#I have GOT to get over this and let my freak flag fly

[cosmermaid]

I want to openly be weird about characters I really like and to some extent I am, but I still feel like I'm looking over my shoulder or about to get snapped at for talking about anything unrelated to Cosmere.

Jesus Christ somebody was able to ruin me in like... two months last year. I went from being welcoming and wanting to make friends here on Tumblr to having anxiety about my discord status showing as "online". I still managed to make some friends here on tumblr after the fact which has been the highlight of 2024 for me. But I want to like what I like and post similar speculation posts about other things I'm into without it feeling like an act of defiance.

Fam, be really REALLY careful about letting people cross your boundaries or treat you poorly. I am not a skittish person, and tend to be really vocal or bold about it when I'm upset. This still had a profoundly negative impact on me and left me feeling paranoid.

[hazbinshusk]

written for @idkanygoodusernamesblog. blitzø x afab/fem reader. it was supposed to be quick and easy, but it morphed into a 1.7k monster. blitzø finds out you're a virgin and offers to help you out.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Look, if this is your kink, you can just say it, sugartits,” Blitzø quips casually, an eyebrow raised and an annoyingly familiar smirk in place as he studies you. He has a drink in hand and he lounges back against the arm of the couch, all swagger and self-assuredness. “Let that freak-ass flag of yours fly.”

You roll your eyes, cheeks flushed with heat as you set your glass back on the coffee table in front of you. You should have known agreeing to get drunk with the imp was a stupid idea. You were far too honest when drunk. “It’s not a kink.”

He blinks at you for a moment, blinks again. Then he bursts in raucous laughter.

“You’re fuckin’ serious?!” he crows incredulously. “You died a virgin?!”

“Shut the fuck up, Blitzø.”

“How the shit did that even happen?” he continues, undaunted by your tone. “You are way too fuckable to not get dicked down on the reg.”

You sigh, forcing a shrug despite the way his comment sends a thrill through you. “It’s not that complicated, dude. It just… never happened, alright?”

Blitzø’s smirk widens into something more devious. His tail twitches almost predatorily, and you feel the spade of it brush against your thigh. You were wearing a dress, and the feel of it, even briefly, against your bare skin sets goosebumps along your flesh. “Want to fix that?”

“Don’t be a dick, Blitzø.”

“No, I’m offering you my dick, sweetness,” he replies, his eyes travelling over you in a way that makes you press your thighs together. It’s a tiny movement, but from the way his eyes flick back to your face and his smile twitches wider, you know he noticed it. He shifts in his seat, leaning towards you. You see his gaze drop to the swell of your breasts for a moment, his pupils dilating. “I can show you what you’ve been missin’, and you get to experience some top-shelf quality fucking at the same time.”

You swallow, nerves and something that makes your exhalation shudder rising inside you. “What makes you think I’d be interested in—”

Blitzø runs a hand up your knee, pushing it aside until he can move to knee between your thighs. His claws graze along your skin and you shiver. “I’ve got fifty bucks that says you’re dripping wet right now.”

You scoff. “Oh, yeah, because I’m just gonna—”

The imp’s mouth meets yours hungrily, your voice catching in a squeak as he pushes you back against the arm of the couch. His kiss is rough but his lips are surprisingly soft, and you find yourself reaching up to take his face in your hands. You can feel Blitzø’s smirk against your lips, feel his hand claim your hip, and when you whimper, he slides his tongue into your mouth.

Heat floods through every inch of you to pool in your lower stomach, and you arch up under his touch as his hand brushes up along your waist. One of your hands moves up to touch the spikes between his horns and Blitzø groans in response, his teeth graze your bottom lip.

“Fuck…” he chuckles against your lips, and you whine as his mouth moved down over the side of your neck. His hands squeeze your thighs and spread them wider, and your breathing shakes as he sucks what you would later swear is a possessive mark into the side of your throat.

You fumble with his shirt and he pulls away to take it off, his eyes closing briefly as you reach up to run your fingers over the scars coloring his side. Then his mouth is on yours again his hands tearing the buttons down the front of your dress. When they’re undone he spreads the fabric apart, and you flush under his gaze as he lets it travel down over your body.

“Satan’s balls, you’re like a wet dream.”

You laugh despite yourself and he grins widely, cupping your breast in his hand. You moan, pressing into his touch as he squeezes.

“Christ, that sound is going straight to my dick.” Blitzø groans, lowering himself over to you to run his tongue over a lace-covered nipple and down over your shuddering stomach. His claws curl around your inner thighs. “Now, you remember my name, don’t ya, sugar?”

“Wh— of course I do!”

“Good,” he says, all cocksure smirk and hooded eyes as you hear the obnoxious sound of your underwear being torn away from your body. He spreads your legs wider, his eyes on yours as he hesitates just above where you suddenly need him the most. “’Cause you’re about to have a real strong urge to start screamin’ for ‘God’, but he’s got nothin’ to do with how fuckin’ good you’re about to feel.”

You don’t even have time to roll your eyes before his tongue is on your clit and you moan. He snickers, pulling away long enough to comment, “Heh, I fuckin’ knew you were wet.”

Despite his humor he works you apart slowly, reveling in the way your head falls back against the arm of the couch and the way your hips rise up to push against his mouth. His hands smooth over your hips, thumbs brushing soothing circles against your pelvis as he teases your clit.

“Blitzø…” you whimper his name and he slides a finger into you, sucking on your clit as you grind against his face.

“Damn fuckin’ right,” he mutters proudly against your cunt, flicking his forked tongue over your swollen clit. “Tell me how it feels, baby.”

“So fucking good…” you whine and when he laughs you take hold of his horns and force his face back between your legs. His laugh turns to one of pride, and he rewards you with another finger and the teasing of his tongue against your clit. “Fuck, Blitzø…”

He pulls away slowly, almost reluctantly, teeth digging into the sensitive flesh of your inner thigh before he climbs back up your body. “Well, aren’t you just the sweetest little thing when you wanna cum?” he teases, his fingers still asking a lazy pace inside you. “Wanna beg me for it?”

“Prick,” you spit out even as your eyes roll back.

“’Atta girl.” he snickers, taking hold of the hand you have clenched around the couch cushion and leading it between his legs. Your palm cups the bulge straining against his jeans and he groans, eyes fluttering closed for a moment as you dare to squeeze.

“You ready for this?” He kisses you before you can answer, and you taste yourself on his tongue. You jerk beneath him as his thumb touches your clit. “Tell me you want it, baby. Tell me you want my cock in your sweet little cunt.”

You nod eagerly, pulling him down into another kiss that’s all tongue and heavy breath. When you speak its against his lips. “Please.”

You hear the clink of his belt and when he presses his cock into you its slowly, every inch given to you in agonizing increments. You arch up under him, one hand clutching at his arm as he fills you, his face falling to the crook of your neck.

“Holy tits, you feel good…” he mutters into your skin, lips and teeth grazing your collarbone. He pauses when he bottoms out inside you, the full size of him creating an intoxicating ache between your thighs as he stretches you further open. “Shiiiiit….”

He doesn’t move until he feels you rock your hips beneath his, taking up a pace that you could almost consider careful, sliding almost all the way out of you before thrusting back in. Its steady and its infuriatingly slow but every press of his hips into yours makes your breath hitch and your fingers flex against his shoulders. You can feel his tail wind itself around your calf, feel the heat of his breath against your throat.

“How’s it feel, sugar?” he asks even as he groans his own pleasure, a crease in his brow. “You ready to start screaming yet?”

You attempt to swallow back a moan but it breaks in your throat, coming out as a plea for harder.

Blitzø grins and obliges, kissing you again as his hips almost slam into yours. This time you do moan aloud, breaking away from his mouth to throw your head back. You wrap your legs around him, forcing him to thrust deeper, to graze against that sweet spot inside you with every press forward, and when he does you cum, loudly and with his name on your lips.

Blitzø fucks you like that until you can feel tears in your eyes and your thighs are shaking, each new orgasm announced with your voice calling out his name. When he touches your clit you curse and tighten around him so much that his eyes roll back, and Blitzø cums too, swearing into your chest.

Unable to roll off you on the couch – you lost your virginity on his couch – he slides out of you slowly and shakily pushes himself up into a kneel between your thighs, slumping against the back of the couch.

He chuckles, wiping a hand over his face. “Fuckin’ told ya you’d be screaming my name.”

You shove him away with you knee and his laughter doubles. He catches hold of your thigh, smirking in satisfaction as your flesh twitches from overstimulation. You smile despite yourself, your breathing unsteady. “Asshole.”

“You want me to fuck that too?” he shoots back cockily. “I’d say we need lube but you’re so wet we can—“

You push yourself up and grab him around the back of his neck, jerking him down into a kiss. He relaxes into it, and you feel his hand ghost over your thigh and up to your waist.

“Blitzø.”

“Yeah?”

“Stop talking.”

He grins, and you shudder as he grazes his fingers over the mark he left on your thigh. “Gotcha.”

[hughesyodaddy43]

Six Flags ⎸ L.H

Pairings: Luke Hughes x fem!reader , Platonic hockey players x reader  Genre : Fluff Synopsis : You go on a group trip to six flags word count: 2.3k+ (first fanfic so let me know what ya'll think)

The summer air smelt of light rain and flowers, the sun was bright and hot. The windows in the car were rolled all the way down and my hair was flying all over the place.

You were all on a road trip to six flags, it was the off-season and frankly really freaking hot. 

Quinn was driving with Trevor in the passenger seat, Luke was in the middle seat behind them with Jack on the right and you on the left of him, behind the both of you sat Cole Caufield and Alex Turcott.

Trevor was banned from playing music after he put on the worst edm songs known to man, so instead Cole took over the bluetooth and started  playing unwritten by natasha bedingfield. Soon enough the whole car was filled with mixed voices that were a hundred percent out of tune but nobody cared.

You and Luke had been dating for around 10 months, the two of you went to college together before he left for jersey. You were the only one in the friend group still at UMICH and you would be lying if you said college was the same without luke. You invited Ethan,Luca, Adam and their girlfriends to come but there wasn't enough room in the car for you to join the girls, so now you were stuck in the  car behind them with hockey guys and no other girls . As much as you loved them all, it got tiring trying to beat the ‘puck bunny’ allegations. 

“Are you excited?” Luke's voice echoed in my ear “yes i am. Will you go on all the big rides with me?” I asked him “or are you too scared?” I add as I examine his reactions, he sucks his teeth with a grimace “i'll be fine” he straightens his back as he finishes while i giggle at his comment  “so is that a yes?” “yes”.

We pulled up to the park, it was almost impossible to find a place to park the cars, it was absolutely filled with people. We all got out of the car and stretched before making our way over to the others. It was such a relief to talk to the girls, who knew being stuck in a car with hockey players for hours would be so hard.

We walk through the entrance of the park, Cole is almost bouncing with excitement as he cheerfully walks ahead with trevor. Jack was walking just behind the two with his hoodie and sunglasses on, stating that he's ‘too popular’ to not disguise himself as if he's not attracting more attention by what he's decided to wear. Quinn is next to Jack, slightly shaking his head at his brother's attire, Luke and I are trailing behind the two while everyone else transitions into a conversation behind us.

Once we are past the gates and have our wristbands on, we gather as a group to see where we should go first.

“Okay so, where do we wanna go first?” Quinn asks 

“We should go get food” luke suggests 

“Food before rides? Thats a bad idea” i say to the hockey player 

“alright , why don’t we go grab a guide and-”

“Wait. Where's Cole and Z?” Jack interrupts his older brother, securing an annoyed eye roll from the 24 year old.

We all looked around and counted heads to discover that Cole and Trevor had disappeared.

“They're probably at the rides, Cole was so giddy about coming here earlier”

 I say

“Okay so then why don't we just split up and meet back here when we're done? We can text each other if anything goes wrong” Alex says this and it doesn't go unlistened, everyone agrees with what he says and we all go our separate ways.

Luke begs me to go get donuts with him but I tell him we can get donuts after we go on the slingshot.

Walking around the park was fun, we found cole and trevor lining up, jack was with them and told cole to measure himself so he's sure he can fit on the  ride 

“Hey caulfield, go measure yourself over there, don't want cha’ to fall out”

“Very funny hughes, i'm not that short”

‘Well” trevor chimes in with a smirk 

“Shut up” Cole does the walk of shame over to the marked line, stomping his feet like a child. 

“NUH UH, HEELS DOWN, BUDDY” Jack yells out to cole.

 Cole huffs as he slowly lowers his heels, Trevor giggling over Jack's shoulder. A worker comes over to Cole, making sure he meets the marked line. The 5 '8 hockey player lets out a relieved sigh as he's told he's tall enough, just before stomping back over to the boys, ready to tell them off.

“Hahahahhaha bitches, I made it. ”

“Barely”

“ I can see the little lift your shoes give you” Trevor states while gesturing to his slightly lifted shoes 

“The height limit is 5’4, I am NOT 5’4”

“Whatever makes you sleep at night” Jack adds, allowing Trevor to slightly snicker at his comment.

Luke and I snicker at the two ganging on about Cole’s height before continuing our walk to the slingshot.

“Are you excited?” i Ask, slightly raising my voice so he can hear me over the loud music and distant chatter

“Yep, stoked.” Luke say

We reach the slingshot and Luke's grip on my hand tightens a bit as he watches the people on the ride fly into the air.

“Okay, i'll buy the tickets really quickly, you can go wait in line before we lose our spot.” I say to Luke while gesturing towards him. The line isn't too long just yet, it's just after lunch so most people are eating or resting before going on anything yet.

Luke walks towards the line, looking like a scared puppy or as Ethan would say, a ‘hairless cat’.

I quickly buy the tickets and walk over to my undoubtedly scared boyfriend. I've never seen him like this other than when he's on the ice. I mean the man is 6’2 i never thought heights would be one of his fears. 

He swallows hard, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down as he watches the ride reload.

“Are you okay, Lukey?” 

“Huh? Oh yeah” the boy says while playing with his hands 

“Are you sure? If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were scared?” i say as i raise an eyebrow at the 20 year old 

“I don't think you know better cause i'm not scared” he hisses 

“don't get your panties in a bunch, Luke. If you're not scared, you aren't making it look like that”

“What do you mean?”

“No offense but you look fucking terrified” i tell him 

“Mmhmm” is all Luke is able to make out before we are at the front of the line and ready to get in the seats.

We sit down and get ready, the workers have to do some things before we are ready to go 

“Okay, Y/N, what if I told you I was a little scared?”

“Its okay, i'm a bit scared too” 

“Okay , what if I said I was a lot scared? What would you say?’”

“i’d say i knew it, sorry honey but you didn't make it very believable that you weren't back there”

“Oh, how did I look?”

“you looked like you were shitting your pants”

Luke shakes his a head a bit, opening his mouth to say something before being cut off by the ride operator coming over with a microphone 

“Okay, who's ready to rumble?”

‘Would you like a countdown or no?”

Before I can answer, im interrupted 

“YES, please” luke yells out, his voice a bit squeakier than usual

“alrightt”

I hold onto Luke's hand that's deathly gripping the bar, his knuckles going slightly white.

The seat moves back and luke lets out a small whimper, I can't help but giggle a bit at my 6’2 boyfriend being so scared. 

“3”  

I sigh as i get ready , sitting back and stroking luke's hand lighty

“2”

BOOM 

We fly up into the air, Luke's screams being the only sound that's audible. Luke screams out so loud, I swear everyone can hear him. You want to scream too but you're too busy laughing as luke pants in his seat, palms sweaty as the seat comes to a slow stop.

“W-why are you laughing??’” luke questions

“Because I've never seen you this scared” I say between breaths of laughter.

“That's mean”

“Why?”

“You shouldn't laugh at your boyfriends expense” 

“Sorry Lukey, but you're just too funny”

“Nuh uh, stop laughing”

“What? Are you gonna hiss at me?” 

“Bro, that was one time”

“Twice”

Luke scoffs while shaking his head before continuing.

“My throat hurts”

“Mhm i bet” 

We are lowered back to the ground and are offered the video of our ride. Luke walks off not wanting to see it but I put my email in so I can see it later.

Luke gathers our bags and waits for me at the bottom of the stairs. I follow down the stairs and take my handbag from Luke's hand.

“Can we get food now? I need compensation” 

“Do you even know what that word means?”

It takes a minute before luke response 

“Yes? Maybe idk”

I snicker lightly at my slightly dumb but cute boyfriend.

“Because you went on the ride with me, we can get food” I laced my fingers with his and we made our way to the donut shop.

x

x

We all made our way back to the Hughes Lake house after Six flags, everyone was staying at the lakehouse for the night before they made their way back home, with the exception of a few stragglers. Luke played pool with his brothers while I stayed downstairs with Cole, going through my message before I found the email from six flags that held the video of Luke and I’s time on the ride. Cole looks over my shoulder while munching on doritos 

“Damn girl, you must have been terrified judging by that scream” 

I giggle before showing him my phone

“That's not me, it's Luke” I begin laughing as I watch Cole's eyes widen and his lips curl up into a cheeky smile.

“we gotta show the boys” he whispers 

“I know we do, why do you think I told them I had a video for them to watch after their game?”

“You're an evil woman, you know that?”

“mhm, thank you” I say, straightening my posture before lifting up from my seat, getting ready to screenshare on the tv. 

The guys finish their game and pool into the living room, grouping up on the couch with a few sitting on the floor.

Jack, Quinn, Alex sit on the right while Luke and Ethan cuddle up together in the middle with Adam and Luca squishing up on the left with their girlfriends finding spots in between. Cole and Trevor both move onto the blowup mattress on the floor, in front of the couch.

“What do you have planned, y/n?” Ethan asks 

“Yeah, is this gonna take long?” Quinn says 

“Why, is it past your bedtime, Quinny?” Jack adds 

“Okay okay, relax. I have a fun video from our day today that i'd like to share”

Luke's body tenses up, his movement not going unnoticed by Ethan who is tightly wrapped around luke in a warm embrace 

“What did you do, Rusty?” Ethan whispers in Luke's ear, only gaining a glare from the boy.

“Hey, y/n, since your boyfriend has been taken by ethan over there, why don't you cuddle up to me?” Cole says with a big smile on his face before frowning after luke kicks his back 

“Back off, dude” Luke growls 

“As much as I love your confidence, Cole. I'm not into short guys, and it's way too hot for that” i say before gaining a whoop from the girl and an ooo from the boys 

"its only hot cause Alex is here" Trevor adds while turning his head to face Alex, blowing him an imaginary kiss. Alex doesn't say anything, instead he shows off his dimpled smile with a toothy grin while shaking his head at the young boy.

“Just thought I'd ask.” Cole shrugs as he lays his head on a cushion.

I giggle before sitting down in between Cole and Trevor, Cole grins at me while he waits for me to start the video.

I press play on the video, my screen showing up on the tv and the video of Luke screaming echoes through the room.

Everyone begins giggling and cackling, all except for Luke who is sitting there, still entangled with Ethan and sporting a bright red blush on his cheeks. 

The video ends and the group wipe the tears of laughter from their eyes and all stare at luke.

Luke looks at me with a look of annoyance before giggling and curling his lips into that wonky smile I love so much.

“Im sorry, babe but i had to show everyone” i say to my embarrassed but happy boyfriend 

“Its fine, i'll just have to get you back later” he replies while pulling Ethan a little closer 

“Yeah, y/n im taking yo bae” Ethan jokes. 

“Yeah, whatever” i say before turning around to face the screen 

“we should watch a scary movie” Adam request, earning a nod from his older brother

“Nope, it's bedtime” Quinn says as he moves from the couch, he gives me a small side hug while moving to say goodnight to everyone else before retreating up the stairs to his room, Trevor quickly stealing his spot on the couch. 

After the movie, I look around the room to see Luke, my boyfriend cuddling Ethan while sleeping. They are spread all along the couch as everyone migrates to their designated rooms, Cole and Trevor staying downstairs on the mattress. Instead of waking up the tired hockey players, I simply kiss Luke on the head, say goodnight to everyone and go to bed, enjoying the space in the bed and access to pillows.

[melancholicstation]

CONSIDERING AVIATION? - a bobby kennedy one-shot

summary: turns out this attorney general is definitely prone to peer pressure by pretty women! who could've guessed that. authors note: of course gimagus was not around in the sixties (though i do try to dress the readers in period appropriate clothes) the reader's outfits are literally an apparition of my ssense shopping cart at a specific time! feel no pressure to imagine them that way. let that fashion freak flag fly high! shout out to @remotewatch for indulging in airport bobby kennedy and giving inspiration!

tags: @rocker-chick-7 @ultr4v1ol3nt @violetharmonsfavgf @darcyspirits @fortheloveofjos @h-l-v-kennedy-blog @h-l-vlovesvintage @bluelancergirl @snowsgames @salvatoresablondie @dulcegal @kennedyism @bloxholden35 @kimcrystal123 @jackiesgirl @chemicalw0rld @remotewatch @starsprangledgirl @strryhaze @beloved-angel @absurdlyvintage

warnings: none just bobby being peer pressured into taking off his shirt but he loves it more than he ought to!

words: 2,308

A lot of people probably thought you were crazed for selecting a career path in the sector of aviation—with all it's arduous work schedule, time away from friends and family, and draining time zone changes. But nevertheless you loved it.

"Do you think I'm crazy For considering aviation? I'm a fan of flying...

As a child of a particularly affluent New England family you enjoyed the pleasure of flying often in your childhood—your beloved aupair dutifully carrying behind you your soft shell carry-on luggage bag containing various cotton pique dresses and chemises, along with a backpack containing note pads and pencils to do your homework between flights.

Safe to say growing up flying across the globe gave you an innate fixation on it advancing into it as a career path in adulthood. Which is exactly how you got here, being an air hostess for Texas' biggest airline in the state: Air Texas.

Why not do it for the nation? Cause I have nothing else to do...

Safe to say your parents weren't the biggest fans of your particular career path. Your mother wanted you to be some sort of home-maker living it up in North Connecticut in a weatherboard house, sedated out of your mind on blue pills making jello moulds all day—okay maybe that's not exactly transcribing what she said but you get the gist!

In opposition your father always had dreams of you becoming a middle school teacher, claiming you had a certain way with children. However, you would beg to differ if a particular heated fight with one of your teenage cousins on Christmas morning ending in tears and a very unhappy look on both of your parents faces was anything to go by.

Instead of submitting to either of your parents wishes you bucked the trend and got a big degree in philosophy of all things, to which your father calmly explained that he would not spend over four thousand dollars into Harvards pockets just to facilitate a degree that would leave you severely and desperately unemployed.

But, because he's your father he relented, as you thought most fathers ought to do with their daughter's aspirations.

However you can't he was entirely wrong on the whole unemployment rate of philosophy students. Well-paying employers weren't exactly falling over themselves to find young, freshly-graduated philosophy majors to hire. So when Air Texas provided you with an opportunity you took it with absolute and total vigour.

Have a big degree in philosophy But I don't know what I want to be...

Working for an airline was, to you at least, a pretty stable method of income which payed you to basically talk shit with other twenty-something women and have limited contact with the on-board passengers, bar simply asking them if they want orange juice or coffee with their plastic covered, stale piece of bread to go along with their miso soup that is probably still in the best by date. Probably.

All in all it was a good gig, with a stellar choice of wardrobe.

Getting ready for your job was a relatively easy and stress-free task for you. First step was to wash yourself and hair in rose water, then carefully assemble your hair into smooth waves with the front sections pulled back by two ivory chignon hair pins engraved with the company namesake. Moving onto makeup was easy: fresh skin with a powdered t-zone, red lacquered lips, and a tawn beige blush to the cheeks.

So I'm going into aviation, yeah, mom I'm going into aviation, yeah, dad Going into aviationI'm going into aviation...

The uniform in its basic form was relatively strict: white ballerina toe high boots in white, low rise mini skirt or denim micro shorts in white paired with a halter fitted top in a cotton-linen blend also in white.

The details, however, in your uniform were more customizable. A hat was required so you chose a paperboy denim cap, a pair of butterfly lenses and with some more affixing of random jewellery pieces you'd possibly stolen from your grandmothers estate years ago, you were all but ready to head to work.

You'd thought today to be a relatively normal work day, that was until you attended the mandatory briefing meeting required before every flight and was informed that a member of "very high influence" had loaned out the aircraft for the day and that your boss had offered staff to service those on board.

How curious.

You'd never really heard of famous people being able to loan out commercial airplanes, you'd heard that more often than not they fly private—which made you realise that it was more than likely going to be a large volume of passengers boarding the flight to even start to justify what you imagined would be a gargantuan loan price tag.

After briefing was done you'd forgotten mostly about it till boarding—besides it wasn't the first time a famous person had flown public before. Though somehow it was always your most hated colleague that got to unfairly serve said famous person tea or coffee instead of you, so the star-power of a boarding passenger didn't all that much change your workday or your mood.

At least it hadn't until now.

You'd begun boarding and preparing for the short three hour flight without much fuss—being informed that the group would arrive in the next hour. So you used the time to make coffee for your three closet work girlfriends: Renee, Colleen, and Virginia. Now, you'd never say this to them face to face but them being there made those arduous flight hours worth it to you, and they were the only ones who would indulge your inclination to lightly gossip about passengers. Lightly, of course.

You'd all assumed your positions as boarding came into session, as if on auto-pilot you simply did your job: politely meeting the eyes of passengers, giving them each an earnest smile. But, after the 5th passenger you'd started to see a pattern linking each person from the next—and it wasn't that they were just from the same group loaning the plane, they all donned a specific sort of pin.

Initially they moved much too quick for you to discern any sort of writing on the pin, but once a women kneeled down to slide her cabine trunk under her seat you could clearly make out the content of the pin: the pin writing "Kennedy" in simple, white arial font against a lapis background.

Some wore it on their jacket lapel, others on their tie, and others simply on their mohair sweater.

Huh, must be a Kennedy campaign plane you thought to yourself. Not even really entertaining the idea that the "Kennedy" up for office would be on board at this very moment.

The first thirty minutes of the flight was pretty much smooth sailing all around, from what you gathered the campaign members were all young, vivacious citizens putting in the effort. In a certain light they were incredibly admirable for their efforts, though you didn't know that you quite had it in you to follow a politician to every damn state in the country.

That was until you'd seen his face. That damn face on his face.

To Colleen's credit you weren't the first to spot him, quite frankly because you were so sure a man of his status would be irrevocably be flying private. Always.

She, according to her word had seen him set up shop across two recliner chairs, sitting cross legged with a gentle yet firm hand stroking his cocker spaniel 'Freckles' and another flipping through a manila folder filled to the brim with loose leaf.

What clued you into his arrival however was the loud ruckus that your three friends were making by loudly and not at all discreetly whispering in each others ears in the crew area. Feeling unbelievably left out you race over there desperate to hear whatever they've got to tell, they clue you in with remarkable speed and clarity. Bobby Kennedy is on board right this minute.

Though, it's only when Renee motions your eyes with her hand that you see the main topic of conversation for yourself: Bobby Kennedy quietly reading a book... innocuous enough sure to the naked eye. But after a short inspection you see that not only did he discard his sleeveless sweater vest but that his white button-down has two-less buttons covered than it originally did: making a littering of chest hair subtly apparent to those who looked for it. Giggling with your girls, you started to feel a little bad for objectifying a man who's simply just reading a book but in your mind it was utterly harmless.

After about 5 minutes of ogling you'd been called over to refill the beverage jugs, leaving the three to have their fun with him. But only when you got back you saw just how much fun they were having...

You weren't exactly sure what you had walked into—all you knew was the first thing you saw was bobby being cornered by your very charming and very attractive friends and Virginia saying in a tone bordering on mocking tone, yet exceeding at being sickly sweet,

"Oh C'mon Bobby it's only your shirt! A peek really can't hurt now could it?"

Peeking out from your position in the cabin alcove, you observe a deep red crimson blush wash over his face, bathing it in the kind of expression right before the big dip of a roller coaster: exhilaration meeting intense trepidation all along the features of his greek god like face.

Blushing, he begins to fiddle with the cotton of his button-up, listening intently to the encouragement from your two other friends,

"C'mon Bobby we won't ever tell a single soul, it'll just be our little secret!"

Quietly giggling, as to not give your specific vantage point away, you're deeply shocked when he actually does relent to their request. Sheepishly removing the cotton layer revealing a mosaic of chestnut hair mediated by a taupe natural tan to the skin.

What shocked you even more, however, is that Renee calls out to you, seemingly aware that you had been there the entire time,

"Y/n, honey, come take a picture of us with that Kennedy boy! He's real cute too!"

Groaning internally from the embarrassment of being caught you take the camera from her hands, quickly snapping a few photos of your friends either side of a shirtless Bobby Kennedy.

This would surely be a story to tell at dinner parties, Huh?

Laughing slightly you hand the photos back, to which the girls ogle at the pictures pointing at the picture and calling him over,

"Oh Bobby, Look how darling you look here!"

As if just registering your presence as you were about to leave this very strange bordering on erotic situation. He appears docile as ever quickly nodding at you as if to say hello without actually verbalising it, waving with his left hand.

You wave back warmly and decide to leave the alcove, but not before taking in the utter physical comedy of a United States senator completely shirtless, wearing black trousers adorned with a slate belt, in front of a handful of Texas flight attendants simply at their request.

It's about an hour before you encounter Bobby again, and coincidentally you'd hit the tarmac into the airport about 15 minutes ago, with all passengers boarding off bar one: Bobby.

Apparently he had fallen asleep on the floor of the seat along with his dog and no one had the heart to tell him the planes landed by waking him up. It felt cruel, almost like waking up a newborn fawn in the middle of nap time. Did fawns even have nap time? You didn't quite know.

Taking one for the team, and totally not because you were curious what his face would look like completely rested: not haunted by the daily struggle you were sure he faced being who he was and doing what he did.

Kneeling down you quietly knock on the side of the plastic seat in an effort to wake him up, although that only causes his dog, Freckles, to awake and furiously lick the face of its owner. Which does begin to wake him up.

"Mr Kennedy, Sorry to disturb you but we've arrived at Lafayette Regional Airport."

"That's quite okay—thank you very much"

You notice he's put his button-up and sweater back on, much to your chagrin. Turning away you start to leave to collect your own baggage when you hear an audible stomach groan of hunger from what you can only assess as coming from Bobby as your the only two on the aircraft.

Sympathetic, you reach into your waist pack and fish out some rice crackers, along with a bottled water, and place it on the cushion of the seat in front of him. Leaving food for him to find like a person leaves food out for easily scared woodland creatures.

Coming back to do your final sweep and check of the seats before they were to be cleaned by the cleaning crew for the next flight, you lock eyes with Bobby and trail your eyes down, down, down to a surprisingly, shockingly large bulge in the pant of his trouser, accompanied by a pained from anticipation expression that almost drips over his entire face covering, encasing him whole.

All in all he looks utterly a mess and pathetic, not at all how he should present himself to the adoring fans lined outside the airport immolating his presence. So you do as anyone in your position would do—okay maybe not everyone but you'd wager on most,

"Give me one sec, I'll take care of it I promise."

You leave Bobby alone and catch your three friends unloading their personal carry-ons, you inform them that Bobby's in the bathroom and you'll see him out and make sure everything's in order for the next flight. They eye you suspiciously as if they know what's really going on, but no one dares to share.

They know you'll debrief tomorrow anyway so what's the point in spoiling the fun early anyway?

Safe to say after a good 20 minutes, Bobby Kennedy departs the plane and greets slobbering fans looking more chipper and revitalised than any person ought to look after spending hours on board a metal flying tube... but who were they to speculate on what went on during that flight?

I'm gonna take a vacation, yeah, man Fly fighter jets all over the nation Fly fighter jets all over the nation"

[playertwotails]

Okay so this has been circling around in my head for like two weeks like a fly hitting windows in a sun-room.

So I'm back on my Tails kitsune AU bullshit and I've also recently gotten into Cult of the Lamb so now they've mashed in my brain into a hodgepodged gloop.

And it's all going below the cut if you wanna read my brain worms cause it's long

***Trigger warning for like blood and cults and kidnapping and drugging. Just to give people a heads up (nothing too graphic or detailed but just in case and let me know if you think I missed anything I might need to warn people about)****

Little side note before jumping into this: do not tag as shipping, there is no shipping here it's all platonic and familial. If I see a ship tag I will block you.

Starting off it doesn't matter if Tails is actually a kitsune or not (I personally prefer that yes he is just for the post situation of the gang all being like "okay so what species is Tails actually???" )

I've just had this idea in my head where some cult somewhere is started and they worship kitsune's as godlike entities. They then catch wind of Tails in the news or rumors and their target is now locked.

So this cults leader gets the 'big brain but head actually empty' idea to kidnap Tails like any sane cult leader would.

Now these people somehow stumble ass backwards into kidnapping Tails and keeping him contained. And by keeping him contained they're basically drugging Tails just enough he's conscious but nonreactive. And they basically dress him up and drag him to their ceremonies as more of object than a kid. Tails is hating it and actually scared cause what the hell is wrong with these people let him go home.

Meanwhile Sonic and the gang are all freaking out cause "WHERE IS HE??!!!!" Cause lets be honest kidnapped by a cult was not on any of their bingo cards and at this point they don't know that's what happened, they only know Tails is gone and none of the usual suspects have him.

Rouge starts going through her contacts on the side looking for any crumb of information and gets a lead. And in typical Rouge fashion splits off on her own to look into it. She then comes across the cult and infiltrates their compound.

During her snooping though she overhears the leader of the cult and his subordinates talking about "living forever through the blood of their god's mortal form", sees a statue of a multi-tailed fox and all the red flags are immediately up for her. Internal panic button is smashed. 2 + 2 = fucked up situation.

She's already pressing the "get your asses here" button on her communicator and tears off as quickly but quietly as she can looking for Tails. When she finds him he's in a locked room just laying in bed, all dressed up in a white outfit. Which strange for her to see him just laying there since normally he'd be out and gone long time ago She sees what they've been giving him next to the bed and she's now double pissed off. (I like to think it's at least been over a week Tails has been missing, but if you wanna get really angsty make about 6 months, just as long as Sonic was locked up in Forces).

As gently but quickly as she can she bundles up Tails and carries him cause at this point he's got so much in his system he can't walk or talk, blinking is kinda his only form of communication at the moment. To which Rouge doesn't know what's worse, for Tails to have been asleep for the whole time unaware or to be awake for the whole time and know what's happening.

Tails on the other hand is just so happy to see her and scared that he starts crying. Which is just breaking Rouge's heart to witness as she starts to backtrack out of there with him, with him just silently crying nonstop in her arms.

Unfortunately only about halfway to the exit they discover Tails is gone and the place starts going into lock down with cultist swarming the halls of the place. And even though Rouge is an excellent fighter, she's in close quarters with a kid who can't walk so she's quickly overrun by cultist who tie her up and take Tails back.

The leader then using all of his one brain cell figures she's already signaled to the other's where they are and he knows it's only a matter of time before the fastest thing on the planet busts their door down looking for his little brother.

The leader announces to the group they're moving up the ceremony to now much to Rouge's horror and they drag her along too kicking and screaming cause they don't have time to drop her off in a cell or anything.

Everyone is now in this big ceremony/chapel room that has a big stone table covered in white flowers, that suspiciously is the perfect size for an 8 year old fox to lay down on. And the leader does just that laying Tails on the table.

Rouge is throwing an absolute fit and cursing everyone out cause no way in hell is she gonna let this happen, it's to the point multiple people are having to hold her down even with her tied up cause she's kicking up such a storm of rage.

Meanwhile, Tails is mentally absolutely freaking out in a panic and is terrified out of his mind, especially when the leader brings out a large ornate knife and starts chanting something.

As the leader is finishing up and reeling back his hand with the knife Sonic busts in and sees all of this. Immediately rushing to the table just as the cult leader goes for the downswing.

Sonic just barely catches the knife about an inch from Tails' chest grabbing on to the blade of it and cutting his hand which drips onto Tails.

Now Sonic finally has a moment to process all of this and what exactly is happening and for obvious reasons he is beyond pissed off. He's probably not far off from turning into dark Sonic or it's creeping around the edges of him. And just as he's about to send the cult leader to meet his maker he glances at Tails' face and that's the only reason he doesn't kill the leader right then and there. Cause Sonic thought Tails was asleep but now he notices not only is Tails somewhat awake but tears are streaming down his face.

So Sonic does the next best thing in this situation, knocks out the leader in less than a second and just pulls Tails into a hug off the table and starts just sobbing with Tails in his lap curled up on the floor. Cause the horror of what about happened and the relief Tails is okay and he found him in time hits Sonic all at once.

The rest of the cultists are still frozen cause for Sonic, Tails and the leader all that happened in less than a minute and the group is still catching their bearings of everything that just happened. Which is a good thing cause in that moment everyone else catches up and runs into this whole scene.

From their perspective though they just see Sonic sobbing over a limp Tails with blood on his chest (from Sonic's hand but they don't know that), a guy knocked out (or possibly dead??) next to them, a big stone table that suspiciously looks like an alter also next to them, Rouge who is still cursing up a storm tied up in the corner and held down by like 5 people, and a room full of people in matching robes that look like the guy up near Sonic and Tails.

The rest of the group now splits off with Amy and Knuckles running over to Sonic and Tails, Shadow going for the leader on the ground, Omega going to help Rouge, and the rest of their friends they had helping them splitting off to take care of the rest of the cultists.

From here everything gets resolved, cultists and leader locked up, Tails getting what ever drugs they were giving him out of his system and going home and everyone somewhat going back to their lives. Sonic however does not leave Tails' side for a while and hovers around him which for the first few weeks Tails appreciates cause if he's honest he doesn't want Sonic to be far from him either after everything and really doesn't want to be alone for long. Tails get constant nightmares about the situation and is snuggling with his big brother almost every night. Which is great for Sonic cause he's also getting terrible nightmares from the ordeal and feels better when he wakes up and Tails is right there.

It does get to the point though where after a bit of recovery and time healing the mental scars Tails has to convince Sonic that he can be go back to running around and exploring without Tails right next to him. It takes a lot of convincing and scheduling regular check-ins (like 5x more than they previously had) but Sonic and Tails slowly get somewhat back to their normal lives.

If you wanna get angsty though have it so Sonic is just a second too slow in saving Tails and the fallout from that. (couldn't be me though I'm a hurt/comfort girly at heart, give me the angst but everyone's okayish in the end)

[abbysbasement]

jackson u!abby's strap bag would of course have a well annotated copy of 1984, a pair of ray-ban tortoiseshell glasses that are totally prescription but she tells people theyre reading glasses because she refuses to admit she wears contacts, TWO emergency fireball shooters (old habits die hard), nba youngboy debut album on tape, abby would not smoke weed but she would have those lavender smokes for anxiety, three pairs of boxers (one serious pair two fun and sexy pairs), the strap isnt in the bag because abby packs but she is a boxer harness truther. She is a dirty slut who supports the boxer harness but she also has the string harness because i told her it makes her butt look cute and plump and she never got over it. Never carries more than 100$ in cash because she is a debit truther but also keeps the daddys money credit cards on tap, makeup bag (wears artful mascara with a clump separator and clear brow gel, a lipgloss truther) TWO (2) sports but her boobs are kinda small anyway so sometimes she just lets her freak flag fly, her puppy tail buttplug because i said so, three pair of socks that will get lost the first night of the sneaky link, invictus legend her signature fragrance, two (2) gold chains, a chunky one and a thin one and my yankee fitted that she stole.

An unserious collab with @ellsbclls

[ghnosis]

*rips bong* (this is my bong in case you're curious)

so some of you have asked me, over the course of the 80-someodd interviews I have so far conducted, why I am doing my PhD on Ghost.

tonight a participant asked me in a manner that sort of finally clicked for me - because I assume all of you live inside my head with me and know why I do everything.

Rose, why are you doing your PhD on Ghost fandom?

when I was 12, American Idiot by Green Day came out. I lost my mind immediately. Green Day were my first hyperfixation. I promise if you ask about "Green Day Girl" to people I went to high school with, they would remember me. not only did Green Day teach me about the Iraq War, and American progressive politics in general, they also taught me, a bullied and weird child, what it meant not to give a shit. someone thinks I'm wrong/bad/inferior? cool! I don't fucking care. "now everybody do the propaganda," etc.

if I kept talking about everything I learned from Green Day, we'd be here all night. but. Green Day *also* taught me that music didn't have to sound like pop, or like country. that music could be written because someone felt something. that music could be used to express rage, a thing I felt in spades.

so from Green Day, my door is blown wide the fuck open and I get to learn about Dead Kennedys, about David Bowie, about Nirvana.

the other thing I know I love, back then in 2004, is learning. and teaching.

fast forward 15ish years, give or take (or pack me a second bowl and I'll tell you the middle), and I'm looking, halfheartedly and in a bummed-out manner, for a PhD program. I have my master's, I didn't like the experience, but I want that Dr. I've been presenting at conferences and doing some piddly academic writing on video games and the use of games in education, and I'm on a listserv for other people writing about games. I get an email from someone at Falmouth University about a PhD program there in "Dark Economies." who's listed on the email? none other than Tanya Fucking Krzywinska, my number one academic girl crush (in my subject area. my actual number one is a historian)!!!!!!

so I read this email and it's talking about the intersection of the occult, video games, and heavy metal. as I said, I've been writing about video games. one of the things I'd been writing about was a certain thing that happened in that industry ooooh, 14 years ago now. something in my brain slots into place.

the occult: I know what that is. occult rock, certainly. I maybe could squeeze in some punk or pop punk. the goffik. we got some MCR.

heavy metal. well, I'm a punk girl through and through, but I used to date that guy in the metal band and have seen Slayer et al multiple times live. sure. I can occupy that world. wait a minute. Ghost.

video games. the thing I'd been writing about, specifically the mistreatment of anyone who wasn't a cis guy. you know what that sounds a lot like? sounds a lot like going to metal shows with my ex. WAIT A FUCKING MINUTE. GHOST??? on TUNGLE DOT HELL???

so I log my ass back on to this website and I look at you, at all of you beautiful people I'd been reblogging ass wobbling gifs with for years, and I said "oh my god. are they me? is whatever is going on in there just a bunch of me's, except it's Ghost not Green Day?

are all of you finding the most beautiful thing there is to find, namely, empowerment and freedom, in the goofy Satan band music band? was it the heaviest thing you had heretofore encountered? did it crack open a yawning chasm in your soul? were you hurting in ways you didn't know how to articulate? are you learning what it means to take up space, to demand rights for yourself and for others, to truly let your fucking freak flags fly? are you feeling the stirring in your heart that only comes from religion (read: witchcraft) or from seeing the most important band in the fucking world live, in the flesh, singing TO YOU, sweating FOR YOU? if you are, I think we are fucking important and vital. I think that we can tell our stories and make a bunch of other weird little girls realise that they, too, have rights - including to transition.

cos immediately in doing this research I found out - you're also NOT me, in some really important and specific ways. maybe being AFAB in the US isn't part of it. maybe it's bigger than that. and I feel so lucky, so truly fucking blessed and lucky, to have gotten to speak to over eighty of you beautiful people, to have been trusted with your stories. to learn what makes YOU ache in your soul and how it is different to but also the same as mine. I have to stop now I'm gonna cry!!!!

[atopvisenyashill]

9, 10, 19, 22 🙃

9. worst part of canon

hmmmmmm. while i will say the lack of dothraki/essosi povs is probably worse narratively, i do at least understand why he chose to build the narrative that way (even tho i think the narrative he’s building ultimately suffers for this choice). dead ladies club just pisses me off. why is everyone dying in childbirth. why is the name of ned’s mom not relevant. why did the oldest dayne have to be a man. why do we have no idea when shaera daena daenaera died. george i’m in your fucking walls.

10. worst part of fanon

again it’s just objectively the insane arya stans or the targnation people bc they make their illiteracy everyone else’s problem and have on more than one occasion dogpiled on random artists for *checks notes* drawing a character with a skin color darker than FFFFFF. does anyone know the story of the butch that got got by the french resistance in wwii for being a nazi, or that one lesbian that was friends with hitler? that’s what these people are and it’s not an ~annoying fandom quirk~ it’s just naked bigotry.

if we’re talking “annoying but not problematic” tbh for MOI it’s the king jon truthers, i just can’t take any of it seriously when he’s denied winterfell and a lordship for himself more than once, doesn’t like leading, and is bad at it when he tries! ntm i just don’t feel like it’s narratively satisfying if one (1) targ ends up winning and the other two die. i need all three of them nowhere near the throne at the ending to be happy!!!!

19. you're mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like...

hmmmmm. i definitely didn’t think i’d get so hardcore into parent/child incest when i started this blog i’ll tell you wHat. especially when in my humble opinion people get way too into incest ships and act like they’re oppressed for it ajsjs like idk perhaps that is the destiel shipper in me but i’ve spent so long in fandoms where people would be like “if you can’t see anna/elsa lesbianism you’re homophobic” they’re sisters EYE am not the freak here and that’s fine let your freak flag fly but be REAL aksjsj. and now i’m like “stop yelling at me for saying alicent’s sons want to fuck their mom when i’m right” lol. and also having spent so many years going “why do you guys think jonerys is romantic that’s his AUNT” turns out i can get into targcest when it doesn’t involve dany (bc i just don’t think it adds anything to her story!! what she just uncritically follows in the footsteps of her ancestors and the practice which helped abuse and subjugate women in her family forever and fucks her nephews?? for what for WHY)

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

we all know what it is babeeeeee

i also do feel like there’s a distinct lack of smallfolk stans like people will pay lip service but when it actually comes to smallfolk characters it’s all “oh i think davos is boring” “oh i don’t see the point of bringing gendry back into arya’s story” “oh i hate hugh/ulf” “oh robb’s campaign is against a vile evil it’s fine if he marched over some poors” “well mirri murdered a baby so” i’ve even seen “dunk is boring” IS THERE A GAS LEAK IN EVERYONES HOUSES COLLECTIVELY. WHAT HAPPENED TO EAT THE RICH HUH??

[muirmarie]

god i really want to sign up for a bad things happen bingo card and just like. write the messed up whump and h/c that my freaky (derogatory) little heart really wants lmaoooo, i haven't written h/c for the sake of h/c (aka without, like, turning it into a Fic) in so so so long, but also i have enough on my plate with ye olde trying to build a consistent writing habit with my mcspirk bingo card - which is more about writing stories for me lmao, and not just, like, me leaning over my keyboard in a dimly lit room rubbing my grubby little hands together as i hurt someone (leonard mccoy) and then let the people who love them kiss their forehead and comfort them.

but oh i was looking at the list of the prompts, and i was like, yeah, yeah i do actually want to let my h/c freak flag fly lmaoooooo

i know it's not a good idea because i do not want to let myself get overwhelmed and/or in over my head! but also. also. also. i still have le ongoing problem of wanting to turn everything into a capital-f Fic instead of just dashing off nonsense, like i'll dash off nonsense all day here lmaoooo, but when it comes to a story i want to??? this sounds so pretentious. i always want to write something??? Good???? i don't mean good writing or whateve,r i mean like a??? meaningful story??? (ugh so pretentious) (and to be clear i'm NOT saying i'm succeeding - only attempting!!!)

and the siren call of writing 1k about a cardboard cutout bad guy that has a knife to mccoy's throat while mccoy backtalks and kirk tries to bargain and mccoy is trying to hide the fact that he's already been stabbed in the side and spock has to carry him back once kirk shoots the bad guy??? listen. listen.

but also i do know myself and would i be Content with dashing off 1k nonsense or would i. still. the meaning. would i still the meaning. that's the question. the meaning. would i still.

am i looking at my neighbor's yard like wow that grass looks so green and takes no upkeep (probably), do i still want mccoy with a knife at his throat and jim's desperate eyes and steady voice and spock's steady eyes and the imperceptible tremble in his hands as he picks mccoy up from where he fell (absolutely)

i mean i could just get a card! it doesn't mean i have to write anything! (that's the devil speaking)

(the devil looks so hot tho)

(the devil's got them baby blues)

[sunnyie-eve]

4 | In Zombieland

Series: A Zombie's Serenity 

Paring: Zed Necrodopolis x OFC Buchanan!

Word Count: 1.7k

A/N: Might be a few mistakes, and I'm using Brenna D'Amico as how the OC's looks

| MASTERLIST |

~~~

Sneaking out of the house was kind of a difficult job for Serenity. She had to make it believable that she was going to bed super early and didn't want anyone bugging her without seeming suspicious. Quietly she sneaks out her window and carefully climbs down and runs off before any neighbors can see her. 

"Hey. You made it." Zed meets her at the barrier. 

"Yeah, I just had to make it seem like I was going to bed this early and sneak out." She explains looking around. 

"Well it's worth it because you're going to love this." He takes her hand into his and leads the way. While they ride the lift to where the party was, Serenity sees Zed's wrist was bugging him. 

"You okay? What's bothering you?" She looks at him worried. 

"I have to mess with my Z-Band to win games." He sighs. 

"Isn't that dangerous? I get you're doing it so zombies will be accepted but is your health worth the risk?" She asks as they arrive and get out. "This is place is cool." She steps out looking around. 

"It's a chance to get loose and be ourselves." She follows behind him. 

"So this is a celebration for all of you? Winning the football games?" She looks around. 

"Yeah, we really needed a win. Zombie tongue. We have a rich language. 23 different words for brains." He sees her look at the wall. 

"23? No one could make up their mind over 50 years?" She laughs making Eliza hear her. 

"I had a feeling you would have brought her. Welcome to our Zombie Mash." Eliza gives her a smile. 

"Aw, it started! Come on." Zed runs off making Serenity follow the crowd.

"Hey, welcome to Zombieland. It's a party, go ahead, everybody dance. Do the draggy leg, you surely can. Be part of the team, gotta wave the flag. Let your freak flag fly." Zed walks away so Serenity follows him to watch. "Gotta stare when we pass by. Not your average guy. But you know I'm fly. So alive just on a different side. Look in my eyes. We're the same but different. Just like you, I got hopes and wishes. Itchin' to show the world what they're missing. It's our time, yeah, it's time to flip it, what?"

"I'm about to show you." Zed goes over to Eliza. 

"What you gon' show me?" She asks. 

"Guess nobody told you." He tells her. 

"You ain't gotta tell me." She sasses him.

 "I'm about to put in work." Zed points at himself. 

"Listen, this is my turf." Eliza says as Zed moves so Serenity follows to watch more.

Bam! Oh man, oh man, I'm the man Bet ya can't do it like I can Bam! Oh man, oh man, you a fan Understand this is Zombieland Bam! Oh man, oh man, I'm the man Bet ya can't do it like I can Bam! Oh man, oh man, I'm the man with the plan Lemme do my dance

Bam! (Bam) You're in Zombieland (What?) I'm in Zombieland (What?) We're in Zombieland Watch me do it like bam (Bam) You're in Zombieland (What?) I'm in Zombieland (What?) We're in Zombieland Watch me do it like bam

Serenity watches the show amazed and enjoys it smiling. "Ready for action, yeah, we 'bout to blow up. Party's going down, but we're about to go up. We got your back, no need to have worries." Eliza joins making Serenity cheer for her. 

"Now we're all cool, at first it was scurry. And we can do a lot with a little. Call on your friends when you're caught in the middle. And you should do the same like I do the same. You should be yourself, it's the coolest thing." Zed puts his arm around Serenity's shoulder. 

"I'm about to show you." Eliza walks Serenity off. 

"What you gon' show me?" She asks. 

"Guess nobody told you." Eliza adds. 

"Girl, you don't know me." Serenity laughs. 

"I'm about to put in work." Eliza walks off. 

"Listen, this is our turf." Zed jumps.

Bam! Oh man, oh man, I'm the man Bet ya can't do it like I can Bam! Oh man, oh man, you a fan Understand this is Zombieland Bam! Oh man, oh man, I'm the man Bet ya can't do it like I can Bam! Oh man, oh man, I'm the man with the plan Lemme do my dance

Bam! (Bam) You're in Zombieland (What?) I'm in Zombieland (What?) We're in Zombieland Watch me do it like bam (Bam)

"You're in Zombieland. I'm in Zombieland. We're in Zombieland. Watch me do it like bam!" Serenity joins in on the main floor before running to see the break down. Zed runs putting a jacket on her then dragging her to join with him.

Bam! Oh man, oh man, I'm the man Bet ya can't do it like I can Bam! Oh man, oh man, you a fan Understand this is Zombieland Bam! Oh man, oh man, I'm the man Bet ya can't do it like I can Bam! Oh man, oh man, I'm the man with the plan Lemme do my dance Bam! Oh man, oh man, I'm the man Bet ya can't do it like I can Bam! Oh man, oh man, you a fan Understand this is Zombieland Bam!

Zed ends up leaving Serenity alone so she walks around and hears Zoey cheer in the distance so she watches her. "I wasn't doing anything. Certainly not cheering. Please don't tell anyone." She drops them. 

"Why'd you stop? It was a good cheer." Serenity walks over to her. 

"Did you like it?" Zoey sits next to her. 

"Of course I did. I really like the Zombies aren't vile part because you're telling the truth." Serenity smiles sitting next to her. 

"That cheer makes me happy." Zoey tells her. 

"Me too. You're great at cheerleading, Zoey. I'm sure you will have no problems getting on the squad when it's time." Serenity pats the top of her head. 

"Thanks, but my pet Zander doesn't seem that impressed." Zoey pouts. 

"Well, he should be. I think he's just jealous he can't cheer as good as you." She says making Zoey smile.

"Zed's freaking out he can't find you." Eliza finds Serenity first. 

"Well he's the one that left me alone." She laughs as Zed shows up. 

"You found her. Zoey? Whoa... what are you doing here?" He asks seeing his little sister. 

"Please, I'm not gonna miss a Zombie Mash." She pouts. 

"Zoey..." He says her name. 

"Come on. Who's a good boy?" Zoey gets on her knees clapping her hands. Zed crosses his arms before letting out a a ruff making Serenity smile as he imitates a dog. 

"Me." He goes up to Zoey, who tells him good boy. 

"All right, all right. I'll take you home. Zed's gotta make sure Serenity gets out of here." Eliza picks up Zoey. 

"And I gotta make sure I sneak back into my room hoping no one catches me." Serenity says handing Zoey her pompoms and Zander. 

"Good luck on that." Eliza leaves. 

"Night guys." Serenity waves.

-

"It's really sweet you act like a dog for Zoey. I wish zombies were allowed to have pets. It's stupid people think you'll eat them after all this time." I tell him as I look at all the lights. "What exactly is this place?" I ask him. 

"It's a zombie light garden." He tells me. 

"I should have guessed that." I giggle. 

"Let's go for a walk in the park." He puts his hand out to me so I take it.

"I know it might be crazy, but did you hear the story?" Zed slowly walks around. 

"I think I heard it vaguely." I join looking at all the lights. 

"A girl and a zombie." He looks back at me. 

"Oh, tell me more, boy, sounds like a fantasy." I slowly follow him. "Oh, what could go so wrong with a girl and a zombie?" We just stare at each other. 

"You're from the perfect paradise and I'm living on the darker side." He walks backwards away from me. 

"Ooh, I've got a feeling, if you get to know me." I follow him smiling. 

"Right from the start you caught my eye. And something inside me came to life." He sends me a wink. "Ooh, I've got a feeling, if you get to know me." He finally stops walk backwards.

Someday, this could be, this could be ordinary Someday, could we be something extraordinary? You and me side by side, out in the broad daylight If they laugh, we'll say we're gonna be someday Someday, someday We're gonna be someday Someday, someday We're gonna be someday

We stop walking around and just face each other standing awfully close together. "I love how you embraced your hair and don't care about things." Zed plays with a white strand that came loose. 

"Why should I care when it harms a whole population of people? And my hair makes me, me. Why hide part of me?" I slightly smile. 

"You're beautiful." He starts to leans in but we get cut off by Z-Patrol. 

"Go!" I shove him away and he runs. 

"Zombie! Freeze! Turn around." I recognize the voice. 

"Hey Gus..." I awkwardly laugh. 

"Serenity, what are you doing here? This is a hotbed for Zombie activity. It's not safe for humans. Come on, let's get you home." He tells me and I groan.

Back home my parents weren't happy and Bucky loved that I got caught. "Told you I'd didn't believe she went to bed." He tells them. 

"Bucky, go to bed." Our dad tells him so he leaves the room. 

"You snuck out?" My mom gets on me. 

"You know how dangerous it is out there?" My dad asks and lets Gus leave. 

"This town is full of monstrous zombies. What were you up to?" She asks me. 

"They aren't monstrous." I make them gasp. 

"They tried to bite your grandfather's ear off, young lady." My father points at me. 

"Now why did you sneak out?" My mother crosses her arms. "You tell us or no more cheer." She adds. 

"I already quit remember..." I laugh. 

"Tell us or we'll send you away like Bucky brought up since you act out now." My dad adds. 

"Fine, I was with a boy. Now you know. Can I go to bed?" I try to leave the room but they won't let me. 

"We need to meet this boy or we will send you off to another school for the rest of the year. Go to bed."

[mclwcc]

going off his post from when he announced his extension as ceo, most people who dislike him seem to claim it's either because he's american and shouldn't be involved in european motorsport (which is already wild considering f1 is an international competition and not a european one), like this is an exact word-for-word critism that i saw more than one person use. or they're australian and feel that zak/the team unfairly favor lando at the expense of aussie drivers. just look at any mclaren affiliated social media after the australian gp. i personally think both are pretty irrational excuses and like don't get me wrong, i am all for people hating for the purpose of being a hater but if you're going to try to justify your hatred with reasons at least find one based in some sort of logic. or even reality.

anon a person after my own heart i too love hating for the purpose of being a hater but this isnt that, its a more widespread and vitriolic fandom phenomenon that clearly different from, say, me hating on clement novalak bc his eyebrows freak me out, ykwim?

i do think his obnoxious americanism is kind of hard to swallow and thats fair if u find him annoying but it rly doesnt explain to me y ppl immediately label him a villain? maybe bc he has that rich man in a black and white hollywood movie vibe abt him or smth but like surely its smth more serious than that. idk i think its just the american salesman core of it all... he's slimy and slippery and persuasive and he does it VERY well

also like i do think the idea that he mistreats oscar is frankly silly - mostly bc oscar keeps yapping on and on abt how much he likes having a team where hes finally wanted and appreciated, but also bc its clear zak loves the guy. i think ur right in that i do think some ppl think that: i keep seeing ppl on twitter saying that the fact that lando has done a couple factory debriefs that oscar wasnt there for means they clearly favour lando. but like.... if i were renowned introvert oscar piastri i would WAY prefer not having to fly 12h to speak in front of a crowd and instead be allowed to spend another couple days w my family in melbourne. like bffr please

also also can i just say re: team orders bc i think thats the other reason ppl think oscar is mistreated - do ppl not realise that last week oscar literally got the priority strategy? they helped cover him against russell instead of helping lando cover against leclerc, which is how lando ended up losing second place - he wouldve kept it if he'd pit on lap 9 with charles or even maybe lap 10 just after him (if the oscar pitstop was unplanned). and also, in general, lando and oscar often end up on diff strategies where lando shows up behind oscar with fresher tyres (and hence has to b let by w team orders) because lando is better at managing tyre wear. thats y he often gets the stay long - overcut strat (germany situation beloved), whereas oscar is often on the undercut - defend strat, and they'll often meet in the middle. the fact that we get these kinds of strategy team orders is GOOD. it means the team has enough faith in both drivers' skills to give them diff strategies and trust them both to execute them well. it also means the drivers r next to each other on track - id take lando team-order-passing oscar any day over lando blue-flag-passing daniel.... oof.

sorry a defense of zak brown turned into a defense of randy singh but like im just saying that the idea that the entirety of mclaren hates and mistreats oscar is rly quite laughable if ur actually engaged in the strategy game or like if u have eyes idk. im very very glad that oscar has become kind of a people's princess character and ppl rly do seem to universally love him but i find it so infuriating that they have to do so at the expense of mclaren. if u wanna find an enemy to hate on behalf of oscar carlos sainz is literally right there

[quick-catton]

Hi quick-catton!! First of all I love your page and I love your personality💕💕💕 I also LOVE Saturn and Felix and Oliver just-😫😫😫 I love it every time you post, it makes my day!! Right now I just really need your help. Today I had to go on another account just to send something to my ask box because since I started my account last year, I’ve gotten nothing and it really hurts.

I love how open and freaky you are in your posts and I’m honestly the same way with Saltburn and an anime fandom that I’ve shaped my blog around. I used to be a little calm and collected but you’re inspiring to just let go and let my freak flag fly but the problem is, with my fandom, I don’t think people are going to be very inviting. Like literally the only thing I wanna do right now is babygirl code my favorite anime character sooo badly but I’m afraid I’ll lose all my followers and when I try to I get no engagement.

Like I wrote three freaking paragraphs about how good he’d look with a navel piercing! That was this morning and I got nothing all day but four likes. No reblogs, no comments, I literally had to make another account and send myself some praise for that post just so I could post it to show people that at least someone else agrees with me.

And I know I should give it time but that’s the problem. Some of my other posts like that don’t grow. They just get five likes and that’s it and it sucks because all I wanna do is engage with people that want to see this boy in lingerie or a skirt or goddamn pregnant (told you I was a freak)

I just don’t know what to do. How do you deal that? I’m honestly this close to deleting my account coz it seems like I’m posting to a blank wall and it’s so embarrassing coz everyone can see it. Sorry this is so long! Thank you for quickcatton 💕💕

WAH ANON ur so sweet omg, thank you?? <33 honestly i feel like i don't have good advice because i only made a tumblr for the first time EVER at the beginning of january!!! i am 23 and had never set foot on this app, but i saw that most of the saltburn fandom was here, so i gave it a shot and i've just been learning as i go.

i think that's half of my 'luck' with having a good experience on this app, is that because this fandom is so fresh, it's super active, but it's also a very small fandom (relative to some others) so we're all kinda like a hivemind here LOL, and because of the source material of the movie itself being weird/freaky/psychosexual, we all know that anything goes and the more freaky the brainrot, the better! i'm in other fandoms where if i said half of the shit i say here, i'd be ostracized, so it's really a case by case basis unfortunately </3

ik i yap a lot here but i also hold back sooo much because even tho ik we're all weirdos here, i still get nervous about putting out my writing or not having people vibe with an idea– you're not alone in that, i promise. it helps forming friendships in your fandoms so you know that there'll always be people who you can get hype over ideas with, but i know that's easier said than done sometimes <3

i don't have advice on engagement because i honestly don't look at that stuff (which i know is so annoying to say lol but it's true); i made this account purely to have a place to dump brainrot/art etc and view other people's saltburn content and i didn't care about engagement, i just got lucky to meet some cool people and make close friends through it.

i think if people can tell you're having fun through your posts, they'll vibe with you! it does take time with the good ol' algorithm, i'm sure, but as long as your page brings YOU joy, that's what matters most. people don't have to agree with your takes, life is too short to be vanilla and water urself down for others :^) making fandom friends and gaining interactions will come along with being yourself, but if posting here and running the account feels more stressful to you than it is fun, it's okay to step away too!

if you're on ao3 and sites like that, leaving comments on your fave works can be a great way to get conversations going as well. i met my closest friend on here bc she stumbled across my fic on ao3 and then sent me a message; it was purely up to chance, but branching out and being brave starting conversations with your fave accounts can be a great way to feel more included in the fandoms you're in and maybe you'll meet cool people along the way!! <33

[blazehedgehog]

Hey Blaze! I am curious to know, is that Sonic Forces video still in the cards, or did it sort of roll over as the "general criticism" of Sonic that you mentioned it being into the Frontiers video?

Hm. A little of both.

I think I mentioned this on patreon a few times, but the general roadmap of what happened was:

Sonic Forces and Sonic Mania came out in 2017 while I was moving 1000+ miles and two states to where I currently live. I was unable to do videos about either game until April of 2018.

I did the Sonic Mania video first, and as I was finishing up, Sonic Mania Plus was announced.

So I did a video about Sonic Mania Plus, too.

This put me 1+ year out from making a timely Sonic Forces review. I started writing a script, but did not finish it, and as time went on, it started to feel weird.

I rolled some of that Sonic Forces review into another essay I had started before I moved. This was a written essay I'd planned on pitching to Waypoint back when they were taking open submissions, but I started to second guess whether I should let my freak flag fly like that.

Rolling Sonic Forces into that essay, I tried to restructure it into a video that would serve as something on the scale of "How Do We Fix Sonic?" It wasn't necessarily about Sonic Forces, but Forces would be a specific point I'd come back to, interwoven talking about other Sonic games along the way.

The other reason I never finished it for Waypoint is I kind of lost the thread while writing. Restructuring it into a video, it happened again.

And again. And again. I re-started writing the script 2 or 3 times, because I'd get lost deep in tangents and would feel like nobody'd understand where I was coming from anymore. The scope of the video was starting to feel a little too big.

Out of the blue I got an idea to restructure the video, which was to break it down into chapters. I could treat each individual chapter like it's own self-contained idea, and it helped me make sense of it a lot more. I wrote an outline for each chapter and started to feel a lot more confident.

While taking care of my Mom when she was in her last few months, I wrote a good 70-80% of the script, maybe more. All that was left was to write the final chapter. During this process, it had grown to become the biggest, longest script I'd ever written (almost 18 pages, and I expected easily 20+ by the time I was done).

I never finished it. The final chapter needed some work to clarify a unifying message, stress peaked with my Mom, and then eventually Sonic Frontiers got announced. Seemed moot to put Sonic Forces at the heart of an essay like that.

The essay now needs rewrites to recontextualize some of what was written almost two years ago.

The Sonic Frontiers video also ended up taking the title of the longest script I'd ever written (23 pages).

It's still on the table as something I want to do, but it feels sort of like wrestling with a mountain at this point. The plan was, once the video was done, Patreon would get a gigantic PDF with every draft, since they were all kind of different. Even before adding the final script, I think the PDF of all the older drafts combined is close to 40 pages. Depending on how things go, it may be over 70 pages by the time all the separate drafts are archived together. The making of that script/video will basically be it's whole own book, for better or worse.

All that being said, there's another video series I've been considering that would allow me to revisit Sonic Forces on its own and have more of a traditional review of it. So that'll still happen... eventually.

[hekateinhell]

IMMA CRY 🥹 last week kicked my ass but I still made sure to check your blog almost every day to keep up with your #vckinkweek updates (which I’m still going through but the knife play one? ohhhh boy, hopefully I’ll be able to write a coherent review soon but just KNOW it did things to me). But also no THANK YOU. It fucking breaks my heart to know The Drama got so bad at one point that you were actually considering not being active here but stayed in part because my silly little messages meant something 😭 they’re my only way of giving back! You truly do SO much, you never fucking miss and your takes are always correct, and I’m so glad that you’re not letting some hypocrite on tumblrdotcom try to tell you otherwise or completely ruin this experience for you xoxo DA

PS some of his takes made me hate Marius for a while lmfaoo which is insane because I actually never hated Marius before but started doing so out of spite idgaf 😌

awwww DA!!! 😭

you're such a sweetheart for real, legit sometimes the only thing that kept armandblr going and you didn't even know! 💖 honestly the amount of content that YOU have inspired??? and tbh i think i really only started letting my freak flag fly on main when you came around and encouraged it so you're just a blessing ten times over 💖

i'm so glad you're having fun getting through my little kink week offerings and i can't wait to hear what you think of them both!! 🥹

i sincerely hope this week has been kinder to you than last week and you've been able to rest, recuperate, and recharge 🖤

asksjdhd listen i get you re: marius, many of us have been there. it's so hard when one person or a couple of people create such a strong negative association with a particular character BUT i go so fucking hard for monstersinthecosmos' marius like every fic she does with him is an incredible character study and a love letter to a very complex guy and i can appreciate him so much more through her eyes

[polyamorouspunk]

Yooooooooooooooo Good Morning!

i actually woke up feeling better than I have been so my plan is to try to be just a little bit productive. Maybe wash some clothes. Maybe clean up my room. The possibilities are endless!

Also! Last night was my niece’s birthday and I gave her present to her! I got her and I tickets to go see the offspring, sum 41, and simple plan in september! She was so excited that she dive bombed me and almost broke my glasses!! I think I won the birthday this year lol

Oh wow! Amazing! What a line up!

I met some cool people at the concert last night including a guy and his girlfriend who had been a fan of them since they were Chicago locals (he was next to me so I talked to him more than her but she kind of nodded and listened) and a woman who said she was going to let her wife know she was getting out of line with me. I’m not good at starting conversations at concerts really but it seems people always end up talking to me, or I chime in eventually. I hope you both have fun.

I know this was sent like yesterday I think and then I talked to you today. I said I was reading and then going to bed but right as I put my book down everything hit me again and I started getting freaked out again so I figured I’d answer your ask.

My mom put my table back up in my craft room, so I can start working on physical stuff again. Right now I’m working on a series of hand-drawn pride pins. The first one I did was asexual and the design was recycled from the pin I made my cousin for her bag (which I posted on here and sent to you) and it feels very cottagecorey but I made a bisexual one of just flowers and while I’m really happy with the design I feel like it misses the mark of the vibe I’m going for. As a consumer I’m more drawn to greenery and mushrooms vs flowers, but I spent so much time on it I’d hate to scrap it. I’m hoping I can make other ones that really capture that cottagecore feel more, but it’s very hard since I’m trying to focus on realistic things that include those colors in my pride flags. I’m hoping to do some poison dart frogs with the lesbian flag or the rainbow flag maybe, since frogs are cottagecore. But yeah.

I want to start working on my patch pants in case I end up going to SSC. I know I told you originally I was and then I wasn’t going to which I haven’t like announced anywhere because even then I was still thinking “fuck it maybe I’ll just fucking fly up and go” BUT my best friend is trying to plan her wedding reception that week so we can still go BUT I called it off because our other best friend’s brother’s wedding got moved to that weekend and her family is very over-the-top so it’s going to be a all-weekend thing at LEAST and while I’m fine with having her reception on a weekday because I gotta take time off to go up there anyway I know I’m not the only guest. I’d *like* to think I’m the closest thing to a Bride’s Maid of Honor, you know, which was the dream back when I thought we were all cishet but mildly weird, before we were both like “fuck church weddings” and also before she was like “I’m going to get legally married for the tax benefits and shit” so like you know back when I dreamed of being her brides maid of honor. I am racking my brains trying to come up with a good present for her (my literal best friend since I was 5) and I have a few ideas but they’re going to take research and effort. You know I can’t just buy her a post card or like the keychain I got her when we went to pride for her literal wedding present.

Anyway that’s what’s up here I think I’m going to go eat and take my meds and do the self care you told me to do and hopefully by then I won’t feel so jittery.

[aeolianblues]

Even as I write this all though, I am not a millennial. I did consider this 'my time' because it's the first one I remember. I was not around in the 90s, everything I know about grunge and 90s TV and Britpop and whatnot is secondhand. Often thirdhand. Books, magazine scans, interview snippets. But I remember the 00s. Many colourful glittery clips, that's how mum did my hair. The multiple layers of gaudy colours; skirts (even shorts!) over tights of a different colour and striped tops was how my mum dressed me. Like the Disney kids on TV. Everyone in your grade was into Hannah Montana (they made kids books out of the episodes, does anyone remember?) Blackboards in school. Chalky hands wiped on your school uniform. Sure, I was too young for 'Oberlin College in the early 00s in NYC', but I had still considered these very 00s 'my time'. I lived it, so it's mine.

But as I get older I slowly begin to feel now to be my time. And I hope that one day I'll look back at the '20s as mine too. I'd love to be old and write, what were the 2020s?

They were Grian Chatten's poetry, Charlie Steen's shiny golden underpants at Glastonbury 2023. It's My Lady Of Mercy and swooning over girls with Abigail Morris. It's embracing the rejected freak with Alt Blk Era, we don't give a damn if they like it, we're normally like this.

It's showing two fingers to the monarchy, shouting 'Brits Out!' with Kneecap, it's Mo Chara reaffirming 'we don't hate yous, it's the government and monarchy. We have much more in common with a working class unionist than some rich fellow from Dublin'. It's Cuntology 101 with Lambrini Girls, it's reminding people of all the Calvin Harris songs that The Dare ripped off word-for-word and the weird 00s nostalgia.

It's Ezra Collective being nominated for BRIT album of the year for Dance, No One's Watching. It's a blurry phone pic posted on English Teacher's Instagram of the free drinks they got at their table for being invited to the Mercury Prize 2024 (SO real of them).

It is lounging in chaise longues all day long in floppy hats in the Isle of Wight, it is being someone's Iced Tea Boy, it's night raves with Master Peace, it's brats on the dancefloor, it's Chapell Roan inspiring people to stand up for themselves and take no shit from anyone, bitch! It's just heartbroke bitches, high heels, six inch In the back of the nightclub, sippin' champagne; it's women artists winning back the rights to their own music and going on to win over the world! It's Phoebe Lunny scaling a 20 ft. pole in a Leeds festival tent in heels and a skirt to fly a Palestinian flag high up on the Reading and Leeds 'Festival Republic' tent.

It'll be okay, we just need to be weird and hife for a bit and eat an old sandwich from our bag.

It's going to see your friends' tiny bands covering the Strokes every two weeks and knowing none of them have a chance in hell of making it because the music doesn't pay and the rent's too damn high. It's Lily Fontaine giving evidence in court about how even succesful working class bands like English Teacher can't afford to go on tour. It's Carlos O'Connell calling out other artists at the Rolling Stone UK awards for their silence on Palestine, it's Kneecap's 'You can all stay just don't be cunts'. Saoirse don Phalestine, quoth Kneecap. It's oppressed languages breaking through into popular music, it's Alffa's Gwenwyn becoming the first Welsh language song to cross 1 million streams on Spotify.

It's Jocelyn Si rejecting the homophobes and declaring, let us be young! It's Cal 'your boyfriend was looking at my legs' Francis singing about the price to pay for being this way. It's CMAT not giving a fuck and tearing into racist country music, no matter of whether or not she'd ever be able to work in the genre again. It's Skinty Fia talking about the lived immigrant experience. It was Olivia Rodrigo 'reviving' 90s alt rock for the masses, it was 16-year-old rockheads calling Josh Kiszka 'pookie' on Instagram—something unimaginable in 2017. It was James Smith embracing that indie artists can indeed aspire — to make funky pop hits!

Who knows what else the 2020s have to offer us. The Grammys are on Sunday. In a fever dream, someone like IDLES or Fontaines D.C. could walk away with one. A truly indie artist. I'm so scared about that. I just hope that in 20 years, I will still be able to say things like this

‘Indie sleaze’ is not 2014, ‘Indie sleaze’ is not 2014, ‘Indie sleaze’ is not 2014, ‘Indie sleaze’ is not 2014!

It’s not tumblr-core and it’s not Lana Del Ray or 2013 AM, it’s not #girl interrupted, it’s not Ethel Cain (she literally is an artist of our time, what are you on about.)

It was 2001 with the Strokes on the cover of the NME every 2 weeks, it was cabaret night and English poetry with the Libertines in 2002, it’s those red and blue military jackets, it was the fucking grease in Julian Casablancas’ hair, it’s ’cocaine was the banker’s drug’ quoth Alex Kapranos, it was Don't Go Back To Dalston and the heroin, it was red and black horizontal striped tops and tight black shirts as evening wear, it was Russell Lissak’s mop top and a full page interview with London hairdressers in the NME in 2005, it was Jack and Meg’s saturated red and white dresses, it was glued glitter on the cover of Santigold’s first album, it was the sleaze and the sex of CSS’s music, it was ‘cold light, hot night’, it was the anti-Bush and anti-war stances of the bands at the time, it was America by Razorlight, it was Popworld on telly and Simon Amstel being a little shit to musicians, it was Karen O defying death on stage nightly, it was throwing up in shitty nightclubs on god knows what drugs, it was the fucking danger knowing this could all collapse any second—and rightly, it should. It was the godawful egos at DFA, it was knowing that while you were lucky to be seeing these bands live, you’d fucking hate them if you had to spend even a minute in their individual company. It was Amy Winehouse telling the world to get the fuck out of her business, it was Leslie Feist and Peaches sharing a dilapidated flat above a sex shop in Toronto.

It was horrible camera flash and red-eye editing softwares and putting your feet by the warm, spinning fans of your computer while it whirred away and downloaded your albums in *checks* 46 more minutes. It was horrible, it was dirty, it was gritty, we all hated it and thought the 90s were the last time music was good and that nothing good had happened since 1997. It was garishly bright clothes we were all embarrassed of by 2011, it was multiple layers and leggings and asking your mum to cut the itchy tag on the back of your low rise jeans only for her to snip your back. It was bell bottoms at the start of the decade. It being thankful that by 2017, no one would dream of wearing low rises anymore, please please, please let them never come back.

It was faux nostalgic of the past itself. It was ‘please make sure baby you’ve got some colours in there’ in your clothes. It was moral panic over emos. It was wanting to escape into a better past that you could see was visibly impoverished in the present. It was watching your favourite programmes become less and less relevant on air. It was watching MTV decisively die a horrible death. It was watching important venues and nightclubs get bulldozed. It was watching the last regular broadcast of Top Of The Pops in 2006. It was seeing how the 2009 financial crisis most definitely put a stop to independent music in the western world for a decade, it was watching the rise of bedroom DIY and electronic music. It was seeing the phrase ‘SoundCloud rapper’ being coined. It was the rise of Disney pop. It was counter-culture Justin Bieber hatred. It was the MS paint meme of those tumblr girls thoroughly unimpressed by the guy.

It was not using the words ‘indie sleaze’ at all, in fact. That’s a retconned word. It was garage rock revival. It was ‘post-grunge’. We didn’t care what it was called, we hated it all the same. It was a lead into a decade of despair and nihilism, it was the last hurrah for the music industry before it splintered into a thousand little online ecosystems, it was the last time we had physical community and any shared pop cultural moments. It was Live8 2005. It was the same as it is now, and it was a time that’ll never happen again, for better and for worse.

But one thing is for sure: it was decisively dead by 2014. Santi and Karen O’s 2012 collab was its last hurrah and it was dead by Comedown Machine by the Strokes (2013). It has nothing to do with 2014.