#I'm not hugely fond of how I look in the photo but well!

[4th-make-quail]

Just a photo of my photo, but GUESS WHO MET MARK SHEPPARD ON SATURDAY!!!!!

[nexility-sims]

𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐥𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡   |   BREIZH, ARMORICA 2008

❧  happy birthday, beloved friend @armoricaroyalty ! this post is so late, but it's done, and i'm happy to share it. i'll save the huge mushy note and just say i'm so grateful to have spent all this time building the best expanded crossover universe ever, to which "collabs" doesn't do justice—that, plus all the friendship stuff, too :^)

‎‎‎‎‎❛ Elise, in a restaurant she had never been to, wearing a dress she had never worn, waiting for someone she hadn’t seen in years, was uncomfortable. She maintained a good façade, however. Pretending her confidence was unshaken had become a skill. The doubt crept in as she pushed herself into ill-fitting molds—ones that, even after all this time, she couldn’t break herself enough to suit. At her best, she didn’t want to. The pressure got to her other times. She had felt it like an unwanted touch as she stood in front of a mirror and regarded the assistant who dressed her with wary eyes. Before instructing them to pull a dress to pair with heels and jewelry, she had swallowed her pride. She could imagine, even if she didn’t know what Leonor may wear to a luncheon, how it would feel to sit across from her. She wanted to be secure and able to enjoy herself, and the price was this particular kind of discomfort.

𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞𝐝 & 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭 ↓

Yet, once they embraced and began to talk, it dissipated. They had both changed over the years, although Leonor especially. She wasn’t the round-faced young woman—just a girl, really, barely out of her teenage awkwardness—Elise remembered. Still, they were transported from their table for two and back to the summer house. Some of the memories were still fond ones. They had talked and laughed many times before, whether as they had breakfast in the kitchen or as they watched Roz carefully collect shells on the beach. Leonor remembered the good times, too. Though this was the first time she requested to meet, Elise had received bouquets on the occasions she was in Armorica, either on her own diplomatic business or accompanying her husband. She knew Elise liked white roses. The note, always a thick card from Breizh’s premier florist, would bear only a signature.

She hadn’t needed Leonor to say anything, but it meant something now that she did.

TRANSCRIPT:

{Indistinct conversation, light music}

[S] May I bring you something else while you wait, Your Majesty? [E] “Ma’am,” please. And, no, thank you. I think that’s her now.

[L] What a treat!

[E] How long has it been? Almost a decade? [L] Since the wedding.

[E] So, tell me everything. How are you? [L] {Exhales heavily}

[L] I haven’t slept more than five hours in as many years, and I can count the days off on my hands, but I love every minute of it.

[E] It must be interesting work then. [R] Rarely boring.

[E] I enjoy having so much time with my children, really, but … I do wish I had more time for the kinds of things you do. [L] “Armorica’s Mother of the Year, Every Year.” Modiste.

[E] Women can have it all now, can’t they? [L] They can. You can. You’re a queen, Elise. You can have whatever you want. [E] It’s not that simple.

[L] It is. [E] There are expectations, and other people are involved in— [L] I’m sorry, Elise, but I know you. You’re confident, capable, and very smart. You should be able to do more than tote around babies and smile for family photos. It’s their loss if you can’t.

[E] I knew what I signed up for when I married in. I’m happy. Do I wish I could do more interesting and important work? Well, not that the children aren’t interesting and important, but… [L] {Laughs} I know what you mean. And, you know—

[S] Ma’am? Your Highness? May I send your requests to the chef? [E] Oh … We didn’t even look at the menu! [S] It’s prix fixe today, but I have been instructed to assure you we can prepare anything you desire, within reason.

[E] I’ll have what she’s having. [L] {Chuckles} To start, have Abelardo make us turkey stew. He’ll know which. [S] | I’ll tell him, Your Highness.

[E] Now, I have to ask: how is it, having your own little one? She’s getting big now, right? What’s she like? [L] {Laughs} She’s five—what is there to say?

[L] I stopped taking to her to work when the breastfeeding stopped … Three years ago? Dan and I try, but I’ve heard her call the nanny “mama” by accident more than I care to admit. We went to a dance recital before the trip. She already works so hard. It’s precious. [E] Precious is right! Sounds like she takes after her mother.

[E] I remember when mine were that age. You know what Rosalind was like! Freddy? Completely different, and Jacques—

{Elise continues talking}

{Elise, talking}

[E] —and, of course, Roz being Roz, she told Freddy— [L] I have a proposal for you.

[L] Dan and I were considering inviting you and Andre to dinner sometime this week. Do you think he would be interested? [E] Um—dinner? [L] I’d like to invite Roz, too.

[E] Well, I’m not sure. It is last minute, and they both have such full schedules all the time. I could suggest it to him and see, but— [L] Elise, it’s fine.

[L] It was an idea. I can see them another time. I’m just pleased that you were available so last minute. [E] I’m glad, too.

[L] I mean it, really. We haven’t had a proper conversation in a very long time, and I’m grateful you wanted to spend time with me. [E] Thank you for asking me out. Usually it’s just the flowers.

[L] I respect and care for you, Elise. [E] That’s very sweet … [L] I always have, and I always will. I didn’t always show it—quite the opposite—but it’s important to me that you know that.

[E] I believe you. I do.

[L] Oh, do you smell that? Chili, achiote … [E] Sounds spicy. [L] {Snickers}

[L] I had an idea while we were splitting that poached pear. [E] Did you? [L] An interesting and important opportunity for you. [E] Leonor… [L] | Leave it all to me. I insist.

[E] Thank you. [L] My pleasure.

[coyoteprince]

Would you like to share what happened in Savannah? After my own paranormal experience I am fond of listening to/reading other people's!

For general public disclaimer, I'm aware this is woo-woo, but I have had a life-long relationship with death and many ghosts experiences, despite not looking for them. My Savannah experience is... well, my own, and my partner who was there at my side didn't see or feel anything. Don't go to a "haunted" place with intention of seeing a ghost, you'll probably just be disappointed or make yourself anxious for no reason.

Contains Foley House, the black shuck, and a raw record written the night of the Sorrel Weed house absolutely wrecking my ass:

Foley House:

We stayed in room 403, but I'm not aware of any historical significance other than it being one of the original rooms of the house.

I highly recommend this place to stay and the room felt outright "welcoming" in a strange way, as if I was always meant to be There, specifically, but that might be the special interest euphoria. I'd been aching to sleep in an old Victorian room again.

The first moment of displeasure was when I was having breakfast with my partner in one of the corner windows. We were pleasantly chatting when I suddenly went silent, thrown onto a freeze state with my blood running cold and my nerves shot. I saw nothing, but I could feel "someone" suddenly enter the room, simply observe us by standing in the middle of the rug in front of the bed, then turn and walk out. My blood warmed quickly after they left, my limbs shaking. I logically didn't see them as a threat- I've had this happen before- but my body reacted to the environment being very abruptly "Wrong" on a primal level all the same.

Another night- the night coming back from Sorrel- in that room I was jolted awake by a deafening blood curdling scream which certainly kept me awake for a long time. Every time I tried to sleep that night I'd have very disturbed visions that'd jolt me back awake. You can write this off as my intense experience influencing me as I do have a history of "exploding head syndrome" and sleep paralysis, though I haven't experienced it in a long time until that night and haven't experienced it again since. Thought I'd include it anyway.

On the street:

I see black dogs as a divine messenger and protector in my spirituality, and boy did I kept running into them in Savannah to the point that it felt on the nose. It was a sign that I'd achieved something, that I'm where I need to be, and that it was time for another huge (metaphorical) death in my life so that I can secure my future- and in the most hopeful but absolutely weary way possible, boy am I going through it right now haha. The third night of the Savannah trip was when I suddenly came to terms that I'm literally working myself to death and need to change how I view and care for myself before it's too late.

If anyone is looking for the huge antique Baskervilles Hound painting that I ran into, it's at Six Pence Pub.

Sorrel Weed

Following is what I wrote for myself the immediate night of getting back from Sorrel, so this is a very fresh, rattled, and stream of consciousness record. I normally don't really like posting something like this, but always feel something intuitive and fresh like this is the most genuine way to relay paranormal experiences. TL:DR: Saw weird thing in courtyard. Got sick a lot very suddenly. Met a very nice skull person. Got fucked up on spooky couch. Got even more fucked up from body reacting to the stress after leaving.

"I accidentally missed the normal historical architecture tour for the Sorrel Weed house and had to take a late night ghost-focused one. Wanted the normal tour but we leave tomorrow so its this or nothing. Didn't go into it expecting anything and was excited to take lots of reference photos for Widderwood, as usual.

Saw something in the garden and knew immediately things were going to be weird tonight. White flash, person height, within courtyard and in front of street entrance. Actually really funny in the moment because I Did Not Want That Thing To Have Just Happened but I'm so used to experiencing the woo-woo that I just mentally went "oh god dammit" defeated.

Felt fine, excited for architecture, then passed the threshold and... my flight response suddenly goes off. Hard. Right into the master of the house office and I get supremely bad vertigo. Got annoyed because I was trying to listen to the history of the place, but vertigo kept rising which made me wobble on my cane. I came here mainly to collect art reference but I knew then and there that I did Not want a single photo of this place on my phone. I don't know why, even- just in the moment I couldn't stand the idea of keeping photos of this place.

I kept getting sick and vertigo, but only in Very specific locations. Mostly stayed at the back and tried to hide my discomfort to not influence anyone in the tour group. Downstairs, servant's quarters, I could feel a busy "echo" in the catch-all work room where cooking and various chores would have been done- I'm not sure how to explain but it was like a vibration that unsettled me a bit? Just very weird.

Funny, I felt the safest in the near-black basement grain room, which saw civil war trauma surgery and acted as a morgue for a few years. An antique wheelchair was to the side of the gurney (special interest euphoria, hello). To the other side of the room, a female skull that was sourced from a denture manufacturer. She was beautiful- so, so beautiful that I kept coming back to look her in the face with a very comforted smile on my own. Absolutely radiant energy. In the same room to another corner, a couch that we are allowed to sit upon and may feel someone sit next to us. Well, I certainly needed a rest from standing, and I didn't feel anyone, but I sure did have such a strong, sudden vertigo that I made a surprised noise and slumped back for a few minutes close to fainting. The second I got some wind back I got off the couch and mentally went "haha, No". Wooziness is nothing new to me, but I felt trapped and heavy for a solid few minutes- never had that happen before, genuinely startling.

Our very kind tour guide could tell something was up with me, keeping an eye on my reactions. I was trying to not be too vocal about what I was experiencing, just manage my symptoms as normal, but it's obvious she knew I was Going Thru It. In private we discussed my connection to death, she showed us her Victorian mourning jewelry, and agreed the ossified woman in the doctor's case was beautiful. The tour guide told me the skull's name in life- Zarina- and though I'm doubtful of her original acquirement post-death and what she expected of her remains, it still felt sacred to be allowed to know her name and look upon her. Other people in the group kept making "eww creepy" comments toward her and I get it, I Do, but I wish I could have figured out what to say to gently suggest to see her as a person rather than a scary death item. I am glad I met Zarina. The other ghost tales- like the chair in the for some reason scary red lighted hall (why tho)- I did hover around but didn't experience anything.

Leaving the property, I felt a bit numb but my nausea and vertigo lifted over a few blocks. Our walk to our room was short, followed by... my body going into minor shock as soon as we got back to our room. I shook for at least an hour, I think its taken me most of the night just to get my body's responses to level.

I feel so energetically drained, different from my normal disability related fatigue, yet the entire time I was mentally calm. My body has felt this before, there is a difference. Chronic stress disorder and autism make me incredibly sensitive to the environment around me but it's been a minute since my body has reacted so... violently to atmosphere without obvious cause. The strongest since experiencing that fucked up abandoned house in Ohio over a decade ago. I didn't expect to taste such heavy air like that again, least of all when I was mostly hoping to take reference.

Sorrel Weed offers proper ghost investigations, which seemed like a fun thought to try in the future. I walked in excited for historical reference, but walked out somewhat harrowed instead. Now, I'm certain that I cannot entertain the idea of ghost hunting or else I will be at very real risk of a full medical episode... at least in that house."

[blackhakumen]

Mini Fanfic #1165: Hanging with the Mario Family (Super Smash Bros Ultimate)

6:21 p.m. at the Marios' Residence's Living Room..........

Peach: (Clasps her Hands Together and Happily Squeals at Everything Shown to Her on The Marios' Family Photo Album) Mario!~ You never told me you were even more adorable growing up too!~

Mama Mario: (Happily Sighs on the Fondful Memories) Ah my two maschios were the most precious beings their father and I could asked for~ (Got Up From Her Seat and Hugs Mario) It times like these where I want to continue holding them close to my arms, never letting go for anything or anyone that says otherwise! (Starts Kissing on Her Son's Cheek)

Mario: ('Groans in Embarrassment') 'Maaaa please.....At least don't do it in front of the princess.....

Mama Mario: But how. ('Mwah') Else. ('Mwah') Am I. ('Mwah') Suppose to. ('Mwah') Show. ('Mwah') How much. ('Mwah') I miss you!~ ('Mwah') (Continues Kissing her Older Son)

Papa Mario: (Chuckles Lightly) Ah let your mother have this one, son. It's been a long while since we've last seen you boys that it's kinds hard for her keep her own excitement in check completely, you know?

Mario: ('Sigh') Yeah, I noticed. Sorry Lu and I took too long to call you guys up until now.

Papa Mario: Nah don't worry about that. We all know how super busy two are now that you're all-star heroes! (Let's Out a Proud Hardy Laugh) I should've realized from the getgo that my own boys would have this much potential. (Starts Wiping a Tear or Two Off From his Eyes) ('Sniff') As if I wasn't anymore prouder than I already was before without a worry in the world.....

Mama Mario: (Rolls her Eyes) Please. Your papa gotten worried for days on end the moment you two left the house on that day. (Starts Snickering) I can't tell you how many times this poor piagnucolone started sheding tears whenever your names get brought up in any conversations nowadays.

Papa Mario: (Quickly Glares at his Wife) Marísa! Hush.

Mama Mario: (Pouts at her Husband) Oh don't you start hushing me, signore! You cannot hide what's inside, not like you were ever good at it to begin with.

Mario: (Chuckles Fondly at his Parents Bickering at Each Other) Grazie, mama, papa. But really, you two have nothing to worry about. Lu and I will keep having each other's back like we always do.

Peach: (Happily Hugs her Plumber Right Beside Her) And we'll continue to make extra sure that they'll be taken care of in a huge family of ours. Your teddy bear of a son is in good hands, ma'am and sir.

Mario: (Turns to His Girlfriend with a Deadpinned Look on his Face) Really, Peach?

Peach: Oh hush. You know you love it~

Mama Mario: Awww~ You really see my son as a Teddy Bear, your highness?

Peach: (Happily Nodded) Indeed I do!~ (Starts Snuggling Up on her Embrace with Mario) He may keep denying it all he wants, but he's the most adorable sweetheart of a man I am oh so happy to fall in love with, c'mere~ (Starts Kissong on Mario's Other Cheek)

Papa Mario: (Let's Out Another Laugh) I always knew you have the Mario Men's Charm within you, my boy, but I didn't think your own cuteness would played a huge factor in all of this as well!

Mario: (Glares at his Father) Oh don't even start going there, old man! My cuteness hasn't played a part in any of this at all! (Crosses his Arms While Pouting) Besides, doesn't change the fact that I'm still the oldest of the two........

Papa Mario: ('Heh') Yeah, and the shortest. I bet the princess could pick you up in her arms with little to no problem.

Peach: Oh I've picked him up multiple times already, sir. It's like carrying a couple of grapes~ (Continues Kissing on Mario)

Mario: (Starts Blushing) Peach!

Mama Mario: Ohhh baby!~ (Starts Pulling on Mario's Other Cheek) You look so precious when you blush like that~

Mario: Mom!!

Papa Mario: (Starts Bursting Out Laughing) AHHHAHAHAHAHA! Ah my boy's a cute little grape now!? (Continues Laughing his Ass Off)

Mario: ('Groans in Embarrassment') (Can't say I'm surprised by how THIS is turning out.....I wonder how everyone else in doing.....)

Meanwhile in the Other Room

Niece: (Eyes Widened in Awe) Wooooooah......So you're able to do all those crazy Chaos powers without breaking a sweat?

Shadow: (Simply Nodded) More or less. I'm only able use some of my more destructive abilities once I take these Inhibitor Rings off which would severely over-exert my own body if I'm not too careful.

Niece: Awesome......(Turns to Hat Kid) And you not only own a space ship, but also beaten up planet filled with mafia guys, star in multiple movie films, survived through a dark, scary forest with some evil shadow guy offering people to sign his contracts, and beaten up a muscle girl with mystical powers, all in a couple of days?

Hat Kid: (Happily Nodded) Yep!~

Niece: (Smiles Brightly with Stars Spinning Around in her Eyes) That is so cool! (Extebds her Habds Out to Shadow abd Hat Kid) You guys! Are like....The Coolest guys ever!~

'Clears Throat'

The trio turns to see Sonic standing at the other side using his the front of his knuckles to rub his chest in a bit cocky manner.

Sonic: Aren't you uhh....Forgetting someone there, kiddo?

Niece: .....No. Not really. (Turns Back to Shadow and Hat Kid) So anyways, I-

Sonic: (Zooms in Right in Front of the Girl) Come on, you gotta at least be somewhat familiar with who.i am. (Casually Shrugs) Buuuuut if you're still not aware, allow me introduce myself: Sonic the Hedgehog the name and-

Niece: (Rolls her Eyes in a Deadpinned Expression) "Speeds Your Game". Yeah, I know who you are. Doubt you're the fastest, but still....

Sonic: (Eyes Begins to Widened) Not the fastest- Kid, did you NOT just see how fast I got over here just now!? Not to toot my own horn, but I'm pretty quick on my own two feet, ya know?

Niece: Yeah. So does the Roadrunner, Quick Silver, The Original Flash, the Current Flash, Kid Flash, Reverse Flash-

Sonic: How many Flashes are there?

Niece: A lot. And they have twice more speed, a lot of charisma, and more power than you could ever hope of having.

Sonic: ('Scoffs') Yeah, well, hate to be a rain on your parade there, squirt, but most of those guys you've mentioned, have their speed powers given to them one way or another. (Smugly Points at Himself) I was practically born to be fast from the start.

Niece: So does the Roadrunner and he's way more cooler.

Sonic: (Eyes Widened in Disbelief) Seriously!? All that guy does is say 'Meep' and keeps running away from that coyote guy on a daily basis!

Niece: And he never got caught ever since AND he outsmarted him numerous times without even trying. You could a learn a thing or two from him considering you keep letting that evil, fat scientist guy you keep butting heads with.

Sonic: (Bends his Upper Down While Glaring at the Girl in her Level) Okay, first off, the evil, fat scientist is named Eggman, and second, I find it real bold of you to think that I.....(Continues Arguing to Mario and Luigi's Nonchalant Niece Whilr the Others Watches)

Shadow: (Already Has hie Arms Crossed) I know this our first time being here....(Forms a Smirk onnhis Face) But I think I'm starting to like that cousin of ours already.

Hat Kid: (Giggles Softly) Yeah.

Meanwhile at the Dining Room

Aunt Marie: (Doing Dedede's Long Hair on One Side) My goodness!~ I have seen many good look hairstyles in my prime time, 'hon, but this.... HAIR of yours just looks so drop dead gorgeous on you!~

Tifa: (Doing Dedede's Hair on the Other Side) Tell me about it. We've live together for while now and I still can't believe how pretty it looks........

Dedede: (Let's Out a Relax Sigh) Yeah.... It's a blessing growing with up long, luxurious hair in my royalty days, it's so good that it could even make Rapunzel cry in shame. (Starts Laughing)

Grandpa Mario: (Points at Dedede In Front of Him While Talking to Cloud Next to Him) You telling Mr this fat pinguino's suppose to be a king or somethin'?

Cloud: Former king. He's been exiled and replaced from his own kingdom a long while ago.

Grandpa Mario: Exiled, huh? (Starts Snickering) What did he do? Steal a bunch of food or somethin'?

Cloud: (Forms Small Smirk.on his Face) Not the exact reason, but he HAS done that a few times beforehand. Oh and get this: This the guy who used to kick his ass on a daily basis too. (Shows Grandpa Mario a Picture of Kirby on his Phone)

Grandpa Mario: (Eyes Widened at The Picture in Question) Mama Mia, THAT'S the guy!? He looks like a pink little bouncy ball with feet.

Cloud: Exactly. He kept losing so bad he eventually became friends with him. Not surprising considering Kirby's an actual sweetheart, but you know? Street Cred looking bad or....whatever.

Grandpa Mario: Assuming he even had one to begin with it.

Cloud: (Chuckles Lightly) Yeah. I doubt it.

Dedede: (Glares at the Two Men in Front of Him) Heyeyey! (Points at Cloud.....) I heard that. (.....Then Pointa at Grandpa Mario) I heard that. Now quit gossiping over there so I can have my beauty salon session in peace.

Grandpa Mario: (Watches Dedede Close Back his Eyes Shut Before Turning Back to Cloud) Has he always been this full of himself?

Cloud: ('Sigh') Yeah, but we still love him regardless. For the most part.

At the Other Side of the Dining Room.......

Uncle Tony: (Standing Next to Uncle Arthur) So you tellin' us that you were born and raised in a desert like settin'?

Uncle Arthur: Which has like four separate kingdoms that you and your folks rule over?

Daisy: (Standing Next to Luigi on One Side) Yep! Which would sorta, possibly make me an Empress if something ever happens to my old man. Buuuuuut considering how stubborn he is and how insanely tough each of the kingdoms' guardians are, the chances of that happening is slim to none.

Tony/Arthur: (Starts Nodding in an Impressed Manner) Alright!/ That's super nice./Mmhmm.

Tony: (Turns to the Pink Haired Lady Standing Next to Luigi on the Other Side) And what about you, little lady? You said you're a model of some kind?

Lilith: (Happily Nodded) Yep-Yep!~ A runaway model to be completely exact. Though, whenever I'm not traveling across the glove with big sis, I'd usually spend the rest of my time lone watching over this huge mansion we've been living at for years now. (Places her Hands on Both her Cheeks While Bashfully Twisting Herself From Side to Side) Wasn't long until I've finally met the prince and princess of my dreams on that faithful day in the Mid Summertime~

Tony/Arthur: Ooooooh!~ (Puts on Teasing Smirks on Both Their Faces)

Arthur: Our little nephew's your prince you say?~

Luigi: (Smiles Sheepishly) I....wouldn't exactly go that far.....

Lilith: (Places her Finger on her Chin) Yeah, that sounds a tad bit plain now that I think about it.

Daisy: (Hugs Luigi's Arm on her Side) Besides, he lot more than that~ He's a sweetie~

Lilith: (Hugs Luigi's Other Arm) A Greenie~

Daisy/Lilith: And our one and only hero~ (Gives Luigi's Cheeks Their Respective Kisses)

Luigi: (Smiles a Bit Bashfully by his Girlfriend's Sweets Affections) Yeah.....What they said~ (My two heroes~)

Tony: (Let's Out a Wholehearted Laugh) Hahahaaa! I always knew our green bean has it in him!

Arthur: (Smiles Brightly) The Mario Men's Charm never fails!

The two uncles share a hi-five together before chuckling among themselves.

Lilith: (Raises an Eyebrow a Bit in Confusion) Mario Men's Charm?

Luigi: ('Sigh') It's this charm that has been past down to the family's name for generations to come. At least that's what our dad keeps telling us since we got into middle school. (Rolls his Eyes) A mess of three years that was......

Daisy: How messy are we talking exactly?

Luigi: A few bullied moments here and there, a couple awkward rejections and a start of puberty to boot. It was a miracle I was able to survived all of that.....

Peach: (Happily Walks into the Room Along with Mario and his Parents) Hello, my lovelies!~

Luigi: (Turns to the Gang) Oh hey guys, how it's- (Eyes Suddenly Begins to Widened at What Caught his Attention) Peach, is that a photo album you're holding right now?

Peach: (Happily Nodded) Yep-Yep!~ We looked through the the entire page.

Luigi: (Hears the Sound of Glass Breaking in his Head) The.....Entire.....page......

Mario: (Already Has a Deadpinned Look on his Face as He Makes his Way to the Front Door) Yep.

Mama Mario: The photos we've taken in that album has brought so many wonderful memories over the years that we couldn't but show the princess everything.

Papa Mario: (Smiles Brightly) And what kind of house host we would be if we don't share this experience with everyone else in here, am I right?

Tifa: Ooh! I wanna see 'em.

Dedede: Me too!

Lilith: Me three!~

Aunt Marie: Oh my gosh, you all are going to love every bit of it. ('Sigh') So many lovely memories combined into one book.

Cloud: (Shrugs) If it beats watching De's hair getting done all night, then I'm game.

Grandpa Mario: I've read through that book many times now. Never disappoints.

Tony: (Chuckles Lightly) Ah man! We can't wait show you all a few pictures Lu was involved in.

Arthur: Heheheh Yeah! If you thought he's shy now, wait until you see him he when he was a little munchkin.

Luigi: And that's my cue to get some fresh air.

Daisy: (Turns to her Boyfriend) You sure you don't wanna stick around for the whole thing, babe? I'll make extra sure no one makes fun of you for every photo they show us. And that a certain "someone" doesn't go blab them all out for shits and giggles. (Glares Directly Towards Dedede)

Dedede: (Notices Daisy Glaring at Him Before Sucking Through his Teeth) Man, why you glaring at me like that for?

Daisy: I dunno, De. Why did you felt the need to blurt out my full name for everyone in the mansion to hear, huh?

Dedede: Girl, that all happened last Christmas ago, I said I was sorry!

Daisy: I know. And I still got my eyes on you! (Points Two of her Fingers at Dedede With a Menacing Look on her Face) Like a hawk.

Dedede: ('Gulp')

Luigi: (Chuckles Lightly) Thanks, dear, but I think I'm sure on this one. Have to make sure Mario isn't lonely out there, you know?

Daisy: True. Try not to be out there for too long, 'Kay? (Gives Luigi a Peck on the Lips) I'll miss you~

Luigi: I'll miss you more~ (Makes his Way to Outside) We'll see you in a bit.

Meanwhile Outside in the Front Porch of the House

Mario: (Looks Up at the Nightly Skies Letting Out a Relaxed Sigh)

'Door Opens'

?????: Enjoying the star watch tonight, bro?

Mario turns to see his younger brother standing by the door.

Mario: (Smiles a Bit) A little bit, yeah. I need a refreshment after a trip down the embarrassing memory lane.

Luigi: (Sighs as He Walk Towards an Empty Spot Where Mario Standing Next to) Embarrassing is right.....Couldn't bear to last a second in there without seeing some those photos again. Especially the ones from middle school.....

Mario: ('Sigh') I don't blame you one bit, bro. They were really rough to look through. But Peach seems to like them a lot, so....there's that at least. Maybe the others will too.

Luigi: Probably. (Looks Up at the Stars While Letting Out a Relaxed Sigh) Looks like another year's about come to close.

Mario: Tell me about it. felt like went by a little more quicker than usual.

Luigi: Yeah, but it was about to end eventually sooner than later, not that i mind it completely.

Mario: (Nodded in Agreement) True, true. We really came a long way, going from two plumbers to actual heroes.

Luigi: You can say that again. It's been a few years now and I still can't believe it.....

Mario: I couldn't either to tell you the truth, but despite all the challenges, the craziness we've faced together and separately, I'm glad we've managed to push through till the end. (Turns to Luigi with a Sincere Smile on his Face) And I have you to thank for it, Lu.

Luigi: Wait. (Eyes Widened in Genuine Surprise as He Points at Himself) Me?

Mario: (Chuckles Lightly) Yes, you. You're my one amd only bro, aren't you?

Luigi: Well-

Mario: Upup. I know what you're gonna say. "Mario, I don't deserve all the credit you're giving me! I'm just a sidekick, remember?"

Luigi: (Comically Glare at his Older Brother) Mario, I don't sound like that at all!

Mario: Really? Could've fooled me?

Luigi: ('Groans in Annoyance')

Mario: (Chuckles Lightly) Kidding, kidding. But seriously though, I can't imagine ever being where I am now, if it weren't for you being there, supporting and helping me all the way through. You're really amazing for that, you know?

Luigi: (Heart Begins to Melt in Genuine Happiness) Bro.....Thank you. If anything, I should be thanking you for always looking out for me after all these years, teaching me how to be brave, become my own man, and what not. I really appericate it a lot

Mario: (Smiles Back) I'm happy to help. I know I don't say it as much as I should, but I'm really glad and proud to have you as my brother, Luigi. So....from the bottom of my heart. I wanna say.....Thank you. For everything.

Luigi: Yeah. (Happily Hugs Mario with a Bit of Tears Falling Down From his Face) Ditto, bro.

A Few Days Later Back at in the Streets of Smash Town........

????: Curses....Damned all....All this time.......I have traveled across the lands of time for so long....To find myself place......A place, where I could call it my home.....and be at peace......

....ey.....

????: But.....I wonder.....How long will it takes for my body and soul to keep going?

.....ude.....

????: How long will my legs and feet will last before they weaken and bring me down to my absolute lowest?

.......upp.....

????: How long will my spirit of endurance to keep me company until the sickles of doubt and misery brings it's horrid face, viciously binding me around in my weakened state and restraint me until the day I perish, until the day I give out last breath to this cursed reality and it's miserable PILE OF-

WAKE UP!

'Smack'

????: (Jolted Up From the Ground He Was Sitting On) SECERTS!

The young man in blond, short hair, wearing a mage like attire starts panting all over the place as he sees three figures standing in front of him. Two maidens and an another young with a black wings attached to his back, as if he's an angel of darkness of some kind.

Cheerful Girl: ('Gasps') Miski, you did it! He lives!

Darken Angel: He wasn't dead to begin with, Kyoko. He just had himself a dirt nap.

Tough Girl: Must've been a real nice one if he slept for this long. (Squats Down to the Boy's Sitting Level, Poking him with a Stick) Hey. Sleepyhead. You hungry?

To Be Continued......

Thank you, Charles Martinet, for giving the Mario Bros and countless other characters their voice for us to love and enjoy for 29+Years.

And Thank YOU, the readers, for taking the time out of your regular schedules to read these wacky fanfics I keep making for 5-6 years now. Expect more to come real soon.

Happy New Years

@albion-93

@cyber-wildcat

@bestpony666

@ma-lemons

@caleb13frede

[sunburnacoustic]

Rich Costey: Producer

Recording Muse's Absolution

(article in Sound On Sound by Richard Buskin in December 2003)

Photo: Tom Kirk

With their number one album Absolution, British three-piece Muse have established themselves as one of the most ambitious and innovative rock bands in the world — and in Rich Costey, they've found an engineer and producer who understands their aims and encourages them to experiment.

"I believe that anything should be possible at any moment," says Rich Costey. "The records that I'm most fond of are ones where people have taken as many chances as possible in service of the material. The process itself may yield both successes and defeats, but you'll never know unless you're free to explore, and that's something an outfit like Muse is very comfortable with. Those guys have been playing together for a long time, and as a result they are completely fearless and will try anything. That's one of the reasons why we had such a good working relationship."

A guitarist in high school who turned to producing indie bands in Boston and New York, Costey spent three years as the in-house engineer at Looking Glass Studios in Manhattan during the mid-'90s, assisting modern classical composer Philip Glass, and it was there that he steeped himself in the experimental approach to recording that has characterised much of his subsequent work, including the aforementioned Muse's acclaimed new album Absolution.

"My time at Looking Glass was just a thrill for me," he recalls. "I had been a huge admirer of Philip's, and it was no trivial matter for me to be able to work on his records day after day. When you're mixing for him, he holds out the score the whole time to ensure that you can hear all of the parts and are following the dynamics, as he simply composes on paper in the traditional manner. One day I was mixing something for him, and he was describing some of his compositional methods — he would use his motifs in an almost modular fashion, plugging in and reusing different parts of the same material within the same piece — and he told me 'Attempting to exactly repeat a success is bound to seem a failure, whereas if you move forward it's far more likely to seem a success.'

"How that translates to me in terms of making records is that I tend to reject the notion that there's a sort of penned-in area regarding how rock music is supposed to sound. These days there's a certain guitar sound that people think of as the guitar sound, and that's unfortunate. Previously, artists were more comfortable pushing things forward and trying things out, and obviously there are still artists who do that, but not many. That's what I'm interested in doing, though it usually means a bit more effort and occasionally a bit of risk."

Finding The Muse

After relocating to Los Angeles in the late 1990s, Costey teamed up with Jon Brion to produce and mix Fiona Apple's second album When The Pawn Hits The Conflicts... This led to assignments from producer Rick Rubin, which included the mix of Rage Against The Machine's Renegades album in 2000. Since then, Costey has undertaken numerous mixing projects, as well as production and engineering for the likes of Dave Navarro and, most recently, the London-based Muse trio of guitarist/vocalist Matthew Bellamy, bassist Chris Wolstenhome, and drummer Dominic Howard.

Originally hailing from Teignmouth, Devon, the three began playing together at the age of 13, first as Gothic Plague, then as Fixed Penalty and Baby Rocket Dolls, before adopting their current name in 1997, when they released their eponymous debut EP on Dangerous Records. A second EP, 1998's Muscle Museum, led to critical acclaim, a rapidly growing live following, and a contract with Maverick in the US, and in the wake of albums Showbiz (1999) and Origin Of Symmetry (2001), the band have attracted plenty of interest thanks to songs that meld melodic, sometimes unconventional lead vocals with strains of grunge, punk, psychedelia and arena rock. All of these elements are prevalent on Muse's new album, Absolution.

"I had become a fan of theirs, particularly after hearing their last record," says Rich Costey. "This was conveyed to them by some mutual acquaintances and we decided to collaborate. They had worked with the same people for a while, and I think they were interested in mixing it up a bit. By the time that I came into the picture, they had already recorded several tracks for the new album with John Cornfield and Paul Reed: 'Butterflies And Hurricanes' and 'Blackout' were among them. Those had gone very well, but they were interested in trying out some other ideas and seeing what else might be out there."

Costey would end up mixing 'Blackout', which utilised mandolin and real strings recorded at AIR Lyndhurst in north-west London, and recutting the vocal, bass and piano on 'Butterflies And Hurricanes'.

"Initially, we went to AIR just to see how things would work out between us," he recalls. "I did what I normally do, and they sat back and observed me. In retrospect it's kind of funny, because now, having gotten to know them so well, I realise they were a bit coy. There was also something of a continental divide between the American use of superlatives and the more reserved English use of them, but I wasn't aware of this at the time. For instance, soon after we went into AIR, my engineer Wally Gagel and I got what I thought was a great sound for the band to track live, and when I finally rolled some tape and they came in the control room to listen back, I thought they'd be over the moon. However, their response was along the lines of 'Uh, yeah, it's fine. All right, let's crack on...' and I felt deflated. It turned out that they did like it, but they were simply a bit reserved. They loosened up later — and I'm sure I did, too — when we got to know each other better.

Tractors & Water Sports

Grouse Lodge Studios, where much of the tracking for Absolution took place.Photo: Tom Kirk

Opting for a rural residential facility to complete the recording sessions for Absolution, the band members located Grouse Lodge in Ireland via the Internet, and it turned out to be a successful choice. "We just showed up and took our chances, and the place was fantastic," Costey remarks. "We had a great time there. It's the only place I've ever been where there are windows all the way around the control room and tracking room. And it was kind of funny, because at one point Dominic was in the live area while we were sitting in the control room, and just as he was playing a really intense drum part, some guy on a tractor drove by the window that was behind him. You don't see that too often in a studio! Fortunately the isolation was good — there's no tractor on the record.

"Grouse Lodge has a Neve VR, and although it was a good-sized board, we still brought in 14 [Neve] 1073s and several [UREI] 1176s as well as some Pultec EQs. The studio contacted a number of rental companies for additional mic pres, and apparently that was all we could get because Iron Maiden were tracking somewhere and using up all of the other 1073s in the UK.

Recording the introduction to 'Apocalypse Please': Dominic Howard plays a drum fill from the Grouse Lodge swimming pool, with the driver from an NS10 speaker used as a close mic.Photo: Tom Kirk

"Of course, one of the advantages of a residential studio is that you can just kind of take over the place, and so we were able to do things like set up mics in the residences, while for the song 'Ruled By Secrecy' I had this idea that I wanted the drums to be intimate and very close, yet with a unique distant ambience.

"At one point, while we were rehearsing in the smaller Studio B, the band was running through the number with the doors open and I could hear it echoing around the courtyard. It sounded fantastic, so one afternoon while we were tracking I decided to set up the drums outside. We brought out a whole bunch of mic pres to ensure that the mic line was as short as possible, and we spent a number of hours setting this all up.

A less successful experiment: Dominic Howard plays drums outdoors in the Grouse Lodge courtyard. Photo: Tom Kirk

"The kit was backed up into a sort of corner, with brick on one side and stone masonry on the other, alongside a tractor. Directly behind it was open, and it was good that Dominic was close to the wall because that enabled him to get a little more bass out of his kit. We set up a couple of distant mics and ran them through some Neves, and then I sat down in the control room and he started playing... and it sounded terrible. I think we captured one take, but we didn't use it at all. We got a little bit of ambience out of the courtyard, but the overall sound was unbearably thin and it just didn't have the presence that I'd expected.

"Still, one idea that we did try and that was really good found its way onto the tracks 'Apocalypse Please' and 'Time Is Running Out'. The intro to 'Apocalypse Please' has a tom section, and I really wanted that to sound just ridiculous and as epic as possible. So, lo and behold, the studio had a swimming pool, which of course was full of water, and what we did was bring over a couple of kick drums, put them on stands, and miked one of them really close with the disembodied woofer of an NS10 to get a low, thumping sound, while a few C12 ambient mics were placed in the swimming pool area. We also had to bring mic pres into the pool area for all the same reasons, and Wally and I set things up so that Dominic could actually stand in the water while he was playing, just because it looked really good."

So, were there any lapping sounds? "Not during that section, although we did do some hot-tub overdubs later on. We did a couple of takes of the bubbling water, but again we didn't use it. In fact, we did a bunch of stuff. I'd seen a modern classical performance a few years back where there was a whole back line of people hitting gongs and dipping them in water. The water gong is not an unusual 20th-century classical instrument, but as we were gong-poor, we took some samples of doing the same thing with cymbals, hitting them loads and loads of times while dipping them into the water. Of course, cymbals have nowhere near the sustain and heft of an actual gong, and whatever they did have would dissipate as soon as they went into the water, so that was pointless. But it was funny.

"One thing that actually was useful was recording a couple of takes of Chris diving into the pool — we used that on the start to the bridge of 'Thoughts Of A Dying Atheist'. Listen really closely and, right where the bridge hits, you can hear him jumping into the pool. We used rather nice microphones to capture that, so we made sure to keep them clear of the water, and we also had to move really quickly because I was concerned about humidity affecting the mics."

Reaching For The Overheads

"I didn't want to do anything that sounded like their previous records. I liked Origin Of Symmetry quite a lot, but one of the reasons why I thought I might make a good producer for Muse is that I believed I could hear what they were reaching for and felt there were moments where they weren't quite getting there. For example, it struck me that at their basic level they wanted to sound like a colossal, dynamic, epic and powerful rock band, but there were a lot of moments on their past two records when they didn't quite achieve that. So, the first thing I wanted to do was make sure that they sounded pretty damned big and aggressive when they were supposed to, and that was down to the recording methods as well as their performance.

The control room at Grouse Lodge is based around a Neve VR desk. Photo: Tom Kirk

"For their part, the guys had heard some of my mixes for Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave and they were quite keen to get a sound that was just as big and assertive. They play extremely well together and they sound quite powerful on their own, but as usual we needed to explore different drum kits to obtain the right sound. Dominic's very good at tuning his drums and Chris has his own bass tone down really well — he's got three amps with different degrees of distortion coming out of each. I also brought in a Diesel guitar head, which I'm pretty fond of, and Matthew played a bit through that as well as his own custom Marshall, and overall I set them up a bit differently to what they were used to.

"In fact, I spent quite a while trying to sort out the drum sound, because Dominic is a pretty aggressive drummer and he tends to hit his cymbals rather hard. A bit of thought went into how to have the individual drums sounding defined without being washed out by the cymbals, and to that end I did something that I wouldn't recommend anyone doing carelessly, using far too many microphones. For overheads you might use a stereo pair, maybe accompanied by a mono microphone, but we ended up using that for an overall kit sound and tight-miking each of the cymbals. I myself normally use [AKG] C12s, and then for the close mics I use [Neumann] KM84s whenever they can be found, and I'll slightly mix those in to get a lot of attack — that way, the overheads themselves can be fairly low, and you can mix up the attack of the cymbals without the overall sound being too brash.

"Chris's monstrous amp rig consisted of three Marshall bass heads and three different Marshall cabinets, and how much room we had in any given studio basically determined what size of cabinets we set up. One of them produces a cleaner bass tone, while the second amp largely goes through [an Electro-Harmonix] Big Muff [distortion pedal], as well as a few other pedals that he'll occasionally hit. Then his third amp, which is the most distorted, uses an obscure Japanese distortion pedal, which is pretty weird, expensive and apparently difficult to find. It has a real nasally tone that doesn't necessarily make any sense on its own, but when you mix it within the context of the rest of the bass sound it's critical to what Chris wants. He has several bass guitars, and there's a well-worn Pedulla that he's particularly fond of.

"I like to use condenser mics whenever possible on the bass cabinets. They tend to have a much more open sound, the transients come through a lot stronger, and the net result sounds a lot more like you're standing in front of the amp. There certainly is a place for dynamics and I am a fan of them as well, but to me they colour the sound much more than a good condenser. That having been said, I've actually got a fair bit into recording the bass with this mic made by Blue, called the Mouse. Wally Gagel and I used it last year on the Antenna album by Cave In and it was excellent, so I used that on Chris's bass rig and I also used it on the snare, doubled with an SM57 whenever possible. I sometimes use a Neumann FET47 to record the bass, but Chris's rig was so loud that I didn't think we could get away with that — nowadays, I think people play much louder than they did when 47s were introduced, and one of the advantages with a newer mic like the Blue is that it can take a stunning amount of level.

"Aside from that, we used a pretty standard setup on the bass: [Sennheiser] 421s and [Electro-voice] RE20s. We tried a whole host of things while working at different studios, and we used different stuff each time. The full band was set up at AIR in the lead-up to Christmas, and then a couple of months later we set up at a place in Ireland called Grouse Lodge, where we did the majority of the recording over the course of about four weeks. We didn't have exactly the same microphones to choose from there, but we tried to copy the AIR setup as much as possible so that the basic tracks didn't sound totally foreign next to one another."

Learning Reserve

Muse singer Matthew Bellamy hits some pretty amazing vocal notes on the new record, most notably on cuts such as 'Apocalypse Please', 'Time Is Running Out', 'Hysteria', 'Blackout' and 'Butterflies And Hurricanes'. "He has an amazing voice and an amazing range," confirms Rich Costey. "He is completely confident with what he's doing. He'll just get in and, in three takes, he'll have everything he needs. Sometimes, with the vocals, not unlike the rest of the process, we would try out different things, different directions even once we knew we had something great, and while this would occasionally produce improved results, most of the time it wouldn't because Matthew's own first instinct was exactly right.

"In terms of the vocal mics, we would switch between different ones according to the song. I'm a big believer in that as well. For example, he sang 'TSP' into a [Shure] SM7 that I had — one of the advantages for many singers who do a lot of shows is that they can grab hold of the SM7, carry it around the room and do whatever they want without creating very much handling noise. To me, that sounds quite a bit better than your more typical SM58, which a lot of people might use in the studio. The singer can press his face right up against the microphone without any worry whatsoever, so we used that on a few songs, while we mainly used a C12 for Matt on most of the more sedate vocals. Then again, in the case of 'Endlessly', we tried out a few mics — we tried an RCA 44, but that was just a little too dark, so we ended up going with the 77.

"Matthew has tremendous vocal capabilities, and if anything he's still learning what those capabilities are. I think one of the things that he became more comfortable with during this project was the ability to sing in a little more reserved fashion. Like on the verses of 'Sing For Absolution', his tenor voice is very quiet and just beautiful, whereas normally he's pushing himself quite hard. Any time you work with a great vocalist it's pretty exciting.

"Matthew's styling determined, to some degree, what I'd want to do with his vocals. For example, when he's singing loud, part of his sound frequently amounts to clipping the mic pre — I'd deliberately clip the mic pre on 'Time Is Running Out' as he sang louder and louder, adding more intensity and grit to his vocal. Distorting a vocal is so commonplace nowadays that to me it's the same as distorting a guitar or a bass. And much of the time when I'm mixing records for other people I'm distorting the vocal... whether they know it or not!"

Things That Have Character

In the months between the AIR and Grouse Lodge sessions (see box), Matthew Bellamy did more songwriting and Rich Costey took care of overdubbing some of the first-batch songs at AIR: 'Sing For Absolution', 'Stockholm Syndrome', 'Hysteria', 'TSP' and 'Fury' (which would end up as a bonus track on the Japanese release). These were then completed at North London's Livingstone Studios during a 10-day period following the Christmas/New Year break.

"We used the custom vintage Neve console at AIR, and whenever possible I only monitor on ATC SCM20s, which they also had there," says Costey. "Every facility was booked at the last minute, and when you're going from studio to studio it's really a crap shoot as to what you're listening to. On the other hand, the console at Livingstone was an SSL G-series, and it made a big difference switching to that from the vintage Neve. We rented a bunch of Neve 1073s to use as front-end mic preamps, and I also brought my old Universal Audio 1108s with me to warm up the sound. The UA mic pres are Class AB, whereas the 1073s are Class A. I largely only record through vintage Neves, but in this case we couldn't find a UK studio with one at short notice, and while I wasn't able to completely match the sound, I didn't mind that. I find it tedious when records sound the same all the way through. I'm much more interested in things that have character, and so long as they sound good, that's all that matters."

Rich Costey and Matthew Bellamy in debate at the desk in Grouse Lodge. Photo: Tom Kirk

Matthew Bellamy's custom Manson guitars were mostly recorded through the aforementioned Diesel and Marshall amps running into a variety of cabinets. "The band played live together, facing each other in a semi-circle, and Matthew was singing, too, which he apparently doesn't normally do when they're cutting basic tracks," Costey explains. "Still, once we'd created those basics, it was a case of anything goes. I don't really believe in any hard and fast rules after that, and I don't necessarily like to go with one setup for a whole record. So, after we got the basics, we would try to push every single overdub to make it as interesting as possible.

"The way that I and the band chose to work — and I like to work this way, anyhow — was to concentrate on one song at a time for a while. I remember that we did quite a bit of work on 'Stockholm Syndrome' and 'Sing For Absolution' at AIR. We'd just put up a song, see what it needed, and explore it for hours, days, whatever, and then at the point where we felt we were slowing down we'd move on to the next thing. That process continued at Livingstone.

"On 'Sing For Absolution', I had a pretty clear idea as to what I wanted to hear on the chorus: big, broad-sounding guitars with a little bit of echo — it's hardly ever the case that something goes down without getting run through a [Maestro] Echoplex. I'm addicted to them, although recently both of mine unfortunately have gone ill on me. Still, I wanted the big, broad guitars with Matthew's voice just peeking out over them without being too far in front, keeping the chorus kind of subdued and real simple whereas the verses really needed to sound expansive and three-dimensional. We did some basic stuff at AIR on that song, and then when we got to Livingstone we spent time treating different pianos.

One of Rich Costey's much-loved Maestro EP4 Echoplex delays. Photo: Katy Alverson

"The main piano sound on that song was heavily treated. I laid nails, guitar strings and all sorts of metal objects on top of the piano strings themselves so that they rattled, and then I miked all that with a pair of C12s. I had the dry piano coming into the console and I then split the signal so that half of it went to tape and the other half went to a [Digitech] Whammy pedal. In fact, the Whammy pedal also got split, so that half of it went to — no surprise here — an Echoplex and the other half went to a [Lovetone] Doppelganger pedal. That achieved a fake stereo, with a dry attack front and centre, while the Doppelganger with the echo was on one side and the Whammy's echo was on the other. Then we doubled it, so that it wasn't even fake stereo any more; it was two performances, which made a lot more sense.

"Once we had that down, the song took on a much more melancholy sound, and thanks to the piano it also had kind of a broken sound which, I think, worked well with the lyrics. After that, we did some ambient passes of various synths running through different effects and doing volume sweeps while Matthew played throughout the song. We just wanted things to sweep in and out around the vocals."

Although the songs were all comped, with each of the band members performing a minimum of passes, Costey was keen to guard against too much editing. He typically treats Pro Tools as if it were a tape machine, not because of a retro mindset but simply in order to enhance the music by way of a more human touch, and he'd therefore utilise as much as possible of a single take before editing in parts only where this was absolutely necessary. The same applied to overdubs — he'd use as much as possible of complete takes, and never once was a performance flown into another section of a song.

"I made that mistake years ago," Costey admits, "and what ends up happening is that the record has a real thin veneer to it, almost like a genetically engineered tomato that looks perfect but has absolutely no flavour."

Three People Trying to Sound Like 10

The approach paid off. Absolution boasts a collection of very live-sounding tracks that convey the effect of the band members playing complete performances. Then again, in terms of aural imaging, for all of the reverb and power chords, the manner in which the instruments blend into one another creates a sense of the musicians being bunched close together within a fairly confined space.

"I think that's partly the design of the band," says Costey. "Because they're only a three-piece, Chris's bass tone is engineered from the ground up to go from the low lows of the bass through the bottom end of the guitar. And Matthew, by extension, because he switches quite frequently to the piano, doesn't necessarily feel like he has to carry the brunt of things with his guitar. What you have is three people trying to sound like 10, and they've got it down pretty good, so that their instruments sonically tend to overlap one another, and the way they play off each other tends to overlap more than it does with a lot of other bands. Often you hear bass players who tend to double the guitar roots very low and function as a mere guitar support, but that isn't the case with Muse.

The Grouse Lodge live room. Photo: Tom Kirk"

At the same time, another reason for the tight sound may be that I don't tend to use much reverb on things like drums when I'm mixing. I pretty much just used whatever ambience was to be found on the room mics. Then again, when we were at Grouse Lodge in Ireland, we occasionally augmented things in terms of the drum sound, and this was especially so on 'Falling Away With You'. We ran a couple of Earthworks mics way down to the other end of the building, in the hallway towards the residences, and the track had this ridiculous, cavernous pomposity to it. This wasn't very useful if the drum part was busy, but if it was a simple part then it sounded terrific, and so there were a couple of moments where I cranked those up quite a bit."

One notable aspect of 'Falling Away With You', which starts off as a ballad before seguing into heavy rock, is the prevalent sound of Matthew Bellamy's fingers sliding on the strings of his guitar. "That's simply the sound of a human playing guitar," says Costey. "Matthew was playing his black Manson guitar very quietly through an Overbuilt amp, and all we added was a bit of reverb, so it was fairly clean. However, if you run just a little bit of compression you're bound to enhance those finger noises. A lot of people find them distracting, but for me that's the sound of someone playing an instrument. I have worked with people who play in such a manner that you don't hear any finger noises at all, and in those cases I just defer to the musician, but with Matthew you can hear the sound of his fingers on the strings, and this created a kind of intimacy that perfectly suited the quiet section of 'Falling Away With You'."

On some tracks, Matthew Bellamy didn't want to track his vocals until he really had a feel for where the music was going to lead him, whereas on others he'd record his part and, in so doing, highlight the fact that some more musical texture needed to be developed underneath the vocal. One example of this was the song 'Endlessly', with its loungey-sounding Wurlitzer intro and backwards cymbal and conga during the short instrumental break.

"That song was really a work in progress up until almost the last minute, and we took a different sort of vocal approach with it," Costey recalls. "Obviously, it's too slow to be a dance number, but there is a kind of subdued four-to-the-floor, 909-sounding rhythm going on throughout the track. That's largely due to the fact that Matthew did a couple of demos, and one of them featured him performing on a piano as well as a drum machine that was playing that pattern. There was such an honesty to it and a directness to it that even though we tried it with a full band approach, nothing seemed to work as well as what he had on that demo, which was just a real pure intro and a really heartfelt vocal. We therefore took that approach and built on it, and we had Dominic play loads of different drum patterns within that tempo and then actually cut up ones that had kind of a light jazz feel with a couple of fills."

More Chet Baker, Less Arthur Baker

After the work was completed at Grouse Lodge, the project switched location once again, this time to Cello Studios in Los Angeles, where three weeks were spent overdubbing before the mix then took place. It was here, during the overdubs, that 'Endlessly' really came together.

"Although we were happy with the drumming aspects of the song, we were still dissatisfied with a lot of it," Costey explains. "We were in Studio Three, where the Beach Boys had once recorded Pet Sounds [when the facility was still known as United Western Recorders], so we tried to conjure up the spirit of Brian Wilson by bringing in an old S6 tube monophonic synthesizer. I mostly wanted Matthew to use it to play some arpeggios, but those didn't end up sounding very good, and so he then reached over to these auto-chord figures on the left-hand side of the keyboard, where you can just hit one button and it will play the chord. Underneath it is a button that you can press to control the volume of that note, and while we were running the track down Matthew started playing the chords to the song and using the dynamic button to tap out a rhythm. That ended up being the main thing that the rest of the song was centred about: the real soft, moody, warm keyboard sound that plays in the chorus.

"At that point, we absolutely knew that we wanted the sound more Chet Baker and less Arthur Baker. So, Matthew sang into a big old RCA 77 ribbon mic, and we did a number of other overdubs on the track, but we tried to keep it as sedate as possible even if, by the end of the song, it gets a bit expansive. There's a treated type of opera vocal coming in later in the song, and we tried to be very careful with that, because it's a dangerous area."

Meanwhile, another song that starts off in fairly staid and straightforward fashion before building in force is 'Ruled By Secrecy', on which thundering piano bass notes are interspersed with high notes that ride over the top of the vocal. "A lot of the time we would actually cut the right-hand and left-hand parts separately and treat them separately," Costey remarks. "The beginning of 'Ruled By Secrecy' was all CP80, which is an old Yamaha electric piano, and while that was a left-hand part we also doubled it up with a right-hand part that was actual piano. We also took the CP80 and ran it through a couple of guitar amps only for the left hand, so that the left hand would have a larger tone to it when Matthew hit those notes. Then, by the end of the song, when he was hitting the more sustained left-handed parts, I trotted out the old Echoplex as well."

'Time Is Running Out' was probably the most difficult song for band and producer to nail down, especially with regard to an intro that required mucho experimentation. "We tried out all sorts of percussion ideas," says Costey, "including people clapping their hands and slapping their knees. At one point Wally even miked up Chris and Dominic scratching their heads to produce a shaker track, and that worked suprisingly well, but we didn't end up using it. Eventually, we concluded that the bass would comprise the centrepiece of the intro, so we had to come up with a unique, very characteristic tone, although I wasn't totally convinced about the bass line that we initially settled on. We spent an entire day trying to get the greatest bass intro sound ever created in all humanity, and by the end of that time we went with an acoustic bass guitar running through a ton of pedals and different amps. Then, just as we'd attained a sound that we thought was pretty good, Matthew walked in, listened to it and said, 'Fantastic, you've just spent eight hours on a flanged bass?' He was right of course, not having spent hours on the floor, toying with pedals and cables. We didn't keep any of it. Still, there was always good give-and-take like that, and we trusted each other enough to go with our respective ideas."

The well-stocked gear rack in Cello Sound, where Absolution was mixed, with Rich Costey's own gear on top and in the portable rack to the right.

As most arrangement decisions regarding the songs were made while recording, the overall modus operandi amounted to settling on a direction that would subsequently determine the nature of the overdubs and then the mix. This, in turn, ensured that the mixing process was relatively short and strightforward; about three weeks in all.

"The biggest challenge on Absolution was making sure that the whole thing hung together cohesively," Costey asserts. "We tried out so many different ideas, and in a couple of songs we didn't get the arrangements totally nailed down until it was time to mix. At that point, if you're not happy with something it's too late to go back and change it. So, during the last week there was a certain amount of making sure that all those loose ends were dialled in, and that the songs sounded good next to one another and sounded like the same band. Hopefully, that's what we achieved. By the end, for all of their British reserve and my over-the-top American enthusiasm, the guys were very excited about this record — and so, of course, was I."

[spnbaby-67]

BEHIND THE LENS

Chapter 3

What is Mr. Grant up to??? Read on to see.

Remember, this is fanfiction, and Jensen is single. I love to hear your thoughts of how it's going so far. Please let me know.

Pairing. Jensen x reader,

Chapter 3: A Spark Ignited

As the photo shoot's first day came to a conclusion, Saamiya's emotions shifted like a whirlwind, ranging from exhaustion to exhilaration. She observed the crew industriously dismantling equipment and preparing for the following day's shoot. Their goal was to capture Jensen in a more grounded reality, avoiding the fairy tale setting of before. The initial day had served as a test, assessing his versatility, and he had gracefully accepted the challenge.

Approaching Jensen with a warm smile, Saamiya basked in a sense of accomplishment. "You did exceptionally well today, Jensen. I'm genuinely pleased with how the shoot unfolded."

Jensen returned her smile, his eyes reflecting genuine warmth. "Thanks, shutterbug. Your guidance and understanding played a huge role."

Saamiya's cheeks flushed, a blend of surprise and delight enveloping her. She looked up from her camera, meeting his gaze with an authentic smile. "I believe it takes more than guidance—it takes the right photographer," she responded. Her voice carried a soft blend of warmth and shyness.

Jensen chuckled, his tone light, echoing the camaraderie developed throughout the day. "You've been behind the lens all day, capturing moments. That nickname suits you well."

Her smile expanded, her shyness dissolving as she embraced the thought behind the moniker. "I can't argue with that," she playfully agreed. "I suppose I've earned it, haven't I?"

Jensen's laughter resonated like a melodic tune in the quiet studio. "Absolutely," he confirmed. "Your passion for photography is quite inspiring."

Pride and joy welled within her at his words. To have someone she admired acknowledge her craft was incredibly gratifying. "Thank you, Jensen. Your words mean a lot," she responded genuinely.

He shrugged, his smile easy. "Just stating the facts sweetheart."

Their conversation flowed with effortless ease, a true testament to the bond nurtured over the course of the photo shoot. Saamiya's newfound self-assuredness radiated from her gaze, and the endearing nickname "Shutterbug" acted as a bridge that united them—a symbol of friendship forged through their shared experiences. The smile that graced her lips was a reflection of her fondness for the moniker, something distinct and endearing that set her apart. It was a name that had breathed new life into her identity, replacing the mundane with a spark of warmth and playfulness.

As the studio gradually settled into a serene hush, their authentic connection hung in the air, hinting at the promise of future creative collaborations.

Their conversation continued, and Saamiya couldn't help but sense that their alliance had grown into something more profound than a mere professional partnership. A connection seemed to extend beyond the photographs, forged through mutual vulnerability and understanding.

Interrupting the momentary quiet, Jensen cleared his throat. "Hey, um, there's something I'd like to ask you."

Saamiya raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "Sure, go ahead." Her hands moved to pack her equipment.

He scratched the back of his head, a hint of nervousness tinting his demeanor. "Well, considering the time we've spent together on this shoot, I wanted to express my appreciation."

Her curiosity deepened. "Appreciation? How so?"

Meeting her gaze directly, Jensen's eyes held a sincerity that caught her attention. "I was thinking, would you be interested in having dinner with me? As a thank-you for your help."

Saamiya blinked, her heart skipping a beat. This turn of events was unexpected. "Dinner? Like, a date?"

He chuckled, a faint blush coloring his cheeks. "Yes, a date. If you're open to it."

A mix of excitement and uncertainty swirled within her. Here was Jensen Ackles, an actor she had admired, asking her out. Her smile brightened, and she couldn't suppress her own excitement. "I'd love to, Jensen."

His smile widened, happiness evident on his face. "Fantastic! How about tomorrow night? I can find a nice place here in New York."

Saamiya nodded with enthusiasm. "Tomorrow night sounds perfect."

As they exchanged contact information and discussed the specifics of their upcoming date, their conversation transitioned to their collaboration and the potential that lay ahead.

Leaning casually against a nearby table, Jensen's gaze turned reflective. "Sam, I've been reflecting on this. With my upcoming projects and convention circuits, I'll be traveling quite a bit. Having someone I trust to capture the behind-the-scenes moments would be invaluable."

Saamiya's eyes lit up at the prospect. "You mean you're interested in having me as your photographer for travels and conventions?"

He nodded. "Yes, your dedication and work have stood out. Plus, I believe we make a great team."

A surge of excitement coursed through Saamiya. The idea of being Jensen's photographer during his travels was both thrilling and humbling. "I'd be honored, Jensen. It's a remarkable opportunity."

He met her enthusiasm with a genuine smile. "I'm glad you're onboard. I have a feeling we can create something extraordinary together."

As they delved into the logistics of their potential partnership, Saamiya felt a renewed sense of affirmation. Her path as a photographer was unfolding in ways she hadn't anticipated. Moreover, a connection with Jensen had transcended professional boundaries – it was a bond forged through shared experiences, mutual respect, and perhaps something more.

As the next day dawned, Saamiya entered her workplace brimming with determination and excitement. Her equipment and the photos from the previous day's shoot were in tow. Her radiant smile stretched from ear to ear as she navigated the office with newfound confidence.

Saamiya's steps held purpose, each movement resonating with a quiet assurance she hadn't exhibited before. Colleagues she passed couldn't help but notice the transformation. Whispers of curiosity and admiration spread, and heads turned to follow her progress with a mix of wonder.

Observing their gazes, Saamiya smirked, a sense of anticipation building within her. "They'll find out soon enough," she mused, reflecting on Jensen's offer from the previous night.

Mr. Grant took note of the shift in her demeanor and, prompted by the whispers, decided to see for himself. A gentle knock on her door signaled his presence, and she acknowledged it with a nod. Though she was engrossed in editing, she welcomed the interruption.

"Good morning, Saamiya," Mr. Grant greeted.

"Good morning, Mr. Grant," she replied, her smile brightening as she looked up from her work.

Mr. Grant's gaze moved between Saamiya's face and the spread of photos on her desk. "It appears you've brought back the results from the Jensen Ackles shoot."

Saamiya nodded, a touch of enthusiasm coloring her voice. "Indeed, I have the initial edits ready. I'm genuinely excited about how they've turned out." With that, she handed him a folder containing the edits.

"Delightful news," Mr. Grant responded, his tone laced with encouragement. "We're eagerly anticipating seeing them."

Handing over the photos, Saamiya observed as he took a moment to peruse them. "You seem different today, Saamiya. A newfound confidence, perhaps?"

A faint blush colored her cheeks, yet she met his gaze unabashedly. "Thank you, Mr. Grant. The experience yesterday was truly remarkable, offering me a fresh perspective."

Mr. Grant nodded, a knowing glint in his eyes. "Stepping into new opportunities can indeed result in transformation. I'm pleased to witness your embrace of it."

"Absolutely. Meeting Jensen was an awe-inspiring encounter," Saamiya responded, her voice a mix of gratitude and enthusiasm. She then handed him her camera, inviting him to explore the photos she captured with Jensen's approval.

"That's excellent to hear," he said, his interest genuine. While she continued with her tasks, he subtly selected a few photos that stood out to him and sent them to himself.

"I should have the final collection ready by 3 pm today. Currently working on some last-minute refinements," Saamiya explained, her dedication evident.

"Terrific. We look forward to it," Mr. Grant replied as he cleared his throat.

"Thank you, sir," Saamiya expressed, her smile sincere. After he left the room, she returned to her work, energized by the exchange and motivated to continue delivering exceptional work. Unbeknownst to her, his motives were anything but pure.

—----------------------------------

Amidst her excitement, Saamiya found herself caught in a whirlwind of haste. The anticipation of her date with Jensen set her heart racing as she stood before her closet, assessing her array of clothes. She sought an outfit that would embody her personality while remaining suitable for the occasion. Fingers grazed hangers, pulling out different outfits, only to discard them one after another.

With a growing sense of exasperation, Saamiya eventually settled on a knee-length navy blue dress adorned with delicate floral patterns. It was a personal favorite—simple yet elegant, providing comfort in her own skin. As she donned the dress, the realization that time was slipping away faster than she anticipated washed over her.

Her hands moved with haste as she fastened her necklace, fingers fumbling with the clasp. In her urgency, one earring slipped from her grasp and fell to the floor. An exasperated sigh escaped her lips as she crouched down to retrieve the runaway accessory.

Amid her search, her phone buzzed on her dresser, eliciting a start. She reached for it hastily, momentarily flustered as she answered the call without checking the caller ID.

"Hello?" she responded, her voice tinged with breathlessness.

A familiar chuckle emanated from the other end. "Sam, it's Jensen. Just checking if you're still up for tonight."

Relief washed over her as she recognized the voice. She laughed softly, a mixture of embarrassment and amusement. "Oh, hey Jensen. Yeah, I'm definitely ready. Just... getting ready."

He chuckled again, his tone warm. "No hurry, Sam. Take your time."

As she ended the call, Saamiya finally located her earring beneath her dresser, her triumphant smile reflecting her success. With her ensemble complete, she paused to calm her racing heart, reminding herself to breathe deeply and relish the moment.

Advancing toward the door, Saamiya readied herself to embark on the evening ahead. Anticipation mingled with a hint of nervousness

@deans-baby-momma

@nancymcl

[bittertarot]

*Im redoing this again since I made a mistake lol😅*

Hiii! Hope you're well! I'm here for the kpop new year game

My nickname is buttercup, I'm a Capricorn Sun.

I spent Christmas with my family watching movies and looking at photo albums.

And my question is how would I spend new years with my chosen idols!

My chosen idols are NWJNS Danielle, Hanni, NCT's Jaehyun, ATEEZ San and BTS's V

Thank you in advance!🩷🫂

Thank you for re-doing! Hello, I'm doing well, thanks for asking! Ooh, that sounds really nice! How would NewJeans Danielle and Hanni spend their New Years with you? (Placing them together with 1 card since rules say you can only ask for 4 idols, sorry </3) *Queen of Pentacles* - I'm getting major New Years sleepover vibes here, with this card being about creature comforts and practicality! The 3 of you could have a sleepover before watching fireworks on TV, listening to music, doing each others hair, online shopping, etc! I feel like you'll talk to them a bit about financial issues or they'll talk to you about it and the 3 of you could come up for a solution for it together! Getting huge movie night vibes, too! The 3 of you could bundle up into a fluffy blanket with popcorn and other snacks whilst watching Christmas classics or romance movies and absolutely swooning over the male/female leads! You'd stay up till late squealing, gossiping, doing online shopping, just enjoying yourselves and playing fun games like truth or dare till you all pass out looking like absolute messes! Such a fun time between you all <3 How would Jaehyun (NCT) spend his New Years with you? *The Empress* - He seems like someone who'd stick to principles, like traditional Korean-type celebrations. He'd want to spend it with family, he might drag you over as a friend. You could feel awkward at first, but I feel like his mother would become fond of you? You might help in the kitchen, praying you don't burn the food, help with decorating the dining table to make it look a bit more festive! You might end up staying the night for a sleepover and watching movies, seeing Jaehyun get embarrassed by his mom, etc. It'd be this, or you dragging him over to your family and dealing with the same scenario but him absolutely winning the heart of your mom. She'd be like "son-in-law material??" and you'd have to stop her from embarrassing you LMAO How would San (ATEEZ) spend his New Years with you? *Knight of Swords Reversed* - My eyes hurt the second I got this card, I saw flashing lights. You 2 would go to an absolutely crowded party with flashing lights, drinks spilling, loud music. It'd be insane. I feel like San wouldn't plan this out, it would just be a very quick "let's go to this party" out of nowhere during the evening. He's very unpredictable and seems to have a disregard for consequences?? He doesn't really care about his idol image and is willing to discard that for a night, he just wants to have fun. He'd absolutely be the life of the party, with all eyes on him! He'd definitely check in with you every few minutes to ensure you're enjoying yourself and feeling safe, he'd be very concerned about that and would be willing to leave if you feel too overwhelmed. He takes New Years partying seriously, though, and will only go to the loudest, roudiest, ones! How would V/Taehyung (BTS) spend his New Years with you? *Ace of Pentacles* - Hmm, he'd spend his day with you looking for new opportunities it seems? He'd want to end the year doing something he's never gotten the chance to do, before! He seems like the type to enjoy visiting night markets, he might go to an amusement park with you during the day! He'd be looking for a new adventure and would not spare expenses with it! He'd also look for ways to help you with your finances, too! Maybe even give you money or new shoes as a New Years gift <33 He doesn't have much to say/do compared to the others, he's a very simple guy. That's all for this reading, have a wonderful 2024!! <3

[myrmica]

8, 17, 25 for the artist ask game >:J

8. What do you like most about your own work?

this is a fun question. well for one i like that i like my own work now, for the most part... not that i never get frustrated but more often i draw something and then i feel pleased with it, and this was not always the case. a lot of that has to do with having fixed issues in my process over time. but it's also because i am capable of transmitting qualities i find interesting about the world, about color, about the body and how it moves in space, that are specific to my way of seeing them, and that's satisfying. if i had to pick one thing it would be how i draw bodies, it's hard to describe but at some point something happened and the entire way i see people changed, including how i see myself. as much as this is true for "art style" in every case, i feel like i am always depicting myself because i recognize things about the shape of my hands, or my arms, or my legs, or whatever, that i reproduce both consciously through using references of myself for convenience and habitually or subconsciously. i don't know what my point is. some sort of basic satisfaction in who i am

17. What inspires you?

EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but i put a lot of time and effort towards collecting things to use as reference or to take elements from and i think drawing from references that you find visually pleasing and developing a sense of taste in relation to this is important in a way i don't really hear people talk about. i have an aesthetic aversion to like, the type of pose reference you get from just googling a pose, the weird stock photo stiffness, the lighting and framing of classic deviantart stock photos... all of which can be a necessary utility but i save photos i LIKE for pose ref constantly so i have more options.

some of my favorite things are...

1) joshi wrestling photography (NUMERO UNO!!!!!!!!!!) you get a huge variety of angles and poses and i have a lot of appreciation for the costumes and visuals of it all. because they're still images of people in motion it captures weight and movement you don't get so much other places. "but that just gets me people fighting" you might think, and you would be wrong. women holding each other constantly.

2) historical photography. i'm especially fond of the prokudin-gorskii collection because there are all of these representations of clothing styles and silhouettes i find captivating, in color, and it's weird color because they're early color photos using a technique where you take three versions of the image, through a blue, red, and green filter respectively, and then to display them you project them through the filters again, and the effect is striking because of the saturation... like this one with the loggers, you can easy call to mind a million versions of the same photo seen in black and white, and it's not that black and white photography isn't also interesting but it drives me crazy how much pink and purple people were wearing across the russian empire between 1909 and 1915!

i was going to try not to talk too much about visual art in the answer to this question, but i'm also really into paintings by the peredvizhniki group, which stretched up to about the same time period in the same place, and you can look through these photos and identify shared subject matter, which is pretty cool.

3) historical artwork. especially stuff depicting clothing, or fencing manuals and the like. knights were doing all kinds of gay shit to each other if the fencing manuals are to be believed.

4) minecraft roleplay. this is self evident

25. Based on your recent reference searches, what would the FBI assume about you?

nothing... don't worry about it...

[briarpatch-kids]

I’ve seen a lot of your posts about Tay and was wondering how you became one of his online carers, like how you met his parents and him? I guess I’m just curious about what it means to be ‘friends’ with him in the sense that it’s not an equal relationship. I guess I’m not sure how you bond with someone in that scenario, or maybe that isn’t the point? Sorry if this isn’t phrased well, English is my second language. thank you

So first off, Tay's been getting some weird sexual asks again lately, so I'm going to be vague so I don't give a predator instructions on how to groom him. This isn't saying you're a predator, just that I don't want to tell people how to get close to someone vulnerable when stalkers are potentially watching.

Basically I started following his blog a long time ago because he had opinions on autism I hadn't heard before and saw people kept trying to parent him and lecture him in the comments when like... that's not their job. So I started commenting things when he'd fight with his sister about how I argued with my siblings when i was his age too, and it really sucked and it was okay to be upset. You know, normal stuff you tell a 14-15 year old when they hate the world and their parents and anyone who looks at them the wrong way because being 15 is the worst. Eventually he followed my blog and I had to get my shit together ASAP because "oh shit a kid is looking up to me. I better be worth looking up to" (Tay literally made me a better person this way)

That time period was uncomfortable for me for a while because he would have emergencies and I couldn't do anything about it because I had no way of contacting his family and I also didn't want him to think it was safe to DM adults on Tumblr because there are a LOT of creeps online. Eventually his mom messaged me to say that she needed help and Tay said I was his best friend, I seemed like i was a good responsible adult, and could she have my email so we can discuss this further? I told her about my physical limitations and that I might need to step back if I can't handle it, but that I'm already online frequently because of them so I'd be happy to help her when I can. (And how it was a huge relief to be able to contact someone when he asked or needed me to) We email and update each other on our lives and I consider her a friend of mine, at the very least a fond penpal. We have very different lives, she's an educated and very dedicated housewife with two autistic kids and I'm a transgender crippled college dropout who contemplates stealing feral ducks from the local pond, but at the core we want the same things and get along really well because of it.

My role with helping Tay is answering more complicated questions in a way that doesn't get him doxxed or hurt, telling his mom when he needs help, and just kind of being there when he needs a friend. What I get out of the relationship is the same things I get out of my other friendships, I get to watch him grow into an amazing person and be there along the way.

When we chat, I always make sure to give him the Tay safe version of things, but if he knows I'm having a bad day he'll try to help me feel better and it's really sweet. The other day, I forgot to hide some petty internet drama from him, so he told me that they were a bad person for making me upset and I shouldn't listen to them. (Which helped get me out of the drama loop yay!) So, while I have to take a lot of care and thought to making sure he's supported and safe and gets the version of events that are appropriate for him, it's not a one sided friendship where I'm only hanging out with him because I have to or something. We were friends before I was a helper because I think he's a good friend.

He's a cool guy who likes to hunt for mushrooms in his yard and hear about nature and how stuff like spinning wool works. I end up taking a lot of photos of stuff throughout the week to show him because he loves hearing about flowers at the farmers market or how I saw a cat in a baby carriage at the pond.

[becca-e-barnes]

i miss sub!steve rogers

I really miss him too! I think he'd fit really well with a thought that I just can't shake this week, I'm so wrapped up in the idea of backshots and then taking pictures on a polaroid camera. To the point that I got a fucking polaroid camera this week

I just love the thought of a sub!Steve trying out different positions for the first time and using it as a chance to explore his interests. Particularly because I don't imagine he's tried many.

I think he'd like to start off with the more intimate ones, where he gets to see your face and gets to whimper his pleasure against your hot skin. He can lose control and watch your face while you take it, and you let him give in and ground himself in sensation, rather than thought.

The sight of you on the bed, on your hands and knees for him is one he won't forget though. The way your back curves, presenting your soaking wet, fluttering core to him almost makes the man drop to his knees and delve his tongue deep into your warm heat.

He doesn't do that though. Not on that first occasion anyway. His head is ruled by an uncomfortable, throbbing need in his cock and it's one he can't ignore for much longer. All thoughts of a condom leave his head, he's just so keen to be inside you like this. "Oh my God." He groans with one huge hand on the small of your back, pressing gently to guide you onto his dick, rather than thrusting it inside you.

You gasp at the initial slide. You always do. There's something so delightful in the feeling of him rubbing against your velvety walls and feeling your body accommodate him. Your head almost spins at the realisation that he's now fully seated inside you. There's nothing at all keeping you apart anymore and it doesn't get more intimate than this.

"Fuck, you should see yourself." Steve's voice is almost a whisper, gripping and massaging your ass and groaning at the sight in front of him. This position is a little more than what he's used to but he's entirely convinced it's one of his new favourites.

"Take a picture, Stevie. It'll last longer." You tease but when you look back over your shoulder at him with a fond smile on your face, he does his very best not to fuck you as recklessly as his brain tells him he needs to.

You'd left the polaroid camera on the bed for a reason, he now realises. That's new to him.

Things get just a little bit away from him though. He can't bare to be so deep inside your throbbing heat but not moving so he gives himself a few little test thrusts first.

One turns into two. Two turns into three. Three turns into Steve moaning and sobbing, mesmerised by the bounce of your ass when you fuck yourself back on him. "Oh h-holy shit. God, that fucking ass. Sh-shit, I'm not gonna last." That's fine. In fact, it's essentially a compliment. The slap of skin on skin fills the bedroom, along with Steve's soft whimpers and your moans.

"That's okay, Stevie. Make a pretty mess for me." That's all he needs to hear, just your soft, gentle voice, coaxing him to completion. He knows better than to finish inside you but he's never been more tempted to just press as deep as he can and fill you as he is in that moment.

He resists the urge though, pulling out as he always does, this time cumming over the swell of your ass with a few frantic sobs. "Fuck, fuck, fuck." He chants, spurts of hot cum painting your skin, marking you as his.

"Holy shit." He sounds totally spent and you can't help but notice how he lifts the camera with a shaky hand, snapping two photos of his spend glistening over your ass. "One for you and one for me." He smiles, kissing you gently before going to fetch a damp cloth.

[britnxyspears]

what’s ur favorite piece of princess peach merch?

Good lord this is so hard to answer and I apologize for the incoming walls of text XD. I narrowed it down to 3 categories for a better answer

First like, figures and toys and so on it's a really tough tie between the Mario Party 5 plushie and this little hollow figure from MARS chocolate from 1994

The plushie is the first mainstream and easy to purchase plushie of her, because the aforementioned mario 64 style plushie you could only get through that magazine for like a month or so. This plushie has something so adorable about her face and I love the unique shape of her. When she came out people joked that she looked more like the cakes she bakes than like peach herself but I found that to be a plus, not a negative.

The goofy figure is a bit sentimental so she has that going for her. This was actually the first peach figure I got where she is in her pre-gamecube dress and that makes her special. She's got a horrendous expression (kind of making the 😯 emoji) but I find that she pops out the most in any collection because she is recognizably princess peach but she has a very unique sculpt and pose and especially paint colours. Shes incredibly pastel and more of a blue toned pink than peach merch is normally. Her silly face is actually charming compared to the more neutral pretty faces on most other merch of her.

For clothes I'm very fond of these two items which are both in kids sizes and both make me grateful for having dwarfism in that they fit me pretty perfect ^^; I dont know how I'd be able to choose I'd probably grab both if my house was on fire if I'm being real

The shirt on the far left that says princess is from Gold Rush and officially licensed around 2008 and it's a kids large. I love the pink and purple colours and also that it's a fitted tee and not super boxy on me lol. And that art is one of my favorites too. The jacket is from a forever 21 x super Nintendo collab in like... 2017 I think? It features art of Peachy from a holographic sticker from mario 2 (well, super mario All-Stars technically) that has never been released by Nintendo in any decent quality. It's so cute! It's an xl and the sleeves are a little short on me but I actually prefer that.

For completely random merch this blanket from a Mario Kart target collection takes the cake. Its soft and is my cats favorite thing to curl up on. Plus my beloved mutual @steakplissken got it for me ♡

The stars are foil and super reflective and the gray purple is really calming especially in my very busy pink room. It genuinely ties my whole room together. I would also grab this in a fire because I love it and it's my cats favorite. (In fact in a hypothetical fire I'd probably be holding her in it??? Morbid.)

I'm lucky that all of these happen to already be in my collection (though the MARS figure and every figure in the background of that photo are currently being held hostage I still technically own them ^^; I'll get them back someday along with every single Princess Zelda I have too) the things I still want that might be on this list one day are the 1993 cookie jar that plays music. Going to be honest here, this one only doesnt make the list because I'm not a huge fan of her face. Unlike the mars figure they had a bigger canvas and I feel like it could have been better ^^; I still love it. One day I'll get her and she'll actually be in my kitchen and not my displayed princess collection! Because a little Peach in my strawberry themed kitchen to help me bake cookies sounds too cute to relegate her to a shelf

Sorry lol this was so long and stuff with a hint of drama even

[marypsue]

What's "why can't we be ourselves like we were yesterday"?

from this meme

Oooh, I'm excited because this one is new since the last time I did this meme! It is a Stranger Things post-season-3 Steve/Nancy/Jonathan bodyswap fic, because at the time I went looking there was literally no bodyswap fic for them on AO3 at all and I simply cannot understand how that's possible. It was a hugely popular trope in the 80s! The possibilities for humour and angst are off the charts! Jonathan would get to interact with Robin!

Speaking of which, have a sample:

“Steve? Harrington? Dingus?”

Jonathan spins around so fast that he almost collides with Robin. The stack of tapes he was bringing back from the drop-slot go spilling out of his arms and over the floor, cases cracking open and letting tapes clatter over the nubbly grey carpet.

Robin crouches down to help Jonathan scoop the pile of tapes back up, but she doesn’t take her piercing gaze off of his face – Steve’s face. “What is going on with you today, space case? I called your name like ten times.”

“What?” Jonathan tries to rewind his memory of the last several minutes. He’s ashamed to admit it, but he’d gotten distracted by his – Steve’s – reflection in the glass covering one of the new-release posters. There were whole years of his life that Jonathan went to bed at night secretly wishing and hoping and praying that somehow, when he woke up in the morning, he’d see a guy who looked like Steve Harrington when he looked in the mirror. Somebody strong and lean and confident and gorgeous, with that broad smile just on the right side of mean and those big soulful eyes that any girl would swoon over and that effortlessly perfect hair. Somebody who someone like – like Nancy Wheeler might actually look twice at. Might actually take a chance on getting to know.

But now…

Nancy’s…well, she’s Nancy. She’s so much more than a photo in a yearbook, a pretty face smiling in the hallways, a cookie-cutter pastel romance and a quiet, boring, predictable suburban life. There’s so much more to her than Jonathan knew or gave her credit for, those years ago. Most of it good. And he’s surprised to realise it, but even with the ugly bits, even when she’s being selfish or mean or carrying a stupid grudge, he can’t imagine ever wanting to trade the real thing in for that old imaginary version. No girl-next-door fantasy could ever hold a candle to the reality of Nancy. Sharp edges and all.

And Steve’s perfect hair, as Jonathan learned just this morning, definitely takes effort to look that effortless. The rest of it’s probably the same. Because, as Jonathan realised, looking into the dim reflection against the dark background of the movie poster, there’s absolutely nothing attractive about Steve’s pretty face when it’s got Jonathan behind it.

“There you go again,” Robin says, stacking a few more tapes on top of the pile Jonathan’s holding and straightening up, brushing off her knees. “Seriously, are you sure you’re okay?”

“Oh. Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just -” Jonathan scrambles for an excuse, settling on a half-truth. “Headache. I’ll be fine with a couple aspirin.”

“Steve.” Robin gives him a look of such flat, exasperated fondness that Jonathan can feel himself starting to blush. The only person who’s ever looked at him like that, other than his mom, is Nancy –

Oh.

Oh, okay.

“Fine. If you’re going to be like that. We’ll find you some aspirin,” Robin says, holding out a hand to help Jonathan to his feet. There’s something oddly calculating in the look she gives him when she goes on, “And if you want to take your break early and go find out what that infant friend of yours wanted -”

“No, it’s okay. If it’s really important, he’ll be back,” Jonathan interrupts, and isn’t sure why Robin’s eyes narrow, almost imperceptibly. “Listen. Robin. Thanks for inviting me over, earlier, but I’m gonna have to pass for tonight. It’s just this -”

“Headache?” Robin fills in for him, arching one eyebrow like she’s not convinced. Jonathan nods anyway.

“It’s just – tonight isn’t good. For me. But can we maybe do something, like dinner and a movie, some other time instead?” He’ll have to let Steve know, somehow, whatever date he schedules with Robin, so Steve doesn’t end up standing her up –

“Dinner and a movie?” Robin asks, like that’s the most ridiculous thing she’s ever heard in her life. The look she’s fixed on Jonathan is pure disbelief. Shit.

He tries to play it cool, not to let on the way his ears are burning. “Yeah. I know, it’s corny, but – you can’t beat a classic, right?”

Robin is staring at Jonathan like she’s trying to laser pinpoint every mole on his – Steve’s – face. “A. Classic. What.”

Jonathan…may have miscalculated, here. But he’s not sure how. Girls like Steve. Robin seems to like Steve, if Jonathan’s finally cracked the code on her constant teasing versus her genuine kindness and concern. He’d thought, if she was inviting Steve over to her house – but maybe, unbelievably, she really hasn’t told Steve about her crush yet? And he somehow hasn’t caught on? Or – oh, god. He’s already noticed she’s not Steve’s usual type. Robin’s seemed fantastically cool to Jonathan up until now, but what if that just means she’s too weird for Steve? What if he’s already turned her down? “Uh. Date?”

Robin blinks at him.

Just when Jonathan’s about to apologise profusely for somehow misreading the situation and throw himself on the mercy of the court, though, she gives her head a little shake, frowning down at the video she’s still holding in one hand. “Yeah. Sure. Some other time. Hey, I’ve got to – sort some things out in the backroom, for Keith. Think you can manage up front on your own for maybe about half an hour?”

“Um,” Jonathan says. He’s not sure what just happened. But if Robin’s giving him an out, he’ll gladly take it. “Sure?”

“Great.” Robin hands him the video she’s holding, piling it on top of the stack in his hands with a careful little pat, before starting to back away. “Just – man the counter, do those rewinds, and don’t – go anywhere.”

“Where do you think I’m going to go?” Jonathan asks, but Robin’s already hurrying towards the door behind the half-wall with the garish neon Family Video sign.

Robin pauses just long enough to lean back around the wall and catch Jonathan’s eye. “Just don’t go anywhere!”

And then she disappears into the back.

Jonathan looks from the swiftly-shutting backroom door, down to the stack of tapes in his hands, and shrugs. Steve can figure out his own love life. Jonathan, apparently, has tapes to rewind.

[starks-hero]

Onward and Upward

Pairing: Tom Holland x Reader

Request: If it’s okay for a request for Tom x reader where they go to the Onward premiere and get very emotional during the movie, just funny and fluffy

Summary: You accompany Tom to the premiere of his new movie. But no one told you it was going to be so damn emotional.

Warnings: fluff, Onward Spoilers (?)

Word count: 1,361

You smiled as the camera's flashed, trying your best not to squint as the persistent blinding light filled your vision. Tom stood by your side, his arm around your waist, holding you close. He turned to you, offering a bright, reassuring smile. You were both well used to the premiere drill at this point. You would both smile, allow the press to take as many photos and ask as many questions as they saw fit, enjoy the movie and then, with any luck, make it home for a quiet night of celebration.

Tom leaned in and placed a gentle kiss to your cheek and the paparazzi lapped it up. More cameras snapped as people called both your names, desperate for a decent photo.

After a few minutes of posing and endless smiling, you were given the go-ahead to move on. Tom's hand slid into yours as you turned your back to the flashing lights and moved on down the red carpet.

The cameras were left behind, but next up was the rapid fire interviews. Cameramen and presenters from every channel imaginable were lined up, eagerly waiting to pull an actor aside and quiz them about the movie and sometimes, things that were considered a little more private.

You leaned in closer to Tom, whispering in his ear in favour of yelling over all the other merging voices. “I'll see you inside,” you smiled. The interviews really only focused on the movie stars and besides, you didn't fancy getting caught with a persistent interviewer asking questions about your love life. “Knock 'em dead.”

Tom chuckled, leaning in and kissing you gently, despite the very public setting, dozen of cameras and yelling fans and interviewers. “For luck,” he teased.

Smacking his shoulder playfully, you pushed him towards the waiting crowd.

You continued down the carpet and into the theatre, meeting Harrison, Harry, Paddy and Sam, all looking exceedingly dashing in their suits. You all made your way through the well-dressed crowds to the screening room, finding your seats in the reserved front row.

Within the next ten to fifteen minutes, the stars, directors, screenwriters and producers began to flood in, Tom among them. He smiled when he spotted you, his best friend and his brothers. He excused himself from his castmates and rushed over, kissing your cheek and taking his own seat between you and Haz.

Despite his cheerful exterior, you couldn't help but notice his bouncing leg and how he continued to pull his lip between his teeth.

“Hey.” You gently placed your hand over Tom's, he glanced up to meet your reassuring smile. “It's going to be great. Everyone's going to love it.”

It was common for Tom to get anxious before a premiere, though he was exceptionally good at hiding it. He doubted himself, his work, his acting ability. And you hated to see him doubt himself after all the hard work he poured into the project.

Tom smiled, intertwining your fingers and relaxing into his chair. You always put him at ease, always knew what he needed to hear.

“Thank you, darling.” Just as Tom whispered his thanks, the theatre darkened and the crowd quietened. You smiled in excitement as Tom exhaled slowly.

He'd put so much work into this movie, and you could tell he was proud of it and wanted people to enjoy it. It was only his second shot at voice acting, something he'd been incredibly anxious about. But the calming sensation of your thumb tracing the back of his hand was doing a wondrous job at calming his nerves.

As the narrators' voice flowed through the speakers and the bright animation lit up the screen you leaned over to whisper in Tom's ear.

“I'm not going to cry at this, am I?”

Tom hesitated slightly. “Nah.” He shook his head. “It's not that sad.”

Tom may have been a talented actor, but he couldn't tell a convincing lie to save his life.

Deciding to not question any further, you sat back as the opening titles filled the screen.

‘Onward’.

An hour later and you were weeping in your seat, with a good twenty minutes still left on the movie. You wiped at your eyes, trying to keep your crying to a minimum as to not disturb anyone.

You cursed the amazing screenwriting and Tom's incredible acting. You were amazed how powerful his performance was, despite his face being hidden behind the animated character of Ian, his emotions seeped into every word.

As Ian began to cross off all the things he never got to do with his dad and the music swelled, you bit back an audible whimper. You never imagined you'd be crying over an animated elf with unresolved daddy issues. Children's movies weren't supposed to be this emotional!

A gentle tap on your shoulder caught your attention and you pulled your eyes away from the screen. Tom was watching you with a sympathetic smile.

Opening up his arm he motioned for you to join him in his seat. That was the great thing about premiere screenings, the VIP seats were huge.

“Come here, it's okay,” he whispered as you joined him in his own seat. He wrapped his arm around you and pressed a kiss to your head. “If it's any consolation, I swear I don't die at the end.”

You giggled quietly, drying your eyes as Tom's hand ran down your side. Everyone else was far too infatuated with the movie to notice the small moment you'd shared.

You'd managed to stop your tears by the movie's conclusion, and as the credits began to roll, the theatre erupted in applause.

You turned to Tom with a proud smile only to see that he was now the one with tear-stained cheeks.

“What happened to it not being that sad?” you asked.

Tom simple chuckled, dabbing at his eyes with his sleeves and muttering a fond ‘shut up’ under his breath.

As Tom stood, he was met by a pair of arms wrapping around his middle as Paddy tackled him with a hug. The youngest Holland was quickly followed by the twins and Tom greeted them both with open arms. They were all a little teary-eyed.

You knew if there was one similarity between Tom and his character, it was his unconditional love for his brothers.

The crowd continued to cheer and whistle as Tom pulled away from the boys, pecked you on the lips and then made his way onto the small stage that had been set up below the screen for him and his costars to give some final words of appreciation and thanks.

Once the speeches and small talk were over, you and Tom, hand in hand, made your way back to the car waiting for you outside. Luckily most of the paparazzi had called it a night and cleared off, so you both got to enjoy the somewhat normal peace and quiet.

The moment after you both clambered into the car and muttered the address to the driver, Tom's lips were on yours. You were surprised, but you certainly weren't complaining. He pulled away slightly. “Thank you.”

“For what, Tommy?”

“Everything,” he replied, kissing you again. “For being so supportive.” Kiss. “No matter how long I'm away filming.” Kiss. “For always seeing the best in me.” Kiss. “All of it.”

You simply shrugged, running a hand along his jaw. “I'm just returning the favour.”

He leaned in to capture your lips again, and just as his hand began to venture down your body, you both realised the back of a taxi probably wasn't the best place to start something you couldn't finish then and there. You were both only twenty minutes from home anyways, you were sure you could both wait that long.

“So,” Tom pulled back but kept his hand locked with yours. “What was your favourite part?”

“Barley,” you said nonchalantly.

You smirked at Tom's mock expression of offence.

“The other brother was pretty fine-looking too.”

“Y/N, it was an animated movie,” Tom stressed with a hint of amusement in his voice.

“Still,” you shrugged, leaning into Tom's side. “He had a pretty nice voice.”

[monsterboyfriend]

Dave for 2 and 3?

2. When I first started to like them

This question is very hard to answer. In S1, I mostly thought of him as a frat bro who's somehow still in high school and gets huge kick out of being an enormous douchebag. Just watch the amount of unrestrained delight in his face as he defaces the glee club's yearbook photos and tell me he doesn't have over-the-top villain energy.

Then NBK happened, and I caught a glimpse of vulnerability right after he kissed Kurt, looking incredibly desperate and lost. At that point, I was interested (very rarely if ever had I ever seen the secretly gay bully trope treated seriously). I liked his character, but not necessarily him. He was still a huge threat to Kurt and was taking out all of his anger and fear onto someone who didn't deserve any of it. At the same time though, I will acknowledge that I had a bit of a crush on him that I was bitter and embarrassed about, because out of all the glee guys, why did it have to be the one with the emotional maturity of an infant who bullies all of the main characters and gives out death threats AND is a massive hypocrite AND most of the fandom hates (including me (but not really))? I could to some extent understand his actions, even if I thought they were dumb as well as cruel, but I had no sympathy for Karofsky.

In TSSS, I started hoping that he could become a better person, and I wanted him to because he was just so interesting to me and I wanted to see more of him. He started showing hints of the person he could be, and when I saw him smile genuinely for the first time, I realized that it went deeper than just faking heterosexuality; his entire life was fake. I couldn't help but wonder how much else of himself he's hidden from the world in the pursuit of fitting in. You don't have to do this! You can be happy! Even if you don't come out you still don't have to be an asshole! Rejecting Finn's offer to apologize and join Glee was self-harm and I maintain that to this day. Still, Karofsky chose not to. Fine. Fuck you.

When Santana blackmailed Karofsky into apologizing, I was very disappointed, because it seemed like Kurt would never get a sincere apology and Dave would never willingly change his ways. So I was very surprised when Dave finally did apologize to Kurt. All I could think though was "Yeah bitch, grovel some more. Cry in the hallway in your stupid fucking beret where everyone can see how sorry you are for hurting Kurt. It's a fucking start."

The last we see of Dave in S2 is when he's elected prom king along with Kurt as part of a prank and he runs off before they share a dance. Okay, I'm starting to feel a little bad for him now. The little "I can't" before he runs off 🥺. At this point, I've grown just a little fond of him. I genuinely thought the whole school was pranking him too because they found out or something, but it seems like I'm the only one who thought that?? Weird. So I wanted to know what happened after and was very disappointed when they didn't even mention him for the rest of the season.

I finally saw him in S3's The First Time and was somewhat satisfied with his arc at that point. He was finally coming to terms with himself and (I thought) was mostly there to tie up loose ends from S2. I did wish we could've seen him more but had made peace with the fact that his story was probably over.

And if they had left it there, I would not be here today still talking about this guy, but they didn't leave it there.

In Heart, I immediately knew it wasn't Blaine who sent the valentines to Kurt (it was so obvious) and I suspected it was Dave, but I immediately went into denial and thought that was wishful thinking. I shipped Kurtofsky because it can be such a messy, fascinating ship. I never thought in a million years that the show would ever even hint at them getting together because can you imagine how insane the backlash would be if it became canon? I know this is said a lot about non-canon ships in fandom, but Kurtofsky is way too sensitive of a ship for the Glee writers of all people to handle. It would be a disaster on all fronts. Do I want to see it? Yes. Do I want to set the world on fire? Absolutely not.

So Kurt arrives at Breadstix and I'm thinking it's going to be Sebastian. Then it turns out to be the guy in the gorilla suit. Oh no. Sebastian would never debase himself like that. It can't be him. It can't be.

Guess who it fucking is?

Look at him. He's fighting to contain his world-ending smile. He's so pleased with himself. What the fuck?!? And it was at this exact moment that I fell in love with Dave Karofsky. He's such a disaster but he's so happy to be here! He's come so far!!!!! LOOK at him! I pretty much lost my mind at this moment and in the past ten years I have yet to regain it. I will never, ever recover from this. And yeah, Kurt does turn him down, but damn, does Dave make a strong case (if you ignore logic and only follow your heart; I made a post about this).

What makes it even worse is that he immediately gets outed and tries to kill himself after this and then he's gone for seasons. Seasons! Gone! Do you understand now? Do you get it?

(Aside: Since I've started on testosterone, I increasingly feel like whenever I'm passionately explaining something, I'm an unhinged character being played by Christian Slater. It's exhilarating)

3. A song that reminds me of them

Are you kidding me? I have a playlist. A playlist, okay? It's more lyrically focused as I doubt he has the same musical taste as me. And some adjacent playlists depicting him in different scenarios.

Here's a few from my Dave playlist that I've named in a way that no one can guess who it's about:

Come Out and Play by The Offspring

Violence. Dave being an asshole.

You're Gonna Go Far, Kid by The Offspring

Same reason as Come Out and Play, but more introspective and angst-y.

Dread In My Heart by Mother Mother

This song's about feeling shitty and wanting to be a better person but not having the drive to follow through.

Burning Pile by Mother Mother

Would make an excellent Kurtofsky friendship song. Tbf, Burning Pile goes with most things. It's about being at the end of your rope and burning away your past and sorrows to start anew.

Ghosting by Mother Mother (are you noticing a theme?)

Would make an excellent apology song for him to sing (it's a little romantically suggestive at some points though).

Steady, As She Goes by The Raconteurs

I know this song's not really about a dude with comphet..... But it sounds like a song about a dude with comphet.

There's No Love in February by The Orion Experience

Dave at the end of Heart (More so the chorus than the verses, but shh, it's a great song).

How to Disappear Completely by Radiohead

This song's about stage fright, but the lyrics can easily fit Dave's situation in OMW. He's feeling very exposed and overwhelmed, and the line "in a little while, I'll be gone" is chilling under this context.

I'm Gonna Be a Slut by Pansy Division

I just assume this is what his life was like in between S3 and S6.

Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps by Doris Day

Blaineofsky. Dave was a saint in S6, but it must have been so irritating and depressing to have your boyfriend so obviously pining for someone else while simply tolerating your affection. I bet even if Kurt hadn't showed up, Dave would be (at least internally) questioning Blaine's commitment.

[mimisempai]

Every time I look at you, I fall in love again

Summary:

As he gazes at his sleeping lover, Loki remembers the moments where he fell in love with Mobius.OrFive times when Loki's heart pounded in a special way and once when it pounded in a familiar way.

Notes:

Tumblr request : a 5+1 - it could be about moments in their relationship where Loki falls more in love w/ Mobius

https://archiveofourown.org/works/32821156

2084 words - Rating G

1.

For once, Loki woke up this morning before Mobius.

Leaning on his hand, he took the opportunity to watch his beloved while he slept.

As he gazed at the sleeping features of his lover, he was once again taken aback by the strength of his feelings.

Loki had little or no experience with love, so he had nothing to compare to what he was experiencing with Mobius right now.

No one had made him feel the way the man made him feel.

It was as if Mobius had wrapped his roots around Loki's heart little by little but without imprisoning him.

Mobius' love had set him free.

In return, Loki's feelings had taken root in Mobius' constancy.

Sometimes Loki liked to think about how his feelings had developed, because it had all happened so quickly that he had never been able to enjoy those stolen first moments.

It would be hard for Loki to say exactly when he had begun to notice that his relationship with Mobius was different from any relationship he had had before, but what he was sure of was that no one had ever been able to see through him as quickly as Mobius.

"I don't like to talk."

"But you do like to lie, which you just did. Because we both know you love to talk. Talkie-talkie."

Honestly, at that moment, Loki thought fondly, if he hadn't been so angry at being found out, he would have laughed.

As a matter of fact, it had become a fond memory for them. Whenever Loki would go into one of his grandiloquent tirades, Mobius would simply make this little gesture with his hand and would mouth "Talkie Talkie"

" You don't know anything about me.

"Maybe I'd like to learn."

It was probably at that moment that Mobius had begun to touch something in Loki that no one had ever touched. The fact that anyone would even bother to genuinely learn about him was in itself new. Except for his mother and Thor, most people had always assumed the worst of him.

"Honestly, I'm actually a fan. Yeah. And I guess I'm wondering why does someone with so much range just wanna rule?

Mobius had been the first to make him question himself.

Of course, at the time, he was not at all receptive to what Mobius' words really meant.

It had taken him some time to admit the truth.

The moment he had admitted it, the naked truth, without any more artifice, he had been ready to receive the final blow, the ratification of his vileness, but no, nothing like that.

"Because it's part of the illusion. It's the cruel, elaborate trick conjured by the weak to inspire fear."

"'A desperate play for control.' You do know yourself."

"A villain."

"That's not how I see it."

That's not how I see it.

At that moment, Loki's heart had pounded for the first time.

The man in front of him had seen all the lowliness that Loki was capable of and yet he did not see him as a villain.

From the first hours of their meeting, he had made it impossible for Loki not to love him and from then on, his feelings had grown exponentially.

2.

As he walked down the path of his memories, Loki continued to gaze at Mobius as he slept. A small miracle in itself for Loki.

Knowing who Loki was, Mobius slept in his presence. The perfect image of absolute trust.

Loki sometimes still had trouble feeling worthy of such trust.

Seeing him sleeping like that, he thought of the day when he himself had first fallen asleep in this way with Mobius.

The day he fell a little more in love with Mobius.

It started with Mobius taking the blame for the failure of their first mission together, when it was all Loki's fault. They could have just pruned him, but no, Mobius had pleaded his case to Ravonna.

Then Loki had presented his theory to Mobius, admittedly with a rather shaky metaphor, even ruining one of his lover's favorite dishes.

"Well, here's a fun theory. You lure me out into the field, and then you stab me in the back. And that's a theory I don't wanna test."

"I'd never stab anyone in the back. That's such a boring form of betrayal."

"Loki, I've studied almost every moment of your entire life. You've literally stabbed people in the back, like, 50 times."

"Well, I'd never do it again, because it got old."

Mobius laughed and chose to follow Loki's theory, even though Loki had given him no reason to believe in him until now. Even though his theory was based on almost nothing, Mobius had chosen to believe Loki.

Then they returned from Pompeii and something happened that had never happened to Loki, he had fallen asleep. Loki, who was distrustful of everything and nothing, had simply fallen asleep in the presence of someone he hardly knew. As if his heart had understood before his mind that he had nothing to fear from Mobius.

When Mobius had woken him up, Loki's heart had pounded for the second time, and it wasn't fright that had caused it, but the realization that Loki was falling in love and falling deeply.

3.

As he looked up from his contemplation of Mobius, Loki's gaze fell on the photo that lay on his nightstand. A memory of their first vacations, when Mobius had finally realized his dream. In the middle of the paradisiacal decor of an island in Midgard, Loki had taken this photo of Mobius piloting -at last- a jetski. So much joy on his face.

Another thing that made Loki fall in love a little more: the passion of his lover for some small insignificant things.

Josta, salad, jet-ski...

"You know, some things... Actually, most things in history are kinda dumb, and everything gets ruined eventually. But in the early 1990s, for a brief, shining moment, there was a beautiful union of form and function, which we call the jet ski, and a reasonable man cannot differ."

"You ever been on one?"

"No... No. I think a TVA agent showing up on a jet ski on the Sacred Timeline, that would create a branch for sure."

"Oh it'd be fun, though."

"Yeah, it'd be really fun."

"So, why read about them?"

"It just helps remind me of what we're fighting for."

The expression Mobius had had at that moment, when he had said something like that with such candor had made Loki fall even more.

And his heart had pounded for the third time.

While he had sensed that what would happen next would destroy what Mobius believed in, Loki had not been able to stop himself from wanting to protect him and his happiness, and to hope that one day he would be able to realize his dream.

With his eyes on the photo commemorating a very real memory, he felt a sense of satisfaction, because his lover had been able to realize this dream and Loki had been there to witness it.

4.

"Loki... Don't go..."

Loki's eyes returned from the picture to his lover, whose features were now tense, probably from a nightmare.

"I'm here love, I'm not leaving. I'm staying with you."

Saying this, Loki gently strokes Mobius' cheek and his expression immediately relaxes. After a few seconds,he was sleeping peacefully again.

Loki didn't need to read Mobius' mind to know what he had dreamed.

He had known that he had taken a huge risk when he had decided to follow Sylvie and he had known that the reunion with Mobius would not be easy.

After all, he had betrayed him. But of all the acts of betrayal that Loki had been guilty of, this was the one that had cost him the most. Because of the feelings he was beginning to have for Mobius.

But what he hadn't imagined was that Mobius would almost turn into a jealous lover, even though at that point they didn't have that kind of relationship at all.

Loki had been incredibly surprised that it wasn't Loki's betrayal that had hurt Mobius the most, but the fact that he had made a connection with Sylvie.

"Come on. Look at your eyes. You like her."

"You like her. Does she like you?"

"Both of you were just swooning over each other."

"It's breaking my reality right now. What an incredible seismic narcissist. You fell for yourself."

"I'm supposed to believe your terrorist girlfriend"

"What, your female self that you have some demented crush on…"

Loki's heart had pounded for the fourth time when he realized what it could mean. He had fallen a little more at the thought of Mobius, at the thought that the man might be jealous, at the thought of what it might mean about Mobius' feelings for him.

5.

Then there had been that moment of grace, the exact moment when Loki had known that he was definitely in love with Mobius.

For the first time, when everything was against him, someone had chosen to believe in him. That someone was Mobius.

Even though he was clearly angry with Loki, he still listened to him and chose to believe him.

Despite Loki's attempts at manipulation, betrayals, and mistakes, Mobius renewed his faith in him and spoke those words that were imprinted in Loki's head.

"You could be whoever, whatever you wanna be, even someone good. I mean, just in case anyone ever told you different."

Loki's throat tightened as he was overwhelmed by the emotion of the memory.

Mobius had no idea how many wounds he had healed in Loki at that moment.

After what Loki had done, where Odin and Thor had not forgiven him, not only had Mobius forgiven him but even more amazingly, he had shown that he believed that Loki was capable of being good, of doing good.

At that moment, Loki's heart did not pound once, but thousands of times, at full speed.  Because of the joy and love that filled it.

The sudden disappearance of Mobius just afterwards had been all the more cruel. Because at that moment, they didn't know about the Void and Loki had thought Mobius was lost forever. He had been devastated.

He couldn't help but touch Mobius' face, gently so as not to wake him, then he whispered softly, "You too Mobius, do not ever leave me."

+1

They had found each other again.

When he first saw Mobius after he thought he had lost him, it only confirmed Loki's feelings for Mobius.

The way his heart had pounded at the sight of the one he loved was impossible to ignore.

So when they had to part once again, Loki had not been able to resist the pull of his heart, and instead of grabbing Mobius' hand, he had taken the man in his arms.

Loki had held Mobius in his arms many times since that moment, but he would never forget the feeling of that first hug. The feeling that the universe was in place. That he was where he belonged, that he was home.  He had expressed without words all that he felt and Mobius had answered him in the same way. They had to part again, but this time the bond between them was undeniable and unbreakable.

They had to go through a lot to finally enjoy their love, without the sword of Damocles, without the threat of the end of the world, or of a multiversal war over their heads, but they had made it. They were here now.

With each passing day, Loki fell a little more in love.

The Midgardian saying, I love you more than yesterday and less than tomorrow, had become his.

Because every time he looked at Mobius and realized the love they shared, he felt like it was stronger.

Mobius moved in his sleep, making the sheet slide off his shoulder.

Loki could not resist and leaned over to kiss the bare shoulder. Mobius woke up and turned to face Loki with a sleepy smile on his lips.

"Hey there handsome," Mobius whispered to Loki, gently kissing Loki's cheek. Loki's heart fluttered in a familiar way now, at such gentleness and at the adoration he read in his lover's eyes.

"Hey love," whispered Loki.

Mobius kissed him, his lips pressing lazily against Loki's. Loki smiled and kissed him back, happy.

Together they enjoyed the delights of a perfect, quiet morning.

_________

All other one-shots of this series here : X

As always, bear with me as it is not beta'd I hope you enjoyed it 🥰

[hasquetzorkukudoneanythingwrong]

Dia De Los Muertos

Day of the dead, is a holiday celebrated in Mexico and various other parts of Latin America. It's to celebrate those you've lost, but rather then do it in a solemn manner you're to remember the good times and positive memories associated with those who've passed.

Usually, an altar known as An "Ofrenda" is set up, with pictures of the deceased. Along with various food and drink and candles. The food and drink was usually whatever the deceased enjoyed in life, but the famous "Pan de Muerto" is almost universally included aswell.

And along with all this, Fiestas are celebrated by all that participate! Sometimes it is done in a funeral or just at your own home. Depending on how you'd like to do it.

On their first year of being in Chaldea, Rex and Quetz didn't really have anyone to mourn over for the holiday, so they didn't celebrate. But these days, after they've been going through the lostbelts... that has changed significantly.

Rex: Mi Corazon! The Ofrenda's ready!

Quetz: oh let me see! Oh yeah, that looks good!

The Ofrenda was set up with flowers, candles, food and photos of various people. In the center was the biggest photo: one of both Caster Da Vinci and Dr. Romani. Along with that photo, was pictures of some of the friends that were lost during the lostbelts, such as Paxti, Gerda and others they've met.

Rex: do you think they're happy with the decisions we've made? Do you think they'd be proud?

Quetz: ...si, I think so!

Rex and Quetz were dressed up a bit formally for the events. Quetz was in a beautiful black dress, while Rex was in what was somewhat comparable to a mariachi outfit, minus the hat. Both had white face-paint with colorful accenta all over! In traditional Catrin and Catrina makeup, meant to look like skulls!

Quetz: well, I think it's time to get this started!

Rex: sounds good!

A decent amount of the day was spent generally partying, recalling fond memories of the departed and having a good time all around!

Rex: so, Mi Corazon?

Quetz: hmm? Qu es, Mi amor?

Rex: I've heard that during this time of year, the dead... "visit" the land of the living... do you think it'll actually happen? Normally I'd think it was silly but.... considering how crazy things have gotten ever since I came here.... it doesn't feel too impossible...

Quetz: honestly Mi amor? I'm not too sure, but it definitely seems like a possibility we should consider!

Rex: si! Sounds good!

After a while it had gotten late, and the festivities had to stop for the day, but would continue the next day as Day of the dead goes on from Oct 31st to Nov 2nd.

That night, Quetz and Rex slept together, with the Ofrenda not too far away. Suddenly while asleep, Rex felt warmth.... and it also felt like many lights were on all of a sudden. Rex stood up in bed, somewhat tired, since it was late.

Rex: what the hell.... what's going on?

When Rex looked up, he couldn't believe what he saw! The room looked decorated for a wonderful fiesta! Beautiful lights all over, food and drink nearby and, it looked as tho all of the deceased from the Ofrenda pictures were there! Tho, they looked more like Calaveras then they originally looked like. It was like the Ofrenda came to life for a huge party!

Rex couldn't believe what he was seeing, so much so, he rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't hallucinating or dreaming.

But when he opened them again....

It was all gone, no candles, no food, but there was still one person there.

A tall dark, looming figure. Clad in what looked to be a dark red suit, dark enough to look black in the right conditions. Black skull like facepaint on his face, without any colorful accents. A skull like design on his necktie. The figure was huge, and stared on at Rex, with abnormally large eyes that were dark like the void, but with yellow circles around the blackness, similar to that of an Owl.

Rex: ....who the hell are you...?!

???: I am... the King of Xibalba.... Mictlantecuhtli.... lord of the dead....

The figure spoke in a deep and bone-chilling voice. Every word sent shivers down your spine, and all gave off an extremely threatening aura about them.

Rex: Mictlantecuhtli? You look... different... from when I saw you at the wedding.... what are you doing here anyways? I'd ask if you wanted to join the party, but given the uh... entrance... I think it's safe to assume that's not it.

Mictlan: *hmph* least you are not a Fool!

Rex: ok, seriously what the fuck do you want?!

Mictlan: but it does relate to the holiday... somewhat. This time of year is of the few I, and my subordinates can leave our realm... without unnecessary amounts of effort.

Rex: ok.....

Mictlan: what you're.... irritating wife is doing, with.... you... is wrong! And annoying.

Rex: ....what do you mean? Don't tell me you of all people are annoyed at her marrying a human! Would be pretty hypocritical of you!

Mictlan: hmph! Like that matters. No, it's her insisting on having you become another God like the rest of us!

Rex: still sounds like hypocrisy condideri-

Mictlan: She Died, first! And we have not gained a new God amongst our ranks for millennia... and for good reason...!

Rex: what would that be?

Mictlan: like a foolish human such as yourself should know....

Rex: so what! You just come here to insult me, and be vaguely threatening?! And that's all?!

Mictlan: Do not question me again, boy!

Rex: I've seen far worse then you!

Mictlan: you are lucky I cannot do anything to you right now....

Then it seemed as tho he was going to leave the room, but them turned to say one last thing.

Mictlan: and it is foolish to hope to be visited by the dead who've been erased entirely from existence..... there's not even a place they can come from.....

Rex: why yo-

But then Rex awakens....

Rex: a dream.... that explains why Mi corazon didn't wake up....

Quetz: mi amor? Is something wrong?

Rex looked up to see Quetz already up and getting ready.

Rex: .....a bad dream.... we can talk about it later...

Quetz: ok then....

A/N: so yeah... here's the Day of the Dead fic! Dunno how good this turned out honestly.... but hope you all enjoyed it!

Tags

@hizentadahiro @haskamadoneanythingwrong @hasbbdoneanythingwrong @hasspartacusdoneanythingwrong @havetheavengersdoneanythingwrong @exmeowstic @chaldeamage-neo @renmeo @witch-of-chaldea @writer-and-artist27 @professorcharisma @xviicprc