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shieldofiron · 5 months

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Pretty Boy Live in Santa Fe, 1977

Part 1/3 Also on Ao3 here

For @harringrove-relay-race. Very happy with how part 1 turned out, and there will be more to come. Thanks to @foxxtastic for the intro and next up will be something stunning from our fearless Relay Race leader @half-oz-eddie

Rated M / 5k words / Part 1/3

Part 1: Into Hades

Rolling Stone Magazine - May 2002

Billy Hargrove arrived after I did, in his lovingly maintained blue Camaro, the subject of his song, “Lady Blue.” “Lady Blue” was recently named #93 on Rolling Stone’s Top Love Songs of the Century.

“I wrote, ‘She’s the wind in my hair, the rumble in my soul.’ I thought it was so obvious,” He laughed, his blue eyes still boyish. “My niece made it her wedding song, I said ‘Really? It’s about a fuckin’ car!’”

He showed me several pictures of his niece, the supermodel Tyler Sinclair. It seems good looks run in the family. He suggested the diner and he ordered waffles, winking when I mentioned that we’ll be here a long time.

The decades have been kind to him, maybe a few more lines. It’s not hard to imagine him stepping right back onto the stage, as if no time has passed at all.

“A little extra glitter on the eyes,” He said with a smile, “to hide my crows feet. That’s all I need.”

I ask what he’s going to wear to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony for Kaleidoscope's induction and his smile dims only for a moment.

“I think I should pull out some old costumes. You know, the butterfly still fits.”

He was referring, of course, to the sheer butterfly cape costume that nearly had him thrown off the stage in Houston Texas in December 1976. He caved to putting on a pair of silvery shorts rather than the nude underwear it was designed with. He later wore it with the nude underwear on the inside cover of Kaleidoscope, the album that will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in just a few short weeks. Kaleidoscope was his last album with the iconic Glam Rock band Pretty Boy, which famously broke up at the height of their career while touring for the album, onstage.

It’s not often that a band is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and there’s a question if all of them will even show up.

“I’ll be there,” Hargrove said, fiddling with the silver band on his middle finger. “I have no problem with seeing him.”

The him is, of course, the lead guitarist and other lead singer of Pretty Boy, Steve Harrington.

Steve Harrington invites me to his oceanfront house in Malibu later that afternoon.

“I haven’t decided if I’m going to go,” He said thoughtfully, his brown eyes darting around the room.

When I mention that Billy is going to go, he seems surprised.

“He didn’t say he was going to punch me, did he?” Harrington smiled, but it doesn’t seem like much of a joke.

For one of the most famous rock stars of the 70s, Harrington is shockingly low key. He wears a t-shirt and slouchy linen pants, and he jokes that he ought to have shaved when I take out my camera. The house is stunning but empty, with miles of blank white walls and overstuffed white furniture.

“I’m looking for a little peace,” He shrugs, “I used to have all these pictures up, all this furniture… It was too much.”

It was hard not to see him as an artist without a muse. He drifted listlessly, picking things up and putting them down as we talked. So it was a surprise to me to hear that he’s been recording.

“I may never release it but… Yeah,” He laughed, “Music. After all this time. Bet you didn’t know.”

He picks up a rare photo from the piano. It’s from the early days of Pretty Boy, before Billy Hargrove. Harrington has his arm around his bandmate, Eddie Munson. Their drummer Chrissy Cunningham is balanced precariously across their shoulders, laughing and cringing at the same time. Bassist Robin Buckley smirks from the corner of the frame, messy bangs in her eyes.

“Who knew, right?” He asked no one, shaking the frame a little.

There are no pictures of Billy Hargrove.

“That’s a… a long story,” He said, when I asked.

But I have time. I tell him Rolling Stone will pay for it. At least that makes him laugh.

It was just by chance that Pretty Boy’s last concert was filmed.

“We were meant to just film in Vegas,” The director, Argyle Molina-Zapata, sat down with me after a private screening of Pretty Boy Live in Santa Fe, 1977, “But there was a freak rainstorm, and I couldn’t get my camera’s out of the back. The crowd was digging it, refused to leave. I remember when Billy hit the high note for ‘Mother Make Me,’ there was this lightning crack… brilliant.”

Molina-Zapata shook his head, “But the footage, what I got of it, was awful. Awful! So I begged Murray to let me come with them to Santa Fe.”

Murray was Murray Bauman, famed tour manager, who handled the Boys, later Pretty Boy from their first album Starfire, all the way to Kaleidoscope.

“And I was lucky,” Argyle nodded, “They had that extra tour bus.”

The tour busses are featured in the first few minutes of the film. They roll around the corner, one reading Billy Blue (Billy’s original stage name was Billy Blue before he dropped the Blue), and the other, Steve’s Six (Named after Steve’s best friends from his hometown.)

“They were nightmares,” Murray Bauman’s voice crackled over the phone, “Nightmares on tour. Separate buses. Separate hotels. Fuck me, I swear to god at one point they wanted separate stages. And the label caved on almost all of it. Fucking nightmare.”

It’s almost impossible to imagine it when you see them on stage together. There’s something electric that passed between Billy Hargrove and Steve Harrington, something that drove crowds wild. They gravitate towards each other on the stage, orbiting like planets until they can share the same mic. They can’t seem to stay apart.

It’s hard to see exactly what happened that night.

“I’ve watched it a million times,” Argyle laughed, “But the only two people who can really say what happened are Billy and Steve.”

What you can see is this: Steve tearing into “Pride & Prejudice”, the lead off Kaleidoscope and the last song of the night.

Billy was trembling, visibly shaking as he sang and Steve harmonized along.

What can I say, if you ask me to walk away?

Baby, there’s no words for you.

Baby. I don’t know what to do.

Billy danced closer, joining Steve, his handheld mic loose at his side.

Can you ever put away your pride?

Is it worth it to not have me at your side?

I guess it must be, because I’m yours,

Regretfully,

Baby.

Billy leans in, sharing Steve’s mic for the bridge.

Is it really a mystery?

What I mean to you, and you mean to me?

Is it really, baby?

Billy shook his head, curls bouncing. He looked into Steve's eyes. He smiled. Steve looks at Billy, and Billy looks at him. It almost looks like Billy mouths something, but bootleg footage also has appeared where it looks like Billy just nodded. Steve goes a little shell shocked, hand freezing on his guitar, falling out of sync.

And then Steve turned away and left the stage, handing his guitar to a stagehand. Billy turned to the crowd, his expression strangely triumphant. He was always magnetic on stage, but this moment transcends that. It somehow feels like he’s getting everything he wants.

So I guess I’m losing you,

You promised me you would and it’s true.

Baby, there’s no words for you.

Baby. I don’t know what to do.

Steve Harrington hasn’t performed in public since 1977.

“None of us knew what was going to happen that night,” Chrissy Cunningham curled up next to her husband, Eddie Munson, on the large white couch of their Seattle home.

They’re a handsome couple still, draped in rock and roll finery. He toyed with the edge of her scarf, and she curled his long hair around her long fingers.

“We had some of our own shit going on at the time so…” Munson shrugged, “Maybe we were distracted.”

Their living room was crowded and verdant, every spare flat surface covered in plants. Their partner, former record executive Jason Carver, puttered in the kitchen in an apron that read Plant Papa.

“Yeah,” Chrissy smiled, “We had some stuff going on at the same time. But still… It seemed like they were getting better. Didn’t it seem like they were getting better?”

Munson shrugged, “The thing about Billy and Steve… they were soulmates. You don’t write music like that and not… it was like they had a second language, just for them. They were soulmates, I really believe that. Everything they did, everything that happened… they could only hurt each other that badly if… yeah.”

When I ask what they did to each other, Eddie and Chrissy just scooted closer together, like teenagers in a slasher, hiding from the killer. She laid a hand over his leg, her two stone diamond ring catching the sunlight.

“Steve never wanted Billy to be in the band,” Eddie shook his head, “but Jim had a soft spot for Billy. And Steve had… I mean Jim was…”

“Jim was like a father. To all of us.” Chrissy’s knee jiggled.

“We were this little tiny band from Nowhere, Indiana,” Eddie nodded, “And Jim believed in us.”

“I was just a junior exec at the time. I was put on the Kaleidoscope tour in case of catastrophic failure, which by the way it was,” Jason Carver is making risotto while we speak, the steam curling the lock of hair that falls over his face. “But it wasn’t my fault although I was high as hell on coke half the time. I guess I deserved to get fired. But Jim was the real deal. Gold records out the ass, best wife in the world, and his daughter, I mean… she was something else.”

They’re referring, of course, to Jim Hopper, producer on Kaleidoscope as well as Billy Blue and The Boys’ records, and the father of pop superstar Eleven aka Jane Hopper.

“Jim was…” Steve Harrington’s eyes always got a little misty talking about Jim, staring out over the ocean. “Yeah, I guess he was a little like my dad. My own parents were always gone. Which is like… I grew up so privileged so like I’m not saying… I just mean I grew up mostly by myself. And we were just so lucky he even agreed to listen to us when we got to LA.”

“I remember that night,” Joyce Hopper’s voice was raspy, cigarette-y in the way only old movie stars are. She’s a gorgeous woman in jeans and a gardening hat, speaking to me while she tends to her garden at her home in Castellammare. “He came home and said, ‘I have the next ones, the next big ones. Fuck, Joyce, they’re brilliant. Unpolished, but brilliant.’”

When I ask about when Jim discovered Billy Hargrove she just laughed.

“If Steve and the rest of The Boys were unpolished, Billy Hargrove was a fucking ten carat diamond,” She said. “But Steve’s band was Jim’s, and he could polish them up how he wanted. And then when he thought they were just right for it… he set the diamond.”

Jim Hopper was a big man, larger than life both in appearance and in personality. His fingerprints are all over some of the best hits of the decade.

Watching him on old interviews, there’s an immediacy to his presence that leaps off the screen.

“My daughter is the one who really found him. She snuck out with her sister and wandered God knows where. And she just… found him. Called me the next morning, saying ‘Dad, you have to hear this guy.’ He was playing in this… terrible club,” Jim said, tapping his cigar on the table of Merv Griffin’s set. “Absolute shithole, pardon my french. And he’s got a great voice, you’ve heard his voice, right?”

“I have,” Merv said.

“I had to get him out of there. He was a star.”

Billy Hargrove was a teenage runaway from San Diego when he came to LA in 1971.

“I had a girl’s backpack from my stepsister, eight dollars, and an extra pair of underwear. By the end of the next week? I had two more dollars,” Billy laughed. “But I got lucky. I met Heather.”

Heather Holloway was a showgirl at Wildwoods, a nightly revue. She found Billy at the backdoor, and took him to her apartment.

“She saved me,” He frowned. “Whenever I needed her most.”

Heather Holloway, Billy Hargrove’s first and only wife, died in 1979.

“I got a job singing at Sugar, this great gay club downtown. It was in the late afternoons, so I had a crowd of about… two. But those two brought two more,” Billy smiled, “Heather would talk me up to all the promoters. He’s a singer, he’s great, you’ll love him, he’s so cute.”

“He was an instant hit,” Sugar’s manager, Bob Newby, tells me by phone as well. “I did have to keep a couple of creeps off him, when he just started he was only nineteen. But even if you closed your eyes… he was a hit.”

“Guys used to think that because I was a part of the entertainment, I was fair game. And let me tell you, the novelty of that wears off mighty quick,” Billy shakes his head.

He shares a diary entry from his late wife of a night in April 1972. He came to her home with blood all over his face.

“Some guy thought because I was a fag…” Billy’s mouth twisted, but he went on, cradling the little marble notebook in his hand. “He could do whatever he wanted to me. When I fought back… he cracked a bottle over my head.”

He’s not just a piece of meat. He’s a person. I don’t understand these people. I just don’t understand, Heather Holloway wrote. I cleaned him up and he’s sleeping now.

The next diary entry is from a day later. April 12. Billy and I drove to Vegas and got married. When we spoke in the morning he said he was afraid for me too, even though I’m careful with the girls. He’s afraid of the cops trying to bust up the Wildwoods and picking me up. At least this way, he says. He and I can come home to each other. Look out for each other. Always. The groom wore band aids and his great velvet pants. The bride wore lavender. It was perfect.

“And lucky too. Because within a month… I met Jim,” Billy smiled. “And my whole life changed.”

Upside Down Records signed Billy Blue, unagented, in1972 and he spent the next year working on his debut album with Jim Hopper.

“I didn’t even realize, when it happened,” Billy shook his head. “A couple of girls came by after a show, wanting to talk to me, wanting to meet me. That wasn’t that unusual. But they were young, far too young to get into the club. And the little one, she was asking all these weird questions. Did I have an agent? Did I know if I had enough songs for an album? Weird fuckin’ questions. And then she said I have to meet someone. To be honest, I thought she was coked out of her mind when she said, ‘You have to meet my dad.’”

“I was not,” Eleven promised me, “coked out of my mind. But that’s just Billy.”

Eleven aka Jane Hopper, meets me backstage at one of her shows. She’s dressed in slouchy leather pants, to match her sister and drummer Kali Hopper.

“I knew he was something special. My dad was always talking about the IT factor. That thing that made a person something special. But I didn’t get it until I saw Billy Blue singing on that tiny stage,” She smiled. “He didn’t just have the IT factor. He was IT.”

It’s odd then, that Billy Blue’s first album had a surprisingly tepid response. His first single, in 1973, “Let Alone,” came in at only 26th for the month of April on the pop charts.

“People liked it,” Billy shrugs, “But I don’t think they knew what to do with it. You have my songs, these like… little pop love songs and ballads. I wasn’t that strong of a writer at the time. It was like half my songs, half covers. And so they’d book me, expecting fucking… Peter Frampton. And here comes this big queer with glitter on his nipples.”

But the lyrics of “Let Alone” would hint at his later songs, a hallmark simplicity that shone off his raw voice and poetry that hinted at a troubled past.

And if you were meant to care for me

You would, and that’s how it has to be

You said I couldn’t go on without you

Ha, look at me, looking brand new

At the same time, The Boys’ song “Paper Girl,” penned by Harrington, was number one.

She’s my paper girl

Wakes me up every morning, right on time

She got me smiling, got my head in a whirl

Picture perfect, paper girl

“Billy didn’t have much commercial appeal. Sex appeal, yes,” Jason laughed, toying with Chrissy’s hair. “But for sales? That’s where The Boys came in.”

“I hated that name,” Eddie said, “To start with we were half girls.”

The Boys had already had a somewhat successful tour under their belt by the time Jim suggested a collaboration with Billy Hargrove.

“It was a nice, short tour,” Steve Harrington glances away when I ask about the first tour.

“It was a nightmare. Balls to the wall nightmare,” Robin Buckley’s voice is a warm crackle over the phone. “Steve went on like thirty overlapping benders at once.”

Her partner, soap actress Vickie Carmichael cackles behind her, at their home in Salt Lake City.

“The thing about Steve is… well… he’s never found a good way of coping with himself,” Robin huffs. “Music was about as close as he ever got. But in those early days, he just kept looking for more and more.”

“You don’t think it was about-” Vickie asked, just barely into the phone.

“No.”

“It was about Nancy,” Eddie said confidently when I mentioned their first tour. “Nancy, Nancy, Nancy.”

The Boys got their start in the late sixties, beginning with Eddie and Steve. Eddie gave Steve guitar lessons, which turned into some talent show performances. They used to practice at Eddie’s Uncle’s trailer.

“That’s where we got the name,” Eddie nodded, “My uncle used to just call us that, and it stuck.”

“I don’t even remember,” Chrissy said.

“That’s not how we got the name,” Steve shook his head, when I mention Eddie. “It was our first gig, after we got Chrissy and Robin. Robin put it down after the headliner kept asking when ‘you boys’ would go on, and kept addressing it to Chrissy’s chest. She blew him out of the fucking water.”

Nancy Wheeler was there that night, writing about local bands for a tiny column in the school paper.

“She was beautiful. Smart. So smart. Could hear her talk forever,” Steve said, eyes falling.

Steve Harrington and Nancy Wheeler were married in 1972 after they graduated high school.

“Steve made his own choices,” Chrissy shook her head.

That summer, the Boys plus one drove to LA and Nancy Wheeler took a job at Women’s Day Magazine and later, Rolling Stone. Steve Harrington and The Boys got a “steady gig” at La Bonita Rosa on the strip, playing for drunks every night from seven to eight.

“I really liked playing at La Bonita,” Steve said. “The audience, right there. You could smell the sweat. You could see on their faces if you were bombing. And we used to bomb. A lot. But it was a great place to try things. Experiment. We played there for about a year but… it felt too short.”

Within the year they had met Jim Hopper, who got them into the recording studio and sold their demo nearly on the spot to Upside Down Records.

“They had a great sound. They had got this way of playing. Smooth like a polished stone. Everything sounds good sitting in a frame like that,” Jim said in an interview with Rolling Stone in 1981. “Their songs were… catchy, but basic. But they had the sound.”

Upside Down records set the Boys on a US tour after “Paper Girl,” and “Joy to Love You,” both charted.

“It was like… overnight. One day we’re in a studio, messing around. Kid stuff. I was nineteen,” Steve Harrington shookhis head. “But…”

“That tour,” Chrissy trails off, playing with her ring again.

“I…” Steve Harrington scratched his nose. “I was losing it. Majorly losing it. It felt like we had just moved to LA and we were already neck deep. I mean, I had a number one fucking song. And for some reason I got it in my head to call my mom. She told the maid she wasn’t home. And I could hear her over the phone. My mom. So yeah. I lost it. Lost about half my damn mind on that tour. And people will say it was because of Nancy, because we got married just out of high school, and she wasn’t supportive… but that wasn’t true. Nancy saved me.”

“Nancy never wanted him to be in the band. But… she also didn’t seem to care that much either,” Eddie shook his head, “It’s… complicated. Love is supposed to be. Simple. Like the chords of a song. 1-3-5.”

Jason Carver rolled his eyes at that, “Then what are we?”

Eddie grinned, “We’re a band.”

Nancy Wheeler met me on a Thursday in New York City, slim sunglasses dominating her small porcelain face. We get lunch at her favorite deli shop, and she perches at the counter, loafers dangling. She’s an editor at The New Yorker now, but she still has a soft spot for rock and roll, as evidenced by the Grateful Dead t-shirt under her blazer.

“That tour. I didn’t even know anything was wrong. He just came home with a funny look on his face, saying, ‘We’re headlining.’ So I said, ‘That’s great, Steve.’ He just kept… saying it. It was starting to piss me off, if I’m being honest,” She shook her head. “I should have known something was wrong.”

“I wish she had stopped me. But how could you know right? Hindsight is always 2020,” Steve Harrington said. “I mean, she was my wife. How could she not want me home? But that’s just… sorry. That’s not fair to put on her. I chose to go.”

“I flew out to meet them when they were in Indianapolis, visited my family, and I came a day early to see him,” She smiled warmly, and then it fell. “He was… Well, first, Eddie Munson tried to intercept me at the hotel, so I wouldn’t see him. I told him, ‘I’m here to see my fucking husband.’”

Steve Harrington didn’t add any more details about the tour, just shrugged when I asked.

“He was coked up like you wouldn’t believe,” Robin scoffed. “She walked in on him with two girls and coke all over his… well.”

“I just asked him. Do you want to come home? Do you want to get help? Or not?” She purses her lips. “And so he came home and we found a rehab place near Hawkins.”

“The tour kind of… fell apart. Obviously. We had lost our lead singer and guitarist to fucking… Hawkins, Indiana,”

Everything stopped for the Boys. Upside Down offered to let them out of their two album contract, but Steve couldn’t afford to pay it down.

“Rehab,” He shrugged. “Is expensive.”

Right as it seemed that everything would be over for the Boys, things were looking up for Billy Blue.

“Jim was always saying, ‘the record is selling alright, the songs are getting there but he needs a… push,’” Joyce said. “‘He’s so close. So close. He’s a star.’”

“He always believed in me,” Billy smiled, toying with his ring again. “Always. Even when I threw a jug of milk at his head.”

Joyce laughed when I asked about that moment, “He came home saying, ‘He milked me, Joyce. But he’ll fix the song tonight.’”

“And I did,” Billy said. “And the album was going alright. I did a little tour, socal and the southwest. And then one night, Jim brings me this song. He said, ‘I want you to tell me what’s missing from this.’”

The song was, of course, the Boys’ biggest hit, “Hades.” Steve Harrington’s first version was called, “To Orpheus” and the chorus goes:

Don’t turn back don’t look behind you baby

I’m close, I’m right behind

The future's so bright, and I want you to take me

Wanna be holding your hand when I make it across the line.

“It was fine, but just kind of… nothing. It was supposed to be about Eurydice, but it was so… nothing. She just loved Orpheus and that was it. There were no insides to her. She was going to follow him to her doom,” Billy shook his head. “That’s not right.”

This was not the version that made it to the recording booth, of course. The Boys’ single, “Hades featuring Billy Blue,” came out in 1975. The actual chorus goes:

Turn back on me and I won’t forgive you baby

Don’t want you to see me like this

Up ahead is bright, and I want you to take me

If you’re strong enough to cross that finish line

“‘Hades,’ was a real step forward for the Boys. Gone were the teenybopper tunes,” Steve Harrington’s biographer and personal friend Dustin Henderson wrote in his book The Pretty Boy. “Their first album got the kids dancing. But the second proved that they actually had something to say.”

“Still hate it,” Steve Harrington said. “I wrote that song in rehab. It was deeply, deeply personal to me.”

“He came out, all ready. He wanted to start recording right away,” Robin sighed. “Like I mean the next day. All these songs, just pouring out of him. But the label had lost faith in us. And they certainly weren’t going to let us start recording with a guy who had only just earned his thirty day sober chip.”

“The song wasn’t ready,” Billy shook his head. “But I guess he was. Jim said he needed this. So Jim asked if I would come and like… pitch some stuff as a personal favor. Songwriting credit, that’s all it was supposed to be. Get the songs moving, get them going.”

Steve Harrington takes a long time to continue speaking about it.

“I felt it, writing for that album. I felt proud of those songs. They didn’t belong to anyone else but me,” He toyed with some piano keys while we talked, and then finally sat down and began to play something tuneless and half formed.

“That album was all about Nancy,” Chrissy said. “I mean. I know it. You know it. Nancy knew it. And she kind of hated it. But-”

“You can’t leave your husband right as he gets out of rehab,” Nancy said to me, toying with her wedding ring. “When he writes all these songs about how you’re the only thing… Steve was always like that. Heart wide open. That’s why when he met Billy. I almost thought… it would all be okay. That sounds fucked up but. I thought they could save each other. That the music could save him.”

“It was just a songwriting credit,” Billy raised his hands. “Jim swore up and down. I was just gonna come in there and sit down with this guy Steve. But when I walk into the studio, there’s two mics set up.”

“I was the Boys’ only singer,” Steve Harrington shook his head. “And to be absolutely honest, I was kind of a jackass about it. So to have some guy come in and say he’s gonna sing me my song… well…”

“Steve was the only one who would ever argue with Jim, And he let him have it that day,” Eddie laughed. “He called him the most low down, dirty, rat bitten bastard in California, and that he would die rather than give up his band to someone else.”

“I did not want his band. I did not know his band. And I did not care. And his song sucked. And I told him so. And then I sang it. Better.” Billy smiled.

“Billy was…” Chrissy shook her head. “Incredible.”

I ask Steve what Billy was like that first day in the studio.

“He was,” Something passed over his face. “Alright. He has a great voice, alright.”

“I was good. Better. Best.” Billy smiled.

“But he didn’t understand the song. He wanted Eurydice to… doubt. To think she wasn’t going to get out,” Steve slammed his hands on the keys. “It’s been… almost twenty years. I still don’t understand it.”

I asked why he let Billy stay. But Steve doesn’t have an answer.

“They were like oil and water, right away,” Chrissy said.

“Yeah, but oil on the water can catch fire,” Eddie shrugged.

“Jim asked me to stay,” Billy looked away from me, down at his waffles. “It was a favor to the label.”

“If Billy said louder, Steve said mute,” Robin snickered. “It was kind of great, actually. Finally someone called King Steve on his shit. One day I came in and they were arguing over how close the microphone should be to your throat. Almost got in a physical fight over a fucking microphone. I mean, I love Steve. But he always thinks he’s like… the babysitter. It’s his job to do everything for everybody.”

“Like who was this guy? Really? He came into my studio with no shirt on, most of the time still half smashed from the night before, and he thinks he can make all these changes. But Jim keeps telling me it’s just business, the label thinks it’s good business.” Steve frowned, and then smiled, and then frowned again.

“Yeah, I never wore shirts back then. Or underwear,” Billy said with a grin. “I was a rockstar!”

“Steve fought for every song on that album,” Nancy Wheeler patted her lips primly with a napkin. “He only lost on one.”

“Billy Hargove has songwriting credit and lead vocals on “Hades.” Dustin Henderson wrote.

“Billy was all over that album. He’d make some minor suggestion, maybe this chord instead of that, this word is better. And Steve would flip out, yell at him, yell at Jim, threaten to storm out… and then two days later quietly tell me to change the chord, he’d start singing the new words. Billy was there with us about every single day,” Eddie said.

“Of course, it was our biggest hit,” Chrissy laughed. “Everything but that song, Steve did what he wanted. Oh we had Billy in the studio, making suggestions. But Steve did what he wanted except for ‘Hades.’ Jim said that song is the album, and he wouldn’t cut it.”

“Jim was always right,” Steve closed the piano. “The bastard.”

Hades exploded onto the radio in late 1975. They didn’t have the same distribution as their first record, but the Boys had another hit.

“Billy had this way of singing it. Still does. He broke four mics when we recorded it. Singing so loud I had to keep an eye on the cymbals to stop them from shaking. You can feel him, right in your chest.” Chrissy giggled. “Like he was trying to wake all the dead from Hades. If anyone could, he could.”

“It’s a really, really great song,” Robin said.

This song belongs to Billy Blue, Rolling Stone wrote in 1976. The only question now is, what will The Boys do next?

“I remember that article. Fucking… Harrington said that he basically wrote the whole song. But he said, ‘the label thought bringing Billy in was a good idea,’” Billy gets tense for the first time. “I’m not saying I was like… I just mean. It would have been nice. To treat me like an equal. I’m more than just a singer. I’m not just… a piece of meat.”

“Billy was really pissed about that article. I remember, the day after the article came out, we were getting breakfast at this tiny place off La Cienega. Steve had this car back then, a big maroon BMW, and Eddie had got him a vanity plate when he bought it. Stupid thing it said, ‘BIGBOY.’ Anyway, We’re having breakfast, and we hear this screech outside, like an accident,” Robin Buckley gets uncharacteristically quiet as she goes on through this story. “Billy’s car is parked halfway out of the parking lot, and he comes in like a bull in a charge. Billy… he wasn’t some wimpy guy. He was small, but he was strong as hell… He came right over and grabbed Steve by his collar and lifted him right off the counter. And he said, I’ll never forget it because Steve used to recite it from memory, yell it at me, ‘Tell me I’m not dreaming. Is that Steve fucking Harrington? The lead singer of the Boys. Hey man, I love your song ‘Hades.’ How’d you get your voice to sound halfway decent for once?’”

“I don’t remember that,” Steve Harrington said flatly when I asked.

“And Steve used to be a fucking dick in high school. So he starts getting real bitchy, shoving Billy off him, asking what his problem is, why he’s such a dick all the fucking time, when it’s not even his band. And Billy said something like, ‘No one wants your shit band. Not with you in it,’” Robin paused for a moment. “And they just. Stare at each other. Like… daring each other to do something.”

Billy just shrugs when I ask, “I was pissed. I gave this guy a number one hit, and he still wanted to treat me like some… airhead singer the label brought in as a stunt. I’m not just a singer. I’m not a piece of meat. I’m a person.”

When I ask Steve about that day he’s pretty quiet, deflated at his piano. He only wants to talk about the song. The music. Can’t seem to talk about Billy any other way.

“He sang it like he not only knows Orpheus can’t save him, but that he won’t. It was supposed to be hopeful. A happy ending.” Steve said.

“So you still hate the song?” I asked.

“No, I don’t. It’s brilliant. And that’s the whole problem.”

To be continued...

Next up is Half-Oz-Eddie's piece at 7:00 pm. GET HYPE!

#harringrove relay race #harringrove #billy x steve #billy hargrove #steve harrington #harringrove fic #steve x billy #harringrovefic #harringrovefanfic #harringrove fanfiction #harringrove fanfic #stranger things #my writing #DJATS au #Daisy jones and the six au #tw drugs

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tyrramint · 8 months

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Happy Lockwood & Co. Big Bang!!! :D I had the absolute pleasure of collaborating with @The_Dreamer_Half_Alive (on Ao3 :) on her fic for the @lockwoodandcobigbang2023 event; set post TEG, it’s truly so lovely and heartwarming, and I had so much fun doing a piece for it! We very much hope you enjoy :)

Link to the fic!!!! (the horror of the night melt away) under the warm glow of survival of the day

(Closeups below the cut :D) (because I ended up making it too wide to be easily seen in full lol) (plus ~artistic commentary~)

(SPOILERS FOR FIC CONTENT)

Okay, so I tried to put a bunch of little easter eggs from the fic and just in general in here, so if you’re interested:

Alright, to start off, I was generally very inspired by them getting a record player; I thought it was very sweet, and I loved the idea of them finally getting to relax and hang out in the library (the lack of chairs, I know; I couldn’t figure out how to put them in without blocking people lol) and locklyle dancing, with the record player on in the background, so that’s what I took as the basis of the scene!!

We had discussed that the characters were kind of a combo of both show and book versions, so I tried to add a smattering and hints of both when doing their designs!

The record is, of course, an Ella Fitzgerald record as mentioned in the fic (the record drawn is her Souvenir Album)

Holly is wearing her engagement ring, and wearing shades of pink and cream because that’s what she wears at her wedding (although shifted in hue to better match the color scheme of the piece lol)

Everyone (minus Flo) of course has their white strands of hair (which is *always* one of my favorite details to draw)

Lucy and George bake in the fic, but I think I had just read the Christmas mini story when I was doing my thumbnail for this, so Kipps ended up being the one bringing in baked goods; however, the baking mitts are orange and monogrammed with George's initials because I couldn't let that slip by, could I?

I wasn't quite sure what to put Flo in, because in the books she never takes off her boots or puffer jacket, but I wanted to throw in some sign that she was living at 35 Portland Row and becoming closer to all of them, (and her close relationship with George,) so I let her keep the boots, but traded the puffer jacket in for one of George's plaid shirts :)

The chess game also made it in because of the Christmas short story, lol

Lucy's blue star jacket!! When I read the fic, I was planning from the start to have her wearing the jacket, so of course it made it in :) I wasn't really sure what style it should be, though, so I ended up with kind of an odd mishmash of designs, but I think it turned out working alright!

The sapphire necklace, because, of course

I adore that Lockwood wears his pink socks throughout the entire show (well, most of the time they're the pink ones ;) so I wanted to include them (and then gave Lucy blue ones to match :)

The chipped blue mugs that Lockwood brings to Lucy for her tea after she wakes up from nightmares are on the bookshelf, and I couldn't find a way to directly include the Earl Grey tea they have, but I made the tea bag tags grey in honor of it

The green glow is the ghost lamp outside because if I can find a way to incorporate cool glows in my art, I will (and also on a more narrative-driven note, symbolizing the past danger they've been through and how some of it is definitely still present, but they have each other to heal with and finally be able to have some simple fun with, and are now curled up in the safety and comfort of 35 Portland Row :)

And finally, a big theme of the fic is them healing and building a happy life together, so I just wanted them to all be happy for once, and hence I put in my best efforts to draw them as such :)

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jqmalikhsgib · 6 months

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stars

two

yn had been here so many times, it hurt less and less each time. she knew once she shared a little bit about her life people would pry more and more. this had been different though.

yn has been ready to tell the world about her amazing boyfriend and their adorable kid, but she wanted to do it at her own pace, in her own time.

slowly giving the world hints on who the man of the hour had been is amazing. millions of people speculating who it could be, she’d admit, it’s fun watching them squirm. she even replied to some fans that asked about him.

she loves sharing a little piece of herself. what she didn’t like was the obsessive prying eyes of the media. they found the location of aarons work, camping outside the building in case she had come out holding hands with the infamous mystery man. unfortunately they got nothing from her.

she hated that they’ve stalk her and they could potentially stalk aaron. aaron kept reassuring her that he’d be okay. he was sorta use to the cameras and a bit of the spotlight—dave is a famous author after all—paparazzi camped out the building long before they even met. yn just didn’t want him to get hurt by these vultures. aaron just laughs at her antics because, well, he’s an fbi agent. nothing a few paparazzi could do to him is anything like he’s had done while being on the field.

she realized how silly it is to fear for his safety. she just didn’t want this to ruin their relationship. it’s one of the many reasons why she stays in virginia and not in california or new york city. it’s quite quaint and simple.

the next few weeks had been pretty busy for yn. she’s been working on her own cosmetic line and another studio album. she’s excited for her new brand and possibly her last album for a little while.

yn is ready to slow down a little! her and aaron’s relationship is going amazing and she wants to eventually get married and have more kids. technically speaking, they’re already engaged! aaron proposed to her last year. she said yes immediately, but she didn’t want to officially get married until she was ready to take a break from music and do one last world tour for a little while. she also didn’t wanna tell anyone he had proposed just yet. not wanting people to know until they’re officially ready to plan the wedding.

aaron’s beyond proud of his girl. she’s finally doing something she’s wanted for awhile besides music! yn had been talking about becoming more of an entrepreneur for about two years now but had been afraid she’d failed. aaron assured her that she’d be very successful simply because she is smart and talented. her fans will love anything and everything she puts out there.

“darling, come to bed.” aaron whispers in her ear as he wraps his arms around her waist. she’s doing some last minute touches on a few designs she had in mind. not knowing how she wanted the logo for her cosmetic line to look.

“in a minute, babe. just gotta figure this out.” yn concentrate on a few photos. aaron sighs. he spins her around, gently grabs the papers, and sets them down. aaron caresses her cheek and kisses her gently. “hey, they’ll be there in the morning. you’ve barely got a lick of sleep the last few days. im worried about you.” aaron frowns. he rest his chin on top of her head. she sighs as she wraps her arms around his waist

“im sorry, baby. just want everything to be perfect.”

“and they will, yeah? because you’re a genius! but you don’t need to overwork or stress yourself. what is it you always tell me, huh?”

yn smiles. “work will be there tomorrow, family may not.”

“exactly! our son misses his mammas cuddles.”

yn felt awful.

“hey, i know what you’re thinking. none of that, you hear!” aaron leafs no room for arguments

she hums. “where’s my boy?”

“upstairs in his bed. he’s waiting for us to read him his favorite bedtime story. says he wants you to do it because you do the voices better.” aaron playfully scoffs.

“of course i do! mister monotone.”

“im not monotoned.” aaron argues. yn just shakes her head as she heads upstairs to their sons room. aaron follows right behind.

“ready, baby?” yn asked as she gently walks into jacks room.

“yeah, mamma!”

#aaron hotchner x black!reader #aaron hotch fic #aaron hotch fanfiction #aaron hotch imagine #aaron hotchner x fem!reader #aaron hotchner x you #aaron hotch x reader #aaron hotchner x reader #jqhotchner #jqhotchner masterlist #stars jqhotchner #aaron hotchner imagine #aaron hotchner #aaron hotchner x female reader

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imaginidol · 1 year

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Taemin: Distant Bells Are Ringing

I don’t always leave an author’s note but I loved writing this for my anonnie’s request <3. So much so that I listened to both the instrumental pieces I mention in this headcanon whilst writing it, and I 100% would recommend you guys do the same bc I felt like crying the whole time lolzzz hope u like it !! :)

A sound of faint, classical music catches your attention as you’re exiting your dark SUV. Your bodyguard outstretches his hand in your direction, offering to lead you carefully out of the vehicle. You look around happily as you lift the sides your long, elegant gown, planting your heels firmly on the ground as you made your way to the entrance of the wedding venue.

“Thank you for coming tonight,” the familiar voice of your wedded friend’s brother greets you at the doors. “I can’t believe you made it!”

“Of course I had to come, how could I miss one of my closest friend’s wedding!? Thank you for inviting me,” you say as the boy leads you inside.

You walk into the beautifully decorated wedding venue, admiring every detail about the grandiose place in awe. Your eyes travel from the high vaulted ceilings to the intricately designed stained-glass windows. The center isle is filled with gorgeous arrangements of flowers and floral arches. All around, people were murmuring in excitement as the ceremony would soon begin.

You’re about to walk to your seat when all of a sudden, you nearly let out a shriek at the touch of a person’s arm against your shoulder.

“What the—,” you quickly turn around and find yourself making unexpectedly hard eye-to-eye contact with none other than…

Lee Taemin.

Honestly? This probably wouldn’t have been so bad if it weren’t for the absolute heart-wrenching heartbreak I had to endure all alone after we broke up…

Your mind quickly threatens to recall all the miserable nights you cried yourself to sleep for the boy standing in front of you, but you immediately brush them aside and plant the biggest smile on your face instead.

I can’t think of the past now.

“Taemin! Oh, I didn’t know you were here,” you say, awkwardly looking around to make sure no people were looking your way. It was no secret to the media that you and Taemin were once a favorite celebrity couple sought out by all kinds of fans, journalists, and paparazzis alike.

“Of course I’d be here. Don’t you remember we met through the bride?”

“Oh, right,” you answer, letting out an awkward half-laugh.

“I saw you walk in and I couldn’t not tell you how… how amazing you look!” he says, an innocent smile spreading across his face.

“Thank you, Taemin. You look pretty handsome yourself, actually,” you cheekily say back.

“Mister and Missus,” the voice of an older gentleman approaches you both. “Allow me too guide you to your reserved seats tonight,” he says, guiding you and Taemin into the ceremonial room.

“Oh, we’re not togeth—” you stop your sentence when you feel Taemin place his hand against your back, following the gentleman to wherever he seemed fit.

“Thank you,” you say to the gentleman anyway once you’ve reached your reserved seats.

Taemin sits next to you and, to your surprise, there aren’t many other people sitting in your section yet.

“Uh, Taemin?” You carefully look around the room before whispering into his ear, “we’re the only people sitting in this row right now… doesn’t it look a little…”

“Scandalous?” He finishes, giving you a smirk. “I’d be surprised if someone doesn’t take any pictures of us tonight.”

“Right,” you huff, turning your attention back to the front of the room.

For a moment, neither says a word, until Taemin finally speaks up.

“So… how’ve you been?”

“I’ve been… I’ve been good.”

“Yeah, I hear you’ve released a few albums since we last spoke. They’re really good. I really liked your most recent comeback,” he says quietly.

“Thank you, it means… a lot, actually.”

There is another awkward silence, before you speak up this time.

“How about you? How have you and SHINee been?”

“We’re still aiming to be the best we can be,” he smiles. “You don’t listen to us anymore, huh?”

“What? Of course I do. Just because you and I were… a thing… doesn’t mean I don’t love Minho any less.”

He scoffed. “Minho was always your bias, huh? Even when we were a ‘thing’?”

“Well, duh,” you roll your eyes, “look at him. He’s gorgeous!”

“Whatever,” he says, looking around him as a few other couples and guests slowly filled the seats more and more.

“You know,” he says, crossing his arms and turning his eyes toward you, “I only started talking to you just now ‘cause I don’t think I know anyone else here…”

“I thought you said you wanted to talk to me to tell me I looked pretty?”

“Oh, oops, yeah, that too,” he smirked. “It worked, ‘cause you’re still talking to me.”

“You’re still so annoying,” you say, crossing your legs.

He laughs mischievously, lightly punching your thigh.

“Isn’t it crazy how we almost instantly clicked again after so many years of not talking, though?”

You don’t answer him for a moment, thinking carefully of the words you’d say next.

“I guess,” you start to respond, “even after we went our separate ways, our comfort when being around each other never really went away.”

“Hmm,” he ponders, “why do you think that is?”

You don’t get a chance to respond because the ceremony begins, and all guests’ attention turns towards the front of the room.

The wedding ceremony of you and Taemin’s mutual friend plays out flawlessly beautiful.

An organist begins playing O Holy Night, at the request for the bride’s entrance. The bride walks in gracefully as ever. Her princess-styled silk dress was intricately decorated with mesh flowers, her long-sleeved white gloves featured complex designs of floral delicacies. Even from the bride’s back-view, her long, delicately designed dress tail captured and maintained all eyes on her.

Taemin had quietly moved his eyes from the bride at one point and turned his attention secretly to you.

You also looked lavishing in your dark green gown tonight, beautifully complementing the colors of the wedding decor altogether. Taemin couldn’t help but wonder if…

…if you could ever be his bride.

His eyes slowly began to water at the recollection of hundreds of shared memories alongside of you as your partner.

All the laughs, the jokes, the cries, the arguments, the make-ups, the love you shared privately in more ways than one.

He had… missed you.

Why’d we have to break up? He thoughtfully wonders as the bride and groom begin taking their vows.

If only we’d worked through our problems and not run away from them…

But it was almost every day that the arguments would arise.

The bride and groom exchange wedding bands and hold their hands together.

Taemin turns his eyes from the soon-to-be-married couple and focuses again on you.

Yes, while you were physically close to him at this very moment, he couldn’t help but think about how far you truly were.

If only I’d tried harder from my end, Taemin thinks defeatedly. I’ve been through the best and the absolute worst of this industry. If only I hadn’t let the malicious false rumors of that cheating scandal get the best of you…

The old priest raises his hands towards the crowd.

…maybe it would’ve been us on that pulpit by now.

He announces the couple as husband and wife.

But I couldn’t protect you without losing myself in the process.

The groom and bride share their first kiss as husband and wife, and the room erupts into loud cheers and happy tears. The organist beings playing the all-too familiar tune of Mendelssohn’s Wedding March, and the new man and wife begin preparing to make their way back down the isle for their final grand ceremonial exit.

Taemin closes his eyes as a couple tears begin rolling down his cheeks. He’s in too deep in his own thoughts when he feels the soft touch of a cloth rubbing against his face.

His eyes open and he makes direct eye contact with you.

You’d taken a handkerchief from your purse and wiped the tears gently from his face, not saying a word.

All around you, white confetti and red flower petals fall as the bride and groom begin exiting the room, the cheers of their guests roaring louder, the organist’s musical arrangement filling the room with l endearing excitement.

You and Taemin are caught frozen in each other’s gaze for a moment in time. Your hand is gently cupped around his face, his tears have slowed, and your emotions are caught in a trance.

What ever will we do? You think to yourself.

How could I ever move on from you? He thinks to himself.

How could I ever… you look into his eyes,

…have left you? he wonders,

…And now I find myself, you ponder,

…having feelings for you, he comes closer,

…even after all, you close your eyes,

…this, his nose brushes lightly against yours,

…time! your lips clash against his.

All around you, couples take notice of you and Taemin sharing an intimate moment together. The gentlemen cheer and begin taking their partners hand in hand, leaning them back against their arms to share kisses of their own in celebration of light of a new marriage.

White confetti and red flower petals continue to float about the room and around all the couples, guests, the newlyweds as the organists begins intensifying the final chords of the infamous Wedding March.

Taemin pulls away slightly, a few more tears escaping his reddened eyes.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers to you. “I’m sorry I couldn’t do more for you.”

You shake your head, not wanting to hear the words you longed to wish for.

“No, Taemin, I’m sorry I ever doubted you. I’m sorry I abandoned the trust I had in you… in us.”

“I should’ve gone back even after all the—”

“There’s no point in bringing up the past anymore, Tae,” you whisper.

“But I have to—”

“Shh,” you gently place a finger against his lips. “I received all the proof from your agency once the investigation was over. I now know you never had betrayed me like that.”

“You… you do?”

You smile. “I’m sorry I never went back for you. I was too ashamed to face you after you were proven innocent.”

“No,” he whispers. “I’m the one who should’ve fought harder.”

“Tae—”

Your words are cut short at the realization that there was no point in arguing further. You had grown and reflected, and so had he.

Knowing what you both knew now, there was an opportunity for the trust to grow back.

Perhaps tonight you could start over.

Perhaps tonight at the wedding reception, over delicious dinner and sugary wedding cake, you could start over.

Perhaps tonight you and Taemin would finally be able to reach the closure you both longed for, and start walking together towards a happily ever after of your own.

—

The wedding reception had gone just as fun and smoothly as the ceremony. The guests had gathered around the bride and her groom to cut their enormous marbled-flavored cake. A couple minutes before the cake-cutting begun, the bride caught a glimpse of you and Taemin and quickly walked over to you both.

“Hey, you smoochy lovebirds, why didn’t you tell me you got back together!?”

“What? How’d you even know—”

“Oh, please!” she giggled, “You started the little kissing-train back at the venue, didn’t ya? Look, it’s already making headlines!!” She excitedly pulls out her phone from her sleek reception gown’s pockets and points the screen at you both.

Indeed, there’s a half-blurry picture of you and Taemin sharing a loving, lasting kiss amidst the newlyweds’ grand exit. The headline at the top reads in bolder letters: BREAKING!! HAVE THE STARRY-EYED COUPLE ALLEGEDLY MADE A COMEBACK!?

Underneath the post, thousands of comments were already flooding the media with fans excitedly screaming their heads off at the sight of their favorite celebrity couple rumored to be seen together again. Fans from all around the industry—even fans who didn’t actively listen to you or Taemin’s music—enthusiastically shared well wishes and celebration for you both, many of these fans hoping that this time your relationship would lead to a much happier ending.

“I’ll say, your kissing stunt was absolutely perfect!” the bride excitedly bounces up and down. “All my wedding exit pictures have guests sharing kisses in the background and it’s so… so beautiful!! I’ll have to get that moment framed for our new home!”

Taemin places his hand around your waist, pulling you closer.

“If it weren’t for your wedding, I wouldn’t have gotten closure with my love again,” he smiles. He then turns his attention to you.

“And,” he adds, “I never would’ve believed I could fall in love with the right person all over again.”

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cinderswife · 9 months

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happy new year! as a treat, i have finished snow's outfits :D she's the last in the series after cinders and rose :3 as always, lore under the cut!

nude

much like cinders, snow was designed to be in compliment to rose! we know from the album that she was beautiful and had long black hair but beyond that i wanted to make sure she looked like she could feasibly be rose's sister. she is also a bear girl <3

snow is fat! it was very important to me that she was fat with stretch marks and still extremely beautiful. so, here she is !!

i gave her a beauty mark because it's very classic hollywood beauty

you also probably couldn't actually see her tail at this angle because tiny bear tail but its so cute!

since this is pre becoming general white, she's a lot softer and gentler than her sister

fun fact: snow is actually her middle name but nobody ever calls her by her first name adelaide ever

also. this woman is so busy do you think she has the time to think about her gender and sexuality ever

dressing gown

snow is exceptionally wealthy and powerful so of course she has a monogrammed silk dressing gown. she doesn't actually wear it to sleep; she overheats way too quickly so she wears very little to bed.

entering the first appearance of snow's favorite color to wear: light blue!

yes, snow is wearing a wedding ring. since she's 29 and the head of a noble house, i figured she would be married. it was an arranged marriage to darr, the youngest child of some count somewhere because ze is entirely unambitious and willing to let snow do her thing

they also have a son together. his name is eret, he is 3, he looks up to auntie rose a little too much, his favorite animals are snakes and penguins, and he will quote space-disney at you incessantly.

duchess work dress

snow is the grand duchess of the duchy of delinore. she is the only grand duchess in the entire empire; this is the title that is equivalent to crown prince. yes she is technically his majesty king cole's heir due to being the current hereditary grimm on the throne of delinore. this is mostly a ceremonial fact since his majesty is immortal. delinore is 12 inhabited planets large and covers an entire star system which makes her perhaps the most powerful woman in the galaxy. snow is very tired all the time.

i was watching disney's snow white while designing this and the next outfit; i really like the blue and yellow look on her

this is a modular outfit! she can put on and take off the vest and cape depending on how formal she needs to be.

snow wears a lot of jewelry. this earring and necklace set was an anniversary present from her spouse!

the silver circlet atop her head is that of the duchess. you'll see it in almost every other outfit afterwards; it's like a wedding ring but for her noble status

court of stars

as his majesty's heir, snow is required to take part in the irregular meetings of his majesty's inner court: the court of stars. much of the lesser laws are handled by the council of stars and the other, lesser nobility. full disclosure: snow fucking hates this. she uses her position to do much good in the world and views his majesty like an extremely shitty and powerful grandfather she has to put up with in order to do what she needs to do. if the wedding day slaughter hadn't happened, she would still have eventually caused his death through an insane game of "political assassination cat and mouse." Y'know, different from the war.

this is the evil queen type fit. i just wanted to draw her as an evil queen okay

lorewise, this is the ceremonial outfit of her status tailored to her feminine appearance. black and red cape, deep purple dress, shiny gold jewelry, all designed to be as evil as possible

the bear clasp is the same as rose's! its the grimm family's symbol (cuz. they're all bears lol)

the dress sparkles like stars

she absolutely didn't have to go this hard with the makeup but she had fun with it. a small relief when dealing with his majesty

basically i just went really hard on the star motif

the crown is the ceremonial black iron crown of the grand duke that only ever comes out in court meetings. it's a smaller version of his majesty's black iron crown. its really heavy :(

casual

the return of the blue and yellow! this is snow's favorite color combo to wear ever <3

snow likes to wear pants when she doesn't have to deal with the many duties of being the grand duchess. it's her casual fit!

this particular set of jewelry has the snowflake motif. it's extremely on the nose which is why she likes it.

i dunno what tank tops with the extra shoulder straps are called but i thought it suited her <3

she would fully wrestle rose in this fit btw. she wouldn't win but it'd be fun!

ballgown

snow's ballgown for wearing to formal events (that she typically hosts). technically she owns a lot more, but this one is representative of her usual style. the bodice is typical, though it is a bit risque because it has no sleeves. the skirt is even moreso but she pulls it off because of her status and because she is commonly named the most beautiful woman in all the galaxy.

i thought it would be fun to put her in red! its such a loaded color in ouatis but she really pulls it off

and here's the light yellow she's so fond of <3

the boots are big and shiny and quite excessive; fully a display of wealth (especially since she's showing them off)

the drape of her skirt, rather than being modest and layered like cinders', is very form fitting and attention grabbing even without the slit

she would put her hair up but i did not have the patience to try and redraw her hair more than i had to lol

the gold jewelry she wears is big and heavy and almost armor-like. she likes it a lot

she put glitter on her makeup for this one <3

#the mechanisms #ouatis #once upon a time in space #once upon a time (in space)#snow ouatis #planet's doodles #planet's worldbuilding #snow my beloved snow she is so. <3 #verse: dog star in ursa major

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jmagnabo92 · 9 months

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GGSB Fest 2024 - Day 2 - Trip Down Memory Lane

@goodgodfathersiriusblack

Prompt: Old Photos

When Sirius catches Harry looking at his photo album, he decides to make one with all of the photos he has and share some fun stories with him.

AO3

***

These days, Sirius never really sleeps. Every time he tries, he wakes with nightmares that are actually quite real – being stuck in this house, being a fugitive, getting his soul sucked out, having everyone think he killed his best friends…

He shakes himself, it’s better that he just tries not to sleep.

Thus, he makes his way downstairs, not sure what he would do down there, but it’s better than trying to sleep. However, he’s surprised when he sees Harry sitting in the kitchen with a photo album.

“Harry?”

“Oh, Sirius,” Harry says, surprised. “I, er –”

He’s blushing a bit, like he’s embarrassed.

Sirius makes his way over beside him. “What’re you looking at?”

“Oh, erm, my photo album… Hagrid made it for me at the end of my first year,” Harry states, looking down at the album rather than at Sirius.

“Oh,” Sirius states. “May I look, too? I bet I could tell you some stories?”

Harry looks up. He’s clearly uncertain, but Sirius can tell how much he wants that. “Yes,” he says, a bit too eagerly. “I mean, if you want.”

“Of course, I do.”

Sirius sits beside Harry and begins telling him little stories about the photos inside. There’s not as many photos as Sirius would assume given that James and Lily were at least friends for a majority of a decade. He’s sure that’s he’s got a lot more photos than this and resolves to get them all together for another photo album.

Until then, he’s telling Harry stories of the events leading up to the wedding. James had been a complete mess despite how utterly in love with Lily he was and Lily, for her part, had her own freakout. As the designed best mate for both of them, Sirius had a front row seat to the craziness, which he can happily now share with Harry.

Unfortunately, they have to call it a night earlier than planned once Tonks arrives in from her shift. Harry’s tired anyway, but Sirius is given a new mission – create a new photo album, but first, he has to find the photos.

***

It takes the better part of three days to find every photo he could which had him, James and Lily in them. As he looks at them spread out over his bed, he realizes that they are a lot more than he realized. He had thought that most of them were entirely lost, but his spell to return his lost possessions had manage to return them all.

Many of them included his photos of him and James in their Hogwarts years. Given that he was as close to Lily as he was James, he has plenty of similar photos with her. And of course, they have so many pictures of baby Harry.

He was the light of all their worlds.

“Hey, Sirius, Mrs. Weasley asked me to –” Harry starts from the doorway, but he pauses at the sight of the photos. “What are all these?”

“Oh, erm, well – I, er, noticed that you didn’t have that many photos when we were talking the other night. I figure – well, I was their best friend and – and there were many people lost that maybe that was why… so, I wanted to get you all of mine. I was hoping to make another photo album for you and gift it to you before school. I could fill in some of the stories with letters or whenever we could chat…”

Harry is staring at him unbelievably and makes Sirius nervous.

“Er, unless you don’t –”

He’s thrown off by Harry launching himself into Sirius’ arms. “That would be so awesome! Can we make it together? You could – maybe, tell me the stories as we come across the photos?”

Sirius grins. “I’d love to. Want to start now? Unless, you said Molly –”

“Oh, er, yeah, she sent me up here to see if you wanted dinner.”

Sirius nods. “Why don’t we get something to eat, and we can start our project afterwards?”

“Sounds brilliant.”

***

An hour later, Sirius is grinning as Harry laughs uproariously. He just told him the story about James walking around Hogwarts with Prongs’ antlers because of a failed attempt to transform for three weeks. Harry thought it was a hoot (and amazed that anyone believed their lie that Sirius tried a bad prank on him).

“How did he sleep?”

“Terribly,” Sirius admits. “He always used to roll around a lot – he ended up the floor more than once, but he couldn’t with antlers, so he was quite put out about it.”

“I imagine,” Harry says, grinning. “I can’t believe no one knew after that.”

“I’m not convinced no one knew, partially because when your mum found out, the first thing she said was ‘so that’s why he had antlers for weeks’.” He laughs. “I think people just assumed that couldn’t be it, like seeing something – assuming the correct thing, but then going, nah, not possible and ignoring the signs.”

“Until faced with the truth,” Harry states. “Sounds about right. How’d McGonagall react?”

Sirius laughs. “Well, Dumbledore explained to the Order as I sat as Padfoot, and when I transformed, she took one look at me and walked out. She came back a minute later and proceeded to lecture me on how reckless it was for the three of us to become animagi on a whim to potentially help Remus before we turned of age. When she finished, she paused before stating ‘well, that explains why you were always ahead in my classes – and always disruptively entertaining yourselves’.”

Harry laughs. “What does that even mean?”

“Well, we were ahead in that class for obvious reasons, so we usually spent class time trying to come up with a prank or something to entertain ourselves.”

“Nice.”

They move through more photos, Sirius telling stories about James and Lily’s obvious pining for each other but denying it.

“What makes you think they were pining if they were fighting all the time?” Harry questions, evidently not understanding their dynamic as he looks at a photo of a pink-haired James with devil horns, and Lily laughing in the background. “This certainly doesn’t show pining to me.”

Sirius chuckles. “Well, I know because both of your parents used to complain for hours about each other – to me.” He’s grinning as he remembers the nights spent listening to both and teasing them relentlessly. “You see, I was as close to your mum as I was to your dad, but things were complicated with my family. I didn’t want to risk making her a target as things weren’t great with the war getting worse and worse every year we were at school, so we kind of kept it secret. So, we’d meet up in the middle of the night and she would talk for hours about how annoying James was to her, but honestly, I think she just wanted to deny any feelings because of other complicated things at the time.” He did not want to bring up Snape, so he says, “Your dad, on the other hand, had it easy mooning over Lily – mainly because he couldn’t hide his feelings to save his life. He wasn’t the type to ‘play nice’ if you get my drift. He had a terrible poker face.”

Harry nods. “I could see that. Why pretend when it’s obvious?”

“Exactly. So, they were both terrible piners – Lily was just better at hiding it.”

Harry hums, moving onto other photos. Like the one from Slughorn’s Christmas Party seventh year.

“Is this –”

“Their first date? Yes,” Sirius says. “It was actually an accidental date…”

“An accidental date?”

Sirius hums. “Er, yes. See, I was supposed to go with her. As friends, obviously. She wanted to ask James because they were Heads together and she thought – well, he’d grown a lot – but she freaked out and couldn’t manage it, and instead, asked me. I knew, of course, about their feelings – so I … faked ill and told James to go in place. She ended up confessing in the middle of the dance floor – and I, under James’ cloak – snapped this photo.”

“So, without you – I might not be here,” Harry jokes, playfully.

Sirius laughs. “You could say that, but honestly, I think they were always destined to get together. You were always meant to be here.”

Harry hums as he continues to add photos to the album. “Oh, we had a puppy?”

Sirius clears his throat to stop himself from laughing. “Not exactly.”

“Then you shrunk Padfoot?”

“Er, no, but you’re getting closer.”

“Closer to what?” Harry asks, eyeing him suspiciously.

Sirius grins. “That puppy is a – well, not quite – Animagus.”

“What does – wait, are you saying that’s me?” Harry asks, entirely confused, despite Sirius’ nod. “How is that even possible?”

“Well, we’re not exactly sure,” Sirius states. “You were too young to remember or explain, so we just… know that whenever we were playing together with me as Padfoot that you’d suddenly become Snuffles.”

“Snuffles?” Harry asks, incredulously. “That’s the name of baby me or puppy me?”

“Well, it was silly and adorable like you – it fit.”

Harry’s looking down at the photo in complete shock. “That seems… like … how?”

Sirius shrugs. “Like I said – no idea, but well, it happened for months – every time I visited, I’d play with you as Padfoot, and you would be there as Snuffles and – it was fun.”

“And tiring apparently,” Harry says, adding a picture of Padfoot sleeping and curled around Snuffles. “I can’t believe I don’t remember.”

“Yeah, that isn’t so great, but at least now you have the photos.”

Harry nods, as he continues putting more photos in the album. He pauses again as he spies a photo of one-year-old Harry on a broom. “Ooooh, that’s me on a broom.”

“It is,” Sirius says, grinning. “I saw it and I just had to get it for you for your birthday. You were always a natural.”

Harry grins. “Dad looks a little worried in these pictures.”

Sirius hums. “He was always a quidditch fanatic, but he never realized the danger until I bought you that. I couldn’t make it to your first birthday, but I called by a week later after getting your mum’s letter and he gave me a what-for for giving it to you. Claimed I was trying to cause you to destroy the house or break something. Your mum just started laughing. Said that of course you were a natural, and that she thought it was cute. Besides, they had magic, they could protect you.”

“Dad was overprotective, then?”

“He was,” Sirius agrees. “He wasn’t always, but when it came to you – he wanted to wrap you in bubble wrap and keep you as safe as possible. Sadly, you can’t do that – it isn’t exactly a life worth living, you know?”

Harry nods. “Yeah, yeah, I get that.”

He yawns as Molly comes in to suggest going to bed. Harry looks like he doesn’t want to end their trip down memory lane, but Sirius can see how tired he is.

So, he says, “Why don’t we pause for tonight, but we can continue our trip down memory lane tomorrow?”

Harry brightens. “I’d like that.”

“Then, tomorrow it is.”

“Good night, Sirius.”

“Good night, Harry.”

With that, he’s off to bed – grinning for the first time since he arrived here, and so, is Sirius.

He looks down at the photos. “You’d both be proud of him. He’s a great kid.”

He sighs and gathers their things. He’d put it away and go to bed himself. Maybe tonight… he won’t have any nightmares.

Maybe tonight, he’ll just enjoy his trip down memory lane.

#sirius black #harry james potter #sirius and harry saturday #sirius and harry #good godfather sirius black #Good Godfather Sirius Black Fest 2024

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the-invisible-queer · 6 months

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so do you have post-JONAS headcanons for Joe Lucas as well? And Stella, unless she gets her own post.

Joella is a packaged DEAL

My first ship who I still very much ship with my whole HEART

LET'S FUCKING GO

It got so fucking long I'm sorry.

After high school Stella and Joe both considered college. She went to a fashion school in New York. He followed her to New York and went to school for music.

They very much were on board with getting married and spending their life together. They are soulmates after all.

Joe proposed during a private little date night in their apartment. Off brand for his usual over the top flashiness but he wanted it to be just them.

Stella considered designing her own dress but ended up getting a custom one of a kind offer from Vera Wang that she was not going to turn down.

They did end up having an over the top huge wedding covered by People magazine.

She took the Lucas name legally but kept Malone professionally.

After getting married Stella started her own fashion company. Starting off designing for Joe and her in-laws as she already did, but then more people started wearing her label and she became well known.

Everything she designed for the Lucases were one of a kind custom for them specifically because old habits die hard and she'll be damned if her arm candy isn't the best dressed man at every event.

After the Jonas hiatus, Joe worked on his solo career. Releasing a few singles. He didn't release his first solo album til after he was married and it was full of love songs dedicated to his best friend and the love of his life.

They both traveled a lot for their respective careers. Sometimes they'd be away from each other but even if they were on opposite sides of the globe they never missed a phone call.

They also traveled the world together for fun and don't go a week without seeing each other even if one of them has to take the worst possible flight to make it to wherever the other is.

Joe never missed NY fashion week because he knew that was her time to shine and always planned around it. Making sure to never have a show or release anything during.

They have homes in NYC, France, LA, and they stayed at Kev's ranch in Texas while his family was in Ireland.

With their busy hectic schedules they waited to have kids. Plus they adored their neices and nephews and loved that they always got to give the rascals back at the end of the day.

Joe was never a cat person until Stella adopted a stray named Jet.

After the Jonas reunion tour, they had their daughter, Ally. With a face like her mother's of course she had her father wrapped around her finger since day one.

After starting their family, they both slowed down for the first time and actually enjoyed domesticity for a bit.

Joe released another solo album and they had a set of twins, Tommy and Jimmy - named after their dad's.

Then after another solo album and baby #4, Maggie, Joe hung up his tambourine and became a full time dad and part time arm candy with occasional appearances when Jonas would release a new single or two.

Stella continued building her fashion empire.

And they were happy.

#joe is stella's trophy husband and that is the hill i will die on #maybe i will write a post hs Joella fic 👀

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ssphotography-academy07 · 7 months

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photography classes in Delhi,

Discover unparalleled photography excellence with Digital Photography ssacademy. Our seasoned photographers specialize in capturing the essence of your most cherished moments. From stunning wedding ceremonies to captivating portraits and corporate events, we blend artistic flair with technical expertise.Visite our website https://www.ssacademy.in/

#Photography courses in Jangpura #Photography courses in South Delhi #photography digital classes in Delhi #Digital Photography courses in Delhi #photography courses online india #online photography courses india #photography classes in Delhi #Photography courses in Delhi #online photography courses with certificate #digital photography course #best online photography classes #Digital Photography courses near me #digital photography course online #photography digital classes #photography classes near me #photography digital classes near me #wedding album designing course

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whataweirdfeeling · 8 months

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HELLO welcome to WAWF WEDNESDAY your monthly WAWF update [1st Wednesday of each month]

Considering it is now the month of February check out some of the new things WAWF has been up to for the final month of WAWFswinter

Read below to find out what else WAWF has been up to this month

WAWF NEWS: WE ❤️ WAWF WEDNESDAY

As you may know WAWF was announced as a brand last year in early January[2023] and was officially announced as an unofficial e-magazine on the first Wednesday of February[2023] WAWF Wed was announced later that week making TODAY an official YEAR OF WAWF WEDNESDAYYYYYY AHHHHHHHHH

WE ARE SO APPRECIATIVE OF THE LOVE AND SUPPORT WAWF HAS RECEIVED THUS FAR To show just how happy we are.. just how much WE ❤️ WAWF WEDNESDAY.. and just how much we're gonna miss WAWFswinter..

WAWF will be dropping a BRAND NEW article EVERY WEDNESDAY this February with fellow friends and artists from all over

Read more to find out what other exciting things WAWF has planned

WAWF’s CRANKING

Recent: All Is Yellow [Album] - Lyrical Lemonade

Bars ~ A Cold Sunday [Single] - Lil Yachty, Bandit [Single] - Don Toliver, 2 Faced [Single] - LUCKI

Alt ~ Underdressed at the Symphony [Album] - Faye Webster, MADRA [Album] - NewDad, Burning Down The House [Single] - Paramore

Smooth ~ act i: stickerz “99” [Single] - 4batz, talking to the wind [Ep] - UMI, ORQUíDEAS [Album] - Kali Uchis

Lowkey: King Tut [Single] - Hardrock

Bars ~ Decatur [Single] - tana, Bye [Single] - Yung Kayo, Empire [Single] - D Savage

Alt ~ Pick-Up Full Of Pink Carnations [Album] - The Vaccines, Melt the Honey [Album] - PACKS, glass beach [Album] - plastic death

Smooth ~ santhosam [Album] - Priya Ragu, Sundown [Album] - Eddie Chacon, The Omnichord Real Book [Album] - Meshell Ndegeochello

Still in Rotation: Drunk [Album] - Thundercat

Bars ~ To Pimp A Butterfly [Album] - Kendrick Lamar, Coloring Book [Album] - Chance The Rapper, Black Up [Album] - Shabazz Palaces

Alt ~ Diary 001 [Ep] - Clairo, Honeybloom [Album] - Choker, Salad Days [Album] - Mac Demarco

Smooth ~ The ArchAndroid [Album] Janelle Monáe, Negro Swan [Album] - Blood Orange, MAGDALENE [Album] - FKA Twigs

Throwback: A Future without a Past [Album] - Leaders Of The New School

Bars ~ Madvillainy [Album] - Madvillian, Phantom of the Rapra [Album] - Bushwick Bill, SlaughtaHouse [Album] - Masta Ace Incorporated

Alt ~ Summerteeth [Album] - Wilco, Strangers from the Universe [Album] - Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, Charmed Life [Album] - Half Japanese

Smooth ~ II [Album] - Boyz II Men, St. Elsewhere [Album] - Gnarls Barkley, Vanessa Paradis [Album] - Vanessa Paradis

WAWF’s MAKING

Welcome to WAWF’s Making where you can check out new WAWF creations or join in on the fun

View this post on Instagram

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MORE DETAILS ON WHAT WERE MAKING ^

Check out the link below for our 'What A Weird Sticker' form and submit your own design to be placed on it’s own WAWF sticker and be purchased through our WAWFshop by all

WAWF’s Wearing

Checkout the latest WAWF article to see some of our new 'w❤️Ww' pieces

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by WAWF* (@whataweirdfeeling)

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Check out videos like these on our official WAWF Instagram @whataweirdfeeling or our curators very own @vyngak

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We hope you have been enjoying WAWFswinter and of course our 3rd [most recent] WAWF SHOP DROP

WAWF Magazine pushes art fashion culture and much more Stay tuned for all of the exciting new things we have planned for the future

Words/Curated by @vyngak

#Instagram #magazine #wawf mag #fashion #wawf #wawf magazine #fashion magazine #what a weird feeling #Spotify #SoundCloud

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littlequeenies · 11 months

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Why Do We Love...

Lee Starkey

The first time we knew about Lee Starkey was at Sentimentalist's "Little Willow" website. In this great (and so much missed) Mauren fansite, there was a page for her children, and, of course, Lee was there!

[Lee at her dad's "Time Takes Time" album release party in 1992. Our scan]

We were teenagers and this photo was the first we saw of Lee's (a very tiny version of it). She had this gothic/grunge/neo-hippy/rocker style that we loved! Her marble skin, her blue eyes, the long brown hair and the dark clothes combined with the chokers, pendants and rings was all that I loved then! (still do haha) We were just little girls in the 1990s and I wanted to be like this when grown up.

[Lee designing in 1991, our scan]

[In 1989 with her older brothers Zak and Jason, at their mother Maureen's wedding to second husband Isaac Tigrett in Monaco]

[Lee in 1992 with her older brothers and Mary McCartney, daughter of Beatle Paul]

Besides her style and beauty, soon we found out that se was the co-owner of a 1960s style fashion boutique in Los Angeles called "Planet Alice", which was very cool; and also that sadly she had a brain tumour when she was only 25, one year after loosing her mother.

[Lee and her mum Maureen at the opening of Planet Alice in 1991, retouched by Lynn from Something About the Beatlegirls]

[Lee in 1992 with Stella, younger sister of Mary, and Maureen. She is wearing a dress she sold at her boutique]

[Pictured in 1996 after her brain tumour was healed is Lee with her step-mother Barbara Bach, her brother Zak, their father Ringo, their half-sister Augusta, and Zak's daughter Tatia Jayne]

This was around the time George Harrison died and Lee had her second brain tumour herself, so we were sad and worried about her, but luckily she survived.

As with other muses, we built a website for her and a yahoo group, getting many beautiful and rare photos of her, specially from the 1980s and 1990s, our "favourite" Lee's eras.

[Lee with her purple hair in 1989 with dad Ringo]

Thanks to all these websites, yahoo groups, facebook pages and now here, we can share our love for Lee and made lifetime friends who share their pictures and information with all of us.

We know Lee is a very private person, so everytime there is a new (or old!) picture of her we are thrilled, specially from the time she toured with her dad and was her stylist, or when she modelled for and worked in her Planet Alice shop!

[1991 - Lee inside her Planet Alice shop in Los Angeles, modelling the designs she sells. Our scan]

We wish her shop would have been successful, we think today it would be, but hopefully we can collect pictures of back then, same as we collect her most recent ones. She had triplets and is living a healthy live, just as she deserves!

[Lee in 2016 with her partner, musician Jay Mehler, and their triplets Smokey, Jakamo and Ruby Tiger]

Today, for her 53rd birthday, we wanted to share with all of you, dear followers, how we knew about Lee and what made us love her.

Here we share:

OUR BIOGRAPHY OF HER, WITH LINKS TO AMAZING SITES

HER POSTS IN OUR BLOG

OUR PHOTO COLLECTION HOSTED AT GOOGLE PHOTOS — 1970s — 1980s — 1990s — 1990s Planet Alice — 2000s — 2020s (all the photos have been collected from the net, photographers, details, websites etc are credited when known)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR HIPPY GOTH CHICK!

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unicornery · 7 months

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As you know, as of last summer I'm doll people. I've posted Julie in her bootleg Yes tee before, but I just got the skirt off etsy and I thought they would coordinate well for some Bicentennial chic. Ever since I got Julie, I've thought about the sort of homemade stars 'n stripes stuff that kids would have worn (/been forced to wear!) back then and wanted something like that for her. The navy floral clogs are from ebay. They're not a perfect match for the blue but I think it's all in the mix. I might also try the hoodie and red flip flops from the 2-in-1 summer outfit with this skirt.

The yellow top and strawberry skirt came as a set, from the same etsy seller. My folks got married in the late '70s and their wedding album is a great snapshot of the time. Particularly I like seeing my cousins, who I knew as cool teens, when they were young kids. One wore a long dress with appliquéd pears, and another had a white pinafore with strawberries over her blue dress. So I also like to find doll outfits on etsy with fruit designs, particularly if they have a '70s-ish retro look. I tried it on my still unnamed* Truly Me 80 and of course she looks terrific in yellow, and the shiny red shoes dresses it up a little. I do think she needs a red beaded necklace or like a red hair scarf to add interest on the top. *I haven't named a doll as an adult, and I want to make sure I give her a good one.

#Julie Albright #TM 80 #JLY 80 #American Girl Dolls #agblr

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cboffshore · 2 years

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Paint it black and take it back. This is "Sure Of It."

For Nadakhan's second wish, something we've all heard before: power, pure and simple.

Sheer power is a traditional and expected wish for every Ninjago villain, and of course, Nadakhan takes it to the extreme: he wants to control reality and everything in it, right down to the earth under his non-existent feet. Until he gets all the way through his plan, though, he's forced to settle for controlling his crew - but what fun is that? They're on his side. Even the mildest questions, like Flintlocke expressing doubts early on, can be easily swept under the rug if he raises his voice a decibel or two. Nadakhan likes a good fight, and he simply can't get that when his immediate sphere is deeply loyal to him (which... what a problem to complain about, sheesh). No, in order to tide himself over until he can hear those wedding bells chiming, he has to get creative - and he needs a target. A good one, one that's not so keen on listening to him, someone who's done something remarkable... like escape with only two out of three wishes made.

Although we don't know Nadakhan's full history, the amount of energy and resources he spends to torment Jay indicates that he's used to having so much more power over his targets. What little we do get is a tidy pattern: manipulate victims into making all three wishes in one go and make sure he can profit off of the results. Jay, having only made two (and booting Nadakhan out of the vicinity with one of them!), breaks that pattern for what might be the first time ever. And that's just unacceptable. In fact, Jay is so much of a roadblock to Nadakhan's desire for power that Skybound dedicates an entire episode to his efforts to break Jay down. In demonstrating the depths Nadakhan will go to to exert control over the slightest hint of rebellion, episode 60 is a character study of both Jay and Nadakhan at their respective peaks - unstoppable force meets immovable object. It's also the reason that the Nadakhan tag on AO3 is a minefield of very dubious work, but if you can ignore all the distressingly graphic assault stories, you encounter that same theme as in the episode: Nadakhan's frantic need to assert power by any means necessary.

The Outfit Breakdown

As I described in my introductory post, "Sure Of It" is a blend of analyses: Nadakhan and Jay are both represented here, often sharing parts of the same element. Ultimately, this outfit represents theall the ways Nadakhan tries to overpower the world of Ninjago and all the ways Jay pushes back. Appropriately, it's an elevated version of the gi Jay wears that's become an iconic part of Skybound imagery. (Alternatively, it's "My Dinner With Nadakhan" condensed into gritty formalwear.)

A sturdy parade jacket and pants provide a somber canvas that's not too far off from Jay's seasonal gi: near-black fabric, rigid stitching, and asymmetrical golden closures. I should confess that much of this look (especially this part) was drafted during a full playthrough of The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance; the visual design of that album, as well as the themes of dying and becoming someone new, offered a really cool parallel to both Jay and Nadakhan's situations and ended up being a great place to start. Little wisps of bright, character-defining blue slip out from the wrists, collar, and ankles on what's otherwise a very disciplined suit. Upon first glance, the overwhelming darkness of this suit holds quite a bit back from the viewer in the same way that Jay and Nadakhan mislead their respective teams to accomplish their selfish goals.

The gold aiguillettes and shoulder pauldron are a militaristic twist on the gold chain motif from "It Will Never Be Enough." Instead of being sultry and all-encompassing like the chain elements, these sturdy accents represent Jay's determination to take Nadakhan down. They're also something of a badge of honor that's pinned on as soon as Jay realizes he can set his own wants aside for the greater good. Functionally, they stand in for the gold closures and armor on Jay's canon gi. The pauldron is deliberately closer to the Possession-era armor for two reasons: as a callback to the vision in the ice and the simple fact that the Skybound Panini Pauldron just didn't look good here.

The feathery chain cape is a threefold reference: a riff on the aviator wings on the back of the seasonal gi, Jay's overall connection to flight, and - most importantly - that odd moment where Nadakhan refers to Jay as "little canary" and the overall energy of episode 60. If you look closely enough, you'll see the blue chain edging curl around the mannequin's ankle as a reference to the ball and chain Jay is forced to wear during his time as a prisoner. Aside from lending a little balance, the miniature chain wing on the opposite shoulder is a nod at the common fanwork motif of Nadakhan being a serial shoulder-toucher (which is never shown in canon for longer than two seconds, but I think it's interesting how it's taken on a life of its own in the art and fic scenes). Overall, this cape is an ironic twist on Jay's situation: aboard the Keep, he's attaining the dream of flight that he was brought into the entire series with, but in a way where he's not in control at all. Similarly, Nadakhan presents the image of being in control, but it's not as complete as he wants it to be (hence all the gaps in the cape).

Transparent heel pillars swirling with gold glitter represent the way that wishes - from the ones Jay expresses privately in the first few episodes to the real ones he makes with Nadakhan later on - support most of the season's plot and ultimately drive Jay to better himself. This accent was specifically inspired by the gold dust effect that radiates from most characters at the moment that they make their wishes. The boots that they're attached to are blue to draw out the accents in the base suit; they also feature rose gold feather toe caps and heel accents to compliment the feather cape.

Legally, it's not a Skybound work unless an eyepatch factors in somehow - and I am a law-abiding citizen. Begrudgingly, though. I wasn't excited about this part during the drafting phase, but I grew to appreciate it. This one features the same broken crystal accent as Nadakhan's accessories, but textured slightly differently to represent how his vision in the ice colors most of his viewpoint. The chain veil attached to the band hides most of the mannequin's face and represents all of Jay and Nadakhan's attempts to lie their way into what they fully believe are better situations. We don't need to talk about how that works out for either of them.

Color-picked straight from the aviator's wings on Jay's back, half of a lavender cloak acts as a contrast to the fragile, clinging chains: something solid, comforting, and predictable for the rare moments where Jay experiences warmth and compassion during this season.

A lavender quill dripping with ink from a glass inkwell represents the power of language that Nadakhan weaponizes throughout his ascension. It's also a pretty obvious reference to Jay's message-in-a-bottle scene, which is why it's paired with this look instead of Nadakhan's.

It's weird to think that I've made two out of three wishes in this series come true, albeit in my own special way. Keep an eye out for the third one - no matter who you ask, it might just be the most important...

#ninjago #ninjago skybound #ninjago couture #Yours To Keep: Rethinking Skybound Through Fashion #ninjago jay #ninjago fanart #fashion design

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