her relive her death over and over again. This could explain why she seems to ‘die’ on tour but continues to come back night after night. We’re painted a vivid picture of our iconic lady in the World Trade Centre succumbing to the rubble as she submits to her fate. In those hazy moments between each restart, she’s greeted with these visions that revisited her past and put her in the place of other women. She’d see herself as Joan of Arc, burning at the stake. She would revisit her glory days as a cheerleader, only to see her perfect image slip through the cracks and distort into who she is today. She would reckon with her hopelessness. How easy it is for her to lie down and let the flames engulf her, but in seeing these visions, she’s filled with a new hope and a bitter vengeance. She thinks of the endless cruelty of war, all the lives it takes, and that rage fuels her. She gets up, and she makes it down the staircase. She lives. The bizarreness of the time loop would allow for some interesting songs. I’m really hoping for a Joan of Arc song, it would be the coolest. Like with the previous idea, we’d have explorations of healing, rebirth, femininity, and war.

Any number of narratives surrounding the Businesswoman could be true. She could be alive or dead. She could be in purgatory. She could die in the attacks or be fighting for her life in a hospital bed. She could be in one of the towers when it collapses or be watching from the curb. The concept could be grounded in a way we haven’t seen before, or twice as insane as Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. Here’s the concrete facts of the album:

It centres around some professional woman.

She has ties to 9/11.

She is dead or has a close call with death.

She hates war.

She heals and experiences rebirth.

I’ve already made note of how a 9/11 album would tie fantastically with the fabric of the band’s return, but another question arises. Why a woman? Historically, MCR’s concept albums have centred around male characters, such as the male Demolition Lover and the Patient. It’s plausible Gerard just wanted to switch things up a bit, but I think it goes a little deeper than that.

As I mentioned before, Gerard has a longstanding connection to femininity. This is something that was definitely alluded to in the Revenge Era, but it would’ve been dismissed as Typical Emo Androgyny from a non-queer audience. In 2014 they opened up about how they empathised with trans people and women, and that at points in their life they had experienced confusion surrounding their identity.

"I have always been extremely sensitive to those that have gender identity issues as I feel like I have gone through it as well, if even on a smaller scale. I have always identified a fair amount with the female gender, and began at a certain point in MCR to express this through my look and performance style. So it's no surprise that all of my inspirations and style influences were pushing gender boundaries… Masculinity to me has always made me feel like it wasn't right for me."

"I never really subscribed to the archetype masculinity growing up... There was a time where I was called a girl so often that when I discovered the idea of transgenderism I considered myself to be more of a girl. So I identify with trans people and women a lot because I was a girl to a lot of people growing up."

The former quote was from the Reddit AMA, and was followed up with “It was really freeing to be able to talk about gender identity btw.” Representations of female characters on the return tour spark commentary on multiple fronts, a lot on how we view femininity and how society loves to make spectacle of tragic women. This fits in well with how MCR has critiqued masculinity, but I think it also has more emotional value. Portraying these characters has allowed Gerard to express himself in a way that just would not be accessible in the early 2000’s and even the 2010’s. The fact that they’re clean, sober and have gotten professional help (Mikey too) is undoubtedly a reason as for why the whole bands seems to be at their happiest in this era, but I think being able to experiment and express femininity onstage has added another layer of catharsis for Gerard.

Copy and paste AGAIN everything I’ve said about the concept albums being an outlet for the band’s experiences. MCR5 is going to centre around a female character, and I think more explorations of gender identity are incoming. It’s a concept that’s not been so explicitly explored in MCR’s history, and I think Gerard should be given the space to vocalise and represent those experiences on an album. It’s something I believe is alluded to in one particular unlisted song, but more to be said in the next part.

This album is a personal statement from the band, it’s a work of deliverance, a visitation of their ruins and a promise to rebirth. We do not move forward in spite of our pasts; we move forward alongside them.

<<< PREVIOUS PART | [BONUS PART COMING: EAGLES ANALYSIS]

[chaos-footy]

brb crying in a corner over this

The first segment is from 2018. The lions finished that season 5-18, 15th on the ladder. Cam Rayner debuted that year - the 2017 number 1 draft pick. Everyone in the media had been roasting him, calling him a 'flop' at 18 years old. He had the opportunity in the final seconds of the game against North Melbourne to score and win a pretty "easy" shot. He missed. After the siren, Chris Fagan immediately went to 18 year old Cam and hugged him.

Some other coaches would've given Cam a spray for missing, and a lot of footy personalities even called him out for being too soft and the reason why Brisbane hadn't turned their fortunes around after years at the bottom. But Fagan's approach has always been the person first, the player second. And to see the effect of that, over the course of the season, over the course of finals - that's special.

(original video)

[privateinvestigatorsuniverse]

Pros of Technology in Investigating Missing Persons Brisbane

With the advancement in technology, different aspects of society have progressed manifold. Therefore when a person gets missing, you don't need to worry at all because missing person Brisbane professionals will help you get over it. But yes, the experts take help from technology to make solid progress in the Investigation. So let's see how technology can help in the Investigation.

 Using advanced technology like facial recognition

Facial recognition technology has become an indispensable tool in recognising missing persons. Missing person Brisbane lawyers use high-end software to compare images of unrecognised individuals with present databases, such as passport photos or drivers licenses. This technology helps establish the identity of individuals found. Thus, they play a vital role in reuniting missing persons with their families.

 Digital Footprints and social media in the Investigation

The varied use of social media has improved the missing person investigation cases. Now Investigators can scrutinise the online presence of missing persons through social media messages, social media posts and connections to get valuable information. Social media platforms also serve as a medium to disseminate information quickly. It also engages the public in the search. Thus, increasing the chances of locating missing individuals with ease.

Missing person Brisbane using GPS and mobile phone

It's undeniable that GPS and mobile phones have helped locate and track missing persons quite easily. It provides data details and follows the mixing person based on the last seen location. This information allows investigators to streamline areas of search and focus their efforts, potentially leading to more accurate and quicker resolution.

Analysing the data and making predictions based on that

With predictive and data analytics, including algorithms, analysing patterns, and historical data, investigators can shed insights into behavioural tendencies or locations of missing persons in Brisbane.

Final Say

So you can take the help of missing persons investigation specialists to solve any case related to a missing person. Thus, the above blog tells you how technology has aided the experts in the investigative process.

[majesticwren]

due to high demand - me. I'm high demand. this entire project is being written entirely for my pleasure, be warned I'm being extremely self-indulgent - I've decided to write a little prequel to the events that take place here. this is set in 2018 and is the beginning of Fletch x OFC. billy will have his own little prequel at some point. enjoy.

Trigger Warning/s: alcohol consumption, mention of addiction, mention of sex, mention of trauma, sexual harassment, swearing, OFC is her own trigger warning she is damaged goods and slightly toxic, kyle is a little baby, mark is being overprotective and extremely toxic sorry not sorry, angst, mainly friends to lovers/impossible relationship dynamics.

nuclear season: part I -> | part II -> | part III -> prequel: part II -> | part III -> | part IV -> Masterlist

January 2018

There was always something melancholically romantic about an empty venue after a show. Seeing a place that had been crowded, hot and loud for hours suddenly empty and silent had a particular bittersweet vibe to it.

Erika sat on one of the foldable chairs at ringside, one leg crossed over her knee, swinging her foot to the beat of the seconds, looking around as she waited. Trying to pass the time, she fiddled with a lock of her hair.

The lights of the venue were now all switched on, making the ring at the centre of the room look extremely surgical. A couple of RevPro workers were dismantling it, pulling the apron and starting to take down the ropes. Erika moved her attention to another person on the other side of the room who was folding up the chairs, ready to load them away.

Erika tapped her foot on the floor. It was sticky under the sole of her show because of the spilt over drinks. She took some time to count the abandoned plastic cups and forgotten items she could see all over the place, making it look like the crowd partied hard. Which wasn’t far from reality. They had a good crowd at the show that night and everyone seemed to have enjoyed themselves wrestlers and guests alike.

She was proud of many of the pictures she had taken. There was a content smile nested on her lips as she was aware she had probably made rent with that event.

There were many pros to working in wrestling. It was a career she hadn’t considered before, even though she had been around the scene for years since her brother was such a massive fan and had been wrestling already for over ten years. So, she had her fair bit of knowledge and was charmed by that world but had never thought it possible to make a career out of it.

Still, now she wasn’t entirely convinced her dream had come true. Somehow, she thought she didn’t deserve it and considered it a privilege. She had hurt and disappointed so many people before, too used to being a problematic teenager than this new responsible adult that Erika was convinced it was only a matter of time before she fell into her old habits again.

But, at the moment, she was enjoying doing what she was doing and paying her living doing liked most. Photography was her life. She loved taking pictures, framing moments and making them hers forever. Plus, her job was fun and granted her the possibility not only to travel and meet many people, but she got to do it all with her dear big brother.

The most important part of following that dream, though, was that it gave her the chance to leave Australia for good. She had followed Mark to the UK only for a few weeks now and yet she hadn’t missed home once. She was always convinced that remaining in Brisbane would have meant the withering of her. There was too much of her past there and she just knew she would have never escaped it.

But, no matter how far she travelled, there was a fear always hidden inside of her that painfully reminded her how easily she could have slipped and ruined her life again.

So easy. So tempting.

“Hey, there,”

She jumped, startled when she heard that voice so close. Erika gasped, placing a hand on her chest as her gaze distractedly lifted on the tall, slim boy approaching her.

“Sorry, mate, didn’t mean to scare ya,”

Erika focused her attention on Kyle and melted into a smile, shaking her head. “Please, don’t be sorry. I was miles away.”

He approached her with a soft smile crossing his fair features. He looked like an elf, with his sharp edges, high cheekbones and glimmering, light eyes. There was something about the boy she was attracted to like a magnet. She couldn’t explain it but she couldn’t take her attention off him either. Although she didn’t trust herself enough to let herself go in that feeling. She and boys weren’t a good match. Her past was full of bad decisions and she had no intention of making another one.

Especially with a pretty, sweet boy like Kyle seemed to be. Especially since he was so close to Mark not only as his colleague and team partner but being taken in like a little brother as well. She just couldn’t risk it.

“Can I sit?” He pointed at the chair to her side.

“Of course,” Erika nodded, trying to shake the cringe off herself. Her skin rippled in goosebumps only thinking about having him too close. She couldn’t think too clearly when he looked at her, which was just ridiculous.

He dropped his bag with his ring gear on the floor and fell heavily on the little chair distending his long legs. “So, what do you think about the show?”

“I think it was great!” Erika smiled, looking at him and damning herself for the excitement it gave her to share a moment alone with Kyle. She felt the butterflies in her stomach warming up. “That move you did,” she tried to regain focus, looking back on the ring, “off the top buckle? That was so good!”

“You think?” He wondered following her eyes to the ring. “I thought I landed badly and everyone noticed.”

“Well, if you did, I didn’t see it.” Erika didn’t mention how closely she was looking at his moves. She cleared her voice, lifting her professional camera. “I took a cool shot of your front flip mid-air, wanna see?”

“Hell yeah,” Kyle scooted closer, looking over her shoulder as she fiddled with her camera.

Erika tried her best to remain calm and not react to his closeness but it was hard. His scent was inebriating, he smelled of clean linen and lavender. It made her mouth water and her hands shake with the desire to push her face into his neck and inhale.

She shrugged off a shiver, concentrating on the dozens and dozens of pictures she was scrolling through and then smiled when she finally found the one, showing it to him from the small camera screen. “There it is. It will look a thousand times better once I develop it. But even like this, it looks pretty good.”

“Shit me,” Kyle attentively took her camera into his hands, handling it with care as he looked into the screen, examining the picture she took. “Is that how I look when I do it?”

Erika nodded. “Cool uh? You look very good.”

“Could I have a copy of the picture once you develop it?”

“Of course! I mean, I generally do give the guys I work for a hard copy and a file copy that I share with the wrestlers too. So, you’ll be good to go.”

“Can I have a look at the rest of the pictures?”

“Yes,” Erika cleared her voice, “I mean, I haven’t peaked through them so most of them will be off-focus or blurry but sure.”

As he pressed the little arrow button, starting to look at all the pictures she had taken of the evening, Erika slowly started to feel a warm feeling spread through her. She was suddenly fidgety, wondering what went on in his mind as he looked at what she could do. It was somehow intimate, showing to him. Erika’s pictures were used by companies and wrestlers alike on their socials, but no one knew it came from her, there. This felt like Kyle just had access to a very personal window of how she viewed the world.

“Wow, you are good at this,” Kyle smiled distractedly, still scrolling through her work. “These are so good.”

Erika blushed. And immediately froze, feeling panic settling in her nerves. She looked away, imposing herself to find some control over her emotions. She had never blushed before, not for a boy anyway.

“Thank you,” she pushed her hand out, hinting to him to give her back the camera. “It won’t take me long to get the pictures fixed up and printed, so you can see them once they are done.”

“Do you have a studio?” He wondered with interest stretching on the chairs by his side.

Erika shook her head. “I will in a few weeks. I am trying to get a lease on a tiny hole of an office from where I’ll be able to work. I am planning to have a proper dark room and maybe even a desk space to hire an assistant. But for now, I am doing it the old-fashioned way,”

“What’s that?”

“My laptop.” She explained shrugging, “It’s a bit of a hit or miss kind of job, sometimes it pays well, sometimes it doesn’t. But I think I can make it work better If I get access to an office space.”

“Like an investment.”

“Yes,” Erika smiled, appreciating his care to know details about her more than what she was supposed to. “Exactly that.”

“Are you coming out with us tonight?” He then wondered leaning his head to the side.

She felt his eyes on her and wanted to bask under his attention. She had never had a problem with that. Generally, she thrived when she was under the spotlight. She was a very confident young woman aware of her appearance. Maybe too much, sometimes. She had won many things, in the past, because of her pretty face. Especially hearts. She was used to having it her way, but when she decided she wanted someone there wasn’t escaping it. Except with Kyle felt different. She didn’t want to conquer him or win him over. She liked him. Not only his appearance, even though his large smile made her feel things she had never felt before. The real deal was the kindness of heart he had; he was so polite in the way he behaved, and he wore his heart on his sleeve and wasn’t apologetic about it.

Plus, he was spoiling her. Kyle made her feel seen and listened to in ways she wasn’t used to. Which said a lot about the relationships or situationships she had in the past.

And that was precisely why it was so dangerous to play with that fire and she did everything in her power to fight against it. She could see it would lead to ruin for all parties involved.

“Nah, I don’t think so,” She looked away, sadness settling in, aching in her chest.

She wanted to go. She wanted to spend some time socialising. She wanted to be around him. But precisely because he seemed to want her there, she was better off staying away from booze and pretty boys.

“What!? Really? There’s a darts tournament between the guys, sure you want to miss that? I mean not to brag, but I’d beat you at darts.” He winked.

Erika felt flushed. “I’d love that because I think I might be good a darts” she damned herself as soon as she said that, “But I have an early train in the morning. Can’t miss it.”

“Oh, I see. Well. that’s a shame,”

“Next time, maybe?”

“You are on.”

“Oi,” A deep, thunderous voice echoed through the empty venue. Both she and Kyle jumped on their seat, turning over to find Mark waiting. “Ready to go?”

Erika huffed, looking over at her brother studying them. He didn’t seem too happy and she knew why. So, even before he could say anything, she jumped up and grabbed her back and jacket, putting some distance with Kyle.

“What were you doing?” He wondered quietly once she was close.

Erika shrugged. “Nothing, we were waiting for you.”

Before he could say anything more, Kyle approached her side and the two exchanged a fist bump. Mark didn’t continue, but she could see the concern hiding in his gaze. And it hurt her.

Mark hid behind a smile as he welcomed the boy, “Hey, mate,” he was so affectionate to Kyle that it made her heartache. She was happy they met. Kyle was a good friend to her brother. But, again, that was yet another complication and another reason for her to stay as far from the Aussie as she could.

“I’m gonna head home,” she started, hinting at the door as she fixed her bag on her shoulder.

“Yeah?” Mark looked at her, “I thought you were coming to the pub?”

“Nah,” Erika shook her head. She wished she didn’t but her gaze wandered on Kyle briefly. “I am quite tired. I think it’s for the best.”

“Okay,” Mark pulled her into a hug, kissing her forehead. “Grab a cab though. I don’t want you around the underground alone at this hour.”

“I’ll call one now. You boys go ahead and have fun. I’ll leave the light on in the hall for you when you come home.”

She watched them approaching the venue door. Mark pulled Kyle under his arm as they walked and they merged with some of the other wrestlers on the show that same night. A few of the boys waved goodbye at her before they left. Just then, she approached the bar counter, releasing a soft sigh.

“Hey,” she hinted at the barman cleaning up, “would you be so kind to call me a cab, mate?” She wasn’t even trying to hide her disappointment. Just thinking about all that she may be missing made her heartache. It felt like the more distance there was between her and Kyle, the more she hurt.

Pathetic. She had to snap out of that little crush and get over it. And fast.

“Sure thing, sweetheart,” he stepped towards her, “can I get you a drink while you wait? On the house,” the boy winked at her. His flirtatious behaviour bounced right off her. His charm too, didn’t bother her.

“Nah, thank you, I am good.”

She could see the barman’s interest following her movements as he leaned on the counter in front of her. He was an attractive man, sure, and she had no doubt his pretty face and that little stunt of chatting up the ladies probably got him places before. She knew it all too well. She was it too. But even though she knew well how it worked and she felt like she should have been fluttered by his attention, maybe even intrigued, it just slid off her without making her feel a thing. If not slight discomfort.

Before he could say or ask something else, Kyle ran back in, approaching her. “Hey, Erika?”

“Yes?” She immediately turned towards him, not even noticing how much her heart and body moved for the Aussie. “What is it? You ok?”

“Yes, yeah,” he nodded, sliding a hand to the back of his neck. He was blushing so sweetly it made her think about strawberries. Though his eyes were bright and sharp as he looked at her. “I was wondering, could I have your number?”

Erika choked. She knew everything wrong with that. It was the same reason why she wasn’t allowing herself to go out. It was why she avoided being around the house alone with Fletch when Mark wasn’t around. It was why she had avoided being around him in general. Except when she didn’t and fell into whatever it was that attracted them like magnets.

It was stronger than her common sense, she was nodding even before she could think straight and kept being selfish as Kyle offered her his phone for her to type her number in.

He was smiling like an idiot. Or maybe it was her.

When he got his phone back, he held it like a trophy. “Thanks,”

“Don’t tell Mark,” She suggested, probably saying the first smart thing in a minute.  

Kyle offered her the largest of smiles and then dashed off.

As he left, she felt all the warmth he brought with him leaving her body and making her feel empty.

“That little prick has balls,” the guy behind the bar chuckled.

Erika smiled, still looking at the door. “That he does.”

“So, how is it that a pretty girl like you is not going out celebrating with all those boys?”

Erika tapped her nails on the wood, starting to feel an itch under her skin. She wanted to be vague, she knew what was the polite, British way of just generally saying stuff without actually saying anything to strangers. But she was too tired for that too. Politeness hardly got her anywhere.

“Well, let me tell you,” She began, “Got a crush on that little prick,” she vaguely pointed at the door, “he is my brother’s best friend and I can’t afford to fuck that up so,” she huffed, “I am staying well clear and doing everything in my power to get over him.”

“But you just gave him your number.”

“Yes, I never said I was smart at it.”

The guy behind the bar smiled. “I’m Matt, by the way,”

“Erika,” she said as they shook hands.

“So, Erika,” he looked up at her, hitting her up with a gaze she was sure had conquered many hearts before, “Want some help forgetting about the little prick?”

The proper way was to politely decline, get a cab, go home and do her best to accept going to bed alone. That would have been the new adult, mature way to deal with the situation. She was well aware of what was expected of her. But still chose otherwise.

The comfort of her old ways, knowing exactly what would have happened and how she would have felt was much better than knowing how much she was going to be eaten up by regrets, alone, in her little room.

“What time do you get off?” She wondered melting into a smile.

She didn’t much care for the guy himself. But he offered a distraction and it seemed like a valid idea not to think about Kyle.

“Half an hour.”

She nodded and took a seat on one of the stools, “In that case, I’ll take that drink, thank you.”

February 2018

A few weeks later, Erika stood in the centre of the small room she could call an office.

The place was a little dishevelled. It was dark, cold and a little dump; the rent was overpriced, but it was hers. The walls could have done with a new touch of paint, and she was convinced the space would have looked much more welcoming and personal with pictures hanging up; the carpet seriously needed a deep cleaning, and the sad curtains by the windows needed to be retired, but she still looked at it with the most pride.

A smile crossed her lips, and her heart was leaping out of her chest as she toyed with the set of keys the agency gave her. She still didn’t feel secure enough to trust her dream coming true, but that was a pretty big step forward compared to where she had come from only six months before.

“Hey-o,” she recognised Kyle’s voice immediately as he chirped from the entrance door, “anybody in there? Erika?”

Her heart jumped out of her chest.

“Come on in!” She welcomed him, skipping back to the door where she found the Aussie. “What are you doing here?”

As soon as he saw her, he whipped out a massive smile and pulled, from behind his back, a big bunch of colourful flowers and a bottle of bubbles. “Well, I thought the situation required celebrating!” He offered her his presents.

Erika’s chest tightened as she took the flowers and brought them up so she could smell them. Then she took the bottle too, looking at it with interest. She melted into a sweet smile, immediately damning herself for what she was feeling.

Whatever tied her to Kyle only got stronger and deeper day by day. She tried to fight it. She tried to deflect and lie to herself, pretending that ignoring it all was enough to make it disappear. And yet, Kyle was constantly there to remind her how wrong she was.

She just needed to look at him to feel a magnetism pulling her towards him, making her hands tremble with the need to touch him. But it was a constant battle she fought, leaving her feeling cold and empty every time she denied herself her wish.

And yet, he kept coming. He kept being there, around her, everywhere, even when they were far from each other, she still felt him. Every day he made it a point to wish her good morning and good night. He’d ask her about her day and listen with interest to everything she had to say. He’d make her laugh. He’d give her compliments. He was just present in her life. How she wished she could say confidently they were only friends.

But friends didn’t desperately wish to kiss each other.

Thinking about that made her realise she was looking at his lips and she had to force herself off the thought.

“Thank you, Fletch, this is so sweet of you,” she looked up at him, leaning her head to the side, “I wasn’t expecting it.”

“Why did you think I asked you the address of this place?” He chuckled, “I wanted to make sure you welcomed this new chapter with the right energy.”

Erika smiled, absolutely smitten by him and his selfless, unashamed caring.

“Thank you,” before she could even think clearly and stop herself, she leaned in for a hug. Her intention was for it to be quick and polite. That was what friends did, wasn’t it? She couldn’t be further from the truth.

Kyle welcomed her with a soft hold and, by the time she wrapped her arms loosely around his waist and pressed her face into his chest, the world stopped spinning.

Erika tightened her hold around him, only for Kyle to do the same, taking the initiative to lean his chin on the top of her head, cradling her softly.

There was no salvation after that for her. Erika was toasted. Her heart was beating so fast inside her chest that she was sure he could feel it too. Her stomach twisted as warmth flooded through her, fuzzing her thoughts and waking up a hunger, a desire in her lower abdomen that would only hurt with every second she wouldn’t give into it.

“I wanted to be here for you, today,” he gave away, brushing a soft, intimate kiss on her temple.

Erika looked up at him and Kyle’s bright gaze fell into hers as he dived into her eyes. He was so close his scent was inebriating her senses. He looked so pretty she couldn’t take it.

“Did you come alone?”

Kyle nodded, “Your brother doesn’t even know I am here.”

Erika felt so dirty for lying to Mark.

They had kept a low profile, pretending nothing was going on and they hadn’t spent the past weeks texting. Sometimes they’d text from across the same room and Mark would take the piss out of Kyle for texting his “little lady”, not knowing she was the one receiving his interest. They made a little joke out of it, but Erika didn’t find it funny.

She hated shutting Mark out. He knew everything about her and could read her like a book. But he didn’t know that part. She was terrified of his reaction if he had known what was going on between her and Kyle, which was nothing. She lied to herself too, constantly. Even though the second she found herself around Kyle it was undeniable she was the most clueless of them all.

Erika gulped, looking down at Kyle’s lips again, unable not to, his mouth was so attractive to her. Especially when he was so close.

Kyle dared to cup her face in his palms. Erika sighed, closing her eyes and letting herself go in his soft hold. His hands were big and warm. And she was dying to feel them all over her.

“I want to kiss you,” he whispered, so close to her face she tasted his breath on her tongue. A hot shiver crossed her. “I like you, Erika. Been liking you a while.”

“Kyle,” she tried to find some common sense, although only the idea of refusing him ripped her chest apart. “We can’t.”

“Why?”

“Mark,” she was still holding the flowers and the bottle of bubbly in her hands, and even though she was trying to fight for her life not to succumb to him, she didn’t even dare to move an inch away. “He’d never approve.”

“Leave him to me. I am sure if there’s someone he’d like to be with his sister, that would be me.”

“No, Kyle, it’s not you the one he wouldn’t approve of. It’s me. I am not good for you,”

“Let me decide that.”

“You don’t know me. You don’t know anything about me,”

“Then tell me. I want to know you.”

Erika chuckled dryly, quickly dismissing him. He would have run away, as far as possible from her if he had known half of the things she did.

“I mean it,” he continued, “I want to know everything about you.”

“You make it so hard,” she whispered, moulding herself in his hold as Kyle softly caressed her jawline.

“I am not hearing a good reason to stop.” He leaned in, brushing his lips on her forehead, “Tell me no and I’ll fuck off. But if you want it too,” as he moved, hovering above her, Erika moved her head, raising her chin only so their lips would touch. “Then,” he continued, whispering so close to her mouth it gave her goosebumps.

Before he could continue, Erika took the worst decision of her life and, dropping the flowers on the floor, she grabbed him by his t-shirt and pulled him down in a kiss, desperately clinging onto him and releasing everything she had stopped herself from feeling for so long. Selfishly taking everything she wanted from him.

Kyle blindly closed the door behind him and then his arms wrapped around her, pulling her against him. His hands ran across her body, feeling her curves, grabbing on her clothes, only to pull her tighter against him.

Unapologetically, Kyle slipped a hand into her hair grabbing a handful and made her bend underneath him, deepening their kiss. As soon as their tongues crossed and his flavour exploded into her mouth, Erika released a soft moan, feeling her body waking up completely.

However, before she could slip into deeper waters of desire and future regrets, Erika gathered the strength to push him off herself.

“Kyle, please stop,” her breath was heavy as she kept her hand on his chest, not to keep him far from her but to feel him.

“Did I do something wrong?” He wondered, checking she was ok.

Erika shook her head, trying to gather her thoughts. Because the only wrong she could identify in that entire situation was the distance between them.

She had a taste. She scratched the itch. That was going to be it. It was going to have to be enough.

“You didn’t do anything wrong. We can’t happen. Please,” her heart shattered into a million pieces seeing the look he gave her. “Please,” she whispered again, almost getting lost in his eyes.

Kyle accepted her choice and let her go, taking two steps back. He leaned picking up the flowers and passed them over to her, shrugging awkwardly. “Here, take them.”

She felt defeated as she accepted the flowers back. She couldn’t bear the idea of seeing him leave and didn’t want to accept them being done. It was supposed to be the way, just severing their little fling or whatever, but she was stupid and selfish.

“Do you want a little tour?” She wondered, hoping Kyle would indulge her.

He didn’t disappoint and melted into a gentle smile, nodding. “I’d love to.”

They held hands as she showed him around, telling him everything about how she envisioned her studio.

March 2018

Erika stood ringside, her trusted camera at hand as she watched the match through its lenses.

The crowd was hot tonight. They clapped and booed, chanted and roared and were generally super involved in the matches, which was something she always loved to see.

Erika moved around the ring, taking every occasion to grab a shot, just like she always did, capturing as much of the energy in the ring as she could.

The two boys going at it right now were new in the company, she never met them before, but that didn’t change a single thing in the way the crowd perceived them. The heel was doing his job, flipping everyone off at any given occasion only to get everyone’s boos up. And the other, being the good guy he was, was there to make him regret it every time.

How she loved wrestling. It was such a theatrical, highly athletic pantomime.

The match ended with the good guy pinning the heel. The crowd went wild. Erika too, smiled, as she kept taking her shots of the guy celebrating.

Then, as the guys cleared out and the announcer moved back to the ring, starting to explain the next match on the mic, Erika moved too towards the wrestlers’ entrance, readying her camera to capture Aussie Open’s entrance.

Of course, she was working for the wrestling company and her work needed to be equally good for all the participants in the events. But she couldn’t help herself from having favourites. The number of pictures she had taken of Kyle and her brother that she had never sold because they were candid shots of two guys and had nothing to do with wrestling was embarrassing. Especially of Kyle’s. She loved taking his pictures. But that was a secret, of course.

Still, she patiently waited there, camera at hand, kneeling to take a good shot of them coming out in their new shiny, matchy gear.

Aussie Open was announced and their music started as they rolled out, basking in the crowd's welcome.

Erika smiled behind the camera, taking her pictures as the two posed and then moved with them to the ring.

Mark and Kyle slipped through the ropes and circled the apron, looking into the room, and pointing at people in the crowd only to get a reaction. They were both talking some shit either to the crowd or to each other, fully committed to their role.

Then, as Kyle confidently strode by the corner she was hanging around, he broke character one moment to look down at her, offering her one of his sweet smiles. “Hey, baby,”

Erika took a picture of him, grabbing that moment for herself. He called her baby now. Not always, but when he did it made her feel warm all over. It was so hard for her not to reach out and touch him.

Mark approached Kyle and landed a heavy hand on his shoulder, bringing him to turn as the announcer presented their competitors. Erika moved around the ring again, towards the entrance, ready to go back to being a hundred per cent professional.

She kneeled by the crowd, exchanging a quick, polite smile with a couple of guys by her side who seemed to be enjoying the show just like everyone else. She leaned ready to take her shots.

And then Erika was stricken. Nothing could have prepared her for the frosty feeling taking over her as the heavy hand of a stranger landed on her ass, giving her an unrequired smack. She felt the stranger’s touch straight into her stomach and it made her twitch as his fingers dared to squeeze on her.

She turned quickly towards him and raised her camera, taking a shot of his face. She acted out of instinct, not thinking about the consequences. It was the only thing she could consciously think of doing. No words were coming out. Not even anger. Just pure, disgusted surprise.

“Hey,” he angrily confronted her, trying to grab her camera, “Cancel that, you bitch. I haven’t permitted you to take a picture of my face.”

She wanted to say she hadn’t permitted him to squeeze her ass either. It was on the tip of her tongue. And yet. Nothing came out.

Erika stepped away, hiding her camera behind her back, feeling something close to fear choke her as the guy stood up, ready to chase her. She truly thought he was going to hurt her.

“Hey, hey, you prick,” Kyle shouted, jumping off the ring, and intervening. By then, everyone’s attention was on what was happening there.

Mark followed Kyle as they both stepped in between Erika and the guy in the crowd, who was proud and drunk enough to face them, even when he was no match for either of the Aussies.

“I’ll break that hand of yours, you cunt,” Mark barked.

Kyle stepped in between them, shielding Erika with his body. “You ok?” He touched her face, looking down at her.

Erika didn’t refuse him. Her hands travelled to his wrists, as she moulded under his touch appreciating his closeness. “Yes,” she huffed, her eyes escaping Kyle’s as she looked back at her brother, making sure he didn’t do anything stupid. “I’m ok,” She then tapped on Mark’s shoulder, “Don’t bother,” she suggested, even though the guys seemed to be ecstatic to receive attention. “Mark? Please, leave it alone.”

“Maybe you should get her to wear something more covering. You can’t blame me.” The guy was drunk. He was mumbling his nonsense only looking for a fight and Erika hated that she didn’t want her brother to give it to him. “When they look like sluts, I say they look for it-”

There was no stopping Mark after that.

Before she could even think about trying and stop him from jumping to the guy’s throat, Kyle scooped her away, trapping her in between his arms, and protecting her. This time, she hid in between his arms, closing her eyes. She didn’t want to see what she had caused.

The crowd shouted so loudly it made her head hurt.

The announcer, from the ring called for security that came through to break the fight and to kick out the people who disturbed the show.

“I’m sorry,” she shook her head, “I am sorry, I didn’t mean it.”

Kyle shook his head, kissing her forehead tenderly. “Don’t you dare to apologise,” he chanted to her ear, “You have nothing to be sorry for.”

Later on, that same evening the mood was off.

After the incident, going back to the regular flow of the show had been difficult. While Kyle and Mark were supposed the be heels and treated as such, the crowd started loving them after they displayed chivalry. Everyone kept asking her if she was ok from that point on. And she hated it. Erika just hid behind her camera the rest of the evening, pretending detached politeness, but didn’t ever move from ringside.

Now they were gathered for a drink and some late food at a local pub just around the corner from the venue where the show took place. Erika sat in her booth enjoying a plate of steaming hot chips as she watched Kyle play pool with two of the boys from the show.

When he smiled, she smiled too, wondering what had been said to make him laugh.

Mark heavily dropped himself next to her, placing his beer and a massive portion of nachos, blocking her view.

“Hey,” she welcomed him with a smile.

Mark was deadly serious. “I know something is happening between you and Kyle.”

“OK?” Erika frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t be vague with me, I’ve suspected it for a while. I see the way you two look at each other. And tonight, with the way he protected you-”

“Mark,” she huffed, rolling her eyes. “You did the same thing.”

“Look me in the eye and tell me the way you two were hugging was nothing.”

She didn’t look at him. “It was just a hug.”

“I love you. I will always love you. You know that. And believe me, it hurts me to say this. I know I’m being an ass right now, but I want you to stay away from Kyle.”

Every word that came out of Mark’s mouth slashed through her like a knife. It was a painful reminder of everything she had been, everything she had done. Everything her brother had to fix for her. Not leaving any space for the person she was desperately trying to become.

“Why?” She challenged him, gulping down her pain, and looking straight into his eyes.

“You know why. I can’t stand the idea of watching you hurt him. Because you will. Maybe not willingly. But he doesn’t deserve it all the same.”

Erika's chest ached. She looked away, trying to hide away her pain. She wanted to shout and cry and kick, but couldn’t. Somehow, she trusted her brother more than how she trusted herself. It was easier to accept that he must have been right about her. It must be like he said. She wasn’t good for Kyle and would have never been good.

“I mean it, Erika. I’d break the world for you. But I’d do the same for Kyle.”

“You are breaking me right now,” she shook her head and then looked back at him, anger flooding through her gaze, lighting her up. “You think I haven’t tried to stay away? See? I knew you’d end up telling me this and I did. Stayed as far as I could. Pretty difficult to do when we live together, travel together and work together,” Erika shrugged. “But it is as you said. I obviously can’t offer anything better to someone than failure.”

“That’s not what I meant,”

“Don’t you dare try and justify your cruelty. You said it, loud and clear. I am not good enough for Kyle. Thank you, brother, for reminding me.”

She grabbed her stuff and got up, storming out.

Something stirred inside of her. It was an old, familiar feeling of how she was used to dealing with strong emotions from before. Part of her was trying so hard to be better. But she didn’t know how when even her brother, her only anchor in that world, didn’t believe in her.

Anger and pain were easy to suppress or ignore when she was self-destructing, taking everyone else down with her in the process. 

[kalamitykarmen]

With the far-right violence in England right now, and a small march in Brisbane yesterday of similar people even carrying "Free England" signs upset their violence is unwelcome, it feels really important to be paying attention for me to be paying attention to what is happening in Adelaide right now. I know this state is statistically considered more conservative than other parts of Australia so I guess I should not be surprised that the little info I have managed to find so far is for Brisbane or Victoria but there has to be something I am missing. I have been to protests so I know there is hope, I just want to be more on the ball than I have been this year. The news out of Britain has shown me how important counterprotests are.

Admittedly the place I used to get info from elected a rapist of a transgender person in a position relating to transgender rights so, I guess I am asking for anywhere to organise and be in the right place that is a bit safer than that. I used to be more on the ball but I am not going back there. My posts do not get a lot of attention generally but here is hoping someone who knows more is better at Google? I wish I was struggling less at this part but time n place, and public transport willing I will be there

[duckprintspress]

Announcing: The Contributors to Our Next Anthology, Aether Beyond the Binary

Duck Prints Press’s next anthology, slated for crowdfunding during the fall of 2023, is Aether Beyond the Binary. This innovative and unique collection includes 20 stories featuring characters outside the binary exploring modern-ish Earth aetherpunk settings where the technology is fueled by magical aether. Stories range from fluffy to dark (but we guarantee happy endings!), in settings where aether was just discovered and those where it’s been known about for centuries. 

What is aetherpunk? Imagine a world where there’s technology not unlike what we have in the modern world, except that instead of that technology operating using the principals that we, now, would call “science,” that technology operates using magic! That’s aetherpunk—the awesome union of technology and complex magical systems in magic-suffused worlds to produce unique settings that resemble modern-day Earth but are also very, very different. With aetherpunk stories, the impossible becomes possible, and new solutions to the world’s problems become available!

We’ve been hard at work on this anthology since February, and currently the stories are being edited to polish them up. 

For this collection, we recruited 20 authors – 9 who’ve written for Duck Prints Press before and 11 who haven’t. We’re thrilled to have some folks returning from our earliest anthology Add Magic to Taste, and we also have some work-with-the-Press-but-this-is-their-first-anthology contributors. It’s a really wonderful group of people, and getting to know them all has been a lovely part of working on this collection. And – the stories are g.r.e.a.t. You’re not gonna want to miss this one.

And now for the fun part…

MEET THE CONTRIBUTORS!

boneturtle

boneturtle (they/them) comes from the other side of the portal and is still looking for their home in this world. in the meantime they write softhearted villains and dangerous heroes making breakfast, saving the world, falling in love, and everything in between. boneturtle is not, contrary to previous assertions, an archelon. 

Links: Personal Website | Archive of Our Own | Tumblr

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Ellen Faye

Ellen has been a dreamer and designer of worlds all her life. She has been involved in many fandom environments over the years but most recently jumped with two feet into Supernatural, and never surfaced. She has shared many stories online (as Ellenofoz), but she’s grateful to be able to take the leap into published works with the Aether Beyond the Binary anthology. 

Ellen lives in Brisbane, Australia, and spends her days writing code. By night, she reads and writes stories, watches shows, and plays games involving magic, science, historical adventures or romance—sometimes all at the same time. She co-hosts a podcast about Supernatural fanfiction, but can also be found enjoying Star Wars, Marvel, Doctor Who and other assorted fandoms.

Links: Archive of Our Own | Twitter

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Scarlett Gale

Scarlett Gale is the author of His Secret Illuminations and His Sacred Incantations. Long ago, under another name, she was the co-author of Needles and Artifice (Cooperative Press; 2012), featuring a rollicking romantic steampunk adventure novella and associated knitting patterns, of which she also designed several. She writes and produces fringe theatre plays based on B-movies, such as Bodacious Barbarian Babes vs. The Indigo Empress and Showgirls of Beast Island. She is a co-producer of the Alison-Bechdel-approved Bechdel Test Burlesque, which in 2017 was included in the Women and Gender Studies curriculum at the University of Oregon. She lives in Seattle with her wife where she gardens, knits, reads, and drinks warm beverages. Unsurprisingly, she also has cats. 

Link: Personal Website | Tumblr | Twitter

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Rhosyn Goodfellow

Rhosyn Goodfellow is an author of queer romance and speculative fiction living with her spouse and two dogs in the Pacific Northwest, where she is sad to report that she has not yet mysteriously disappeared or encountered any cryptids. Her hobbies include spoiling the aforementioned dogs, drinking inadvisable amounts of coffee, and running unreasonably long distances very slowly. She’s secretly just a collection of loosely-related stories dressed up in a meat suit. 

Links: Personal Website | Instagram | Mastodon | Tumblr | Twitter

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Catherine E. Green

Catherine E. Green (pronouns: xe/xem/xyr or they/them/their) is an agender person, one who’s had an on-again, off-again love affair with writing. Xe began writing when xe was a wee thing, when xyr other major pastimes were playing xyr mother’s NES and roughhousing with the boys next door. It’s only in the past few years that they have begun writing consistently and publishing their writing, fanfiction and original writing alike, leading to their first published short story titled “Of Loops and Weaves.” 

Outside of writing, xe is a collector of books and sleep debt and an avid admirer of the cosmos. Playing video games, reading a variety of fiction genres (primarily fantasy, queer romance, and manga and graphic novels of all kinds), and working on wrangling their own personal data archiving projects occupy most of their free time. Xe has also started meeting up with a local fiber arts group and is excited to be crocheting xyr first scarf.

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Elior Haley

Elior has spent much of the past few years primarily writing for fanfic exchanges. Currently, he’s in the process of slowly working his way through university. When not writing or studying, he can be found binding books, drawing, ice skating, and—very occasionally—playing the violin. His story in Aether Beyond the Binary is his first published work.

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Zel Howland

Zel (they/she) is a writer and artist currently living in Los Angeles with their partner. When not writing, they spend their time painting, embroidering, analyzing literature and tv shows, and playing Dungeons & Dragons. They are the author of many a fanfiction, as well as the novel The Shadow of Ophelia Walker.

Links: Archive of Our Own | Tumblr

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ilgaksu

Full-time fandom cryptid, Furby enthusiast, and the human embodiment of that one gif of Elmo on fire, ilgaksu was born and raised in an undisclosed location, living in several others, and now currently residing in [REDACTED]. Their interests include collecting haunted toys, using their artistic practice as an excuse to forget to do their laundry, and playing with fictional men like Bratz dolls. They have not unclenched their jaw yet today, but they do remember to drink lots of water.

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Bettina Juszak

Originally from Germany, Bettina has (so far) spent time in the US, the UK, and Canada. She is particularly interested in exploring questions of music and language in imaginary worlds, aided by degrees in linguistics and literature. When not writing, she loses herself in hobbies such as archery, cross-stitch, attempting to learn yet another language, and complaining about the amount of space her book and notebook collection takes up. Her first published work appeared in the Upon a Twice Time anthology published by Air and Nothingness Press, and she is working on a second original novel – despite the first one not having seen the light of day yet.

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Nicola Kapron

Nicola Kapron has previously been published by Neo-opsis Science Fiction Magazine, Rebel Mountain Press, Soteira Press, All Worlds Wayfarer, Mannison Press, and more. Nicola lives in British Columbia with a hoard of books—mostly fantasy and horror—and an extremely fluffy cat.

Links: Personal Website

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Kelas Lloyd

Kelas is a disabled, trans, bi author and artist currently (unfortunately) living in Texas. They graduated from the University of Central Florida with an English degree and love cats, tea, and all things speculative fiction. A lot of their writing features magic or disability or both, and they’re often found in Star Trek, Mass Effect, Babylon 5, and Untamed spaces. You can also find them in a lot of bead and resin spaces, because they love making sparkly jewelry of all sorts. 

Previously published pieces include an article on disability in The Last Of Us, short stories in two publications by Shacklebound Books, a pair of poems about being trans, an essay on disabled life, and a whole bunch of pieces about San Diego Comic-con. They’re single, an Ernie looking for their Bert, but they have a found family that stretches around the globe and some of their birth family accepts them for who they are. 

You can find out more about them at kelaslloyd.com.

Links: Personal Website | Archive of Our Own | Twitter

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Lyonel Loy

Lifelong maladaptive daydreamer, finally working up the courage to write those daydreams down. Spends time cosplaying as a Responsible Adult With A Job.

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Mikki Madison

Mikki Madison has been writing stories since she was seven years old. While she is most prolific in fanfiction and has works scattered among more than a dozen fandoms, she has been making strides into original fiction. Her favorite genres to read are romance, fantasy, and cozy mysteries.

When she isn’t reading, writing, or falling headfirst into a new fandom, she can be found baking, doing puzzles, walking her foster dog, doting on her niblings, or playing Pokemon Go. She has also written under the name M.K. Mads.

Link: Tumblr

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Sebastian Marie

Sebastian Marie (he/him) is an engineering student with a lot of opinions about dragons, pirates, and sword fighting. Track him down on Ao3 or Tumblr and he’ll share these opinions gladly, just be prepared for music and some excited shouting. His original works often combine fantasy and dystopia into what he calls “queer fantasy hopepunk,” something that will be explored in his future novels. He loves to write conflicting traditional and non-traditional family dynamics, especially where they intersect with queer relationships. And if he can throw werewolves and brujas into the mix? So much the better. When not writing, frantically studying, or reading, he can be found singing loudly, sewing impractical coats, and going on long rambling walks while plotting stories (and occasionally falling into rivers). 

Also, he’s also the guitarist and one of the lyricists of folk punk band Here Be Dragons, who hope to have their debut EP out near the end of Fall, 2023. 

This is his third time writing for Duck Prints Press, having previously contributed to Aim For the Heart and She Wears the Midnight Crown. This brings his grand total of published works up to three! He’s looking forward to more, as soon as he gets some sleep. 

Links: Archive of Our Own | Tumblr

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Alec J. Marsh

Alec lives in the Pacific Northwest, where they write romantic adult fantasy and self-indulgent fanfiction. They make candles inspired by their favorite characters.

Links: Etsy | Instagram | Twitter

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Flore Picard

I’m a linguist and translator who lives in France and I have been itching to write since I learned how to. I started writing (fan)fiction more regularly when I was procrastinating on my PhD dissertation, and I haven’t looked back since. I’m also an artist who loves drawing both fanart and original art, and I have a passion for patterns and systems, for the beauty at the edge of chaos and the complexity of being human. I tend to write about queer and disabled characters finding themselves and each other and learning to take up space in the world.

Link: Instagram | Twitter

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S. J. Ralston

S. J. grew up in a distinctly weird, distinctly southern hometown, then hied out West for grad school before landing in Texas, where they currently work as a planetary scientist. They’ve been writing original works and fanfiction since they could hold a pencil semi-correctly, and continue to write both whenever possible (as well as still holding a pencil only semi-correctly). In their clearly copious spare time, S. J. enjoys hiking, tabletop RPGs, jigsaw puzzles, and enthusiastically crappy sci-fi. 

Link: Personal Website

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Em Rowntree

Em Rowntree’s first foray into the world of writing was with a story called The Magic Land that featured a unicorn and a flying carpet the size of a country, and they’ve been chasing that high ever since. They’ve been sharing their writing online for almost seven years, and have had poems and short stories published in anthologies. They live in the UK.

Links: Twitter

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Terra P. Waters

Terra is a scientist by day who lives in the Pacific Northwest with her family. She has been writing fiction as long as she can remember, and has always told her partner of 17 years that if she wasn’t a scientist, she would be an author. During grad school, she discovered fanfiction and immediately began writing her own. After many years and several fandoms (including Teen Wolf, Hawaii Five-0, and Stranger Things), she returned to writing original fiction. To date, she has self-published two novellas in a 90s-nostalgia polyamory comedy series and has drafted two YA/NA sci-fi novels. When not doing science or writing, you can find Terra indulging her yarn addiction and knitting. 

Links: Archive of Our Own | Tumblr | Twitter

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Cecil Wilde

Tea enjoyer, knitter, dead language enthusiast, self-warming cat bed and future eccentric lit professor Cecil Wilde has also written and published, in various forms and guises, nearly 3 million words to date. They do not plan to stop until Death intervenes, should it dare. 

Links: Instagram | Tumblr | Twitter

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Want to be sure you don't miss out on this awesome anthology when we formally launch our crowdfunding campaign? Make sure you keep an eye on our many social media accounts, subscribe to our newsletters, and follow our Kickstarter profile!

[hazelira]

right here | JAKE

Alexa, play right here by keshi on Spotify

Jake leaned against the practice room wall, sweat trickling down his face. His phone buzzed in his pocket, pulling him from his thoughts. He pulled it out and saw messages from his friends back home in Australia.

Jake's friend 01: "Hey, mate! Where’ve you been? Not seeing you in class anymore. We miss you!"

Jake's friend 02: "Jake, when are we going to hang out again? It’s been ages!"

He sighed, a pang of guilt twisting in his chest. He had left so abruptly to chase his dream of becoming an idol, leaving behind his life of soccer, orchestra, and physics. He feared they wouldn’t understand and think he was abandoning them for something foolish.

Another message appeared from his best friend. Think some words are overdue. Could we do it over? Can we talk it out like friends because I need your shoulder?

Jake’s heart clenched. The memories of their time together flooded back—hanging out after school, talking about music and dreams, supporting each other through everything. He had missed them more than he realized.

I know it's random, but how have you been? Do you remember about this band you said you listened to? When we were younger, when we were softer, when we were all about each other. I hope life is treating you better.

He typed a response, his fingers trembling. "Hey, I miss you guys. It’s been tough, but I’m thrilled here. How are you all?"

Their replies came quickly. "Jake, we’re so happy for you! We always knew you’d do something unique. Keep following your dreams, man."

Jake felt tears sting his eyes. He had been so afraid they’d be angry or disappointed, but they were still supporting him, still cheering him on from halfway around the world.

He read another message. Boy, what's with that? Yo, cut the act. Because I don't get time for laughs. No, I do not want the past. But if you are ever in need, and God has you down on your knees, and you do not know who to be, then go on and come home to me. Because I'm here, if you need me, I'll be here. Right here.

He sent a heartfelt reply. "Thank you. Knowing you guys are behind me means everything. If you ever need me, I’ll be here too. Right here."

As he sat down, he felt a weight lift off his shoulders. His path was sometimes difficult and lonely, but knowing his friends supported him made it all worth it. He thought back to the lyrics of Keshi’s song, the reminder that no matter where life took them, they’d always be there for each other.

And how do you like this new guy? I know you always want a new life. I hope you are taking care of yourself like you cared for me in my time. See you got yourself some new friends. No, you don't need to go to Brisbane. You got me thinking back about it.

He sent one last message. "You guys are the best. I’m taking care of myself, just like you taught me. Let’s catch up soon."

Jake put his phone down and looked around the practice room, where he was building his dreams. He smiled, feeling a renewed sense of purpose and connection. He wasn’t alone—his friends were with him, in spirit if not in person, which made all the difference.

If you need me, I'll be here. Right here.

And he knew that no matter where this journey took him, he’d always be there for them, too—right here.

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

M A S T E R L I S T

[tenthhdoctor]

I was going to let this go, but I can't stand it anymore.

What is UP with Evilive and Australia???

(This is a joke btw and not at all serious I love this show)

Okay, so I haven't heard of an 'E2' class Australian visa. No big deal. But it made me curious as to what it was, so I briefly looked for information on what visas Australia had in 2008 and...I couldn't find anything referencing an E2 visa for someone emigrating from South Korea to Australia. What I can find is an E2 class visa for someone emigrating from Australia to South Korea. I can also find an E2 visa for someone emigrating to the US.

So: 1. I'm dumb and missed something. 2. The writers were familiar with E2 visas because South Korea has them, and the US has them, so like...who would notice?

(Side note: They are emigrating to Sydney!!! Whoo NSW representation!!!)

But this...this was what broke me:

???

??????

Okay. So, you're exporting to...Sydney? Maybe? Sure, lets go with that because literally nothing else makes sense (except Newcastle??? Which has a major port, apparently). And then bypassing Brisbane to ship to...Gladstone, Queensland? Okay, sure. I googled it and they seem to...export a lot of stuff, and have a major port there, so maybe they import too?

And then...what.

Where even IS that in WA (Western Australia)???

Oh! I looked it up and it's most likely Port Hedland, which is apparently another major port! The largest bulk...export...port in the world, supposedly. But maybe they import as well? (Okay, so it DOES import, but wow the difference between the import and export numbers is...a lot. Wikipedia even has 2008 statistics. Neat!)

Wow, the attention to detail sure is great in this show, but...uh...

Why???? Coal????

Why are you shipping our major export, that we export to you, our #3 export market in 2008...back to us?????

Like...it's just about the only thing we do. We export coal. I learned about our coal industry in school. Our richest person is a billonaire mining magnate. One of our former Prime Ministers became a joke for saying, "Coal is good for humanity." And then my university lecturer for Environmental Law got so pissed she put the quote in our final exam as an essay question.

But I digress.

I still looked it up to see if we import coal and export it, and the answer is...no. We do not.

LNG and ORE are also unlikely, as they're some of our other major exports (well, Iron Ore is). I can't find a lot of data from 2008 specifically, but the 2016-2019 data isn't good (compare imports on pages 52-53 with exports pages 54-56) and it seems recently (2021-2022) our major imports from South Korea included refined petroleum and cars. Not Ore and LNG. However, despite being the #1 exporter in the world for Iron Ore in 2021, we were the #42 importer of it too, so that one's possible imo. LNG though? Not as likely as ORE, because we export it and seem to supply it domestically, but way more likely than Coal.

Conclusion?

For a scene that barely lasts 2 seconds, the level of detail is crazy. I'm genuinely very impressed.

Also. It is hilarious that Seo Do Young was planning to sell us coal. The end.

[earlgreytea68]

The Good Things Festival - Sydney

Dear EGT, do you mind if I share with you my disappointing FOB experience? None of my friends or family are in the fandom as I am, and I just want to tell someone who will be able to understand my grief.

I am in Australia, living near Brisbane, and when I heard that they were coming here I was ecstatic and eager to go to the Good Things Festival. I didn’t manage to get a Brisbane ticket before they were all sold out, but decided to make a weekend of it and bought a ticket to the Sydney festival, and train tickets down and back, with a couple of days accommodation in between. The train trips were 12 and 14 hours, respectively, which I personally was looking forward to, as I have two young children and the idea of two entire days in which no one could even get in touch with me via phone was BLISS.

I reached the concert venue (which was a fenced-off section of a huge and beautiful park with lots of trees) about an hour and a half before their set, enough time to decide me that none of the other bands there are anywhere near their league in performance or composition.

They came on after playing ‘We didn’t start the fire’ and ‘The Pink Seashell’ on the screen, and they were great. I was impressed with my fellow concert-goers that lots of them seemed to know the words to at least the first couple of verses of ‘We didn’t start the fire’, and most shouted out the chorus. They played ‘Love from the other side’, ‘Phoenix’, ‘Sugar’, and were most of the way through ‘Um Thurman’, when Pete stopped the music and announced that a storm was on its way, and they were being taken off stage. He hoped that they would be able to come back on.

One of the officials then told us more - the storm coming within the hour would feature thunder, lightning, heavy rain and possibly hail, and we would all have to vacate the park. Which made sense, for both the people and the equipment, but put paid to any hope of resuming the set – by the time we had all left and the storm had finished, it would be past time for the end of the festival, not to mention the logistics of getting everyone back in again. So we all left. Getting out of the park and back to my hotel was a saga in itself (all I can say is that I am glad as always that I had something to read, and that I was soaking wet when I did arrive back), but this submission is already much too long.

We got some pyrotechnics (which was brave of them given how the sky was looking) and some of the guitar chicken game between Patrick and Joe and of course their wonderful live performance, but it was so short. I can’t even get into the larger disappointment of missing all the set with the banter and the piano solo, not to mention the cover of ‘Beds are Burning’, which I would have been so excited to see, because it is still too painful. But the smaller disappointment for me, EGT, which is what I could handle focussing on, was that they didn’t get a chance to talk to us, which is partly what for me would have set the live performance apart from a group watching a recorded concert together. We didn’t get a greeting reflecting the crowd that was gathered there in that place for that time only, or any commentary on what it was like to be there, and I am so dejected about that. I know this is definitely a first-world disappointment and I had a worthwhile weekend anyway (three nights in a bed with no one waking me, HOORAY), but I am sad when I look at your website at present, and see pictures and clips from sets in Melbourne.

***

I am SO SORRY and I appreciate very much getting this submission and please know that I completely understand how disappointed you are. I had one of the canceled HMT shows, which you may or may not remember, and I totally understand that your disappointment is probably much greater given how relatively rarer it is for them to go to Australia vs. being fairly near me in the U.S. but I also totally understand some level of your disappointment. :-( The worst is feeling like they don’t care, but I think they did and they were upset it went down the way it did. They obviously can’t ever make it totally right -- you had a whole weekend that you were looking forward to that didn’t really happen the way you wanted and it’s so unfair that it happened to you and not the rest of us and I’m so sorry.

I’m glad you got some silver linings out of the weekend, and don’t be too hard on yourself, the disappointment is real when you’ve been looking so forward to something and it gets taken away and you don’t have a real replacement for it, and it’s worse if you make yourself feel guilty for feeling upset because obviously other people have much bigger disappointments, but that’s not how emotions work, alas. Be kind to yourself. ::hugs::

[qnewsau]

Vic bookshop owner wants books to be more white and less gay

New Post has been published on https://qnews.com.au/victoria-bookshop-owner-wants-books-to-be-more-white-and-less-gay/

Vic bookshop owner wants books to be more white and less gay

The owner of a Victorian bookstore chain has apologised after she called for more picture books with “just white kids on the cover” and less “wheelchair, rainbow or Indigenous” representation.

Susanne Horman has owned the Robinsons Bookshop chain since 2007. There are a number of the indie bookstores across Melbourne.

At the weekend, a series of Susanne’s posts from her personal Twitter X account, written last month, circulated online.

In the posts, she called for Australian publishing to put out more “white family stories” with “white kids” on the covers, and less “wheelchair, rainbow or Indigenous” representation.

“What’s missing from our bookshelves in store?” Susanne Horman wrote in a now-deleted post, accompanied by the hashtag #weneedbetterstories.

“Positive male lead characters of any age, any traditional nuclear white family stories, kids picture books with just white kids on the cover, and no wheelchair, rainbow or indigenous art, non indig [sic] aus history.”

In another post, she also vowed not to stock diverse books that are “against white Australians” and “cause harm and make Australians hate each other”.

“Books we don’t need: hate against white Australians, socialist agenda, equity over equality, diversity and inclusion (READ AS anti-white exclusion), left-wing govt propaganda. Basically the woke agenda that divides people. Not stocking any of these in 2024.”

‘So wildly out of pocket’

At the weekend, an Instagram account coffeebooksandmagic shared the now-deleted social media posts, with hundreds of commenters calling them out.

The account owner clarified she’s “not one for willy nilly ‘cancelling’ but the comments … are so wildly out of pocket that I have no problem suggesting a widespread boycott would be appropriate”.

“[Susanne Horman] has not only said she wants more white people on covers and in books, but goes further to say that she won’t be stocking anything that … well, what, exactly? Isn’t about white people?” she wrote.

“And then somehow manages to claim that she’s fighting division.

“This kind of mentality has no place in the modern landscape and I truly hope it will eventually die out with the generation that’s as archaic as her website.”

Ouch.

  View this post on Instagram

  A post shared by Emily | books 📚 and magic ✨ (@coffeebooksandmagic)

Robinsons Bookshop apologises for comments

Speaking to The Age, Susanne Horman issued an apology to Robinsons Bookshop staff and “anyone who was offended by the comments”. She claimed they had been “taken out of context”.

In a Facebook statement, Robinsons Bookshop also apologised and said the posts “misrepresented the views” of the company.

“We clearly state, so there is no misunderstanding, that we fully support and encourage stories from diverse voices [and] minorities,” the post read.

“We are most definitely stocking these important topics and the authors that write them.

“As a business, we will continue advocating for positive hope-filled stories that bring out the best in all our community and make all people feel supported and fulfilled.

“We ask everyone to treat all of our staff with kindness and respect.”

Read also:

Gay author Will Kostakis invited to Catholic school, told not to say gay

Holden Sheppard’s queer novel Invisible Boys to become TV series

Brisbane’s Queer Readers recommend their must-read books this summer

For the latest LGBTIQA+ Sister Girl and Brother Boy news, entertainment, community stories in Australia, visit qnews.com.au. Check out our latest magazines or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

[bluespring864]

Grigor all flirty with the person at the coin toss he truly is incorrigible (and I love it)

If you've missed it with all the other tennis going on, our flirty lil guy is into the finals of Brisbane, his second consecutive final!