#actually I worked 8-6 today so TEN straight hours

[bestshipsmackdown]

Aight I survived my first week at this new job and I have tomorrow and Tuesday off so I absolutely will be catching up on everything with this in the next couple of days.

I have been so utterly and entirely exhausted that even opening the google form is a lot rip.

[bannanasrus]

Tummy Jail for crimes of overexertion

Contains M/M safe soft vore, Belching

A very silly little vore scenario that I wanted to make. And will I ever write simple vore - Nah you are getting the full story the beginning middle and end lol - generally speaking I am aware I didn’t write the actual vore for Princely Belly Cuddles (Shameless Plug), I’m getting off track I do apologise.

When you’re a Pred Bodyguard sometimes you need to save your charge from themselves

In an ordinary Law Firm’s CEO’s office a middle aged woman in a pencil skirt swept in like a Spanish Galleon.

“Mr Grendel” Began Martha Oldcapple a long serving and long suffering secretary for many a CEO of this Law firm

“Ahh” Said Cole Grendel - head of Wrightman and Partners and Wrightman - Don’t forget about Wrightman!! “Mrs Oldcapple, I haven’t forgotten anyone’s birthday have I?”

“This is not about birthday’s, and you know it, this is about the fact that you promised you would go home early today”

“Did I”

“Yes you did” she said folding her arms like a less than impressed teacher looking at her boss, who was looking up at her, he met her gaze on the level but looked like he was going to start squirming like a misbehaving schoolboy at any minute “and it is now past 6 o’clock and the sun is setting”

“You are still here”

“I have been waiting for you to go home!”

“Well I’ll just be another minute”

“You said that 2 hours ago” she replied folding her arms

“She got a point” said Andre Brighton glaring at his boss, he was Cole’s bodyguard/boyfriend/partner - he genuinely didn’t know, they lived in the same house Cole always made him dinner, though Cole himself seemed to survive on caffeine and the stress of his own job and those around him. Technically as a Pred bodyguard it was his job to eat any threats to his charge, but - he was feeling that Cole was more of a danger to himself than any assassin.

“I don’t know why you are so against me staying here a bit later, you can go home”

“Point one we are all tired of you over working yourself and point two I won’t and can’t leave this office until you do” Said Andre

“Ok” said Cole “I’ll go now” saying this he lifted a stack of papers from his desk

“No” said Martha feeling like she was scolding a naughty cat

“But I have to - ”

Martha felt like she was dealing with the most idiotic boss on the planet - it appeared intelegence had an inverse relationship with common sense. He was a nice person but his penchant for overworking himself caused more stress for her than if he was a straight up dickwad. “You have to sleep - for a minimum of 8 hours, probably more to make up for lack of it you usually have, I mean when was the last time you slept - properly”

“Well I caught 8 hours on Wednesday the 14th”

Martha almost exploded with rage and frustration “IT IS NOW THURSDAY THE 29th” she bellowed “do you mean to tell me, that you last had sleep 2 weeks ago” she growled quietly

“Yes” said Cole,smiling placidly the bags under his eyes very, very clear

“Cole, Andre what exactly is the night time routine like at your house”

“Well I get back from the office with Andre I make us dinner”

“I’m not interested in your domestic bliss Cole” interrupted Martha massaging her temples “what time do you go to bed at?”

“He says that he goes to bed at ten” said Andre glaring at Cole

“Well these last two weeks” said Cole “I have been going to bed then, but then I get a bit of work done”

“Do you get any sleep at all” asked Martha

“Well I’ve been having micronaps” said Cole “the African elephant sleeps for only two hours at a time”

“You are not an African elephant” Snapped Andre, why did his charge have to be his own worst enemy

“Cole…” said Martha “How do I put this.. delicately” she paused “oh yes - You are the dumbest Boss ever”

“What”

“I had to deal with a chauvinist pig for a boss before,and you are dumber than he was because at least he knew that he had to sleep!”

“She’s really going for the jugular” muttered one of the employees who were totally eavesdropping outside the office Her Name was Adelaide and she was head of photocopying

“She’s ripping into him like a lioness” whispered Tessa the HR assistant

“Only this time it’s as though the lioness actually cares about it’s prey’s wellbeing” hissed Blake their resident Criminal Psycologist (Do law offices have those IDK)

“Cole Grendel, you are going to sleep whether you like it or not”

“I don’t wanna go to sleep” - he almost sounded like a petulant child and had Martha not been so furious at his pigheaded obstinacy she might have laughed, as it was she turned on her head and stormed out. Andre followed her out leaving Cole sitting at his desk. All at once the employees who had been standing at the door scattered like mice.

“He is an Idiot” said Andre

“Does he have a death wish” asked Martha to no one in particular

“This is the third conversation you you’ve had with him this month about him overworking himself” said Adelaide shrugging her shoulders “Now might be the time to take drastic action”

“I have chloroform” said Blake holding up a bottle of the stuff and a cloth

“How long have you had that in your desk?” Asked Martha

“Does it matter”

“No actually I don’t wanna know”, she turned to Andre “sometimes you’ve got to save your charge from themselves” she said

“You want me to Swallow him?” Andre Replied

“Yes, at least that way he can’t run” Grumbled Martha

“You underestimate him greatly” He said matter-of-factly

“Good point”

“So Chloroform?” asked Blake

“What is it with you and Chloroform recently” Asked Adelaide

“If it is absolutely necessary” declared Martha “we’ll use it”

“So what is the plan” asked Fredrika a young athletic lawyer, crossing her massive arms across her strong broad chest she was one who looked and sounded like she’d be more at home on a vast country estate yelling at pheasants.

“We use the element of surprise - no too cliche, we lure him out of his office and herd him to a spot in the building - be mindful though he may bite if cornered”

“ironic” chuckled Andre

“Oh Cole” said Martha, “they are remaking your favourite 80s Tv show, but it’s a dark and edgy reboot that does nothing but insult the source material.”

“How could they” bellowed Cole as he stormed from his office

“NOW” yelled Martha as the rest of the employees leaped into action charging forward towards Cole who made a mad dash for the stairs

“Maybe we can chase him home?” Yelled someone in the crowd

“No need, herd him to the east corner of the building” said Martha

“Are you all crazy?” He yelled

“Pot kettle black Cole” yelled the Janitor Leland as he joined the crowd

The crowd of workers chased their boss, in a rare turn of events this wasn’t a riot caused by poor working conditions, this was a riot caused by extreme frustration at the stupidity of their boss’s lack of care for his own wellbeing. He was a nice person and a decent boss, willing to work with anyone of his employees, he was also an idiot when it came to himself, plus well it had been a bit of a slow day and they all wanted some entertainment.

“We’ve lost sight of him damn it” said Martha, spread out. This being done she hurried to the back stairs.

Fredrika was crossing over the mezzanine floor when she spotted a short dark haired man scampering across the floor, it would she considered be a waste of time to run down the stairs, instead she hopped over the railing and yelled “TALLY HO” as she leapt down, she had seen Cole who shrieked and ran for the door to the basement but became acutely aware of a groan from beneath her.

“Urgh Fredrika can you please get off me, I feel like my bones are being reorganised”

“My deepest apologies Blake” said Fredrika briskly getting off of the smaller man and helping him to his feet.

“Don’t mention it” said Blake making sure all his bones, were indeed in the correct place.

“He went down there” said Fredrika approaching the door, she heard footsteps and Andre appeared

“ I heard you jump” he said to her “Where did Cole go?”

“Down there” said Fredrika

The three of them made their way down to the basement to find Cole apparently unconscious having hit his head on a pipe “Cole, Cole can you hear me?” Asked Andre

Cole slowly opened his eyes “Andre, you look very handsome”

Fredrika, had to work hard to not laugh at the blush that appeared on Andre’s face as he lifted Cole gently and carried him out of the basement

Cole petted Andre’s chest “what are your shirts made out of?”

“He might be concussed” muttered Blake

“He actually might be safer Concussed” said Fredrika

Martha was at the top of the stairs and sighed at the concussed Cole “Mr Grendell, Cole dear would you feel better if you were swallowed”

“Yes, I have Mmmfff” he was quickly shoved into Andre’s maw and in a few short gulps was packed into his stomach “hey lemme out - , oh this is actually quite comfy , I think I’ll take a nap zzzzzzzzzz” within seconds Cole had conked out. Martha sighed

“You are all free to go Cole will approve the overtime - you have all worked very hard today, I will go and lock up the office” the employees trapsed out soon after some laughing, some sighing. “Andre, you as well” she addded as she grabbed the Keys from her desk and grabbed papers of her own “Go home”

Andre placed a hand over his stomach feeling Cole move slightly inside and hearing a little sigh “Thank you and Good evening Martha”.

He turned and left the office and passed out onto the street he felt the rain on his skin and on his stomach, glancing he saw three people who had clearly been watching the office move slowly back into the alley. His stomach gently clenched protectively around Cole, he knew exactly who these people were and he wasn’t about to let them take Cole away from him. Quickly, he made his way to where Cole had parked their car, were they in a relationship, he thought to himself yet again, Cole trusted him with the keys to his car, always made him lunch. He felt a rumbling belch make its way up from his stomach, “bourrrrrrrrrp” Cole tasted amazing he thought to himself, he wondered if they were really in a relationship, then maybe he could have this feeling again and again. Probably even if they weren’t he would have to do this to get Cole to sleep when he was supposed to. “You absolute idiot” he said to his stomach, as he clambered into the car “You need to take breaks, I understand you feel the need to work all the time, but you need to sleep for goodness sake”.

The drive back home took a little over 15 minutes, Blake’s and his abode was a small house just outside the city made of red brick with a slate roof, he got out of the car went in the house, changed out of his suit and into a tank top and shorts, the better for letting his distended gut hand out and flopped back on the sofa. Protectively rubbing his stomach. “You Cole Grendel are a first class idiot” he said to his stomach, “In fact if there was a class of idiot higher than first I would put you there, you know why I had to swallow you, because you, yes you think you’re indestructible, but you’re not” he frowned “you are not a machine and heck even machines need to be switched off from time to time” he felt Cole squirm, probably it was to get more comfy but to be honest it could just as easily be because he was hearing what was being said and was reacting to it. “I, am going to come out with it Cole, I care for you deeply, you make amazing food, both in terms of your cooking and well, you tasted pretty nice, you always laugh at my jokes, and you give me amazing hugs” he groaned and facepalmed, “what am I saying” he asked to no one in particular “you can’t even hear me” he hiccuped and burped as Cole squirmed into what was, presumably for him a more comfy position Cole sleepily said “Don’t go Andre, I wanna cuddle” Andre Blushed, Cole might have a thing for him too and if he did this had become allot more complicated, for a start Cole would panic so much about the fact that he was Andre’s charge that he would probably faint on a regular basis and secondly any feelings Cole might have had for him after being swallowed near enough forcefully.

The weight of the smaller man was none-the-less strangely comforting and Andre was reminded of the way he felt after Cole served him really good food as he lay there on the sofa watching one of their favourite shows (of course an older episode he wasn’t going to watch ahead!) his Cole filled stomach occasionally squirmed as Cole shifted himself in his sleep. He really is adorable thought Andre to himself.

Andre himself drifted off to sleep on the sofa stroking his stomach gently. When he awoke it was because of a gentle tap on the inside of his stomach. “Andre are you awake?” It was Cole’s voice, quiet and small and he almost didn’t catch the almost whimper of “please be Andre” that came after

“I’m awake” Andre said quietly

“Ahh thank you” said Cole “I’m in your stomach I believe

“You are indeed”

“Um, you can keep me if you want, it shouldn’t be too difficult to get things running with Martha in charge”

“Cole do not finish the sentence you are making”

Cole blithely continued “Anyway, if you need anything I have leftovers in the freezer and fridge that should last you a month or so”

“COLE” Andre Yelled at his stomach

“Andre” Cole replied sheepishly

“Do you think I care so little for you that I would digest you without a second thought”

“Well I”

“No Cole, I care for you a great deal more than that, god in spite of your encyclopaedic knowledge of the Law and of Obscure Board games, you are stupid”

“I, I guess I am”

“Have you slept”

“Well I looked at my watch and it’s about 12 o’clock”

“Jeeze I swallowed you at about a quarter past 6”

“I’ve been asleep for nearly 18 hours!”

“Yes and you need it quite frankly” he slowly stood up “I need to let you out now so you can shower”

“Thanks”

“Martha says you can’t come into the office until Monday and you are to take the weekend off any sort of work” said Andre reading off the message Martha had sent him, though she had included more expletives and uses of the phrase “that damn idiot”

“um Andre

“Yeah Cole”

“Can I talk to you, outside your stomach”

“Like I said you probably need to take a shower so…” he slowly but surely regurgitated Cole, out of his stomach, up his oesophagus and out of his mouth.

“Thank you, Andre” said a very sopping wet Cole “But I did mean let me out in the bathroom so I can clean up easier”

“you make a salient point”

Cole rose to his feet completely covered in stomach juices he made his way, slightly unsteadily - to the bathroom. Andre, slightly unsure followed him , just in case he fell.

“Andre, I’m not going to faint - I promise” said Cole as he reached the bathroom “Just give me five minutes ok”

“Ok”

Cole stepped into the shower room and stripped off his sopping wet clothes and sighed. He had made such an unmitigated ass of himself hadn’t he. In between sleep he had heard what he thought was Andre confessing his feelings to him, he couldn’t lie - even though it was difficult for him to admit feelings for someone who was well an employee therefore opening up a whole can of worms that he didn’t want to think about - he couldn’t lie - if Andre had been confessing, he felt the same.

Andre made him feel safe, both physically and emotionally, and he loved cooking for him and generally being around him. He also couldn’t lie - Andre was hot, he was well built with a chiselled jawline and a mop of brown hair.

He let the water wash over him cleaning him of Andres stomach juices, mostly just mucous - he was thankful that Andre didn’t decide to digest him after all - honestly though being in Andre’s stomach was nice, it was a safe space, one that he had enjoyed being kept in, near enough the second he’d been in the chamber it had felt like he was perfectly safe, not stressed in the slightest and his tiredness had hit him all at once, in that moment all he had wanted was to sleep and so he had done so, the hit on his head, he thought as he gingerly rubbed at it, probably had aided in that.

He got out of the shower and dressed quickly slipping into shorts and a tee shirt before making his way up to the kitchen. Andre was standing there buttering some toast, “Showers free” he said to Andre

“Oh thanks, here I made you toast and there’s some coffee in the pot” Said Andre hurrying back, Cole busied himself with the toast, it really was nice.

Andre got back from the shower a few minutes later having dressed himself in shorts and a tee shirt, like Cole had.

“Andre, we need to talk” Cole said “your toast was delicious by the by” he added grinning awkwardly

The “we need to talk” had made Andre worried but the second comment set his mind (somewhat) at ease. He sat down beside Cole

“Andre, I first want to thank you for swallowing me last evening, it was the right call and you and Martha were right to tell me I needed to rest, and I ought to apologise for not doing so” he looked down at his feet “but what I wanted to say was that, I no longer need your services as my bodyguard” Andre’s heart skipped a beat at that and he was about to interrupt when Cole said “I want to be your boyfriend” the tips of his ears burnt as he looked at Andre whose mouth hung open “if you don’t wanna be that’s cool I just - oh oh” he squealed as Andre lifted him off the floor with the full force of his hug, Andre scooped him into a bridal carry and peppered his face with kisses.

“Of course I wanna be your boyfriend you idiot” said Andre once he’d got his breath back and his heart had returned to a normal pace “I was thinking allot about it last night - you are amazing, and stupid and hilarious and frustrating but I adore you”

“I hope that I won’t ever force you to use that restraining technique to get me to stop overworking myself” said Cole blushing up at Andre from where he was held

“If it makes you feel any better, you tasted wonderful, a very fulfilling meal”

“That’s good” said Cole smiling slyly “because I want you to do it again”

“Oh you are on!” Said Andre laughing.

The next week when Cole and Andre were back in the office they gathered all the employees together in the large foyer to make the announcement of them being together, they had already told Martha who had merely sighed and suggested that they call the employees together.

“We have gathered you all here today because me and Cole have an announcement to make” said Andre taking the lead as Cole was far too giddy to make one bit of sense

“Me and Andre are dating” said Cole excitedly

“Congratulations” said Leland clapping sardonically “you are officially the last to know.

Blake sprinted over to Adelaide in effort to renegotiate his bet or claim that he wasn’t actually saying that Cole and Andre would be revealed as dating by the middle of the month and after all they thought they had just started.

“You’ve opened quite the can of worms” said Martha

“How did they all know we were dating before we even started dating enough to have bets on it” asked Cole

“Oh please everyone knew it wouldn’t be long before the penny dropped on your end and you would realise that you’ve had a mutal thing for each-other and have been dating for over two years, speaking of which I have to go and settle my bet with Fredrika, you two have cost me a 20” said Martha as she walked away

“Well I suppose you and I will have to settle on someone for our first official date” said Andre grinning

“Oh well can we do a night in, I’ll make a delicious dinner and we can cuddle on the sofa” replied Cole

“Oh we always do that”

“My cooking is exemplary, and you don’t like being out too late any more than I do”

“I know something that will tickle your fancy”

“Do tell”

“We go out to dinner and then we take in a show, I know how much you love theatre, and there’s a new musical opening shortly, and I know how much you love musicals”

“I do love them”

“Well that’s settled” Andre made his voice low and whispered “And afterwards I can swallow you down” he bit Cole’s ear gently and Cole playfully batted him away

“Ok but tonight I’m making dinner and we are going to sit down and watch a movie”

“What movie”

Cole thought for a second “Bedknobs and Broomsticks”

“I happen to think that’s an excellent Idea” said Andre

I really hope you enjoyed this, it was a long process to write but I’m happy with how it turned out, I definitely will do more with this pair in the future, I gotta say Tummy jail is my favourite Safe vore thing

[bewitched-forest]

10 First Lines Fanfiction Tag Game!

Rules: Share the first line of the last ten fics you wrote and tag some people. :)

I got tagged by @gremlin-bot, the loveable little bugger. I adore my platonic spouse, however, so I will oblige! I’m doing the first lines of the entire fics, not just whatever the last chapter is, so I don’t have to worry about spoilers for y’all. ;)

1. How to Fowl a Bat (Artemis Fowl x DC) [Link Here ;)] Ft. Tim Drake x Artemis Fowl - The Batfamily gets mindwiped, Faerie style, and Artemis Fowl deals with the consequences.

Three hours.

2. Formula for a Crime Scene (DP x DC x Artemis Fowl) [Link Also Here] Ft. Polyamous Damian Wayne x Danny Fenton x Artemis Fowl - The trio of unlikely lovebirds are going to become the terrors of Gotham.

Damian stalks into the school, eyes polished into a glare sharp enough to cut diamonds.

This one is actually also co-written by @half-dead-ham, my other adorable platonic spouse! We cowrote the world, but we will be doing our own separate fics!

3. The Rebirth of Tim Drake (DP x DC) [LINK] Ft. Halfa!Tim Drake - Tim Drake dies in this one before the first chapter even ends!

Red Robin panted back and knees aching as he crawled through the ventilation.

4. Return of the Ancients (DP x DC) [Linkity Link] Ft. Cold Currents (Danny x Kaldur’ahm) - Kaldur gets kindly screwed over by ghost shit.

Danny stepped into the zeta tube, taking a deep breath.

5. Close Contact (DP x DC) [Zooom. Link!] Ft. Triple Trouble (Danny x Dick x Wally) - The Young Justice team are sick of these gay ass motherfuckers not dating.

“Rob! Phantom!” Wally shouted as he zoomed straight to his friends' sides, wrapping his arms around their shoulders.

6. Phantom Feathers (DP x DC) [AchOo! Link!] Ft. Dead Tired (Tim x Danny) - Ghosts have wings! Danny has wings! Yay!

“Hey Tim?” Danny asked.

7.  Danny & Billy: Brothers in Too Much Power The Rehash (DP x DC) [Shazam!] Ft. Danny and Billy are Brothers. - Exactly as it says. Danny and Billy are adopted, homeless brothers with way too much power for people who aren’t or are barely of legal age to drive.

When Billy ducked into one of his usual hideouts, he was not expecting pressure.

8. A Day in the Life of Two Dead Men (DP x DC) [Whoop!] Ft. DeadonMain (Jason x Danny) & Trans!Danny - Just two dead guys. Living their life.

The Red Hood skidded over to the edge of the building, looking over the edge where he heard a scream

9. Slap-A-Soulmate (DP x DC) [SmaCk!] Ft. Anger Management (Jazz x Jason), Tall!Jazz, and Soulmate AU - While Jason might not like the idea of getting slapped, at least the one done by the crazy redheaded psychiatrist led to his soulmate!

Red Hood was frustrated.

10. Ancient Deals (DP x DC) [Last one!] Ft. Dead Serious (Damian x Danny) - Ra’s Al Ghul made a deal in his immortal youth, and now its Danny and Damian’s fucking problem.

“Why am I here, Grandfather!”

Technically speaking, the first three fics are WIPs! In fact, I post new chapters to all three of them once a week! (Yes I’m aware that makes most writers look at me like I’m insane, the BatPham server goes crazy every time I mention it. Especially my spouses. XD) Fowl a Bat posts every Monday, Formula every Thursday (so theres actually a new chapter today ;3), and Rebirth every Saturday!

Now, I don’t have anyone I’d like to tag, mainly because both my platonic spouses have already done this, and I’m sure most of the BatPham discord writers have already been spammed by like 7 people. I encourage you all to join in if you want to however! It found this really fun seeing the different ways I’ve started a fic!

(Plus for those of us that don’t have fic lists, this actually works pretty well instead XD)

[marshmallow-phd]

Nine Little Letters

Genre: College AU, Fake Dating AU, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before AU

Inspired By: This graphic made by @rcse-tvler​

Pairing: EXO x Reader

Summary: Just when you thought life was done shoving you down, it got much, much worse. After finding out that your latest crush was already in a relationship, you did what you always did when emotions ran high: you wrote a letter. Signed and sealed, you put it away with the eight other letters you’d written to past one-sided loves, never to be seen again. That is, until a mix up accidentally sends those letters out to their respective recipients and you find yourself in the middle of one confusing web of love. With fake relationships, insecurities, and revelations swirling around, things are bound to get a little messy.

Part: 1 I 2 I 3 I 4 I 5 I 6 I 7 I 8 I 9 I 10 I 11

This was the worst kind of humiliation. Standing there on the sidewalk staring open-mouthed at the one person you were excited to see today, you were crumbling into a million pieces. And no one even noticed. That was what made this humiliation so bad; there was no one to witness it. You were breaking and no one cared.

You should have known better, really. This morning was going too well. You had woken up on time, had a delicious, filling breakfast, and had managed to put an outfit together worthy of any Pinterest board. Your confidence was through the roof and you were going to do the one thing in your life you swore you would never do.

You were going to confess to your crush.

Signing up for math tutoring was the last thing you wanted to do. Who in the world wanted to spend their valuable free time learning more about equations and algorithms? But you needed to pass this class. It was the second time you’d taken college algebra and the thought of taking it a third time made you want to crawl under your bed. So, you buckled down and took the walk of shame into the math lab. (Yes, that was an exaggeration. Everyone knows there is no shame in getting help. Didn’t mean you had to like it.) When you got the call from your assigned tutor, you ignored it. You didn’t like talking on the phone to anyone let alone a number you didn’t recognize. No voicemail was left. Then a text came through.

Hi, (y/n)! This Kim Junmyeon! I’ve been assigned as your math tutor. When you get a chance, let me know when you’re free so we can create a schedule that works for you. Have a great day!

You waited an appropriate amount of time before replying. So, an hour and half later, you texted him your schedule and made a plan to meet up in the library the following Thursday. You marked that day on your calendar with exactly zero enthusiasm. In your head, this Kim Junmyeon was the cliché nerd from movies: dorky glasses, snort-like laugh, and clothes that looked better on a grandfather. Oh, boy were you so happy to be wrong.

Sitting down at one of the tables by the large, ceiling high windows, Junmyeon was nothing like you’d imagined. He had a sophisticated aura about him. He dressed nicely, a thin long-sleeved shirt over a patterned button down, the collar laid nicely over the top of the shirt, and was blessed with sharp, handsome features. You knew you were in trouble. But you didn’t care. You sat down at that table eagerly, ready to… learn.

For the past month and a half, you’d met Junmyeon twice a week to go over the lessons and work on the assignments. By some miracle, your grade was actually going up in the class. Somehow you were able to better comprehend the material and secretly fawn over your tutor simultaneously. At this point, you were sort of feigning how much you weren’t understanding to keep the tutoring sessions going. The nice thing about algebra, once you understood the basics, everything else built on top of it.

But today – today you had decided that you were going to step over the line from tutor and student into the realm of perhaps something more.

You liked Junmyeon. You liked his math puns and the way he scrunched his face when he thought hard about something. His lips would pucker whenever he lifted the sheet of paper to check over your work. Each time you met up with him your heart acted like it was in the middle of a NASCAR race and it was determined to win. You had it bad. This wasn’t the first time you’d had a crush like this, but you had set your mind on making this one different. This time, you wouldn’t hold it inside. You were going to be the brave one, the bold one. The fact that birds were tweeting as you rode your bike onto campus should have been a sign that things would only be downhill from there. Unfortunately, like the optimistic idiot, you took it as a positive instead.

After locking your bike up, you headed straight for the courtyard near the pond. Junmyeon had told you that he often spent his mornings there to finish up homework or to read a book (the fact that he read so much was another factor in your liking of him). In your head, he was all alone, flipping through a novel as he leaned against the trunk of a tree, looking like a prince taking a rest in the shade on a warm summer’s day. The water would be glistening in the background as a lovely, lighthearted melody played softly through the air. He would see you approach and smile that wide, brilliant smile. Your heart would skip as you sat down in the grass next to him and poured out your feelings. The daydream turned into a nightmare the second he came into view.

Junmyeon was not alone nor was he sitting under a tree with a book. He was on one of the benches, splayed out on the wooden beams with his head resting in the lap of a very pretty, more his league type of girl. She laughed as Junmyeon told a story. A delicate hand ran through his soft brown hair. Your heart fell to the ground, forming a crater at your feet.

Shoulders slumped and day ruined, you turned and headed for the student union. If today was going to suck like this, then you were going to sprinkle it with an overly sugary coffee drink. Preferably with extra chocolate drizzle. It helped - a little bit.

Your morning classes went by in a blur. You were certain you took notes, but none of the information sank in. Later you would have to transcribe your quick scribbles to a word document to help you study. You would learn the information then. By lunch, you were starting to peel yourself off the sidewalk of humiliation. Especially when the one person you could always rely on joined you for lunch.

“How did it go?”

You remained silent, continuously munching on the sandwich in your hands as your best friend sat down across from you at the small, two-person table near the middle of the cafeteria.

Baekhyun laughed his signature, SpongeBob-like laugh. “That bad, huh? I told you not to do it.”

“Technically, I didn’t do it,” you corrected. “He already has a girlfriend.”

“Ouch.”

You nodded. How could you not see this before? Did he mention having a girlfriend and you just blocked it out? Junmyeon and you talked casually between math problems, about your friends and fun things you liked to do on the weekends. He’d failed to mention one very important detail.

“Well,” Baekhyun reached over and plucked a potato chip off your plate and plopped it in his mouth, “at least you found out before you said something. I told you he wasn’t worth it.”

“Just because he has a girlfriend doesn’t mean he isn’t worth crushing on.”

“Okay. Whatever you say.”

You rolled your eyes at him. “You’re so much help.”

Ignoring your quip, Baekhyun snatched another chip. You smacked his hand, but all that managed to do was break off a few pieces, the crumbs falling to the table. Smiling proudly, Baekhyun popped the half-chip into his mouth. “So, are you just going to go home and write a letter?”

“Are you just going to go home and write a letter?” you mocked with a scrunched face.

Byun Baekhyun had been your best friend since the two of you had met in the first grade. He’d stolen your popsicle that your mother had packed as a special treat for your first full day of school. When he saw you start to cry, he broke off the piece he’d been sucking on and handed the rest back to you. There was a bit of a disagreement on the level of nice-ness that act achieved since it was your popsicle to begin with, but somehow it caused the two of you to be inseparable ever since. Being your best friend meant that he was privy to the more private parts of your life.

Like the letters.

Starting as young as ten years old, you’d developed a bit of a tradition when it came to your crushes. Emotions were hard to process, but you found them easier to work through if you thought about them and translated them into words. Those words would fly across the paper, transferring the feelings that made you both laugh and cry into the graphite that formed them. Not to mention, the act made you feel like the heroine in a rom-com. Certainly it was something that Meg Ryan or Rachel McAdams would do once they realized how they felt about the male lead.

The first letter you ever wrote was during your final year of ballet class. Dancing had been a part of your life since you were three, but a new passion had been discovered so you’d decided to quit after this last cluster of classes. A terrible decision, really. Because right after your mind was already made up, a new boy had joined the class.

Kim Jongin.

He had just moved into town after his father was promoted to a new position and had to transfer to headquarters. You’d never seen him at the park or the grocery store before. He was completely new. And beautiful.

He was blessed golden skin that glistened, shining brighter the longer he danced. And, oh, the way he danced. It was well beyond what anyone else could do. His movements were fluid, water-like, as if the very beat of the music were pulling and manipulating his limbs to convey what the notes had to say. Each move was a word and when he formed them together, they could make you smile or cry. And when he smiled… oh, his smile was like starlight. The kind of brightness that stayed in the sky even as the city lights flickered on. To this day, you’d never found one that could rival it. He was a dream that every composer coveted. So, what was your young heart to do?

Well, the movies told you to confess. But there was no way you could find the courage to do so, especially since you only saw him in class and you couldn’t confess in front of everyone. The only other option was to write it out; to write it out like Jane Austen pouring her heart out for Tom Lefroy.

 Dear Jongin,

I’m not sure how to start this. Do I compliment you on your dancing? It’s nothing like I’ve seen before. Prima Donnas in the Russian Ballet would be jealous of you! But you probably hear that all the time. And about how handsome you are, even under all that hair. I can’t help but watch when you pull it back for class so you can see yourself in the mirror. Why can’t I look like that? I somehow ended up looking like a frizzy wet cat that just climbed out of the tub.

I guess what I’m trying to avoid saying is that… I like you. A lot. I like your laugh and your wide smile. I like how much you love music and how you interpret the melody with your moves. No one can freestyle like you! My heart does a dance of its own whenever I see you. I hope you don’t have anyone that you like, just so I can stand a chance. Would you ever think of me like that? If not, it’s okay. I just needed to tell you. Someday, you’ll be on stage dancing to an audience of thousands and I’ll be right there in the front row, cheering you on! Until then, I hope you always find happiness in what you love.

Love,

(y/n).

 That sentence about watching him on stage made you cringe in hindsight. Cute for a ten-year-old, but a bit stalkerish. Luckily, though, you never gave it to him. You chickened out every time up until the last class. The idea of him opening it and reading right there in front of you was mortifying. So, then, you decided to mail it. The teacher gave you his address after you told her you wanted to invite him to your birthday party (it should be a little worrisome that a teacher was willing to pass on private information like that… perhaps it was because you were a kid). Three times you went to the mailbox to send the letter out and three times you ran back inside to hide it under your mattress.

That was the beginning of your weird little tradition. Though you never sent the letter to Jongin, you felt better having somewhat confessed your feelings and worked through them without the humiliation of actually… doing it. So, the next time you had a crush so overwhelming that you needed to get the feelings out, you wrote a letter. You even went all the way each time to address the envelope, giving the confession a sense of finality. There was no fear in them ever going out. Baekhyun was the only other one in the world who knew of their existence. At the current moment, eight were hidden in a drawer in your vanity. The way your fingers were itching, a ninth one was on the way.

“I might,” you finally replied.

Baekhyun leaned forward eagerly. “Can I read it when you’re done?”

“No!”

He snapped his fingers as he sat back in his chair. “Darn.”

“Why am I even friends with you?”

“Because I’m charming.”

There was no question in his voice. He one-hundred percent believed it. And… to be honest, he did have his moments. But that was all in the past. “Like a plank of wood.”

Shaking his head, Baekhyun rapped his hands on the table before standing up. “Alright, I’m going to class. Have fun with your pencil and imagination.” For emphasis on his stupid remark, he stole one last chip before walking off.

You finished off your sandwich in a bit of a rage. By the time you were finished, your mouth muscles were aching as if you’d spent several hours at the gym and it was jaw day.

You only had one class left for the afternoon. But it was algebra. How were you supposed to concentrate on functions when your sad attempt at getting into a relationship with your tutor failed so epically? Somehow you managed, though, and you packed up at the end of class with a new sort of determination. As you hopped on your bike and rode home, you thought over what you were going to write. You were so lost in your head that you hadn’t notice the car pulling out of your neighbor’s driveway, nearly hitting you before the driver hit their brakes.

“Shoot!”

You back peddled to break. Your heart thumped in your chest. No life memories flashed before your eyes, but you were sure you almost died. Slowly, you moved forward to get out of the way of the car. 

“I’m sorry!” you yelled over your shoulder.

The driver leaned out the window.

Oh, great.

It was your neighbor. Or, at least, your neighbor’s son. Do Kyungsoo. He stared at you with an expression that could be blank but could also be a glare. It was hard to tell with him. Shaking his head, he pulled back inside the car and drove away.

Fighting off embarrassment for the second time this day - albeit this situation was much lower on the scale and it happened a bit more often than you’d like to admit - you put your bike up in the backyard and headed up to your room. Your mother, a literary history professor, and your father, a doctor at the local hospital, were both at work and wouldn’t be home until well after dinner. You were used to it. Besides, you were an adult and you liked being able to decide to have pizza for dinner and not worry about what other people wanted for toppings. Once you put your order in, you sat down at your vanity and got to work.

 Dear Junmyeon,

Has anyone told you how your hair looks in the sunlight? The dark brown hues seem so warm and inviting, like an ebony chair that was warmed by the unfiltered rays. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to run my finger through it. Would the strands be as soft as they look? Would you wear the same smile on your face that you do during our sessions? But I guess I might not be meant to feel them. Today, I intended to tell you how I felt. I woke up with a determination, a goal to say how much I like you to your face. I was so nervous riding my bike to the university, but it was the good kind of nervous; the kind that makes you keep going. It seemed, however, that I was too late. Or maybe I simply never had a chance at all. I’d missed any signs that said you were already someone else’s.

I hope she knows how lucky she is. I hope she makes you laugh and listens to you when you’re having a bad day. Your laugh is like a symphony. Does she tell you how light and lovely it is? Or how infectious it is? When you laugh, I can’t help but laugh along. It’ll be sad not to hear it anymore. Or have our talks filled with random subject changes. But I think I’ll miss your smile most of all. The way it crinkles your eyes yet still lets them shine. The way it spreads across your face and the way your cheeks grow. It is truly a sight to behold. I hope wherever you go, you are always smiling. You always let your light shine even on the cloudiest of days. That’s what’s so special about you and what made me fall for you. Even when I was frustrated or couldn’t understand, you were patient, taking my mind off of the negative and turning me so I could face the positive. That’s a rare kind of person. You are a rare kind of person. Please always be happy, Kim Junmyeon.

Love,

(y/n)

 With a sigh you sat back in your chair. The letter had done its job. Though you were still sad about the way things turned out, you no longer felt defeated. The words you needed to say were now out there without being “out there”. Okay, so he had a girlfriend. Big deal. It wasn’t the end of the world. There were more potential love interests out there that you could find. He was only one and obviously wasn’t the one.

Beginning to smile again, you folded the letter and put it in an envelope. You didn’t have Junmyeon’s address, so you wrote out the address for the math lab. Opening the top drawer of the vanity, you placed the latest addition to your collection under the first envelope. The doorbell rang right as you closed it up again. Oh, thank goodness. Food.

Practically skipping down the steps, you hurried to the front door.

“Hi-” You stopped as soon as you’d opened it. The person waiting on the other side was not the pizza delivery guy - it was Baekhyun. The boxes holding the pizza and cheese sticks you’d order for no one but yourself were in his hands. Over his shoulder, you barely caught sight of the delivery man driving away. “Really?”

“What? I was bored. And hungry.” He flipped open the lid to show you the hot, melted cheese of the appetizer. “Cheese stick?”

Rolling your eyes, you stepped aside so he could come inside.

Baekhyun had been to your home plenty of times in the past so it was easy for him to make himself at home. He didn’t wait for you before pulling plates out of the cabinet and pouring a drink. He even went as far as getting you glass as well. “Thirsty?”

“Yeah, thanks.”

The two of you ate at the kitchen table as your mother had a “no meals in the living room” policy. Small snacks like nuts and popcorn were okay, as long as you didn’t spill any on the couches.

“So… how did the writing go?” Baekhyun asked cheekily between bites.

You shrugged. “Fine. I’m deciding that I’m getting over it.”

Now it was Baekhyun’s turn to roll his eyes. “You always get over them fast.”

“What’s the point of dwelling on the things you can’t change?”

That was always your answer. Yes, the hurt was immediate and painful, but Baekhyun was right, you tended to push it aside rather quickly. That was the whole point of your letters, anyway. Get the feelings out of the way so you could move on. What was the point of clinging on to something like that? You would only end up worse if you stayed in that spot. So, you pushed yourself to move on. And eight times out of nine, it had worked. There was only that one nagging letter that failed to do its job. That particular set of feelings refused to go away even as you looked to other crushes, as you found other boys to like. It was the one you would always wonder about, the one that was completely off limits. The dull ache still crept up every once in a while. If moving on was what you had to do, you would do it. Because you would prefer if you never had to go through something like that ever again.

[develation]

A Lifeguard's preach- please read

Okay, hi, welcome to my Ted talk. So surprise for some of you but I work as a lifeguard, and I have some things to say about my experience for the 2 years I've worked as one.

A lot of people have decided it's okay to crap on first responders lately, which is a subject I will lightly touch on. But pool lifeguards have been under-appreciated for a very long time. The pool I work at is like a mini-waterpark. We have slides, basketball hoops, a water playground, a lazy river (with tubes), an obstacle course, and concessions. Were not just your neighborhood pool, which means there are more dangers to look out for. Because you can tell yourself that things never happen, but that's a lie. Every day, things always happen.

So today I was walking my stand (grazing stands there called because you walk back and forth for 20 mins straight and then move to the next stand to do it all over again for another 20 mins. repeat that process for 2 hours on lazy river rotation). And this lady decided to sit right in the middle of where I'm walking. Now in lifeguarding, we have to keep a 10/20, which means 10 seconds to see someone and 20 seconds to get to them. And the zone I'm on is SCS which is the little kid playground, y'know, with TODDLERS AND BABIES EVERYWHERE. So in order to properly scan my zone and make sure none of these babies start choking on water, I ask her to move. And she looks at me and goes, "well you should have a sign there that says that." She moves, but did this lady seriously tell me that we should have a sign that says- "Please don't sit in the Lifeguards way. They are trying to make sure you and your child don't die." Like what?!

It's not just her, I alone have been disrespected so much on this job, it's stupid. I've had moms tell me to LEAVE MY ZONE and go get their kid because it will be my fault if they drown when the mother herself is on the other side of the lazy river. I've saved a boy and the mother said, "He was fine. I'm not filling out the paperwork, I just want to enjoy my last ten minutes here." Like, YOUR FUCKING WELCOME.

I am so sick of this. Do people don't even know the amount of training we do just to even work? I have at least 200 hours of training, and I don't even work the full year's cuz of school. It's not just CPR y'know? I know how to and train to handle Rescue-Breathing, seizures, chest compressions (yes, that is different from CRP), allergic reactions, heat stroke, burns, chemical burns (mostly for employees because we work with that stuff), Heimlich, Spinals (head, neck, and back injuries), eye trauma, and more. I, WE, may be no police officer or EMT, but we know our shit.

For working in general, while you're sitting in that cool water enjoying life. Where sitting there (or even worse, walking) in 2-hour rotations sweating our asses off. You can talk about those umbrellas we get on sitting stands all day BUT THEY DON'T DO CRAP. Because the sun MOVES in the sky. And most shifts are from 10:45 to 6:30, open to close. I have only worked 3 shifts that haven't been 7 or 8 hours long.

"What about lunch breaks?" well guess what, we don't get one! Every 2 hours we get 17 min breaks (15 guards on stand and 3 in break room at all times, that's how our rotation works) that could be interrupted at any moment because people don't drown on a schedule. My water bottle is broken (it leaks) from how many times I've thrown that thing when a long whistle goes off.

Just imagine, you're sitting there eating your well-deserved sandwich, slipping some water from your water bottle, chatting it up with the other guards. And then out of fucking nowhere- BRRRRRRRRRRRRR- *Hi this is adrenaline, I'm gonna turn all the way up now* "OH SHIT SOMEONE'S DROWNING FUCK FUCK FUCK-." And now you, your boss, and other 2 break guards are sprinting full speed across the pool deck trying not to trip over your own equipment. With your food and water bottle forgotten on the concrete of the guard-room floor. [It was a very sad day. I had ordered Jimmy Johns just for that...]

I have saved 8 people, all of them children. And every day, there are at least 2 saves, which means someone is drowning and a lifeguard has to jump in for them. Realistically though? There have been too many days for me to count where there were 8 or if not more saves. People take pool safety for granted, there fucking idiots who think that just because they're tall enough to go down the slide they can swim in the 12-foot deep catch pool. They think that they can go in the lazy river without a tube. Or that they don't need a lifejacket. Parents are idiots, who don't watch their children. In one of my saves, I watched a kid disappear underwater in front of me. One second they were above water and the next, just gone. It's not like the movies guys, there's no screaming or splashing. There's the weird doggy paddle, and then they stop making distance and are weirdly treading, and then they're gone. And then you have to pick out from the kids who are floating with their backs on the surface, the kids who pretend to drown for fun, and the adults who think it's okay to "test" the lifeguards.

Just today, within the first 20 mins of open we have a lady pass out. There's something horrifying about holding someone's limp body in your hands and them not waking up. Last year we had a lifeguard pass out from the heat on the lazy river. Just flop straight onto the pavement. In years past we had a woman have a heart attack on the deck. We kept her alive until EMS arrived but she died in the hospital 3 days later. There was another lady who busted her knee open and bled everywhere. Stuff always happens.

I make $10.86 an hour to save people's lives and get shit on while doing it. It's not everybody, I meet those parents who say, "Don't worry, I'll yell at them." Those kids whole actually put their tubes back and put back the tubes that everybody left right next to the corral. That one dude who filled up my water bottle with his water because, "I looked like I was melting and needed something good today". Those girls who say I'm pretty despite all my scaring and me having short hair (yes I have gotten judged for being a girl and having short hair). But most of the time, we are ignored and looked down upon.

Trust me, we don't mind small talk. Or making jokes, telling stories. We just want to be appreciated. And I just don't feel that most of the time. My bosses have been amazing to me, and they are one of the only reasons I come to work with a smile on my face. But above all that, I just want to fulfill the childhood-old dream of being a hero. Of saving a life. I know I'm not quite suited out for firefighting or EMT's or policing.

But I'm still doing it. And I would like for others to just see me, instead of yelling at me for saving their child's life.

[fiveisnumber1]

Timeless - Five Hargreeves x Reader Side Story

I’m in the process of working on the next part of the main story of Timeless but I decided to write this short little side story so I hope y’all enjoy!

Main story parts:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28

_________________________

The Tattoo - “A Family Reunion” Side Story

January 17th, 2014:

After a long day at school, Diego had come to pick you up. Holding the straps of your backpack you walked towards his car. Although the Umbrella Academy had pretty much faded out of the collective thoughts of the public, Diego still tried to keep a low profile for you. You never knew if there were any die-hard fans around so it was better to be safe than sorry. Getting into the passenger seat Diego happily ruffles your hair saying,

“Hey kiddo, you made it to Friday. Congrats on finishing your second school week.”

“Thanks.” You replied softly

It had been hard starting school again. You had been there for only ten days in total and it was completely different from what you knew. Public school was nothing like the private school your parents used to send you to. It was loud and rambunctious and there was never a quiet moment. It was good because you were never alone with your thoughts but the semi-structured environment wasn’t something you were equipped for. And on top of it, you were surrounded by kids your age but they weren’t your friends. You didn’t have friends anymore. As Diego drove away from the school you looked out the window watching the other kids pass by as they got on busses or into their family’s cars. Turning back to sit straight Diego asks,

“Anything interesting happen today?” 

“I pulled a knife on a kid at lunch.” You reply nonchalantly

“I’m not saying you were wrong. But why?” Diego asks

“He had a bow and arrow on him and startled me.” you responded

You hadn’t expected anyone to come up to you during lunch. You typically minded your own business and sat alone. Well, not completely alone. You sat at the same table as a girl from your music class. You knew she played the viola but other than that was quiet and reserved. You two never really talked but every once in a while you’d glance at each other. The kid that approached you though was more outgoing and made his presence known. He was in your gym class and always seen with a taller blond boy. You didn’t know why he had decided to come over to you but nevertheless, he did and even after you had pulled a knife on him he decided to sit down across from you and start talking. You didn’t really respond but you did listen to him. He kind of reminded you of Diego but maybe this would be just a one-off experience. 

Diego had thought about your response for just a quick second before responding,

“That’s reasonable. I’m proud of you for protecting yourself.”

“He didn’t seem like too much of a threat but okay.” you stated

Diego let out a small laugh. Of course, you wouldn’t see some 13-year old with a bow as a threat. Diego continued to drive as you told him about your classes and what you were studying. He listened happily as you discussed the experiments you were doing in Science class and how you were writing poetry in English. The two of you soon came to a stop as you arrived at the boxing club you were both a part of. On Friday’s you would come along with him before going back to the academy the next day. Entering the building you sat down on a nearby chair and started working on your homework as Diego trained with another member. Typically, he would work with you but because he had a match coming up soon he needed to focus on himself. 

Every once in a while though you would go up to the side of the ring and ask for help with a part of your homework. Sometimes you actually needed help but other times you just enjoyed the way your brother’s eyes lit up when you told him you needed him and the proud look on his face when you finally solved the problem. When you had finished your homework you would drag the chair to the side of the ring to watch your brother spar. Swinging your feet back and forth as you sat on the chair you tried to study the practice fight so you could improve your own fighting skills. During the fight though you would catch quick glimpses of Diego’s wrist and the Umbrella Academy tattoo that resided on it. You hated the sight. It was as if Reginald permanently branded him, connecting him to something he never decided to be a part of in the first place. It was a marking that would never go away just like the childhood he was robbed of as part of the Umbrella Academy.

The hours passed and soon it was time to close the club down for the day. Most other club members left and Diego grabbed the mop and bucket from the corner to start cleaning. Cleaning up the club was his livelihood. Al, the owner, was kind enough to let him turn the boiler room into a bedroom and give him a decent wage in exchange for training people during the day and cleaning up at night. You were always so proud of him. Your brother worked hard, harder than anyone else you knew. Even during his time in the Umbrella Academy he always pushed himself to do his best and then some. You admired it and wanted to work just as hard as he did. 

As he cleaned, you tried to help him though. Using your powers you did your best to liquefy the dried sweat and blood so it would be easier to clean. By the time he had finished, it was late and you had grown tired. Diego puts the mop and bucket away before coming over to you and saying,

“I think it’s time you get to sleep.” 

You nodded your head and let out a yawn standing up so you could head to the boiler room that Diego called home. Placing a hand on your back Diego guided you there. You rubbed your eyes before climbing into the bed. Diego tucked you in nicely before sitting on the edge of the bed and stroking your hair until you fell asleep. Once he knew you were completely asleep he carefully got up and went over to a chair across the room. He sat and watched you for a while to make sure you were okay but soon enough he drifted off too.

You started to toss and turn in your sleep. A chill creeping into your bones as images of snow rushed into your mind. The voices of your parents and friends surrounding you. Frantically you look around for them and see silhouettes. Familiar figures extending their hands as they call our your name, beckoning you to them. You rush towards the figures but the snow starts to pick up. The figures become obscured. You run around calling out their names but no one responds. From behind you, you hear the sound of snow crunching as if someone was running away. You turn around from the direction your family and friends were and follow the footsteps in the snow. Up ahead you see a figure that grows clearer the closer you get. 

“Five.”

You pushed yourself to run harder. To try and catch him. When you feel you’re close enough you extend your hand to grab his jacket but just as you do he vanishes. You trip and fall to the ground.

“No!” You called out as you sat up straight in bed.

Your body shook as tears started to prick your eyes. You looked around only to see the boiler room and Diego sitting on his chair off to the side. No snow, no figures, no Five. You took a few breaths before quietly getting up from the bed and heading over towards Diego. Carefully, you shake his arm quietly calling,

“Eggo. Eggoooo.”

Diego wakes up startled but soon calms down when he sees you there. He can see the tears building up in your eyes glisten from the light of the lamp. He always left the lamp on because he thought it would ease the nightmares but they still seemed to happen.

“Bad dream?” He questioned softly

You nodded your head in response. Diego opened his arms allowing you to sit in his lap before he held you close. You were so small and you didn’t deserve all this pain you were going through. He knew from his own experience of how difficult it was to be young and struggling with the pain of traumatic events. Tears slipped from your eyes as you dealt with the fallout of another nightmare. Diego slowly rocked you as he held you, the same way mom did for him when he was still small. When your vision cleared slightly you could see the image of the tattoo on Diego’s wrist. You reached out and using your pointer finger you began to trace the image over and over. Diego noticed what you were doing and questioned,

“Princess, why do you keep tracing that?”

You looked away from the tattoo and up at your older brother.

“If I trace it enough times maybe I can erase it away.” you explain quietly

“Unfortunately, that’s not how it works.” Diego responds

“But heat breaks down ink, if I can just vibrate the molecules enough I can make it go away. I know I can.” You elaborate 

“I’ve come to terms with it you don’t need to make it go away.” Diego softly replies

He hadn’t come to terms with it though. It was an awful reminder of the despicable man who he called his father. The same one whose roof you were now living under. Diego wished that he made more money, that he had a place where he could keep you safe from that man, but he didn’t. He knew you were fiercely independent and smart, but so was Five and their dad still did enough damage to make him run away through time. Five was the whole reason you were even in this mess. Diego wanted to seem strong for you though so he kept his feelings to himself on the matter. He might not have come to terms with it but you were the focus now, his focus, and his residual problems matter much less than making sure you would be okay.

“The one day I wasn’t able to be there...I went with my dad to bring your child to work day and yours did this.” You stated as you continued to look at the marking

It’s true. He did pick the one day where you were busy. You had talked all the week before about bring your child to work day and how it worked. You had gone every year with him since you were 3. He and his siblings were all excited to hear what it was like when you visited the next day but that excitement was ruined by the permanent scar they all received. 

Diego remembered that day in vivid detail. They were all summoned to the parlor and before they knew it the carnage began. Klaus got his tattoo first as punishment for being intoxicated. It was a vicious punishment for such a minor action. Allison went next and cried the whole time. When she finished Klaus held her as she continued to spill tears. Then it was his turn. The needle scared him but he put on a tough face to show that he had the mental fortitude to be a leader. He didn’t even accept comfort from his own mother. Luther and Ben went next and then Five was last. Five had looked at the front door the whole time, probably hoping you would show up unannounced and stop it before he was marked. It didn’t happen. All of them knew that their father chose this day on purpose. It was cruel. Diego looked off in the distance as the memories replayed in his head. He still tried to cheer up the conversation though by lightly joking,

“If he did it on a day you were around you would’ve burned the house down.” 

His joking didn’t work though as you sadly followed up,

“All of you hid it from me. Why?”

“We all knew you’d feel exactly like this, like it was your fault. We made a pact not to say anything because it would hurt your feelings and I’m sure you could guess who led the efforts on that idea.” Diego responded honestly

You nodded your head. Of course, he didn’t want to hurt your feelings.

“I always felt like you knew, but you never said anything so I wasn’t sure. How did you find out?” Diego added

“Vanya.” You respond with a yawn

“Of course it was Vanya.” Diego mumbles

You could feel yourself growing tired again. Your eyelids started to droop as you explained,

“She had drawn the image in black marker on her wrist and when I asked why she told me. He didn’t say anything until I brought it up.”

You didn’t like referring to Five by his name. You barely mentioned him because the wound of his loss was still too much. Diego didn’t understand how someone who cared for you so much could cut you so deeply. It didn’t make sense, but he couldn’t change the past.

“I could’ve protected you all...” You mumbled before falling back asleep

“It wasn’t your job to protect us.” Diego quietly replied

He held your small sleeping figure closer to him and rocked you once more.

“But it’s my job to protect you.”

[wordsinwinters]

Then Again, Part 26 (Peter Parker x Reader)

Masterlist (with AO3 links)

Total word count: 50,293

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20, Part 21, Part 22, Part 23, Part 24, Part 25,

Summary: After an intense argument and a forced-to-share-the-bed situation during their junior year decathlon trip, Peter and the Reader examine their faults and failings. As they attempt to fix their mistakes and improve their friendship, that friendship quickly begins to evolve into something else.

Slow burn fic in which all characters are included and their dynamics explored; multiple character POVs.

Betas: @girl-tips-from-satan and @fanboyswhereare-you

A/N: This isn’t my favorite chapter, but it’s been sitting in my drafts for over a year and I figured if I don’t post it now, I’ll never move on to the next. Additionally, as always, I live for feedback. 😉

Without further ado,

Then Again Part 26:

(Words: 2,825)

The bus ride will probably get boring soon, or at least as long as the girls stay asleep, but even as quiet as it is, it’s almost a perfect morning. Being early (around 6:00, I think?), there’s barely any light except street lamps and car lights, but some of the clouds on the right have caught a pretty bluish purple tinge. It reminds me of that Rainbow Fish book Aunt May used to read to me as a kid. To make it better, the morning air is chilly enough that the driver turned the heaters on low so it’s wrapped-in-a-blanket-while-it-snows warm in here. Although that also might be why, apart from general dirt and old gum, the strongest smell on the bus is salty grease— since the nearest heater is under the seat Flash spilled french fries and chicken nuggets in yesterday. It could be worse, though. I mean, it’s not necessarily a bad smell and the traffic isn’t horrible. It’s not the best, but it could definitely be louder and a lot slower. The field of flowing red tail lights ahead of us is oddly comforting, like a snail-slow pasture of mechanical color. 

All in all, it’s a pretty cozy start for a dreaded five hour bus ride. It’s giving me quiet time to think. So that’s where I’m at. Or should be. I got some stuff organized in my head last night even if I keep getting distracted now. Well, it was more like a couple hours ago, since I wasn’t able to get to sleep for so long after we said goodnight. But anyway, I’m trying to focus. It’s just hard, even with both of them sleeping.

From my and Ned’s spot behind them, watching the girls’ heads gently shake and bump against each other as the bus shudders through potholes is kind of calming. They seem so peaceful from this angle, like two people who’ve never pranked me and Ned to the point we were nearly suspended, or kept us awake and annoyed by asking paradoxical hypothetical questions because they know how Ned and I will argue for days if we don’t agree on an answer, or anything else like that. It’s like finding two mischievous cats sleeping, curled up on a chair. It’s easier to appreciate them when they aren’t causing chaos. But it’s not that hard to appreciate them when they are anyway.

Though Ned and I won’t admit it when they’re fully awake, seeing their heads smack into the seat in front of them each time the bus lurched to a halt at stoplights (during the first ten minutes after they’d fallen asleep) was funnier than it should’ve been. Even knowing then that we wouldn’t mention it later didn’t stop us from exchanging silent laughs when they leaned back up, muttering unintelligible complaints before settling their heads back onto one another. For the last couple stoplights before the highway, at least, we decided to be better friends. We both stood up with one leg on the floor and one knee on our own seat so we could easily hold their foreheads back each time it happened. Again, I wouldn’t admit this out loud, even to Ned, but it’s a little bit funny that Ned was a split second slower than me, so while I kept catching MJ’s head before the stop, he half-smacked Y/N’s forehead, like a really-close-to-the-floor basketball dribble, and made a wincing face each time. A lot of times. But it did stop her from colliding with the seat, and she didn’t wake up or complain. 

As nice as it is with them and almost everyone else sleeping through the dark, quiet first hour of the bus trek back to New York, I am excited for her and MJ to wake up. Whenever that is. I’ve missed them. 

But anyway, I really need to focus. God. I’m not doing a great job of that this morning. Apparently. So I’m focusing now. It’s like Ned said. I need to be honest with myself. 

Okay. 

Alright. 

No distractions. 

I’m going to set myself straight now, before we get back, so I can make a game plan and be more decisive and make less mistakes. Fewer? Yeah, fewer mistakes. She’s told me that half a dozen times this since she read that grammar book last summer. But that’s not important.

If I’m being honest... I think I’ve avoided the real possibility that things could work out between us because it felt too risky. And I make some dumb, impulsive choices. So that’s saying a lot. If she said no, what’s the worst that could happen? May and Ned have been asking me that for months, and it’s been so frustrating. The answer should be obvious. The worst thing wouldn’t be the rejection, it’d be if it made her uncomfortable and she broke off our friendship. Or, even if she stuck around, if our friendship changed and I had to watch her get more and more distant, knowing it was my fault and nothing would ever go back to normal. 

Those were the worst — and, I thought, most probable — possibilities. For months I’ve been certain that if anything changed, everything would, and it’d all go to shit. So I kept dodging it. And dodging her before the trip. But, then, things did change this weekend. Things are changing. We fought, and it was super shitty and awful and a total nightmare fiasco, but we made up. And she seemed almost as relieved as me when we did. Now we even have this pact about spending more time together. I know it’s officially only in the name of friendship, but something’s… different. I feel it, and I think she does too. And it doesn’t seem bad. That’s the craziest part. I mean, she even kissed me last night. On the cheek, but still. “Keep it.” Maybe May’s not ridiculous: she really might feel the same way. 

I’ve been texting her this morning, actually. Aunt May. I had to admit that I’m happy she forced me to do the forehead kiss thing last night. As annoyed as I was that she and Ned ganged up on me like that, I can’t dispute the results. She kissed me! Kind of. (To be fair, she did hit my mouth a little bit even if it was an accident.) At first it made me wonder if she heard any of Ned’s shout-comments before I could turn the t.v. up to cover what he was saying. But I doubt it. Even if she felt the same way, I know her too well to think she wouldn’t freak out more and enough that it’d be noticable. Yeah, no, I’d definitely have been able to tell if she’d heard him saying things like, “Nobody’s saying you have to tell her that you googled the probability of high school sweethearts getting married that time she saved your ass on that Bronte essay, but yeah, Aunt May’s right! Just ask her to come over and either talk to her or do the hair/forehead thing!” Anyway, May’s on board with her coming over a lot this week and next week and giving us some space. So are Ned and MJ. Ned said they agreed on giving us two weeks (starting tomorrow) without them hanging out after school. And who knows, if the dance goes really well, maybe it’ll be normal for us to hang out, just us, without the whole group. Because… well, I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself. 

I’ll admit, they’re the best friends I could ever have. All three of them. 

And it’s nice to have them all here now, Ned to my left and the girls in front of us. It’s even nicer to be outside of class or the city or crazy study sessions and have had a short breather from all that (despite the shitshow before we smoothed things over and could enjoy it). To be somewhere chill together. Yesterday and today probably feel even better because the last few days, or even weeks… no— months, if I’m being honest— have had me in a kind of less than happy place. But that’s over now. We’re all here and things are finally good. I just wish the girls would wake up, especially since Ned’s back on his phone. Again. 

Yesterday, everybody hung out for most of the afternoon, but being in the whole decathlon group isn’t the same as just being the four of us. Or two. 

Speaking of two— Ned being away during this next week or two is going to make everything so… unfiltered. New. Without his interference and being able to talk to him as often as normal, it’ll mostly just be her and me. Nobody to distract attention or blame stuff on or help me out when I’m doing something dumb (which is often). Like, for example, last night when I maybe let my excitement get the better of me and I might’ve jumped on the bed and thrown a pillow that accidentally broke the lamp on the nightstand. While I don’t really think writing that “Bill Mr. Harrington” note with the school’s address was Ned’s best idea, it helped me not care too much, enough that I didn’t do something dumber like actually tell Mr. Harrington. It might come back to bite us, though. Still, he was genuinely helpful this morning when Flash showed up too. 

While we were hanging out in the girls’ room waiting for them to finish packing, there was a knock on the door. I figured it was Mr. Harrington about to yell at me and Ned for the broken lamp, so I motioned to Ned to shut up and move closer to the head of the bed we were already sitting on where, courtesy of the wall between the bedroom and bathroom, he wouldn’t be able to see us as long as he stayed by the doorway. MJ gave us an odd glance before she got up to answer it. Her annoyed, “What are you doing here?” didn’t immediately disqualify Mr. Harrington, but the sound of Flash’s voice saying, “I, uh, brought you guys some muffins,” made me tense at the first syllable.

“The free muffins they give us for breakfast?”

MJ’s dripping sarcasm nearly made me laugh even though I couldn’t see her, but Y/N turning from her suitcase and walking over to join them killed it still in my throat. 

“Nope,” he said. “They’re fancy muffins from a bakery a few miles away.”

I wanted to roll my eyes out of my skull.

She may not like him, but that doesn’t mean I was wrong about him being into her. What a dumb way to impress someone. “Fancy muffins.”

“Expensive?” MJ asked. Even without seeing her face, I could tell she was giving him the squint death stare. It’s scary to have to respond to that face if you don’t know what the right answer is.

“Yes, especially with the delivery fee,” he said, sounding prepared for the question, “but they’re from a small local place, not a chain, which I figured you guys would appreciate. Actually, I think you’d like the woman who owns it, she was super grouchy and hard to convince.”

“Convince?”

“They don’t normally deliver at 5 in the morning.”

“Oh, so you thought you could just—”

“What kind did you get?” 

That’s one of the things I like about Y/N. She knows how to manage tempers and when to jump in; she has Flash and MJ down to a science. In that moment, though, I wanted MJ to fire her most confrontational questions at him with no mercy.

“Well, they’re all apology muffins—” I heard MJ scoff. Exactly. She gets it. “But I got blueberry, chocolate, obviously, coffee, cranberry orange, maple, I think that one has chicken in it or something, and banana nut.”

Ned and I turned towards each other with silent smirks at the last one. It’s a dumb joke, but under normal circumstances we’d never resist—

“Cool. Since you’ve brought so many, you can come in.”

Sometimes MJ drives me up the wall. This was one of those times. 

I mentally took back my agreement with her scoff.

The three of them came into the room, and for a couple seconds, Flash didn’t see us. The girls were closer to the window than they were to the wall and the bed Ned and I were sitting on, and he didn’t look behind him. Until MJ pointed us out directly.

“You can give them some too,” she said, her expression bordering on smug. “Apology muffins, right?”

Flash froze for a second. I straightened my back. Neither Ned or I said anything.

“Yeah, yeah,” he nodded. “Of course.”

Surprisingly, he shook his shoulders like a bug just buzzed by his head and walked over, opening a giant rectangle of a box up to us. 

“Take however many you guys want.”

I stared at him, not moving. Nobody flinched. Then I realized he was tapping the side of the box with his thumb. Not in an asshole come on, hurry up way, but in an anxious way. Just as I started to reach toward the box, Y/N asked:

“Why’d you get so many of the coffee ones?”

Flash looked away at just the right second. 

Did I technically cave first by reaching into the box? Yes. But did anyone see? No.

Although, I guess he technically caved by offering us the muffins in the first place. Ha. All the same, I took a blueberry one. 

“They’re my dad’s favorite. I wanted to surprise him, you know? But I can’t even get a hold of.... Um, are your guys’ parents going to pick you up when we get there, or are you actually staying for school?”

“Staying.”

“All of you?” 

He looked around to ask all of us, even me and Ned. We all nodded. When he looked at me, though, his eyes twitched. It’s a face I’ve gotten a lot before. He realized he said parents. 

“You said these are orange cranberry?” Ned asked, pointing. 

Flash nodded. 

“They’re solid, though the banana nut ones are probably the best.”

As I said, under normal circumstances, like if one of the girls had said it, I would’ve laughed right then, but I’m not used to laughing around Flash. Ned, who usually follows that same rule, shook his head and grinned, if a little bit... nervously?

“Hell no!” he said, pretending to be mildly outraged. “I’m not eating banana-bust-a-nut muffins.”

A second surprise: Flash tilted his head and paused, clearly as stunned to be told a joke by Ned as the rest of us were to witness it— and laughed. So did everyone else. It was only for a few seconds, like literally three quick seconds, but for the first time for as long as I can remember, all of us were laughing with Flash. It stopped almost as soon as it started. 

Tension crept back in soon so he left pretty quickly after that with an awkward, “See you guys in a few.” Thank god. 

The girls finished tidying their room and going over the homework that’s due today (which we did last week since we knew we’d never get it done on the trip), before forcing me and Ned into the hallway so Mr. Harrington wouldn’t need to check our room for us and potentially find the broken lamp. 

And then, pretty soon, we ended up on the warm bus, loaded in with everyone else. It seemed like everybody but Ned and I were too quiet and sleepy and squinty to be able to talk much before dozing off or staring blankly out the window or scrolling social media on their phones, the latter two options leading to the first in most cases. At this point, I think Ned, Flash, and I are the only ones still awake. 

I’m going to work at tolerating him. As long as he doesn’t cross any lines with anybody from now on, I won’t bait him either. (Admittedly, I’ve been guilty of that, especially recently.) I mean, his comment about his dad was hard to miss. And even when he said it, it wasn’t a shock. Everyone in our grade at some point has had to listen to Flash’s rambling excuses for his parents ignoring or forgetting to show up for school events. Maybe being a dick is just hereditary for him. Or a family tradition. 

I don’t remember how I got so off track. Where was I before? Oh yeah. Risk. Possibilities. The almost-worst case scenario that turned out not so bad. It’s been a messy weekend with plenty of re-evaluating, but the point is simple: I think I’ve got to give a few new things a try, and I’m excited to have a chance over the next couple weeks.

Next update: God only knows.

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[warped-historian]

Warped Tour, 2005

Dates:

June 18: Columbus, OH

June 19: Milwaukee, WI

June 21: Maryland Heights, MO

June 22: Bonner Springs, KS

June 24: Dallas, TX

June 25: Houston, TX

June 26: Selma, TX

June 28: Las Cruces, NM

June 29: Phoenix, AZ

June 30: San Diego, CA

July 1: Long Beach, CA

July 2: San Francisco, CA

July 3: Ventura, CA

July 4: Fresno, CA

July 6: Pomona, CA

July 7: Wheatland, CA

July 8: Nampa, ID

July 9: George, WA

July 10: Saint Helens, OR

July 12: Vancouver, BC

July 14: Calgary, AB

July 15: Bozeman, MT

July 16: Salt Lake City, UT

July 17: Denver, CO

July 20: Noblesville, IN

July 21: Cleveland, OH

July 22: Cincinnati, OH

July 23: Tinley Park, IL

July 24: Minneapolis, MN

July 26: Corfu, NY

July 28: Quebec, QC

July 29: Montreal, QC

July 30: Barrie, ON

July 31: Pontiac, MI

August 1: Burgettstown, PA

August 3: Atlanta, GA

August 4: Jacksonville, FL

August 5: Tampa, FL

August 6: Pompano Beach, FL

August 7: Orlando, FL

August 8: Charlotte, NC

August 9: Virginia Beach, VA

August 10: Bristow, VA

August 11: Scranton, PA

August 12: Camden, NJ

August 13: New York City, NY

August 14: Englishtown, NJ

August 15: Northampton, MA

Lineup:

Alexisonfire (Played 7/12-7/14)

Atreyu

Billy Idol (Played 7/6-7/8, 7/10, 7/16, 7/20, 7/22, 7/23)

The Dillinger Escape Plan (Played 7/26-8/1)

Fall Out Boy

Good Charlotte (Played 7/28)

Hawthorne Heights

My Chemical Romance

Relient K (Played 7/6-8/15)

Senses Fail

Simple Plan (Played 7/15-7/17)

The Starting Line

Story Of The Year (Played 8/3-8/15)

Thrice

The All-American Rejects (Played 6/18-7/10 and 7/15-7/26)

Avenged Sevenfold

Billy Talent (Played 7/12-7/14)

Dropkick Murphys

Gogol Bordello (Played 7/3-7/8 and 7/15-7/23)

Matchbook Romance

Mest (Played 7/4-8/15)

Millencolin (Played 7/28-8/14)

MxPx

No Use For A Name (Played 6/18-7/23)

The Offspring (Played 6/18-7/12 and 7/15-8/14)

Strung Out

The Suicide Machines (Played 7/31)

Transplants

The Bled

The Explosion (Played 6/18-7/17)

Funeral For A Friend (Played 7/20-8/15)

Horrorpops (Played 7/14)

Hot Rod Circuit (Played 8/3-8/15)

The Kinison (Played 7/20-8/15)

Mae (Played 7/20-8/15)

Motion City Soundtrack (Played 7/6-7/12 and 7/15-8/15)

Over It (Played 7/28-8/15)

Rufio (Played 7/2-7/12 and 7/15-7/17)

Reggie And The Full Effect (Played 7/7-8/15)

Saosin (Played 7/21-8/15)

Silverstein (Played 6/18-7/17)

Strike Anywhere (Played 6/18-7/2 and 7/14)

Tsunami Bomb (Played 6/18-7/1)

Underoath (Played 6/18-7/17 and 7/28-8/14)

The Unseen (Played 6/18-7/17)

The Academy Is... (Played 7/26-8/7)

The Actual (Played 6/18-6/30)

Amber Pacific (Played 7/20-8/1)

Another Damn Disappointment (Played 6/18-6/29 and 7/26-8/1)

ASG (Played 7/1-7/12, 7/15-7/17 and 8/3-8/15)

Bedouin Soundclash

Bleeding Through (Played 8/3-8/15)

The Briefs (Played 8/3-8/15)

The Dead 60s (Played 8/8-8/15)

Dorothy Sanchez (Played 7/20-8/1)

The Fight (Played 7/26-8/15)

From First To Last (Played 7/6-7/12 and 7/15-7/17)

Go Betty Go (Played 7/26-8/15)

Gratitude (Played 8/1-8/15)

Gym Class Heroes (Played 7/6-7/24)

Halifax (Played 7/6-7/24)

Hidden In Plain View (Played 6/18-7/17)

Horrorpops (Played 7/6-7/12 and 7/15-7/24)

Lost City Angels (Played 7/20-8/1)

The Matches (Played 6/18-7/17)

Near Miss (Played 7/24-7/31)

Opiate for the Masses (Played 7/14)

Plain White T's (Played 6/18-7/4)

The Riverboat Gamblers (Played 6/18-7/12, 7/15-7/24 and 8/3-8/15)

Rufio (Played 7/14)

Skindred (Played 7/20-7/24 and 8/8-8/15)

Stutterfly (Played 6/18-7/4)

Street Dogs (Played 8/3-8/15)

Throw Rag (Played 7/20-7/24, 8/1)

The Twenty Twos (Played 6/18-7/2)

Valient Thorr

A Change Of Pace (Played 7/16-7/30)

A Thorn For Every Heart (Played 8/1-8/15)

A Wilhelm Scream (Played 8/15)

Acceptance (Played 8/10-8/15)

Amber Pacific (Played 7/14)

Armor For Sleep (Played 6/18-7/17)

Before Today (Played 6/30)

Between Home And Serenity (Played 6/18-6/21)

Boys Night Out

Cartel (Played 7/31-8/1)

Darkest Hour (Played 8/13-8/15)

Day Two (Played 7/1-7/12 and 7/15-7/17)

Emery

From First To Last (Played 7/14)

The Fully Down (Played 7/14)

Gatsbys American Dream (Played 6/18-7/4)

Glory Of This (Played 8/7-8/9)

Greeley Estates

Hopesfall

June (Played 7/23-7/26)

The Junior Varsity (Played 7/20-7/22)

Mewithoutyou (Played 8/1)

Roses Are Red (Played 7/4-7/10)

Scary Kids Scaring Kids (Played 6/24-6/29 and 7/28-8/9)

So They Say (Played 6/18-6/22)

The Spill Canvas (Played 7/20-7/24)

This Day And Age (Played 8/10-8/15)

This Providence (Played 7/8-7/10)

Waking Ashland (Played 6/30-7/4)

The Working Title (Played 8/3-8/6)

Yesterday's Rising

A Change of Pace (Played 6/29)

A Thorn for Every Heart (Played 6/29-7/7)

A Wilhelm Scream (Played 7/20-7/30)

Aiden (Played 7/9)

As Tall As Lions (Played 7/26 and 8/1)

Big D and the Kids Table

Bleed the Dream

Circa Survive (Played 8/8-8/15)

EchoValve (Played 8/3-8/6)

Ethos Music Camp Band (Played 6/30-7/2)

The Feds (Played 6/18-6/28)

Her Candane (Played 7/16)

Kane Hodder (Played 7/8-7/18)

The Malcontents (Played 7/20)

Monty's Fan Club (Played 7/8-8/1 and 8/10-8/15)

Mr. Brown (Played 8/3-8/7)

Much the Same (Played 7/23)

My American Heart

Nonpoint (Played 8/3-8/9)

Opiate for the Masses

Poopan (Played 6/29-7/7)

The Receiving End Of Sirens (Played 6/18-6/28 and 8/1-8/15)

Sargent (Played 8/14)

Scary Kids Scaring Kids (Played 6/18-6/22)

The Silence (Played 6/29-7/7)

Slavic Souls Party (Played 8/11-8/12 and 8/14)

Sophomore (Played 6/22)

Split Habit (Played 7/21-7/24 and 7/28-7/30)

The Swellers (Played 7/21, 7/24)

Thin Dark Line (Played 7/26)

5 Stars For Failure (Played 7/24)

15 Minutes Late (Played 6/19)

5606 (Played 7/2)

A Day in Africa (Played 6/22)

A Day to Remember (Played 8/5)

A Sense of Belonging (Played 8/12)

A Textbook Tragedy (Played 7/12)

Abacus (Played 7/28)

Abbington (Played 6/22)

Acitone (Played 7/24)

Ahimsa Sunrise (Played 8/11)

Alivia (Played 7/14)

Amber Sky CA (Played 7/6)

Amora Savant (Played 6/19)

Animal Suit Driveby (Played 8/15)

Antagen (Played 7/1)

Ashwin (Played 8/8)

avarice.to.lace (Played 7/14)

The Awkward Romance (Played 8/3)

Bad Larry (Played 8/15)

The Belmonte Academy (Played 7/10)

Bennington (Played 6/25)

Bensin (Played 7/26)

Blank Logic (Played 7/4)

TheBleedingAlarm (Played 7/12)

BlueTurnsWhite (Played 7/10)

Boldtype (Played 7/17)

Brookside (Played 8/13)

Burning Bright (Played 7/23)

Camera (Played 7/4)

Carter Beats the Devil (Played 8/6)

Casual Drama (Played 7/15)

Catherine (Played 7/7)

Ceremonial Snips (Played 7/29)

Chasing Victory (Played 8/4)

The Classic Crime (Played 7/9)

ClearviewPA (Played 8/1)

Crane (Played 7/28)

Crashing By Design (Played 7/24)

Crooked Edge (Played 8/5)

Cute is What We Aim For (Played 7/26)

Danny Wynn and the Earthlings (Played 6/28)

Dead Letter Diaries (Played 7/1)

Dear Whoever (Played 7/10)

December Lies (Played 8/12)

Deciding Tonight (Played 8/13)

DelsonDrive (Played 7/29)

Divide the Day (Played 7/1)

Divine Endings (Played 8/9)

Don't Let Go (Played 6/29)

Drama Summer (Played 7/21)

Drawback (Played 7/26)

Drive By Romance (Played 6/24)

Dystalis (Played 7/20)

Exhaustra (Played 8/4)

Fall of Transition (Played 8/9)

Falling Closer (Played 7/10)

The Famed (Played 6/22)

Farewell (Played 8/8)

Farewell To Twilight (Played 6/19)

FATE (Played 7/7)

The Felix Culpa (Played 7/23)

Femme Fatality (Played 6/21)

FIAD (Played 8/9)

Finish the Fight (Played 6/28)

Fire At Will (Played 8/7)

Five Style Fist (Played 7/17)

Flight 409 (Played 7/4)

Flip the Switch (Played 7/7)

The Flipside (Played 6/24)

Fly By Night (Played 7/3)

Forever Changed (Played 8/7)

Four Alarm Fire (Played 7/1)

The Fully Down (Played 7/29)

Gas Can Pickup (Played 7/23)

The Ghost Cried Murder (Played 7/14)

Girl in a Coma (Played 6/26)

Glass Intrepid (Played 6/25)

Glory Nights (Played 7/12)

Gone Baby Gone (Played 8/15)

Haffo (Played 6/29)

Heavy Heavy Low Low (Played 7/2)

Heist At Hand (Played 6/25)

High Flight Society (Played 8/3)

The Hint (Played 8/10)

His Red Letters (Played 7/16)

Hit the Lights (Played 6/18)

House Of Heroes (Played 6/18)

In Camera (Played 7/16)

Inept (Played 7/23)

InMemory (Played 7/3)

Isadora (Played 8/1)

Ismada (Played 8/13)

Ject (Played 8/6)

The Josephine Love Letter (Played 6/22)

Junior Revolution (Played 7/22)

Kandace Ferrel and HeartsAcrossAmerica (Played 7/6)

Karmellas Game (Played 8/10)

Kid Innocence (Played 7/2)

Kill What I Adore (Played 6/18)

Langley (Played 7/8)

Larger Than Life (Played 6/30)

Last Tuesday (Played 8/11)

Lenore (Played 7/17)

Love Equals Death (Played 7/2)

Lowercase (Played 6/21)

Lucky For Nothing (Played 7/9)

Mercury Bullet (Played 7/4)

The Mercy League (Played 8/6)

Midnight Aria (Played 8/7)

The Mile After (Played 8/8)

Mint 6 Ten (Played 7/22)

Minus My Thoughts (Played 7/15)

Monet Madrid Madagascar (Played 7/21)

Moraine (Played 8/12)

MOTH (Played 7/22)

Motionless in White (Played 8/11)

My Hostage (Played 8/4)

My Life Story (Played 7/3)

The NAOS Project (Played 6/26)

National Product (Played 6/30)

Nikki Hurst (Played 7/12)

Novella (Played 6/21)

Off Track (Played 6/30)

One Amazing Kid (Played 8/8)

One For Hope (Played 6/28)

Otenki (Played 6/25)

Out of Options (Played 7/30)

Panic Division (Played 6/26)

Pensativa (Played 7/3)

The Pinstripes (Played 7/22)

The Pirkqlaters (Played 7/8)

Point One (Played 7/9)

Post Break Tragedy (Played 8/14)

Potty Mouth Society (Played 7/9)

Queen City Knights (Played 7/26)

Race the Sun (Played 8/9)

Radio (Played 8/6)

Ready to Fall (The Hydra Melody) (Played 6/26)

Red Knife Lottery (Played 6/19)

Red Lipstick Letter (Played 8/4)

Red Wire Morning (Played 7/6)

Redfield (Played 6/29)

Rottin Youth (Played 7/8)

Royden (Played 8/13)

Rushmore Academy (Played 6/21)

The Sainte Catherines (Played 7/29)

Saravain (Played 8/10)

The Scene (Played 6/18)

Select Start (Played 8/5)

Shift D (Played 7/30)

Shining Through (Played 6/30)

Sick City (Played 7/14)

Side Dish Sydney (Played 7/30)

Sleeper Set Sail (Played 7/30)

Sloppy Meateaters (Played 8/3)

Someday Never (Played 8/14)

Steal The Air (Played 8/14)

Straight Line Stitch (Played 8/3)

The Superspecs (Played 8/14)

Synthetic Elements (Played 7/17)

Take The Fall (Played 7/16)

The Temptation of Saint Anthony (Played 7/8)

This Awkward Silence (Played 7/21)

Throw the Fight (Played 7/24)

Tooth Fuzz (Played 7/21)

TraceMyVeins (Played 7/15)

Trackfighter (Played 7/7)

Tripleshot (Played 6/24)

Truly Changed (Played 8/7)

The Two Bit Terribles (Played 7/20)

Upper Class Trash (Played 8/5)

Uptown Stomp (Played 8/10)

Urinal Mints (Played 7/20)

Useed (Played 7/28)

Valencia (Played 8/12)

Vera Lynn (Played 6/29)

The Victory Year (Played 8/1)

The Waiting Room (Played 6/24)

We Are Lions (Played 7/6)

W.E.T. (Played 7/15)

WhenManMeetsHisMaker (Played 8/11)

Wings of Azrael (Played 8/1)

Your Name in Lights (Played 6/28)

Zox (Played 8/15)

33 West (Played 8/9)

A Void (Played 7/17)

Abrasive Wheels (Played 6/18-6/22)

Action Action (Played 8/4-8/6)

Adair (Played 6/21-6/22)

Adelphi (Played 8/9-8/10)

Adrenokrome (Played 7/3-7/4)

The A.K.A.'s (Played 7/23-7/26, 7/31-8/5 and 8/15)

Alucard (Played 7/31)

Amateur Musician's Fund (Played 7/30)

A.N.I.M.A.L. (Played 6/24-6/28)

The Art of Safecracking (Played 6/30-7/2)

Backside Slappy (Played 8/9)

Baghead (Played 8/11)

Bedlight for Blue Eyes (Played 6/18-6/19)

Beerzone (Played 8/11-8/14)

Bella Morte (Played 8/9)

Blackbird (Played 6/29)

Blue Sky Goodbye (Played 7/20)

Bob's Kitchen (Played 7/21-7/22)

Boink (Played 7/31)

Bombs Over Providence (Played 7/12-7/14 and 7/28-7/29)

Brain Failure (Played 8/8-8/11)

Brat Attack (Played 7/12-7/14)

Bricks For Shoulders (Played 7/21-7/22)

Brigands (Played 6/28)

Brutally Frank (Played 6/21)

Bullets and Octane (Played 6/30-7/3)

Burning Bright (Played 7/23)

Burns Out Bright (Played 8/8)

Butane (Played 7/23)

Buttonhead (Played 7/20)

Cartel (Played 8/3-8/4)

Cofelon (Played 7/17)

The Chaos Theory (Played 7/24)

Charlize (Played 7/17)

Chasing August (Played 8/8)

Chasing Victory (Played 8/3)

Chesterwhite and His Orchestra (Played 7/21-7/22)

Cigarette (Played 7/15-7/16)

Close to Home (Played 7/15-7/17)

Co-Exist (Played 7/4 and 7/7-7/8)

Comfortable For You (Played 7/2)

The Commercials (Played 7/21-7/22 and 7/26)

Coppermine (Played 6/21-6/22)

Corey Versus Corey (Played 6/24)

Closed For Mondays (Played 6/19)

Cranked Up! (Played 8/12)

Crush Luther (Played 7/28-7/30)

The Culling Song (Played 6/18)

Custom Made Scare (Played 7/3)

Damien's Day Out (Played 8/10)

Darkbuster (Played 8/10-8/11 and 8/13)

Day of Contempt (Played 7/4-7/7)

Daze (Played 7/26)

Deadbeat Romeo (Played 7/12-7/14)

Dead Poetic (Played 6/18)

Defiance of Authority (Played 8/8)

Defining Moment (Played 8/6)

DEK (Played 7/9)

Delux (Played 6/26)

Denver Harbor (Played 7/3 and 7/6)

Destruction Made Simple (Played 7/2-7/3 and 7/6)

Dexter Danger (Played 6/26)

The Dog and Everything (Played 7/21-7/22)

Diffs (Played 7/1-7/2)

The Disease (Played 8/8)

Disorient Express (Played 6/28)

Divided They Fall (Played 6/29)

DKLIMB (Played 8/4-8/6)

Down to Earth (Played 8/8 and 8/10)

Downtown Brown (Played 7/31)

Downtown Singapore (Played 8/10)

Dr. Neptune (Played 7/16-7/17)

The Drapes (Played 7/8)

Dub Trio (Played 8/13)

Echo Screen (Played 8/14)

Echovalve (Played 8/7-8/9)

The Eight Bucks Experiment (Played 7/17)

El Centro (Played 7/6)

El Pollo Diablo (Played 7/15)

The Escaped (Played 7/10)

E.W.I. (Played 7/9)

The Fabulous Rudies (Played 6/24-6/26)

Fail to Follow (Played 7/16)

Fakeknife (Played 8/14)

Fear Nuttin' Band (Played 8/9-8/15)

The Fenwicks (Played 8/4-8/6)

Fight Paris (Played 8/3)

Fight the Locals (Played 7/31)

The Firebird Band (Played 7/20 and 7/22)

Firecracker 500 (Played 7/6)

First on Mars (Played 8/1)

Five Minutes to Freedom (Played 6/30)

Flight 409 (Played 7/9)

Forever Changed (Played 8/4)

Forgetting April (Played 6/24)

Fred Savage & the Unbeatables (Played 7/24)

From There for Tomorrow (Played 8/4)

Fu Manchu (Played 7/1)

Fully Loaded (Played 7/15-7/16)

The Gasrats (Played 6/19)

G.F.I. (Played 7/8)

Gone All Summer (Played 7/23)

Grand Buffet (Played 8/12)

Grave for the Fireflies (Played 7/10)

Grayson Manor (Played 8/3)

Griz (Played 7/23-7/24)

Guff (Played 8/3)

He Is Legend (Played 8/3)

Hellogoodbye (Played 8/5-8/7)

Hence Reverie (Played 8/12 and 8/14)

Hidden By Authority (Played 7/2-7/3)

High Deafinition (Played 7/28-7/30)

Hitchers (Played 8/12-8/14)

Honchie (Played 6/25)

Hopesick (Played 8/5)

Hot Like (A) Robot (Played 7/20-7/22)

Hurry Up Offense (Played 8/1 and 8/11)

The Huxtables (Played 7/7-7/8

I Am the Avalanche (Played 7/26 and 8/13-8/15)

I Voted for Kodos (Played 6/19 and 6/22)

Idiom (Played 7/3-7/4)

illScarlett (Played 7/28-7/30)

In Memory (Played 7/1)

Inspect Her Gadget (Played 7/2, 7/4 and 7/7)

Introspect (Played 7/16)

Irradio (Played 7/6)

Issue 10 (Played 7/8)

It Dies Today (Played 8/11-8/13)

J4 (Played 6/24-6/29)

Jenoah (Played 6/19-6/22)

Jupiter Sunrise (Played 7/15)

Kaddisfly (Played 7/3, 7/7, 7/9-7/10 and 7/15)

Kairos (Played 8/1)

The Keep Always (Played 7/24)

The Know How (Played 7/20 and 7/22)

Last Great Hope (Played 8/7)

Like Yesterday (Played 7/26 and 8/13-8/15)

The Lingua Franca (Played 7/31)

The Look (Played 7/9-7/10 and 7/15)

Lorene Drive (Played 8/3-8/7)

Los Creepers (Played 7/7)

Los Furios (Played 7/12-7/14)

Los Kung-Fu Monkeys (Played 6/28-6/30)

Loser's Luck (Played 6/21-6/22)

Losing Team (Played 7/4)

Love Equals Death (Played 7/10)

The Lucky Stiffs (Played 7/7-7/9)

Ludo (Played 6/21)

The Madd Agents (Played 8/7)

The Mansfields (Played 7/17)

Maryz Eyez (Played 7/31)

Max Cady (Played 6/25)

Mentally Ill (Played 7/15)

The Miasmics (Played 8/9)

Midnight Aria (Played 8/4)

Mike Got Spiked (Played 7/28-7/30)

Mike Watt & Peter DiStefano (Played 6/30-7/4)

Milton (Played 7/21-7/22)

The Minor League (Played 7/31)

Minority (Played 6/24-6/26)

Morning Call (Played 7/12-7/14)

Most Precious Blood (Played 6/21-6/22)

Mourning Maxwell (Played 6/25-6/29)

Murdocks (Played 6/25)

My Finest Hour (Played 6/18)

My Former Self (Played 7/6 and 7/9)

My So-Called Band (Played 8/8)

Name Taken (Played 6/29-6/30)

Narcoleptic Youth (Played 6/30 and 7/3-7/6)

National Product (Played 7/1 and 7/15)

Near Miss (Played 7/20-7/23)

Neglected Superhero (Played 8/7)

Never the Better (Played 7/20)

No Name Charlies (Played 7/21-7/22)

The New Transit Direction (Played 7/16)

No Comply (Played 7/28-7/30)

Noise Attack (Played 7/2)

Notwithstanding (Played 7/24)

Nuts and Bolts (Played 8/4)

O'Doyle Rules (Played 6/24)

Off Track (Played 7/10)

One Eyed Jacks (Played 7/12-7/14)

OneWorldSolution (Played 7/7-7/8)

Onset of Effect (Played 6/28-6/29 and 7/1)

Open Hand (Played 6/18-6/19)

Ordinary K (Played 8/13)

Oreon (Played 7/20-7/22)

Outlett (Played 7/4)

The Paperdolls (Played 7/8)

PBM (Played 7/31)

Peachcake (Played 6/29)

Playing With Matches (Played 6/21)

Pluto Gang (Played 8/11)

The Preps (Played 8/1)

Preston (Played 7/16)

Protest the Hero (Played 7/12-7/14 and 7/30)

The Randies (Played 7/4-7/6)

The Real Deal (Played 7/28-7/30)

Remedy for Ruin (Played 7/26 and 8/13)

Robby Roadsteamer (Played 8/11 and 8/13-8/14)

Roses Are Red (Played 6/18-6/19)

Roundabout (Played 7/9)

Roundeye (Played 7/23)

Royden (Played 8/14)

Sakura (Played 7/20)

Same Day Service (Played 6/22-6/26)

Saving Verona (Played 7/17)

Say They Exist (Played 8/7)

Select Start (Played 8/4)

Seventh Echo (Played 6/18)

Shoreline (Played 7/23-7/24)

Silent Army (Played 7/15)

Simple & Supreem (Played 8/1)

Single File (PLayed 7/16-7/17

Singled Out (Played 6/29)

Six Hung Sprung (Played 6/21)

Skint (Played 7/16)

The Skulls (Played 6/30)

Sledgeback (Played 7/9)

So Abused (Played 7/8)

Somerset (Played 7/24)

Sophomore (Played 7/30)

Southcott (Played 7/26)

Split Fifty (Played 8/9-8/10 and 8/12)

Still Not Sexy (Played 7/23)

Stolen Babies (Played 6/30-7/2)

Straight Outta Junior High (Played 6/22)

Strawmen (Played 8/10)

The Stranger's Six (Played 6/30)

Subseven (Played 6/22-6/24)

Summerhero (Played 7/28-7/30)

Sunday Driver (Played 8/5-8/7)

Switchblade Kittens (Played 6/28)

Tanya Janca (Played 6/28)

Ten Second Epic (Played 7/12-7/14)

Third Estate (Played 7/26)

Third to None (Played 7/26)

Thirty3 (Played 7/10)

The Thornbirds (Played 7/10)

Through You (Played 8/5)

Tied For Second (Played 6/24)

Time Again (Played 7/1 and 7/7)

The Timmys (Played 7/23-7/24)

Tommy Coma (Played 8/11)

Tomorrows Too Late (Played 6/26)

Toothless George & His One Man Band (Played 8/1 and 8/12)

The Track Record (Played 8/8-8/10)

Transit War (Played 7/3)

Ultimate Power Duo (Played 7/12-7/14)

The Uncertain 5 (Played 6/18)

The Underwater (Played 8/12)

Unit F (Played 6/30 and 7/4-7/7)

Uptown (Played 6/29)

The Valley Arena (Played 6/30-7/2)

The Valley Kids (Played 6/28)

Versus the World (Played 7/4)

Waiting for Darryl (Played 7/8 and 7/10)

Waking Ashland (Played 7/1 and 7/9-7/10)

Walls of Jericho (Played 7/31-8/3)

Waving at Strangers (Played 8/3)

The Weakend (Played 7/31)

The Western Front (Played 6/19)

Westbound Train (Played 8/8-8/10)

Westshore (Played 8/6)

Who Needs Shoes? (Played 7/28-7/30)

Whole Wheat Bread (Played 8/5-8/7)

Wicked Wisdom (Played 7/10)

Witroy (Played 7/20)

Words Now Heard (Played 8/6-8/9)

Your Best Regret (Played 8/12)

Youthinasia (Played 7/28-7/30)

Zach Lost (Played 8/14)

Zero Syndrome (Played 6/25)

2 Mex (Played 6/29-7/10)

360 Degrees (Played 7/31)

Arcane (Played 6/18-6/28, 6/30-7/9, 7/12-7/28, 7/30-8/5 and 8/8-8/15)

Astronautalis (Played 6/24-7/7, 7/15, 8/3-8/7 and 8/13-8/15)

Asylum7 (Played 7/31)

Awol One (Played 6/29-7/10)

Bad Feathers (Played 6/18-6/22)

Blestenation (Played 8/8-8/15)

Bomb Sqwad (Played 8/8-8/9)

Braille (Played 7/10)

Breathless (Played 6/18-6/26, 7/1-7/2, 7/8-7/10 and 7/15-7/17)

Chief (Played 7/31)

The Chicharones (Played 7/3-7/15 and 7/20-7/24)

The Crest (Played 6/19)

Dark Starz (Played 6/18, 7/21 and 8/4-8/7)

Ecleptic Blue (Played 7/31)

Educated Consumers (Played 8/10)

Eibol N Knobs (Played 7/26, 8/8-8/11 and 8/13-8/15)

Eternia (Played 6/18-7/1, 7/3-7/22, 7/24-8/4, 8/6-8/8, 8/11 and 8/13-8/14)

Eye2Eye (Played 7/28-7/30)

Generik (Played 6/30)

Glue (Played 6/18-6/22, 7/20-7/24 and 7/31-8/1)

Greans (Played 6/18-6/28, 7/2-7/3, 7/14-7/17, 7/26, 8/3, 8/5-8/6 and 8/11)

Green Tara (Played 7/12)

GreySkul (Played 7/9-7/10)

Hangar 18 (Played 6/18-7/12 and 7/15-8/15)

Howl (Played 7/28-7/30)

Ismalia (Played 7/15-7/17, 7/24-7/26 and 8/1-8/3)

Joe Bean (Played 8/3)

Keith Concept featuring The Ketchup Samurai (Played 7/26)

Krush Unit - Solid Ground Reggae Band (Played 8/1 and 8/12)

Longshot (Played 7/16-7/23)

Ltoka (Played 7/4-7/7 and 7/16-7/17)

Minamina Goodsong (Played 8/1-8/7)

Mr. Brady (Played 6/30)

Mr. Dibbs (Played 7/20, 7/22 and 7/29)

Natives of the New Dawn (Played 6/18-6/22, 7/20-7/26 and 7/31)

Now On (Played 7/31)

Omni (Played 6/24-6/28)

One Be Lo (Played 6/21-6/29, 7/9-7/10, 7/28-8/5 and 8/7-8/10)

Paws (Played 7/12)

Phil Harmonic (Played 8/8-8/15)

Pigeon John (Played 7/1-7/2)

P.O.S (Played 7/24)

Psalm One (Played 7/20-7/24)

Q Unique (Played 8/9-8/15)

Quese I MC (Played 6/28-7/8 and 7/12-7/14)

Rachel Flood (Played 7/12)

Radiax (Played 8/13-8/15)

Red Tide (Played 8/6-8/7)

Roosevelt Franklin (Played 8/8-8/15)

Science Non Fiction (Played 8/4-8/7)

Shankhini (Played 7/30)

Sign1 (Played 7/31)

Solila (Played 8/4-8/7)

Subliminal Orphans (Played 8/12)

Tabularasa (Played 6/24-6/29)

Tasheer (Played 7/31)

TNA - Jam One (Played 7/23)

Verbal Kent (Played 7/23)

Xtra Credit B Girls (Played 6/25 and 8/5)

Brother Reade

Fivespeed

Lordz of Brooklyn

The Nillaz

Supreeme

8 Bit (Played 7/6)

Adrien and the Sickness (Played 6/26)

All or Nothing HC (Played 7/1-7/2, 7/7-7/8 and 7/16-7/17)

Allison Model One (Played 7/26, 8/11 and 8/15)

AlterBois (Played 8/12)

Anadies (Played 7/17)

Anti-Hero (Played 7/30)

The Applicators (Played 6/25-6/26)

Arden (Played 8/9)

Audio Dischordance (Played 8/8)

Beyond the Torchlight (Played 7/17)

Binky (Played 7/2)

Bogart (Played 7/14)

The Break Up (Played 7/4)

Calentura

Candy From Strangers (Played 7/10)

Careworm (Played 7/12)

Centric (Played 6/19)

Chumley's Toy (Played 8/4 and 8/6)

Con Amore (Played 8/14)

Curse of the Highride (Played 7/7)

Daimon (Played 6/28-6/29 and 7/1)

The Dead X's (Played 7/9)

Del Cielo (Played 8/9-8/10)

The Dents (Played 7/29)

Dirty Mary (Played 7/15-7/17 and 7/21)

Dirty Pink (Played 7/16)

The Dollars (Played 7/23)

The Dollyrots (Played 8/4-8/6)

Dynamite 8 (Played 7/8)

Elsie Major (Played 8/10)

Fabulous Disaster (Played 7/2)

Fall River (Played 6/18)

Fallopian (Played 7/3)

The Ferals (Played 7/4)

The Feverfew (Played 8/14)

Five Star Affair (Played 7/14)

Flyleaf (Played 6/22)

Full Minute of Mercury (Played 8/8 and 8/10)

GDB (Played 7/16)

Gina Young

Girl in a Coma (Played 6/22-6/24)

GirlParts (Played 8/3 and 8/8)

The Green Lady Killers (Played 6/28-6/29)

Handcuffs and Heels (Played 7/31)

Hidden (Played 7/6)

Hydraulic Sandwich (Played 8/15)

Jaymie Gerard (Played 8/14)

Jen Urban and the Box (Played 8/13)

Jerra (Played 6/30, 7/3 and 7/8-7/10)

The Juliet Dagger (Played 7/26 and 8/1)

Jungii (Played 7/26)

Keen (Played 7/8)

Kievan Rus (Played 7/21 and 7/26)

Killbourne (Played 7/12-7/14)

Lady Unluck (Played 8/13 and 8/15)

Ladymilk (Played 7/30)

Last To Fall (Played 7/9)

Leaving The Scene (Played 7/10 and 7/15)

Lia Fail (Played 6/29-6/30 and 7/7)

The Lorrainas (Played 7/31-8/1)

Lourds (Played 8/13)

Mad Marge and The Stone Cutters (Played 7/3-7/4)

Midway (Played 7/6 and 7/23-7/24)

Miss Pie (Played 6/21 and 8/4-8/8)

The Misses (Played 6/21)

The Motorpsychos (Played 7/31-8/1)

Mr. Guy and a Few Good Men (Played 7/22)

Naked Aggression (Played 7/6)

New Years Day (Played 7/3)

One Way Letter (Played 8/3)

Ouija Radio (Played 7/24)

Overated (Played 6/18)

Paramore (Played 7/22-7/26, 8/3-8/7 and 8/9-8/10)

Pretty In Stereo (Played 7/1)

Princess Riot (Played 7/28)

Punk Bunny (Played 7/1)

The Rabits (Played 7/21)

Rachel Jacobs (Played 8/9)

Rachel Kann (Played 7/3)

Raging Hormones (Played 6/22)

Rags To Bitches (Played 7/29)

Ramona Quimby (Played 8/5 and 8/7)

The Red Flecks (Played 7/22)

Red Knife Lottery (Played 6/19 and 7/24)

Revenge of the Bad Apples (Played 6/24-6/25)

The Rumours (Played 7/12)

The Sadder Days (Played 7/4)

Secret Cervix (Played 8/11 and 8/14)

Shall We Dance (Played 6/21)

Sherry (Played 7/28)

Shiragirl

The Shocker (Played 7/2 and 8/9-8/14)

Side Effects (Played 8/11-8/12)

So Unloved (Played 6/26-6/28)

Sputterdoll (Played 7/2)

Sugarpuss (Played 6/30-7/1)

Sunset Grey (Played 6/24-6/25)

The Swear (Played 8/3)

TamarKali (Played 7/28)

TAT (Played 8/12-8/15)

Traeh (Played 6/30)

Tuuli (Played 7/30)

Two Bit Terribles (Played 7/20)

Unsensored (Played 7/29)

Velvet Fury (Played 7/7)

What The Kids Want (Played 7/20)

All Too Much (Played 6/29)

The Dames (Played 6/29)

John Denvers Last Flight (Played 6/29)

Johnny Blood & The Transfusions (Played 6/29)

Line of Fire (Played 6/29)

The Revenge (Played 6/29)

Sigma (Played 6/29)

Swing Ding Amigos (Played 6/29)

33 West (Played 8/8 and 8/10)

A Wilhelm SCream (Played 8/9-8/14)

AKA (Played 8/6)

Body Part Trophy Case (Played 8/11)

Break the Silence (Played 8/4-8/7)

Crash and Burn (Played 8/11-8/14)

Deagle (Played 8/4)

Driving East (Played 8/9)

The Esoteric (Played 8/4-8/14)

Fall of Transition (Played 8/7 and 8/10)

Flat Stanley (Played 8/5)

High Speed Chase (Played 8/14)

It Starts Today (Played 8/4-8/7)

Just R Luck (Played 8/8)

Last Great Hope (Played 8/5)

Longspur (Played 8/4-8/14)

Mourningstar (Played 8/4)

New Crash Position (Played 8/4-8/7)

None More Black (Played 8/12)

The Ratchets (Played 8/12-8/14)

River City High (Played 8/8-8/11)

Rude Buddha (Played 8/9)

The Spacepimps (Played 8/11)

Split Fifty (Played 8/4-8/14)

Stradlatter (Played 8/13)

Time Tells All (Played 8/10)

[itsclydebitches]

RWBY Recaps: Volume 8 “Divide”

Hello, everyone, and welcome back! It feels good to be doing some normal RWBY-ing in this strange world of ours. First, some supplementary materials.

Number One: In response to any (valid) questions along the lines of, “Hey Clyde, it’s now been a full year since Volume 7 was airing and you still haven’t answered my ask about it. Or the ones about Volume 6… what’s up with that?” I’ve created what I hope is an informative video detailing the problem:

(I assure you, the Earth, Wind & Fire was a happy accident during the screen recording.)

Needless to say, there’s a lot and I’ve known for some time now that I will LITERALLY never get through all my asks. Which doesn’t mean I don’t want you to send future thoughts in! Just know that as we head into Volume 8 territory I’ll most likely prioritize those, as well as any Volume 7 asks that aren’t woefully out of date. But I do want everyone to know that I read all the asks I receive, appreciate them immensely, and think too much about hypothetical answers, even if I don’t have time to actually write them out 💜

Number Two: There’s a bingo board this year!

Jury’s out on whether I’ll remember to update it, but at the very least this serves as a decent glimpse into my — and others’ — expectations going into this volume.

Number Three: I’ve collected a list of things I’ve heard about Volume 8 from what seem to be reputable sources. I did this because RT is developing a tendency to talk up certain points and then fail to deliver, either because something was taken out of a volume/moved to another, or because RT apparently has radically different ideas about what including something means. So this might be handy to keep on file and ask ourselves two months from now, “Did RT actually deliver on what they promised?”

Emphasis on Ruby’s leadership and how Summer’s death has impacted her

Insight into Ren and Nora’s flaws

May Merigold will supposedly have a larger part

More information about The Long Memory (Ozpin’s cane)

Theme of the volume is that you can respect someone but that doesn’t necessarily mean you agree with them

Very short timeline (supposedly just two days)

Yang in particular is very suspicious and distrustful

I was also going to include a list of all the threads that need to be continued/wrapped up, but honestly that would have taken too large a chunk off my life. Let’s just throw out the highlights:

Are we really going to have Qrow gunning for Ironwood?

Clover is dead regardless. Press ‘F’ to pay respects

Oscar bb you got shot please acknowledge this

Ozpin bb you got done dirty please acknowledge this

Penny is a Maiden now. I feel like the fandom has been sleeping on this (myself included)

Queer baiting, queer baiting… you’re on thin ice at this point, RWBY. Just skate on over to the queer snack bar before you fall straight into the lake.  

Ren spill your deep dark secret already and it had better be something more than just ‘Oh no Nora might someday die :( ’

Salem is here so how the actual fuck is the cast surviving this?

Will Ironwood likewise survive his descent into antagonism? Yes or please yes no?

I think that’s all the biggies. I strive to keep lists like this in mind while analyzing, but honestly RWBY has a hundred moving parts that are abandoned or changed or simply retconned at the drop of a hat. So an attempt will be made.

Number Four (last one I promise!): Normal disclaimers and reminders for Recaps apply:

Please don’t fill up the already full inbox with flames. It’s still 2020. No one has time for that nonsense.

There will absolutely be typos and wonky parts because I try to get these out the same day an episode premieres. I have now been working on this for ten hours, nearly straight, and have no more energy for edits. Apologies in advance and RIP to my Saturdays.

I reserve the right to use stupid GIFs and memes at my discretion.

I strive to keep my focus on recapping/analyzing but salt tends to worm its way in… If you’re a die-hard RWBY fan with little patience for criticism, let alone (at times) snarky criticism, please proceed with caution.

No wait I lied, this is the last thing:

Okay, got that out of my system LET’S DO THIS!

We start not with the episode itself but rather Rooster Teeth’s (RT’s) strange non-promotion of it. If you follow my blog you may have caught the post where I pointed out that there was nothing on RT’s website to suggest that one of their most popular shows—if not the most popular show—was premiering today. Nothing on the main page. Nothing on the RWBY page either, not unless you count the Volume 8 poster background (easily mistaken for the Volume 7 poster) and the trailer buried all the way down past Episodes, past Merch, in the Bonus Features section along with videos like Live From Remnant and the volume intros. RT… the promotion of your feature show is not a bonus. This should be front and center! Honest to god, five minutes before the episode dropped I was checking the website for a Volume 8 section, a countdown, anything that would tell me the episode was imminent without relying on fans on tumblr to keep me in the loop. We got nada, zilch. I’m not sure whether that speaks more to RT’s iffy management of the series or simply the website’s horrible design—RIP losing RWBY on Youtube—but I was surprised when I saw the episode a few minutes after 11:00am. At that point I honestly expected to hear about a dely.

So that’s the mood I entered the premiere in, but truly? We start off strong. Things take a pretty severe nosedive later on, we’ll get to that, but I was impressed with our beginning and that probably has a lot to do with the fact that we start with our villains.

We open on a Cinderella character, Cinder, and thus I’m immediately pleased that we’re getting something about her backstory after all this time. Seven years! She appeared in episode one, folks! To say we’re overdue is an understatement. There isn’t a whole lot to go on, just a younger Cinder sadly scrubbing the floor, poised under a spotlight. What we learn, or potentially learn, is based far more in cultural knowledge than this scene. We know Cinderella’s story, which includes the abusive family, the longing for more, the eventual escape, and thus we’re able to read all of that in this image, despite the image itself not telling us any of this overtly. That means we could be wrong in our interpretation, but if we’re not it’s an easy shorthand in an already packed story.

What I’m really impressed with is the sound bridge between the scrubbing and her nails on the back of Neo’s chair. Fantastic way to confirm that this is Cinder as well as showcasing just how far she’s come. The sound of her labor has been replaced with the sound of her power and given that Cinder’s power is stolen, tied to a grimm arm, the property of a genocidal maniac… that’s messed up. It’s a Cinderella story gone wrong.

So yeah, Cinder tells Neo to head straight into the creepy, grimm infested blood cloud to see Salem and Neo is like, ‘Uh… no thank you?’ lol.

RT does a good job this episode with her expressions, ensuring we know exactly what she’s thinking despite an unwillingness/inability to speak.

Poor Neo might be in too deep, but I quite like the overall atmosphere of this opening. Say what we will about Salem’s awful characterization, at least she has style. This woman knows how to make an entrance and, piggybacking off of the Apathy, RT knows how to infuse horror elements into their fantasy. The red and purple coloring of the clouds, spiked whale teeth peeking through, bright orange in the background looking like explosions… that’s all 👌 Including the intro card.

The only thing I want to gripe about is this:

I’m sorry, why does the whale grimm have landing pads? Or something like it?? The whale otherwise works because it’s poised between the natural and the fantasy synthetic. It looks like a real grimm whale on the outside, but is sporting a throne room, a control panel, and other unnatural elements on the inside. It’s a visual indicator of Salem’s ability to control and change grimm. Now though, the additions are wrong, infringing on the line between organic and tech, the line between what helps the grimm individually (giving monkeys wings) and what just helps Salem. Every other aspect of the whale straddles that line wonderfully, adding to the creep factor, like a grimm version of the Uncanny Valley: it’s not quite a whale anymore… but landing pads? That looks ridiculous. Why does Salem even have that? How many ships are her people feasibly using? Why are there five?

Take it away, please.

Cinder waltzes in like this is a normal home visit, but Neo has an appropriate ‘What the actual fuck?’ face going on.

They approach Salem on her throne where Cinder immediately kneels, greeting her with, “My queen.” I mentioned during my trailer breakdown that I think Cinder is lying her ass off here, and I still think that based on a line we’ll get in a minute, but now at least we have a sense of how she can pull this off. A woman who started out as a (presumed) servant is going to know how to mimic subservience, even if her heart isn’t in it. Salem is very good at playing the girl who will still kneel and scrub the floor for you. She will scrub the floor, she’ll do everything you want, she’ll just be plotting her own rise to power while she does it.

There’s quite a bit of interesting cinematography in this episode, not all of it good, and I think one of the mistakes is here when we get a closeup on Salem’s mouth as she greets Cinder. A closeup like that should be reserved for more significant dialogue—“Rosebud”—and yet we get this shot again when Cinder tells Emerald to be quiet. It’s awkward and coupled with the numerous eye closeups we got in the trailer, I think RT is playing a little fast and loose with the camera. Each shot should add something to the scene, not distract from it. If you don’t have a reason for including a technique like that then leave it be.

Back to the actual dialogue though. We knew that Salem knew Cinder was alive and now it seems that she just expected her to come back? I’m slightly lost. It feels like we’re missing something here. Cinder goes off to secure the lamp, fails, nearly dies, wanders on her own for months, and then randomly shows back up on Salem’s whale doorstep, yet Salem isn’t angry at all? Did she have faith that Cinder would return when she has something to offer? Did she just not care about Cinder, considering her return an unnecessary but otherwise welcome surprise? That would make the least sense given that she holds the key to accessing Beacon’s relic… but that circles right back around to why Salem is seemingly indifferent to Cinder’s comings and goings. Surely she can’t actually believe that Cinder is loyal?

“So I trust you wouldn’t return to me empty handed,” she says. Yeah, trust means nothing in this show, Salem, didn’t you watch Volumes 6 and 7? Again, I simply don’t know. I suppose I’ll just chalk it up to confidence, that if Cinder did bail Salem knew she could track her down again. Deciphering her motivations and beliefs is a lost cause when the show continually gives us so little.

The important thing now is that Cinder does indeed have an offering and you can see that Salem is somewhat surprised at being handed the relic.

Cinder, of course, takes credit for the victory and we’re given another wonderful shot of Neo. ‘YOU took it?’

Oh, Neo. Best get out while you still can.

Tyrian appears having obviously made his way to Salem’s ship sometime between her arrival and now. The exchange is pretty standard for this group. He insults Cinder for failing and needing this victory to make amends, talks about how any win against Ironwood says more about his lack of intelligence than her skill, and Cinder… doesn’t have a whole lot of comebacks, actually. I’d say Tyrian won that verbal spar, enhanced by a better use of the camera when we get his tail looming menacingly towards Cinder and Neo.

He goes on to say that Watts was a “necessary sacrifice” so, uh… I’m just going to toss out the ask I answered yesterday. Based on our intro I’d say Watts is still significant to the volume—hacking Penny is my guess—but by the end? He could be in trouble.

(As a side note: I plan to analyze the intro next week. It’s just easier when it comes first.)

Tyrian also calls Neo “little one” which I just found absolutely hilarious. In an on brand creepy manner, that is. Not that Neo couldn’t kick his ass, but there’s something wonderfully chilling about having the serial killer use an endearment towards a potential victim, one that comments on her size while he’s looming.

In contrast, Cinder refers to Neo as a “valuable asset” and we get our third mood of the episode.

Who’s going to start a Neo reaction image collection?

It’s true enough on the surface—who wouldn’t want an ally who can turn into anyone else?—but we’re still bumping up against question of why Salem needs this. She’s immortal! She has an endless army! Magic! This scene works well with a villain who needs a skillset like Neo’s to succeed, but Salem doesn’t. RT is doing a great job writing a story thus far, just not the story we’ve previously been given. This isn’t the story they set up.

This will come back up when we reach the RWBYJNOR group. Just wait.

Before that though, the gang’s all here as Emerald, Mercury, and Hazel show up, all in new outfits.

I think I like everything except for the weird Xs on Emerald’s jacket—it’s way too distracting and frankly makes an otherwise good look ugly—and the fact that she’s showing her midriff in Atlas. Hazel doesn’t have any sleeves! Oh my god, why doesn’t anyone dress for the weather in this show?

Frankly, I found their reunion to be kind of lackluster. I mean, there was nothing wrong with it. Emerald does sound briefly excited, she does run, and it’s in character for Cinder to cut her off… it just didn’t resonate with me emotionally. I thought after two volumes of thinking she’s dead, then working through the knowledge that she’s alive, that I would feel Emerald’s shock and relief more, but I didn’t. And I’m not entirely sure why. I don’t want to level any accusations at the voice acting because frankly I know next to nothing about that skill (and from what I’ve seen it’s usually praised in the fandom), but I will say that throughout the premiere I was noticing it more than I ever have before. The lack of emotion here and some awkward deliveries later, like when Yang goes, “Ruby, there is no way Ironwood will cooperate with us” and I immediately thought, “Wow, that came out stilted.” These observations stick with me because, as said, voice acting usually isn’t on my radar. It’s not something I’ve studied or had practice analyzing. If you’d never told me that Ren or Qrow’s VA changed then after a year hiatus I literally wouldn’t notice… but there’s something about this episode that didn’t sit right. Anyone else get that sense, or was it just me?

Regardless, the arrival of our other three villains really doesn’t amount to much, though I’m happy for all the Emerald and Mercury fans who get to see them in new outfits. The focus is still on Cinder as she delivers a line indicative of her true motivations: “That power will be mine.” Yeah, she’s not loyal to Salem, she’s just power hungry. Of course, Salem immediately takes note of this and raises her hand, in another nice use of the foreground, reminding her that she hasn’t given that order.

Cinder is shocked, angry even, but quickly covers it up with her “Without you I am nothing” line. If I caught it right I think she also calls Salem “Ma’am”? Hilarious. Again, skilled at playing the servant.

Also, before I forget, it’s worth noting that almost everything from our trailer appeared in this episode. Yeah, there are a few details like Nora attacking some tech and the group on their bikes, but on the whole we’ve already seen the majority of our promo material and will likely get most of the rest next week. It makes me both interested and nervous for what another twelve episodes are going to hold.

Salem opens her whale, or opens a portal type view in it, something that gives us a long-distance look at Atlas. I don’t know what exactly is going on here, but it’s pretty so I’ll take it.

She also delivers the frankly badass line, “Just because you’re more valuable to me than a pawn does not make you a player.”

She waves them all away with perfect ‘You mean nothing to me’ attitude and we sadly leave our villains.

Sad not because I don’t love my farm boy, but because things are about to get a whole lot messier.

Oscar has made his way to a camp of civilian survivors… all of whom are just hanging out in the supposedly deadly cold. Yeah, there’s a single fire, but at least four of them aren’t anywhere near it. Three of them also aren’t wearing gloves. What was that survival rate again?

A nice if gruff dude gives Oscar soup—water?—while showing off his… badger claws? I don’t know what kind of faunus he’s supposed to be, but he feels like the sort of two second, minor character who could easily become a meme lol.

Oscar thanks him (my polite son!) and hands the bowl back after a single sip. Which is impressive because I would have assumed the guy was giving me the whole bowl and just taken it. Hell, I’ve done that even when I didn’t assume it’s all for me. A Starbucks barista once approached me with a tray and a plate of samples, I knew I was supposed to take just one, yet for some reason my hand went to take the whole goddamn plate. He had to tell me off, then I was trying to explain that I didn’t actually want or think I should have eight shots of cappuccino all to myself, I don’t even like coffee, he clearly didn’t believe me… it was awkward. So good job, Oscar. You’re less awkward than me (though that’s not saying much).

Now a question, Oscar. Darling. Brilliant boy who has been through too much: why the fuck aren’t you talking to Ozpin? This will be A Thing later when he presents a lack of time to talk as justification for keeping more secrets (we’ll get to that too…) yet here is time! You’re just sitting there for who knows how long, with plenty of privacy to hide a supposedly one-sided conversation so the Mantle citizens don’t get weirded out or suspicious. Talk to Ozpin. Our headmaster gets two lines in this episode, utterly inconsequential lines like his airship scene, lines that feel like they exist to say, “See? He’s still included in the story!” even though he absolutely is not. Two volumes of mostly silence, a perfect setup to start the reconciliation process, but we’re going to put it off again?

Instead Ruby randomly and conveniently appears. I want to know how she found him. Oscar isn’t wearing a tracker. He clearly didn’t call them because he’s surprised when Ruby shows up. He fell alllllllll the way back down to Mantle and then wandered to a random part of the slums. You’re telling me they flew over the entire city—after beginning this search thinking he was in Atlas—and somehow managed to spot him from up in the air? C’mon. I would have rather had a beginning where Oscar makes his way back to the group himself, giving him and Ozpin time to hash things out.

“Need a lift?” Ruby says, eliminating that potential. Sigh.

Oscar immediately starts beating himself up when he gets onboard, saying that he “was stupid to think the General would listen.” Nah, you were stupid to buy into Ruby’s nonsensical confidence and for telling Ironwood he’s as bad as Salem. Sorry, Oscar, but everyone is written badly these days. I will, however, say that I am THRILLED at the group’s reaction to his return. Ruby says that she’s “just glad you’re alright.” Nora has a wonderfully tender moment where she hugs him gently rather than her usual glomp.

That? That added a year to my life. Everyone else seems relieved that he’s okay too, so kudos there. After four years of Oscar being an outsider in the group, this is one of the few moments that feel like he’s 100% accepted. Really glad to see it.

Now let’s see if it sticks after they learn Ozpin is back...

They fly to the Happy Huntresses’ base and I again feel like I’ve missed something crucial. When did they team up? I mean, RWBYJNOR was working directly under Ironwood up until the last hour and Robyn ran off to fight Tyrian/Clover in the last couple episodes. When did she have time to explain her (briefly) changed allegiance and why would the Happy Huntresses trust the group without that? Did Robyn share that Blake and Yang went behind Ironwood’s back for her? Do the Huntresses instinctively trust them because they’re now wanted by the military? How did they even run into each other?

Again, I think we would have been better served to have an episode before all this. Let Oscar make his way back and let the group struggle with the magnitude of their situation on the airship, before they find new allies. Transferring directly to, “They have help and a secret base and a plan in the works!” makes me feel like I missed the real premiere last week. You know, the one where Salem unexpectedly arrived and we left the group like this.

This is where we’ve ended up though. The group is cozy in this hideout, getting info from Joanna, and my only other thought is, “Why is she giving all this exposition?”  

Shouldn’t it be May? I mean, we were told that she was going to play more of a role this volume, a promise that’s pretty important imo given her status as a (so far off screen) trans character, so why not put her in the role of mediator between the Happy Huntresses and RWBYJNR? Giving her that setup as a leader among her people as well as lots of lines would be meaningful. A trans character just existing and being a part of this fight! May could obviously still fill that role—I’m well aware that we’re only one episode in—but it just seems like a missed opportunity to me. Out of all the undeveloped Happy Huntresses, our premiere focuses on the one who has the least importance to the fandom.

As said, Joanna talks a fair bit but what it basically boils down to is trying to get everyone to the crater below Atlas. It’s apparently not safe, but it’s warm, which is what matters right now.

So… let me get this straight. You want to gather everyone into a not safe crater, by leading them through an army of grimm, so that they can wait there in case someone moves the Staff, thus dropping an entire city on top of their heads? That’s the plan? Which admittedly isn’t Joanna’s fault. This is another instance of RWBYJNOR having information that a leader does not and they should really consider speaking up about it. But of course they don’t.

Also, how long does everyone have in regards to the cold? Shouldn’t there be dead civilians by now? The time it would take to find the Happy Huntresses, team up with them, get settled in the base, and find Oscar says that things should be pretty grim right now (pardon the pun), yet every non-aura user in this city seems content to just hang out in the snow. Either the cold is deadly enough to justify moving everyone to the crater, or it’s mild enough to let everyone survive this long, not both.

After hugs are given everyone obviously wants to know what happened to Oscar. His response?

“It’s a… long story. I get the feeling there’s been a few of those tonight.”

That’s a check for the bingo card! We’re halfway through the first episode and we’ve already got another secret. Yes, this is a secret. Oscar actively chooses not to tell anyone that Ozpin is back—something Ozpin himself comments on—and then skillfully draws attention away from himself with “I get the feeling there’s been a few of those tonight.” Indeed, all eyes go to Penny. Oscar’s plight is forgotten, which is what he wanted. His justification?

Ozpin: “You’re not going to tell them?”

Oscar: “You and I aren’t done talking yet.”

Along with this look.

Oscar no. There’s so much wrong with this I don’t even know where to begin. Let’s create a list.

As said, you had plenty of time to talk to Ozpin and chose not to. Miss me with this excuse.

You are now doing to your friends exactly what you and your friends did to Ironwood, which in turn is what Ozpin did to you! I can’t believe we’ve got Oscar critically side-eyeing him when they are still—still—repeating the behavior they drove Ozpin away for.

What is there to even talk about now? Oscar didn’t punch himself/Ozpin (lol) but he did steal Jinn’s name from Ozpin in the first place. You got what you wanted, drove him away, and have been lying and keeping secrets ever since. The only thing they should be talking about involves apologizing. Any further criticism—which is what Oscar’s expression and curt reply suggests—is beyond hypocritical.

Seriously, what needs to be discussed? There’s no reason not to tell the group unless Oscar wants to talk about whether they should tell them. There’s no good ending here...

Don’t you think it would be nice to know that Ozpin is back and you’ve got super magic powers while making plans to save the entire world?

This is all especially stupid given Oscar’s “Salem wants to divide us” reminder to Ruby in a moment. Oscar, you are doing the most to divide the group right now. By not forgiving Ozpin. By refusing to work with him. By keeping him secret from everyone else.

This is bad, friends, I worry for what the rest of the volume will bring…

The story is done with Ozpin for now so I guess I will be too. The group continues filling Oscar in and we get some shots of the base, including a rather prominent poster of what I assume are two Happy Huntresses. Did they die in battle perhaps?

It’s a little strange.

Oscar: “Where’s Qrow?”

Me: “Likely still making bad decisions.”

No one knows so they just drop it. Which I kind of get, only so much you can do to find him if he’s not out on the streets like Oscar, but it still reads as kind of iffy that two nieces look down at the ground for a hot second and then move on with their plans, content to leave Qrow to whatever fate befell him. In a minute we’ll see Yang firmly take Ren’s side regarding helping the people they can in Mantle, which frankly comes out of nowhere for her. I think an easy motivation would have been Qrow. Ruby wants to save the world, Yang wants to find and save their uncle, and that just happens to align with Ren’s desire to save the civilians who need immediate grimm and cold help. Don’t get me wrong, I like that there’s finally some division between the sisters, I just wish it hadn’t come about so abruptly. Ren had setup for standing up to Ruby. Yang did not.

But I’m getting a little ahead of myself. Joanna lists the grimm horde and no heat as the major threats to everyone. The group agrees.

Me: What about Salem?

Joanna says that this is all doubly dangerous because there’s “no more military protection.”

Me: Oh, so now you want the military?

This is all so disjointed. Even more-so when Joanna mentions that Ironwood has stopped all evacuations to Atlas, likely due to the “hard light shields” that are the only thing standing between Salem and the city. Thing is, the show never makes this connection, I just did it myself based on this scene and the one that comes later. The show presents Joanna’s line as a pure condemnation. Ironwood won’t let more evacuees in because… he’s just evil, I guess. Yet there is a justification here, namely that continuing the evacuations even while he’s stuck without Penny leaves him wide open to a Salem attack, the death of everyone currently safe, but that argument is never presented to the viewer. I don’t need people to agree with Ironwood’s perspective, I just wish that perspective was offered as an option. The show is very good about acting like RWBYJNOR’s opinion is the only justified opinion, or simply the only opinion at all.

After everything is laid out Weiss goes, “We’re never going to sleep again, I just know it.”

I could make a crack about the lack of continuity and how the group should be collapsing right now… but that was a funny line. It can stay.

What is far more of a problem is the fact that no one is talking about Salem. Okay, that’s a lie. They do talk about her, but in a roundabout way like her presence isn’t impacting every decision they make. That’s the real issue. They’re acting as if Salem isn’t here right now, like she’s off far away, maybe approaching slowly, and they’re arguing over how best to prep the world for her eventual attack. There’s no emotion here—let alone action—to reflect that the series’ Big Bad has arrived and is poised to murder them all. Literally what is this? Ruby is yelling about warning the world and, ignoring the continued question of why that’s a good thing when the world can do nothing to stop Salem and knowledge of her continually drives people to horrible acts, she has yet to acknowledge that… she’s the world? Ruby is the world in this conflict. She, Mantle, and Atlas. Salem is here for you all. Right now. You are, this instant, in the situation you want to warn others about, so why don’t you try to do something about it? Or at least acknowledge it. Ruby wants to warn the neighborhood about a potential fire while her house is actively ablaze, and the fire could have totally killed her by now but decided not to for… reasons.

“Ruby’s right,” Nora says. They have to tell the world so “they can prepare.” How? How are they supposed to prepare for this? The story cannot continue ignoring Salem’s immortality.

“Ruby’s right,” is all Blake says and I’m starting to thinks that’s why her character exists now, to agree with Ruby. It’s great that she’s getting a little distance from Yang, but man.

As Ruby asks whether Pietro can get Amity up and running despite it not being finished (called it) we start an incredibly odd sequence of flashforwards to their individual missions. I’ve seen a lot of praise for this already and though I agree that, in theory, it’s a good way to save time, I found the actual execution to be jarring. Upon thinking back through our timeline, it became clear they were flashforwards, but while watching I thought they might be flashbacks (especially since that’s more common).

Some of the shots, like Nora’s, just look awkward when you’ve got the exact expression and pose transplanted from one scene to another, like she’s a cardboard cutout behind a green screen. To say nothing of how the flashforwards ruin any suspense (I use that word loosely) in the conversation itself. If the question is, “Will they decide to go to the military compound?” then that question is answered when we see Ruby scoping out the compound, not when the group actually decides on the course of action.

It just made an already muddled scene worse for me, so I hope this trend doesn’t continue.

And of course, Amity can be used despite all the info last volume claiming that it wasn’t finished. Pietro suddenly acts like it is finished and the only thing standing in their way is Ironwood providing access. If that were the case, he would have used Amity weeks or days ago like he wanted to! When was it finished? Not after Watts commented on how incomplete it was. When did they get back the resources they needed from Robyn? It’s as ridiculous and retcon-y as I thought it would be.

Yang points out that Ironwood will never listen to them and Ruby counters that “he doesn’t have to.” They’ll just take the access from him. Because why wouldn’t they in a series where they’ve already stolen two airships? Stealing from the super evil military that Joanna wishes were helping them right now is just the group’s go-to plan nowadays.

Pietro isn’t sold on this plan though. He lists at least three obstacles they’d need to get through “and then… oh boy, I might need to think about this some more.” “And just to clarify,” Oscar says, “This is the easy option?” Um...no it’s not? We also know there’s an access point in Ironwood’s office so… why not go there instead? They really think the Academy is less guarded than the military base? There’s a potential justification here along the lines of, “After Neo and Cinder broke into his office Ironwood will have the place on high alert,” but unless I missed it the group doesn’t assume anything like that. They just listen to Pietro point out all the ways they can’t get into the military base and jump straight to that being the best option. It feels like a transparent way to create conflict for the group. We’ll just have them taking the most dangerous route despite an easy route being offered alongside it. Why bother mentioning his office at all? Just have the access in the military base. Boom, done.

It’s that conflict and the fact that Ruby tends to hear “You can’t” and digs in her heels. You can’t go to Atlas. I’ll just steal a ship then. You can’t defeat Salem. Watch me. You can’t break into this base. Guess what I’m doing! She’s dangerous in her fairy tale, meta-driven insistence that everything will turn out her way because she wants it to.

Speaking of, we finally—FINALLY—get someone challenging Ruby. Sort of. Not actually but it’s the closest we’ve ever gotten:

Yang: “Ruby, when we came here we said we’d follow your lead… but things haven’t exactly worked out.”

Now, there are two things to take away from this moment. The first is how utterly shocked Ruby and the others are. I mean, take a look at these expressions.

Ruby straight up can’t believe what she’s hearing. Weiss put her hand to her mouth like this is the most dramatic thing to ever happen to her. Oscar looks down in a ‘Yeah, I agree but please don’t look at me and make me admit that’ way. And Nora looks indifferent in the screenshot but animated she goes sort of stern, likely pissed that Yang would dare say that given her own agreement with Ruby. This not only reiterates that Yang’s challenge came out of nowhere—seriously, how did we move from following Ruby no matter what to this? Last volume she asked a single question along the lines of, ‘You sure?’ and when Ruby said ‘Yes’ Yang was entirely on board—but also demonstrates that no one has EVER said no to her before. Ruby is amazed that someone would challenge her. The act of challenging Ruby is, in and of itself, shocking. This group has gotten so used to following Ruby blindly that the teensiest little pushback is greeted with this.

Because it is teensy. This is the second takeaway: Yang barely challenges her and that challenge leads nowhere. She doesn’t accuse Ruby of anything, she doesn’t question her continued authority, she just broadly implies that things could be better. We followed you, now things are bad, take from that what you will. It’s incredibly mild as far as criticism goes, making the shock all the more, well, shocking, but it also amounts to—wait for it—nothing! Because Yang didn’t truly challenge Ruby’s leadership. She’s still in charge, she’s still calling the shots, and they’re still listening to her. We might have gotten some change if this division had been allowed to play out, but instead Jaune comes in with a, “Let’s go for both!” solution. It let’s both groups get what they want which, in turn, releases them from the need to grapple with whether they’ll listen to Ruby when she’s advocating for something they don’t agree with. We have now lost the chance to see whether, when push comes to shove, Ren and Yang will cave to Ruby’s will or stick by their own beliefs.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s more conflict than we’ve gotten in years, but that doesn’t mean it’s particularly compelling conflict. It’s good by RWBY’s standards, which doesn’t necessarily make it good. The actual issues at hand—Ruby’s dangerous arrogance, the group’s loyalty, her choices up until now—are just swept under the rug. For all the visuals we get insisting that there’s this great divide in the group… there’s really not. Not in any way that matters.

Also, Ruby is an idiot. Okay, that was mean, but she really is in this scene. She’s actually not an idiot overall because she was written as wonderfully intelligent in the early volumes, but now? Lately? She makes me want to bang my head against a wall.

“But that’s how Salem got this far,” she cries. “By dividing us!”

Ruby… oh my god, Ruby. No one should have to explain to you that dividing people means turning them against each other, not literally dividing your team to complete separate tasks. This girl honestly thought that because there was this teensy disagreement and that half the team would complete Plan A while she and the other half completed Plan B, both of which notably work towards the goal of, “Protect people from Salem,” that this was somehow what Salem wanted. That is was dangerous. Honestly, it’s a scary look at her view of leadership too: If everyone doesn’t 100% agree with me and do what I say, that’s an objectively bad thing that the grimm queen wants, right? Does Ruby think that unification means following a single person (her) without question or variation? That would explain a lot...

The fact that Oscar needs to explain the difference to her is not good. It really doesn’t say great things about this version of Ruby. Though he was comparing Ironwood to Salem last volume, so really they should all be wearing dunce hats.

Penny offers to take the relic directly to Salem in exchange for her leaving the kingdom alone. I honestly didn’t expect that. If anyone took that risk I would have put my money on Ozpin (but of course, during all this talk of the women he knows best, he’s kept quiet). Oscar is again the voice of wisdom, pointing out that they have no reassurance that Salem will keep her word. At least Penny is thinking about Salem as a threat though, so kudos for that. When this plan is shot down she volunteers to get Ruby past the military security instead and, uh, she’s a little intense about it.

I’m not entirely sure what is going on with Penny. She disagreed with Winter but then seemed to come around to her point of view, enough to help anyway. They had another (stupid) disagreement about the value of individual lives, so that helps to explain why she’s teaming up with RWBYJNOR (if you ignore that Ironwood is also trying to save individual lives...). Did watching Fria die shake her up? Is it being the Winter Maiden that’s not sitting right? Does Penny have lingering feelings about the framing that haven’t shown up until now? Her status as a ‘real girl’? We’ve got a lot of reasons that could definitely explain this sudden need to fight, but we’re not told which—if any of these—is the driving force.  

We’re then given a lot of little details. Someone points out that if Salem gets the staff and “create[s] anything else” then Atlas will fall (so yeah, let’s move the people underneath it). We still don’t know what exactly the Staff does because “creation” is kind of broad and “powering a city to float” doesn’t seem to sit within that category at all. Pietro gives Yang the keys to his lab so they can get the bikes. We see the group dividing in the flashforwards, something I do like, especially since the show has gone out of its way to break up most of the usual duos. Nora in particular is pissed at Ren for his choice.

“Oh, I’m saving Mantle because I actually believe we can do this.”

#yikes. Well, I did say I wanted a conflict other than ‘Oh no, one of us might die’ and it looks like I got it. But Nora, the only reason you can do this is because the plot is in your corner: none of you are collapsing from two major fights, you didn’t lose your aura so the cold isn’t a danger, the military is barely a threat all of a sudden, Salem is helpfully hanging out in her whale instead of killing you, and the story decided that Amity can function so long as you all are the ones who get to use it. That’s why you can do this. Ren, who follows in-world logic and doesn’t want to risk a whole kingdom’s worth of lives on a pipe dream, thinks differently, oddly enough.

As they leave though Penny gets a call from Ironwood. I know precisely what the fandom is going to say here: “This evil man is just trying to use Penny to open the vault!” Of course he is. He needs it open to save everyone he can, Penny included. Plus the concept of “using” her is a double-edged sword. What do we think the group is doing right now? Using her to get past the security. Penny’s power is a tool any way you slice it. Granted, Penny volunteers to help the group, but notably here Ruby speaks for her. Penny seems torn and Ruby takes the scroll away with, “She’s not going anywhere until you change your mind about Mantle.”

Sorry, Ruby, but coming from you that sounds less like a reassurance for Penny and more like just an order for Ironwood. Remember Harriet? We’ll stop attacking you provided you do what we want. Ruby has yet to learn about compromises, let alone acknowledge that she might be wrong. How about you let Penny decide where she goes, especially since by all logic she should have a lot of loyalty to Ironwood. She knew him before she ever met you. She’s worked with him since she was rebuild post-Volume 3. Despite what Penny has said, if the story would just let her think about his actions for a hot second—making her the protector of Mantle, sticking up for her after the framing, sending her to the party, teaming her up with Ruby, etc.—she might realize that the ‘He doesn’t want me to have friends’ and ‘He just treats me like a tool’ assumptions are just that, unfounded assumptions. But no, Ruby speaks for them both because Ironwood is evil now.

“If she makes it through our defenses,” Ironwood says, “everything that follows will be on your hands.”

That’s true! Kind of like how it’s own Qrow’s hands that Clover died. When you insist on making a bad situation worse you hold responsibility when the shit hits the fan. You know though that Salem won’t get through their defenses now, somehow, so that there’s no chance RWBYJNOR will be blamed for it. Or, by that point Ironwood will be so crazed that anything coming out of his mouth is dismissed, no matter how accurate it might be.

We then transfer to the Ace Ops who are, despite what the fandom theorized for many months, clearly upset about Clover. Also pissed. Which they have every right to be. Their friend and leader was killed. Imagine for a moment that Ruby had been murdered by Tyrian with an allies’ help. Exactly what do you think the group would do? Swallow it quietly and get over it? Ha.

I’ve already seen some speculation that Clover survived due to details like showing us the bandage and his room being listed as for a “Patient,” but he looks pretty dead to me.

He got gutted through the chest and left out in the snow for who knows how long. We saw him slip away. Qrow screamed over his dead body. He’s not breathing now. If RWBY suddenly claims he survived this, I’m calling BS.

Most of the other visuals we get here were already dropped in the trailer. Winter is pretty injured from her encounter with Cinder, likely permanently based on her new outfit. Ironwood had to replace his arm—and I am calling BS on that “Losing his arm is reflective of him losing his humanity” commentary from RT. Please go read up on a couple decades worth of ableism in media and then get back to me.

We get Ironwood’s line about the light shields and, notably, a whole lot of empathy. Regardless of what he might want Penny for, he still called her with compassion. He’s watching the Ace Ops mourn their friend. He’s talking about protecting his kingdom. The first thing he says to Winter is, “Thank you, Winter. I don’t know what I would do without you.” Ironwood has a heart! It’s always on display, which makes this scene utterly ridiculous.

I literally don’t know how to respond to this. The gunshot made me jump, both because it’s a gunshot and because, again, what the fuck? I know I said that next volume RT might just have Ironwood descend into full villainy, shooting whoever he pleases now that he’s shot Oscar, but I didn’t actually expect them to do it. Because he never should have shot Oscar in the first place! I wanted the story to let Oscar grapple with it a bit and then quietly backtrack, acknowledging it as the mistake it was. The concept that Ironwood, empathetic Ironwood, rational Ironwood, always thinks before he acts Ironwood, let’s kids yell at him Ironwood, tried to team up with Robyn Ironwood, did everything Ruby wanted Ironwood, won’t kill Watts after he destroyed his arm Ironwood would shoot this guy just to shut him up is absurd. It was absurd then, it’s absurd now.

That being said, there’s a possibility he didn’t actually shoot the council member, but rather just (“just”) gave a warning shot down the hallway. I say this because the reactions to this are pretty tame. Everyone looks startled, yeah, but after the initial shot there’s nothing that I would expect if there was now a guy bleeding out on the floor. The council woman doesn’t scream. Winter doesn’t seem overly shocked. No one is running to try and help him. Basically, if Ironwood had just killed a political figure in front of six witnesses, entirely unprovoked, I would expect a bit more of a reaction than this. This feels far more like a, “Damn he’s not joking around, letting off warning shots to get people to leave him alone” not “WOW, our general just killed someone in cold blood!”

What I really hate though—beyond just assassinating his character—is how many fans think my friends and I are delusional for calling it character assassination at all. I hopped onto the RWBY tag for five minutes this morning and was bombarded with posts about how Ironwood needs to be murdered horrifically, anyone who likes him is sick, the Ironwood stans are as bad as Adam stans, you’re an idiot if you want him redeemed… because apparently the concept of a story writing a character badly doesn’t compute. I’m not here to argue that Ironwood didn’t do these awful things (regardless of whether he actually killed the guy or not). I’m not here to argue that they’re not awful. I’m just here to say that we never should have gotten these scenes in the first place, or if we were going to get them, we deserved an actual descent into murder at the drop of a hat territory. I’ve already explained extensively on this blog how early Ironwood was not accurate foreshadowing for this, and Volume 7 certainly wasn’t setup, but it looks like the majority of fans aren’t interested in examining whether any of this adds up. Which makes my job, as someone trying to examine this series somewhat objectively—in as much as that’s possible for any single viewer—as well as simply enjoy it as a show, really hard. It’s bad enough when a story keeps taking the characters you love and villainizing them, and doing that badly, but then when you turn to the community and see them rallying around the idea that you’re awful for being dissatisfied—you’re the bootlicker, you’re the blind stan, you can’t see what’s ‘really’ going on here… that sucks. For those of you happy and satisfied with Ironwood’s arc, that’s great! I’ve also seen a lot of posts hyping up the complexity of his character now. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying what we’ve been given and I’d never want to imply that just because it’s not what I wanted it’s somehow wrong. I’m honestly thrilled that after a year of worry so many people have adored our premiere, including this scene. I just wish that I could say RWBY had given me something I didn’t want in a persuasive manner and that the fandom as a whole was a bit more welcoming of differing criticisms.

Not that I didn’t already know the RWBY fandom had its flaws, but still lol.

That’s basically it for our premiere. Nice note to end on, huh? Our final scene is of Salem using the lamp to set her bloodhound grimm on the city. Why doesn’t she just go herself? What was she planning to do here in Atlas in the first place, considering that getting the relic was a surprise? Who knows. Little about this holds together. But we do end with another awesome shot, so small favors.

It’s always strange concluding a recap, but even more-so when it’s a premiere, during a historical moment in the U.S., amidst all the nonsense that is 2020. So for now I’ll just conclude with three quick things:

The updated bingo board will be listed at the end of each recap, provided I don’t forget about it lol. Today I’m checking off tone (not nearly enough freaking out about Salem), the team keeping secrets (Oscar), and major plot point dropped (Amity is suddenly finished). I could also probably check off the cold not killing civilians and getting Amity up and running, but we’ll see if any changes with those.

I’m including my Ko-Fi link at the end of recaps now. Not with any expectations. Not with anything resembling pressure. I thought long and hard over whether to include it at all—let alone mention it here—because I love doing these and never want anyone to feel like it comes with strings attached. But life is a little harder and weirder than it was last year, so I figure it can’t hurt. Feel free to pass on by and I won’t be bringing it up past this note.

Far more importantly: thank you for reading! :D

(Bonus 4. Editing this was an absolute nightmare — damn you, tumblr!  — so I apologize if anything is super wonky when I finally post.)

See you next week! 💜

[Ko-Fi]

[limelocked]

Sundial blurbs

So most of my part of the Sundial au has been locked into general au chat on our server in the form of joking, theorising and sometimes writing as much as the discord character limit allows me to. I did the two first blurbs in this post today and @pomodoko commanded i actually post it and tag them so here they are, sorted into story chronological order and not the order in which i wrote them

Also this is the link to the document with general information on the AU

--- Dreams POV, the inciting incident

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8- NINE It has been ten seconds since Fundy landed at the bottom of the stairs at the lowest level of the building, there had been a noticeable thud that sounded distinctly unpleasant but Dream hadn't picked up on any cracking noise that'd indicate broken bones. Not that it'd be easy to hear over the commotion that led to later events.

Because it'd been seven seconds since Techno had lost his balance because of the falling fox mentioned and seven seconds since he stood back straight, almost brushing against Wilburs taller frame. It had only been five short seconds, that might have felt like weeks to others, since Wilbur in turn furrowed his brow and geared up for retaliation. Four seconds ago techno had been pushed. Three, Wilbur had gone into the wrong portal. Two, Philza had with Fundy still leaning on his shoulder tried to stop them both. One, they were gone.

It was surreal. The room had been filled with chatter before the fight, louder during the fight and now it was quiet. One second in the future, after it had all happened, the silence broke by no one who had seen it happen but by Tommy, babbling on about something with Fundy that didn't matter to anyone but himself. He quieted down when the person he was intending to talk to was nowhere to be found, confused. "Where'd Fundy go?"

"He and Wilbur already went through" the lack of effort it took for Dream to bend that truth would be concerning if not for his record, and technically they already had. "Oh-" an unsatisfactory answer but not one that would send him towards the throat of Noxite. "You can just talk to them back home. Come on." The portal after the hermits was supposed to be theirs, something quickly confirmed as they enter the community house with a crisis averted, or rather pushed back until a later date, and two people lost to another server.

--- Omniscient/Unknown POV, the dreamsmp aftermath

un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf... sept, huit, neuf... sept, huit... Seven hours later was when the lie couldn't hold anymore. Tommy already didn't trust Dream much but Tubbo had been a help in convincing him that Wilbur and Fundy were just away building or something. But the truth comes eventually. He sent a clear message of; <TommyInnIt> stop lying to me

Hour eight was the worst, accusations being thrown and swords being drawn. Screaming and explanations that never really felt enough. The ninth hour was bad in another way, depressing. Tommy's anger had simmered into bargaining as if Dream, George or Tubbo had the power to do anything of substance. It never got to begging, Tommy's pride forbade that but the things he put on the line for help that he couldn't get made it almost seem like it.

Noxcrew was contacted and they confirmed that the hemits had talked to them about the guests. Solutions were suggested and just as quickly rebuffed. Hour ten was a loss and the eleventh hour was one where Tommy and Tubbo got to speak alone.

"Can't you just use your powers or whatever to make the portals take us to hermitcraft" he was exhausted. "It doesn't work like that, probably, and Noxite has probably already tried it" "Yeah but Tubbo could you do it?" "I mean... maybe?" To that something glinted in Tommys eye, hope that Tubbo didn't want to extinguish as fast as it needed to be. "But I'm not allowed into the MCC world anyways so it wouldn't work" "FUCKING CHRIST TUBBO everyone here's useless!"

--- Technos POV, first night on hermitcraft

It's the first night and bones tower above him.

There were other buildings around, and the area was lit up well but eyes followed him from the darkness, eying the stone tools he'd manage to scrape up while leaving the group now probably settled in a warm house far away. This world scared him, the monsters and the way his sword hit differently, and the fact that the air itself felt new.

A pair of eyes glowed at him from it's place under one of the ribs of a beast too huge to want to think about. Techno readied his sword, but the dog decided that it'd rather go back to sleep. This world scared him and he just knew he'd gotten lost now because his goal had been to retrace his steps, the path that Xisuma and Bdoubleo had shown them to the little village far away by boat, to find the house cleft in two and then head straight out to sea until he could find a better place to stay than the tension thick cabin that their hosts had suggested.

Another dog offered a quiet bark in his direction and with an embarrassed sssh, covering fright, he continued forward. He had found the water, true, and he remembered something vague about a neighbour... but... No. No he decided that he'd choose a direction and if there weren't any light he'd just have to turn around or dock and make a little cave to live out of. It wouldn't be glorious but neither is 5 million potatoes.

A boat is placed into the water at the straight of Joebralta and a pig starts to row.

Clang. He is confused. The boat shakes in the middle of open water, he's been turned around. Clang. A trident, something he's only really seen in Skyblockle, shoots into the air a meter to the right of his boat. He speeds up. Clang. It misses, but he has decided that the sea is no longer safe.

--- Technos and Ethos POV, the first days in hermitcraft

He's starting to feel bad for leaving. Still justified, but also bad. He felt horrible the instant the championship room disappeared from right in front of his eyes with Wilbur still in it, and still worse when Wilbur then Phil and Fundy appeared next to him in this world, all statues as unseen confused messages fill the communicators of the worlds inhabitants.

When they arrived he was surprised that a lot of the hermits knew about them, or at least him, from the returning cast of hermits that played in MCC and their apparent tendency to tell stories as soon as there was space for it. It'd made it less awkward but the looks from the others stopped him from talking much about his side of the tournaments.

This was perhaps night four? He had stepped ashore in a jungle a bit from an area he could almost feel at home in with its skyscrapers reminiscent of some survival games arenas. But it was built by someone and someone should be avoided so he had trudged through plains and deserts walking around it only to find more tall buildings in another jungle.

The jungle was... safe? Safe from people at least, less so mobs. He had a little cave with a bed now that kept the hot and humid air out most of the time and while small and cramped and utterly horrible it felt far safer than returning to the others... even though he could practically hear Phils calm and nonchalant reassurances.

Leaving the small home he searches for the water he remembers spotting nearby. The bright orange tracksuit wasn't something he wanted to wear but there wasn't much of anything else and it still needed to be washed of stone dust and sweat no matter how much he disliked it. He leaves with a compass and map to find his way back, and around other peoples territory. And water is found easily with these. Stone, coal and redstone is scrubbed away in the freshwater lake that's only relatively cold, but it still feels nice, like the wind on his island in skyblock or in the skywars arenas.

Not too far away a man is working in a terrarium of his own design containing no animals but currents in thin snakes coiling around comparators and observers. The change to the nether has been an exciting one but it did come with problems for the technicians and thankfully for this one the Google hasn't broken too far beyond belief and is back in functioning order faster than expected.

Satisfied he looks at the path that he paradoxically want to end and to continue and decides to wait, flying up to sit near his portal instead to think about it and access the expansions he's already made. Something bright orange is spotted in the distance which at first is ignored, it can wait, until the realization of a possible abandoned shulker, so very common in this group, grabs him and almost instantly leaves as it moves around.

Several seconds later the orange turns brighter and the idea of lava pops in and out of his head in a flash.

<Etho> Beef have to lost an orange llama? <VintageBeef> no? <VintageBeef> at least I dont think so...? <Etho> o_o

He's been keeping out of the way for a while, like usual, and only knew some of the news about new people on the server. That they'd gotten there with Rendogs sports gang by accident and that they'd been living mostly over at Bdubs' place to avoid having them be excluded to their own little village. Apparently something had happened, he'd missed the details but it was looking like there was a manhunt for someone or something that he should by all means be more invested in.

Curious he misses the orange go out of view in favour of finding out about this missing thing in case he's found it. A person and a description, hidden deep in other messages. His height, human pig hybrid, last seen wearing...

Does he want to do this? He knows his way around a jungle but it's still annoying and Xisuma lives close by... but he's most likely AFK. Well, you make a good first impression on the new guys if you find their missing friend.

--- Omniscient/Unclear POV, Technos time with Etho

Silence is golden in silver light. The hermits can stay up days on end without sleep, working through nights when it’s needed and even with guests this doesn’t change. Like the sliver of moon in the sky, Ethos hair glows radiant from inside the redstone machine he calls the Googler and Techno does nothing but look on as repeaters are moved and redstone is smeared in new paths into blocks he has never seen before, something he’s had to get used to lately.

His host works in silence until a question breaks the jungles chime and an answer is given with the rhythm. The redstone had changed and he thought he had fixed it, an unhelpful follow up is posed and a pause is moved into a somewhat oversimplified version of the circuit. They both know that Techno is no help here, but the company is nice and something is learned.

Etho in the day when working the fortress tells Techno about the old days and in turn Techno admits to never having left those old days for long. Etho talks about Pause and Beef. Techno fails to talk about his own team.

[wehatejulietsimms]

TW: ab*se, t*rture, su!cide, mental il!ness, ab!eism

So, before I forget, we really need to discuss Scientology (quick note: if you're easily grossed out and/or are already terrified for Andy, I suggest not reading this).

Scientology. Not only is their whole 'religion' a scam to avoid paying taxes and the police coming after them for all the controversies surrounding them because of the religious freedom America grants in the Constitution, but their religion has been dumped on quite a few times because the founder of it, L. Ron Hubbard, is a science-fiction author. Their beliefs are that Xenu, the leader of the 'Galactic Confederacy', brought billions of people to Earth in a spacecraft, stacked them with volcanoes, and then blew them all up with hydrogen bombs. They also believe that humans are 'Thetans', immortal aliens who reincarnate into child's bodies (which is why they treat children like adults, they believe children are just adults in children's bodies) and live in one eternal lifetime. Sounds a little like something straight out of a science-fiction book, right?

But to stray away from the religious part of it, let's focus on the parts that make me sick:

1. Scientologists punish people if they question or talk back to them.

2. They cut people off from their social life, work, family, friends, etc. and engulf them in Scientology only and try to cut off any ties to the outside world.

3. They force women to have abortions while at sea because they believe that no child should be born at sea.

4. There have been many allegations of abuse against staff and members.

5. They enforce child labor and have many allegations of child abuse.

6. The Sea Org, a Scientology organization, makes people sign a billion year contract.

7. They're ableist and don't believe in psychology, doctors, medicine, mental health, etc. and force people to take vitamins in replacement of their prescribed medicines, which caused multiple suicides and murders.

8. They're extremely greedy. In fact, what they claim to be the 'Bridge to Freedom' that puts people 'in the Clear' is given through million-dollar books and classes, and when a person almost reaches the last level before they reveal the 'big secret', they claim that more works have been 'found' and that they must start the process all over again to pay thousands of dollars again.

9. They're homophobic. While they believe that mental illnesses like anxiety, depression, BPD, schizophrenia, etc. and even physical disorders like arthritis and the common cold are caused by a 'reactive mind' that causes 'ailments' and can be healed through saunas and sci-fi lessons, they also believe that homosexuality is also an 'ailment'.

10. The whole religion thing only started because the IRS came for them with billion-dollar debt and they retaliated with 'We're a religion' so the IRS let them off the hook (and they filed lawsuits against every single person working in the IRS and were the very first people to 'beat' the IRS and get away with tax evasion).

11. They have absolutely no scientific evidence to prove any of their theories towards 'healing' their members or their alien beliefs.

12. Every single story of someone who has entered the Church of Scientology ends with them getting hundreds of text messages, emails, phone calls, letters, etc. from the cult asking if they want to join or be 'audited'.

13. Practice indentured servitude.

14. One girl was 'allegedly' held prisoner on a boat that belonged to Scientology for eleven years.

15. They claim that they have over ten million members worldwide, but that's only because they count everyone who enters a building or buys one of the books, not every actual member. The real number is about 25,000 today (down from 50,000 in the 1990's).

16. Read the story Hollis Jane Andrews, a woman who was interviewed to be a nanny for Scientologists' children, and the list of requirements were absolutely bat-shit crazy. It read things like 'If the kids hurt themselves, keep them quiet and apply Dianetics'. 'If the kids start crying take them outside'. 'Take them for a run and throw rocks and run with them', 'Don't stop them running ever', 'Whilst they are asleep you magically transform into a cleaning nazi', 'No phones of your own at all during work hours', 'Tidy up the bathroom, empty out the stinking poo poo bin', 'Clean the bathrooms', 'Do the laundry', 'Clean their bedrooms', 'Look for more to clean when you're finished', etc.

17. Shelly Miscavige, the wife of Scientology leader David Miscavige, hasn't been seen in the public eye since 2007, and whenever anyone asked about her, David would throw a fit of rage (some people suspect she's being held prisoner in 'The Hole', which I'll talk about later).

18. Their 'rehabilitation centers' are literally just prisons.

19. In Bible classes in some Christian schools, they have students do a project where they go to a different church they weren't a part of and do a study on it. One girl went to the Church of Scientology and the teacher explained why the students shouldn't do that and now 'Church of Scientology' is on some lists of churches the students are not allowed to go to for that project.

20. For most- if not all- of the members, they have them read a few books/courses then take them to an underground sauna everyday for weeks straight without a single day off, make them run for thirty minutes, put them in a sauna for four hours, and give them high doses of Niacin (or concentrated Vitamin B) that made them sweat profusely to release all the toxins their body, and then they take you on to the 'Bridge of Freedom' to work on your mind.

21. David Miscavige's father, Ron, left Scientology and wrote a book about him where he stated that David hit and beat people multiple times (Leah Remini confirmed this).

Now let's talk about the Gold Base. The Gold Base is the international headquarters in San Jacinto, California in the San Jacinto mountains. In the Gold Base (which is huge and holds the giant mansion Hubbard used to live in), there is an 'alleged' (hint hint) dungeon prison called 'The Hole'. Scientology members get sent there if they violate the code of ethics (from doubting Scientology to merely pissing off the leader). It can house up to 100 people and there is no furniture. People sleep cramped on the packed floor or on desks, it's infested with bugs, people get tortured there, people are humiliated and abused, a lot of racist, sexist, and homophobic actions take place, some are forced to walk on all fours for hours while confessing to the 'crimes' they've committed (sometimes, crimes they haven't), and there's literally no way out. The Hole is surrounded by razor-wire fences (with razors that point in both directions), motion detectors, cameras, and even snipers. So the question is, why hasn't this been shut down or investigated? 'Religious rights' under the First Amendment.

And that's all I have to say about Scientology for now. If anyone wants to know about exactly what Scientology believes they're doing to people's minds with auditing and Dianetics, just let me know and thanks for coming to my TED Talk ✌🏽

this is why Andy can't "just leave". i know everyone wants him to and i wish it were that easy but some people just are unaware of the power that these people have. i hope he'll get out in time and it's looking good for him but it'll take awhile.

(also i'm not claiming Andy has ever been subjected to anything listed i'm just saying these people have a tight grip on people involved in the church so Andy can't just leave.)

[ryleeee]

Let's end the stigma surrounding mental health facilities, shall we? I'm going to provide a comprehensive list of all the things that happened whilst I was an inpatient at a childs mental health facility.

1. They allowed me into the kitchen, and encouraged me to bake for the rest of the kids staying there. I made chocolate chip cookies and a cookie pie and brownies and they even allowed me to try making my grandmas crepe recipe, which I taught the staff.

2. They had weekly events to keep things interesting! Sometimes people brought in therapy dogs or we went to a little movie area with the residents outside of our personal building, and we took trips to an on campus secondhand bookstore where we didnt even have to pay for our books (I still have the books I got from there!).

3. One of the staff members was assigned to drive me to my actual elementary school during the day, where we'd hang out in the library in order to expose me to going back to my school. We made a pact that if anyone asked, she was my cousin.

4. We played so many cards. I rock at uno.

5. I was having a tough time, and I was crying on a bench in the hallway and talking to a staff member. This little boy who I had befriended previously comes out of his room dragging his beds comforter behind him, and he says, "you can wipe your tears on this if you want." When I tell y'all I have never loved humanity more.

6. We had a little girl in residence who constantly asked me to watch barbie movies with her. We'd sit in the living room area, and watched the movies, and I can still confess I have no idea what happened in those movies.

7. We played a lot of just dance. I sucked.

8. We were having dessert one night and one of the staff members asks me what I want on my Sunday. So I, like the smart-ass I am, ask for just a bowl of whipped cream. And this madlad comes over to me a minute later with a bowl of whipped cream, not a dollop, I'm talking it swirls up and out of the bowl, and I laugh and shove my face into it like the civilized individual I am.

9. When I first arrived at the institution, there was an episode with one of the older girls, she was having a violent moment and we were all safely locked out of harms way (when I say locked, I mean locked in the kitchen and living room areas, not in a closet. Every door at this place had locks). At lunch the next day, I was alone at the table with the same girl, and she called me cute and then we ate happily in silence.

10. They just straight up forgot me one day. We had a daily quiet time, where every resident was locked in their own rooms so that they could have time to themselves, read or listen to music, etc etc. The staff are supposed to come after the hour was up and let everybody out, and they did. Everyone except me. I heard them unlocking the other doors and conversing through the walls, and I just sat twiddling my thumbs. And then maybe ten minutes later, a staff member opens up my door and goes, "sorry, we forgot about you. You're just always so quiet." I still laugh about it today, what an on brand thing to happen to me.

11. They had one computer in our residence (there were plenty more at the school though) and you had to be supervised when you used it. So I got on one day, and I'm wondering what I should do, so I boot up some madlibs. And people flocked, let me tell you, half the residents were crowded around this computer shouting out adjectives and nouns and cracking up. It wasn't even that funny, but I remember laughing so much it hurt because there were so many people there laughing too.

12. I was having a rough time, and I was moping in the halls like a long forgotten ghost, and one of the staff comes over and asks what's wrong. More specifically, she says, "you know how I know somethings wrong? You always hang your head when you're struggling." So I vent a little about my depression, and how I feel like nobody cares about me, and how all the staff don't really care, they're just paid to attend to us, and she actually laughs and says, "do you think I'd go through years of advanced schooling to do something I don't care about? I'd come here and work these long hours to do something I didn't actually care about? We all care about you." And when I tell you I soBBED.

13. I became instant friends with this girl my age, although she was slightly older than me. And we were hanging out in one of the rooms, surrounded by bins of toys made for children much younger than us, and we looked at each other, and went, "yeah, absolutely, we're going to revert back to being toddlers." So we each grab a barbie, and we're entirely unironically playing with them, creating soap opera level plotlines with dramatic flourishes and hair flips (the hair flips, y'all, it cracked us up). We did this for hours.

14. Once we had entirely analyzed every DVD they had on hand there, the staff allowed us to take a trip to one of the other resident buildings to steal some other movies. I went with another girl and one of the staff members, and we knocked on the door and waltzed into an all boys residence, passed a few guys playing video games, chatted with a few of them, and then raided their DVD stash. And then we went back with our spoils after a completely undramatic adventure.

15. When plans for me leaving fell through, there was an awkward period where I'd go home for the nights, but my parents would drive me back in the daytime. So obviously, my room was passed on to another resident, and they were at full capacity. So for those quiet time locked in your room to chill moments, they just sat me down in the living room with a whole ass TV and just let me go wild. I didn't go wild, but I could've, yknow? I had a whole ass TV!!

These places aren't perfect. There are harmful ones, there are these institutions done incorrectly all across the globe. But they're not scary when they're done right, and neither are the people in them. They're places for healing, for help, for support. Those aren't things that you need to be scared of.

It wasn't a shameful experience. It was a time I remember fondly, I've gathered so many fun memories from that place, because the people in those establishments were warm and lively and worthy, both staff and patients.

[tinyboxxtink]

Build Me Up Buttercup *PART 7*

Whooo man, I don’t know if this is a longer chapter or not. I had planned on splitting the situations into two separate chapters, but it seemed short so I combined them. 

If you need to catch up!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 8

Tag List: @wanniiieeee

Rafael slammed the door to the men’s room open, terrifying some poor cowboy just trying to use the john. 

“Sorry…” He nodded apologetically to the guy who grumbled some obscenities as he washed his hands and left, leaving Rafael alone to stew.

Why had he just done that?! Why did he have to glance back at your table as soon as you closed your eyes? In that split second, he had locked eyes with Olivia. They were so close it was like they could telepath whole sentences between each other; and the look she had given him in that moment was definitely saying “What the FUCK do you think you’re doing?”. 

Truth be told he really had no idea what he was doing, it all happened so fast. Really, the whole day was a blur. Before today you were just a junior detective to him, albeit a very sexy one. But truthfully you were barely a blip on his radar; you didn’t speak much, and when you did it was usually insulting him or contradicting. How had this one out of town trip completely flipped your relationship through a dryer tumble cycle? First the song in the car, the coffee in the car, the Fahey’s bathroom, and now this. At one point did he start…falling for you? Was he even falling for you? Were you planning this thing all along? Had you been seducing him? No, surely he wasn’t that dumb to just be seduced by a pair of pretty eyes and a tight t-shirt...and a soft soul who’d been through so much at so young…

NO. 

He wasn’t doing this. Not here, not now.

----

“What do you mean, he just left?”  

Once again you had fled to the bathroom, this time to update your BFF on the never ending nightmare that was this day. 

“I mean he LEFT. He mumbled some bullshit about being ‘sorry’ and just….walked away. No I’m sorry, he RAN away.” 

“Well...maybe he got scared?”

“A grown man?” 

“I don’t know from what you’ve said about him, he seems pretty high strung am I right?” 

“That’s putting it lightly…”

“I mean the fact that you even got him on that dance floor sounds like a miracle to me, maybe he just got in his head all of a sudden,” 

“Maybe…”

“Which means….” they paused ominously. 

“Means what?” you asked skeptically. 

“You’ve gotten yourself a def con one situation here, babe,”

“...What?” you were completely lost.

“Everyone knows the rule, Y/N” they kept completely serious.

“Wha-What RULE?” 

“The RULE! Once you have a…’moment’ with someone that gets interrupted, you HAVE to actually kiss them...or bang them but let’s be realistic,” they continued in a very serious tone, despite the fact that they were talking conspiracy theories. 

“Is ANY of that realistic? What happens if you ‘break’ this rule?”

“You have to kiss them in 24 hours or else you’ll just stay friends forever,” They stated like an oracle.

“Do you hear yourself when you talk, or has the crazy just become white noise at this point?” You rolled your eyes.

“Mock all you want, but you remember Duncan and Sarah?” 

“They went on one date and decided to be friends?”

“No no, they went on one date and she got called away before the end of it, thus nixing the good night kiss. And then the next time they ‘went out’, it had been 72 hours and when he went in for the good night kiss, she said they were better AS FRIENDS,” 

“...THAT’S what you're basing this insane rule on? A story about people we barely know?” 

“Well, it was also on Scrubs. Elliot and JD had to go through SO MUCH just because he couldn’t man up in those 24 hours!” They insisted.

“Oh my god, I’m hanging up--”

“WAIT WAIT WAIT, Come on Y/N just hear me out,” They begged. You sighed, putting two fingers across your eyes.

“Alright, let’s hear it,” 

“Look, you can choose to think I’m full of shit, but you gotta ask yourself: Are you willing to chance it?” 

You bit your lip, actually pondering if she could be right. 

“And you better think REAL quick, because your time has already been cut in half,”  they added. 

“NOW what the hell are you talking about?”

“You’re like, on a ‘vacation’ right now. Barba is FINALLY seeing you, like a person. A woman. Someone who’s not up his ass for warrants or bitching about deadlines,”

“I’m not that--” you tried protesting. 

“Shush. No time. You’re in like, another dimension right now. I’ll bet money as SOON as you hit the city line he’s gonna go back to his robot self and remember the fact that you two are completely inappropriate--”

“Oh come on that’s a strong--” you once again tried defending yourself. 

“I’m just saying what he’s gonna reason, babe. You know I’m right,” 

You paced the bathroom now, thinking of all the reasons you and Barba were bad news. 

“....What if he’s already there? What if that’s why he walked off? What if he’s talking himself out of….ANYTHING?”

“THIS IS WHAT I’M SAYING, HELLO You need another ‘moment’, but without everyone staring at you. I’ll bet you anything that’s what got him into his head all of a sudden,” 

Your eyes widened, remembering the front row seats your entire squad had to your little romantic moment. 

“Oh my god you might be right...they were all staring at us,”

“See?? You need to get him alone,” They went on, as you walked out of the bathroom. 

“...Fuck,”

“What? Fuck what? WHAT?!”

“I may have run out of time,”

You saw Barba approaching the booth again, Olivia gesturing wildly. The body language of their conversation did not seem very encouraging. What was worse, Amber walked up and handed them a check. 

“I think we’re leaving, Olivia got the check and she looks like a mad mom bitching out her ten year old for trying to swipe candy,” You groaned, ducking behind a man with a huge cowboy hat and following behind him to a seat at the bar, out of the squad’s eye line. 

“You need more time! You can’t just get in the car and drive back with everybody there, the ‘moment’ will never happen!”

“Okay can you stop with this, I’m already flipping out enough without you stating the obvious,” you twirled your hair and bit your lip.

“....You need to do something to your car.” they suddenly threw that at you like it was a completely reasonable statement. 

“EXCUSE ME?”

“Slash one of your tires!”

“Are you high right now, be honest with me,” You narrowed your eyes.

“Desperate times, babe,”

“Desperate times, not PSYCHOTIC times,”

“Look if you have a flat tire, you’ll have to call AAA and have them come and fix it, that should give you at least an hour. Then you can go back inside, get him ALONE, and get your moment!” They tried reasoning with you. Was that Hurricane THAT strong, or were they actually making some sense?

“...Why am I listening to this?” you kept a straight face, even though it was just a phone call.

“You can act smug all you want baby, but I can hear it in your voice; you’re considering it,” 

“Of course I’m considering it! But it’s...it’s insane. It’s like, ‘Fatal Attraction’ crazy,” 

“Ok I’m not telling you to boil his bunny, just inconvenience yourselves for another hour, drama queen,” you could hear both of you rolling your respective eyes at each other.

“And what’s more insane; puncturing a tire, or giving up something we both know you’ve wanted for MONTHS,” They pointed out. 

“How do you--” You blinked in disbelief. 

“Girl, please. I knew before you did, and I’ve never even met the man,” 

After several more moments of silence, you pulled your keys towards your face. 

“...I’ll call you later,”

Before you could talk yourself out of it, you sprinted outside to the parking lot and back to your car. You pulled the nail file attached to your key ring, and stared at your tires. 

“God forgive me…” You sighed, making a sign of the cross across your chest before kneeling next to your left rear tire.

You dragged the nail file across the tire, it barely made a scratch. Panic began filling your head, thinking of missing any chance to have Rafael’s lips on yours. Your BFF was right, you probably had a thing for him the moment you met him; even though you hadn’t even dared to let yourself think about it, until this morning. This WAS like an alternate dimension, it was like the rules of the ‘normal’ world were moot. 

The emotions of it all bubbled to a head as you stared at the tire; with a sort of pathetic battle cry, you PLUNGED the nail file into your tire and pulled it HARD across the top. Air came gushing out, the tire deflating in mere seconds. You sat back, the nail file in your hand like a machete, your breath going in and out like you had just run a marathon. Okay, you did go a LITTLE psycho there for a second. 

You barely had time to admire the work, you knew you had to go back inside to make it look like you had been in the bathroom this whole time. 

There was no going back now. 

----

Back inside you weaved in and out of the crowd back towards the bathroom, then made a turn for the booth so it looked like you had come from that direction. You walked up slowly, still hidden in the crowded bar as you heard an exchange between Barba and Oliva.

“...What I’m saying is, don’t start leading her on when you know it’s not going anywhere,” 

“How do you know it’s not going anywhere, Liv?” 

“Barba. Be serious,” 

Oh hell no. Who was she to make that decision? Surely he didn’t think that...did he? 

“HEY, hi,” you spoke up loudly, the entire group jumping at your rather loud greeting. 

“Oh hey Y/N we uh, I got the check. I just went ahead and paid for everybody, and when I say I, I mean Dodd’s,” She smiled, like she hadn’t just insulted the fuck out of you. 

“Oh, yeah? Ready to head home then?” You acted completely oblivious, noticing Rafael was avoiding your eyes.

“Yeah, I’ve got my nanny waiting on me and it’s already...8 o clock?!” Olivia gasped, looking at her phone. 

“Good lord, how long have we been here? I better call my sitter,” Amanda grabbed her own phone out of her bag as the group walked out.

“Well, we were driving for a good 45 minutes outside of Hartford before Rafael made us stop here,” 

“Wait, what?” You now for the very first time, took a good long look at the parking lot. The bar was next to a motel on one side, a gas station on the other side next to it. And then field, across from it. And for miles. 

You were literally in the middle of nowhere. 

“Oh god…” you muttered, mentally yelling obscenities at your BFF and yourself for listening to their bat shit logic. Fin glanced at you quizzically, overhearing your ranting-- and then you heard Sonny’s voice.

“Is that….?” 

You saw him gesture towards your back wheel. FUCK.

“Oh my god, are you serious?? A Flat tire?!” Amanda slammed her phone against your car. 

“Barba must have driven across a nail, or glass, or something in the parking lot. Probably a broken beer bottle if we’re being honest,” Sonny scoffed looking at the less than stellar cars in the parking lot. 

“Hey it’s not Barba’s fault!” You snapped defensively, once again mentally face palming. THINK before speaking. 

“I mean it’s...it’s nobody’s fault, right? I mean, maybe the road people? Or, drunk hicks? Certainly no one here in this vicinity though, I mean obviously,” Nope, still couldn’t stop talking. 

Olivia’s eyes narrowed, looking from you to Barba, who was staring at the pavement silently. She started to say something, but realized she had no concrete evidence to start throwing accusations. 

“She’s right Liv, it was just a stupid accident,” Fin chimed in, patting Olivia’s shoulder. 

“Do you at least have AAA?” Olivia asked you, still suspicious of the sudden turn of events.

“Oh yeah, I’ve...I’ve never used it before though,” You dug into your wallet and pulled out a worn out AAA card. Olivia took it and started dialing the number into her phone. 

You took this moment to start your mission, despite the fact that your plan was quickly running off the rails.

“Can we…?” You motioned sideways, Barba nodded and moved to the side with you. 

“Look, Y/N. The whole dance thing it was, cute. Flattering.”

“Flattering?” you scoffed. Seriously?

“But, I mean you know we’re in front of the whole squad, and we’re working,” His words cut you like knives. Was he actually implying that whole was embarrassing?

“ ..And I just don’t think--”

“ARE YOU SERIOUS?” Olivia’s booming voice snapped you both out of the conversation. 

“Yeah, well-- thanks a lot,” she scoffed, tossing your card as she hung up the phone.

“Hey I might--” you walked back over to her, her red hot eyes meeting yours. 

“You don’t have AAA out here,” she spoke directly to you, the annoyance of her voice turning to anger.

“W-What do you mean they don’t--”

“I mean, Y/N-- your AAA card is for NEW YORK, and we’re still in CONNECTICUT,” 

“Liv seriously will you knock it off? Leave her alone, she didn’t know,” Barba finally spoke up in defense of you, putting space between you and Olivia. 

“I’m...I’m sorry, Y/N. I know it’s not your fault,” she apologized, not knowing it was indeed your fault. 

“What am I gonna tell Lucy? We’re going to be stuck here until morning,” She sighed. 

“Morning?” Amanda exclaimed angrily. “What about my Jesse?” 

“I’m sure Lucy will watch her at my place with Noah, Amanda. I’ll call her right now,” Olivia assured her, the two of them walking off to the side.

You started running your hands through your hair and pacing like mad, trying not to hyperventilate. This wasn’t supposed to happen!! This was supposed to be a MINOR inconvenience, not a crisis! WHY did you listen to your BFF? 

“Hey, are you ok?” Barba came up behind you and put both hands on your shoulders. 

“Come on Y/N you know that’s not what I--” he protested but you wouldn’t hear it.

“Why do you care all of a sudden? Didn’t I embarrass you in front of your colleagues?” You snapped your head around, glaring at him.

“Can we please just forget it, PLEASE? I am already getting my karmic ass kicked, I don’t need you lecturing me on top of it,” You started walking towards the door of the bar. 

“What? I’m not lecturing you I don’t--” He trailed behind you.

“EXACTLY,” You spun back around, planting your feet as you stared directly into his eyes. He stopped suddenly almost on top of you, surprised by your sudden stop; his puppy dog eyes were begging you to forgive him. 

“Exactly. You don’t want to, I get it counselor. I get it. I should have never--” you feigned tears welling up in your throat.

“Carino--” he went for your hand. 

“Don’t. Just-- I’m sorry. For all of this,” You snapped your hand back and ran back inside the bar, noticing Barba following right behind you. Your fake tear filled face now slid into a sly smirk. 

You were getting this moment come hell or high water now. 

[rogershoe]

Lights, Camera, Action

Part four

(Part three)

Masterlist

Summary: You’re a production assistant on the set of Cursed. The night before your first day at work, you opened your laptop to shockingly realise you’d be working with Daniel Sharman (and a plethora of other amazing actors), someone you’d been watching on screen since you were a teenager. You kept your expectations low, the PAs rarely got to interact with the talent…what was your chance?

Word count: 3.8k

Tag list: @sxperncturalimpala67 @mrsaaronkeener @tinygardensoul @disasterday​ @5am-cigarette @lancelotapricot @demoiselle-en-detresse00 @slytherlight @18somethingpsyche @ceruleanmusings@glxctt @cavillxhenry@lovelyapplessss@hereagainsstuff@linkpk88 @aliceperdida@weeping-redemption@magicalsaladnacho @lancelotapricot@ineedyourskulls@fandomarstrash @cheythefangirl @pure-ghost @estrielle @tessxblxckthorn @isaac-lahey-is-bae​ @bubblyanis

Warnings: age gap between reader and Daniel, swearing, slow burn

Notes: This has definitely been the most fun chapter to write out of all four so please let me know how you liked it!! Also I realised that Cursed was actually filmed in England so for the sake of the story we’re just gonna pretend like it was filmed in LA hahaha. 

Sunday, January 13th, 2019

10:31 am

You rubbed your eyes, swiping across your phone’s screen to turn your alarm off. The sun’s light bled through your curtain, giving your room an eery glow. 

It had been almost a week since Huey had informed you that you’d be working with the make-up/costume department as well. You thought you would start on Tuesday of last week (the day after you got the message), but Huey had apparently “forgotten” to inform you that you would actually be starting in a week. On Monday. Meaning tomorrow. 

To say you were a bundle of nerves was an understatement. Naomi had also approached you last week warning you about how you’d be working with the actors a lot more and how you should work on “being completely comfortable” around them. Had she really been that intuitive? Still, you hadn’t had any interaction with them at all since you’d delivered Daniel’s costume to his trailer on Monday. You’d only seen them shoot scenes and talk to the director and other crew members from far off. (Never to the production assistants.) 

You tried to ignore the nerve-wracking thoughts of having to actually interact with the actors and instead focused on Bradley. Yes, Bradley.

 He had invited you to have breakfast with him at the Original Pantry Cafe, a breakfast place he had said was the “very best in LA”. To be completely honest, you were a bit taken aback when he had asked you….did he mean as in a date? You of course, being the idiot that you were, didn’t bother to clarify, so now you had no idea whether you were just meeting him as friends or something more. You hoped to god it was just as friends. You couldn’t deal with dating at this point… especially with Mr. Daniel Sharman on your mind 24/7. 

11:13 am

The sun warmed your face as you stepped out of your parked car. You had just pulled up to the cafe and proceeded to subtly peek through the window as you walked to the door. Bradley was sitting on a small table inside by the window. Thankfully he was on his phone so he didn’t see you staring. You entered the shop, a small bell tingling above you. The warm smell of fresh bread and eggs and syrup wafted towards your nose. For a second, your belly rumbled and you forgot about all your worries. You glanced towards Bradley and saw that he was now walking towards you, a huge smile on his face. An uneasy feeling suddenly grew inside you as you realised he might think that this was some sort of date. 

“Y/N! How are you?” 

You both started walking back to the table after you gave him a hug, “I’m good” you shrugged off your maroon jacket laughing, “Tired too”

“Really? When’d you sleep last night?” he suddenly swerved around you and pulled out your chair.

“Thanks” you said, sitting down, a funny look spread across your face, “I slept around 4:00”

“Seriously?” his eyes widened.

“Yeah…found a good series on Netflix” you rolled your eyes, smiling.

“I still don’t have Netflix” he sat down and pushed a menu towards you that you then proceeded to open.

“Really?” you laughed loudly, “You’re working on a Netflix show and you don’t even have Netflix?”

He smirked slightly, “I guess I’ll get it once Cursed comes out…anyways, what do you wanna get?”

You flipped through the menu, chuckling, “A coffee for sure”

“Well….. the pancakes are really good….. and so are their omelettes” he said pointing towards a mouth watering picture of a stack of chocolate pancakes. Healthy eating could go out the window for today. 

“Oh, I’ll definitely get those..how about you?”

“I’ll go for the bacon cheese omelette I think”

“Sounds yummy” you said and closed your menu

Bradley called the waitress over and you both gave her your orders. He also ordered a lemon raspberry smoothie. There was an awkward silence when she picked your menus up and left. 

You clasped you hands together resting them on the table, “Bradley?” he looked up at you, “I have a silly question to ask ” you smiled slightly, a nervous feeling growing inside you.

“Shoot” he said grinning.

“Was this meant to be a date?….Or-“ before you could continue, he thankfully interrupted, 

“Do you want it to be?”

Your mind went blank. Of course you didn’t want it to be…but judging by his answer he probably did. 

“Well..” you tilted your head, raising your eyebrows slightly

“You don’t do you?”

You shook your head slowly, a sorry expression on your face, “Did you?”

“Doesn’t really matter now, does it?” he said tightening his lips.

Before you could respond, the waitress suddenly came up to your table carrying two plates of mouth watering food. 

“One order of chocolate pancakes” she placed your dish in front of you, “and one bacon cheese omelette…..Enjoy!”

“Thank you!” you and Bradley both said simultaneously.

You grabbed your utensils, spooning a large bite into your mouth. You couldn’t deny that they were delicious..maybe this was the best breakfast place in LA.

“How is it?” Bradley laughed, cutting up his own omelette in from of you. You chewed quickly and swallowed. 

“Delicious Bradley…how about yours?”

He had taken a bite, “Just as good as it was the last twenty times I had it”

You giggled, going back to your own food. The next half an hour was thankfully not awkward at all. Both of you talked about Cursed, the actors, what jobs you had had before….and of course, your little, “promotion”. 

“I’m nervous……how much do you even have to talk with the actors on a day to day basis?” you asked

“Oh barely for me” he said finishing off his omelette, “I mostly work with the basecamp and costume department’s crew…when I accompany the actors to their set it’s usually a silent walk unless they feel like making conversation…which is rarely”

“So you’re saying I won’t have to talk to them as much either?”

“No Y/N you definitely will” he laughed at your widened eyes, “You’re essentially going to be helping the departments get the actors ready for the day…you might not have too much one on one conversation but you will be spending loads of time with them”

“You know that scares the shit out of me” you said scraping the remaining chocolate sauce off of your plate, 

“Aw don’t be….they’re only humans like us after all”

You supposed they were.

12:22 pm 

The second you got home and into your apartment, you shed your jacket, pulled out your phone, opened your contacts and called Talia. You two had met in university and been inseparable ever since. There was no friend you were closer to than her. 

She picked up on the second ring.

“Y/N!! It was meant to be a date right? I knew he was into you!”

You chuckled putting your keys on the table and falling onto your couch. “Slow down Tal…he didn’t say that”

“Well then what did he say?”

“He asked me if I wanted it to be a date”

You could practically hear her eyes roll back into her head, “You idiot…! If it wasn’t meant to be a date, he would’ve been straight up with you and just said so”

“Are you sure?”

“Obviously! Even if it wasn’t meant to be a formal date, he’s definitely into you”

‘What am I supposed to do now?” you huffed

“Is that a serious question?”

“…….Yeah” you said after a pause, guilt lacing your words.

“You go out with him again!” you rubbed your eyes and groaned after hearing her say that. 

She ignored you, “Then hopefully he’ll forgive you for being so clueless and in three or four years I’ll be an aunt to three little kids” she said laughing

You laughed too, “Talia! I’m being completely serious…..I only see him as a friend anyways”

“Why Y/N? If you saw a guy this cute, with a great personality I might add, two weeks ago, you would’ve been head over heels for him”

“That’s not true!”

“You know it is Y/N…..what changed?”

“I don’t know……I guess it might be my little crush on Daniel”

“Daniel?….You’re really going to let a tiny celebrity crush hold you back from true love?”

“I know it sounds bad Talia! And in the past I wouldn’t have…but now that I’m working with him things are….. different”

“Have you even talked to him?”

You paused thinking, “Yeah I have”

“And was that more or less than five words?”

“Less” you said scowling..”But it still counts!”

“Ugh Y/N, fine…If you see Bradley as just friends that’s okay….but don’t let Daniel cloud your real feelings for other guys okay? It’s not healthy to stay loyal to a guy who doesn’t even know your name”

“Okay Talia…thanks…I won’t” you said. She always did give the best advice.

Monday, January 14th, 2019

6:48 am

“Y/N! You excited to work on basecamp?” 

You turned to see Louis standing behind you in the studio next to the crafts (snacks) table.

“More nervous than excited” you said laughing.

“Well Huey wanted me to tell you that the timings have been changed and you’ll be helping the basecamp from 7 to 9 not from 8 to 10”

You checked you watch and your eyes widened, “ But that’s in ten minutes!”

“I know Y/N….you know how Huey is with his last minute changes” he said comfortingly

“Oh I know alright” you said sighing, “I guess I should get going…wish me luck”

He gave you a warm smile, “You’re gonna do great…you’ll have Pandora to keep you company anyways”

You faked a smile….Pandora was better than nothing you supposed.

You walked out of the building, cold damp air hit your face as you let the heavy door close behind you. There was not a hint of blue in the sky, just grey clouds. It had been raining when you had gotten to work and by the looks of it, it was going to rain again later. The ground was wet and you had to walk around dark puddles to prevent your shoes from getting wet.

You went up to the same trailers Bradley had taken you to yesterday. You didn’t know anyone except Siara….thankfully you saw her through the open door of one of the trailers. 

“Hey Y/N!” she said as you walked through the door, wiping your feet on the mat inside the vehicle. 

“Hi Siara…..do I just help you out or is there someone else I’m answerable to now?” you said smiling and tucking your hands into you back pockets. 

“I was told that Huey or Naomi would guide you and Pandora” she responded, going through a rack of dirty looking costumes

As if on cue, a voice sounded through your headset, “Pandora and Y/N, please report to trailer nine”

You tapped on your earphone indicating to Siara that they had just told you and walked out of the trailer.

“Good luck!” you heard her yell.

“Thanks!!”

When you got to trailer nine, you walked inside to find it was huge, almost double or even triple the size of what Daniel’s had been. It had long mirrors on both sides of the van and six white chairs on each side instead of three. There were almost 9 people in the trailer (which you would think would be a lot but in the huge vehicle it seemed like barely any). You looked around and saw Naomi and Pandora standing together in a corner opposite from the trailer’s door. You went up to them.

“Y/N!, how’ve you been?” Pandora said, a huge smile stretching itself across her face. Why was she being so nice to you all of a sudden?

“Good, how about you?”

“Ladies! We don’t have time for chit chat. The talent and extras will be here any second and you need to be ready”

You nodded crossing your arms over your chest. “I told all this to Pandora but I’ll repeat myself”

 She turned towards her,  “Pandora, you will be helping out mainly with the extras since they have such extensive make-up and costumes…you might help with the talent if they need it too depending on the day” 

Then she turned to you, “Y/N, you on the other hand will also be helping out with the readying of the extras and-“ she checked her watch and you could almost see the tension paint itself across her face. “And you’ll be giving a hand to Daniel Sharman’s make-up crew…since two of them resigned”

For a second you didn’t hear what she said and your mind fixated on just Daniel’s name. You nodded subconsciously, swallowing hard. A rush of adrenaline and nerves hit you when you processed that you’d be working with his make-up crew. You honestly still didn’t know what that meant but you were both nervous and insanely excited to find out. Naomi then without another word rushed down the stairs of the trailer and out into the gloomy weather. 

Did this mean you’d get to talk to Daniel? Would he actually notice you now? Or would you just be another part of the huge make up crew? Before you could bombard your poor mind with more intriguing questions, you froze in your spot when you saw the door to the trailer open. Multiple people walked through…extras. 

You let go of the breath you didn’t know you were holding and looked towards Pandora to see her also watching the extras. A realisation suddenly dawned on you that she was probably being nice to you because she knew beforehand that you were working with the Daniel. You honestly didn’t mind…it was better than when she was in a pissed off mood. 

“I guess we should start helping out?” you said looking at Pandora

She nodded going over to the chairs where the extras were getting seated, the make up crew bustling around them. There were even more of them now, they must have trickled in when you were speaking with Naomi. You saw Jasmine and the blonde make-up artist enter through the trailer…Daniel’s makeup artist. You suddenly gasped, only realising after you did so. 

Pandora looked at you with a funny expression, “What’s up with you?”

“Nothing…sorry” you said shaking your head and walking over to her. Your back faced the trailer door. 

A man, most likely a makeup artist from the looks of it (he had a belt around his waist with multiple makeup brushes and other tools), came up to the both of you. 

“Are you the extra help?”

“Yes” Pandora said

‘Great..” he looked around the trailer, “You guys won’t be doing anything crazy…just acting as assistants essentially to anyone who needs it” You saw his eyes widen as he looked over your shoulder most likely at the trailer door. You didn’t want to seem rude but you couldn’t help yourself as you turned around to find Daniel walking through the door of the trailer. He didn’t have his keys or anything for that matter on him so he must have left them in his personal trailer. His hair wasn’t tied up in a bun today and looked wet…it must’ve started raining outside. 

“Sorry I’m late!” your heart stopped for a second when you thought that he was talking to you, but he was actually looking over your shoulder at the crew member you and Pandora had been talking to. 

He quickly rushed past you and to Daniel, “Oh no no Daniel, you’re just on time!”

He smiled and walked past him to a chair where Jasmine and that other woman were setting up their supplies. You really had to learn her name. You knew you should go to them seeing as you were supposed to help but you were frozen in your spot, you heart beat thudding through your ears. 

“Y/N! You’re helping us today right?” you tore your eyes from Daniel and to Jasmine who was calling out to you from her place next to him. How she knew your name you had no idea…Naomi must’ve told her. 

You opened your mouth to talk but realised that it was better to just go over and see what they need help with. Your mouth tended to go dry when you were extremely nervous (or even excited). 

You walked over to the three of them. Daniel saw you through the mirror and maybe it was just you but you could’ve sworn there was a hint of recognition in his eyes. The second you caught his blue eyes you looked away and at Jasmine. 

‘What can I help with?”

She bent down and pulled out a white cape looking sheet from a shelf and put it on the long table. 

“It’s similar to a hair salon really” she opened a drawer and got multiple long clips out, then proceeding to go stand behind Daniel, “I’ll teach you the little tasks you’ll have to do so don’t worry…the basics are the same for the extras’ makeup as well”

You kept looking at Jasmine not wanting to be caught staring or even looking at Daniel through the mirror. She took a brush and brushed his hair back, using the different coloured clips to clip it out of his face, most likely to get him ready for the makeup. You had never been this close to any of the actors you knew and loved. It felt a bit like a dream really. Maybe it even was. 

You were snapped back to reality when you heard Daniel’s voice. “I know…aren’t we all” he said laughing. 

He must have been responding to something Jasmine or the other woman said, you wished you had been listening. 

“If you pick up things quickly you can be doing all this and I can focus more on the makeup” you heard Jasmine say. She had picked up the white sheet and was now putting it around Daniel’s neck, making sure it was covering his clothes. 

You nodded smiling and suddenly felt his eyes on you. You took a sudden risk and looked in the mirror right at him. His eyes were darting across the trailer now, thankfully not looking at you anymore. You crossed you arms over your chest, an act of subconscious self defence at how self conscious you were feeling at this moment. 

“Can you pass me the makeup wipes?” you heard Jasmine say. She was pointing at a white box on the counter. You quickly grabbed them and handed them to her. She didn’t take them from you but instead pulled a couple wipes out of it. 

“His makeup is essentially the same everyday” she said. She then proceeded to take the wipe and gently rub it across his face, most likely to make sure there was no oil or residue and so they could have a fresh canvas for the makeup. “The tears are the hardest and longest part to do so you’ll probably be needed most then” 

You felt a bit more comfortable now and spoke, "Do you do those too?”

You glanced in the mirror and saw Daniel grin a bit. Jasmine smiled too shaking her head, “Oh no, I’m still learning. Cassandra does the tears and most of his main makeup. Hopefully by the end of the process I’ll be able to do some of it though”

You smiled feeling like a bit of a fool, of course she was still learning. 

You heard Daniel’s voice and assumed he was talking to Jasmine, “You’re a production assistant right?” 

He wasn’t. 

You looked over at him through the mirror to see him looking directly at you. You nodded, smiling. You wanted to say something but the words just wouldn’t make their way out of your mouth. God,  you probably looked like such a starstruck dumbass. 

Cassandra had seemed to disappear, you looked around the trailer and she was nowhere to be seen. You swallowed and breathed deeply trying to calm the adrenaline still making it’s way through your body. 

“Will I just be watching today?” you asked, curious to know how much actual work you’d do.

“I guess so…Cassandra will let you know when she comes back” she said shrugging. She threw the makeup wipe into the bin and smiled. 

“Daniel probably has some of the best skin I’ve ever worked with” she said laughing, “There’s barely any oil….ever” 

He laughed too, “I doubt that” 

Your eyes suddenly fixated themselves on his smile and you found yourself beaming too. 

You quickly snapped yourself out of whatever day dream world you were living in. 

What in the living hell was wrong with you? He was an actor and suddenly just because you had seen him in real life you were falling for him? You had to get your act together….otherwise it could end up being a real and unnecessary distraction. 

You tore your eyes from him and looked at the door to see Cassandra walk back in. 

“Have you shown Y/N the basics?” she asked walking over to you three.

“Yes ma’am…I believe so” she said smiling.

Cassandra smirked looking skeptical, “Has she Daniel?” she said jokingly.

He nodded, lifting a hand to run it through his hair but dropping it at the last moment when he remembered his head was adorned with clips, “I think she has”.

You smiled feeling a bit nervous…Cassandra was a tad more intimidating than Jasmine. “You have to pick up things fast okay Y/N?” She went up in front of Daniel and grabbed what looked to be translucent powder and a brush, handing it to Jasmine. “We don’t have the time to slow ourselves down for you or Pandora”

You didn’t know what else to say other than, “Okay…of course”. You had no room for error apparently, you just had to get into Cassandra’s good books and you’d be fine. She wasn’t as sweet as she’d been on that day where you were still only a set PA. 

You looked at Daniel and found that he had closed his eyes and Jasmine was dabbing a bit of powder over his T zone…probably to absorb the excess oil that she had proudly told you he didn’t have. 

“Do you do a lot of makeup yourself?” Jasmine asked you

“Not usually but sometimes I guess” you said

“So you know all the different brushes?”

 You thought back to the hours of mindless makeup videos you would spend hours watching at 3:00 am when you couldn’t sleep. 

“Yep, I do actually” you said confidently. Thank god you weren’t completely clueless in this new endeavour.

Part five

[anotherhamiltonblog]

Foreign Touch ch 4

Chapter Summary: Adeline and Thomas finally meet and go out! What do you think is gonna happen? Will things go smoothly or will things end in disaster?

Warnings: Once again, I didn’t proofread. Sorry <3 cursing? FLUFF annnnd Alexander being an asshat.

Word Count: 1,850 (Give or take)

Previously 

(new cover! made by ME. I like it!)

Enjoy!

Y/N really didn’t have much time to process what was going on when she was being woken up on Sunday. After spending all of Saturday with a group of kids to help them study at the public library. Only to come home and help Alex with his speech and work on the posters. Y/N was tired, her Saturday turned out to be busy, it didn’t help that she stayed up texting Thomas. In fact, that’s how she fell asleep. Phone on the pillow besides her head.

“Y/N!” a voice yelled out and Y/N groaned in response.

Opening an eye, she saw the time before narrowing her eyes. Who the hell was bothering her at 8 o’clock in the morning on Sunday?

“Y/N! Why the HELL are you texting Jefferson!” the voice yelled out again and this time Y/N sat up.

Seeing Alexander standing beside her bed, with her phone in his hand. Y/N’s mouth opened and closed a few times. “I mean, I’m helping him with something.” She said slowly and shrugged.

“What? Why the fuck would you do that? He’s an asshole, remember? We all agreed on that!” Alex ranted off while Y/N got up and slipped on her house slippers.

As she walked out of her room, Alex right behind her. Y/N rolled her eyes.

“No, Alex… YOU said he’s an asshole because he beat you in the debate from History class in sophomore year!” she narrowed her eyes at her brother. Knowing full well their parents and friends were around and listening to them. “He never did shit to me. I ignored him so I wouldn’t put up with your bullshit complaining.”

“Now wait a minute….”

But Y/N never let him finish. “If the shoe fits wear it, Alex. You are the biggest drama queen I know. And I’m around cheerleaders all the time!”

Thanking her mom for the vitamin shake, she kissed her parents cheeks before turning around and heading back to her bedroom. Ignoring the boys as they tried to hide their laughter.

Y/N: ‘Wanna meet up to go over the plans?’ T. Jeff: ‘Thought you were gonna relax today? We can plan another day.’

Y/N found herself smiling at the text and stopped looking for an outfit to wear for the day to reply.

Y/N: ‘Well, Alex found out we’re talking. Got pissy… I need a distraction.’ T. Jeff: ‘Alright… stop by my house and we can plan. Thanks for this again.’

After they finished texting, Y/N pulled on some black skinny jeans and her black booties. A red tank top and black jacket over it. Deciding to add a colorful scarf along. With minimal makeup, just mascara, some concealer and lipstick (after brushing her teeth), Y/N made sure to spray some perfume.

As soon as Y/N was ready, she grabbed her purse and made sure to chuck her phone into the small bag before putting the strap around her shoulder. Placing sunglasses over her eyes, Y/N left her room and ignored the boys who were all sitting around the living room.

After leaving the cup she had taken to her room in the sink in the kitchen, she passed by the boys again to walk towards the front door.

“Hey! Y/N, where you going?”

“Oui, mon ange… why not stay with us?”

Y/N smiled at Hercules and Lafayette; she could always trust those two to want to hang out with her. “Sorry boys, I have plans.” She smiled waving. “But, lets get coffee tomorrow before school?” she raised an eyebrow and grinned at them.

Walking out of the house, to her car. Y/N froze when Alex called out to her.

“Tell me you aren’t going to see Jeffershit?” he asked, and Y/N had to bit down on her lip to not go off on Alex.

“Actually, I am. I promised I’d help him plan something. That’s what I plan on doing.” She sent her brother a fake smile before getting into her car.

“Oh, COME ON! He’s….” but Alex stopped talking when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Y/N glanced over and saw John was speaking to Alex. By the look on the boys face, he was not happy. Which made Y/N grin and nod to John who glanced at her.

Backing the car out of the driveway, Y/N was soon driving to the Jefferson’s house. The GPS in her car turned on and guiding her. Not that it took long, ten minutes later she was pulling up to a gate and she had to stop herself from laughing.

Pressing on the intercom button. Y/N waited. “How may I help you?” she heard a voice and with a sigh, Y/N leaned her head out the window.

“I’m here to see Thomas Jeffershi…. Uh Jefferson. My name is Y/N Hamilton.” She shook her head and waited a few more seconds before the gates opened.

Driving forward, Y/N finally parked in front of the house and got out. Rolling her eyes when she saw Thomas leaning against the front door frame with a house robe, slippers and his hair a mess.

“Jesus… you could have told me you weren’t even ready for the day!” Y/N laughed when stepping out of the car. Glancing at her watch on her wrist, it was just past 9:30.

Watching Thomas shrug, he grinned. “It seemed like you needed to get out of the house. Come on, breakfast is getting cold.” He nodded only to stand up straight as Y/N walked up the steps and finally reaching the front door.

“Breakfast? Trying to get on my good side, Tommy?” she wiggled her eyebrows and laughed at the scowl on his face at the nickname she called him.

“That ain’t cute. Don’t call me that, sweetheart.” He stepped inside and waited till Y/N was in before closing the door.

After breakfast, the two making small talk about what they did on Saturday. Y/N finding out that Thomas was at football practice almost all day, while she was tutoring all day before helping her brother.

“Can he not do his own speech?” Thomas asked and raised an eyebrow.

“Uh, he does. But he has all of us over and hear it to make sure it sounds good… so it’s us sitting around, making his posters while he reads for six hours.” Y/N shrugged. The two laughed.

Once the food was devoured, Thomas showed Y/N around the house, only to stop at the backyard. “This is where I was thinking of having the party. Lots of space, my parents love barbeques, so we could do something simple, not too fancy.” He suggested, watching as Y/N had out a small notebook and pen. Writing down ideas, only to glance down and see she had done a simple sketch of his backyard.

The sketch was simple, it had the huge pool, the lots of space and the trees. “Right, so we could do something at night… we string up lights and balloons...” she spoke softly, walking around and looking at everything and down at her notepad. “Twenty-five years represents silver… so that would be lovely. It would be in December as well. So perfect for the wintertime.” She went on, not noticing the smile Thomas had on his face as he watched her.

After a few more minutes, she set down her things and turned to Thomas, grinning. “What?” she asked, laughing quietly under her breath.

“Nothing… it’s just. You are so adorable when you plan. It’s like you forget about everything. You get a cute smile on your face as well.” He shrugged, on to notice the light pink spreading on her cheeks. “Are…. Are you blushing?” he stepped forward and Y/N shook her head.

“Whaaaat… no.”

Gulping slightly, watching Thomas, Y/N snapped out of whatever trance he had her in and turned around. “Right, uh…” she blinked a few times, trying to think of what to even say.

“Come on, lets hang out a bit. Then I’ll treat you to dinner. You know, for being so kind to help me.”

With that, the two spent the next few hours laughing and watching tv. Talking about school, Thomas’ trip to Paris and spending a whole year there.

A little past 6:30 that evening, they agreed on a pizza place to have dinner at and left the house.

Never in a million years would Y/N have thought that she would spend a whole day with Thomas Jefferson and actually enjoy herself.

»»-————　♡　————-««

The next day when Y/N, Lafayette and Hercules were walking towards the football field, Y/N dressed in her cheer workout clothes. Which was just a pair of plain black leggings, a hot pink crop sports bra and her white tennis shoes. Her H/C hair was up in a ponytail. They were each complaining about the last class with Professor George Frederick. The big-headed idiot who thought too much of himself. That and his love for giving as much homework as he possibly can.

“It’s like he wants us to get held back!” Hercules was complaining and frowning as they sat down on the beachers and Y/N passing her bag and jacket over to them.

“It’ll be alright!” She laughed and winked at the two before jogging over to the girls. Only to turn quickly on her heal when someone called out her name.

Sadly, for Y/N, the grass of the field was slightly wet and as she turned, she slipped the slightest and was about to fall. Only the fall never came. Two hands grabbed onto her waist and her own hands grabbed onto a muscular set of arms.

With a gasp, eyes wide as she looked at the man in front of her. Her body feeling like she was shocked from the touch. Y/N watched as the skin where she had grabbed onto, had handprints that matched hers. The print slowly disappearing before her eyes and so her E/C eyes looked into the wide, brown eyed male who held onto her.

She focused on his eyes, which were darting back and fourth, shining in the sunlight. They were a deep, earthy brown- the intense gaze making it, so Y/N held her breath.

“Alexander is going to kill me…” Y/N said softly, a small smile coming onto her lips.

Thomas just grinned at the girl and he shrugged. “Not if he kills me first.” Was his response before he leaned down and captured her lips against his.

The dreams now made sense, why she kept dreaming of Thomas since he came back. The pull towards him whenever they were together. He was her soulmate, the one she was supposed to be with.

Cheering could be heard from the girls, the football team whistling and hooting. Y/N could even hear Lafayette and Hercules laughing and singing about how Alexander ‘ain’t gonna be happy now’ not that any of that mattered.

Wrapping her arms around Thomas shoulders, fingers making their way into his curly hair. Y/N pressed herself closer to his body as the kiss deepened.

Monday, who would have thought that Mondays would be Y/N’s new favorite day of the week?

                                                                                                   Next Chapter

Don’t forget to Like, Reblog and send Feedback! My asks are also opened and so is my IM! This was a rollercoaster to write.... I can’t wait to post the next chapter. 

Much love from me to you!!  ♥(ˆ⌣ˆԅ)

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[neworderscans]

Full Text Electronic Interview, CFNY FM102.1 "Live In Toronto" with Johnny Marr & Bernard Sumner of ELECTRONIC, Thursday, July 18, 1996 (found here - a very special thanks to the webmaster for painstakingly transcribing it all, and archive.org for saving the old web!)

[Transcriber notes: "Live In Toronto" is a music magazine program on radio station CFNY 102.1 FM in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is on weeknights from 6:00PM-8:00PM, hosted by Kim Hughes. An audience was also present for this interview Kim had with Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner of ELECTRONIC... This entire interview has been transcribed as closely as possible by myself (and it took a really long time!), therefore, errors and omissions are entirely possible.]

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

KIM HUGHES: Welcome back to "Live In Toronto". My name is Kim. The new ELECTRONIC album is out. It's called Raise The Pressure. Of course, ELECTRONIC is Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner. Everyone join me in welcoming them. Thanks for coming.

[Lots of clapping and cheering.]

KIM: Good evening. It's very nice to have you back. As you can see, Toronto is a very pro-ELECTRONIC town... Well, first of all, thanks for coming. Congradulations on the album. It's nice to have the music out. One of the things, I guess with this sort of music, right off the top, is that it takes a long time to make this music. I read a great quote that you said that you a were sort of a 'dictatorship of two'. And I'm wondering, with respect to putting it together and crafting the music, how did it typically come together? I mean, are you just sort of of one mind when you're in a recording, or did you come in with separate things. Sort of take me through it.

JOHNNY MARR: Well, the thing that we most like to do is work together from scratch with no ideas and we just go write what we're gonna do and we help each other out and stuff...

BERNARD SUMNER: We even scratch each other...

JOHNNY: Yeah, you've sort of got to be of one mind when you're going to work together for so long really, otherwise you're in trouble. So it's just the two of us and an engineer and we do it ten, eleven hours a day everyday pretty much. And when it gets too intense, we try and get out of there, have a bit of objectivity of what we do, take a break, and then go back in and do it again.

KIM: When it comes to things like maybe remixes, for instance, some of this material would lend itself obviously to being able to be farmed out for different kinds of remixes and allowing different people to put a new spin on it. Did you feel that sense of, 'Don't want to let it go'? Did you feel a little bit strange about turning it over to someone and seeing what they might come up with?

JOHNNY: Not at all...

BERNARD: Well, the first single off the album is "Forbidden City", and we didn't really feel that lended itself to being remixed, because it's a straight-ahead rock track. And speaking from experience, sometimes in the past when we've released a track like "Regret", for instance, those tracks don't lend themselves that well to remixes. I always thought you put a dance track out, you do a remix of that. But, I don't know, there were some good remixes on the first album...

[Someone's chair squeaks very loudly.]

BERNARD: Is that your wooden leg again?

[Laughter.]

KIM: It's a little squeaky. Just before we get into some music and like we say, we'll get some questions from the audience, you'll allow that within certain British music scenes, as far as dance music is concerned, it's a very rapidly changing thing. I mean, it's a pretty precarious landscape to get into. I mean, today's great thing is sort of yesterday's 808 STATE. There must sort of a sense of wanting to...

[Lots of "Ooh"ing and laughter from everyone.]

KIM: And I mean that... No no, that's not an insult. Don't misread what I have said. I'm saying they're a great band, but there's that sense of always having to be reconfiguring things to the extent of staying on top. I think they were great, and it's too bad now that they don't seem to have been able to reconfigure themselves to an extent that they've been able to stay on the charts. You will admit to that certainly.

BERNARD: Sure, yeah. 'Flavor of the moment'.

KIM: So with that in mind, is that sort of a concern, to a certain extent, because of the track records that you've had, that you'll be spared some of that?

JOHNNY: Well, in regards to dance music, it's really music to listen to at home because not all of our audience want to go out to clubs, but they like dance music. So we were sort of careful to avoid being that kind of 'flavor of the moment' thing. It's like a continuation of the first album, because we just wanted to prove the first album wasn't a one-card trick really.

BERNARD: Yeah, I don't think we appear like a club act neither. There's all different kinds of music on this album. Some of it has got a dance flavor, but, like Johnny says, it's designed to be played at home or in your car. It's not really aimed directly at the clubs, so we're not a mainstream club act. And I think that's allowed...

[Another chair squeak.]

BERNARD: Is that your leg again? It is your leg, isn't it?

[Laughter.]

BERNARD: It's allowed us to be independent of that 'flavor of the month' kind of thing.

KIM: To take it one step further, to my knowledge, at this point you don't have any plans to tour this particular project.

BERNARD: We were talking about it at dinner last night. If these people here in the audience want us to tour, then we'll do it.

[Lots of cheering and clapping.]

BERNARD: Well, I will anyway. What about you Johnny?

[Audience cheers for Johnny.]

JOHNNY: Can you all come over to Manchester?

[Some more cheering and laughter.]

KIM: Why don't we play some music, and stick aound and talk some more and get to some questions from our audience. This is music from ELECTRONIC on 102.1 The Edge...

["Forbidden City"]

KIM: 102.1 The Edge. Music from ELECTRONIC. That's "Forbidden City", the first single taken from the new album, which is called Raise The Pressure. Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner are here from the group, and what we're going to do in a few minutes, we'll talk a little more about this album, play some more music from it, and also defer to our sizable crowd and get some questions as well.

[Commercial break.]

KIM: Thanks for staying tuned. We are speaking about and with ELECTRONIC: Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner are here. And we were talking about Karl Bartos just off the air, the guy from KRAFTWERK, who is not only contributing on this album, but had a hand in some of the songwriting. And I'm not surprised that you might know of him. Did you run into him in NEW ORDER. Was there like a kindred spirit thing?

BERNARD: No, not at all, no. I've got a friend that lives in Berlin. It's a Manchester connection again. He used to live in Manchester. He lives in Berlin, and he's got a record label called MFS, which plays trance music. It's a sort of a monotonous kind of dance music. He knew that I was a big fan of Karl's and a big fan of KRAFTWERK, actually. He knew that we were looking for people to work with so he put the two of us together.

KIM: Are you the kind of guys when it comes to song writing who could write a song forever. You seem like you might. I mean, how do you know when it's finished? How do you know when it's done? When does it feel complete to you?

JOHNNY: Bernard drags me out of the studio and says, "It's finished! It's finished! I don't like it anymore! I want to go home!"

BERNARD: Stop it...

JOHNNY: And I do the same to Bernard, so that's when we know it's done... No, like I said, we try and be objective...

BERNARD: We're obsessed. We're pretty obsessed. We know we're a part of the legacy of the groups that we come from, NEW ORDER and THE SMITHS, and we know that everything that we do will be so put under the microscope by everyone. They just don't just listen to our records, they dissect them. So everything has got to be...I guess we're a bit paranoid about it, and everything's got to be as perfect as it can be.

KIM: But in a way, it is an embarrassment of riches. I mean, it wouldn't be the same if people didn't care so passionately about those groups...if they hadn't felt so very moved spiritually by it, then it wouldn't have been an issue, right?

JOHNNY: It's just the way we are...that people really care about what we do and that when we do any B-side, we spend as much energy as on an A-side, partly because we can, to be honest. We've worked hard at being musicians, we have our own studio, we don't have the record company breathing down our neck for products and stuff. And we can take a long time and get it perfect, and we do, really. There's people from day to day...all our self-worth is tied up in what we do, and that's the truth of it. I think people who follow us know we're not the sort of people who just sort of ????????.

[Laughter.]

BERNARD: Apart from this one occassion.

JOHNNY: First time I've ever been in one! We work underground in our own studio, and it's a very intense situation...and we mean it, you know.

BERNARD: We also actually enjoy writing songs. So we really like it...we like being down there, wittling away at this thing. We like doing this--one of the benefits of spending that amount of time downstairs without any windows, is that when you do get out and meet people like this, you actually enjoy it. We actually enjoy doing the interviews for the first...

KIM: ...10 minutes or so.

JOHNNY: The first 200 of them!

KIM: On that note, just before we play some more music, and I hope you'll stick around a bit, because I'd like to play a fair bit, I'm sure there's lots of people who have really interesting questions as well. So, if we can organize...fire away...

Q1: First of all, I want to say you guys both look very beautiful today.

[Cheering, clapping, and laughter.]

Q1: I just wanted to know how this whole thing got started a few years back, how you met a few years back, how you guys met up?

JOHNNY: We first met up in 1982 when Bernard was producing a record...

Q1: How this project got started.

JOHNNY: This album?

Q1: The first album and this album as well.

BERNARD: We actually met...we knew each other because THE SMITHS and NEW ORDER did a couple of gigs together in Manchester...around England. Actually, I was doing a concert in Berkeley and California with NEW ORDER and I actually met Johnny in the toilet at the gig . I won't tell you what he was doing...

JOHNNY: He said, "Do you want to do it?"

[Laughter.]

BERNARD: Do what? Do what? He said, "You know...me and you, me and you!"

JOHNNY: ...No...

[More laughter.]

BERNARD: Oh, make a record! Right! I'll do that.

JOHNNY: So that's our spiritual home place now. There's a gold disc in there somewhere.

KIM: Thanks a lot. Do we have another question..?

Q2: I just wondered what kind of music you've been listening to these days. If there are any bands that have caught your attention in a big way?

BERNARD: Personally speaking, when you've been working on music for 10 hours a day, you don't want to go home and listen to it. I normally watch a film or read a book. If I do listen to music, I listen to a dance station called KISS. I also listen to classical music, because it's really nothing like the music we're doing. I've just heard a new Patti Smith track called...

JOHNNY: ..."Summer Cannibals"...

BERNARD: "Summer Cannibals". And if I was to listen to a rock record, that's the kind of rock music I like...sort of rhythmic driving sort of stuff.

JOHNNY: I saw VERVE a few years ago, and they were fantastic, and then I saw them again and saw them again. I like Bernard Butler's stuff. Yeah, he's happening...

KIM: I have a question. I had heard that Johnny Greenwood of RADIOHEAD was doing some guitar parts on Bryan Ferry. Do you know if that's true? Are you still in touch with Bryan Ferry?

JOHNNY: It's probably true because Bryan collects guitar players like most people collect guitars. He has a huge collection of guitarists...so I guess so. Bernard Butler played on the new Bryan Ferry stuff as well, so that's interesting.

BERNARD: Did he?

JOHNNY: Yeah, yeah.

KIM: Interesting. I'd like to play some more music now, and we'll organize some more questions if you'll stay for a bit...

JOHNNY: (sarcastically) Oh! We like OASIS as well!

[Laughter and jeering.]

KIM: Here's music from ELECTRONIC. Oooh. On 102.1 The Edge...

["Second Nature"]

KIM: Music from ELECTRONIC on 102.1 The Edge. The new album is out, it's called Raise The Pressure. And we're going to continue speaking with the guys and taking a bunch of audience questions in just a few moments...

[Commercial break.]

KIM: We are back on the program. Thanks for staying tuned. Speaking with Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner about ELECTRONIC and of ELECTRONIC, and stuff like that. We do have some people who have been waiting really patiently to ask some questions, so take it away...

Q3: This question is for Bernard. What's happening with NEW ORDER nowadays? Is there any plans to make another album in the future?

[Laughter.]

JOHNNY: "Well, we haven't split up... But we've got no plans to record together in the forseeable future."

[More laughter.]

BERNARD: You've said that one before!

KIM: Well, I guess we can have the question the other way. We can have your impression of Johnny... That's actually quite good...

BERNARD: "...NO! Nnnnnn..." (grumbling)

[Laughter.]

KIM: Something that I wanted to ask you. There was an album that came out called A Means To An End that was a collection of different people covering JOY DIVISION songs. I don't know if you've heard it. I assume that you had to give some clearance. How did you feel about this sort of latent reverie towards the group? Are you comfortable with that?

BERNARD: The funny thing is that everyone is allowed to do a JOY DIVISION cover except NEW ORDER. If we did it, we'd get our heads cut off by the press. 'Cause we did get approached by the record company asking us to do a cover of "Love Will Tear Us Apart" but I refused because I didn't want to get crucified on the spot. I was very touched by the gesture.

JOHNNY: We were sort of considering doing "Heat And Soul" live, weren't we?

BERNARD: We were thinking about a track by JOY DIVISION called "Heart And Soul" which we're both really big fans of, and we'd like to do that, yeah... Live, just live.

SOMEONE IN AUDIENCE: In Toronto!

[Laughter.]

KIM: Another question...

Q4: I'd like to ask Bernard, what were your impressions of the Deborah Curtis book? Have you read it, or are you familiar with it?

BERNARD: I have read it, actually. I started reading it and I couldn't put it down. It kept me up all night, you know. I thought it was a really good book, although I did think it was...obviously you're bound to be bitter about something like that and I think that sometimes she did get the wrong end of the stick, she got the wrong angle on something. But I understand that. Yeah, I thought it was very good.

KIM: Go ahead.

Q5: This one's for Johnny. A couple of years ago, Trent Reznor was in an interview in Toronto here, talking about how if he could hire you as a guitarist for the album, he would, but he couldn't afford it. Would you ever consider working on something like that, or is that too far out of your...

SOMEONE IN AUDIENCE: No. You've got too much class!

[Laughter.]

JOHNNY: You don't know me!

[More laughter.]

JOHNNY: You know, I'm really happy I found someone that I can write songs with. I look up the period where I did some sessions, and the way I see it is that I got to make some records with some people I really respected, you know, Matt Johnson in particular. But now I want to put all my time and energy into ELECTRONIC, because that's the thing for us. So I'm trying to avoid doing sessions really.

BERNARD: And why is that? And did you make it?

JOHNNY: I did actually...and now...

[Laughter.]

JOHNNY: To be honest, as far as sessions go, I've played and sung on the new PET SHOP BOYS album. The PET SHOP BOYS are the only people I play with really. Mostly because if I refused I'd never hear the end of it. I'm not sure about sessions. I don't really know Trent Reznor's stuff very much.

KIM: I think it would be interesting myself. I think he's a really interesting musician. But I want to pick up on something that you said there with respect to ELECTRONIC. If you're saying that this is your focus right now, on this hand, but you're saying that you're not really sure about touring, does this mean that there's a lot of other material that we're going to see coming out in the next little while? Are you anxious to get back in?

JOHNNY: Why we're not sure about touring is that we don't want to do something that means we can't make a record for about another two years. We really want to play, we like playing, we like the hour and a half on stage, we like seeing everybody, and we like the sort of gesture of 'look, we've come here, we want to play', but we just got ourselves now into a position where we're free to do another ELECTRONIC record, is that right?

BERNARD: Yeah, that's right. You know, maybe we can ask these people what would you prefer. Would you prefer a new record or would you prefer to see us play live?

LOTS OF PEOPLE IN THE AUDIENCE: Both!

BERNARD: Well, we'll do a live record...

[Laughter.]

KIM: If you're just joining us here, we're speaking with John Marr and Bernard Sumner from ELECTRONIC, and we're going to play some more music in a moment. Other questions? Please...

Q5: This one's for Bernard. I was just wondering, your music has changed a lot in the last 20 years, and I was wondering what changes in your life might have been reflected in that?

BERNARD: Well, yeah, I mean, hopefully the purpose in life is to straighten the deep end and to make yourself happier as you go along in life. You know, everything you do, you go to school, you go to work, it's to make yourself happier and I've achieved that, and that's reflected in my music. My music's now optimistic, happy, 'up' music, and in the days when I was in JOY DIVISION, before I had achieved anything... I mean, hopefully, the best music reflects truthfully my personality...and I'm pretty happy, pretty happy these days...

KIM: Has fatherhood had an imapct on life?

BERNARD: Um...yeah, well of course it has...yeah, yeah...

KIM: Why don't we play another track from the record? And then perhaps we'll take a few more questions and let you get some dinner.

JOHNNY: Well, yeah, okay. I'm enjoying answering questions to be honest...

BERNARD: You know what's really good... After all this time, we're in the studio, we're making the record, and then we spend a lot of time promoting. We talk to the journalists, it's really good to talk to people...directly.

KIM: Okay, we'll do it again in a minute. I just want to play some music here for those who aren't with us in the studio who might enjoy the music, so let's do that. This is ELECTRONIC on 102.1 The Edge...

["One Day"]

KIM: Toronto's New Rock 102.1 The Edge. Music from ELECTRONIC taken from the album Raise The Pressure. We're just speaking with Bernard and Johnny from the group, and actually, we were letting it go to the people who have bought the records and the concert tickets over all these years. And I'm sure that you would agree, certainly you Bernard, having played here a number of times, that Toronto is sort of a microcosm in North America in a way, particularly when it comes to English groups. They can always do so incredibly well here and their music seems to be appreciated so much...I mean I know how this sounds, but it's sort of true. I mean, you'll sell more records here per capita I think than almost anywhere else really.

BERNARD: Yeah, I was just saying to Johnny at the end, just before the record was playing, on the first album release, we didn't really come to Toronto, and I was just wondering why we didn't do it, 'cause we just get such great response from people here. And I've always had great gigs here with NEW ORDER, really good everytime, really enjoyed it.

KIM: And you've played a lot of different venues here over the years, I know for a fact you have!

BERNARD: Yeah! I like that...what's that game you play over here...

KIM: Baseball..?

BERNARD: Baseball, yeah. Was going to say cricket there...

[Laughter.]

BERNARD: That baseball stadium, that's a great place.

KIM: You've played Varsity Arena, or Varsity Stadium...

BERNARD: Yeah, really good...

KIM: Kingswood...um...CNE Grandstand...Kingswood... Anyways, back to the crowd. Questions for Johnny and Bernard...

Q6: This is directed to Johnny Marr. This is a million dollar question. It said in Select Magazine that, I guess this was last year, that you might in time maybe get together with Morrissey...

[Groaning from the audience.]

JOHNNY: Sometime...

Q6: I know it's bad, but...

JOHNNY: Only this morning, I saw the most incredible cloud formation.

[Laughter.]

JOHNNY: It looked like a bird...

[A long silence, followed by laughter from the audience...]

SOMEONE IN AUDIENCE: Good answer!

JOHNNY: Well, to be serious...

BERNARD: He's going to get his gun, Johnny, he's going to get his gun...

JOHNNY: To be serious, what it is...we don't have any plans to work together. I mean, that's the truth of it. And in the press, often, my true feelings don't really quite translate and, you know, I don't have any weirdness or weird feelings towards THE SMITHS or anything. I'm very very proud of everything we've done. But, see, this is what matters to me at the moment. And that's the end of it.

KIM: Okay. Any other questions, please go ahead.

Q7: This is for Johnny also. You've worked with THE THE on two of their records, but you weren't on the latest one. I wondering if you planned to do anymore work with Matt Johnson at all.

JOHNNY: I'd like to think that Matt and I could work together in the future. And, uh...I don't know, I have no idea... I feel that with THE THE, I did some really great work, and I was really pleased to be involved. The album Dusk I was particularly happy with, and I saw Matt pretty recently and I spoke to him a couple of weeks ago and he's working on a new record. And we still ring each other up and give each other a lot of encouragement, so that's cool. He's really happy for me doing what I'm doing, and I'm happy for him doing what he's doing, so...maybe.

KIM: Okay. Um...take one or two more.

Q8: Yeah, this is for Johnny. Um...

[Laughter.]

Q8: ...Again...

JOHNNY: I get all the hard ones.

BERNARD: What's that T-shirt you got on there..?

[More laughter.]

Q8: I just like to say I feel like...of British rock legends, I feel like I'm talking to one of the disciples of Jesus...

JOHNNY: Thank you very much...

SOMEONE IN AUDEINCE: Two of them!

JOHNNY: Cheers, thanks!

[Bernard laughs. The audience cheers.]

Q8: Yeah, two of them... But speaking to Johnny, you said that you met Bernard in 1982 and I was wondering if maybe THE SMITHS might have had some...break up because of the two of you wanting to collaborate and wanting to give us new music...

[Increasing laughter from the audience.]

BERNARD: (laughing) It's nothing to do with me!

[Even more laughing.]

BERNARD: Oh, it's my fault! What have I gotten myself involved in, eh..?

JOHNNY: Absolutely true! 100% true! He said to me, "You know, that stuff sounds really miserable, come down to disco."

[More laughter.]

JOHNNY: "Take some ecstacy."

[More laughter.]

JOHNNY: "...and you'll feel really good." And you know, he was right.

BERNARD: Get down with it...

JOHNNY: No, no. The split...I've never...it was nothing to do with any external forces really. It was just to do with my feelings about what we've become as people and particularly myself, and it was very very unhealthy, and I just felt a sense that something very tragic was going to happen any minute, and so before it did, I just got out of there. And I thought it was the healthiest thing for the four of us if that was to happen.

KIM: With that in mind, you've both been around long enough to have seen...what's the most outrageous thing you've ever read about yourself?

JOHNNY: I try not to read anything about myself to be honest.

BERNARD: A journalist said that the album took so long because you were in rehab.

JOHNNY: Oh yeah, that's right...which is pretty bizarre. That actually quite surprised me when he said that. But it actually makes me sound more interesting than I am really. So I said, "Continue with the rumor, you know...it's fine." I think there's been some wild ones. I just put them out of my mind if I read anything that I don't really think is truth.

KIM: Okay. We'll take one final question and...uh...two final questions...quick, very quick...

JOHNNY: Someone ask Bernard a hard one.

KIM: Go ahead, please...

Q9: This one's not for Bernard, it's for Johnny. But...

[Laughter.]

BERNARD: Please ask me a question...

Q9: But before I say...I just want to say that you both have really distinct styles, and when you come together, you're mixing two incredible styles and I think ELECTRONIC's a great project. My question to you, Johnny, is what ever happened to the Ian McCulloch work that you guys did...that stolen record or whatever..?

JOHNNY: Yeah, that was really bizarre. You're the first person to ask me that question... And even Ian didn't ask me that question.

[Laughter.]

JOHNNY: I told him that it's in the post. He needed to make a record and he was trying to sort of find his feet. We were introduced by a mutual friend of ours and I wrote some songs for him, and a couple of them I think ended up on the ELECTROFIXATION record. And what's really bizarre, I sent the tapes over to Liverpool, and they got stolen...which is amazing...

[Laughter.]

JOHNNY: No, I don't mean that. But, that's Liverpool for you.

BERNARD: You'd expect it if you come from Liverpool where that sort of thing happens all the time.

JOHNNY: It does, yeah.

Q10: I was wondering why the absence of lyrics on the CD's, and especially for NEW ORDER, why the absence.

BERNARD: Well, actually, on this album, I wanted to put my lyrics on the cover but Johnny wouldn't let me.

[Snickering.]

BERNARD: No, the graphic designer wouldn't let me because he wanted a nice clean product. It's quite good if you listen to an album and you interpret the lyrics. And even if you get lyrics that I haven't written, and you change them a bit, I think it's quite interesting. I don't know...I don't know. Writing lyrics is kind of like exposing yourself to the world and it's like showing people what you think inside your mind. And I guess to go one stage further I feel a little uncomfortable with actually putting it on the cover of the album and everyone can read precisely what I'm saying. I feel a little bit uncomfortable with that as a person, but hey, that's me.

KIM: Well, on that note, this has been about the most fun 45 minutes I've had the pleasure of spending in a long time...

[Lots of cheering.]

JOHNNY: And same for us too as well actually.

KIM: I just want to thank you guys and everyone who came out. It made it so much more fun. It's really been a pleasure having you. I wish you the best of success with the album. Please consider touring and more albums soon. Thank you. Here's music from ELECTRONIC on 102.1 The Edge...

["For You"]

Broadcast on CFNY 102.1 FM (Toronto) on "Live In Toronto" - Thursday, July 18, 1996.