#95 live mixtape

[realnyhiphop101]

DJ Doo Wop “95 Live & Da Bounce Squad” Era

[bboyplankton]

Hip-Hop/Rap Albums 2022

1. Conway the Machine – God Don’t Make Mistakes

2. Lupe Fiasco – Drill Music in Zion

3. Nas – King’s Disease III

4. A Boogie wit da Hoodie – Me Vs. Myself

5. Saba – A Few Good Things

6. Westside Boogie – More Black Superheroes

7. Freddie Gibbs – $oul $old $eperately (Bonus Edition)

8. JID – The Forever Story

9. Boldy James & Cuns – Be That As It May

10. Kendrick Lamar – Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers

11. Ab-Soul – Herbert

12. Method Man – Meth Lab Season 3: The Rehab

13. Nick Grant – Welcome to Loveland

14. Burna Boy – Love, Damini

15. Vince Staples – Ramona Park Broke My Heart

16. Jeezy & DJ Drama – Snofall

17. Westside Gunn – 10

18. Larry June – Spaceships on the Blade

19. Danger Mouse & Black Thought – Cheat Codes

20. Lloyd Banks – The Course of the Inevitable 2

21. YG – I Got Issues

22. Joey Bada$$ – 2000

23. Cordae – From A Bird’s Eye View

24. Apollo Brown & Philmore Greene – Cost of Living

25. Megan Thee Stallion – Traumatize

26. Wiz Khalifa, Big K.R.I.T., Smoke DZA, & Girl Talk – Full Court Press

27. Denzel Curry – Melt My Eyez See Your Future

28. Dizzy Wright & DJ Hoppa – Dizzyland

29. Royce Da 5’9” – The Heaven Experience Vol.

30. Snoop Dogg – BODR

31. The Musalini & 9th Wonder – The Don & Eye

32. Pusha T – It’s Almost Dry

33. Jalen Santoy – Without Hesitation

34. Drake – Honestly, Nevermind

35. Symba & DJ Drama – Results Take Time

36. Jack Harlow – Come Home the Kids Miss You

37. Bun B & Statik Selektah – Trillstatik 2

38. Key Glock – PRE5L – EP

39. EarthGang – Ghetto Gods

40. Young Dolph – Paper Route Frank

41. Kid Cudi – Entergalactic

42. Smino – Love 4 Rent

43. Drake & 21 Savage – Her Loss

44. Brockhampton – The Family

45. Tobi Lou – Non-Perishable

46. The Cool Kids – Baby Oil Staircase/ Chillout

47. Doe Boy – Oh Really

48. Dave East, Buda & Grandz, & DJ Drama – Book of David

49. Smoke DZA – 10,000 Hrs

50. Nigo – I Know Nigo!

51. Busta Rhymes – The Fuse Is Lit – EP

52. Wiz Khalifa – Multiverse

53. Ransom – Pain & Glory

54. Tee Grizzley – Chapters of the Trenches

55. Sy Ari Da Kid – The Shadow In the Shade 2

56. Roc Marciano & The Alchemist – The Elephant Man’s Bones

57. Mozzy – Survivor’s Guilt

58. Armani Caesar – The Liz 2

59. Action Bronson – Crocodilo Turbo

60. Earl Sweatshirt – Sick!

61. CyHi – EGOT the EP

62. Dreezy – HitGirl

63. Juicy J & Wiz Khalifa – Stoner’s Night

64. Logic – Vinyl Days

65. DJ Premier – Hip- Hop 50: Vol. 1 – EP

66. Paul Wall & Termanology – Start 2 Finish

67. Casey Veggies – Since Ya’ll Forgot – EP

68. 38 Spesh & Harry Fraud – Beyond Belief

69. Jay Worthy & Harry Fraud – You Take the Credit, We’ll Take the Check

70. The Cool Kids – Before Shit Got Weird

71. Boldy James & Real Bad Man – Killing Nothing

72. Dreamville & J. Cole – D-Day: A Gangsta Grillz Mixtape

73. Juicy J, Lex Luger & Trap-A-Holics – Crypto Business

74. Buddy – Superghetto

75. The Game – DRILLMATIC Heart Vs. Mind

76. Snoop Dogg & DJ Drama – Gangsta Grillz: I Still Got It

77. Future – I Never Liked You

78. Duke Deuce – CRUNKSTAR

79. Prodigy – The Hegelian Dialectic 2: The Book of Heroine

80. Payroll Giovanni – Back 2 The Ba$ics

81. Yo Gotti, Moneybagg Yo, & CMG The Label – Gangsta Art

82. Duke Deuce – Memphis Massacre II

83. Latto – 777

84. Metro Boomin – Heroes & Villains

85. RZA & DJ Scratch – Saturday Afternoon Kung Fu Theater

86. Cappadonna & Stu Bangas – 3rd Chamber Grail Bars

87. Mickey Factz & Ayo Shamir – It’s Only Us Here

88. Hodgy – Everyday People Change Into Someone

89. 38 Spesh – 7 Shots

90. Smoke DZA, Nym Lo, & 183rd – Driplomatic Immunity

91. Jay Worthy, Larry June, & LNDN Drugs – 2 P’z In A Pod

92. DJ Khaled – God Did

93. Casey Veggies – Crypto Veggies

94. Quavo & Takeoff – Only Built for Infinity Links

95. RZA & Bobby Digital – RZA Presents: Bobby Digital & the Pit of Snakes

96. Curren$y & Fuse – Spring Clean 2

97. Boldy James & Futurewave – Mr. Ten08

98. Westside Gunn – Peace “Fly” God

99. Mt. Westmore – Snoop Cube 40 $hort

100. Apollo Brown – This Must Be The Place

101. BigWalkDog – Trick City

102. Bas – [Bump] Pick Me Up – EP

103. Cam’ron & A-Trak – U Wasn’t There

104. Onyx – Onyx Versus Everybody

105. Blac Youngsta – 4Life

106. Leikeli47 – Shape Up

107. Tsu Surf – Disparu

108. Finesse2Tymes – 90 Days

109. 42 Dugg & EST Gee – Last Ones Left

110. Coi Leray – Trendsetter

111. EST Gee – I Never Felt Nun

112. Rico Nasty – Las Ruinas

113. TyFontaine – B4BMG: The Experience – EP

114. BlocBoy JB – Bacc 2 Da Bloc

115. Gucci Mane – So Icy Boyz 22

116. Lil Baby – It’s On Me

117. Post Malone – Twelve Carat Toothache

118. Gucci Mane – So Icy Gang: The ReUp

119. Vory – Lost Souls

120. Glorilla – Anyways, Life’s Great

[5sosfanfictioncatalogue]

WIP Fics Masterlist

95 & 96 (ao3) - Buckysprostate michael/calum, calum/ofc M, 14k (WIP)

Summary: Norwest christian college has one thing going for it, as stated in the schools name, It is a christian school. So all of the team mates and coaches would not find it very nice to find out the secret that Clifford and Hood are hiding.

Or Michael is gay and the rest of the team hates him for it until Calum realizes he might have something in common.

A Feeling That I Can’t Fight (ao3) - lilacpages, shutupluke michael/ashton, michael/calum/ashton, michael/luke/ashton E, 8k (WIP)

Summary: Michael and Ashton have an unmistakable allure to them and a routine that dates back centuries. Calum’s just a simple bartender who’s heard a few things about vampires.

Or, Calum lets a stranger with a boyfriend buy him drinks, and eventually all three of them get more than they bargained for.

A Mild Disaster (ao3) - alseeptoday Calum/Ashton E, 7k (WIP)

Summary: Calum and Ashton have very drunken spur of the moment sex and Calum can’t quite figure out why he liked it so much…

Calum tried to remember what had led up to this but the alcohol was severely clouding his memory. That and the mouth on his neck was sending distracting shivers down his spine.

Baby, This is All I Could Be (ao3) - orphan_account luke/ashton, michael/calum N/R, 7k

Summary: The trust Luke places in him breaks Ashton’s heart because he’s crushed Luke, and maybe they’re both too far gone to be saved. In all honesty, Ashton doesn’t even remember hitting Luke, he almost never does. But he knows. He knows he’s angry when he’s drunk just like his mum is, and he knows that he probably hits hard, he hits things for a living, after all. Knowing all of this, Ashton is just astounded by the strength his boy carries on his frail shoulders. Luke carries his whole world, and Ashton repays him with a broken heart and a bruised face.

Or, part two of Promising Everything I Do Not Mean, the morning after

Breakage (ao3) - orphan_account michael/calum, michael/luke E, 20k (WIP)

Summary: “What happened to him?” “He’s crazy, Luke. Really, we all are. Some are just crazier than the rest.”

OR- the one where Luke ends up in an asylum and Michael just happens to be the most damaged one there.

Cherry Cola Fantasies (ao3) - twinkylukey luke/ashton, michael/calum, luke/omc E, 5k (WIP)

Summary: The year is 1973, Luke Hemmings is a free soul who wonders the beaches of the Pacific. A runaway, the blonde boy strums his guitar at different stores to make a few dollars. Ashton is a loner, riding the open road. Both boys happen to stop at the same gas station just on the outskirts of Las Vegas. Their paths crossing could change them forever.

Coffee & Mixtapes (ao3) - antisocialhood luke/calum N/R, 7k (WIP)

Summary: Luke didn’t realise what he was getting himself into when he told Calum he would tutor him.

First there was coffee.

Then there were mixtapes.

And suddenly, there were friends with benefits

Fire, Fangs and Forever Love (ao3) - Diaryofanarcissisticgayman luke/ashton/calum E, 8k (WIP)

Summary: Calum quits his job as a magical journalist to chase after a dream. Unfortunately, he has no idea what he’s doing. Luckily for him, he meets two people who can help him figure it out.

Jellyfish (ao3) - TheLarryDiaries michael/calum, luke/ashton E, 22k (WIP)

Summary: “Hi, guys! Mikey and I have decided to create a combined channel specifically for us and even Luke and Ashton! The link’s in the bio, and Michael and I will see you in a bit. Bye!”

~

And that’s how Calum Hood introduced his and Michael’s new channel, Jellyfish.

lights will guide you home (ao3) - prettyluke (parting_ways) luke/ashton M, 48k (WIP)

Summary: After a night blurred by blood and fear, Luke struggles to rebuild his life, and his search for the light leads him right to Ashton.

Lust (ao3) - K_CALM_N luke/ashton E, 37k (WIP)

Summary: Ashton wants to take away Luke’s innocence and practically jumps at the chance to get his hands on him.

My Cobain Shirt (ao3) - unconditionalcalum michael/calum, luke/ashton T, 14k (WIP)

Summary: Michael’s heart skipped a beat. Did he, Calum fucking Hood, just talk to him, Michael? Michael managed to smile at him quickly before the tanned boy walked away, already talking to someone else. It never happened before. Until this moment, Michael wasn’t even sure Calum knew he existed. But apparently, he did.

Or: the one where the shy boy with the bright hair (Michael) has a hopeless crush on the popular soccer-player-with-a-scholarship (Calum).

Off The Field (ao3) - crikeymatee michael/calum, luke/ashton E, 110k (WIP)

Summary: “Neither one of you are playing until you learn to get along. You’re both benched for the remaining games unless you learn to get along with each other.” Coach said.

“WHAT?!��, they screamed in unison.

“How am I supposed to get along with this, t-this fag?!”

“Oh fuck you, you self-centered little bitch.”

Popstar (ao3) - L4sht0n luke/ashton, michael/calum T, 54k (WIP)

Summary: Luke didn’t need a fake boyfriend. He had some problems, every celebrity had some problems. Drug, sex and alcohol was Luke’s getaway, but there was nothing wrong with it. A bit problematic yes, but he did nothing wrong. Luke was losing fans because of his bad behaviour, and he was kind of an asshole. Luke could admit this. But he didn’t need a fake boyfriend. He didn’t need Ashton Irwin to play his fake boyfriend and clean up his mess. If Luke’s management wanted to clean up Luke so badly they should just hire a cleaning lady. Luke didn’t need a fake boyfriend, didn’t want it. Then why did the fake relationship feel so real?

Take On Me (ao3) - DracosPubicHair michael/luke, calum/ashton E, 14k (WIP)

Summary: “He didn’t know why he was taking all those photos of him, he didn’t even know his name. But the way he looked over the crowd, the way his lips pressed against the mic, the way his fingers danced along the fretboard, and the way the lights hit his face with a mesmerizing glow—a whole new world opened up for Luke, and he found a new art to capture.”

or

Luke is a photographer that thinks only scenery is what’s worth capturing, but a struggling musician changes that, and Luke can’t stop looking at his picture.

Tinder Boy (ao3) - boomercal luke/calum N/R, 10k

Summary: After a few fateful swipes Luke and Calum ended up hooking up from Tinder, then they went their separate ways… at least they tried to.

We All Just Wanna Be Big Rockstars (ao3) - queenssmoaks michael/luke, calum/ashton T, 11k (WIP)

Summary: AU: Luke is a huge fan of Michael’s band, Bromance.

What It Takes (ao3) - mukeclemmings luke/calum M, 8k (WIP)

Summary: “Wait, wait, wait. You don’t like sex? How can you not like sex?”

And, it’s not that Calum doesn’t like sex, Calum is very sure that he would like sex in the right situation. It’s just, Calum doesn’t like intimacy with just anyone, and he definitely doesn’t like intimacy with the douchebag fratboy that broke his best friend’s heart.

Or, so he thought.

You Ain’t No Friend Of Mine (ao3) - CliffordAffliction michael/luke E, 50k (WIP)

Summary: Luke hates Michael and Michael hates Luke ever since they started playing on rival teams but it turns out that they don’t hate each other as much as everyone thinks

You Had Me at Hello. (ao3) - Cashton4506 Calum/Ashton N/R, 10k (WIP)

Summary: Ashton goes on a family vacation on a cruise ship for 4 weeks. Will he begin to enjoy himself when he meets the boy on the floor above?

[whileiamdying]

Review: Marina Abramovic Summons Maria Callas in ‘7 Deaths’

Part mixtape and part séance, this opera project by the famed performance artist attempts to unite two divas across time.

Marina Abramovic’s “7 Deaths of Maria Callas,” in Munich, includes opera excerpts and short films such as this one, inspired by “Otello.” (Leah Hawkins is onstage at left, with Abramovic in bed.)Credit...Wilfried Hösl

By Joshua Barone July 28, 2021

7 Deaths of Maria Callas

MUNICH — In Leos Carax’s new film, “Annette,” the husband and wife played by Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard are described in inverse terms. As a comedian, he kills every night; as an opera star, she dies.

That’s of course a reductive view of opera. But the alignment of the art form and demise persists in the popular imagination, and guides “7 Deaths of Maria Callas.” A dramaturgically misguided séance of a project by the performance artist Marina Abramovic, it played to its largest in-person audience yet on Tuesday at the Bavarian State Opera here, after a heavily restricted run and livestream last year. It is bound for Paris and Athens in September, then Berlin and Naples — and who knows where else, with Abramovic’s celebrity behind it.

“7 Deaths” is a meeting of divas in which Callas is invoked through a series of the arias for which she was notable. She is then inhabited onstage and in short films — the summoning of a spirit who, Abramovic argues, is still very much with us.

In the work, Abramovic inhabits Maria Callas, miming to a recording of “Casta Diva.”Credit...Wilfried Hösl

She’s right. Callas died in 1977, yet lives on in a still-robust stream of albums, art books and, yes, hologram concerts. She was known even to a public beyond opera as tabloid fodder, especially because of her affair with Aristotle Onassis — a love triangle involving Jacqueline Kennedy, his eventual wife. But her pop celebrity emerged from her being an indelible artist, who contributed to the 20th-century resurrection of bel canto repertoire with a transfixing stage presence. Even when silent, she emoted with the entirety of her face, arrestingly expressive with just a small hand gesture. Her voice failed her too early, but she embodied the “Tosca” aria “Vissi d’arte”: “I lived for art.”

That voice caught the attention of a young Abramovic, who has said that she first heard Callas on the radio when she was a 14-year-old in Yugoslavia. Since then she has been haunted by their similarities: They share astrology signs, toxic relationships with their mothers and, she told The New York Times last year, “this incredible intensity in the emotions, that she can be fragile, and strong at the same time.”

In the opera’s initial run, Adela Zaharia, left, sang an aria from “Lucia di Lammermoor.” On Tuesday, it was sung by Rosa Feola, in a standout performance.Credit...Wilfried Hösl

In that interview, Abramovic noted one essential difference: how they reacted to losing the loves of their lives. Callas, in her view, died of a broken heart — a heart attack, to be exact — but Abramovic, so shattered that she stopped eating or drinking, eventually survived by returning to work.

All this background about “7 Deaths” is clearer than the work itself, in which Callas is never present enough to persuasively intertwine with Abramovic, who upstages the great diva throughout. That’s the insurmountable flaw of the project, and the main reason it doesn’t belong in an opera house.

“7 Deaths” is best experienced in person; the spatial audio design and immersive, big-screen film element made its 95-minute running time a breeze on Tuesday, compared with the tedious livestream last year. But its use of live performers relegates them to mere soundtrack, while also erasing Callas from her own history.

This might have been more satisfying as a set of video installations, something like Julian Rosefeldt’s “Manifesto.” If Abramovic’s homage were accompanied by Callas’s storied recordings, the goal of joining and blurring divas could be more naturally achieved. Instead, “7 Deaths,” directed by Abramovic with Lynsey Peisinger, never quite approaches actual drama in its succession of arias and films, then its dreamy re-creation of Callas’s final moments in her Paris apartment.

Nadezhda Karyazina, left, sang the role of Carmen last year against a backdrop of a video with Willem Dafoe, left onscreen, and Abramovic. On Tuesday, Samantha Hankey sang it.Credit...Wilfried Hösl

The piece does include new music, by Marko Nikodijevic — ably conducted, along with the opera excerpts, by Yoel Gamzou. The overture begins with haunting bells and slippery melodies whose glissandos render them distant memories of unplaceable tunes. Behind a scrim, Abramovic lies still in a bed under soft lighting; not since Tilda Swinton has an artist so easily gotten away with sleep as performance.

Then swirling clouds are projected onto the scrim — a tacky recurring “visual intermezzo,” as it is called in the credits — and a maid enters. She is the first of seven singers who dress identically and whose arias follow introductions in the form of poetic texts prerecorded by Abramovic.

The characters are never named, but opera fans will recognize them instantly: Violetta Valéry from “La Traviata” (Emily Pogorelc); Desdemona from “Otello” (Leah Hawkins); Cio-Cio-San from “Madama Butterfly” (Kiandra Howarth); and the title protagonists of “Tosca” (Selene Zanetti), “Carmen” (Samantha Hankey), “Lucia di Lammermoor” (Rosa Feola) and “Norma” (Lauren Fagan).

Their onstage appearances are an insult to the singers, who feel like interchangeably anonymous musical accompaniment to the short films — though Feola’s Lucia was defiantly present, a performance that captured the role’s emotional force and vocal acrobatics, even stripped of its dramatic context.

In the work’s coda, Abramovic imagines herself in Callas’s Paris apartment on the day she died.Credit...Wilfried Hösl

A spotlight remains throughout on the sleeping Abramovic, as behind her the short films — starring her and a game Willem Dafoe, and directed by Nabil Elderkin — provide not reflections on Callas but (on a superficial level) the arias themselves, and (on a more thoughtful one) the nature of operatic artifice.

In their embrace of excess, these videos flirt with winking camp. As Abramovic falls from a skyscraper in slow motion, inspired by “Tosca,” her enormous earrings dance in zero gravity; when Dafoe wraps thick snakes around her neck to strangle her like Desdemona, their slithering bodies smear her lipstick. Her Carmen is a bedazzled matador, while in the “Norma” film she and Dafoe trade gender roles, with him in a glittering gown and the penciled eyebrows of Marlene Dietrich.

Little, if anything, is said here about Callas, but after the seventh aria, Nikodijevic’s music returns — now rumbling and tumultuous, with singers and instrumentalists perched in the theater’s boxes — as the scene changes to her apartment on the day of her death. It’s realistic yet suggests a place beyond, the window opening not to a streetscape but to a pale blue emptiness.

In this long coda, Abramovic’s prerecorded voice both gives her directions for onstage movement and imagines Callas’s final thoughts in a collage of non sequiturs resembling a mad scene. She contemplates her luxurious bedding, “Ari” Onassis, her gay friends (Luchino Visconti, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Franco Zeffirelli, Leonard Bernstein). Then, at some point, she leaves through a door. The maids come in, dispassionately clean the room and drape black fabric over the furniture.

One of them lingers, opening a turntable and dropping the needle on a record of “Casta Diva.” The sound is scratchy, but a distinct voice comes through: Callas, for the first time. Abramovic returns to the stage, in a sparkling gold gown, and mimes the performance — an outstretched hand, a downcast look. The two divas unite at last, too late.

7 Deaths of Maria Callas

Performed Tuesday at the Bavarian State Opera, Munich.

Joshua Barone is the assistant performing arts editor on the Culture Desk and a contributing classical music critic. More about Joshua Barone

A version of this article appears in print on July 29, 2021, Section C, Page 8 of the New York edition with the headline: Summoning the Spirit of a Diva. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

[rei-the-head-shaker]

4th - 10th September 2023 Spotify Stats

(according to last.fm)

A few numbers:

Scrobbles:  295

Avarage Scrobbles per day:  42

Nr. of Artists:  101

Nr. of Albums:  106

Nr. of Tracks:  132

Top 10 Tracks:

“My Sails Are Set (from the Netflix Series "One Piece")” by Sonya Belousova  (27)

“Choose Your Fighter” by Ava Max  (22)

“Wanted Dead Or Alive” by Sonya Belousova  (18)

“Zoro vs Mihawk” by Sonya Belousova  (11)

“Lay All Your Love on Me” by ABBA  (8)

“Party At Baratie” by Sonya Belousova  (8)

“Let's Disappear” by Sonya Belousova  (6)

“Welcome To Baratie” by Sonya Belousova  (6)

“Bang!” by Sonya Belousova  (5)

“True Bluefin Saute” by Sonya Belousova  (5)

Top 10 album:

“One Piece (Soundtrack from the Netflix Series)” by Sonya Belousova  (95)

“Mixtape from Baratie (from the Netflix Series "One Piece")” by Sonya Belousova  (47)

“Barbie The Album” by VV AA  (22)

“Super Trouper” by ABBA (8)

“Wasteland, Baby!” by Hozier  (5)

“Vois sur ton chemin (Techno Mix)” by Bennett  (4)

“Live At the Barracks” by Bill Schustik  (3)

“I'm Not Like Alice” by SkyeChristy  (3)

“TVアニメ『僕のヒーローアカデミア』オリジナル・サウンドトラック” by Yuki Hayashi (3)

“Soldier, Poet, King” by Cullen Vance (2)

Top 10 artists:

Sonya Belousova  (142)

Ava Max  (23)

ABBA  (8)

Hozier  (6)

林ゆうき  (5)

Bennett  (4)

Bill Schustik  (3)

SkyeChristy  (3)

Cullen Vance  (2)

Easha  (2)

Top Tags:

Soundtrack

Barbie

Pop

Indie

Piano

[dorefasolsido]

7. BTS-related 2

In celebration of Festa 2023!

***credits to the original creator***

We start with the basics: Your bias(es)? Your bias wrecker?

Bias: Jimin

Bias wrecker: Don’t really have one anymore, but it used to be Jungkook

The music that made you discover BTS?

Fake Love got me into them, but my road to actually listening to Fake Love is connected to Eurovision, so I guess thank you, Eurovision?

Favorite album?

Map of the Soul: 7 or Wings.

Top 5 favorite songs?

Nooo, don’t ask. It’s impossible to rank them. My favourite two are Blood Sweat & Tears and Fake Love, but everything after that is way too difficult.

Favorite solo song from BTS albums?

Namjoon: Reflection.

Jin: Moon

Yoongi: First Love

Hobi: Boy Meets Evil

Jimin: Lie

Taehyung: Singularity

Jungkook: Euphoria

Favorite solo song out of BTS albums?

Namjoon: Closer, Change Pt.2 and Lonely

Jin: The Astronaut

Yoongi: Amygdala

Hobi: Blue Side

Jimin: Like Crazy

Taehyung: Christmas Tree

Jungkook: Still With You

Favorite mixtape?

Maybe D-2? I generally really love Yoongi’s rap style.

Favorite friendship?

How could I ever choose? I’m a big fan of Vmin because they are ‘95s and I’m also a ‘95, so it’s somehow relatable. But I also love Jinkook and Namjin and Yoonmin and Jihope and just everyone. I can only dream of having what they have.

Favorite BTS meme?

Not sure, but I love how Run BTS editors roast the boys all the time.

Favorite MV?

Blood Sweat & Tears reigns supreme.

Which member personality is like yours?

I feel like I’m somewhere between Jungkook and Suga. Like, generally pretty quiet, slightly spaced out, would gladly just sit around and do nothing, and people usually think I’m cold at first. But when I’m into something, then I’m into it.

Which member’s style you like the most?

Even though Hobi is the ultimate fashion icon, I lean towards Jungkook’s style a lot. Black on black on black.

Who's the funniest member?

Probably Jin, he’s hilarious and knows how to always lighten up the mood. Jungkook as well, he is sometimes just existing in a really funny way.

Who's the most comforting for you?

Jimin. Namjoon and Yoongi rank highly too, but everything about Jimin is so warm and fuzzy.

Who could be the scariest when he's pissed off?

People often say Hobi, but for me honestly Namjoon. Like, the few times I’ve seen him pissed off I was like damn, wouldn’t want him to look at me like that. Not to mention, I would feel really bad if I did something to annoy him.

Smile you like the most?

Yoongles.

Laugh you like the most?

Lmao everyone’s? But I’ll pick Hobi and Jimin because they laugh with their whole bodies. Like, Jimin literally disappears from the screen when he laughs.

Voice you like the most?

Singing voice? Probably Jimin’s.

Eyes you love the most?

Jungkook’s big bambi eyes.

Which song can make you cry? (solo/group)

Mikrokosmos.

Which song make you happy? (solo/group)

Permission to Dance, Anpanman

Which song to kick asses?

Mic Drop, Run BTS

Which song to party?

I went to a K-pop party where they played their songs, and I think I had the best time during Idol. But mostly because I know part of the choreo lol

Which song make you feel invincible?

Idol and Set Me Free Pt.2

Sexiest song?

Blood Sweat & Tears

Best live performance at an award ceremony?

Oof, tough. I’m super biased towards 2018 MAMA with Fake Love/Airplane Pt.2/Idol because that’s what got me into BTS, but what can possibly top 2019 MAMA with that long, dramatic Dionysus? That whole thing is a masterpiece.

Best choreography?

Fake Love, Mic Drop, Run BTS, I don’t know man

The moment you laughed the most with them?

So many Run BTS episodes. But one of my faves is when Tae betrays Jimin in the episode where they had to stick little stickers on each other’s backs.

The moment you cried the most with them?

Well, I didn’t exactly cry, but my heart sank during Festa dinner 2022. It was my first Festa too and I was looking forward to it, and then everyone just seemed so sad. I hope to god Festa 2023 has a happier tone.

Your favourite BTS memory?

Aaah that whole week before Busan’s Yet to Come concert. So much was happening, everyone was excited, I cursed my luck for not being able to go, but I was preparing to watch the livestream of the concert. That was before the military announcement too, and it was great fun

[depressedbagpipe]

The Freak and the Jedi (Eddie Munson x female!Henderson!reader)

Chapter eight: Papa

Words: 3590 Warnings: foul-language, canon-typical violence, mentions of guns and other weapons, pretty tamed chapter overall compared to the rest. also if you see this, go to sleep. A/N: hey! i'm sorry this took so long, i've been having some shitty days lately and had no motivation to write. also, i'm sad this is almost finished and just wanna hold on to it a bit longer. also, this chapter's a bit shorter, but honestly, not much action happened here and i wanted to give the characters a bit of a break to sleep because I'm an overthinker who was worried about none of them getting enough sleep during the show. thank you for reading so far, and i sincerely hope you've been enjoying this <;3 Taglist: @authorlovers, @angiewhoohooo, @thatsamegirl, @lizzy-95, @elleeeee21, @tanyaherondale, @le-who-zer-her, @toobsessedsstuff, @vingtetunmars

Series masterlist Previous chapter <;> Next chapter

Chapter eight: Papa

“Steve says you need to hurry!” Erica yelled as she came into Eddie’s room. 

“Yeah? No shit!” Dustin and I accidentally screamed back at her at the same time.

“We’re trying! We can’t find anything!” Max howled too, gripping different mixtapes in her hands.

“Seriously, what is all this shit?” Robin questioned Eddie, who came back into the room with more of his tapes in his hands, dumping them on the bed. 

“I mean, what are you even looking for?”

I too followed after him, desperately reading off the many titles, searching for one that could work for Nancy, but their music tastes couldn’t be more different.

“Madonna? Blondie? Bowie? Beatles? Music! We need music!” Robin’s voice got higher, screaming at Eddie in frustration at the missing titles in his collection.

“This is music!” Eddie screamed back at her, now gripping tightly in his hand the Iron Maiden tape he had ripped from Robin’s hands.

“And very good music, indeed!” I defended Eddie, before running back to the front of the trailer, seeing Steve still holding Nancy and shaking her shoulders in an attempt to wake her up. “How is she doing?” I yelled at him.

“Nothing!” answered Steve, panic flooding his eyes as he kept staring at Nancy.

I felt useless, simply staring at them from my place. Nancy was still unresponsive, and despite Steve’s screams, nothing seemed to bring her back. Once again I stood there, waiting for something to happen, for some divine force to pull her out of Vecna’s grasp. Tears were streaming down my face in anticipation, shaking my head rapidly as if it simply was all a bad dream. But then, out of nowhere, Nancy, with a big gasp, fell downwards, her legs buckling and falling on her back. Thankfully, Steve was there to catch her.

“Woah, woah, woah,” he said as he gently put her down, his arms circling her as Nancy panted.

“Oh my god,” I cried in relief at the sight, inhaling deeply knowing that my friend was alright. I ran to Eddie’s room with a big grin. “She’s okay!” I didn’t wait for their response as I ran back to the living room, several footsteps running after me and looking upwards at Nancy and Steve, who were hugging tightly as they both sat on the floor, not any words needed.

“He showed me… things… that haven’t happened yet,” Nancy recalled. “The most awful things.”

We were all scattered around Max’s trailer, listening intently as Nancy’s gaze was fixed on the floor. Her voice was hoarse, and she was clearly shaken at whatever Vecna had shown her. We had practically run away from Eddie’s trailer, knowing police cars could show up after hearing our frantic yells, and opted for using Max’s trailer as our new temporary headquarters.

“I saw… a dark cloud… spreading over Hawkins,” Nancy continued. “Downtown on fire. Dead soldiers. And this… this giant creature with… a gaping mouth. And this creature wasn’t alone. There were so many monsters… an army. And they were coming into Hawkins. Into our neighborhoods. Our homes. And then… he showed me my mom. And Holly. Mike. And they… they were all…” she didn’t finish. 

Her voice had gotten shakier with every word until it had finally broken. Nancy’s distraught state only increased our fears, seeing how tears still fell from her eyes, and how her skin glistened with cold sweat. Even her hair, always so kept and refined, was sticking up in the oddest ways, as if she had just gotten back from Hell itself, which she did.

“Okay,” said Steve, with a curt shake of his head. “But… he’s just trying to scare you, Nance. Right? I mean… I mean, it’s not real,” he tried to argue with her. I nodded at his words, knowing Steve also wanted to reassure all of us. 

Nobody dared move or make a sound after we sat down. I had fallen in between Eddie and Steve on the couch, the space rather tight with Erica on the other end of the couch, but none of us had even tried to accommodate ourselves better. It had also taken Nancy several minutes to recompose herself enough to recall what had happened to her. 

“Not yet,” Nancy said fearfully. “But there… there was something else,” she added. “He showed me gates. Four gates. Spreading across Hawkins. And these gates, they looked like the one outside of Eddie’s trailer, but…. they didn’t stop growing,” Eddie tensed beside me, his hand wrapped in a tight fist as he used it to support his head. “And this wasn’t the Upside Down Hawkins. This was our Hawkins. Our home.”

“Four chimes,” suddenly Max said.  “Vecna’s clock. It always chimes four times. Four exactly.”

Our attention was back on the redhead, knowing we were piecing everything together, yet not enjoying where it was headed. 

“I heard them too,” Nancy agreed. 

We all moved our heads to her now, the constant go-and-fro of information making our heads swirl in desperation. 

“He’s been telling us his plan this whole time,” Max concluded with a shake of her head, her headphones rattling on her neck. She hadn’t moved from her place by the kitchen entrance, standing up next to Lucas, who couldn’t keep his eyes off her.

“Four kills,” he chimed in. “Four gates. End of the world.”

“If that’s true…” Dustin started. “He’s only one kill away.”

It was like the glass had finally broken, reality settling in as we collectively lost our minds.

“Oh, Jesus Christ,” Eddie rubbed his face tightly. “Jesus Christ,” he kept muttering rather breathlessly.

“Try ‘em again. Try ‘em again,” Steve commanded Max.

We still had no way to contact El, Mike, Will, and Jonathan. We had tried to ring them several times over the past few days, but none of them ever answered the phone, not even Joyce. 

“Anything?” I asked her as she returned to the living room.

“No,” Max exhaled, clearly frustrated. “Rang a few times, then went to busy signal.”

Steve kept looking up at her. “Maybe you punched it wrong,” he offered. “Try again.”

“I didn’t punch it in wrong,” Max defended herself.

“Well, I don’t know,” Steve had already run out of ideas.

“I think she knows how to use a phone,” Dustin defended Max, but the tension kept rising.

“I’m just saying, she could’ve typed it in wrong,” Steve argued again while Max tried the phone again, only to obtain the same result.

“Same shit,” she exclaimed after putting the phone down, anger laced on her features.

“How is that possible?” Lucas asked confusedly. 

“I told you, Joyce has this telemarket job. She’s always on the phone, Mike won’t stop whining about it,” Dustin responded.

“Okay, yeah, but this phone’s been busy for, what, three days now?” Max added. “That’s not Joyce. No way. Something’s wrong.”

“She’s right,” Nancy agreed with her. “It can’t be just coincidence. It can’t be,” she kept shaking her head in disbelief. She stood up and walked to the window, staring at Eddie’s trailer in front of her. “Whatever’s happening in Lenora is connected to all of this, I’m sure of it.”

I had lain back on the couch, staring at the ceiling, not even daring to close my eyes despite the exhaustion that filled every single muscle of my body. Eddie kept rocking in his seat, while Robin remained on the floor, oddly silent and hugging her knees.

“How can it possibly be connected, Nance? I mean, maybe they went camping together and forgot to mention anything,” I offered, shaking my head in confusion. “They’re on the other side of the country. If you’re telling me that Vecna somehow has a way to hurt people across the globe, I…” I couldn’t finish the sentence. 

The idea of the Upside Down extending all over the world had never been a possibility we had discussed, but even now it seemed fairly plausible.

“But Vecna can’t hurt them,” Nancy continued with an even stronger tone. “Not if he’s dead,” her eyes met mine as she turned around. “We have to go back in there. Back to the Upside Down.”

Everyone immediately started complaining at the same time, our arguments getting lost in each other. 

“Let’s think this through, okay?” Steve stood up, walking to Nancy.

“What is there to think through?” Nancy replied.

“We barely made it out of there in one piece.”

“Yeah, because we weren’t prepared!” she continued. “But this time, we will be. We’ll get weapons and protection. We’ll go through the gate, we’ll find his lair, and we’ll kill him.”

“Or he’ll kill us,” Steve tried to reason with her once again. “The only reason you survived is because he wanted you to. He’s not scared of us.” 

“And for good reason,” Robin finally stood up. “We were wrong about Vecna. Henry. One. Sorry, what are we calling him now?” she stuttered but quickly got back to the point after we all said different answers. “Right, we’ve learned something new about Vecna/Henry/One. He’s a number like Eleven, only a sick, evil, male, child-murdering version of her with really bad skin, but my, my… my point is, he’s super powerful! He could turn us inside out with a snap of his fingers. It’s not a fair fight!” Robin exclaimed, getting lost in her own divagations.

“Then why fight fair?” my brother said. “You’re right, he’s like Eleven. But that gives us an upper hand. We know Eleven’s strengths, and weaknesses.”

Erica was too stunned. “Weaknesses?”

“When El remote-travels, she goes into this sort of trance-like state. I bet the same is true of Vecna,” Dustin pondered.

“That would explain what he was doing in that attic,” Lucas offered. 

“Exactly! When he attacks his next victim, I’ll bet you he’s back in that attic, physical body defenseless.”

Steve was quick to react to Dustin’s words. “Defenseless? What about the army of bats?” he even motioned to his own neck, where the bats had previously almost choked him to death right after we arrived at the Upside Down.

“Right, true. We’ll have to find a way past them,” Dustin agreed. “Distract them somehow.”

“And, uh, how do we do that, exactly?” Eddie joined, about to get up from his place.

“No idea.”

Eddie proceeded to sit back down with a grim expression on his face. 

“But once they’re gone,” Dustin continued. “He doesn’t stand a chance. It’ll be like slaying sleeping Dracula in his coffin.” 

“That all sounds good in theory, but there is no pattern to Vecna’s killings,” Robin added. “I mean, at least not one that I can decipher,” her words made Dustin’s shoulders drop. We all knew Robin was our safest bet in actually decoding anything. She had proved as such last summer. “We don’t know when he’s going to attack next. We don’t even know who he’s going to attack.”

“Yeah, we do,” Max said, still unmoving from her place. We all looked at her, but her eyes didn’t meet ours. “I can still feel him. I’m still marked. Cursed. I ditch Kate Bush. I draw his focus back to me,” her tone was serious, her mind made up.

“Max…” Lucas weakley attempted to argue. “You can’t. He’ll kill you.”

I too shook my head, too stunned to say anything for once.

“I survived before. I can survive again,” Max challenged with determination. “I just need to keep him busy long enough so that you guys can get into that attic. Then you can… chop his head off… stab him in the heart… blow him up with some explosive Dustin cooks up… I honestly don’t care how you put this asshole in his grave, just… whatever it is… whatever you do… try not to miss.” 

“Check this out. ‘The War Zone.’ I’ve been there once,” Eddie pointed his finger to the ad in the newspaper. The rest of us crowded around the table as we read the black-and-white lettering in the paper.

“Excuse me, what?” I asked, confused.  

“Just once, Henderson. They got everything you need for, uh… well, killing things, basically,” he gulped, struggling to find the right words as he avoided my eyes.

I shot him a pointed glare, as if mentally reminding him to talk about his shenanigans later on.

“You think fake Rambo has enough guns there?” Robin asked, looking down at the discolored letters. “Is that a grenade? I mean, how is any of this legal?”

“Guess what,” I muttered under my breath.

Eddie kept going. “Well, lucky for us, it is, so… this? This place is just far enough outside of Hawkins. As long as we steer clear of main roads, we oughta be able to avoid cops and, uh, angry hicks.”

“If we’re trying to avoid angry hicks, maybe we shouldn’t go to some store called the War Zone,” Erica said, always so wise despite her young age. 

“Normally, I’d agree, but we need the weapons, so I think it’s worth the risk,” Nancy supported Eddie’s plan.

“But is it worth the time?” Dustin asked, not really a fan of it. “It’ll take all day to bike there and back.”

“Who said anything about bikes?” Eddie asked.

“What, you got some sort of car we don’t know about?” I asked him in return, already suspicious of where Eddie’s ideas were taking him.

Eddie rose from his position at the head of the table, towering slightly over me with a grin that meant trouble. “It’s not exactly a car, princess. And it’s not exactly mine, but, uh… it’ll do,” he shared a look with the rest, all of us understanding the implications behind it. 

“We’re definitely going to jail,” I complained as Eddie turned to Max, asking her for a mask he could put on so he wouldn’t be recognized once we stepped out.

Seeing Eddie walk in what he called his “suspicious stroll” with a Michael Myers mask was, again, not on the list of things I thought I’d ever see with my own two eyes. We silently trailed after him, walking in between old cars and dirty houses toward our next morally questionable act. One by one, we jumped through the window into the empty RV, trying to make as little noise as possible as the unsuspecting owners dined right outside. I noticed Eddie and Steve up front, quietly chatting to themselves as Eddie hot-wired the engine.

“Guys, everybody sit down and hold on to something, alright? I know this is gonna be a bumpy ride,” I said to everyone before walking to the front right before the engine rear. 

“Uh, Eddie? I’m not sure I love the idea of you driving,” I sent him a look, knowing his skills were yet to be perfected, panic settling in at the thought.

“Oh, I’m just starting this sucker. Harrington’s got her. Don’t you, big boy?” he sent him a rather crazy grin, before turning back to the wires in his hand and starting the engine.

He kept grinning as he stood up, satisfied with his work and allowing Steve to drive us away, while the couple outside shouted at us and tried to open the locked door. I went to the back, sitting down on the first seat I could find, with Eddie quickly sitting down beside me as Steve repeated my words about hanging on to something.

The RV launched forward violently as we shouted at Steve to drive, noticing the couple banging even harder on the walls. 

“Shit, they look pissed!” Dustin yelled from his place at the back, staring back at the owners who were running after their house.

“I mean, it’s not every day that you lose your house and car in one fell swoop,” Robin argued, making me laugh despite the guilty pang in my chest. 

Steve took a sharp turn as he got onto the main road, which almost sent everybody flying to the side. I grabbed Eddie’s jacket before he could fall down to the floor, keeping him suspended in mid-air before pushing him to me again, keeping a tight grip around his shoulders as I waited for the RV to stabilize the further Steve got from the trailer park and its uneven ground. 

“How long until we get there?” Robin asked somewhere at the front.

“Like an hour or so,” Nancy replied quietly, the sound of paper shuffling before she responded.

“Alrighty, then.”

For a few seconds, nobody said anything, the adrenaline rushing out of our bodies as we came to terms with what we had just done. I took a big breath, finally closing my eyes as an uneasy feeling of calmness swooped over me. 

I didn’t know how long it had passed since the last time I slept, rather uncomfortably on the floor at Skull Rock, but my brain was screaming at itself to rest. The exhaustion that suddenly overcame me almost made me dizzy, but I was welcoming that drowsiness with open arms, if that meant that I could sleep for a while and forget about everything. 

“I think I’m gonna nap,” I said to no one in particular.

“Good choice,” Eddie said.

I suddenly remembered my arm was still around his shoulders, but he made no mention of it. I awkwardly put it away, putting my legs up on the bench and shimmying down on the seat, making the back of my head rest on the headrest. I was not comfortable by all means, but at that point, I didn’t even care. Everybody was chatting lightly in smaller groups, scattered around the RV as Steve drove us away. 

“You should nap too,” I whispered to Eddie, even though my eyes were already closed.

Whatever his answer was, I didn’t hear it. It had only taken a couple of seconds for me to fall into a dreamless sleep, not even noticing how my body fell on Eddie’s chest, and how he was now the one holding me close to him. 

I don’t know exactly how long I slept, but Steve almost smashing the door down woke me up instantly. 

“What happened?” Lucas asked.

“We gotta go,” Steve said as he got into the driver’s seat.

Everyone suddenly piled into the RV in hurried steps, all of them running around as they left heavy bags on the floor and found their seats once again was enough to let me out of my daze. 

“Your old friends are here,” Erica told Lucas as he shared a panicked glance with Dustin. 

“Shit!” Dustin exclaimed as he yelled at everyone. “Let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go!”

“I’m going! I’m going! Sit down!” Steve yelled back as he reared the engine again, the RV quickly moving forward as we left back for Hawkins.

I was still lying down on Eddie’s chest, and this time, it was his arms circling me that prevented me from flying out to the other side of the RV as Steve desperately maneuvered around the many parked cars, trying to get us away from Jason and his friends.

“How long have I been asleep for?” I asked slowly, rubbing my eyes in slow motion.

“Around two hours, maybe. I didn’t dare wake you up when we got here,” Eddie replied, tightening his grip around my waist as the RV swerved to the side again.

“Damn… I wanted a sword.”

“I forgot how fucking useless I am with a hammer,” I noted, still failing to embed the nails on the lid.

“Hold the nails tighter, that way they don’t slip,” Eddie said. “See?” he showed me how he was holding one between his fingers, expertly pining it down before reaching for another, only to repeat the motion.

I winced as I looked at him. “I’m scared I’ll hit my hand instead,” I confessed, trying nevertheless to follow Eddie’s movements.

Eddie chuckled softly. “Your aim has always been weird,” he replied with a shake of his head, keeping his head down on his job.

I grinned. “True. I’m sure Mr. Cole still has nightmares about it,” I joked, making Eddie laugh as we remembered that one incident in middle school, many years ago.

“How do you know that?” Dustin suddenly asked, looking at us with an odd expression.

My laughter died immediately, remembering the young boy had been there the whole time. The three of us were making the shields, while the rest of the gang prepared their own weapons according to our plan. Eddie, Dustin, and I were in charge of the bats, making sure to cause a big distraction for Nancy, Robin, and Steve to enter Vecna’s house. The plan wasn’t perfect, by all means, but we really had nothing else to work with.

I looked at Eddie, silently begging for an excuse.

“Know what?” Eddie asked, frowning in confusion.

“About her aim?” Dustin continued, desperate for answers.

“We’ve known each other for years,” I said casually, “This town isn’t that big,” I tried to play it off, but I knew Dustin was finally catching on.

“But you never once mentioned each other,” he squinted his eyes as he looked at us again.

“Yeah, well… it’s complicated,” I said, hoping to get out of the conversation.

“I’ve got time,” Dustin casually replied, still sitting down on the nail box, his hammer abandoned on the ground next to him.

I looked back at Eddie, both of us sharing a look. He softly nodded at me, encouraging. I gulped, looking at the ground for a few seconds before returning Dustin’s stare.

“Alright, there’s something you should know.”

Next chapter

[hargrove-mayfields]

Harringrove April Day 14- Roadtrip

When Billy got out of the hospital, things seemed golden. He’d made it through all of the surgeries, hit every last recovery milestone he was supposed to, it seemed for a long time like they had made it out of the rough.

But in ‘95 they find skin cancer, several lesions hidden among the scars and the freckles all over Billy’s body. They tell him it’s because of the immunosuppressants he takes for the transplanted lung, and that it’s spread too much already, that it's inoperable, and his heart is too weak for chemo.

So now it’s just a waiting game, one that’s much harder than when they were looking for a donor, or counting down the days until he got to go home with Steve, because this time, they’re not waiting for their happy ending.

It had taken quite a bit of time even after being discharged for Billy to get his strength back enough to leave the house for more than a few minutes at a time, and during those lazy days recovering on Steve’s couch, he had made a list of all the things he wanted to do with his second chance once he was better.

It was never supposed to be a bucket list, but after being diagnosed with cancer, Billy had enough of the pity, and of the people mourning him before he was even gone, so he decided he wasn’t just going to sit around on his ass until he withered away. He was going to make the most of what he had, and go through every item on that list.

Some of them were just simple little goals, made up when he still thought the concept was silly and was just throwing ideas out there, like kissing Steve in the rain or having one of the really good strawberry milkshakes from Benny’s. Others were a little harder to achieve, like getting married, for which they settled on wearing each other’s rings. They didn’t need a real ceremony anyways.

Every red line they scratch through another thing on that list feels to Billy like an inhibition off his shoulders, another mark he got to make on the world before he left, and a memory of him for the one person he loved to hold dear. But to Steve, it felt like a clock, ticking away at the time they had left together, a reminder that they’d never be able to do this or that ever again.

Still, he’s right there by Billy’s side doing all the things they were supposed to make last for the rest of their lives at just shy of thirty years old, pushing through with a smile on his face, because he wanted to be there for him. Now just wasn’t the time to be selfish, or sad, or worried about anything other than making sure Billy was happy, and feeling lucky for the fact that they still did have some time.

When Billy dies in the spring of 1996, there's only one item on his list left unchecked; Go Visit Momma.

Billy had decided he didn’t want her to see him in the state he was in, and that he’d really rather not open that can of worms on his deathbed anyways, and Steve could respect that, but now Billy was gone, and he thought he would have wanted his mother to know.

He tossed around just calling her or sending her a letter, but that felt like the wrong way to go about breaking the news, so he does it himself, driving all the way out to Anaheim.

It’s painful, making the drive to California, he drives with the windows down and cries probably the entire way up, listening to the mixtapes Billy made for him in high school. He can’t stop thinking about how the passenger seat is empty, how when he gets back, Billy won’t be waiting to greet him with a kiss. How they were supposed to do this together.

Steve finds his mother sitting out on her porch, at the address he found in the phone book. It makes him sick to his stomach, knowing this could’ve been where Billy grew up if things were different. Knowing too that he’d still be alive, if that were the case.

She looks just like her picture, at least the only one he’d ever seen of her, tear stained and faded from years kept in a locket around Billy’s neck, only the woman in front of him was a little older, and her blonde hair a little shorter.

Her face turns to a grimace when she sees him get out of the car, like she already knows why he’s there. There’s no pleasantries, Steve’s short and to the point, unable to look her in her eyes as he tells her simply, Billy is dead.

She doesn’t ask who he is, or what had happened. She doesn’t even cry, just thanks him, and goes inside her house, telling Steve without words that there was nothing else for him here.

It’s starting to make more sense, why Billy told him he didn’t want to come see her, starting to click in Steve’s mind that he wasn’t sparing his mother’s feelings when he made that choice.

He leaves her house with a heavy pit of anger and grief deep in his heart, but he stays in California for another week, driving through all the cities Billy told him about growing up in, doing all the things Billy swore he’d take him to do someday, when he was independent, when he felt better, if he had the time.

It’s bittersweet, really, but as much as he’d give anything to have Billy there with him, there was part of him that knew he was. Just by doing the things that they had promised to do together, he was there.

On his way back to Hawkins, Steve makes his own list. No grand concepts or little jokes like Billy’s had, his list is simple, just three little things: to be fair to himself, to always be the bigger person, and to never, ever forget Billy Hargrove or his love, and all that it did for him.

[erotikkook]

Soooooooooo...

I have a lot of questions I wanna know the answer to: 5,6,15,16,18,26,27,38 (• ▽ •;)

Sorry, I got carried away. Hope it's not too much.

Xoxo

you weren’t kidding when you said you had a lot of questions lmaoooo -- but i’ll diligently answer all of them  🥰

5. I was 10, one of my best friends is half korean and his mom (who’s literally my fav person ever) had all these korean broadcasting channels so I actually saw their first live performance ever at the time it was broadcast and I was just -- mesmerized I guess??

6. I answered this for another ask but i’ll give a different moment. another fav of mine is taehyung getting lost in the middle of nowhere and literally no one was concerned lmaooo

15. mmmmm

Namjoon -- something for his endless curiosity and endless knowledge-- like, I swear someone write that shit down lmao

Jin -- Jin and I have very similar humor so -- 100% a funny award lmfao

Yoongi -- another humor award -- i appreciate how dry he is 95% of the time -- it’s a neutral sort of chaotic energy

Hoseok -- I think hoseok is very good at seeing happy -- so maybe like “trying to be positive”?

Jimin -- Jimin makes me uwu so -- uwu lmao

Taehyung -- he’s introspective and i think a lot of people don’t see he thoughtful he is because he’s goofy a lot -- but he puts a lot of effort into what he does and how he talks so -- “the thoughtfulness award” lmaooooo

Jungkook -- have you see those tattoos mhmmmmmmm

16. RM’s Change but also every other mixtape the rapline has put out 

18. I think I would tell Jimin not to be so hard on himself. When I watch their performances, movies, lives, anything -- I think he puts himself down the most. I really admire his tenacity and it makes me sad to see that he thinks so little of his skills as a dancer/singer. 

26. What’s your favorite pun? I’m sorry, I know I’m lame but it’s a burning question-

27. I’ve never wanted to meet them but I guess if I had to plan something I would like to see their music process. how they compose, choreography -- i’ve always found it interesting, so I’d like to spend a day learning. 

38. I have a pair of socks with their chibi faces on it -- those things are warm as hell lmao

bts ask game

[marcmyworks]

Ranking the albums of Björk

Today I will be ranking the albums of the fantabulous and wonderful Björk. She has been an influence on me ever since I first heard “It’s Oh So Quiet” back in 1995 and since I have been following her career extensively. Although her later albums are a bit less accessible commercially to her early work, I don’t believe she has released a bad album. I will be charting her work starting with her first solo album in 1993, and not including her work with Icelandic Punk-Pop group the Sugarcubes. I also will not be including her soundtrack to the film ‘Drawing Restraint 9’, as this was mostly instrumental.

10. Volta (2007)

Volta seemed like Björk’s attempt to gain radio play again after having an experimental phase working with her ex-partner/filmmaker Matthew Barney. The album’s first two singles, “Earth Intruders” and “Innocence” were both produced by hip-hop giants Timbaland and his protégé Danja and featured a very electronic dance aesthetic. Though the album did quite well critically and is packaged beautifully, it does not feel cohesive or really as forward thinking as most of her work. Also, the Mark Stent remixes of each single, released separately, seem to outshine the album versions.

Listen to: Earth Intruders, Declare Independence, Wanderlust, Innocence.

9. Utopia (2019)

Most Björk fans find this album to be a triumph but I currently still cannot enter the world of Utopia or find it interesting enough to warrant repeat listens. The album is her lengthiest (at over 70 minutes) and is a mixture of folk, electronic and studies more ethereal themes. Björk works with the brilliant producer Arca to help shape the landscape of each song, and at times it really works, but overall it feels overly long, and almost like a Björk parody.

Listen to: Arisen My Senses, The Gate, Sue Me, Saint

8. Biophilia (2011)

A concept album that deals with nature meeting technology. Each track is tuned to a different note on a tuning fork and sets of these tuning forks were even released as exclusive boxsets. Overall the album is well conceived and produced but does suffer from being a bit ‘samey same’, as some of the tracks blend together. I did see a concert on the three year tour for the album and I was incredibly impressed with how she was able to translate the sound live.

Listen to: Mutual Core, Crystalline, Thunderbolt, Moon

7. Selmasongs (2000)

This is the first soundtrack album conceived by Björk and contains the songs written for the film Dancer in the Dark. The film is a wonderful and sad story of an immigrant woman named Selma who is going blind, and who makes her days brighter by conceiving there is a musical happening when things seem to go wrong. The songs are quite good but not her strongest, though this may have been due to her tight time constraints and working with an orchestra.

Listen to: Cvalda, Scatterheart, 107 Steps, Overture

6. Debut (1993)

Björk’s first album post-Sugarcubes is a trip-hop masterpiece that not only launched her career but also brought London’s underground dance scene to the mainstream. This was thanks to producer Nellee Hooper who had previously won Grammy Awards working with Soul II Soul and Sinead O’Connor. Five singles were released from this album (four initially, and one on the re-issue) and all charted on the UK singles chart, with the album selling around 4.5 million copies Worldwide.

Listen to: There’s More to Life Than This, Venus as a Boy, Violently Happy, Human Behaviour, One Day

5. Vulnicura (2015)

Vulnicura in my opinion is probably the first album in Björk’s career where there were no radio-friendly tracks but rather a continuation of her wanting to push the experimentation of song constructs. Rather than release singles to promote the album Björk decided to create innovative music videos which tested new technology, such as 360-degree cameras. This later lead to a virtual reality exhibit entitled “Björk Digital” which went on an 18-month tour around the World. I still kick myself for missing it. Each song is produced by either her now long-time collaborator Arca (whom she met on her Biophilia Tour) or new collaborator The Haxon Cloak.

Listen to: Lionsong, Stonemilker, Family, Notget, Mouth Mantra

4. Medúlla (2004)

Being asked to write the theme for the 2004 Summer Olympics is an honour, but also to have its musical themes continue onto a full-length album is superb. Björk started writing Medúlla as “The Lake Album” in which she would strip all instrumentals from tracks and simply focus on voices. As she called it, a “very introverted” album and the title changed to the latin word for bone marrow, as it is the base building block of a person. Though some of the tracks do contain some synthesizers, 95% of the album’s beats and rhythms are made by mixing the voices of throat singers, beatboxers and choirs.

Listen to: Oceania, Where is the Line, Pleasure is All Mine, Sonnets/Unrealities XI, Triumph of a Heart

3. Vespertine (2001)

It took me a few years to get into this record as Vespertine was so far and beyond what anything Björk had created. I was used to the incredible experimental electronic sound on first three albums that when I listened to #4, which contains mostly micro-beats and soft vocals, and not to mention the infamous swan dress on the cover, it was a bit of a shock. Björk felt the energy of her 1997 release Homogenic was very masculine and aggressive and she wanted her new album to sound more feminine and explored her mindset during the filming of Dancer in the Dark as well as her relationship with Matthew Barney. I always felt Vespertine was a winter album as it feels quite Nordic in its soundscape. I’m glad I kept listening as it turned out to be one of my favourites. 

Listen to: Harm of Will, Pagan Poetry, Hidden Place, It’s Not Up to You, An Echo A Stain

2. Homogenic (1997)

Wowser, already at number 2. I remember the first time I heard this record with my friends; they would think it too strange though I would think it magical. It became one of my most listened to records of my teens. Its glamorous and punk and the artwork is extreme. Björk’s album look was envisioned and created by genius designer Alexander McQueen, who would be her frequent collaborator until his death in 2010. Homogenic was produced by Howie B and Mark Bell, and Björk wrote the album as a tribute to Iceland, wanting the songs to create the landscape of her homeland. The album released five singles, three which would enter the UK top 40. 

Listen to: The whole thing.

1. Post (1995)

Post is probably one of my top 10 favourite albums of all time. I could listen to it over and over again on repeat without being bored. The year 1995 was big for me in terms of musical discovery. I was 13 around the time I started buying my own cassette tapes and CDs. My Aunt came home from a business trip in London and brought back this CD. “It’s Oh So Quiet” was a massive hit in the UK and she wanted my brother, my cousins and I to hear this unusual and brilliant artist. The next year the Mission: Impossible film would come out and the song “Headphones” was featured, to which Björk sings to a friend about the feelings she has listening to his mixtape. I in tow would listen to that song every night on my Walkman before I fell asleep as it was a perfect way to end each day. Post was incredibly influential to me and to this day is a staple in my life. I can’t thank Björk enough for creating this iconic piece of music history.

Listen to: The whole thing.

Please, if you are so inclined to let me know in the comments how you’d rank Björk’s albums.

[bangtanitalianchannel]

SCHEDULE 2020

GENNAIO

2 - [Weverse] Bon Voyage 4 - Behind Cam Ep.7 (13 🇮🇹)

5 - Golden Disc Awards

6 - Uscita di “WINTER FLOWER” di Younha feat. RM (10 🇮🇹)

7 - [Weverse] Bon Voyage 4 - Ep.8 (13 🇮🇹)

9 - [Weverse] Bon Voyage 4 - Behind Cam Ep.8 (13 🇮🇹)

10 - [MAP OF THE SOUL: 7] Comeback trailer: SHADOW  

14 - [MAP OF THE SOUL: 7] CONNECT, BTS: ONLINE [MAP OF THE SOUL: 7] CONNECT, BTS: LONDON [VAPP / Weverse] Run BTS! 2020 - Ep.91 (13 🇮🇹)

15 - [MAP OF THE SOUL: 7] CONNECT, BTS: BERLIN   

17 - [MAP OF THE SOUL: 7] Rilascio primo singolo & Art Film interpretato da MN Dance Company

21 - [MAP OF THE SOUL: 7] CONNECT, BTS: BUENOS AIRES [VAPP / Weverse] Run BTS! 2019 - Ep.92 (13 🇮🇹)

26 - GRAMMY Awards (Los Angeles)

27 - iHeartRadio Live (Los Angeles)

28 - [MAP OF THE SOUL: 7] CONNECT, BTS: SEOUL [VAPP / Weverse] Run BTS! 2020 - Ep.93 (13 🇮🇹) The Late Late Show (James Corden)

FEBBRAIO

3 - [MAP OF THE SOUL: 7] Comeback trailer: EGO

4 - [VAPP / Weverse] Run BTS! 2019 - Ep.94 (13 🇮🇹)

5 - [MAP OF THE SOUL: 7] CONNECT, BTS: NEW YORK CITY

10 - [MAP OF THE SOUL: 7] Concept Photo #1

11 - [MAP OF THE SOUL: 7] Concept Photo #2

12 - [MAP OF THE SOUL: 7] Concept Photo #3

13 - [MAP OF THE SOUL: 7] Concept Photo #4 17 - [MAP OF THE SOUL: 7] Tracklist

18 - Compleanno di J-Hope

21 - [VAPP] BTS Comeback Special (4am 🇮🇹) Uscita MAP OF THE SOUL: 7 & Kinetic Manifesto Film: Come Prima (10am 🇮🇹) The Today Show (New York) (1pm 🇮🇹)

24 - The Tonight Show (Jimmy Fallon) (5am 🇮🇹) Conferenza stampa “MAP OF THE SOUL: 7″ (6am 🇮🇹)

25 - The Late Late Show - Carpool Karaoke (James Corden) (6am 🇮🇹)

28 - [MAP OF THE SOUL: 7] Video musicale ufficiale per il singolo principale

MARZO

6 - Uscita di “Who” di Lauv feat. BTS

7 - Talk show per l’uscita di Map Of The Soul: 7 (Seul) [ANNULLATO]

9 - Compleanno di Suga

10 - [VAPP / Weverse] Run BTS! 2020 - Ep.95 (13 🇮🇹)

13 - Uscita di “Sweet Night” - OST di Itaewon Class (V) (10am 🇮🇹)

17 - [VAPP / Weverse] Run BTS! 2020 - Ep.96 (13 🇮🇹)

24 - [VAPP / Weverse] Run BTS! 2020 - Ep.97 (13 🇮🇹)

31 - The Late Late Show - Speciale Homefest (4am 🇮🇹) [VAPP / Weverse] Run BTS! 2020 - Ep.98 (14 🇮🇹)

APRILE

7 - [VAPP / Weverse] Run BTS! 2020 - Ep.99 (14 🇮🇹)

14 - [VAPP / Weverse] Run BTS! 2020 - Ep.100 (14 🇮🇹) 

18 - [YouTube / Weverse] BANG BANG CON (5 🇮🇹)

19 - [YouTube / Weverse] BANG BANG CON (5 🇮🇹)

21 - [VAPP / Weverse] Run BTS! 2020 - Ep.101 (14 🇮🇹)

28 - [VAPP / Weverse] Run BTS! 2020 - Ep.102 (14 🇮🇹)     

MAGGIO

2 - Kids Choice Awards 2020 (2 della notte tra 2 e 3 maggio 🇮🇹)

5 - [VAPP / Weverse] Run BTS! 2020 - Ep.103 (14 🇮🇹)

6 - Uscita del singolo di IU feat. SUGA (11 🇮🇹)

12 - [Weverse] BREAK THE SILENCE: DOCU-SERIES - Ep.1 e 2

14 - [Weverse] BREAK THE SILENCE: DOCU-SERIES - Ep.3

19 - [Weverse] BREAK THE SILENCE: DOCU-SERIES - Ep.4

21 - [Weverse] BREAK THE SILENCE: DOCU-SERIES - Ep.5

22 - Uscita del mixtape “D-2″ di Agust D

26 - [Weverse] BREAK THE SILENCE: DOCU-SERIES - Ep.6

28 - [Weverse] BREAK THE SILENCE: DOCU-SERIES - Ep.7

GIUGNO

1 - [2020 BTS FESTA] Cerimonia di apertura

2 - [2020 BTS FESTA] 7° Anniversario dei BTS - Foto di famiglia (Foto)

3 - [2020 BTS FESTA] Choreography Video 1 (Video)

4 - [2020 BTS FESTA] Collezione di foto dei BTS 19/20 (Foto)

5 - [2020 BTS FESTA] Still With You 

7 - [2020 BTS FESTA] Profili 2020 dei BTS 1 (Immagini) [YouTube] Dear Class of 2020 (21 🇮🇹)

8 - [2020 BTS FESTA] Choreography Video 2 (Video)

9 - [2020 BTS FESTA] Answer : BTS 3 UNITS (Foto e video)

10 - [2020 BTS FESTA] Profili 2020 dei BTS 2 (Immagini)

11 - [2020 BTS FESTA] MAP OF THE SONG : 7 (Video)

12 - [2020 BTS FESTA] We Are Bulletproof: The Eternal 

13 - 7° Anniversario [2020 BTS FESTA] Festa di compleanno dei Bangtan (Video)

14 - [Weverse] BANG BANG CON in diretta (11 🇮🇹)

16 - [VAPP / Weverse] Run BTS! 2020 - Ep.104 (14 🇮🇹)

19 - Uscita in anteprima di “Stay Gold” (11 🇮🇹) "SUMMER SONIC" - Replica del 2015 (14 🇮🇹)

23 - [VAPP / Weverse] Run BTS! 2020 - Ep.105 (14 🇮🇹)

26 - Uscita del MV di “Stay Gold” (11 🇮🇹)

30 - [VAPP / Weverse] Run BTS! 2020 - Ep.106 (14 🇮🇹)

LUGLIO

7 - [VAPP / Weverse] Run BTS! 2020 - Ep.107 (14 🇮🇹)

13 - Anteprima di "Your Eyes Tell" a CDTV Live Live

14 - Esibizione a Sukkiri [VAPP / Weverse] Run BTS! 2020 - Ep.108 (14 🇮🇹)

15 - Uscita di MAP OF THE SOUL: 7 ~ THE JOURNEY ~ (11 🇮🇹)

17 - Esibizione a BUZZ RHYTHM 02

18 - Esibizione a NHK Songs

21 - [VAPP / Weverse] Run BTS! 2020 - Ep.109 (14 🇮🇹)

28 - [VAPP / Weverse] Run BTS! 2020 - Ep.110 (14 🇮🇹)

AGOSTO

4 - [VAPP / Weverse] Run BTS! 2020 - Ep.111 (14 🇮🇹)

14 - [YouTube] Partecipazione a I-LAND (16 🇮🇹)

20 - [Weverse] BTS IN THE SOOP - Ep. 1

21 - Uscita di “Dynamite”

24 - Uscita del MV “Dynamite B-Side” 

25 - [Weverse] BTS IN THE SOOP - Ep. 1 Behind

27 - [Weverse] BTS IN THE SOOP - Ep. 2

30 - BTS @ VMAs 

SETTEMBRE

1 - Compleanno di Jungkook [Weverse] BTS IN THE SOOP - Ep. 2 Behind

2 - Rilascio canzone BTS x Hyundai “IONIQ” 

3 - [Weverse] BTS IN THE SOOP - Ep. 3 BTS @ ‘Press Play’ della Recording Academy 

8 - [Weverse] BTS IN THE SOOP - Ep. 3 Behind

10 - [Weverse] BTS IN THE SOOP - Ep. 4 BTS @ NBC Today Citi 

12 - Compleanno di RM

14 - BTS @ programma radio Bae Cheol-Soo

15 - [Weverse] BTS IN THE SOOP - Ep. 4 Behind

17 - [Weverse] BTS IN THE SOOP - Ep. 5 BTS @ America’s Got Talent 

18 - Uscita del singolo di MAX feat. SUGA “Blueberry Eyes”  iHeart Radio Music Festival 2020 [YouTube] Partecipazione alla finale di I-LAND (16 🇮🇹)

19 - iHeart Radio Music Festival 2020

21 - BTS @ ‘Tiny Desk’

22 - [Weverse] BTS IN THE SOOP - Ep. 5 Behind

23 - Discorso dei BTS alle Nazioni Unite 

24 - [Weverse] BTS IN THE SOOP - Ep. 6

26 - Uscita del MV “Dynamite Choreography Version” 

27 - Concerto Lotte Duty Free

28 - BTS @ Fallon Week, Giorno 1

29 - BTS @ Fallon Week, Giorno 2 [Weverse] BTS IN THE SOOP - Ep. 6 Behind

30 - BTS @ Fallon Week, Giorno 3 

OTTOBRE

1 - BTS @ Fallon Week, Giorno 4  [Weverse] BTS IN THE SOOP - Ep. 7

2 -  BTS @ Fallon Week, Giorno 5  Rilascio remix “Savage Love” feat. BTS 

6 - [Weverse] BTS IN THE SOOP - Ep. 7 Behind

7 - BTS @ Radiodotcom 

8 - [Weverse] BTS IN THE SOOP - Ep. 8

10 - Concerto online ‘Map Of The Soul ON:E’, Giorno 1

11 - Concerto online ‘Map Of The Soul ON:E’, Giorno 2 

12 - Inizio mostra online ‘MAP OF THE SOUL ON:E (오,늘)’

13 - Compleanno di Jimin [Weverse] BTS IN THE SOOP - Ep. 8 Behind 

14 - BTS @ BBMAs 

20 -  [VAPP / Weverse] Run BTS! 2020 - Ep.112 (13 🇮🇹)

22 - BTS @ 2020 Asia Game Changers Awards 

27 -  [VAPP / Weverse] Run BTS! 2020 - Ep.113 (13 🇮🇹)

NOVEMBRE

3 - [VAPP / Weverse] Run BTS! 2020 - Ep.114 (13 🇮🇹)

8 - European Music Awards (BTS solo nominati)

10 -  [VAPP / Weverse] Run BTS! 2020 - Ep.115 (13 🇮🇹)

11 - Comparsa ai ‘Wall Street Journal’s Innovator Awards’ (1am 🇮🇹)

12 - Termine mostra online 'MAP OF THE SOUL ON:E (오,늘)' 

14 - Apertura shop online europeo ‘MAP OF THE SOUL’ Intervista durante la puntata di ‘Immortal Songs’ dedicata a Pdogg (10am 🇮🇹)

15 - People’s Choice Awards (BTS solo nominati) 

17 - [VAPP / Weverse] Run BTS! 2020 - Ep.116 (13 🇮🇹)

20 - Conferenza stampa in occasione del rilascio di “BE” (3am 🇮🇹) Rilascio del nuovo album “BE” (6am 🇮🇹)  Diretta su VLive ‘Live Goes On’ in occasione del comeback (9am 🇮🇹) 

23 - BTS @ AMAs (2am 🇮🇹)  BTS @ Good Morning America (13 🇮🇹)  BTS @ GMA3 (20 🇮🇹) 

24 - Late Late Show with James Corden (6.35 🇮🇹)  [VAPP / Weverse] Run BTS! 2020 - Ep.117 (13 🇮🇹)

25 - Late Late Show with James Corden (6.35 🇮🇹) Esibizione dei BTS @ festival musicale di Nippon TV ‘Best Artist 2020′

28 - Asia Artist Awards (BTS solo nominati)  Intervista con Zach Sang (11pm 🇮🇹) 

DICEMBRE

1 - BTS @ Disney’s Holidays Singalong (2am 🇮🇹) [VAPP / Weverse] Run BTS! 2020 - Ep.118 (13 🇮🇹) Intervista dei BTS per ‘Mini Masterclass’ dei GRAMMYs (9pm 🇮🇹) 

2 - BTS @ FNS Song Festival 2020 (13 🇮🇹)

3 - Rilascio di “Abyss” di Jin (2pm 🇮🇹) 

4 - Compleanno di Jin 

5 - BTS @ Melon Music Awards (11am 🇮🇹) 

6 - BTS @ Mnet Asian Music Awards (10am 🇮🇹)

7 - Intervista pre-registrata dei BTS per il canale giapponese TBS (6pm 🇮🇹) 

8 -  [VAPP / Weverse] Run BTS! 2020 - Ep.119 (13 🇮🇹) 

10 - Rilascio di “The Song That Will Make You Smile” di Lee Seunggi ft. RM e J-HOPE  Intervista BTS @ Amazon Music (4pm 🇮🇹) 

11 - BTS @ iHeartRadio Jingle Ball 2020 (3am 🇮🇹)  Performance di “Dynamite” per il Time: Person of the Year @ NBC (4am 🇮🇹) Rilascio “Dynamite Holiday Remix” (6am 🇮🇹) 

12 - BTS @ The Fact Music Awards (red carpet 8am 🇮🇹, cerimonia 10am 🇮🇹) 

13 - Most Requested Live: Ask Anything Chat (1am 🇮🇹) 

15 -  [VAPP / Weverse] Run BTS! 2020 - Ep.120 (13 🇮🇹)

16 - ‘Break The Silence: The Movie Persona’ disponibile su Weverse

18 - BTS @ Gayo Daechukje (12.30pm 🇮🇹)  Rilascio rivista coreana ‘D-ICON vol.10 : BTS’ 

19 - ‘Break The Silence: The Movie Persona - BTS Commentary’ disponibile su Weverse On Air (in diretta) Intervista pre-registrata dei BTS per il canale giapponese TBS (1.30pm 🇮🇹)

21 - Replay Film + Commentary su Weverse Esibizione con “Dynamite” @ CDTV Live! Live! Christmas Special

22 -  [VAPP / Weverse] Run BTS! 2020 - Ep.121 (13 🇮🇹)

24 -  Rilascio di “Christmas Love” di Jimin (4am 🇮🇹) Rilascio di “Snow Flower” di V (4pm 🇮🇹)

25 - BTS @ Gayo Daejeon a Daegu (9am 🇮🇹)   

29 -  [VAPP / Weverse] Run BTS! 2020 - Ep.122 (13 🇮🇹)

30 - Compleanno di V Rilascio MV “Life Goes On ARMY Ver.”  I BTS ricevono il premio ‘International Music Award’ @ 62esimi Japan Record Awards 

31 - BTS @ Concerto di fine anno della BigHit (13.30 🇮🇹) 

La schedule può essere soggetta a modifiche in qualsiasi momento.

[hellyeahheroes]

Dylan is a Mary Sue

*look I know that the symbiote has a name and Venom is both it and Eddie. So I hope you don’t get annoyed when I refer to the symbiote as Venom because writing symbiote 100 times gets annoying and I hope you get what I mean when I call it that.

I’ve been trying to write this like nine times because I don’t want to bash this character. When I wrote the post about how I didn’t want Dylan Brock near Miles, I intentionally left out the reason why because I like the character. I hate the purpose and narrative mind behind him. And plus I don’t want to seem like I bash white cis het male characters when the characters I do trash on are bad because writers tend to make them intentionally bratty. I don’t like Spider-kid, Damian Wayne when written without consequence(he is white passing), Jason Todd,or Alpha. Like giving a character a shitty attitude doesn’t make him endearing especially on a male, I’m sorry. Characters like Tim Drake, Alex Power, and Dick Grayson work because there is something genuine in them that they want to be the good of the world.

Anyways, Dylan is fun to me because he has this precocious roguishness that isn’t malevolent nor out of place. His abuse is actually abuse that isn’t made to serve as his training or whatever nor does it warps his views. And his fandom in Eddie/Venom actually makes sense because he is a kid that was abandoned by his mother and left with an emotionally and physically abusive man who would cut him down. A dark passenger like Venom appeals to him because Venom is like the codifier of misguided anger for misguided teens.

But there is a reason why he is written that way: he is a Mary-Sue. Now I don’t care about the gender preconceptions of Mary Sue vs Gary Stu nor do I try to prescribe to reclaiming Mary Sue in some vain attempt at liberal feminism. Mary Sue is bad writing unless everyone gets to play(Mary Sues work in video games). Mary Sue is something writers in most mediums that tell stories should avoid if they want said character to succeed or evoke if you want said character to be disliked. And Dylan Brock is an example that doesn’t work and is largely getting away with it because he is cute.

1. The Immaculate Conception of Dylan Brock

This is when I knew some Sue shit was unleashed on Venom fans. I don’t have to google it but I can guess that Cates has a Catholic background. Whether he is one or raised one, it is apparent in whatever meaningful writing depth he provides outside of meaningless action. And it works because Eddie Brock, being anti-Peter Parker, is Catholic. Hence the brooding and self-loathing and abusive paternity and motifs of redemption and suffering and shit. But this was not only fucked up, but a little too on the nose.

Dylan wasn’t conceived naturally. In fact, Anne Weying was raped by the symbiote and impregnated with Eddie’s DNA. So Dylan is actually the child of the Venom and Eddie Brock. “But Anne is his mother.” Look, Cates didn’t actually consider Anne so I won’t either. Outside of the fact that it doesn’t make sense chronologically since Peter was like in his early 20s when he had the Symbiote and is at most 29 now, Anne is just a vehicle for Cates’ to necessitate the purity of Dylan Brock. Dylan is the pure child of Venom, born from the womb of Eddie’s first girlfriend/fiancé/wife/whatever and the first human woman to wear a symbiote, I think. I mean she didn’t even have sex with Eddie and boom, mini Eddie Brock is wrapped in cloth and left at the meager doorstep at the sacred house of Eddie. Praise Venom, y’all.

Jokes aside, I don’t know how Venom fans just didn’t go, “Iight, Imma head out” after reading this page. Just shows the conviction of fandom.

But I digress. Now let me regale you just how improbable this is which again only serves to ordain Dylan is the truest son of Venom in all the ways possible and also highlight the very unfortunate implications of this fuckery. Symbiotes bond is how they reproduce. When they reproduce with their host, the end result up to this point has always been a symbiote. For Mass Effect fans, it’s the Asari thing except with goo. Before you ask, yes Symbiotes sexually satisfy their hosts unlike the majority of human men*cough*. Point is that Dylan should be biologically impossible but somehow he is a human symbiote hybrid. And the unfortunate implications of such of incident shouldn’t go unnoticed either. Venom and Eddie have several children and prior to this, all of them have been symbiote. Cletus and Red also have children too and again symbiote. In fact, all symbiote bonds produce symbiotes as far as male hosts are concerned...except for the brief bond of Ann Weying and Venom Symbiote. Gee I wonder why she got a different result? Well there are a few female hosts and surprising none of them have spawned a symbiote child. So logically it can be assumed that woman + symbiote = forced impregnation of symbiote. Well this shit got dark. The symbiotes just became the Jeffrey Epstein alien species. But since Cates swears up and down that is not what is happening, he is going for the God/Virgin Mary angle for some reason.

It’s almost like he is the descendent of the Symbiote God. If only there was such a thing.

Welllllll shit.

2. Dylan is incorruptible and all-powerful without knowing why or how

Okay, backstory time because I never properly explained Knull, another of Cates shoddy creations. Knull is the galactic god emperor of the Symbiotes who created the Symbiotes as a weapon to rule the galaxy. Aside of the fact that his existence retconned the previous backstories of the symbiote, he has the ability to domesticate the symbiotes and make them subservient to him.

Guess who else has this ability.

Dylan is symbiote Jesus, hallelujah. This explains the Church of Carnage/Knull/Grendel/who gives a shit. He is the true son of Abraham and Carnage is the false prophet of Venom. It’s what Christianity considers Islam to be or some shit and both Dylan and Sleeper are about to nail the 95 thesis on the door of Carnage in the form of the greatest mixtape you ever heard.

Look, I too am astounded of the sentences my mind comes up with when I so thoroughly hate a writing like I hate Donnie Cates’ Venom.

Dylan goes beyond being just a special snowflake that was forcefully and crudely implemented. He is the pre-ordained established opposite of the nature of corruption that Knull created the symbiotes for. To Knull, the symbiotes are his thralls. To Dylan, the symbiotes are his pets. To Knull, the symbiotes are a tool to become omnipresent. To Dylan, the symbiotes are individuals who need to be liberated if good. To Knull, there is no such thing as a good symbiote. To Dylan, there is and it’s Venom or sleeper or what have you. Dylan is the forgotten son and the New Testament for symbiote kind.

And he doesn’t know yet.

Okay, this is a common Mary Sue trait to absolve culpability of a Mary Sue character. It’s to say that they are not to blame for being special. It’s like the writing form of don’t hate me because I’m beautiful except somehow more obnoxious. Dylan’s obliviousness to this what is essentially an entire alien species religious revelation is like trivialized because their prophet is a 12 year old. It’s like waiting for a savior only to be told he is a carpenter.

Imma let that last one just marinate for a minute.

Look, Cates did a lot of rewriting and retconning just for his self-insert to become his favorite series and hero to be the second coming. He created this lore for Venom only for his avatar to be the prophet. The intentionality of his obliviousness to how important this is just glazed over the fact like it isn’t a big deal. Just like Cates glazed over the whole rape and forced impregnation thing because somehow that doesn’t warrant a follow up.

3. Dylan Brock is fanboy Cates

Okay before I begin, self-inserts aren’t bad nor are they inherently Mary-Sues. Kong from Ultimate Spider-Man is Bendis’ self-insert. Boomerang from Amazing Spider-Man was rewritten to be Spencer’s self-insert. JJJ is a self insert for Stan fucking Lee like...self-inserts are great. To the degree that they aren’t unnatural to the narrative or overbearing.

Dylan Brock’s previously stated precociousness comes from the idea that Donnie is writing the inner teenager that he was as a kid reading Maximum Carnage for the first time. And I get it, man, live your truth and all. Like yeah, force and subjugate other fans of this series to your childlike inquiries like how Symbiotes poop, I mean it’s not like their fandom is important or anything.

First Dylan is a fanboy of Venom just like he is. And while that makes sense meta-wise, in-narrative it doesn’t because...okay Venom fans are about to tear me apart for this but it’s like someone being a fan of Ted Bundy. His heroics usually came with a body count is all I’m saying and I doubt it would be praised but then again Wolverine has an in-universe fandom so what do I know. Back on topic, Dylan’s fandom and praise of Venom to get him out of the dark place that is his father’s abusive household.

And this is why it’s so hard to hate him because of all the fucked up shit Cates put in this book, Dylan feels like the one character that is genuine and pure in that innocent kind of way. No one hates Dylan and how could you? We all get it. And it helps that Dylan has a completely different voice than every other Cates has written from every other character. Like I can hear the excitement in his voice when he pesters his hero for questions and I’m reading his words. The idolization is pure when he meets Normie, the god son of Spider-Man, and it creates this dynamic of Spider-Man fans vs Venom fans. It’s fun in a way.

But it’s just that. When Cates writes Eddie, he is not only writing to retell Cates own personal past demons but also in the lens of how he viewed Eddie as this tortured soul who just got the wrong interview from a copycat that costs his job. The second banana of a greater and more prominent hero. Born to the wrong person. That none of what happened to Eddie was his fault or really his doing even when he was at his worst wearing Venom, it was Venom who tempted him.

Dylan is that pre-teen who sees the best in everything Venom is: The dark avenger of the abused and neglected. And I don’t want to speculate whether Cates fits the category or not because that ain’t my business, I can see why Dylan would be a compelling self-insert if it weren’t compounded on top of Cates’ forceful insertion into Venom and subsequently Spider-Man lore.

Like you remember Carly Cooper? Dylan is exactly like Carly Cooper. And this is why I like to think of Cates’ run as the equivalent of One More Day. Cates’ retconned a crucial element of Venom to make Dylan necessary to the core of Venom. He retconned the one thing that made Venom and subsequently Eddie go beyond just being a twisted revenge story.

The erasure of Mary Brock, Eddie’s sister and Eddie’s cancer. One is the motivation and the sole good Eddie has ever known. It’s his motivation to move past is mistakes. And Cates then turns the one bond in the series into something...horrific.

Okay, Dylan replaced his sister and Venom itself. His being becomes Eddie’s motivation to be a better person rather the struggle to see himself as more than his upbringing. It’s like reading Spider-Man and finding out Uncle Ben was on crack. Uncle Ben didn’t die. He faked his death. Yeah, that is what this was. So he could evade taxes or some shit. This is exonerated Eddie in the worst way and turned him into a manipulated pawn of Venom. Let’s completely retcon the marriage of MJ and PeterVenom and Eddie, Cates pitches to editorial.

Dylan becomes more than just some kid who idolizes Eddie. He becomes the sole motivation of Eddie himself now. Eddie’s past is now completely erased or made irrelevant to uplift Dylan’s importance to Eddie. It’s too a point that the Symbiote kids of Venom aren’t Eddie’s kids anymore. It’s like Eddie was in an interracial relationship and the one non-brown baby with blue eyes is his one true kid and others are mulatto chocolate eugenic mishaps or some shit that his ass don’t want to deal with anymore. I mean disowning Carnage I understand but come on?

Cates’ self insert changed the entire nature of the series. And for what purpose? To give Venom a legacy just as Peter has one. And that is the problem with Dylan.

@ubernegro

[flushthethrone]

Big French - Southern Vangard Radio Interview Sessions BANG! @southernvangard #radio presents the BIG FRENCH interview session! Vangardians, this is that behind the scenes ish we live for here at Southern Vangard Radio. This producer, engineer and sound designer has not only been the man behind the curtain for the one and only FLEE LORD and the LORD MOBB movement the past few years, he’s one of the few good men left who have real rap history and the battle scars to prove it. We dive right into the most recent drop, “No More Humble Fashion,” which is the the ELEVENTH album Flee has dropped this year, what the twelfth album of this 12/12 run in 2020 will be (HAVOC, anyone?) and the experience only someone like French can bring to the table in order to pull off a literal Guinness Book of World Record’s event like this one. Frenchie also recalls some insane early 90’s stories when he was first coming up, like engineering DOO WOP’s “95 Live” mixtape, for one, and landing a placement on KRS-ONE’s first solo album that resulted in a studio session with the Blastmaster himself as well as the one and only FAT JOE. Throw in stories from the making of Flee and PETE ROCK’s “The People’s Champ” and you have yourself a bonafide barnstormer of an interview session this week, folks. This is what we mean by that VANGARD ish ya’ll - that GUGGENHEIM type ish…and yeah, you got it… that #SmithsonianGrade #TwiceAWeek #WeAreTheGard // southernvangard.com // @southernvangard on #applepodcasts #stitcherradio #soundcloud #mixcloud #youtube // #hiphop #rap #undergroundhiphop #boombap #DJ #mix #interview #podcast #ATL #WORLDWIDE #RIPCOMBATJACK Recorded live November 29, 2020 @ Dirty Blanket Studios, Marietta, GA southernvangard.com @southernvangard on #applepodcasts #soundcloud #youtube #spotifypodcast #googlepodcasts #stitcherradio #mixcloud #SmithsonianGrade #TwiceAWeek #WeAreTheGard twitter/IG: @southernvangard @jondoeatl @cappuccinomeeks SOUNDCLOUD https://soundcloud.com/southernvangard/big-french-southern-vangard-radio-interview-sessions APPLE PODCASTS https://itun.es/us/QyyX9.c/ SPOTIFY PODCASTS http://bit.ly/svrspotifypodcasts YOUTUBE https://youtu.be/C1dhRrsLYZM (at Marietta, Atlanta, GA) https://www.instagram.com/p/CIUmo6wgIxg/?igshid=143aelavjrstb

[if-weshadows-haveoffended]

Love Is So Confusing There's No Peace of Mind - Caduceus Clay x Reader

A/N: Me, reading the tag, finishing the fics: guess I gotta add some more then.

I LOVE PINK COW MAN SO FUCKING MUCH AND I LOVE CONFUSED AND EMBARASSED COW MAN EVEN MORE. I JUST LOVE HIM. IF MATTHOLOMEW HURTS EVEN ONE STRAND OF PINK HAIR IM FUCKING RIOTING. Anyway in light of episode 95 I’m gonna make a part 2 to this, so this is pre ep95 somewhere idk. Also Taliesin mentioned in an episode of Talks that Caddy shack always has music playing in his mind (I think he went with Bolero? I imagine the mii channel theme), so I’m playing with that idea.

Title: Love Is So Confusing There's No Peace of Mind Words: 2500+ Masterpost: here (x) Prompt List: here (x) Mixtape Archive: here (x)

Caduceus had been in a considerable pickle since his little outing last night.

Their downtime in Zadash had been pretty uneventful save Jester asking him to accompany her to some bakery or another. With her considerable… addiction seemed the right word… to the baked goods, his days seemed to be spent accompanying her for box after box of iced treats. If he was being honest, he wasn’t entirely sure if this was at all healthy, but at the very least it gave him some opportunity to meet different citizens residing within the city. It was easy, he found, with the adventuring lifestyle to become surprisingly more isolated than during his time at the Blooming Grove. There were days where he wouldn’t even see half of the Nein until it was time for dinner. So he found himself relishing these sorts of occasions, more so now than when the group had been less than reputable.

It was towards the end of their first week in Zadash when Jester tore into the room he shared with Yasha, screaming about something or rather about the most beautiful bakery she had ever seen in all of Exandria.

“DUECES! THEY’RE SO PRETTY! YOU LIKE HAVE TO SEE THEM IT’LL CHANGE YOUR LIFE! THEY’RE LIKE BOUQUETS OF FLOWERS BUT THEY’RE PASTRIES AND OH MY GOD WE’RE LEAVING RIGHT NOW!”

“Is this what you do all the time?” Was what he had eventually asked the surprisingly young owner of the bakery. He wasn’t sure how tall she was for a human, most humans (well everyone) seemed small to him. Jester truly had used all her strength to drag both himself and Nott towards the bakery (Jester had said it was technically a patisserie, not that he knew what that meant).

“Well, it’s a job and I love it?” She pushed back her hair and continued to wipe down the glass displays filled with a myriad of pastries and cakes. Each little dozen was different to the one beside it, and all of them were decorated with delicate buttercream-and in some cases, real- flowers.

“You’re clearly very talented with them,” Caduceus replied, thanking her as she handed him a flaky little pastry piled high with pale green cream and little blossoms. “Oh wow, that’s nice. No, really!”

The young woman had laughed, and he noted the colour about her cheeks. Their conversation had ended there as a number of customers had walked into the patisserie, Jester pulling him out the door and giving her customary farewell. He found himself the following day offering to buy the pastries on Jester’s behalf, solving her problem of being unsure of whether to buy pastries or ditch helping Fjord out with some shopping matters.

He never ended up returning home that afternoon. He’d simply gotten too carried away sitting at the patisserie, chatting with the delightful owner. He’d eventually caught her name (it was a very lovely name, it suited her) and she’d invited him to the pub later that day to hear her and her co-bakers perform as they usually did.

“Not sure how it started but eventually we decided it was a great way to have fun and get some extra pay. Childcare in Zadash isn’t cheap these days,”

“BLOODY SCALPERS!” An elven male baker had shouted while decorating the floral tarts.

“Anyway, you don’t have to come. But I’d really appreciate it if you did!”

And he went, nervously combing fingers through lichen-stained hair as he sat alone by the makeshift stage. His heart pounded in his chest, unsure quite why it felt like doing that. He had no reason to be nervous after all she was quite nice and he was only reciprocating the niceties she was showing him, and the last thing Jester would want was for him to get on the bad side of her “absolute-favourite- the-very-best-the-goddess-of-all-baked-goods-except-for-that-one-bakery-in-Nicodranas-that-does bear-claws” baker. (Or at least he thinks that was all the superlatives Jester mumbled out).

And Caduceus had thought, as he watched her give him a little wave as her band of bakers set up, that perhaps he was finally over these unnecessary jitters. Perhaps he’d be able to listen to her music and perhaps introduce her to the wonders of his little ‘death whistle’ as Caleb liked to call it. Or at least he had thought so until she opened her mouth and began to sing.

He was absolutely transfixed, half of him terrified and wanting to run away, the other never wanting to leave her side. All of time seemed to still and yet flow faster than he could have ever wanted, praying every second he could that he could remain in this moment forever. He found himself unable to form the words that would usually come, as they chatted over dinner following her performance, apologising as he stumbled and stuttered over words. And she would laugh with a shake of her head, kindly bumping her knee against his as they sat huddled up in the performers’ lounge at the back of the tavern. Their talk of every day adventures and his little gripes (gripes was the nicest words) of the Nein in the Xhorhaus, and of the beauty that drove her work.

“…And you see, they’re just such a difficult shade of pink to replicate. Like your hair, I suppose. It’s very pretty,” She had said as they walked home, her hair streaming about in the brisk night breeze. On instinct he found himself moving by her side, curling her under his arm and pressing her against the side of his body. She thanked him, smiling brightly at him, and he smiled back relishing in how perfectly she fit.

They’d fallen into companionable silence, walking their way back to The Leaky Tap. She quirked a brow when he’d mentioned that was where he was staying.

“Well, you’re certainly braver than I am. That dude gives me the creeps.” She made a vague gesture to sweat at the temples and he assumed she meant the Gentleman.

“He’s not so bad.” Caduceus replied with a laugh, his mind desperately searching for ways to stretch this moment out as long as he could. “You really do have such a beautiful voice,”

“No,”

“Really,” He drew closer, holding both her hands in his, “It puts songbirds to shame. I’d love to hear you more.”

“Well, you’re welcome any time Caduceus Clay.”

He froze at that point, feeling her tug him down to press a kiss to his cheek. With a wave she began to walk away, a skip in her step and hands buried into the pockets of her skirt. For how long he stood there, only the Wildmother knew, his face burning up and a sense of giddiness building up within him. All he knew was that he just stood there, staring at cobblestones like some sort of idiot. Part of him mused at how they sparkled just a little under the moonlight.

If Colton ever heard how he was thinking, he’d never hear the end of it.

He couldn’t even find the familiar comfort of sleep, tossing and turning and irritating Frumpkin who had curled into the space by his shoulders. Instead he lay there upon his bedroll awake, staring at the shadows that danced upon the ceiling. His ears twitched at the distant sound of murmurs and Jester’s hushed giggles, but the effort he’d usually use to eavesdrop was simply missing. No, his mind was filled with the feeling of her soft lips pressed against the fuzz of his skin and the way her eyes shone as she had looked at him. And he, cursing his curiosity, found himself lost in the mesmerising depths of her eyes.

And that was how he ended up here, sitting at the vacant bar (save the Nein), asking Jester for help.

At some point his mind began to turn blank, filling with the sounds of a busy hive of bees and the distant memory of music. Jester’s mouth seemed to move much slower than the stream of lively sounds that emanated from herself. He barely registered Nott making some sort of joke that Fjord half-laughed-half-reprimanded her for, attempting to somewhat come to his defence. Caduceus found that sweet- or at least he would if he knew what was happening. Even throwing a look of help at Yasha couldn’t save him from the rising heat in his face and ears as she smiled and said something that threw the group into even more of a chaotic round of laughter. But it was a small quip Jester had made that sent Beau sliding to the floor and Fjord choking for air as he grabbed his stomach. Caduceus did everything he possibly could to just curl in on himself and wish for the Wildmother to send some form of giant carnivorous plant. He was sure Fjord could agitate one enough to swallow him whole.

“What’s this about deflowering the firbolg?” Caleb wandered into the room where he and the others had been discussing his current predicament. Caduceus was unaware that he could get anymore embarrassed than he already was, his face buried into his hands and his tail flicking about erratically.

“Caduceus has a crush!” Jester sang, head sitting on her hands and trying to stifle her giggles.

“I don’t think it’s a straight crush Jessie, it sounds bit more complicated than that.” Fjord tried remedying, throwing him an apologetic look. Caduceus’ ear twitched as he noticed that Fjord was only half apologetic.

“No, Deucey is hopelessly and utterly in the throes of love!” Nott hushed Fjord with a slap to his arm, the latter dramatically complaining of how hurt he was. “Positively twitterpated.”

“Cad needs to fuck,” Beau explained to Caleb as he took the seat next to her, “But like… with feelings and serious monogamy and all that sort of crap.”

“Doesn’t the Wildmother have teachings on sexy times and all that? The Traveller probably does I mean he’s super cool and all that-”

“Well,” Caduceus cut off off Jester’s tangent, his voice louder than usual. He was unaware it could get this high or this loud. It was a terrible reminder of that time they had spent before King Dwendal, the urge to simply feed Ikithon and his rudeness to some deadly creature rearing itself in his mind again. “All… that… is part of nature and something that perpetuates her cycle and her creation. But I don’t think this is what she had in mind…”

“All sorts of animals have courtship rituals, ja?” Caleb not-so-helpfully bought up, Caduceus shot him a brief glare from between his fingers. “I suppose the most helpful question would be: what do you want from this?”

He slowly prised his forehead away from his hands, taking deep breaths and trying to calmly face the group.

What did he want from this?

“And asking the Wildmother is cheating!” Jester added hastily.

Well that removed that option.

He supposed he liked her voice. Music had always filled his mind, the Wildmother present in all the music of nature. Sometimes it felt like it took over. But her laughter, the way she sang, the way she smiled as she sang. Part of him knew that he would never be able to wash those beautiful sounds from his mind.

Jester had often talked about romances and her fairytales, and Beau of other women she’d slept with. Hells, he’d even witnessed Fjord sacrificing himself (not that he needed to) upon the Squall Eater just to appease Avantika. But he’d never considered any of those for himself. He’d always assumed that perhaps, if it ever happened and the Wildmother deemed it part of his destiny, she would send someone along he could perhaps get along with. Someone he could envision just spending hours in silence, understanding and enjoying company. Someone who perhaps understood other parts of him- ones that he very rarely even let his own family see. And she was beautiful, all encompassing and demanding every second of his attention, almost terrifying. But nature was beautiful in that sense as well.

And taking a quick glance up from his hands and a look around the table, the sickening, horrifying realisation that he’d said all this aloud sunk to the pit of his stomach.

“Well,” Caleb coughed into the purring cat in his arms, “That answers that.”

“Perhaps, perhaps oh my gosh Caduceus, what if this is that!” Jester suddenly piped up, grabbing ahold of his shirt and shaking him a little. “You have to see her now! Ohmygosh!”

He vaguely felt himself protesting, saying that perhaps she was misinterpreting things. But Nott only scoffed at him, licking the palm of her hands and trying to tame his hair down the way his mother once did. He felt both Fjord and Yasha heave him out of the seat, pushing him in the vague direction of the door and suggesting something or rather about casually asking- oh no Fjord was saying make a show of it- no, Caleb was suggesting being forthright but gently romantic. Caduceus heard himself somewhat protesting, Nott offering him a swig of liquor and almost succeeding in pouring some down his throat had Jester not shoved in next to him to hand him a bouquet of flowers.

Now where in Melora’s green earth did those appear from. He wasn’t sure he even wanted to know anymore.

But perhaps they were right. Perhaps, as Caleb supplied into his ear holdinga pearl to his forehead, that the small kiss was indicative that she also wished to get to know him better. Despite all his reservations, he found himself somehow trying to listen to every single fragment of conflicting advice Fjord and Beau were throwing at him. He even found himself listening to Nott practically shouting some carnal knowledge into his ear, Jester enthusiastically joining in as he practically tripped over Fjord’s feet. Fjord held him up, though he seemed to be finding it difficult to meet his gaze as the two continued relating all information they thought would help. Yasha, thankfully saving him, cleared her throat and levelled the two with a glare.

“You got this Cad! I believe in you!” Beau had slapped his shoulder hard enough for him to almost stumble out the Leaky Tap, “I’m so proud!” she wiped away a stray tear from the corner of her eye, resting her shoulder against Yasha who only nodded in agreement.

He took several steps out the door, fiddling with his earring and adjusting the bouquet in his hands. Caduceus noticed with a start that the delicate blossoms matched that impossibly sweet shade of pink she had mentioned. The ones that dusted her most favourite of baked creations and held pride of place at the centre of her display. He took one look back, noticing his friends all standing at the door, thumbs up and shooing him enthusiastically to go after her.

Well, there was no time like the present. He straightened his shoulders, and an unbidden grin forming upon his face, he headed in the direction of the bakery with a determined step.

“AND BRING ME BACK PASTRIES IF YOU TWO AREN’T LIKE YOU KNOW BANGING AND MAKING MINI FOLLOWERS FOR THE WILDMOTHER!”

[xxgothickxx]

About me tag

I was tagged by the lovely @nomimits7 ! Thank you for this, I'm in bed waiting to fall asleep and I need something to calm me down from my gaming hype❤️ (also this is the reason if there is any spelling errors)

What do you prefer to be called name wise?  Kara, just Kara. This is my name I prefer. I chose it for myself and that's that 😂

When is your birthday? It is the 26th of October. And yes I am a 95's baby 🙂

Where do you live? South Africa. And no I do not live in a hut with wild animals as my friends (listen I know it sounds ridiculous but can you imagine how I feel when there's people who ask me this)

Three things you’re doing right now? Typing up this whole thingy. Cuddling about 3 cats in my bed (the 4th one is in the house making a mess somewhere) and contemplating if I should get up to go have a smoke.

Four fandom that have piqued your interest? Let's see. ARMY has been my dedicated fandom mostly for the last 3-4 years. I've always been a bit of a Potter Head 🤪 The Pretty Reckless is a Alt Rock band I've been listening and supporting since I was 14 (check 'em out) and Star Wars? I say that with a question because I've been out of the loop since the new movies came out

How’s the pandemic treating you? Well I mean if you've read through this thing I call a blog, you'll see how it's been treating me. I use this space to rant and to fangirl over BTS. But if you need to hear the short of it - I'm going broke due to pay lost, I might be retrenched and I might need to move out of my province because I can't afford to live here anymore.

Songs you can’t stop listening to right now…. Uuuuh Yoongi's whole mixtape D-2. Specially What do you Thing regardless of all its controversy it's still a fucking bopand I will spasticly dance to it, fight me

Reccomend a movie Oh god, I'm terrible with movies and series. I don't own a TV and I haven't watched TV in over 8 years I think? But I have a phone and a laptop. If you want me to recommend you YouTube videos I'm your girl. But yeah movies I have nothin'

How old are you? I am a whopping 24 at the type of this typing. I will be 25 in Oct (referring back to the date of birth question)

School, occupation or other? Oh boy, OK at the time of this I'm still employed. I am an Operations Assistant and Procurement at a medium to large phone service company. We are an extention of one of the bigger brand cellphone companies in South Africa. Real proper office job, but they let me have my hair funky colours and let me walk around with my piercings so yeah.

Do you prefer hot or cold? Cold. Excuse to cover every inch of my body in black fabric or any colour/shade close to it. I love staying in bed with 5+ blankets and all my cats to cuddle and stay warm. Also my Bf is furnace and I'll actually melt in hot weather if he wants to cuddle.

Name one fact others might not know about you? Oh, this can reference back to the name thing. Most people don't know my birth name, I can count on 1 hand how many people now it and 2 of them are my mom and baby brother. I've gotten rid of A LOT of toxic people in my life and my birth name carries a lot of that toxicity with it. Very long story I don't like getting into. And thus only a handful of people in my life now know my birth name, fact.

Are you shy? I am. I'm hella shy even though I come across as I'm not. Through the years I've kinda mastered fake confidence? It's kinda like a defence mechanism for me at this point. When I'm scared, hurt, afraid, unsure etc but I need to look and act strong in front of other I will push all that down to under the surface and fake my not-so-shy self, unless we're every close friends then I'm one crazy bitch.

Preferred nouns? She/Her

Favourite “-dere” type? Hands down Yandere. I try and cosplay one any chance I get. I guess I crave being that dangerously obsessive loving? I find it very hard to love someone, so I kinda 'idolize' the way they can do it even if it's unhealthy and dangerous. This is getting weird, moving on...

Any pet peeves? People that won't stop moving or touching your shit. LEAVE MY STUFF ALONE THEN I WON'T KEEP LOSING IT.

Rate your life 1-10 I always saw my life as a 6-7, but 2020 really got that shit way down to like a 3 now.

Main Blog? Yeah this is my 'main blog' cuz it's my only blog.

List your side blogs.… Ain't got those hunny, I barely have time to shower and manage this blog (lol I say manage but all I do is just rage and fangirl)

Anything people need to know before becoming your friend? Where to start? I'm a quiet person. But I'm always there if shit goes really south for my friends. You might not have heard from me in like 3 months but if you need a should or an ear I'm always there. I act tough and scary but it's because I'm extremely fragile and I've learned I'm the only one that can protect myself, so don't ever feel offended when it feels like I'm shutting you out, I'm really just battling my inner demons and I'll comeback to you if I won. I cut people off and out of my life with in seconds and I don't think twice about it. If you've crossed me in the most hideous way possible(in my eyes) you are actually dead to me. No second chances unless they are deserved. Regardless of everything I said up here, I'm really a nice girl, I just need nice people that understand me and will be patient with me. I'm a broken human that's trying to fix myself.

WHHHHOOOOOOOOWHEEEEEE that took a turn 👀 I'm so sorry I turned a fun thing quite negative 😅😅 but hey this is part of getting to know me! Thank you again @nomimits7 I enjoyed doing this! 💜💜💜

I guess it's my turn to nominate? Well, I nominate the person reading this. Yes YOU

If you feel like doing this, knock yourself out I'd love to read what you type and get to know you better ❤️💜 just tag me 😘

[onedirectionfanfics]

Love Always, Harry by @gucciwoodnymph​

Holmes Chapel, 1985 - Best friends since childhood, you and Harry have grown up to lead lives on opposite ends of the spectrum. He travels the world as a journalist for Rolling Stone. You’re stuck in your hometown, waitressing at a diner. You and Harry keep in touch through letters and postcards until the day he returns home and flips your world upside-down. 

This month’s featured story, Love Always, Harry, takes us back to the 80s when we raid record stores with our best friends and send letters to each other as we travel! This fic tells a beautiful love story that blossoms between two best friends who are so different, yet similar in many aspects. Read below to learn more about it from our interview with the lovely author!

***

How long have you been writing for?

I had always been coming up with little stories in my head, but the first time I actually wrote a story down was when I was ten years old. My class had just finished reading Old Yeller and I was really upset about the ending, so I wrote my own version of the story where the wolf bite ends up giving Yeller superpowers instead of rabies, and Yeller uses those powers to fight crime in the town (very highbrow stuff). I haven’t stopped writing since then!

Do you have certain habits or rituals you have to do while writing?

So before I start writing, I have to clean my room or whatever area I’m in. I tend to talk aloud to myself and pace around a lot if I’m trying to work through any snarls in the fic so I need plenty of clean space for that. The first things I pull up on my laptop when I’m starting out are my fic outline and thesaurus.com. I read through the outline a few times to smooth over the scene and get a clear picture of it in my head. Also, I turn into a bit of a hermit when I’m really ready to write. I have to be alone and I need complete silence because I have a goldfish’s attention span and get sidetracked very easily.

The ever famous question: how did you come up with this idea?

I really like the whole “opposites attract” trope and I think showing that dynamic within a close friendship is really interesting because (most) friendships have a stronger, more enduring bond than (most) romantic relationships. So I knew I wanted the story to revolve around two best friends – one who is really confident and more of a free-spirit, and the other who is very reserved and a bit cautious – who fall in love. I also wanted the characters to write letters to each other because I just love the idea of them. I think it’s so sweet when someone takes time to sit down and write out a letter; it adds a nice personal touch.

When does a story go from an idea in your mind to paper? Is there a process you go through before writing it out, or do you just get straight in it?

Some of my writer friends can just dive in and write absolutely beautiful pieces without planning and it makes me so jealous because for me, it takes a loooong time for an idea to go from my mind to paper. I usually have a few different AUs brewing at a time, and I cycle through them until one idea starts to branch off on its own and grow into a Thing that takes up 95% of my daydream capacity. Once I’ve decided on the basic story, I write everything out in an extremely detailed outline that describes the characters and their personalities, and breaks the story down into parts, what events happen in each part, etc.

Your fic is set in the late 1980’s, was there a specific reason for it?

When I decided I wanted to write a fic based around the idea of sending letters, I knew I would have to set it in an earlier decade. It wouldn’t have been realistic to set it in 2019 and have Harry and MC send letters back and forth when they could easily text, call, FaceTime, or stay in touch through social media.

I chose the 80s on a whim. I really love the aesthetic of that era, and after I had an 80s movie marathon I could see Harry fitting perfectly in that time with his cuffed jeans, and Vans, and high-waisted pants.

As a young adult in 2019, how did you find writing a story set in a different time period?

I had a TON of fun writing it, but it involved significantly more research than a fic set in present day. I had to do a lot of research for the little things that make an appearance in the story and make sure that they were actually around in 1985/1986 (i.e., the books on Harry’s nightstand in his room, the candy Harry and MC share when they’re smoking, the VHS tapes, the magazine that the MC interviews for).

I also had to be cognizant of not overdoing the pop culture references in that time. Sometimes after reading over first drafts of the installments, I would find sentences that essentially sounded like, “MC threw on her neon leg warmers before she grabbed her Walkman and listened to a mixtape.” So I edited a lot more to have a balance where I could create an 80s atmosphere, but avoid making it sound contrived.

What made you want to write about a girl who sacrificed the things she loved for a secure future? Is this something you’ve ever had to do?

I wanted to write about it because it’s a trend I see so frequently among my friends and my age group. One of my friends is such a talented artist, but she gave that up to study engineering (which she hates); another one of my friends decided not to pursue his passion for music and instead go to pharmacy school (which he hates), solely because it provides a secure future. I think I had to do it to a lesser degree – I wanted a job that involved lots of reading and writing, and I’m pursuing law which has a ton of that but it’s not the publishing or journalism career I had in mind when I was in high school.

Harry and Y/N have a very special bond. Without Harry, would Y/N have married a controlling man like William?

No, she wouldn’t have. I think eventually she would have realized how stifled she was and how she wouldn’t be happy with someone like her fiance. Harry just expedited that realization for her. Without him, she might have called off the wedding five minutes before she was going to walk down the aisle as opposed to months before, but she would never have actually married William.

Y/N’s self-discovery and growth can all be credited to her (for pursuing her dreams and aspirations) but her decision was heavily influenced by Harry. Would a woman like Y/N have gotten to this position without someone like Harry in her life?

Everyone has someone in their life who pushes them to be the best version of themselves, who calls them out whenever they’re falling short of their potential, and essentially tries to get them into gear whether that’s a friend, family member, mentor, or whoever. In the MC’s case, that someone for her is Harry. Without Harry in her life, I think the MC would still have gotten to her position because she has that drive and desire to do so, but it certainly would have taken her a longer time.

There are a lot of artists and bands from the 80s being referenced in this fic, did you have to do research for it or is old music something you have an interest in?

I really love 70s and 80s music because it reminds me of the stuff my parents used to play while I was growing up, but I did still have to do a lot of research for this fic to make sure it was historically accurate. For example, in Part I the MC gets a letter from Harry dated December 7, 1984. I originally wanted Harry to tell her about how he was reviewing a Fleetwood Mac show, but it turns out FM didn’t tour at all in 1984. So a lot of the time I had to research to make sure the dates, the locations, the artists, and the events all matched up with what actually happened.

I also looked up the actual Rolling Stone UK covers from the 80s to see which artists were featured and what year they were featured in to see if it could fit into the storyline. The actual RS archives are available online for a fee and only for the US editions, so I ended up combing through really obscure websites to find the UK versions, and spent hours on that just for the information to feature in like, one or two lines of the fic.

You wrote a very inspirational and powerful piece about self-growth and knowing your worth, did you hope to influence anyone with it?

Honestly, I treat writing as a form of therapy so when I started writing this fic, my intent was just to vent out my own feelings of inadequacy or frustration, and my fear of failure. When I started this, I wrote the characters to mirror the two “voices” I always have in my mind. The MC is the irrational half of me who’s afraid to even attempt new things out of fear of failing and Harry is the more rational half saying I’ll never get anywhere if I don’t at least try. So not to sound like a narcissist, but I think I mainly hoped to influence myself to grow as a person.

That being said, I have received a few messages from readers about how this fic has influenced them to grow, or recognize their self-worth, or make a change in their lives and it absolutely blows me away that anything I’ve written can do that. I cannot explain how honored I am to have played an iota of a role in helping someone decide to improve their lives. It’s been absolutely the most rewarding facet of sharing my writing.

Anything you’d like to say to anyone who read your fic?

Thank you very much for reading my writing! And thank you for taking the time to send in your comments, questions, rants, and key smashes. It really means more than I can ever articulate, that I’m able to share my writing and have such an amazing response from readers. Thank you a million times.

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Thank you Tans for the wonderful interview! Check out more of her writing here! 

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