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unicornblossom13 · 3 years

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Umbrella Academy OC:

Name: Sylvia Hargreeves

Gender: Female

Species: Human

Age: 30

Aliases: Number 7, Honey Badger

Portrayed by: Elizabeth Gillies

Biography:

Like the rest of her siblings, Sylvia was born on the 12th hour of the first day of October 1989 to mothers who had no previous signs of pregnancy. She was soon adopted by Sir Reginald Hargreeves and taken to the Umbrella Academy with the intention of training her and her siblings to save the world.

Appearance:

Sylvia is a beautiful woman who has blue-green eyes and long black hair that reaches to the middle of her back and has a single, rather large white streak in the middle of it. She is fairly tall with pale skin and an attractive, curvy figure.

In the first season, she wears a white crop tank top, which exposes her midriff, under a black leather jacket. She also wears black pants, combat boots, and fingerless gloves.

On her left ear is a golden chain earring that has a small, blue crystal dangling from it.

When she was young, Sylvia wore the Umbrella Academy’s girl uniform. Her hair was shorter, reaching to her shoulders, and was tied in two separate, low ponytails that rested over her shoulders.

Personality:

Out of all of her siblings, even has a child, Sylvia has always been the most mature, mentally and emotionally. After leaving the Umbrella Academy at eighteen, she attempts to get over all the harsh treatment done to her by Sir Reginald Hargreeves and to not dwell on the past. She is also quite a calm individual and does not let her emotions get the better of her all the time.

Though she can sometimes be annoyed with her siblings, she cares about them greatly and is very protective of them. Even after leaving the Academy, she always kept in contact with them to make sure they were doing well. She would also comfort her siblings after a particularly harsh experiment done by their adoptive father.

Though usually calm, Sylvia has a fierce temper when she gets angry and will lash out violently. When truly mad, she begins releasing a string of swears and has a habit of breaking things. She can also be very blunt with her words at times, being rather sassy and sarcastic.

Sylvia is very brave and, as a side effect of her powers, is utterly fearless, having never known fear of anyone or anything since she was born. She is also fiercely determined and will keep getting back up on her feet no matter how many times she is knocked down, even going so far as to literally fight someone to the death if she has to. She is willing to kill those who intend harm on her and family.

Sylvia is also highly intelligent, second only to Five. She can come up with clever ways to solve problems and is able to think on her feet. She prefers to think of a plan before charging head first into a bad situation.

She is very confident in herself and her powers, but she does struggle with the worries that she could one day end up alone without her siblings.

Powers and Abilities:

Powers:

Sylvia’s powers are based off the animal the Honey Badger.

Enhanced Strength: While not as strong as Luther, Sylvia has shown to be far stronger than the average human being.

Enhanced Speed: Sylvia is very quick on her feet, which, along with her agility, is very useful in battle.

Enhanced Senses: Sylvia has heightened senses of hearing and smelling.

Enhanced Durability: Sylvia has incredibly tough skin that can withstand numerous blows without causing her much pain. She is impervious to simple bullets and knife blades, but her main weak point is her head.

Claws: Sylvia can make her nails grow into longer and sharper claws, which are able to easily slice through a person’s skin.

Fangs: Sylvia can grow her canines to be sharp fangs and can deliver a powerful bite force.

Venom & Poison Immunity: Sylvia has shown to have an immunity to venom and poison. If either were to get into her system, rather than kill her, her body would go numb, or she would become unconscious, for a few hours. Even then, it would take a while for the venom and poison to take effect.

Abilities:

Expert Combatant: Sylvia is highly skilled in hand-to-hand combat and has shown she can take down even the toughest of opponents. She is also a ferocious fighter and never shows any mercy.

Genius-Level Intellect: Sylvia is very intelligent and is able to quickly understand rather complicated things, such as how Five turned from an old man to his thirteen year old self when he traveled through time.

Relationships:

Five Hargreeves:

Sylvia and Five have a very close relationship. Even when they were children, they would always spend a large amount of time together. Five considers Sylvia to be his intellectual equal and is the one he trusts the most out of all of their siblings, being the first person he told about the upcoming apocalypse and employs her help. He also cares about her tremendously, probably the most out out of all their siblings. Sylvia does not usually agree with most of Five’s brash methods, but she trust him a great deal and cares for him a lot. She was the most sadden by his disappearance into the future, and is the happiest to have him back when he returns.

It is hinted they have romantic feelings for each other.

Vanya Hargreeves:

Sylvia is close with Vanya has she never ignored her as they were growing up. She always tried to cheer her up when her sister was down when it was believed she wasn’t special like the rest of their family. Sylvia was also supportive in Vanya’s pursuit of being a violinist, and even when she wrote a book about their family life.

Klaus Hargreeves:

Sylvia and Klaus are very close with one another. She always comforted him whenever he went through the harsh way their adopted father tried to get him to use his powers, as well as always stick up for him. In the beginning, she is the only one of their siblings who believes that he can communicate with their deceased brother Ben. While she doesn’t condone his drug habit, Sylvia is always there for Klaus whenever he needs her, even letting him stay at her place from time to time.

Luther Hargreeves:

Sylvia and Luther are close, though she finds his loyalty to their adoptive father misplaced.

Diego Hargreeves:

Sylvia and Diego are close with each other, but they sometimes go at each other throats every now and then.

Allison Hargreeves:

Sylvia and Allison have a good relationship, but Sylvia has some issues with her sister using her powers unnecessarily.

Ben Hargreeves:

While they cannot properly interact with each other, Sylvia and Ben have a close relationship, even before he died. She was terribly distraught by his death, but becomes ecstatic when she learns that Klaus can communicate with him.

Sir Reginald Hargreeves:

Sylvia has shown to have some leftover resentment towards Reginald, mainly by how he treated her and her siblings in the past. She refused to get in contact with him after she left the Umbrella Academy, expect when it came to knowing about the wellness of the others. While she does go to his funeral, she is not particularly saddened by his death.

Trivia:

Sylvia wears contact lenses due to having poor eyesight, but she is seen wearing glasses every now and then.

She is a fan of honey-flavored food.

Sylvia owns a motorcycle, which is her main mode of transportation.

She hates it when people say her hair resembles a skunk because of the white streak. Diego once teased her about it and she retaliated by slamming his head down hard against the dinning room table. Since then, none of her siblings make fun of her about it.

Her earring was a gift from Five when they were younger.

After leaving the Umbrella Academy, she had the umbrella tattoo on her wrist covered with the tattoo of a honey badger.

#umbrella acedmy #umbrella academy oc #i based her powers off the honey badger #because they are awesome animals #and total badasses #sylvia hargreeves

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bisluthq · 3 years

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Were her first three eras really "eras"? She always looked the same and her change of style was mostly due to change of trends in the world /// aesthetically speaking, debut and Fearless are very similar, the biggest difference in making it an era was the budget she had for set designs because she was leading an arena tour for fearless.

Until Speak now era, her only rule on fashion shoots was that they couldn’t straighten her hair because she felt like her curls were her thing. I think it was the vogue cover in the Speak now era where she had her hair cut for it that she said something like ‘you know you’re really over someone when you cut your hair’ and then she kept that hair going into red because I think she was rebranding herself and trying to work out where she fit in the country/ pop worlds.... I think she was also very much going through the phase of “I’d like to be my old self again but I’m still trying to find it” - and then it kind of became the first time she really let herself play with fashion. She had to maintain an image from like 16 - 21 of the curly haired, sundress wearing good girl, so from 22-25 she tried everything she couldn’t experiment with if she had been a ~normal~ teen/twenty something who coloured her hair and regretted it or had bad fake tan she thought was awesome or really questionable makeup phases (am I projecting? Perhaps? 😂)

But yeah I think the red hair was ‘getting over Jake and figuring out who she is’ and 1989 hair was ‘I am over it now and LOOK HOW FUN WE ARE WITH CROP TOPS’ and then Bleachella was a cry for help/ hey Calvin! Do you notice me still?!? Do you like me?! What do you think?!?/ experimenting with something again to shake things up, rep hair was part character acting and lover hair was non commital to a certain style because I don’t think she liked her initial ME era rainbow fashion, and Folkmore hair was ‘this is me now and this is actually what I look like and how I dress’ ** I should have said hair and outfits.

Not sure if I made any sense then but I hope so

Ya that tracks.

#nat talks tay’s style

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bibbawrites · 4 years

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self indulgent headcanons hours

i started this as a fic but it was too hard to write so headcanon time!!

the headcanon in question?

sunset curve/julie/flynn/carrie/willie going to rep tour

here i go on my bullshit lol n e ways some context, modern au set in 2018 but they’re all still 15-17, carrie and bobby are twins, trevor is their rich uncle who took them in for some reason, no one is dead and everyone is gay, that is all (and by everyone is gay i mean biromantic ace!bobby, lesbian!carrie, pan!luke, bi!reggie, bi!julie, lesbian!flynn and obviously alex and willie are gay) also alex and willie are dating, carrie, flynn and julie are dating and luke, reggie and bobby are dating, thats all

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- so carrie 100% bought the tickets (using trevor’s credit card of course) and then just told everyone that they were going (much to flynn’s annoyance, she strongly dislikes taylor swift)

- julie didn’t really mind, theres a few taylor swift songs that she quite likes and she’s not gonna turn down a free concert or time with her girlfriends and band mates

- alex and reggie were over the moon in excitement, jumping up and down together (luke, bobby and willie were also very excited, just more cool about it)

- on that note no one can convince me that all four members of sunset curve would not be swifties alex is a speak now stan reggie is a debut stan luke would stan her songwriting abilities so hard and bobby would claim that he's a rep stan but would 100% be a secret 1989 stan

- finally the day of the concert comes and alex “borrows” his mum’s van to get them all to the concert

- carrie would have organised costumes and makeup, flynn would refuse to dress up and julie would just prefer to wear one of her mum’s old outfits, which worked perfectly cause then there were 6 people left for the 6 albums, one era for each person

- reggie was debut era, and he had jumped at the chance to wear a sundress and boots willie was fearless, and carrie had curled his hair into the tight ringlets and had found a glittery gold crop top to wear with some jeans alex was speak now, with a replica of the purple tour dress and a glittery purple fanny pack instead of his classic black one luke was red, and he was wearing a red era merch shirt that he had cut the sleeves off, and carrie had convinced him to wear a pair of high waisted shorts with it carrie was 1989, wearing the classic shake it off cheerleader costume and bobby was rep, with reggie’s leather jacket and torn jeans with fishnets underneath, and a tight glittery black shirt (also if anyone can draw and wants to draw this PLEASE !!!!)

- the whole trip there would be spent blasting reputation and singing along, and even flynn gets a little bit into it

- they would arrive and head straight for merch and the taylor nation booth and then once they were ready they would head inside to the arena

- of course carrie would have gotten them the best tickets possible, so they end up right down the front in the snake pit (VIP of course) and they would spend the preshow singing and talking about how excited they were

- finally after the opening acts it was time for the show to start, and the second that the lights go down they all start screaming (i can just imagine sunset curve excitedly grabbing onto each other screaming while julie and flynn just watch them with a smile)

- they would have the time of their lives screaming every single word and dancing like no one was watching

- and even flynn sings along to love story and you belong with me

- alex boldly dedicating dress to willie who just stands there wide eyed cause he never thought alex would be so bold (bonus of all of their friends watching on like 👁️👄👁️)

- reggie getting his fucking LIFE during should’ve said no and luke and bobby just looking at him with these lovestruck looks cause yep thats their boyfriend and they love him

- the boys crying though this is why we cant have nice things cause they know that its the last song and they dont want the show to be over

- of course they all collect massive handfuls of the newspaper confetti

- and carrie asking a security guard to take a photo of the eight of them together with the stage in the background

- the drive home with them all just chattering away excitedly about the show and their favourite parts, and alex pulling into the mcdonalds drive through to get them something to eat and drink

- and then finally they get back to bobby and carrie’s house where they’re all having a sleepover, and they end up all falling asleep in a massive cuddle pile in carrie’s king sized bed (they most definitely did not fit but none of them cared about how cramped it was)

#sunset curve #julie and the phantoms #headcanon #luke patterson #alex mercer #reggie peters #bobby wilson #carrie wilson #julie molina #flynn nolastname #willie nolastname #jatp #willex #julie x carrie x flynn #rebuke #jatp swifties

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raspberrymaple · 4 years

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Midnight Down Town

Chapter One: Lucky Tapes

Summary:

"A nonconventional belief in poker is everyone has an ability that allows them to stand their ground. Whether it be wit, luck, or the ability to bluff, the idea of staying in the game manifests the nickname of a ‘Stand’. A user of a ‘Stand’ is typically defined by their own strategies, therefore creating their own self-reflection in the game. The belief is so popular amongst professional and amateur card players, they even give their ‘Stands’ names.

Joseph Joestar is a casino owner in Los Angeles, California, 1989. With a reputable name such as “The Stardust Casino”, he gains popularity downtown. But he faces problems when another casino opens across the street: “The World”, owned by one Dio Brando. It’s formidable staff and popularity poise a challenge. However, the “Stardust Crusaders” the nickname given by Joseph for the employees, were ready for anything."

“Jotaro! Aren’t you going to have dinner?” Came the sweet voice of Holly Kujo, calling out to her son as he passed by the kitchen. Jotaro Kujo looked over his mother's shoulder and saw she had prepared a meatloaf for them. The aromantic smell of the meat made Jotaro pause and salivate at it. His mother made the best meals. “Your father won't be home until later but you can at least see him. Do you have to be at work on time, Jotaro? Your grandpa won't mind.”

Her son shuffled away, slipping his hands into his coat pockets. He wore a large, dark coat that exposed his light shirt under and rippled about his legs. Accompanying it was a hat that blended into his black hair, a red coke bottle cap, and the letter 'J' pinned on the front.

"I gotta pick up Kakyoin. Can I get a couple of slices for later, mom?” He asked, opening the fridge. The boy pulled out a couple of cold glass bottles of Coke, slipping them into his jacket pocket. He spun a pair of shining keys on his finger.

Holly Kujo placed her hands on her hips, adamant toward this, but nodded. She turned to take off a couple of slices of the meatloaf, placing them in a small plastic container. Jotaro took it from her hands and pressed a kiss to her forehead. It seemed to brighten her up, but he had turned away a second later to adjust his hat. It made his mother sigh.

“I still don't know why you wear that coat in summer, JoJo. And put on your helmet! Tell Kakyoin I said hi!” She called after him, but he didn't listen. His mother slumped against the counter as he walked out of the door, hiding the container in his coat pocket just like the bottles.

Jotaro was hit with the afternoon sun as he stepped out of the house. It was a large, two-story home, painted white. The front lane extended out far, the front of the house lined with red roses. To the left was the garage. As he stepped off the porch, his eyes trailed on the city. It was beautiful. He didn't expect anything else from it.

Jotaro's grandfather owned a casino. He found his grandfather annoying, but he was offered a job there and took it. Jotaro and his mom were typically alone, as his dad was a musician and traveled often, so Jotaro wanted to get out of the house. He never liked it when Sadao Kujo came home. His father would try to be friendly, but his absence annoyed Jotaro.

The teenager stepped into the open garage, his eyes landing on his motorcycle. It was only about four years old, but Jotaro had snagged it only last year. It was a Kawasaki Ninja 600R, one of the best in the brand. It was red and black, great colors for Jotaro. As he settled into its seat, he took off his hat and put his helmet on. He had two, typically, one for him, the other for Kakyoin.

Noriaki Kakyoin had been his friend for a few years now, and he knew him for five. They met in eighth grade and went to the same high school. Kakyoin's personality wasn't very similar to Jotaro's, but they felt they had to stick together. They even gave each other nicknames that they used privately: Kakyoin was Nori, and Jotaro was JoJo. Even though everyone called him JoJo, Kakyoin was the only one he cared about enough to give a nickname to. Jotaro was half Japanese, and Kakyoin was full Japanese. Jotaro had lived in America all of his life, but Kakyoin said he moved here when he was eleven from Japan. His friend did admit it was a cultural shock, so Jotaro acted like a crutch to help him learn.

As he twisted the grip to lightly apply the throttle, Jotaro kicked up the center stand. With a secondary helmet resting on his lap, he drove out of the garage and onto the street. The wind whistled along his body, thrashing about the end of his coat.

He had been working at this job since the beginning of the year. It was early summer break now, but he continues to work in the afternoon. The casino was open all hours, however, it was busy later in the day. Los Angeles wasn't known for its casinos, but The Stardust was one of the most popular. Hundreds of men and women frequented it weekly.

Jotaro could ride forever. The sun was on the horizon as he rode down Beverly Hills to the city outlined by its gold rays. The golden city. Kakyoin lived closer to the city, but his parents were also traveling agents and had money. He lived well off, and typically alone from his parent’s trips. Kakyoin used to go on trips with them, but after he got a job he said he didn’t want to anymore. They had their arguments but ultimately agreed since he was close to becoming an adult.

He came to a screeching halt in front of a blue one-story home. It had a long stretch of the lawn as well, but it was gated and surrounded by dark green hedges. Flowers and vines snaked through the hedges. Sitting on the step of the sidewalk, his legs extended out, was Kakyoin. Jotaro pulled off his helmet, his short black hair poking out over his forehead. He looked down at Kakyoin with blue-green eyes.

“Hey, Nori. Ready to go?” He asked the other teenager. Kakyoin looked up from the game in his hands. It was a Zelda & Watch game, a Nintendo brand, Jotaro assumed from the logo on the back. Kakyoin was a redhead, with a long, twisting curl poking out from his head hanging as a bang. His hair was short and straight in the back, pointing down as spikes. His eyes were a striking shade of violet against his pale skin, and dark circles lined under his long eyelashes.

Kakyoin gave Jotaro a broad smile, sliding the game into his jacket pocket as he bounced to his feet. He wore a dark blue jacket, with a large stripe of green across the chest, and another stripe of white on his shoulders. Kakyoin adapted to the fashion quickly, and his pale, slightly defined stomach showed in a white crop top. His high waisted pants were cinched snugly around his waist with a gold belt. His white Adidas shoes scuffed against the ground as he got up.

“Sure, JoJo! Where's my helmet?” Kakyoin asked, sliding in the space behind Jotaro. The teenager checked his watch, noticing the time was five pm. Their shift began at five-thirty.

Jotaro took the helmet from his lap, handing it back to Kakyoin over his shoulder. They had matching black helmets with a red stripe down the sides. When Kakyoin clipped it in, his red bangs poking out, Jotaro started up the motorcycle again.

“Hey, JoJo we better get there on time so—WOAH!” Kakyoin wrapped his arms tightly about Jotaro when they took off, a puff of smoke from the screech of the wheels rising up behind them. Kakyoin frowned, pressing his cheek against his back. "You could have warned me!"

Jotaro glanced over his shoulder. Even if he was a serious person, he was still a dumb kid. He grinned lightly. “It's more fun this way, Nori.”

As they left the suburban scene and drove into the city, the noises and lights increased. The roar of cars, the flashes of music, all drowned out Kakyoin's thoughts. Splotches of color danced across Kakyoin's vision as Jotaro sped along, their bodies pressed close to the vehicle. Every time he cranked the engine, it purred beautifully in response. Jotaro fed off the thrill of its speed, and since Kakyoin rode so frequently with Jotaro, so did he. And Jotaro rode fast because he didn't care about the rules.

But he did care about getting a ticket. Kakyoin exhaled softly when they came to a slow halt in front of a bright, red stoplight. For some reason, he was out of breath, but the warmth of his friend was relaxing. Jotaro looked back at him again.

“We're almost there.” He stated quietly, then fired up again. Kakyoin gripped tightly to his jacket. Jotaro was a lot taller than him. He stood about six foot five, while Kakyoin was just a couple inches off of six feet. Jotaro had a wider frame than him as well, dwarfing Kakyoin when they stood next to each other. He did admit he was jealous of Jotaro. He could fight just about anyone and win—and he did fight. Typically he didn't pick the fights, they came to him. Jotaro was like that.

The casino was on the outskirts of the main business center in Los Angeles and in Hollywood. It was as grand as the Joestar name. Joseph Joestar had begun as a realtor, and he adopted money from a family friend who passed away. It left him with the Speedwagon Foundation, who donated mainly to charity in Robert E.O Speedwagon’s name. Speedwagon was a close family friend, who struck rich in America. But he passed away in a heart attack, giving his money to Joseph.

Joseph Joestar could be in the least, to Kakyoin, ‘charming’. During his venture in real estate, he decided to invest in a casino. It took several years, but he owned the casino in 1979. Ten years later, it was still going just as strong. The "Stardust" casino was famous for attracting rich people in Hollywood and tourists.

“Hey, we're here,” Jotaro said, swinging his leg to get over the bike. They were behind the casino, where all of the staff parked. He flipped out the center stand, then pulled off his helmet. Kakyoin followed, setting his helmet down. As he did he noticed something engraved at the base in the back of the helmet. Why hadn't he seen this before? 'Nori', it read. He smiled.

“Did you do this? It's cute. It makes me feel like that's my helmet.” Kakyoin said, observing the scratches in lettering. It may be a bit crude but still worth the effort. Jotaro rolled his eyes and picked up the helmet to settle it in its usual spot, on the motorcycle's handlebars. The staff parking lot was usually gated, so he didn't have much to worry about. And with their nicknames on the helmets, he could find the guy and beat him up.

“Well yeah, 'cause it is your helmet. I don't let anyone else ride with me, Nori.” Jotaro muttered, taking a seat on the sidewalk. “There are ten minutes before we gotta change. I brought some drinks. Have you eaten?”

Kakyoin took a seat next to him, shaking his head lightly. He pulled out the small console again, flipping it open. Jotaro pulled out the bottles of Coke, then the plastic container. Kakyoin peeked around his shoulder, raising an eyebrow.

“What’s that?” He asked as Jotaro cracked open the tinted green glass bottles, handing one out to Kakyoin. He sipped it, enjoying the refreshing taste of a cool drink.

“Just some meatloaf my mom made. Do you want a slice?” Jotaro asked, offering the still warm food to Kakyoin. Kakyoin shook his head again, though his stomach rumbled in response. Jotaro raised an eyebrow. “C’mon, you love my mom’s cooking.”

His friend sighed, wrapping his arms around his body and slouching forward.

“Don’t feel like eating.” Came a null response from Kakyoin. He was rather skinny, but Jotaro knew he could eat a lot. Jotaro rolled his eyes, picking off a chunk of the meatloaf and holding it out to Kakyoin’s nose. The boy sniffed the food tentatively, but even he couldn’t ignore the delicious smell of Holly’s cooking.

Jotaro’s mouth quirked at the corner when Kakyoin took the piece, nibbling it quietly. He was smiling now, always happy to accept food. Especially from Jotaro’s mom. When Jotaro offered him the rest of the slice, he took it like a feral beast, eating away and washing it down with the Coke. When he was done, he still felt hungry, but it was bearable.

“Wow, I haven’t eaten since yesterday. I did shower, though. A gamer has to at least stay clean!” Kakyoin declared, his bottle clinking to the concrete. Jotaro pulled out a pack of camels and a lighter, his lips curled in a frown.

“How long have your parents been out on the trip?” He asked, placing a cigarette between his teeth. Jotaro flicked the lighter to life, lighting the end of the fag. As he stuffed the lighter away, he heard Kakyoin sigh slowly. Kakyoin looked down at his hands and began to count his slender, pale fingers.

“Maybe a week and a couple of days. So nine days. They go on trips this often anyways. What day is it again?” He asked, his eyes following a curling trail of white smoke as Jotaro exhaled. He took out the cigarette, pinching it between his fingers to think.

“Today is the 27th of July. Why—” Jotaro turned to see Kakyoin tense up, his fingers curling on his knees. His wide mouth formed a frown, his purple eyes shifting to his feet. Realization struck. “Oh. It’s your birthday tomorrow. Sorry, Nori.”

Kakyoin stood up, shuffling his hands in his coat pockets. He began to pace along the edge of the sidewalk, his eyes focused on the path before his feet. He spoke in a quiet, almost defeated voice.

“It’s ok. I mean, they’ve missed my birthday before. It just sucks because it’s my eighteenth birthday. I at least thought they would stay for this. Well, I make my own money. I can buy myself some uh…cupcakes or some shit, maybe. Hey, can I have a smoke?” Jotaro blinked when he asked out of the blue, but the cigarette was plucked from his mouth. Kakyoin pressed it between his lips, inhaling slowly, then exhaling the smoke to the sky. He watched it disappear into the air slowly.

“Hey, I could have lit one for you,” Jotaro grumbled, but his friend only laughed.

“Doesn’t matter, we’ve known each other for five years. We finished high school together, Jotaro. We shared drinks and food before. But hey, I can leave my family, can’t I? Will they even notice I’m gone?” Kakyoin wondered aloud, breathing out more of that white smoke. It glinted with orange in the sunset. Jotaro rolled his eyes.

“Nori. Come on. They just forgot, or their flight was delayed. Gimme the damn cigarette. You’re gonna regret smoking.” Jotaro warned, setting down his Coke bottle. When he stood he was much taller than Kakyoin. The fellow teenager was grinning, a sort of fake smile plastered on his face. He wasn’t happy. Jotaro gritted his teeth. “Nori, are you even fuckin’ listening? Here, after our shift, we can go to a 7-11 and buy you some cheap shit.”

Jotaro flinched when Kakyoin set the cigarette back in his mouth, his face brought close to Jotaro’s. His purple eyes were dark, almost unreadable as he stared at him, his face slacked into a passive state. Jotaro had to remind himself sometimes of how batshit crazy Kakyoin could be. He wasn’t violent in the slightest, but his actions could be considered unorthodox. His ideas were more sinister—Jotaro just punched people. If Kakyoin wanted to genuinely hurt someone, Jotaro didn’t doubt it would be in the worst psychological way possible. He was clever enough to. And even then he couldn’t detach himself from Kakyoin, even with that personality clash.

Kakyoin turned back around, bending down to get his Coke bottle and Watch game. When he stood up, he pocketed the small game. Jotaro observed the Coke bottle bounce between his hands, then lift above his head and with the jerk of an arm, fly across the parking lot. It shattered on impact with the asphalt, green glass soaring in every direction. The cap rolled in a smooth circle before clattering against the ground.

Jotaro watched Kakyoin’s shoulders sag, that hollow look on his face returning to a red shade of guilt along his cheeks. Kakyoin pressed his hand to his eyes, distress visible on his face with how he grit his white teeth. His lips were chapped and red from the number of times he bit them.

“Fucking hell. God, Jotaro, I’m sorry. It’s just…a lot. I don’t know how you deal with your dad always being gone.” Kakyoin muttered, looking over at Jotaro. The slight clench in Jotaro’s jaw made him pause. “Right. You don’t. I’m sorry. Fuck. Aw shit, look at the time.”

Jotaro glanced at his own watch with the comment. They only had a couple of minutes left. He sighed, jerking his thumb over to the backdoor. Inside they could hear the pump of music, maybe even a laugh or two. It was never quiet here, not with an accommodated hotel and several restaurants. The fact they snagged jobs here was phenomenal.

“We’ll talk about this later. C’mon, let’s go, Nori.” Jotaro pats his shoulder, letting his hand linger there. When he turned to walk away, Kakyoin stood there for a moment. In the sunlight, the orange warmth across his face highlighted his tired, dark eyes. He nodded and followed Jotaro, a slight scuff to his step.

The back rooms weren’t as grand as the actual hotel. They were completely fine, but to put it simply, they were boring. The locker room was for them to get changed and put their stuff away, and assigned by gender. There were faculty bathrooms as well, and even showers. What was nice was the break room, where everyone could eat and take a break. It was generously stocked with food, and even had a couch and television.

When they punched in, the pair headed to the locker room. Neither of them really decorated their lockers—they did that at school already, and they were done with high school. Jotaro was already eighteen, having his birthday on February 3rd already. He got used to Sadao Kujo not being there, but his family, Kakyoin, and a couple of other friends from the casino were.

The bang of Kakyoin’s locker door hitting the other lockers arose Jotaro from his thoughts. The other boy had pulled his jacket off, the console tucked inside. Folded on the bench was his work clothes. Kakyoin was a waiter and a golden tag with his first name rested on the pile. As he slipped his crop top over his head, he picked up a white undershirt. Jotaro’s eyes hesitantly lingered on his arms, but he pulled his gaze away.

“You can look. I haven’t tried since they left, by the way. I told you I wouldn’t. None of these are fresh…” Kakyoin’s quiet voice rose up again when he finished tugging his undershirt over his head. Jotaro felt the warmth of a body next to him, and Kakyoin’s arm filled his gaze. Typically, the boy wore sweaters or thin long-sleeved shirts. His left arm was the victim of his pain. Each scar was at the top of his forearm, dark against his light skin. Little red hairs dotted his arm. Jotaro sighed.

“Good. Don’t do that shit again. I don’t want to remember the last time…” He frowned, pushing aside Kakyoin’s arm and standing up. Jotaro typically wore what was considered a traditional Japanese school uniform because of the coat. But under it was a red rock band shirt and a pair of ripped black jeans. Jotaro realized wearing shoes with platforms made him uncomfortably taller, so he stuck with simple black high tops.

“I won’t, I promise. I…I’m really sorry you had to see that.” Kakyoin responded softly, then turned away. They got dressed. Jotaro wore a white collared shirt with a light blue tie under it. Slipped onto this were a blue dress jacket and equal blue pants. A belt with a silver star-shaped buckle kept the pants to his body. His grandfather let him keep his hat.

“Why do they make you wear gloves again?” Jotaro asked his friend, looking into the mirror Kakyoin put inside his locker. Two gold studs glinted from his ears. Kakyoin, who had finished getting ready, slipped on the gloves. He also wore a white collared shirt and black pants, but a shiny green vest over it and a green tie. His belt was gold.

“Just for sanitary reasons. Didn’t they give you gloves too? Aren’t the slot machines unsanitary?” Kakyoin replied with a question, patting his body over for everything. Jotaro shrugged.

“They didn’t fit me.”

“What? Really? You never told me. I guess that makes sense.” Kakyoin pursed his lips, tapping his finger to them. When he was sure he had everything, he closed his locker, pressing his forehead to it. He almost seemed adamant to go out. “Well, time to put on a happy face and suck up to middle-aged white people. I wonder how many times I’ll get called exotic.”

Jotaro chuckled, shutting his locker in return. He held out his arm to Kakyoin, letting himself grin slightly. “Really? Let’s count today. I’m taller, and my eyes are blue, but I don’t look white and I have a Japanese name. I’ll get more.”

Kakyoin grinned, gripping Jotaro’s extended hand, their elbows bumping together. “Yeah but I’m full Japanese and a natural redhead. My eyes are even purple, JoJo. But I’ll be counting—and winning.”

With another quiet laugh between them, the feelings of regret and sadness slowly melted away. Kakyoin’s fingers lingered in the spaces between Jotaro’s, though he could barely feel the warmth of his skin. The smile they shared lasted for a beat too long, but Jotaro pulled away.

“Okay,” He said, his voice dropping to a pressing tone, “Let’s go.”

“Noriaki, was it? You look so tired for such a cute young man, hun.” The woman he was serving said, taking a sip of her margarita. He flashed his white smile, setting down a couple of other drinks to the rest of the people at the table. This woman was in her mid to late forties, and she donned a necklace of pretty pearls that she fondled lovingly.

God, he was sick of this shit already. Suckering up to the guests was annoying enough, but the ones who flirted with him, man or woman, were revolting. Especially since they all found him so ‘exotic.’

“Well, to be frank ma'am…serving customers was so tiring, until I met you, of course. Say, what's your name, young lady?” Kakyoin asked politely, pressing his platter to his chest and taking her hand. He lightly grazed his red lips against the wrinkling skin on the back of her hand, his eyes glimmering with a charming playfulness. The woman put her hand to her mouth to laugh into it, her face turning rosy. Her husband fumed.

“Oh my, you're quite the exotic little flirt, dearie. My name is Margeret. How old are you, honey?” She asked, but Kakyoin pulled back to press his finger to his red lips. If he wasn’t so good at acting, he might have screamed.

“That's my little secret, Miss Margaret, but you’re free to guess. Enjoy your drinks!" Kakyoin winked, turning to snake between the poker tables. The woman watched him go, murmuring something to her husband, who was grumbling quietly about how wives shouldn’t flirt in front of their husbands.

Well, he could certainly catch someone’s eye. With the confident way he walked and the bounce of his vibrant hair, almost anyone he passed by did a double-take. Kakyoin did have a rather feminine face, his cheekbones set high and his lips a light red, which begged the opinion he was a woman. But he was too tall, his voice too deep, and the bags under his eyes showed he didn’t take care of himself.

“Hey, Kakyoin!” Another chipper voice penetrated the chatter of gambling men and women, causing Kakyoin to turn his head. He was greeted with one of the other casino employees, a pit boss named Muhammed Avdol. The man wore a black suit, a pendant of the casino's colorful logo on his exposed front. His gold medallion earrings glinted in from the lights above. His dark hair was smoothed back and pulled into a low ponytail. Wise, amber eyes, and a big smile shone against his darker skin.

"Oh, hi Avdol. How are the tables?" Kakyoin questioned, smiling at him. Avdol crossed his arms, glancing over his shoulder. His eyes were focused on a specific silver-haired dealer who was laughing with his table.

"Well, they're…good. But I just wanted to tell you that your break is in five minutes, so you can take the time off now. Its Jotaro's too, so tell him. By the way, how is Jotaro?" Avdol answered, his nails tapping lightly against his forearms. Kakyoin shrugged, tucking back a strand of loose red hair. He looked around, wondering if in this crowd he could even spot his friend.

"We aren't really near each other since you're not allowed to have food and drink at the slot machines, so I wouldn’t know. He is well, though. I'll go tell him, ok?" Kakyoin bowed quickly to Avdol, though his face burned when he did. Avdol was maybe five or six years older than him, and he was used to saying bye to older people that way. Avdol chuckled, though he didn't mind.

"Alright. Happy birthday, by the way, Kakyoin!" Avdol called after Kakyoin as he hurried away, smiling to himself. At least Avdol remembered. It had been a couple of hours now, meaning it was break time. He had a thirty-minute break period from seven-thirty to eight. And then he worked for three more hours.

After setting down his tray in the kitchen, Kakyoin set off to find Jotaro. There were three slot machine rooms, and Jotaro worked at the last one. It wasn’t terribly far from Kakyoin, but he didn’t interact with Jotaro often. Maybe it was for the best. They had a habit of goofing off together, even if they were young adults.

It took awhile for Kakyoin to find him. He knew where Jotaro was stationed, but there were also a lot of people on the slot machines. He weaved through a group of young women, whose eyes followed Kakyoin as he walked away. He was a tall teenager, so it was no wonder he was looked at so often. And he was a Japanese redhead. That was something.

When he found Jotaro, he remembered the bet. A total of twenty men and women had called him exotic or unusual. A man had even told him he liked them special, which only made him want to punch the guy. If there was anyone that wanted to have him, well…

“Jotaro! There you are!” Kakyoin exclaimed, hurrying up to his friend. Jotaro was standing alone, his back against one of the slot machines and arms crossed. He looked down at Kakyoin, raising an eyebrow.

“Why are you here?” He asked sharply, his eyes focused on Kakyoin from below his wide-brimmed hat. Kakyoin rolled his eyes.

“Just look at the time. Break starts in a couple of minutes. Avdol said we could just go now. I think he’s too easy on us, frankly. Just because we’re barely adults. Or, you are at least. Let’s go!” Kakyoin insisted, taking Jotaro’s arm and tugging him away. The older teen sighed but followed after him.

Despite the arguments, Jotaro had been Kakyoin’s first kiss. They had been playing a game with a couple of ‘friends’ once, and their mistake was letting girls join the party. Girls obsessed over Jotaro, and even Kakyoin. They were both popular, but when they were at school they didn’t really talk to anyone but each other. But one of the girls had come up with a game of truth or dare, and Kakyoin was dared to kiss his friend.

Well, he thought, it was typically the girls that kissed each other that was wanted, wasn’t it? He had laughed and shaken his head, explaining how strange that would be, but to Jotaro he guessed not. Because Jotaro had kissed him square on the mouth. It wasn’t a big deal, right? The girls had laughed, the other guys said ew, whatever. This was their sophomore year of high school.

But Kakyoin thought about kissing Jotaro again. And he did. He kissed Jotaro a few times, actually. None of them were accidents, but each time he tried to brush it off by saying he was just feeling lonely. Kakyoin was always lonely. There was no excuse, even if he tried to rub it off as one. But right now he was too annoyed to care, and he was way too attracted to him.

So as Kakyoin pulled his friend into the empty breakroom, he did it again. His hands were gripping the front of Jotaro’s suit jacket, pulling him down so he could slam their lips together. Jotaro tensed up, but that feeling of want after Kakyoin had simply ignored his past actions, was too much to bear. He pulled him closer, wrapping his arms tightly around his waist as his head spun, dizzy with the feeling of warmth. Jotaro reached to slam the door shut, pressing Kakyoin to it as their lips stayed locked.

When his friend pulled away, panting quietly, he wiped his lips. “God, you’re a bad kisser,” Kakyoin muttered sourly, gaining a rile from Jotaro that made him grin. The other teen narrowed his eyes, flicking Kakyoin on the nose. It made the redhead wince and grab his nose, rubbing it lightly.

“Whatever. Why now? Aren’t we just friends?” Jotaro replied in a bitter tone, letting go of Kakyoin to walk to the fridge. The breakroom had an additional kitchen to it. As Jotaro pulled out a couple of cans of soda, he genuinely wondered if Kakyoin was crazy. The guy spent weeks, maybe even months, not kissing Jotaro, and then decided one day he wanted to. It was almost unbearable. Even then, it was for the best. Jotaro was an adult, and Kakyoin was still a teenager. He suddenly regretted kissing him.

Kakyoin laughed, leaning against the wall next to the door. He had his arms crossed, his heels planted firmly to the ground.

“Well not after that, no. And why now? I want to. Do you have a problem with that?” He taunted, tilting his hip out to the side. Jotaro sighed. Ok, maybe he wasn’t crazy, just an asshole sometimes. As much as Jotaro wanted to punch his clever ass, he was still Kakyoin’s friend. Or, well, closer than that. He didn’t know half the time because half of the time Kakyoin was just insane.

Jotaro turned to him, glaring from beneath his hat. He stalked up to Kakyoin, shoving the can in front of his face. Kakyoin tilted his head away, gritting his teeth at the coolness pressed on his cheek. “You’re not eighteen. That’s my problem, Nori. I don’t like it. So you’re just going to have to wait for a few hours.”

Kakyoin scoffed in return. He yanked the can from Jotaro, cracking it open and walking past him. With a heavy sigh, he plopped down on the couch, mansplaining. His heel tapped erratically on the ground as he took a sip of the soda.

“Aren’t we just a happy pair of fags…” The redhead grumbled, letting his eyes dart around the room anywhere but Jotaro. Jotaro rolled his eyes, taking a seat at the small table in the kitchen. They were already a dysfunctional pair, something like romantic feelings would just make it worse. Jotaro set the can down and rubbed his tired eyes. Why did he take this job?

The breakroom door opened, and a laughing pair of men walked in. He recognized those individual laughs; one was loud and boisterous, the other watered down and hearty. He lifted his head to see who it was.

Jean-Pierre Polnareff was even more annoying than Kakyoin. He was a tall Frenchman with a big smile and too blue eyes. His silver hair was shaped like a cylinder, piling high above his head. Two earrings, each shaped like half a broken red heart piece, bounced along with his movements. He wore a black button-up, a silver vest fit snugly over his body. His laugh was infectious, but it ticked Jotaro off.

“Hey, Jotaro!” Polnareff yelled, even though Jotaro was only a few meters away. He exhaled quietly, waving a hand to say hi, and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. There was a small ‘tsk’ and the pack was pulled from his hands by Polnareff’s boyfriend, Avdol. Avdol was the pit boss, meaning he controlled everything at the poker tables, or ‘pits’. It was from what Jotaro remembered since he didn’t normally see any of these three.

“Jotaro, what did Mr. Joestar say about smoking indoors?” Avdol tutored, resting a hand upon his hip. From the couch, Kakyoin snickered and sunk into the comfort of the cushions. Jotaro whipped around to flip off the gremlin. He then glanced at Avdol, grumbling quietly to himself.

“Shut up, I’ll smoke outside. Give me those.” Jotaro swiped the camels from Avdol, rising to his feet. At the end of the day, Jotaro was still taller than the rest of them. He wasn’t as muscled as Polnareff, but he was less stout than Avdol. Even then, he wasn’t as lanky as Kakyoin, who was too busy stretching out on the couch like a noodle. Avdol watched him shrug past, dipping his hands in his jacket pockets.

“Kakyoin! Aren’t you two friends? Don’t leave him alone!” Polnareff complained, taking a seat at the table. Avdol walked over to the fridge, taking out two glasses of chilled beer. When he returned to the table, Polnareff’s face lit up and he happily took one. “Mon dieu! Merci, my flame, your kindness is impeccable.”

With a slight chuckle from Avdol, Kakyoin groaned and got up.

“Why don’t you two go bother him?”

“Because I want alone time with Jean, obviously,” Avdol stated, taking a mouthful of beer. Polnareff grinned lightly, taking his partner’s hand and twining their fingers together.

“Is that so? Because I know a good storage room next to the bathrooms—”

The abrupt slam of the door behind Kakyoin made the two flinch, Polnareff looking over his shoulder in a slight surprise as he was interrupted. Well, at least he was gone now. Avdol looked at his boyfriend and elevated an eyebrow.

“Did they fight?”

Kakyoin walked out to see Jotaro kicking rocks, a cigarette between his lips. He stood by the door for a little, watching him rear his leg back and send the stones flying from the force of his shoe. The moon cast a silver light upon Jotaro’s face, the slight red spark of the cigarette butt the only warm light outside. When Jotaro was done, he turned and flinched at the sight of Kakyoin.

“What the fuck—you scared the shit out of me, Nori. Why are you out here?” He questioned, facing away from his companion. Kakyoin watched white smoke billow out around his figure and follow a path into the sky. In the distance, he could hear the roar of the freeway, a sound he would never adjust to.

“They wanted alone time…” He mumbled, crossing his arms and dipping his head down. There was some dejected feeling in his chest, maybe it was from being refused. Or maybe it was because it was cold. “Hey, JoJo? It’s freezing. We should go inside before the break ends.”

Jotaro turned around again, pulling the cigarette from his mouth. He nodded, heading back to the door. He looked down at Kakyoin, then bent forward. Jotaro could hear Kakyoin’s breath catch as he brought his face close. Their lips could almost brush, just barely, if he leaned any closer.

“Midnight.”

“Huh?”

“I’ll kiss you at midnight. You’ll be eighteen then, right? Then it should be fine for me to kiss you.” Jotaro stated, flicking his eyes around Kakyoin’s face to observe the changes in his expression. The other teenager sucked in a soft breath, biting the inside of his cheeks. He nodded, looking away. His cheeks glowed.

“Yeah. Fine.” Kakyoin confirmed, then peeled himself off the wall. He glanced at Jotaro, who was as stone-cold as ever, and his lips mashed together in a weird, nervous smile. Jotaro only dropped the cigarette he was holding to smash it under his heel. He noticed Kakyoin lingering by the door and raised an eyebrow.

“What? It’s not like we’re having sex. It’s just a kiss.” He said, kicking away the squished cigarette. Kakyoin chuckled. God, what a strange smile. It's as if Kakyoin was trying his best to hold back all of his gushy feelings and failing.

“Of ‘course not, JoJo! Unless you want to—”

“Shut up.”

----

Haha I posted this on AO3 around a month ago, and my friend (@arrivederciroque , follow her) suggested I put it here. Hope you enjoyed.

#jojo's bizarre adventure #jojo fanfic #jotakak #jotaro x kakyoin #avdol x polnareff

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morganxhayes · 4 years

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GENERAL STATS

BASIC INFO

Name: Morgan Grace Hayes

Pronunciation: more-gn haze

Nickname(s): Mo, Dr. Hayes, Professor Hayes

Age: Thirty one

Date and place of birth: 15th September, 1989 in San Antonio, TX

Astrological sign: Virgo

Gender: strongest association with the term ‘demi-girl’ but usually tells people the general ‘non-binary’ - likes using Dr. because it is a genderless title

Pronouns: they/them (generally preferred) or she/her (acceptable)

Nationality: american

Ethnicity: half-black, half-white

Occupation: Lecturer at Vesta University, Environmental Contractor with

Education: B. S. from Humboldt State University, M. S. from University of Michigan, PhD from University of California Davis

Religious beliefs: agnostic

THE PHYSICAL

Height: 1.78 m (5′ 8″)

Weight: 62 kg (137 lbs)

Body Type: ectomorph - lean and athletic

Hair: black and wavy, normally shoulder length, formerly was streaked, but not anymore

Eyes: very dark brown

Clothing Preferences: At work, they go for work casual (jeans and a nice shirt, or a nice shirt and slacks), otherwise, shorts, a crop top, fun layers are their style when not in the field

Defining Features: since they are a professional, they have their additional piercings out at work, and they don’t rock the colorful highlights anymore, so probably their smile

Voice Tone: alto pitch that is generally flat and borderline monotone

Blood-Type: O-

Allergies: Oak pollen, and not an allergy, but lactose intolerant

ROMANCE

Sexual Orientation: Demisexual

Romantic Orientation: Panromantic

Do they have a type: Sort of - physically, not quiet. Personality is everything though, they like people that are creative, not driven by money, spontaneous and outgoing. They like people who strive to do good for the world. Tattoos are also a visually appealing thing to them

Pet peeves: People who chew with their mouths open, people who only talk about themselves, those obsessed with their online presence, and people that don’t respect their pronouns

PERSONALITY

Likes: nature (especially birds and frogs), hiking, puzzles, swimming, non-human animal skulls , philosophical conversations, coffee, savory vegetarian food

Dislikes: loud noises, single-use plastics, reality television, most ‘leisure’ shopping, wearing ‘professional’ clothes for work

Ambivert, introvert or extrovert?: Ambivert with leanings towards introversion

FAMILY

Siblings: Sierra Hayes

Birth order: Sierra was born first

Parents: Michael Hayes and Kimberly West

Children: None

Do they want kids: No - could be convinced to adopt, but does not view it as environmentally responsible

SKILLS

What language(s) do they speak: English and Spanish

What are they talented at: identifying animals in the wild (especially birds, frogs, and many lizards), breaking down complex ecological concepts to help others understand, their wilderness survival skills are pretty great - they have their wilderness first aid certification

What is a hidden talent no one knows of: they give really good massages

What are they worst at: They cannot sing or carry a tune for the life of them. They tried playing instruments as a kid and the only one they can sort of play is the kalimba. Their palate is also pretty bad - could never be a food critic

A DEEPER LOOK

WHAT IS THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH THEIR FAMILY LIKE?:

Not quite estranged, but strained. There are a lot of conflicts of interest. Deep down, they all love each other, but their family values material wealth and is hardly concerned with the environment. They have not made much of an attempt to understand what Morgan does. Because of this, they have not put in the effort to maintain a relationship. On birthdays, they will send cards and call home on holidays, but it is rare for them to visit. They are slowly rebuilding a relationship with their sister. Morgan feels that they are viewed as the ‘family disappointment’. Despite that, they are proud of themselves for going a different route in life.

DESCRIBE THEIR PERSONALITY:

Morgan comes off as pretty outgoing at first glance, because they spend a lot of time trying to educate the public about wildlife - which requires enthusiasm and patience. But they are quick to make snap judgments about those they meet. Their beliefs, they are outspoken about- they have been labelled a ‘social justice warrior’ before. They personal life, they keep lot to themselves, especially now that they are a public worker. One of Morgan’s most defining characteristics to employers is how hard of a worker they are. When they set their sites on something, they work until they come up with something they are proud of. In part, this is due to people doubting their ability to succeed. However, this comes at the price of nothing ever feeling ‘good enough’. They doubt their work a lot and sometimes get buried in the details. But, when they can dig themselves out of a mountain of work, they do enjoy going out for parties and getting into some mischief.

ARE THEY HAPPY WHERE THEY ARE IN LIFE:

They are - Morgan still strives for more. The university is a stepping stone to decide if they want to dive into academia or if contracting work is the route for them. They are almost done paying off student loans and then they’ll be able to start saving money. But given they got their current job only two months after defending their dissertation, they are thrilled.

WHAT IS THEIR DREAM:

Their dream fluctuates a lot, but ultimately they want to leave the Earth a better place than when they arrived. Part of it is being a positive influence on more students of color and bringing more diversity into ecology. Another part is to help more land become protected in the tropics and promote community stewardship. They hope to eventually work for a non-profit, but cannot afford to right now.

#( * about me. )#vestatask #vestatask001 #{ this has been sitting in my drafts for weeks now }

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taylorswiftstyle · 6 years

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TAYLOR SWIFT STYLE — iHeartRadio Awards

Typically I wouldn’t be busting out a predictions post for such a small-ish awards show.

But given Taylor’s confirmed attendance (feels like forever since we’ve known that she’ll show up to a red carpet), the fact that homegirl is definitely Up To Something, and the ever-swirling wonderment of the fandom wondering when our lives are going to get torn asunder by any scrap of confirmed news regarding TS7 ... I am happy to make an exception.

Like most music award shows, particularly one of the iHearts calibre where there is less prestige involved, this event will likely feature tons of short hemlines and loud/bold fashion. The theme of most music award shows is skin and having fun. Aka this is not an event where I anticipate a full-length gown to appear.

So with that ...

Fausto Puglisi Spring 2019 This is a look that almost didn’t make it, but has squeaked on because of Fausto’s role in the “airplane theory” and because the sunny print feels light, bright, and ... beaming. ;) Plus I’m a sucker for blondes in yellow — and by extension orange. I picture this with stunning waves, super bronzed and glowing skin, and some mega strappy bronzed sandals.

Schiaparelli Spring 2019 Couture Listen. I know this is a Lewk. I also know that the chances of Tay wearing it realistically are ... none. But if one had to distill her latest Instagram aesthetic of bubblegum pinks and frothy swirling teal baby blues into one dress it would be this dress. While the cowgirl boots styled with the runway outfit are comically allusive to Tay’s self-titled days, I’d imagine her in a colourful pair of sandals (like these new Louboutins from their latest Optical Illusion collection) or fierce booties. Hair in a fun updo, of course, so as not to compete with that overempowering fluffy neckline.

Giamba Fall 2019 A playful pink sparkler is precisely the kind of lighthearted piece that I’d expect this shiny, lovey version of Taylor to wear. The billowing sleeves and short hemline keep it on this side of both mature and sassy. I’d love to see this with slicked back hair and a plummy glossy berry lip and ear climbers.

Balmain Spring 2019 It wouldn’t be a music awards show without the edge (or #thirst, depending on the wearer) of a Balmain look. While the futuristic fracturing of the dress is very reminiscent of Gaga’s Fame days, I think this particular shade of aqua plus the obvious magpie in Taylor who loves a sparkly moment could do justice to this look. White patent boots, smoky eye, a dark mani, and a glossy nude pink lip.

Honourable Mentions:

Giambattista Valli Fall 2018 Couture My most rep-worthy outfit of all my picks. I decided to leave it off because while Taylor is set to attend this award show to celebrate the accomplishment of her Reputation Stadium Tour, it felt more fun to look forward and consider the ways that her future fashion could come into play. Also, I was a bit on the fence about how a bow as a top would play with Taylor now given that she seems to have fully phased crop tops out of her wardrobe post-1989. Still cute, tho.

Isabel Marant Spring 2019 A rose gold jumpsuit? Yes. But given that the last time Taylor attended this event she wore a very similar silhouette (a tight-fitting, high shine jumpsuit) I figured it would be best to relegate this as a runner-up.

Céline Spring 2019 A sparkling gold number that takes the idea of the above Giamba number and collides it with a knight in shining armour who stumbled upon a disco. Gelée glittering eyelids, a light gloss, and pointed pumps would complete this.

What do you think of my picks? Do you have a fave or any other personal fantasies?

— Taylor went sequinned in a Rosa Bloom romper.

#taylor swift #taylor swift style #tss predictions

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lay4decolonisation-blog · 5 years

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She-Ra: Princesses of Power (2018) and the Representation that I Want

**CONTENT WARNING: ABUSE, VIOLENCE**

When I heard She-Ra was back and GAY, I had to jump straight or not so straight into it. The amazing characterisation and themes of the show fit the modern audience perfectly. She-Ra: Princesses of Power (SPOP) did what Voltron: Legendary Defender wish it did. RIP.

The SPOP series was written by Noelle Stevenson, and produced by Dreamworks. Season 1 aired on the 13th November 2018 via Netflix.

There’s two things I want to discuss, so I’ll split this up into sections: visual character design & complex characterisation.

Visual Character Design

80’s She-Ra

2018 She-Ra

She-Ra is the hero alter ego of Princess Adora, who transforms when she calls forth “For the Honour of Grayskull!” with The Sword of Protection.

When I saw the visuals for the series and the new outfit for She-Ra I nearly screamed. It was perfect. I will always prefer Marvel cinematic movie adaptations on the basis that women wear full body armour, and not a skirt. So it was natural for me to fall in love with the shorts, flowy skirt, useful boots and 80’s influenced shoulder flares on She-Ra’s new threads.

She looked PRACTICAL, and totally badass. I see no male gaze in the update. She-Ra isn’t wearing heels, or red lipstick, her dress doesn’t look like it’s about to give her a nip slip, and her hair still flows like golden threads in the wind!

Notice how I just used the ‘Male Gaze’. The Male Gaze is essentially a patriarchal control of representation of women and/or other genders in media, and can be applicable to historical documentation (Mulvey 1989). Ponterotto (2016) describes it expands on the media’s control of feminine bodies as:

“The invisibility of women has been accompanied in an extraordinarily inversely proportionate manner by the visual display of her physical appearance, of her body as material object, to be observed, judged, valued, appreciated, rejected, modified and essentially commodified, for socially-constructed purposes. From a feminist point of view, this purpose can be claimed to be essentially male pleasure, concomitant social benchmarking and commercial profit.” (134)

From the ‘controversy’ from predominantly male audiences on the release of She-Ra’s costume it’s obvious that it’s doing its job (Lenton 2018); with men reacting with things like:

“The character designs for this show are god awful. She-Ra looks too much like a man.” MECCA_Studios @ twitter

“if you're trying to make your girls look like boys for your show then you are not actually fighting for equality you're proving that men is the superior gender and taken more seriously than a beautiful women, you're only helping sexism not fighting it” - iamconsumer @ twitter

I wanna acknowledge this was mainly white, cishet males reacting to a show that is predominantly AIMED AT YOUNG GIRLS. SPOP’s visual design of She-Ra was so key in getting this show right. She is a woman icon for young girls growing up and seeing her on screen wearing a non-sexual costume whilst being feminine, strong and beautiful will mean something for them growing up. Women/Feminine peoples can look at the screen and say “I’m She-Ra!” and not have to feel like they have to look good for male gaze to do that.

People Of Colour (POC) Representation

Bow, Mermista, Frosta, Netossa and Catra’s - along with ethnically ambiguous characters - redesign was kind of glossed over with the amount of objections about the Queer and Feminist arguments going around.

So here’s some of my babies:

Bow 80s

Bow 2018

Mermista 80s

Mermista 2018

Catra 80s

Catra 2018

Frosta 80s

Frosta 2018

Bow stood out to me alot because I empathize alot for my dark skinned brother’s who don’t have any or many examples of good representation on screen that explores queer identity, gender performativity, body image and positive masculinity that is casual and fun. (I speak of course from an Indigenous background, but a lot of my community look at the African-American community on TV for dark bodies representation.) Imagine a young dark skinned boy watching Bow being fun loving, supportive, gentle, obsessed with crop tops, hanging out with girls and embodying positive masculinity, then using as a mold to treat their sisters, mums and cousins. Incredible.

SPOP centers ethnic looking characters amazingly with their characterisation. Having POC on screens breaks out of normalizing whiteness, and de-centers it as the default way of being (Scharrer & Ramasubramanian 2015). People might argue that fantasy worlds don’t overlap with real worlds because race mightn’t exist in the fantasy world, but when you’re a ethnic kid growing up watching/ reading white bodies being superheroes and warriors and People of Colour don’t exist you have no representation, or worse POC are negatively stereotyped. Representation is IMPORTANT. Representation is the ability to control the way the world perceives a group of people, or yourself - white people often struggle understanding this because whiteness as an identity is invisible by normalization (hooks 1992, Dyer 1997). It can be compared to men as ungendered compared to women, or non-cis and queer people with heteronormativity. So it can only be visible when colour is involved, and depending on whether it’s good or bad POC representation it can create racial stereotypes (Brigham 1971, Nosek 2007).

LGBTQIA+ Visual Representation

I feel like you can find a lot of this, but not any by me!

I will start with Scorpia cause she’s such a dear.

JUST LOOK AT HER.

Everyone is screaming ‘butch lesbian’ little to know that she is a total femme (anyone can fight me on this). Her open attraction towards Catra was loud, unapologetic and was super ultra normal. Despite her giant crab claws, I just want her to hold me gently. I think it’s another good example of different body types. Like it’s not just an exterior what makes a woman a woman or a good person a good person. Before I die of thirst, let’s move on to my Bow’s dads.

OH MY GAWD. Bow resembles Lance and George so much. Like the perfect little mix between their two personalities UGH. Both very different individuals who share a common obsession with history. Two gay Black dudes just be out here owning the biggest collection of ancient artifacts, studying the classics and raising 13 kids like wojefdikewajfaij

Lance out here rocking dreads and the glasses with sandals *bathump* and George with his little moustache and fancy hair. They go on like a normal couple picking on one another and knowing each other’s personalities, caring about their son and reflecting on their parenting when they realize they messed up instead of blaming their kid for not understanding them okmfoerngfa

Sorry, my heart nearly went into cardiac arrest thinking about them.

I won’t miss the exceptional drop of them telling Bow their disappointed that he had to hide a part of himself because he was afraid of what they’d think of him or do. I remember that feeling….*glances at my physical wooden closet*

SPINNERELLA AND NETOSSA.

Netossa is the only character (I’m pretty sure) who was originally dark skinned in the 80s She Ra - she also had no powers.

Now rocking up with powers and gf, she is out here living her best life. Look at them. Just look at my babies. They swapped chokers, like wow, what a lesbian power move. Plus sized, buff queer women rocking their femininity being loyal and totally badass. Their actual appearances on screen are limited but impactful as they are seen as people seem to question more what the heck they do in the Rebellion rather than their queer relationship.

Complex Characterisation

Let’s start with Shadow Weaver’s relationship with Catra and Adora.

Starting off at Mystacor as Light Spinner, she a teacher and getting one of her students, Micah, to perform a spell that conjured evil magic - The Spell of Obtainment - ultimately decided her path as Shadow Weaver. She became an abusive, manipulative and self righteous authoritative figure to Catra and Adora.

Shadow Weaver is an abuser. Abuse works differently in each situation but is defined by White Ribbon Australia in categories of: Physical, Financial, Emotional, Verbal, Social, Sexual, Stalking, Spiritual, Image based, Dowry and Elderly Abuse.

The emotional, verbal, social and I’m going to add economical (instead for Financial) abuse she inflicted on Adora and Catra made them stick together as companions through the hardships. Adora upon realizing the Horde’s actions and motives rejects and calls out Shadow Weaver’s abuse. Catra, on the other hand, looks for something like approval from Shadow Weaver. Catra grew up neglected and constantly compared to Adora in her duties to the Horde by Shadow Weaver, so when Adora left a shift happened in Catra. Adora was her main source of comfort and sense of safety in Shadow Weaver’s irract attitude towards her. Adora was her constant feeling of affection and comfort, when she went against the very codes that kept them together their entire lives - Catra was betrayed. Finally, maybe she could get the parental approval she was seeking from Shadow Weaver she never got when Adora was around. Also looking for validation of her moral that has been cause her actions other than rage and sadness that Adora had left her alone. Catra sort out her Abuser’s approval because that’s the only way she knew how to get validity and self assurance of her identity as a member of the Horde - all she ever knew.

Catra feels alone and like she can’t depend on anyone, and because she knows how that feels she was also able to emotionally manipulate Entrapta into join the Horde. It’s a consistent cycle of isolation that stemmed from one person’s influence.

The thing that differs Adora and Catra, was more Adora being given opportunities to lead and step up where Catra was always on the side. Adora gained leadership skills and an emotional capacity where she was able to trust others and trust herself. This ultimately allowed her to do the right thing and join the Rebellion. Catra on the other hand had to quickly use her head and be more aware of things other than herself which made her falter in the leadership role of Shadow Weaver, but that is her coping mechanism of isolating herself and having to immerse herself with other people and the world to take action.

Adora’s culture shock between the way the Princesses live and the way it was in the Horde only shows how she’s been manipulated through learning the knowledge and behaviours that were enforced on her in the Horde. Princesses aren’t evil. The Horde is evil.

Adora’s role of She Ra has put a lot of pressure on her, and she is fighting her own self.

What happened with Adora was she was specifically chosen because she’s had the experiences she’s had. She knows what it's like in the Horde. How their systems work. What type of people and kids are there. She knows all of that to use to win the war. She’s not gonna break into it, but out of it.

When Adora breaks out of the Horde’s learning, and the truth telling begins the walls will crumble and there will be internal upset. There’s a good and evil battle going on inside of each character. Adora wants to protect her friends and do the right thing, but sometimes those two things aren’t the same thing.

Another character I wanna bring up is Glimmer. Glimmer has been fighting to fight. She’s having to fight a struggle in her internal kingdoms. She’s been trying to tell the truth to the other Kingdoms and unite the Kingdoms so they can beat the Horde and save everything they love. She needed to stand up to her mother, the other Princesses, and herself. She is so damn strong and I love her so much omg.

When Bow went to the ball with Perfuma and she was upset, this was because she was afraid Bow would leave her. She’s been isolated also by her mother into doing Princess things that don’t actually have a big impact, but Bow has been consistent in her life and training to be a leader. When he left her side, she was scared that she was going to be isolated again. She knew it was irrational, but that kind of stuff just happens. Sometimes our feelings don’t always make sense to us at first, and we have to look somewhere else to understand what we’re feeling right then and there. But the besties will prevail.

The other thing I didn’t touch on earlier, but will now is age. The Princesses age from around 11-18 (?). The thing about having young people saving the world is really where we’re at. Kids are rioting in the streets trying to get big corporations led by greedy bastards who want resources and exploit people to stop, and save their entire world - yeah, you know I’m talking about situations like the climate strike. We will learn from our elders mistakes and do it right.

We shouldn’t give up because our parents did. We will be the ones to win, just like Glimmer, Adora, Bow and the gang.

Representation isn’t a debate - it’s a necessity.

Thanks for reading babes.

Reference List

Dyer, Richard. (1997) ‘The Matter of Whiteness’ in White, London: Routledge.

Brigham, John C. "Ethnic stereotypes." Psychological bulletin76.1 (1971): 15.

Nosek, Brian A., et al. "Pervasiveness and correlates of implicit attitudes and stereotypes." European Review of Social Psychology 18.1 (2007): 36-88.

Bell, Hooks. "The oppositional Gaze: Black Female Spectators." Black Looks: Race and Representation (1992): 115-131.

Mulvey, L. (1989). Visual pleasure and narrative cinema. In Visual and other pleasures (pp. 14-26). Palgrave Macmillan, London.

Ponterotto, D. (2016). Resisting the male gaze: feminist responses to the" normatization" of the female body in Western culture. Journal of International Women's Studies, 17(1), 133-151.

Scharrer, E., & Ramasubramanian, S. (2015). Intervening in the media's influence on stereotypes of race and ethnicity: The role of media literacy education. Journal of Social Issues, 71(1), 171-185.

https://www.whiteribbon.org.au/understand-domestic-violence/types-of-abuse/

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taylorklaine · 7 years

Text

A Comprehensive List of the Symbolism and Details in “Look What You Made Me Do”

I’m including everything, from the obvious to the minor details and symbols that at this point are only speculation, to big and small things that made the video amazing. Here we go.

The video, of course, opens with an aerial pan of a graveyard. The specific site that Taylor is buried at, supposedly, the graves spell out “TS”.

“Here Lies Taylor Swift’s Reputation”

Other names on the surrounding gravestones include “Nils Sjoberg”, the pseudonym she used when she wrote “This is What You Came For”, and Joseph Kahn, the director of LWYMMD as well as Blank Space and Bad Blood

Zombie Taylor is wearing the same dress Taylor wore in the “Out of the Woods” music video, which was the final true music video released from 1989 (the New Romantics video was all tour footage). People have taken this to mean either she never truly made it out of the woods or one of the many allusions to the death of her old self.

All the gravestones are tilted during the “tilted stage” line

The outfit that Taylor is wearing when she is being buried into the ground is from the 2014 Met Gala, which was the last public event Taylor attended before the 1989 era began.

While a lot of the public has speculated that Taylor bathing in a tub of diamonds is a jab at KKW’s robbery, a lot of fans see the comparisons to a performance of Blank Space at the Grammy Museum, and I can’t remember the exact quote, but it’s about what people see her as.

There’s also a single dollar bill in the tub, referencing the symbolic $1 she won in her recent assault case.

People think her makeup in this scene is also really similar to how her makeup looked in the Blank Space video, which was another song in which she portrayed a character that the media believed her to be, even though it wasn’t true.

The camera looks like it’s out of focus for a second, but if you look closely, Taylor is clapping along to the beat of the song in the mirror.

When Taylor fires her finger gun, a real spark shoots out of her fingers as if she’s shooting a real gun.

She wears a ton of snake jewelry, and tons of snakes slither up to her throne, a direct reference to post-KKW drama where everyone left snake emojis on all her Instagram posts.

On a couple of the columns as well as the gold skull she rests her hand on, there is an engraving of “Et tu, Brute?” which is a quote from a Shakespeare play. In the scene, Caesar is being stabbed to death, betrayed by his friend, Brutus.

One of the snakes serves Taylor tea (serving or spilling tea is now slang for spilling dirt on someone, or exposing something bad about them).

The entire crashing a car followed by a paparazzi swarm of her posing, to me, is just a general analogy of causing drama to get attention

BUT some fans have noticed that the car she drives is a Maserati, and have made comparisons to the “driving a new Maserati down a dead end street” line from Red. In addition, in the next scene, she’s holding a Grammy, alluding to when Random Access Memories beat Red for AOTY, but the announcer drew out the “rrr” sound making her and her team thinking for a split second she won. I’m sure there’s video online of her reaction.

One more thing about this scene: She’s sporting a haircut very similar to the one Katy Perry has. Katy has never won a Grammy.

(Also the leopard in the passenger seat has a 13 necklace)

People have made the obvious metaphoric comparisons to her in an orange outfit in a cage to being a prisoner. This is further emphasized by the armed guards that surround the cage. People also consider being caged a metaphor for being in a zoo and locked up and watched like an animal.

There’s a rat on her plate during the “feast”. People have made jokes about this being symbolic of Calvin Harris. I’m not sure why.

Taylor & co. infiltrate a safe wearing cat masks, giving some fans hope that she has not shed everything about her formal self.

Her sweater also reads “Blind for Love”, making comparisons to her long-standing reputation as a serial dater.

People believe Taylor and a crew of girls riding motor cycles is an allusion to the Bad Blood music video.

When Taylor burns the stack of money, and when she comes in with a baseball back, the banner in the background reads “stream.co”, a direct allusion to her letter to Apple Music and pulling her catalog from the Spotify music streaming surface, leading people to believe she did this to make more of a profit and that she’s money hungry.

The next scene is the media portrayal of her squad. She is an evil dictator who recruits beautiful, plastic models for her cult. You can see the banner flashes “Squad U”, pictures, of cats, and Taylor’s lucky number 13.

Everyone also wears black leather, which people think is another allusion to Bad Blood.

And people think all of the bodies piled next to each other might be a reference to Kanye’s “Famous” video.

All of the men at Taylor’s beck and call is another reference to her being called a diva and “kidnapping men and holding them hostage in her house”, which is another paraphrased quote from the Grammy Museum performances.

The African-American back-up dancer who hold the pen during this scene is actually Todrick Hall, one of Taylor’s real life friends.

Taylor sawing the wings of the plane is believed to be a metaphor for her taking back the narrative.

All the male backup dancers are wearing “I <3 TS” crop tops, which her ex Tom Hiddleston was seen wearing while they were together.

There are also 8 backup dancers, and Taylor reportedly has 8 famous ex-boyfriends.

And now for everyone’s favorite part of the video: Taylor stands in front of a neon letter T in a jumpsuit that reads “rep”, short for reputation. This is the new Taylor, and she is standing on top of a mountain of people who are trying to save themselves from some kind of doom. But these people are actually older versions of Taylor from through the years. Some major ones include the ballerina outfit from Shake It Off, the ringleader outfit from WANEGBT on the Red tour, her nerdy Junior Jewels shirt from the YBWM video, and the sparkly dress, guitar, and 13 on her hand from the Fearless tour. Other ones that are not as visible are the iHeartRadio Awards, the 2015 VMAs, a polka dot shirt from WANEGBT, her 22/Everything Has Changed outfit from the Red tour, her Style outfit from the 1989 tour, WANEGBT pajamas, and several other looks from music videos and appearances she’s made over the years

Taylor’s Junior Jewels shirt has the names of her real life friends written on it, including Ed Sheeran, Selena Gomez, Gigi Hadid, Todrick Hall, Alana, Danielle, & Este Haim, Lena Dunham, etc.

When Reputation Taylor kicks YBWM Taylor in the face, the shoes she is wearing are very similar to the ones she wore in her most recent Vogue cover, which was one of her first interviews post-1989 era.

Then Taylor blasts her former selves off the mountain and they fall to their death. This is what I think is the general theme going into the Reputation era. In order to save herself, Taylor has to kill off her older selves and become someone new, someone the media already thinks she is, in order to keep any respect. Even before, when the song first came out, many people considered the message of the song very similar to Blank Space. Taylor is playing a character, someone who she most certainly is not but the media certainly believes her to be. She’s taking on this persona as a tongue-in-cheek clapback to how the media portrays her. And as she said with Blank Space, “If you don’t get the joke you don’t deserve to get the joke” (again I’m paraphrasing).

Towards the end of the song, the Maserati explodes and kills the paparazzi, but Taylor walks away unscathed.

She spray paints “reputation” onto the plane with no wings, more analogies to her taking back control of her own narrative.

When the songs ends, one of the backup dancers grabs her butt, which people think is another reference to her assault case.

And now the other fan favorite part: 15 different versions of Taylor stand in front of the plane and argue. iTunes lists 15 total tracks for reputation.

Shake It Off Taylor falls onto the floor in the same way she did at the end of the video. KKW Taylor is shaking her ass.

YBWM Taylor pulls a surprised face, and both Zombie and SIO Taylor call her annoying and that “she can’t be that surprised all the time”. People have been making fun of her since the very beginning for constantly being surprised whenever she wins awards.

Zombie Taylor gets very angry when Reputation Taylor calls her a bitch, which a lot of people think is another reference to “Famous”. After KKW leaked footage of Taylor approving some of the lyrics, Taylor defended herself by saying she never approved the “I made that bitch famous” line

Fearless Taylor simply says “y’all”, a reference to her country roots, and Red Taylor accuses her of being too nice and very fake. Another criticism she’s faced over the years,

Fearless Taylor starts to cry at this, and another Reputation Taylor rolls her eyes at her “playing the victim”. We all know this is something Taylor’s been called a lot over the years, but especially more recently after the Katy/KKW feuds.

Another new version of Taylor simply holds a snake and hisses at everyone, again referencing everyone calling her a snake after the KKW incident.

Met Gala Taylor observes another new Taylor in surprise. Since MG Taylor is pre-1989, some people think her attitude is more innocent and pure here, how she was before the 1989 era began and her reputation began to falter

This new Taylor is “getting receipts” of Fearless Taylor and is “going to edit this later”, direct references to Katy, Swish Swish, and KKW on Snapchat.

We round this out with one more Taylor--VMA Taylor, complete with silver dress, Moonman, and mic, exactly how she appears in the infamous photo of her and Kanye in 2009. She says she “would like to be excluded from this narrative”, a direct quote from Taylor’s statement after KKW’s snapchat leak.

Finally, one more detail that fans have picked up on is the last frame, in which all the Taylors are in the shot and yell at VMA Taylor to shut up. However, the 15th Taylor stands on the plane wing and doesn’t seem to be participating. People believe this is another symbol of how the reputation era is going to go, and Taylor’s mental state at this point. On the wing, she is alone, separated from everyone else, separated from all of her older selves. As she says in the song, “I don’t trust nobody and nobody trusts me.” After everything that’s happened, she can only rely on herself. She is the only one who is going to have any say from here on out. She destroyed the wings so no one else could fly it for her, but she’ll be damned if she flies that plane on anything but her own terms.

This bitch did not miss a single thing and I’m not exaggerating when I say this is the best video of her career so far. I love her so much, and I’ve never been more proud. Brava, @taylorswift. Brava.

(please feel free to add to this if you think i missed anything)

#taylor swift #lwymmd #look what you made me do #lwymdvideo #taylor swift music #taylor swift video #taylor swift music video #taylor swift mv

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kissesonswift · 7 years

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A LIST OF EVERY HIDDEN SYMBOL IN LWYMMD MUSIC VIDEO/SONG!

1. The video opens with the tombstone saying, “Here lies Taylor Swift’s reputation,” which represents Taylor being ripped to shreds these past 10 years by the media/everyone else about what she did or didn’t do. Symbolism within the first 5 seconds...fuck yeah queeeeeeeeen!

2. Zombie corpse Taylor climbs out of the soil in her OOTW dress, representing the final phase of the 1989 era (OOTW being the last video for that era) - showing that the very last of the ‘old Taylor’ is ‘dead’.

3. When she says ‘tilted stage’ all of the gravestones move from tilted to upright. A hint to our fav boi Kanye?

4. The ‘Nils Sjöberg’ tombstone, which is the pseudonym that Tay used to when she co-wrote TIWYCF with Calvin Harris, representing that the old Taylor who let people take credit for her fame and work is now dead and that this new bitch ain’t taking NO MORE SHIT. THROW THAT SUBTLE SHADE, BITCH!!

5. The dead ‘OOTW’ Taylor digging ‘Met Gala’ Taylor’s grave to signify once again, the end of an era (the 2014 Met Gala look was the start of Taylor’s 1989 era). Basically the #taylorswiftisoverparty.

6. Taylor lying in a bathub of diamonds to describe the over-exaggerated portrayal of her personality that the fucking media has created: that she ‘cries in her marble bathtub surrounded by pearls” and that she’s so ‘greedy’ and ‘snobby’. ya eXCUSE ME our baby donated 1.5 million dollars to the Hurricane Harvey fund while you won’t donate $1 when you checked out at Walgreens, you fuckwad.

7. The $1 in the bathtub - a shout out to the crude, idiotic, low life, dimwit MUELLER who grabbed Taylor’s ass/assaulted her and tried to get away with it. AKA the court case that occurred earlier this August.

8. Some say the locket beside the bathtub is the locket that Calvin gave Taylor. LOOKIT TAYLOR THROWING THAT BITCH AWAY *sips tea*.

9. The throne part that reads ‘Et tu, Brute?’ which translate’s to ‘Even you, Brutus?” (think Shakespeare, where Brutus stabs Caesar to death) - this part basically refers to those who stabbed her in the back and who called her a snake (think celebrity feuds - KIM, KANYE, KATY, etc).

10. The tea being served by an ACTUAL snake, as Taylor is basically like ‘screw all this Kim and Kanye shit’ and claims the snake as her own title after Kim K had the guts to tweet about Taylor being a snake.

11. Also, 12 snakes are counted, leaving Taylor as the 13th snake...this bitch really did that...

12. The car crash scene where all the photographers continue taking photos of Taylor and not helping her dispite being in a deadly car crash is a metaphor for the media being more interested in the ‘drama’ that happens in her life instead of focusing on her well-being.

13. The Maserati crash could also possibly be sending the ‘RED DESERVED A GRAMMY’ message due to the lyric: ‘driving a maserati down a dead end street, faster than the wind, passionate as sin, ending so suddenly’ relating to this scene, as Taylor holds a grammy in her hand (which Red did not get but so RIGHTFULLY FUCKING DESERVED!)

14. Our girl is so extra that she made the cheetah wear a ‘13′ necklace.

15. Taylor robbing the streaming company signifies her Spotify callout when she removed her music from Spotify because she believed artists should be paid for their hard work - and critics fired back and said she was doing it to make more money...how does she think of this shit??

16. When she burns a stack of bills because people said that she removed her music from Spotify because she had ‘money to burn’ and that she’s ‘money hungry’.

17. The motorcycle scene, because a motorcycle company sued her in 2015 over the term ‘Lucky 13′.

18. When Taylor is standing at a podium giving orders to plastic looking dolls - representing the media scrutinizing her squad that they’re all made up of identical looking models/that they’re all fake and manfactured.

19. Tom Hiddleston TEA, with the ‘I heart TS’ crop top shirts (he wore a shirt saying the same thing back when him and Taylor were a thing). This scene basically represents how people say her relationships are a PR stunt and that she just uses men for fame. My girl brough that shit up..that’s my baby and I’m real proud!

20. The Taylor mountain/climbing scene where the old Taylors are clawing at each other trying to get to the top, but the ‘new’ Taylor at the top shot them all down - because that’s what the media and everyone else has done to Taylor her whole career. again...on this episode...of how does this bitch....think of this shit?

21. In the scene with the many different era Taylors, you’ll notice the ‘Fearless’ era Taylor and the ‘Red’ era Taylor fighting..possibly over her choosing between a country and pop sound?

22. Throwback to the ‘Our Song’ phone?

23. The last but GREATEST part of the whole video: when Taylor mocks all the criticism that has been made about her since her rise to fame..and the fact that she didn’t forget even ONE single insult that the media has said over these past 10 years, and put it into a video..bitch how?

- Stop making that surprised face, it’s SO annoying! (Hence all the friends names on the Junior Jewels shirt) - What’s with that bitch? - Oh, stop acting like you are all nice, you are so fake - There she goes, playing the victim again! - ‘Getting reciepts! I’m going to edit this later!’ - Playing Kim, as she altered the video of Taylor and Kanye speaking. - I’d very much like to be excluded from this narrative

24. Also, Taylor being extra as fuck with ‘TS6′ on the tail of the plane and ‘13′ as the airport terminal on the wall.

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savagegardenforever · 6 years

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TO THE MOON AND BACK Rolling Stones Magazine - Australia june 1998

All Darren Hayes could think was "This is not happening!" It was a mantra the Savage Garden vocalist kept chanting to himself, but it wasn't taking. The nascent pop star went to take a sip of his Powerade, but then the Edge cracked a joke and Hayes involuntarily laughed, spitting purple liquid all over himself. Supermodel Helena Christensen giggled as the singer coughed and spluttered. The rain clouds were clearing in the aftermath of the Sydeny leg of U2's PopMart tour, and Hayes had climbed the various levels of celebrity patronage - the shitkicker VIP tent; the serious VIP tent where Midnight Oil were rubbing shoulders with Keanu Reeves and Samuel L. Jackson - to here: U2's dressing room, "The Bunker". He was on his own. The other half of Savage Garden, the calm, assured keyboardist Daniel Jones, was back on level two. "This is not happening! This is not happening!" he told himself. When Bono's assistant bought Hayes in, he walked past Adam Clayton and had to remind himself to be cool. But f**k it, there he was, sitting there in the corner wearing a boxing hood and those black wraparound shades: Bono himself. The Fly, McPhisto, the man who wrote "One", the man who'd just left 50,000 people enthralled. Darren Hayes's goldstar was sitting a few metres away. It was happening. Hayes was dripping wet. The Powerade had simply added to the downpour he'd already stood through, dancing at the tip of the catwalk, alongside the other true believers, lost in the music. He'd had the chance to meet Bono the previous August, when PopMart was in Los Angeles. Hayes had been transfixed bu the show but decided not to go backstage. He didn't want to be the millionth hand Bono shaked, another beaming face to be forgotten. It was different now. Over the last year Savage Garden had sold approximatley four million albums around the world - they were on the course to double that - including a phenomenal 800,000 in Australia alone. They'd scooped the 1997 ARIA Awards and had a number one single in America with "Truly Madly Deeply", the first Australian act to do so since INXS with "Need You Tonight" in 1987. But Darren Hayes didn't want to meet Bono because he felt successful. He would never dare compare Savage Garden's achievements to U2. No, Darren Hayes wanted to meet Bono because he was starting to realise the baggage that came with the success. Savage Garden were in the midst of a sold-out national tour and he was starting to feel like he had nothing more to give, that he'd been stretched so thin he would either break in two or simply dissipate. A few nights before, in Tasmania, he'd been asking himself before a show if he could go on, if not tonight, then next week, or next month in New Zealand, or the month after that in Asia, or the looming months beyond that in Europe and America. He was wondering why they'd become a teen sensation, if he could keep his marriage out of the public eye. All of these thoughts were racing through Darren Hayes's mind. And then Bono was looking at him, gesturing for him to come over and talk ...

Let it be said again: Savage Garden are a phenomenon. Together with the Spice Girls they have spearheaded the return of pop music to the top of musical charts around the world, giving focus to the desires and needs of a generation of teenage, on the whole female, fans. But behind all this is two young men from suburban Brisbane. Polite, inquistive young men who worry a lot about what's happening to them, how they should handle success, how they can prove that their brand of pop is one which will mature and grow, which will reach for resonance and a sense of belief. When I first meet Savage Garden they are preparing to have thier photo taken. It is a Saturday afternoon and Savage Garden are standing in a Sydney hotel suite, looking at clothes, prior to shooting new press shots for America. On the Sunday and Monday, with a show also scheduled on Sunday night, they're to shoot a high-budget clip for the US release of "Break Me Shake Me". Hayes is wearing all black, most noticeably a pair of jeans armour-plated with PVC. With his locks now cropped, his dewy features have lost some of their femininity. He moves around constantly, even if he fights the flu, breaking into snatches of song, delving off into varied topics of conversation without warning. Now he's appraising outfits. "How much is this stuff?" he asks the stylist, who's lacing up Hayes's boots for him. "$290 for the top and $220 for the pants, less 10%," comes the reply. Hayes pauses, then snorts. "Tell 'em to get f**ked," he retorts. Sitting on a bed, patiently having his makeup done, Daniel Jones laughs. The keyboardist is tall and rangy, with blond, spiky hair. Up close, you can see the handful of acne scars which pit the right side of his face. When he smiles, which he does often for someone so observant and low-key, his angular face becomes quite disarming. He watched the PopMart show at the mixing desk, standing beside Helena Christensen. "I said hello and then spent the rest of the show trying to smell her," he notes, grinning broadly. Because they own their very successful records - they only lease them to Roadshow Music in Australia and New Zealand and Sony Music for the rest of the world - Savage Garden have a degree of control most bands can only dream of. "There's not one cent spent, not one colour used on a front cover that we don't approve," Hayes later explains. "It's very comforting." Right now, Savage Garden are working it for photographer Robin Sellick's camera. Hayes is a natural, staring off into the middle distance while standing in the foreground, masking his face in the very definition of broodiness. Jones stands behind him, biding his time for a practice he clearly doesn't place a great deal of faith in (although he's never less than professional). As the shoot moves from hallway to penthouse, Hayes takes front and centre in every shot. "I'm always aware that I'm in the front in every photograph, but it's not because I step in front of him," he says. "Daniel takes two steps back. People just assume I'm an egomaniac." The first album that both Hayes, age 25, and Jones, age 24, bought was Michael Jackson's Thriller. George Michael is a name they both mention with respect. Out in the suburbs of Brisbane both youngsters were pop fanatics, giving vent to their obsessions. Jones was so taken with the video for "Thriller" that he and a friend started digging graves behind his house so they could recreate the video; he even began work on making the famous red jacket. Hayes went one better: he built a paper maché ET and rode around with it in the basket of his bike. But the divergent paths the two took towards Savage Garden illustrate the differences between them. By the time he was 13, Jones was more interested in making music than listening to it. He'd started buying keyboards and sequencers, creating musical beds for songs. On the New Year's Eve of 1989, aged 15, he did his first two gigs back to back, with a covers band, and walked away with $400. He never went back to school after that. Financially astute, by the time he was 17 he owned his own PA, which he regularly loaded in and out of every pub and club in Queensland. "I kind of miss those moments," Jones recalls. "I enjoyed some of those innocent pressures more than these serious ones." Darren Hayes had far more trouble realising his dreams. "My whole life," he declares, "being a singer or performer was all I ever wanted to do." But growing up in one of Brisbane's rougher suburbs didn't make this easy. There's an undercurrent of anger in Hayes when he describes those years, as if he's still upset at how people tried to deny his dreams. "Most people I went to school with had two babies before they were 20. One guy is in jail for armed robbery. Another one died in a car crash while on cocaine. Another one is a pimp. That was the level of my peers. I didn't know a single person who was even a singer. My family weren't that encouraging - which is not a criticism - but my career choice was the most alien thing you could do in my family." Hayes started studying journalism at university, but then threw it in. "My mission was to be a star," he remembers, speaking with an earnestness which can easily veer into melodrama. With his then girlfriend, a fellow Madonna fanatic, the pair auditioned for theatre college. "I got in, she didn't, so I gave it all up for her. And three months later she dumped me. I was gutted." Hayes started a Bachelor of Education majoring in Primary School Teaching, "something I did not have a drop of passion about." Still obsessed with his dreams of fame, he was sitting in a lecture in 1992, reading a Brisbane street paper, when he saw a "Singer Wanted" ad for a local covers band, Red Edge. Replying to the ad he found himself in a band room, being stared down by Jones and the rest of the band. Red Edge didn't know any of Hayes's favourites, while the prospective vocalist ("I always knew I could sing, I knew I had soul") hated their Oz rock/top 40 repertoire. He sang a piece from Little Shop of Horrors, and even though his voice broke halfway through, he was in. It was not an easy adjustment. Hayes is not technically inclined, and he perversely refused to learn the words to the band's set, relying on lyrics sheets instead ("I still don't know the words to 'Khe Sanh'," he announces with pride). The experience, he concludes, was "hideous". Hayes is walking down a corridor to a meet and greet. In the lounge, Hayes is joined by Jones, fresh from dinner. Five girls - before some shows the number has been as high as 50 - appear breathless and nervous. There's nothing studied about teen hysteria, it has an immediacy which distances it from the adult world. Savage Garden are comfortable with it. "So, would you like us to sign some stuff?" asks Jones genially. Tickets, CDs and a stuffed bear are produced. Photographs are taken. One of the girls is red in the face because she's not taking in enough oxygen. "You all go to school, don't you?" asks Hayes. The girls indicate yes. "Well let me give you a lesson about school. All the kids that were popular end up on the dole with babies. All the nerds end up pop stars." "Hey!" retorts Jones. "I was never a nerd." "Darren is brutally honest, even to himself," answers Jones when asked to describe his bandmate. "Sometimes he's his own worst critic. He's so honest that anything he's feeling comes to the surface, which really helps clear the air in the type of intense relationship we have. He reminds me of a kid, not in a bad way, but in his naivity." Asked the same question, Hayes replies, "He's probably the most intelligent person I've ever met in my life. He doesn't say anything unless he's thought it through and it's right. It might take him two or three days, but he'll come to you and say, 'I think you look really insecure when you do that. I'm just being honest.' And you'll go red because he's absolutley right. Intelligent. Calm and confident. He's devoid of insecurity." When U2 brought the Zoo TV tour to Australia in 1993, Red Edge was scheduled to play a residency in Alice Springs. Darren Hayes didn't have to think for long. He left the band. But the other thing he was pondering was writing songs with Daniel Jones. The two had slowly developed a rapport, and Hayes was impressed that Jones and several other band members already had a music publishing deal. The actual songs, however, he hated. "They were watered down 1927," he laments. "It wasn't really my thing," says Jones. "But then I hooked up with Darren and left that band." The pair began to experiment. Happily working by himself at home, Jones would create the musical backing, Hayes would suggest refinements and then add his vocals. The fourth song they wrote together was their astral retooling of "She's Leaving Home", "To The Moon & Back," and afterwards they knew they were on to something. "I turned around," says Jones, "and said, 'This is as good as anything out there. It's as good as U2, or a Seal song - the benchmarks.' That's when we became really serious." Savage Garden's five song demo - the duo envisaged themselves as a studio project and were heavily influenced by U2's Atchung Baby - was well-recieved, although the pair were disheartened by the amount of music industry players whose first queries to them were, "What do you look like?" and "Can you dance?" The duo eventually signed with veteran manager John Woodruff (Baby Animals, Diesel, Icehouse) in 1995 and he remains the linchpin of the Savage Garden organisation and their business partner. It was a relationship forged in adversity. Because they couldn't get a record deal (whether because no one could see the band's potential or because no one was willing to give Woodruff a deal for his own record label is unclear), Woodruff self-financed the album, bringing the pair to Sydney for eight months to record at the home studio of veteran producer Charles Fisher )Hoodoo Gurus, 1927). Hayes first choice for a producer was George Michael. Living in a Kings Cross Hotel on a diet of noodles and missing their families, Savage Garden struggled to finish their album. Their doubts were constant, their aims shifting each month. Woodruff licensed the album to start-up label Roadshow Music, whose early signings had been anything but auspicious. Their first single, "I Want You" - a Hayes tale about an extraordinarily vivid dream where he met and fell in love with someone so deeply that when he lost them upon waking he became depressed - was released in June 1996. "What makes me laugh about our record is that we couldn't get a deal, so we signed to the joke of the industry, Roadshow," Hayes explains. "We had dodgy artwork, dodgy videos. We had trouble getting airplay at the start. Basically, we fulfilled every criteria to be unearthed by Triple J." [Triple J is an Australian youth radio station that plays alternative music] "The day I realised how commercial we were was the day I realised that Triple J didn't playlist 'I Want You'. I was thinking that it would be an indie-pop hit that they'd play. Then it was like, 'Actually, you're the most played band on the Austereo network.'" He pauses, then smiles. "And I'll take that any day." The band did their first in-store appearance as "I Want You" climbed to number three on the charts. "All these 13 and 14-year-olds turned up, screaming 'Darren! and 'Daniel!'" remembers Jones. "I was like, "Oh f**k!' I didn't want to go through that." By the time "Moon & Back" and then "Truly Madly Deeply" had gone to number one, to be followed by their self-titled debut album in March 1997, Savage Garden had acclimatised to their new surroundings. Hayes and Jones make no bones about making commercial music, but under that banner they see a world of subtle differences. "I think the best pop is the one that shoots from the hip," asserts Hayes. "What troubles me sometimes is that we've always wanted to be completely true to ourselves, but people always assume that since we make pop music it has to be calculated and all about marketing. It was never that. There are a lot of pop bands and vocal bands which just aren't real. They're not coming from a real place." "What's so magical about the record we made is that it's so innocent and earnest. It went out there and said this is what we want to be. We didn't care about hip or cool. It was unassuming. I think we write really good pop songs, we have a great ear for a melody and we have a directness when it comes to emotion." Savage Garden's show is mildly choreographed, well-designed and given to U2 homages (which Hayes happily admits to) that the young audience (seeded with the over-30s brought in by "Truly Madly Deeply") scream along to. With just one album and a handful of b-sides to draw on, there are noticeable low points. But live, Savage Garden are a guitar band. Jones plays more guitar than keyboards, while their stage sound is fleshed out by a rhythm section, extra guitarist and backing singers. "I think we're a pop band desperatley wanting to be a rock & roll band and I think that's what's funny about us," claims Hayes. The strangest moment is when Hayes, who has so much desire and extreme emotion projected at him from an audience he works relentlessly, dedicates a song to his wife, Colby. Fans want their pop stars to be free and magical, not married with a home in the Brisbane suburbs. Hayes is vocal on every topic bar one: his wife of three years. "I think it's strange to be young and married," he says, choosing his words carefully. "Imagine being young and married and a pop star. It's tough. We refuse to be an example pf a happy marriage to anyone. The reason I very rarely talk about Colby or do a Women's Weekly spread about our new glamour house is that it's hard enough being married without being a celebrity couple. When you're happy together they love you, but Jesus, when there's problems they don't care, they tear you to bits. And I'm not ready for that." Both Hayes and Jones (who is also in a long-term relationship) decided from the start not to discuss their private lives with the media. On their first tour in May 1997 a tabloid journalist who wanted to follow up his interview with Hayes with a quick phone chat was directed by Woodruff to call him on his mobile: "His wife Colby has it." "The next day he writes some article in the paper: 'Exclusive: Singer Tries to Hide Wife!'" spits Hayes, recalling the spectre of John Lennon, who really did keep his first marriage a secret under management orders. "When did I ever say I wasn't married? When did I ever say I wanted to talk about my private life? What the f**k does it matter? Is my music different because I have a wedding ring?"

For one second I knew what it was like to be Savage Garden. After their solf-out show I leave the Entertainment Centre. Their road manager directs me out the door to the car park. As soon as I open it the 500 fans awaiting the band's departure scream in anticipation. It is electrifying, even a little scary. But when they see it's only an anonymous figure, 500 fans go, "Ohhhhh." Pop music is a cruel, cruel mistress. Last October, the flight to Sydney for the ARIAs, where they would clean up 10 awards, Daniel Jones told Darren Hayes that he couldn't take it anymore and that he was ready to leave Savage Garden. The music, which is all Jones really cared about, had been overtaken by promotion. Instead of being allowed to hide away in a recording studio, Jones was giving 40 interviews a day in America, traipsing across Europe miming on TV shows in every country. "It was pissing me off. Music was becoming more about talking about it than actually making it. I had to get back to the studio. I enjoy it and I miss it. The whole moster size of this machine takes it away from you," he notes. "The whole pep talk I now give video directors and photographers is that I don't want to be up the front. I've drawn a line for myself, and that's the compromise I had to make to deal with being in this band. Now everyone understands what it is about these two people. One wants to be here, the other wants to be here." He holds up his hands to indicate the difference, the gap between them is a metre wide. "That's the deal we made around the time of the ARIAs, but to be honest I think I've always done it," claims Hayes later. "I've always been lumbered with it because everyone assumes I love it. And lately I'm the one saying I want out, I can't do this anymore. If we ever broke up it would be because one of us wanted to be George Michael and one of us wanted to be Dave Stewart." Right now though, the topic the pair are focusing on is their next album. "We matured faster than the album," Jones says. In their mid-20s now, they're not always comfortable playing the songs they wrote as 19 and 20-year-olds. At the end of their concert Hayes tells the cheering crowd, "We have to go away now and think it all up again." "It's seriously not about chart position," clarifies Hayes. "I want a career, so if it sells half as well as this one, thank you, I'll take that. I believe a career is about ups and downs. It shouldn't be a steady gradient. The next record has to be true to itself. It won't be a knee-jerk reaction to critics. To turn around and make a Portishead album would be a big mistake. We'll f**k around with technology, we'll f**k around with drumbeats. We're courting William Orbit at the moment, because we heard the new Madonna record and I thought, 'I like what you added to that record. You added spice and flavour without taking over.' And that's what we're looking for. We want to grow up a little bit. And we're prepared to do whatever it takes." Darren Hayes was thinking that Bono was a wise old man, a wizard. The icon was talking about life, how he searches every day for new inspiration, music, their show, and Hayes was rapt, once more the little boy in love with a mysterious extra-terrestrial. And then he started to tell Bono how he felt, like a rag doll that had been twisted around too much. How sometimes after a show he considered himself a prosititute because he had to give so much from his soul to every person in the room. Bono leaned closer to Hayes and grabbed his hand, putting it to his chest. Hayes could feel the pulmonary kick of the Irishman's heartbeat. And then he spoke: "As long as the music comes from here," he said, pushing Haye's hand harder against his chest, "then it's going to scream louder than any of the kids will." And for the few seconds that followed, Darren Hayes felt at peace with himself.

#interview #savage garden #darren hayes #daniel jones #1998 #rolling stone

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