#modern classical is so fire too like i was trying to listen to the howls moving castle ost and i simply couldnt its too pretty its too fire

[philzokman]

idk how people can listen to classical music to study i always end up stopping and just listening to how pretty it sounds </3

[frenchibi]

top 5 books

Hello friend!!!! This is areally really tough question bc I read so many different genres and have SOMANY FAVORITES so I’m going to cheat a little bit… I’ll give you Top3 or 4 (I have no impulse control) for several genres so you’ll get more than 5total but not like.. an inordinate number of books, ok? xD (Who am I kidding I’mgoing off the rails, no apologies)

Fantasy

The Name of the Wind(Kingkiller Chronicles Book 1) and sequel(s) by Patrick Rothfuss. Has beentalked about loads in fantasy circles and I have nothing to add other than“this is the best fantasy book I have ever read, and probably in the top 3 ofbest books I have ever read, period.” The style blew me a way, the characters are fantastic, the system of magic/power in this world is the coolest I have EVER SEEN and… yeah. I’m invested.

Howl’s Moving Castleand sequel(s) by Diana Wynne Jones. Y’all remember the ghibli movie? This isthe book this is based on and it is way, way better than the already fantasticmovie. It is ridiculously charming and witty and lovely and I recommendeveryone read it. You will not regret it. This is my ultimate comfort book, if that makes any sense.

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett – a hilarious bookabout the apocalypse with absolutely amazing characters and incredible styleand wit. We’re getting a TV series this year and I am beyond stoked. Pleaseread this. It’s… just… yes. British fantasy is SO GOOD.

Honorable mention: Die Stadt der TräumendenBücher by Walter Moers. Theremight be an English translation of this, but honestly I only recommend you readthis if you can read it in its original German – I’m not gatekeeping, it’s justthat so much of its brilliance relies on in-depth knowledge about German culture,history and language and it’s inevitably gonna lose that in translation. It’sone of my absolute favorite books ever and it pains me I can’t share this withmy English-speaking friends :/

YA

The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking Book 1) by Patrick Ness. It’shands down the coolest YA book I have ever read and it doesn’t even… feel likeYA at all, more like sci-fi? It could just as easily have gone in the “experimental”category and I don’t wanna give too much away but… the typeface of this book ispart of its charm? Different characters have different fonts and shit? Definitelyread a physical copy of this. Also, the narrator is illiterate so he writeswords by sounding them out – and I know that sounds like that would bedistracting but trust me it’s fantastic??? Please please PLEASE give this atry.

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley. Y’all want a good queerstory that’s not romance-heavy but instead has intricate worldbuilding and really cool magic? Pleaseread this, you will not be disappointed. This is a more “adult” version of YoungAdult Fiction and I absolutely love it.

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab. Is this fantasy, actually? Probably. Does it haveissues? Yes. Is it still a very fun ride with a cool magic/power system? HELLYES. Also the characters are a bit older, which works very well. It’s like YAafter you’ve kind of outgrown YA.

Murder/Mystery

The Strings of Murder (& sequels in the “Frey & McGray” series) by Oscar de Muriel –listen, the main character is a little SHIT and that’s absolutely fine? Themysteries are kind of convoluted but not in a distracting way, it’s just a funseries with fun characters that I really enjoyed!

The Seven Dials Mystery by Agatha Christie (and honestly pretty much everything she has everwritten) – I have nothing to say about Agatha Christie that has not been saidbefore :’D

Phantom bySusan Kay. Now this is kind of also a drama and it’s been a while since I’veread it so idk how well it fits into the murder/mystery category but it’s aboutthe Phantom of the Opera before he became the actual Phantom (or rather, thepath to how he became the Phantom), and I have endless love for this verydramatic and mysterious and misunderstood character so… yeah :D

Collections of Short Stories

Topics About Which I Know Nothing by Patrick Ness. Yes, this is the author of “ChaosWalking” (see above), and this is a collection of a VAST variety of shortstories he has written, all of which are insanely creative and so, so fun??This man has an insane imagination and I love it, instant recommendation toanyone honestly.

Dear Life byAlice Munro – another one that I read a while ago and don’t remember that muchabout, but I remember absolutely loving this book, and that it’s one of thebooks that made me want to read more short story collections :D

The Refugeesby Viet Thanh Nguyen – an interesting bit of perspective, this book centersaround different characters who are Vietnamese or of Vietnamese descent in theUnited States. I loved how eye-opening it was tbh?? I love reading books byauthors from cultures vastly different from my own and this was wonderful.

Poetry/Experimental

Milk and Honey / The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur – two collections of very personaland touching modern formless poetry that honestly blew me away. I’m not a bigfan of classic poetry, or poetry in general, but these two books are justincredible.

Good morning, Good night by Lin-Manuel Miranda – a collection of Lin’s “good morning”/ “goodnight” tweets that, idk, give me hope for humanity? Ideal for perusing if youneed cheering up and just an all-round wholesome book to own.

Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn – a “novel without letters” I wouldn’t know where to placeexcept under “experimental” because its premise is basically… an island thatslowly bans more and more letters from everyday use? It’s told in the form ofletters between the characters and it’s just… such a FEAT of writing, the waythe author forces his characters (and himself) to get by with fewer and fewerletters of the alphabet? Fascinating, from a writer’s perspective, and anabsolute recommendation!!!

Sleeping Giants (Book 1 of the Themis Files) by Sylvain Neuvel. This is a sci-fi book,but it’s under “experimental” because, well – it’s told through interviews. Iwas a little confused/put off in the beginning by this style, but the jaw-droppingstory pulled me in and hooked me. It’s a sci-fi EPIC… don’t get too attached toanyone because the apocalypse is coming for them all - and you’ll be at theedge of your goddamn seat. This is a fantastic series.

Drama

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Honestly, anything by Khaled Hosseini, unsurpassedauthor of dramas that will rip your heart to shreds, and you’ll never be thesame after reading them.

Everything I never told you by Celeste Ng. This is one of those books that will never leave you afteryou’ve read it. It starts with “Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet.” –unravelling the mystery and consequences of the death of a Chinese-Americanfamily’s teenage daughter in gut-wrenching detail. A family story that willleave you sobbing on the floor but also filled with such profound hope forhumanity – I don’t even know. This book eviscerated me.

Homegoing byYaa Gyasi – the story of two sisters, one a slave and the other a slave-owner’swife, and their descendants. A family history of choices and consequence thatis… raw and personal and a very, very important book.

Home Fire byKamila Shamsie. The story of a British-Pakistani family – more specifically,the story of three children whose father was a terrorist. I am weak for familystories, and this one is politically charged and relevant and gut-wrenching aswell.

Novels/Fiction

The Hours byMichael Cunningham. The first book I read in a stream-of-consciousness style,and I still really enjoy the plot of it, too: The story follows three women;Virginia Woolf writing a novel in the 1920s, a woman reading this novel in the40s, and a woman basically living the plot of this novel in the 90s. It’sfascinating, really? I highly recommend it.

The History of Bees by Maja Lunde. Another story told in three time periods – a man whoinvents a new type of beehive for beekeepers in the 1800s, a beekeeper whosebees are dying in approximately present day, and a woman 100 years in thefuture who pollinates plants by hand because all the bees have vanished. It’s…fascinating, again, and a really good story. I also feel like it was quiteeducational? I enjoyed it a lot.

Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult. Technically this is a drama too (but shh) – it followsa black delivery nurse who is charged with a serious crime after an incidentinvolving the baby of a White Supremacist couple. It’s an explosive topic butit’s handled with a lot of nuance? Reading this book will frustrate you greatly,but I think it’s… idk, important? It shook me.

Eyrie by TimWinton. I have never seen depression portrayed more accurately than in thisbook. I was highlighting passages on almost every page – also the style ispretty cool? Snappy? Sharp? I’m not good at describing it but… yeah this leftan impact.

Non-Fiction (listen I knowthese are all by youtubers but hear me out)

So Much I want to Tell You by Anna Akana – letters written by Anna to her sister, who committedsuicide when she was 13. It’s raw and personal and important, stories aboutpersonal growth and lessons learned, about grief and regret and moving on. Irecommend this 100%.

Secrets For The Mad by Dodie Clark. A collection of charming stories and anecdotes and songlyrics and doodles – a book that reads like what watching dodie’s music videos andvlogs feels like. Safe and soft and personal. I love this.

Doing It byHannah Witton – a book about sex education that honestly everyone should read.Hannah blazes through taboos like they’re nothing more than hot air – as theyshould be. (Also, watch her videos.)

Bonus

The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho. I don’t even know what category to put this in? It reads like a fable and it is just... so beautiful and enchanting. Please read it, you will not be disappointed. It’s a story of chasing your dreams and self-discovery and it’s... just wonderful.

-

Did I make this entire listas a means of procrastination? Yes. Am I sorry? No.

Listen I have been wantingto blog about books for the LONGEST TIME but I never took the time to because…idk, I am not involved with the book reviewer community on any platform andhonestly I’m intimidated? But I do have a lot of Thoughts so if you’ve read anyof these and want to yell about them with/at me please dm me??? Or send me anask if you want to hear more detailed opinions about any of these from me????

…yeah. Thank you for this question,man. I love books.

Send me “top 5″ of anything and I’ll respond with my favorites!!!

[dustedmagazine]

“1, 2, 3, 4!”: Jennifer Kelly’s 2018 review

Jennifer Kelly is a frantic romantic.

Rock and roll forever, sure, but it’s hard to avoid the fact that the guitar/bass/drum idiom has been pushed way off to the side in the cultural conversation. Mainstream sites list “best rock records” as a weird, subcultural genre, with a slightly bigger audience, perhaps, than best cumbia records or top Hawaiian slack key recordings (but not much). Worse, to come up with a reasonable size list they include all kinds of things that don’t belong. I mean, really, is Mount Eerie rock by any definition?

Rock isn’t dead, but it’s been made to sit in the corner. The only time in 2018 when everybody thought at once about a guitar band was when Pitchfork’s Jeremy Larson dropped his scathing, hilarious review of the Greta Van Fleet. For a moment, we all snickered as one.

Big rock was terrible in 2018. It almost always is. Yet there’s something disingenuous about the genre of year-end write-ups that laser in on the absolute worst and most bloated of rock bands to make a point about the art-form as a whole. Sure, Imagine Dragons suck. Yes, “Africa” is a soul-destroyingly awful song no matter who sings it. No, I’m not wading into the whole 1975 thing. Who has time? Who has the heart for it?  

Because this year, against a tide of commercially viable horse shit, against a backdrop of monolithic indifference, rock bands of all configurations, from all countries (but really especially Australia), continued to make great punk and rock records. And, I, for whatever reason, heard more of them than usual, and it made me happy. And maybe that’s the secret to being happy in music, in any year…find your niche, listen to the best in it, forget about what the mega-corporations are trying to sell.

Also see it live. My big highlight this year was seeing the Scientists in October (with Negative Approach, too!), but it was a pretty great 12 months for live music. It started with a fantastic show comprised of Mike Donovan, the Long Hots, J. Mascis and his Stooges cover band and Purling Hiss (with J on board for one song) at the Root Cellar, a venue I’d never heard of before that show, and that ended up putting on a string of great events. I saw Marisa Anderson, Paul Metzger, Speedy Ortiz, Howling Rain, Trad Gras Och Stenar with Endless Boogie, that Scientists show and Gary Higgins at the Root Cellar this year, and I missed a lot of shows I would have liked to see. Other great shows happened outside the Root Cellar – The Thing in the Spring in Peterborough with William Parker, Bonnie Prince Billy and others, Amy Rigby and Wreckless Eric at the Parlour Room, Messthetics at the Flywheel. Western Massachusetts has been in a commercial chokehold for years, with one organization controlling most of the venues, but there were a lot of options this year.

So, here’s to the drummers with their sticks in the air, counting off the four. Here’s to the guitar player wrecking his knees jumping up and down as he/she furiously slashes away. Here’s to the sweat and muck and black humor of $10 shows with four bands on them, two of them still in high school. And here’s to the people (me at least and possibly you) who like these things. Eddie Argos of Art Brut, who used to top these lists and now merits a footnote, spoke for this tiny, beleaguered sub-cult when he urged “Wham! Bang! Pow! Let’s rock out.”

Indeed. Let’s.

Amy Rigby—The Old Guys (Southern Domestic)

The Old Guys by Amy Rigby

Let’s just set aside the fact that the first and best song on this album is an imagined email exchange between Philip Roth and Bob Dylan on the eve of the Nobel ceremony or that Rigby namechecks three of my favorite ever TV characters in “New Sheriff.” Let’s forget, too, how rare it is for a woman of roughly my age to be making her own music and controlling her own destiny even now in 2018. No, let’s focus on the songs which are sharp, smart and full of hooks, the clean, romantic chime of Rigby’s electric 12-string, the viscous pleasure of the arrangements. This is the very best kind of rock record, one that doesn’t attempt to remake the genre but somehow makes it bigger, brighter and more necessary. The songs sounded great, live, too, with the great Wreckless Eric in tow, and the two of them bickering like old married couples do, and Rigby glowing with triumph by the end of the show.

 Shopping—The Official Body (Fat Cat)

The Official Body by Shopping

Bubbly in a hard way, strict and minimal in a manner requires body movement, this album arrived early and stayed on my go-to list all year. For Dusted, I wrote, “You could bounce a quarter off the bass lines in this third Shopping full-length. They’re pulled hard and tight against minimalist syncopated drums, the leaning, waiting, anticipating space between the thwacks as important a character as the beats themselves. The London-based trio harks back to the funky, stripped down post-punk of bands like ESG and Delta 5, with hints of the boy-girl bubble and pop of the B-52s and Pylon.

 Salad Boys—This Is Glue (Trouble in Mind)

This Is Glue by Salad Boys

Always weak for NZ lo-fi and equally a fan of the early R.E.M., so of course I fell for this buzzy daydream of a record. “Psych Slasher” bursts with immoderate, glorious joy in the chorus, then cuts back to uncertainty in the verse, the ideal blend of rambunctious rock and wistful pop. “Exaltation” is a gentler sort of classic, just as radiant but moodier, its murmur-y vocals disappearing into cloud banks of fuzzed guitar tone. The whole record sits on the knife edge of rock and indie pop, leaning one way and the other, but never falling over.

 Patois Counselors—Proper Release (Ever/Never)

Proper Release by Patois Counselors

I went all in for “So Many Digits” in my Dusted review this year, but the two great punk songs on Proper Release are “The Modern Station” and, especially, “Target Not a Comrade.” This latter song chugs and lurches on guitar and bass, trembles with wheedly keyboards and crests in a massive, hummable refrain. It’s a catchy, twitchy punk tune that’ll hit you in the part of your brain where you keep Wire and the Buzzcocks, hooky as hell in a weird, distorted way.

 Bodega—Endless Scroll (What’s Your Rupture)

Endless Scroll by BODEGA

Flipping the gender cliché, Bodega is an all-woman band with a male singer. Its tight, nervy, jangles wrap around themes of internet-age dislocation and movie references. Smart, sarcastic, ironic, sharp, Bodega bristles with what you want from a garage punk band but reveals a surprisingly soft heart uncovered round about “Charlie,” a wistful song about a boy who died too soon.

 Bardo Pond—Volume 8 (Three-Lobed)

Volume 8 by Bardo Pond

The eighth in a series of improvised albums, this year’s Bardo Pond record towers and surges with monumental heaviness. I wrote at Dusted that, “The sound, vast and muscularly monolithic as ever, seems more like a demon summoned periodically from a ring of fire, than the product of any sort of linear development.”

 Meg Baird and Mary Lattimore—Ghost Forests (Three Lobed)

Ghost Forests by Meg Baird and Mary Lattimore

This year’s most beautiful album, Ghost Forests undergirds lyric folk melodies and angelic pizzicato harp plucks with roiling, violent darkness. My Dusted review observed “The best and most interesting [tracks] juxtapose the muted violence of electric guitar with a harp’s serenity. A guitar howls from a distance throughout “In Cedars,” pushing a simmering turbulence up under sun-dappled lattices of harp picking. Later “Painter of Tygers” does the same trick of joining muscle to fairy dust, the electric guitar raging from far away, while harp and voice spread delicate magic over the tumult.”

 Seun Kuti & Egypt 80—Black Times (Strut)

Black Times by Seun Kuti & Egypt 80

Fela Kuti’s youngest son inherited his dad’s fierce political commitment, his rhythmically unstoppable Afrobeat style and a few of his band members, but this wonderful album is more alive and present than a tribute. “Struggle Sounds, “ with its hard-bounce of a beat, its blurting sax, its ecstatic backing chorus, its swagger of horns and fever-dreamed keyboards dances through history right up to the modern day. “Last Revolutionary” enumerates past African heroes and connects them to the now. I wrote, “Kuti extends his father’s legacy, its tight rhythmic interplay, its fervent political engagement, its relentless exhilarating uplift, while bringing it a bit further into the present.”

Ovlov—Tru (Exploding in Sound)

TRU by Ovlov

I first noticed Ovlov at the Thing in the Spring Festival, on an eclectic Thursday night in a book store, where the sweet surge of guitar sound felt solid enough to body surf on. Later, for Dusted, I said of Tru that “Ovlov churns a monumental fuzz, a wave of surging, undulating, feedback-altered sound …. You can almost poke it with your finger, this onslaught is so palpable. It stirs your hair like an oncoming breeze.”

Speedy Ortiz—Twerp Verse (Carpark) 

Twerp Verse by Speedy Ortiz

There’s something so bendy and unpredictable about Sadie Dupuis tunes. They hare off in unexpected ways. They stop and start. They interpose weird little intervals of pop and noise. They refuse to behave, and end up exactly as they should be, though never what you’d expect. Twerp Verse takes more pop turns than other Speedy joints, but in the tipsiest, most eccentric way, with acerbic asides in the lyrics that catch like fishhooks and stay with you. “Speedy Ortiz offers a serrated sort of pop pleasure, full of rhythmic complexity and gender confrontation,” I observed in my Dusted review.

 Had enough rock? Me neither

Here are some more punk rock and garage records that I couldn’t squeeze into the top ten overall, mostly in the order that I thought of them, but Constant Mongrel and Richard Papiercuts are pretty great and that’s probably why I thought of them first.

Constant Mongrel—Living in Excellence (La Vida Es Un Mus)

Richard Papiercuts— Twisting the Night (Ever/Never)

GOGGs—Prestrike Sweep (In the Red)

Hank Wood & the Hammerheads—S-T (Toxic State)

Obnox—Bang Messiah (Smog Veil)

Zerodent—Landscapes of Merriment (Alien Snatch!)

Sleaford Mods—Stick in a Five and Go (Domino)

Ethers—S-T (Trouble in Mind)

IDLES—Joy as an Act of Resistance (Partisan)

Bad Sports—Constant Stimulation (Dirtnap)

Lithics—Mating Surfaces (Kill Rock Stars)

Art Brut—Wham! Bang! Pow! (Alcopop)

 Whoa, slow down!

Also a shout to the musicians who made more than one really excellent album this year. Ty Segall made five, I think, but I didn’t love all of them as much as Freedom Goblin and Prestrike Sweep.

Obnox—Sonido del Templo/Bang Messiah (Astral Spirits)/(Smog Veil)

Mount Eerie—Now Only/(After) (Elverum & Sons)

Ty Segall—Freedom Goblin (Drag City)/GOGGs—Prestrike Sweep (In the Red)

Ryley Walker—Deafman Glance/The Lillywhite Sessions (Dead Oceans)

  Nevertheless, they persisted

And finally, hats off to the bands and artists that have been going forever and continued this year to produce great music.

Kinski—Accustomed to Your Face (Kill Rock Stars)

Low—Double Negative (Sub Pop)

Loma—S-T (Sub Pop) (Shearwater’s Jonathan Meiburg plus Cross Record)

Oneida—Romance (Joyful Noise)

Wreckless Eric—Construction Time and Demolition (Southern Domestic)

Messthetics—S-T (Discord) (The great Fugazi rhythm section plus a young guitar ripper—one of the best live shows of the year for me.)

Charnel Ground—S-T (12XU) (This is Kid Millions from Oneida, Chris Brokaw and James McNew from Yo La Tengo, and as you’d expect, it’s really good.)

[the-panda-writes]

Southern Charm: Chapter 5

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Southern!Reader

Summary: You’ve been at Avengers Tower little over Six months, the air becoming chilly due to winter approaching. You want to go forward in your relationship with Bucky, but you are worried about how he feels about you. Bucky feels the same, wanting to ask you to be his girl and go steady with him.

Warnings: Nothing here!

A/N: Just reposting!

Ao3 / Southern Charm Masterlist

After your first date, you and Bucky can’t seem to keep your eyes off each other! You are in the state of bliss because he is such a cutie, you can’t keep him out of your mind.

He isn’t helping in the matter either; sneaking touches that light your skin on fire, him putting his arm around you when you guys sit together on the couch and whispering sweet nothings in your ear, making you go red in the face.

Some of the girls you work with, along with Natasha and Wanda, continuously tease you to no end because you caught the eye of the ex-HYDRA assassin. Your family were no different.

~Flashback~

You were Skyping your family to tell them about your experience so far in the tower and in the Big Apple, telling about the Avengers as well; they were excited when you told them you met the leader of the Howling Commandos.

“What’s he like?” Your little brother, Harley, asks in excitement.

“He’s everything the textbooks say he is and more. It’s a pleasure ta get ta know ‘im personally.” You say to him with a small smile.

“Is Barnes there too?” your father asks in curiosity. You nod, your face becoming flushed at the thought of him. “What’s he like?”

“He’s…. diffr’nt. He often shows what he was like in the forties, but ah think all the time they spent, using him and torturing him, it changes him.” You explain to him, your brain wondering off into space. “He’s a real sweetheart. It’s hard to tell if he was a man in pain.”

“Seems yer quite smitten with ‘im, hun.” Your mother points out suggestively.

“OOOOoooOOOOhhhh!!!” Your brothers tease through the screen. You just try to hush them, trying to hide your blush the best way you can.

“Boys, cut it out.” Your father said sternly, making your brothers stop. No doubt to tease you later, but stopped for right now.

“Thanks, daddy.”

“Don’t mention it pumpkin.” Your father says after telling your brothers to go do some yardwork. “So, about Barnes: has he taken you out on a date yet?”

“DAD!!” You yell in embarrassment, hiding your face in your hands.

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes,’ then?”

“I guess… He saw me dance.” You confess, scratching your arms nervously.

“Was he impressed?” Your mother asked in curiosity.

“He said he was, but I’m not sure if I believe it.” You admit sadly.

“You listen here, sweetheart. Any man would be crazy to not be with you.” You mother said sternly, but with encouragement.

“Yer just sayin’ that cause yer mah mother.” You say to her sadly.

“It counts more because I’m your mother. I know you, you are the best person around and such a sweet girl to boot.” Your mother says with a loving smile.

“Thanks mom..” you say to her with a happy smile.

~End Flashback~

With that thought in your head, you just went on to doing what you do best.

Today was one of your days off, which didn’t happen too often. You didn’t want to go anywhere, so you just lounged around in your great-great grandfather’s sweater with your hair up in a messy bun, sleeping shorts, socks and your nerd glasses.

Music was playing from a radio perched up on the counter in the kitchen; it was playing some classics from the later 70s, early 80s songs and Old Time Rock and Roll by Bob Seger started playing.

You decided to just slide out in the clothes you were wearing like Tom Cruise did in Risky Business. Though you weren’t wearing a button up, but the feeling was the same.

Once you slid out, you began to lip sync to the song using your hairbrush as a mic, completely oblivious that Bucky, Natasha, Wanda and Sam were in the living room.

You didn’t care, you loved the classics and just did it.

You just continuing to lip sync, everyone just enjoying the show you were putting, you even added a few twirls and more modern dance moves. When the guitar solos played, you pretended to play air guitar.

The others were just laughing and giggling at your antics; they enjoyed things like this, even though most of them didn’t have the courage to do this in front of the team.

By the time the song ended, you were a bit out of breath and the guys just applauded.

“Nice dance moves, Y/N!” Sam yelled with a big smile.

“Thank you, thank you! I’ll be here all week!” You laughed, standing next to Bucky for support.

“I haven’t had a good laugh in a while, so thanks girl!” Nat said with a smile.

“Yer welcome!” You said, going in for a hug, Natasha accepting gratefully.

“You shoulda seen her when we went out to dinner. She can really cut a rug.” Bucky said with a bit of his forties slang and Brooklyn accent.

“Ya’know. We should all go out dancin’ sometime! I can show you a few moves to some line dances.” You say, arching one of your eyebrows suggestively.

“Nah. I have two left feet.” Sam said, trying to brush it off.

“Same here, doll.” Bucky said, scratching the back of his neck.

When he said that, his mind went to different places, wanting to try different moves on you. Wanda picked up on this and she smiled suggestively.

“I think James would love zhat you could teach him a few things, since he was a dancer. Back in ze day I mean.” Wanda said as she walked away.

“Maybe he could show you a few of his moves. To ya’know, teach each other.” Natasha said, catching on to what Wanda was suggesting.

Sam just walked, Natasha dragging him away.

Bucky was just standing there, his face redder than the Henley he was wearing. He often wishes he didn’t know them.

“It’s fine, shuga’. They’re just messin’ ‘round an’ all.” You say to him, giving him a hug for comfort. “But. If yer up for it, just give me ah holler.” you tell him suggestively.

You go off back into your room, but you turn around and give him a quick peck on his cheek and scurring back to your room.

Bucky just stood there, dumbfounded. He placed a hand on his cheek, on the same spot where you kissed him.

It gave him the motivation to ask you out again, and hopefully, ask you to be his best girl.

~~~

The next day, you got back to work. Next month was October, so you were helping plan the Halloween costume party in the tower. You were taking a bit of a break when one of your co-workers approached you.

You really didn’t like him all that much; even though he was a blonde, strong jawed and broad shouldered, he was a bit rude and self-centered. You figured that if you ignore him, he would leave you alone.

It didn’t work out quite as you expected though. He still pestered you to go out with him, but he always made you feel uncomfortable. You hated to feel his eyes on you, which was often. You couldn’t really see him, but you knew it was him.

All he really wanted was to knock a new wedge into his bedpost; plus, you were a southern girl, so he thought you would be pretty easy.

He kept making moves at your and you were feeling uncomfortable by the minute.

Bucky saw this and he acted before his brain caught up.

He walked up to the both of you, excusing himself, then pressing his lips to yours.

[freshest-woods-gossip-blog]

 Dear Author—

First of all, you need to know how enormously warm and OVI PROUD for you I already feel about what you’re going to write. 

I’m a bit of a ridiculous prompter, but they’re written that way because I’m hoping something—whether it’s the general outline or just one of the silly little details—will really strike your fancy. Don’t feel like you need to use every suggestion, and if you have another fun idea, run with it! If you look at something I suggested and think "Uh, obviously that would be what happened, it would happen like THIS instead, duh,” YES. Do it that way.

  Please print out a favorite Proud Ovi photo for me and pin it to the wall of your Writing Lair.      Good Things, generally:      

Yes, no matter how completely bonkers my original prompt was, you are invited to put MORE HOCKEY in it. You have blanket permission to write a canon hockey-playing story in which my original batshit weird prompt is a metaphor or literary theme    

Even without hockey, WINTER THEMES  

Team team team. Lots of social dynamics going on, especially in dialogue. The more guys talking over each other, the more I like it    

The positive and the negative ways social culture (of team sports, social class, countries) affects people. This includes my love for little daily habits or thoughts that someone living away from their country of origin might have       

Different people liking different things (including different kinds and amounts of sex, and different people!) and that being OK 

   Things I Do Not Like So Much, generally:   

Gender essentialism (including describing physical traits like muscle development, body hair, and calluses as ‘male’ or a vague “softness” as ‘female.’ Characters can absolutely still admire those traits! Just write about how nice they look and feel on this particular person, or how the narrator personally reacts to them.)  

Unquestioned  stereotypes about sexual identity/sexual role, formalized primary/secondary poly dynamics 

Unquestioned national stereotypes

Unquestioned social class stereotypes 

“Everybody’s gay”/ Everybody already knows/A character’s fears were All In Their Head  

Injury for pure Drama.   

The Prompts:

(Again, yes, you may make all of these about playing hockey. Honestly, please tell me how these prompts are really about hockey. ) 

Nicklas Backstrom/Alexander Ovechkin—Howl’s Moving Castle

 Does the whole countryside believe Wizard Ovechkin eats young people’s hearts, except for one sensible hatmaker, who seeks shelter from the winter cold…only to find the wizard hungover in a castle full of dog hair and unwashed teenage apprentices? Or does our hero bully his way into the castle, remind antisocial Wizard Backstrom to go to his appointments and answer that stack of letters from King Barry about the war, and redecorate in beautiful Russian style?  

I think Don Cherry is the Witch of the Northern Waste either way.

 Good things:

Mix it up! Maybe we’ve got an ice demon, not a fire demon; maybe there’s no demon and more of a Koschei the Deathless situation, or other Russian/Swedish elements, and small or significant changes to the plot 

Demon played by a long-suffering TJ, trapped on a line/in an ash bucket listening to them? 

Whichever one is cursed enjoying the heck out of life as a grumpy old man with a stick. Gimme some thoughts and feelings about aging as an athlete

    Braden Holtby/Evgeny Kuznetsov—Beauty and the Beast  

 Holts is Beauty.  

Pick any setting you like: canon, modern AU, classic fairytale, the whacky AU of your dreams. Just give me them sharing space, slowly getting past that first grouchy impression. 

 Good things:

HoltBelle doing crosswords in a castle library 

All the Caps being touched by the curse—and go as dark as you want with that

At least, like, five more Caps than anyone would want trying to Fix Things. (Picking which Capital is MOST like a singing candlestick is not easy. Might be Schmidt. Nicky and Ovi are a beautiful matched tea set, with all their rookie teacups) 

     Braden Holtby/Nate Schmidt—Books books books books books  

I have JUST NOW remembered that Schmidt's last Better Halves Player Gift Basket not only included the Harry Potter chess set, but ALSO a copy of  The Secrets of the FBI. Please meditate with me on what, and why, is on Nate Schmidt's reading list. 

 They've both given a lot of solid interviews on what it's like to be an athlete and read and learn largely outside of school when the world around you isn't really encouraging that, a subject dear to my heart, so I'd love to see more about that. Anything about reading and exploring and being extremely intense and focused doofs: 

  Does Nate Schmidt carefully Sort everyone in the league into the right Hogwarts houses, and occasionally scream “HUFFLEPUFF!” in delight from the bench at a passing opponent who mostly speaks Czech?     

Does Holtby sometimes surface from a post-loss funk to realize that the last 5 minutes of this pep talk have sounded...suspiciously like Dumbledore quotes?    

I'm really stuck on the FBI thing: how often has Schmidt dragged Braden around a new city reading historical landmark signs, and then spend lunch sitting outside a cafe guessing which passersby are undercover agents? 

Does he have a Double-Secret, Holts-Only-Clearance list ranking who on the team would be the best secret agent? (I’ve been imagining all of these as a tired-but-charmed-and-touched Holts POV, but you can do either, and have Nate slowly becoming passionately convinced Holts would be the bestest James Bond ever)   

I'm also happy to see a judgmental geek rift between Holtby's Serious Business crosswords and fantasy novels that they needed to work through over the years. 

Or, write me a You’ve Got Mail story where they never really started talking and are both feelin secretly a bit lonely on the team, so they go home at night and chat with their BFF on Goodreads who always has the best lists and reviews....  

     Nicklas Backstrom/Andre Burakovsky/Marcus Johansson 

 The most stately and reserved courtship in Vague Historical Sweden is interrupted by a brash, unexpected young suitor.    

Some quick possibilities to help you start:    

  1). Vague Historical Sweden

Nicky, a prince or an heir to something, is resigned to marrying someone proper who he can’t ever tell about his 20-year prank war against Polite Society. So he’s been silent and dead-eyed and thinks that’s how you court somebody  

Mojo would quite like to be married, so he’ll never have to go to another formal ball where people ask him about The Wars. (Instead he will hide in a comfy study, writing more secret drafts of the secret military memoirs he definitely won’t ever publish.) Their match has been Expected for years, but they’ve barely talked and he keeps getting anxious, calling Nicky by either a full formal title or ‘Lars,’ which makes Nicky look even more dead inside, and tripping over things. Many a tactical retreat has been called.     

Polite Society is...pretty sure Andre’s a fortune-hunter. He keeps asking each of them for a dance at every ball, and inviting them to skating parties, and trying very, very hard to be impressive.    

2.)  Award-winning Vikings 

Nicky is a shieldmaiden (please don’t question me. Vague Historical Sweden does gender roles differently), and keeps a prosperous farm. Mojo is maybe the son of the next landowner over, has made a name for himself raiding, and everyone in town agrees they’d be a fine Viking couple.  

 Andre, who was captured on a raid or is a jarl’s kid or something, don’t ask me, also thinks they are a fine Viking couple.  

  3.)  Modern royalty. Space royalty. Magic. Go mad with your power.     

I like happiness, but I’m okay with bittersweet too. As much pining and miscommunication as you like, and any kinks or power dynamics you’ll have fun writing. You can end with a triad, a V, or a dyad if you…really want to, I guess, as long as it isn’t moralistic. The relationships don’t have to be the same, but please no formal primary/secondary poly dynamics, though.  

   You are best.