#//all of the invitees and all people included

[your-darling-gaze]

The Wedding Day

St.Patrick's Cathedral, 5th Ave, Brooklyn, NYC.

I exhaled, whispering silent nothings to myself. Feeling sick in my gut, I sat, in front of the mirror, taking deep breaths. It's okay, just a little anxiety. It will go away once I see him, wouldn't it? I gaze at my reflection, the slight feeling of a swell, a bloat, rather, until I was sure I was very ready. I could hear the music coming from downstairs, it was nerve-racking already.

"Cherry..!" Rowan's call snapped me out of my endless stare.

Tony was downstairs, waiting as the ringbearer, the bridesmaids were waiting, the flower girls too, were all ready. I nodded, my hand shaky as I held the lilacs and amaryllis in hand, I swallowed. It was time.

I slowly slipped my hand into Papaa's, giving him a silent 'thank you.' My gaze was soft towards him. I breathed out, slowly, as we descended the aisle, the flower girls ahead of us, small handfulls of petals scattering around as they passed further, I took slow steps down, the people coming into view. The bridesmaids waiting at the sides of the path for a welcome. My gaze was unwavering, I had come to present. I had come for what I wanted to claim this day. I was happy. Not a smile, but I held something rather calm. The music resonating every wall of the cathedral, all eyes holding still at the sight. The golden of the light was radiant, much more visible at day in the tall structure. I could recognise the faces, of course, Rowan was walking right behind me. I could see Tony, I could see Priest Loki, I could see Steve, I could see my dear bridesmaids. I could see all of them.

But then again, there was that feeling of vector resistance; the feeling of him, pulling at the strings of time, again, it was slowing down when his gaze met mine. There he was, my pretty boy. Mister. It was almost as if a feather punctured my lungs that moment, he could see me; I could see him. That strange intimacy of the moment when we caught each other in the fibres of time and no one else existed for that strange instant.

'James Barnes. My Bucky.'

He was proud, I could tell. That head tilt gave away much of what he was thinking, and what better than having a well observant fiance..no, wife. Wife. Surreal to even think of It, I sighed. I reached before him and neither uttered a sentence. An underlying tension to the flurries of emotions burying it deep inside.

On reaching, Papaa stepped back, nudging me forward. I stepped ahead, my gaze almost...frantically flicking between Loki and James. With assertion, he began.

“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today in the sight of God and in the presence of this company, to witness and bless the union of Darling Carmel Felicity Grace and James Buchanan Barnes in holy matrimony. Marriage is a gift from God, a sacred bond, a commitment not to be entered into lightly but reverently and with deep love. Today, we celebrate the love that has brought them together, and the journey they will continue hand in hand.”

My breath hitches. It was happening.

“Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we invite Your presence into this sacred moment. Bless this union of Darling and James as they pledge their lives to one another. May their hearts always be full of compassion, understanding, and forgiveness. We ask that You guide their steps, and may their love be a reflection of Your love for all. Amen.”

He turns to us both.

“Darling and James, today you will make your vows to each other. These promises will be the foundation upon which you build your life together. Please turn to each other, and as you hold hands, speak the words from your heart.”

I look through the provided page, my hands shakily reaching to hold his.

I clear my throat.

"James, from the moment we met, you have been my strength, my laughter, and my greatest joy...I vow to love you...through all of life's seasons, to stand by your side in moments of joy and challenge...I promise to be your faithful partner, to support your dreams as if they were my own...and to cherish every moment we share. With all that I am, I give you my heart, today and always."

My eyes twitched with tiny tears prickling at their corners. It was welling up in my chest.

He reached for his own, gaze meeting mine, before I sensed the vulnerability in his voice.

"Darling, you have shown me what true love looks like—patient, enduring, and kind. Today, I stand here, promising to be your rock, your safe place, and your greatest supporter. I vow to honor you, respect you, and be faithful to you in every way. Together, I know we can face anything, and I will walk with you through every challenge and every joy. You are my heart, my hope, and my forever."

A pause, when Tony comes forward, our ring-bearer. He gives us both a little smile, I knew that smug rascal had gotten the engravings on the ring just as I wanted them. I give him a little knowing look, a thankful nod. He stands behind James, knowing that he was needed here.

“These rings are a symbol of the unbroken circle of love. Just as the ring has no end, so shall your love be without end. James, take Darling's hand and place this ring on her finger as a symbol of your commitment."

“With this ring, I give you my heart, my soul, and all that I am. Wear this ring as a reminder of my eternal love.” He spoke.

“Darling, take James’s hand and place this ring on his finger as a symbol of your commitment.”

“With this ring, I give you my love, my trust, and all that I will ever be. Wear this ring as a symbol of our unending journey together.” I said, my voice nearly sounding like it was breaking.

He looks to us again, starting with a few final declarations.

"Darling Carmel Felicity Grace, do you take James Buchanan Barnes to be your lawfully wedded husband? To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do you part?"

"I do." I shudder, a shiver of thrill down my spine.

"James Buchanan Barnes, do you take Darling Carmel Felicity Grace to be your lawfully wedded wife? To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do you part?"

"I do." he speaks, a waver in his voice.

"Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; Love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor." (Romans 12:9-10) “May the Lord bless you and keep you. May His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May His presence be with you always, and may He give you peace. As you embark on this new chapter, may your love continue to grow and flourish, and may you always seek the divine in each other.”

My eyes flickered rapidly, Rowan wasn't here behind me...who would tell me that my mascara was expensive...that I shouldn't be overwhelmed like this...

“By the power vested in me by God and the state, I now pronounce you husband and wife. What God has joined together, let no one separate. James, you may now kiss your bride.''

The cathedral echoes of orchestral renditions, applause, cheers, and so much more that happened, and yet it all was kept out of my mind, when his lips captured mine, gentle, only due to etiquette. A few tears slip down my cheek, his thumb collecting them all, sliding them away between the kiss. When we pull away for a breath, is when I realize, the stain of my lipstick that I had left onto his lips.

We break out into a quiet giggle. As we thank Loki for the ceremony, we make our way down the cathedral, wishes raining down on us with the petals, and yet it all seemed so drastically unreal.

__________________________________________

Sitting around a table, were all of us, for the post-marriage dinner, I exhale, as Steve, Our best Man, stood up, clinking his glass for his speech and a toast.

[ @the-capsicle Please insert your speech when you reblog. ]

The speech wells up emotions. Steve has always been a man of the softer words, yes. He had his way around gravitating emotionally towards people, also yes. I too, was holding back the small ache in my throat, as James pulled the punk in for a hug.

And then so, followed by a night of music and dance, wine and a lot of spilled secrets at late night, and a little kiss goodnight, is how it all concluded. The Big Day.

27.09.2024. The Wedding.

Yours Officially, Mr. and Mrs. Barnes.

_______________________________________________

[violenteconomics]

an event inspired by “peter pan (1953)” where sebek — being a half-fae and all — gets invited to an exclusive party for fae on (i’m spitballing here) golden ash island, called the “Dance of the First Laughs”.

there are only three requirements for attendance:

you have to follow the dress code (though it never specifies what that is exactly).

you can bring anybody, fae or otherwise, even if they don’t have an invite, but no more than ten people.

if you ARE planning on bringing someone, they have to be the same age as the invitee or younger.

sebek thinks that last rule is sort of strange, but he’s so excited to go that he doesn’t think much of it. (he’s a little disappointed he can’t invite malleus, but eh. i’m sure the big guy won’t care, right?)

naturally, he invites the rest of our freshies, and naturally, they all agree — who would say no to an all-expenses paid vacation? (jack agrees to go only because he saw leona roll out of bed, flop onto the ground, and then still refuse to get up)

the day after they all agree to go, sebek gets sent an absurdly large package with specially-designed outfits for all eight of them (this is what they meant by “dress code”). ALSO included in the package is a map, and a jar of golden dust with the label “think happy thoughts” on it. since they’re already stoked, it doesn’t take long for them to start flying.

they all follow the map to golden ash island, and that's where all the problems start.

it turns out that the longer people stay on golden ash island, the more they start to forget about who they were before. and the reason why the faes invited sebek in the first place (and gave him that strange age rule) was because they sensed a deep pain in them, and wanted to take them away from that. there’s a deep pain in almost every student in night raven college, but golden ash island almost exclusively prioritizes the youngest of any group.

sooo… now the first-years have to find a way to break out of golden ash island before they all forget the reason they want to escape in the first place. all the while, their messed up memories are going out of whack, and now they're mentally reliving every life-threatening situation they’ve ever had to deal with. this translates into the first-years having to fight “mental battles”, which are just actual battles, except they’re not… real? they just think they are??

uhh… hm.

this can’t be good.

[reveluving]

If requests are still open I have one... Graves is having sex with his wife, and Price is watching them and he touch himself 😈 And his wife notice that Price is there but she can't say it to Graves because he makes her moan so much with his dick buried into her.

Are you TRYING TO KILL ME??? BECAUSE THANK YOU?? FAWK. 💀

Includes: wall s~mut (minors DNI!), soft (& slighly mean)!graves, mentions of nude polaroids, voyeurism & exhibitionism, licking, fingering, unprotected sex (p in v)

COD x shy!wife thots closed! Thank you, everyone, for your time & amazing minds! I sincerely hope I can do this again with y'all soon! 💌

Come & check out my COD m.list!

Being invited for dinner by the Phillip Graves was not on their bingo card.

Not that they didn’t like him, he was a good sport, almost like a brother, as evidenced by the good-humoured banter he has with them, especially with Johnny or Alejandro. But if he didn’t always go “can’t wait to see m’wife after this shit ends” every time they work together, then they would’ve assumed he was a casual hookup kind of guy.

So to be proven wrong when he took a polaroid of you—you hugging Kai, who was sulking at the doorway as it rained—out of his pocket, along with the silicone wedding band around his finger, well, it was safe to say they were pretty surprised. 

The SFW polaroid, of course, not the other ones.

Those were for his eyes only.

The invitees included the 141, then Laswell, along with Alejandro and Rudy, who were in town for work. God bless Graves for being ahead of them with the accommodations, not far from his house.

And as their day offs rolled around, you, on the other hand, got to work.

As usual, you did an amazing job with the food, from the proteins that he’ll help you cook once the party starts, down to the endless amounts of sides to choose from—the kinds that were both filling and bursting with flavour, an instant approval from the Southern blood in him. Somewhat enough to ease your worries about your hard work not being enough.

Meeting you had them wondering how a man like Graves managed to put a ring on a sweetheart like you. But the heart eyes they would catch in his eyes every time you were close by told them everything they needed to know about just how much he cares about you.

Of course, none of you could ever forget Kai, already rushing over to you at the front door when he thought he was going to go for a walk, only to perk up even more at the sight of more people.

More people meant more pets!

But back to the two of you; seeing you work together, balancing, with Graves’ more outgoing personality and you being soft-spoken yet perceptive, especially with his friends’ plates, it was all so… homey. No worries, no strategies, just smiles and laughs and gossip. 

After dinner, just as Graves expected, the team was astounded by your backyard patio—the perks of being married to a florist. The comfortable outdoor sofa and the small yet charming garden arrangement; everything well taken care of, plus the string lights added to the comfortable aesthetic feel, especially by nightfall. 

It took little effort to keep the conversation rolling, in addition to the snacks you had prepared with the beers. 

“I’ll be right back.” You whispered before kissing his cheek hastily, much to his amusement. You took your leave, only to scurry away at the door when he winked at you, uncaring at the thought of his friends catching his displays of affection.

But seeing his girl getting along with his friends so well? Her warm smile? Her cute little attempt to hide her laugh behind her hand? Putting her heart and soul into her cooking and her hospitality in general, despite your bashfulness?

Well, it was only fair to say thank you.

Graves-style.

Not even ten minutes after you entered the house, he stood up.

“I’m gonna check on the missus for a bit,” He waved his hand at them without looking as he headed to the sliding door, “You guys hang ‘round.”

And then, Price felt the need to stand on his feet, but not before scratching behind Kai’s ears one last time before the pooch moved to Gaz for more pets.

Price excused himself, saying he needed to splash his face a bit. He’s not drunk, far from it, but it has been a while since he’s had a relaxing time like this. And like the rest of the crew, he was not willing to miss out on the coziness of your home.

But the surprises never stopped when he heard a squeak, your voice unmistakable, just before he could turn the corner, where the kitchen, then the guest bathroom were. 

He didn’t dare to take a look at first.

“Phil!” He heard you yelp, followed by a drawn-out moan that you were trying to suppress in your husband’s shoulder. 

But fuck, your voice was so tantalizing.

Price held his fist against his mouth with his eyes closed, unsure if he was trying to drown out the sounds or put more focus on it. Then, his ears perked up at the squelching in between the fast-paced pistoning of Graves’ fingers in and out of your pussy.

The captain’s morality began to chip away, going just as insane as his friend when he chuckled evilly in your ear.

“Gettin’ a lil’ shy, pretty girl?” He didn’t make it any easier for you when he licked a large stripe up your throat, “S’alright, they’re just enjoyin’ themselves back there. ‘S just you and me.” 

You were already whining, albeit muffled as you bit your bottom lip as he held you up against the wall. With the way he was slapping your entrance, watching you with a knowing smirk, you knew he wasn’t going to hold back.

And as embarrassing as it was for Price to admit, he was thankful for it. Pumping his cock in his hand, following the same rhythm as the wet slaps of your hips. Your moans were just as hypnotic, short gasps and mewls every time Graves thrust back into you deeply. His tongue licked up the thin perspiration gathering on your exposed skin. 

Price was precise with his peeking, only doing so whenever he heard your muffled voice—when he was certain you were resting your head against his shoulder or even kissing him.

Those pretty lips.

But in the midst of his pleasure, he wasn’t careful enough, cursing under his breath while holding his firm grip on the tip of his cock when he heard you gasp, no doubt catching sight of him when he hid back behind the wall.

And yet, his feet were too heavy to move. Glued in his spot.

Praying to see more of you. Hear more of you.

Literally anything more.

“P–Phil,” Your nails massaged across your husband’s scalp, a silent plea for him to listen.

But you were too cockdrunk to even think about stopping him, let alone attempt to say a single word.

“Hm?” He hummed against the crook of your neck nonchalantly, slowing down his pace, but bottoming out just as deep to hear to whine, “Want me t’stop, baby?”

No. No no no. 

He couldn’t hear you, not with your incoherent babbling, but if you thought he didn’t understand what you were trying to say, oh, you couldn’t be any more wrong.

He wasn’t blind to the lingering looks some of the men gave you, not especially the captain’s. And though he had always known Price as ‘old-fashioned’ with his manners, he’d be stupid enough to think his courteousness with you didn’t mean anything more. 

But who could blame him? You were one in a million.

And when he, too, caught sight of the familiar figure before it hid behind the wall, he knew his suspicions were correct. 

And unless you told him to stop, to use your safeword, he wouldn’t even dream about pulling out. Not until he gets to feel it clench and quiver against him. To see your cum, both yours and his, dripping, even after he’s pulled your panties back up.

“I asked you a question, sweetheart,” He held your chin, a mix between a coo and a sneer. He snapped his hips once again, drawing a sputter out of you, “Do you want me t’stop?”

His smirk grew when your eyes darted sideways, knowing Price was still there, watching you being unravelled and ruined, then humming in delight when you finally answered.

“No.”

˚ · . f i n . · ˚

[yerimbrit]

[flufftober day 11, wc: 1.4k] - murder mystery dinner : WWIB

“OH MY GOD!” someone screams, frozen in shock when the body turned over is revealed to be none other than y/n, the host of the whole dinner party. she’s unmoving, cold, and, wonyoung—or rather, the rising supermodel sarah coulter—gasps, “she’s been murdered!”

wait, wait, wait. let’s backtrack—how did we even end up in this situation? well, for starters, it’s basically halloween. maybe 20 days early, but regardless, basically halloween. and since y/n is such a genius (yes, clap all you want), she decided she wanted to host a dinner party involving everyone she talks to. which is a bit much for a dinner party, for someone who claims to not talk to too many people.

cryptic invitations were handed out mysteriously in a number of methods, including but not limited to: slipping it in the invitee’s locker, having a stranger pass it to the invitee, the invitee magically finding it in their pocket, and probably more—y/n doesn’t remember all that info. with the invitation were the details and an assigned role when scanning a qr code, along with a form where you would put your fake name to be addressed by. 

the location for the dinner party is a decently sized and lavishly-decorated party venue, with a small seating area near a bar top (serving non-alcoholic drinks, of course) and a short corridor leading to a locked dining room. guests arrived in their finest attire befitting of their assigned character, mingled for a bit wondering where y/n was, and when allowed in the mysterious locked area, were struck by horror to see the host herself on the floor and (supposedly) unconscious.

hyunseo makes brisk strides over to the body, her stethoscope shaking around her neck as she moves. as she kneels down on one knee, she presses two fingers against the pulse point on y/n’s neck and pats her face, sneakily glancing at a cue card she pulled out from her pocket a second ago. “blue around the mouth… and she’s super stuff-” she squints at the card, “stiff.” 

guests crowd and clamor around the physician, and she looks to them, “it could be poison, it also smells kind of fruity.”

minji side-eyes hanni who’s about to make some kind of joke, and it shuts her up. “but who could it be? it’s not like she poisoned herself.”

hanni raises her hand, suddenly poised and in character, “i, farandoliah von siegmeyer, have a statement to make.”

“okay, miss siegmeyer-”

“it’s farandoliah von siegmeyer, thank you, detective boonville!” she interrupts minji valiantly.

the detective replies curtly, “i am not calling you by your full legal name, miss siegmeyer. but do go on.”

everyone watches the heiress intently, curious to hear what she has to say in the midst of this tragedy; an alibi? or an accusation? “i saw eleonora and greg lingering over by the corridor,” hanni points to hyein and rei, or greg and eleonora respectively, whose faces twist into offense, “also, it wasn’t me because i was chatting up detective boonville at the bar.”

hyein adjusts her blazer which is sitting fashionably around her shoulders, her arms not in the sleeves. “this is extremely disrespectful, miss farandoliah von siegmeyer,” she spits out, “i’ll have you know i was just checking the venue out with eleonora.”

“i was only there for five minutes and left, greg was still there after i made a full lap though,” rei adds, taking her sunglasses off and folding them, tucking them into the breast pocket of her own blazer. the ceo turns to the bodyguard angrily, practically fuming. a cue card flies out of her hand and onto the floor, and everyone tries not to look at the fallen item.

“are you claiming that i murdered august!? believe me, i don’t even know why her face is blue, apparently because of poison, why would i murder august?” hyein defends herself, “if anything, miss madeline is suspicious because she kept glancing over; i could almost feel her gaze burning into my skin while i was over there.”

the guests’ attention shifts to jiwon, the librarian, who is wiping the lenses of her specs and then frowns. “i was staring because i saw lysithea going into the room.”

now they whip their heads to haerin, who furrows her brow. minji crosses her arms and narrows her eyes. “what were you doing inside the locked room?”

eunchae puts a hand into her pocket and checks a silver pocket watch which was awfully familiar to the observant eyes of danielle who then glares at her. “why do you have her watch? what would the bartender have to do with august’s watch?”

the bartender shrugs, “i took it when i saw her before you guys came in, looked expensive. hey yura, i heard you and lysithea are quite close to august, am i mistaken?”

danielle purses her lips, keeping mum about the situation. haerin looks back at minji, who has been keeping the journalist under her scrutiny. “i was having a conversation with august, and then i came back out. miss hunter,” her eyes flit to danielle briefly, “then approached me and we exchanged some… pleasantries, and she went into the room after me.”

the artist’s mouth opens and closes like a fish, unable to think of something to use as her alibi. she tries to pull her own cue card out, but something else falls from her paint-stained apron pocket, clattering to the floor. it’s a small bottle of a car maintenance product, labeled with a sticker. minji picks it up before she can, and widens her eyes, “miss hunter, what are you doing with antifreeze?”

“i,” danielle gulps, “i forgot to put it back after i used it on my car before i came here.”

wonyoung’s snooping around y/n’s body, feeling around her pockets and finding two pieces of paper. her touch makes the (well, supposed to be) dead body giggle and then stop abruptly.

(“wony-unnie, stop, i’m ticklish!” y/n whisper-shouts, not opening her eyes. wonyoung grins at her and sticks out her tongue.)

“there’s two letters on august!” the model stands up, brandishing the papers in her hand, “they seem to be from yura hunter and lysithea melbme.”

she hands them to minji, who opens one with skepticism. “my dear love august, it is a joy to attend this dinner party that you host. i’ve missed you dearly; we’ve both been so busy, our work leaves no time to go on those escapades we had back in college nowadays… i’d like to ask if you’d be up to coming with me after dinner, just the two of us. i still love you, and i’d hope you’d feel the same after we met again last weekend. sincerely, lysithea.”

danielle is biting her lip in anger and what seems to be betrayal and hurt. minji opens the other paper and clears her throat, “hey august, i know we just saw each other a few days ago but i missed you. i’ll keep it short, but do you want to hang out after this? i’ve got something really, really important to tell you. fancy me for a few, yeah? best, yura.”

“you’ve been seeing august?” haerin faces danielle, “i thought you were the one who dumped her all those years ago.”

“we made up,” danielle grits her teeth, “and i thought you haven’t seen each other in years. so that lipstick stain was yours on her collar, wasn’t it?”

“that’s beside my point. look, just because you’re jealous that she loves me and not you, doesn’t excuse the fact that you gave her antifreeze!? she’s dead, yura,” the journalist grabs the artist’s collar in rage, “dead! this goes beyond any revenge. what happened to moving on like a normal person, huh!?”

the artist looks away, ashamed, but quickly sneers at haerin, “so what if i did? i knew i wasn’t going to have august. but most of all, i didn’t want you to have her, not after you stole her away while we were on a break.”

haerin opens her mouth, only to be stopped by ‘august’ herself, who has sat up in concern. “congrats on solving the murder…? that escalated really quickly, what the heck.”

everyone’s characters break, and the chatter starts up again. haerin and danielle exchange a look that y/n can’t quite piece together, so she stands up and dusts off her legs and walks up to them. “it was fun watching you two fight over me, you know. also, if you guys could sit down for the actual dinner, that would be great.”

“we get to eat!?” hanni exclaims and gets a hand slapped over her mouth by minji, “ow! what was that for?”

there’s five on each side, with y/n at one end of the table. she holds a glass of apple cider up, smiling at the mess she orchestrated a couple of minutes ago. “to the murder of august walter!”

“you still have blue around your lips.”

“shut up, greg.”

flufftober masterlist!

a/n : THAT WAS NOT UNDER 1K IM SORRY but wasn't that so fun lol is this foreshadowing (it's not) (no clickbait)

[porcupine-girl]

Ask game fic premise: fake dating to qualify some sort of benefit (reduced gym Costco membership, etc.)

Oh yeah, I would totally write that. Bitty can't afford his own Costco membership, and they've started cracking down on people using other people's cards (they really have), so what is he supposed to do but find a way to get on his rich best friend's?

And that gets him on a few mailing lists as "Mr. Eric Zimmermann," which he feels some kind of way about but isn't going to say anything. And Jack has the high-end membership, too, so now Bitty is getting ads for housewares he will never afford. They go to Jack, because it's his address on the account, but he saves them in case Bitty is interested and Bitty thinks it's very sweet.

"Jack, I can't afford a single thing in here anyhow."

"I could buy it for you if you want."

Bitty: *dies*

Then Jack gets an invitation to, idk, something more exclusive than Costco. *waves hands vaguely* Some rich-people thing that includes exclusive events at all of Providence's best restaurants, members-only workshops with those restaurants' chefs and pastry chefs, that kind of thing.

"Bittle, I'll buy you a membership if you want. It's fine, you know it's not a big deal."

"Jack, the invitation is for you, not your random college buddy you're vouching for. See, it says right here, only the invitee can apply for membership, and once they're accepted they can add one significant other to their membership."

"Oh, so it's like the Costco thing. That's fine."

"It is not! Like! The Costco thing!"

And, y'know, things snowball from there.

Send me a fic premise that sounds like something I would write and I will tell you how accurate it is

[king-of-the-birds]

PAUL'S BALL

a launch party for wings

He produced a handwritten invitation, leaving space to write in the invitee's name, as well as a number, which would be used for a raffle drawing toward the end of the evening. (The prize was a magnum of champagne; the disc jockey Jeff Dexter was the winner.) (..) The recommended dress was "glam."(..)

Some 800 musicians, reporters, friends of the band and music business honchos were invited.(..)

As always at such events, there was ample carping, which a reporter for Rolling Stone duly cataloged. After describing the Empire Ballroom as decidedly unhip, a leftover from the days when the Joe Loss Orchestra would play foxtrots, and young ladies shopped for husbands among the dancers, the writer noted that while the wine and cheese were free, everything at the bar was for sale.

(…)

Eyebrows were raised when, instead of a Wings performance, partygoers were treated to fox-trots, waltzes, quicksteps, and congas, played by McVay's band-along with what McVay remembered as arrangements of sixties and seventies hits, including a Beatles medley and some Beach Boys tunes. They were raised higher still when the heavily sequined and coiffed Frank and Peggy Spence Latin and Ballroom Formation Dancing Teams filed onto the floor to demonstrate their artistry.

"I'm beginning to think that Paul actually digs all this" one guest quipped to the Rolling Stone reporter, "that he actually likes dance bands, ballrooms, and buffet food. That's incredibly camp, you know, incredibly camp. Have you seen his suit? It's like a clown's costume, the jacket is about five sizes too big, and it's not even been finished."

(from the McCartney Legacy Vol. 1)

Paul: A press launch is always a good excuse to have a night out, so we invited friends and journalists, played the album, danced and had a few funny people come on to entertain. I wore an outrageous big check suit that I thought would be good. When I went to collect it from the tailor that morning he told me that it wasn’t finished. I said, ‘Maybe not, but it’s a look!’ So I went to the party with the cotton and the stitching showing, and everyone said, ‘Your suit’s not finished.’ I said, ‘Yeah, I know. Great, huh?’

(from Wingspan, 2002)

Some of the guests that attended were Jimmy Page, Elton John, Sandy Denny, Mary Hopkin, members of the Who, the Faces, Deep Purple, Ginger Baker, Henry McCullough, Gilbert O'Sullivan, Graham Bond, Sandie Shaw, the Greek synthesizer wizard Vangelis, the actors Malcolm McDowell, and Terence Stamp, some of the Monty Python troupe, Sir Joseph Lockwood, the head of EMI, Allan Clarke, of the Hollies, and (Benny) Gallagher and (Graham) Lyle.

After the party a fan encountered Paul:

He went skipping (yes it is true) down the road with Linda and just as he turned the corner to a side street, I took courage and called him back. He stopped and said “yeah” so I ran to catch him up and breathlessly asked him for his autograph. The funny part is my pen was at the bottom of this large bag of mine! He stood patiently watching me with arms folded as I rummaged elbow deep. I asked him if he had a pen as I just couldn’t find mine; he said no (which isn’t surprising as he had this crazy suit on that had no pockets).

(Kathy Turner – From Meet the Beatles for Real: Wings Party)

[aphroditeslover11]

Hi what do you think about a Neil Lewis with a actress reader? Like they met before and he has already a crush on her and then he watch movie and see her ?

Another tought (not q request just something in my head) so I'm from Göttingen, an we have here q tradition if someone has his PhD they have to kiss the Statue of the goose Maid ( "Gänseliesel") he is not common with this tradition and so when reader ask him when he is planning do the kiss he assumed she wanna that he kiss her

I hope this is something along the lines of what you were thinking of. I’m not at my best at the moment so I’m sorry if there are any glaring errors. I hadn’t written for Neil before, but he’s actually very fun! Thanks for your request. Also, that is a fabulous tradition, it might get slotted into one of my other Oppie requests, I’m not sure yet though as it’s in the idea phase at the moment.

A Surprise Encounter

A/N: the classic films mentioned are all free on BBC iPlayer, go and give them a watch! I also have no idea where the store is, so I made it up.

Neil was absolutely beside himself when the invite arrived in the post. A new film that he couldn’t wait to see was premiering soon, it was low budget but contained a few big names who had decided that they wanted to promote the more independent side of the industry. He had been asked to attend an event aiming to promote smaller video shops like his rather than the huge, commercial ones that were taking over. When he read that you and the director alone were going to be on the panel he felt like he had never been luckier, finally a chance to meet his favourite actress in the flesh. Although he did admire your talents, he’d be lying if he didn’t admit that he also found you wildly attractive.

The next few weeks were spent planning everything. He rewatched a few of your films so that he could ask some decent questions of you at the press event and reading every article that he could on the making of your new one, a biopic of Julie d’Aubigny. He went out and bought a new suit for the occasion, had his hair cut. As far as he was concerned, there were going to be no disasters, not when he was going to meet one of his idols.

~

The day of the event had finally come. All of the invitees, including Neil, had been piled into an auditorium where they had been given an early viewing of the film, then being moved into a press room with rows of chairs set out in front of a platform. He was happy with his seat, about half way back in the crowd, not too conspicuous but with a good view of the stage. The previous hubbub died down as soon as the panel made their way up, the director taking his place, yet Neil’s eyes were fixed on you. Your hair was down and curly, framing your face, and that smile that everyone always talked about. You were wearing black heels a red dress that dipped down just enough to give a small view of your cleavage. He was transfixed.

Questions started being asked, the general types of how you had enjoyed working with the rest of the cast and what you had taken away from playing your character, some conversations were had about wanting to make sure that the smaller side of the film and cinema industry wasn’t dwarfed in the future. For some reason, all of the eyes in the room suddenly focused on Neil, it was only then that he realised that he had drifted off, his arm leaned on the armrest of his chair in such a way that you had thought he was asking a question.

“Uh, the gentleman in the blue suit there, do you have a question?” The sentence was coming from you, quickly drawing him out of his reverie.

“Um.. yes,” he never was much good at thinking on his feet. “I know that you’re promoting this film today, but do you feel as if classic cinema has been forgotten. My shop specialises in older, more hard to find movies and… well, yeah,” he trailed off. He was like a deer in the headlights, speaking as if he was full of terror. A few people around him were scoffing and hiding their laughter. Great, he had embarrassed himself in front of you.

“Actually, I do think that we’ve forgotten about classic cinema. Not only the thrillers and comedies, but for me the least talked about are the romance films. I grew up on Astaire and Rogers musicals, I know some people don’t like them and find them a bit politically incorrect know, but they still have a special place in my heart. If you think about their influence on modern cinema, we wouldn’t have ‘Sleepless In Seattle’ if it hadn’t been for a 1939 film ‘Love Affair”. What was your name?” Why the hell did you want to know who he was?

“Neil Lewis.”

“And where’s your shop?”

“California, its called Gumshoe Video.”

“I’ll pop in next time I’m in town, maybe you could give me some recommendations.” And that was the end of that conversation.

~

About three weeks later everything had returned to normal. Neil was back to running the store and the gang were still practically living there. It was a completely normal day when Lucien, who had been manning the counter, came around to the back to find him.

“Neil, you might want to come inside, there’s a customer asking for you.”

“Can’t you handle it?” He just wanted a bit of time to himself, making is response more huffy than he had intended.

“Trust me, you want to come and see this.”

He followed Lucien back into the shop, only to be caught in shock as he saw you standing there in front of him, dressed a lot more casually than the last time he saw you, but still with your hair down in its beautiful curls. He never thought that you would actually make true on what you had said, but here you were.

“Is there anything that I can help you with Miss y/l/n?”
“I came by to see if you had any suggestions for me, you know, classic films like you said you specialised in.” You actually seemed a bit nervous, though he had no idea why. “And please, call me y/n.”

“Right, y/n,” it just felt so right when he said it. “What kind of thing are you looking for, any genres in mind?”

“I always love a romance movie, the press don’t know yet but I left my boyfriend last month after he cheated on me. I’m down here to get away from it all, so a romance to take my mind off everything would be good, yeah.” He could see the sadness behind your eyes as you explained.

“He must have been an idiot then,” he said, immediately regretting it and walking past the stunned Lucien towards the romance section, beckoning for you to follow.

“So, you said that you liked Astaire and Rogers, but have you ever seen ‘The Sky’s The Limit’?”

“I don’t think I have, no.” He reached out for the dvd, showing you the front of the case.

“It’s Fred Astaire and Joan Leslie, came out in 1943. A musical about a fighter pilot who falls in love with a girl who wants to make it as a journalist, sounds like the sort of thing you might be looking for.”

“I think I’ll take that then, sounds perfect.” Something lit up inside him, you were smiling and it was because of something that he had done.

“Right, I’ll go and sort out a membership card so that you can rent it then, do you have any ID on you. Driver’s licence or something?” You followed him over to the till, rooting around in your bag to find what he had asked for. He busied himself, quickly handing over the card and the movie.

“What do I owe you?” you asked, reaching for your purse.

“Nothing, it’s on the house.”

“Are you sure, because…”

“Yeah, in return for having me at that panel a few weeks back. It was amazing.”
“Well, in that case can I pay you back in another way?”

“What do you mean?”

“Maybe we could watch the film together?”

“That sounds like a fair means of payment, I think I’ll accept.” You slipped him your number, telling him to call when he was free before walking out of the store, Neil wondering what the fuck had just happened.

[xplrvibes]

some people on twitter are getting really mad at colby for apparently ‘ditching’ shea for his new girl saying shit like oh he led shea on and now he’s pushed her away lol

they’re fully acting like he’s committed an awful crime like why are they cancelling him 😭

(side note - i’m actually, whole heartedly convinced that half of the fandom genuinely hates colby and everything he does fills them with rage lmfao)

This is going to be a one and done, on this topic. I don't like Shea, don't like what she's doing. Never did like her, as you all know, because she has been an absolutely awful and manipulative bully and generally trash person over the years and I don't want her taking up too much space on my blog because of it.

But I felt the need to just put this out there before I move on, so here we go, behind a cut for anyone who doesn't want to hear it lol.

You know, I find this whole "taking Shea on her word all of a sudden" thing interesting.

According to Shea, they had a 10 year (even though he was still living in Kansas 10 years ago) "on-again, off-again thing" that was "mostly just talking" and was "never official," although it was "almost dating, but not official" for 2 years (even though there hasn't been a 2 year period where Colby hasn't been at least seeing someone, if not hooking up).

She doesn't seem to know any of his friends and not a single one of them follow her on socials - in fact, most of them unfollowed her several years back. Of particular note is the fact that Sam, after all these years of her being Colby's future wife, still hasn't followed her back...but has followed several of the other girls Colby's been linked to over the years, including M.

She never seems to have a clue about what is going on in his life and has been promising (and not delivering) fans content with Colby for years now - including her telling everyone that her and Colby were going somewhere to film a documentary in January of this year when Colby had already told everyone on xplrclub that he and Sam were going to be in Vegas or in Texas filming in all of Jan and then in Australia for most of Feb. She promised to have him on one her streams on a day when he was actually in Hawaii, then another day when he was actually in Kansas visiting family.

She hasn't been invited to a single party or group gathering of theirs since 2019, save for one time when she visited Colby and Sam in Las Vegas - which came across as very awkward, given the above.

She complained about never getting invited to snc's Halloween parties - you know, the ones that have 500-1,000 invitees and snc have claimed include an invite to every single person they know and are friends with? Yet Colby's soul mate gets left on the list somehow, 6 years running?? (One year he had four different past flings there at once. But the future Mrs. Shea Brock just didn't make the cut somehow)

Oh, bonus: she once told a gc full of her fans that Colby asked her out, but she turned him down because she valued the friendship too much. Funny how those turns tabled.

Colby meanwhile, has never hidden that he considers himself single, does not think he's met "the one," uses Raya to find dates, hooks up and has flings....he's not just pretending to be single, he IS single.

So. to recap: They have had a 10 year friendship and emotional bond that Shea deluded herself into thinking was more. Colby comes around her again after having had a cancer that could've easily rendered him unable to have children, and her grand idea is to tell this guy she freely admits she was never even dating that she wants to cash in on some vague promise he may or may not have actually made to her about getting married and having CHILDREN???

I'd have left her ass, too.

But sure. He's the bad guy. By the way, to hear Shea tell it, Colby did the same thing to her that Sam did to Kat. But all the people trashing Colby were the first ones in line to defend Sam from big bad mean Kat and her hurtful words because "he wasn't ready" and wah wah wah. Isn't that funny...and on par.

So yes, lol. Most of the people pissed about this are using any excuse put in front of them to trash Colby cause that is the only enjoyment they get out of life. Trust me when I say they are backing the wrong horse with Shea. She's not the hero victim y/n sainted good girl she pretends to be.

[whumped-by-glitter]

Day 7: Bloodied knuckles / Wounded / “Is that blood?!”

*for those of you that are following along and had to skip day 5: Whumpee was had a sonic based power awaken due to fear and stress. They were also turned into some kind of living art project by one extremely creepy whumper.

⚠️ CW: Hand Injury, Blood, Emotional Whump/Angst, Creepy Whumper (Mentioned)

Day 6 Here <

Leader was pacing in his office. He often did that these days. It had been 2 weeks since Whumpee went missing, and just under a week since Youngest ran off. Honestly, Leader was shocked that he hadn’t worn a path in the floor yet.

He heaved a sigh; he’d been doing a lot of that too. The failed mission where Whumpee went missing was all his fault. Why did he even bring them along on that? Now Youngest had run off. His team was dropping like flies, and it seemed like not only was he powerless to stop it, but he was also the cause. He slammed his fist into the cement wall out of frustration.

There came a gentle knock at the door, his second in command, Jace, barged in without waiting for an answer.

“Sir, we got another package this morning,” Jace said grimly, handing Leader yet another brown envelope, hands shaking.

Leader drew a deep breath in before taking it. It matched the first one that they had received. He paused before opening it, “has there been any progress tracing the first one?” he asked hopefully.

Jace shook his head sadly, “whoever sent it knew what they were doing.”

Leader barely acknowledged the reply, it was not the answer he had hoped to hear. He steeled himself and began to tear open the envelope.

He could tell Jace was holding his breath same as him as he slowly, reluctantly, began to pull out the contents. Both men were afraid of what the envelope held.

The first thing Leader pulled out was a sheet of paper. Upon inspection it read:

‘My Dearest Team:

You are cordially invited to the art exhibition “Falling Angel” featuring the art of the talented Mr. Whumper. The exhibit will be open to invitees for a private viewing on Sunday April 14, 2024. It will then be open to the public April 15-17, 2024. There will be live demonstrations and refreshments served throughout the event.

The location and map are included in this packet, along with tickets for each of you good for the private viewing tomorrow.

We understand that it is short notice, but we do hope you can make it. After all this exhibition couldn’t have been possible without Leader and your team. We sincerely thank you for your contribution to this truly magical event.

~ Whumper’

Leader’s mouth went dry, and his head swam as he numbly dumped the tickets on the table, along with a map with an address. “I guess that proves my theory right,” he muttered, completely gutted. “there’s enough tickets to include Youngest, they’re not together.”

Jace picked up the letter that Leader had laid face down, so he too could read it. He didn’t know what to make of it. This Whumper person seemed completely unhinged. Then something made him realize something. He quick grabbed Leader’s chair and hopped on their computer. Sure enough….

“Hey, Leader, come look at this.”

A quick google search revealed that Whumper was a convicted murderer and was recently let out of prison on good behavior.

“FUCK!” a fist slammed the desk, denting it.

“It’s not your fault Leader, you couldn’t have known,” Jace tried to comfort him best he could.

“You know good and fucking well it is! You even told me not to take him!”

Jace gently wiped a tear from Leader’s face, “well get them back, both of them.”

“Just go tell Caretaker to be in my office ready to leave by 5 am, same as you, rest of the team stays, we need people to stay to look out for Youngest. I also refuse to risk losing anyone else.” Leader hardened his face and ordered sternly, pulling away from Jace.

Jace turned and left without another word, at a complete loss for what else to say.

Once he was certain he was alone again, Leader broke. The end of the letter just served to further twist the knife of guilt that was already firmly imbedded in his chest.

He turned back to the wall he had punched earlier, and just unloaded. He let loose punch after punch. Soon he started to leave the white wall decorated with bloody fist marks, but Leader could not stop. He kept going, in a desperate attempt to numb the internal anguish.

‘thud’

‘thud’

‘thud’

Blow after blow landed on the wall, until Leader could feel bone shattering. He turned and sunk against the wall, fists dripping blood. He had hoped the pain would clear his head, but it only served to make it so that there was pain in his hands and his mind. They had to get Whumpee back tomorrow, they just had to.

---

An hour or so later there was another knock on his office door.

“Go away,” Leader ordered. He noticed he sounded drunk, despite being more sober than he’d ever been.

“I’m coming in, sir.” Caretaker replied, ignoring their commander.

“I told you to fuck off, didn’t you hear me, you have your orders for the morning.”

It was no use, Caretaker barged in anyway. “I don’t care what you told me; I deserve to know what’s going on,” They noticed Leader was not at their desk before their eyes fell on the wall behind leader. “What the hell?! Is that Blood?!” they exclaimed, rushing over to Leader. “What happened?” Panic was evident in their voice.

“Nothing, it’s fine, get some rest,” Leader gave a halfhearted shooing motion.

Caretaker’s concern increased when they saw the state of Leader’s knuckles. They immediately set to healing them. “What were you thinking? We’re about to attempt a rescue and you what, bust up your knuckles? How did you plan on fighting like this?” Caretaker lectured.

Leader had no answer for their questions. He wasn’t thinking, he was just in pain, pain from wounds that Caretaker couldn’t heal. Nothing would heal them but their two teammates’ safe return.

Once his knuckles were fixed as best as caretaker could, they were not a miracle worker after all, they turned back to wanting filled in on Whumpee. “What is going on? Jace said we have a location on Whumpee?”

Leader nodded and waved to his desk where the contents of the package were still scattered.

Caretaker followed the gesture.  They picked up the letter and read it. Tears welled up in their eyes. “hell, this is almost certainly a trap,” they said, barely above a whisper, voice cracking.

Leader nodded, “that’s why It’ll just be Jace, you, and me tomorrow. I don’t even want to take you, but I have a feeling your healing is going to be essential. I cannot lose anyone else,” He sounded resigned, broken. His face looked so weary.

Caretaker came and slid down the bloodied wall next to Leader. the two friends sat in comfortable silence. Each realized sleep was going to be an impossibility that night.

Event Prompts Here

My Event Masterlist Here

@whumperofworlds, @3-2-whump, @whumpsandbumps, @pigeonwhumps

[mxhirus]

Sorry if i am bothering but what do you think abaout Wlw Mahiru ships? Or Mahiru and female cast friendships ?

İ hope you answer but you dont have to ofc if it makes you uncomfortable.

Personally, I'm a GureMahi stan (that being my favorite ship in all of Owari no Seraph, followed by MikaYuu) The idea of WLW GureMahi sounds pretty nice to me.

Mahiru kind of succumbs to shitty writing so her friendships with the female cast aren't exactly the best. However, if it were up to me...

Mahiru and Mito: Close friends in childhood, soon drifted apart because of their different aspirations. (Mito being unsure what to do with her life, and Mahiru knowing exactly what she wants and how to get it, even if the means aren't the best way of doing so). Mito dearly misses Mahiru, but Mahiru hasn't had the time of day to think about her old friendships and what she had left behind.

Mahiru and Sayuri: One of the invitees to Mahiru's childhood sleepovers. Sure, her dad didn't like it when those that were lower than them were around Hiiragi children (of course, excluding houses that served them), especially if they served the Ichinoses. Sayuri developed a small crush on Mahiru after she had saved her from humiliation via. Seishirou the fuckstain

Mahiru and Shigure: Met when Guren wasn't home. Mahiru took a liking to Shigure and made a sweet comment about how she and Guren were "almost like siblings". Shigure did not take it too kindly though. Even despite this, Mahiru made an effort to include her in activities. (I find that Shigure would be on the more anti-social end of the spectrum)

Mahiru and Aoi: Became friends upon Aoi's arrival to the Hiiragi house. Despite not being that close, Mahiru found her character to be interesting (as she held herself similarly to Guren). Since they were the "ladies of the Hiiragi house" (she was attempting to imply that Aoi would soon marry Kureto, which she completely missed) they had to stick together. They drifted apart after Mahiru showed opposition to Kureto.

I love it when people ask me stuff! So do not be afraid that you're "bothering me" (when in fact I love infodumping) and thank you for the ask ^_^

[entriprises]

what did cathy's friends think of ellis? were they a hang out in a group type of couple or hang out just on their own? how big was the wedding?

cathy and ellis were very much a hang out on their own couple, but they have both met each others friends and has the occasional outing with another couple. they tended to prefer things with just the two of them though. despite having a lot of connections, they both weren't the kind to have big parties or outings with lots of people. they also very much considered each other their best friend.

meeting in the homestay program, it was them and another two people + the family they were working for. they all sorta were friendly over the summer, definitely shared meals and memories, but it was the sort of connection that really is just for a certain duration and in a context. ellis went on to work at that farm for much longer so he did get closer with those who stayed behind, but cathy went back to school where she had her friends.

cathy's friends are a small group of women who bonded over being the small minority that they were in their math and computer classes. some were just on the two year degree track, others on the four, but they bonded well. in total it was about six of them, which then went down to five after the first year and cathy was closest to just two. they all heard about ellis when catching up on their summers, and the first time that he visits her college is when they all go out for lunch. overall impression is that he's sweet and considering he drove all the way there they like him. they do think he's a good match for her because as independent as she is, he's very insistent but doesn't encroach on her. there's a clear amount of respect from him

cathy's got an additional friend or two from high school and back home who also got to meet ellis when he visited and met her parents for the first time. they were all pretty charmed by him, but they kind of assumed she'd meet someone at college so that was at least a little surprise. i think if you asked a lot of people who knew cathy who they imagined her with or who they might set her up with they would struggle a little to think of someone they think could work well alongside her stubborn independence.

the wedding is on the small side. there's maybe 30-40 people in total including family, friends from schools and farms, and some other obligatory invitees.

[ohc-and-the-music-tapes-archive]

Article and interview with Julian Koster about Caroling Tour 2008 and Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise. Flagpole, 26 November 2008

[source]

transcript:

Holiday Cheer from The Music Tapes Caroling with Julian Koster

With the hope of breaking down what he considers arbitrary barriers between listener, performer and the music itself, The Music Tapes’ Julian Koster is in the midst of a national caroling tour, taking his songs door to door nationwide rather than playing traditional shows in a rock club.

“To me, loving records and loving making records has always occurred in your own life, in your own room, in the context of your own things,” says the multi-instrumentalist, who gained a lot of attention as a player in Neutral Milk Hotel and alongside his Elephant 6 friends through most of the late ‘90s. “I just always thought it would be so wonderful if there could just be a knock at the door and this little elf from the records I love could come visit me and come carol for me in the world that my love for the music lives in, rather than having to go into a bar somewhere, into this completely foreign reality where my love doesn’t live. It feels like it belongs more to the imaginary places that music comes from and from which people's love of music lives in that strange sort of human tradition. I really like caroling a lot; I really like mumming a lot. Nobody lives in a rock club. Even the employees who spend their days and nights in a rock club, the moments where they can listen to a record and get lost in it probably exist mostly outside of that rock club.”

Koster put out the call for invitations—he’s only bringing his music to places where he’s been invited, and only between the caroling hours of 6 and 9 p.m.—last month via his website OrbitingHumanCircus.org, and he says he’s been steadily receiving invitations every day, via email and the old-fashioned manner of actual mail. “The response has been wonderful; it’s been amazing. Every day there’s been more. It’s been so warm,” he says. “There's just an extraordinary warmth coming from people, and they're all strangers! [Caroling] has been a dream of mine. Part of it came in a dream, and in the dream it wasn’t a specific holiday or time of year.” The idea is, that once invited, he'll arrive in a town, show up at the first house on his list, knock on the door, sing a few of his Music Tapes songs as well as perform a few holiday songs with his singing saw, hand out some presents and then move on to the next place on his list. “I think a lot of people are planning to have small holiday parties, at which point there'll be a knock on the door, and I think that’s really nice because many of the gatherings will include people who are strangers to them,” he says. Invitees could indicate whether they‘d open their houses—or apartments, or offices, or wherever they're inviting Koster to come carol—to strangers showing up, and those locations would be given preference if Koster received too many invitations in one town.

“I think it'll be all kinds of places, but they're not going to be shows,” he stresses, “and I think because this sort of thing hasn't really existed before, some people can’t quite wrap their brains around it, and theyre thinking, okay, so where’s the show going to be, but it’s, no, no,” he says, and giggles and giggles, “there’s not going to be a show anywhere! It’s your house! But not a show.”

Koster, who now lives off the coast of Maine but has spent most of the past six months here in Athens, recently returned to Athens from the Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise tour, which took the group of like-minded local musicians around the country performing songs revue-style, drawing on all their various bands: Neutral Milk Hotel, Olivia Tremor Control, Elf Power, The Gerbils and others.

“That-in itself was this funny abstract dream that itself came true, and we just leapt into the unknown with that because none of us knew what it would be like. I didn’t know what we would be presenting, I didn’t know what that would feel like, and I didn’t know who would come or what they would feel. I just had no idea. And to have that unfold with a tremendous warmth and excitement was… well, I guess that’s what you do when you a tremendous warmth and excitement was… well, I guess that’s what you do when you abandon yourself to the unknown and follow something that feels nice from the inside; it just happens. It’s almost like asking someone you have a crush on to go out. You just do it, and find out!”

Koster says that the Holiday Surprise Tour brought in more money than anyone involved had expected, and that’s making it easier for him to afford the gas money for this caroling trip. He left on Nov. 11 and went from Georgia through Tennessee to Texas, and around this time he should be somewhere midwestern like Kansas or Wisconsin before dipping into Canada next week and hitting up the entire state of New York before landing in Maine, where he has a big holiday party planned at his seaside house. After that, possibly back to Athens for some more music-making. This fall saw the release of the album Music Tapes for Clouds and Tornadoes, and an album of holiday songs called The Singing Saw at Christmastime was released last month. Koster says that a return to Athens may be likely, and that a reprise of the Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise Tour out to the West Coast is likely for early next year, but at this point not even Koster knows for sure where he'll end up—he’s waiting for a dream to let him know.

Chris Hassiotis

[tolerateit]

I JUST FOINX OJT ABORJ TBHS?!

“hating taylor swift has been a central part of my brand since 2010 look what she made me do”

“i just heard the new taylor in this donut shop which is unfortunately now cursed”

“dilemma: i want to include a subtle drag of taylor swift as an unwanted invitee to my protag's nye party in my book but is she gonna sue me”

Great I hate her now.

iskjdndsn i know a lot of people were a part of the hate train back then and people can change but objectively speaking it's hilarious that they deleted all the tweets after seeing like 80 posts about how the book is so lovercore or whatever album/song fans link it with

[polikszena]

Ficlet Advent Calendar 2022 - December 1

I know I’m starting this with a delay, but last Sunday we presented our sketch show, so I was preparing for it during the entire weekend, and now I’m catching up with myself. At least the show went very well. :)

Title: The letter Fandom: Downton Abbey Characters: Mary Crawley, Cora Crawley Word Count: 827 Rating: Teen and up audiences Summary:   After her divorce, Lady Mary Crawley isn't looking forward Christmas this year, but then she receives mysterious letter on the 1st of December. Notes: Sets after Downton Abbey: A New Era, based on that headcanon of mine that after getting fed up with Henry’s absence, Mary decides to end their marriage as it does not seem to work anymore. Also, I decided to post the chapters separately, because it’s easier to tag them that way, so apologies for the spam.

December 1 - The letter

Looking at the calendar, Lady Mary Crawley let out a sigh. Contrary to the previous years, she wasn’t looking forward to Christmas at all. She didn’t feel the slightest excitement to think about the enormous tree in the hall or her children’s face when they would see it or when they would rip the paper off their presents. The only thing she felt was a slight annoyance and exhaust. 

Having the whole family around, including Edith, parading around the house, showing off her perfect marriage, the Bransons, Aunt Rosamund, then Isobel, and all would be very-very sorry for her and would lament Henry’s absence. (Not that he was home during Christmas in the last few years.) On the top of that, Papa invited the Marquis of Montmirail as well, his almost-brother, which meant more people to pity her. And that was the last thing Mary needed right now.

No-one said divorce would be a piece of cake, she knew that, but she wasn’t expecting it to be this this hard. Even though it was much easier to obtain it, society still wasn’t prepared for people deciding to end a marriage that wasn’t working anymore. Especially women. Ever since she had stopped being Lady Mary Talbot, the invitations to dinner parties, balls or other social events became more and more rare, and whenever she hosted something, only half of the invitees came, or not even half of them. Sometimes people invited Mama and Papa, but not her. It was humiliating.

Not only she wasn’t good enough for Herny to choose her over race cars, but she wasn’t good enough for the high society either. All because she had got fed up with her husband’s absence. Wasn’t marriage about being there for each other? It certainly wasn’t about him being away on some car race while Tom was getting married or Granny passing away. This was even worse than the times when Edith wrote that horrible letter to the Turkish Embassy. But this time it was only a divorce! Nobody died! Being rejected by both Henry and society was too much to bear.

When she entered the drawing room that morning, she found her mother holding a letter. Mary felt the urge to turn around and walk away. She didn’t want to know about another event she wasn’t invited to.

“Mary darling, this is for you,” Cora handed her the green envelope, and she raised a brow as she wasn’t expecting a letter from anyone. She couldn’t even recognise the handwriting on it.

“Thank you, Mama,” she said, sitting down on the armchair, then she opened the letter.

Dear Lady Mary,

I received the news about your marriage, and I have to admit, it surprised me. But I’m not here to gloat, or to pity you. I happen to know that divorce is not easy, especially not for a woman, but I also know how strong and brave you are, and if anyone can go through it with her head held high, it’s you.

What is this about? Mary wondered. Does this person think I need a lawyer? I already have one!

It takes a lot of courage to get out of a marriage – been there, done that -, and even the strongest need some encouragement, a few good words, a little bit of fun to ease the pain of the divorce and help you move on. And this is why I’m writing these letters to you. This is the first one of the twenty-four you will be receiving from me until Christmas. This will be my present to you. However, I will not tell you who I am until then, because I don’t want you to think I’m doing this because I have an agenda. I just want to cheer you up a little, just to make these times a little more bearable. I’m looking forward to writing all these letters to you; tomorrow you will receive the second one.

Until then I remain, yours sincerely, Christmas Ghost

When Mary put down the letter, she didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t even sure if that anonymous Christmas Ghost was serious. Perhaps the whole thing was just a joke. Still, the idea of someone writing twenty-four letters to her just to cheer her up warmed her heart, making her wonder who that might be. Someone from the estate? Anna, maybe? But why would she do such thing, seeing her every day? Could it be Tom and Lucy? That would make sense, she thought to herself. But how would they know what a divorce could feel like?

“Who wrote to you?” Cora asked.

“I don’t know, it doesn’t say,” Mary replied. “I either have an anonymous friend or the whole thing is just a joke. Probably it’s the latter,” she added with a small shrug.

However, next morning she felt genuine excitement when she saw a green envelope on the tray when Greg the footman brought in the post.

(Read it on AO3)

[lankira]

One of my favorite former bosses is former NYPD and drilled into us:

If it’s not in writing, it didn’t happen.

Send those follow-up emails!

Also, after the cut, I’ve included both my method for sending those emails AND how I was able to use them to advocate for one of my clients’ employees without doing anything extra.

Here’s my method for if you have access to the standard Microsoft Office suite, including Outlook and OneNote.

Meeting Invite

If you’re told by your boss that you need to talk to them in their office with at least 15 minutes’ notice, ask them to send you a calendar invite. If they don’t create the invite at least 15 minutes before, create your own calendar invite with the title “Meeting as requested by [boss’s name]” and invite them to the meeting. In the body of the invite, add the notes “Meeting was requested  by [boss’s name] via [Teams/verbal request/etc] on [date] at [time].”

Send to OneNote

From the event in Outlook, find and click Send to OneNote. It will automatically make a page for meeting minutes with the following information: Meeting Name, who sent the invite (with an email link), who the required attendees are (as a checklist with email links), and the meeting date/time. There will also be a premade heading for the notes section.

Take Notes

If you have a laptop, bring the laptop with you to the meeting. If not, bring a notebook. Either way, take notes. AT A MINIMUM, note all attendees (regardless of if they were on the calendar invite), the topics discussed, any action items for you AND OTHER ATTENDEES.

Update/Type Notes

After the discussion, update your OneNote page for legibility/comprehension/typos. OR, type your notes into your OneNote page from your notebook. Check off all the invitees on the list who attended and add any unexpected attendees.

Add Action Items

On the OneNote page, create a heading for Action Items, then a subheading for each attendee/interested party. For internal meetings, my subheadings were usually [my name], [team lead’s name], [manager’s name], [other attendee(s) name(s)]. For external meetings, it was usually [my name], [TL’s name], [client company name]. Under each subheading, make a checklist. For something with a lot of moving parts, make a sub-list by indenting lines with the various parts. For example:

(Only if needed) Add Next Meeting’s Agenda/Follow-Up Topics

If a follow-up meeting was scheduled or things were mentioned as “things we’ll follow up on”, add a section with a heading like “Topics for Next Meeting” or “Follow-Up Topics”. Add a brief description of each thing, such as “Team performance expectations” or “Status of [Project]”

Prepare Your Follow-Up Email

Use the Email Page function in OneNote in order to email the notes. Anyone on the calendar invite will automatically be listed in the To field. Anyone not on the calendar invite need to be added manually in the CC field. All your notes, including the appropriate checkboxes for attendees, will be included in the email automatically. In the space before the OneNote data begins, start the email with “[greeting of choice], My minutes from our meeting are as follows. Please let me know of any changes or updates you have by using the reply all function to keep us all on the same page.”

Add Your Signature

Add your email signature AFTER your notes. Sometimes, anything below your signature is read by an email parser as part of your signature.

Click Send on the email.

Then go back to work! Keep an eye on the email and if you have a verbal conversation with someone from the meeting about an update about the notes, reply all to the email with something like “Per a conversation with [name], please note that the due date for [item] was misstated. The actual due date for [item] is [correct date]. [Name], please confirm that this is accurate.”

On using “Please [do thing]”:

As a note, telling people “Please do X” (such as “let me know of changes” or “confirm this”) is still polite in business land and puts the onus on the person/people addressed. Basically, it’s a way of saying “hey, I did my part, now it’s time to do yours”. If you never hear back from them and they try throwing you under the bus later, you have the email chain! You can say “I was acting on the information I had in my notes, which were in this email, which I never got a reply to.”

On using this for external meetings/worker solidarity

This also works for external meetings, such as those with customers/clients/trainers/etc. I was commended both by clients and my management team when I was doing software implementation for my thorough documentation. Including one client who was able to prove “on paper” that her boss was overloading her with work because of the action items lists.

The boss would be in the meeting, was my primary point of contact (on paper at least), and would have this one team member (I’ll call her Sheila) on the call, who I could tell was already overworked by the fact that she was often having to answer other business emails during meetings and mentioned training other people who weren’t in our meetings. Usually, my action items were sorted into [My Name], [My Team Lead], [My Client’s Company’s Name]. However, when my point of contact basically kept asking Sheila to do things that were technically his responsibility, I split it up to be more like this.

My Company Name

My Name

My Team Lead

Client’s Company Name

My Point of Contact

Sheila

When my TL saw the change, she asked why I started doing it different. I told the truth, but only half of it. “Sheila tends to have a lot on her plate, so I know things assigned to her might take longer. I just want to make sure I know who’s doing what.” I didn’t say the part where I suspected that the client was throwing Sheila under the bus for why the project was running late.

After a few weeks of meetings with that format for action items, we got an email from my point of contact’s boss explaining that the point of contact was being removed from the project and, as a result he was putting Sheila in charge of it with a small team. I kept the format (breaking it out into a section each for Sheila, each of her team members, and a general “Sheila’s Team” section) for a number of reasons, but mostly so the point of contact’s boss (who was now Sheila’s boss and had asked to be CC’d on our meeting minutes) wouldn’t know that I was initially doing it so Sheila could prove that she had been overworked. 

Sheila and her small team got the project done ahead of schedule AND she was able to keep her promotion after the project ended.

Do Not Let HR do this to you. It is not illegal to talk about wages in the work place. I did and got a 12% raise!

[chickensarentcheap]

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Today, Pope Francis welcomed 107 comedians and comic artists from around the world to the Vatican. While the official list announcing the invitees included Conan O’ Brien, Whoopi Goldberg, Jimmy Fallon, Jim Gaffigan, Stephen Colbert, Tig Notaro, and Chris Rock, also in attendance to represent American comedy at the event were Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Mike Birbiglia, and Ramy Youssef. And we got to watch it all unfold on a livestream. The pope addressed the gathered comedians for about ten minutes, saying they possess a “precious gift” and went on to add that “humor does not offend, humiliate, or put people down according to their flaws. While communication today often generates conflict, you know how to bring together diverse and sometimes contrary realities.” Once he’d delivered this speech in Italian, the gathered entertainers lined up to shake his hand, giving us a brief glimpse at how each celebrity deals with meeting a pope who may only sort of know who they are, if at all. Tap the link in bio for how some of the interactions with the pope went down.

Is it me or is this weird on so many levels?