#Anyways I was BLOWN AWAY by the musical I love love love the different instruments and the motifs and the progression of Odysseus' morality

[graythegreyt]

GUESS WHO LISTENED TO THE ENTIRETY OF EPIC THE MUSICAL LAST NIGHT WHILE WORKING ON MY PHILOSOPHY ESSAY. HAVE A DUUSU AND A FELIX

[slayfics]

If you don’t mind me dropping a request for Katsuki headcanons then here I am…

(I know I’m in a whole other famdom right now and I don’t even simp for Bakugo (he’s yours he’s yours, I got a dif man 😉) but I’m bored and this is just an idea)

So.. what if Bakugo was dating a y/n that was just as much of an idiot as Kaminari 😥

If you haven’t done this already -

Katsuki dating a silly reader.

700 words~

Katsuki pretends to be annoyed by your air headedness but actually finds it adorable. He feels responsible for watching out for you.

He is quick to tell off anyone who insults you.

He secretly loves that you get along well with his friends.

However, he is insecure about the way Kirishima and Kaminari can have you rolling in laughter effortlessly. He won't ever mention it but it's apparent by the pout he has any time you're laughing at Kaminari's newest joke.

He loves the way you can cut through his seriousness and bring whimsy to his life. He doesn't know what he'd do without you. Heck, probably never smile again.

He is quick to catch you with any mistakes you make, albeit he scolds you for it.

He is overly tough with you when you spar, but it's only because he wants you to be as strong as you can be to take out any villains you face.

Katsuki's friends are constantly blown away by the things you get him to agree to do. Shopping at a dumb mall? Fine, he'll hold your bags. Going to an amusement park with way too many screaming kids? "Fine- if you really want to go." Singing along to a cheesy ass song? Mmm maybe, don't press your luck too far...

You brought back your food and sat at the outside table of the sports bar rejoining the boys. Music played as different sports ball games played on the various screens outside.

"Tch- why'd you two choose this place anyway? None of us give a damn about these games," Katsuki said huffing and gesturing to the TVs.

"It's the only place that's in the middle of all our places," Denki explained, as you began to take bites of your food.

"Mmm I guess- the food is shit though," Katsuki continued to complain but took a bite of his food all the same.

The song changed to an easily recognizable tune: Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler. Your and Eijiro's eyes immediately locked. The first verse synced up between the both of you as you sang.

Turn around~

Every now and then I get a little bit lonely

And you're never coming 'round

"No, stop." Katsuki huffed at you both beginning to sing. However, Katsuki's annoyance was only met with Denki joining in on the next verse.

Turn around~

Every now and then I get a little bit tired

Of listening to the sound of my tears

"Are you kidding me," Katsuki complained hiding his face in his hand. Which let Hanta know it was his turn to chime in. The four of you now had a choir.

Turn around~

Every now and then I get a little bit nervous

That the best of all the years have gone by

You three continued to sing increasing your enthusiasm with each lyric. Feeding off one another's enthusiasm.

Turn around, bright eyes~

Every now and then I fall apart

"Come on Bakugo, you know this song," Denki said nudging him during the instrumental part of the song.

"Hell no you're out of your mind!" Katsuki yelled. "Shut the hell up you four- you're making a scene."

"Awe~ Come on Kats~" You encouraged him. "You gotta do the next part with us!"

Katsuki eyed you irritated as Eijiro swayed back and forth in his seat matching Denki's dance movements.

You and the boys began singing back as the lyrics picked up again. This time, even louder and more enthusiastic than before.

And I need you now tonight

And I need you more than ever

And if you hold only hold me tight

We'll be holding on forever.

Then to all your surprise, Katsuki chimed into the last verse with you all.

I really need you tonight

Forever's gonna start tonight

Katsuki talked out, his version of singing, while you four sang as loud as ever.

"Let's go Kacchan," Denki laughed clapping his hands together in excitement.

"Awe so cute- you'd do anything they asked," Eijiro said with a giggle earning himself a bark from Katsuki.

"SHUT UP SHITTY HAIR!"

tags: @queenpiranhadon @unofficialmuilover @maddietries @fiannee @i-heart-carlisle @derangedmango @matchat3a @bakugouswaif @reneinii @zanarkandskylines @pastelbakugou @abadbitchblogs

[strawberryfaced]

WE ARE LITERALLY SO BACK OMFG. I LISTENED TO IT AND AHHHH I HAVE SO MANH THOUGHTS, SO I HOPE YOU DONT MIND A BUNCH OF NONSENSE RAMBLING. i tried to document my thoughts by each track but it was a bit hard cause im working. i was asleep when it dropped but i had to listen to it the first thing when i got to work!!! and OH we are so back.

anyway here are my rambles! :D

nomad - WE ARE LITERALLY SO BACK. (ik this was a single but hearing it again was like omg just such a reminder!!!)

sexy to someone - always always a bop and like the transition between the singles is cohesive and i adore it. also like that she put both of the singles back to back to make room for the rest of the album too!!! a good fav

second nature - love it. def feels like a grower on me though.

slow dance - the flute part toward the end was interesting. def the percussion reminds me of immunity w the snare. love it??

thank you - i love the upbeatness of this omg. i think this might be my favorite so far!!!!! literally so good???

terrapin - i loved the percussion on this one. it feels reminiscent of immunity in its simplicity but also like sling with how everything fits in tandem with one another. its so calm and chill and i def think its a favorite for me. like second to thank you. i like the lyrics too. it just feels nice.

juna - okok i think i have to take back what i said on the last track being my second favorite so far. this one trumps that one. its my def 2nd fav. its GOT SUCH A VIBE UGHHH I LOVE IT. i know i keep bringing up the instrumental but holy shit i adore this sound for herrrr. her vocals on this too. it fits her!!! its so good. we are literally so back. eating so good as clairo fans.

add up my love - FUCK SHES MAKING IT SO HARD TO CHOOSE A SECONF FAVORITE ON THIS ALBUM. ITS LITERALLY SO GOOD TOO WHAT THE HECK. I LOVE THIS ONE OMG. LIKE- ATP GIVE IT A 3 WAY TIE FOR SECOND PLACE UGHHHH I LITERALLY ADORE THIS ONE OMG. LIKE ITS GOT SUCH GOOD VIBES AND GODDDDDD THE PERCUSSION!!!! IMMUNITY CORE LOW KEY. literally every song slaps and we are literally so back.

echo - okay this one was good but i didnt feel all that blown away over it. it definitely was nice and i liked the second half of it, but i feel like this ones a grower for me in terms to the track list so far. HOWEVER THE FUCKING TRANSITION INTO THE NEXT SONG!!!! WHAT!!! THATS LITERALLY SO EVERYTHING!!!!

glory of the snow - i liked this one omg. i feel like i sound like a broken record but this one was really nice. i dont think it compares to the earlier tracks for my favorite because theres so many already but if i had to itd be on that list toward the bottom. its definitely a favorite but slightly less favorable than the others i was freaking out about. she really has made it hard to pick favorites on this album ffs. 😭. ALSO THE SONG TRANSITION TOO??? WHATS WITH THAT MA'AM!!!

pier 4 - this definitely felt like a good closing track to end the album. i enjoyed it overall. it feels like her, but in a different perspective. its not immunity and its not sling but a whole different thing that feels like it bonded the both together. i think this album is sooooo good for her and like her best work yet but i dont think i could compare it at all to her other albums because they feel like their own seperate lives and beings. its somewhere in the middle of them that brings out the best parts of both of them that charm lives. its genuinely a good album and has so much replayabilty for me. i loved it!!!! i think i have to listen to it again to grasp a list because the songs meld so cohesively that it makes it hard to remember my feelings on them because im so caught up in the moment of being excited for the new music.

---

heres my list btw. ik it might be controversial but goddd it was so hard to choose. I MUST KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS FRIEND!!!!!

1. thank you

2. juna

3. add up my love

4. glory of the snow

5. nomad

6. slow dance

7. sexy to someone

8. terrapin

9. second nature

10. echo

11. pier 4

NOOOOOO OMG LITERAAAAAALLY. when it dropped iwas quite sleepy but i stayed up anyway and made it :] AND YAYAYAY ME TOO. I HAVE. SO MUCH RO SAY.

WAIT IM GONNA DO WHAT U DID I WILL RETURN YOUR RAMBLES

nomad - YES. i think this one i already got used to because i listened to it so fuckingn much so the magic’s worn off just a liiiil bit BUT YES.

sexy to someone - AHHHHHHES!!! I 100000% AGREE WITH U ON THE BACK TO BACK THING. very satisfying to me ++ THE TRANSITION ALSO YES. there r so many other cool transitions in the album so this makes me so very happy

second nature - yeah SAME NGL!!!! i think i absooooolutely love like. the flow and melody of the song and i love like the chorus especially!!! but the like intro part the dumdum part reminds me a lot of willy wonka…. which is one of my least favourite movies ever

slow dance - I DEFINITELY AGREE WITHH U ON THE IMMUNITY THING I HEAR IT TOO!!! this one tho i don’t have much to say but it’s very catchy imo and just. So Good.

thank you - WAIT NO WAY. THIS ONE IS ALSO GOTTA BE ONE OF MY FAVOURITES???? HIGH FIVE FRIEND YAY!!!!!!!???? ALSO ESPECIALLY THE CHORUS ON THIS ONE GOT ME. UTS JUST SOOOOOOOOOO

terrapin - the instrumentals in this one were soooo good. i love love. AND UES ITS LIKE!!! immunity AND sling !!!!! +++ the piano in the background. absolutely magical

juna - NO UR LITERALLY SO RIGHT ABOUT THE INSTRUMENTALS!!!! I CANT SHUT UP ABOUT THEM!!!!! i feel like it has such a chill smooth vibe!!!! ITS SOOOOOO SATISFYING AND I LOVE HER LIKE. QUIET VOICE IN THIS. also im pretty sure juna is a cat/dog name she mentioned it in a comment i think. SO ITS KIND OF LIKE JOANIE FROM SLING’s SISTER WHICH I ABSOLUTELY LOVE

add up my love - I LOVE THIS ONE FOO. IT REMINDS ME A BIT OF SEXY FO SOMEONE WHICH IS AWESOME!!!!!

echo - THIS ONE I DIDNT END UP LISTENING TO WHEN I WAS DOING A FIRST LISTEN BECAUSE. WHEN IT STARTED THE INSTRUMENTALS AND THE FIRST LYRIC LIKE “there’s something that I need from you” SCARED ME BECAUSE I WAS IN THE DARK HAHA. but YEAH!!! i think this one will grow on me though!!!! very witchy healing vibes imo

glory of the snow - YEAH!!!! i felt like the instrumentals were just a liiittle repetitive on this one but i loved them. so win ish??? UR SO RIFHT ON THE BROKEN RECORD THING THOUGH OH MY GOD I HEAR IT SO GOOD

pier 4 - i heard the acoustic version first which she performed for Palestine (fucking rad . fucking awesome) and i like. CRIED WHEN I FIRST HEARD IT HAHA. but honestly i absolutely loved this track and i was kinda scared she’d add more like. instrumentals cause I absolutely loved the acoustic so i’m so glad she didn’t do that :]

i couldn’t agree with you more genuinely. the meshing thing is very very relatable especially because of how the instruments fit very well together. i think so well that some of the tracks could just be one whole 20 minute song haha!!! AND THE THING ABOUT IT BEINF IN THE MIDDLE…. THE REPLAYABILITY… NOT BEINF ABLE TO COMPARE BECAUSE OF THEIR DIFFERENCES…. like. it’s everything I couldn’t wanted I think taking into mind how immunity and sling. were my favourites ever and were basically my favourite genres so i was kind of worried i wouldn’t like the new one. but NO!!! ITS IMPOSSIBLE TO ME THAT I EVER THOUGHT ABOUT THAT NOW!!!!

also wanted to add +++ THE ALBUM. ITS SOOOO. FORESTY. IT REMINDS ME SO MUCH OF THE CHILDHOOD BOOK FROG AND TOAD OR THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS OR LIKE WINNIE THE POOH N THE HUNDRED ACRE WOODS. ITS HOMEY BUT THE HOME IS OUTSIDE. i aBSOLUTELY LOVE THIS ABOUT IT!!! i also saw this new picture which i think perfectly depicts the album!!!!

ANYWAY. RANKING!!!! I THINK I AGREE WITH U ON MOST BUT HERES MINE!!!! (it’ll probably change a lot depending on the days but yeah!!!!)

thank you

nomad

pier 4

slow dance / terrapin

juna / add up all my love

glory of the snow

sexy to someone

second nature

echo

[rabbitechoes]

january is usually a pretty meh month when it comes to bunch of great records dropping, but this january might be an exception. plenty of amazing new albums here! especially that new glass beach record which i can already tell is going to be in my rotation for a long time to come. anyways, here are my thoughts on all the albums listed above! to check out my thoughts on some of the songs that dropped this month click here!!! also feel free to follow me on rate your music and twitter <3

plastic death - glass beach

🥇 ALBUM OF THE MONTH

◇ genres: indie rock, art rock, progressive rock I was very unfamiliar with glass beach. I was kinda aware of them, but never really got a chance to dive into the band's music. The hype both leading up to the album and from the first initial impressions of it when it dropped made me check this out. I'm so glad I did. Usually, I'm a bit weary of sprawling, genre-bending albums, but glass beach manages to execute it so perfectly. The band takes inspiration from tons of different places, most notably Radiohead with a lot of art rock instrumentation throughout as well as some of the vocal performances. These never come off as super derivative or anything, at least to my ears. The band manages to take these sounds and shape them into something uniquely theirs. Across the little over an hour runtime glass beach masterfully showcases their strong suits. Very rarely did this album ever lose my attention or ever feel disjointed. Each song had at least one "oh, I wasn't expecting that" moment too. Pretty much every sonic detour the band takes here is a welcome surprise. From the power pop stylings of "puppy" to the screamo-inspired vocals on “slip under the door", this album is full of so many surprises. Lead vocalist and multi-instrumentalist J is a key reason why these shifts work so well. She's able to adapt her voice perfectly to everything. From the relatively smaller-scale catchy indie rock or the more grand proggy moments, they're matching it so well. The other members of the band also obviously deserve massive props for this as well. Pulling off an album this ambitious is a tall task, but even after multiple listens, I'm blown away at how cohesive it all sounds. plastic death is one of the finest rock (for lack of a better descriptor) albums in recent memory. I didn't even properly get into how great the lyricism is or just how good the band is at crafting memorable hooks. There is so much to love about this album. Hopefully I'm not speaking too soon, but I can see myself loving this more and more in future listens as the year rolls on. I'll probably also end up giving this a proper, in-depth write-up when it comes time to compile my favorite albums of the year list. I really wanna dive into the lyricism on the album because I think it’s really interesting, but I do need more time with it. Anyway, this album is great!

listen here: Apple Music Spotify Bandcamp SoundCloud YouTube ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Wall of Eyes - The Smile

◇ genres: art rock, post-rock

Not too long after The Smile's debut record, we're getting the follow-up. A lot of the things I loved about A Light for Attracting Attention also apply to Wall of Eyes. It sounds like Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood are having fun making music again. That's not to say the last Radiohead record was bad, I think it's a masterpiece actually, but there was grief and pain around every corner. It feels like they found the fun in making music again once they teamed up with former Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner and formed this band. The sounds featured on both The Smile records are a bit different than what you would hear from any of their previous work. As a MASSIVE Radiohead fan, this is so exciting. Hearing them dive into post-rock, math rock, krautrock, and many different other sounds is so cool. Are they the best representation of all these sounds? Not really, but there's just an air of excitement surrounding these songs. It feels like they're just following what feels right. The soft, bossa nova flavoring of the title track is a good example of that. Yorke's vocals just kinda bounce along in a very satisfying way. Lyrically the song doesn't exactly grab you, but it just feels so good. "Under Our Pillows" is one of my favorite tracks here and is one where you can hear the Krautrock influence. There are so many cool things the band explores here that it's hard to list all of my favorite moments. I love hearing them explore sounds that wouldn't be found on a Radiohead album. My favorite track here is "Bending Hectic" by a pretty wide margin. That's not a knock on the record at all, it's just a testament to how amazing this track is. When it first dropped last summer, I was obsessed with it, and hearing it in the context of this record makes it that much better. This was a really great album!

listen here: Apple Music Spotify Bandcamp SoundCloud YouTube ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

ORQUÍDEAS - Kali Uchis

◇ genres: contemporary R&B, latin pop

Like a lot of people, my first introduction to Kali Uchis was through Tyler, the Creator's Flower Boy. Her amazing feature on "See You Again", the album's biggest track, was incredible and one of the most standout things about the entire album. From there I listened to Isolation and have been keeping up with her new releases ever since. She has been incredibly consistent both with her English language albums and her Spanish albums. This new record is one of the latter and it honestly might be my favorite album of hers to date. Everything about this album is just intoxicating. From the hazy opener, "¿Cómo así?, to the bolero stylings of "Te mata", this album just pulls everything off so well. We also have her signature dreamy vocal delivery throughout and it's so beautiful. Most notable on the second song "Me pongo loca." She enlists the help of some other big Latin musicians here and their presence is very welcome here. I was especially impressed by Peso Pluma's feature on the third track. Overall, ORQUÍDEAS might be Kali Uchis' best record to date. Incredibly consistent, excellently produced, and so much fun to listen to.

listen here: Apple Music Spotify Bandcamp SoundCloud YouTube ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Obsidian Wreath - Infant Island

◇ genres: screamo, post-metal I always feel the need to make a disclaimer that I feel out of my depth when discussing metal or most other subgenres of it. No matter how much I explore this sound I always feel like I'm on the outside looking in. Anyway, the point is, I don't think I'm the right person to go to for metal opinions. However, I really enjoyed this new Infant Island record. The band shifts from thundering instrumentation with growled vocals to lush, almost atmospheric instrumentation at a moment's notice. I find myself being a big fan of the albums in this genre that offer a decent amount of variety in the instrumentation. It gives the album so much more depth and texture. The musicianship on here is really impressive, but I have to give a special shoutout to the band's drummer. He's doing some crazy things on this album and it made all of these tracks that much more compelling. The lyricism here is what you would expect, but they're delivered in such a way that hits hard. The moments where the band shift into a more blackgaze sound are particularly arresting. I thought this was really good and I enjoy it more every time I revisit it.

listen here: Apple Music Spotify Bandcamp SoundCloud YouTube ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Bicycle - Patricia Taxxon

◇ genre: IDM I'm not super familiar with Patricia Taxxon's music overall. I enjoyed Agnes & Hilda a decent amount, but besides that, I'm kinda clueless. From what I can gather, she's a pretty prolific artist with a ton of different projects to her name. After hearing Bicycle, I might be so inclined as to dive into some of those projects! There are some really cool and unique production choices here. Like the metallic clicks on the opener interwoven with some nice synths. That dynamic appears all over the album come to think of it. Thin-sounding snaps and crackles acting as the anchor of the track while something wild happens above it. "Frat Claws" is a great example of this. They also work well on the excellent closer "I Do." It's very lush and ties the album up in such a nice way. My only issues are that sometimes that sound would wear thin for me and the non-instrumental tracks didn't interest me all that much. I do appreciate the direction Taxxon was trying to take them in though. Check this one out if you like cool electronic music or if you're a furry (i may be both or neither, i'll never tell!!!)

listen here: Apple Music (not available) Spotify (not available) Bandcamp SoundCloud (not available) YouTube ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Keep It Goin Xav - Xaviersobased

genres: jerk rap, cloud rap, plugg

I found out about this mixtape from the really interesting Pitchfork review of the project by Alphonse Pierre. The way Pierre wrote about it had me interested even though I'm not really familiar with the jerk rap or the plugg scenes of hip hop. Fortunately, I found a lot to enjoy with this mixtape. The production choices were really interesting and created a cool dynamic with Xavier's often lackadaisical delivery. Sometimes that kind of style would wear thin for me, but I can see that being a me thing. This could be the perfect "vibe" album for some.

It's hard to single out a specific track for that reason. Everything kinda flows together in both good and bad ways. The just under 30-minute runtime works in the project's favor because of that. Xavier is really good at making earworms though. The hook on "Ascend" was stuck in my head for days after listening. Not every track has one of those super memorable hooks, which is disappointing, but plenty do. Overall, I didn't adore it as much as Pierre did in his review, but this is one to check out. I feel like Xavier has a ton of potential and is definitely someone to keep an eye on in the future. 

listen here: Apple Music (not available) Spotify (not available) Bandcamp (not available) SoundCloud YouTube ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Little Rope - Sleater-Kinney

◇ genre: indie rock To preface this, I adore Sleater-Kinney. Their run of albums from Dig Me Out through The Woods is some of the finest indie rock of all time. The band went on hiatus following that record and then returned in 2014 for the run they're on currently. I've heard very mixed things about these post-hiatus albums overall, but I hadn't heard any of them until Little Rope. I enjoyed some of the singles leading up to this record, like "Hell" and "Say It Like You Mean It", but the rest of the album fails to keep that energy going. It isn't a BAD album by any means, it's just ... fine. Occasionally good, but mostly fine and nothing more. You will get some glimpses of their former glory, but they just never take these songs in any new directions. Even the tracks I mentioned earlier don't really live up to the standards set by their best work. They still get super fuzzy and noisy, but they lack the immediacy and the tension of like "The Fox" for example. It feels like they're going through the motions, which sounds fine if you don't think about it too much. A bit disappointed by this one, but with its brief runtime it's worth a shot.

listen here: Apple Music Spotify Bandcamp SoundCloud YouTube ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

It's Sorted - Cheekface

◇ genres: geek rock, indie rock, new wave

I feel very conflicted about this album, to be honest. Everything on this album is painfully witty. Everything is a joke in some way which gets so exhausting. Most of the songs here are charming and well-performed, but you have to be very, very funny to pull off a full album of this stuff and I don’t think Cheekface pulled it off here. I understand that’s a very subjective thing and if you dig this late-millennial style of humor you’ll probably get a kick out of this!

Some of these songs are pretty amusing though. I really like “I Am Continuing to Do My Thing” which features a jerky, new-wave rhythm to it which I had fun with. I also enjoyed "Popular 2" which has a bit of a power pop thing going on. Most of these songs are structured decently well, but it's just the lyrics that make me roll my eyes. A good bit of this album meditates on fame and success which does provide a sense of cohesion, but I just find it hard for me to really connect with these songs. I realized a few songs in that I'm probably not the target audience for this. I'm sure if I was like 30 or so I would have a ball with this album, but as it stands now I would much rather listen to a They Might Be Giants album if I wanted to scratch the itch this record is attempting to. 

listen here: Apple Music Spotify Bandcamp SoundCloud (not available) YouTube ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

New Last Name - Courting

◇ genres: post-punk revival, indie rock

This is such a big step down from their last album. I only heard the single "Flex" going into New Last Name and it's easily the best track here. The rest of the album features the big choruses reminiscent of 90s alt-rock hits that were present on both the band's previous album Guitar Music and the aforementioned "Flex", but unlike those most of the songs on the whole are just one big mess. The verses usually sound bad, both because of the off-putting production and the weak writing. One of the worst offenders here is "We Look Good Together (Big Words)" which sounds like they're doing a parody of The 1975 and I really don't like The 1975!!! That track features one of the few forays into indietronica territory and it never sounds very good. Even if the song structure and almost everything else is lacking, the band can still pull off a really good chorus here and there. The problem is they aren't worth sitting through the rest of the tracks to get through. Besides "Flex", I did find some enjoyment in "Emily G" and the last two tracks. Mostly because they reminded me of their last album. I'm all for bands evolving and trying different things, but New Last Name just feels misguided. Hoping they can come together for a better follow-up.

listen here: Apple Music Spotify Bandcamp SoundCloud YouTube ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Saviors - Green Day

◇ genres: alternative rock, pop punk

Green Day has been in a very rough spot for quite a while now. They've been seemingly unable to recapture that "magic" that was present in their earlier work. They've been failing at diving into new sounds, failing to rehash the old ones in an interesting way, and failing to make a single great cohesive album ever since like 2009. Coming on the heels of perhaps their worst record to date, Father of All, the expectations for this album were in the mud and that's putting it nicely. Fortunately, this isn't the band at their worst, but it might be the band at their most boring. The instrumentation is a return to form compared to their last record, but that comes at the cost of rehashing old ideas. There are some decently clever songwriting moments here and a lot of the big choruses are enjoyable enough to at least remind me why middle school Caleb loved this band so much, but even that works against the album's favor. Why would I listen to this if I was in a Green Day mood and not Dookie or American Idiot or Insomniac? I will say there is some really good stuff here. "Dilemma", "Look Ma, No Brains!", and the title track are highlights and some of the best stuff they've done in years. 

listen here: Apple Music Spotify Bandcamp SoundCloud YouTube ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Letter to Self - Sprints

◇ genres: garage punk, post-punk Let me preface this by saying that I think Sprints has a ton of potential. Unfortunately their debut, for the most part, doesn't capitalize on that potential. This is for a variety of reasons. For starters, the production of this record really doesn't do them any favors. The songs that SHOULD have a punch don't have any whatsoever. The noisy guitars lack the bite that they should have and mostly just kinda whimper along. The vocals are mixed decently, but they still sound far too clean for what I think the band was going for. Another big issue is the actual songs themselves. They're either complete non-starters, or they abruptly end as they're picking up steam, or they drive a hook straight into the ground. The second track "Heavy" is a key example of a song being cut off way too abruptly. It's one of the standout tracks on the record, but it definitely still had some legs. "Adore Adore Adore" is pretty easily the biggest highlight here. It's groovy, the vocals are good, and the chorus is satisfying ... more of this, please!!! I wanted to love this album, but it has way too many flaws. Still, I have high hopes for the Dublin rockers. Saddle them up with a better producer for the next one and see how it goes!!!

listen here: Apple Music Spotify Bandcamp SoundCloud YouTube ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

INSANO - Kid Cudi

◇ genres: pop rap, trap

I really want the best for Kid Cudi. Man on the Moon: The End of Day is legitimately one of the most influential hip hop records of the 2000s. You can hear its influence throughout the 2010s, especially in the emo-rap scene. Unfortunately, pretty much every record he's released since then has been a massive step down from that record (besides the relatively big bright spot in KIDS SEE GHOSTS). INSANO continues that trend, but to an almost embarrassing degree. He enlists DJ Drama to try and hype these tracks up, but even he can't save this thing. The production and beats on this album are the exact opposite of what the album title suggests. They're so painfully boring and Cudi's writing here is, as I said earlier, embarrassing. Cudi proudly raps on the opener "Why they love these raps, haha, to most of these lames I'm Papa." which is just so fucking embarrassing. That's the one word I can use to describe this record. I hope the next one will be good, but judging by this album and his track record overall, that doesn't seem likely.

listen here: Apple Music Spotify Bandcamp SoundCloud YouTube ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ thank u for reading :3

[itrustmydiscoverweekly]

This week I listened to "Wismar" By Rose Avenue

⭐⭐⭐⭐(4 out of 5 stars)

I liked this album a lot! I think it was odd getting back into Indie Rock/Pop since it's been a while since I've listened to this sort of music. Come to think of it it's been since daysormay in early April or Bears in Trees in early May (they don't count because they're British/hj). I think Rose Avenue very much has a sound that they nail and is very different from the other indie rock I've listened to this year. They remind me of Half•Alive but are still distinct in their own way. I like Rose Avenue, I felt like this whole album felt like one long song and everything flowed together into one in a really cool way. I also like that they make music about small-town style relationships/friendships. I am going to say their guitar and instrumentals remind me a lot of James Marriot's album "Are We There Yet?" and I think this is sort of just a sound I tend to gravitate towards.

Anyways, opinion time! (as always, not opinion order, just album order)

This'll be a bit tough since it's 7 songs and the whole album is really cool...

"Head in the Clouds" I think the talking before the song is a great way to transition into the very fast start of this song, I just think it is a neat way to start the song. I think this song tells a story that leave a lot to the listener. The characters are introduced and I think such a great part of indie music is that you don't really always know the exact meaning of every song but you get enough pieces to get an idea and flesh out the story in your head. Anyway, this song has a great composition. I love the use of texture and I love the instrumental 2/3 of the way through the song and how it works its way back to the chorus. I found this song stuck in my head a lot; and I think this song works so well.

"The Devil You Know" is such a cool song. I love how this introduces us more to the characters within this album. I love the fast-paced chorus at the start with the muted drums and loud bass and how quickly it transitions to the next verse and allows the song to build. These guys do a great job of building up within their songs and it sounds great. This one I feel I will keep coming back to a lot over time.

"An Ocean, A River" does a brilliant job wrapping up the album. It is led into by "Aren't You Sick" AMAZINGLY, I love these songs together so much they tickle my brain. I LOVE 1:08-1:20 (the start of the first chorus) Jesus I love cathartic screaming in a song. It works amazingly to build the song up more. The first time I heard it I was blown away. I love the loud choruses on this song and that these guys aren't afraid of the transition from really soft to really loud music. I love the ending instrumental, what an amazing way to end an album.

There's only 7 songs but have some...

Honorable Mentions!!! 🥳🥳🥳

I'm a big fan of "Age Old Drink" the VOCALS Jesus, mwah, brilliant. This song is Dreamlike and a lot of fun. I love the drums on the chorus.

"Aren't You Sick" has Great guitar and drums again, love me some loud music and I think this song does it great. Also as I said above I love how this song leads into "An Ocean, A River".

[gerardwayisalive]

(17 December 2021)

As part of the festivities, Way chatted about Nirvana’s legacy, why we’re hearing guitars in pop again, and what made him want to dress like a vampire.

GQ: Tell me a bit about your introduction to Nirvana and Kurt, and his impact on you by way of both music and style.

Gerard Way: My first real music that I got into was hair metal in the ’80s, Cinderella and Poison and all that stuff. Somebody showed me Iron Maiden, and that changed everything for me. I was very much a full metalhead until middle school, when a really cool friend showed me all kinds of really cool music that I had never heard before, like Sonic Youth, and I learned about tons of punk bands like Dead Kennedys and Black Flag. But I remember sitting upstairs in my grandparents’—we lived in a duplex, my grandparents lived upstairs—and I was sitting in my grandfather’s chair watching TV after school before he came home from work, and I saw “Smells Like Teen Spirit” for the first time. I was really blown away, like, “Wow! This is kind of like the stuff I’ve been listening to, but it’s been funneled through or altered in a different way.” I was on board with Nirvana right away. I think I asked for it for Christmas that year.

It’s interesting looking back, too, because they had the grunge tag and we got the emo tag, and I don’t think either of our bands ever felt comfortable with those tags. I was never really into [other] grunge; it was Nirvana for me. I didn’t necessarily consider them grunge—I guess they epitomized it, but at the same time, nobody else that was a grunge band really sounded like them, you know? I felt that way about My Chemical Romance too. We had emerged into this second-wave emo scene, and it never really felt right.

But anyway, I loved what Nirvana was doing. It was this fresh way to look at this punk rock that we had all grown up with, including Kurt. Stylistically what was interesting is there was this working class [look]—eventually it would become a uniform grunge look, but with those early grunge bands and Nirvana, it was almost an anti-uniform, you know? Kind of the opposite of the stuff we had seen before that. To relate that to My Chem, stylistically, My Chemical Romance was almost a response to the T-shirt and jeans. We sought more costumes and more theatricality—that felt fresh when we started doing it again. Kurt and Krist and Dave really paved the way for bands to continue to morph punk rock and find new ways to channel that energy that we grew up with. Seeing that on MTV, I guess I was surprised that something so authentic and loud and different and unapologetic ended up on that channel all the time.

With My Chem, how did you approach that theatrical look? What were you thinking about in terms of how you wanted to present yourself, and how that would reflect in your sound? Or did the sound inform it?

The theatricality evolved over time. When we started, I was wearing really ripped-up old jeans, duct-taped shoes, Motörhead T-shirts, and these leather jackets that were clinging together, that had just really been eaten away by sweat show after show. I had experimented with things like eyeliner and different kinds of makeup. I was inspired growing up by Dave Vanian from The Damned, like, “You know, it would be kind of cool to be a vampire.” I grew up listening to Misfits and Danzig—all that stuff was theatrical, even though it wasn’t very extreme. I mean, you look at the Misfits wearing a skeleton outfit, they’ve got these devil locks and they’re playing these monstrous instruments. There’s a theatricality there that I don’t think was happening in punk at the time, and that kind of worked its way into My Chemical Romance.

You mentioned how Nirvana felt distinct from the rest of the grunge scene. What made Kurt cool? And more broadly, what makes for cool frontman style?

Oh, man. Well, I think what makes a frontperson cool changes all the time. A lot of things happen in cycles. [Comic book writer] Grant Morrison is a really good friend of mine, and he has this theory that basically [trends go from] hippie to punk, hippie to punk, over and over again. It has something to do with the phases of the sun, or something like that. You never know what is going to connect with people, who they’re going to gravitate towards, who they’re going to look to to be a voice for them. You can’t engineer that—it just happens.

I think the first time I had seen a [Fender] competition blue Mustang with stripes was “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” and the first time I saw an old, beat-up Jaguar was watching Nirvana. The cool thing that Kurt did is that he was going to pawn shops; I remember seeing an interview where Krist would go to pawn shops too, and look for Mustang guitars for Kurt. It was an explosion after that: everybody wanted a Jaguar, everybody wanted a blue Mustang, everybody wanted the things he was playing. That’s what an artist can do sometimes—take something that slipped out of the public consciousness a little bit and represent that to people in a different context than they’ve seen it before.

For Nirvana, I think it was the fact that they weren’t really pretending to be something else or somebody else. They didn’t really care too much about appearance—or maybe they cared about it in the way that they wanted to convey that they didn’t give a shit about appearance. I think ever since Nirvana really broke, people strive for that authenticity. I found myself in a position where I was obviously not nearly at the level that Kurt was, but I was speaking to a young generation of people, but that doesn’t mean you have to be comfortable with any of it or that you have to pretend to be comfortable with any of it. It doesn’t mean you have to play the fame game or the red carpet game or anything like that. You can reject all that stuff. Nirvana inspired us to reject those things. Reject celebrity, in a way, because our heroes did it.

That idea of authenticity, to me, also goes hand in hand with emotionality, and maybe being a little more fluid and open with gender. That definitely came up with Kurt, and you’re seeing it come back around with, say, Kid Cudi wearing a dress on SNL in homage to him.

What it becomes to me is contrast, [like] during the Black Parade tour, seeing a bunch of guys in these uniforms playing super-heavy music. The contrast is why David Bowie is a massive influence on people, or Lou Reed. We definitely did a lot of that too, and Kurt was doing that. I remember I saw [Nirvana] on Headbangers Ball, and he was wearing a ballgown. It was the first time I had seen anything like that. There’s a fearlessness. You’re not afraid to be emotional, you’re not afraid to break conventions, you’re not afraid to explore gender or sexuality. You’re just an artist out there doing it.

We’re in the midst of this big revival for those specific moments in music—the ’90s Nirvana era and the early-aughts My Chem era—both for established fans and for younger fans who are connecting with it for the first time. How do you see that manifesting now?

It’s interesting. Again, this comes down to cycles. In the 2000s, when we emerged, you saw other bands like Green Day have almost a whole revitalization: it was a time for rock and roll. Rock and roll was a really dominant thing. And then pop starts to take a lot of risks, then all of the sudden you see people trying to get bands to use guitars less. You keep hearing, “Rock is dead.” [Laughs.] If somebody gave me a free guitar every time somebody said “Rock is dead,” I’d have a lot of guitars.

What I believe happened in that time that rock was gone, [when] you wouldn’t hear guitars in things, I think people really missed what you can get out of a rock band and you can’t get anywhere else. They just missed the sound of the guitar. I think that’s why you’re starting to hear them in pop. I think as this cycle continues, sounds are going to get heavier and more visceral because I think people just need that. I think people just need it.

[bawnjourno]

so i wanted to recount my experience at the chicago sparks show! apologies for how jumbled this is, i’m still jetlagged haha. gonna tag a few people who might like to see @ylly22-2 @nocribdoll @theest0rm @strangeanima1 @pineapplefulfillseveryneed

the crowd was a great mix of young and old - there were lots of custom shirts and masks and generally fun outfits! the copernicus center is a very pretty old venue with stars on the ceiling. it was more compact so there wasn’t a ton of standing up until “music that you can dance to” but from “this town” until the end everyone was on their feet. we made friends with a nice older woman in line who had seen the beatles live when she was 9.

russell was suuuuper smiley and probably thanked the crowd 30 different times during the set. @taintmansion caught this one but ron was struggling to open a water bottle and russell joked that “he works hard”.

they tore through the set with a vengeance! i didn’t expect russell to raise his voice that high for marion’s part in “we love each other so much” and was blown away. shopping mall of love was a huge audience favorite and i adored the synchronized clapping with the band during the instrumental breaks. i’m not the biggest fan of the rhythm thief or get in the swing but the live versions knocked my socks off!

“amateur hour” was sadly cut for time (russell made a comment about loving being in chicago even if it was for a short time) i’m guessing because they were traveling from chicago to atlanta… maybe they had to jump on a flight that night or early in the morning? after “this town”, russell gave a big thank you speech and talked about the pandemic and joked about how “you’ve dealt with the pain of being sparks fans and we’ve dealt with the pain of being sparks” but that it was a good time creatively re: making a steady drip. during “suburban homeboy”, ron said “she looks like MJ and the Bulls in a way” instead of Iverson (even funnier considering his air jordans collection) but i ran out of phone storage at that point 😭 “all that” brought tears to my eye, it was the perfect closer and summing up of this band’s lovely legacy.

during the band thank yous, russell sweetly talked up one of the member’s other bands (mini mansions) and when he got to ron “the composer and writer of most sparks songs” the audience was cheering hard and the band did the bowing “we’re not worthy” thing from wayne’s world (so did alissa and i tbh) and ron smiled a little.

for the photo, russell had the lighting guys change the lighting because he was concerned that the balcony would be cut out of the picture and they got cut out anyway rip 😭

all in all, just one of the loveliest shows i’ve ever seen. the relentless energy and passion puts other bands in their twenties to shame. i love them so much.

(random side note: i sell vinyl waterproof number 1 in heaven stickers here on etsy!)

[movienotesbyzawmer]

September 18: Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Time for another project of watching a movie series, taking notes, and posting the notes! I did not finish my last series. I probably will another day. But today I have obtained the six original Star Trek feature films on 4K and I'm starting it as a new notes project.

I saw every Star Trek movie upon its original theatrical release. I wouldn't say I'm a "trekkie", but I like a good sci-fi movie, right?

Worth noting is that I'm watching "The Director's Edition" of the first movie, which is an edit that I haven't seen before. I don't know if I'll notice the differences. I'll call them out if I do, though! Okay, pressing play.

This movie begins with… an overture? A shot of moving stars, and some pleasant orchestral music. Couple of minutes of that before even the Paramount logo. Seems like they were simply going for the same thing that the Superman movie had succeeded with a year earlier, making big, cinematic choices so as to transform it from a small-screen experience to a big-screen experience. Can appreciate.

Yes, first proper scene of Klingon ships approaching a something, it is cinematic, more so than you'd have seen on the show. And the music is cool. Wow, maybe I love this soundtrack? There is a creepy bass pluck sound.

They try to shoot the something with torpedoes. It's like firing a gun at a nebula, it makes no sense.

I'm happy to report that the look of the movie still looks very 1979. It's cleaned up, I guess, and it pops on my 4K OLED screen, but it looks like a good version of what they hoped it would look like at the time.

The nebula has fired back at the Klingon ships. Its torpedoes make them disappear in electricity balls. They just vanish.

That bass pluck sound is kind of like they took one very low piano string note and lowered the tension but still it makes a distinct note.

We're now on a scene with Spock on his home planet, with his parents, doing a judgement of some kind. That bass pluck instrument is getting used a lot. It's not just the theme for the nebula. It's overused.

0:12:50 - Now we're in San Francisco, headquarters of the future-peace union of planetary goodness or whatever. My not-a-trekkie-ness is starting to show, I guess. Anyway, it's Captain Kirk and he is being quite stubborn maybe? Saying he's going to take the Enterprise back.

Now these long, lingering, loving shots of the Enterprise it its space dock, a little indulgent but I get it. That ship with its iconic, recognizable shape is a big part of Star Trek. And it's a MOVIE so there's TONS of TIME.

Now finally Kirk is on the bridge, and between that and the lengthy sequence showing the Enterprise, I'm thinking must have been really exciting for people who had been fans since the original show aired.

Tension between Kirk and the guy who had just gotten promoted to Enterprise Captain, that's good for drama. Might have been more interesting with better actors in those roles. All due respect to William Shatner… not so much respect for the guy who plays Decker. Look it up. It is creepy.

0:27:40 - Transporter room malfunction, when I saw this as a kid I remember it being very scary, like almost traumatic. Not as effective to me today, but I've seen RRR now so maybe I just can't be fazed.

"My oath of celibacy is on record, Captain" announces Iliah. She is introduced with a strange gravity, like we're supposed to be blown away by a bald woman, but she also has romantic tension with Decker, but also she blurts out that weird celibacy comment, and plus also she is straight up pretty. I don't know what I'm supposed to come away with, and that's at least partly on purpose. Oh and they said "she's DELTAN". Don't know what that means.

0:40:45 - Okay, first the shot of them doing a big warp jump, the effect is kind of silly how, like, I don't know, fourth-of-july it looks. Like the backdrop of a performance of "Stars and Stripes Forever"….

…but while I've been typing this, it's going nuts with some other crazy visual stuff... as they did their warp jump, they got sucked into a different corny effect, very video-game-y, but it's making them be all smeared looking and sounding. It turns out this was the doing of a sinister asteroid, and they torpedoed it to resolve that issue. Video game-y.

So far this is the exact movie I remember.

Spock has boarded. Seems like the whole gang is back.

"Bones. We need him. I NEED HIM." William Shatner's dramatic flair is a little jarring.

They have arrived at The Cloud, and now there is the kind of story that drives a good episode of a Star Trek show. I really am curious about what the deal is with this cloud.

Spock has a vague telepathic understanding of what's going on, I guess? But also a sciencey understanding, and there's the thing about he thinks they, whoever is in The Cloud, don't understand why they aren't receiving a response, and Spock figures out it's because they're transmitting something but it's only a millisecond long, I think that's pretty cool.

Sometimes there are computer models on the big monitor in the bridge, and they look way way way more modern than they could have had in 1979 I think. I also think "so what".

1:08:10 - They've been penetrating The Cloud, and it's pretty suspenseful because what the hell is the deal with it. Did people complain that this part dragged? Because I don't think it's dragging. I think it's paced appropriately right now. They get to a solid part in the middle and it's a strange alien structure, what even is it. Again the pace is slow and again I'm not bored.

Then a thing I remember pretty well. After a long (but again I think appropriately long) sequence of them penetrating The Cloud and the middle part of it, an alien that is a vertical energy beam appears on the bridge and does stuff, like it's poking around. That ends with it making Iliah disappear, and Decker acting a little bit I-told-you-so about it. Unfair, Decker. This has literally never happened before.

By the way, I know a girl named Iliah whose parents actually named her after this movie's Iliah.

Now the Robot Iliah has been beamed aboard The Enterprise for the apparent purposes of being a leggy humanoid liason to what we learn is named "Veeger". I remember about the name "Veeger" which gets revealed at the end. Robot Iliah isn't the real Iliah, but there are memory imprints in her head and the gang is trying to exploit that!

Spock is sneaking around some room and he knocked a dude out who was just working at a console, wtf

Oh, that plot thickens, he did that so he could get in a space suit to get off the ship and do some kind of recon! It is one of many 2001-ish things in this movie. But it is maybe the most 2001-ish. He zips through the aperture thing that they didn't want him to get through, goes through some ovals, and starts narrating his trip past abstract things, and then, instead of the star baby from 2001, there's a star-Robot-Iliah. He touches it and it's damaging to him, but he still gets returned back to by the ship, like a respawn point. Get gud, Spock!

Veeger is now right by Earth, and I don't remember it looking like this. Did they totally redo that design? Maybe I just don't remember. It's sending onimous smartbomb things to hover threateningly because the "carbon units" aren't responding. They have to figure out how to be good at communicating to Veeger. I think it's an interesting conflict, I truly do!

A lot of the wide shots of the Enterprise inside the strange world of Veeger's interior actually probably look way, way cooler here than they did in 1979.

I think Leonard Nimoy is doing good acting in this movie.

1:55:45 - These big shots of the Enterprise near Veeger look really, really cool.

Sure enough, Veeger is just a little old 70s probe from Earth, it's "Voyager VI", but only VGER are still visible.

"Voyager VI disappeared into what used to be called a black hole," oh come on they definitely still call them that whenever this takes place.

Oh boy this ending, you guys, I remember the gist of it but I don't remember it seeming so dumb. So like, they figure out that Veeger wanted to join with the creator, and because Decker has always loved Iliah, he decides he is just the guy to fix the bad wiring in Veeger, thereby turning him into a cyborg husband of Robot-Iliah, blowing everything up in just such a way that it is non-catastrophic to Earth and the Enterprise and all the people except for Decker. Chatting about it on the bridge moments later, they're like "we seem to have done a fine job of creating an advanced life form, we're kind of badass that way". Then they hurry up to the credits so you won't spend time thinking about that unsatisfying ending.

But not before a title card that reads: THE HUMAN ADVENTURE IS JUST BEGINNING

So. I do not like the ending of that movie. But most of the movie was quite tolerable. It's been a long time since I watched it, but I watched it a number of times as a young Zawmer and I can't put my finger on any specific editing changes that are different in this "Director's Edition".

[9tzuyu]

my guitar is slightly out of tune, but i’m eternally yours.

[reuploaded and revised from my old blog.]

↠ prompt: you have a terminal illness but you have a chance with treatment but you deny it, then you meet wanda and you feel alive again.

↠ warnings: kinda angsty, but worth the read :>.

requests are always open!

masterlist

∘∴∙*⋆∙∴⋆∘∙*. ∘

“Oh–” was all you managed to say. “I recommend we start radiation treatments-” You zoned out and watched your feet dangle from the edge of the exam table. Was this it? Was this really all there was for you? It seemed hopeless to even do anything at this point. You figured if this was affecting you again, it was for a reason. 

"No. I don't want treatment." The doctor looked at you and his gaze faltered. "You do understand that if you refuse treatment this will inevitably kill you?" You nodded. The words felt empty, they carried no weight behind them anymore. Nonetheless, the doctor continued to try and persuade you. 

"I said I don't want the treatment. I'm refusing medical advice. I don't want to have to go through this again, it's obviously not going away. Now where the hell do I sign the papers?" You exasperated. The doctor gave you one last look before getting the papers for you to embark your signature on.

“You’re one-hundred percent sure about this?”

You shrugged your shoulders, “I've got nothin' left for me here anyways. Might as well just let nature take its course.”

"Well surely you've got someone, a friend maybe?" You shook your head.

 "Nope." You replied, popping the P at the end. The doctor seemed to finally grasp the situation when you handed the papers back to him as if you were turning in a job application.

He pursed his lips, "I'm going to give prescribe medication for the pain. Based on the size of the tumor I'd say you have about eight months to live, but only about half of those months will be enjoyable." You nodded your head in reply and gathered your stuff together. 

So how were you going to spend your last months on earth? That was the question you asked yourself. You walked out of the building and found yourself in a coffee shop. It was busy, but you found yourself a seat next to a window in the back of the shop. Your eyes gazed out the window as you pondered your question from earlier.

'I could move to New York and see broadway shows I've never wanted to see'

'There's always casinos–'

'–Or what about splurging your money on dumb things that you'll quite literally never need?'

You laughed at your thoughts. You made up your mind right there, you were going to live the rest of your life just the way it was. It’d be easier that way. You didn't have friends, no longer had parents, so it's not like anyone would really miss you really. All you had was your pet cat and your guitar. And truth be told, that's all you needed. 

Coffee.

"Hello?" You snapped out of your gaze to see a beautiful brunette standing in front of you. The second thing you noticed was her accent, you'd never heard it before. “I was wondering if this seat was taken?” She softly smiled at you. You returned the gesture and shook your head no. "The place is cram packed and you seemed trustworthy. I hope I'm not disturbing you or anything, you seemed to be pretty deep in thought." The young woman blushed a crimson color, "I'm sorry I probably seem weird or something, I'll go."

Normally you would have cared, but at this point in time you didn't mind the company. So, with the slightest bit of hesitation, you called out for her.

“Wait! It’s fine, don’t worry. I-I’m all alone.” The woman’s smile widened as she took a seat across from you. “Thanks. I'm Wanda, what's your name?”

"Y/N." 

"Y/N..." She flexed your name on her tongue, "That's a beautiful name."

"I'm stuck with it for life, so I sure hope it's at least a decent name." You narrowed your eyes at her as you joked. A giggle escaped the gap between her lips, causing a small flutter to emit in your stomach.

"So what do you do?" She asked, intrigued by your presence.

"Well I do a lot of things, I walk, I talk, I breathe-"

"Oh shut up! You know what I meant." Wanda’s eyes gleamed with friendliness and warmth. She seemed like the type you'd be friends with if you weren't dying. "Okay, okay, I play guitar and sing while my cat eats her food." Wanda's eyes lit up at the mention of a cat. 

"You have a cat? What's her name?" Her elbows were propped up on the table with her head resting in her hands, showing just how actually interested she was in you.

“Her name is Nala. You know, from The Lion King?”

Wanda’s brows furrowed together. She’d never seen The Lion King, much less heard of it.

Your jaw dropped at her confusion. “You mean to tell me you’ve never seen The Lion King?”

“I’m Sokovian, what do you expect?” 

“Ahh, I see. Well, do you at least have any pets?”

"My apartment doesn't allow pets."

"So? Sneak one in." You replied nonchalantly, crushing ice between your teeth. Wanda looked at you in shock. "No way! Knowing me I'd get my ass caught on the first day." You shrugged in reply and the conversation quickly went dead.

Wanda checked her phone, moving abruptly to get up from her seat. "I'm so sorry, I have to go now. I'll see you around, okay?"

“Sure.”

After another half hour of waiting on nothing and thinking about everything, you finally decided it was time to leave. A feeling of regret washed over you. The woman was kind, very friendly, something that you craved.

But you couldn’t allow yourself these things now, especially given the direction you were heading.

_____

Over the next few weeks you'd spent your time songwriting, journaling and a midst of other lonely, boring things. Sometimes you'd catch yourself thinking about the woman in the coffee shop, but you tended not to dwell too much on the past. 

You thought about your tumor and all the different ways it was growing inside you. It grossed you out more than anything, but you weren't afraid. At least not now you weren't. 

A heavy sigh slipped from your lips, and the sudden urge to go to the park overtook the need to do anything else. You’d never really visited the park in your area before, so you decided now was the time. 

The beige acoustic guitar rest heavily on your shoulders, similarly to the weight of the world. It was bitter, no taste of sweetness was left over in the aftermath.

Leaves crunched under your feet as you made your way into the park. The smell of pine and bark surrounded you, just as the pinch of cold air that struck your face. It was tranquil.

You marched your way over to a nearby tree secluded from everyone else. Setting your guitar down, you nested cozily against the wood. Your journal rest aside your hip as did the pen that exchanged your thoughts into words.

Humming quietly, your fingertips grazed the instrument’s delicate strings. Music filled the air around you, but it came to a quick stop nearly ten minutes after you’d begun.

"Hey, I know you. Y/N, right?" You heard a familiar accented voice behind you. You turned around to find Wand standing above you. "Uh yeah, that's me. What's up?" She sat down beside you, making you a little uncomfortable, but you figured you could deal with it for the sake of being nice. 

"Nothing. I just saw you and thought I’d say hi. What about you? I see you have your guitar."

“Just singing,” you mumbled quietly.

She smiled and pushed a strand of hair out of your face that was blown in from the wind. "You’re really pretty." You bit your lip and you could feel the heat rise to you face. "Thanks."

"Mhm. So last time I didn't get your number, maybe I will this time?" She asked (although her eyes were begging). You couldn’t help but feel something while she bit her lip, her doe eyes unintentionally focusing on your lips.

"I'll have to give you mine, I didn't bring my phone with me – don’t use it much." You replied. She handed her phone to you and you typed your number in.

"Do you not have family or friends you keep up with?" Her brow quirked in curiosity.

"Parents died, no siblings, and no friends. I don't have many people to worry about."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"

"It's fine, I don't mind." She looked down in her lap before asking another question. "What about a job? Do you work?" Wanda was definitely a curious one, but each question she asked carried you in a way you’d never felt before. It was refreshing to have someone interested in you, and not your disease. 

"Nope, when my parents died they left all their life savings to me. It's plenty enough for me to live on." Your fingers began lightly playing the chords of a song. It was often that you unknowingly played when you were scared or nervous. You'd only realize afterwards. 

"That's good– not that your parents died, but you know, you have money and stuff. Even if it's– oh my god- " 

You cracked out a laugh, causing her to look at you in terror. Noticing this, you rest a hand on her shoulder. "Wanda, it's okay. You're fine, I know what you mean." She nodded shyly and looked up to the sky. 

"Hey, it's sunset! I love sunsets, I used to watch them all the time with my brother back in Sokovia." Her voice wavered at the end of her sentence, and you easily picked up on it.

"Something wrong?" You asked. She laid her head on your lap and you stiffened, but quickly relaxed. This is fine. This is okay. You set your guitar aside and began to play with her hair.

"I miss him. Pietro..." She paused for a second before continuing. "He died a couple of years ago from cancer." You felt your heart drop for the first time at the mention of the horrid disease that stripped you away from most of your life. "Oh." The word seemed to become your go-to for whenever you didn't know how to accept information you were given.

"He was the other half of me. We were twins, I felt like my whole world fell apart. After he died I moved out of my country and moved here. Since then I've made some good friends. You might like them." 

“I’m sorry about your brother. I’m sure he was wonderful, Wanda.” You whispered, bringing a piece of her hair to the end of a braid. “I'm happy you've made some friends." Wanda nodded and snuggled closer in your lap. "Maybe I can be your friend?" You gave it a thought. You weren't sure you could do that to her, not with your illness anyway. Guilt nawed at you already. She’d already lost someone so beloved and close to her from it, how awful you began to feel if you had to put her through that again.

"Y/N?"

You stared at her for a few moments before answering. "I don't know, maybe." She turned over to face you, but you avoided her gaze. "I'm going to figure you out you know." You stifled a laugh, "And you'll be sorry you ever did."

"Whatever."

____

Four months passed and you thought they would be empty, meaningless months, but with Wanda nuzzling her way into your life you began to feel alive for the first time. When she came around it was like a switch you couldn't turn off. 

Right now, you sat at your desk strumming your guitar while watching Nala play with a toy dinosaur you’d bought her just weeks ago. This life was good too, you thought. But it was lonely.

You weren't quite sure what Wanda meant to you yet, but you were slowly discovering that whatever the two of you had, blossomed into something more each second you spent together.

Popping a Vicodin in your mouth, your phone buzzed. It would be no one else but Wanda.

be there in a few, it's urgent. 

Panic set in your body as you worried for the safety of your friend. What could possibly be the matter? Normally Wanda talked about what was bothering her.

A knock at your door brought you out of your gaze and you stumbled to answer it. Wanda was distressed, her hair a mess and her eyes red.

“Whats wro-” You were cut off By Wanda smashing her lips onto yours. 

She pulled back in shock. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry! I-"

You shut her up by pushing her into the wall, door closing behind you. Her lips tasted of strawberry and her hands began to roam your body.

One thing led to another and you both ended up naked on your bed. How amazing it must be to wake up and know that you won’t be dead in the next few months.

"You're good. Almost too good. Where did you learn all that from having no friends?" She smirked at you. You gave her a smile and kissed her again. Your arms wrapped around her nude body and together you felt the utter bliss and excitement radiating from one another.

. . . . 

Three weeks later yoy began to shake. It was hardly noticeable, and it just so happened to occur when you were playing

It’s downhill from here and you know that.

"Can you fix it? Can you fix this?" You yelled at him, despite knowing it was all your fault. If you would've just taken the treatments you wouldn't be in this place. But back then your life had no real meaning, it was just you and your cat.

You hadn't planned on falling in love with someone. 

"There's nothing I can do now. Treatments won't work, it's too far gone. I'm surprised it took this long to start showing symptoms."

For the first time in years, you felt tears beginning to build in your eyes. "You don't understand, I love her and now I'm just going to leave her? This can't be happening, you have to do something!" You pleaded, but the doctor’s eyes were solemn, giving you the only reply you needed. 

You stormed out of the hospital and made your way to Wanda. Silence rang through your ears.

Tell her. You have to tell her.

It will be over.

Sobs wrecked your body as you fumbled with the keys to your shared apartment. The door opened to a sight you wanted to live forever.

There she was, perched on the couch while massaging Napa’s scruffy fur. She was content, happy, and here you were to ruin it.

"Y/N? Baby what's wrong?" She got up from her spot and rushed over to you, worry etched on her face. You clung onto her for more life than you had left. And god, You weren't scared before, but you sure as hell were now. 

"I have terminal cancer."

Wanda froze.

"That's not funny, Y/N. You know how I feel about this topic." Her glare was hasty, burning into your skin.

"I was diagnosed almost five months ago, please Wanda you have to believe me. I have tremors, don't you see?" You raised your hand up to show her, but she slapped it away. "You're making yourself do that, Y/N. Stop joking, or I'm leaving." She crossed her arms

"W-What?" Your chest tightened.

"I said stop joking."

"I'm not joking, Wanda!"

"I'm leaving," She huffed, snatching her jacket before slamming the door shut.

And it was true, she did leave. However, Wanda didn't leave for the reasons she gave you.

She loved you, but she couldn’t handle another loss like this.

. . . . 

During the next two months you experienced the most heartache you'd ever felt before. The combination of vomiting, body aches, and dizziness didn't help. If anything, it made it worse. You missed Wanda. Everything about her gave you a reason to live.

You were on your seventh month and the pain was unbearable. It hurt to reach out for a cup of water, your hands shook uncontrollably all while sending jolts of scorching pain throughout the entirety of your arm.

Undoubtedly, the hospital bed became your next best friend (although it was the worst one you’d ever had. But it somehow managed to weasel its way back in your life).

Wanda was nowhere to be seen, and if anything that only progressed your disease. The only thing that kept you sane was your guitar, and the fact that Nala was being taken care of by a sweet, old nurse (who sometimes snuck her in so you could see her).

It was about the small things now. 

More days passed and each one was getting worse. By now you just wanted to end it all on your own, but you were physically too weak to do that.

There was a knock on your door, but you ignored it thinking it was just another nurse. "Y/N?" The voice was soft, it felt like it'd been years since you last heard it. You turned your head slightly to see Wanda standing in the doorway. A weak smile formed on your face.

"Hey you." 

Wanda quickly dropped her things and ran to your side. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." She mumbled over and over again as you calmly stroked her hair.

"It's okay, you know it is." You whispered in her ear. She looked up at you and shook her head, "But it's not okay, I left you when you needed me the most." You stared at her adoringly and the tips of your fingers gently rubbed away the tears from her face. "But I'm still here, aren't I?" She laughed through her cries, "Yeah... you're still here."

Both of you knew you didn't have much time left, but you ignored that other than the fact that you made her promise to take care of Nala when you were gone. She held your hand and got you everything you needed.

And you love her so deeply for that.

One night you had the feeling that your time was coming soon, so you woke Wanda up from her sleep. "Sweetheart?" She stirred a little before finally sitting up. 

"Yeah?"

"Hand me my guitar?" She tilted her head, "But your shakes?" You ignored her and asked for it again. 

When she handed you your beloved guitar you took it with grace. "Come help me, I wanna play a song." She nodded and came to your side.

Your fingers struggled as they strummed the delicate strings on the instrument. You picked one of Wanda's favorite, and when you were done you spoke lightly.

"My guitar is slightly out of tune, but I'm eternally yours."

[ruzek-halstead]

step into my world

pairing: luke patterson x julie molina

written based on the prompt:

"my roommate dragged me out to this off-campus party and then immediately abandons me for the person they’ve been flirting with in class, but you ask if i want to be your partner in beer pong"

university au

masterlist || ao3

"Get up, underachiever! We're going to a party!"

Julie groaned from her place under the covers. It was late and she was already tucked away for the night. In her university experience, she always managed to tinkle with her schedule enough to always have Friday's off. But this semester, she ended up having a full course load, and three of the classes fell on Friday.

She was absolutely exhausted and all she wanted to do was continue sleeping, so she could do literally nothing but watch Netflix for the remainder of her weekend.

But her roommate and (current questionable) best friend was not having any of it.

"Carrie just texted me. There's a party at this frat on campus. We have to go!"

Julie let out another loud groan.

"We don't have to do anything. You can go. You're probably going to hang out with Carrie the entire time anyway."

After a brief moment of silence, the blanket that was tucked tightly under her neck was violently ripped away and she was hit with an instant wave of cool air. “I won’t, I promise!” Flynn implored.

“I don’t believe you.”

“Your lack of confidence in me is truly offensive,” Flynn replied, placing a hand over her heart to emphasize her exaggeration. “Babe, come on. You need a night out!”

Julie sighed but her wall of defence was starting to crumble. “I’m just so tired, Flynn,” she moaned.

“If you come with me tonight, I promise I’ll spend the entire weekend with you doing whatever you want. Even if it’s literally nothing.”

Flynn looked so hopeful, so excited and Julie didn’t have the heart to tell her bestie no. So, she relented and nodded her head. Flynn squealed and jumped on top of her and Julie could only laugh and try to keep her organs from getting pushed on.

“You are the best,” Flynn told her, but Julie already knew that. “But we need to fix this.”

"Uh — that's rude."

Flynn sent her a sweet smile, but the underlying glint in her brown eyes indicated the slight mischief underneath. "I say this with love, Jules. But you look like a mess right now, and we can't have that. What if you meet someone?

"You're just buttering me up because you're going to ditch me as soon as you see Carrie," Julie rolled her eyes and pushed Flynn off of her.

Flynn had the decency to look slightly sheepish. "But I mean, have you seen her?"

"Yeah, yeah," Julie shrugged her off, but deep down, she was unbelievably happy for her best friend. And it was truly the only reason she was accompanying her to this party tonight. Parties weren't really her scene, but Flynn loved them, so every once in a while, she made an effort to attend. And other times, such as today, Flynn either bribed or guilted her to attend.

x

By the time Flynn forced Julie out of bed, it was already on the later side (but university parties started late and ended late anyway). With Flynn rushing her, she didn't have much time to get ready so she quickly chose an outfit and applied a layer of mascara and some lip gloss. Her outfit consisted of a pair of black ripped jeans, a soft white long-sleeve cropped shirt and she paired it with white converse. It was a nice outfit considering she put it together within ten minutes.

Julie recognized the frat house as one she'd been to before. A few of Carrie's friends were members of the frat, so whenever they threw a party, Flynn always dragged her along. When they walked in, the music was blaring, there were people everywhere and Julie did her best to keep her cool.

Flynn grabbed her hand and dragged her along when she spotted her (almost?) girlfriend Carrie. Julie recognized the group she was with; they were all in the same music program, but they ran in different groups. It was only because of Flynn that she was starting to see them more and more often.

If she was completely honest, she'd noticed them before. She knew Carrie's three friends were in a band and she'd checked out a few of their gigs before. She'd see Luke a lot at the coffeeshop she liked to study at, and honestly, she thought he was gorgeous. Every time she saw him, he was always smiling, but what really sucked her in was when she first heard him perform and listened to his voice; she was blown away. From there, she started to notice him around campus more often, but she was shy and he was outgoing and she could never bring herself to actually talk to him.

But now, he was right across the room and she was being dragged in his direction.

"Flynn! I'm so happy you could make it!" Carrie cheered, shooting Flynn a coy smile and wrapping her in a hug. They were so adorable, Julie couldn't help but smile. "Jules! I see she dragged you out again."

Julie returned her playful grin. "She's very convincing when she bargains."

"Well, I'm not sure if you've all met," Carrie continued, referencing to the three boys around her. Reggie was chugging his red solo cup and Alex and Luke were quietly whisper-arguing. "This is Alex, Luke and Reggie. They're in this tiny band no one really likes. I think it's called Sunset Swerve or something."

Alex and Luke instantly snapped out of their argument, and the three of them chorused, "Sunset Curve!" in annoyed and whiny tones.

"Yeah, that's what I said," Carrie waved them off, turning back to Flynn. "Hey, I was wondering if we could talk?"

Julie peeked over at Flynn, who seemed to pale slightly. There were very few times Julie had seen Flynn lose her cool, and this happened to be one of them. When Flynn looked over at Julie for approval (since Julie really hated being left alone at parties), Julie nodded enthusiastically and shot her friend a supportive smile.

"Go ahead!" She encouraged with a nod. "I'll just be around."

"Don't worry!" Reggie interrupted, wrapping an arm around Julie's shoulders. She jumped slightly in surprise but he honestly looked like he wouldn't even hurt a fly, and she felt oddly comfortable. "We'll take good care of her!"

Feeling satisfied, Flynn walked off with Carrie. Julie was already dying to know the details of that conversation, but she'd have to wait. Reggie had already removed himself from her, promising to get them all a round of drinks. But Alex and Luke were still whispering to each other, and Julie felt unbelievably awkward, so she started retreating slowly.

Luke caught her eye and immediately stepped closer. "Hey, where are you going?"

She was sure she looked like a deer caught in headlights because she didn't expect them to notice, much less care. And she definitely didn't expect Luke (the stranger she's had a crush on from a distance for months now) to actually talk to her.

"Yeah! We're supposed to keep you company," Alex added, smiling cheerily. His easy going attitude helped her relax.

"Oh, sorry," she mumbled, blushing. "I just thought —"

Alex shook his head, grabbing her wrist to pull her closer. "Nonsense. We would love to get to know you. Jules, is it?"

"It's Julie, actually," she replied. From her other side, Luke was watching their interaction intently. His hot gaze made her nervous, but she fought to ignore it and not make a fool of herself. "You all are in the music program too, right?"

From the corner of her eye, she noted Luke's surprised and slightly impressed expression.

"Yeah!" Alex smiled. "I'm mostly in instrument classes right now; I play the drums. What about you?"

"Composition, mostly," Julie responded. The fact that Luke had yet to say anything since calling for her attention was still unnerving to her. "I'm starting vocal classes next semester."

Alex glanced at Luke, but when he didn't say anything, he rolled his eyes. Unbeknownst to Julie, Luke was a little starstruck and a whole lot speechless. "So is Luke!" He jabbed him with his elbow and Luke whined in response. "He' s our lead singer. He's okay, I guess."

Luke shot Alex a dirty glare and returned his gaze to Julie, and for the first time since they'd starting talking, she didn't tear her eyes away from his. "Have you uh — have you seen us play at all?"

"Yeah, I have," Julie nodded, fighting off the blush she could feel crawling up her neck. "A few times, actually. You guys are really good, by the way.”

A slow, but breathtaking smile spread onto Luke’s face. Alex watched on in amusement.

“Hey, Patterson!” Luke whirled around when his name was called. Another member from the frat was hollering at him from the beer pong table. “Want to tag in? Grab a partner!”

Before Luke had even turned back to face them properly, Alex was already tagging out. “The answer is no,” he stated defiantly, then leaned in to whisper to Julie, “He yells at me every time I miss.”

“You miss all of them!”

“I’m not good at throwing things!”

“Then why do you even p — You know what? Never mind. Julie, you in?”

At Luke’s invitation, her eyes widened and she nearly choked on her own spit. “Uh — me? Are you sure? I’ve never played, I’m probably not any good.”

“Something tells me he won’t yell at you like he does at me,” Alex commented, smirking wildly.

Luke shut him up with a glare. “It’ll be fun!”

“Yeah, okay,” Julie relented.

She was here anyway, may as well have a good time. Plus, her super attractive crush was the one requesting her assistance so how could she possibly turn that down?

“Have fun, you two!” Alex shouted behind them. When Julie peeked behind her, he was still smirking.

“Just ignore him,” Luke mumbled, and Julie jumped when she realized he was whispering in her ear. He placed a gentle hand on her back to guide her on which end of the table they were supposed to go. “You ready?” He asked with a wolfish smirk.

Julie glanced at Luke, the cups set up on the table, and the two frat boys they were playing against. “No, not at all. Can you explain this to me, please?” She asked quietly in embarrassment.

“Hey,” Luke ducked to meet her eyes. “Don’t be embarrassed, this is just for fun! You just want to throw this ball,” he held a white ping pong ball in the palm of his hand, “into any of those cups.”

Julie looked at the ball and up into Luke’s eyes. He was smiling and she was filled with a surge of confidence. “I’m ready. Let’s do it.”

Luke held his palm closer to her. “You’re up first, Brown Eyes.”

Julie barely even minded the newfound nickname because she was so focused in aiming for the cups. The chances it would go disastrously were pretty high, but Luke was so supportive and chanting positive things in her ear, so she ignored it all.

When she threw the first ball, she missed horribly.

“You’re already doing better than Alex!” Luke laughed, touching her wrist comfortingly.

She was embarrassed but he didn’t seem to mind her failure.

Luke took the next shot, and of course, he nailed it. The opposing team missed both their shots, and it made her feel a tiny bit better.

“You just have to relax,” Luke told her, in a soft and comforting voice. “Just relax your shoulders and focus on one cup.”

She followed his direction, and she could hardly believe her eyes when she actually sunk a cup. The crowd that had formed around them cheered, but all Julie could focus on was Luke’s excited laughter, and she found herself throwing her arms around his neck in excitement. Mortified, she pulled away. “Oh God, I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t apologize,” Luke replied, smiling softly. “You did great!” He managed to sink another cup, but so did their opponents. Luke picked up the cup and offered it to Julie. “Do you want me to drink it?”

But Julie was on a high, so with a confident smirk, she grabbed the red cup and gulped it down as fast as she could. She could feel it dribbling down her chin and she squeezed her eyes closed to help with the unpleasant taste. Luke was more impressed than ever, but also slightly concerned, as her reaction didn’t strike him as the type that drank often.

He placed a hand on her waist and leaned in to catch her eyes. “Hey, you okay? You good?”

“I’m fantastic,” Julie replied, slamming the cup down with a newfound ferocity. She grabbed the ball out of his hand and sank another cup.

In quite possibly one of the quickest rounds of beer pong Luke had ever played, they were nearing the end with two cups left to sink, whereas their opponents still had four. It seemed as if Julie had awakened, and she was having the time of her life; Luke loved watching her so carefree and happy. He didn’t know her too well, but seeing this side of her only made it clearer to him that he wanted to get to know her more.

They had the chance to end the game once and for all, but Julie had missed her previous shot and her confidence was wavering.

“You got this, Jules,” Luke cheered quietly in her ear. They’d each downed quite a few beers, and it was safe to say he was officially a bit tipsy. It didn’t help that she was so beautiful and looking amazing; his mind just wouldn’t stop.

When she made the shot with ease, he realized the pressure was all on him.

He also realized that he might actually be in love with this girl.

“You’re amazing. Will you go out on a date with me?”

Luke ended up blurting out these words to an unsuspecting Julie, and this time, she really did choke on her spit.

But the beer had gone straight to her head, and she was feeling a bit spacey. Her brain wasn’t connecting with her mouth and she wasn’t able to form an answer in an appropriate timely manner.

The crowd was cheering so Luke awkwardly grabbed the ball to make his (possibly) last shot. Julie could see the hesitance in his eyes, and she couldn’t help but feel guilty.

So, she leaned her hands on Luke’s shoulder to lower him to her height and she placed her lips close to his ear. “If you make this shot, I’ll go out with you.” Then she placed a kiss on his cheek before backing off.

He turned to her with wide eyes and a surprised smile.

“That really lessened the pressure,” he teased, and was delighted when she blushed.

The pressure was really on now. If he could make this shot, it would be incredibly impressive. Not only to him and Julie, but to the crowd that had accumulated around them.

Luke took a deep breath, closed his eyes for a moment and took the shot. It felt like slow motion, and it was only when he heard the crowd cheering that he realized he sunk the ball, and subsequently, won the game.

Julie cheered from his side, and when he turned to face her, he was ready to catch her when she threw her arms around his neck this time. “That was amazing! Thank you for asking me to do this!”

He held her for a moment longer, but eventually parted. As new teams formed for the next round, he grabbed her hand and pulled her off to the side. “Are you okay? You drank quite a lot in such little time. Are you feeling okay?”

Julie’s heart warmed at his concern. “I’m feeling really good right now, Luke.”

“And did you really mean what you said?” He asked shyly. “About the date, I mean.”

Julie’s smile widened. “Yeah, I did. Ever since I saw you perform with your band, I’ve sort of had this thing for you.” Realizing what she said, her eyes went wide. “Wait — I don’t think I was supposed to tell you that.”

“You have?”

And to Julie’s surprise, and slight discomfort, he started laughing.

“Wait, no, I didn’t mean it like that!” He interrupted, realizing what his actions caused. “It’s just — I’ve seen you at the coffeeshop so many times and I just always thought you were really beautiful, and I knew you were Flynn’s friend but I didn’t want to say anything because well, I’m really not good with rejection. So, this is weirdly hilarious to me right now. That what Alex and I were talking about earlier. He knows, obviously, and wouldn't stop teasing me.”

Julie started laughing with him.

“So tonight was what? Fate?”

Luke’s gaze burned into her eyes. “Whatever it was, it was perfect timing.”

“Yeah, I’d agree.”

At the intensity of his gaze, she could feel herself rising up on her tiptoes and leaning forward. His eyes were so captivating, and the way his lips twisted into a soft grin was just too much for her slightly inebriated brain.

Julie just really wanted to kiss him.

Luke met her halfway, pressing his lips softly against hers. As soon as their lips met, Julie’s hand rested on Luke’s chest and a satisfied sigh left her mouth. They were still in public, and Julie was never a fan of PDA, so she pulled away shortly after. But looking into Luke’s eyes again, and his adorable smile, she couldn’t help but lean in to kiss him again.

“I fucking knew it!”

The two of them could faintly hear Alex’s loud voice over the party, but they both ignored it.

“Where’s Flynn? FLYNN! Look at what our children are doing!”

x

hope you enjoyed!

tagging: @grootsgillespie || @jayhalsteadcpd || @moreflowersthanweeds || @well-hes-just-too-cute || @only-trust-fictional-characters​ || @leopard-print-slippers || @jandthephantoms​ || @echocharm17618​ 

[fictionadventurer]

For "Out Of The Tomb", question nr. 13: What music did you listen to, if any, to get in the mood for writing this story? Or if you didn’t listen to anything, what do you think readers should listen to to accompany us while reading?

I actually did listen to music while writing some of this, so I can answer this question. And I have a playlist of songs related to this story that I developed after writing it. I'm not sure how much I'll ramble about this, so have a readmore.

During writing, I sometimes listened to music from the Sleeping Beauty ballet, for obvious reasons. I can sometimes listen to instrumental music while writing, and this soundtrack was both interesting and not too distracting.

My list of "Out of the Tomb" related songs (mostly developed after writing) includes the following:

"Pompeii" by Bastille. This was the main song I listened to during the drafting process, because I chose it fairly early on as the theme song. So many of the lines fit both Tanza and Auren in different ways: "Many days fell away with nothing to show." "The walls kept tumbling down in the city that we love." "If you close your eyes, does it almost feel like nothing's changed at all?" And, the most important: "Oh, where do we begin/the rubble or our sins?"

"One Step Away" by Casting Crowns. I first heard this song a few months after "Out of the Tomb" was published, and was blown away by how well it fit the story. It could have been written with Tanza in mind! The general mercy/redemption theme is relevant enough, but what really floored me was the bridge: "Lay down your old chains/come now and take up your new name." It's almost ridiculously specific to this story.

"Pioneer" by The Band Perry. I apply this song to a lot of my characters, but it's first and foremost Auren's song, because it describes a lot of the pressures on him as he faces this new world, and his strength in standing up to them. "The hymn of those who've gone before and those who carry one." "The future of us all rests on the shoulders of your heart." And then the bridge! I can't write it all out here, but thinking about how it applies to Auren breaks me almost every time.

"She's Always a Woman" by Billy Joel. Auren thinking about Tanza (though in his case, it's a platonic love). He knows her faults and cares about her anyway.

Hmmm, I thought there were more songs. I guess the rest of the Arateph playlist relates to characters/situations from other unfinished stories in that universe. But that's the specifically "Out of the Tomb" related music.

[xxred-riotxx]

Love Bug Denki Kaminari x Reader

This is my first fic (drabble? one shot?) that I’ve posted. It’s not very good but it came to me while driving so I had to write something up. CHARACTERS ARE AGED UP TO 18. THEY ARE 3RD YEARS AT UA. 

Denki Kaminari has been your best friend since you both started UA. You fell in love with the electric boy, but his heart had belonged to Jiro. That is until she broke up with him. 

Based off of the song “Love Bug” by The Jonas Brothers. I do NOT own the song. 

Just pure fluff. Some strong language (cough cough Bakugou). Slightly detailed kissing scene. 

Word Count: 994

“Y/n! Hurry up before we’re late!” Mina screamed from outside your dorm. UA’s school concert was today. Anyone could perform so you had decided to sign up a few days ago. “I’m coming, babes!” you yelled back, stuffing your phone in the back pocket of your shorts. On the long walk to the field you came across many students with various different instruments, taking everything to the stage to set up. “I should probably text Denki to make sure he’s still coming after what happened with Jiro…” you trailed off, eyes looking at your shoes. 

Y/n: are you still coming to the concert?? I know youre still heart broken but i need my best friend there. 

Denki: ill be there. Bakubro is taking his sweet ass time. 

Denki: dont tell him i said that. Id prefer not to have my head literally blown off

“Come on, Y/N. Let’s just walk around and wait for everyone to get here.” Mina grabbed your arm, dragging you towards the multiple food and game stands. “I bet I can beat you at the ladder climbing game!” Mina squealed while pointing straight ahead. “You’re so on!” “Let’s make this interesting. If I win, you have to tell Kaminari that you’ve been in love with him for years.” Your mouth dropped. “I- uh- what?” your crimson cheeks weren’t helping any. “Y/N, everyone knows. It’s so obvious. Anyways, I win- you get a boyfriend FINALLY. If you win, I’ll pour glitter in Bakugou’s shampoo.” Determined to win, your y/s/c hand shook her’s. 

3...2...1… GO! The ringing from the buzzer echoed in your head. You had to win this. There was no way you were going to ruin your friendship with Denki. Left, right, left, right. You concentrated as best as you could on the rope below you- attempting to balance your weight to avoid shifting to either side. “Y/N, don’t look now but the boys are watching!” Mina’s voice broke your concentration as you felt your body tumble and land in the air filled floor of the game. “FUCK” Eyes searching, the boys were no where to be seen. “Mina you fucking liar.” you grumbled. “All is fair in love and war baby!” Mina continued up the ladder and smacked the bell at the top. 

“I can’t believe you did that, Mina! There’s no way I can admit that I love-” “-Love who?” Your conversation was interrupted by a familiar voice, sending butterflies to your stomach. “...that I love Bakugou’s cooking.” You wanted to smack yourself. What kind of lame ass cover was that? “But I guess he knows now. Just don’t let it get to your head.” You barely muttered. “Uh guys? We should probably head towards the stage. We don’t want to miss anyone’s performance.” Kirishima’s deep voice broke your thoughts. “Let’s go!” Mina’s bubbly response was all Kaminari needed to hear as he placed his large hand on your lower back. 

Many performances passed. Some of your classmates’ musical talents shocked you. “Hey, Y/N. We’ll be right back.” Denki’s hot breath tickled your neck as he spoke into your ear. Quickly scurrying off, you and Mina were left alone to watch Jiro finish her song. A mellow sound of a guitar caught your attention. Shocked, your y/e/c eyes locked with Denki’s as he stood on stage with Kirishima and Bakugou. It took you a bit before you realized what was going on. You could see his mouth moving- singing- but your brain wasn’t processing what was happening. 

“Now I’m speechless. 

Over the edge, I’m just breathless.

I never thought that I’d catch this

Lovebug again.”

You couldn’t help but just stare at him. Golden honey eyes burned into your soul as the love of your life continued his song. 

“I can’t get your smile out of my mind. 

I think about your eyes all the time”

A simple wink was sent in your direction, followed by a cocky smile. 

“You’re beautiful, but you don’t even try.”

Embarrassed, you tried your best to cover your rosy cheeks. 

“I told you he liked you back!” Mina shrieked. 

“Hopeless, head over heels in the moment. 

I never thought that I’d get hit by this lovebug again.”

Bakugou’s loud bangs on the drum caused your breath to hitch as Kirishima and Denki both shredded on the guitar. The tempo of the song sped up the beating of your heart. 

You watched him drop to his knees, fingers sliding up and down the neck of his bass. Secretly you wished you weren’t in the front row. 

The beautiful harmony of your three favorite boys caused your eyes to rip away from Denki. 

“Now I’m speechless

Over the edge, I’m just breathless. 

I never thought that I’d catch this 

Lovebug again.

Now I’m hopeless,

Head over heels in the moment.

I never thought that I’d get hit

By this lovebug again.”

Denki’s voice trailed off. Sweat dripped down his beautiful face. “Y/N. Come here.” It was like your legs had a mind of their own as you sauntered to the stage. Hastily, Denki jumped down from the stage. Within what seemed to be a second, his calloused hands grabbed your waist and pulled you into his chest. Your eyes locked, but before you could speak you were met with his plush lips crashing into your’s. The sensation was like nothing you had ever felt before. Your arms snaked around his neck, pressing your bodies closer than you thought possible. His tongue swiped across your bottom lip, begging for entrance. As soon as you opened your mouth, Bakugou’s loud voice belted out “OI GET A ROOM DUMBASS.” Removing one hand from your waist, Denki’s bright smile mesmerized you. “I love you.” You both said simultaneously, catching the other off guard. Words no longer needed to be said as Denki pulled you into his chest, vowing to himself to never let you go. 

[quickspinner]

Sneak Peek - The Magic of You

This is pretty rough because I’m still in the middle of writing it and I’m only posting it so I can say @bloody-no-kissu​ here’s a preview of your Secret Santa fic! Sorry it’s taking so long but the story got away from me, so this is really only a snippet. 

Bloody asked for fantasy AUs but we all know how much she likes Nagas so I decided to go that route, just...a little differently. Love to @verfound and @motherofwoofers; there’s echoes of Winters and Heart Scales here but it was less that I was inspired by you guys (though you are always inspiring) and more that I had this idea and then was like ‘how do I do this without completely ripping off Ver and MW’) 😆 So there’s probably some similarities but hopefully I’m not stepping on your toes too much. 💜

Anyway, I present this chunk from the middle of the beginning without context, and  you’ll have to wait to see the rest. MWAHAHAHAHA.

He seemed restless today. He didn’t sit on her rock and play. He picked up the little cake she had left for him, but merely set it down again, dropped his pack and his instrument in a pile next to the rock, and walked restlessly around the meadow.

Marinette drew back in alarm when he passed close to the trees concealing her, but he passed her without even looking in her direction, clearly agitated. Frowning, Marinette followed him at a safe distance, keeping hidden in the trees. The minstrel-mage passed the ring of trees that marked the edge of her meadow and over to the cliff beyond, where he stood, looking pensively out over the forest below. 

He shouldn’t walk so close to the cliff, Marinette fretted as she watched from the edge of the trees. It was hard to tell from this side but that overhang wasn’t as sturdy as it looked, and it had rained only a few days ago— 

Even as she thought it, she felt the vibration in the earth, and heard the grinding of earth and loose rocks.

She didn’t even think. She just moved.

***

It all happened so fast that it was over before Luka understood what was happening. There was a rumble and a rush and he was falling, and then excruciating pain in his arm that tore a scream of agony from his throat. 

There was a rush of earth past him, below him, and his legs were dangling in midair; he was dangling, hanging only by the arm that hurt so very, very much. Luka looked up—and for a moment he forgot everything else in his shock. Everything else that happened was a blur, but he would remember the face above him for the rest of his life, he was sure. A woman’s face, pale with fear, fangs peeking from parted lips and blue, slit-pupiled eyes wide with fright. Midnight blue hair tumbled forward over strong shoulders, and one clawed hand gripped the edge of the cliff. 

The other, he realized, was the source of the pain in his arm. Understanding came to him; the cliff had given way beneath him and this woman—creature—being had stopped him from falling, but her long claws had plunged into his wrist. Blood streamed down his arm and dripped on the rocks below. Luka gasped as he looked down. His good hand scrabbled at the cliffside, but he had no claws to grip with, and his fingers crumbled the earth and slid off the rock where he grabbed at it. He kicked his feet, but that made his savior yelp, increased the pain in his arm, and he didn’t find any purchase, so he stilled, gasping and dizzy from the pain.  

Luka cried out in pain and surprise when the grip on his wrist tightened, but he bit down on it as he looked back up. The woman—creature—being above him shifted her body a little more, bracing her free arm on an intact part of the cliff, and then heaved, pulling back from the cliff edge and dragging Luka along with her.

It hurt—oh, it hurt, so much that his vision went black for a moment—but Luka was enough in possession of his senses now to realize that he was dangling over a drop that would surely kill him, so he muffled his cries as best he could, and tried not to thrash too much. 

It felt like an eternity before she pulled him up high enough that he could see over the cliff and grab (uselessly) at the grassy top. He almost slipped off again in surprise when he got a full look at his savior. It had been obvious even in his confused state that she was not human, but he was unprepared to find that somewhere around her waist, her human torso tapered into the body of a gigantic serpent. Naga, some part of his brain supplied. No, female, so...nagi. 

She pulled him up a little farther, and when his shoulders had cleared the top of the cliff, she curled a loop of her tail—body? Around in front of him. “Hold on to me,” she told him, indicating that he should wrap his arms around her serpent body. He did so, clumsily and not very effectively with his wounded arm, but it was enough to keep him secure while she leaned down over the cliff edge again and grabbed his belt on either side of his waist with both hands, using it to haul him the rest of the way over the cliff.

That was not particularly comfortable either, but preferable to more claws in his flesh, and regardless, he was back on solid ground. He crawled on his elbows a little father from the cliff edge and collapsed, panting. After a moment he rolled on his side to look at the nagi. 

She was panting too, and her slit pupils had blown wide in her frightened face. Her expression was stricken as she stared at his blood on her hand, painting the long claws that had pierced his flesh. 

Luka rolled over and got to his knees. It made him dizzy—he’d probably lost a lot of blood. He put his undamaged hand quickly over the wound and began to sing, his voice quick and tight with pain but true. The undamaged hand glowed, and so did the wound. His savior shifted beside him, but Luka had no attention to spare for anything but the healing; it was not a magic that came easily to him, and it was difficult enough to concentrate past the pain and the fear of losing the use of his hand. 

It took longer than it would have taken his sister, but he was able to complete the healing, and when he flexed his hand he found that he had full motion and sensation. He still felt weak and shaky with blood loss and reaction, but all of that would pass. Luka breathed a sigh of relief and turned a smile up at the being who had saved his life. 

“Thank you,” he said warmly. 

She made a distressed sound, still holding her bloodstained hand out as if it didn’t belong to her.  

Luka wrapped his now-healed but still bloody fingers gently around hers. “A broken neck would have been much harder to fix,” he told her gently. “And so I thank you. I had rather lose the use of my hand than my life.” He smiled, tilting his head a little to look up into her face. “And as I have lost neither, there is no need for guilt or grief.” He unhooked his waterskin from his belt, and pulled out the stopper with his teeth. He took her hand again and poured the water over it, rinsing away his blood from both their hands. He would have rinsed her scales too where he had clung to her, but he feared that might be offensive, so he offered her the skin and let her do it herself. 

Some of the tension left her, and she sat back a little, sinking slightly onto her...tail-body. Luka tried not to let his glance become a stare. “Forgive me,” he said, tearing his eyes away and forcing them back up to hers, snake-slitted but so very, very blue. “I’ve never met a nagi before, and I don’t know your customs, so I hope it isn’t very rude to ask your name?” 

She smiled a little, the hint of fangs peeping from between her lips before she caught herself  and tightened the smile to hide them. “It is customary to give yours first, since this is my home,” she said, and Luka was vaguely surprised to hear only a hint of hissing on the sibilants. Prejudice, he scolded himself. 

“I do it gladly. My name is Luka.” He put a hand over his heart and bowed slightly. 

Her hand fluttered uncertainly to her chest, and she did the same, dipping slightly awkwardly as she swayed forward on her serpent half rather than bending at the waist as he had. “I am Marinette,” she told him, and then she blushed—a very human reaction that gave Luka an odd little thrill. “I have been listening to your music.” 

“Ah,” Luka nodded in understanding. “It is your song I have been hearing, coming to visit me,” he grinned, and Marinette’s blush deepened. Her tail shifted to coil beneath her, and he glanced down without meaning to, but caught himself quickly. Even so, something about motion spoke of discomfort, and he thought back to the fluctuations in her song when he’d spoken to her in the past. Without the trance he heard only faint echoes of her melody, but he thought he was embarrassing her. “I’m very happy to finally meet you. Thank you for the gifts.” 

Marinette looked away, the fingers of her clawed hands playing nervously across the scales of her tail like a maiden might twist her hands in her lap. “I only wanted to thank you, for your music. It’s...beautiful. I’ve loved hearing you play.”

“I’ve enjoyed having the company,” he told her honestly, and smiled at her look of surprise. “I always play better with an audience, even a shy one.” 

Marinette blushed and covered her face with her hands. Luka found himself reaching to touch her before he thought the better of it. Her arm felt very solid under his hand, but also very human. “Don’t be embarrassed. I truly did enjoy your presence, and I’m not offended that you chose to stay secret. The world is not a safe place, and you didn’t know me.”

“I did know you,” she said quickly, peeking out from her fingers—a sweet, childlike gesture, he would have thought it, though those deadly sharp claws were at odds with the image. “At least, I felt like I did, eventually. I haven’t been afraid of you for a long time.” 

“I shouldn’t think you’d be frightened of much,” Luka teased, tugging a hand away from her face and turning it so her claws shone in the light. “You’re very strong, for which I’m extremely grateful.” He winked at her, and she giggled. 

“You shouldn’t have gone so close to the cliff, especially if it’s rained recently,” she admonished, rising up slightly as her tail uncoiled from beneath her. Before he could blink it shot out like a whip, striking the edge of the cliff. A chunk of earth crumbled beneath the blow and he could hear the rocks rattle down the other side. “It’s not safe. It erodes underneath when the storms come, and then the edge is unstable.” She pointed at the pale purple flowers growing in the grass. “You shouldn’t go beyond where the asters grow.” 

Luka saw now, what he hadn’t before, that they formed a boundary that followed the curve of the cliff, but left a good size border. “I consider myself warned for the future,” Luka observed, shivering a little. Marinette moved closer to him, a hand hovering near his cheek.

“You’re so pale,” she fretted.

Luka sighed, and tried to stand. He swayed and Marinette had to catch him—gently, this time, keeping her claws from his skin. He smiled gratefully at her. “I need my gittern,” he told her, and she slipped under his arm, pressing against his side. She raised her body up to a height comfortable for him, and then helped him back towards the meadow.

They found his gittern and pack where he’d left it. Marinette helped him sit on the rock and recline against it as he usually did. She wound around the rock, and hovered over him, pressing his instrument into his hands, her expression still worried. 

“I need to deep trance,” he told her, closing his eyes as he set shaking fingers to the strings. “I can sense you in trance as I did before, but I won’t have attention to speak.” 

Marinette nodded slowly. “Do as you must,” she said, sinking back a little and folding her hands across the bend in her tail that would have been a human lap. “I want you to be well. I want to be sure I haven’t harmed you badly.” 

Luka chuckled. “Lady, you saved my life.” He opened his eyes and turned his head to look into hers. “And whatever harm I have taken from it, I consider it a price well paid to have met you at last.”

[leapingtitan]

The Final Season - Episode 1 Thoughts

I've watched the first episode around 3 times on my own and over a dozen times from anime-only live reactions on YouTube. Those are always something to have a field day with every season, and are part of the whole enjoyment post-watching the episode on your own.

Obviously I'm only reviewing this based on the first episode, so it's way too early to judge The Final Season as a whole. However, I will say that my strategy to keep my expectations low definitely worked. I was very hyped, don't get me wrong, but after Season 3 Part 2, I realized that production and scheduling has never been this show's strong suite and things behind the scenes were always chaotic. And it was my mistake to realize it this late and have unrealistically high expectations of the manga's adaptation.

But enough about that. I'm just gonna say it right now. I absolutely loved this episode and was completely blown away by it. It was a rollercoaster ride from start to finish and boy, the staff wasn't kidding when they said the first episode was like a movie. It definitely felt like that, and it went by in a flash. Now, on to the individual points.

Story/Adaptation

Flawless. Everything was executed perfectly and went beyond my expectations. The thing that stood out to me the most was how many things were changed from the PV in terms of scene construction, camera angles, and overall storyboards. There was only one shot that we reused from the PV, namely the one with Zeke and Reiner inside the airship where they're referred to as the spear and shield. Everything else was redone, which was a huge surprise. Wit was always very faithful to the original manga panels with how they used them as a big reference for most of their cuts, but this one changes them up a lot. Personally, I am 100% fine with it and as someone who has read these chapters in the manga dozens of times over the past few years, seeing them like this was a pleasant and very welcome surprise.

The anime-only additions here are notable and also quite welcome. Falco's line in the beginning in particular stood out the most in the long-run, but the addition of the Eldians' terror being shown as well as the scene before the ED was very welcome. I would like to assume that this was Isayama's doing as whenever the anime usually adds/changes up things, it's his request to do so. He sort of considers the anime to be the "definitive" version of the story that he, for one reason or another, couldn't do in the manga himself when that particular chapter came out. Season 3 Part 1 (The Uprising Arc) is a prime example for this. Once again, I'm very content with what was done here and I trust MAPPA will do the story justice.

A small but very neat thing is the fact that we got to keep the title cards and the info eyecatches mid-episode. Really added to the whole sense of consistency.

Animation

When the initial trailer came out, many people were concerned about Shigeki Asakawa (Director of Photography)'s odd and excessive usage of blur filters on top of the scenes and were wondering if they would remain in the final product, given her track record with other shows like The God of Highschool. Luckily, that is not the case here as the scenes look very clean and the minimal blur on top adds a bit to the muddy/gritty atmosphere of what's going on. Personally, I don't mind it at all and I barely notice it anyway. MAPPA's biggest strength to me is the usage of effects like blood and explosions. You feel the impact of everything and with such an action-packed episode, it made everything so much better.

The usage of 3D CGI for the Titan Shifters has been the biggest controversy surrounding this first episode. When I first watched it, it didn't bother me at all. Personally I care more about a model fitting in the action sequence rather than how it looks for the most part. Right now I would say I'm neutral. It's not the greatest CG ever conceived in anime but it definitely does not look out of place and is pretty decent. For the Jaw Titan, I couldn't tell what was CG and what wasn't for the most part. For the other Titans it's more obvious, but it's not too jarring. Obviously, if it was up to me and the production committee/NHK didn't push their scheduling shenanigans onto MAPPA, I would have gotten every Titan in 2D, but you can't have everything. If they choose to focus on more important scenes later on and cut corners in this first episode as a result, that's understandable. I can live with it. And again, even then, it's not that bad in my eyes.

Now, the character designs are just absolutely stellar. In multiple interviews, it’s been stated that they wanted to stay true to Kyoji Asano’s designs at Wit while also being consistent with Isayama’s style in the manga. And boy did they absolutely nail it. It’s exactly what as they said. Tomohiro Kishi could not have done a better job with the characters we’ve seen so far and I am beyond impressed with his work. I look forward to seeing the rest of the characters in this arc.

Sound

I've been following Kohta Yamamoto's works for a few years now, ever since he started working with Sawano (and being mentored by him to an extent) in early 2017. Although he's been involved with AoT before, particularly with the character songs in Season 2, whenever those two would collaborate on a project it would usually be because Sawano is too busy to compose a full soundtrack. So what usually happens is, Sawano does one track and variations of it (think ShingekiNoKyojin, ThanksAT and T-KT), and nothing else. Meanwhile, Yamamoto handles the rest of the music for the show. On top of that, Yamamoto's style as a composer is different from Sawano's as he comes from a rock/guitarist background as opposed to Sawano, who is a pianist and is classically trained. My biggest concern for The Final Season was that we would get a similar case as with the other shows where Sawano doesn't put in too much effort, while Yamamoto essentially becomes the main composer. Although it looks like this is in fact the case after this first episode, let me explain why I don't think it's a bad thing.

After the premiere of the first episode, both Sawano and Yamamoto tweeted that it was in fact Yamamoto who is handling the majority of the Marley Arc's music. And after this first episode, I have to say I'm impressed. His initial track that he made for the PV was a bit off-putting to me because it sounded like every epic blockbuster Hollywood trailer background track ever, but after the way it was used in this episode alongside a few other tracks, I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised. It fits what's going on, and overall delivers a fresh sound to the show that is very appropriate given the massive change in narrative. Back during S3 Part 1, Sawano stated in an interview that he was already burned out and had trouble coming up with new music for AoT given how many tracks he had already composed for it. Given how few new melodies were in S3 Part 2;s music, I think this should be clear. Especially now that we're going into yet another season. To summarize, I think Yamamoto's work here is a result of three conditions that just happened to line up perfectly. The change in narrative, which the new composer style reflects. Sawano being busy. And Sawano being burned out with AoT. Now personally I still believe we're going to get at least one new original Sawano track with variations of it for the big climax moments this arc, and he may compose more music for the 2nd half of this 16-episode season, since that's technically a new arc. But we'll see. As a whole though, I'm satisfied with what I've heard from Kohta Yamamoto in this first episode.

The last point to make in regards to the sound is Masafumi Mima who, apart from Sawano, the voice cast, and some freelancers, is the only one from the previous seasons' staff members to return here. And once again, his work here is absolutely phenomenal. The mixing and usage of sound effects in this episode was stellar and truly felt like I was watching a war movie. It enhanced the action tenfold and I could not want it any better. Music usage is something that goes through the director (Yuichiro Hayashi), but ultimately the sound director is the one who implements the track (instrument layering/stem editing) and does the mixing. The usage of Kohta Yamamoto's music here was very well done, and although the track from the PV repeated quite a bit, it didn't get repetitive at all. Also, the sound director remaining consistent here means we got to keep things like the titan transformation sound effects, which may be a small thing but was very welcome and added to the whole consistency.

Opening/Ending

I'm gonna wait until Shinsei Kamattechan releases the full version of the opening in a single or album to fully judge the song, but boy do I love this opening. Although I'm not sure if the TV-size version is my favorite AoT opening yet, I have to say that it's without a doubt the most fitting OP this show has had until this point. It perfectly showcases the themes of war that this arc focuses on and has this lowkey disturbing eerie vibe with the dissonant chords and mixing of the vocals that feels just as "mysterious" and "tense" as the show itself. I love it so much, honestly. Now, Isayama was a fan of Shinsei Kamattechan prior to them doing the S2 ED, and was the one who got them on-board to do it. Although that song isn't really my thing it's also a perfect fit, which leads me to believe that Isayama himself most likely chose the band again, namely to do this OP. And it's fantastic. I love the song. The visuals also have a very distinct style with all the colors and white backgrounds and I love how it's more metaphorical and symbolic (I guess "abstract" as well?) rather than flat-out just spoiling everything like the last arc's OP did.

The ED by Yuko Ando is fantastic. The first time I listened to the full song on its own I couldn't stop getting chills. Love the production aspects of the song and it's just really nice altogether. The visuals are quite interesting especially towards the end and I also like them a lot. Not much else to say about the ED. It's amazing. Go listen to it.

Conclusion

As a whole, I kept my expectations extremely low prior to the premiere despite my hype. As a result of that, not only were they exceeded, I was absolutely blown away by this first episode in pretty much every way. It may still be too early to judge, but from what has been shown here so far, I am absolutely looking forward to see MAPPA adapt the rest of this amazing story, or about as far as they can get with 16 episodes.

[bangtanstorytimetheater]

Virtuoso - A MYG Story

CHAPTER ONE

ONE

"We've decided to transfer you to the Chattanooga store."

My manager's words felt like a bad breakup. I felt my heart sink in my chest. This transfer, though unexpected and utterly terrifying, was going to be a huge leap in my career.

The music company I worked for was a small, but very well-respected chain in the tri-state area. I was proud to hold a position there, hosting field trips for elementary-aged children, and helping students demo instruments to find the perfect one. It was a rewarding job that I looked forward to every day, and I was eternally grateful for the opportunity. This transfer would have me leading the new field trip program that the company was getting ready to roll out at the other store.

I had worked at Bangtan Band Box, or BB's as the locals called it, for nearly four years. It was a great place to work, and I had watched business really take off over the time I'd been there. Thanks to a recent year-long renovation project at the store, all of the studios were now equipped with gorgeous new digital pianos and state-of-the-art soundproof walls. Everyone was thrilled with the way it turned out. We even had a grand re-opening block party. Of course, without fail, there was always at least one person who still had a complaint about something.

"The sound on these things just isn't the same. The keys don't feel right. It's not a piano..."

Ninety-two year old Jane Young was the sweetest little lady I had ever met. She was probably the only person at this store whose complaints didn't annoy me. We had grown incredibly close over the past few years I'd worked there. She was a sort of relic, being the very first ever piano teacher to teach lessons at BB's original location. Mrs. Young was the childhood piano teacher of the company CEO, and he had insisted on bringing her onboard when he opened up shop over thirty years ago.

"Jane, I completely understand where you're coming from," I said, reaching out to place my hand over hers on the counter, "They really don't feel the same as acoustic pianos, but admittedly they are pretty nice. At least we'll save a few thousand dollars a year on tuning. And I suppose all we can do at this point is just make the best of it, right?" I smiled, hoping to pull her out of her funk. Jane had been through so much over the years, spending nearly every day of the past three decades in this place, and she was not keen on all the sudden changes.

"You really are wise beyond your years, Faye. I suppose I could at least appreciate the new carpet. That iced tea stain from three years ago will certainly not be missed." she chuckled.

There's the Jane I was hoping to see today,  especially  today. Should I tell her? No, not yet.

The Following Monday

"Faye! How've you been?" Jin flashed his familiar warm smile and casually held up a hand in a lazy wave. He was always so soft spoken, but still cracking quiet jokes that had you in stitches. He'd worked at the Chattanooga BB's for a few years and we'd known each other from district meetings. He was still fairly new to being an assistant manager, but seemed to be pretty comfortable in his position.

"A bit nervous about the sudden change, but I'm looking forward to working with you. Glad that you're here on my first day. Makes it a lot easier, that's for sure." I sighed. Despite years of auditions and stressful interviews in my music career, meeting new people was still sometimes a bit stressful for me.

DING!

This store had a very loud door chime, entirely different from the one at my previous store. It was jarring, making me jump. Jin let out a louder laugh than I had ever heard come from him. I suppose being in his own store, he probably felt more at-ease than when he was attending the stuffy district meetings. It was nice to hear him laugh so genuinely.

"Didn't you guys have a bell like that at your store?" he asked, setting down his keys next to the register and taking off his coat.

"Nope. And I startle easily, so this will take some getting used to I bet."

"Hey man!" I heard a booming, but cheerful-sounding voice from somewhere over my shoulder. I turned to see a beautiful man with warm, honey skin walking towards me, his dusty blue sweater and light blue jeans accentuating his perfect tan. He had just walked in through the front door and was sweeping his wind-blown golden brown hair out of his eyes. He had a guitar case slung over his shoulder, covered in happy stickers - rainbow flowers, smiley faces, Korean hearts, and the words HOPE WORLD in big, bubbled letters across the center of the case lid.

He must be a teacher here.

"Hope! Hey, this is our new transfer, Faye Jansen. She just moved here from the Woodland Hills store. Faye, this is Hope." Jin said as he motioned towards the statuesque man in blue who was now standing face to face with me at the counter. Hope flashed me a huge, toothy smile as he carefully dropped his guitar case to the floor next to him and extended his hand to shake mine.

"Pleasure to meet you, Faye. What a nice surprise!" he smiled and squeezed my hand gently, "You can call me Hobi."

Why do I feel a little flustered? Is it warm in here or...?

Nevermind.

"Y-yes. Thank you. The pleasure is all mine. It is wonderful to meet you, Hobi. What instrument do you teach?" I asked, trying to turn the attention away from myself. I had seen the guitar case, so he was obviously a guitar instructor, but I was too flustered to think straight. I wasn't normally shy around anyone, but he was strikingly handsome, in a way I had not seen in real life before, so I almost needed a moment to catch my breath.

He seemed to notice that I was feeling a little flustered, glanced down at the guitar case then back up at me and smiled, seeming a little amused.

"Guitar. I assume you play something as well?" he asked, his fingers fidgeting with the strap of the clear plastic messenger bag slung over his shoulder.

"I studied classical voice in college, but I also play oboe and piano. I did all the demos for the field trips at the Woodland Hills BB's." I was proud of what I did, but I wasn't trying to sound too proud. Musicians can take perceived cockiness to be a huge turn-off.

"Ah, wind instruments. I envy that. I could never get past my initial few trumpet lessons as a kid. I thought I was going to pop a blood vessel in my face!" he laughed, "So instead I break old peoples' hips."

"Oh yeah?" I laughed, "That sounds terrible. Care to elaborate on that?"

"A group of us here have a jazz ensemble. We play shows every Thursday and Saturday. The older folks love to get up and dance. Let's just say that sometimes they dance themselves right into needing a wheelchair the next day. Anyway, we get pretty decent paying gigs at The Yeontan Lounge, playing all the old jazz standards. You should join us sometime. We love having other artists step in. Speaking of, Jin will you be at practice tonight?" Hobi said, suddenly turning towards Jin.

"You're in the ensemble too, Jin? That's amazing. What do you play?" I asked, excited to hear more about the group, and especially excited to hear them play.

"Upright bass. You should sing with us tonight, Faye. I heard you sing karaoke at the company party a few years ago. You sounded great. Are you still performing these days?" Jin asked.

"I haven't performed in quite a few months, but I'm sure I can manage a casual jam session tonight. What song should I prepare for you?" I asked, my disciplined mind already scrambling to come up with the perfect piece for my vocal range.

"Why don't you sing At Last by Etta James? That's a classic. Can't go wrong there." Jin suggested, glancing over at Hope for approval.

Hobi stuck out his lower lip and nodded, raising his eyebrows. He seemed pleased at the song suggestion.

"Hearing a classical singer take on At Last is going to be something special, I bet. Looking forward to it," he said. "See you tonight."

"Likewise," I said, watching him walk towards the hall of studios.

DING!

There's that goddamn door chime again.

Startled at the sound, I clumsily dropped the pen I had been holding against my notebook, and it loudly clinked on the glass countertop.

As I reached to pick it up, embarrassed at my unintended slapstick routine, out of the corner of my eye, I could see someone walking in my direction from the front door.

I looked up, and it was as if time slowed to a crawl. My eyes met the gaze of a tall, slender man with shaggy black hair and smooth, porcelain skin, wearing a button-up denim jacket, skinny jeans, and converse - all black. He didn't stop walking, but our eyes locked until he was out of view.

Instantly, I felt this surge of electricity throughout my body, as if he physically touched me when he walked past me. It was strange... and exhilarating. His deep chocolate eyes had so much fire behind them, they burned straight into my soul.

I had to know his name.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for reading the first chapter of my book! I'll be updating every Sunday at the very least, but hopefully more frequently than that.

Looking forward to your feedback and suggestions!

This first chapter is dedicated to the lovely 0o_pervy_noona_oO who started me on my Bangtan ff addiction, and inspired me to write my own.

[fizzingwizard]

Busy weekend so I saw the ep late! Still gonna do a write up.

Episode 14 was a blast. Literally and figuratively xD

This is more or less what I expected from team Taichi/Koushirou/Mimi! It was amusing and cool at the same time. So that was good to see after such little focus on the children themselves in episode 12!

Although it was a Koushirou ep... I sure capped a lot of Togemon moments.

Bahahaha.

More under the cut!

It's another sandwich episode, with the meat of the story coming between slices of silliness thanks to Yamato and Jou. I am in STITCHES. Garrulous Jou getting on Yamato's last nerve is exactly the way I want them to be characterized xD It brings back fond memories of that one Digimon restaurant ep in 99 Adventure.

Gabumon: You’re being rude.

Yamato: Do you want to talk to him?

Gabumon: ... No...

Jou talks to Yamato. Yamato ignores. Jou continues talking to Yamato. Yamato realizes... he doesn’t need to answer... he just needs to exist. Jou’s the type who will happily have a conversation with a brick wall, it’s his stress relief

Jou compares his partner to a hammock.

Ikkakumon responds with sick burn.

Like seriously, both portions of this group were about the others managing Jou. Or, most of the others managing Jou, while Yamato ignores him completely bahahahahahahaha

Meanwhile, on the other route, Koushirou’s tablet is on the fritz again. Very inconvenient, but fortunately they’ve got the ever practical Taichi around.

Taichi casually flips his digivice in one hand while recommending that they be careful to stay together in case the interference prevents them from communicating electronically. He’s smart. He’s chill. Koushirou is SO UNCOMFORTABLE

They find some crystals that are like fun house mirrors and then they’re attacked by Unknown Digimon. Koushirou becomes Even More Uncomfortable when he can’t analyze them. At which point...

... Tentomon swoops in “THAT’S KUWAGAMON!!!” He seems really happy to get to serve his old role of Guy Who Knows Shit. I would love a rivalry between Tentomon and Koushirou’s computer, trying to see who can come up with information faster :P A rivalry Koushirou won’t even notice for a while

Tentomon: Hello, I’m right here, your partner, a wealth of knowledge of the world that I you know LIVE IN...

Kabuterimon sounds like your yakuza grandpa more than ever this ep. Sakurai Takahiro is having the time of his life I swear.

For that matter... so is Yamada Kinoko x’D I’ve never seen this attack from Togemon before

The Kuwagamon have a leader... Ohkuwamon, who is just Kuwagamon but larger and in grayscale.

Taichi comes up with a brilliant plan of action.

Aaaand Mimi reinterprets it for the laypeople bahahahaha

Strategist Taichi is my favorite Taichi, but Mimi Having None Of It and keeping him in line is fantastic. Mimi has a bunch of great moments this ep too

Predictably, they get blown up and separated in the process of running away...

Communication’s pretty much out too. Koushirou becomes more and more agitated and feels useless without being able to use his computer to think of a plan.

MY HEART

Taichi and Mimi reunite pretty fast, and Mimi can’t help voicing her loathing for Kuwagamon. Which alerts the bugs to their location. Taichi is annoyed. Mimi is sorry but not really

ugh I love these two

Like I said, Kabuterimon is the MVP this ep... never tiring, always encouraging, and hilarious. I’d like to shake Sakurai’s hand for this episode alone

Since his tablet’s useless, Koushirou decides to use it as a shield. X’D He’s one step away from Sailor Mercury here...

Koushirou: My computer is my god and I’ve been forsaken!!!!

Kabuterimon can’t take any more of his partner undervaluing his worth. “You do have something invaluable...”

“... oh, and your knowledge! I mean, your whole self! Because a person’s worth does not come from how useful they are to others of course!”

For all that self-doubt, Koushirou sure does snap out of it quick once Kabuterimon points out that he’s not a mindless zombie without his computer. Digimon are personal therapists, this is not news

I think I capped this because it just amuses me how different this pair are from each other and how it totally works anyway. If Kabuterimon were transformed into a human, he’d be an old, sinewy, kung fu master type, probably covered in scars, and always found slurping ramen and cracking terrible jokes at random school kids. He has the ability to instill Koushirou with confidence. I mean, if that sort of guy showed up telling YOU you’re super smart and awesome, you’d feel pretty good about yourself too am I right???

Shocker of shockers, Koushirou using his head results in AtlurKabuterimon, who is very shiny. Even shinier than WereGarurumon

Togemon just zips by

I find it amusing that Koushirou’s big play is pretty much the same as his plan in Digimon Tri: Soushitsu. A little different but same basic concept. I’m also disappointed in myself for not anticipating it when these mirror things showed up at the start of the ep.

I heart Mimi

Togemon: GRRHRHRHRHRHRHRHGGGG

What even is Yamada Kinoko... she’s having way too much fun... I might become a Koumi fan simply to have Tentomon and Palmon be hilarious together all the time

Koushirou: LIGHT ME UP BABY I AM ON FIRE

AtlurKabuterimon’s super attack is definitely compensating for something >_>

He finally takes out Ohkuwamon and the day is saved. Koushirou and Tentomon give each other a high five and it is adorabibble.

The producers of this show are totally aware that we fans are keeping track of how many times Taichi says this about Koushirou. They are so doing it on purpose.

back in the other group...

Jou didn’t shut up till he fell asleep.

I have no doubts in my mind that Yamato spent the whole time facing this way, away from the group, and never so much as said “hmm” in response to anything Jou said. Holy crap.

THEN YAMATO FINALLY GETS ON IKKAKUMON I”M FGHJHRUGJKFGFC;FDF”DFG

ugh this is my new favorite episode bahahahaha

Next week we get Zudomon and it looks like the team continues to be split in two a little bit longer. Psyched for Jou ep! I need soooo much more Yamato barely tolerating Jou... omg. I didn’t even know I was starving for this but I am

Then we get a new ending and it’s fabulous! I love the lyrics and the music and the art. But most of all...

... we gets a Takeru!! This is a sign I swear. We’ll be seeing Takeru very soon. My theory is that they’re going to find Patamon locked up at the site of the Holy Digimon because Devimon knows he’ll be instrumental in his defeat. Ahh I can’t wait to see how this plays out.

I give this ep 8/10!!