#ts is a brilliant writer but

[theimprobabledreamersworld]

This is one of the sweetest things I've ever read! 💚🖤💚

The Florist and The Tattoo Artist

Day 1: Tattoo Shop/Florist @dukexietyweek

Author’s Note: It’s Spooky Gays week bbs! You all remember last year when I said I’d write a fic to this exact prompt based on my post? Of course you do! I of course did not write it yet B U T don’t scroll away just yet I promise there’s something. I’ve written a little snippet (I say snippet as if it isn’t literally half of one of the chapters) on one of the scenes that happen in the story but I made sure to write in a way where you don’t really need the whole fic to understand what’s going on. With that being said enjoy I guess!

Summary: Pretty much just Remus coming up with a tattoo design for Virgil and asking him out on a date.

Pairing: Dukexiety

Word Count: 1018

Warnings: Food Mention, I guess Remus mentioning his ass I don’t know there’s not really much here so I think just those should be fine

Keep reading

[joesalw]

Controversial opinion: There's a ton of artists that are only good at one instrument, or can only sing, or don't write super good lyrics, or even don't have that incredible of stage presence, and they are still super loved and admired. One of my favorite rap artists can play guitar, bass, and writes brilliant lyrics, but his singing (or at least all of the stuff I've heard), isn't exactly anything to write home about (tbh same on the instrumentals, it's pretty good but not standout).

The difference between those artists and ts is that they a) don't try to act like they're the greatest thing since sliced bread in every direction ever and how dare you insinuate anything otherwise and b) they often either put in effort to improve on something or just accept that it's not their strength. Am I tuning into my favorite bands thinking they're perfect at everything? No. Am I still a huge fan of them? hells yeah. I promise you, there's a performer out there who's exactly as good as swift, except she's either presenting herself as is and not ashamed of her flaws, or is willing to admit her weaknesses and hire help (a choreographer, a lyrics writer, a vocal coach, etc etc), and is all the lovelier for it.

Anyways, serious takes aside, there's dozens of punk and thrash metal and alt bands who deliberately go for a shitty sound and distort their instruments, sing off-key, write the most deranged lyrics known to mankind, and seeing as they're at least aware of what they're doing and accept they're shit at music, they're still better artists than miss 'so talented for being average but uber rich'.

she is for those mid girlies who think they are the best in everything

[maxemilianverstappen]

girl, we need your Lestappen fics! Or at least headcanons stories

I am a slow writer 😭😭

But here are two parts from a horror fic I am writing based on TS Elliot's poem The Hollow Men:

He couldn't love.

Charles simply didn't have the luxury of acknowledging love even if it had been given to him freely and in abundance. Even if it would have been right in front of him, waiting for him to recognize it and embrace it. He had a rival to best, Max. The man against whom he had been fighting for years since their boyhood and failing and failing and still failing. Still being a failure...

Their roads were so intertwined that Charles couldn't even recall if there was a time when Max had not been in his life in some capacity or a time when his shadow wasn't cast on his road. Always ahead, but never rubbing it in Charles’ face. Never obnoxious about his success. Deep down inside, Charles had always wished Max would have been an insufferable jerk about it, so that he had somewhere legitimate to dump all this anger and disappointment. Instead of carrying it around on his own shoulders…

And yet, all Max had ever given to him was soft smiles, gentle touches, and kind and thoughtful words. Sometimes, it all took one lilting chuckle from him, and it was enough to ease the pain and the rage brewing within him. Charles couldn't even acknowledge how desperately he wished that he didn't feel the need to catch and stop himself in the act of forgetting and letting it go after seeing that laugh and looking into those brilliant eyes and just not grimace internally at the way that he needed to remind himself to hold on his rage and disappointment, so that he could carry on and not give it all up there and then. It almost felt like falling in love. Almost…

And he didn't need that love. He didn't have the time to dissect how being the object of Max's sunny smile and single-minded attention both felt humiliating and also liberating. How it muddled his thoughts and made him lose focus, and how it almost tasted like a balm to the gaping hole in his chest when that hole was literally the sole thing that kept him continuing even though it was mostly just suffering. No matter how genuinely Max might adore him, it was futile. He refused to acknowledge it, put a name on it, and deal with it. 

He had a dream to achieve. 

I posted this part before, so, in case you missed it:

"There are an infinite number of ways to arrive at the inevitable. Today, which way do you want to try, which way would you like to exhaust?" The demon asked, clad in Sebastian's skin. The half bored half deprecating look in his eyes was judging Charles even more severely each new time he came face to face with him in this void. "Are you thick in here?" He spat, lips drawn back and showing his sharp teeth in disgust. "When will you realize you can't change the inevitable? When will you realize you can't have both things at once? Or do you no longer want to be what you have been desiring for so long, so strongly that it drew me to you?"

Charles looked back at the demon and held the manic blue eyes with determination, even though something was dying inside of him at each new try and each new attempt. "Never." He refuted firmly. "That's the bane of my existence."

Sebastian regarded him with contempt at first, and then his expression turned into gleeful sadism as he slowly walked up to Charles and pressed a talon-like finger onto his chest. "Then, he can stay dead. That's his destiny. For as long as you want that trophy, he has to die for it. And you have to watch him crash himself against walls for you to achieve your dream."

Sickness brewed inside Charles's stomach like some poison, but he kept the bile inside by holding onto his rage. He snarled at the youthful face of the Redbull's first golden boy, even though his eyes were filled with unshed tears. "There has to be a way." He bit through his gritted teeth. "There has to be a way to undo this. And I will find it!"

Sebastian snorted at the defiance, finding it both pathetic and irritating. "Go and try again, then." He pushed Charles back with inhuman strength and Charles fell and fell and fell backwards and then violently woke up to the same day, panting and whining at his fate like a wounded animal, the tears now falling. 

[jentlemahae]

i'm glad ts is having fun and all after breaking things off with j** but i can't help but feel sad when i listen to the reputation album 😭 writing those beautiful songs for someone and then they're no longer in your life it's crazy to me, i actually teared up a bit listening to dress of all songs LOL i need psychological help

tbh i was sad at first too (i remember the first time i listened to invisible string after the break up news…..) but then we got ylm and like……actually she deserves to have her fun after putting up with that bore for so long and i feel like travis is exactly what she needs ✌🏻yes she wrote very beautiful songs about him but that’s bcs she’s a brilliant writer lol he’s still a shmuck 🤷🏻‍♀️

[peaky-shelby]

Man, I don't know why but this picture baffles me.

Hear me out, for me this picture screams TRUE LOVE. The one that makes you high with 1,001 crazy emotions, the circumstances, the people, the personal values, the past , the fears.

That type of love that you will never ever forget because it touch you in your very core.

The one that you will reminisce when you are old and gray. Ok now, talking about growing old, in my mind I can totally see Ky & Tay ends up together all warm and cozy with their kid(s). Like, can you imagine Ky&Tay (ugh even their names rhyme so well) with their cute little family 😭😭😭 (something similar like the ending scene of TS Lover Music Video).

But of course, there will never be happiness without sacrifices and tears. I don't know. I don't care. If they will not end up together, please make them meet each other again and reliving their past romance (make them meet in front of Eiffel Tower with Can't Help Falling in Love playing in the background plus the rains pour slowly). I'm a sappy bitch and I can't help it.

I'm speaking on behalf of my people : New Romantics 👏🏻 deserves 👏🏻a 👏🏻happy👏🏻 ending 👏🏻 (just because my own love life is a mess and dry as Sahara lol).

For that being said, I just want to say :

You are such a talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show-stopping, never-the-same, totally unique, completely-not-ever-been-done-before, one hell of a writer.

*wink* *wink* Muahh 💋💋💋

Thank you thank you thank you!!! I'll never stop thinking you for spending your time on this story!!

I'm not giving away any spoilers. I LOVE your point of view,, as a writer sometimes I'm si lost in the characters and the moment that i don't see things that are obvious to you. Reading comments like this is incredibly helpful!! thank you!!

Who else wants a happy ending? 🤭

You're also amazing and brilliant by the way 💞

[morning-star-joy]

Hello! So, I actually first stumbled upon your stuff through your TS inspired fics but quickly proceeded to read ALL of your stuff (because of course I was totally impressed with how amazing your writing was), and I must say I can’t wait for you to continue your new fic about Joel and his very sweet neighbor reader, BUT I started a stranger’s heart this weekend and honestly if we were talking in person right now, I’d be stuttering, trying to find the words to describe this beautiful, gorgeous masterpiece. If you’re not already a professional writer, I hope you are pursuing this career because this story is undoubtedly the single best piece of fanfiction I’ve ever read in my life, and I’ve been reading fanfiction since I was like 15. I’m 32. And it’s just a whole package deal, because the plot is amazing and clearly well-thought out and perfectly developed while still staying very true to the original material, so much that at this point, for me, personally, reader is no longer reader, but an original character and I mean that in the most flattering way possible. She’s really just something else. I love that you’ve created this character that is so similar to Joel in terms of trauma and being a very complex and grey character, but without simply mimicking his arc, she’s her own thing and has her own backstory, which is brilliant, and still led her to become Joel’s perfect match because they’re alike in the way that they deal with their pain. And not only all that, but the writing is also exceptionally good. I’m honestly so impressed and amazed. I can’t wait for chapter 19. I’m so grateful that you’re writing this level of amazing things and putting it out here for us to enjoy! Oh! Important: please never stop writing long, descriptive chapters full of delicious inner dialogue 🥹❤️ every time I started a new chapter and saw a word count over 10k my heart leapt in my chest from joy and excitement. Also can’t wait to read the new amazing stuff I’m sure you’ll grace us with once this amazing ride of a stranger’s heart is complete!

Hi!!! AHHHHH thank you!!! I was giggling kicking my feet reading your whole message!! 🥹🥰🥰

Thank you for sharing your excitement for the new series! Now that a stranger's heart is really done I'm going to be diving into that one to really expand on and give it the attention it deserves! (and work on requests too) 💜

You are so kind omg, ahh I'm not a professional writer but I really want to be! Honestly, being an author was my dream since I was a kid, and since writing a stranger's heart you guys have made me feel like I can actually do it, so I truly have all the thanks in the world for every message like this. 😭🥹

Omg I love that you called Reader an original character! Because honestly, to me she is too, just faceless and nameless, because I want anybody reading to be able to picture her however they want (because it's more fun that way!)

Creating a character that was a parallel to Joel was such a fascinating thing to explore. They really bring out the best and the worst in each other because of how similar they are.

Again, thank you so so so so SO much for writing this out for me. You are amazing, and I'm going to treasure this message forever💜💜

[nyoomfruits]

hi!

i just binged both of your fics and can i just say you are ONE HELL OF A WRITER??? its absolutely amazing and so beautiful <333 i have no word to describe how BRILLIANT and SIMPLY LOVELY your works are.

and if- only if you are planning on a new fic (ABSOLUTELY NO PRESSURE) will you please consider a long fic or an au based on mastermind by ts because its SO MAX?

thank you for your service honestly

hfhhghgnf this is way too nice thank you so much ;-; <3

i am currently in the middle of outlining my next fic already (hoping to start writing today !!!!) but i do love mastermind and how max coded it is so??? who knows!!! definitely adding it to The List (tm)

[jackalsinthekitchen]

after midnights

on Tay’s latest remedy for an emotionally abusive life

It’s in my ears right now, and it sounds fucking great. An instant warm bath of sound, like the first fond flush of a high (lavender haze, indeed). Four counts in, then a jarring vocal sample in your right ear – except you can’t call it jarring, because while it’s alien and sudden, it also feels just right, no less soothing somehow than the underwater throb of the beat or the faint glow of synthesizer. “Meet me at midnight,” the pop empress requests, through a soft veil of software, the last syllable twisting up into that very en vogue chipmunk zone. It’s instantly sensual and instantly corny, and a lot more of the latter. But already it feels like a balm – a peaceful sort of medicinal, like somebody slipped you some spiritual tonic and its effects are taking waking-dream hold. A fleeting little snip, left ear this time, and we’re off.

We’re used to Swift keeping a toe in the organic, but on Midnights she’s singing to us from a basilica of agape machines. Yet she’s reliably explored discrete musical worlds in her various – oh, let’s call them eras. Reputation and 1989 often sounded like a pop star trying on trends, though neither was quite as inorganic as Midnights. Greil Marcus groused that it’s the “musical equivalent” of an Autopen – that’s for mass autographs – but the kids don’t mind the machines these days. In fact, most pop musicians have harnessed them fabulously, and found a glorious interzone between fake and flesh. Some of today’s hits can flatter your high like Electric Ladyland – but at its best, this album can cause one. You need to calm down, and Swift is on it.

As a producer, Jack Antonoff flips between contributor and co-auteur, and this is the first time he’s been the latter for Swift. He obviously travels in elite circles these days, but like Swift, he never seems corrupted by privilege. Trying to pinpoint what makes him remarkable tends to run you up against how ordinary he is: sometimes he seems a little small-minded, and sometimes he’s a genius and you’re happy he’s on the radio. Surely, if his equipment wasn’t state of the art already, Swift could garnish it for their new collab. Yet Midnights is bereft of the big-money bang of the Max Martin/Shellback megahits (“We Are Never…”, “Blank Space”). Antonoff prefers the gentle decay of lo-fi beats and beds of sweet, modest synths, and he hasn’t particularly evolved this sound for Swift’s album – though he’s never been quite so atmospheric as this, nor filled his corners out with such hip-hop-indebted imagination. It would be wonderful if Midnights’ repudiation of the hi-fi is prescient – so many gifted bedroom-pop musicians could hear this album, and craft similar music that won’t need a millionaire’s budget to resonate as valuably.

Of course, there’s a person at the center of all of this. A living, breathing, brilliant writer, and these are her new songs. Well, hers ‘n’ his – though waking dream Zöe Kravitz pitched something in on the first track and Lana Del Rey sprinkles a small amount of words on another song and TS’s boyfriend picked a cute pseudonym for his sole writing credit. And she’s an adult. folkore opened with “I’m doing good, I’m on some new shit,” the slight street parlance of the second bit intoned in such a steely yet casual way. Sparse “fuck”s followed; it was thrilling. But cursing is old news on Midnights (if not the single), and as Gawker put it, “At 32, Taylor Swift Can Almost Convincingly Swear”. It’s less an issue of delivery than diction. But it opens her up, and it feels helpful in the way that Obama coming out for gay marriage in 2012 was – too little too late, but from a great platform to perhaps open other people up. The album’s liberally scattered expletives are how most people talk, at least of her generation – peppering general conversation with whatever fuckin’ shit seems appropriate for emphasis. It’s as tactical as ever, but a key part of what becomes clear is an escalated self-revelation, from the safety of a technopop sanctuary.

Reactions to this album have been fairly mixed by her standard – or as mixed as swallowing the top 10 can be, and to some extent I think it’s because people can’t pigeonhole this one as efficiently as the others. Midnights is miles more fun than folklore (I don’t need to drag evermore into this), but there she justified her heavy sincerity with soothing and enticing settings and really impressively crafted lyrics. On this album, she’s a lot more playful with a lot less poise. That first hint on Instagram, “…the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life”, seemed to suggest something diaristic and dubious – this was serious Swift, not laughs in the middle of her song to let you know she’s not serious Swift. But it set the tone for something downbeat, and as it happens this music is a lot more of a rush, the artist taking more chances without carefully plotting them out. It is such a strange mix of ridiculous and intelligent.

Blissed-out cocoon “Lavender Haze” is actually the product of six different minds (excluding jazz prodigy Braxton Cook’s snatch of vocal, an affecting hook whose soul still feels smoothed out somehow). Beyond Zöe and the copilots, it's Kendrick collaborator Sounwave and Bey/J collaborator Jahaan Sweet and Wale collaborator Sam Dew. You aren’t meant know who wrote what; you’re meant to hear Swift as alone in the dark, except you’re somehow alone there with her. It’s both casually triumphant and strikingly solitary – self-empowerment that doesn’t need to bellow about itself to mean business. “I’m damned if I do give a damn what people say” is a typical nice-try, but whichever one of the six came up with “get it off your chest/get it off my desk” should get a raise. And though she has a credible, THC-free explanation for the title (it was a line on Mad Men), that hint of edge isn’t a bad look for her.

“Maroon” is a mood and a half, the kind of song where Swift puts herself back in a shared room some old night with some old lover, all those delicate details (“your roommate’s cheap-ass screw-top rosé”) flooding back so much more forcefully than her reason for being there. Once again, she sings with a conscious detachment, a half-beleaguered, half-determined evenness, never bare in the mix even if Antonoff keeps the filter light. The quiet ways she and her music convey waves of emotion throughout the LP are proof she has a gift for subtlety (or has been taking classes). Blood courses hot through the icicle-adorned electronic arrangement, and “so scarlet it was maroon” (cheeks, lips) is one of her sexiest and most allusive images, so specific, yet viscerally visual. Notes beam like sirens over a power-ballad beat, pulsing slowly and insistently. Contradictions everywhere – here’s a song you could cry or fuck to.

“Anti-Hero”, which I’ve written about on here more than once, is closest to my heart. Despite the slings and arrows she regularly invites, Swift’s personal transgressions are likely a safe distance from shocking. But many of us have dealt heartbreaks that felt like they drew blood, or at least broke the skin. No one knows how many assholes there are in the world, but there are a lot, and as I see it, Swift’s achievement here is more significant than a pop song can usually claim: it’s a vehicle for fuckups singing along (or just listening) to process festering guilt. No matter how much pain is infused in the words, her melodies are here to protect you. This one is the loveliest; that lilting third (“I have this thing”) hits like an even more treacherous jump than it is. Synthesizers burn bright under a blanket of sweet sorrow. The note-perfect vocal disintegration (“everybody agreeeeeees”) in the middle; the wacky fantasy about the daughter-in-law; the “It’s me. Hi.” hook alone – the ingenuity here feels limitless. Her best songs abound with great ideas, but they’re rarely as piquant as this.

Those crystalline pizzicato strings that herald “Snow on the Beach” always rip me back to the streets of Manhattan, my hands hiding poetically in my pockets, on a wonderful and tearful trip two weeks after the album’s release. Swift always sings so sufficiently (and specifically), we forget it’s not one of her strengths. But here she puts her fragile, ethereal falsetto to marvelous use, with Antonoff projecting it through at least two panes of frosted glass. Much has been made of Lana Del Rey’s ghostly cameo, buried if not inaudible; I respect the choice without understanding it. Del Rey is a specialist at surreal, threatening auras, and thus allows Swift to get a little sentimental (and get away with “now I’m all for you like Janet” – type that lyric into your phone and you’ll get an eyeroll emoji) without the sugar-sweetness getting sickly. Judge her, Del Rey whispers as she lurks, and I’ll bite you through a key vein. And it’s not like Swift is a cream puff here – “life is emotionally abusive” is an acid coup of a couplet.

Swift’s track 5s traditionally receive special attention. It’s not an ironclad rule, but they’re often loci for uniquely vulnerable emotional expression. No one who knows her needs to be told about “All Too Well”, and you could end up dead if you get caught on the wrong side of “All You Had to Do Was Stay”’s lyric. “My Tears Ricochet”, “Delicate” – searing statements from quiet places. “You’re On Your Own, Kid” is one of the sweetest and saddest of these. As throughout Midnights, Swift allows herself an unusually probing glimpse at her own insecurity (“I searched the party of better bodies/just to learn that my dreams aren't rare”), but cushions her catharsis with intentionally indirect imagery. The muted beats and single-string guitar(!) remain restrained throughout, so when it breaks out into the smallest instrumental elaborations after the choruses, it feels seismic and majestic. And its hook won’t let me pass with dry eyes. “You always have been” is the title’s other half. But yeah, she lets you know as she steps back out: “you can face this”.

I’m addicted to the disarming opening sample of “Midnight Rain”, Swift’s voice with its pitch brought down about the same distance as the leap up between “night” and “rain”. (Others I know find this hook upsetting.) The song lets itself drag along a late-night suburban street, shimmering in the wake of a drizzle and through nostalgia’s lavender haze. The song strikes a bittersweet balance, a doleful and so-pretty look back at a broken hometown romance, untroubled by obligatory regret. So many small-pond love stories promise a forever that will affix you somewhere for good, and trading your chance to freely explore the world outside could disconnect you from your most burning desires. The line the vocal treads this time is between morose articulation and unmistakable internal contentment. There’s no pain in her recollection – she had to move on, and that feels realer than usual.

Appropriately nestled between the album proper’s first and last halves is its murkiest and most confused track, the aptly titled “Question”. If the sonic profile wasn’t already so welcomely pacifying, the song’s lack of definition might drag its music too far into the ether to make out its contours, much less sink your fingers into it. In a way it feels like a depository for all the unsettled sentiments Swift couldn’t fit into the other songs. But it’s also a necessary breather – an easygoing break in the middle of a healing experience that’s neither leisurely nor hasty. And as it happens, song #7 made its chart debut at #7 – so perhaps somewhere in its scattered plaints and discursion about “politics and gender roles and you’re not sure and I don’t know” are the answers some listeners are looking for.

The song that blends in least is the least good. Signaling its ominousness with a switch to a minor key, the beats and keyboards meeting each other halfway in a muffled percussive blend, “Vigilante Shit” is a wronged-woman revenge fantasy along the lines of the more artful “No Body No Crime” and the far kitschier “I Did Something Bad”. Rather than laying out a careful narrative like the former, it suggests a more complicated situation through errant details (“she had the envelope/where you think she got it from?”) – we know he’s in finance, or elite enough to merit schadenfreude, but Swift means for you to inhabit the feeling rather than the situation. If you came up with “draw the cat eye, sharp enough to kill a man”, you’d have to finish the rest, and you couldn’t be blamed for not living up to your opening line.

That lengthy mellow stretch pristinely sets up one of the LP’s richest, most ebullient tracks. Festooned with a fun surfeit of glittering little touches, “Bejeweled” could be the most unambiguously positive song on the entire record. “Lavender Haze” locates its triumph in the righteous flip of a finger, and in a way so does this. In its least generous interpretation, this is an anthem for people who get off a little on strategically dangling the prospect of infidelity in front of a lover who may be doing no worse than being neglectful (“when I meet the band/they ask, ‘do you have a man?’/I can still say, ‘I don’t remember’”). But the victory here isn’t laced with sarcasm; it’s still icily playful, but at heart it’s sweet and necessary, especially in the aftermath of a pandemic whose madness, if not virus, no one was immune to. The song captures the thrill of unearthing yourself from ancient layers of trauma, and loving what you discover.

What is that noise at the start of “Labyrinth” (not the tremelo organ or the heartbeat beat)? It sounds like a voice, but also like one of those toy cows you turn over (Google informs me that these are called “moo boxes”, and now I’m terrified none of you have any idea at all what I’m talking about) – coupled with what sounds like a ping-pong ball slingshot against a thigh. It’s deeply unnatural, and not precisely musical either. But it’s also ideal, because it’s important to Swift that “Labyrinth” convey both an unnerving sense of mystery and the tranquil euphoria of new love: “uh-oh, I’m falling in love again.” Her voice is so fragile at the top of her range, which she’s never pushed higher on record before. But the sheer emotional intensity of the choice beats any of the tricks she favors in her midrange. The most scarcely discussed interesting thing about Swift is that she’s been deeply and mutually in love for six years. But a song like this makes you wonder if she spent all those years unpacking love’s travails because of some innate discomfort with the idea of good love.

“Karma” carries forth “Bejeweled”’s momentum at just the right moment, clipping along at Midnights’ version of a fast tempo, which is a light and steady march. For a person who makes fairly selective public statements, Swift truly doesn’t seem to realize she doesn’t need to subtweet the media (or her business enemies or Kanye) on every album. Here the closest thing to a tell is “my pennies made your crown” (I first heard “panties”, which was confusing), so it’s presumed to be about whoever made her mad enough to rerecord all her albums. But it’s loose enough to function as “Bejeweled” with an enemy. “Karma is a cat, purring in my lap ‘cause it loves me” may be the greatest-ever example of her strange gift for lines that are simultaneously stupid and genius. And when she gives in to that exultant “ask me why so many fade/when I’m still here”, the subjectivity of her self-celebration is so clear – this is that millionaire pop star – yet so honest and so earned, you feel like crying on her unfazeable behalf.

And then another swift switch back to quiet. “Sweet Nothings” really is this album’s secret weapon, and not only did Joe Alwyn cowrite it, it’s as explicitly a song about their relationship as we’ve ever heard from her. “I spy with my little tired eye/tiny as a firefly/a pebble that we picked up last July” may be as cute and curated a detail as she’s ever come up with, but with this song you have no doubt that these things actually happened. Its slight childishness is flawlessly outweighed by something slyer later: “on the way home/I wrote a poem/you say, ‘what a mind’/this happens all the time”. And the spare electric piano counterpart is perfect, and those later “ooh”s and  brassy echoed swells as the song builds a fucking master class in minimalist production. I owe you, dear reader, a pinpoint of a line that always makes my tears flow:

industry disruptors and soul deconstructors and smooth-talking hucksters out gladhanding each other and the voices that implore, “you should be doing more” to you I can admit, that I’m just too soft for all of it

I know you couldn’t hear how I just exhaled but I’m really hoping you could feel it.

“Mastermind” sneaks up on you, true to its word. This fascinating song, an ironic confession over a galloping burble of synths, is potentially this artist’s most direct confrontation with the question so often imposed on her – the question of how much of her artwork and art life is calculation, and how much of that is our problem. Even at its most vulnerable –

no one wanted to play with me as a little kid so I’ve been scheming like a criminal ever since to make them love me and make it seem effortless this is the first time I’ve felt the need to confess

– it feels a little ruthless. But its ruthlessness is played as a joke, albeit one capable of containing cruelty. It’s a parody of her own alleged Machiavellianism that both asserts her power and unravels its myth, in that masterful way she does sometimes. Imagine pondering the dualities of your life in your own head if you had this woman’s life: absolutely nobody believes you’re the best one for the job of interviewing Martin McDonagh, but there you are in that chair. “Mastermind” works as a fun, semi-serious self-pep talk, like “Bejeweled”, like “Karma”. But absorb it as a love song, and let yourself wonder which side of united these lovers are on, and it takes on an ache that can really rip your heart out if it catches you off guard.

And Swift has never, ever been too bad at catching us off guard.

–

For instance. Three hours after its social debut, Midnights was a double album, with a clean 20 songs, a perfect length for living and brooding in for an hour (like Tusk, which is also a soothing yet cathartic space for working out weird heartache). In certain ways, these songs are set apart in more than just their delayed delivery. Much was made of those lowercase albums’ – which were also delightful surprises – mostly deft exploration of other personas. The “3am edition” songs throw light on how much of Midnights feels like a single persona – Swift herself. Only the one where she’s on her vigilante shit abandons this choice, and it’s just cosplay anyway. She relaxes a bit on these bonus tracks, and creative writing is one of her eccentric versions of relaxing.

She’s also often chided by her zealously devoted fans for leaving good songs off Albums Proper, and while some of the 3am songs are superior to their elders, generally their excision feels considered. A few of them are conceivable violations to the main show’s overall feel – and feel is what that show is all about. The tracks with Aaron Dessner bear dinstinctly un-Antonoff but definitely folkloric traces of the National, a band whose organic content meets the cottagecore standard. “The Great War” is sedate and ambitious, revealing itself at a slow but gripping rate each listen. “Hi Infidelity” (as in “hello,”) grounds its own flippancy in solemn piano chords, calling to mind 2020 songs like “Champagne Problems”, where the high drama feels adult and a little patrician. And the soft assassination (of John Mayer) “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve” tempers its perfectly scathing pointed moments with self-reflection, honest confusion, and even flashes of serenity, in a roiling keyboard sea.

Other songs could’ve passed unnoticed on the main record. “Glitch”, like “Labyrinth” is another total surrender of energy. But rather than letting love scare it into bewilderment, the song luxuriates in the bafflement of never wanting to end things. It’s her subtlest and fondest joke about her public persona on the record, if not a real contender against “Sweet Nothings” in the songs-about-Joe category. “Paris” sports the champagne effervescence of her reveries about the rich and infamous, your “Starlight”s and “Long Live”s. And “Dear Reader”, a furnished alone-at-the-piano-after-the-show song a la “New Year’s Day”, resists simple interpretation, but it does feel like a fitting end to the whole affair. If we take that this album is her most direct and least curated, its self-referential warning is as acute as ever: listen, public and media, it’s better for both of us if we all stop puzzling so much over me.

But who knows. Maybe she’ll find it feels better – more relaxing – to leave those walls down for good. You’re tasked with a lot more self-defense when you’re the world’s biggest girl next door, and putting it all out there is less advisable than usual. But the truth has that troublesome habit of setting you free.

I told you about my dead friend but I didn’t tell you about my divorce. Two decades ago I met both that treasured friend – sweet yet thorny, effortlessly gifted in ways I wasn’t, the same distance from the rest of the world as me – and an equally treasured girl, a fetching, covertly brilliant little redhead in thick glasses with an irresistible fashion sense lodged nonchalantly between skate-punk and Winnie the Pooh. Her own aesthetic was hardly confused – I’d never met anyone with a sharper eye, or who got angrier when beauty or order were violated in art or life. But she was arrestingly shy; something brittle yet so sweet inside her drew me away from my usual impulse to chaos and defensive irreverence. My enthusiasm for verbal communication was challenged by her skepticism toward it, but we made it work – at least at first. After all those terrified, clumsy or simply nonexistent first tries, I finally felt the enlightening embrace of young love, where daring to hold someone’s hand leads to a dazzling florescence of heart-to-heart dialogue. This was what life was about.

I loved that boy and that girl so immoderately because they enchanted me more than most people. At sixteen I felt the luminous ideals of platonic and romantic love protecting me from a world I’d in no way begun to experience, much less understand. It was the sort of real-life fantasy where the glow off the pavement after it rains makes you want to burst into impromptu dance, or run home and write a song. But waking dreams are all too easy to dispel, and how can you know at sixteen that you stand to lose the good things that feel so irrevocably woven into your world? Her part of my book is its least open, only fair for someone whose lips no ship ever had to worry about. But without giving you a play-by-play, suffice it to say that I spoiled our easy fantasy with a self-protective dishonesty rooted in my insecurity. By the time I was 21, I’d learned all too well the wanton recklessness of which I was capable, and its terrible price – among other valuables, I’d lost both the boy and the girl.

But the girl had stuck around. And those subsequent years were marked by the agony of trying to love someone through the walls you’ve built, and the moss that grows as they endure, no cracks or tunnels or punched-out bricks. You lose years learning that some damage is irreversible, and that there’s no balancing out a scar in the bigger picture. If you’re lucky, you reach the inconvenient epiphany that loving someone for years is the only way to learn how in the first place. We shared no completely comfortable communicative space, the ghosts of those unheld conversations haunting our friendliest and most intimate moments. We moved away and back, we took trips and ate out, we drank, we fought, we wasted time. We hid from our memories and took our best new ones for granted. We got married, and all records of the ceremony attest to it as one of the most gorgeous. I know we felt the blissful sum of our love, in the clearest, hardest nonverbal beam we’d ever aimed at each other, together there at our proverbial altar. We spent the next five years exploring new worlds of misery and mutual destruction, before a haphazard separation, and a divorce that had all the grace and ease of holding a beloved old dog underwater until it stops moving.

The trouble with trying to commit to a love for whose damage you yourself are responsible is that your own needs survive blazing and unattended in the background. But while I felt starved for a certain kind of free-flowing companionship, I had songs to speak my truth, to talk about it with in a process that felt so much more productive – and by which I felt so much more seen – than actual therapy. The effects of a brilliant chorus are immediate, the side effects no harsher than a healing bout of tears, and the risk of addiction can never be mortal. In the ballad of my long first love, Taylor Swift comes along at gratifyingly regular intervals to help me stagger back up and refill my soul. But the black cloud left little untouched, and in addition to our deepest, most obvious issues, I felt troubled by my ex-wife’s hatred for Taylor Swift – an almost unaccountable disgust for someone whose effect on me felt genuinely restorative.

When Midnights’ release and my friend’s death roughly coincided, they inevitably triggered a desire to find potential connections. “Bigger Than the Whole Sky”, a gossamer, almost wrenchingly beautiful lament for a ”you” who seems irretrievably gone, had a mournfulness to its resignation that some online connected to women who’ve miscarried. Its softly strengthening “goodbye, goodbye, goodbye” clearly keys it to loss. And though “you were bigger than the whole sky” is an alluringly curious way to bid a loved one your farewell, it’s not a bad way to describe how I felt about my friend.

no words appear before me in the aftermath salt streams out my eyes and into my ears every single thing I touch becomes sick with sadness ‘cause it’s all over now, all out to sea

goodbye, goodbye, goodbye you were bigger than the whole sky you were more than just a short time

and I’ve got a lot to pine about I’ve got a lot to figure out I’m never gonna meet what could’ve been, would’ve been, what should’ve been you

Swift uses those contractions as a hook just a few songs later, throwing light on how important their specific placement is (the “should’ve” is always the one to land on). Like “All Too Well”, “Would’ve Could’ve Should’ve” could’ve stood editing, though not stanzas’ worth. But its messiness bolsters its sentiments, not all of which agree with one another. “If I was some paint did it splatter/on a promising grown man?/and if it was a child, did it matter/if you got to wash your hands?” Swift is really quite fair in this song, giving credit to the placid spaces in the dramatic whirlwind of ambiguity any relationship between legal adults is apt to invite. “All I used to do was pray… I would’ve stayed on my knees/and I damn sure never would’ve danced with the devil/at nineteen”. Yet she nails her points about power dynamics with a force that’s invigorating and sad at once, the chilly victory of a victim casually pinning their aggressor down in small, vicious strokes. “Give me back my girlhood – it was mine first.”

Anyway, all I was ever gonna get from “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve” (I thought) was a quick flash of tabloid curiosity or guilt, and because it’s not as melodically assertive as most of the other songs, I was initially glad it wasn’t on the album proper. Most of the 3am songs took longer to reach me, and my perception that they were genuinely weaker probably dulled me to the impact of something as powerful as “Bigger Than the Whole Sky”. But I admit difficulty crying over my friend in the wake of his passing. At first I felt a shock muffled by something like inconvenience – like a prank you’re irritated with before it’s finished happening to you. Then something so overwhelming all you can do is be quiet. Words and sense desert you, but the rest of the world is exactly the same. We lived apart, so although he was my favorite voice on the phone for hours each weekend, I never saw him. He was in the world, and then he wasn’t.

Then, months later, hovering around midnight, there came an errant email from my former beloved. From her, the occasional poison dart by carrier pigeon is only fair, though my relationship with my own boundaries is still under construction (& more or less on schedule). But the text of the message was the most unexpected possible. It wasn’t even ____’s words – it was her old archnemesis Taylor Swift’s.

My ex had singled out “Bigger Than the Whole Sky”, “Would’ve, Could’ve Should’ve”, and “Mastermind”, presenting each lyric without comment. The sympathetic, wounded plaint; the unforgiving, unwelcome indictment; and a stab at self-empowerment that, however ironically desperate, had the same effect on me as Swift describes in the song (“I laid the groundwork and then saw a wide smirk…”). It’s so bizarre what stays with you and what gradually deserts you when you’ve loved somebody so long you’ve left permanent marks on each other. I respect her intentions and do not invite you to speculate – you don’t have enough information – but I concede that in some way, my receipt of these lyrics in this fashion had a manipulative, unhelpful quality. Particularly because they’ve stuck with me ever since. Now these three songs hit in that sometimes uncomfortably bittersweet way Swift’s most potent material can get you. But my strong and broken wife also brought me into them. Now I can't listen to “Mastermind” without smiling and shaking my head (and feeling a pang of sorrow), and I feel edified about “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve”, more attuned to how complexly and vulnerably Swift had captured her complicated but undeniably valid victimhood. And “Bigger Than the Whole Sky” – well. Now that song breaks me in fucking half.

Did some bird flap its wings over in Asia? Did some force take you because I didn’t pray? Every single thing to come has turned to ashes ‘Cause it’s all over – it’s not meant to be So I’ll say words I don’t believe…

You grieve relationships just as you grieve people – just as you grieve lives you’ve lost the chance to live. It’s so difficult when fate tears brutally through the pictures you took so long to paint of how you wanted your life to look. When you've built cities together in a private space your parting promises to pitilessly erase. But everyone has a world to share to whatever extent you’re drawn into it, and life’s change is its gift, not just for how it keeps us interested but how it challenges us to adapt. We’re never doing it entirely alone – sometimes you can press a button and hear Taylor Swift, feeling so deeply (and describing it so acutely) she can’t help but reel you in and gut you. I don’t know what will become of the girl I once saw as an endgame. But she has songs to speak her truth – and if she’s letting a few Taylor Swift songs into the mix, I know she’ll be healed someday too.

[indeliictus]

listen

angelica’s wish for methuselah like herself to be viewed as actual people worthy of personhood by terrans while simultaneously being afraid of terrans but wanting to express kindness to them because she is a nice girl and bc she knows how she acts impacts how they view not just her but all methuselah in general is super important.

also albion’s treatment of the methuselah -- not allowing them to live above ground or go outside of the ghetto (except in certain circumstances) and expecting them to create and develop the technology that makes the albion government a major player in the world as well as ridiculously powerful -- is essentially a form of indentured servitude/sl*very and the fact that the queen of albion (as a person and a position) is really the only thing that stands between albion’s methuselah and those wanting to annihilate them is disgusting and heartbreaking yet its such an important part of the narrative in order to contrast with the societal setup of the new human empire. 

IN THIS ESSAY I WILL--

[amysterygirlwithabigheart]

✨Kaitlyn Moments✨

These are some of my favourite moments of my favourite dork, Kaitlyn. She is 100% my type, personally. We both love horror movies and spooky stuff. She resonates with me and I connect with her so much. She's definitely one of my favourite love interests! Such a shame I can't see her adventure with MC outside The Freshmen series. We can only use our imagination for that.

Anyway, I made playlists about Kaitlyn and MC. It's pretty cool, if you wanna listen to it.

for kaitlyn

This playlist is about how MC falls for Kaitlyn. From the first moment they met, I think it's only fitting if MC has so many Taylor Swift's songs in her playlist. I gave MC the name Taylor because personally I love TS so much! MC is also a writer and I think she draws a lot of her emo and sentimental inspiration from TS. TS is a brilliant songwriter and she includes a lot of literary references in her two latest albums, folklore and evermore. Since MC is a writer herself, I figure she's into poetry, like the works from Dickinson and familiarised herself with other famous literary figures. Personally, I think TS captures that. So basically, in my head, MC is a huge Swifties. This is a "love letter" from MC to Kaitlyn.

for taylor (MC)

I love making this playlist a lot. I am not a huge punk rock music fan but exploring new music is very cathartic especially when it's rock. Growing up with Avril Lavigne kind of gave me insights of how "punk rock" music is even though Avril herself doesn't categoriezed herself within the punk rock genre. I listened to Green Day, Avenged Sevenfold, Paramore and My Chemical Romance too. It's kind of hard making this playlist because Kaitlyn and I have such different music taste. I also added some Fletcher from her newest album, my favourite has to be "Her Body is Bible". There's one line that connects this playlist with the other playlist, "saw the light at 4am we're dancing in the dark, I like your T-Swift t-shirt on the ground." In my head, Kaitlyn knows MC loves TS and they share the same name. It's cheesy, believe me, I know lmao. It is what it is and it has been fun making this playlist for sure!

[rainhadaenerys]

Daenerys, Valyrian and Dothraki in the show

I’ve watched some videos of David Peterson explaining how he created the languages for the show, and he sometimes explained some pretty interesting things about Dany and about these languages, so I thought I would share some of them.

1) In the scene where Daenerys reveals to Kraznys that she speaks Valyrian, the only direction David Peterson was given was to translate to Valyrian the sentence “a dragon is not a slave”. But he decided to add something extra to the translation he did. The version of Valyrian that Kraznys speaks is Astapori Valyrian, one of the forms of Low Valyrian, and it’s not the same as High Valyrian. So what Daenerys does in that scene, when she tells Kraznys that a dragon is not a slave in High Valyrian, is that she takes the Astapori Valyrian word for “slave” (buzdari), and puts it in place of the High Valyrian word (dohaeriros). She does this in order to make it absolutely clear to him that she understands his language, not just Valyrian in general, but his version of Valyrian. So the sentence ended up being this one:

Zaldrīzes buzdari iksos daor.

I just really love that he added this detail. For all that show!Dany was dumbed down in comparison to her book counterpart, she still has brilliant moments like this.

Another interesting thing about the same scene is that Emilia Clarke actually ended up mispronouncing one word, the word “iksos”, so instead of saying “zaldrīzes buzdari iksos daor”, she ends up saying “zaldrīzes buzdari iskos daor”. But this ended up being a fortunate mistake. Astapori Valyrian is a language that is descended from High Valyrian. And every time there was a "ks" sequence, or a "ps" sequence, or a "ts" sequence in the original High Valyrian, Astapori Valyrian switched these letters. So in Astapori Valyrian, the word iksos would indeed be iskos. So what ended up happening is that Daenerys is, in the scene, indeed speaking Astapori Valyrian correctly, and showing to Kraznys that she speaks his language (specifically the dialect that he speaks).

2) In the scene where Dany and Drogo are speaking Dothraki and discussing the Iron Throne, Dany is trying to search for a word for throne (that doesn’t exist), so she just uses the common tongue (English) word, “throne”. Drogo then tries to repeat it, but ends up saying "trone" instead of "throne". Which is interesting because the Dothraki language does have the “th” sound, and they even have an “r” coming after the “th”, like in the word “dothraki”. However, this is because the “th” was in the initial position, and you can’t have a word that begins with “thr” in Dothraki, which is why he ends up pronouncing "trone" instead of "throne".

3) The Office created some Dothraki words and David Peterson just incorporated them to Dothraki because they did it correctly.

4) In this other video, in which he explains the process of creating a language, when he is explaining derivation, he explains how he came up with the word "Jelmāzmo" (the Valyrian equivalent to Stormborn). It’s a derivation of the word "jelmio" (wind). From "jelmio", you get "jelmāzma", meaning big wind (which would be the equivalent to storm). From this, we get to "Jelmāzmo" (meaning "of the storm"), so "Daenerys Jelmāzmo" is Daenerys Stormborn, or, more precisely, "Daenerys of the Storm".

5) Unlike what the show said in the first episode, Dothraki actually had a word for thank you. What it didn’t have was a word for please. But then the show writers wrote (incorrectly) that Dothraki didn't have a word for thank you, and David Peterson had to erase that word from Dothraki vocabulary.

6) He used the books to figure out the word structure of Dothraki, and to figure out how the grammar should be constructed in order to keep what’s in the books making sense. He analyzes the Dothraki of the books, and talks about how what GRRM wrote actually made sense from a grammar perspective. In Dothraki, adjectives come after verbs. It’s a subject verb object language. There’s verb conjugations and suffixes. There’s derivation. And this can all be concluded just from analyzing the books.

[theimprobabledreamersworld]

Ahh this is so good!! 😄 You wrote it so well, I love this!! 😊🌟

Don’t Cry Over Spilled Coffee

Inspired by this post from @theimprobabledreamersworld

Words: ~430

Warnings: Reckless behavior

__ “Hey Virgil.” Patton said, turning to his best friend with a slight mischievous glint in his eyes. They had been lounging on the couch, lazing about since it was Saturday and their schedule was free for once.

Keep reading

[badedramay]

hi mais! i started watching imlie again because of arylie but i'm so nervous they won't be endgame despite a lot of hints they are going to be. what do you think is the biggest thing that points to them being endgame? i need something to settle my scares lol

akjdawheakdjhaweASDLKJAEAW how can you see them and NOT see they are endgame???? no I am genuinely curious why do you think they are not endgame? if not them..WHO????? WHOOOOOOOOOO??? NALLA???? LMAO. PLS. ACHA JOKE HAI YEH. is this a prank ask? is that what it is? are you pulling my leg????

why do you even want to go in deeper than the fact just how much focus has shifted on Aryan and Imlie both as a characters and as a relationship over the past two months? or the fact that the show's writer and director BOTH actively promote only this pairing? like bruh the amount of time Atif Khan spent on twitter engaging with the fandom just last week only was more than what he has done in the past few months of the show. and we all know last week was entirely all AryLie.

but if you want more canonical hints then just look at how the show has presented Aryan and the Rathores as the best option for Imlie. or how ever Aryan's very entry itself was foreshadowed as being a person for Imlie who was meant to give her the happiness, security, and respect that the Tripathis and specially Aditya couldn't give her. ITV's favorite trope of the divine blessings is on AryLie's side since day1. the visual and dialogues cue repeatedly hint at Aryan being Imlie's destination...the truth that she seeks...the love she has lost trust in...Aryan's the true embodiment of it.

it's pretty much obvious at this point that the show's audience is done™ with Imlie fighting for the Ts or hanging on to BS. TRPs of the episodes where Imlie chose to break ties with Aryan in support of the Ts actually fell. now, I am no contributor to the ratings but I personally had skipped those episodes. I am not here for that. and guess the "TRP Aunties" aren't either. been crazily following the wedding track though because it is focused on a relationship and a character that I really care about.

Listen. I get the fear. ITV is unpredictable af. but goodness gracious fearing Arylie is not "endgame" is just...pointless. if the fear is stemmed from the fact how Adilie were the original endgame and look what happened to them then here's the thing - adilie started from the wrong foot itself. she was too young, he was too old + in a 7 year long stable relationship. then it turned into a bigamy saga and then into a two sisters fighting for one man and ultimately it all became about a young girl fighting the evil eyes that dared to settle on her family. as a show, it worked. as a love story, it didn't.

the post-310 Imlie is essentially a love story. the show technically went for a soft reboot with Aryan's entry as it started to incorporate the tropes the PH is more commonly known for. which attracted new viewers to the show and who now make the major chunk of its viewership (online at least). audience that is here for Imlie's journey. her growth. her getting the love she deserves. ITV is leaning towards FLs getting a fresh new start after suffering through a miserable phase of their lives. look at how Anupamaa sky rocketed to the 4+ TRP when Anuj was being established as Anupamaa's deserved end game. and let's not forget that despite Imlie's one year long relationship with Aditya..she is still the pure, virginal, inexperienced FL that the typical ITV audience sitting at home gravitate towards. all of Imlie's experiences with Aryan will mostly be her firsts. which keeps the novelty factor intact for the audience and gets them to hooked to this leg of her journey.

Gul Khan learned from the previous blunders and did a brilliant, brilliant job of phasing out Aditya from Imlie's life before getting Aryan in it. the current Aditya poses no threat to the AryLie story. he's just a convenient conflict for them that will be used as per need and not have any lasting impact. yeah..had Gashmeer stayed on as Aditya than it would be a completely different tale. however, the replacement of the actor and not the ending of the character means the audience will told only that information about Imlie's relationship with Aditya that will actually impact the Arylie relationship. Tell. Not show. because there is nothing TO show. they cannot give flashbacks of Imlie's major moments with Aditya that would cause the audience to be confused about just who is the better option for Imlie to choose because the faces have changed. so when the audience is only giving audience verbal information about one old relationship and then shown VISUAL progress of the current relationship...you see how it works in establishing where the show is going in terms of endgame?

Imlie has no future in the T household. Aditya is still married to Malini. Malini is still pregnant with Aditya's child. aur dekho bhayee...a regular ITV viewer does not have the energy or frankly interest in the fact if the show is sticking to the canon it has set up. that's for the online audience to do. which is why the canon changes as per the track's need. whatever brings in the maximum impact, ya know? so yeah..if initially all the foreshadowing and all of the Sita Maiyaa's ashirwaads were in favor of Adilie..that's a thing of the past. present mein dekho kya chal raha hai. aur present ka undeniable truth yehi hai ke be it onscreen or offscreen..the show is only pushing Arylie as the central relationship around which the show's universe revolves. that's it. take it or leave it. worrying about the validity of it is not even an option to consider.

[hldailyupdate]

When Harry Met Phoebe: The Story Behind The Treat People With Kindness Music Video

For Harry Styles and Phoebe Waller-Bridge fans, the new year couldn’t have started in a better fashion. Literally. On New Year’s Day, the world was gifted the Treat People With Kindness music video - which saw Phoebe and Harry dancing around the Troxy theatre in east London, dressed in show-stopping matching Gucci suits and argyle sweater vests. ‘You have no idea how heavy that jacket was!’ director Ben Turner tells Grazia. ‘It was like a suit of armour with all those crystals on it.’

The black-and-white video - which was filmed a few months before the first lockdown last year - was directed by brothers Ben and Gabe Turner of Fulwell73 Productions, who have worked with Harry since his days in One Direction, directing everything from perfume and car commercials to the videos for Drag Me Down and Steal My Girl. The pair were also behind the joyous video to previous Fine Line single Golden, where Harry ran around Italy's Amalfi Coast.

For many, the big TPWK questions are: how on Earth did the collaboration between Harry and Phoebe happen? And why were they dancing? Well, the answer is quite simple. Gabe and Harry had been watching videos of iconic old Hollywood dancers like ‘the Nicholas brothers, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers’, but it was only after they both went to see Fleabag during its London West End run that the idea of Harry and Phoebe dancing together clicked into place.

‘One day, we were just talking about the videos we were watching. We thought the dance videos were really cool, so I said to Harry, "Well, what about you and Phoebe dancing together?"’ Gabe tells us. ‘And because we'd just been to the Fleabag show, he was like, "Yeah, absolutely."’ The rest is history. Harry then called the Fleabag actress, along with his choreographer Paul Roberts - and the pair were both keen to get involved. The directors say the process was very quick, and the shoot happened within one day.

Their working relationship was apparently ‘fantastic’, too. ‘The atmosphere on screen reflects the dynamic - it was just really good fun,’ Ben says. Gabe adds that he thinks Harry and Phoebe both had a mutual respect for each other. ‘From what I know, and I haven't really talked to either of them about it, I think they were both big fans of each other,’ he says. ‘I don't know how much Fleabag Harry had consumed prior to the day we went to see her, but I know that we both thought she was majestic.’

The song is all about kindness - and it seems Phoebe couldn’t have been a better fit with Harry’s ethos, as Gabe tells us the writer bought cake for those who worked on the video. ‘You know, you're not going to find two people in the industry as kind, thoughtful and welcoming as Harry and Phoebe,’ he says. ‘A lot of the time, as directors, you get a very privileged view of people - but you can see the people who really care about everyone. From Phoebe, buying cupcakes for the entire production crew, to Harry… On every single shoot I've ever been on, Harry has made every person, from the runners upwards, feel 10 foot tall and a part of the process.’

This obviously reflected well on the atmosphere on set. In fact, both directors, who usually don’t bring their children to work, decided to take their kids (at the time, all under the age of five) on set. ‘Everyone there felt like they were involved in something really special, and felt really privileged to be there - including Harry and Phoebe,’ Gabe adds.

As Harry has found a more ‘authentic voice’ since his time in One Direction, the process of working with the star has changed quite a bit. But the directors couldn’t be more positive about the boyband and it’s breakout star. ‘We started with Harry back in One Direction days,’ Ben says, ‘so that creative process has blossomed since then.’

‘Harry is on this great vein of form, and to be able to support that is great,’ Ben continues. ‘He's got brilliant tastes, and a sensibility that clearly not many people have. And so helping to [grow] that talent is phenomenal. As directors you tend to take a lot of credit for the creative direction, but a lot of your job is helping [the people you work with] be as brilliant as they can be. And when you're starting from that level, with him and Phoebe? It's gratifying.’

(7 January 2021)

[lostmykeysie]

Hey I just finished The Horcrux Hunt and just wanted to let you know how much I loved it! I think you’re a brilliant writer, I especially thought you made the dynamic and dialogue between Remus and regulus so fun, I swear this is my Achilles heel, I of course enjoy a good plot but am such a sucker for clever banter, so thank you so so much for sharing your work with us! Also props for fitting in so many Taylor swift lyrics haha xx

hello my love x o x o

this is the nicest thing you've ever said to me i do not deserve such kind words i am rolling around on my mattress on the floor giggling and blushing and covering my face with my hands. i am an ugly smiler. such an ugly smiler i have one of those mouths that don't really turn up at the edges no matter how hard you try. flat mouth. straight line mouth. i'm losing the point here but the point is i am an ugly smiler (truly) and i am ugly smiling (because of you)

my mission for the sequel is to slip in a taylor lyric BUT NOT AN OBVIOUS ONE and just not say anything and wait for the swifties. like a swiftie easter egg hunt. this is now my highest priority. over plot and characterisation it's about the ts easter eggs

genuinely though. i am ugly smiling xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[tee-aitch-official]

Fic Rec Time with Tee Aitch

Two days in a row? Whew.

So this fic came to me via email notif because I am apparently already subscribed to this wonderful, wonderful writer (who I cannot tag here, shame).

It's long! And it's good! Lemme tell you why you should definitely check it out and give the author some love.

It's a long fic. Longer fics are more difficult to write because it's hard to be consistent in your writing (duh). This is consistent!

There's adventure. A somewhat silly premise that you'll enjoy very much

It features a very rude and bitey character who you'll adore with your soul.

It's sexy! The UST 😍

It's sweet! Geralt is so sweet, omg. And it's not out of character. The fic builds this up. And the button, omg. Beware of the button, it will overload your heart.

On a serious note, the acceptance and tolerance and kindness contained in the fic is so brilliant. We stan bards who accept oddities in witchers and aren't ageist in the slightest. We stan witchers who are friends with prostitutes. We stan respectful characters

Overall this is an excellent piece of writing. Very fluff-forward and thus excellent for when you're feeling blue or when angst is above your mental capacities. This is a perfect witcher romantic comedy and I applaud the author.

The story deserves much more attention than it's getting - go check it out!