#I see summat I like and I go ‘I want that’ and make it

[aspiringhorrorauthor]

No more posts about appreciating modern art. Society has progressed past the need to have viral posts about how to appreciate modern art

[slayfics]

Katsuki gets caught being sweet to you.

You started to finally catch your breath being at the top of the hiking trail Katsuki had dragged you out too.

"Alright there, it's just us up here so tell me already. What the hell has been going on?"

"That's why you brought me out here?" You asked.

"Just tell me already, stop being so damn stubborn." He pried you impatiently.

"I told you I'm fine Bakugo, just busy like everyone else." You replied.

"Don't give me that shit. Do you think I'm stupid? The other extras are too dense to notice but I can see how exhausted you've been this whole week. So just tell me- what's going on," He said.

"You didn't need to drag me out here on a hike in freezing weather to do this, you know," You said, slightly irritated at Katsuki continuing to push you.

"Ugh- will you stop stalling and talk already," He yelled, causing you to let out an annoyed sigh. Katsuki put his hands in his pockets and looked out at the view, his demeanor softening slightly. "You can talk to me, you know," he added, his voice lower and kinder than before.

You stayed looking at the view for a few more moments trying to figure out how to unpack everything that had been stressing you out. It wasn't like some big thing, but a summation of a bunch of little things that were beginning to become too challenging to manage.

A cold breeze blew by causing you to shiver. You wondered why Katsuki had insisted on bringing you up this mountain to talk to you. He could have pestered you in your dorm where it was warm.

Katsuki stole glances at you occasionally then focused back on the view not wanting to intimidate you too much from his glare. Hiking always helped him to clear his mind and gather his thoughts when they seemed too loud. He thought maybe it would help you too, and being away from all your classmates might make it easier for you to talk to him. At the very least it made it easier for Katsuki to be more vulnerable with you. He found it too daunting to express himself fully with all the attention of his classmates around. It was much easier being only in your company.

You took a deep breath, "I guess- it's just been hard to balance everything recently," You finally spoke, breaking the silence. Katsuki made it easy to open up to, as he had no problem sitting in silence for long extended periods. Others in your life felt the need to fill that silence with useless chatter which always prevented you from sitting in your emotions and being able to formulate them into words.

You took in another breath feeling a lump in your throat form. You hadn't wanted to talk to anyone about what was going on for fear of opening up the flood of emotions and not being able to stop. Now here it was. You didn't want to cry on this fucking hill.

Katsuki patiently waited while you gathered your thoughts.

"It's just been so much and I've been barely keeping up. It's- been getting to me recently. I've been forgetting things I shouldn't. Being unusually upset at things that aren't that big of a deal- and I just- it's dumb." You cut yourself off afraid to say anymore.

"It's not dumb. Don't hold that shit in, it's not healthy," He said encouraging you to keep talking.

You sighed, "I just... know that it could be way worse, and I've been through way worse so- I feel so irritated at myself. What I'm going through now isn't something I can't handle. I know that. So why do I feel so fucking exhausted with everything," You replied wiping a stray tear from your cheek.

"Hmm," Katsuki grunted, processing what you said. "You know, it's ok to be tired, and- to not be perfect. You can't just deny yourself from feeling overwhelmed because it could be worse. If you're exhausted now then those feelings are real- and it's ok to have them," He spoke.

You looked down at the view watching the distant cars pass, "Thanks," You managed to say taking another deep breath.

"You shouldn't wait to handle them until they explode either. Trust me, I know what that's like," He said, causing you to let out a small giggle. "You're too damn hard on yourself you know that?"

You let out a full laugh, "Oh that's pretty good coming from you. You're the pro at having too high expectations for yourself," you laughed.

You and Katsuki were wrapped up in your conversation causing you not to notice approaching classmates in the distance. Mina and Eijiro had also decided to come up the hill after class and spotted both of you in the distance.

"That looks like we shouldn't interrupt," Eijiro said.

"Yeah," Mina agreed. "But maybe... we could get a little closer to make sure everything is ok?" She said, pulling Eijiro into the bushes to spy on you and Katsuki. Eijiro was highly against the plan but was unable to protest for fear of you two hearing.

"Yeah I know I have high expectations for myself... that's why I know what it fucking looks like when you're being too hard on yourself. So- tonight I'm coming to your dorm and, I'm making sure you get to bed at a reasonable fucking time."

Mina's eyes widened as she looked at Eijiro, "Coming to their dorm?!" She whispered, and Eijrio covered her mouth, silencing her.

"You mean Grandpa time at 9 p.m.?"

"Shut up! 9 p.m. is late as hell! You damn idiots just don't know how to have a good sleep schedule! Look I'm making sure you get some sleep and tomorrow I'm taking you out. So- figure out where you want to eat, I don't care where. And I'm not letting you say no you need a break," Katsuki replied.

"You don't have to do that Bakugo."

"Of course, I don't have to but, I want to. So just shut up and let me take care of you ok. You better not be afraid to order enough food this time either! I'm buying so- just get whatever you want, alright?"

"Ok ok," You laughed, feeling your mood brighten.

"Next time, just tell me when you're having a bad day or something. Stop making me drag it out of you. I- worry about you, you know? Now let's go back to the dorms. I see you shivering," He said, beginning to walk back down the hill.

Mina squirmed again under Eijiro's hand, keeping her silent. Her eyes said it all. She was in disbelief at Katsuki's words.

"Here," Katsuki said, holding his hand out and offering it to you. "I'll warm your hand with my quirk," he said.

You grabbed his hand interlacing your fingers with his.

"Don't dare say anything about how sweaty my hands are!" He barked.

You giggled, "How many times do I have to tell you I don't care Bakugo. It's part of your quirk, and your quirk is amazing you shouldn't be self-conscious about it. Besides, I'm always happy to hold your hand," You said as you two walked down the mountain.

"Tch whatever," Katsuki grumbled looking away from you as a small tint grew on his cheeks.

Finally, when you and Katsuki were far enough down the hill, Eijiro released Mina.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!?" Mina exclaimed.

"Shh shhh," Eijiro pleaded.

"WHAT- He wants to take care of them?!? OH MY GOD! They are totally dating right?! That's what he said he's taking them out to eat! And he's sneaking into their dorm! Wait wait- when they held hands it sounded like that had before! AND AND BAKUGO WAS TOTALLY BLUSHING! NO WAY!" Mina said looking like she might pass out from all this information.

"Ashido relax, we shouldn't have heard any of that!" Eijiro replied.

"Yeah but but-" Mina exclaimed, her head spinning. "Who knew Baklugo could actually be so sweet! I can't wait to tell Jiro-" She said, pulling out her phone.

"NO!" Eijiro said, grabbing her phone from her. "Uh- sorry, I didn't mean to be so harsh but- you can't tell anyone what we heard ok?" Eijiro said.

"WHAT?! I just heard Bakugo being the sweetest boyfriend ever and you expect me not to say anything about that?!"

"YES!" Eijiro yelled. "Look they both like their privacy and there is a reason they were all the way up here talking, Ashido. I think we should keep this a secret and let them do things at their own pace ok?" He said, handing Mina back her phone.

"UGH-" She exclaimed letting out a big sigh. "I guess you're right... but wow who would have thought Bakugo could be a decent person much less a good boyfriend." She said.

Eijiro just shrugged at her words, "I don't know he's not a bad guy like you all make him out to be you know."

"Wait! You totally already knew didn't you!" Mina said, slapping Eijiro's shoulder.

"Hey! I mean- Bakugo is my best friend you know, so yeah I did..." He answered truthfully.

"You suck! Keeping secrets like that from me!" Mina said playfully, waving a finger at him.

"I'm sorry, but it's their business you know?" He said.

"Yeah I understand, guess we should go back to the dorms too now," Mina suggested.

"Yeah it is pretty cold up here, let's go." He agreed as they both started to walk down the hill. "I don't have Bakugo's quirk or anything but- if you're cold you can hold my hand too if you want," Eijiro suggested.

Mina's face tinted a darker pink as she reached out and grabbed Eijiro's hand.

Tags: @unofficialmuilover @maddietries

Picture taken from @everypanelofkatsuki, thank you for all your hard work! Go check them out if you haven’t!

[tswiftupdatess]

taylorswift: In summation We have officially wrapped the European leg of The Eras Tour. With it came the most passionate crowds I’ve ever played for, new traditions in the show, and an entirely new era added in. It was a more hectic pace than we’d done before, and I’m so proud of my crew/fellow performers for being able to physically perform that show and build our massive stage, take it apart, and make magic with so few days in between for recovery and travel. They’re the most impressive people I know and I’m so lucky they gave The Eras Tour their time, their energy, and their expertise. Walking onstage in London was a rollercoaster of emotions. Having our Vienna shows cancelled was devastating. The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows. But I was also so grateful to the authorities because thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives. I was heartened by the love and unity I saw in the fans who banded together. I decided that all of my energy had to go toward helping to protect the nearly half a million people I had coming to see the shows in London. My team and I worked hand in hand with stadium staff and British authorities every day in pursuit of that goal, and I want to thank them for everything they did for us. Let me be very clear: I am not going to speak about something publicly if I think doing so might provoke those who would want to harm the fans who come to my shows. In cases like this one, ‘silence’ is actually showing restraint, and waiting to express yourself at a time when it’s right to. My priority was finishing our European tour safely, and it is with great relief that I can say we did that. And then London felt like a beautiful dream sequence. All five crowds at Wembley Stadium were bursting with passion, joy, and exuberance. The energy in that stadium was like the most giant bear hug from 92,000 people each night, and it brought me back to a place of carefree calm up there.

We had some EPIC surprise performances from my long time friends teddysphotos, florenceandthemachine, and jackantonoff. Performing ‘Florida!!!’ with Flo for the first time was unforgettable and Ed took me right back to our old Red Tour memories. It was the most dizzying honor to become the first solo artist to play Wembley 8 times in one tour. To the fans who have seen us this summer, you’ll always have the most sparkling place in my memories. You were a dream to perform for, dance with, and share those magical moments with. We’ll see you all again when we resume The Eras Tour in October, but for now we get to take a much needed rest. Thank you for the adventure of a lifetime. May it continue… 💚💛💜❤️🩵🖤🩷🩶🤎💙🤍

(August 21, 2024)

[the-kr8tor]

hihi katy! ₍˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶₎ saw your post and honestly, you're not the only one obsessing over our boy savior, especially after that tragic ending for him in S2. (ꎿຶ꒫ꎿຶ) i'd like to make a request for him cus he really deserves to be happy and taken care of (৹˃ᗝ˂৹),,, could you write a lil summat about treating his wounds or maybe helping him change, helping him fall asleep, babying him, etc. pretty please? ʚ♡ɞ only if you want to! i hope you have a wonderful rest of your day!! ♡

- 🐋.

Hello!!! Thank you for the lovely request! I had too much fun with it lol

Pairing: Ekko x fem! Reader

Word count: 1.3k

Tags: no use of Y/N, no specific physical description of the reader, CW injuries, CW blood, lovestruck! Ekko, CW needles, CW suggestive, no spoilers for s2, a bit of hurt/comfort, fluff!

Navigation

Ekko retells the whole ordeal that just transpired a few minutes ago, which was exactly thirty three minutes ago. You counted the time with bated breath, and you've been keeping time since he skidded off his hoverboard and straight into a wall after Smeech shot his board midair. Your eyes keep darting off to the dried blood on his temple, iron and crimson marring his handsome face. And worrying you with every second that ticks by. Even though he got out of it in one piece, your heart still aches at the sight of the various gashes and bruises dotted along his skin.

A hundred scenes flit over your mind, things that you could've done to prevent his fall. You would have jumped off and caught him before he hit the hard wall, or the end of your gun would have met Smeech’s head before he even shot his own. Your breathing quickens, and the harsh bulbs of the hideout's meeting room doesn't help the headache blooming in your skull.

He notices your heavy gaze, brown eyes glancing at you whilst he continues to debrief his fellow firelights. He's still the pinnacle of a leader despite his injuries. Your eyes are starting to get glossy, brows furrowed in thinking. So as he finishes off the meeting in record time and sends off the others to do a sweep around the area yo make sure no one followed the group, he's on you immediately the second the door closes.

“Hey.” Ekko's voice is soft, gloved hand grazing your chin as he moves your head gently to face him. “Look at me, breathe.”

Your eyes meet his own, hands flying to grasp at his wrists to anchor yourself to him. “Are you okay?” You finally feel your lungs relaxing as he holds you.

He smiles, cracking the dried crimson on his cheek. “I'm good, still breathing.” Grabing the back of your chair, he scoots you over to his seat, effectively placing you in between his legs, knees knocking against your own in greeting.

Shaking your head, your hand hovers above his wound. “Does it hurt? You hit the ground— I heard it then when I went to look and I—”

Ekko leans against your hand to ease you. “It doesn't hurt much anymore, see? I won't be able to do this if it still hurts.”

Sniffing, your shoulders slump as you place your head atop his chest, careful of his hidden injuries. “Let me take care of you, please.” Your voice is muffled by his bandana, feeling his hand trace the line on your spine to soothe you more. “I should be the one taking care of you.”

“Who said?” He jokes, lips pecking the crown of your head.

You lean away, staring at him through your lashes as you frown. “I did.”

Chuckling, he cups your face, squeezing you once until you're smiling softly at him. “Okay, just go easy on me, firefly.”

—

You made a list for yourself to follow. After drawing him a bath, which he rarely takes because of his busy schedule, he cleans off the day's activities whilst you ready everything you need to tend to his wounds.

“You're not joining in?” Ekko asks in the tub, face scrunched against the wooden surface as steam rises up from the water. His hair is loose, twists falling over his playful eyes. “Water's warm.”

“Not this time, Ekko.” You say as you thread a needle. “I need to bandage your wound, and you know that the second I'm in there with you we won't get anything done.”

He scrunches his face, blowing raspberries in the air. “Foiled again. You're no fun.” The water overflows as he submerges himself down in the tub.

“Having an open head wound is no fun, Ekko.” Walking closer to the tub, he sees you above the water, eyebrow raised and voice garbled. “Didn't I tell you not to wet your head? I'm sure I double checked that you don't have a concussion.”

He blows air bubbles at you, hands reaching up so you can pull him out. Rising above, he wipes the water off his face. “Joining in won't hurt.”

You kneel down to level with him, arms placed on the edge of the tub and face resting atop it as you flutter your lashes at him. “If you let me take care of you for once then I'll jump in.”

His hands subtly snake over to your elbows, and you quickly know what he's up to. “Why not now—”

“Not now, tomorrow. I promise.” You kiss his wet lips chastely before standing up and giving him a hand. “Come on, bossman, don't be incorrigible.”

Sighing, Ekko surrenders to you. “Big word.” He says as he heaves himself up off the tub. Water dripping down his sculpted torso.

With a roll of your eyes, you take your hand away and toss him a towel. “Hide your bits, Ekko.” Laughing, the towel hits him right on his face.

“You like these bits though.” After he tucks the towel against his waist, he immediately grabs you by your waist, rubbing his wet face and hair against your own. He's happy to be back in your arms when he was this close to not going home.

“Ekko!” Your giggles bounce off the bathroom, and his guffaw is muffled by the side of your neck.

—

He acts tough in front of you as he sits in between your legs backwards. The way that he grips at your thighs says otherwise as the needle pierces his skin. Hissing, his fingers dig into your pants, eyes closed as he stiffens from the suture.

“Almost done, I promise.” Snipping off the thread, you clean the wound with an antiseptic and then closing it with gauze and medical tape. The firelights don't joke around with medical supplies.

You still remember the time he first tended to your wounds. And how much of a baby you were with the needle.

“Barely noticeable, I think I did okay.” You hold up a mirror for him, but he ignores it as he twists around, chest in full display as cups your cheeks. “I'd take a simple thank you, but a kiss is so much better.”

Ekko smiles gently, eyes crinkling at the corners before sighing deeply. “I'm alright, firefly.”

You look at him with all the love in the world. “I know, Ekko.” Wiping a stray water droplet away from his clavicle, you sniff and the scent of your soap that he used wafts over your nose, making you smile. “You're here, and I'm here. We're okay.” Nodding, you reassure him.

His thumb brushes along under your eye before leaning in to kiss you like it's the first time. Eyes closed, a single tear escapes from him as you cradle him in your arms, hands holding him in place and anchoring him to you.

Reluctantly pulling away, he pauses for a second before pecking each of your cheeks, then your forehead and whole face until you're giggling in his arms and with himself chuckling with every kiss.

Your hands run along his arms, feeling the muscles stretch underneath and the goosebumps that are left in your wake. “Aren't you cold?” You say in between his kisses.

Ekko pauses from attacking your face, and smiles fondly at you. He shakes his head, nose scrunched up. “No.”

“You sure?” You poke his chest, feeling how cool his skin has become since getting out of the bath. He shivers against your cold finger. You raise a teasing eyebrow at him as he sighs.

“...fine.”

“Arms raised up, bossman.” Patting his bicep, you grab a clean shirt you've prepared for him right next to you on the bed. When you turn back towards him, surprisingly, he has his arms raised up and waiting.

You unabashedly roam your eyes over the muscles of his chest. Effectively ogling him as he smirks at you.

“Shirt off then?” Ekko drops his hands down to his lap, head tilting as your eyes meet with his own. Finding that they have the same glint in them like your own.

“No shirt.” You say, tossing the shirt away before finding yourself pushed down on the soft mattress.

Support banner by @/cafekitsune

[lundenloves]

@bringinsexybackk69: can i please request dad simon with a boy? like yeah he has all his girls and then there's either the youngest or the oldest and it's his only son? i can just picture like the girls are jealous cause he gets new clothes not hand-me-downs, he gets to do his own sports with out his siblings, he gets to go shooting with the 141- just like totally sibling rivalry and fighting over who is dads favorite?!

youngest.

simon is over the fucking moon when he finds out it's a boy - he's one of them dads in american gender reveals who says “i think you're a girl but i need you to be a boy" 💀

instant attention all goes to this kid, because A) he actually knows how to do it now and B that's his boy. that's his fuckin lad.

the kid looks like you. boys look like their mums, girls look like their dads n all that but christ does he have simon's quietness.

a complete observer like his dad. will be in silence while the girls argue, quietly exchanging glances with simon who internally feels like fucking high-fiving himself for creating a kid who finally understands him.

however the clothes are admittedly down to you, you love buying shit. any excuse. and having a son instead of another girl gave you great reason. though you did go too far sometimes. credit card bills rocketed.

he gets his own room too. straight off the bat, fresh into this fucking world and he's got it all. or that's how your daughters seen it.

“how does he get everything."

“give him a fucking chance." mumbling something about how he's only a week old. the dad sigh strikes again.

him and simon fuck off together a lot. they'll be away camping somewhere, simon teaching this (probably half uninterested) kid how to do all the survival stuff since his girls were never interested.

and when he gets older, maybe around seventeen to eighteen he's so game for that stuff. realistically, was probably in the school cadets n all 💀

when he's able enough, he'll maybe tag along on a run with 141 or summat. this is an incredibly humbling experience to say the least, though uncle soap is there to make everything a laugh n slow the run. "boys, boys, give the lad a chance eh?"

gets into his dads routine of the gym in mornings too, simon watching his workout from a distance before giving him pointers - hands on hips before stepping back to see if he's doing it right or not.

although, simon does not let him apply to the army. all fun n games till it wants to happen isn't it padre?

probably applies behind simon's back ngl. resulting in a huge fuck off argument once a letter comes in stamped under british army branding under the kids name instead of his own. yikes.

classic son x father shouting match.

i’m probably going to get asked to write that now aren’t i? happily, gladly, don’t get me wrong. sorry i haven’t been writing much but i do enjoy talking to you lot in the inbox.

simon 'ghost' riley taglist: @vamppxncess @crowbird @tallrock35 @fluffmonster @islanderr @blueoorchid @lea3773 @coldflapjack @rayhawk05 @han11dh @liishook @melovetitties @fallonx @rvjaa @fuckmelifesucks @bhayatsara @takeomisbitch @local-spidey @konigsblog @penutjuice @babychoi03 @sheluvzeren @sparklingtragedy @maviee @wiserebelpartypie @daddylorianisastateofmind @bhayatsara @mistydeyes @writingmysanity @johfaam0 @idkbbyx3 @gressseyy @fwibblefwobble @shibble @maladaptivedaydreamingbum @airghostlyfox @hotgirlsshareaccounts @simpxinnie @cliosunshine @bloobewy @lazybutsmexy @maki-z @yyiikes @tieflingteatime @cosmoscoffee @lilvampirina @cinnabeanz @bubbyblob @spencerreidisbae123 @ellies-girll @paperbag-prncs @cookiecutta @sluttyforsimon

[taylorswiftstyle]

2024 Golden Globe Awards | Los Angeles, CA | January 7, 2024

Gucci gown

Let it be known my Roman Empire is painted a shade of aurora borealis green. 

I’m biased. I love it. You’re buckling up for a rave. But everyone knew that, right? 

I want it on record that no one should be surprised when they see this lewk on the TSS Favourite Outfits of 2024 list. And that I’ll devise some maniacal strategy to make it make sense to include in every annual list from here to eternity.

Let's get the obvious out of the way in that this shade of green could easily be interpreted as very snakelike and thus a nod to reputation and its forthcoming re-recorded version. I'd even happily apply it to the teal-y and springlike green of debut if we want to go debutation on this.

But if we are to talk about Gucci we have to talk about the precipice the house is upon right now. As it relates to Taylor, I suspect her dress (specific shade TBD - Chartreuse? Apple? Pear? Some other adjacent fruit that’s a feast for my eyes?) is a preview of Fall 2024 and a clear indicator of the path the new creative director Sabato De Sarno’s will take the brand in. Which is to say, muting the eccentricity of Alessandro Michele’s era of Gucci that brought the brand to a new level of renown in favour of something cleaner and sexier. Nicole Phelps for Vogue already noted that De Sarno’s first collection for Gucci — Spring 2024’s Ancora, meaning ‘again’ in English and released in September — evokes a Gucci when Tom Ford was once at the helm, praising De Sarno’s approach to “the upfront sex appeal of those ’60s-by-way-of-the-’90s shapes, and straight riffs on Ford hits” while “establish[ing De Sarno’s] essentials, focusing on cut and proportion, and repeating shapes for emphasis.”

Indeed, Taylor’s gown is directly reminiscent of a Fall 2004 look from Ford’s Gucci - all green sparkles and sexy disco energy. This makes sense when we consider De Sarno’s history and homeworking when he decided to take the creative director post. He told WWD, “Gucci to me equals luxury … the first fashion piece I ever owned was a Gucci jacket by Tom Ford. I still remember I traveled to Rome to buy it with my friend … luxury was really not part of our world. Television was the only way to see fashion for me back then.” He added, “My ambition is to build an aesthetic message with an edited collection that is mindful of Gucci’s heritage and close to my own aesthetics.”

When we consider my personal history with Taylor and Gucci, I don’t have to look very far to immediately picture one of my all time favourite Taylor looks — the 2014 Grammys when she wore a sparkling Gucci Première column gown which is not too dissimilar to this one. What can I say, I’m consistent. The shape, the perfect kiss-the-floor hemming, and obviously the divine colour that really pops on Taylor will have me swooning for a long time. 

At the end of it all, what I come back to is De Sarno’s sentimentality to naming his first collection: Ancora. Again. He told WWD, “Ancora is a word that you use when your desire is not over yet … I want to fall in love with fashion all over again — ancora.” In the same interview he said, “I like words a lot, they have weight and a precise meaning, they convey emotions, so I like artists who use words.” 

It dawns on me that Taylor’s light is shining at its brightest now as she highlights, celebrates, and - indeed - falls in love with all the versions of herself she has ever been. Revisiting her eras past again. And again. In every re-record. In every step she takes on stage. In every cutting line she writes in ruminating and revisiting the experiences of her life and translating them into song. She’s flitting, flirting, memorializing all her past selves in celebration of their summation of her current self. And that’s what this ‘era of eras’ has been. 

So if this is De Sarno’s Gucci I say welcome. Ancora. 

Photos by Monica Schipper/GA and Amy Sussman via Getty Images

[evermoredeluxe]

taylorswift: In summation

We have officially wrapped the European leg of The Eras Tour. With it came the most passionate crowds l've ever played for, new traditions in the show, and an entirely new era added in. It was a more hectic pace than we'd done before, and I'm so proud of my crew/ fellow performers for being able to physically perform that show and build our massive stage, take it apart, and make magic with so few days in between for recovery and travel. They're the most impressive people I know and I'm so lucky they gave The Eras Tour their time, their energy, and their expertise.

Walking onstage in London was a rollercoaster of emotions. Having our Vienna shows cancelled was devastating. The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows. But I was also so grateful to the authorities because thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives. I was heartened by the love and unity I saw in the fans who banded together. I decided that all of my energy had to go toward helping to protect the nearly half a million people I had coming to see the shows in London. My team and I worked hand in hand with stadium staff and British authorities every day in pursuit of that goal, and I want to thank them for everything they did for us. Let me be very clear: I am not going to speak about something publicly if I think doing so might provoke those who would want to harm the fans who come to my shows.

In cases like this one, 'silence' is actually showing restraint, and waiting to express yourself at a time when it's right to. My priority was finishing our European tour safely, and it is with great relief that I can say we did that.

And then London felt like a beautiful dream sequence.

All five crowds at Wembley Stadium were bursting with passion, joy, and exuberance. The energy in that stadium was like the most giant bear hug from 92,000 people each night, and it brought me back to a place of carefree calm up there.

We had some EPIC surprise performances from my long time friends@teddysphotos, @florenceandthemachine, and @jackantonoff. Performing 'Florida!!!' with Flo for the first time was unforgettable and Ed took me right back to our old Red Tour memories. It was the most dizzying honor to become the first solo artist to play Wembley 8 times in one tour. To the fans who have seen us this summer, you'll always have the most sparkling place in my memories. You were a dream to perform for, dance with, and share those magical moments with. We'll see you all again when we resume The Eras Tour in October, but for now we get to take a much needed rest.

Thank you for the adventure of a lifetime.

May it continue...

💚💛💜❤️🩵🖤🩷🩶🤎💙🤍

📷: TAS Rights Management

[frudoo]

Who is neighbour Johnny having for dinner?! Does he poison everyone with his terrible cooking?! Does reader see the contents of his tight shorts?! I must know

Previous

Warnings: Suggestive, obviously ;) Mentions of alcohol. Fem!Reader.

It’s between you and God that you decided to wear a thong beneath your dress. It’s to make yourself feel pretty, give you a boost of confidence around people that you’ve never met, and that’s it. You definitely didn’t wear it in hopes that your egotistical maniac of a neighbor might get a peek. No, that would be crazy. Insane. Desperate, and you are not desperate. Not for that hairy freak.

     You’ve been needing an excuse to wear this new perfume, anyway. It’s spicy, like cinnamon and clove with a hint of citrus. You had been planning to save it for a date night if you ever got asked out, but here you are: wearing an aphrodisiac perfume to go have dinner with your neighbor who you most definitely do not have a thing for. If anything, you pity him. You can’t even recall the last time the poor lad had gotten any visitors. You’re just being kind.

     Kind enough to pull the neckline of your dress down to show off more cleavage. Hopefully his guests aren’t prudes.

     You give your hallway mirror one last passing glance so you’re not tempted to stay and obsess over every little detail about yourself—otherwise you would never actually make it over to Johnny’s house. With a prolonged sigh, you grab the bottle of wine from your kitchen counter and head out the door. It is not a romantic gesture, not in the slightest. You simply don’t want to show up empty-handed and look like a fool in front of his guests. Guests whose vehicles you don’t see in his driveway nor parked on the street.

     The friendly neighborhood stray cat greets you at Johnny’s front doorstep, rubbing his body against your leg with a purr. The little dish that the man leaves out for him is empty. You ring the doorbell, then lean down to pet the kitty.

     “Reit on time, hen! Color me impressed,” the door swings open not two seconds after you make your presence known, and you yelp in surprise.

     “Fu-! Johnny!” You scowl as the frightened feline sprints off down the street. “He was being sweet!”

     “Go’ summat sweeter fer ye in ‘ere, lass,” the Scot winks, and you huff in an attempt to hide your flustered state. “Come in, come in. ‘Ave a seat on the settee.”

     “Where are the others?” You ask, handing him the bottle of wine which he takes graciously. 

     “Och, did ah no’ tell ye? They cannae make it. Go’ called intae work,” he frowns shortly, then shrugs. “Well. Plans dinnae stop jus’ because o’a few people.”

     Unbelievable. 

     “All of them?” You ask monotonously, obviously not buying his excuses. 

     “They’re coworkers. Were mine, tae, ‘fore ah go’ fookin’ blasted in the heid,” Johnny points to the scar on his temple with a sneer. 

     “I- okay,” you sigh, shutting your eyes briefly and deciding to change the subject. “What did you make for dinner?” 

     “Hehehe.” 

     Oh, fucking hell. 

     “Johnny…”

     “Ah figured we’ll order pizza. Ah ken’s yer favorite,” he plops down beside you on the couch. “Also go’ a movie fer us tae watch. Slasher, aye?” 

     You purse your lips and blink slowly. The little shit had this all planned out. You should have known when you saw that he was wearing just a t-shirt and sweats. You got all dressed up for nothing, just to come over and sit on his couch and pretend you’re interested in the movie he chose. Pretend you won’t get wet just from his thick thigh brushing against your own. 

     “I’m going home.”

     “Nae, ye cannae leave! C’mon, hen, been tryna ge’ ye tae come o’er ‘ere fer weeks,” he pouts. “Ye ne’er lemme intae yer place when ah bring ye cookies, either!” 

     Those bright blue eyes narrow with desperation and, damn him, you just can’t turn him down. You clench your fists and forcefully throw yourself back against the couch.

     “Fine, but we get mushrooms on the pizza,” you huff, kicking off your shoes.

     “Aye! Anythin’ fer ye, lassie,” Johnny has to stop himself from shaking with excitement.

     While you start the movie, he orders the pizza, then sends out a text to the group.

     She’s inside.

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - It's odd rn but VERY PRETTY

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

Oct 2024 Week 1

Ongoing Series - Thai

Jack & Joker (Thai Mon IQIYI) ep 4 of 12 - I love Joke so much! And I love War in this role so much. It’s great. This is a great show it’s such fun. The comedy is somewhat leaving me flat. But that’s normal for me in this kind of Thai BL. I also like Hope. I shouldn’t, but I do. I love the little girl character as well, and I do believe that Joke has found his scion in her.

(As per usual the grandma of this BL speaks for all of us.)

Kidnap (Fri YT) ep 5 of 12 - Coils be coiling. Mummy dearest is v hot. I do like the twist on the henchmen. It would’ve been really gut-wrenching if Q had put the rope around his own wrist the night that he slept by himself (or tried to). And they have now made "the promise that is destined to be broken" waves at trope. Meanwhile, great flirting. Next week being episode six we should be getting our kiss.

(Was GMMTV gently poking at Jack & Joker with that play-within-a-play reference to Jack as Min's stunt part?)

Fourever You (Thai Thurs YT) ep 1 of 16 - Sampler pack university BL from Wabi Sabi that's trying to be a gay Boys Over Flowers (4 older med student hot boys + frosh) and it’s exactly what I want right now. Is it good? No, not really. Do I care? Not at all. It is, in fact, boys over flowers... only boys no flowers. I really couldn’t want anything more than that. What can I say? I’m easy. I love a pining seme. I guess what I am saying is, I am trash for trash. Inject this shit directly into my eyeballs.

Love Sick 2024 (Thai Sun iQIYI) ep 3 of 15 - At least in this version they talk bit more with each other about what’s going on. (Then again in the original we didn't need it, the acting was so good.) Still it’s a lot more modern to see representation of communication, but but the previous version felt more honest to teen behavior. This open communication entirely changes the push pull dynamic of Phun & Noh's whole relationship. I actually LIKE that change because it makes it very different from the original. I’ve been hoping that this one would veer in a different direction. I'm enjoying that they've made it Phun with the long term crush, and that he’s sort of testing himself with heterosexuality. It is selfish, but it is also a very rich kid thing to do. I love the shouted confessions and the decision to not date. This is a really good twist on the original. I’m liking this a hell of a lot more now that it’s substantially changed in direction, if not in tone.

Monster Next Door (Thai Thurs Gaga ) ep 11 of 12 - It’s very sweet and wholesome. And everyone kisses pretty. And I do like the communication and green flag aspects of this show. But I'm also finding it a touch dull. 

Battle of the Writers (Sun YT) ep 9 of 12 - I don’t know. The pretending to be blind thing is weird. This whole show is weird. I’m kinda weirded out by it. I like the two side couples well enough, but we get barely any time with them at all.

I Saw You in My Dream (Weds Gaga) ep 12 fin - I like that they did come around to the dreaming thing as a major plot point in the end. Even though it felt like they forgot about it in the middle. And I liked that it was an inherited family trait. I didn’t expect that (should have, but I didn't). And I thought it suited this kind of drama, even if it was a little pat. The whole family helping at the very end was very sweet and a nice full circle for the narrative. (Like the Ae's family sort of adopting the next-door kids originally. 

Summation

A cute friends to lovers romance, that’s a little bit like the stepbrothers trope since these two grow up next-door to each other and in and out of each other’s lives. The paranormal element is about prophetic dreams, and it is threaded through the narrative even if it gets somewhat lost in the muddy middle. All in all, a sweet fun little series with decent chemistry. 8/10

Addicted Heroin (Thai Tues WeTV) ep 8 of 10 - I've totally forgotten what’s going on. There was another kidnapping. Maybe they’re actually dating now? I don’t know. Honestly, it won’t really matter cause everything will change by the end of this episode... again. That said, I did love the parental confrontation sequence. It’s not as good as in the original because it’s a lot more direct and modernized, but it was pleasingly aggressive. Which I weirdly appreciated for the military angle. The cross-dressing thing was odd. The dolls advertising thing is even odder. Jealous baby on sports day was good though.

Bad Guy My Boss (Thai Sun Gaga) ep 3 of 10 - Why did I feel like I’ve seen this entire episode already. It’s just different characters saying the same thing to the main characters or flirting the same way or whatever. 

Live in Love (Sun Gaga) ep 5 fin - I did not like this ep at all. Fully half of it was evil backstabbing and some bullying and some sort of trying to engender sympathy for a friendship betrayal. And I was not on board. (Wouldn’t mind seen Hali and that cute kid in something together tho.) 

Conclusion

Basically this was a story about online relationships and how they interface with the real world, and in personal friendships, plus bullying of all types and some backstabbing and shipping. The acting was weak, the sound was terrible, and generally it was an old style pulp offering. It tried to deal with some interesting issues, but was awfully clumsy about it. 5/10 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Sugar Dog Life (Japan Sun grey) ep 9 fin - Such a great confession, so truthful and earnest and honest. And he’s also like that with his friends. And such a nice answer. I love that during the cool off they both realize how very much they both act like are boyfriends to each other all the time. Ooo running of the gays! And we even got a cute little smile kiss!!!! and an adorable boyfriend montage at the end. How unexpectedly satisfying of you, Japan!

Summation 

This is a phenomenally charming and adorable little romance about a forlorn university kid and the police officer who adopts him. They are relentlessly kind to each other, in fact it’s an extremely kindly show over all (everyone in it is so nice to everyone else including us) so there’s very little tension. But what it lacks in drive and complexity it makes up for in earnest acts of service and simple affection. These two are basically boyfriends from the get-go, it’s just one of them acts like it and doesn’t realize it and the other one realizes it and has to figure out how to make it a reality. It’s incredibly sweet and incredibly wholesome, nourishing but delicious. Everybody who can should watch this show. It will make you feel better about life. 

Easy 9/10 on this one from me.  

GO WATCH IT  

Teenager Judge (Vietnam Sat YT) ep 2 of ? - We have some semblance of a plot! Yay! Our BV tsundere character is secretly an online judge who whistleblows and exposes corruption in the school system. How very Pump Up the Volume. I am not mad about it. Also 2 of the prettiest seme bullies EVER. The epic pout-off with these bad boys. Be still my heart.

Our Golden Times (Hong Knong ??? YT) 1-4 of ? - Billed as a BL from Hong Kong I’m not sure we can trust this one to a get finished or be cohesive or have an HEA. But the optics are good. Everybody’s very pretty. It’s chaotic and clumsy and a little odd. But most of the stuff on my dash is these days, so what the hell? And ya know what, I kinda like it.

Love is Like a Poison AKA Doku Koi: Doku mo Sugireba Koi to Naru (Japan Tues Netflix?) 4 of 10 eps - It remains entertaining but off kilter in that way that indicates 50% chance of ultimate dissatisfaction in the JBL pantheon. 

First Note Of Love (Taiwan Mon Gaga) ep 9 of 12 - I wish we knew a little bit more about Sea's background/family. Neil should just tell him what the hell is going on. Why wouldn’t he? Instead they artificially wedged the main couple apart for most of this episode and Orca wasn’t there at all? = Not a good episode IMHO.

It's airing but...

My Damn Business (Korea Sat ????) 7 eps - supposedly airing on Saturdays starting 10/5 have no roleand I found the trailer but nothing else.

The Hidden Moon (Sat WeTV) ep 1 of 10 - This is a supernatural romance (my ghost boyfriend trope) by Violet Rain (I Feel You Linger). A man is hired to write an article about an old mansion in Chiang Mai being converted into a café. He sees the ghosts of people who died at the mansion, falls in love with one of them. Was substantially recast. I loved IFYLITA except the ending so I think I'll let this one run it's course you can tell me if it's work tracking down... if they managed to land it. I have my doubts.

Next Week Looks Like This:

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

Coming Oct 2024:

10/7 Every You Every Me (Thai Mon Gaga) 10 eps - Jade and Chin have lived over a thousand lifetimes. In each one they somehow manage to fall in love with each other. (This pair, TopMick was piloted in a My Universe ep, that was one of the only ones I liked.)

10/10 Eccentric Romance (Korea Thurs Viki & Gaga) 12 eps - Silkwood’s 2nd Thai/Korean colab, that has been in production since 2022 which is a LONG time in the BL world. I'm worried but I like the concept: friends of 10 years who’ve been hiding feelings for each other enter the same university. Plus MURDER.

10/10 Gangster and His Boyfriend (Korea Thurs ????) 8 eps? - Kim Dong Bin (famous trainee & idol reality competitor, yeah that happens) stars as a fallen idol who unexpectedly becomes entangled in a gangster family. Discovers that his friend’s father is responsible for the murder of his entire family years ago. I don't know much about this one, neither does anyone else and I'm not sure where I got that release date so……

10/21 Love in the Big City (Korea ????) 8 eps - Okay both a movie (already out) and a series. Neither one is likely BL and I can't imagine it will end happily. I'm giving both a pass but here's your synopsis.

Cynical fun loving student Young pinballs from home, to class, to on night stands. He and Jaehee, his female besie and roommate, frequent nearby bars where they push away their worries about life, love, and money with soju and hookups.

10/23 See Your Love (Taiwan Gaga Viki) 10 eps? - Zi Xiong, a third-generation heir, attempting to flee from taking over their family business, meets and falls in love with Shao Peng, who works as a hearing-impaired nurse. From the same production house as Kiseki Dear To Me in partnership with Shinehouse Theatre, funded by Taiwan’s BIGART + Japan's Rakuten (Viki). Show includes Lin Chia Yo (Be Loved in House: I Do). Director Chiang Ping Chen’s childhood experiences with his deaf uncle have inspired the drama.

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

I kinda love it when someone else does the prophetic claiming. Our Golden Times

Crumbs in Summer Nights but they very cute crumbs. We didn't even really get to see them get together but I'm glad that they are.

(Last week)

Streaming services are listed by how I (usually) watch, which is with a USA based IP, and often offset by a day because time zones are a pain.

The tag BLigade: @doorajar @solitaryandwandering @my-rose-tinted-glasses @babymbbatinygirl @babymbbatinygirl @isisanna-blog @mmastertheone @pickletrip @aliceisathome @urikawa-miyuki @tokillamonger @sunflower-positiiivity @rocketturtle4 @blglplus @anythinggoesintheshire @everlightly @renafire @mestizashinrin @bl-bam-beyond @small-dark-and-delicious @saezurumurmurs

Sigh, Tumblr in its infinite wisdom doesn't like too many at-ings.

[mrschwartz]

Alex Turner for Rumore Magazine (September 2013)

Seventies Heads and Modern Loves or I Don't Know What I Want But I Surely Want You

by Elia Alovisi

Until he opens his mouth, Alex Turner looks like he stepped out of the Nevada desert. Leather loafers, a belt, slicked-back hair, sunglasses. But as soon as he starts talking, between “summat” instead of “something” and “me” instead of “my,” he transforms back into a boy from Sheffield who grew up on cocktails and DJ sets. The discrepancy between the way he looks and the way he speaks is strange: you would expect a cocky and arrogant rock star, but instead you have before you a relaxed and thoughtful boy who carefully measures his words, but does so with a smile and not a frown. The lyrics of AM, the fifth album of his band, mainly revolve around difficult and elusive women. There are many questions. “Do I want to know?” “Are you mine?” he says; “Why do you always call me when you’re high?” she says. There is no shortage of desires: “I want it all,” “I want to be yours.” Absent, however, are the answers. We tried to get a few out of him.

How was it to be back at Glastonbury as a headliner five years after the first time?

Fantastic. Absolutely wonderful, this time it was very natural. Everything was harder in 2007, we had done a lot less shows and had a lot less songs. Now we have learned to move better.

After the experience of Humbug, you collaborated again with Josh Homme.

Yes, Josh is on Knee Socks, towards the end of the piece. We gave him carte blanche and he decided to sing a sort of counter-melody that reminds me a lot of Bowie.

Are knee socks your favorite piece of underwear on a woman?

[Laughs] What do you think?

If she has the right legs.

Exactly, yes. The best is the garter. But then they would not be Parisian anymore, right? And then they are thicker than women's stockings. However they are not my favorite underwear, I go with the push-up.

In the lyrics of Arabella you talk a lot about the universe.

I wanted to use that linguistic palette to try to describe a woman. There are many songs that use those sorts of words… galaxy, interstellar, constellation, things like that, but usually they are used just for the sake of being used. Instead I wanted to make them an active part of a description, they are images that I find very interesting. In England, on the BBC, there is this program called Wonders of the Universe, with Professor Brian Cox. And it is one of my favorite programs [smiles, pleased].

Barbarella also pops up in the text.

Yes, although I haven't read practically any of her comics and I've only seen a small piece of the movie. I don't really like B movies. To know her, you just need to have seen a poster, that's all you need. I just used her to make a comparison with the costume she wears.

How does the suite you sing about in Fireside relate to room 505 in Favourite Worst Nightmare?

Yes, I’m talking about a suite in my heart… or in her heart? Well, in someone’s heart. Room 505, in my mind, is something very concrete. I wrote that song on a train between Philadelphia and New York, my girlfriend was in a hotel waiting for me and I just wrote about that [Turner’s voice becomes increasingly whispered as the sentence progresses]. In Fireside, however, it’s all figurative.

So how much of your real self is in your lyrics and how much is just imagination?

There's no rule, sometimes there's a lot of me in the lyrics when you least expect it. I put little secrets in them. What I try to avoid is that people who listen to one of my songs say, 'oh, he's talking about that girl'. You know when you read a novel and, somehow, in your mind you see its characters with the faces of some of your friends, or your favorite actors? That's where I want to get to with my music, I want it to be like being in front of a story, not the evidence of two people with a name and a surname who are kissing. It's up to the listener to give them both a face. When I write I pretty much always have someone or something in mind, but it doesn't really matter.

How did you come up with the idea of ​​using John Cooper Clarke's words for I Wanna Be Yours?

We wrote most of the songs on this record on a four-track that I got for my birthday. I spent a while recording ideas on it, sometimes we'd loop a bass and drum melody for five minutes and the fact that it was on tape gave it an incredible color. Then I'd sit there with headphones and a microphone humming melodies, or making up silly lyrics to start coming up with ideas. One day, while I was jamming, the words I wanna be yours came out and I remembered that they were the title of one of his poems. I thought it would be cool to use someone else's words – and especially his, I'm a big fan of his. It's one of my favorite songs on the record, the lyrics alone make it different from anything we've done before. And then I love the juxtaposition of the slow, sexy, flirtatious music and his words.

The party you talk about in No. 1 Party Anthem seems a lot more laid back than the ones you’ve talked about in the past, like the house in This House Is A Circus.

That’s true, but the parties we go to are still pretty messy. They’re just twice as long.

Am I supposed to be imagining some sort of indie celebrity party?

Indie celebrity party? [Laughs.] No, no, no. The slow tempo of that song gives it a bit of a Los Angeles feel. It’s a city that I’m told is very similar to what we’re portraying on the new record, and I’m starting to think that might be true. Not that it sounds like the Eagles, you know.

It's like your sound is becoming more and more American.

Yeah, maybe. There's something special about that part of the world. Everything that came out of California owes something to '70s rock, the spontaneity of those rhythms also comes back in West Coast hip-hop. But then came the fucking '80s and… a lot of fucking bands that don't fit into that theory. I think there will always be something English in our sound, it's something we can never detach ourselves from.

How much does Sheffield still mean to what you do?

Well, you know… [he taps two fingers on a tattoo on the inside of his arm: the Yorkshire rose and underneath it the word “SHEFFIELD”].

There are three songs on AM whose titles are questions.

You don't notice things like that until you sit there and write the titles of the songs one after the other. I hadn't noticed until then, there are also a lot of wanna.

The protagonist of R U Mine? is wrapped up in a certain western imagery, you portray her as “a lone cowboy riding in an open space.” And in All My Own Stunts you talked about “watching cowboy movies on gloomy afternoons.”

I love the western style. The leather ties, the belts… Hey, look at this one I’m wearing! [He stands up and shows me his leather belt, turning his back: it has “TURNER” engraved on it, on either side of the horseshoes.] A friend gave it to me for my birthday, this year was really nice, between this and the four-track. I also love western movies, especially the ones about Butch Cassidy. I also love Ennio Morricone’s soundtracks, obviously.

How do you usually celebrate your birthdays?

They’re nothing too devastating. I have a birthday in early January, everyone is still recovering from Christmas and New Year’s, so the average response I get is usually “forget it.”

Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High? brings back the drunken text messages you mentioned in The View From the Afternoon.

We've all done that at least once, come on. Those lyrics might have come off the first record, but the music is fully invested in what we're doing now. I just wanted to write something simple.

While we're on the subject: when was the last time you got bounced at the entrance of a nightclub? It's not like From The Ritz To The Rubble anymore, is it?

Shit, that was like four weeks ago! [Laughs.] We were in Stockholm, we were trying to get into an area of ​​the nightclub and there was no way we could get in.

What are those Mad Sounds you're talking about?

That song is about those moments when you put on a song and it's like it's talking about exactly how you feel. It's a song about those songs, and I hope it can become one of them. I get that feeling from some songs by Lou Reed, John Cale, or Harry Nilsson. It's like sometimes they really understand how I feel, and you're like, "What the fuck..." and you almost tell them to go fuck themselves.

The point where the song explodes is when you start singing a series of ooh-la-la-la. What is the la-la-la moment that sticks with you the most from the music you listen to?

Definitely the do-dodo-dodo-do-do-do-do from Walk on the Wild Side by Lou Reed.

By the way, who came up with the idea of ​​calling a song The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala? What does that mean?

It came up one day when we were making up names for guitar pedals – sometimes they have crazy names. The Blond-o-Sonic Shimmer Trap  would be perfect for a fuzz, for example. The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala, however, comes from a bar we hung out in a lot while we were writing the previous record. The room was full of glitter and there were a lot of weird chicks all winking, like cougars.

The lyrics to Snap Out of It revolve around hypnosis. Do you think there's any real power behind it or is it just persuasion?

I've never been hypnotised, but it all seems pretty real when you watch hypnotists on telly. There's this show in the UK where this guy, Derren Brown, gets people to do all sorts of things. Crazy stuff like, "rob someone!" Nothing I'd want to be involved with.

In I Want It All you say, “Leave me listening to the Stones 2000 light years from home.”

I’m actually a Beatles guy, no doubt. But I like them both, I saw the Stones at Glastonbury and it was great.

Don't you think it's better for a band to go at the top of their game than to keep going and going and risk having nothing left to say?

What the Stones have managed to do is really extraordinary. I mean, they're seventy years old and they're still on stage. It's very difficult to have an opinion on something like this because I don't think I've reached that level yet. I'm very excited about the new album, we've reached the point of being a good live band and, speaking as an artist, I think I've reached a certain excellence this time. I want to build on that, explore new things. We still have a lot of places to go.

I think the main difference between AM and your previous albums is the small amount of guitars.

This time we didn't want to sound like four guys playing in the same room, while that's exactly what we wanted to sound like in Suck It And See. We immersed ourselves in a more minimalist idea. The guitars are perfect, sometimes they don't even sound like guitars from the way they're played, or from the effects we put on them. They sound a bit "spacey," they would be good for the stereo of a flying saucer. Then we came out with some bass and drum parts perfect to be played at full volume through the speakers of a car. We also worked much more with the vocal lines, especially with the choirs.

There are actually a lot of songs where you put backing vocals and backing vocals, especially One For The Road.

Matt, Nick and I do them. Jamie is the only one who doesn't want to have anything to do with them. It all started with R U Mine? , the part where we all start going: [hums the backing vocals]. As soon as we tried that part we realized how good it sounded, we especially liked the fact that it was something we hadn't done before. So we just went for it.

[gffa]

Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View: Return of the Jedi | "Brotherhood" I NEED YOU TO UNDERSTAND THAT I STRAIGHT UP CRIED REAL TEARS AT THIS MOMENT. IT WAS EXACTLY WHAT I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO READ AND IT HIT ME RIGHT IN MY EMOTIONS. I was so wary going into this story, because the concepts of Force Ghosts are deeply important to me on a narrative level, that the Force and Lucas' philosphy in the movies and for the worldbuilding is that the message is: You need to let go when it's time. You can't hold on beyond anything or anyone's time, it will only cause you and others suffering. So, when Anakin's fiery determination seemed to be what kept him around as a Force ghost, I sighed a bit and kept shouldering on. I did not expect to be hit by the one-two-three-four punch of Obi-Wan's gentle guidance to get Anakin to the other side of the Force, Anakin's regret for what he'd done and the heart-wrenching way he instinctively turns to Obi-Wan and listens to him, Anakin looking on over his children with pride and faith in what they would do next, and then the ultimate message: "Finally, Anakin Skywalker let go." I AM EMOTIONAL. MY BOY FINALLY GOT TO THE PLACE THAT GAVE HIM PEACE. It was a perfect build-up to where Anakin needed to be in this moment, that this story is centered around the depth of his connection to Obi-Wan, that it's instinctual for him to reach out and grab onto the hand Obi-Wan is holding out to him, to turn to Obi-Wan and listen, like a flower turns towards the sun, now that he's out of the worst of the haze of the dark side. To seeing his children, seeing Padme in them, seeing both of them in the twins, and finally, finally letting all that noise in his head go. Trusting that Luke and Leia and their friends would make their own way forward. "It just took one final nudge from Obi-Wan to get there. Finally, Anakin Skywalker let go." What a perfect summation of Anakin's character and his difficult journey, his relationship with Obi-Wan, and one of the most central themes George Lucas intended for Star Wars. Becoming a Force Ghost is about letting go--Qui-Gon said that in the original ROTS script, he said it in TCW, the OWK show basically had the same message, and now Anakin has gotten there, too. That it acknowledged his part in everything that happened and did it with tremendous compassion, because that's what Jedi are all about. Obi-Wan has let go as well, he doesn't hang onto the hurt or the suffering, especially not when he will gain so much by letting go and embracing compassion for Anakin. He gently guides Anakin to understanding that he wasn't solely responsible for everything, only for the choices he made. Those choices were terrible, he bears that mark, they aren't erased just because Anakin is sorry, but holding onto all that guilt and pain is just more suffering. Obi-Wan has let go and, through that, he can guide Anakin to let go as well, and regain his friend. This is everything the Jedi have always taught coming to fruition. So, I'm emotional for my baby boy, that he finally got there after a lifetime of struggling, that he's finally at peace, and I'm emotional as a Star Wars fan, that the themes of my favorite franchise were just knocked out of the park.

[mayordeas-clone]

Vocaloid Familiarity Survey...DATA!!!

hello, i posted a survey to gauge the general familiarity of vocaloid characters that I (emphasis on I) consider basic or surface level (with a few wildcards thrown in which i will address in this summary) after grieving the lack of non-miku vocaloid fan merch. just how much do people know about vocaloid outside of miku? her friends? her friends' friends? and so on.

the survey was by no means perfect (this was my first attempt at this) but i received some great feedback from the survey takers to better improve the experience the next time i host one.

if you just want a basic summation of the results, here ya go--overall familiarity (that is, recognition of name/design/both summed up) organized into an iceberg tier list. including the individual percentages would have been So SO much so i crammed it into the alt text of the iceberg.

(tiers are in order. the only tie was big al, sweet ann, and an excluded lola. i'll address her and leon in the summary) the rest of this post will be going over some of the results as well as reflecting on the survey itself, its shortcomings, and a possible sequel with improvements :)

FIRST OF ALL: EXCLUSIONS

i am so so so so sorry for not including your fave on the survey, even if they had a realistic level of popularity! i either straight up forgot or didn't think they were that relevant or arbitrarily decided "nah this might be too far, don't wanna scare anyone off" before deciding to include more obscure synths. yukari fans in particular were very vocal about her exclusion, and i totally get it!! i also get the confusion in the exclusion of seeu and maika (the main korean and spanish-speaking loids respectively).

out of the other synths i didn't include, i wish i included yukari, seeu, maika, mayu, iroha, yohioloid, the rest of the isotopes, and the rest of the vsingers. you'll notice i included the rest of starry court + the tokyo6 girls even though they expectedly did pretty poorly among general audiences. i almost scrapped saros, nyl, karin, and chifuyu, but was like "what the heck might as well complete the full set right". and then did not extend that grace to kafu and tianyi's friends!!! aughh!!

also, EARLY on in the survey, i included calne ca as a character to recognize, which some ppl didn't get since unlike other fanloids she didn't really have an associated "voice". while this survey was more about the fandom and character side rather than the music, i figured it was a fair point since i didn't extend similar grace to several other fanloids without significant voices like mikudayo/hachune miku/more. so in order to just remove it from the picking or without fucking up the sample size by adding more questions after the fact, i just removed her.

leon and lola stayed on the survey till closure, but when i was tallying up the results i decided it didn't really make sense to include them (at least the way that i did). i'll discuss this more when i talk about fan designs.

1 - what went down

so based on the results of the iceberg, i was about expecting these types of results with a few surprises here or there. it should come to no shock that ol' reliable hatsune miku scored a 100% recognition rating. 99.7% respondents recognized her name and design. curiously, a SINGLE respondent (.3%) only recognized her name.

the rest of the top tiers are nothing surprising. the rest of the "cryptonloids" near the top were expected (for those OOTL: cryptonloids refers to vocaloids made by crypton future media, miku's parent company, and therefore are the ones that appear alongside her in all officially sponsored events/merch/games/concerts/etc. so they're seen A Lot). meiko was a bit of an outlier and the only one among the six to score below 90%, which was sort of surprising? like, perhaps she just doesn't have as much vocal fans compared to kaito idk. gumi and teto, the non-cryptonloids, are also no surprise to see up high. gumi is very popular, especially back in the day where she was THE girl for your english vsynth song. teto has seen a massive resurgence through many sources, most of which stems from her synthv voicebank and songs made with it. mesmerizer and its copycats, daemon doll, on top of general nostalgia. teto was also huge back in the day considering triple baka. she's older than luka just short of a year, so she was included in some OLD songs (or at least their mvs) before luka even existed.

a rung below that is also fairly standard, minus my slight surprise for meiko scoring in a different tier from her friends. neru's standing comes to no surprise due to triple baka/classic music videos including her as well as a slight resurgence in relevance through people including her in mesmerizer. mikuo, a derivative of miku, did a bit better than i thought. as i expected, the art trend where people redesigned him gave him a bit of a leg up in recognition. also, the general concept of his character is just... very straightforward to grasp just by looking at him, so i wonder if that also played a role.

i expected yuki to do a little bit better, maybe even better than gakupo, who did worse than i thought. yuki's been going through a renaissance in recent years like through the work of inabakumori, yukopi, and yes whether we like it or not, the ensuing drama that surrounded hiiragi magnetite's "zako". but still, scoring above 70% is nothin' to sneeze at. i SWORE gakupo would do better tho, idk! i'm surprised even fukase surpassed him, even by less than 1%. i associate gakupo as being part of the main friend group. several ensemble songs (namely the hitoshizukup x yama variety) include him alongside gumi and the cryptonloids.

the 60-69% threshold is the middle ground, and for the most part it's a little mundane and expected. lily (and leon, who is not here but if he was would be between lily and una) did a bit better than i thought, though i think i can see it. before i knew about ia and mayu (i feel rlly dumb for not including her bc as i said i'm a yamashizuku enjoyer and mayu is usually included in 10-vocal ensembles augh!!!), i considered the main vocaloids after gumi and gakupo (numbers 9 and 10, since that's how i conceptualized it) to be lily and miki. i think several pieces of older fanart that feature popular vocaloids, ie the cryptonloids + gumi and gakupo, often threw in lily and miki as well. i wonder if lily's artwork being done by kei had something to do with this? i wasn't there at the time haha i just consumed vocaloid thru youtube reuploads and not so much with the community when i was a kid.

as we travel deeper down the iceberg, we drift far away from the vocaloid software and more into alternative vsynth softwares and their characters. while my variety in software included in the survey was fairly basic, it came to no surprise that among the general responders, synthv/cevio/utau characters were less recognized.

the bottom tier, in that case, makes perfect sense. saros, nyl, and chifuyu are particularly young voicebanks (nyl being the youngest on the list, released october 2024).

qi xuan was INTENTIONALLY a cheeky curveball saved for the very end and i'll admit it was extremely funny seeing people whose otherwise perfect streaks ended up slipping when she showed up at the end. qi xuan is the only ACE virtual singer i know, so might as well use her to rep the software, right? i figured she might have had some legs to stand on thanks to her recent appearances in kikuo's latest songs. sure enough, the majority of people who recognized her at all only knew her name and didn't recognize her design. in fact, she was the only synth where more people only knew her name rather than both name and design.

2 - regarding fan designs

something a little unorthodox about the survey was that i included fan designs for kevin, yi xi, and kinda vy2 ("roro" is semi-officially acknowledged, acknowledged enough to have his own spot on the fandom wiki, so i think he's a special case). my thought process was this: from my perspective, kevin and yi xi were probably the most popular or well-known faceless dreamtonics synths. but they don't really have a design to recognize. no one really uses the letters, not that i know of in original songs anyway. my logic in using ivylare's mr kevin synthv design and vimalion project's yi xi design was that they were probably the most recognized fan designs for dreamtonics loids. IN MY OPINION. the former's meme status + the latter's inclusion in butcher vanity meant that this would be the necessary push to give responders a reminder "hey in case this random fucking letter doesn't ring any bells, maybe this fan design will?"

BUUUT i acknowledge that is a bit of a leading question and doesn't actually consider OTHER popular fan designs these two (and all the other faceless loids for that matter). The Most popular fan design is actually pretty subjective tbh!! so i'm sorry if my inclusion of certain fan designs might have been confusing to any survey takers. however, i still included kevin and yi xi's results in the icebergs since the inclusion of the fan design, flawed as it was, was still a Character to recognize (which their original letters Certainly Were Not), which was the point of this whole survey.

The same could not be said for how i handled leon and lola. i'll admit, these two were a stretch even when i was making it. i cheated a bit and included them to gauge whether responders knew their vocaloid history rather than their vocaloid characters. so if anything i probably should have left them as a bonus question at the end idk. i didn't include fan designs for them because uh from my perspective, they don't really have a widely accepted super duper popular fan design? but i could be totally wrong on that, again this is a very subjective and tricky subject i was not ready to go into! so i just left them as is for the history question. considering this while i was tallying the results, i decided it didn't make sense for them to be included, so i cut them from the iceberg. if they were included, as previously mentioned, leon would be between lily and una, and lola would be tied with big al and sweet ann.

3 - the sqeakwel?!?

i do plan on making a follow-up based on the lovely feedback i got from the folks that took my survey (though this could be months from now, i'm a bit busy + google forms got very laggy with just like 45ish characters so augh). YES, i will be blowing up the scope way more to make sure no one feels left out. i might be a bit shaky on faceless loids (would miriam count? her box art is her VP's face but there's not exactly much else to go off of hhh), they might get their own section dedicated to various fan designs (but how do you account for all of them ?! or the most relevant ?!?!). there's also the goliath of a question that is How Do You Possibly Narrow Down The Roster of Utaus For Another Survey. utaus and similar tech like diffsinger can be made by anyone, so it just isn't realistic to include everyone. i thought about using vocadb + my own knowledge but idk? if anyone's got suggestions i'd love to hear it.

some other demographic questions were suggested by feedbackers will also be included. one that popped out to me was asking what years the survey taker was invested in (and possibly fell out of) the vocaloid community, which could provide some insight on which characters are recognized compared to others. like, who would someone who hasn't thought about vocaloid since 2012 recognize vs someone who got into it in 2020? this is an interesting question and i'd love to see what would come out of it.

some feedback suggested providing voice samples since some vocaloids have appeared in songs that people might not realize they've already heard (like avanna's appearance in several porter robinson songs. this could possibly solve the conundrum i had with kevin and yi xi). i am a liiiittle mixed on it idk? maybe this is just me but i feel like several factors like voice colors/multilingual voicebanks/the definite possibility someone might not recognize a voice from one source and connect it to another might make collecting data on this kind of messy and unreliable. like yi xi's vb is natively recorded in mandarin yet her most popular song is in english, idk i feel like there are a couple of factors to consider when showing vocal samples (i also do not have access to every voicebank so i can't make consistently neutral do-re-mi samples for them). i DID consider this by including song links (which i think some people also had in mind) but i didn't want the question to be Do You Recognize This Song. and again, i feel like there's a possibility there could be a mixup or the recognition doesn't come but idk i might just be deaf. lmk your thoughts!!

thank you for reading my yapping if you made it to the end, and a massive thank you to the people who participated in the survey!!!! if you have any questions about the data i would love to answer all of them (i am lowkey bad at navigating form data through google sheets which is why my data summary was a bit basic, but i can look closer for a specific thing you wanna know)

<3

[biblical-chronicles]

Lullaby

_________________________________________

where the reader's connection with Lennon gives Liam no choice but to make a move.

_________________________________________

As you pulled up to Liam’s house, you glanced at the little bag sitting on the passenger seat, the handles carefully tied in a neat bow. Inside was a small present for Lennon, a scarf you knew he’d been dreaming about since the last time you saw him.

People always joked that you didn’t come around for Liam anymore, but for his son, and you couldn’t deny it—you and Lennon just clicked. Whether it was kicking a football around the back garden or spending hours colouring together, you adored the little lad.

You grabbed the bag and headed to the door, knocking twice before stepping back. It didn’t take long for the door to swing open, revealing Liam in his usual slightly disheveled state. He leaned against the doorframe, a smirk tugging at his lips. “Well, well, what’s this then? A gift for me?”

You rolled your eyes, holding the bag up with a grin. “Not for you mate, this is for Lennon. Last time I was here, he mentioned he wanted a Man City scarf, like the ones we saw all the fans have on the telly during the derby. Couldn’t resist.”

Liam’s smirk deepened, his eyes flicking from the bag to your face. “Right soft spot you’ve got for that lad, eh? What’s next? Knittin’ him a jumper?”

Before you could fire back, you heard the sound of small footsteps padding toward the door. “Is that Y/N?” Lennon’s voice carried through the hallway, and seconds later, he appeared, his wide eyes lighting up when he saw you.

You stepped inside, crouching down to meet him with a warm hug. “Hi, sweetheart!” you said, ruffling his hair. “Got summat for you.”

When you handed him the bag his little hands fumbled with the bow before pulling out the scarf, his face lighting up with happiness. Without hesitation, he wrapped it around his neck, though it was much too long, trailing on the floor as he began running in circles around the living room. “Thank you, Y/N!” he called out, his voice full of excitement.

You laughed, watching him dart around the room. “You’re welcome, Lennon. But maybe don’t trip over it, yeah?”

Liam leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, watching the scene unfold. His smirk had softened into something more thoughtful as his gaze flickered between you and his son. “Bloody hell love, you’re makin’ the rest of us look bad. Can’t compete with that.”

“Maybe you should try” you shot back with a wink, and Liam barked out a laugh, shaking his head.

Both of you sat on the couch, brews in hand, talking over the plans for the evening. The group had planned a casual get-together at one of your favourite pubs, and you were both set to leave in a couple of hours.

“Are you ready to go or still need to powder your nose a bit love?” Liam teased, eyeing you over the rim of his cup.

“Oh, don’t worry, mate. If anyone here is getting their nose powdered it's you.” you shot back with a grin, and he laughed, shaking his head.

Before he could come up with another quip, Lennon popped into the room, clutching a box of crayons and a fresh stack of paper. “Y/N, will you draw with me?”

Liam opened his mouth to protest, “Oi, we're talki—”

“Course I will, Lennon,” you interrupted, setting your brew aside and standing up. “We’ve got plenty of time, don’t we, Liam?”

Liam rolled his eyes but waved you off with a smile. “Go on then, Picasso. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya when he runs you ragged.”

Settling at the coffee table Lennon pulled you into his little world. The two of you got to work, the crayons were thrown around as you sketched and coloured alongside him. Every so often, he’d glance at your paper and nod approvingly, though he was careful to keep his own drawing hidden.

“What’re you making, then?” you asked, craning your neck to sneak a peek.

Lennon quickly shielded the page with his arms, his brow furrowed in mock seriousness. “You’ll see when it’s done. No peeking!”

You and Liam exchanged a look, both of you laughing at his theatrics.

After another twenty minutes, Lennon sat back, beaming with pride. “Finished!” he announced, holding up his masterpiece for both of you to see.

Your breath hitched. On the page were three figures drawn in a rather messy manner but it was possible to make out that it was Lennon in the middle with Liam on one side and you on the other. The three of you were holding hands, standing in front of what was unmistakably Liam’s house.

Liam’s teasing smirk vanished in an instant, replaced by a stunned silence. Your face flushed red as you stared at the drawing, your heart thudding in your chest.

“Oh, Lennon,” you managed, forcing a smile so he wouldn’t think he’d done anything wrong. “It’s beautiful. Look at that detail—you’ve really outdone yourself.”

“You like it?” Lennon asked, his eyes shining.

“Of course I do!” you assured him, pulling him into a hug. “It’s amazing, sweetheart.”

He hugged you back tightly, his small arms wrapped around your neck. “Can we put it on the fridge? With the others?”

You nodded, still feeling the warmth in your cheeks. “Absolutely. Let’s go find a magnet for it.”

Lennon grabbed your hand and tugged you toward the kitchen, the drawing clutched in his other hand. Liam remained on the couch, watching you both disappear down the hallway.

As he stared after you, something twisted in his chest. Watching you with Lennon—how natural it seemed, how much joy you brought him—was almost too much to process. And now, seeing you in Lennon’s drawing, as if you were already part of the family...

Liam leaned back, running a hand through his hair. He felt that familiar warm ache in his chest, the same one that had been creeping in every time he saw the two of you together.

He was still lost in thought when the nanny arrived, just as you were putting on your coat and getting ready to leave. Lennon, of course, wasn’t too thrilled about it, standing at the door with his little arms crossed.

“C’mon, mate,” Liam said, ruffling his hair. “She’s sound, yeah? Just be good to her. We won’t be gone long.”

You crouched down, your voice softening as you spoke. “I’ll bring you back some chips, okay? But only if you behave.”

That did the trick. Lennon’s pout disappeared, replaced by a grin as he clapped his hands together. “Promise?”

“Promise,” you said, holding out your pinky for him to link his with.

On the drive to the pub, you and Liam fell into the usual rhythm—teasing, laughing, winding each other up over the silliest things. By the time you got there, the warm glow of the place made it easy to settle in.

The two of you had joined a table with a few of Liam’s mates, sharing a plate of chips while Liam nursed his pint.

“Y’gonna share those, or am I supposed to starve?” he asked, nudging the plate toward himself.

You rolled your eyes, sliding it closer to him. “Didn’t realize I was babysitting two kids tonight.”

He snorted, smirking. “Cheeky.”

The night carried on like that for a while, the noise and laughter of the pub filling the space around you until Liam’s phone buzzed on the table.

He glanced at the screen, his expression softening when he saw Lennon’s name. “One sec,” he said, swiping to answer. “Alright, lad, what’s up? Everything okay?”

Whatever Lennon said made him laugh quietly, his tone going all warm and soft in that way it only did for his son. “Yeah, she’s here. Hang on.” He held the phone out to you with a smirk. “He wants you.”

You blinked in surprise but took the phone. “Hi sweetheart! What’s going on?”

Liam leaned back, watching as your face lit up while you listened. Whatever Lennon was saying had you grinning and nodding along, your voice dipping into that gentle tone you always seemed to have for him.

Then you covered the mic with your hand and turned to Liam. “He wants me to sing him a lullaby so he can fall asleep. I’ll just step outside—it’s too loud in here.”

Liam chuckled, shaking his head. “Of course he does. Go on then.”

You flashed him a quick smile before weaving through the crowd toward the front door. Even as you left Liam’s eyes stayed fixed on the spot where you’d been standing, his mind suddenly too loud for the noise of the pub to drown out.

He tipped his head back, letting out a quiet breath.

It wasn’t just that Lennon adored you. It was the way you lit up every time you saw him, the way you gave him your full attention, like he was the most important kid in the world. And it wasn’t just with Lennon, it was with Liam too.

You’d slipped into his life so naturally, like you were always meant to be there. From the banter to the laughs to the quiet moments that didn’t need words—it all felt just right.

And now his son was calling you for lullabies instead of him. If that didn’t spell it out, he didn’t know what would.

With a muttered excuse to the table, Liam pushed his chair back and stood. He didn’t have a plan, didn’t know what he was going to say, but he knew he couldn’t sit there any longer.

You lowered the phone from your ear, a soft smile lingering on your face as you finished the call. “Alright, love, get some sleep, yeah? Sweet dreams.” With that, you hung up and turned, startled to find Liam standing there in the cool night air.

“Oh, hi, Liam,” you said, tucking his phone into your pocket. “Didn’t realize you came out.”

He stood a few steps away, hands shoved into his coat pockets, his usual smirk replaced by something more uncertain. His eyes searched yours, and for a moment, he just stood there, as though working up the nerve to speak.

“I—uh, I know this might be a bit sudden,” he began, his voice quieter than usual. He cleared his throat, glancing away before meeting your gaze again. “But I need to say it. I can’t keep just thinkin’ it and not doin’ owt about it.”

You tilted your head, your heart already picking up pace. “Liam?”

“I’ve been a bit daft, haven’t I?” he said with a nervous laugh. “You’re always ‘round, yeah? Always there for Lennon, for me, and it’s not just that you’re good with him, It’s the way you make everything… brighter. Easier. And I’ve been sat there, thinkin’ I can’t bottle this by sayin’ summat stupid, but I can’t keep quiet no more. I’m quite mad about you, love. Have been for ages.”

Your breath caught in your throat, the warmth of his words washing over you. For a moment, you couldn’t quite believe what you were hearing.

When you didn’t speak right away, Liam shifted on his feet, suddenly looking nervous. “If that’s too much, I get it. Just—”

“Yes,” you interrupted, your voice soft but firm.

He blinked, his brows lifting. “What?”

“Yes,” you repeated, stepping closer. “I feel the same, Liam. I’ve just been too scared to ruin what we already have.”

A grin broke across his face and before you could say another word, his hands were on your face, pulling you into a kiss. It was slow at first, but quickly deepened, all the unspoken feelings and tension from the past months spilling over.

Your arms found their way around his neck, pulling him closer as his lips moved against yours, soft yet insistent.

When you finally pulled back, both of you were breathless, foreheads resting together as Liam chuckled, his voice warm and full of affection. “Well, that was long overdue, eh?”

You laughed, still feeling the heat of his lips on yours. “Just a bit.”

He leaned back slightly, his hands still on your waist as his grin turned cheeky. “Y’know, Lennon’s gonna lose it when he finds out. The kid’ll be over the moon.”

You couldn’t help but smile at the thought, your heart swelling. “Think so?”

“Think so?” he echoed with a laugh. “Are you mad? He’ll probably start plannin’ the weddin’.”

You swatted his arm, but the happiness in his voice was infectious, and you couldn’t stop yourself from pulling him into another kiss.

_________________________________________

awwwww I love this kind of trope !! kinda want to write summat similar but for Noel, it's just so dead cute xx

per usual big up to the one and only @shes-thunderstormssss her story requesting mind knows no boundaries, love ya so much xx

[messiahzzz]

as much as i dislike the dialogue option that leads to this scene, i genuinely appreciate gale's response. it is easy to overlook what he is actually trying to convey here and is instead commonly dismissed as him being "overdramatic" or as a display of his bruised ego.

player: it was fine. gale: i see. gale: well, fine is... fine. nobody weeps because the weather is fine. no monarchs were overthrown because their ruling was fine. no artworks were burned because they were not masterpieces, but merely fine. player: would you have rather i lied? gale: the dignified thing for me to say is 'no. of course not. forthrightness before all.' but honestly? yes... i would have rather you lied. gale: i'm just a man. an imperfect one, with needs, wants, and flaws by the bushel. a fragile vessel in which to place potentially world-ending power. gale: perhaps it would be better to not shake such a vessel. gale: forgive me. these were already trying times before elminster delivered his missive. now, for me at least, they are potentially end times.

gale is no stranger to introspection. despite having his natural blindspots, he is fully aware of his flaws and imperfections. he lacks an inherent sense of self-preservation, displays impatience on occasion, can be hypocritical, has trouble handling pointed criticism well, and has a tendency to respond in passive aggression if he feels his competence is brought into question. he seeks admiration and is known to not honor his limitations and own safety for the sake of receiving praise.

gale: [...] people have always commented on my confidence, sometimes my over-confidence, and in one particularly cut throat assessment at university - my 'abject and incorrigible self-delusion.'

gale is not blind to how he is perceived by others, nor does he dismiss their conclusions without careful consideration. instead of deflecting he simply takes what they dish out and files it away for later contemplation and inspection.

player: because you acted the idiot. and paid the price for it too. gale: as always, i endeavor to be invigorated by your candour, rather than eviscerated by it. gale: blunt as your summation is - it's correct. i dared to call myself an archmage while acting the apprentice. the hallmarks of a most excellent idiot, unfortunately.

player: i can't say i share the same high opinion of you, gale. gale: always bringing such candour to our conversations. some would think twice about mocking gale of waterdeep, but you just go straight for the gut. nodecontext: playing along, making fun of himself gale: i like that about you. it's one of your rarer qualities, though i fear my ego can take no more of it tonight. nodecontext: cheerfully accepting the brush off, not taking it personally

needs, wants, and flaws by the bushel.

gale craves as mortals do. for relevance, safety, consideration, loyalty, care, acceptance, and love. he's desperate, he's angry, he's petty and hurt and lonely. he's contradictory, and at times inconsistent. he's afraid, he stumbles, he yearns. if he loves, he does so with all his heart but forgets to extend the same love to himself. he gains understanding only to disregard it later. he is absorbed yet devoted. he expects kindness but is bewildered when it is extended to him in turn. he's neither a perfect colleague, a perfect companion, a perfect lover, nor a perfect husband. he's just another human who's trying to navigate and make sense of the world. who is silently hoping for his soul to be handled with tenderness and care, to finally be seen for who he is —no need for performance or pretense — and to be unconditionally cherished nonetheless.

a fragile vessel in which to place potentially world-ending power.

he knows the burden he carries. understanding that even a momentary lapse in judgment could spell catastrophe if he doesn't exert tight control over his emotions at all times. he knows what is at stake should he lose the composure he painstakingly had to master. a mere moment is all it takes. this self-assessment isn't an "indirect threat" intended to subject pressure on tav or solicit pity, it's a stark acknowledgment of the truth. he is a fragile human, housing powers that should've never been his in the first place.

player: unbelievable. did you ever think what would happen if the tadpole got the better of you? gale: every waking moment. every dreaming moment too. but there was no way out.

he is also keenly aware of how his (former) colleagues perceive him, following his fall from grace.

player: bold. few would dare to reduce a goddess to their 'muse.' gale: i am, after all, the villain of the tale.

this line in particular is one i often think about. it makes me wonder about the extent of information gale received from the outside world after locking himself in his tower for an entire year, setting magical wards so no one but tara would be able to enter. did he hear the whispers? ("shunned by the goddess of magic herself, of course, it was only a matter of time before he flew too close to the sun.") were his colleagues ridiculing him, applauding mystra for cutting off the rot at the source? how did he arrive at the assumption that he is perceived as "the villain" and not the victim?

player: you must have been lonely, with only tara for company.. gale: sometimes. but i imposed it upon myself, after all. i set up enough wards to keep an army at bay, never mind the few colleagues who sought to inquire about my welfare.

or is this solely his own harsh judgment of his folly? that there is no chance anyone would meet him with sympathy, kindness and understanding after what he had wrought. he was too greedy, too impatient — selfish in arrogance, ravenous in ambition. letting delusions of grandeur guide him. he brought it all upon himself with his lack of patience. entirely convinced of his success and skill, blind to the possibility of failure. now doomed to drag innocents into the abyss with him. the hallmarks of a villain, right? after all, who would truly believe him that his ambition hid no ill will?

players: by rights. i should kill you. gale: perhaps that is what i deserve, but you deserve no such thing. [...]

[n0eyed-taissa]

yellowjackets season 3 trailer takeaways/theories/observations/questions:

time jump: season 2 was firmly set in the winter and it looks like the bulk of 3 will be set in the spring (with some flashes to the Deep Winter)

how much time has passed & how did they manage to comfortably survive post-fire?

i think this time jump & whatever happened during the in-between time will explain how and why the girls seem much more deranged than they did.

they gave in to desperation and its circumstances, so nothing is really 'taboo' anymore. gimme scary evil cannibal lesbians pls

even shauna's narration references the fact that the girls "went completely nuts" out there

allusions to The Hunt: while i know most folks think mari has always been Pit Girl, i think her running in the trailer is a red herring.

this WILL, however, be what sets up the hunt and its rules/functions/the course

(because to ME, it has always looked like a cleared/intentionally set path, with s1ep1 showing their hand-made adornments hanging from the surrounding trees )

mari is 100% wearing the dress/nightgown that s1ep1 Pit Girl is.

tiktok fans have been theorizing that perhaps based on the rules of the hunt, mari will survive whatever the hell is about to happen to her while still later meeting Pit Girl's fate in the winter, but who's to say

"cant believe we didnt eat that bitch first" - says the one with the big brown eyes like a baby mf cow. she just wants to snack on her friends!

(y'all saw that part where shauna is biting and restraining mari, right?)

power struggle: it looks like there are going to be factions splitting up, or the girls will continue to show alliance to a particular 'leader'

van, misty, mari, akilah, and either New Gen or robin? potentially in support of lottie's leadership and connection to the wilderness?

them vs Everyone Else, who seems more focused on practical survival

coach ben seeing the snare trap and probably wondering if it was for a person or for an animal

(i didnt know what a snare was so i truly needed to google 'animal trap that looks like a n**se but isnt. sue me!)

shauna locking herself in a freezer because it was the only way she could talk to jackie. putting yourself into dangerous situations in hopes of manifesting the ghost of your lover? okay bella swan in new moon!

jackieshauna being connected by coldness, both emotionally and physically.

from the meat shed to the freezer, jackie taylor's ghost will never escape the ethel cain parallels!

theres probably someone out there in the world who wants to smash the man with no eyes, huh.........dont answer that actually.

taissa's grown out hair makes little tiny magical hearts float all around my head. wow. just wow.

are the yellowjackets going on a field trip in the wilderness together? where tf is natalie and did she find coach ben's hidey hole?

the envelope being addressed to shauna shipman and not shauna sadecki makes me think its from a person with ties to the wilderness, pushing the secret 8th survivor theory (perhaps hilary swank as adult Melissa CoolHat)

i WANT this ritual scene to be another dream-like allegory for them enjoying their descent.

if the snackie feast was the roman bacchanal, the political split between the girls and the power imablance could be going into a julius cesar-y territory? especially with the mistyshauna stabbing?

misty exploring someplace that looks like the one from lottie's visions? someone is on trial? natlie isnt in charge anymore?! walter has a mustache now?!!!!

van's new fixation on the fire, alluding to the idea that she could have been the one to burn down the cabin??? to quote you, girl, "REALLY? fire?!"

shauna with her knife to melissa's throat....is something gay happening there?

this creepy little song is really giving me the vibe that everything will NOT be okay!!!

in summation: women can be a little evil, as a treat!

[mermaidinthecity]

taylorswift: In summation We have officially wrapped the European leg of The Eras Tour. With it came the most passionate crowds I’ve ever played for, new traditions in the show, and an entirely new era added in. It was a more hectic pace than we’d done before, and I’m so proud of my crew/fellow performers for being able to physically perform that show and build our massive stage, take it apart, and make magic with so few days in between for recovery and travel. They’re the most impressive people I know and I’m so lucky they gave The Eras Tour their time, their energy, and their expertise. Walking onstage in London was a rollercoaster of emotions. Having our Vienna shows cancelled was devastating. The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows. But I was also so grateful to the authorities because thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives. I was heartened by the love and unity I saw in the fans who banded together. I decided that all of my energy had to go toward helping to protect the nearly half a million people I had coming to see the shows in London. My team and I worked hand in hand with stadium staff and British authorities every day in pursuit of that goal, and I want to thank them for everything they did for us. Let me be very clear: I am not going to speak about something publicly if I think doing so might provoke those who would want to harm the fans who come to my shows. In cases like this one, ‘silence’ is actually showing restraint, and waiting to express yourself at a time when it’s right to. My priority was finishing our European tour safely, and it is with great relief that I can say we did that. And then London felt like a beautiful dream sequence. All five crowds at Wembley Stadium were bursting with passion, joy, and exuberance. The energy in that stadium was like the most giant bear hug from 92,000 people each night, and it brought me back to a place of carefree calm up there.

We had some EPIC surprise performances from my long time friends @ teddysphotos, @ florenceandthemachine, and @ jackantonoff. Performing ‘Florida!!!’ with Flo for the first time was unforgettable and Ed took me right back to our old Red Tour memories. It was the most dizzying honor to become the first solo artist to play Wembley 8 times in one tour. To the fans who have seen us this summer, you’ll always have the most sparkling place in my memories. You were a dream to perform for, dance with, and share those magical moments with. We’ll see you all again when we resume The Eras Tour in October, but for now we get to take a much needed rest. Thank you for the adventure of a lifetime. May it continue… 💚💛💜❤️🩵🖤🩷🩶🤎💙🤍

📷: TAS Rights Management