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meepmoopfanfics · 4 years ago

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you don’t get a win unless you’re playing the game: Daveed Diggs x Reader Chapter 6 Part 2

The familiar sound of Alexander Hamilton blares through your phone speakers waking you from your deep, restful sleep. You reach over to snooze it but are almost too excited to continue rehearsals to even close your eyes again. It’s 7:30am. Monday. It’s finally here. The day you would rehearse for your dream show in front of your dream cast. The sunlight peeks through your window, shining warm, bright light on your cheeks, filling your soul with positive energy for the day. You reach over to your nightstand to flip through your script to make sure you’re able to nail all of the alto harmonies in front of the whole cast today.

You had your rehearsal outfit laid out from the night before. You weren’t one to be this organized or prepared... but for Hamilton?! You were instantly on top of your shit. You pulled on your favorite black Lululemon leggings, a camo sports bra (you’re ready for battle here!), and a cute cropped burgundy shirt from Urban Outfitters. You threw on a white Nike hoodie over top to keep you warm when you weren’t dancing. You giggled at the thought of potentially wearing your copy of Daveed’s signature Purple Oaklandish hoodie to rehearsal that you got as a gag gift from your parents on your last birthday. One day that would have to happen. Would be fangirling at its finest. Maybe you would eventually just burn it so no one saw.

Your subway ride to the Richard Rogers was not as chaotic as usual. The trains were on time and you felt like the universe was finally on your side. You stopped into the coffee shop across the street to grab a large black coffee and a classic bacon, egg, and cheese on an English muffin with avocado to get you going. You were there a little early so you could foam roll and stretch while listening to chill music. You always needed your “me” time to get into your groove before facing the day. You walked into your dressing room and were so happy to see Michelle already there, devouring her favorite Panera bagel, the cinnamon crunch. Mid-bite, she squeals at seeing you.

“Y/N!!! You have me on the edge of my freakin seat here. What in the HELL happened after brunch?”

You giggled and felt the heat come over your face.

“Let me tell you Michelle... it was everything.”

“Was it good?!” Michelle immediately blurted out.

“...yeeeeeeeah...” You said through a smirk.

“WAS HE BIG?!” Michelle yelled.

“SHHHHH” You said to shut her up while snickering.

You both laughed so hard you felt tears coming to your eyes. Thankfully there was no one else in the dressing rooms near you yet so you weren’t that worried.

Until two seconds later when you heard a knock from wall next to you.

Michelle and you screamed and continued to die laughing.

“Laaaaaadieeees!! What’s goin oooon?” Anthony bursts into your dressing room without warning. “What are ya laughin’ about?”

“Nothing, it’s nothing!” You said quickly back, continuing the laughter.

“Oh yeah?! Nothin at all to do with Diggs, right?” Anthony’s signature grin came across his face as his face turned red as he held back laughter. He nudged your arm a couple of times. “I heard the whole thing, Y/N, the walls are paper thin. But it’s chill! It’s chill!” He waved his hands signaling that he would keep a secret and would have your back. Then out of no where he whisper taunts “Diggs is after the bullet! Diggs is after the buuuulleeeeet!!!”

Thankfully Anthony’s actual dressing room was upstairs next to Diggs. Ant was only visiting the PT room to warm up.

“You’re the absolute worst!” You responded.

“Enjoy your breakfast ladies!” Anthony waved goodbye in the silliest way and headed back out.

You and Michelle caught up over your breakfast sandwiches. You showed her the note you wrote on your phone about your hookup, trying not to miss out on any details when telling her. Your attentiveness to details and your photographic memory were so helpful when it came to choreography, but when it came to remembering events, it was both a blessing and a curse. Re-reading it, however, was having you break a sweat more than if you started warming up.

Michelle then filled you in on her evening with Cedric. You knew the two of them were bound to become a thing even though she was hesitant about it. And thankfully you wouldn’t have to worry about Cedric coming on to you in any way.

Time passed and both you and Michelle warmed up together, foam rolled, and got ready to go. You started to get butterflies thinking about dancing for Lin Manuel Miranda. He was having his alternate, Javier, stand in for rehearsals so he could watch from the theater. He was going to see your every move of Act 1. You were proud of yourself for how well you knew the show and felt perfectly comfortable with your castmates.

“Alright good morning everyone!” You heard from the loud speaker that reached all rooms backstage. “You all can make your way to the stage for our first run through of Act 1! Make sure you grab your mic belts and mics from sound. Thank you! Everyone to stage, please, everyone to stage.”

“I can’t believe this is happening.” You said aloud.

You made your way to the stage. Even though you already had seen the set and the majestic view of the theater seats in the Richard Rogers, it still gave you chills every time. The intricate detailing in the set design was something you could stare at for hours and continue to find something new.

You walked out of your comfort zone to stand next to Anthony who was giving Jasmine a shoulder massage. They were so sweet and truly the epitome of what love/healthy relationships should be and look like.

You looked around at everyone chatting to each other in awe. There was Oak making Michelle and Cedric laugh as if they’d been best friends for years, Renee and Philippa giggling and rubbing each others arms to stay warm, and Leslie pacing already in his craft, perfecting every last detail to ensure he still had that Tony winning performance in him.

Stephanie was seated a few rows back to get a good view of the full stage and balcony. Andy, the choreographer, wasn’t there this week since he was working on some other projects, but he would be coming to watch soon. You couldn’t wait to dance for Andy again, your dream choreographer. She sat next to Alex Lacamoire with the “god mic” which she would be shouting out notes and corrections from during the run.

“Check check...” Stephanie said in a low, radio-esque voice. “It’s me, God.”

The entire cast and crew erupted in laughter.

“Just jooooking it's Steph. WHAT’S UP WOLF PAAACKKK?!”

The OBC woo’d, shouted, and clapped.

Then you heard a familiar raspy voice shout, just about an inside voice, “It’s too early SK.”

You looked over to see Daveed looking hella hot with his hair pulled up a-la Lafayette style with his glasses on, scratching the scruff of his freshly trimmed beard.

“It’s too early for shots out the grammy hangovers, Diggs.” Stephanie responded playfully. You hoped one day you’d get to take one out of the grammy.

Daveed looked tired, but so sexy as expected. He was dessed in a Black Oaklandish tank and red sweats, with a black hoodie tied around his waist. You instantly you got a sour feeling in your stomach. You imagined him partying out late with other women, hooking up with them after he threw back a few Belvedere shots with Rafa... wait. Your mind was making up situations that were not even real. Shit... I guess you were starting to like this idiot. You rolled your eyes at yourself and focused back on his bulging biceps to snap out of it.

Gotta pay attention, gotta pay attention. You thought.

“I can guess who he was out late with!!” Anthony softly whispered in your ear. Jasmine instantly hit him on the shoulder giving him a dirty, yet playful look.

“Oh shut it, A.” You whispered back as you elbowed him in the side.

Daveed looked over at you and Ant but had no idea what you both said. His eyes then met yours, sending a heartbeat to your core. He winked at you quickly and smirked. You winked back.

“I see you, Y/N...” Jazzy whispered. “You guys are acting like Ant and I did when we started this shindig.”

“It’s nothing, really.” You said while breaking eye contact, trying to sound chill.

“Y/N... don’t you dare lie to me!” She giggled. You were dumbfounded by her perfectly clear skin.

“Well, we’re just two super flirty people, it’s nothing, well, nothing more than that on his end I don’t think.”

“Girl just be patient. Enjoy it. He really isn’t openly flirty with many people. He sees what he likes and takes it. You’ll see. If anyone knows that, we do.” Jazzy mentioned while pointing at her and A. She then started softly warming up her vocal chords and gave you a pat on your shoulder. She was so sweet and the positive, chill energy she brought into the room was contagious.

“Lets take it from the top y'all!” Stephanie shouted on her mic.

You headed backstage to get ready for opening. You and Daveed started backstage Left together. You approached him and he gently placed his warm hand on your lower back as you passed him.

“Morning, (Y/Nickname). Merde, babygirl.” He said as you walked to your wing.

“Mornin, Lafayette.” You said as you snickered. “Loving the hair.”

He smiled and shook his little poofball on top of his head back at you as you both settled into your spots.

The piano keys pounded the same melody as you heard from your alarm waking up this morning. An unreal moment for you. After Leslie sung his solo, one by one the principals started rapping the words to Alexander Hamilton. It was hard not to mouth them under your breath. It went perfectly. Aaron Burr, Sir went through quickly since you weren’t on stage really. You didn’t get a single note during My Shot. The little moments you had together bantering with Daveed were cute and he “shoved you with love” as the chorus says during rehearsals if you know someone’s in the wrong spot. One after one, you all nailed your dances. You and Cedric nailed your partnering with only one slight mishap with the basket toss lifts in Helpless, since it was your first time using the rehearsal skirts. They were heavy as hell.

Then came time for Stay Alive. Your first moment as the Bullet in front of Lin. You counted and perfectly grabbed the bullet from M4′s rifle causing Stephanie to come on the mic and say “You better work, Y/N!” You smiled as you mimicked the bullet just surpassing Javier’s skull. You respected Javier so much because he took his work so seriously. That’s how you wanted to be known. The quick change into the British army coat was going to be difficult, but you know the dressers backstage were on top of it a and would make sure you’d get to stage on time once the show premiered.

The rest of the run through was a sheer blur of running back stage through the wings, mimicking where your quick changes would be, staring at awe at Daveed as he rapped 19 words in 3 seconds, even while completely hungover, and chugging water bottle after water bottle. This was tough stuff. Non stop was a cardio routine essentially, and pushing Chris as Washington on the moving stairs was way tougher that you thought. You didn’t want to hurt the set so you were extra gentle with it. The way Stephanie responded to the cast was so positive. You all were knockouts. She gave some notes to Michelle about her mother lift, which she corrected and perfected immediately. You were so thankful to be part of such a talented and intelligent cast who were quick on their feet and no nonsense.

“If that were in costume, that would’ve been a near perfect first run for your cast.” Stephanie said.

“EXCEPT I WASN’T IN IT.” Lin said as he snatched the mic. The cast giggled as they plopped onto the stage floor, panting from the run. “My new cinnamon rolls are perfect. PERFECT I tell you. I can feel all of your energy beaming from the stage. I can’t wait to perform with you all. This is truly an honor.”

Everyone clapped together. Just so happy to be performing after such a long time apart. You’ve never felt more proud.

“Now OBC’s... make sure we don’t let our comfortability tinge our performance okay? Remember when the material was fresh and fun? We need to make it fresh and fun for our audiences. Jazz watch the eye contact with Ant, you’re gonna ruin it for the LAM fans if John Laurens looks like he's straight.” Everyone laughed. “Also Daveed, quit milking your side moments with Y/N.”

“I noticed that too...” Steph chimed in in a tone which sounded like she had discovered a secret.

You began to feel embarrassed and covered your face with your hands.

“I was shoving with love!” Daveed shouted, trying to make the situation less awkward. He didn’t look back at you, no recognition, no nothing. Your stomach started to churn with nerves again. Could he not admit he was flirting with you? I guess it was a professional setting, but still sort of upsetting.

“Alright let’s take a twenty minute break. New ensemble, we’ll go a little more in depth with minuscule notes and changes. Wolfpack, take a half hour before music brushup with Alex.” Steph turned off the mic and people dispersed into their dressing rooms, the green rooms, or into the audience to grab snacks/ foam roll.

Your Burgundy top was slightly sweat drenched from the hard work you put in. You got back up to your dressing room with Michelle and saw your phone light up with a text.

Diggs: You looked hella good out there, Y/N. Couldn’t take my eyes off of you

Y/N: Thanks, Diggs. You weren’t too shabby yourself ;)”

Diggs: Like I said before, even though I’m not technically the bullet, I still got ammo... and you have a twenty...

Your eyes widened. A quickie? Right now of all times? You couldn't. Not with the professionals in the room.

Diggs: My dressing room in 5?

Well I’ll be damned, Lafayette’s on my side... you sung in your mind.

Y/N: Here? You sure it’ll be okay?

Diggs: I don’t share a room. Only if you’re comfortable, babygirl

You felt a pulse go to your opening when he said that. Also him calling you babygirl drew you over the edge. You also didn’t realize how much of a turn on it would be to potentially hookup in the very place the most respected people who’ve ever worked on Hamilton would be simultaneously working, unfazed at what would soon happen behind Daveed’s dressing room walls.

Y/N: I’m in

You checked yourself out in the mirror without saying a word to Michelle, made sure your flyaways were sprayed back, put some more deodorant on and gave yourself a splash of your fave perfume.

“And where the hell are you in a hurry to go to, missy?” Michelle said as you began to briskly exit out of the dressing room.

“Can’t talk, will update you later. Love ya.” You winked in her direction. Her eyes widened and she started laughing to herself as you closed the door behind you while ferociously typing a new text to get Diggs excited.

Y/N: Your shirt better be off by the time I get to your dressing room.

Diggs: Way ahead of you

Diggs: Can’t wait to hear you struggle not to moan

God damn, Diggs.

Y/N: Oh yeah? How cocky of you to assume you’d make me moan ;)

Diggs: You know I will

Diggs: And I know just how I can muffle them ;)

Fuck.

Your brisk walk turned into a light jog as you became desperate. You climbed the last set of stairs to his dressing room and stood outside of the door that was slightly cracked ajar. Here you were again, with one inch of barrier between you two. You couldn’t wait any longer.

You lightly knocked on the door and waited.

@alexander-hamilhoe

@riiyy

@lonelydance

@braidedchallah

@ohsoverykeri-blog

@roman0ffxnat

@lizzzaaaaaaaaaaa

@i-know-i-can

@vemazing

@ramp-it-up

#daveed x reader #Daveed Diggs x reader #fanfic #Hamilton fanfic #hamiltrash

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loserfreakweirdo · 4 years ago

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guess who has another au idea? this bitch that’s who

so this one is a sanders sides six au. i love six, i love sanders sides, it only makes sense this would happen eventually.

it’s fem!sides because the conclusion of the show is about how comparing the queens just for being married to the same man is pretty misogynistic and that doesn’t really work if the queens... are men.

so anyways to the casting!

catherine of aragon = virgil/virginia in this au. i chose virge for this role bc he stayed with the light sides even when they were treating him, let’s be honest, like shit. (of course once they realized they were hurting him, they started including him and tried to be more aware of his feelings but this post isn’t about how much i love the aa arc). it takes courage and stubbornness to do that. No Way also shows how he was willing to leave bc he thought he was hurting thomas (“if you can just explain a single thing i’ve done to cause you pain, i’ll go”) also i think sassy virgil is criminally underrated.

anne boleyn = remus/rene in this au. i don’t really think i need to explain this one but i’m gonna do it anyway. anne is vulgar, says what she wants when she wants and doesn’t apologize for it, has no problem letting people know when she’s horny, and wears green. sound familiar? plus, “my sleeves may be green but my lipstick’s red” is such a remus thing to say. the similarities between anne and remus are actually what got me started down the road that lead to this au.

jane seymour = patton/patricia or patty in this au. there are so many similarities between jane and patton, the best way i can explain me choosing him as jane is to tell you to listen to her song, Heart of Stone. on every line you get bombarded with patton vibes to the point where if i had to try and point them all out we’d be here for hours. i mean, she even included a name pun in her introduction.

anna of cleves = janus/janice in this au. (janus’s was the easiest name to come up with lmao) the pure sass that anne carries in her very presence screams janus. i dunno if anyone has seen a bootleg (if you haven’t you should bc not only the songs in this show are amazing, but literally everything else as well) but every single word anne says i can hear in janus’s voice. one example of this is right before Get Down, “i mean how can anyone overcome a fate as devastating as being forced to move into a resplendent palace in richmond with more money than i can spend in a lifetime and not a single man around to tell me what to do with it.” and i was thinking that the reason henry turned janice away once she arrived was bc she had a huge scar covering most of the left side of her body which was covered up in her portrait.

katherine howard = roman/rowan in this au. “i think we can all agree i’m the ten amongst these threes” the very first thing katherine says in her song is something roman has pretty much already said just meaner. (”what can i say? you’re all so handsome. just not as handsome as me”) and she just has more and more roman vibes the longer the song goes on. roman definitely is naive and romantic enough to be katherine. just look at how he acted with nico or in Moving On. he jumped straight in without questioning the logic (ha) of what he was about to do. and in Six (the song), katherine says “now all i do is sing and i’ll do that until i die” like that’s just,,,, so roman. plus, roman is a certified Pretty Boy™️.

catherine parr = logan/morgan in this au. (thanks to @donnieluvsthings for the name suggestion! (edit: kay so i’m stupid it was actually @subtlereferencetomyinterests who came up with the name i’m sorry)) catherine gives me huge logan vibes. she was the one who put an end to the comparing trauma nonsense, she advocated for female education, and she was a writer. (also, don’t think i don’t see the rapping-like style that briefly leaked into her song) there’s not really much else to say about it. she was the only one with an inkling of common sense, so logan gets casted as her lmao.

#cussing tw #my post #sanders sides six au #my au #<- that's my au tag now #i might become an au blog you guys

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jemej3m · 5 years ago

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a comprehensive set of rules (p.2)

i have no control over my writing schedule. it has been completely consumed by this au. this is all of y’all’s fault.

heavy tw: blood and gore and bodies. also, bad people talking about raping allison and using homophobic slurs.

July:

“Andrew,” Renee called out, rapping her knuckles on the guest bedroom gently.

Andrew was currently living out of one, black suitcase: he’d spent half his time at different hotels and half his time at colleagues’ homes, though calling Allison a colleague was a bit of a stretch. Wymack had let him camp out in his girlfriend’s spare room, seeing as his place was apparently too small for the both of them. Dan and Matt had even let him crash on the couch between motel rooms.

Andrew was really fucking excited to get his place back. According to Neil, his father was pulling out all stops to get rid of him, or whoever was aiding him. As far as Andrew was concerned, Neil was in more danger, but the man refused to exonerate himself from the situation. The next best thing was ensuring that Andrew was untouchable.

“Andrew, can I come in?”

Andrew grunted, still bent over his files in the middle of the room. He’d pushed the bed to one side to make room and was suddenly shirtless, fan pulsating in the corner. He never did great in the heat.

“Oh,” Neil’s voice squeaked like an elementary schooler’s clarinet. “Uh - I can come back?”

Andrew squinted up at him. “The fuck are you doing here?” he got to his feet and made his way over, reaching up to tug on Neil’s hair. Definitely real. “Huh.”

Behind Neil, Renee snorted. Andrew glared at her: she put up her hands in surrender and paced off to do something else.

Andrew shuffled Neil into his room and shut the door, treading carefully around his work.

“This...” Neil looked over it, carefully avoiding the many photos and files and labelled evidence bags as he walked. He was silent as he moved, unnoticeable if he wasn’t always on Andrew’s radar.

He also looked much more presentable than the last time Andrew had seen him, which had been before Dimaccio was arrested. A button-down, much like he wore when they first went to dinner. The collar was irritatingly popped, and his trousers were properly pressed, the shoes delicately shined. He looked like a rich man’s son.

Andrew hated it. He also hated how good it looked.

“Sit on the bed,” Andrew instructed. “I don’t need you scuffing anything up.”

“This seems like a lot more than what’s necessary,” Neil said, avoiding looking at Andrew as he tugged on a shirt. “Also a lot more than we originally discussed.”

Andrew pointed at the profile of a smiling woman, and various other men. “Williams. Reacher. Jenkins. The three of them worked tirelessly on gang violence. They completely eradicated the Terrapin family from the game. Countless Bearcats and Catamounts have been locked up by them. But as soon as they turned to the Wesninski family, they were never found again. Three different detectives. Almost three consecutive years. They deserve justice too.”

Neil was, clearly, not expecting to have to put names and families to the bodies his father had diced and scattered. His expression had become shuttered as Andrew talked, fingers curling into tight fists, the fabric of his trousers ensnared between his whitened knuckles.

"You’re afraid.”

Neil looked at him, eyes blazing. “He is all I’m afraid of. I can’t just - turn that off.”

Andrew crouched down on the floor in front of him. “You’re allowed to be afraid. You have to promise me that you won’t run away because of it.”

Neil’s shoulders were curled inwards. “I don’t want to become him. I don’t -” he looked at the photos of the officers and the remnants of their bodies and the ruination caused by his father’s work. “I don’t want that. I don’t.”

“So leave it behind.”

Neil grit his teeth. “I can’t! Look at me. Look at me. You think this is my father? Parading me around at events, trying to find me a wife who can bear my child, tracking my every move? Of course it’s not. My father is someone else’s weapon, a well-enamoured thug at best. He’s a Baltimorean gangster. He’s not the one in control here.”

Andrew put his hand over Neil’s wrist and let him breathe for a moment.

“They know that he’s fucked,” Neil continued, eyes squeezed shut. “They know they’re going to lose him. So I’m being conditioned. I’m being shaped up to replace him. You know I’ve been in New York for the past two weeks?” He shoved his hair out of his eyes. Andrew opened his palm upwards, and Neil let himself tangle their fingers. “I want to escape my fate so badly, but my family has been indentured to them for - I don’t even know. Forever, it seems like.”

“Who, Neil?”

He let out an aggravated sigh. “Who else controls enough of the east coast to keep the fucking Butcher in check? It’s the bloody Moriyamas.” Andrew stiffened. “If you breathe that name outside this room, I’m dead. You’re dead. Everyone you ever loved will die. They’re so well protected that the crazy second son can go off and do whatever he likes, including training to be a police officer and almost killing the partner he’s given, but it doesn’t even matter. It’s hushed up within the week.”

He held tight onto Andrew’s hand. “The best I can hope for is a negotiation. A price that I can pay off in - a decade, maybe. Possibly two. Maybe securing a new family to pass the relationship to. I don’t know.”

“Then that’s what you do,” Andrew vowed. “We deal with the monster under the bed first. Then the basement that lets them out. Don’t run,” Andrew insisted, his hand having worked its way up Neil’s arm to grip the back of his neck. “Don’t hide. You can’t afford to, not now.”

Neil rested their foreheads together. “I’ll try.”

Andrew’s thumb brushed circles under Neil’s jaw. “That’s all I ask.”

Breaking news: Nathan Wesninski being brought to court for multiple homicides, including Baltimore police officers and Mary Hatford, his wife...initially being assessed for money laundering and tax evasion, Wesninski is now being persecuted for multiple acts of violence, mutilation and extortion. Police officers under Captain David Wymack have collated resources and new-found evidence and will attempt to put Wesninski behind bars permanently.

August:

Andrew’s heart was pounding. They’d tapped into comms just over an hour ago, received the corresponding telephone data and locations, and now they were paging the block.

It was eerily quiet, and too dark for a suburban area. The cul-de-sac had no streetlights and all the houses were either empty, with for sale! signs posted on their laws, or all the blinds were drawn closed. It was only nine in the evening.

Andrew took out his gun as they approached the house. Renee was at his shoulder.

The house in question was two-storey, seemingly empty, the garage locked shut. The gardens were immaculately kept, the painted finish on the house brand new. God knows what was happening within: Andrew hoped that whatever mess had been made within wasn’t irreparable.

Andrew’s radio cackled. “How do you want to go about this, Minyard?”

Andrew cracked his knuckles and fished out his lock picks from his back pocket as he radioed back. “Silent entry. I’m going to unlock the door, and only our squad heads in. Everyone else surround the premises if they notice and escape.”

“Alright, sarge,” Matt said, jokingly, a few feet behind Renee. Dan must have pinched him because he immediate said “Ow!”

Andrew and Renee crept up onto the front balcony: Andrew crouched down and worked for about two minutes till the lock had opened. Kevin had already phoned the security firm to let down the alarms, so Andrew and Renee stepped inside, unnoticed. Dan, Matt and Kevin dispersed, but Andrew always headed to the basement.

The light was on.

“...We should get back to Junior,” one voice said. “God knows he’s probably slipped free by now.”

“You kidding? We had him practically halfway into a coffin. Let’s just clean this up first.”

“Maybe pretty Alli’s woken up. If Junior wasn’t so fervently protective of her I’d’ve had her bent over by now.”

“Christ, Romero." But the man was laughing. “Maybe now’s your chance.”

Disgust crawled down his spine. He glanced at Renee, just as they approached the doorway: she had her eyes closed momentarily, lips moving with a prayer. The door was left ajar.

One, he mouthed.

“Didn’t think boss had the guts to get rid of little Junior.”

Two, she returned.

“Maybe he liked that bitch of a wife, after all. He could’ve had a kid with Lola and gotten rid of the pathetic faggot, but he stuck by Nathaniel anyway.”

Three, they both nodded, kicking the door wide open with his foot and grasping his gun in both hands.

“Hands up,” he growled. “Drop whatever you’re holding.”

“Kneel,” Renee said, softly. “We will shoot you if you don’t comply.”

Neither of the men had guns. They dropped their knives to the ground and knelt down, furious. By them was a body, heavily dismembered. The hair was neither auburn nor blonde.

“Basement,” Andrew barked into his radio, training his gun on the one he recognised as Romero. His hands were limp, twitching by his sides. Andrew wanted to cut them from his body and watch him bleed.

The other three skidded into the room, guns ready.

“Go find them,” Renee murmured, under the cacophony of Dan and Kevin wrangling the perps to the ground, Matt kneeling by the body. “Andrew, go.”

He nodded stiffly, falling back. Up the stairs and to the left was the door to the garage, which he kicked down. Switching the lights on, he looked to the two persons still on the floor, tied up and beaten down.

“Andrew,” Neil gasped, covered in blood and cuffed at the wrists and ankles. Allison seemed alright, if a bit groggy, with a gag in her mouth and her hands tied behind her.

Andrew grabbed the hedge clippers from the wall of gardening tools and broke through the handcuffs, cutting Allison’s rope bindings and tugging off her gag.

“Perps restrained, fall in through the front,” Dan said through the radio. “Victim dead. Get a stretcher: Forensics team definitely not necessary.”

“We can’t be found here,” Allison hissed. “We can’t be brought in.”

“Jesus Christ,” Andrew muttered, fishing the keys to his cousin’s place out of his pocket. “Fine. If you can get him on his feet,” he jerked his head to Neil, who muttered I’m fine. “Go to Nicky’s place. I’ll meet you there later. Unless you need a hospital?”

“It’s all superficial,” Neil mumbled, wincing. Andrew felt concern curl and knot in his stomach. He looked to Allison.

“Maybe you should do a first-aid cert.”

“Maybe that’s not a half bad idea,” she grunted, hauling Neil to his feet.

“The back should be clear of cops now,” Andrew said, cutting through the padlock on the garage door. “Get out.”

“Good to see you too, Minyard,” Allison drawled, pulling Neil along. With a wink, they were both gone.

Andrew rubbed at his temples, giving himself only a minute of reprieve, before heading back into the fray.

Nicky’s house was cold and dark. The two of them had been on a spontaneous trip around Europe for the last few months, visiting Erik’s family. Nicky wasn’t stupid: when Andrew offered him this and that, he took it without question and knew there was a reason why.

“When I get back,” he insisted over the phone. “When I get back the three of us are visiting Aaron. Got it?”

“Fine,” Andrew had grunted, hanging up on his cousin without a goodbye.

Neil had parked himself on the couch, staring at the ceiling with square bandages across his cheeks. Bruises mottled his skin, and his hands and forearms were mummified in a similar fashion.

“I was going to try and contact you,” Neil said, not needing to see Andrew to know who’d entered the house. “I would’ve called you.”

Andrew sat on the end of the couch as Neil drew his feet up to give him room. “Right.”

The man struggled into a seated position. “I was.”

“Should’ve let them kill you,” Andrew muttered, glaring at the unused television. Neil snorted, swinging his legs off the couch and settling next to Andrew.

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”

“Just - shut up.”

For a while they sat in silence. Andrew lit up a cigarette and smoked it through to the filter. Neil seemed to lean a little closer, attracted to the scent.

“Hey,” he murmured, when Andrew threw the stub onto the coffee table.

Andrew turned and looked at him. His eyes were clear, purposeful. Andrew remembered their first date, their second. Cleavers and thugs and light, candle light and club lights, striping across Neil’s cheekbones like something from a painting.

Kissing him felt -

Normal. Right. Like coming home. Like finding - not the last piece of the puzzle, but the last edge, making a solid shape to be filled in, something clear and decisive. Andrew’s fingertips found his jaw and he felt Neil’s fingers curl in the collar of his vest. His police vest.

It was enough to draw him to a stop, pulling back just enough for him to breathe.

“You don’t swing,” Andrew accused, poorly hiding how winded he was.

Neil huffed, equally as breathless. “You don’t date.”

Andrew’s teeth ground together. “You don’t date cops.”

“And you don’t date mobsters,” Neil retorted. “What’s your point here?”

“Yes or no?” Andrew demanded, because he needed to know. He needed to know for sure. Without a doubt, with complete surety, with perfect clarity -

“Yes,” Neil answered. “Obviously.”

“‘Obviously’,” Andrew parroted with a scoff. “I hate you.”

When Neil’s lips curved up into a smile, Andrew kissed him quiet.

September:

“You know I’ve got a week off, after next week,” Andrew said, trailing his fingers over the threadbare t-shirt that Neil wore. He said ‘next week’ and not ‘Nathan’s trial’. They’d both come to an agreement that where they could avoid talking about it, they would.

It was out of Andrew’s hands, anyway. All the evidence was with the prosecutor, and it was their job to put him behind bars.

There was no way Nathan Wesninski was getting out, now. Not a single chance.

Which meant there was no reason to talk about it. Or about Neil’s future inheritance of his father’s position, or Andrew’s award of recognition for his work. Which felt rather cheap, really - he was just lucky that Neil had decided to give him a second chance.

Then again, policing was mostly luck, and a bit of charisma. Andrew was usually lacking in both, but right now, in the golden afternoon sunlight, with Neil in shorts and unkempt hair, he felt incredibly lucky.

Neil craned his head back to look at Andrew. His new scars were bright red, but healed over at this point. “Just Chicago?”

Andrew hummed assent, closing his eyes and pressing his nose to the crown of Neil’s head. Casual intimacy had always been - too much. Too soft, too nice, like it was covering up something sinister. Never had Andrew felt so relaxed, not even after sex, which usually resulted in Andrew grabbing his shirt, shoes, phone and wallet and leaving immediately.

And they hadn’t had sex yet. Andrew didn’t know if Neil would ever want to have sex. That was - unsurprisingly - not the most important thing on Andrew’s list of wants and needs.

Instead, here he was, lying on his back in Nicky’s guest bedroom. Neil was lying next to him, on his side, head cushioned on Andrew’s shoulder. And he did want this. He’d been tied up and exhausted for months: now it was all coming to its peak, the finish line right around the corner. And they were - okay. Ish. Maybe. Probably. Andrew wasn’t peeved about it.

“Don’t die whilst I’m gone,” Andrew muttered, fingers threading through his hair.

“I have to go to New York, anyway,” Neil said, sullen. “Might as well do it whilst you’re away.”

“How many times are they going to pull you up there?”

“Till they’re confident I won’t screw everything up in the change-over, I guess. Or maybe it’s about the wife thing.”

Something in Andrew’s chest twisted. He simply hummed.

Neil shifted, propping himself up on his elbow to look at Andrew properly. “You know I’m not going to go through with it, right?”

“And if they threaten you?” Andrew reminded him. “Your life isn’t exactly yours.”

“Fuck them,” Neil said as he leaned forward, forever antagonistic. Andrew sighed: Neil paused. “No?”

“Yes,” he muttered, pulling Neil down. One hand brushed along the slither of exposed skin that revealed itself as Neil’s shirt rose up: Andrew relished in the shiver that flitted across Neil’s skin. His scarred fingers - covered in circular burns from a dashboard lighter and various scratch ridges - felt familiar and known when Andrew guided them to the back of his head. Neil was careful, as always.

Andrew had intended on asking when the hell Neil had heard about Andrew’s past, but he wasn’t sure that he wanted to know. He didn’t want to talk about it now, anyway.

Just as Neil let Andrew push his shoulder back, following him over to kiss him into the mattress, Allison’s nails tapped impatiently on the bedroom door. Andrew broke away, startled, just as Neil cursed, sitting up.

“Yes, Allison?” Neil demanded, clearing his throat. “What is it?”

“You sound odd,” Allison remarked, door handle turning.

“Uh - !” Neil scrambled off the bed, looking to Andrew with wild eyes. “I’m - naked! Don’t come in.”

“Right,” Allison drawled. “Should I just wait in my room for him to leave, then?”

“I hate you,” Neil complained. “What do you want?”

“Andrew’s phone was going off in the kitchen,” Allison said, slyly. “Sounds like the prosecuting lawyer wants some of your time, Andrew. Nice of you to glide by without saying hello.”

“I’m busy,” Andrew retorted.

Allison just laughed, strutting down the corridor with her heels tapping on the wooden floorboards. Neil crossed his arms, red-faced.

“C’mere,” Andrew said, still sitting on the bed.

“But Thea,” Neil tried.

“The law can wait,” Andrew insisted, extending his hand.

The look in Neil’s eyes sent sparks flying across Andrew’s skin.

“Took you long enough,” Thea Muldani said, a master of clipboards and abridged glares. She was a lawyer worth Andrew’s time, he knew that, but he also didn’t feel like putting up with Kevin’s heart-eyes or Renee’s unsubtle glances.

Jesus Christ, he thought, slamming his bag on the table hard enough to cause everyone to jolt. “I’m here, now.”

“Congratulations,” Thea remarked. “Don’t care. We have a problem.”

Andrew narrowed his eyes.

“Nathan Junior’s prints are all over a tonne of this evidence. If we don’t have him accounted for, defence is going to be all over it.”

“Are you serious?” Dan demanded. “Nathaniel would’ve been 15 when Mary was murdered.”

“Doesn’t matter. If the evidence has been tampered with, it could be rendered useless. It would be extremely helpful,” Thea said pointedly. “If people’s CI’s could come forward and testify. We have almost no witnesses, except for Andrew and Renee, who claimed that Jackson Plank and Romero Malcom were acting on orders from Nathan whilst murdering Janie Smalls, last month. Neither of them will confess to any sort of collaboration with Wesninski, and two unidentified blood sources were found in the garage.”

“That sounds like circumstantial bullshit,” Dan argued.

“And can we prove them wrong?” Thea shot back. “No. We can’t. For all we know, it’s been Nathaniel behind all of this instead. He’s certainly old enough now.”

Andrew stood out of his chair, grabbed his things and turned to leave.

The lawyer gave him an appraising look. “I haven’t dismissed this meeting, Minyard.”

“I don’t care,” Andrew said. “If you won’t do your job, then I suppose I’d better go and fucking do it for you.”

“It’s Thursday,” Thea reminded him. “Case starts on Monday.”

Andrew ignored her, making sure to slam the door on the way out.

Romero Malcom was a sullen man. His skin was papery thin, even only a few weeks into his prison stay. Andrew couldn’t say that he pitied him. He sat down with his cup of coffee, leaning back in his chair with his leg crossed at the ankle. Romero was locked to the interrogation table opposite, shoulders curled in, fingernails scratching against the table top.

Trying to get a rise. It wouldn’t work.

“Honestly, between you and your sister, you seemed like the more rational one,” Andrew said, eyebrow arched. He put his coffee down and opened up his file. “Did you think about how your lifestyle had an expiry often? Nathan had Dimaccio as his right-hand man, but kept Lola as his carefully concealed weapon. You and Plank seemed just like...more prized cannon-fodder.”

Romero’s eye twitched.

“You know, you said something that caught my interest,” Andrew leaned forward. “You said you’d’ve fucked Nathaniel Wesninski’s friend. What was her name?”

“Allison,” he said.

“Right. You said you’d intended to rape her.”

“No wonder you’re so hung up on it, Doe,” Romero sneered. So they’d all done their research. “Well I didn’t, did I? Not that she’s shown up. She knows Nathan’ll kill her. He’s pretty sure she’s the rat.”

“Do you think she is?” Andrew inquired. “Mind you: I know who the rat is, and you don’t.”

“I think she’s the rat.” Romero sneered. “Princess bitch won’t be loyal to nothing but herself.”

“Which was why he asked you to kill her. She’d betrayed you all.”

“We didn’t kill her.”

“No, but you were going to. He wanted you to kill all three of them.”

“It was probably Junior that called the cops on us,” Romero scoffed. Andrew’s jaw ticked. “Fucking brat. It was about time.”

“About time for what?”

“To get rid of him.” Romero rolled his eyes. “Not that Plank could manage that, either. Useless. But Nathan gave us the call. We were waiting for it, honestly. Killing off Junior meant there was more of an incentive to keep Nathan out of jail. Otherwise there’s no other options.”

Moriyamas, Andrew thought, but he had no interest in involving them. “So Nathan called the two of you, ordered you to get rid of Allison and Nathaniel.”

“He didn’t want them showing their faces and causing trouble.”

“So why Janie?”

“Wrong place, wrong time,” Romero laughed. It sounded like rusted truck breaks. Andrew was very close to knocking the scalding coffee onto exposed skin.

“Nathan probably ain’t happy,” Andrew amended.

Romero barked out another laugh. “He’ll be livid at this point. He sent me an email on exactly what he wanted me to do to your tiny little body, Minyard. An email. Who the fuck sends emails anymore? Anyway, yeah. He’s pissed.”

Andrew stood up from the table, carefully putting his audio recorder into plain sight as he picked up his coffee. “Well, I’d say it was a pleasure, but it wasn’t.” Romero looked at the recorder, slightly sickly. “Have fun in here, Malcom. I’m sure your sister sends her regard from max.”

With that he spun on his heel, the sweet sounds of Romero’s panic putting a hop in his step all the way out of the centre.

“I’ve never...” Neil chewed his lip. “Get a blood sample? That’d put me into the system.”

“And help me identify your pieces as they come floating down the river, if your father’s bosses ever learn about this,” Andrew reminded him. “If I can prove that Romero and Jackson were ordered to kill you, there won’t be any ground to stand on. Neil. Remember what I said.”

The man looked at him from an extended moment of time, evaluating and revelautating.

“Alright,” he said, voice barely a whisper. “Okay.”

October:

Andrew leant his head from side to side, letting his spine slot itself back into place. He hated everything about flying, so much so that even his cousin’s persistent chatter hadn’t been enough to distract him from his living nightmare.

“Well!” his cousin said, somehow still animated. He and Erik had spent their time in Chicago getting over jetlagged and playing with Aaron’s new puppy, whilst Andrew spent his time watching their antics and silently drinking coffee with Aaron, save for the occasional question here and there.

Heard you made a big bust, yeah. How’s the residency. A nightmare. Katelyn and I want a baby when it’s done, though. Interesting. You can be the Godfather. Save that for Neil. Neil? Like, the criminal guy? Don’t mention it. Andrew - I said, don’t mention it. Oh, fuck. You’re serious. Jesus Christ, okay.

“Shall we get a cab?” Nicky inquired.

“Neil can drop you home on the way to mine.”

Nicky narrowed his eyes. “Neil? Like, absolute hottie Neil? Allison’s friend? The one you never called back because you’re an idiot?”

“I hate you,” Andrew insisted.

“Oh my god!” Nicky squealed, tugging on Erik’s arm. “I didn’t know y’all were together. How long has it been? Andrew, you gotta tell me these things!”

“On second thoughts, you should take a cab,” Andrew grunted, lugging his luggage to where he knew Neil would already be standing, waiting for them to arrive.

Nicky’s laugh rang out like bells, just as Neil rose up his hand to wave the three of them over.

Yeah, Andrew thought, letting Nicky gush whilst Neil looked at him like that.

This isn’t half bad.

And that’s how they got together! andrew will continually tell himself that neil inherited the syndicate after they got together, even if there was only like a month or so between their first kiss and nathan getting locked up. neil will continually tell himself that andrew was only interested in him for the case. they’re both stupid liars who are in love.

#andreil #mobster/cop au #butcher!neil #cop!andrew #all for the game #aftg #getting together! finally #p.2 #first kisses #cute!#casual intimacy #also cute!#demisexual neil is my lifeblood #nathan gets fuckin merked #oh yeah neil and allison also get their asses save by andrew #jem writes

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fallingforunrealisticromance · 4 years ago

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Daveed Diggs x Reader Fluff

Summary: Reader is apart of the Hamilton backstage crew and although the cast are very welcoming, somehow always manages to feel left out.

AN: This is my first post ahh! It might not be the best but i hope you enjoy it. Feel free to leave any suggestions/story ideas. I’ll write pretty much anything about a certain celeb or fictional character so yeah have fun! :)

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You sat in the communal area backstage, hugging your knees and starring blankly at the wall ahead of you. Once again your thoughts had got the better of you, consuming you until you’d worked yourself up. But this time things were different. Instead of getting all hysterical and crying intensely - you just sat there, a vacant expression on your faces as a few tears slowly crawled down your face. There was nothing you could do to shut your mind up. No medications seemed to do anything. I mean how could they, all of this was self inflicted. You were very aware of this but it had been going on for so long now you werent sure you could ever stop. In the background you could hear the cast coming to the end of the show meaning they would soon be piling back into the room. Slowly you got up and went to the bathroom. You splashed your face with cold water before starring at yourself in the mirror. “You disgust me” You thought suddenly having to turn away from your reflection. Suddenly the sound of applause filled your ears and a few members of the cast made there way back into the room. You took a deep breath, smiled and went out. “Hey guys” You said taking back your seat in the corner of the sofa, Anthony sitting opposite you. “Hi Y/N” Antony replied. “Show sounds like it went well. I love your line at the beginning of ‘Satisfied’” You said chuckling slightly. He laughed at your comment. “I swear the way i say it changes every time i perform but the audience love it so i ain’t complaining” Oak sat down next to Anthony. “Yeah it’s good but i love the little rap Philip does for Alex, it’s so cute” You raised an eyebrow jokingly at Oaks comment while Ant fake blushed. “Oh my god, you think I’m cute?” He said putting on a high pitched voice. All three of you let out a laugh, yours a lot let passionate than theirs, but neither seemed to notice. A few more minuets went by ad more people filled the room. Phillipa and Renee headed straight for the food before taking a seat next to you on the sofa whereas Jasmine ran straight over to Anthony, kissing him passionately. “ GET A ROOM” Lin and Leslie yelled in unison. Everyone around you was talking, cracking jokes while you just sat there in silence. Listening to everyone around you made you feel more alone then before. You could feel tears threatening to spill but you refused to cry in front of everyone. You got up and headed towards the door but as you opened it you collided with a very muscular chest. You stumbled back but were caught by two firm hands that pulled you in for a tight hug. “There’s my girl, clumsy as ever” A very familiar voice said laughing. “Hi Daveed” you said feeling his chest vibrate against you. You relaxed into him. You and Daveed had a slightly complex relationship. He had been the first person you’d grown close with when you joined the crew around a year ago and since then you’d both very clearly developed feelings for each other. But neither of you acted on it. Yes you acted like a couple - you two were always touching each other, whether it was something small like Daveed resting his hand on the small of your back or things like you sitting on his lap, arms round his neck playing with his hair. But neither of you had made a move to make it official. “Hey” He nudge you slightly. “You okay?” He looked down at you concerned, then you realised you’d been holding onto him for a while. You pulled away and smiled. “Always” He smiled back at you, not looking entirely convinced but he wasn’t going to push you. “Mhm chocolate” He said happily as he darted over to the food table. You laughed softly, leaning against the doorframe. He turned back to you, his mouth stuffed with chocolate. He was like a child sometimes. He joined the others and you stayed for a few moments, waiting for everyone to be engrossed in their conversations before slipping out the door and heading to your room. You’d been staying at the theatre for a while seeing as the flat you’d been renting had just been knocked down. Sitting down on your bed, you let out a huge sigh. It shouldnt be this exhausting being around everyone. And the worst part was - it’s not even their fault. They don’t make you feel excluded in any way yet you still feel like you stick out like a soar thumb. The more you thought, the more tears streamed down your face. You lay down facing the wall sobbing your heart out. So much so you didn’t hear anyone enter the room until you felt your bed dip down beside you. A soft hand gently rested on your arm. “Y/N. What’s wrong beautiful?” It was Daveed. You buried your face in your hands so he couldn’t see the mess you were in although there wasn’t much point. “Hey” He said gently. “You can talk to me. I hate seeing you this upset” A slight sob escape your lips. Daveeds heart hurt for you. “Come here” He slowly pulled you up and onto his lap. You flung your arms around his neck and cried into his shoulder while his arms stayed wrapped tightly around your waist making you feel safe. After what felt like a lifetime you pulled back and wiped your eyes. Daveeds hands stayed on your hips but the look in his eyes made you feel guilty. “What happened love?” He said calmly. You sighed. “Nothing. Just me and my stupid mind” He looked at you confused. “I keep getting this overwhelming feeling of being alone. Like I’m standing in a room filled with hundreds of faces yet I'm not really there, if that makes sense. And just now when everyone was sat in the back room hanging out, i just feel out of place as if I’m not supposed to be there.” You said unable to look daveed in the eye. “Why? Has someone said something to you?” He asked protectively. You shook your head. “No that’s the worst part. Everyone’s been so welcoming yet I’m still convincing myself that i’m not wanted. I know it’s stupid but-” “No it’s not” Daveed cut you off and cupped your face with his hand. You closed your eyes leaning into his touch. “Y/N listen to me. Things have never been better since you arrived. You light this place up. I mean literally yesterday Groffy was saying how it doesn’t feel right when your away anymore. I get where your coming from but I promise you - we all love the fact your here” He said smiling at you. You chest filled with joy. You were actually wanted? “And if it helps” He continued. “I’ve never been happier” He said shyly. You beamed at him. You looked at his lips, only now realising the extent of how attracted to him you really were. Without thinking you closed the gap between you and kissed him. Your lips melted together in perfect unison. He wrapped one arm around your waist while the other supported your back. You hands tangled in his hair tugging at it ever so slightly causing him to smile into the kiss. You finally broke away for air resting your forehead against his. “I love you” He whispered. “I know” You joked before he pulled you back in for a kiss.

#daveed x reader #daveed diggs #hamilcast #hamilsquad #hamitlon #lin manuel miranda #leslie odom junior #anthony ramos #fluff #sadfluff #daveed #x reader #writing #fanfic #fanfiction

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wildflowerirwin · 5 years ago

Text

Love is War - m.c. - Ch 1

Summary: When yeeyee meets a punk rock wannabe

Rating: PG-13

Words: 3k (yikers man)

Warnings: swearing

Kaela walked stepped out of the black town car and mentally cursed herself for agreeing to wear 6-inch heels on the red carpet. She thanked Andre, her bodyguard, as be helped her steady herself. “You’ve been wearing heels since you were a child, yet you still can’t get your footing.” Andre commented, earning a glare from Kaela.

“Thanks, but I’m aware.” She quipped, smoothing her silky, olive green dress. Andre followed closely as Kaela began her trek down the red carpet. She stood in front of the backdrop laced with ‘American Music Awards’ branding.

“Kaela Gold, over here!” Kaela recognized the voice belonging to her least favorite host, Ryan Seacrest. She plastered on a smile and walked toward him. She gave him a short hug, being sure to let him know she wasn’t in the mood for him.

“Hello, Ryan. You’re looking dashing this evening.” She spoke, almost impressed with her own bullshit compliment.

“Is this the same dress you wore to the Country Music Awards?” Ryan asked her, all but shoving his microphone down her throat.

“It happens to be, yes.” Kaela nodded. “It’s sentimental to me for several reasons, and it has pockets.”

“Oh, my God. It has pockets?” Ryan asked mockingly.

“Sorry to cut this short,” Andre lied. “She’s got other places to be.” He said, ushering her along. Kaela sighed softly as Ryan found his next victims.

“How can one human be so fucking annoying?” Kaela asked, pausing to adjust the strap on her shoe.

“He’s a straight white man, what do you expect?” Andre scoffed and held out his arm for her to balance herself.

“You’re right. I don’t know why I thought he’d be decent.” Kaela shook her head and continued walking. A genuine smile found her face for the first time all evening as she locked eyes with her long time best friend and mentor, Kacey Musgraves.

“I’m surprised they let you in here looking so good.” Kacey commented as she gave Kaela a bone crushing hug.

“Could say the same to you.” Kaela giggled and wrapped her arms around her friend. “Now, tell me, who should I be looking for tonight? You’re the one that knows all the gossip.”

“Well, Kane Brown is up for Male Country Artist and he happens to look like an actual angel 24/7.” Kacey said, looking down the carpet. “That guy you hooked up with at Jingle Ball is up for pop duo, but he’s got little chance of winning.”

“Not the only little thing he has.” Kaela giggled and linked her arm with Kacey’s as they walked. “Who else?”

“Well, that Australian band is up for International Rock Group and I’m hoping they get it. They’re fun guys.” Kacey shrugged.

“You know, I have a thing for foreign guys.” Kaela smirked and glanced over at the four tall Australians, currently posing like sorority sisters on bid day.

“You’re in luck, they’re all currently single.” Kavey smiled and nudged Kaela’s hip with her own.

“How do you know?” Kaela asked, looking up at her.

“I talk to the dark haired one sometimes. We’re good friends.” She shrugged and walked into the music hall with Kaela.

“Save me a seat, will ya? I’ve gotta get changed for my performance.” Kaela said, releasing Kacey’s arm.

“You’re gonna kill it out there.” Kacey giggled and gave her a quick hug before finding her seat. Kaela giggled to herself and walked backstage to the dressing room with her name on it. She stripped out of her gown and pulled on her fishnets, doing a couple squats to get them just right. She pulled on her PVC shorts and checked out her own ass in the mirror.

“Damn girl.” Kaela giggled to herself. She pulled the matching bandeau up over her breasts and chewed on her lip as she studied her appearance. Her auburn hair fell in ringlets across her shoulders and her highlight sparkled in the light. She was pulled from her thoughts as Andre rapped on her door gently.

“Hey, you’re on in 3 minutes. You need to get out here.” Andre said and Kaela picked up her heels.

“Okay, I’m coming.” She exited the room, pulling her heels on as she walked to her mark.

*** Michael wasn’t expecting to enjoy the yeeyee performance of Kaela Gold, but the lyrics of her song intrigued him.

You won't make yourself a name if you follow the rules

History gets made when you're acting a fool

“Who is this?” Michael asked, leaning toward Calum but keeping his eyes on the stage.

“Uh, I think her name’s Kyla or something.” Calum shrugged.

“It’s Kaela.” Ashton said, not looking up from his phone. “If I had known I’d have to sit through this yeehaw shit, I’d have charged my phone before we came.”

“I actually kinda dig this song.” Michael shrugged. “It’s not as yeeyee as some of the shit Luke listens to.”

“Stop calling George Strait ‘yeeyee.’” Luke rolled his eyes. “He’s a lyrical genius and I’m sorry you can’t hear that.”

“Country music has definitely gotten better in recent years, but that’s all thanks to my future wife, Kacey Musgraves.” Calum said, the other boys rolling their eyes.

“You do realize she’s already married, right?” Ashton asked, to which Calum simply shrugged.

“Marriages end.” Calum said, applauding with the rest of the crowd as Kaela exited the stage. Michael pulled out his phone as the hosts came back out. He typed the lyrics into Google and searched. He chewed on his lower lip as he clicked on her Wikipedia page, scrolling through.

Kaela Renee Gold, born February 19th, 1996 in Belmont, Louisiana got her start when she won the talent show at her local county fair. Gold has won two Grammy awards for Best Female Country Artist in 2016 and 2017.

Michael was pulled from his reading when Luke nudged him with his elbow. “It’s our category.” Luke said, bracing himself in his seat. Mike shoved his phone in his pocket and sat up in his seat as the hosts pulled open the envelope.

“The winner of Best International Duo/Group goes to..” Ellen DeGeneres pulled the card from the envelope and Michael’s hand found Luke’s. “5 Seconds of Summer!” Luke pulled Michael from his seat and hugged him tight, Calum and Ashton joining in on the hug. The four of them made their way onto the stage, Calum immediately reaching for the award as Michael was given the microphone.

“This is a huge honor for us. This is our first time receiving an award from the American Music Awards. Being four boys from Australia who are trying to make a name for themselves in this business, being able to receive this award is a dream come true. Thank you.” Michael smiled as the crowd applauded them off the stage.

“I can’t believe we actually won.” Ashton grinned, pulling the award from Calum’s hands.

“I can’t believe the American Music Awards have an international category.” Luke chuckled, posing with his bandmates as the crew took photos of them with their new award. They went back to their seats as Ellen announced the next category: Best Female Country Artist, which Kaela was nominated for.

“I hope my wife, Kacey Musgraves, wins this category.” Calum said.

“I’m rooting for that Kaela Gold girl. She was good.” Michael said, watching the screen as the camera found all the nominees. Kaela held Kacey’s hand as Ellen opened the envelope and announced her as the winner. “I’m good luck.” Michael chuckled.

“My yeehaw wife deserved to win.” Calum huffed.

“I didn’t even know you liked Kacey Musgraves that much.” Ashton said, looking at Calum.

“She’s hot as fuck, of course I like her.” Calum shrugged.

*** Michael tucked his phone into the pocket of his jeans as he walked into the club, the boys trailing behind him. The after party was already in full swing, but they didn’t mind. They were just happy to be invited. “Hey, congrats on the win.” Kacey smiled sweetly at Calum, who let out a childish giggle.

“Thanks.” Calum’s cheeks heated up as he looked at the floor. “I love you.” Kacey laughed, covering her mouth with her fingers.

“You guys are cute.” She smiled softly. “Can I buy y’all a round?”

“We’d love that.” Ashton grinned. “Sorry about my friend, he’s a little star struck.”

“Not a problem.” Kacey giggled and walked toward the bar.

“I’m in love with her.” Calum sighed heavily, leaning against Ashton.

“You’re insane.” Michael shook his head at his friend.

“Calum’s ‘wife’ is coming back with your new crush, and she looks very drunk.” Luke chuckled and sat at the hightop table as Kacey set the tray of shots down on the table.

“Boys, this is my friend Kaela.” Kacey smiled.

“We’re buddies.” Kaela said, downing a tequila shot from the tray. The four Aussies stared at her, their jaws dropping.

“I- how? Why?” Michael stammered, his eyes laced with confusion.

“You never seen someone take a shot of tequila without making a face before?” Kaela asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

“No, I actually haven’t.” Michael said, glancing down at the tequila shot in front of him.

“It helps when you’ve 8 shots of vodka and 4 of fireball.” Kacey laughed and took a seat next to Calum. “My buddy likes to drink.”

“I don’t get to do it often, so I take advantage of nights like this. I want to get absolutely hammered tonight.” Kaela shrugged, downing another tequila shot.

“Who knew the yeeyee’s knew how to party?” Ashton chuckled, picking up the small glass of tequila. He poured it into his mouth, forcing it down his throat. His face screwed up in disgust, the alcohol overtaking his senses. “That tastes like straight ass.”

“It tastes like nail polish remover, but don’t ask me how I know what that tastes like.” Kaela said, waving down one of the waiters. “Can I get a vodka and sprite, please?”

“Coming right up, Miss Gold.” The waiter smiled before walking away.

“So, who are you guys?” Kaela asked as she turned back to the table.

“You don’t know us? Luke asked, surprised yet not surprised at the same time.

“You look a little familiar, but I am pretty drunk.” Kaela said, accepting the vodka and sprite from the waiter.

“They’re 5 Seconds of Summer. The Australian band.” Kacey said, taking her shot of tequila.

“American Apparel underwear.” Ashton said and Kaela gasped.

“I know you guys!” She smiled. “You were performing at the Teen Choice Awards when security escorted me out for trying to sneak into Dierks Bentley’s dressing room.”

“The yeeyee’s are wild.” Ashton laughed. “I’m telling you, we need to party with the yeeyee’s more.”

“What the fuck is a ‘yeeyee?’” Kaela asked, her eyes not leaving Ashton’s.

“I don’t know how to explain it. A yeeyee is a yeeyee.” Ashton said, looking at the boys. “Someone else explain it.”

“A yeeyee is someone who’s says ‘yeehaw’ unironically.” Michael said, still avoiding his tequila shot.

“What else am I supposed to say when I’m wrangling a wild bull?” Kaela asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

“My God, that’s the most yeeyee thing I’ve ever heard anyone say ever.” Michael laughed and passed her his shot. “I think you could use this.”

“Nuh uh, that’s for you.” Kaela giggled and slid the shot back to Michael. “Do the shot and I’ll let you pick a song for me and Kacey to do for karaoke.”

“Oh, you’re gonna regret that.” Michael laughed as he picked up the glass, drinking the disgusting liquid. He made a face as it went down. “Fuck, that’s disgusting.”

“Alright, what song are we doing?” Kacey laughed softly.

“Make them do the Sesame Street theme song.” Luke laughed. “That’d be hilarious.”

“Great idea.” Mike grinned and looked at the two girls. “You’ll be doing a yeeyee rendition of the Sesame Street theme song.” Kaela and Kacey went up to the stage, pulling up the song. The two of them sang the song as Michael recorded it for his Instagram story.

*** The night went on and many drinks were had. Michael knew he was drunk because the smile on his face could hardly falter. He leaned against the bar as Kaela talked. Neither of them knew how the conversation started or how it took a turn to where it was at now. Kaela was telling Michael the story of how she broke her first bone. “The bone fully came out of my skin. That’s what this scar right here is.” Kaela said, showing Michael the scar on her hand.

“Your bone actually came out? Like, out of your skin?” Michael’s face contorted in disgust.

“Yeah, it did.” Kaela said, pulling her hand from Michael’s.

“That’s absolutely disgusting, yet fascinating.” Michael said, his eyes finding Kaela’s. “Do you wanna get out of here? I’m starving.”

“Please.” Kaela giggled softly. “I could use a hotdog.”

“A hotdog?” Michael asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Preferably a gas station hotdog. A jumbo dog with ketchup and mustard.”

“That sounds incredible.” Michael laughed, linking his arm with hers. The two of them left the club, stepping out into the bustling street.

“This way.” Kaela said, bringing her hand down to Michael’s. She led him down the street to the corner gas station. “Well, don’t we stick out like a walnut in a pecan pie.” Kaela said, Michael’s head whipping to look at her.

“The fuck did you just say?” He asked, his features laced with confusion.

“Sorry, I forget not everyone is from the boondocks.” Kaela giggled softly as she grabbed a hotdog from the rollers.

“Where exactly are you from?” Michael asked as he grabbed himself a hotdog.

“A tiny town called Longfellow in southern Louisiana.” Kaela said, drenching her hotdog in ketchup and mustard.

“Typical small town? Nothing but corn fields, everyone knows everyone’s business, and everyone falls in love with the stranger their daddy hires to work on the farm?” Michael asked, taking a bite of his hotdog.

“No, some of us couldn’t afford farmhands to fall in love with. We fall in love with the cute, older cowboy down the road. But, as most cowboys do, they try to steal your land and then they run away to Texas with your best friend.” Kaela shrugged and took a bite of her own hotdog, some ketchup dripping down on her dress.

“That was oddly specific.” Michael chuckled, gently wiping the ketchup from her dress. “How’d you get started in music, anyways? I thought it was impossible for the tiny town musicians to actually make it.”

“It certainly isn’t easy.” Kaela said, handing the cashier a $5 bill as she walked out with Michael. The two of them sat on the curb as they ate their hotdogs, neither one of them caring about the flashing lights of the paparazzi. “I used to sing at the bar in town. I started singing there when I was about 13. When I was 17, I was singing at the bar and a producer was there. He had some car trouble and ended up in my town. He heard me sing, asked for my demo, and signed me to his label. He produced my first album, which flopped. They dropped me and then I was fortunate enough to be signed to Columbia.”

“So, it was a one in a million chance?”

“Absolutely. I’ve got two albums out now, I won an incredible award tonight.” Kaela smiled. “I’m just lucky, I guess.”

“You and me both.” Michael smiled and finished his hotdog.

“So, Michael Clifford, tell me a secret. Something fans don’t know.” Kaela said as she finished her hotdog.

“A secret? Well, I photoshopped my Spotify wrapped because it exposed me as a yeeyee.” Michael said, nudging her shoulder with his own. Kaela giggled and rolled her eyes playfully.

“I mean a real secret, Mikey.” Kaela smiled, resting her head on his shoulder.

“You tell me one.” He chuckled, wrapping an arm around her waist and resting his hand on her thigh.

“Alright..” Kaela moved closer to him as she kept her head on his shoulder. “I’m afraid of both my parents dying. It hasn’t happened yet, but I know it will someday and it terrifies me.. I don’t know what I’ll do when I don’t have either one of them to count on.”

“Are they still together?” Michael asked, his thumb rubbing against the exposed skin of her thigh.

“No..” Kaela sighed. “They split up in ‘94 just a couple months after I was born. My parents were high school sweethearts, but the immature love they had in high school didn’t last through graduation and an unplanned pregnancy.”

“I’m sorry..” Michael sighed, hugging her into his side. “Are you still close with them?”

“Yeah, absolutely. As a kid, I only saw my dad every other weekend. When I started singing, he came to the bar every time to support me. He bought me my first guitar and taught me how to play. He’s always been my best friend.” Kaela smiled softly to herself as tears filled her eyes. “My mom moved back in with my grandparents after the breakup. She raised me with them and I couldn’t have asked for a stronger mother.”

“She did an amazing job.” Michael smiled to himself. Kaela sniffed quietly and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

“Your turn, tell me your secret.” She said, lifting her head to look at him.

“Since we’re getting personal.. I’m scared of being the forgotten member of 5 Seconds of Summer. I know the band isn’t going to last forever, and I know everyone’s gonna remember the band.. But I’m scared of becoming ‘that other guy.’” Michael sighed. “It’s always going to be Luke Hemmings, Calum Hood, Ashton Irwin, and that one dude that did stuff sometimes.”

“Oh, bugaboo..” Kaela sighed, cupping his cheek gently. “You’re not gonna be forgotten. You’ll always be remembered to me.” She whispered, her eyes not leaving his. For some reason, it was enough for him. Michael’s lips found hers and slipped tenderly against them. For a brief moment, being with her was enough for him to feel at ease with the world.

Taglist: @lukescherrypie@calumculture@kinglycalum@babylon-corgis@novacanecalum@lfwallscouldtalk@dontdoitluke@isabella10028@calumamongmen@bumblebet-20@lockthisheartinchains@bitterbethany@sublimehood@myloverboyash@ironicallyirwin@lashtoncurls@mukesreject@sanfrancjsco@boytoynamedcalum@opinionatedpisces-official@blahehblah @lukehemmings@calum-uncrowned@findingliam-o @gh0st-0f-y0u-95

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typingtess · 5 years ago

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Tiptoeing through the "Alsiyadun" guest cast

REGULAR CAST: Medalion Rahimi as Special Agent Fatima Namazi I will be interested to see how/if Medalion Rahimi shows up in the program's opening credits. Linda Hunt, Barrett Foa and Renee Felice Smith all appear together. Does Rahimi get her own screen time? Does she join the Ops-based trio of Lange, Beale and Jones? Do they split up the trio and everyone gets their own onscreen time? Is she the new agent Callen and Sam are looking for?

I got more questions coming.

GUEST CAST: Eric Palladino as CIA Officer Vostanik Sabatino Don Wallace as Navy SEAL Senior Chief Frank Wallace Back from the season 11's opener ""Let Fate Decide" for both actors.

From Palladino's Instagram account: Sabatino grabbed his gear. With LL Cool J and Offset.

From Wallace's Instagram account: Obligatory script photo/LL Cool J photo. With Daniela Ruah & Eric Christian Olsen.

Kiari "Offset" Cephus as Kadri Kashan Khan Rap star Offset has a sole television credit - appearing on FS1's Skip and Shannon: Undisputed sports debate show.

Abe Martell as Cobra/Fayyaad Al-Radwan Khalid Appeared in episodes of Lethal Weapon and Good Girls Revolt as well as a number of short films.

Satiar Pourvasei as Mr. Namazi Aneela Qureshi as Mrs. Namazi While I am happy to see Fatima's parents, can we meet (a) Col. Hanna and (b) the Beales? Again, thrilled Fatima's parents are alive but she just got here. Where's Col. Hanna? He's earned a mention or two in the past. Danny Glover, Carl Weathers, Charles S. Dutton all work for me as Col. Hanna. And Eric, the first OSP character to speak in the "Legend" part one episode of NCIS. Where did he come from?

/rant.

Satiar Pourvasei played Thirsty Prisoner in the "Tribunal" episode of JAG and guest starred in Days of Our Lives and The Practice.

Aneela Qureshi played Claudia in Get it Together as well as appearing in a number of short films and international projects. Qureshi on set.

Written by R. Scott Gemmill wrote/cowrote “The Only Easy Day”, “Brimstone”, “Breach”, “LD50”, “Found”, “Borderline”, “Absolution”, “Archangel”, “Tin Soldiers”, “Impostors”, “Cyberthreat”, “Honor”, “The Watchers” and both sides of the NCIS Los: Angeles/Hawaii Five-0 “Touch of Death” episodes, “Recruit”, “Free Ride”, “Wanted”, “Ravens and The Swans”, “Impact”, “War Cries”, both ends of the “Deep Trouble” season five finale/season six premiere, “Inelegant Heart”, “Praesidium”, “Traitor”, “Active Measures” (season seven premiere), “Blame It On Rio”, “Internal Affairs”, “Matryoshka” part one, "Talion" (season seven finale), “High Value Target”/“Belly of the Beast” (season eight premieres), “The Queen’s Gambit”, “Under Siege”, “Unleashed” (season eight finale), “Party Crashers” (season nine’s premiere), “This Is What We Do” (episode 200), “Các Tù Nhân”, “Goodbye Vietnam”, “Ninguna Salida” (the season nine finale with Joe Sachs), “Hit List”, “Asesinos”, “Till Death Do Us Part”, “Choke Point”, "The Guardian", "Hail Mary" and "Kill Beale Vol. 1".

Directed by Dennis Smith directed “Fame”, “Standoff”, “Rocket Man”, “Cyberthreat”, “Exit Strategy”, “Patriot Acts”, “Out of the Past” part one, “The Livelong Day”, Between the Lines”, “Deep Trouble” part two, “Black Budget", “Black Wind”, “Blame it On Rio”, “Defectors”, “Matryoshka” part one, “Granger, O”, “The Queen’s Gambit”, “Hot Water”, “From Havana With Love”, “Plain Sight”, the lighthearted “Monster”, “Superhuman”, “One of Us”, "Smokescreen” part one, "Decoy" and "Mother".

Smith with Offset.

I’ll finish this question filled guest cast post with a question - Who killed Ellie Simms?

#tiptoeing #NCIS: Los Angeles #NCIS: LA #NCIS Los Angeles #ncis la

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deathbomb · 5 years ago

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In 2014, Sean Jewel conducted a massive interview with a gathering of Deathbomb Arc artists and label head Brian Miller. In recent years, the article has been scrubbed from the site it was originally posted at. We have gathered all of the text content for it from archival sites and recreated it below. Only one image from it has currently been found, picturing (L-R) tik///tik, William Hutson, and Jonathan Snipes.

No Genre, No Authenticity, No Problem: An Interview With LA Label Deathbomb Arc by Sean Jewell

Interview conducted with Los Angeles DIY label Deathbomb Arc, on the birth of clipping., the meaning of experimental music, and the curses and blessings of liking everything:

I love Seattle, but after developing a nasty case of seasonal-affected malaise last month, I did what any miserable person would do: took some work in Los Angeles, California. I later realized that the dates I’d be there included the evening of the Grammys. I began to imagine a scenario in which an award would be given to artists who take chances with music rather than make popular music, and little Los Angeles label Deathbomb Arc came to mind. I did what any self-doubting writer would do: I requested an interview. Deathbomb Arc is the label that birthed Sub Pop signees clipping., a group whose music works as much to entertain as it does to muddle and expand genre. Their 2013 release midcity did the unlikely and combined two of my great loves: electroacoustic interference music and hiphop. I wanted to understand the genesis of their sound, so I talked to label boss Brian Miller and to my surprise in one evening he’d rounded up two-thirds of the members of clipping., Jonathan Snipes, and William Hutson (Daveed Diggs was away and unavailable), rapper I.E. (Margot Padilla), noise musician Tik//Tik (Stephen Cano) and label videographer and graphic designer Cristina Bercovitz for an all-pro interview session.

I did my best to avoid the Grammys in LA. I sped up Mullholland drive, tumbled down Topanga Canyon, and watched paddle boarders surf in the sunset at Malibu. I went to Watts, talked to the daughter of Harlem Renaissance player Leo Trammel about the Charles Mingus Youth Arts Center. We agreed Los Angeles’ legacy of great musicians (Eric Dolphy, Schoolboy Q, John Cage, Ice Cube, Tyrese Gibson, Barry White just to name a few) was shamefully not its most recognized feature. I watched a girl play guitar at Watts Towers, heard her father sing, and became aggravated at the police helicopters looming overhead. I relaxed in the sun. That evening I found my way to Mid City LA and met the Deathbomb Arc crew at the home of Jonathan Snipes. We sat around the kitchen table and talked. My malaise melted and was recast as a sense of belonging.

My first exposure to clipping. was through their mixtape for No Conclusion. The group took a leak of Kanye West’s Yeezus, and the idea from their Twitter followers that Kanye might have been listening to clipping. during its making, and put together a mixtape over their favorite parts of his leaked songs (there weren’t many) that included their favorite rap music from the year prior. The person who pointed me toward clipping. mentioned to me that this label had been releasing artists music on cassette like the medium never went out of style. clipping. released an untitled cassette on Deathbomb and very few sold until their album midcity drew attention with a free online download. Midcity was also later released on cassette. I asked Brian Miller about that.

“I feel pretty out of touch with the history of its hipness. I put out the first cassette on Deathbomb in ’04 and at that point I felt late to the game.” He and Jeff Witscher (aka Rene Hell) put out work on cassette as Foot Village. He reminded me that the cassette has always been the chosen medium of the noise music genre and that it just never went away in that small corner due to its relative cheapness to produce. Brian is soft spoken and obviously cares deeply about music. He’s seen to it that his younger musicians get albums put out on cassette so they can see and hold quality, visible copies of their work. He does it to show them he cares. The idea comes up that older cars accommodate the medium, as well as the fact that it can be produced in any length cheaply. “The thing I love about cassettes is that nobody is making the argument that they sound better,” Snipes jokes. “They sound awful, so the the appeal really is all fetish or novelty.” "I have no idea what many of the younger acts I work with think about me putting their music out on cassette," Brian Miller says. "For them it’s not novelty or fetish at all, they didn't grow up with them, and acts like Signor Benedick The Moor have been completely shocked when I describe releasing music on actual physical cassette” I.E. is sitting off to my left and confirms the notion when he asks if she had an opinion about the release of her work on a certain medium: “I didn't care what the hell it came out on!”

I.E. makes painfully earnest hiphop that stems from her growing up outside of LA (in Inland Empire, hence the name). I ask her how her recent show in Seattle was. “It was terrible.” I played at The Josephine, nobody came, I just kind of played for the two dudes that lived there and the other act.” Brian Miller reminisces on bringing clipping. and Foot Village to Seattle and being well attended, but recognizes the fortune of those in their scene in LA, a place with no apprehension about putting a band on a bill because of their style. It’s this kind of availability and openness at venues (the last decade) that has given way to such a youthful music movement in LA (think Burger Records, Innovative Leisure, Deathbomb Arc).

Snipes, who is also a film score producer (Room 237, the documentary that investigates the myths behind Kubrick’s The Shining, is his best work, which he brought along Bill Hutson for) confesses his love for CDs as a music medium and his worst show in Seattle. He’s hirsute and talkative, smart, and nice. He has a lot of thoughts about music. He recalls his worst show in Seattle with his "ravesploitation" group Captain Ahab (one part of the genesis of clipping.) “I played the Baltic Room, the people who booked the show were very kind, but we got unplugged pretty soon into our set because people who were there weren't there to watch a sweaty white dude rap about buttholes.” Laughter erupts at the table. “It gave me the perspective that my idea—which to me was the most important part of that group—was totally offensive to everyone else on the bill, rappers and DJs whose craft defined them. Since then I've been on a bill or two with acts who I regarded as offensive.” Captain Ahab was a group born out of post 9-11 nationalism and moroseness of a nation, “What Captain Ahab was doing was acceptable in the circles we traveled in because everyone had gotten so conservative and boring, but here was a group of young people with no genre, making art a safe space for dangerous ideas, defending that idea at a point in America where people were questioning the way they expressed themselves,” Miller says.

“The modus operandi of Deathbomb is punk as a way of being in the world, and not a type of music,” Hutson interjects. He’s undoubtedly the dissident in the group. He towers over me in height, and he’s ruggedly good looking. There are things going on behind his piercing eyes. He doesn’t speak much, but when he does it’s profound. I’d heard of his work, but he surprised me with his in-depth knowledge of hiphop, noise, and punk. “If you listen to most punk now, it’s the most conservative, closed-minded shit you've ever heard. You can be punk now and not make punk music.”

His comment reminds me that I.E.’s work is a dead ringer for early-'80s LA punk. A self-proclaimed chola rave queen, she could be the child of Alice Bag, and her music recalls The Cholitas and X. “I do listen to that music, but I grew up on hiphop. I’m also big into Euro dance music and new wave.” The great thing about her album Most Importantly is that she reminds every hard-on about the absolutely horrid world women grow up in without a single sad face emoji. Instead she uses chip tunes, noise music, and hiphop to get her truly hilarious, truly feminist point of view through to you.

Besides I.E. and Brian Miller, everyone gathered is into theater or came from that background. Some went to UCLA, Daveed went to Brown, Christina is a well-known puppeteer in Los Angeles and has directed several videos for clipping. and other Deathbomb artists. “We studied very traditional American theater, what can you say about that? It makes you creative in a very production-driven way. It affects the way we all work together.”

“It’s also a style of art we’re all interested in, but realized soon into school that we really don’t ever want to make,” Snipes jokes. “We learned how to do all this by doing Captain Ahab (Snipes' earlier group). It took us a long time to learn how to brand things, how to package things,” Cristina adds.

Miller brings up the point that the improvisational ability members possess affects their love for their unorthodox performances and musical styles. That the training to recognize others' cues can direct you on stage—theater or musical—and take you somewhere further than just a recital of recorded work, can really bring the music to life. Snipes talks a bit about how theater relates to composing music: “What is the idea of this entire play, and does every decision you’re making support this one very simple idea. If it does not, you cut it, successful theater is based on this.” Hutson concludes, “The only other idea I would add is that what theater did for us, for Captain Ahab, and for clipping. is that we have no concern for authenticity. Lying is a performance; we lie a lot.”

“There is nothing explicitly sexist about speaking over rhythms.” William Hutson says, laughing. “You don’t have to say monstrous things about women as a rapper, they just generally do for some reason.”

I’d just brought up my theory that hiphop as a movement is incorrectly labeled as sexist. That people, rappers, as individuals can be called out for their actions or their speech, but the movement cannot. People don’t attack thespianism as a whole because the actor who plays Don Draper on Mad Men gives a sexist performance on TV, so what’s the difference with rap?

“Some people don't understand that. People do think that musicians go on stage and are the ultimate version of themselves,” Brian Miller adds.

People imprint themselves on music like no other art form. clipping.’s work especially has been regarded as more aggro than deserved (in my opinion) and Bill Hutson helps me understand why when I bring up the fact that I have feelings for abstract art (I feel as emotional at the lines of Judd and paint blotches of a Frankenthaler as I do at good music), yet I still understand the painters and sculptors of that period were not referencing me.

“But even abstract art was sold on the rugged individualism of Pollock as some cowboy. With the artist as the character and not the art,” Hutson interjects. “It’s all a bunch of bullshit to me,” he says, before shrinking back into his shoulders and staring into his wine.

Jonathan Snipes explains: “I always thought of my Captain Ahab lyrics as a sort of musical timbre. I responded to Miami Bass and Detroit Ghetto House music. I liked the drum machine sounds, the way they were programmed, the synths, and the words. The words in those songs just so happen to mostly be about women’s butts.” (Everyone at the table giggles. it makes sense, sort of.) “It wouldn’t be that type of music if we weren’t talking about women’s butts. The words you’re using can be a timbre choice. I think the same is true for clipping. I don’t feel like I’m allowed to say that, because I don’t write the words for clipping., but I would say that’s true of that band as well.”

He brings up a point I’d been dying to talk about. The lyrical choices on clipping.’s midcity are massive in terms of word placement. It’s clear that Daveed Diggs’ lyrics weren’t written into a cell phone that evening and recorded once, never to be edited. His story rhymes and raps are deliciously grotesque poetry about lost lovers, affection for the city, and blind loyalty to the street, that are as visually stimulating as they are precisely spit. I read that they'd been choosy about his phrasing. “Rappers don’t have editors," Hutson says, “except for Daveed, he’s been amazed that we have opinions, and will ask us which line or word is better, but that certainly is not how rap music gets written anywhere else.” The amazing thing about clipping.’s experimental hiphop is also the fact that Daveed seems to stand alone while rhyming, as the electro-acoustic interference and noise he raps over is not necessarily providing him with a rhythm, many times he is the rhythm, and the noise is the lead, but before I get to lost in my love for minimalism, the maximalist at the table speaks up.

tik///tik (Steven Cano) has been a noise-music fixture around Los Angeles for years. If there is a true noise music maker at the table it’s him. I’m surprised though, to learn that the vocals and vocal samples in his music are his own. Miller regards him as the most soulful musician of the group because of his earnestness, and I’m surprised at his personality in person. He's congenial, almost diminutive. He speaks quietly for having made such noisy music over the years. My favorite works of his Jewel Play, and Every Hex Is A Hearthache wrap his pop vocals in visqueen and duct tape and toss the kidnapped, dead idea of pop into a chilly slough. “I might push the volume, but there’s always something in the middle of that maelstrom of sounds going around in my music. There’ll be a horrible torch song right in the middle of my songs, and that’s what I’m worried about,” he says, quietly, almost unsure of himself.

If you hear his music you might be as shocked as me that he’s making pop tunes. His inspirations:

“I relate to Miami Freestyle, I used to steal my brothers N.W.A., I listened to LL Cool J, that’s kind of what attracted me to Captain Ahab (Snipes’ early group) originally because I like that Miami ‘booty’ sound.”

Brian says: “The first time he really struck me was on his tracks during ‘The Fruit Will Rot Vol. 3’; everyone else delivered really harsh noise for that compilation. Steven turned in these tracks that could have used vocal samples from pop acts from the '60s or something, but they weren’t, they’re actually Steven singing. I’ve never heard anything else like it." Then he sums up tik///tik in a single sentence, putting it in a way I'd never thought of: "How many people out there are like ‘Gee, I sure wish there was a group that bridged the gap between my harsh noise records and my soul collection?”

Steven's reply: “It’s part of the LA thing, though. I’m fine sitting between all these people. I’ve been on tour with them. Nothing is weird to me. To me I.E. has written the noisiest punk-rock track ever. Genre doesn’t exist.”

Speaking of LA acts going way back, and The Fruit Will Rot Vol.3 gives me the chance to ask Bill Hutson of what I’d heard was the genesis of clipping, his early work as a noise act called Beach Balls.

“It was a joke about all of the LA harsh noise acts at that time, people were ripping off one artist known as Pedestrian Deposit. Everyone’s music was coming out as blasts of harsh noise between ambient music cuts. I made the joke that I was going to do that in my band Beach Balls, but with harsh noise and rap a cappellas. It was just an attempt to re-format what everyone was doing by ripping off one guy. But instead of copying we’d switch out one of the genres for something I related to.”

The DNA of clipping. can be traced all the way back to that mixtape in which Bill uses a click track and a Ying Yang Twins sample to make a song called “Case Sensitivity” that takes the juvenile "whisper song" and turns it into an ominous hiphop adventure. Snipes recalls begging Hutson to form a band after seeing LA group Death Set play distorted radio-rap songs inbetween songs in their set. “I told him for years someone needed to do this as a band, combine noise and rap, and eventually I convinced him we should do it as a remix project. The first one we worked on was using an Insane Clown Posse a cappella.”

Hutson: “The reason I did all that, and I made all these songs that never came out, was because I was uncomfortable with the degree to which…it was a joke about taking these power electronic songs that are either explicitly or implicitly white-supremacist music, and I would beat match them with like Lil Wayne rapping over them. Because they were in the same tempo, and it was like, ‘these are two sounds I like and how do I deal with the fact that some of the music I like is really fucked up and I don’t agree with it’…” He goes on to rant about acts whose white-supremacist values seem to have been forgotten (or more likely not even researched) because their bands make for good buzz media.

Miller: “The idea was of negotiating between all the different types of music, and being able to touch base with them, but the culture at that time was not ok with us mixing those things. We mash things together so much that people don’t realize we love all these genres. You really have to listen to hear those things in there, the soul singing, Trina samples, J Mascis. We met because I once put out a very abstract tribute to Cash Money records, and I knew of Bill’s music, then wrote to him and found out we lived near each other. It was cool for us, but at the time it literally got me hate mail from people who thought we shouldn’t combine certain music and rap. Bill just happened to be into experimental music and hiphop like me.”

Hutson: “Very specifically, Cash Money records. When I was a kid I wanted to be a Cash Money Millionaire, and in 1998 I switched to wanting to be a No Limit Soldier,” he laughs.

As Brian points out, these things may sound like nothing weird at all now, but in ‘02 looked like a pretty defiant (read: punk) stance toward the standards of craven scenesters. Brian also previously put out a tribute compilation to No Limit records as well that asked bands to write songs around the idea of No Limit records. The DIY to stardom aspect of those labels are what inspired Deathbomb. Also the question of what it means to be a white person from suburban LA who loves southern gangster rap. The exploration, the experiment, was the point.

“Call it mysoginist, but those Southern labels supported more female acts at that time than any other label, I can name more female rappers from New Orleans than I can from any other city.” Earlier I mistakenly referred to Percy Miller (aka Master P, head of No Limit) as Patrick Miller, and Bill Hutson corrected me as soon as it came out of my mouth. I apologized. Dude is serious about his rap and hiphop.

What's the point of any music?

It would be taking advantage of the privilege of having so many experimental, electro-acoustic interference, musique concrète geeks in the same room to not ask: What is the point ? What is the point of music with little rhythm, few words, unrecognizable instruments? I look to the very intelligent members of this very noisy label for help.

“I might be the wrong person to answer that,” Steven Cano (aka tik///tik) says “when I’m making my music I feel like I’m Selena in the middle of everything. For me it’s another version of pop music, and that’s how I attack it. It doesn’t mean I don’t listen to other noise artists, but that’s how I know how to make music, that’s where it comes from”

“I love the sounds, personally. I find them exciting, and for me that’s all there needs to be is that the sounds are pleasing to my ears.” Jonathan Snipes says.

“What’s the point of any music?” Bill Hutson says, then crosses his legs and looks away and laughs.

But from I.E. comes something poignant as usual:

“The first time I heard these guys was over The Smell speakers and the hair stood up on my arms. I never knew what noise music was, but I kind of made it, and then when I was starting to become an artist I had the same feelings as these guys, like maybe everyone was a white supremacist or something, and being part of a group meant just getting together and collectively hating things. I tried to hang with punkers, because where I grew up hiphop was the music of gangsters, and though hiphop was my whole life, I didn’t want to be a gangster. Then I met these guys and they had this funky way of liking everything and playing it loud. I didn’t know what noise was but I saw tik///tik, and Beach Balls, and I just felt awesome. I felt so happy that there were people who didn’t discount anything or put things in a box”.

The conversation drifts and I let it. Most of these people haven't sat in the same room together in some time, and combined they have decades of experience making art. Clearly we have music in common, but just like I love to talk about Seattle, they love to talk about LA.

Hutson: “There’s also sort of an assumption—and you see this a lot when you play places that aren’t big cities or you interact with people who like noise but aren’t from big cities—there’s an idea that you’re making an extreme kind of music because you don’t like the music that the guys who picked on you in high school listened to. There’s an assumption that if you like noise that you dislike other things, like because you make this music you don’t like Mandy Moore, but the opposite is true in LA; you can do both.”

Snipes: “There’s so many weird nested little music scenes here that you’re not just part of the 'music scene' there’s a place for you here no matter what you do."

Brian Miller: “What’s been hard to find outside of LA is a scene of people who don’t play music that sounds the same, where the people are related by more abstract concepts and will share the same bill. There is a place for lots of acts who are not appropriate bar-rock acts.”

Hutson: “I’m interested in the character of underground LA music. For instance, what are you doing making music for a very small group of people in the city that produces mainstream culture for most of the world? You can’t be sanctimonious about it, either, because no one here is actually proud of LA. This is a city that when you leave and tell someone where you’re from they have no problem telling you how much they fuckin' hate it. Then they go home turn on their TV and look at my fuckin' city”.

Snipes: “I love LA for that reason. I’m scared of civic pride anyway. It’s like nationalism to me. I love a lot of cities, but I love Los Angeles because we don’t have that. Being from LA is neutral in a weird way, because we’re all at odds with our environment.”

Hutson: “Talking to Sub Pop and playing in Seattle at the Silver Jubilee I couldn’t believe how much un-ironic pride there was in something so simple as a little record label. The whole city stopped, you guys flew a Sub Pop flag from the Space Needle! I saw the mayor walking around the concert in a Sub Pop T-shirt. I just couldn't imagine that happening in LA. Could you imagine a street fair and our landmarks flying flags because we’re proud we made Transformers 3 this year? I love the sincere pride in a cultural product from the city. I told everyone that while I was there.”

This is the genesis of Deathbomb’s latest group project, True Neutral Crew, a trio consisting of Brian Miller, Daveed Diggs, and I.E. that seeks to make music from a truly neutral standpoint. Their original idea for their #Monsanto EP was an album written from Monsanto's point of view. Thankfully, being truly neutral, they made what came out—a smartly written, well-rhymed noise-rap record. But the very structure of the group is representative of their isolation, their lack of an option to have an opinion about. Their refusal to participate in a broken system.

We talked a bit about the "instruments" that Deathbomb artists use. Tik///Tik used a flower electronics brand synth called a little boy blue. The designer, Jessica Rylan, is well respected in the group (indeed, in noise-music circles in general), she did graduate work at Stanford, and she’s now at MIT, but has spent time on tour with Deathbomb happily repairing the gear they smashed, and playing music with them. Christina Bercovitz filmed clipping.'s videos with a Betamax camcorder, and a mini DV recorder after finding the Betamax camcorder in Jonathan's dad’s attic. Their ideas for a dirtier, noisier visual aesthetic are from talking to Hutson and Diggs about BET Uncut, a show that Daveed and Bill stayed up late watching in high school. All the videos from that era were prior to HDTV or any really clear video. I’m surprised to find, however that for all the noises one can find on their collective records, no one is really a gear head. I’m looking around the apartment and see only records and turntables. Jonathan does mention that since clipping. has become associated with Sub Pop they've had access to more resources than every before.

I ask Brian what the future holds, since clipping. is now signed to Sub Pop, and how he feels about them leaving Deathbomb Arc.

Miller: “I’m not afraid to stand up for what I want. I’ve known Jonathan long enough that I’m not embarrassed to ask for what I care about, but I’ve also been invested in his music for over a decade now, so I want to see amazing things happen for him. I have asked if they could do another album on Deathbomb Arc, as well.”

Snipes: “It’s in our contract, the contract is pretty exclusive, like any record contract, but initially it was that we would make music exclusively for Sub Pop, unless it was for a film, because they knew that Bill and I had done a film score together and I had done film scores on my own. And then we were like, we should be able to do a record for Brian, and they said okay. Sub Pop has given us absolutely everything we’ve asked for. I’ve yet to hear anyone say anything bad about them.”

Sub Pop actually found out about clipping. because Miller emailed someone in the label's IT department looking for a place to book a show. He shared midcity and it made such an impression that they got signed. I ask Snipes if he has a plan for the new music.

“Nah.” Everyone laughs uproariously.

“We probably can’t talk too much about it. It’s basically done. It exists, we love it, and if you turn that recorder off we’ll play you a track downstairs.”

I’ve never shut a recorder off faster in my life. I found my way downstairs into clipping.'s studio and started eying gear. I sat down at the back of the small narrow space while Jonathan and Bill decided what to play. In the end, I got to hear two tracks. “They’re too novel,” argued Bill. “They’re all novel,” laughed Jonathan. Jonathan Snipes, Cristina Bercovitz, Bill Hutson, Margot Padilla, Stephen Cano, Brian Miller

What I heard first might take me some time to process. It felt open, concise, like Jay Z's early work, but drugged and thugged, as if that same work had been produced by DJ Screw. The second track I heard absolutely blew my mind. The curatorial genius of Brian Miller, the film score experience of Jonathan Snipes, the distinct taste and unrelenting dedication to sound of William Hutson, and the writing and rapping abilities of Daveed Diggs came through like a rejuvenating force. What began as “harsh noise”—perhaps the harshest particular noise I can think of—becomes a gorgeous heavenly chord when matched with other harsh (very common) noises up the scale. Like I.E. said, the hair stood up on my arms, things were way out of the box, nothing (not even the noises we're ungrateful we hear) had been discounted, I felt like I belonged. Everyone in the room listened like they were investigating the music. I felt the electronic warmth of the wall of modular synths, MIDI controllers, drum machines and every kind of keyboard you can name. The noise drove through the room, mingled with the flesh, and even Bill and Jonathan enjoyed what they had made. When it was over I.E. looked me dead in the eye and offered to sell me weed, I laughed, because music is my shit, and talking to the folks at Deathbomb Arc already had me high as one can get.

For a good primer with what's going on over at Deathbomb Arc, pick up their new compilation called EVIL. Sales from it go to supporting anti-debt charity rolling jubilee and it features ridiculous spitters like Signor Benedick The Moor and VIPER VENOM, plus gorgeous noise from Sissy Cobb and Dreamcrusher.

#deathbomb arc #deathbomb #clipping #dis fantasy #tik///tik #sean jewell

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markoftheasphodel · 6 years ago

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Some thoughts on the Detroit Production of Hamilton (3/13/19):

1) It was great.

2) Now that we’ve established I had a wonderful time, let’s get into the details.

Given I saw the OBC cast in November of 2015 (minus Josh Groff, as Andrew Rannells was wearing the crown of George III that night), I really wanted to see the spin this touring group gave to the characters. I didn’t get to see the Chicago production but I’ve heard great things about that one from friends who did and I hoped the roadshow coming to Detroit would be equally good.

The venue: My first time in the Fisher Theater, which is a visually lovely venue. I think the audio was generally fine but a few of the faster rap numbers got blurred.

The crowd: Detroit audiences can really pull some shit at rock concerts but honestly the crowd was attentive and tuned-in and actually sat down and hushed up after the Intermission, which the NYC audience DID NOT. Extremely diverse crowd, too.

The actors:

Peter Matthew Smith made for an extremely malicious King George. The audience loved it but I didn’t recall the humor being quite that OTT with either Groff on the album or Rannells live.

Cherry Torres played Peggy Schuyler/Maria Reynolds last night and was fine.

Chaundre Hall-Broomfield played Mulligan/Madison and also was fine but didn’t quite capture the nuances that Okieriete Onaodowan brought to the role IMO.

Jon Viktor Corpuz played Laurens/Philip Hamilton and had a very different stage presence than pretty, pretty Anthony Ramos. I think I preferred Ramos as Laurens (shining idealistic martyr/auxiliary love interest) and Corpuz as Philip (bright, willful child with too much on his shoulders).

Bryson Bruce played Lafayette/Jefferson and I figured that would be the toughest role to play and while I definitely preferred Daveed Diggs as Lafayette, Bryson did prove quite the scene-stealer as Jefferson. Maybe a bit too much so-- as with Smith’s George, some of the antics of Bruce’s TJ were broadly played compared with what I recall from the OBC. He did play off against Hall-Broomfield very well in both acts.

Paul Oakley Stovall’s Washington can only be called “commanding”-- physically dominating the scene and projecting old George’s real-life anger in several scenes. I love Chris Jackson’s Washington on the OBC recording but Stovall came across more powerful in live performance-- EXCEPT on “One Last Time” where Jackson’s less aggressive Washington had a perfect apotheosis.

Stephanie Umoh was very good as Angelica Schuyler. Renee Elise Goldsberry was spectacular as Angelica.

Hannah Cruz made a lovely Eliza and I enjoyed her every bit as much as I enjoyed Philippa Soo-- except her final scene in “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story” didn’t quite land for me the way it did with the OBC. Her “Burn” made up for it, though.

Josh Tower’s Aaron Burr was definitely not the interpretation I’d seen before. I love love LOVE Leslie Odom Jr’s Burr, but as with Jackson’s Washington, I felt the subtleties of Odom’s Burr got muted in live performance. Tower’s take on the character felt shadier, even a little bit scuzzy right from the get-go (the “trust fund baby” line was a clue). Which, IMO, is a perfectly legit spin on the character-- when Hamilton refuses to back down on calling him a dangerous disgrace, there’s been plenty of evidence before our eyes to support Hamilton’s point. Tower did capture the tender side of Burr in “Dear Theodosia” as well as the shady side, but he wasn’t as elegantly seductive as Odom’s Burr IMO.

I watched Edred Utomi’s Alexander Hamilton very closely, trying to dissect the nuances of the body language in scenes like the “Meet Me Inside” confrontation and other key scenes where different actors have put their stamp on Alexander (example: Utomi didn’t give the cocky little shimmy that LMM performed in “Non-Stop” when boasting about his law career). On the “young, scrappy, hungry” spectrum Utomi hit Young > Scrappy >> Hungry IMO, though he actually did a fine job at playing the older, post-tragedy Hamilton. He definitely differed from LMM in the delivery of some of my favorite tossed-off bits of dialogue. More streetwise, maybe? It wasn’t a carbon copy, it wasn’t a radical change, but there was something subtly different about Utomi and I enjoyed it.

Random chorus moment: One of my absolute favorite lines is “Who the F is this?” in “Non-Stop” and last night it was delivered in a weary way as opposed to the indignant little explosion on the album. Still good but waaaay different.

All in all, good show, but in some ways the touring production felt like it was rendered in broader strokes than the OBC used. King George is more eeeevil, Jefferson is hammier, Burr is shadier, Washington is angrier. The audiences loved King George and TJ and I found Burr and Washington perfectly valid takes on the characters, but taken as a whole those changes added up to a more comic work than I remembered seeing before.

#hamilton #detroit life #text post #long post

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hazyheel · 6 years ago

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Monday Night Raw 4/8/19 Review

We started the night with our new Universal Champion, Seth Rollins, who got just about the loudest burn it down I’ve ever heard. He was showered with you deserve it chants, answering that the WWE in general deserves it. Rollins said that he feels like crap today from the beatdown. He referenced his low blow as questionable tactics, but said that Lesnar would’ve done the same. But then Kofi Kingston and the new Day came out. They all joked around for a while, until Kofi challenged Rollins to a winner take all match tonight. Seth accepted, and the match was booked for the main event.

Grade: B. A simple promo segment, and everyone in it had good chemistry and were quite funny. And it was an exciting main event to book, especially right after Wrestlemania.

Then we had a Raw Tag Team Championship match, a repeat from Wrestlemania, Zack Ryder and Kurt Hawkins vs. The Revival. It was similar to their match on the pre show, even with Hawkins feigning a leg injury to grab a roll up for a near fall. The Revival continued their hard hitting strategy, even hitting a sort of knee drop and burning hammer combo for a near fall. In the finish, Hawkins got a blind tag, and the Revival nailed Ryder with a shatter machine, only for Hawkins to roll up Dawson for the win once again.

Grade: C-. The commercial break really hurt this match, as it immensly disrupted the flow of the match. Without the fun idea of Hawkins getting his first win, this match suffered, especially for its lack of time. These teams can put on a good match, but not with this little time. Love Ryder and Hawkins, and I hope that they end up as good champions.

Baron Corbin was out next for a promo about his match with Angle last night. He basically dueled with the crowd through the entire promo, before saying that he deserved a medal. Kurt Angle then came out, kinda ruining the fact that I cried at his retirement last night. Angle acted like he was gonna wish him luck, but quickly hit an angle slam, locked in an ankle lock, to a huge pop. However, Lars Sullivan then finally made his debut, hitting Angle with the freak accident in an awesome debut.

Grade: B-. I was a lot more critical of this segment until Lars Sullivan came out. I was into that debut, we got Angle to put over two up and comers as he left

Now I don’t know what happened to set up this match, other than the vague idea that Alexa Bliss made fun of Bayley for losing last night, but the two had an interesting match. Bayley showed a much more vicious side, attempting to cheat at one point and also nailed a sunset flip powerbomb into the corner. However, Bliss quickly won with a DDT.

Grade: B-. Pretty good match, nothing more to say about that.

Next up, Becky Lynch came out to address her win from last night, looking very happy with her two belts. She received you deserve it chants. She couldn’t even get a word in as the crowd drowned her out with various cheers. She said that she will always find a way to win, no matter what the odds are, prompting “your the man,” from the crowd. She said that she would take down any challengers that came for her, prompting a Lacey Evans to do a catwalk. Except this time, she took a look at Lynch’s belts. Evans then finally did a wrestle, hitting her straight in the face, before the two brawl. It was a wild fight up the ramp, with Lynch coming out on top, probably because Evans was fighting in heels and a dress.

Grade: B+. This was going to get a worse grade if it had just been the promo, because Lynch’s scripting has gone downhill since she was actually written as a face. But Lacey’s attack was actually great, and the brawl was very very fun. I am into Evans being the next challenger for the belts, whatever capacity that may be in. Hell, if they are willing to slow burn this, then Lacy could even beat Lynch for them. As along as they build her up first.

Backstage, Charly asked Rollins why he accepted the champion vs. champion challenge. Rollins said that while he is into the challenge, it was disrespectful for Kofi to invade Raw like that. This is his show, and he will defend its honor. He then said that B+ wouldn’t get the job done, so Kingston has to bring his A game. Awesome promo.

Then we had a tag match, Ricochet and Aleister Black vs. Bobby Roode and Chad Gable. Unfortunately, Black’s bored thing that picks him up didn’t work, but he waited for a good music cue to actually stand. The teams had a fast paced match, with each team understanding their rolls very well. While the teams clearly weren’t attempting to have a classic in the ring, they still did quite well. The fans were very hot for this match as well. Towards the end of the match, Gable bent the rules a bit as the ref was distracted and he pushed Ricochet off the top rope in an odd heel move. Roode and Gable then hit the moonsualt neckbreaker combo, before Black broke it up. Roode and Black fought outside the ring as Ricochet nailed a codebreaker for the win. It seemed like that would be in, but Roode landed a cheapshot to Ricochet. Seems like that was a heel turn, or possibly just teasing it for later on.

Grade: B-. Good match, but a very odd finish. I get having Black and Ricochet win, but when Roode and Gable attacked, I got confused. Black and Ricochet attacked the Revival after their matches all the time, but got no booing. So is that a heel move, or isn’t it? Just odd. Very good match though.

Backstage, Elias played guitar in a dressing room, before addressing the crowd about Cena’s burial last night. He said that he has a musical number for the night, which is fun. But he said that he would murder anyone who tried to interrupt him. I’m exaggerating, but if I got interrupted as much as him, then I’d probably kill someone too. After a commercial break, there was the weirdest promo for a debut ever, with a small bird thing in a box either laughing or coughing or some combination of both. The only thing I think it could be is the Gobbledegooker’s kid or something. I have no clue.

Then, Dean Ambrose had his final WWE match. It was him against Bobby Lashley, who said that he would take care of Renee while Ambrose was gone. Ambrose then attacked him all over ringside, even hitting a Dirty Deeds on the stage. He then destroyed the announce table, without even looking at Renee so that was weird. He then ate a spear from Lashley before being thrown through the table. Renee sat at his side while doctors ran over. The crowd chanted thank you ambrose, as he lie in pain.

Grade: C-. Underwhelming segment, but they have been burying the guy for months, so I understand. But I liked having Renee actually involved in a story. Fun times, and I wish Ambrose the best in his career. Wherever you go, ROH, AEW, CZW or elsewhere, you will always be special in our hearts. Thank you Dean, hope to see you or Jon Moxley soon.

Mojo Rawley continued his weird promos, now with odd blue veins coming from his eye. Don’t know what that is about, but I don’t really care.

Out came Sami Zayn, returning from injury and immediately tripped. It was endearing. I love him, glad to see him get a face reaction upon his return. They even did the Ole chants, which was a fun throwback. He cut a promo, just being happy and so fun. I was smiling ear to ear. I really really like face Sami. Sami asked for a match, and new Intercontinental Champion Finn Balor responded. He made this a title match, and the crowd was thrilled to hear that. In the match, Zayn was not taking the match too seriously, but he did get some good offense in. As the match wore on, Zayn began to take the match more and more seriously, hitting some pretty violent strikes while Balor was in the ropes. Finn nearly hit Coup de Gras, but Zayn dodged and got a rollup. He hit the exploder suplex into the corner, but missed the helluva kick and ate a coup de gras in his return. After the match, Zayn soaked up some applause, and cut another promo. He was pretty gassed, and he made a very odd heel turn. He ripped into the crowd, saying that they made the WWE toxic. He then said that we only get enjoyment out of being critics, which felt oddly personal. It was really weird to be called out for being too judgmental as I reviewed his heel turn. But anyway, he took shots a the crowd, and told everyone to go to hell.

Grade: B. Pretty good match. Loved to see Sami back in the ring, and even though he lost, I am sure he will get back on track sooner rather than later. I am looking forward to seeing what they do with him in the coming weeks, and I hope that he wins a belt. Although, I think that he should be a babyface before he gets it. He is a much better face, and I was bummed when he turned heel. And he hurt my feelings, so that sucked :(. Leave me alone, Sami. Let me wallow in my self pity, and judge you for being a asshole without any repercussions. I hide behind a keyboard for a reason, dick. It’s because I am scared of the truth that I don’t have any real talent. This grade got away from me a bit. Good match, upsetting turn.

Backstage, a new interviewer named Sarah talked to Dana Brooke, who said that she was in the running to fight Becky, sooner rather than later. Very clunky promo, but I love her so it is okay.

Then Elias’ concert, where he immediately fired back at John Cena, saying that he is garbage and riding Elias’ coattails. He then tried to rap, which was funny. He was very bland when delivering not great lines, and it was enjoyable. He then said that he would kill anyone who interrupted him, and Undertaker came out! This was a surprise, I assumed that he had retired for good this time. But he got a big pop. Elias tried to stand up to the deadman. but he got beat up with a chokeslam and tombstone.

Grade: B-. I have softened on these types of segments happening to Elias, because his role is not one that can really be damaged with losses. He will eventually get a midcard title, and getting beat up by the Undertaker isn’t going to hurt that. And it was fun to see him again.

And in the main event, Seth Rollins and Kofi Kingston faced off in a winner take all match. The two squared off with various holds and armbars and such, just feeling each other out in the beginning. After coming back from commercial, the two champions began heavy chops against one another. At one point, Kofi had thrown Rollins off the top rope to the outside, and was about to go for some sort of flying move, but the Bar attacked instead. So, the match changed to a tag match, and I was much less excited. So was the crowd, who chanted bullshit. The Bar destroyed both champions, beating them down until Kingston got the hot tag. The Bar still got a lot of offense in, but Kingston and Rollins stood tall after a Curb stomp to Cesaro.

Grade: C+. This match was supposed to be epic, but quickly became just another tag match. So it begs the question, why advertise the first match? Just book this one and be done with it. If you don’t get our hopes up, we won’t boo as much.

Overall Grade: C+. Even though there was nothing particularly terrible, there wasn’t a lot of surprises for a post mania raw. So that makes it suffer a bit.

Pros: Lars Sullivan Debut; Lacey Evans finally did something; Black and Ricochet vs. Roode and Gable; Sami Zayn return; Undertaker beatdown

Cons: Sami Zayn heel turn; straight up lied about the main event; underwhelming matches;

And before I stop the review, I am going to give one last goodbye to Dean Ambrose. You will be missed.

#hazyheel #wwe #wwe review #raw #raw review #wwe raw #wwe raw review #monday night raw #monday night raw review #pro wrestling #pro wrestling debut #wwe monday night raw #wwe monday night raw review

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cordellarecords-blog · 6 years ago

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MADISON MARIE MCCARTHY ☆ TWENTY-SEVEN☆ SOLO ARTIST

Also Known As: SØLO

Hometown: Seattle, WA

Gender: Cisfemale

Sexuality: Bisexual

DOB: December 21st

Job on Tour: Solo Artist

Voiceclaim: Amy Renee Noonan ( Karmin / Qveen Herby )

A LITTLE ABOUT…

The name McCarthy would always come out as a name, to Madison, that meant ‘perfection’. Growing up as a McCarthy meant the suffocating ideals of her parents always wanting her and her siblings to be perfect. The McCarthy parents were musical artists themselves, signed to Park Records, which meant that the McCarthy siblings were always traveling no matter what alongside their parents. It got to the point that their family would push them into multiple activities to gain any sort of attention towards them, including but not limited to: any acts they could put on stage, familit made their y music acts, gymnastics and acrobatics.

This continued until high school where the McCarthy parents finally realized that their children could not be really raised in a proper home when they didn’t actually have a home and spent the majority of their time on tour buses or hotels of that sort of nature. So that’s when the McCarthy family bought a home in Seattle. Though when Madison looks back at their decision to actually have a home, it was more to dump their children somewhere and not actually deal with them. Madison then took over a role as the motherly figure and took care of everything- only really seeing her parents a few days out of the entire year. They just weren’t attentive parents and every person they hired to take care of the children was practically dismissed from Madison as she had stepped up to the plate.

It was difficult to try and balance both her school life (no longer being homeschooled) and her family life with zero personal time other than extra afterschool related activities. A lot of time was thrown into cheerleading and singing, including making fun little videos with her brother of their many talents- to try and form their own version of fame without their parents name attached. One year they had decided to upload a few covers of songs that Madison could accurately (and with precision) rap onto Yotuube. None of them had actually expected the videos to take off (one of the most known ones being a ‘Look at me now’ cover. It turned into them being confronted by their parents records to start a solo pop/rap with Madison as the only artist, however, she demanded her brother be apart of it as she always wanted to keep him included into things. This created their very pop and cheesy group of ‘Twinning’.

After a few years, Park Records started to be more and more demanding of content, the group acting a certain way, making more and more statements on this and that, and serious about pushing what Madison and her group made to the point where she felt suffocated. Many people recall 2013 as the year that Madison McCarthy lost it. She flipped out on social media, flipped out on her record label and completely ghosted everyone. A few of them saw her traveling around the states and just cleansing her life. It wasn’t until 2017 that she finally came back with a completely different label and a completely different look. SØLO came out and completely turned heads, though it wasn’t expected at all.

It took many many people awhile to realize that this was Madison from Twinning-- and sometimes they still don’t make the connection, but the career move has been far more liberating and she’s able to do herself without feeling limited to whatever the label wants (though of course, there’s still suggestions).

*Bio implies that Mason was her duo-partner however can be changed to not-Mason, or even a different sibling of the McCarthys, if desired.

#taken #all #takenfemale

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jemej3m · 5 years ago

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incarnate (p3)

Hheeere uuu goooooooo (OooOoooooOOooOOoOooO) - p2

Andrew rocked up to the weekly gathering, basically in his pyjamas. Neither him nor Kevin were early risers, but Kevin had the gall to actually come to these things appropriately dressed.

Andrew had just chucked a sweater over his t-shirt, tucked his pyjama pants into boots, yanked a beanie over his head and shuffled into his overcoat. Erik and Nicky - who lived in the second bedroom of their apartment - didn’t look much more presentable than he did, slomping around like zombies until they’d knocked back some coffee.

Why Wymack and Dan held these gatherings at sunrise was beyond Andrew. He hated every single fucking time the little fox dropped off the acorn message at their door. How the fox even managed to get inside the building without triggering security was a wonder in itself. Andrew couldn’t wait to move out into a house.

They’d all crammed into the car, revved up the engine way too loud for almost five in the morning, and cruised till they arrived to the edge of town.

They all trudged through the forest till they’d arrived at the clearing where Palmetto held all their most powerful rituals and flamboyant gatherings. It also happened to be where Andrew had summoned the demon - Neil - maybe two weeks ago.

He still had no idea what he wanted from the thing. He didn’t want anything, really. He’d never wanted anything.

Andrew lit a cigarette when they arrived to the clearing, waiting for the others to show up. Renee, Dan and Allison were already there: Renee, smiling like an angel, Allison, looking like a god-send and Dan acting like she owned the place, formally greeting the others upon their arrival.

Renee sidled up to Andrew, nudging their shoulders. “Something’s changed about your aura. Something lighter.”

Odd. He would have thought a demon summoning would’ve put a blemish on his soul, or whatever bullshit Renee actually bought into. He just shrugged.

“The whole place seems a little different, really.” Renee said. “Like its recovering from something big. You wouldn’t have been here recently, would you?”

“Everyone hangs around here.” He said flatly. “We’re a bunch of witches and this is the coven’s gathering circle.”

“Of course.” Renee said easily. “It could have been any one of us. It’s definitely not Kevin, though. He looks far too guilty.”

Andrew’s gaze travelled across to where Kevin was mulling about the exact spot Neil had appeared the first time. Andrew muttered angrily under his breath and stalked over, dragging Kevin by the arm.

“Hey!” Kevin complained. “I was just checking -”

“Shut it.” Andrew hissed. “Fuck this up and I’ll tell everyone exactly who hexed the coven in an attempt to get rid of his tattoo and ended up giving everyone shitty tramp stamps. We clear?”

Kevin gulped. “Crystal.”

The recognisable footsteps of Wymack were heard by everyone: They all stood to the clearing’s edge as he arrived, flanked by Abby and Bee. Bee smiled at Andrew warmly and tapped her wrist ( “Talk later?” ). Andrew rolled his eyes and nodded.

“Boyd and the neophyte will get here soon.” Wymack said gruffly, brushing himself off. A twig was still stuck out of his hair and Abby plucked it out fondly. “Yes, that’s why I’ve called you all here. We’re initiating a witch into the Palmetto coven this morning.”

Two sets of footsteps neared the clearing. One set familiar - heavy and rhythmic, like Boyd’s heart rate - and the other flighty and nervous. As they appeared, Andrew’s heart bottomed out into his stomach.

“Neil Josten.” Wymack gestured for him to step forward. “Welcome to the Palmetto coven.”

Neil nodded gently, eyes scouring the circle that greeted him. He looked human - the scars on his face and arms were gone, and his eyes were a normal (still devilishly gorgeous) shape and shade of blue. When his eyes flit to Andrew and Kevin, he had to stifle the hints of a grin.

“Step into the centre: everyone else, join hands.” Wymack instructed. Andrew hated this part of the initiation, twisting his fingers with Renee’s and Kevin’s. Everyone’s energy flowed freely between them. He could feel the valliant leadership from Dan, Allison’s lures and illusions, Bee’s soothing calm, Abby’s healing tisanes, clarity and forgiveness from Renee, strength and loyalty from Matt, Kevin’s logic and perfection, Nicky’s boisterousness and sunshine and Erik’s curiosity and perseverance.

When Neil bowed his head, they all took a startled step back. Of course it’d be something unlike any of them had ever witnessed: Neil was a creature of pure magic. Not like humans, who were poor conductors at best. His power glossed over Andrew’s skin like gold dust and he opened his eyes.

Neil’s glamours had held up, but they wouldn’t be good enough for Renee and Bee. Regardless, they both smiled and went to Neil to welcome him alongside the rest of the coven. He looked lost and somewhat uncomfortable with all their friendly introductions, looking frantically from witch to witch.

Andrew kept back: Kevin did too. Wymack glanced to them only once, shaking his head.

“He’s so strong.” Kevin murmured. “He could - Andrew, he could teach us stuff! Will you ask him to?”

“Like I’m going to waste my one wish on your needless pursuits for knowledge.” Andrew muttered, letting his head fall to one side. Even Kevin’s rattling couldn’t distract him from the way Neil’s eyelashes fanned out across his cheeks, the way the tip of his nose curved perfectly to his lips.

Andrew would never ask for that. There was no consent in magically inclined bindings. But so long as he could appreciate from afar, it wouldn’t be a problem.

Oh, how Andrew hadn’t had a clue.

three moon cycles later

“It’s the fall equinox, it’s the fall equinox!” Neil crowed, sitting on Andrew’s dresser with his ankles crossed and rapping against the wooden surface with his knuckles. “Wake up, morons. Is that an appropriate insult? I’m still not very good with insults. Although I have decided that you humans are rather feeble: Almost pathetic. So maybe dweebs is a better term?”

Andrew blinked awake blearily, not realising he’d set a hyper-active demon to go off at six o’clock in the morning rather than his usual Kevin-Day-Getting-Bored-And-Wanting-To-Research-Or-Practise alarm.

“How’d you get in here?” Kevin said, waving his hands around in a futile effort to block the rays of sun that peered through the window: Neil, the little bastard, had opened the curtains. “Andrew, didn’t we set up protective wards?”

“Neil’s a part of the coven.” Andrew muttered. “He can bypass them. He’s been bypassing them for two and a half months now.”

“Who decided it’d be a good idea to bring a demon into the coven?”

“Matt’s.”

“To be fair, he still doesn’t know.” Neil chirped. “And I’m right here: I can hear everything you two are say. And some things you aren’t saying.”

Kevin sat up, shirtless and still half asleep. “What, you can read minds now?”

“I’ve always been able to read everyone’s intentions and emotions.” Neil corrected him. “It’s rather necessary for one’s survival. I’d teach you how to block it, but that wouldn’t be any fun.”

“You’re the worst.” Kevin groused, stumbling to his feet and disappearing into the bathroom.

Andrew finally sat up and checked his arm-bands were there, pulling a hoodie that’d been stuffed between his bed and the wall over his head. Neil watched him with his head cocked to the side. Andrew didn’t care. It’d been three months of having a pet demon and Andrew really couldn’t care less about the five-foot-three nuisance.

“I lied before.” Neil said, softly. He was still sitting atop of Andrew’s dresser, effectively blocking Andrew from grabbing a clean pair of boxers. “I can read everyone’s intentions and emotions - except yours.”

“Now that’s some Twilight bullshit.” Andrew grunted, checking over his plants with careful fingertips. “Do you glitter in the sun, too?”

“I hate it when you make pop-culture references.” He complained. “I never understand them.”

“Forget it. Why can’t you read me?”

He shrugged. “Most demons back home are very good at concealing themselves, but humans have never been. Renee is also practised, as is Bee, but your soul is far more intricately protected.”

Andrew closed his eyes momentarily. “It needs to be.”

“Right.” Neil said, unconvinced. “I just hope you’re not constricting yourself in the process.”

Andrew flipped him off.

“What? I’m just making observations.”

“Well, make your observations elsewhere. I need to get to my drawers.”

Neil, in a rare moment of complacency, did as he was told. He sat on the edge of Andrew’s bed instead and leaned forward. “Have you thought about what you want from me?”

Andrew ignored him.

“Because it’s the fall equinox, and I can draw a lot of power tonight. I should use it to escape.” Neil admitted.

Andrew slowly turned. “What?”

Neil looked up at him from under his curly fringe. He’d let loose his glamour again - fuck, those eyes got Andrew every damned time - and he hadn’t really cut his hair for however long he’d been here. It was getting ridiculously long. Andrew wanted to run his fingers through it.

“I can’t stay.” He said. “My father will find me. He’ll break into this realm somehow and ruin everything. I have to leave before he does.”

“Fuck that. You’re not going anywhere.”

Neil looked back down at his hands. They shook slightly: He balled them in his trousers, a pair ratty pair of jeans. Andrew crouched in front of him.

“Neil,” He said. “I have the journal. I have you. If he wants to cause trouble, I’ll send him to Hell’s ninth fucking circle, got it? You’re staying.”

“But -” He tried.

“No.” Andrew reached out to pinch his lips shut. “Quiet, before you say something ludicrous. Stay out of trouble and I’ll watch your back. Clear?”

Neil’s lips fought free of Andrew’s fingertips to smile, a small thing that was so reserved but unrepentant all the same. Andrew hated it. “Crystal.”

#andreil #witch!andrew #demon!neil #someone kick me its going to get angsty #i promised myself it wouldnt and i failed #all for the game #fantasy au #magic au #neil josten #andrew minyard #spooktober au #jem writes

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potter-imagines · 8 years ago

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Being Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Daughter...

Lin would cry the day you were born but he would also brag a lot.

He’d shower you with gifts but he was also careful not to overdo it

Chances are, (depending on your age and whatever year you’d picture this for) you’d be friends with a lot of the Hamilton cast/ and or their kids

There’s no doubt about it you’d be a freestyling genius much like him and musically talented.

And Lin would be so proud of this

Lin’s heart would melt every time you called him ‘dad’

He is probably one of the most caring, sweetest, and involved father out there.

And if your mother wasn’t in the picture, Lin would be sure to work to fill in her shoes.

He would attend all your school events and extra curriculars too.

On mother’s day he would plan a brunch inviting his sister and mother over making sure you knew you weren’t alone when it came to the amount of females in your life.

Whenever he goes to Richard Rodgers Theatre or goes to work for whatever project he’s working on he is constantly pulling his phone out to show his fellow coworkers pictures of you

He can’t help it

But one thing is for sure, Lin would make sure you knew how strong of a woman you were. Being a strong activist for equal rights Lin knew how easy it was for girls in today’s society to feel weak and defeated by the powerful and he never wanted you to experience that. So he would make post-it notes and stick them in your lunchbox, on your mirror, and anywhere he could find with sayings such as…

“I am woman hear me roar!” “Though she be but little, she is fierce!” “A strong woman looks fear in the eye and gives it but a wink.” “You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think.”

And because your father is one of the most encouraging and inspiring figures in the world, not only in tweets but reality as well, he excels at giving the best, most needed pep talks when you’re down in the dumps.

Lin had you speaking Spanish as soon as you said your first word

Lin would practically document your entire life. He liked taping you and taking pictures while you were doing casual activities such as coloring, singing, dancing, playing with your dolls, running around the house, etc.

Tobillo basically being your best friend

That dog follows you wherever you go

Lin has thousands of videos from when you were learning to walk, practically waddling around and Tobillo was right on your heel the entire time following you.

The whole Hamilton cast would be obsessed with you

Especially Phillipa

That girl loved you as if you were her own

And if you were old enough, you would join the Schuyler Sisters in their inbetween shows closet talk.

Sleep overs at Jasmine and Anthony’s while your dad is out of town

And they would absolutely LOVE having you over

You made them want to have kids that much more and Anthony loved taking you to the movies and Jasmine loved taking you out shopping

Speaking of shopping, Renee, Jasmine, and Phillipa are always spoiling you with the newest trends and what nots.

The Hamilton cast would be like another family to you

Always running around backstage with Groffsauce, who usually was assign babysitting duty.

The Schuyler sisters- as well as Leslie teaching you how to harmonize

Daveed loved helping you with your freestyling

You and him always got in heated battles- in good spirits of course

Playing childish games during intermission and between shows with Oak, Daveed, and Anthony.

Trying to braid your dad’s hair during his Hamilton days

Let’s be real, Lin would dedicate Dear Theodosia to you

And during Stay Alive (reprise) and It’s Quiet Uptown he had genuine tears pinching at his eyes as he fathomed the thought of losing you

But Lin would always run to you and spin you around every night after shows

The two of you would walk hand and hand together home and Lin would sing you to sleep every night

He’d love making you breakfast and basking in that domestic life

I could see him making some of the best pancakes in the world

And one morning when you were little, you convinced him to let you have a sip of his coffee

“Daddy, what’s that black stuff in there.” “It’s called coffee, bebé.” “Can I try some?” “Uh, I don’t think so, Y/n. You wouldn’t like it.” “Please, papi.” “Oh alright.”

Like he predicted, you hated it. The liquid burned your throat and young little you cried at the bitterness for at least a minute which broke Lin’s heart.

Lin would be the type of parent that would love to show you off to family and friends but when it came to posting pictures of you on social media, he usually made sure your face was covered, just to keep an element of privacy in his life.

But he does love tweeting stories about you or cute things that you do

Your childhood years would be a little hectic. Lin probably wouldn’t be around as much as he wants with filming, acting, composing and all but he would make an effort of a lifetime to be as involved as possible.

By your late teens you had already seen much of the world but that didn’t mean you were bored by any mean. Adventure was in your soul.

Lin would spend a lot of time with you during his time working with the film Moana. He liked to come to you to find inspiration.

Family trips to Disney World and Land

Lin is constantly trying to help you with his homework

“You know I was a teacher.”

Coming to him when you start learning about the American Revolution

“Well I mean you came to right person. I did write an entire musical about this stuff. Just use the album for a reference, it’s mostly accurate.”

Walking into your house one day after school infuriated as you set your pop quiz on the Schuyler Sisters in front of him, a large 9/10 circled with red pen.

“And I quote, I’m the oldest and the wittiest… My father has no sons… dad you cost me a perfect score! Why did you lie in the lyrics, I thought you said I could trust them!” “I’m sorry I forgot they had other siblings!”

Similar to your father, you swore like a sailor

Which also meant you were constantly getting scolded and death glares from your father who claims “He didn’t raise you to speak like that.” Even though you both know he did.

But honestly I could see Lin being into girl drama. Like when he picks you up from school and sees an annoyed look on your face he’d just shake his head and say,

“Spill the tea, honey. I’m ready!”

And on your bad days after dropping you off at home after school, Lin would drive to the nearest DQ and Chick-Fil-A and movie store returning home with gifts in toll.

He was one of the only people in the world you trusted enough to tell everything too

Dad jokes, so many dad jokes.

“Dad I’m thirsty. Do we have any-“ “Hi thirsty nice to meet you I’m Lin-Manuel.”

Being very close with your grandparents

Your grandpa teaching you how to cook

Your grandma would spoil you tbh

Girl talk with your Aunt Luz

Your dad would be really big on making sure you knew and understood the importance of equality and treating others with respect.

Weekly meals at their place where your grandpa is also telling tales

“You know pequeño, when your father was your age I couldn’t get him to shut up!” “Papi-“ “He was always doing his rapping, talking fast and never making sense but he had passion just like yourself so don’t you ever give up on yourself carino. If your father did he would not be where he is today- and neither would you.” “Thank you abuelo.”

And when you finally do make it, doing whatever or being wherever that may be, you’ll have Lin’s as well as the rest of your families support because Lin knows exactly what it feels like to have millions of people doubt you and laugh at you for doing the unexpected so his support will never run out.

When Lin finds out you have a passion for writing and composing, he immediately takes you with him for a daddy daughter date to the studio.

He pretends to be out of ideas for a song and you play along knowing it would be a lot less painful to take the easy path.

“Well there are a few different projects I’ve been working on lately. They aren’t too good… pretty shitty-“ “Y/n.” “Sorry… but uh, you can have a look I suppose.”

Becoming a co writer beside your dad on his next project

Going on walks and hikes together with Tobillo

But for real though Lin would be insanely protective over you

Like when it comes to you Lin always needs to know where you are and constantly has eyes on you

When you got your first boyfriend/girlfriend Lin would FLIP

You’d suddenly become a player in the game ’21 questions’ or more like 101 questions when it came to your dad

He demanded meeting your significant other and no matter the gender, he held his strong demeanor and hardly cracked a smile- well until he saw how happy you looked in their presence.

But eventually he’d come to term with it. Although he would always see you as his little girl, he knew you had to spread your wings and he was not about to hold you back from doing so.

And when you finally land a lead role on an upcoming Broadway show, Lin is ecstatic.

Every day he calls you to ask how rehearsals are going partly because he’s interested and excited for you but also because he remembers his restless days and nights where he’d come home so stressed he’d forget to eat for days. He didn’t want to see you go through the hardships he did.

Ironically enough the new production is held, opening night, in the same old theater you grew up in, Richard Rodgers. Home sweet home.

And on opening night you can guarantee your father is sitting front row with four bouquets of various flowers surrounded by all your family and friends as well as a handful of the original and new Hamilton cast.

And he would cry. A lot.

But he would also be that dad that right before the show starts, as the lights are dimming, he stands up and shouts,

“Go Y/n!”

His proud dad tweets would be never ending that night

After the production he was sure to be the first backstage and the first to hug you.

“You did it, you did it! I’m so proud of you, mi ángel. Congratulations!”

You’d be lying to yourself if you said your dad didn’t have a surprise party planned for after the play because he did.

Not to be a downer but there would be days where Lin would cry himself to sleep thinking he hasn’t done enough, or given you the life you deserve. He worked himself far too hard to make sure you had everything you could ever need and knew you were loved, but sometimes he couldn’t help but fear the worst.

Although at times he can be overbearing, you wouldn’t want it anyway else.

This was so fun to write oh my lord, hope you enjoyed!

-Daizy xx

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womenofcolor15 · 5 years ago

Text

Lil Nas X Drops 'Panini' Video + Kevin Hart Dragged (And Defended) Over His Comments To The Rapper About Him Coming Out

After performing the song in a similar look at the MTV VMAs recently, Lil Nas X just dropped the official video to his newest single "Panini." Go inside his futuristic world and find out why Kevin Hart is being criticized as he recovers from his accident.

Set in a futuristic world of flying cars and hologram billboards, X tapped Disney actress Skai Jackson to star in the vid, showing her in an attempt to escape Lil Nas X as he pops up everywhere she goes, trying to win her over as a fan. Ha. By the way, the treatment idea for the visual came directly from X himself and was brought to life and directed by special effects artist, musician and YouTuber Mike Diva.

Lil Nas X previously revealed that “Panini” is a song about a fan who loves you in the early stages of your career for the cool factor of knowing about something before it becomes mainstream, and that fan feeling like they’ve outgrown you when the rest of the world catches on. Sounds about typical.

And if you're trying to watch it in school, X has got you covered:

if u wanna see panini and u at school act like ur stomach hurting and ask to go to the bathroom

— nope (@LilNasX) September 5, 2019

Peep the blacklight, neon filled video below:

youtube

The video comes out on the heels of Lil Nas X's appearance on Lebron James' HBO show, "The Shop." In last night's season premiere, things got heated when the rapper, Kevin Hart, Charlamagne tha God, and other guests began a question about homosexuality.

.@lilnasx speaks the truth about his choice to come out while at the top. More of The Shop on @HBO now! pic.twitter.com/wETNaPUU5t

— UNINTERRUPTED (@uninterrupted) September 4, 2019

In the 1 minute clip taken from the full premiere episode, Kevin interrupts Lil Nas X's response, saying "So what?!", when the host asks the rapper about choosing to "come out" while he's at a peak in his career.

Some folks thought it came off as dismissive and silencing, especially when Kevin felt the wrath of the LGBT community and allies himself recently in his career due to comments he made about not wanting his son to be gay. The comedian made it seem like X coming out wasn't a big deal, but, isn't it? Even if it's a big deal in a positive way?

Others believed he wasn't being dismissive, and that he was simply saying it shouldn't be a big deal that someone came out. They believe he was actually supporting Lil Nas X in his own way. X had a response to that though when he finished his explanation. He said he's actually solidifying the fact that it's not a big deal if he makes this reveal at the top of his career and it doesn't affect his career, instead of waiting to use it as a publicity stunt.

Check out the debate below:

Kevin Hart got me tight the entire interview, but I think he was trying to say that being gay shouldn’t be a big deal to Nas. Even tho for someone like Lil Nas and everything he’s done, being gay is definitely a big deal, and that’s obv what Lil Nas was trying to explain

— Joshua Bautista (@joshb3600) September 5, 2019

This Kevin Hart shit pisses me off, that whole interview pisses me off, I can’t stand when straight people ask why it’s a big deal to come out and then say no one cares if people are gay. Fuck you if you think that. Open your eyes.

— soph (@itsmrstealyour_) September 5, 2019

That Lil Nas X/Kevin Hart clip is a prime reason Black gay men hate going to the barbershop. It’s often a space for (straight) Black men to bash Black women and Black LGBTQ people with very few people challenging that toxic environment.

— Preston Mitchum (@PrestonMitchum) September 4, 2019

If Kevin Hart is still in the hospital, I hope his nurse is gayer than Billy Porter in June.

— Saeed Jones (@theferocity) September 4, 2019

the stupidity of kevin hart telling lil nas x that the world doesn’t care if people are gay anymore. what world are you living in??????

— renee (@chalametsqueen) September 5, 2019

Wow Kevin hart really has the nerve to say “so what” to a famous young black man for coming out, when half his jokes are about slapping his son for “acting gay” LMAO wow

— the qing of queens (@emoilia) September 5, 2019

i can understand where things could be taken out of context but Kevin Hart has literally said he would beat his kid if they were gay-so that’s all i really needed to know about him to form an opinion on him and think that he’s out of line on any queer issues.

— payne (@payneywayney7) September 5, 2019

Others say the people who are criticizing simply didn't watch the full episode:

Twitter: Kevin Hart is homophobic look at how he gaslight lil nas x Reality: #TheShopHBO pic.twitter.com/hqJRPqnMc7

— Zan (@GodZanMarino) September 5, 2019

Kevin Hart could have been quiet as a mouse on that Barbershop episode with @LilNasX and folks would have still been upset on some “his silence speaks volumes...he’s so homophobic” type shit.

This outrage/easily offended culture is lame af.

— joshtooclutch (@JoshTooClutch) September 5, 2019

Y’all asses ain’t even watch the full interview of the Kevin Hart and lil nasx shit y’all annoying “Kevin Hart homophobic” man ain’t no damn homophobic. When he said that joke bout his son being gay niggas thought that was the funniest shit. now it’s not y’all wild

— SKINNY (@senorskinny) September 5, 2019

I definitely think y’all taking Kevin hart saying “so what ; he’s gay who cares” the wrong way lol.....

Calling his accident karma is foul regardless

— Durrell (@DGIBBS89) September 5, 2019

Literally the only time homophobia crosses my mind, is when I'm on Twitter defending straight black men against charges of it.

Black men have too much on our plates to be worried about who other people are fucking - THAT'S what Kevin Hart was saying to Nas X.

— BeeMoe Siddy (@DubAnders) September 5, 2019

Thoughts?

Photos: Columbia/Kevin's IG

[Read More ...] source http://theybf.com/2019/09/05/lil-nas-x-drops-panini-video-kevin-hart-dragged-and-defended-over-his-comments-to-the-rap

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swan-archive · 8 years ago

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so: ya gal viewed a Certain Notorious Play the other night in SF

a little post-mortem, because i just KNOW you all needed another one of THOSE

Michael Luwoye was a wonderful Hamilton. i know it’s catty to rag on LMM’s voice, but really, the sheer DIFFERENCE it makes when you have an actor with a powerful voice in the role. doesn’t even compare. he roared and howled and bellowed and felt like a tiny compact hurricane bursting off the stage. amazing.

- i specify “tiny” because he was VISIBLY SHORTER than both Solea Pfeiffer and Amber Iman. TINY HAM IS CANON

- Luwoye’s act 1 young Ham was maybe the cutest thing i’ve ever seen! he was SO thrilled to meet Burr and SO excited to make friends and SO jazzed to go out drinking and revolution-ing with them, just so desperate to be liked and find a place and make his name. cute boy. excitable boy.

- not to monster au at yall but Luwoye literally SNARLED “call me son ONE MORE TIME” and uuuuhhhhhh it’s all canon, all monster aus are canon now, i don’t make the rules, i just live in fear of them like yall do

- and then the turnaround between that and a more tired, more morally compromised, running-out-of-options Ham in act 2! a really deft character shift and one that was delightful to watch.

- interesting little character moment: from what i’ve heard/seen most Hamiltons jump right back into the game after “Say No To This,” bantering with Burr and bouncing off to the meeting with Jefferson and Madison to Get Shit Done. Luwoye did not play it like this. his Hamilton was visibly wrung out and sick at heart at the beginning of “Room Where It Happens,” answering Burr in clipped monosyllables and not looking at him and standing all stiff and still until he started to mimic Burr’s “talk less / smile more” in an intentionally crude and sorta nasty style. this Ham was not happy to have to take a page out of Burr’s book.

- Luwoye’s “Hurricane” was a powerhouse. the rapped section was this howl of defiance that nearly knocked me out of my seat, Ham standing there and daring God to do His worst and vowing he’d get back up again. ooooooof. intense.

- Luwoye emoted like a MOTHERFUCKER. his break in “It’s Quiet Uptown” was gutting. tears literally dripping off his face.

- this cast seemed...lighter on the Lams than other productions, which was a bit disappointing, but at Laurens’ first verse in “My Shot,” Luwoye did that hilarious deer-in-the-headlights fullbody freeze at him as he had a Strong Gay Moment

Joshua Henry’s Burr felt very different from Leslie’s as it comes across on the cast album/b**tl*g, but in a super compelling way. i think i saw an article that referred to his Burr as more of a “showman” than Leslie’s, and if i’m remembering right, i agree with that description. Henry!Burr was very mobile and raggedly charming, always had a disingenuous wide-eyed smile hitched up, except for...when it slipped. the untrustworthy self-serving mercenary Ham sees by the end of act 2 was very much in evidence here.

- and his Burr broke SO EARLY! by “Winter’s Ball” he was already visibly/audibly like WHAT THE HAP IS FUCKENING re: Hamilton’s ascent. his “Wait For It” right on the heels of that was so angry. you could feel his desperation as he tried to justify his methods to the audience, and his unspoken understanding that nothing he is doing makes sense. this was a Burr who, on some level, KNEW that his schtick was not going to remain tenable for long, even if he didn’t know the exact nature of his own breaking point. suuuuuuuuuper engaging to watch.

- ahhahahaha and his delivery of the “...Okay,” in “Non-Stop” was HILARIOUS it was like “hmm yes please keep doing this thing where you say nice things about me perhaps”

- ...also, not to be crass, but somewhere around “Non-Stop” i became suddenly and powerfully aware of how his thighs looked in his costume and uuhhhhhhhhhhh. can we just like. get a Yell Heah real quick for Buff Burr? Yell. H e a h

- act 2 Burr spiraled REAL quick. his “Room Where It Happens” was wild-eyed and electric and frantic and by the time they got to “Your Obedient Servant” and TWWWE he was just a WRECK. where Leslie’s Burr gave at least the impression of making a measured choice to shoot to kill, Henry’s was clearly running on fumes and not in control, and it was terrifying and great.

- and not to go too out of order but can i just say, “Aaron Burr, Sir” is kind of a throwaway exposition-y song, but having it played between two black men? REVELATORY. INCREDIBLE. “fools who run their mouths oft wind up dead.” we were five minutes into the play and i was already like ulp

Emmy Raver-Lampman is the great love of my life and she will be my bride one day, even if i have to defeat Daveed Diggs in unarmed single combat for the privilege. i will do it. i will do whatever it takes to know the touch of her hand. are you listening, Emmy? i’m right here. i’m right h e r e

- my favorite thing about her act 1 Angelica was how YOUNG she played her. which, granted, she is a younger actress than Renee/Karen/Mandy, but i thought it was a really powerful interpretation given that Angelica really is only two years older than Eliza, is still not all that old herself when Eliza’s doing her giddy “Helpless.”

- okay. okay, so. Emmy’s “Satisfied.” okay. a YOUNG “Satisfied.” instead of a mature regretful reflection on a decision that had pros and cons on either side, the regret and the loneliness and the love felt incredibly raw and immediate. Emmy’s interpretation was very “yes, i made this choice, and oh my god what if this was IT, what if this was the END what if there is nothing like this for me ever AGAIN, i cannot take it back and i would not take it back but oh god oh god oh god” and it. destroyed. me. she had that flutter in her voice that you get when you’re crying and laughing at the same time at the second “to the groom / to the bride” and holy shit it was devastating

- also: G5 BITCH TEAR OUT MY THROAT WITH YOUR TEETH

- another fun thing about Emmy’s Angelica was how utterly unimpressed she was with every man she interacted with! her teardown of Burr almost felt like an afterthought in how easily it came out. her chemistry with Luwoye wasn’t as immediately sparky as, say, Renee and Javi’s, but their back-and-forth was very banter-y and instantly comfortable and you really got the sense of two people who could have clicked together given the chance.

- her act 2 interactions with Ham were delightful too—at the end of “Take a Break,” the staging has Angelica start to chase after Ham when he leaves all “i can’t stop until i get my plan through congress.” this was not an “i languished in a loveless marriage in London i lived only to read your letters” chase as Emmy played it. it was a “bitch i have been on a boat for THREE MONTHS and if you think i’m gonna just be like oh hahah whatever we don’t need to hang out when i came all the way over here to see your wife and you then THINK AGAIN—” chase. it was Good. her rejection of Ham in “Reynolds Pamphlet” was so complete and crushing too—it was obvious that Ham was not even on her mind, she was there for Eliza.

i expected to like Amber Iman as Peggy/Maria, but i didn’t expect the extent to which she would steal the stage whenever she was featured in a song! she was so lively and read so well from the audience and was just a joy to watch.

- her Peggy was HILARIOUS. where Jazzy’s Peggy in “Schuyler Sisters” seemed more bratty-kid-sister-i-wanna-go-home-i’m-tiiiiiiiiiiired, Amber’s was like “you guys. you guys. we’re going to get mugged. we’re going to get shot. we’re going to get mugged, and then shot, and then murdered for good measure and WHY IS NOBODY LISTENING TO ME FUFKDCHSDKSFKHEJ” and the fact that this came across so strongly when she was sharing the stage with The Great Love Of My Life and could not have rightfully expected to claim any part of my attention is a credit to her

- the faces she was making at every male cast member who came within 2 feet of her were HILARIOUS. THE FUCK IS THIS. THE FUCK IS YOU. this was a Strong Lesbian Peggy for sure.

- and then her Maria! her Maria was magnetic. she played her as complicit but very obviously unhappy about it; whenever she stepped away from Ham as he did one of his monologue bits you could see the tension and nervousness and distaste on her face, but then he’d turn back to her and the mask would snap back up. not to toot my own horn but like...I Have Been Right This Whole Time.

- and then that red dress just draws the eye whenever Maria’s onstage, such that you couldn’t help but seek her out and watch her standing there silently as Ham drove himself over a cliff into the ocean. she was RIGHT THERE for all of “We Know,” standing there under one of the staircases next to Ham as he went off, watching watching watching and UGH it was such a little thing but it was so good.

i was surprisingly not as sold on Solea Pfeiffer as Eliza as I thought i would be? she had some great moments and was overall a strong performer but for whatever reason they never quite added up to a cohesive whole for me. whatever. still gonna marry her

- her “That Would Be Enough” with Michael Luwoye was actually deeply tragic in a way i’ve never seen/heard from any of the other Eliza/Alex pair-ups. these were clearly two people on completely different pages, having conversations right past each other, and that hurt me very deeply as someone who ships the thing. but it was in my mind also very believable characterization! whatever. i wanted to die. TALK ABOUT YOUR FUCKING FEELINGS, CHILDREN

- actually one of my favorite moments of hers was a teeny tiny one in “Take a Break,” during the verse where Angelica is reading the comma sexting letter. Eliza is onstage but out of the spotlight at this point, tidying up, and she’s bent over and closing the piano when they get to the “my Dearest...Angelica.” for a second she raised her head and half looked over her shoulder and i was like OOOHHHHH SHIT because it felt very, like, “Eliza knows about this flirtation but trusts Angelica not to overstep her bounds BUT is still deeply unsatisfied with how it is playing out” and i just. liked it. good shit.

- i think there’s a spectrum of “Burn”/post-“Burn” Elizas; in my mind i look at it as the spectrum of ice Elizas (exemplified by Pippa) to fire Elizas (exemplified by Aubin Wise/Lexi Lawson). Solea’s “Burn” fell closer to Pippa’s on that scale, very cold vengeance and restrained but ugly hurt, but after that song she ran even colder than Pippa’s Eliza. she didn’t break at all in “It’s Quiet Uptown,” not even when Ham did. her air was this frigidly magnanimous “yes. you did this to us. don’t presume to do it again,” and she looked to be the one supporting him as they exited. i don’t know that that’s my Eliza, but it was interesting to watch.

didn’t have super strong feelings about any of the revset/dual cast folks, aside from surprisingly Jordan Donica as Laf/Jefferson! was not expecting to jive on him, given Daveed is such a charismatic actor in both those roles, and he was clearly working hard for the trickier raps, but he was very funny and fun to watch.

- as Laf, he really got across the sheer Badness of Lafayette as a person, in the sense that he was deeply uncool and trying real hard and just. not. quite. making it. he was also very good at the physical comedy bits given that he is built like a man who is half human, half giraffe, and half random bag of pipe cleaners stashed in the back of the crafts closet of an elementary school classroom.

- seriously he is ALL LIMB. he TOWERED over everyone else onstage. A MONSTER. A MISSHAPEN GIANT

- he also played a very slick and menacing Jefferson who was constantly using his height advantage to attempt to intimidate Ham. didn’t work, obviously, but made for some very striking tableaux in the cabinet battles.

Ruben Carbajal had a lovely voice but i believed him more as Philip than as Laurens because HE LOOKED LIKE A LITERAL CHILD. HOLY SHIT. chubby cheeks and petulant pout and all. it was nuts. where is hamilton casting getting ahold of all these FETUSES

- as i mentioned i preferred Anthony’s Laurens but i did enjoy what a fratty little fucker Ruben’s Laurens came off as. like a hummingbird given human form. that was fun.

Mathenee Treco was a good Herc, kinda camp gay dad friend? which was unexpected but fun. his Mads was a little more vital than it seems like other people’s tend to run; he came off as someone who would overreach himself and then break down into coughing. something a little different.

i eh...didn’t particularly care for Isiah Johnson’s Washington. it was a fairly played straight Local Dad Fed Up With This Shit, Just Wants To Go Home And Build A Deck, which like...isn’t wrong, but there could be more, you know? eh. nothing’s perfect i guess.

i think it was @duckbunny who characterized Rory O’Malley’s King George as “bratty spoiled rich child throwing a temper tantrum” to Groff’s “sleazy abusive bf” King George? or maybe that was someone else? anyway i believed it, both because of his very round babyish face and because of his lack of poise compared to Groff’s King. he was scaryfunny. i habitually skip kgiii’s songs when listening to the cast album, so i was pleased to find myself enjoying all of them live. still think either “What Comes Next?” or “I Know Him” could’ve stood to be cut and replaced with...almost anything else to cover the costume change, really, but they’re fun, no big deal.

this has very little to do with anything but the ensemble featured dupes for Carleigh Bettiol, Betsy Struxness, and Ariana DeBose, i wasn’t sure what to do with this information, perhaps you are not sure what to do with it either, we can just hang out and be puzzled together, it’s chill

#swan talks #hamilton for ts #the story of how this ticket was obtained is that my mother who is lowkey out of her mind in many ways may god bless and keep her #sat on the phone for NINE HOURS the day ticket sales opened up in order to obtain one. single. ticket.#which she then gave to me because as i may have mentioned: she is lowkey out of her mind god bless and keep her a thousand times #i was in the eighth row. close enough to see the light shining off emmy's septum ring #and dear reader let me just tell you: i fell in love INSTANTLY.#('weren't you already in love with her' yes but i did it again for good measure try to keep up chad)#also sorry about the formatting my theme is fucking weird about bullet points? hopefully this is readable

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