#[ sophie's grandma self really went 'back in my day' ]

[madamhatter]

there’s a folded note stuck to the gate (door) to the hat cave. upon retrieval, it reads: “if you believe it! naruto! naruto! believe it! belieeeeeeeeeeeve it! yeah here i am with my ninja clan. ninja clan. here we stand. naruto! i’m on my way. naruto! i’ll be okay. getting ready to fight on sight. my best friends by my side. sasuke - is really cool. sakura - the beautiful” ... why. why is chiaki like this?

A symphony of groans and sighs fill the artisan’s workshop on campus. Such noises belonged to the brunette whose chin rested on top of her workstation, only knowing the comfort and company of mannequin heads and hats. Sourced at her tailbone, was a sharp jab or two that was ever persistent if she sat for too long or positioned herself in such a way that made work all the more cumbersome. ..Which, admittedly, was all the time.  

At the peak of her life and health, her body contorted and moved without worrying about the expanse of how her body would later ache and whine to the limits she reached. Handstands, one arm handstands too, cartwheels, back walkovers, elbow stands --- her youthful and serene moment of life was her committed to the art of flexibility and control over her body. 

Surely, some techniques weren’t much help when being in tussles, or being thrown around, but they certainly easy and fun to do when there wasn’t anything to do in the hat shop. Yet, she was beyond the golden years of her life at the ripe age of 18. It was all gone now, just the remains of a worthless life ahead of her. She sighs, grumbling under her breath.

How incredulous of a conclusion. For God’s sake, I’m only 18-years-old and beyond any form of recovery. Why must my mind spin such thoughts..? Even if it’s right. Experience defines age as much as every time the Earth orbits the sun. 

The hatter covers the back of her head with her arms, gritting her teeth. There wasn’t any point in laying, awaiting death when it wasn’t coming anytime soon. Falling asleep at her station was already impossible as her own flighty, defensive head wouldn’t even let her relax until she was in the confines of her room. 

Sliding off her stool, she slowly raises her arms over her head, hearing every joint in her body cracking. With her right palm. she drives her hand down to her tailbone, rubbing it for better care. She knew the right stretches, but it’d be better to do them in her room in case anyone walked in and gotten the wrong impression...

Pathetic shuffle to the door, a rare hatter emerges from the hat cave, retreating back to the only other place she’d find herself comfortably in. Though, as she opens the door, her eyes immediately spot the note attached to the door. 

Is this a warrant or an eviction notice? 

Sophie gently removes the note, the tape still left behind on the door. Unfolding the paper, she straightens it out between her middle and index fingers pressed together. “Alright, let’s see.” 

Ah, Chiaki. It must be of utter importance if the class representative from the neighboring class wrote it. As well, it must be addressed to me...because who else wastes their life in a workshop beside me? 

Oh, an encouraging letter! Believe in yourself! Believe ‘it.’  That is a strong opening to what this must be. Midterms are coming up, after all, and it can be daunting for all the main course students to prepare for their demonstration.

Na-roo-to. It must be a rallying cry. Na-roo-to! Na-roo-to! Huh. I never encountered this. It must be a local dialect that I have yet to learn. I’ll keep tabs on this.

Ninja...clan...... What a way to refer to your class. It must’ve been something she picked up from Mr. Tanaka’s superfluous speech and mannerisms.

Here we stand. Good, good. Bolster up those around you. Nah-roo-to! Nice, nice. 

......

Sophie draws the paper to her face, nose now picking the page. Squinting harder than she ever could to read the kanji, she pulls the paper back and then closer again -- at a normal distance from her eyes, this time. 

What the hell am I reading?

“This is something....” She murmurs. “Would those be one of these complex online lexicons?” She glances at the paper and looks up. “Where would this have even originated from? Or am I incapable of understanding and appreciating new-age poetry?” Frowning, Sophie wrinkles her nose. 

“Have I been..mehmed...?” The correct pronunciation for that is memed, Sophie.

[angeldolanx]

Chapter 6. /- stargazing/

28.05.'19

The next evening, I could say that I was a bit too excited for the boys to arrive. I just got home a hour ago, I spent my afternoon with Sophie and then I talked with Veronica. I always felt a bit nervous to talk to her, open up to her and talk with her as a friend, because she was my boss basically but she always tried and she was always so nice too, so I tried to let my negative thoughts go and we ended up having a really great conservation. She told me how she moved to here and how she met with his husband. I found it really interesting that she was a really loud and kinda bad girl who calmed down, when she met with her true love. I am in a stage in my life where I don't even know if I wanna be a baddie or if I wanna calm down with someone. Agh, probably I would choose the baddie option, that's the sad truth mom, sorry.

Their love was cute, how he just came to her life and after a few weeks she knew, that she found the one. I really think that this is never gonna happen to me and I am gonna end up in a relationship with someone who I don't love, I just tolerate. I hope not though.

When I got the massage from Grayson, that they are here I checked myself one last time in the mirror. I needed to smile on myself, I really didn't looked like a typical girly girl. I wore a green - black check shirt, what I probably bought on the man section a few days ago and it was long enough to wear it as a dress. I didn't wanted to change, but I didn't wanted to look too floppy nether, so I unbuttoned a few button on the shirt and I let it to slid down on my right shoulder. Now I felt more sexy how my black lacy bralette showed a bit, but I was still really comfortable.

After I opened the door I texted Grayson to go up to the last floor with the elevator and we can meet there, so with my phone and my keys in my hand, I also went to the elevator. As the elevator door opened I saw that they were already there. Bryant and Ethan said hi to me with a friendly smile while I noticed that Grayson checked my whole body out before he looked deeply into my eye. Gosh, I have no idea why he has such a strong effect on me. I immediately felt how my body warmed up, but I really tried to distract my attention to Bryant, who introduced himself to me.

There was a stair that led to the roof, so I went first with the three boys behind me. I think I watch too many detective and criminal shows, because the first thing that crossed my mind was that those stories always starts with a stupid girl who go somewhere with strangers and I do the same thing. Okay, they weren't completely strangers, but still. The whole story was a bit odd.

"Wow, if I would live here I would spend every night in here" said Bryant, when he glanced around. Yeah, I have to say the view was pretty good from here.

"Except if you would have acrophobia and you would have anxiety only from the thoughts about going near to the edge" I replied. Basically as soon as I get to the roof, the strange, anxious feeling came to my stomach. My apartment block wasn't the highest building in the street, and the fence on the edge was pretty high too, but I still had bad feelings that I needed to tolerate.

"You are afraid of heights?" glanced down at me Ethan. It's still quite strange and somewhat infuriating how short and tiny I was between them. The twins were large man, and even though I wasn't a extremely thin and tiny girl next to them, I almost felt like it.

"Uhum, that's the second time when I am up here. The first time was when they showed me that I have access to come here."

While they started to work and Brayant started to took pictures of the boys I watched the bustle of the city of Los Angeles. There was always a huge traffic on every street, and there was always so many people everywhere. You could go the supermarket even at four am in the morning and still find people there. This city never sleeps.

From the beautiful city lights of course Grayson was the one, who managed to get my attention. He just casually sat in front of Bryant's camera. He really didn't needed to try hard to look good in every single pose and picture. I really tried to not stare at him too remarkably, especially when I bumped into Ethan's gaze. I just knew from his cheeky grin that he caught me staring at his brother. Agh, I got busted.

"Can I take a picture of you too?" asked Bryant a few pictures later.

" Uhm, I look like I just woke up like ten minutes ago" I said. Actually, this wasn't true, I wish I could look like this when I wake up in the morning. I spent a few minutes in front of my mirror with my makeup bag and with a hairbrush to look like this.

"It can be also a concept, come on" he continued to try to convince so I took a big sigh and went to stand in front of his camera." Can you pull it down a little more?" he asked, so I relaxed my shoulder, and my shirt slid lover by itself on me, and showed a bit more from my black lace bralette. I crossed one hand in front of my stomach and I lifted my right one to my face as Bryant showed. After he took a few photo he asked me to bit on my pointer finger, which made me smile, especially when I saw Gray's smirk behind him. "Wow, you really know how to use your face" said Bryant, while he looked back to the pictures on his camera.

"No, I don't. At all" I laughed. I was embarrassed, I really didn't liked when someone took pictures of me especially in a situation like this, where we had audience too, which made it even more embarrassing for me. I always took pictures for the gram with self timer. It's so much easier to me when I can pose how I want and I am the only one who see if its looks trash.

While Bryant began taking photos of Ethan I stood by myself for a few minutes but when I looked at Grayson, who sat on the metal something, I went towards him, and sat down next to him. Wow, what a bold move, Mira. Yes. Sometimes my own thoughts makes me angry, especially because I am 22 and still afraid of a guy who is even younger than me. I really need to get my shit together.

"Are you secretly a model?" glanced at me Grayson. He was so close to me, my favorite perfume’s scent mixed with his masculine one and I could feel the warmth of his body. His face looked so much more younger without the beard and I immediately started to think about that I like him more with it.

"Nah" I shook my head. My body was everything, just not a model body. I was pretty short and I had a typical hourglass figure. I actually really liked my body type from the front, but as soon as I turn to the side yes, you can see my booty poppin', but my little tammy too. I think I could look even better if I would be strong enough to go the gym, but I was so lazy and I kinda felt like I fought so much for that body that I should be satisfied a bit more with it.

After that there was a long silence between us. He watched Brayant and Ethan, while I glanced up to the sky. The weather was clear, so I could see that there were so many stars next to the bright Moon. I was totally somewhere else in my thoughts for a few minutes, but I immediately snapped back whan Grayson started to talk to me.

"What are you thinking about ? " he asked. At this point, he probably watched me for a few minutes, if he noticed that I was zoned out. I bit my inner lip while I thought for a few seconds. Should I tell him my real thoughts or should I just tell him some random shit, that come to my mind and an easier topic? In the end I decided to tell him the truth.

"My family" I replied softly. He frowned his eyebrows for a sec and than turned to me with his whole body to listen to me. " First just a random memory popped to my mind about old camping nights with my family. We always set in front of our tent in the night and talked before we went to sleep " I said with a small smile, while the memories came back to me and I saw myself there again with my family in my head. " And then I just wondered if my grandma is somewhere there behind one star " I sighed "and is she still looking after me from there."

While I talked I just looked to the sky, and when I looked back at him I just realized that he did the same thing, but when he felt that I glanced at him he looked at my face and smiled slightly.

"Can we go?" interrupted Ethan. Grayson opened his mouth to say something and hesitated for a moment before he answered to his brother.

"You can go, I'm gonna call a Uber later" he responded. I saw that Ethan was a bit confused, and so was I. My stomach immediately collapsed because of the thoughts that I am gonna spend the rest of the night alone with Grayson. After Ethan and Bryant left there was a short silence again between us.

"What are you doing?" I asked with a slight laugh, when he put his pulover to the ground and layed down on it.

" Stargazing " he said easily, like it was the most natural thing. I stared at him for a few seconds, while he just layed there, watched the sky and the Moon's light shined back from his eyes. It's just melted my heart that the masculine good looking guy actually more than that. He looked so precious and he really made me feel like I wanna get to know him more. This whole situation was just absurd and still kinda special. Maybe that's why I didn't hesitated more, and with a slight smile I went next to him and I layed there too. After a few minutes now I was the one broke the silent between us.

" What are you thinking about ?" I asked him. I was really curious about what's on his mind.

" First I was thinking that isn't it just crazy how small we are compared to everything above us? From here everything look's distant and infinite " he said. I was glad he doesn't started to talk about constellations and stuff. I was not too good in astronomy, especially not in english. "And then I just wandered back to what you said about your grandma. Do you really think that our loved ones are there somewhere, behind the stars?"

" I don't know, but I like to believe that. To me it's comforting to think that she is still there and she still watches me from somewhere " I responded. I truly love to believe that.

"You keep surprising me " triggered a sudden topic Grayson. I turned my head towards him and when he did the same thing I just realized that how close we were to each other. Our nose was only a few inches away and now the whole situation felt more intimate, than before.

"What do you mean? You don't even know me yet" I said with a light smile.

"Yeah, that's why I just keep trying to create a picture of you in my head, but you just keep refute it. After we talked on FaceTime I remember, yes I remember " he added emphatically, when he saw that I wanna cut in, and it made me laugh how he knew what I wanna say. " So I remember I thought you are cute."

As soon as he said that I made a grimace. I think I was the only person on Earth who hated when someone told her, that she is cute. It's just so boring to me, and to me yeah a five year old girl is cute, but not me.

"Then in the salon you seemed more confident and I actually liked how sexy and independent you were, but you refuted it again in the dinner where I really didn't liked how you acted. I almost started to think that you are just a arrogant girl who only plays hard to get."

"Oh my God “ I cut in, while I shook my head. " Why would I when the.."

"Wait, let me finish " he put his hands on mine. His touch was like a lightning strike, that fired up my whole body even more. I was already a bit tense because I didn't liked the things, that he said about me." But you refute this picture again right now because you act like a completely different person. Again " he said while he looked back to my eye and he left my hand with a slight smile.

"So right now, you have no clue who I am " I grinned. I liked that I was a mystery to him, that he tries to solve in his head, but he can't. And I really liked the fact, that he thought about me in the last days.

" Yeah, you are a mystery to me."

" I just thought about that " I said with a huge smile on my face. I already knew that yeah I am quite open with people and I like to get to know new people but I need time, to actually trust in them enough to give myself fully so they can know who I really am.

" I wanna solve this mystery though."

" Good luck" I responded sharply, and when he glanced at me he ony got a smile. " And how do you wanna do it?"

" I have my own ways" he smirked and looked deeply into my eyes. This is probably makes his way more to my panties then to my head, mut okay. " What's your biggest dream?" he asked and looked back to the sky.

" Hmm..I don't know" I said. " I feel like I live in a dream right now. Since I come here my whole life just changed, in a positive way and right now I don't wanna think about the future, just enjoy every second."

"Why did you come here?"

" I was so unhappy. I had no friends, I've never been in a relationship and I had no plans eather. I just lived in my imaginary world which was comfortable but I felt like my life just pas next me, and I didn't enjoy a moment from it."

" You’ve never been in a relationship?" he asked with a surprised face.

" No " I shook my head.

"This means that you are a.. " for a moment he paused and I saw that he got embarrassed, and it made me smile even more. He was just cute.

"Yes. Wow seriously you don’t know shit about me yet, but you already know that I am a virgin. Amazing " I said while I tried to cover my laughing face, which made him giggle softly.

"But how? Like are boys in Hungary blind or something?"

"I don't know, I just didn't found the right guy jet " I said with a small sigh. Then I basically told him the same, that I told Corinna a few weeks ago, that I just wanna find someone who I can trust enough to do it. Or just find someone who can make me lose my mind for him.

" What was the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to you? " switched suddenly topic Grayson. I started to feel like I am with a psychiatrist who just randomly asks me questions about myself, but at the same time I really thought that he was really nice how he tried to get to know me and ask about me.

" Once I fell into the pool in a public place " I said with a serious face, that made him immediately laugh. " I thought on the side it isn't gonna be that deep, but it was. I tried to do my hair into a bun for like half and hour, so it isn't gonna get wet but as soon as I wanted to step into the pool I just disappeard completely in the water. Even the 70 years old lady next to me tried to cover her laugh " I laughed. " After that my parents were able to laugh anywhere when they thought back to this " I finished my crazy story and in the end he just laughed even more. The whole rooftop was loud from our laugh. " It's your turn. Emberassing story? Virginity?"

"I need to go" he joked around, but when he saw my strong gaze he layed back next to me and he started to tell his stories. Of course his most embarrassing moment was with Ethan and he lost his virginity when he was 16 with his girlfriend back then. It was just so easy to talk with him, and open up to him. I slowly started to understand what he meant when he said he has his own ways. I just felt like I could talk with him about anything, he is gonna understand it or he is gonna laugh about it with me. " We hated high school, after a year or so we become private students with E " he started another story about their high school life. “And? What's up with your high school years?"

"Uh, in the first year it was chill but then I had a best friend. I was 16 when I went to a club for the first time and from that moment we basically spent almost every saturday night there, but I loved those years so much " I smiled, while I thought back. " We just doesn't give a shit about anything. We felt like we were free and young and was in love all the damn time, what was not even real love of course and we just really tried to enjoy every second from our teen years " I laughed. " After I turned 20 I didn't really went to parties anymore because I felt like they can't show me new things."

" Wow, you were such a baddie" he grinned. " What did your parents said?"

"Nothing, they trusted in me. If I got drunk I told them, and they knew that I am gonna learn from it. They knew everything about me, even if I just danced with a boy or something I always told my mom the next day. So yeah, I was a baddie but with a brain. And I still am " I added and I bet my lip to cover my confident smile.

We spent hours on the rooftop while we just told each other the most random stories of ourself. Somehow I still just wanted to know more and more. Yes I know, that they basically started to vlog when they were five with Ethan on the family camera and how embarrassing he was with the girls when they were teenagers, but I still just wanted to listen to his stories more and more. Not even fit into my head how could I just spoke with him so easily, when a few days ago I just swallowed dumplings because I was that nervous next to him. Maybe I was just really drunk and that's why I thought that he is so attractive? Probably not, simply he just behaved more mature and manly there, but now he was just so cute and open. I hated him for knowing how to be both.

"It's one am?" I asked when I saw the clock when he looked at his phone for the first time the night.

" Next time we continue, okay?" he asked while he stood up and offered his hand to me.

" I am in " I smiled and accepted his hand to help me stand up from the ground.

When we got to my apartment's floor Grayson got out with me from the elevator and we stopped to face each other. I just wanted to open my mouth to say something, when Grayson lifted his hand and pulled back my bra's strap, that slipped down on my shoulder. For a second my whole body tightened. His touch was so soft on my skin and the fact that I saw how his eyes followed his hand's moves and then his gaze moved down to my boob from my shoulder is just made me even more tense.

"Can I get a hug now, or I still don't deserve it? " I asked with a little sarcasm in my voice.

" I know you cried yourself to sleep yesterday because of it" he grinned while he put his hands on my shoulder to draw me closer to a hug.

" Of course I did " I mumbled to his chest. I thought it's gonna be a quick hug, but when his hands tightened around me when I wanted to move away, I smiled slightly and caressed his back for a few seconds. " Good night " I said when I went to my door and I really needed to bit my lip to hide that cheesy smile, that wanted to spread on my face. I didn't even looked back, when I heard him saying good night to me. I just opened my door, took a big sigh and leaned against it when I closed it behind me. It's just kills me, how in one second I laugh with him, but than in the other second I forgot to breath because of him.

- stagazing √

[mastersmuses]

wait, isn’t that LILI REINHART? no, that’s definitely SOPHIE REYNOLDS, the SEVENTEEN  year old SENIOR. rumor has it, SHE is a SCHOLARSHIP student but you’d have to ask them to know for sure. you know, i’ve heard they’re quite STUBBORN & IMPULSIVE but they can also be PASSIONATE & ENDEARING. 

hey guys! i’m madison and i’m super stoked to be here, bringing in my first child here sophie. like this if you’d like to plot and i’ll message you!

so sophie and her twin brother were born in knox county to too neglectful parents who were honestly so pissed that their kids killed their buzz so they were pretty distant, only coming around when they needed something. handed them off to their father’s grandpa who raised the twins until they were about twelve. 

both of her parents are avid addicts and alcoholics who refused to fight their addictions. yeah, like frank and monica from shameless. still kept fucking like rabbits and reproducing so soon poor grandma was stuck taking care of six kids.

the kids honestly…were raised pretty well despite their upbringing and they loved their grandfather. sophie was born into the mother like role and helped to run the household. 

when the twins were twelve, their grandfather passed away and they had no choice but to move in with their parents. 

essentially sophie was stuck juggling schoolwork, taking care of her younger siblings all while managing to juggle a 4.0. got introduced to adderall at the age of thirteen and it’s been a life savor. 

but then their father…took off and no one has heard from him. they don’t know if he’s alive or not.

this took its toll on their mother and once a semi-functioning alcoholic/addict…she does nothing more than self-destruct. not that…she’d ever have actually been able to leave her younger siblings alone. she knows her family needs her.

she’s a total drama kid.

also apart of the cheerleading team

was dating memphis for a long time, they were like one of the golden couples of knox.

but they broke up recently because he cheated on her and she’s still pretty torn up about it

personality wise: she’s an absolute soft dork despite everything she still manages to see the optimism in everything, with rose colored glasses. very sarcastic and unapologetic at times. can be naive at times but isn’t afraid to fight those who take advantage of this. would do anything for her siblings and friends. never sleeps? she’s an insomniac. can also be outspoken and shameless.

basic plots: exes on good terms and bad, fwb, HER GIRL SQUAD, fellow drama kids, someone who took her virginity, childhood friends, her roommate who is…suspicious of where the fuck she is all of the time, um study buddies, everything

MORE DETAILED PLOT IDEAS:

[ current | fwb ] muse a and muse b met through mutual friends and quickly hit it off as friends. offhandedly one day, muse a mentioned something one day that muse b quickly turned sexual. they locked eyes and the next minute they were in a room, locked away, undressing each other. after exiting the room, the two agreed that it would never happen again…until a few days later, when it did. they keep saying they won’t come back for more.

[ current | just do it already ] muse a and muse b have been in love with each other for like, ever. neither of them are willing to admit it though, even to themselves. their friends are constantly joking about it and they both wave it off – but when one isn’t looking, anyone could see the adoration in the other’s face with ease.

[ current | crushes ] muse a and muse b have had a flirtationship going on for quite some time. they’ve always hinted at feelings toward another in conversation, never outright saying it. a few days/weeks ago, muse a blurted their feelings for muse b and quickly changed the subject afterward. they haven’t spoken about it since.

[ current or past | dating ] muse a and muse b were the kind of people that immediately rejected each other, going to other people instead. then muse a found themselves in a room with their ex and pulled muse b aside to ask them to fake being their significant other for the night. over the next few hours, their fake date became a real one and soon things progressed into a relationship.

[ previous | friends…i guess? ] muse a and muse b were friends prior to their spontaneous hook-up and their world turned upside down. dazed, they decided to start dating that moment and to their credit, tried to make it work for a few weeks. muse a finally ( and nervously ) let out that they weren’t feeling it. to their relief, muse b admitted they were feeling the same. they decided to stay friends, but now have the added “i’ve seen you naked” awkwardness. 

[ previous/current | on again, off again ] muse a and muse b love each other, but their relationship is toxic so they are constantly on and off. they always get along as friends, but the second they became lovers something always changes. they care a lot about each other, but something always goes awry.

[ your choice | hook up ] muse a recently broke up with their significant other, and in their post-breakup state got some revenge by hooking up with their ex’s best friend, muse b. neither expected the night to be so…memorable. your choice on what they do about it.

[ previous | fwb ] muse a and muse b first got together because it was convenient and well, the other was there. after a while, muse b started acting like they were dating and muse a, not wanting a relationship, cut off the ‘benefits’ part of their friendship. they’re still friends, but it’s your choice whether it’s awkward or not.

[ positive | two way street ] muse a and muse b frequent the same coffee shop and often made casual hellos to each other until the coffee shop raised their prices. muse a went to order their usual drink and lifted their eyes in surprise at the new price, hand helplessly prepared to hand over exact change. muse b quickly swooped in and saved the day, buying both of their coffees. next time they were both in the shop, muse a paid for muse b’s drink. they flip who pays each time as some sort of game now, but they’ve only had minor conversation as one or the other always seems to be in a rush.

[ positive | friends ] when muse a moved in, they didn’t expect to see muse b climbing up/standing on the fire escape right outside their living room window. they went to confront muse b and scared them, making both fear for the life of muse b for a moment. apologetic, muse a invited muse b in and the two connected almost immediately. ( muse b may or may not have explained their presence on the fire escape during this conversation // reason could have been that they knew who lived in muse a’s apartment before but didn’t know that they moved )

[ positive | confidant ] muse a and muse b aren’t really friends outside of the times they’re spilling their hearts out to each other. originally it started when muse a, extremely distressed, literally ran into muse b and muse b refused to let muse a go until they were talked down. when something goes wrong, you can be assured that these two are together.

[ positive | friends ] it started with something simple, when muse b dropped something on the ground and muse a chased after muse b to return it. needing to thank muse a, the two went to coffee and the two hit it off and are now close friends.

[ current | platonic or romantic ] *tw: alcohol. muse a and muse b met at a bar. throughout the night, muse b got more and more inebriated. being the good ( or bad ) samaritan they are, muse a decides to take muse b back to their house before they end up on the floor. when they arrive at muse a’s building/house, muse b ( loudly ) asks muse a how the heck ! muse a knew where they lived. turns out – they live a mere few floors/doors/houses away from each other.

[ current | romantic ] muse a and muse b live in the same building as each other, though they didn’t meet in their building. they sparked up conversation and hit it off, agreeing to go on a date with each other that weekend. after their meeting, they both started walking back to their homes and realized they were walking to the same place.

[ current | platonic ] muse a is an extrovert – so much so that when muse b started moving in, they didn’t even wait for the moving truck to pull away before introducing themselves. in fact, muse a even started helping unload the truck without being asked. ( bonus: muse b was super grateful for the help and their relationship is great // muse b is grumpy™ and was annoyed that muse a started helping without asking and their relationship is tense.

[landlordrecords]

Best of 2018

  I fully intended to carry on doing monthly charts this year, but each month it went way too late & I just gave up in the end. Couldn’t not do an end of year one though. Bad year here in real life (again), for various reasons. I kept listening to stuff, but perhaps not with my usual enthusiasm for several months in the middle. Still some great stuff, as ever, of course, & I think this is a pretty hot list, the usual mixture of serious contenders & goofy bits n bats. I’ve included reissues if they’re comps or issued with extras.

  1)     Let’s Eat Grandma - Hot Pink (Transgressive) - extremely moreish single, produced by SOPHIE.

  2)     Let’s Eat Grandma - It’s Not Just Me (Transgressive) – another SOPHIE-touched piece, this one more 80s-tastic.

  3)     v/a - Strictly Rhythm Underground 90-97 TCD (E Archive) – was always a bit wavery over Strictly, with tastefulness on one side & cheese on the other, but Bill Brewster dug out a peerless selection here, barely any fat at all.

  4)     Soft Cell – Keychains & Snowstorms 9CD Boxset (Mercury) – too many versions of the same tracks, but practically everything is here, including illuminating obscurities. What a group!

  5)     Ceramic Hobs – Black Pool Legacy DLP (Harbinger Sound) – wonderful to see this happen, & so well done – track selection, mastering, sleeve art & liner notes all excellent.

  6)     Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids – An Angel Fell CD (Strut) – lovely straight-up cosmic jazz album. I’ve not really been following all the new jazz stuff, but this did seem to epitomise it.

  7)     R Kelly – I Admit It (YouTube) – obviously a deeply reprehensible human being, but his music still (sporadically) transfixes me. A 19 minute trap beat, autotuned (which I usually hate), with the musical equivalent of OJ Simpson’s (If) I Did It dumped on top. Gobsmacking audacity, but a fascinating piece of self-denial.

  8)     Flying Lotus feat Busdriver – Ain’t No Coming Back (from Brainfeeder X comp) – Brainfeeder skates between bland & astonishing. Here, rapper Busdriver acts as jazz narrator.

  9)     Espen Lauritzen – Cid B (Fiedeltwo, from Appendix Double Mixpack EP) – bludgeoning acid techno, from a great compilation. Just discovered it’s originally from 2014, but…whatever.

  10)  DJ Taye – Roxxanneee (from Teklife VIP 2019 bundle) – late entry: footwork-style Police rework.

  11)  BCUC – Emakhosini CD (Buda Musique) – great (& mildly bonkers) long-form South African tuneage.

  12)  v/a - For Discos Only TCD (Craft) – had to pull out of doing a piece on this, but it’s great anyway…prime long disco mixes from Fantasy & Vanguard. Hands-down classics from the Blackbyrds and Sylvester; production jobs from Roy Thode, Shep Pettibone, Bobby Orlando, Patrick Adams and Patrick Cowley; and endless Mecca, Casino, Loft, Paradise Garage, Warehouse and Music Box tunes.

  13)  Hilary Woods – Colt CD (Sacred Bones) – I can be a little suspicious of overly adult work, but this one made me ashamed in the presence of its dignity & maturity. A real grower, well worthy of investigation, & virtually out of nowhere.

  14)  El Chombo feat Cutty Ranks – Dame Tu Cosita (Ultra) – not the first tune to worm its way into my head care of those daft dance challenge videos, but one can hardly argue with a rerub of an obscure reggaeton tune, featuring Cutty Ranks.

  15)  SOPHIE – Oil Of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides album (Transgressive) – pop’s cutting edge?!

  16)  v/a – The Man From Mo’Wax (Mo’Wax) – funny and not entirely wrong slating for this/Lavelle in the Wire, but there’s a whole stack of great tunes here, & some of the ones I rolled my eyes at at the time sound pretty smart now.

  17)  Let’s Eat Grandma - Falling Into Me (Transgressive) – not got quite the edge of the SOPHIE ones, but still very high quality pop. I’ve selected tracks rather than just the album, as I think the quality doesn’t hold up over the whole thing; the good ones are really good though.

  18)  Chrissy – Resilience bundle (Chiwax) – Chrissy Murderbot goes pretty faithfully old skool rave.

  19)  Akito – Gone Again album (Tight Knit) – the offbeat grime stuff seems to have dropped out of fashion, but I still like it. Impressively high quality collection of it here.

  20)  Will Saul - Inside Out (Aus Music) – don’t listen to enough mixes these days, but this one covered all bases early in the year.

  A special mention for the Mansur Brown album. I’ll admit that I snorted with derision at the promo sheet stuff about Jimi Hendrix-meets-trap, but…it wasn’t far from the truth. Intriguing stuff…

  And a new feature, which I should have been doing for years now…

  Promo trends…

  Still a lot of alt pop coming through, mostly pretty bland. Seems to be angling mostly towards dream pop and synthpop now.

  So much ambient music (coming from all angles), that it’s getting ridiculous. Post-classical as well. I was initially pleased to see the revival, but, honestly, do something else now…

  Breaks revival now looking like a ‘thing’ (I suppose I would know if I was in any clubs these days)…with the ex-dubsteppers clearly now having rinsed out…

  Techno, of all kinds. I get sent so much of this it’s staggering, but I’m not complaining, as it’s often very good.

  Plenty of deep house around as well, although not as impressively weird as some of the stuff from recent years.

  Much of the guitar stuff I get sent is risible, but there’s obviously a cartload of that as well, as ever. I can discern a reasonable amount of post-metal stuff now as well, and I don’t get sent much metal. That stuff is…OK.

  Witch house slight return?

[monsterbrush]

10 Favorite Females Tag

Ok @frost-guardian and co. Brace yourselves, I’m kicking off this list with a bamf! 

Furiosa (Mad Max: Fury Road): look at her. Just look at her. Those eyes, that hair, the way she just rips off the face of the patriarchy. Such an inspiration. I can never achieve the badassery and hardcore-ness of Furiosa, but god damn if it isn’t fun as hell to watch. Honestly, I could go on, waxing poetic about her mechanical prothesis, but we’ve got a list to go through.

Sophie Hatter (Howl’s Moving Castle): I’ve watched this movie since I was little, and honestly I have a deep love of stubborn old ladies that persists strongly to this day because of it. I was actually a little disappointed when Sophie reverted back to her younger self because that meant no more Grandma Sophie. She is what I aspire to be in my old age some day.

Mulan (Mulan): My pasty white ass considered her my ultimate Disney role model for the longest time when I was too little to comprehend things like cultural appropriation, gender roles, racism, race in general etc. I know how deeply important the story is to its origins, but when I was just a tot, I watched this movie and saw a girl being clumsy, dissatisfied, stubborn, funny, and fighting like the boys do, and honestly that was pretty damn inspiring for Little Me. (it also helped that the “happily married after” didn’t happen until the sequel, but I enjoyed that movie too, for different reasons)

Izumi Curtis (Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood): The duality of this character really resonated with me when I first watched this show. I was just starting highschool and had started to forget the things that Mulan had taught me. Izumi was such a great representation of how a woman can be fiercely independent and strong, but also adhere to “traditional” ideas of femininity. She’s a housewife who wanted more than anything to be a mother, but she’s also a powerful alchemist with impressive combat skills, and she has no problem being both. 

Olivia Armstrong (Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood): Honestly, I actually didn’t care for her right away. I liked her, but something about her also just didn’t sit right with me. It didn’t take me too long to figure out that it was the fact that I was still adhering to certain expectations regarding female characters, and General Armstrong was a woman with no desire to marry and have kids, which threw me off without me even realizing it (also she was being mean to her brother Alex and I love that big goofball so I immediately went on the defensive). Towards the end of my first time watching the series, when I saw both General Armstrong and Izumi Curtis on screen side by side, it clicked and I fully understood and appreciated her character for what it was. God damn this show was great.

Bubbles (PowerPuff Girls-NOT the reboot, the reboot doesn’t exist): The PowerPuff Girls was one of my favorite shows when I was little, and I found that I always fit seamlessly with Bubbles. She sleeps with stuffed animals, I sleep with stuffed animals. She likes to draw, I like to draw. She was confirmation to Little Me that it was okay to be sweet, and cute, and to like nice things, while still being cool. I kind of wish I’d remembered those lessons through middle school and highschool during which I went through my “teen angst-everything is negative and I’m in a perpetual bad mood” phase.

Dola (Castle in the Sky): Remember all those things I said about Grandma Sophie and Izumi Curtis? Dola is like both of those characters in one. Stubborn badass old lady sky pirate with a husband and more sons than you can shake a finger at. The Tiger Moth crew was like one big flying found family.

Captain Amelia (Treasure Planet): What a role model this lady was. Strong, confident, respectable, sassy, smart, wit as sharp as her claws, scathingly articulate, with a giant man made of rock as her first mate. So inspiring. 

Edna Mode (The Incredibles): Honestly, who doesn’t love Edna Mode, she’s hilarious. Very smart, classy, lots of self esteem, sassy, snarky, reliable, what’s not to love? 

Secretary Washimi (Aggretsuko): This is the most recent favorite on this list. Firstly, I love secretary birds and the way they stomp everything, and I also love smart, competent ladies who take no shit, and obviously this character hits those notes. 

Tagging: @pareidoliaparadise, @gretchensinister, @torn-by-dreams, @ksclaw, @sylphidine, @emeraldembers ummm, ummmmmmm and anybody else who wants to do this thing of a thing.

[the-obsession-ship]

I’m the bad guy, Baby (Bucky Barnes x Reader)AU  Part two

You must have stared just a little too long because Bucky was clearly becoming anxious for your answer. In your hungover state, you just kept rolling what he had asked you over in your mind, taking in a deep breath.

“Wait, what?!” Looking at him, he clearly got little to no sleep, by the bags under his eyes, he has a bit of stubble on his chin, he’s wearing stained sweats and a wrinkled black t-shirt, looking down and noticing he’s barefoot as well, which was odd every time you’ve seen him before he was always quite clean shaven, he looked like he worked out a lot, like he cared about his appearance, and he always had shoes on. But if you were being honest, he was still pretty hot; you’ve never heard his voice before but damn was it sexy. You could listen to it all da- 

“I know this is a bad time, and a weird question but I don’t know who else to go to at this hour. and I’m definitely not qualified for this. So if you could just help me with her, it would be great” Bucky said in one breath, he’s never spoken to his neighbor before and this wasn’t how he expected it to start, asking her to help him with a child before even knowing her name yet.

Your sobering up a bit at this point and are now looking to the little one in his arms, she’s pulling on his shirt and staring at you with puppy dog eyes, your mommy hormones kicking in and you felt an overwhelming urge to take care of this adorable child. You finally manage to break eye contact with her and can swear she just used some Jedi mind tricks on you. 

“Okay, what do you need help with?” gesturing for them to come into your apartment and Bucky does just that, making himself comfortable on your couch. You walk over to the diaper bag he’s brought with him and casually threw onto your doorways linoleum floor as he walked in; putting it on a nearby table you opened it to find, diapers, four bottles, one jar of baby food, three blankets, and one pair of mixed matched shoes. Confused as to how he was so unprepared for a baby, way too many ideas on why going thru your head at one time, where’d he get her? is she even his? is it his secret lover’s baby? ooh, am I caught in a scandal now? or did he kidnap her? I don’t want to end up on one of those cop shows, that would be weird; shaking your head of those insane ideas your first priority is the little girl.

“How do you have no clothes for her? and hardly any food? she needs formula as well, and matching shoes” walking into the living room and over to your couch, stopping once you notice your neighbor passed out while the little girl plays with his hair, making sure to pick her up before she pulls on it and wakes him up, you decided it’s probably best to let him rest before asking him a dozen questions.

“Mama?” she asks when you make it back into the kitchen, stopping and staring at her for a few seconds “N-no, honey I’m not her but maybe I look like her, I guess? I don’t know.. um are you hungry? I bet you are” she looks at you then with a serious face, her eyes say she understands what “food” means and a barely audible, broken English answer comes from her.

“Fhishy crackerzs” surprised that she knew that at her age, you put her down on the ground since you didn’t trust her on the stools around your island, and looked through your cupboard “I don’t have any Fish crackers, but I do have cheese its, do you like cheese its?” looking over to the little one who’s currently staring at your cat with a curious and excited expression, whereas your cat, Turtle looks terrified at the tiny human staring at him, Turtle runs off the moment she decides to run over to him. Your still not for sure why you named him that, you assume that might be why he hates you so much.

Pouring the crackers into a  small bowl and giving the bowl to her, making sure she got the hang of eating them without dropping them on the floor, her eyes getting so excited biting into each one, smiling and picking her up “I’ll grab some things for you at the store later, It’s probably not healthy for your diet to be mostly cheese its” she giggled not understanding anything you just said. Heading into the leaving room to make sure your passed out neighbor was still breathing, since you haven’t heard him make a sound in a while; he had moved since last time, feet now on your table, his arms placed under his head, he looked very comfortable, seeming to have dropped the baby onto you and made himself at home in a partial stranger’s apartment. 

You had decided to let her finish her cheese its before waking him up, but your patience is running short and you still have tons of questions for him. You're not sure how to go about waking him, you’ve poked, shook him, jumped on the couch. you even resorted to kicking him around a bit all while the little one with crumbs all over her face was laughing and having a great time watching your exchange with him. “Fine, have it your way!” you were in between checking his pulse and the idea of setting the fire alarm off to wake him, when he yawns and stretches as if nothing happened and he’s waking from a great night sleep but instead of that it’s 9:30am, and he’s waking up on his neighbor’s couch.

“Well, look who decided to join the party!” he looks up at you with sleepy eyes and messed up hair, you can tell he has no idea where he is, but he must have snapped back into reality when he saw you; jumping up off the couch he looks at you like your about to scold him for peeing on your favorite dress. 

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me. How long have I been out?” Bucky could feel his cheeks flushing a bit, he really wasn’t used to normal interaction due to being trained to kill since he was very young. “Just a couple of hours” you shrug your shoulders trying to play it off as if you hadn’t tried to get him up by kicking him “She’s fed and I gave her a bottle of water since you didn’t have any formula. You’ll have to pick some up, by the way” pointing over to where she was holding her bottle and rocking her self back in fourth slightly in the rocking chair you got from your grandma.

Bucky looked at you than to her then back to you, he really didn’t have any idea how to raise her, and he’d already ruled the idea of just kissing her on the forehead then making a beeline out the door and moving to Mexico. “ You seem to be really great with her, do you wanna, I don’t know..” Bucky trails off not looking you in the eyes “keep her? maybe?”

Shocked by what he just said and suddenly not feeling bad about having kicked him before “Let me get this straight, you want me, a stranger to keep your baby?!” 

“Well, she’s technically not mine, under some weird circumstances I had to take her off someone else's hands” Bucky’s trying to go around the whole “I’m a Mercenary, thing” and being as vague and convincing as possible, your not buying it at all and he can tell. “Well, that totally sounds legal and not creepy at all” trying to keep your cool and reminding yourself that she’s the most important thing in this situation, looking over at her to calm you down she’s found Turtle’s toy stash and is currently making to mice kiss each other while looking up at the both of you.

Taking in a deep breath, you decide the best thing to do is punish him “I can’t take her off your hands, I don’t know what you did but I’m not about to end up on the 5 o’clock news” he sighs clearly distraught “But, I will help you, for her sake”

Bucky snaps his head up and looks at you “Yes, yes! I can pay you. This could actually work-” he suddenly realizes, that he’s slept on your couch, forced you to take care of a baby, tried to give the said baby to you, but he never asked for your name, and you don’t know his.

“M-my name’s Bucky, by the way” putting his hand put out for you to shake, you take his hand into your small one and shake it “Well, pleasure doing business with you Bucky, I’m Y/N” it’s nice to finally know his name, but the one you really want to know about is the little girl’s name. “What’s her name?” pointing over at her after letting go of Bucky’s hand. 

His eyes go wide just realizing he doesn't actually know “I never caught her name, I guess I wasn’t paying attention to that, I just wanted to get her to safety” choosing to ignore whatever he meant by “safety” and focusing on the little girl “She look’s like a Sophie, like she’s going to open up an art studio in NYC and only drink fancy espresso from the finest coffee shops, and she will only speak with a bad french accent, but no one know’s why” looking to “Sophie” who’s currently chewing on her bottle and slobbering all over it.

“Yeah, I like that name” Bucky didn’t get any of that from her, or the name Sophie but, he thought it suited her quite well.

And that’s how your week went from spa day, every day to raising a child with a man you hadn’t known for more than a few hours. Looks like your week going to be interesting.

Tag list: @mymourningtea @sebstanwassup @random-fandom-grl

(Well, this might go for a few more parts than expected. Thanks so much for all the support I got from the first part, it means so much!! Btw if you want to be tagged in this series, just ask! Love ya, hope you enjoyed it. Feedback is always welcomed)

[faeriekim-blog]

P.I.S.T. - Chapter 8

               Christine doodled in her notebook as she sat in the circle of chairs and waited for the meeting to begin.  She didn’t even notice when Sophie entered the room.

               “Hi, Chris,” Sophie said, sitting down next to her. “What’s that you’re doing?”

               Chris looked up and beamed a smile at her friend. Then she looked back down at her notebook briefly, feeling a little embarrassed.  She had been drawing a picture of a ghost and another picture of a werewolf.  In between the drawings she had written the words:  “what’s next?  Vampires?”

               “Oh,” said Sophie, looking at the doodles and reading the words.  “You’ve been thinking about what happened the other night.”

               “It’s silly,” Chris said, hurriedly closing the notebook and putting it away in her bag.  “I must be nuts.  One drunken experience and a weird blood sample don’t prove anything.  Vampires…” she laughed.  “Of course they’re not real.”  Then she looked up at Sophie again, a moment of fear and doubt in her mind. “Are they?”

               Sophie looked as worried as Chris felt.  She shrugged her shoulders, her eyes wide with bafflement.  “I don’t know,” she replied in that beautiful Indian accent of hers.  “If you asked me a few weeks ago I’d have told you that ghosts and werecreatures weren’t real too.  Now I’m not so sure.”

               “Any updates on the blood sample?”  Chris asked.

               Sophie tightened her lips and looked down at her feet. “I should never have told you about that,” she said.  “Patient files are confidential.”

               Chris let it go.  It was none of her business really and she shouldn’t pry.

               “It’s looking no clearer though,” Sophie told her. “I’m a woman of science.  I always prided myself on not believing in superstition. I don’t even follow my parents’ faith. But now I don’t know what to believe.”

               Chris felt sympathetic to her new friend’s plight. She felt much the same way about it. “Well, whatever it is,” she explained, as helpfully as she could. “It’s not religion or superstition, is it?  If it’s real then it’s scientific.  It’s measurable.  It’s fact.”

               Sophie looked up at her and smiled.  “But I keep wondering.” She said, her eyebrows crinkling slightly in puzzlement.  “What if the scientific facts turn out to support the idea of the supernatural?  What do we do then?  It will overturn everything.”

               “Then we’ll just have to deal with that when it comes to it,” Chris assured her.  “In the meantime there are lots of possible explanations that don’t necessarily involve ancient curses or souls surviving death.”

               “It’s a problem for the philosophers in any case,” Sophie agreed, visibly relaxing again.  “Not doctors and scientists.  We just collect the data.  It’s up to society to work out what it means.”

               “Exactly,” Chris said with a reassuring smile.  “Try not to worry about it.”

                 Eventually the meeting started.  Wendy, the group co-ordinator, made some announcements and then got everyone to introduce themselves, going round in the circle.  

“So,” Wendy said after the introductions were finished, and casting a sideways glance at Chris, “if we can avoid getting side-tracked by discussions about whether the transgenders count as women, there are several important activist concerns to attend to this month…”

               There were a few murmurs and giggles around the room and Christine noticed Heather looking in her direction with a self-satisfied smirk.  Wendy started talking about a woman’s march and the attention turned back towards the issue at hand.

               But Chris found it hard to even listen to the meeting after that.  She was starting to feel like she didn’t belong here and wasn’t welcome anymore. It was like playground bullying and it was horrendous.  Why should she be humiliated and thought less of just for voicing a difference of opinion? She wondered, not for the first time, if this was really the right group for her after all.  Should she side with the intersectional fourth wavers?  Maybe they weren’t so bad and she had misjudged them all this time.

               Sophie seemed to notice her discomfort.  She felt the Asian lady’s slender hand reach out to touch hers.  They held hands then and Sophie squeezed her fingers comfortingly in Christine’s palm. Chris looked up at Sophie.  Their eyes met.  They smiled.

               At least she had a friend in Sophie.  And they had experienced something that no one else here had seen.  They had also shared something else very special, Chris thought to herself with a naughty rush of joy.

               Just then the meeting was interrupted by a sudden low moaning sound, like a woman in pain.  Everyone stopped talking.  Chris and Sophie let go of each other’s hands, their faces no longer smiling but looking at each other in alarm.  Chris remembered that groaning sound well.

               “What the hell is that?”  One of the other women asked, looking round the room.

               “Is she alright?”  Another said, also searching for the source of the sound. “Where’s that coming from anyway?”

               “It’s probably nothing,” Wendy said, waving her hand dismissively, although her eyes looked as frightened as everyone else’s. “If we can just ignore it and try to carry on…”

               They tried their best to continue the discussion but Chris suddenly found herself dragged away from the present moment, as if by a waking dream.

                 “I can’t believe this!”  The young woman screamed at them all, standing up suddenly so that her chair fell backwards.  “I was attacked!” She said, gesticulating wildly as she spoke.  “I’ve experienced all the same things you have.  And you talk to me about male privilege and how I’m not a real woman!”

               Christine realised with shock as she experienced this that she had been here before.  This had actually happened a few years ago.  Looking round the circle of chairs, she could see that Wendy was there too, and Heather also.

               “There you go again,” Heather replied with a rolling of her eyes. ��“You know, you’re giving off a lot of male energy right now.  This is a woman’s group.  And while I appreciate that you might also have been a victim of male violence,” she added in a smug voice, her eyes half shut, “your claim that you have experienced actual sexism and misogyny when you were socialised as a boy and experienced nothing of what it’s like to grow up as a little girl is quite frankly disgustingly insulting.  You don’t know what it’s like to be oppressed because you have a womb and every man sees you as a baby making machine.” She continued, pointing accusatorily at the woman and looking her in the eye.  “You’ve never had periods.  You don’t have to worry that sex with a man might make you pregnant.  You don’t know what it’s like to be a real woman and so maybe you should just sit down and listen to real women’s experiences, instead of talking over us like a man.”

               The woman who had stood up to speak, a woman that Chris now remembered was called Jessica and who was transgender, looked utterly heartbroken and crestfallen as she sat down again.  Somehow Chris hadn’t remembered that part from when it happened years ago.  She had written it off as a weird bit of drama that happened in the group one month. She had only met Jessica that once and the memory had faded from her mind quite rapidly.  Knowing what she knew now, Christine was honestly shocked that a vulnerable trans woman had entered her life for one brief moment and she had been so unaware of transgender issues at the time that she had been complicit in the group’s ill treatment of her.

               “But I’m not a man,” Jessica said in a voice so hollow and wracked with pain that it broke Chris’s heart to hear it.  “I am a woman.  I was beaten and raped and…”  She broke off, almost sobbing.  “I thought I’d be welcome here,” she added, standing up again.  “I thought I’d find some support.  I can see I was wrong.”

               Jessica turned round and left the room. Christine could hear now that she was sniffing back tears as she went, her high heels clacking hurriedly on the floor.

               “Good riddens,” said Heather heartlessly. There was laughter.  Christine noticed with shock that she also had been laughing, relieved that the drama was over.

                 Suddenly Chris was back in the present day.  But no one was talking anymore.  They were all looking at each other in fear and confusion.  Had they all just experienced what she had seen?

               The moaning got louder and then a wispy, indistinct shape appeared in the middle of the circle.  It was in the form of a woman, her skin pale and white, red marks on her wrists.  Although the woman’s gaunt face was wailing, the skin was drained of colour and her hair was draped over her eyes, Christine could just make out from the facial features that this woman was indeed Jessica, the trans woman from years ago.

               Suddenly Jessica lifted her head and the hair fell back to reveal a look of fury in her eyes.  The moaning turned into a growl of anger and an echoey, otherworldly voice sounded from that open mouth.  “It’s your fault!”  Jessica screamed at them all.  “All of you! You did this to me!”

               The lights flickered and blew.  A gust of wind swirled around the room.  And most horrifyingly of all, drops of red liquid fell from the ceiling.

               The apparition flew wildly around the room, screaming incoherently at them all with a terrifying mixture of rage and torment, bleeding all the while from her thin wrists.

               Everyone panicked and fled the room.  Chris grabbed Sophie’s hand once more and together they ran outside, fleeing the building and running out into the street.

               Panting for breath as they ran round the corner, they stopped outside a posh looking cafeteria.  Chris turned to her friend and lover and spoke what was foremost on her mind.  “That does it,” she said.  “We’re going to grandma’s house.”

                 “What’s this all about, dear?”  Grandma said as she opened the front door to greet them.

The sun was shining and the birds were singing outside Grandma’s quaint little house on the edge of town.  There were pink roses painted on the white door frame and an array of real flowers, yellow, red and blue, in the flower beds of the front garden. The lawn needed cutting a little, but was otherwise neat and tidy.  On the left hand side there was a driveway without a car and another door at the back that led to the kitchen.  

Grandma was dressed modestly and simply, her feet still in slippers as she met them. “Who’s this?”  She said, looking at Sophie.

               “This is my friend, Sophie.”  Chris told her hurriedly.  “I need to see Grandpa’s old things.”

               “Oh, Christine,” said Grandma in a disappointed tone of voice.  She sounded just like Chris’s mum.  “What do you want with all that junk?”

               “I want to honour his memory,” Chris said fiercely.  “Can’t a granddaughter reminisce about her dear old Grandpa?”

               “Well, of course,” grandma replied, turning round to lead them inside, visibly flustered by the sudden outburst.  “Far be it from me to stand in the way of your grief or your love for your Grandpa.”  They followed her into the kitchen.  A pot was on the hob, boiling what smelled like vegetable soup.  There was an unmistakeable scent of leek.  “You always were a strange girl.  And you and your Grandad always got along so well. It was touching really.  But that hobby of his…”

               Chris didn’t want to hear it.  “Down in the cellar, is it?”  She asked.

               “Well, yes…” said Grandma, again taken aback by Chris’s attitude.  “It always has been.  Do you and your friend want a cup of tea or anything?”

               “Yes, thank you,” Sophie said, smiling and polite. “That would be lovely.”

               “Yes, thanks Gran,” Chris said, more dismissively than her friend.  There were important things at stake and no time for chit chat.  She turned to leave for the cellar, taking Sophie with her.  “We’ll be up in a bit.  Just after I’ve shown Sophie all Grandad’s old things.”

               “Fine, fine,” Grandma called out as they left.  Chris could still hear her talking as they walked down the steps to the cellar.  “I don’t know what you youngsters see in all that old nonsense but be my guest.  I’ll get you some cake too, shall I?”

                 Reaching the bottom of the stairs and switching on the light, Chris and Sophie got to work, rummaging around in some old boxes, cupboards and drawers.  Eventually Chris found all the paperwork for the Psychic Investigation Group, along with many old photographs of paranormal phenomenon, some measurements from archaic equipment the investigators had used and various correspondence and eye witness accounts of paranormal activity.

               “This is amazing,” Sophie said, flipping through the pages and marvelling at what Chris showed her.  “Did he make a lot of money or any kind of name for himself with all this?”

               “He had a book published,” Chris told her. “I’ve got a copy in my room.  And he was sort of semi-famous at the time, yes. But he didn’t really make much money from it, I’m afraid.”

               “Well,” she replied, “it seems like an interesting life, anyway.”

               “Junk she called it!”  Said Chris, feeling that indignant need to defend her Grandpa from her family’s disapproval of him.  “Ridiculous bunkum, my Dad said.  Well, we know different now, don’t we?”

               “You said the explanation might not be supernatural after all,” Sophie reminded her, putting down what she was reading to look Chris in the face.

               “Maybe,” said Chris, collecting as much of the paperwork together as she could, “maybe not.  But it still needs investigating, doesn’t it?  That’s what he was about, and that’s what we need to do too.” Chris looked up, making eye contact with Sophie.  “We both saw that ghost; not just once, but twice.  And you found a man with corvid DNA in his blood, a man who said he turned into a crow every month at new moon.”

               “Well, yes…” said Sophie, looking away slightly, her brow furrowed with doubt.

               “So we have ghosts and were creatures to investigate,” Chris concluded, reaching out to touch her friend’s arm.  “It’s time, Sophie.  It’s time to honour Grandad’s memory.”  Sophie looked up again and their eyes met, as Chris stated her intent with new confidence and determination.  “I’m going to rebuild William McInnery’s Psychic Investigation Group for the modern age!”

This is the last chapter of the story that I’m posting on this blog.  To read the rest of the book, please buy The Psychic Investigation and Study Team on Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk

[khowellperformance-blog]

Northern Soul Essay (Portfolio)

What is Northern Soul?

Northern Soul is a music and dance movement that was formed and created individually in Northern England, the English Midlands, Scotland and Wales. It was formed in the British mod scene in the 1960’s.

The music of the Northern Soul movement was extremely iconic.  The music mainly consists of a particular style of black American soul music, this was due to its heavy beats and fast tempos, also known as Tamla Motown sound, and the music is one of the things that sparked off the movement’s popularity.

The initial term Northern Soul was initiated in a Covent Garden record shop “Soul City”.  The shop in question was run by Dave Godin, a journalist for the music magazine “Blues and Soul”. The term Northern Soul was first publicly used in one of Godin’s weekly article in the fore mentioned magazine. He later explained this when partaking in an interview with Chris Hunt for Mojo magazine that his reasoning behind the name was too help his employees at Soul City to differentiate between the more funk stylings of soul and the smoother Motown inspired pieces.

Some examples of the music were Gloria Jones’ “Tainted Love”, Jimmy Radcliffe’s “After tonight is over” and Dean Parish’s “I’m on my way”.

The Northern Soul movement was popular throughout the North of the United Kingdom, because of this there were a multitude clubs scattered across the UK.

The most popular clubs in England were:

The Twisted Wheel – Manchester

The Wigan Casino – Wigan

The Torch – Stoke-on-Trent.

Catacombs – Wolverhampton

The most popular clubs in Scotland were:

Clouds – Edinburgh.

The Music Hall – Aberdeen.

Marryat Hall – Dundee.

The Most popular clubs in Wales were:

Piranha Club & Lounge – Holyhead,

Pontardawe Arts Centre – Pontardawe.

Liquid Life – Cardiff.

What is a Stimulus?

A stimulus is an item or emotion used to aid creation when creating a performance piece. A lot of things can be used as stimuli, some examples that could be used are:

A quote. For example: “Sucking at something is the first step to being sort of good at something” could be used to create a scene in a school where someone is struggling and the teacher or a friend is helping to egg them on or to prove to them that they’re better than they think.

An image. For example: if you were given an image of an old house, you could use the image to create a piece of theatre based on the subject in the picture.

An animal. For example: if you were given a cat you could use the knowledge you have or could gain about the animal to use them to create your piece, maybe with you portraying the animal or about receiving the animal.

A person. For example: if you were given the celebrity Joey Essex you could do a piece based on him and your personal opinions of him and his apparent idiocy.

A time period. For example: if you were given the time period of World War 2 you would use that to create a scene based on World War 2.

One fact about Northern Soul.

The Clenched Raised fist symbol that has become commonly recognised within the Northern Soul Movement originally emanated from the 1960’s Black Power movement of the United States.

Evaluations on when you put the dance moves and facts together.

When we started putting our dance moves with our facts we found it difficult to start up the devising of our piece. In my group we have Myself, Georgie, Shannon, Dizai. The first day of devising our pieces I had damaged my knees and it mae it very difficult to do the moves so with our first piece we had timed it so that when I would read a fact that another member of our group had contributed, that person would start to perform Northern soul moves. I myself wasn’t performing the moves and I feel this was the biggest weakness in our piece, and I hated the piece so much, so after our feedback we went back began to work on changing it.

In our second try we were told about how talcum powder was used in the Northern soul movement, and because of this we decided that we would maintain me reading out the facts whilst the group would dance in time to the facts. This time however, we added a comical fall to symbolise the talcum powder making the floor slippery. By the end we would all be dancing. I still wasn’t feeling so happy with this piece so after we performed it once more we changed it up more so.

In our third try we were given two images to decide between to use as a stimulus; the first being an overcrowded Northern Soul club with the caption “Once upon a time in Wigan” and the other image being a picture of the shoes that were extremely popular for men in the Northern Soul movement. We decided to aim our piece more at Children and so we chose the “Once upon a time in Wigan” image to be our stimulus. We changed our setting to be in a club with friends, made our energy more heightened and made the fall more dramatic and of course we added the “once upon a time in Wigan” to our story. I was feeling a little better at this piece, however I feel it could have gone better.

For the Fourth try I was unfortunately absent during this lesson so I can’t make comment.

For the fifth try we decided to make it into a flashback scenario. Georgie and I were playing elderly grandparents, whilst Dizai and Shannon played our teenage grandchildren. We’re out on a walk around Manchester when we come across the old Twisted wheel club. Georgie and I start blurting out facts and getting all nostalgic whilst the grandchildren look on confused yet in awe. There’s then the flashback to when the grandparents were young and at the club, two younger people are watching them dance and ask to be taught. Shannon then slips on the talcum powder which leads us to explaining the talc. Dizai and Shannon then say their facts and we’re all dancing together. I really liked this piece however, the ages of the grandparents were criticized and so we decided to improve this.

Our sixth, and final idea, starts with Georgie and I sat on the sofa, playing parents, I’m reading a magazine and Georgie is watching television. Shannon and Dizai are sat flipping a bottle. This goes on for about ten seconds with me getting gradually more and more agitated before snapping at them to stop it and get on with their homework Shannon (playing Gloria) then answers back stating “What’s the point, it’s only boring Northern Soul.” This stuns Georgie and I as we start to defend the love of our youth. Georgie and I then stated that they’re named after Northern Soul artists “Gloria Jones” (artist of tainted love) and “Darrel Banks” (artist of open the door to your heart). We’re currently working on our flashback scene but we’re setting it up as though we’re telling them a story; starting with “Once upon a time in Wigan.”

3 strengths.

I feel that my first strength was my open mindedness when working with my new group.

I feel my second strength was my confidence in the piece despite not liking the initial idea of Northern Soul.

I feel my final strength was my projection, though in some areas it could improve.

3 weaknesses.

I feel that my first weakness was that at times I struggled to focus.

I feel that my second weakness was that I struggle to keep my cool with my group sometimes if I don’t feel like I’m being listened too when directing my group.

I feel that my final weakness was the fact that I’m not very adventurous with my movements.

3 Targets.

Remain calm.

Take Risks.

Keep my focus.

How did you use the image (Once upon a time in Wigan) as a stimulus?

Once upon a time in Wigan gave us the inspiration to help decide our target audience and to make our piece more in-depth. We also added it into our final piece to spark off our performance where the facts come into play.

How was Talcum Powder used in Northern Soul?

Talc was used in Northern soul to make the floors more slippery in order to aid with the twists, turns and slides in the movements as you had less friction to hold you back.

 Ask relatives questions on Northern Soul.

I couldn’t gather very much information about Northern Soul from my relatives as not many of them had been into Northern Soul or had even actually heard of it. However, what I did find out was that my Grandma when she was much younger used to work at the Twisted Wheel, unfortunately she has passed on so I couldn’t get any information from her. However, my Grandad recalls her coming home with a broken wrist after having to try and break up a fight outside.

Group feedback task.

 What did you learn about Northern Soul from the Shredded wheat advert?

From the shredded wheat advert I learnt the following:

New dance moves: in that I could see a wide variety of movements, using different levels and devising terms.

That they changed shoes upon arrival and departure: To ensure that they would remain in good quality and to ensure the shoes stay slippery to work with the talc to make the moves easier to perform.

The clothes were mostly bright colours: I feel this is rather self-explanatory, they used the colours to represent the joy they felt within their tightknit community of northern soul dancers.

Select/ Reject and edit task.

In the select, reject and edit task we decided to make an addition based on our year or level groups.

My year group, being Level 3, second years had to create a piece based on going into the club, the different cultures and the drug culture based around the clubs.

Sophie and I decided that we would be two cousins, however, I would be underage and using my older sister’s ID. We all decided that we would draw more focus to Sophie and I by adding a tablo or freeze-frame on everyone else. This we feel worked really well as it really drew attention to the conversation between us and increased the drama.

When Sophie and I finally got the front of the line, Sophie obviously got in without any questions cream pie asked, however, when Matt (playing a bouncer) asked for my ID he failed to believe it, which was where Sophie grabs my wrist and drags me through the door, I put my money in the box on the way past.

Later in the club Sophie’s friends are making jokes about my age, saying I’m not young enough. They then start offering me amphetamines, claiming they’re just sweets, chanting “take it, take it, take it!” with me backing away from them, before retreating to the bar to get a drink to only be confronted with the old woman who took the entrance fee, whom then starts telling me to take the amphetamines.

[madamhatter]

joseph n Sophie for ship meme bc wELCOME TO HELL BINCH

♡ SEND ME A SHIP AND I’LL TELL YOU…! | accepting.

NO I DONT WANT TO GO

  i loved both woops

Josephie // hamburgershipping  bullheadedshipping

Who accidentally pushes a door instead of pulling/vice versa:

    This definitely a situation for both! Joseph is used to pushing the door while Sophie is used to pulling. I mean, Sophie probably holds the door out of habit and Joseph finds it amusing. Either way, both of them might make fun of another for their errors. Joseph is more into proving that something’s wrong with the door and makes Sophie try it out. She pulls the door and Joseph just grumbles. 

Who doodles little hearts all over the desk with their initials inside them

   Maybe Joseph? I do feel like his mind wanders quite a bit and he’s rather bad at telling his own romantic feelings unless he really focuses. Like, for example, his time with Suzie Q during his recovery during Part 2. It just has to be in a place in which forces or obligates both being close to another. I can’t see the hearts included along with them but, he might jot it down at a point. 

Who starts the tickle fights

     Joseph! He’s definitely dictating of who touches him and then they can. Sophie, seemingly the more affectionate, would be more persistent in touching his hair and trying to tame it. Alas, her height is where she has that disadvantage! So, in turn, Joseph just grabs her unexpectedly and she will squirm to death, no questions asked. Being picked up tenses her easily enough but imagine your S.O. being a giant and taking “no” for an answer. And then include the fact that his hand is probably having no difficulty cupping your waist. Sophie would die. ( And the tickles probably start because Joseph wants his own justice) 

Who starts the pillow fights

    This is honestly easy going for both ways. There’s no doubt in my mind that Sophie would have a vein pop in irritation if Joseph is either talking over her and turning his back towards her! She probably tosses the pillow to his attention, voice raising and horribly flushed in frustration. As if Joseph wouldn’t look back and take that AT ALL; he’s one to start a fight if anyone if they think they can do it (his street justice is equal). One of the many pursuits in getting back at her would Sophie running away from him as she sort of realizes he can pick up a couch without breaking a sweat and just imagine what he can toss back! Though in Joseph’s case, he probably tosses it at her if he also gets annoyed at her and needs her to stop and she’s just that far away. 

Who falls asleep last, watching the other with a small affectionate smile

     Sophie! Joseph is a quick and heavy sleeper, so, it would be ridiculously hard for him to keep up the moment he hits the bed (and has such a pretty girl aside him~!) It would be rare that she is in bed before him and often, she would find him slumping over the mattress, snoring with content. Regardless of the matter, it’ll still make her smile because even if he practically drives her up the walls, he’s a genuinely good person with himself more worked out in how he sees life than she does. That is a bit more in-depth in her psyche but, that’s a bit off topic. Either way, if she was in bed before him (ill, maybe?), there would some a good laugh here or there since he takes up the majority of the bed (and it just astounds her how she’s gotten to this point). 

Who mistakes salt for sugar

     Joseph does and he does it for his coffee. The real matter is that Sophie is usually the culprit as to why he ends up mixing up salt and sugar. With how fucking petty she can be, with the right people, you know the New York Jojo would think twice about the sugar jar and check it out. Honestly, it probably becomes habit that still ticks off Joseph. But, the moment it hasn’t happened in a while and Sophie does it accidentally, oh my god is he going to have a mouthful. 

Who lets the microwave play the loud beeping sound at 1am in the morning

    Imagine waking up at 1 AM in the morning because your boyfriend is incompetent with schedules and tries sleeping in the whole day. Imagine having to walk into the kitchen, hairs raised and in a mess, because Joseph Joestar wanted to heat up taquitos and no one is going to stop him. Even worse, it’s one of those nights and tequila Josephina is at it AGAIN and is offering alcohol while you rather have death. 

Who comes up with cheesy pickup lines

    Bordering between charming and overbearing, the taller tends to have a sleeve full (i Just realized the lack of sleeves) ..Let me rephrase that: the taller tends to have a mind full of wit and one-liners that elevate up anything about his appearance. Simply, he’s confident and such a growing ego may be responsible for whatever lines said. Honestly, Sophie’s lines can be more into “pun” territory and blossom as less focused on appearance. Joseph’s, on the other hand, is cheesy in the sense of “Why wouldn’t you kiss me? Best asset right here are these lips” and that’s in its own way cheesy [ And he’d just get Sophie shoving her hand in his face and telling him he can only do it once. ] 

Who rearranges the bookshelf in alphabetical order

     [ Wheezes,,,] All hope in their relationship when it comes to maintaining the house is because of Sophie. Given the Joestars may contain a broader history and much more books about their lineage and association with the Speed Wagon foundation, that may be a side activity she does at Joseph’s place of residence. Whether or not he asks for it is a different question. But, Joseph would need to be the hand that’ll help her stack items because, given the family, a lot of furniture must a bit bigger than usual to accommodate the sizes and heights of the current Joestar generation. 

Who licks the spoon when they’re baking brownies

      A certain man of 195cm may have been a bit spoiled at home because of his grandma Erina (can’t blame him, she’s an angel). He’s practically a guinea pig for whatever recipes Sophie tries out and because of his bigger palette (and mouth), he might be called more often than not to try things during its creation. Sadly, Joseph does not realize you should lick batter that has RAW EGGS in it. The moment Sophie found him licking the spoon, every color on her face drained as she tried snatching the spoon away at him, worried of the probability of salmonella in the near future. 

Who buys candles for dinners even though there’s no special occasion

 IMO, Joseph getting candles might be a bad idea because he might plan something and the table catches on fire. Sophie wouldn’t do that in their dynamic; romance for him beyond her traditional mindset. I honestly see Joseph being the one to drag Sophie to some shabby place he found late one school evening. Their candles are just substituted with the stars while they’re eating on a park bench.

Who draws little tattoos on the other with a pen

  Joseph doesn’t do this a lot but, if there’s a pen in reach and her shoulders are exposed, holy shit. He might consider drawing all sorts of things, like a penis of all things, when she’s not paying attention. He most likely gets away with it if she crashes after work and she’ll be in a deep sleep. Another contender for anything drawn on her, besides a dick, would be little stars or whatever Joseph feels is “cool” to have for a tattoo. 

Who comes home with a new souvenir magnet every time they go on vacation

    It isn’t particularly for their house but, it’s for Joseph’s grandma and uncle. As the wealthier family compared to the Hatters, the Joestars have out sources because of the Speed Wagon Foundation. However, this doesn’t mean that Erina and Speed Wagon may freely travel on the whim without taking heavy note of their health. Joseph’s loyalty and giant attachment to his guardians would immediately make a persistent need to acquire something like a novelty magnet of where he went with his partner. I feel like it’ll be more of a random novelty item, a fashion item, or a common one (like a Christmas ornament) dictated by either person to give to the older generation. 100% no complaints from Sophie about the ordeal… The only issue is that Joseph may over-consider what he should bring over and not think about his wallet (and why would he when he’s literally rich??? sophie that’s not sound advice). 

   Home situation? I feel like there’s a bunch of photos from anywhere they take. It is hard with Sophie’s self-confidence as she probably uses Joseph’s size as an advtange to cover herself up. Of course, he would catch on and instead try to get her in focus of just ONE picture or takes photos without her knowledge and hangs up random photos of them both somewhere. ( NOTE: It’s probably more for scrapbooking that Erina loves making ?? I can see her into that :’D) 

Who convinces the other to fill out those couple surveys in the back of magazines

    Surprisingly, it would be the heiress who would chime to her partner about filling one out. Joseph is usually handling one media that is similar to a magazine, comic books, but there isn’t any direct interaction with the audience and it isn’t any sort of reporting or gossiping column. Being exposed to the liberal 21st century through the wide-eyed star-spangled-bannered Jojo, she would eventually indulge in a “teenager thing” like a couple survey. Joseph probably obnoxiously reminds Sophie how old she sounds (i think he’s older than her idk?? // either way she acts too old for her age ) and he gets hit with a rolled up magazine on his arm. Both of them will not successfully fill it out in one go though. Sophie is just astonished on what they ask and Joseph is giving examples of how worse the survey can be ( ie “ there was a quiz on the Cosmo(politian) about what sex position you and your partner like,” followed by a hearty glance and Sophie Hatter d y i n g ).