#also fan boy Martin is a mood

[masonjarsmoments]

Not a crossover I've ever expected to see but i am not complaining

[httpiastri]

also omg spill the tea on meeting the drivers in spa!!! (only if you want to ofc, ignore this if you don’t 🙏)

aaaaaa okay its time!!!!!! dont grill me if my opinions don't match someone else's, i tried to be as kind as i can 🙏 gonna divide this into categories bcs i met some ppl who are not currently on the f2/f3 grids aaaaa but yeah here we go 🤭

(i saw and was close to pretty much all drivers, but im only including the ones that stood out to me in certain ways here 😊 in order of their racing numbers !!)

f3 !!!

dino beganovic - okayyy soooo. this and paul's will go kinda in the same direction… like i was not surprised to see him act not like super happily lol. i understand! when around fans or just people he doesn't know too well, he was not very excited. but when he was talking to jamie (ollie's... idk what he is? manager ish?), he was that cute happy self he can be! but most of the time, it was the dino we get to see in most prema videos from this year (like the "how well do you know your teammates" one) where he's just…. idk :/ dont blame him tho, im sure he's a great guy once you get to know him!!

gabriele mini - honestly i feel like i barely saw him, except when he and his gf were leaving 😭 welp. but he seemed happy to carry around his trophy!!

arvid lindblad - saw him already on thursday and was shocked both because i couldn't believe my eyes (it's him!! he actually exists!!!!!) and bcs he was much shorter than i had anticipated 😭 sorry arvid

sami meguetounif - i didn't see him around a lot but i saw him on the friday helping his team pack up the tent (carrying big things and such), while all other drivers seemed to not really care (from what i could see)(not just trident, but all teams). respect !!!!!!

tim tramnitz - i knew he was tall but he looked even taller irl!!!! i was so shocked, i felt so tiny

ollie goethe - seemed really happy and lowkey surprised when fans wanted to take pics with him 🥺 had a terrible haircut tho lmao i felt so bad for him... but he seemed so sweet all weekend!!! rlly wish i had talked to him aaaaaa

sebastian montoya - saw him around a lot talking to all kinds of drivers, seems very social butterfly-y :) he seemed very happy after the feature, and he seemed to definitely bring up pepe's mood too because they were talking and joking around for a long time 🥺 his sister (paulina) is also even more gorgeous irl omfg i didn't even think that would be possible…. like we always talk about how amazing she looks in pics but she was so so gorgeous irl (sadly didn't get to see her interact with nikita but 💔 i'll live ig)

luke browning - saw him tons and !! why is he so handsome ?!?!?!! genuinely fell in love all over again. what even. like i keep constantly thinking back to the eye contact we shared and im just. 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫 seemed sweet with fans too, not super energetic but agreed to pics and such. wish i had shown him my browning bracelet or asked him to sign my sm shirt but i was too shy 💔

christian mansell - saw him get really happy when fans recognized and talked to him, i wanted to show him my mewsell bracelet but didn't have the courage 💔 but sweet and happy as usual!! no surprises there

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f2 !!!

victor martins - actually dont think i saw him all weekend 😭 idk how i managed that

zak o'sullivan - i saw him a few times, he seemed like a bit down ?? very understandable considering how he had glandular fever ?!?!?!?!!! poor boy :( but god did he look good despite it lmao

ollie bearman - very tall and definitely very popular, always ppl waiting to take pics with him lol! didnt speak to him and wasnt very close to him either but he seemed smiley and happy :) tbh i think i saw jamie more than i saw ollie himself ?? lmao

kimi antonelli - tiny!! and the hair is so so curly!!!! he was actually cuter irl, dont understand how he can do that but yeah. also very popular, and was very happy and kind when fans wanted pics hehe

zane maloney - think this guy had like a magnet attached to me or something because i saw him everywhere all the time 😭 like even when there were no other f2 drivers left, he was there… seemed sweet, his freckles are really cute irl too :)

jak crawford - so so tall!!! and the hair looked even better irl oh my god

juan manuel correa - was a second away from asking him for an autograph but he started talking on the phone at that exact moment 😶 seemed so sweet tho!

gabriel bortoleto - aka bortolotti as the commentators said 😐 saw him chatting with a bunch of different drivers, very much a social butterfly like sebas (or is it just because he's very liked in the paddock? likely both). wanted to go up to him when he was talking to luke (they stood outside their hospitality for a long time just talking) and ask for autographs on my sm tshirt (and to tell them that i loved their appearances on the pod) but was too nervous shdjdhdj

enzo fittipaldi - he had the cutest interaction ever with his gf, i nearly melted at the sight of them 🥺 and big bro was there supporting him all weekend too which was cute lol

paul aron - the driver i think most ppl are gonna read and ignore all other drivers lol. i only saw him on the friday and… well….. i wasnt surprised because i had not expected him to be the most open and excited etc. 🤷‍♀️ like he did agree to take pics and such! he put on a little smile for the fans! but there was nothing extra, which i understand. i think we all know the kind of expression he puts on and how "neutral" he looks at most times? like, when he's not around a close friend etc then he seems a little cold. to me, i feel like it just makes his smiles much more valuable in some way!! he wasnt very smiley even with karl or ralf, ig maybe he was focused on qualifying, but he didnt give anything extra and i dont blame him for that. still owns my heart !!!! <33 and i think that the difference from dino is that he seemed more focused and more ig neutral than cold like dino. paul didnt seem neither happy nor mad etc, just blank. 😌 (but god did he look SO GOOD, his hair was so light and my heart wanted to jump out of my chest istg. he looked so so good that i was too shy to even look too much at him 😭)

is*ck h*djar - pls i dont wanna say what i actually think but. his mom was so sweet 😭 my dad (who, for context, does hobby photography) held his camera aimed to the campos truck door in case pepe would come out, but she came out instead and like apologized and stuff for being in the way? so cute :((

pepe marti - 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 how do i even begin to describe him? when there aren't enough words in the entire world? the most gentle and sweet person ever actually, he seemed so tired and just done with the weekend when i talked to him but he still made time for me and tried to stay optimistic. sweetest boy ever <33333333 (i actually still cant really believe i met him and talked to him. like my brain still short-circuits a bit when i think about it. he was just truly an angel and i miss him so much <//3 i also cried a ton after that lol but he didn't see it so that's okay)(also his hands look even bigger irl 😁 sorry gtg)

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former drivers/others !!!

fred vesti - like 10 minutes after the gp had finished, i just happened to accidentally run into him? like he was just heading out of the gate i was going into and so i stopped and gasped and just!!!!! and no one around me even looked at him (we were walking around general admission yk, just a big crowd all heading out on the track) which made me really sad but it was so cool to see him irl!!! he was taller than i had expected awww and so pretty

ralf aron - the only sentence that's still swirling around in my head: "is it possible to fall in love at first sight if you're already a fan?"....... because i think i fell in love 🫠🫠 when i tell you he was gorgeous, i mean it on a NEW LEVEL. like im obsessed. i was obsessed before but now im obsessed^2. actually insane. and he has the exact same voice as paul omg i would not be able to tell them apart irl. i love him so much, please help

adrian campos (jr) - sorry for including two team principals but 😭 idk where i get my shyness and social anxiety from because my dad has some kind of talent with people. he talks to everyone and everyone like him ??? anyways so he just randomly went up to the campos team principal and asked about pepe and they had a short but very friendly discussion 😭 and then he even came up to my dad later for new pepe updates lmao so he was a really sweet guy!!!

rene rosin - i didnt speak to him, saw him around a lot tho, but pt 2 of "my dad collecting team principals"…. my dad went to the f3 paddock and came back to tell me that he talked to "some prema dude" about dino's car… the convo went my dad: "is dino's car perfect now?". prema dude: "perfect for what?!". dad: "perfect for winning, of course!". prema dude: "yes, of course!!" and they had laughed and joked around and what not. i thought it was a funny interaction but didnt think more about that. until a while later, my dad pointed at rene and went "there's my friend from before!!" and i just ?!? you asked RENE if dino's car was good????? so yeah thumbs up to rene for being a funny dude 😁

sacha fouquet - sorry for including this but he also looked very good irl 😶 alsoooo like when i was hurrying to the f3 feature (i was running very late and wanted to be there for the start), i had to go under this tunnel to get from the paddock to the grandstands?? like a pretty narrow tunnel, only like 2-3 ppl width... and guess tho were heading to the paddock right when i was rushing away? all of the prema performance/race engineers! lovely timing! because they're all so so cool and made me so so so nervous 😭 (and the way i was just having to pretend like i haven't seen them all in 100 vids and even made gifs of them lmao what)

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gold star to anyone who made it this far ⭐️ sorry for the random yapping lol and for saying everyone looked better irl but it is true!!!! this isnt proofread so i apologize for any mistakes etc, pls feel free to ask if anyone has any questions... <3<3

[vsyrworld]

Serious question - who is more whipped for who: Charles for Carlos or Carlos for Charles?

interesting! Please don't get mad if I said both of them🤣 and this is going to be a long one.

I have to tell you that this ship is taking their time slowly to get close to each other. Their love bloomed like molasses on the ground after a dewy morning rain. Carlos -- he is an easygoing and humble person, who loves to tease, annoy, and banter. He said in an interview that Charles is easy to get along with too. With his humble personality, it would make sense to point out that Carlos would make a move first to introduce him, just like how Singapore 2018, he asked Charles first, not the other way around. It happens because Charles is a shy person but will open up and give all of his heart when he trusts the person. Remember post Seb Ferrari era? the mood was down and the team was split into two sides. Charles was stressed too, suffocated, he missed so many chances to be the world champion. Enter Carlos with his light personality, it gives Charles a fresh air.

I thought Carlos was bolder but somehow Charles also did his own games too. Once he gets comfortable with Carlos, he becomes playful too, he teases him, gives him pet names, asks him ridiculous unnecessary things, and so much more. Remember also that both C² boys are together facing the downfall of Ferrari, 2022-2023 was -I can say- the worst era. There are so many things behind the scenes that somehow they choose to keep it lowkey and not show it to the camera. They did sometimes, back in the day 2021 when they used a silly filter and posted on each other accounts. So bet, through the trial and tribulation as a Ferrari drivers they exchange many deep talks together, both of them are fights for each other, we never see them crash no? Unlike Seb with Charles, or Nico with Lewis, both respect each other, and both are not into mind games, yes Charles might be intimidating for Carlos since he is the golden boy, but somehow Carlos understands his burden to be il Predistinato, he is helping him through bad times. Carlos stated that he wish Charles become a wdc with Ferrari and he wants to help him. Carlos loves Ferrari and bleeds rosso corsa as much as Charles does. Watch Carlos 2023 press conference with the Estrella Galicia, where said his racing future plan A B C is drives for Ferrari, and he also pointed out how he annoyed by the fan who always make them hate each other. With that dedication Charles softens and trusts Carlos, he is having fun and he is down so bad for Carlos. The interview with Martin or the Singapore interview 2023 are the proves how close they are

With much aware, I do understand for whole this four year, fans always pitted them against each other. They beefing bcs there is no "dramatic" content between them. Yes they were used to dissing about strategies, but does it happen so great until it make the headline? No! Thats why fans are nosy about them and yet they are so undisturbed by that. Again, they keep everything so lowkey and yet from interviews, from instastory, articles, and even their personal project, they exchange everything. Charles doesn't like physical touch but did he avoids Carlos' touch? no i dont think so😬❤️‍🩹

[lookingforlia]

Clothes Haikyuu bois would wear pt-2

Characters: Kageyama , Hinata , Tsukishima, Yamaguchi

Kageyama

- his closet just consists of only black items

- he's a hoodie person

- also prefers plain shirts as well

- dispite everything I think he has a really good fashion sense

- owns definitely a bit variety of accessories like bracelets or necklaces

- wouldn't wear anything feminine or colorful

- his style leans more towards the e-boy side .

- whatever clothes he wears is pretty comfortable

- loves oversized clothes

- is into formal wear as well .

- you would see him in a blazer occasionally.

- he would rather die then wear a crop top or feminine clothes.

- the type to own doctor martin's. 

Hinata

- he wears rompers a lot

- doesn't really care about fashion or aesthetic but still has one and a very decent one.

- his closet consists of random plieces of clothings that don't usually go well together but , when he puts it together it somehow looks good on him .

- his clothes are always oversized on him .

- likes caps and has an entire collection of them. 

- always wears sneakers and socks too. 

- Colorful socks with cartoons

- keeps it casual and comfortable

- another one who wears elevated sneakers. 

- would not like feminine clothes even if it suits him well. 

- he prefers bright colors cause he thinks monotones are gloomy.

Tsukishima

- alright his fashion sense is really good. 

- always has headphones around his neck and the headphones matches his color pelette

- he's very lean so whatever he wears looks baggy on him. 

- he somehow likes brown and earthy tones a lot .

- lowkey dark academia. 

- doesn't like jewelery a lot but would own a few pieces since he got them as a gift from Yamaguchi. 

- since he is really tall his clothes alsays look him real good on him. 

- even if the clothes aren't pretty , him wearing them definitely makes it prettier. 

- usually wears converse but also has a soft spot for loafers. 

Yamaguchi

- polo shirts of all colors . He feels really comfortable in them. 

- he is a huge fan of jackets or vests

- prefers dark colors more but can't deny that soft colors look really good on him too .

- wears both shorter and longer pants , he thinks all of it suits him well . And he's right tho .

- thrifts for clothes

- ends up wearing vintage sometimes , and always without fail rocks the look .

- he doesn't have a specific taste in clothes or aesthetic

- so he own a little bit of everything , and wears anything depending on his mood on that day. 

- I think he doesn't mind wearing crop tops or anything feminine

- he really knows what to pair with what . Like , he always has a clue one what he's doing.

- Wears sandles or sneakers based on him mood. 

[dominickeating-source]

Star Trek Explorer Issue 3 (2003)

Weapons Overload With a new complement of weapons at his disposal (including photon torpedoes!), the Enterprise NX-01's armory officer and all-round tough guy is looking forward to entering the Delphic Expanse in the third season of Enterprise. Filming has just got underway on the Paramo8utn backlot as we went to press, but Reed's alter-ego, British actor Dominic Keating, is already aremed, Dangerous and in the mood to kick some Xindi butt! Over the next few pages, he gives Nick Joy the low-down on what's to come in Season Three.

You've started work on Season Three. What can we look forward to?

We now have a crack team of SAS-type military bods on board who are called the MACO. They are Starfleet's finest GI's, and that's put the spanner right up Reed because he's being undermined and having his position jeopardised. A new character, Major Hayes, is in charge of them and looks like he'll be Malcolm's arch nemesis. He's played by Steven Culp, who played Bobby Kennedy in Thirteen Days and has a recurring role in Jag. (Significantly, he also played Picard's new first officer Martin Madden in the deleted scene from the end of Nemesis). There's a lot of action in this first episode and a particularly good scene with these bright young MACO lads. I have a feeling that when they show the first episode, and the fans react favourably to these big action sequences, then we'll see a lot more of these guys.

Are there changes to the principal cast?

T'Pol has had a big makeover to make her more prettified and feminine; it was quite a revelation when Jolene (Blalock) walked on to the set yesterday with longer hair and in her sexy new coloured outfit. There were a lot of 'ooohs' and 'aaaahs'.

Has Malcolm Reed been given a makeover?

No, I'm the only one who didn't get touched! I'm kinda hacked off about it to be honest. Connor (Trinneer) has a slightly new hairstyle, and so has Scott (Bakula). So has Linda (Park), now I get to think about it. I can never tell with Anthony (Montgomery) whether he's got a new style, but he assures me that it was changed!

So, do you foresee an increase in conflict this year?

Absolutely. Already we're off to the save the captain, again. Some things never change! He's in a fix and we're going deeper into the Expanse to find him and meet the Xindi. I think this is going to constitute our mission for at least this year. Rather than being an episodic show, Enterprise is now going to have a theme running right through a large part of the season.

Is Malcolm looking forward to deploying those new weapons?

Oh yeah! And at least I know that they are now. One fan asked me at a convention whether I had photon torpedoes in my armoury and I went, "Dude, I don' t know anything about them, except that they're grey".

How do you see Malcolm developing this year?

It seems fairly self-evident that one of my main dramatic tensions this year will be with Major Hayes, and I'm noticing a brewing dissatisfaction between Malcolm and the captain. He's upset by the captain's silence in allowing this team to be put on board and it's speaking volumes to him that the captain doesn't think Malcolm is up to the job for this mission. And this, of course, gets right under his skin.

Have the producers shared with you Malcolm's longer-term story arc?

They keep us completely in the dark about what's happening. I've got no idea what next week's episode is about and whether or not I'll even be in it. I do hope that they give me some more stuff with Tripp as they've set all the groundwork. We've got a friendship and a professional respect, but we also rub each other up the other way, so there's plenty of scope to develop this as this expanse of space starts testing us all.

After two failed attempts, might Malcolm try to seduce T'Pol again?

That's not going to happen, They've left that up to Trip, the swine! No, the blonde hunky boy gets the hot love interest. There's a scene in this first episode where Trip can't sleep because he's ailing after his sister's death and Phlox suggests that he Trip goes to see T'Pol. There's a very sexy scene, which I think they are filming even as we speak at twenty past eight in the morning. It's heavily implied in the writing that there will be some sexual frisson between these two characters this years.

Do you enjoy being the 'Englishman abroad' for Star Trek?

Yeah, but I've been in America for ten years now and I don't feel like an alien, if you pardon the pun! I'm very much at ease and au fait with how Americans are. I really like them; you just don't want to eat with them (laughs)!

Are you happy that Malcolm has developed from being this uptight 'stiff upper lip' Brit?

I think Brannon (Braga, Enterprise's executive producer) proved that when he wrote 'Shuttlepod One' and that scene with Scott in Minefield. I know he likes writing for Malcolm, but I think he's also aware that the main thrust of our show is the Captain, the Vulcan babe and an American blonde six-foot guy. They're writing an American show for an American audience and I think I'm a nice salt and pepper flavour to mix up the taste here and there. They've seen what I can do and they're happy with that. I'm a good gun on their hip that they can throw in whenever they want, and I'm quite happy with that.

Are the hours really punishing on the show?

Jolene and Connor work very long hours, and to some extent so does Scott. Scott is there a lot of the time but they do try and make is as easy as possible for the star. I sometimes get four or five days off in a stretch and I love that. I've just come back from hiatus after travelling round the world and to be quite hones I'm looking forward to getting back to work to have some rest! I don't mind that they only throw me three or four good episodes a year that are really meaty for me - I'm a good filler for them.

Have you been in any other projects?

I haven't gone arduously looking for other work this hiatus. I think my main thrust now is to direct. Most of last year when I wasn't actually acting I was sitting in the edit suite, shadowing directors and going to the LA film school. I already know how to act - I've done it since I was ten years old - and I'm kind of intrigued about starting a new career at this point in my life.

Could you be following in the directorial footsteps of such Star Trek stars as LeVar Burton and Roxann Dawson?

I just directed a little public access show here in LA called The Heartbreak Café, and a couple of past Star Trek incumbent have done it - Roxann Dawson and Tim Russ. LeVar Burton works very quickly; he doesn't mess around with umpteen takes and I really respect that.

To date, Malcolm's inventions have included the red alert sirens and the ship's shields. Any aspirations to invent anything new this year?

God, I don't know. Maybe some x-ray specs for when I'm looking at T'Pol? Next question!

Finally, if you had a wish for this year, what would it be?

I just hope that our ratings pull up, it would be nice to be sitting on a bona fide hit show, and not some old horse that it still on the race track. I've been around the world meeting fans at conventions and God knows the fan base is healthy. The trouble is that there's so many channels on cable and satellite these days. There's even a horse channel and I'm convinced we've lost a lot of our regular viewers to that station!

[jackjackal]

Now...Rec #2 on my Master List...*drum roll*

For #1 on Jack's Master TV Show Rec List Pt 1: Detective Shows🔍 please click HERE!

For a more detailed description for new watchers or those unfamiliar with the show, please click "Keep Reading"...I have a lot to say about this absolute gem :3

OOOOOkaaaay y'all better buckle up cause our second show on the list holds a very, very deep place in my heart.

Here's a little bit on the Hardy Boys Nancy Drew Mysteries:

First and foremost...this show is OLD...old in the best way however!! It's from the 70s...so if you don't like old television...maaaaybe this isn't gonna be for you. Just kidding! Anyone (even those who aren't fans of old tv shows) will like this one! Why?! Because of several, several reasons. Which I will now highlight in the next points:

Shaun Cassidy and Parker Stevenson are not only some of the best looking men (pictured in the gifs above) to have ever graced the screen...they were also LEGENDS of their time. Cassidy made his own music (which is CLASSIC by the way) and Stevenson was a pretty epic surfer (which is also showcased in the show in the most epic of ways). In addition to them...we also were blessed with Pamela Sue Martin as Nancy Drew for the first half of the series. If you don't have a crush on her by the end of the series btw then you are NOT normal haha! While we have some AMAZING lead actors/actresses, we also have phenomenal supporting actors/tresses with Ed Gilbert as Fenton Hardy, Lisa Eilbacher as Callie, and so, so many more!!!

Next reason you'll fall in love with this show...the graphics, while old as mentioned above...are so, so incredibly nostalgic! Even if you weren't around in the 70s (which I was NOT lol), this show will STILL feel nostalgic to you. To me, every time I watch it it's like I'm transported to a different, better world in which I have frizzy yet gorgeous hair, bell bottoms, and a leather jacket that somehow never makes you too hot (lol). But seriously...the show has a sort of magic way of taking you to that time and instantly relieving you of all your worries back here in the 2020s. It's literally insane how much this show can cure my bad mood. Like just watching the theme song takes my day from 0 to 100 (and that's cause the theme song is soooooooo iconic!! They even made fake book covers like the actual book series with the actors' images on them...like omg that's cool!!)

Final point I'll make for the show (cause just like with Case Closed...I could probably write a novel on this show alone) the Hardy Boys Nancy Drew Mysteries is great if not for the awesome monster makeup, plot lines, and zingy one-liners courtesy of Frank and Joe, but for the shear incredible chemistry between all the actors. Like Oh. My. Gosh! If I didn't know they were actors I would not be able to tell that Cassidy and Stevenson weren't actually brothers in real life. Their body language, the script, videography, EVERYTHING works together in this show to really sell that they're brothers. Not only that, but their interactions with Gilbert and all the side characters sell this home as well. Like I know it's all acting, but the looks they give each other and the way they tease each other during the little moments of the show like GAH! It...it just...I don't even have words for how awesome it is. Just go watch the show...you will 100% not regret it!!

Okay....now for the rating!!! I gave Case Closed a 5/5 and this show is no different. I will say that if I could, I would give this one like 1 billion stars out of 5...but I'll keep it simple and stick with the grading scale. 5/5 Stars! 🌟What a GOAT of a show!!

[aloekat]

5 favorite songs? then put it in the askbox of your 10 fave followers blah blah blahbbity blah i don’t remember the whole thing but you catch my drift (i hope) :)

omg i love this question ok so theres are semi in an order but can swap with each other depending on mood and the day lol

1. teenage rebellion - sarah barrios

this was the song that played in the fantasy high junior year trailer, it gives 2010s pop punk vibes and its sooooo good and catchy and also related to a current hyperfixation of mine so ofc i love it

2. starship velociraptor - galactikraken, jonathan young

i love love love 80s/90s scifi vibes and i have associated this song with a fictional character i love so that helps. plus it slaps so hard which helps

3. queerball - mccafferty

sometimes gender is a song and thats what this is for me. its very cool song, good for potential animatics i make up in my head as well >:)

4. bubble pop electric - gwen stefani

same thing with starship velociraptor, the vibes are immaculate and its so catchy. also associate it with my current hyperfixation lol

5. can’t take my eyes off you - kid freud

specifically the kid freud one its the best one sorry guys. i love the original but this one has more Vibes you know? it was my top song in 2023

honarable mentions, songs that are currently on repeat for me (i wont link these ones find them yourself lol):

livin la vida loca - ricky martin

from the start - good kid

puppy princess - hot freaks

all dolled up - the orion experience

choose your fighter - ava max

puppet boy - devo

against the kitchen floor - will wood

my alcoholic friends - the dresden dolls

teenagers - my chemical romance

house of memories - panic at the disco (im not a patd fan at all but again i associated it with my hyperfixation so now its here </3)

[shitty-drawer]

Aaaand, second tag game! This one was thanks to @bunniletto! Thank you for tagging me, this was really fun!!!

In this game I have to show some songs/soundtracks that represent my characters in some way...so, i'm going to use my personas and my protagonists of TES :D

All of them have short playlists (because i'm awfull at choosing music) so, I'm going to steal some songs from them hehehe

.:Skyrim: Last Dragonborn:.

Zamira: Well, the songs ANTI-HERO by Sekai No Owari and Calamity by King Shelter always make me think of her. I see it as Zami being done with everyone, especially the Blades and the Imperials, how everyone always told her what to do for the greater good, for the people, for Skyrim. She thinks she knows what is better, and normally ignores instructions to do things her own way (aka, killing everyone in the fortress /j)

And a little bit of Dragon complex-

Also the song Fighter! By Jack Stauber, this one is pretty simple, I used to listen to this song a lot when I was 14 while playing Skyrim, so now I assosiate the lyrics to me and her 👉👈

.:Morrowind: Nerevarine:.

Arvius: For my babyboy I have a spanish song- SORRY XD

It's El Hijo de Hernández by Cuarteto De Nos (that's the only video that has english subtittles fibwxjiwij) I feel like the song perfectly explains the ✨️ Nerevarine Experience ✨️ and how he is his own person, not just the reincarnation of Nerevar (nor is he Nerevar, I'M LOOKING AT YOU, DAGOTH) but sadly everyone tries to use him or just drag him around in some way, if not the houses, the ashlanders, or the empire, etc.

And the song PRIME by Roan Martin, this song is SAAAAD AS FUCK, but I love it, because I feel like it's Arvius missing all his friends and family he left at the imperial province, but at the same time it's him fighting/accepting this new life of his, even tho he would love to turn back time, because he feels he's not ready for this, he doesn't want to have anything to do with these prophesies...sadly he's neck deep in this now, so he's just...angry with everyone.

.:Oblivion: Hero Of Kvatch/Sheogorath:.

Emilian: I still have to make a playlist for him, so the only songs I can give is from his Sheogorath playlist kxisfjis

Terrible Things by Brick + Mortar and Avenues by Drive45, they give me vibes of the memories/morals of Emilian coming back to Sheogorath for some moments, having rapid mood swings, and thus the conflicting lyrics in the songs.

And I also want to add Y2K from the Montreals because the lyrics makes no sense BUT I LOVE IT

.:Shivering Isles: Self-Insert:.

Valentino: Hohohoh this boy was created because of jealousy and stress, SO, I FOUND THE PERFECT SONG lol

It Should've Been Me by R.I.P, the whole song is Valentino (and a little bit of Sheo interactions 👀) so, enjoy the ride for this toxic boy :D

But!!! Also fan beheavior by Isaac Dunbar, it's more of...the Daedric Princes singing (? The song to him

I need to show his playlist someday...my crazy boy -gently holds-

.:Skyrim: Isekkai:.

Valentina: And lastly, my persona!

This one is easy, me being crazy because I love fantasy and want to scape reality:

Fairytale by Alexander Rybak and Miracle by The Score

YEAH I HAVE 2 SONGS FOR THAT

But tadaaaaaaa, that's all!!! Thanks FOR READING SO MUCH-

Now...uh- i'm always scared to tag, but, ANYONE WHO WANTS TO, Feel free to do it!! And tag me!!! Please 👉👈 I don't mind nn

But if I have to tag...then I would love to know about your characters!! @miraakulous-cloud-district @bostoniangirl21 @nightingalehours @boethiahsboytoy @crysdrawsthings

[cxhleel108]

LITG S5 MC:

Name: Omari Martin

Age: 25 (During the Season) 26 (Now)

Birthday: June 30, 1997 (Cancer)

Hometown: Born in Durban, South Africa. Raised in Truro, England. Moved to Edinburgh, Scotland for college.

Ethnicity: South African

Job: Photographer

Sexuality: Straight

Height: 163cm/5’4

Hobbies: Drawing, Photography, Painting, Crocheting, Driving

Personality: My girl loves hard ok. If you’re a part of her close circle, you’re guarded for life. The Cancer sign is a crab so everything important to her is staying protected in her shell. That includes her emotions/feelings. Omari is more on the emotional side, but at the same time, she only gets vulnerable with people that she trusts. If she doesn’t trust that you’ll value her feelings as much as she would value yours, she’s only giving away so much of herself. Also, if you screw her over she can forgive you eventually, but she will never forget. “I get in my feelings, I’m sensitive, and I can be hurt just like everybody else but I rarely feel hatred or bitterness towards people who do me dirty. In due time I can let the hurt go, but I know to let the person go as well and break the toxic cycle before it can even manifest.” Art has always been a big part of her life. She’s very imaginative and loves creating her ideas into visual forms. Getting to do photography is basically her dream job. Now when it comes to partying, if her friends are going then she’ll go. If it was up to her how she spent her night, then she’s staying her ass at home. She likes hanging out in a more intimate environment because she feels like you can connect more that way. “My idea of a dream date is so simple. I really do not require a lot when it comes to that. Just me and my partner at home eating sushi or maybe pizza, doing whatever. Bonus points if he likes art too cos then we can draw together or something like that.” Just remember this, she’s def not boring and can turn up when she’s in the mood.

Why She Came On Love Island: Omari was ready to find new love. She felt that she had taken enough time to be with herself after all that happened with her last relationship and the one thing she hates the most is being alone. So, what better way to get over your ex cheating on you than going on an island vacation with several hot men waiting to cuff you?

Who She’s With: We’re just gonna discuss what she got up to after the show because all of them boys from the season literally SUCKED so bad that she ended up getting with nobody <3. Ok, Finn was cool and they did have a lil thing for a bit after the show ended, but they both knew eventually that they wanted different things so they just stayed friends. Other than that life’s been pretty good for our girl. She took her prize money and used it to move back to Truro because there was really no point for her to stay in Edinburgh anymore thanks to Suresh’s cheating ass. She got a lot of good offers for photography work so safe to say she’s been getting a few pretty pounds. A lot of apologies were sent her way once the season was done. Alfie, Dana, Arlo, and Gabi hit Omari up to say sorry for her terrible experience on the show and the part they played in that. She appreciates all of them admitting their faults and is completely fine with having cordial relationships but none of them are gonna be her besties anytime soon. “It’s sad cos I really did view Dana as a good friend and obviously everyone saw how much I fancied Alfie but all of the weird behavior became way too much to ignore and I couldn’t deal with it anymore.” Suresh probably has tried numerous times to apologize again and again but Omari has that man blocked on everything possible because she really wants his chapter of her life CLOSED. Her favorite thing to have happened because of the show though has to be the support she’s gotten. A large portion of the fans were rallying behind her the whole time. #JusticeForOmari was even trending on Twitter at one point. All of the winner girlies from the previous seasons (you’ll meet them soon) sent her sweet messages. Dani from Season 2 and Simone from Season 4 specifically showed her the most love. Dani invited Omari all the way out to LA to come on her channel/podcast so she could say all the things that she couldn’t on the show. “She’s exactly how you’d expect her to be in real life after seeing her on the show. Just super cool and hilarious 24/7. We got to laugh, bond over similar experiences, get serious, talk shit, and then laugh some more hahaha. I’m really grateful to her for that. Also, Bobby makes the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had in my entire life.” Simone invited her out to lunch when she was in the area one day. They had a nice lil spill sesh and Simone even put Omari on to one of her friends who happens to be a certain tall, gentle, cat-owning tattoo artist from Falmouth that we all love. “I was talking about how I wanted to get a really nice and more noticeable tattoo cos I only have a small one on my wrist, so she recommended a close friend of hers who does really good ones and only lives about 25 minutes from me. I could tell by the fact that she started telling me stuff about him that wasn’t relevant to his job and then showed me a picture of a very attractive man that she was trying to set me up haha. But, that’s how Oliver and I met.” So yeah she’s with Oliver now and they’re just living life being like the cutest and most creative couple ever. (I really needed to give her a happy ending cuz…well you already know why)

[ebitchwriting]

Music Taste The RE Characters Give Me The Vibes Of Part Three:

Piers Nivans: Oh serious boy Piers. I'll be honest, he was quite hard to pin down, but I also like to think when he's off-duty and just hanging out with his teammates and captain at a bar, or a movie theatre for the newest b-rated horror flick, or the one time they all decided to go to a medieval larp, he's a much less rough and gruff, but actually joking, light. Still serious, but anyone can see the tension melting away. For this reason, I actually think his music taste is greatly influenced by his friends. A strange mix of Queen, ABBA, I DON'T KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME, Ricky Martin, Toto, and quite a few famous pop songs like A Thousand Miles, I'm Not Gonna Write You A Love Song, etc. He's always willing to listen to whatever his friends want to listen to, and whatever they suddenly become obsessed with.

Jake Muller/Wesker: Jakov(I refuse to believe his name is Jacob) grew up poor in Edonia, a country constantly suffering from either war from impending invasion, civil war, or biological warfare because of greedy pharmaceutical comoanies wanting to test out new viruses. So, I don't think he really got to listen to a whole lot of music growing up. The radios, when the radio towers worked, played typically folk Edonian music, rock&roll Edonian music, or pop Edonian music. Which, since what little we've seen of Edonia, I would imagine Edonian music sounding very similar to Serbian music.

Richard Simmons: If you've seen Netflix's Tau, then Simmons gives me the exact same vibes as Alex(and not just in terms of music). He listens to classical music only when he wants to calm down and distract himself from murdering someone over something as trivial as a fingerprint on a glass. Maybe jazz if thr mood strikes him. He also likes the music he thinks Ada likes purely because it's Ada Wong, and he longs to possess her like she's a trinket.

Carla Radames: Who knows what she genuinely liked before she was transformed and gaslighted into "becoming" Ada Wong? After that, well she liked what Richard believed Ada liked(which again who fucking knows if that is the case or not). Which, in Simmons' mind and the confirmation bias he came to when he and Ada had meetings, I think he would see Ada as a classic jazz fan. Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, and Ela Fitzgerald are the artists he would mainly play for Ada, and therefore would make Carla listen to.

Helena Harper: Helena has always been known as a spitfire that didn't care much for what other people thought and always did what she thought was right unless forced otherwise. She strikes me as someone who's about counterculture, and for that reason, she seems like she would listen to heavy metal and nu-metal bands like Disturbed, Korn, Papa Roach, and Gracchus, as well as particular singers like Rob Zombie and Maynard Keenan. It's just what she likes, and she doesn't give a damn if people think she's trying to be edgy or cool.

Ingrid Hannigan: I can see Ingrid being a fan of Kate Bush, Daniela Andrade, Marika Hackman, and Lola Blanc. Not much of a dancer or a singer unless if she's intentionally trying to be goofy or romantic with a romantic partner, with a young niece or nephew, or drunk with Leon.

Ashley Graham: Ashley seems like she would be into indie pop music, like Florence + The Machine, Lana Del Ray, Of Monsters and Men, and I'm not sure if she counts as indie pop or not but putting Billie Eilish on the list too. I can see that Ashley would be the type to dance along with her songs, but it would generally be slower dancing, more swaying as she's insecure about her dancing skills and whether or not anyone can see her. She's also shy about showing her music to anyone. She hates being judged.

[ianthedisastrous]

6, 12, 18 for all of them

Would they be more or less likely to send a risky/risque text to their partner in the middle of a crowded/public area?

Ren: Ren literally does this daily when they're bored at work, but also enjoys sending Martin texts when he's in a class, or anywhere really; if it crosses their mind they're definitely going to do so. Keeps things interesting.

Ian: Less. Ian prefers to make those sort of comments in person, but he's subtle about it. In fact he's a downright hazard because Ian can and will make some comment or suggestion at the strangest time, totally innocent tone, knowing exactly what he's doing, just to see Tony's reaction.

Edward: Less. Honestly Edward doesn't even send those sort of texts at all. The man types the way he talks. Do you have any idea how hard it is to sext in bad, romance novels version old English? And not sound ridiculous?

Isaac: More. But it doesn't happen a lot in crowded places and more often on his lunch break during very long days when he's worn down on things and he's informing Nick Avery needs a babysitter for a while after work/school and they need alone time because he is so done with the day.

Lucky: Less. He's a little hesitant about it, depending on the person really, but he's not big on the idea because it's like...awkward to him.

Zero: Less. He'd rather Greg not die of embarrassment, so no, not in crowds. Now from the other end of the couch while Greg's playing video games is an entirely different answer and when he gets bored it's time to remind his boyfriend there are more interesting things to be doing.

Hiro: Well we don't know yet. But probably more. For the amusement factor though, watching someone react.

Their favorite actions during sex—chin-grabbing, hair-pulling, wrists being pinned, etc.

Ren: Depends on their mood, and Martin's mood. But they like scratching, nipping, all the various marking sorts of things in general. Especially spots that require effort to cover up later - not that Ren does. Another reason they love crop top outfits for work, yes.

Ian: Likes to do the wrist pinning, but he's also a big fan of being pulled into kisses and loves the whole nails across his scalp/down his back thing.

Edward: Physical direction, loves being shown where to go, what to do. He can figure it out fine on his own but the hands on approach is more fun. Also a big fan of vocal partners/being vocal himself.

Isaac: Wrist pinning. Easy answer. You wouldn't think so given his relationship history but definitely, Isaac loves that sort of thing. Even better if instructions are involved, tell the boy what to do, yes please.

Lucky: Biting, but, yanno, can't really do that because werewolf things. Hair pulling is good though too as a substitute.

Zero: Doesn't matter so long as he's got attention, he just wants attention, all of it. But also very fairy-specific, sure, but likes his wings out and touched, but not manhandled, those are insanely sensitive.

Hiro: No idea, he hasn't figured that one out yet. I have no doubt it'll be a little weird. Probably involve tech somehow. Yup.

[deadcactuswalking]

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 01/04/2023 (Ed Sheeran, Jimin, Paris Paloma)

Welp, you knew it was coming. Or, really, he was coming. Ed Sheeran takes the #1 from Miley Cyrus with his new single debuting at the top, “Eyes Closed”. More on that later but for now, welcome back to REVIEWING THE CHARTS!

Rundown

As always, even on this busy week, we start with our notable dropouts – songs that are exiting the UK Top 75 (which is what I cover) after five weeks in the region or a peak in the top 40. This week includes many of the debuts from last week, which is no surprise, including “Set Me Free Pt.2” by Jimin, but we’ll get back to him. Otherwise, we say farewell to “I Wrote a Song” by Mae Muller (it’ll be back in May), “PAINTING PICTURES” by Superstar Pride, “Weekends” by Freya Riding, “In Ha Mood” by Ice Spice, “Martin’s Sofa” by Headie One, “Pointless” by Lewis Capaldi, “Lavender Haze” by Taylor Swift, “Hide & Seek” by Stormzy and “Save Your Tears” by The Weeknd (again). There’s always one week per season or so where you can tell the hit parade is having a drastic change over the seasons, and this may be that week where we see that spring turnover – finally.

As for what’s filling in the blanks, well, “Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi and “Afraid to Feel” by LF SYSTEM are back seemingly at random at #65 and #72 but we also have two artists with albums impacting the chart in our returning entries, both of which we’ll talk about in detail with our batch of new songs. Firstly, “The Kind of Love We Make” by Luke Combs is back at #75, and secondly, Lana Del Rey takes “A&W” back up to #45 – neither reach new peaks, and it really would have been great to see “A&W” in the top 40, but both are great songs and I’m glad they’re back, though again, like much of this week, I’ll say more on them later. As for our notable gains, we see “Last Night” by Morgan Wallen at #66 (I imagine a lot of people will be bothered that this is a thing – not me), “Shivers” by Ed Sheeran getting residual hype at #55, “Oh Baby” by Nathan Dawe and Bru-C featuring Issey Cross and bshp at #41, “Hell n Back” by Bakar at #35 off of the debut, “Pretty Boys” by Caity Baser at #30 and finally, “REACT” by Switch Disco featuring Ella Henderson and the late Robert Miles at #26. I’m not exactly pleased about all of this, but what can you do?

Now before we get into our new entries, we can cover the top five, where we see “Die for You” by The Weeknd at #5, “People” by Libianca at #4 and “Miracle” by Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding at #3. “Flowers” by Miley Cyrus has been pushed down to #2 by our ginger prophet’s debut, which we’ll cover at the end, but we’ve got a country song, a posthumous single, a K-pop track and Lana Del Rey album cuts to talk about so... joy. Let’s just get into them.

NEW ARRIVALS

#73 – “The Light” – Juice WRLD

Produced by Gezin, Hurtboy AG, ManOhManFoster and Max Lord

Even more posthumous singles from Juice feels like overkill at this point. I know the man recorded thousands of unreleased tracks but the way that the label and management feels the need to create genuine single and album rollouts has gone way beyond “feeding the fans” and into just pure exploitation territory, which is kind of sad because well, a lot of these songs aren’t even bad. This one... absolutely is, and honestly makes me mad. Juice’s vocals are drenched in reverb and echo that distance it even further from this obnoxiously programmed attempt at emo-pop, with drum mixing that sounds genuinely horrible, louder than any kind of melody that the song finds, but with too many cooks producing the track and Juice’s vocals still clearly an unfinished demo where we hear punch-ins just so he can try and find the beat, there’s not much melody to offer either. At some point they give up and put a trite trap beat under the whole song like some kind of amateur YouTube remix. I didn’t even notice initially but the more I researched, I found out that this was actually censored. I thought why of course, since none of the others had been censored, and honestly, I can’t seem to find much of a reason: they even uncensored one line about hoes being pretentious because fans complained. They reworked and censored a dead man’s art for what I can only assume are financial reasons in order to make it more accessible and radio-friendly, only for his fans – who otherwise eat up all of the posthumous garbage the label gives them (which is the label’s fault, not theirs) – to actually push back against it and force them into changing that one line and none of the others. This is an embarrassing and pathetic attempt, and the fact that it debuted so low may prove that people are sick of this grave-robbing schtick, and God, I hope so. The fact that this was originally intended to be a love song makes the label scum involved in revamping it seem even less sympathetic: I probably wouldn’t have liked the song if he was alive and fully involved in its production, but at least then it’d be a genuine track, released by someone who can consent to its release and adjust it to get to his artistic vision. Over three years after Juice’s death, that prospect is clearly no longer possible, and the flagrantly cash-grabbing label snabs to replicate the success and resonance he had with his audience is utter disrespect. The less Juice WRLD I cover from now on in this series, the better, because every time I do, it’s just a truly sad experience.

#71 – “Flip a Switch.” – RAYE

Produced by Di Genius, RAYE and Mike Sabath

I was a tad underwhelmed with My 21st Century Blues as a whole because it has most of the expected debut effort scruffiness and confusion in what it actually wishes to convey. With that said, it’s an honest album – one that kicks itself in the foot in order to be so – and has some beautiful songs... “Flip a Switch.” is not one of them. Sure, I like the harmonies in the intro, but otherwise I find it an oddly dull kiss-off about a guy who clearly didn’t want RAYE for love and just for sex, so it leads her to a similarly vengeful and careless mindset. It’s a cool enough sentiment and definitely one RAYE can deliver with both power and nuance – Hell, she did just that in “Escapism.” – but against this hybrid, mono-genre beat, anything she sings is going to sound disappointing, especially when her hypnotic harmonies are lost behind a deadpan performance from RAYE that kind of just sucks, I’m sorry. The writing’s okay, but the flailing acoustic guitars and sterile drums are not, and her lack of casuality in any of her rap flows becomes increasingly obvious with this one wherein she’s forced to rap for the whole song and she basically just loses any of her power on the mic. It just ends up sounding actually dead, which may have been the point, but without a bridge that actually, you know, sounds like a bridge, or any kind of further narrative, there’s not much of promise to be found on this mediocre production and one of RAYE’s worst performances, outside of those backing harmonies which again are great. It’s just a shame that the rest of the song really isn’t.

#70 – “Fast Car” – Luke Combs

Produced by Chip Matthews and Jonathan Singleton

Ohio singer Tracy Chapman first released “Fast Car” in 1988, and it became a top five single here in the UK, peaking at #5 in its original run and since kind of becoming a beloved classic. It reached a new peak of #4 in 2011 and for some reason became victim of several terrible tropical house remixes, with Jonas Blue’s version featuring Dakota out-peaking the original at #2. Now my favourite rendition of “Fast Car” will always be how it was sampled in the rap classic “Sometimes I Rhyme Slow” by Nice & Smooth, but the original is a pretty undisputed song so I was interested to hear how the UK’s favourite country star (not exactly the highest bar) would tackle it. As is, Chapman’s “Fast Car” is a beautiful folk-pop track about the cycle of life, starting with escapism: chasing their dreams with their partner and just driving away is a necessity with the tragic background, yet that backstory ends up informing how her partner ends up acting, just like her father, and Chapman takes a stand against it using the exact same motto they used to get together in the first place: “leave tonight, or live and die this way”. It turns out that it isn’t what it seems, and it’s a bittersweet song, sure, but there’s satisfaction in how much confidence Chapman has gained since, and still finds a lot of time to reminisce on the earlier escapism of that relationship. Does Luke Combs do it justice? Well, it’s hard to say for me; he does do it more justice than Jonas Blue but that’s a given. I do love his delivery as always, as he just has a BIG voice, giving more power – alongside the more conventional, streamlined country production – to the narrative and really amplifying the drama. He doesn’t change the narrative much either, even still calling himself a “checkout girl” in the verse, which I think is a great choice. It feels more like he’s elevating another voice than really lifting his own... which honestly works in this context. The album’s called Gettin’ Old – part of that is understanding other peoples’ stories and integrating what you learn from them into how you live your own life. If “Fast Car” is your choice to cover in order to express that, I’d say they’re some pretty damn good lessons to learn. It’s a great song, really difficult to mess up especially in this acoustic sound. 

#68 – “Candy Necklace” – Lana Del Rey featuring Jon Batiste

Produced by Zach Dawes, Lana Del Rey, Nick Waterhouse and Ian Doerr

No, I didn’t listen to that new Lana Del Rey album. Who do you think I am, someone who listens to Lana Del Rey albums? I barely have the time to read her album and song titles in full. I’m also not largely a fan of Lana, so having two tracks to cover here is not exactly exciting, but they do both have features so maybe it won’t be too bad – and hey, I loved “A&W”, so this could be good? I’d introduce Jon Batiste but I mean, he won Album of the Year in 2022 without anyone knowing who the Hell he is, so I think he’ll be fine. This is a song about young love, about Lana’s brain shutting off when she’s with this restless guy and all his innocent little candy necklaces, though you wouldn’t know it based off of the whispery vocals and intense pianos that eventually have credence given to them by the second verse, where for whatever reason, this relationship is bringing her down... with a pretty cheesy implementation of an A Tribe Called Quest reference before the chorus continues basically as if that verse didn’t happen. Now Lana is an albums artist; I fully expect that context is required and provided by the album, and this fits into a larger narrative, but considering how minimal the song is outside of the manic piano solo, I don’t get a lot from this song as it stands on its own, especially since Batiste could really have played off Lana for the whole song to give more detail and only ever shows up at the end for a final mantra. It just ends up kind of disappointing by the end, which is a shame because there’s something more to tassle with here.

#48 – “Paris, Texas” – Lana Del Rey featuring SYML

Produced by Jack Antonoff and Lana Del Rey

Okay, well, I will introduce SYML, since I had to look up who this was myself, and it’s the stage name for Seattle musician Brian Fennell, who does not provide vocals and is rather just sampled for the instrumental, though it fits very well into the sprinkling piano sound of the other Lana album cut we covered. I like how she specifies she is going to Americanised, diluted versions of these important European cities, it adds some cohesiveness and depth to the meandering track that absolutely makes use of that meander: it’s about moving on, even if it’s not onto anything all that new or special. If you’re no longer enveloped in that scenery, maybe it’s just time to go, and with her frail falsetto floating over acoustic guitars, it’s a pretty breezy track that exemplifies that feeling of not really being “home” in one place but still having the constant mindset of having to move around and venture into new place, only for the outro to kind of confirm the fears of this moving around all being a tad pointless. Surely, when you know you’re right at home, you will be, right? The framing can definitely be interpreted as about a relationship (or more than one), but I prefer the idea of it just being about uncertainty and not knowing where you can actually feel safe. It’s something that resonates with me particularly, not because I moved around a lot but because there’s no place that actually feels like home for me... except music. Okay, let’s not get too sappy on this, we’re only at #48 and I already put way too much emotional depth into two other new entries so far. It’s an excellent song, and I’ll leave it at that. The original SYML instrumental isn’t half bad either, but the Lana version adds a lot more depth.

#38 – “Fly Girl” – FLO featuring Missy Elliott

Produced by MNEK, LiTek and WhYJay

I really wanted to like this. The original “Work It” is undeniable and a song that hit #6 here in the UK in 2002, though I’m surprised it never reached any higher. This new song with promising girl group FLO is heavily based on that 2000s banger and... it’s just a mess. The first verse mentions a checklist and that’s absolutely what it is: does it have a slick R&B acoustic guitar line? Yes. Does it have an overpowering hip hop rhythm section with hard bass? Yes. Does it have good enough harmonies with lyrics about being fly, sexy and independent? Yes. Does it interest me? Well, kind of, but not for the right reasons – it seems like it’s checking all of the boxes, but the guitars sound like MIDIs, the “Work It” sample takes the reversed section and makes it sound oddly eerie, and Missy’s ad-libs throughout have way more energy than FLO do. I can’t really tell the difference between the girls yet – it took me a couple years for Little Mix even – and they do sound good together but the strings and bass just kind of protrude in a way that has less groove or nuance and instead just sounds kind of funny. That’s before we get to the trap breakdown which gives up on itself as soon as it kicks in, and the same goes in general for the warped bass in that second verse, or the build-up in the pre-chorus that anticlimactically stops bothering for the chorus. There is an uncharacteristically gritty beat switch that completely messes the song’s momentum in order for a mediocre Missy Elliott verse, even if she has some great lines and still as much effortless swag as she ever had. The problem is that she doesn’t have much room, with very little time and a lot of interruptions from FLO. The final chorus is genuinely so overwhelming I have nothing to say about it, and alongside the chorus with the staccato, Auto-Tuned riffing, random spoken word is that same interjected “Work It” sample which just comes in with no sense of sequencing. It’s bizarre, and only kind of in a fun way. Honestly, I’m just kind of glad there is a song this obviously messy and grandiose, hyper-focused on being as all over the place as possible, in the top 40 because if there’s anything about the 2000s I miss, it’s the guilty pleasure.

#29 – “labour” – Paris Paloma

Produced by Justin Glasco

Okay, I’ll bite: who the Hell is Paris Paloma? Well, they are a folksy pop singer with this being their breakout hit, and through some clunky, kind of old-fashioned writing, in not a dissimilar way to Hozier last week, condemns the patriarchy and misogyny, although Paloma is much more personal, focusing on a betrayal in what could be seen as a relationship but also the wider world that promises opportunity but really makes you work for it, with the elite playing God around you. It’s a good lyrical and thematic concept, but I don’t really like the song: Paloma is not an interesting or unique voice in the indie pop scene, and whilst there is some grit to the darker folk touches here that feel almost gothic, honestly, the chorus is pretty underwhelming. With some more electric guitar and less focus on the muddy, mono-genre-sounding bass and stomp-rock drums, I think I’d like this quite a bit, and be more able to get past the clunky lyrics that I think at least prove a point. In fact, the semi-sincere apologies and scathing attacks on this guy alongside a pretty smoky instrumental makes her sound kind of badass... but not enough, especially not if Justin Glasco’s going to make her sing over 2012-era Imagine Dragons. This is a good song just waiting to come out and prove itself, but the production holds it back – regardless, I’m actually interested to hear more from Paris Paloma if this brand of Tumblr folk pop is going to make a resurgence, just out of curiosity if anything.

#8 – “Like Crazy” – Jimin

Produced by Pdogg and GHSTLOOP

I knew there was hype behind Jimin and his solo debut, FACE, but I was surprised that this album-release single is out-peaking the debut... until I realised how many God damn versions he released. Whilst I try and appreciate all of the K-pop I hear, and often end up disappointed, I’m not afraid to say that this is just bad. It’s not as comical as “Set Me Free Pt.2”, sure, but the original Korean standard version – which I’m listening to as I write this – has these cheap acoustic guitars drowned in a lot of reverb and muddy bass alongside the vocal samples. I figured it’d be an alternative R&B track, especially considering the tacky sample of a 2011 romcom starring Jennifer Lawrence (really, guys?), but it turns into a boring 80s synthpop pastiche in no time, because why be interesting when you can be anything else but? The synths are either flailing or piercing, never floating or really finding any solid footing in the mix, especially once the cheap buzzing comes in post-chorus, only to completely render itself irrelevant soon afterwards. Jimin’s voice continues to sour on me with his nasal nothingness crooning over an already boring track. It’s honestly sad that this is the route Jimin’s going to get a hit; I know sales got it this far but the existence of an English version (though some of the original is also English) and several dance remixes makes this a clear push to the international market in just the laziest way possible. The English translation proves the lyrics as awkwardly generic, and then we have the remixes that feel like the cheapest, most surface-level renditions of the respective genres of deep house and UK garage possible. The deep house remix has these annoying and unfitting festival claps, and ends up becoming your typical house-pop nonsense. The UK garage remix starts with a freaking trap beat, so I didn’t bother listening to it in full – yes, it does eventually become UK garage, but I guess he just had to knock on another genre in there. I honestly can’t tell that the fact Jimin and co wrote a song that works perfectly fine in all of these genres but is never actually good in any of them is impressive or just proof that the cynical pop establishment is studying the vaccine that prevents its pop singers from ever being contaminated with any unique personality or defining sound. This is garbage, I’m sorry, BTS fans, but this is not how I, if I were a fan, would want my favourite boys to move past the group and their regional fanbase, because this is a gaping void of a pop song.

#1 – “Eyes Closed” – Ed Sheeran

Produced by Aaron Dessner, Fred again.., Max Martin and Shellback

So, Ed’s back, and thanks to great sales, he of course hits the top. It’s his 14th time here, how could you be surprised at this point? This is the lead from his upcoming album, - (Subtract), which promises a more personal and alternative style, probably courtesy of production from The National member Aaron Dessner, though it’s interesting to see Max Martin still here alongside Ed’s flagship co-producer Fred, who appears once again, as his name prophesied. Recently, I’ve been on kind of an Ed Sheeran defence streak, or at least for the past album cycle or so... so I ended up kind of excited for this, and were my hopes reached or hell, even surpassed? Well, you can tell it’s a mixture of Dessner’s folk rock and the streamlined pop of Max Martin considering how the acoustic pluck sticks out like a sore thumb amongst a sterile kick drum in that first chambering chorus. Ed sounds frail when dedicating each song and dance to the loved ones he lost, and for a song with a chorus about dancing with his eyes closed, it’s really not danceable. It’s a rhythm more appropriate for the third line in the chorus, “time is moving so slow”, and once the minimalism succumbs to a vaguely danceable rhythm with the tropical guitars back in the mix for the post-chorus, it becomes increasingly obvious how the emptiness is absolutely the point. That second verse about his delusion just wanting him to believe his room isn’t empty hits really hard, and I get this vision of Ed alone in a bar just kind of moving along – not dancing, just nodding his head and taking another drink. I’d like a bit more lyrical detail maybe, and whilst the production fits, it’s not exactly always to my taste, but as a concept, especially lyrically and thematically, it’s really well executed. The mixing does do it some justice too with how much echo there is and I can’t really fault a song with the perfectly melodramatic pop song line, “I guess I could just pretend the colours are more than blue”. It’s also decidedly not lead single material so if that’s all he has for radio, I’m excited to hear what Ed was cooking up with Dessner for the album cuts. For now, this is pretty solid, but I’m aching to hear where this is going.

Conclusion

I think it’s pretty obvious that whoever the Hell is managing Juice WRLD’s back catalogue gets Worst of the Week for “The Light”, and I can’t blame him for any of it. Please, let the guy rest. The Dishonourable Mention goes to “Like Crazy” by Jimin, though again, most of the blame for that doesn’t catch Jimin himself, not because he’s dead because I damn sure hope he’s not but because he’s one cog in a pretty hopeless machine, and it’s definitely not unique to K-pop. It just turns out that we didn’t get much of that this week, though you definitely could read “Eyes Closed” that way, even if I can’t because of how the lyrics resonate with me. As for the best, it’s honestly pretty easy: Best of the Week goes to “Paris, Texas” by Lana Del Rey featuring SMYL for, you know, making me cry, but Luke Combs easily snags the Honourable Mention for his cover of “Fast Car” and would on a good day maybe end up further than Lana though those two songs are just phenomenal. Maybe we’ll get a bit of a slow down next week, but who knows with these charts? Thank you for reading, and I’ll see you then for whatever’s on the horizon! Right now, though... God, I have a headache from listening to five versions of that bloody Jimin song.

[krashingallalong]

I hope you don’t mind random asks from me hydrate

so after almost like a whole month of magnus protocol being announced for kickstarters and basically hiding myself from the general excitement of it all for no particular reason. I had chosen to open this can of worms to see what Jonny has in store and uh

1.The fear of god has taken over me once I read that the institute had burned down in 1999 which means that the fun stuff that happened in archives are gone

2.Newfound hope for potential having the boys actually make a guest appearance in the podcast because they won’t be dead <—-(fool’s hope and completely delusional)

Currently on the more skeptical side but tentatively interested in the ideas

My general hope for this is be like a undertale-deltarune situation so we have the og character around making cameos and stuff but we’ll get new characters to fall in live with.

also I’m running with the Protocol also has the fears idea judging from the description about it and that the only major thing that changed is that there’s no magnus institute.

I really do want to see the archival crew (Gertrude era +2014) slowly make their appearances and what would the effects of not working at the institute have on them. Mainly because the thing that led them to the institute would mostly likely still happen to them.

I do want to see the butterfly affect with the institute having burned down before the spirals’s ritual which means there isn’t a Michael Distortion which in turns means that there would be a Helen Distortion.

It’ll be interesting to see how she’s doing if she never met Michael. Maybe she’ll somehow get entangled with the spiral somehow.

I’ve seen people theorizing that this is the somewhere else but I’m not too sure if I like this idea.

It’ll be neat knowing where Jon and Martin ended up post mag-200 but it feel wrong? Like, they rid the world of the fears only to end up to another world where there’s the fears again.

There’s always fanfiction to fall back against if protocol isn’t my cup of tea

in short. I hope protocol is a au where the institute burned down before the major events happen that led to archives. It show what happens to certain characters when the institute doesn’t exist anymore and that Jonny didn’t execute basically everyone from archives

anyways cant wait for the fans to start freaking out when we get Michael six, seven, eight, and nine trying to piece together who is who.

-soap

I do NOT mind random asks, they are amazing! I’m just typically late to responding to stuff.

1. Ojnrijnefvihfebviz, mood.

2. Delusional it may be, but that won’t stop me >:)

[slasherstories123]

howdy! I know I already did an ask BUT your writing is so good I can even.

I was thinking in my noggin again and I was wondering how the slashers would react to the reader having the same personality as Remus Lupin. Like a bookworm, always eating chocolate, in sweaters, and jeans with doc martins, and who loves Queen, David Bowie, Abba, all that good stuff. And who loves Legos?

I'm so sorry if it's way too much lol you don't have to do it if you don't want too❤️

Bubba, Vincent, Michael, and Brahms with a s/o who has the personality of Remus Lupin

A/N: Now bare with me, I don’t know who Remus Lupin is… or Queen David Bowie… or abba… I tried to make them how you describe them and did research, if this isn’t what you wanted then I’m so sorry! I also had to add bubba in something, precious boi needs to be in it!💔😭

Tagslist: @brxwrvth @dootys @callmemeelah @fluffy-little-demon @slash3rl0v3r @mehidktbh @early20sfailingplenty

(EEEEK HES SO ADORABLE WHY DIDNT I WRITE FOR HIM)

OKAY OKAY HERE WE GO

This guy LOVES you! He finds you a very calm person, and it’s perfect since the whole house is mainly chaotic☹️

He also loves your outfits! It looks cute on you, but he does worry since you live in Texas and you’re wearing SWEATERS! Sweaters in Texas heat!

He will squeal when you read to him, he finds it comforting and always gets excited when you two have time alone, he’ll just set you in his lap while you read to him

okay, he likes sweets but if you just eat chocolate and not real food then that’s an issue😤

You need to eat Y/N! Don’t make him hide the chocolate! He’ll do it, say he won’t! He’ll do it RIGHT in front of you too!

When you introduce him to legos he won’t want to stop making things with him, (I can see him to be the type to love toys) he finds them entertaining and calming, just playing with them.

You’ll have to warn him about leaving them on the floor- *cue bubba squealing in pain cause he stepped on a lego* Y/N go help the poor guy!😭

He may not know who Queen David Bowie is but he’s willing to give their songs a chance! He loves to try new things! Heck, if he has time he’ll even dance with you to the songs! 💃💃💃

Vincent Sinclair

He found you interesting when you first step foot in Ambrose, he had to practically hide you in the basement so Bo wouldn’t find you😭

He likes it when you’re in the basement with him, just your presence alone is comforting, he’ll smile under his mask when you’ll just read to him while he works.

He loves to hear your voice in general, read away y/n!!

Vincent is the type to wear sweaters too! You both are now sweater buddies! The heat may bother you both but oh well that doesn’t concern neither of you😭

A chocolate lover you say? He’ll practically beg Lester or Bo to go in town just to get you chocolate🍫🍫🍫

He’ll even place them in random places! Mainly by the night stand, or will place them in the bed shaping them as a heart if you had a long day 🥺

Lego’s? LEGOS! He loves to watch you build things! If he could he would watch you for HOURS on end. What can he say? They’re entertaining!

You’re a fan of Queen David Bowie? He’ll play the songs while you’re down there! Vinny just wants to make you comfortable while you’re with him alright? 😤

Michael Myers

Alright this man likes you there’s no doubt about it!

He doesn’t mind what you do, you’re a book worm? That’s fine with him, he’ll just sit there with you while you read

He won’t admit it but Michael loves it when you read to him, if he’s in a good mood he’ll have his head in your lap while you read❤️

A chocolate lover you say? He’ll steal get chocolate for the both of you! He likes to eat sweets too Y/N!! He’ll eat most of them though🌚

You like to wear doc martins? The next day you’ll see two different types of Doc martins on your bed, don’t ask how he knows your shoe size… that’s personal

Legos? Never heard of them, but he’s seen some kids play with them. Doesn’t understand the purpose of it though, you’re just putting tiny blocks together to build something?

Michael doesn’t get it, why play with tiny blocks? He’ll only play with them for your sake, they’re practically SMALL in his big hands.

You’ll have to try your best not to laugh or he’ll leave you there to play with them by yourself,

Mikey it’s not their fault that you’re hands are too big for Lego’s come back!

He’s a GOD! He doesn’t react when he steps on a Lego!😨

This man will head tilt when he hears you play Queen David Bowie, what is this music? Eh, he just listen to it for your sake❤️

Brahms Heelshire

Did someone say bookworm? COUNT HIM IN!

You both are now reading buddies , no going back now, he’ll have his head in your lap as you read to him, best way to fall asleep 😈

Before he came out the walls he would secretly put chocolate in random places for you to find… don’t ask where he get the chocolates from

You wear sweaters? He wears a cardigan, He wants to switch! Let him switch with you! You’ll look cute in a cardigan! Just one time?

He’ll practically beg you to do it, once he’s in your sweater he’s not giving it back, it fits him somehow due to his size, but it fits!

Did someone say Legos? HE LOVES THEM! Brahms used to play them all the time as a kid, he’s surprised that they’re still here.

Will play with you for HOURS on end, you may or may not have us the Legos to his advantage, you’ll make him help you clean up or no Legos for him!

And of course he’ll help you clean, but praise him once he do so 😭

Doesn’t know who Queen David Bowie is but once you play it he likes it, he’ll pick you up so you can dance with him to the music! 🎶

One time he blasted their songs in the middle of the night when he was supposed to be ASLEEP! Bad Brahms! Go back to bed 👿

[whoregaylorenzo]

PRIDE CARS!!

pride month is almost over and I'm just happy I finished this in time!

credit for the idea and matching the flags to the cars fully goes to Loki @dobbiamo-capire I'm gonna put her thoughts/explanations for the choices under the cut below!

mercedes // gay men

alfa romeo // asexual

ferrari // lesbian

alpha tauri // transgender

alpine // bisexual

red bull // aromantic

mclaren // non-binary

haas // polyamory

williams // pansexual

aston martin // genderqueer

here is Loki with her thoughts! <3

MERCEDES: gay flag. The palette is on point, but also they had every kind of gay trope between the teammates: Brocedes, Valewis, Britcedes… and they recent history: they came out of nowhere, they were very quiet at the beginning but since they find the confidence (2014) they are energic, glad to be at the center of everyone’s attention, slay every time they’re going out

RED BULL: aromantic spectrum. They loved only twice in their lifetime (Vettel and Verstappen), the other drivers were never a match (they’re famous to change drivers in the middle of the season), it was good but when they asked for a romantic relationship they ended everything (Ricciardo)

FERRARI: lesbian vibes. Apart from the color of the car, it’s the way the drivers are babygirls to the team and the fans. The lesbian drama that is 0 or everything, once there’s a committed relationship is going to last for a lifetime, even when they’re breaking up they still think about it (every ex ferrari driver is still in love with Ferrari) and Charles is loved by every lesbian cmon do you need more?

MCLAREN: non binary spectrum. It’s a very complicated car: just in the recent history, went from 2006/2007 golden era, to the shit honda engine era, to whatever this era is (victory in Monza one day and a shitshow a couple of races later). These are definitely the vibes of a person that wakes up every morning feeling different pronouns, different gender (or gender neutral) styles, has a closet full of different colors and moods to match every situation

ALPINE: bisexual flag. No explanation needed. The livery is 100% inspired by it, bisexual Nando agenda is real and the team has the same bisexual vibes

ALPHA TAURI: transgender flag. They are still in the transitioning process, they went from toro rosso to alpha tauri trying to get away from the “second Red Bull” vibes, but the society (red bull) are still blocking it and it’s all complicated. This doesn’t make them less valid, they’re still trans, but when they’re going to complete the transition without interruptions, they’re going to be happy and free

ASTON MARTIN: genderqueer. They changed the philosophy of the car so much: first the “pink Mercedes”, now the “green red bull", they don’t have a gender they’re just vibing with the flow and I respect them.

ALFA ROMEO: Asexual flag. Very romantic, never sexualize its drivers, just love and cheers for everyone. Team and car are so soft and pure, one of the last ones with no big drama

WILLIAMS: pansexual flag. They really don’t care who loves them they just need LOVE AND AFFECTION it doesn’t matter if it’s from a girl a boy a nb person they’re searching for love and give back love

HAAS: polysexual flag. They’re the team that does special kind of bond activities (if you know, you know) (talking about the selling boat commercial, what where you thinking) and it has a very “I don’t care about the others I’m just myself with my team and that’s enough” energy

[sunnysviolin]

Omotober Day Six

“Bran thought about it. 'Can a man still be brave if he's afraid?'

'That is the only time a man can be brave,' his father told him.”

― George R.R. Martin

The walk home had become much more fun since they had met Aubrey. Before they met her it was just him and Kel. That wasn’t to say Sunny hadn’t had fun on those walks. Kel was his best friend, and he never pressed Sunny out of his comfort zones. He did pretty much all of the talking between the two of them and only stopped periodically to check in with Sunny or get an encouraging nod. Sunny loved to listen to Kel’s ranting and wild made up stories, and he usually ended up drawing them once they got back home. But now that Aubrey was there too, it wasn’t just a walk. It was a performance.

“Did not!”

“Did too!”

“Did not!”

“Did too!”

They continued back and forth, practically tripping over each other in their haste to respond. They had seemingly forgotten anything was around them but their ranting, facing one another as they walked and expertly avoiding obstacles with the practiced ease of those who were used to doing two things at once.

Aubrey had only joined their friend group a week or two ago, but she fit so seamlessly in with them it was hard to remember she hadn’t always been there. Kel had found a sparring partner in her, Mari finally had a little sister to spoil and do girly things with, and Hero could have made friends with a brick.

As for Sunny? Well he wasn’t too sure exactly what he thought of the girl, but he enjoyed having her around. He had never been a fan of loud noises or anger, but somehow with Aubrey it was different. She never stayed angry for long, and even when she was mad, she had never been scary.

“Did too times a million!” Aubrey declared, and Kel gave a disgusted growl, throwing his hands up in the air. She smiled smugly and stuck her tongue out at him, which only started their argument anew as Kel’s fire was rekindled by her slight.

Sunny smiled to himself as their back and forth sped up even more, and he continued to walk innocently at their side. As long as he didn’t call any attention to himself, they wouldn’t remember to drag him into it and try to get him to pick a side. Sunny couldn’t exactly remember what started their argument, or why they were still going at it after being at each other's throats since they had all gotten on the bus, but their shouting was funny.

An unexpected bark broke through his happy haze, and Sunny froze. His good mood evaporated and in its place was cold fear, dripping down his back and gluing his feet to the sidewalk. Hector bounded closer, tongue waving in the wind as he ran towards them. Kel cut off his argument with Aubrey and called for his brother. He intercepted the dog as it got to him, holding his collar fast and keeping him back from Sunny.

Aubrey gasped and clasped her hands together, squealing at the arrival of the furry terror. She skipped over, elated by the new arrival.

“Oh my gosh, who is this?” She asked, holding out her hand towards him. Hector was distracted from his mission to squirm out of Kel’s grasp and sniffed her hand with a laser focus. Once he had determined she was friend and not foe, Hector refocused his efforts to escape.

“This is Hector. He’s my dog,” Kel said, his words punctuated by pauses as Hector jerked them back and forth trying to get his freedom. Hector was only a dog, but Kel was also only a nine year old boy, and trying to hold onto an energetic ball of fur was quite the exercise.

Sunny tried to remember the steps Mari had given him for when he felt like this. Calm down.. Focus. No, he had to focus first, right? He couldn’t remember, and if he couldn’t remember the order, then it wouldn’t work. Sunny shut his eyes tight, letting black starbursts try to distract him from the pain in his chest. It didn’t work, then he was just scared he wouldn’t see if the dog came near him. He opened his eyes again. Kel was watching him with a worried look, and shame colored Sunny’s cheeks. It was bad enough to have such an overreaction to something completely normal, but Kel’s eyes on him somehow made it even worse.

“So cute!” Aubrey shrieked, not noticing what was going on between the boys. She squatted down and let Hector lick at her face, giggling in joy and scratching behind the dog’s ears. She took his face in her hands, speaking to him in a sweet baby voice, “You’re just a little lovebug, aren’t you?”

“Yeah,” Kel said, trailing off. He was clearly distracted by trying to manage everything around him, “Where is Hero?”

Said boy was hurrying up the street, an electric blue leash in his grasp. He was panting from exertion, the same way he always did when what they were doing required any exercise, and Sunny vaguely wondered if Hero had his inhaler with him. It was just running up the street, it shouldn’t trigger an asthma attack, but Sunny also knew that stress sometimes made them worse and could make just breathlessness pull into a full attack. On top of the fear and on top of the shame, now he also had to deal with guilt wrapping around his shoulders for causing Hero to have to run out and help him.

“I’m so sorry guys, Mari and I left the door open to get a breeze and I wasn’t paying attention to where he was,” Hero explained as he clipped the leash to Hector’s collar and pulled him into a heel. Hector walked in circles around Hero and tugged to try and get closer to the group of kids. The second Hero had him, Kel was back by Sunny’s side, blocking him and Hector with his body and quietly checking over his best friend. From around Kel Sunny spotted Mari walking over at a much slower pace, and the steel in his spine began to melt. Mari meant safety.

“Why are you sorry?” Aubrey asked, cocking her head to one side and looking around. She finally saw Sunny hiding behind Kel and she seemed even more confused.

Mari arrived with a gentle smile, walking around Kel and hugging Sunny close without words. He wrapped his arms around her automatically, breathing out a sigh and letting the tension fall out of his shoulders and onto the ground. He had felt better when Hero had intervened, but Mari was the one that made him feel safe again. If she was here, nothing bad would happen.

“Calm down. Focus,” She whispered, and the order clicked into place in Sunny’s mind. Once he knew that, he took an experimental breath. It was easier. He could do it.

“Sunny’s afraid of dogs,” Kel explained as the sibling had their moment, “We always keep Hector in our parents room when he’s around,”

“I completely lost track of time,” Hero said apologetically, rubbing the back of his head with one hand. Now that Sunny was taken care of, Kel knelt down by Hector and shushed the still whining dog, scratching underneath his chin the way he liked. Hector’s leg began to shake erratically and he held his head high to give Kel better access.

“It was an accident,” Mari replied, keeping Sunny close to her. When she worried she liked to have him right beside her, and he never minded. Beside her was the best place for him.

Aubrey hummed to herself, clearly taking in all of the information. She pulled her mouth into a thoughtful frown surveying the scene around her. The young girl walked away from where the brothers were and over to Sunny and Mari. She stood in front of him with her hands behind her back rocking back and forth on her heels.

“He’s a nice dog,” Aubrey stated, shooting Sunny an encouraging smile. She kept her voice sweet and light, the way she always talked to him. He bit the inside of his cheeks, avoiding eye contact with the girl. The shame sitting in his belly got worse.

He knew that Hector was a nice dog. Hector was the only dog that Sunny could even get relatively close to, but that didn’t change the fact that he was a dog. He was loud, and he jumped, and he licked, and the energy was just...too much. Sunny didn’t even have a good reason for being afraid of dogs, he just was. He had always been, and he always would be. It was frustrating. It was humiliating.

“It’s okay, Sunny,” Mari soothed, as if she knew what route Sunny’s mind was bringing him down. She patted his shoulder and turned to Aubrey, “It’s just something that he’s uncomfortable with, it’s not something that has to change.”

Aubrey loved Mari. She liked all of them, but Sunny knew that it was more with Mari. Aubrey looked at her like she hung the moon and the stars, and her word was law. They had only known Aubrey for a short time, but he already knew that she would never disagree with his sister.

That’s what made her next words so shocking.

“My mom says that fears should always be confronted. You can never bring light into the dark unless you open the door.” Aubrey stated, the words clearly rehearsed from hearing them over and over. She ended by holding out her hand towards Sunny, her smile never wavering.

“Aubrey...” Mari started with a sigh, her voice kind but delicately firm. Sunny knew what would come next from that tone.

Mari would gently put Aubrey down from the idea and bring Sunny back to the shelter of their house before anything else could happen. She would wrap him in blankets and hot chocolate and love and he would never have to confront what scared him so badly. It was the option he knew, the one that he should take. It made sense and it was safe, responsible even. It would be foolish to break out of what he knew and go beyond into the unknown.

But Aubrey was still holding her hand out. She still believed in him.

Sunny took her hand before Mari could finish her thought, letting himself be pulled out of his sister’s arms. Aubrey hummed a happy tune as she walked them away from Mari and back towards the boys. They were staring at Aubrey in silenced shock, Kel managing to keep a tight grip on Hector’s collar in spite of being clearly lost for words.

Aubrey, unphased and unafraid, changed her grip on Sunny’s hand and turned it so the back of his hand was facing Hector.

“So what you do is let him smell you. That way he knows you’re a friend, and you know that he’s okay with you being close to him.” Kel and Hero had taught this to him over a dozen times, but trying now wasn’t quite so stressful.

It had to be the way Aubrey held no fear or concern. Every time he had tried this before, his sister and friends had reassured him they were holding Hector tightly and that should anything go wrong, they would be here. The possibility of going wrong was what scared Sunny so badly, but that possibility wasn’t present now.

Hot puffs of air hit the back of Sunny’s hand as Hector eagerly sniffed the offered appendage. Kel still had his arms looped around Hector’s neck and Hero was holding the leash, and nothing had gone wrong yet. A pink tongue darted out and licked at his fingers, and Sunny pulled away. It wasn’t the normal jerky motion that was usually accompanied by a sudden breathless panic, he just didn’t like that feeling. Aubrey giggled and reached her own hand out to pat Hector on the top of his head.

“If you pet him, he won’t be able to lick at you,” She commented, and Kel took the silent direction to turn Hector close to him so Sunny could reach his body, “He’s really soft!”

She was right, Hector was soft. His fur was thick and glossy, clearly cared for and brushed thoroughly to keep it this nice. Sunny had seen Kel brushing Hector in the backyard plenty of times before, but now he could see the appeal of putting in all that work. Experimentally he scratched his fingernails against the dog’s body and he was rewarded by Hector giving a full body shake, turning so Sunny could get to his other side.

This was nice, unexpected, but nice. Mari was coming over now, putting a hand on Aubrey’s shoulder and beaming. Sunny turned around to look at the two of them and awarded the girl’s with one of his rare smiles, both of them lighting up at the unexpected happiness on Sunny’s face. Aubrey let go of his hand and turned all of her attention onto Hector, distracting the pooch with her baby talk.

“Are you fwiends now wiv Sunny? Yes you are, yes you are you sweet little baby,”

Sunny pulled his hand back, but he didn’t retreat. He was focused on watching Aubrey. Strong, confidant, idealistic Aubrey. Sunny finally figured out what he thought of her.