#Hilton Head gang

[johnschneiderblog]

Divine inspiration

Leonard Cohen calls it “the holy game” (“The Stranger Song”); Lord Huron calls it “the sacred game” (“Twenty Long Years”).

Like my parents before me, I’ve been a disciple of poker since I was old enough to know a nickel from a dime. (Maybe even before that; I remember playing seven-card stud for penny candy).

I’m always glad to spread the gospel of straights and flushes. So when the gang here in Hilton Head expressed an interest in learning how to play No-limit Texas Hold’em, I was happy to provide a lesson.

After two sessions, they’ve mastered the basics. But, as every poker player knows, you can learn the rules in a few hours but you can spend a lifetime learning the game.

[jourdepluie91]

Inside Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ Infamous White Parties

The rapper's White Parties gained a legendary reputation in the '90s and '00s...

Sean 'Diddy' Combs, 54, was arrested on 16 September and charged with sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution. Prosecutors alleged that he also engaged in kidnapping, forced labour, bribery and other crimes, which he has pleaded not guilty to. It comes after a string of allegations of gang rape, sexual assault and other accusations over the past 12 months, which Combs has denied.

His annual white parties, with their star-studded guest lists and extravagance, became legendary amongst Hollywood circles over two decades. Anyone who was anyone would be invited – you knew that you had made it if you secured one of those coveted 1,000 invites, which would be your golden ticket into these elite circles.

The era-defining white parties were lavish affairs. All guests had to abide by a strict head-to-toe white dress code, with the bash set in all-white surroundings. ‘I wanted to strip away everyone’s image and put us all in the same colour, and on the same level,’ Combs told Oprah Winfrey in 2006.

The tradition started in 1998 when Combs generously decided to show off his new Hamptons home by inviting more than 200 glitterati to a barbeque. He wanted to integrate the world of rap and hip-hop into the echelons of the mega-rich. ‘I had the craziest mix [of guests]: some of my boys from Harlem, Leonardo DiCaprio after he’d just finished Titanic. I had socialites there and relatives from down south. There were 200 people sitting out here, just having a down-home cookout,’ he said of that inaugural party.

That initial do led to Combs being described as ‘a modern-day Gatsby’. He relished the comparison to F Scott Fitzgerald’s character who threw extravagant parties to impress his wealthy neighbours, boasting, ‘I am the Great Gatsby.’

The guestlist of Combs’ white parties read like a who’s who of the ‘90s and ‘00s. An invite meant you were someone worth knowing and cemented your A-list status, across entertainment, business, finance, fashion and technology. Movie stars mingled with singers, socialites and entrepreneurs, with frequent guests including Leonardo DiCaprio, Jay-Z and Beyonce, Kevin Spacey, Naomi Campbell, Mariah Carey, the Kardashians and Paris and Nicky Hilton.

Jennifer Lopez, who dated Combs from 1999 to 2001, attended some parties too.

There is no indication that the celebrity guests at Combs’ white parties were involved in any wrongdoing.

Former music industry insider Tom Swoope has claimed that the parties were separated into ‘tiers’ of access, with ‘general admission’ and an ‘inner sanctum’ where drugs and sex were reportedly available.

What happened at the white parties?

Champagne was freely available, with guests served ‘champagne from heaven’ by models dressed as angels.

Photos show Combs pouring Veuve Clicquot champagne over two topless women at the 1998 party while two half-naked women were pictured cavorting in the swimming pool and then pouring champagne into the open mouth of a male guest at the 2008 party. Another image showed two topless women straddling someone in the pool.

Combs himself had even told Entertainment Tonight that he felt one day he would be arrested for his 'crazy parties'.

Another term used to describe Combs' events is 'freak off' or 'freak out' parties. When Combs' house was searched by Homeland Security in March, they seized 1,000 bottles of lubricant and baby oil which were allegedly used at his 'freak off' parties.

Prosecutors claimed that during the 'freak offs,' Combs would allegedly sedate women and men and force them into sex acts. The parties were described as 'elaborate and produced sex performances,' in which Combs allegedly booked hotel suites and hired sex workers while distributing drugs including cocaine, methamphetamine and oxycodone to keep partygoers 'obedient'. Afterwards, his staff would allegedly arrange for travel and IV supplies to help those involved recover.

[amidst-wonderland]

ELIZABETH LANCE-WAYNE

REAL NAME : elizabeth lance-wayne FACE-CLAIM : olivia cooke MAIN ALIAS : siren OTHER ALIASES : starling ⭑ batgirl ⭑ black canary ⭑ crow ⭑ molly malone KEY RELATIVES : bruce wayne (father) ⭑ dinah lance (mother) ⭑ damian wayne, (half-brother) ⭑ olive west-wayne (daughter) ⭑ ronan west-wayne (son) AFFILIATION : batman family ⭑ justice league ⭑ birds of prey ⭑ teen titans ⭑ suicide squad ⭑ flash family ⭑ team arrow ⭑ wayne enterprises BASE OF OPERATIONS : gotham city ⭑ keystone ⭑ star city ⭑ new york city

ORIGIN & LIVING STATUS

ALIGNMENT : hero LIVING STATUS : alive, formerly deceased PLACE OF BIRTH : gotham city UNIVERSE : prime earth IDENTITY : secret CITIZENSHIP : american MARITAL STATUS : separated, it's complicated. OCCUPATION : wedding planner ⭑ socialite (former) ORIGIN : hereditary metagene obtained from mother, black canary. took on protégé role of starling as a child. CAUSE OF DEATH(S) one | killed by the joker after being stabbed with an electric rod during an arkham aslyum surveillance mission with robin and kid flash in an attempt to blow the island sky-high. two | shot by royal flush gang's queen during 'task force x' operation three | impaled by zoom in an act of revenge against flash iii four | beaten to death by 'death metal' alternative, screech in attempt to protect her children

SKILLS & ABILITIES

expert detective master martial artist and hand-to-hand combatant ultra-sonic scream (canary cry) enhanced strength and speed expert strategist, tactician and field commander trained gymnast espionage utilises high-tech equipment and weapons, such as her element adaptive mono-wire proficient archer sound immunity

RELATIONSHIPS / ASSOCIATIONS

marriage | wally west long-term | roy harper fling | adian cobblepot ⭑ joseph wilson

heroes | bruce wayne ⭑ dinah lance ⭑ wally west ⭑ zatanna zatara ⭑ barbara gordon ⭑ dick grayson ⭑ roy harper ⭑ donna troy ⭑ jason todd ⭑ tim drake ⭑ stephanie brown ⭑ cassandra cain ⭑ renee montoya villains | harley quinn ⭑ magpie ⭑ cupid ⭑ rainbow raider ⭑ royal flush gang ⭑ screech ⭑ mad hatter ⭑ catwoman ⭑ hazard ⭑ poison ivy ⭑ killer frost ⭑ joker ⭑ punchline ⭑ court of owls

MISC.

elizabeth was the batgirl to jason's robin and is arguably the closest with him, post resurrection.

after being stripped of her cowl again by bruce, elizabeth winds up babysitting 'task force x' with long-time friend, roy harper and dawning a new short-term alias, crow. the two find comfort in each-other within the band of belligerent criminals as ex-titans, roy after his split with jade and elizabeth longing for a love she doesn't even know she's forgotten.

she’s viewed as an almost modern day ‘daisy buchanan’ type figure in gotham for better or worse

elizabeth's wayne!persona feeds into the catty high-school popular girl, a little ditzy but applying where it counts. she's no valedictorian but fronting the cheer squad and the debate team whilst earning herself prom queen is no small feat (think torrance shipman) but unfortunately for her date and half the school's male populous, she's head-over-heels for nobody but keystone's cocky redhead with a heart of gold. post-gotham academy, she becomes a hilton-type party girl which doesn't go down well with wally.

even after their separation (in name only, these two would literally die for each-other) wally is still persistent that she keeps her flash button-pin on her person at all times, just in case. even after a fight, yet another break or just a storm-out he'll always be there when she needs him and he knows she's stubborn enough to only press it when she really needs him.

liz was a pretty taken aback by wally's reappearance. learning of a life she once had, the children she'd forgotten and unlike everyone else that accepted wally back almost immediately, liz was a little slower, much to wally's impatience.

she covers for her mother as black canary during league outings whilst dinah is on maternity leave, even keeping with the mantle when teaming up with wally when he returns to the flash role.

dinah and bruce were only briefly together, bruce hadn't even begun his career as batman and dinah was working part-time as a florist and club singer.

liz and dick are the same age.

all three of her costumes incorporate led lining, more-so her time as batgirl with the cowl, her batgirl colour-coding was black and sheer white, whilst starling had an ombre rainbow lining - similar to the bird and siren taking on both aspects with the black and white costume and rainbow led lights.

KEY ARCS / MOMENTS / STORYLINE

MATCHES (UNDER THE RED HOOD PREQUEL)

central characters | elizabeth lance-wayne (molly malone) ⭑ jason todd ⭑ tim drake ⭑ cassandra cain ⭑ selina kyle ⭑ adian cobblepot ⭑ oswald cobblepot ⭑ edward nygma ⭑ carmine falcone ⭑ dick grayson ⭑ barbara gordon

whilst batman is off-world with the justice league, the rest of his team have been tasked to protect gotham so newly returned elizabeth gets a whiff of a developing human trafficking ring, she swiftly adopts the 'molly malone' persona in order to infiltrate their operations and put a stop to it. however, she's met with some resistance from the city's newest mob-boss, the red hood.

notable beats

one | this is elizabeth's first solo operation in gotham since the batgirl mantle was taken from her and since she married childhood sweetheart wally west, who is currently off-world with bruce. two | selina helping elizabeth get into the spoilt mafia brat image with hair as big as her tits, heels as fake as her lips and leopard print dress peaking above her ass. during this, cass watches on at the pseduo-mother / daughter moment, longing back to her own childhood. three | seducing oswald cobblepot's absolute meathead unit of a son, adian as malone's guard-dog boyfriend after 'spontaneously' meeting in gotham's 'my alibi' strip club with the promise of opening a brothel (refuge for victims), playing on his sycophantic eagerness to get impress / out-do his own father, mirroring elizabeth's own ambition. four | red hood interrupting her first meeting with the gotham rogues, removing their attention from her, to him. jason identifies liz immediately, being aware of the 'malone' schtick from bruce but decides to toy with her game-plan just to tick her off. five | jason overhears an argument between tim and liz ordering him and cass to back-off the op, he decides to stir the pot by ambushing the boy-wonder. six | elizabeth returns to her and wally's shared penthouse only to be confronted with the red hood confirming her identity as a wayne and poking at her marriage, "does west know you're hanging off penguin jr?" taunting her to press the alarm, knowing bruce and the scarlet-speeder would return seeing the mess she's made of the op, jason offers her a hand.

ROYAL ROULETTE (THE SUICIDE SQUAD) - breakdown to be added

below is just some fun i had after seeing the suicide squad, enjoy!

SNIPPET

“Joining you, Dubois will be two classified and undercover operatives with decades of field experience between them, though you may find their methods in comparison to your active teammates are rather passive.” Amanda Waller drags out as she walks the marksman through the bleak halls of the prison. “Both parties are, like you doing this with a certain level of willingness, but again like you, they have their own rather elusive baggage.”    Dubois continued to follow the woman into her office before being shown some very familiar inmates, one blond and the other ginger, who’d been a real pain in his-    “Arsenal. Speedy and Red Arrow all known aliases of former Green Arrow protégé, Roy Harper. I know you’re aware of Mr. Harper’s craft, but you may relax. He is your covert second-wave operative on this mission.”    “Does he know that?”    “He’s been warned, whether or not he wishes to push my buttons is entirely up to him.”    “Blondie here, is your problem.”    “That’s not Quinn, is it?”    “Far from, this is Siren. Meta-human.”    “Christ.”    “That’s a moot point a third of your team are meta-humans, but this one, used to be Batgirl.”    “Fuck off.”    “Watch that tongue.”    “I thought the Bats were good guys.”    “Yeah, well some of them have tendencies, including this one.”    “What’s she do?”    “Classified.”    “How’d you get her to agree?”    “Classified.”    “Does the Batman know?”    “He knows his daughter is doing covert work for me.”    “Ooh, lying to the cape-crusader is-“ Dubois furrowed his brows, “Did you say daughter?”    “That I did. Siren is a meta-human with enhanced strength, equipped with a Canary Cry that can shatter just about any form of glass within a two-mile radius. Her mother is Black Canary, her Step-father? Green Arrow and her husband is the fastest man alive,” Waller tensed, ��Dubois, no matter what the circumstances may be, I do suggest that you and your team do not cross this woman, specifically Quinn.”    “What do the Gothamites have history?” he joked, although Waller did not reciprocate.    “You don’t spend five years as Batgirl without a run in with the Clown. Joker killed her brother, paralysed her teammate, and critically injured herself to the brink of death that she spent seven months in the ICU, all to enact a grand idea that involved blowing Arkham Island to bits.”    “What happened?”    “Two metal rods, and fifty-thousand volts. Folks said the scream could be heard from Metropolis.”    “How’s she not dead?”    “Rumour is Kid Flash was able to restart her heart.”    “So Quinn’s a sore-spot?”    “I don’t want them left alone, Siren won’t kill but Quinn would in retaliation, and I don’t want the job of explaining to Flash why his wife’s body was left in some South American jungle because of a psychotic jester who nearly killed her as a teenager.”    “The bomb threat?”    “As far as she's concerned, there isn't one.”    “Why?”    “Guess.” “What about Quinn?” “Quinn’s quick and unpredictable, Siren could be dead before I hit the button. They’ve known each other for a decade - know how to make each other tick therefore it is your job to make sure they don’t."    “You want me to babysit two grown fucking women? If she’s this much of a hassle then what use is she to us?”    “Siren has trained with nothing but the best, she is a skilled, heavy hitting fighter, acrobat, tech genius, can speak four languages fluently – one of which you will need – and can be an excellent diversion when the moment calls for it. Her skill set is vital to the completion of this mission.”    “And yet Quinn?”    “Cannon fodder. She’s got more balls than any other man on your team.”

[westdallasgang]

Bonnie and Clyde raid the Eastham Prison Farm:

At 6am on January 16, 1934, the gang slipped quietly in their black Ford V-8 through the dense fog rising from nearby the Trinity River. With lights extinguished, the Ford parked just beyond a narrow bridge. Clyde and James stepped out with loaded BARs tucked under their arms, capable of firing a 20-round clip of 30.06 armor-piercing shells in less than 3 seconds. The two men crouched along the creek bank and waited. At 7am Clyde detected movement beyond them. The ghost-like images of a line of prisoners slowly materialized in the distance. The white denim of their prison uniform glowed with an eerie radiance. Guards bearing weapons accompanied the line. Soon the field was covered with prison work crews, each preparing to clear the land for the spring planting and cutting wood to stoke the camp stoves. Guard Olan Bozeman had already noticed Ray moved from his own group and joined Joe Palmer, Henry Methvin, and Hilton Bybee.

The guard chose not to take action. Until they moved farther. He then called for a mounted guard to hold a gun on Ray so that he could be whipped with a trace chain, just as he had planned. At that point, the men were less than a 100 feet from the creek where Clyde and James were hiding. Major Joseph Crowson, who had repeatedly beaten Joe in the past, was called on by Bozeman. While the two guards conversed, Joe walked up as if to ask a question. He turned to Crowson, leveled his gun, and fired a single round into the guard's stomach, knocking him off his horse. Crowson died instantly. Shocked at what just occured, Bozeman pulled the trigger at Joe. Joe ducked just as a charge of buckshot sailed past his head, a lone pellet creasing his temple. Joe fired two shots. A bullet teared the shotgun from Bozeman's hands and another wounding him in the hip.

Ray fired one shot when the clip popped from its housing and tumbled to the muddy ground. Virtually disarmed, Ray searched for his clip in the mud as Joe helplessly fought it out alone. Clyde and James then reared up and fired shots above the heads of the startled men in the field. While guards and prisoners alike were diving on their stomachs, Ray, Joe, Henry, and Hilton ran for their life. Bonnie sounded the car horn from the getaway car, using it as a beacon for the fleeing men. 3 guards started running as fast as they could in the opposite direction, leaving the 4 of them unguarded. Taking advantage of this, a convict named J.B. French slipped quietly into the pines and made his way to the Trinity River on foot. He was captured the following day without ever meeting the men responsible for his brief taste of freedom.

"Nobody but Ray and Joe can get in the car," James called out. "Everybody else go back." Clyde snapped. "You shut your damned mouth, Mullens, this is my car! I'm handling this!" The fleeing men jumped in the vehicle. As the distant whine of prison sirens came closer, Clyde shifted to first and sped away. Roadblocks sprang up in nearly every town between Dallas and Crockett, but Clyde outflanked them all by driving cross-country through farm after farm. In Hillsboro, TX, Clyde stopped for gas. The attendant spoke excitedly as he serviced the getaway car. "Did you hear about Ray Hamilton escaping from prison?" he asked. "No, really?" Clyde said. "Yeah! Bonnie and Clyde just walked right into the dining room this morning and took Ray out while everybody was eating!" Bonnie and Clyde were amused. As they fled Texas, the gang switched vehicles often. They decided to rob a bank to pay James his $1,000. The gang eventually split and went their seperate ways until things cooled down. Hilton was the only one who got captured and was sent back to prison.

[bike42]

May 6, 2024. Venice

Up before 5am to finish packing and get up on deck to watch the sun rise as we motored through the main channel into Venice. A very moving experience!!

While large cruise ships need to dock outside the city, ships of our size can come into the lagoon area (Canale Della Guidecca). Amazing way to see Venice for the first time, all the side channel and right past St Marks Square. There were many people on deck, and it was a reverent mood with no one speaking. We watched until we arrived at our port, then headed to breakfast. Rather than a small pilot boat, we seemed to be tethered to a large tug boat that guided us until we were docked.

We disembarked about 8:30am, so had some time to watch the luggage be unloaded and relax in the lounge for the last time (until next May!).

Our last excursion was “Venice Orientation and Lagoon Tour,” with transportation to the airport. We’re booked at the Marriott Courtyard near the airport with a flight home tomorrow. We reclaimed our luggage briefly, then put it on a cart (hopefully we’ll see it again after the tour!).

Our guide’s name was Antonella (Ella).

She told us that Venice is made up of 132 islands, linked by 189 bridges and 150 canals, most not very deep. Many churches - each island has at least one. Many were erected after the plague - nothing like a pandemic to bring people to religion!

Venice was started as a trading hub, but now tourism is the biggest industry.

It was more difficult to see the city from our tour boat, so we’re extra glad we got up early to see it from the ship! We were sitting below water level so our eyes were about water level, and it was amazing to see all the boat traffic in the lagoon - big boats, little boats, boats that were hauling work gear and supplies (that would be hauled by trucks on land), garbage boats, police boats, even an ambulance boat! The water was choppy from all the traffic. Made me wonder how many boating accidents they have?!

We made two stops on this excursion, the first was Murano Island, known of course for its gorgeous Murano glass! We were guided in to a studio to watch three guys, and master and two helpers. They were adding colored layers to a globe that was about 18” in diameter. We’d seen glass blowing before, but this was master crafting! Most shocking was the apparent lack of concert about safety, no gloves or goggles, one guy wearing crocs, a guy using his tshirt hem to clear the table of glass shards, smoking, etc!

After that, we were invited upstairs to see the work of many master artists. I wanted several pieces, but settled for a few small pieces at a shop over the canal.

Our second stop was Burano Island, known for its lace production. Jeff and I skipped the demonstration on that and found a cafe for a sandwich and gelato, perfectly placed to watch taxi boats, tour boats and hotel shuttle boats drop off their passengers! Burano was historically a fishing island, and Ella reported the fishermen would drink too much and then not be able to find their way home, so the houses are painted bright vibrant colors. With the gardens and bright houses, it’s a gorgeous little island.

Back on board our boat, I struggled with staying awake, but it’s wasn’t comfortable enough for napping either! We dropped most of our gang at the Hilton (cruise package hotel) and then I was glad to get back to the port. The remaining six of us claimed our suitcases (sigh of relief), and a van took us to the Marriott Courtyard near the Airport, and then dropped the others at the airport for afternoon flights.

We organized our bags for flying tomorrow, relaxed and are about to head out for food. Looking for some good pasta and wine tonight!

What an amazing trip this has been. Fantastic weather, gorgeous scenery, history, culture and food! We feel so lucky and blessed to have had an incredible adventure like this!

[thetripads]

WELCOME TO VORTEX, SOUTH CAROLINA

Where the Airbnb’s are cheap and the liquor is cheaper! There’s never been much to do in Vortex. A population of less than 10,000, but a locale near the beach has made it the perfect little nook if you want to get away from the typical Myrtle Beach or Hilton Head hotspots for vacation. The peak always hits around spring break, college kids looking for a cheap getaway near the beach. Summertime still brings in business a more than steady flow of business, much to the chagrin of locals who find their streets flooded by drunk frat bros who have more money than they can spend and their restaurants overrun by those who are just trying to capture the perfect ‘phone eats first’ aesthetic.  It was The Crybaby who suggested that their college friend group go to Vortex for the summer. Their grandparents owned a summer home there and who would ever say no to a free summer on the beach (except for maybe The Worrywart)? So, The Nightingale and The Whimsical took the lead on driving in their respective vehicles and the gang packed up their belongings and headed straight for the warm rays. Little did they know, it would certainly be a summer nobody would forget…

THETRIPHQ is a 20+ literate skeleton mystery rp set in the fictional summer town of Vortex, South Carolina centered on a group of college friends and the townies that live there. The group will be a hybrid of Tumblr and Discord rping with events taking place on Discord for easier access. The Trip HQ wants to encourage character development, interactive storytelling, and literacy. Direct inspirations and comparisons are drawn from media like Nancy Drew, Bodies, Bodies, Bodies, Pretty Little Liars, Gossip Girl, and Outer Banks.

[postcards-to-home]

Letting Go: 2023

‘Have you taken a look at your old posts?” Yes, sort of, thats kind of what brought me to dig that password out again to make a post. “Well read them again. They’re pretty…inspirational actually. Truly. Just please do it.”

Shape of You/ Ed Sheeran

Fitting 9 people deep into a 5 seater Toyota Fitz at 2 am was not how I anticipated starting the year off. Riding the center console with all the windows rolled up I wondered out loud who the hell was sober enough to drive this thing back to the Aruba Beach Club? Last I recalled we had closed Ricardo's down after slamming over 100 beers in 3 hours, with a unanimous cry from the bartenders, ``You guys broke the record of the most beers ever consumed in one shift.``We’d managed to hit downtown, with chaos tailing closely behind us until open signs flickered off. Someplace between the Ritz and Hilton we huddled on the beach forming a semi circle around a fat Dutchmaster with our fingers cupping the flame of a single lighter. The waves trickled below the pier we stood on as we watched the boats pass between Venezuela and our tiny island of Aruba. Leave it to D-rock to get weed immediately after passing through customs. As a gang of cousins, It was a first for us to all be together overseas. There was peace between us all as we star gazed, except for Tyler filming himself in the background talking about "getting his bag" and "visiting the red-light district". Good Ole Frank shoved us into the clown car half dead at 3 am managing to hit every speed bump he could until we crash landed at the ABC hotel. Jason never made it out of bed the next day and Frank managed to be at the pool by 9. I understand entirely how we are family after that joy ride.

Im Good (Blue) // David Guetta & Bebe Rexha

Trips with family are always special and I wish I could have had that same feeling I had cruising down the Aruban highway at 3am as I did in Las Vegas this year for my Bachelorette party. While It didn’t pan out that way that I had pictured in my mind, those that made the journey sure did make me smile. The trip itself panned out so far in the other direction I actually wondered if anyone would give a shit about that one time I had 3 vodka cranberries on a vintage casino tour where I took pictures of the retro shag rugs with cowboys on them and fell asleep by 10pm sharp. It was the same trip in which I got to dress up like a bedazzled flamingo and had all my besties shower me with love, something I can't be thankful enough for. They had the ball literally dropped on their heads and they managed to keep moving forward with my happiness as the focus. It wouldn't have been a "Nicole" Trip if I didn't make a fool of myself at least once. I realized after I got off the elevator that my underwear were in fact tucked into the outside of my shirt with the worst part being I was 100% sober. Despite no one winning thousands of dollars or managing to buy a lap dance we did trek through the desert in a hot pink jeep and that was the highlight of the entire trip.After that, we flew home, we threw out anything that had to do with those that hurt us intentionally and we let that shit go.

When I grow up // The pussycat Dolls

Fast Car// Luke Combs

The year snowballed, and if I may, I’d like to address the elephant in the room. I’ll save everyone the details but I hope this is the last year of my life I have to experience the sudden violent interjection of a fentanyl overdose once again and the familiar destruction it brings. I hope those reading never have to live with seeing your family crowded around the kitchen window sobbing as you see your uncle bent over, dead on the sofa from a coke overdose.Upsetting and startling to read? Yes, but at least he wasn't found crumpled in a ball on the bathroom floor like his son was.  It was of no surprise to receive the news, still tragic no less. It's the one time in my life I wish my intuition was wrong. My mom reminded me I’d called it,emphasizing the need to never tell her in advance when my spidey senses tell me things are going to go south with someone. I had no memory of telling cousin Robert this in January but he wasted no time reminding everyone I knew this would happen before it happened. Jay and I spoke to the officer at the scene on a first name basis hearing “This is the 9th one this week.” It clicked there standing in the rain that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, something I said to Tommy at 9 years old. He was pretty pissed to hear that back then as a 15 year old delinquent. Yet here I am breathing and his ashes are now somewhere in the Moab desert, Schaghticoke, with bitch face and gram down at the cemetery in Cohoes . It was bad enough we buried aunt Ona next to Gram on Thursday but having to go back on Friday to bury Jr in the adjacent plot the following day was just simply too much for us. Maybe we all should have taken those free narcans Grandma Debbie was giving out two Decembers ago that she got from the county jail. But I'll let that thought go.

Way of the Truine God// Tyler Childs

There came a point in the year where pounding the pavement felt like second nature. Work, farm, picking, shows, repeat.Toggling google maps and driving down back country roads into no mans land had me thinking I was pioneering my own adventure.But then standing outside some abandoned house, freezing in line with #27 stuffed in my back pocket I would wonder , is this even fucking worth it? Somewhere close by a  grouchy bastard cranked a heater next to me mumbling about the cast iron pan he wants at the sale. “Cheap thrills” Id giggle sifting through some dead person's Attic knee deep in a mouse house. I drove chaotically through the tri-county region slinging antiques, singing reggaeton of all things at the top of my lungs, driving down 787 doing 90 in a 65mph. We  trucked car loads of plants to antique shows this year all thanks to Dad, Jay mom and Toni. Success is easy when you have a mini squad of family cheering you on the sidelines, willingly sacrificing Saturday mornings to unload trailers at 7am. I was living the dream and my heart would explode on the good days. On the bad days I’d doubt myself but maybe it was willpower, or just simply my spirit throttling my vessel screaming “ You’ve got this,” but It all worked out the way either way.I let my doubt go.

Just Breathe// Pearl Jam

I understood the meaning of family even more when Jimmy and I were sipping Vodka sodas at the Saratoga Civic Center watching Marissa cross the stage for her high school graduation. Somewhere in between slow sipping and clapping Jen lost her large $1 Mcdonalds diet coke all over the venue floor.Poppy with no hearing aids stood by with judgment in his eyes while I took “Obituary” pictures. He wondered out loud "What the hell is going on," but his voice was lost in the crowd and he couldn't give damn.

Just like we did 7 summers ago, we took that first ride out to college for move in day except this time it was Marissa's turn.We dropped  Marissa off at college just two weeks shy of Jay and I’s wedding wondering what would transpire in the two weeks before her return. We conspired how her first term would go over chili and chicken tenders at the only bar in town. I heard alot of bitching about leaving a purse behind a dumpster and “I need a fucking smoke.” between gram and pops. With a black coffee and fresh pack of reservation grade cigs, poppy and I hit the road home from SUNY Morrisville. Believe it or not pops spent the entire two hours chatting about the past in a way I never knew he was capable of. I'll never see him the same way again, and i'm content with it. We started out with “ I dont believe in god so when I'm gone just do whatever makes you guys feel good,” and ended with “ I’m glad we got to talk to Nicole, I really liked it. I still don't believe in God but I believe you speak to my mom in your dreams and I can’t explain that.” It was an entire short novel of everything I ever wanted to know explained all at once leaving me with sentiments of peace.

Drive//Alan Jackson

The pivot towards happily ever after did not commence until walking back up the aisle to catch a drink in my hand.  What a magical day we had. Chalking the day up in my mind I anticipated something far less significant than what had actually happened, simply put, a beautiful day. A day that was talked about with anxiety and ten tons of stress for nearly two years straight, amassing to a single day of blissful drinking surrounded by LOVE and all our favorite people. It felt like our own movie premier, except it was the start our "New life". We had a crowd of family stare at us with tears of laughter in their eyes as we shared our first dance to Hootie and the Blow fish’s “Only wanna be with you." If you're wondering it was totally the wrong choice, last minute and we weren't nearly drunk enough to hide how mortified we were swinging each other round and round. Endless bouts of laughter rang throughout the entire night helping to deflect the thought that some of my favorite people in the world weren’t able to be in attendance that day. Despite the potential for rain as my dad predicted, the day was nothing but sunshine and bliss. A few people cried over their ex’s in the corner that I never saw while one guy went fishing in the pond catching a small mouth bass. Shortly after that he managed to drop an entire keg on his head leaving an egg sized welt on his forehead perfectly positioned for his headlamp to rest on. It all came to an end with everyone barefoot, slurring words in the barn at 2 am, muddy from drunkenly falling down the hill that the barn sat upon. With ruined dresses, we ran out of water and woke the next day with black feet and nothing but giggles. 

Galaxy// Quavo

Controversial to popular opinion, honeymoons are not easy breezy lemon squeezy and probably shouldn't be taken immediately after your wedding day unless you're prepared to melt from exhaustion prior to landing someplace thousands of miles from home. I will admit it was pretty cool to ride in a cop car through Newark airport while also being personally escorted through TSA all thanks to Josh. After that Jay and I tumbled fast, hitting EU soil with peak levels of bitchiness letting Mallorca test my zen before even getting there. European mannerisms are something we are still coming to terms with and my Spanish is still B2 at best despite Laura’s constant push for me to do more and be better. "Nico, you can do this, it will be easy, you know this." No one told me it was Catalonian Spanish..

If it weren't for Jason driving on 3 hours of sleep and a Xanax I'm not sure we would have survived the first 8 hours on the island (Ok I would have made it but it wouldn't have been an endless laugh).There is no other person on this earth I could imagine driving a fiat with into a plaza full of people..No one else I could picture driving down a one lane country rode with singing Quavos “Fuel Up” and crashing into a rock wall,forcing me to get out of the car and wave down a local for support. It would have been pretty awesome if a camera crew appeared to remind us of that moment of defeat when I bitchly slammed the car door in jays face, saying “STFU ill fix this,” while he sat defeated from the days series of unfortunate events. That tire was the only thing preventing us from entering an air-conditioned unit and I wasn't going to let my man melt away. Senior Tony came to the rescue after I waved him down through barbed fencing, letting me into his gated home to ask in Spanish for support along with his wifi password. All that to find out the parking break was jammed and our rental house had timed AC of 1 hour a day from 3-4am. 

Still,there's no person other than Jay i’d rather crash our vespa with in deadstop traffic just moments before returning the rental. Jay and I are what romcoms are made from. We lived it, we survived and we laughed the entire ride down the one lane mountain rode in one piece. We trash talked the guy with "Love” tattooed on his neck that told jay to never ride a vespa again because he's never been so scared in his life to watch a man ride one like jay.Jay's also the guy I can always count on to make friends with the black girls with the speaker and meet random townies at the bar with. His energy is truly unmatched. Bless his heart for picking me, his one beer queer that pees in dirt parking lots at 10pm on our honeymoon to live with the rest of his life.

6PM en Mallorca/ Eladio Carrion

There would be days where I was simply vibrating with the need to do it all at once and then some on an empty stomach and a few energy drinks. Healthy wasn't on my radar so I suffered the consequences. It shouldn't have been shocking to learn I was diagnosed with HSP (Highly sensitive person) but to be simply put, it felt like someone gave me the answer I’d been looking for my whole life. Jokingly, I now had an excuse for my hangry episodes, dramatic mood drops and inability to tolerate social outings for longer than 2.5 hours before committing an Irish goodbye home to charge my social battery. Swan would say “Hey Nicole, hows your HSP these days,” like an asshole and we’d all laugh at the thought of me actually having a real life crisis and not something I exaggerated. With this revelation I was mildly pissed because it meant Taylor was sort of right in saying I was autistic all those years ago. While she was sneaking cookies in her sock drawer, feeding her 8 month pregnant belly on the o there side of our shared wall, she screamed at me I was autistic because I didn’t care for loud noises or her shitty attitude. On the spectrum or not, I'll let that go too.

Seasons change and things wound down. It's January as I write this with my health intact along with everything else in my mental portfolio. I've stopped hearing from my manager “ Nicole Im worried about your mental health, maybe you should take time off.”  and instead I'm hearing from those around me “Congratulations" and "you should feel so proud." I am proud actually, its a new feeling. I learnt a lot of lessons this year but ultimately it boils down to one simple message that applies to every facet of our existence: Light & Love. Thats it.

As long as youre striving to be as close to light and love as possible, whatever that is for you, then it will all work out in the end. And It really has. My whole life feels lighter just knowing as long as I gravitate towards genuine love and goodness, all good things will follow and come back.

  "The whole universe is always about love and when it isnt about love its about the absence of love."

Thanks for reading,

NRCM

*Want to read my old posts? Curious what about the past, or just simply nosey? Click "Past Work" on the left to read all my old shit.

[lnterrobcng]

front lobby of the borderline hotel. [ @salvationx ]

"It must be conference season," Dionne said warily, once he felt more than saw his partner approach his direction. His eyes lingered on a group of business men that gathered in the lobby talking of something as mundane as sales numbers. Actual business men, not undercover assassins, or gang members trying to pretend they were respectable members of society. Actual sales, not a code for the number of people they were trying to take down. He shook his head, before turning to look at Daze. What was this city coming to? "This is the first of three this month. I have to wonder if the Hilton on the other end of the block is really fully booked." Despite his inexplicable distaste for the mundane members of the city's business class they needed the large gatherings just like every other normal business. The Borderline couldn't subsist on guests of a certain type - well, it could, but a place as large as this couldn't get the reputation of having a mostly empty hotel most of the time. Unless they suddenly wanted to market themselves as being haunted, which was an idea. At least it wasn't a wedding, those wouldn't start getting booked for a few months yet. "There shouldn't be anything to interfere with this, but should we need to suddenly kick them out I'm more than willing."

[johnschneiderblog]

The reunion

Suddenly our southbound odyssey each year in the final days of January has become more than a change of scenery. More, even, than an escape from Michigan in February,

Suddenly, it's become a reunion.

Of the 15 units in the condo complex where we stay on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, six are occupied by our gang - friends we've known for many years and friends we met on the island. Our social circle there also includes a few people scattered around Hilton Head.

For the most part, we see these friends only in February. The year-long separation gives us a lot of catching up to do - on the pickleball court and off.

[a-night-like--this]

‘Robert Smith isn’t people’s perceptions’: Stories behind classic photos of The Cure

As the Cure head out on tour across the UK, renowned photographer Tom Sheehan takes us on a trip through some classic pictures of the band.

LAURA KELLY

Tom Sheehan has been taking photos of The Cure since the ’80s. Snatching moments on tour in dressing rooms around the world. Persuading the band to pose in major European cities. Capturing that intense connection Robert Smith has with the camera, and acting as a conduit to the readers of Melody Maker, NME, Sounds and Record Mirror.

Sheehan’s new book The Cure: Pictures of You is a visual record of one of the UK’s most influential bands. As The Cure head out on tour across the UK, Sheehan looks back on his decades of working with the band to share his memories and the behind-the-scenes stories of some of his favourite shots.

The first time I met Robert [Smith] and Lol [Tolhurst, the Cure’s former drummer] was at the Shepherds Bush Hilton in 1982. The Cure were supporting the Banshees, and Robert was also playing in the Banshees so he was a tired boy, I guess.

We were under the cosh because they were about to head off to soundcheck. So, my journalist colleague got about 20 minutes on tape. I got a few frames of them going through a revolving door going out of the hotel. When I look at those pictures, I see there’s a lot of humour going on.

On that half roll of film, the majority of them they’re larking about and Robert was smiling. It was a very comfortable entry into the world of The Cure. There’s that kind of rolling humour that The Cure have, which, luckily for me, I seem to have tapped into from our very first encounter. The perception of Robert at that time wasn’t a very happy guy. He isn’t what people’s perceptions of him are.

Prior to a band recording or doing a gig or whatever, there’s always a little bit of camaraderie. You’re setting things up and there might be a little bit of joshing going on, but the minute you start rolling, you’re working. I’m performing as much as they are. They’ve got to respond to me.

Robert does have a reputation for being a control freak, but I think he hands over the baton to whoever is working with. He ain’t going to leap through hoops of fire, and it was never in my modus operandi to get pictures that made the turn look foolish. But I think he trusts people that he knows can do the job.

The Cure on tour: Robert Smith in Bologna. Photo: Tom Sheehan

Robert Smith enjoys the sculptures in Bologna: The Cure on tour in Italy, June 1984

This was on The Top tour. I joined them in Italy. They were quite a tight band. There’s always this thing when you join a band on tour, even if they know you a bit, you still feel like the outsider because you’re not part of the gang. Although you might be an honorary member for two or three days, you’re an outsider. It’s like you can’t argue with a married couple. It’s the same with any band, you know: they’ve got their own lingo, their own ways. You’re witnessing it, but you’re actually outside of it. And you’ll never be able to penetrate it.

That statue with a fountain is in Bologna, and it’s on a Sunday morning. The day before, the gig was great… but earlier on in the day, Robert had a dicky tummy. I think he’d eaten a dodgy prawn or something and he was laying on the on the dressing room floor, groaning in pain prior to soundcheck.

He recovered enough the next morning to go out. But it was a case of, let’s nail it. So that was just a quick once around the block and take some pictures. It was really fortuitous that there was some nice architecture around to utilise.

Lol Tolhurst and Robert Smith. Photo: Tom Sheehan

A cheeky moment with Robert Smith and Lol Tolhurst: The Cure on tour in Italy, June 1984

I have a history of them doing stuff [for other photographers] and me walking in and taking over the studio. There was this really famous Italian photographer who was shooting them for a really high-end publication. This guy was set up and then he was done, and he was talking to his assistant. I just shifted the lights around a bit, and whacked off a couple of frames. That was on the hoof, you know? If something presents itself, you just go to go, there you go chaps. And bang, bang, bang. This picture is the one Lol used on the cover of the UK version of his biography, Cured: The Tale of Two Imaginary Boys.

A dressing room portrait. Photo: Tom Sheehan

Getting Robert out of bed: The Cure on tour in Brussels, November 1987

It was a Saturday night, they played some club in Brussels which I can’t recall. We’re in the dressing room and Robert’s sorting out his hair and all that stuff. I’ve just got a couple of plastic backgrounds on a wall and I’m just saying, “Robert, the blue one.” I’m getting them as they’re ready.

If they’re getting ready for a show, they don’t really want me in their in their hair as well. So I pinned up two backgrounds next to each other so I could switch, one to the other. Then the Melody Maker’s got a choice of colours.

Those pictures have quite clear lighting, they’re quite defined. Good for a cover, perhaps. But I was gagging for something in daylight. So, I said to Robert, can we meet tomorrow lunchtime? I get there at one or two o’clock, and the bugger’s still in bed. It was in November, and it was getting dark. So, I thought I better go from street level up to the roof. And then Robert turns up and it’s that classic kind of ‘Tommy, do I really have to be here?’ kinda look. This kind of weathered, aged, ‘is this totally necessary?’ look. I always remember it, because it doesn’t look as dark as it was getting… or maybe it was just my sheer panic.

Eye contact is vital to make a photo work on the newsstand. Photo: Tom Sheehan

‘Give us your eyes’: The Cure on tour in France, 1989

This was a swifty – dive in and dive out. You can’t take a photograph of The Cure in their fatigues. You can’t do it until he’s ready, in the sense of made up, ready to go. The eyes are on, the lips on, the hair’s done. If they if they’ve got a gig coming, I have to be quite economical with the time because they’re on stage in 30 minutes.

Robert is really good at connecting with the camera. He knows what’s required. It’s not like the [Melody] Maker was some sort of art magazine. You couldn’t have some enigmatic, looking-at-the-stars shot, because it’d be too dark and the ink would fuck up. A lot of time it had to be quite clean.

When Melody Maker, along with the NME and Sounds and Record Mirror, was sitting with a multitude of other magazines on the news stand at Tottenham Court Road when you come out of the tube station, you’ve got to be able to see those minces [mince pies, rhyming slang for eyes] on the other side of the road. Every time I’m working with a man, whoever I’m photographing, I say, give us your eyes. Unless you got eye contact, you can’t expect people to look at it the same way.

Sometimes when you look into the lens and look into their eyes, it is a bit of a staring competition. With Robert I think he’s always been confident. I mean, God knows what he thinks about in his own time, but when he’s working his confidence is great. He’s always appeared to be older than his years as well.

A big day out to Westbury White Horse with the Cure. Photo: Tom Sheehan

Robert’s side hustle as a National Trust guide: The Cure in southwest England, 1995

This was a great day out. The band were done in the southwest recording [the album Wild Mood Swings] in that actress’s house [Jane Seymour’s house, St Catherine’s Court in Somerset]. I came down when they’d been stuck in the studio for a couple of weeks, so I’m sure they wanted a distraction. In other words, taking the piss out of a mature lensman. So, off we went.

Robert was, and probably still is, a member of the National Trust. So he had it all worked out, where we’re were going. We got in a van and we just travelled around. We went to Cheddar Gorge and all round that area. Robert had made a few notes, so he’d be looking at the map, and saying, “Coming up is…”

The horse doesn’t have any hidden meaning. It’s just the British countryside. But I like to think it confused a lot of people overseas, in Japan or whatever.

The Cure at Westside Studios. Photo: Tom Sheehan

Music icons: The Cure in Westside Studios, London, 2005

It was 2005, and The Cure were in Westside Studios recording. I was taking a picture of Robert with a copy of Bowie’s …Ziggy Stardust… for series of portraits on music icons and the records that inspired them. I said to him, “let’s get a couple of other portraits while we’re here”. There was this spiral staircase outside, so we headed there. Robert said to me “you’ll do better getting me from above…” and he was right. I like taking photos from above, you get a better line on people’s jaw. Their faces look better.

I think Robert worked out his relationship between him and the camera. I mean, he got his whole thing together, didn’t he? With the hair and the lips and the clobber. If you’ve got all that stuff around, you could confuse the viewer. So I’d always say, I still want the eyes. I want that contact.

The Cure: Pictures of You by Tom Sheehan, with a foreword by Robert Smith, is published November 3, 2022.

[coochiequeens]

Public opinion is turning and the transcult has themselves to blame.

A trans-identified male influencer is under police investigation following a brutal attack on a young woman and a baby in Sobral, Brazil. 

On December 25, Municipal Police announced that Jhoy Vanderwall was being investigated for causing intentional bodily injury to a woman he suspected of spreading “rumors” about him. 

Vanderwall, a social media influencer with more than 14,000 followers on Instagram, was caught on a street security camera committing the violent attack. The CCTV has been released by police, and shows Vanderwall lingering on the curb of a street with three other men. A motorbike begins to drive down the narrow way, and, as it drives past, Vanderwall grabs the female passenger by the hair and rips her off of the bike.

The woman was holding a six-month-old baby as she was pulled from the vehicle and thrown to the pavement. After she hits the ground, Vanderwall is seen beating her repeatedly in the head with a bottle, which flies out of his hand from the force. He then begins to use his fist, still holding the woman’s hair and pummeling her in the head. The attack is quickly stopped by a group of people who rushed to hold Vanderwall back. 

It is unknown at this time if the child sustained any injuries. The woman who was attacked had been holding the child during travel, but has not been identified as the mother. 

According to Globo, Vanderwall is now under police investigation for causing intentional bodily injury, but many Brazilian netizens are decrying the cited charge as too lenient. Some are concerned a conviction would result in no jail time, and that Vanderwall should have been charged with attempted murder, as well as a crime against the child.

Following the release of the CCTV footage, Brazilian women on Instagram rallied to mass report Vanderwall’s account.

“Report the account. A creature that has the courage to do this without thinking about the baby should have no influence on absolutely anything,” @ketila_lyma wrote, with dozens of users sharing Vanderwall’s Instagram handle.

“If it were the other way around, the LGBT gang would be on top saying it was prejudice,” one user said in response to the video footage uploaded to the MetrópoleInstagram account.

Vanderwall’s account was active earlier today, though had been set to ‘private.’ The account appears to have now been taken down or deactivated, possibly due to the efforts of the women who had been mass-reporting it. He also has a relatively idle Twitter account, and some women have already taken to that platform to call him out for his crime.

This is the second incident of a trans-identified male committing a violent act against a woman out of Brazil in less than two weeks.

On December 16, Reduxx reported on disturbing footage taken at of the University of Brasília showing a bearded trans-identified male screaming at a female student who had confronted him while he was using the women’s restroom. Reduxx later conducted an interview with the student, who said she had been physically assaulted by the man after he chased her down to an administrative office.

Brazil is a hotbed of sex-based violence, with femicide rates increasing despite the country’s overall murder rate going down. Women’s rights movements appear to be falling flat in the country, which is now ranked among the most dangerous places in the world to be female. 

Though little political progress is being made for sex-based rights, the nation has an extremely low rate of female political representation, and the “most voted for woman” during the 2020 elections was a trans-identified male. Following his election, Erika Hilton began pursuing criminal charges against a domestic violence survivor-advocate for calling him a “man.” 

In October, a male won Glamour Brazil’s “Woman of the Year” award, sparking widespread outrage amongst feminists. Dozens of prominent women’s rights advocates were seemingly overlooked in order for the title to go to a transgender social media influencer who had previously claimed women did “not exist.”

By Anna Slatz Anna is the Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief at Reduxx, with a journalistic focus on covering crime, child predators, and women's rights. She lives in Canada, enjoys Opera, and kvetches in her spare time.

[bxthharmon]

Pink Champagne (1) - Benny Watts x Reader

Words: 2154

Series Warnings: Drinking, substance and alcohol abuse, addiction, smoking

Pt. Warnings: implied alcohol abuse, smoking

A/N: idk how regular updates will be and idk where tf this is going but here we are lol

“masterlist”

“You’re a woman.”

The twelve year old looks up at the speaker, her mother, apprehensive. She does not consider herself as a woman, not yet anyway. Besides, the older woman was drunk - but then again, when wasn’t she? 

“Not only that, you’re a pretty woman, with a kind heart. You’re just like I was.” the mother props her head up with her hands, elbows on the table as she faces her only daughter. “Men will use you. They will hurt you and bring you down and they will break you because they can. Don’t let them. Don’t let them hurt you, be strong. You have brothers, and they are strong, but not like me and you are strong. They fight with their fists and think with their dicks. Us? We fight with our words and think with our brains. Keep your head up, don’t let them push you around.” the women, staring at each other in a conflicting sense of understanding and resentment, stay silent. The mother, resenting her child for still having the opportunities that she missed, and adoring that her daughter could still be something. The young girl, resenting being told how to live her life, but adoring the fact that her mother cared enough to tell her things like this. 

The mother, always the first one to break, stands, stretching, then reaching for another bottle.

-

Paris was everything that was expected. Y/N shopped and drank and fucked in that oddly cinematic way that everything in Paris happened, wasting two months of her life partying. She did a photoshoot for a new advertising campaign for a fashion house she is the ambassador for, and as always, got bored. After six weeks, she wound up in the same position she had been in so many times before, stocking up on months worth of wine, then finishing it within two weeks. After two months in Paris, she lay on top of the covers of her bed, wondering if she should have taken Beth up on her offer. She hadn’t spoken to any of her American friends since she left, and of the people she had seen in person, she knew that they had no connections to her American friends, so she felt safe. 

Out of alcohol and cigarettes, she considered sending the door boy to get some, or even going herself, and decided to do neither. It was at this point that she realised that she had eaten a sum total of four things in two weeks, all of which were snacks, and was drinking herself to death. She decided that she wanted French toast and that overly fancy Columbian pressed coffee from the cafe down the road. She would get cigarettes on the way.  So she dressed and left, greeting the surprised door boy on her way out. She bought her cigarettes, ate her French toast, drank her coffee, then considered her next move.

London was out of the question - she’d only just remembered that she’d sold her apartment. That left New York, Los Angeles or Beth’s offer of Kentucky. Los Angeles never ended well, and she didn’t want to get dragged into anything by her manager. Kentucky or New York? She would have to call Beth  to decide. 

So she traipsed back to her glamorous apartment and dialed Beth’s number, letting it ring out a few times before giving up. So Beth wasn’t at home, was she just out, or in New York? She knew the only way to find out would be through Harry or Benny. She chose Harry. Things between her and Benny were… well, she didn’t know what they were.

“Y/N?”

“Don’t sound so surprised.”

“I am though - you never call.”

“Phone calls are so much hassle.”

“More hassle than seeing people in person?”

She paused, unable to outwit him, especially given the hangover she could feel creeping up on her. “Is Beth in Kentucky at the moment?”

“Beth? No.” he answered, “Why?”

“Do you know where she is?”

“She doesn’t have any tournaments, so New York, why?”

“I want to see her.”

“Why didn’t you just call Benny?”

“Don’t worry, thanks though.”

“Y/N?”

“Hmm?”

“I’m worried about you.”

“Don’t be. Bye.”

“Bye?”

She slammed the phone into its holder, sighing loudly. 

She’d always known she would have to see Benny eventually, but even after over two months since that night, she wasn’t ready. Besides, what was to say he wanted to see her? She slumped down into the armchair next to her phone, surveying her room and realising that he had been right - so had Beth - her drinking was getting out of hand. She stood with determination, picking up clothes from around the room and stuffing them into her wardrobe, which was already overflowing, and picking up all the bottles she could find to fill a couple of large paper bags. When she was done, the room felt cleaner, and she dragged the two paper bags out of her apartment and pushed them down the rubbish chute. She returned to her apartment, rummaging around to find a bag in the depths of her wardrobe. Once she had, she carefully picked out clothes, knowing that once she was back in America, the press would be all over her. She had clothes at Benny’s anyway, but she hated travelling without a suitcase - it made her feel bare. Before she left, she grabbed a pair of sunglasses and straightened herself out, checking that she was definitely wearing shoes and that her outfit all matched.

She carried her suitcase down with a little struggle, gave a couple of euros to the door boy for no reason in particular, and caught a taxi to the airport. The taxi driver, having recognised her instantly, seemed restless and kept telling her about how his twelve-year old-daughter wanted to be a model just like Y/N. She brushed it off, paying him well and buying the next flight she could at the front desk, rushing through customs to catch it. She tried to ignore the looks and comments she got as people realised who she was.

She didn’t sleep on the flight, instead ordering drink after drink, wondering what her mother would say if she could see her only daughter. Or Beth for that matter. She didn’t have to wonder what Benny would say, he had said it plenty of times before. When she left the airport, a crusade of reporters were awaiting her, and she had almost forgotten how the press could be. She persevered to a yellow cab, and let it take her to Benny’s. Standing outside, the harsh cold of autumn pushed her towards the door. She descended the steps, pausing when she reached the door, hearing four or five voices inside. Jesus, the whole gang was here. She steeled herself, knocking sharply and stepping away. The door opened abruptly, Beth appearing, at first confused, and then elated. She launched herself at Y/N, the two clinging to each other. Beth stepped back, scanning her friend over, and glancing towards the door. “You look more put together.”

“I don’t feel it.” Y/N admitted, hating the analytical look everyone seemed to give her these days.

“Why are you back here?” Beth murmured, her words kinder than they sounded, “I thought you were in Paris.”

“Well, I was. Then I ended up spending two weeks drinking myself half to death without leaving the room, and thought maybe it was time for a change of scene.”

“You can’t keep running from yourself, it’ll get you nowhere.”

“I know that.”

“Beth!” the two girls turned, “Are you alright out there? Who is it?” 

Benny’s voice, so recognisable, turned into the actual person. He was standing, jeans, a black top and layered necklaces, shock registering on his face. Y/N, who hadn’t proper registered that she was seeing him until that moment, looked like she wanted a black hole to appear beneath her. Pink tinged her cheeks, embarrassment unfamiliar to her, and she stood up straighter, faking confidence.

“Y/N?”

“Hi Benny.” She glanced back at Beth, who looked away. 

“Wait, is that Y/N?”

Arthur and Hilton appeared, and then Cleo, grinning with a drink in hand.

“You’ve been in Paris, eh?” she said, “Of course, you always seem to be there when I am not.”

“I wish you had been.” Y/N grinned, hugging Cleo tightly.

Benny, having come to his senses after the initial shock, stepped forwards, “A drink?”

Y/N looked at him pointedly, “You never have alcohol in this place.”

“But these three always bring some.” he nodded to the three stood next to her with drinks in hand.

“You not drinking at home really sucks ass.” Y/N groaned, concocting herself a makeshift cocktail with the ingredients she had to hand. 

“You know, most people don’t usually have those in pint glasses.” Arthur raised an eyebrow, and Y/N shrugged.

“I’m not most people.” she took a lengthy sip, ignoring the worried glances that her friends shared.

“So,” she looked up from her drink with a bright expression, “what’s going on in the chess world?”

“Well, we’re training Beth.” Benny explained.

“What for? She’s better than all of you.” Y/N frowned, and Beth smirked.

“Paris.” Hilton clarified, the prideful chess players ignoring your comment.

“Let’s do a simultaneous!” Benny offered. 

“Cleo, Y/N, are you joining?” 

“You know we can’t play.” Cleo reprimanded, the pair of you sitting down near the game and watching with interest.

“All of our friends are nerds.” Y/N sighed, “Look at them!”

-

By the time Beth had beaten the other three chess players eight times, Benny gave up. He had decided that Beth could ‘do it’, but was also getting distracted by the fact that Cleo and Y/N had found his records and were blasting The Doors as loud as they could and dancing around his living room. When the game was finished, the apartment was filled with the sound of Soul Kitchen, and any ability to concentrate on the game was impossible. Y/N was standing on his coffee table, eyes closed, bottle in hand, hips swaying. Cleo had her arms in the air, swaying with the rhythm, and the two girls seemed so lost in the music that the four surveyors were almost scared to interrupt. Y/N, murmuring the familiar lyrics, took a swig of the bottle and pulled out a pack of cigarettes, lighting one and taking a drag, only then noticing that her friends had stopped playing. “Join us!” She laughed, reaching over, grabbing Beth’s arm, pulling her up onto the table, and trying to get her to dance. At first, the woman only swayed, but found herself dancing more excessively. Cleo took the task of dragging the boys in, and soon the party of six were all laughing and dancing. The song began to draw to a close, when Alyssa turned to Benny, “Got any of The Beatles?”

He pointed to the stack of records, preoccupied with trying to stop Cleo from spilling her drink. Y/N found the Abbey Road album and the dancing picked up as the apartment began to fill with cigarette smoke and Y/N retrieved some whiskey. She drank straight from the bottle, and continued to dance, pushing off the gently guiding hands that Benny was attempting to provide. At some point, Cleo, Arthur and Hilton took their leave, and Beth turned the music down, leaving Y/N with her bottle and cigs as she joined Benny in surveying the drunken girl.

“I haven’t seen her like this in a long time.” Benny observed, and Beth sighed.

“She tries to hide it from you, she knows how you feel about it.” Beth explained.

“I didn’t realise it was this bad.”

Beth looked back at her friend, “She’s worse than I was.”

Benny scoffed a little, “I don’t know how to help her.”

“Wait,” Beth raised an eyebrow mockingly, “You, Benny Watts, wanting to help someone? That’s never happened before.”

“I’m helping you, aren’t I?”

“That’s different.”

Benny sighed, “Where are you going to sleep now that she’s here?”

“I can find a hotel?” she offered.

“Not this late. I’ll sleep on the blow up, you two sleep in my bed.”

“Okay.”

Beth walked up to Y/N, gently prying the bottle from her hand, Y/N turned to her, taking her in with wide eyes - she was always childlike when she was drunk. She watched curiously as Benny began to pump up the blow up bed, and Beth turned the music off. She let Beth sit her down on Benny’s bed, pulling her own clothes off and replacing them with one of Benny’s shirts while Beth helped Benny get all the leftover bottles in the bin. By the time Beth was back in the room, Alyssa was passed out on the far side of the bed, curled up into a tight fetal position. Beth lay down next to her friend, the familiar scent of alcohol conflicting her in both comfort and disgust.

[mldrgrl]

prompt: another Gary POV fic witnessing some cute offscreen moments pre season 8? 😶

Gary’s Job

by: mldrgrl Rating: PG Summary: MORE GARY

After I’ve settled into my new home, the gang tells me that everyone has a job to do.  Lois cleans the outside of the castle and Cleo cleans the inside.  Mike does the gardening and Joe, as the senior tank fish, he’s responsible for keeping debris out of the treasure box.  It’s not a job for the inexperienced, they tell me, and Mike shows me the knick in his fin where the lid closed on him once.  My job is moving rocks around to keep the floor tidy.  I take it very seriously.

I’m hard at work one day at the southeast corner of the tank.  It always takes the longest to work the southeast corner of the tank because the Bobbing Bubbler is dangerous and must be avoided so I have to be both quick and patient to get the job done.  Unfortunately, I’m also easily distracted.

The tall man and the redhead come home and I drop the rock I’ve been moving and fluff my fins to look presentable.  They’re not dressed in their fancy work clothes and they have take-out bags with them so that means it’s probably movie night and not work night, which is great!  Unless they put the golf movie on again and that just means a lot of kissing and nudity.  Last week they watched a movie with a lot of ladies in it and one of them died and the tall man pretended he wasn’t crying, said he had something in his eye, but it was so obvious he was crying.  It was a good movie, but I hope they don’t watch that one again.

It’s a new movie this time and they argue about whether or not it’s an action film or a Christmas movie.  I think the redhead is right, it’s definitely an action movie.  A lot of guns and explosions and barely a Christmas tree in sight.  Maybe I’m wrong though, they muted the TV after feeding each other Chinese food so I didn’t get to hear the rest of the movie.

The tall man sat back on the couch with his back to the tank and the redhead stretched out with her feet in his lap.  I think he must have been tickling her feet because she smiled a lot and kicked him sometimes.

“What do you think about going away this summer?” the tall man asked.

“Going away?”  The redhead raised only one of her eyebrows.  I was thinking that maybe her other eyebrow is broken because she always raises only one of her eyebrows.  “Like a vacation?”

“Exactly like a vacation.”

“Mulder, when was the last time you went on vacation?”

I saw him pinch her big toe and she laughed and pulled her foot away.  He caught her heel and brought it back to his lap.  He squeezed her foot a lot after that, and her leg, and she seemed to like it because she sighed a lot and closed her eyes.  I thought I might go back to moving rocks if she was going to fall asleep, but they started up their conversation again.

“Where to?” she asked.

“Hm?”

“Where do you want to go on vacation?”

“Oh, I don’t know.  I was just thinking that maybe we could get away together.”

“The beach?”

“So you can get all pink and freckled?”

“So I can smell the sea air.”

“Fiji?”

“Why, so you could spend the whole time hunting for the Fiji Mermaid?  No, thank you.”

“Jamaica?”

“What’s in Jamaica?”

“A lot of Bob Marley fans, probably.”

“We don’t have to go that far or that tropical.”

“What about...maybe somewhere like Rehoboth.  Or Hilton Head.”

“Hm.”  The redhead tipped her head back on the arm of the couch and smiled.  “I’ve heard good things about Hilton Head.”

“We can stop by that travel agency on M Street at lunch sometime and see if we can pick up some brochures.”

“A real vacation.”  She sounded like she was talking in her sleep.  “Who will feed the fish?”

Oh no.  I swam over to the side of the tank as the tall man turned and looked back at me over his shoulder.  If they went on vacation, who would feed us?  I blew a few protest bubbles so he would know skipping meals was unacceptable.

“Frohike,” the tall man said, and then turned his head again.

Frohike!?  I don’t know what a Frohike is, but it doesn’t sound good.  I wanted to swim over and ask Mike or Joe if they knew what a Frohike was, but I didn’t want to miss out on the rest of the conversation.

“Going away together...it’s a big step, Mulder.”

“Is it?”

“Just the two of us.  No casework.  No ghosts or goblins or liver-eating mutants.”

“Or homicidal, possessed dolls?”

There went that unbroken eyebrow again.

“Trust me, Scully.  Just you, me, and the sea air.”

“Alright.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes.”

He moved up so that her feet dropped out of his lap and then hovered over her.  I went back to my rocks when the kissing started because I’ve seen quite enough of that in the few short weeks I’d been in the tank.  Before I forgot though, I swam over to where Mike ws gardening to ask him what a Frohike was.

The End

[hoochy-coo]

You finally watched Promising Young Woman!!! Bo's character is the personification of that good guy who says "not all men" and poses as an ally just because. But Jesus Christ, that Stars Are Blind montage? I turned into the heart eyed emoji, never thought I would fall in love with Paris Hilton as the soundtrack

I was so frustrated with myself after *SPOILERS* it was revealed that Bo’s character was indeed at that party, witnessed the whole thing and did nothing about it like the rest of the med school frat bros. It’s like I knew he was a POS who was also complicit for Nina’s sexual assault/rape but because he was so likeable (i.e. ‘Stars Are Blind’ montage), I was waiting for him to somewhat redeem himself in that last 20 mins of the film. Then he ended up saving his own ass by not telling the police of her whereabouts even though he knew she had put herself in a dangerous situation. THEN he had the audacity to show up to the wedding. It really showed that he only cared about saving his reputation/standing with those POS and that he had very little remorse about what happened to Nina or how her sexual assault/rape and consequently, her suicide, stunted Cassie, the woman he claimed to love. Like I knew I shouldn’t expect him to do right by either of those women, but I was still left disappointed by his lack of accountability. This is probably why I think this movie is GENIUS by casting all these actors who usually play the “dorky, loveable, quirky dude.” It really messes with your head since you always associate those guys with that archetype and they all ended up being predators who hid behind the “nice guy” act.

Also, now that I look back at it, all the red flags were there along the way (??) but it was harder to pinpoint since the audience, like Cassie, wanted to be hopeful that Bo’s character would be different. One, he insisted that they go on a date under the guise of a “friendship” even after she gave him that fake number. Two, he just so happened to walk her to his apartment after the first date. Three, he’s still friends with the rest of that whole gang from college. Four, he randomly joked about her being a miserable asshole and called her a ‘bitch’ for laughs. It was there ALL ALONG.

Again, VERY ANNOYED with myself lmao

[thetripads]

WELCOME TO VORTEX, SOUTH CAROLINA

Where the Airbnb’s are cheap and the liquor is cheaper! There’s never been much to do in Vortex. A population of less than 10,000, but a locale near the beach has made it the perfect little nook if you want to get away from the typical Myrtle Beach or Hilton Head hotspots for vacation. The peak always hits around spring break, college kids looking for a cheap getaway near the beach. Summertime still brings in business a more than steady flow of business, much to the chagrin of locals who find their streets flooded by drunk frat bros who have more money than they can spend and their restaurants overrun by those who are just trying to capture the perfect ‘phone eats first’ aesthetic.  It was The Crybaby who suggested that their college friend group go to Vortex for the summer. Their grandparents owned a summer home there and who would ever say no to a free summer on the beach (except for maybe The Worrywart)? So, The Nightingale and The Whimsical took the lead on driving in their respective vehicles and the gang packed up their belongings and headed straight for the warm rays. Little did they know, it would certainly be a summer nobody would forget…

THETRIPHQ is a 20+ literate skeleton mystery rp set in the fictional summer town of Vortex, South Carolina centered on a group of college friends and the townies that live there. The group will be a hybrid of Tumblr and Discord rping with events taking place on Discord for easier access. The Trip HQ wants to encourage character development, interactive storytelling, and literacy. Direct inspirations and comparisons are drawn from media like Nancy Drew, Bodies, Bodies, Bodies, Pretty Little Liars, Gossip Girl, and Outer Banks.

[kevinbirthday]

Critically analyzing The All For The Game series

While this may seem like a hit piece on the books I will say that I absolutely adore the books beyond even my own comprehension. I own multiple pieces of fan merch of characters created by Nora and this series got me through incredibly tough times. I enjoy being critical of the media I enjoy so this is in no way meant to hate on Nora or drive you away from reading the books. The series will forever have a special place in my heart I am just a cynical person lol.

The all for the game series really is amazing, though there is subpar writing and glaring plot holes at times. Nora took lots of ideas I’ve never really seen in any other YA novel and ran with them, hell she even had a queer couple that didn’t exist solely for queer bait. I just feel like Nora had lots of ideas and there were so many concepts and half-baked notions of what should happen that not all of them were executed correctly.

I also think her putting out the extra content that contradicts the books multiple times was a poor choice. Yes, it’s great to get questions answered about things but I think if you have to constantly go back in and explain why something happend or when, then you should have spent more time on the books development. I have strong opinions when it comes to the extra content. Part of me believes it shouldn’t exist past answering a few questions about the books, not 300 paragraphs of random reiterations of the storyline and extra side stories that contradict canon.

I think a lot of the series was based on contrived plot points and driven by too many plot devices to make the story seem like a linear progression to me. The readers of this should also read the books on their own and form their own opinions on the book. Nora doesn’t alway do things incorrectly and I will never claim she’s a terrible writer on the basis that she self published the entire series. The books were never professionally polished and I think that is part of what gives this series so much charm. Suspension of belief is needed to read this series and it does inspire feelings of “What the actual hell. Did that just happen?!” Which honestly just shows the creativity of the series and proves that you can write a book full of morally grey characters and it be successful. As stated earlier I give Nora props for never making the main characters queer relationship be the entire focus of their exsistance. She did drop the ball on that when writing Nicky Hemmick’s character.

I also believe that while Nora was amazingly creative with this series, she created a whole new sport and badass characters for Pete’s sake that’s talent. I also Nora didn’t handle many things correctly or with the tact needed to pull certain things off.

Andrew and his whole meds situation paints medication and mental illness in an extremely poor light. I think she just wanted to throw something in to cover all her bases instead of researching pills. I agree it’s not far fetched to say that Andreil never say I love you in terms of vocalizing the words to each other because of the fact that they have their own private version of the words.

What I do find extremely far fetched is that Andrew never ‘heals’. Andrew Minyard goes to therapy even after the mandatory sessions are finished. Andrew agreed to go to joint therapy sessions with his brother to work their issues out! Tell me this man is not healing. Andrew will never not have bipolar disorder because it’s not something to be cured and he most definitely has C-PTSD after all he’s gone through. Those things can’t be cured but they can be managed by having a support system, going to therapy, and talking though issues within your family system. What is Andrew Minyard doing? Exactly that. He’s managing his symptoms which is part of healing, sure he’ll never be ‘normal’ but he’s healing as a person. The mindset that someone will never heal bc of their csa and mental health issues are ‘too bad’ is literally the worst mindset to have and is so damaging!

I also understand that you have to call on some suspension of belief when it comes to Andrew’s sentencing after he protected Nicky during the fight at Eden’s, but the only case I’ve ever personally seen someone be forced to take mind altering medication after a fight and not be sent to a psych ward was in the case of a combative schizophrenic and hurt someone and the person they attacked pressed charges. I find the whole Andrew on medication ordeal both infuriating and incredibly confusing.

Another confusing thing to me is the entire characterizaton of Nicky Hemmick. Can we all agree that it was incredibly uncomfortable? He was written as an extremely stereotypical gay man with rapey ‘undertones’. Who am I kidding with undertones he shoved drugs down Neil’s throat with his tounge and can’t take no as an answer. This being said, I do love Nicky’s character. I just don’t think that someone who was subjected to conversion therapy no matter if they had some to help them work through their internalized homophobia, would act so flamboyantly during the 2000’s. There were still commercials about not calling people gay as a insult, Paris Hilton had to tell people to use the word stupid instead. He was also one of the only explicitly stated characters as being a person of color and while I’d never say that Nora had racist intent behind that writing him as an extremely predatory gay man always rubbed me in an uncomfortable way.

At least he had some semblance of a back story though, due to Mr. Unreliable Narrator Neil Josten it felt like some characters were there just to prove that character’s besides the monsters, a few of the upperclassmen, and riko existed. Riko’s villain status seemed like it was something to make more of an immediate threat to Neil than Nathan. We had to have some reason for Kevin to be with the foxes and to go to a team so ranked down other than just Wymack being his father. What was Riko really there for other than to tell Neil that the Moriyama’s think he’s their property and then get shot in the head? I also think his death was just to wrap things up neatly and provide closure to the reader that all the ‘bad guys’ are gone. Evermore mostly served to further Neil and Andrew’s relationship and to provide extra drama. Nathan was too out of site out of mind to provide any suspense or drama for the readers. Riko was more of a plot device than a character in my personal opinion. We also only have the bare bones of almost all of the upperclassmen’s back stories. All we really know about the upperclassmen is that Dan used to be a stripper and her stage name was Hennessy, Matt’s dad sucked and he was an addict in the past and Andrew was the reason he went to rehab, Renee was in a gang and is a reborn Christian, Allison had an ed and was disowned and who cares about Seth because he was just killed to bring the foxes together. Was the team so dysfunctional Nora had to kill a man to get them to work together? I feel like his death could have been avoided and was completely meaningless. I enjoyed the the books but at times it was a complete information overload and I can’t even imagine how Neil felt in the situation when I as a reader will never had to deal with that firsthand.