#and YES ERIC I AM GOING TO TRY MEDITATING

[harrisonarchive]

Photo by María Moreno.

In 1987, George was interviewed by El País; here's a translation of that interview (to the best of my school-level Spanish).

George Harrison On Cloud Nine

George Harrison recently released his first album since 1982, when he disappeared from music to work on movies and live his life in peace. In making Cloud Nine he called on his friends Eric Clapton, Elton John and Ringo Starr- Many of the songs are similar to those of the early Beatle years, but Harrison scoffs at rumors about the group reuniting.

Cloud Nine sounds so much like the Beatles that it ends up being a tribute to the band’s early music. One of the songs on this new LP, When We Was Fab, refers to that epoch in which ‚we were fabulous‘ and ‚we were doing everything.‘ The song, which recalls Beatles melodies such as Strawberry Fields Forever and I Am The Walrus, suggests the style of John Lennon. At times it sounds as the late rhythm guitarist himself is singing.

El País: Cloud Nine contains songs and harmonies that recall the early Beatles. Is that what you intended?

George Harrison: Yes. It sounds like the Beatles because of the 12-string guitar. This is the kind of guitar we used on the first Beatles records. The electric guitar I have on the album cover is the one I used when the Beatles were not famous, when we were playing in Hamburg (West Germany). I have recovered it and use it in several songs. In contrast to the heavy music of this generation I had the idea of making a contemporary record that permits young people to know what was happening at the end of the 60s. Some of the songs are similar to those of the Beatles in the late 60s. I did it intentionally. I didn’t want to bend to the pleasure of the record companies or the industry. I don’t want to be untrue to myself. I like this album… It is so old it seems new.

EP: Listening to Cloud Nine, one gets the feeling that you were comfortable and happy during the recording.

GH: I was because I was with Eric Clapton, Elton John, Ringo Starr and other friends I have known for years and with whom I get along well. Elton John asked to be part of the record when he found out I was going to make it. He is one of the great musicians of rock 'n' roll. And Ringo? Well, what can I say? We have lived and performed together for a long time. We are alike in the way we regard music.

EP: You invited old friends to the recording, but did you invite Paul McCartney?

GH: No. I didn't invite Paul.

EP: You recently said that it is good to grow old, that it is time to mature with dignity.

GH: Yes. After running around so much when you're young, you need tranquility. When we were the Beatles we lived in permanent turbulence, we were crazy. We met mountains of people and went to many countries but we didn't get to know anything well because we never had a moment of peace. Therefore, for the past few years I have been trying to find out what is happening. It would be rare if it was only happening to me, but we are all growing old together. Ringo and Eric Clapton are growing old with me and that makes it easier. I have always considered them friends, but after the craziness of our youth you rediscover them and they become your best friends. Another thing that compels me to mature is my son, Dhani. I try to devote time to him and be a good father.

EP: At one time you influenced the Beatles to look for an introspective path that derived from Oriental mysticism and transcendental meditation. What remains today of this stage in your career?

GH: It is something I still carry inside but I don't talk about as much. On the new record there are no songs that advocate this way of life as there were on other records.

EP: “My sweet Lord, I really want to see you, I really want to be with you …" Do you still believe in a Sweet Lord?

GH: Oh, yes. Absolutely.

EP: If you were to write the song today, would you keep the same lyric?

GH: I would keep the same lyric. I believe that the lyric is true. I would change a few notes in the melody. (Laughter. In 1976, a U.S. judge sentenced Harrison to pay a fine after determining that My Sweet Lord, which was on the 1970 album All Things Must Pass, was an unintentional plagiarism of another melody.)

EP: The Beatles are said to have taken drugs -- especially marijuana and LSD -- from 1965 to 1967. This comes across in the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, recorded in 1966. You began transcendental meditation the same year. Did this help you give up drugs?

GH: I think so. The discovery of LSD was something we could not avoid because, in the case of John and me, someone put LSD in our coffee without our knowing it. After having had an LSD experience you do not want to go back to the way you were, you lose the notion of ego and you change because you see things you didn't perceive before. Even if I had not taken LSD it would not have been long before I began spiritual activities. After LSD, I became aware of God. But like with alcohol or other drugs you go crazy if you consume too much.

EP: You have not given up tobacco. Are you still a vegetarian and ecologist?

GH: Ecologist, yes, but now I eat fish and chicken. I did not eat meat from 1966 to 1979. During those years I was undernourished because I didn't know what to eat to replace the protein. In 1979, I began to follow the Formula One auto races and I was in Madrid or other capitals and it was difficult to eat in restaurants and hotels. If you don't go to Indian restaurants, where you can eat lentils and greens, you cannot stay on a vegetarian diet. So I began eating fish and chicken.

EP: The press has presented you in the past as a lonely man, shy and frightened after the assassination of John Lennon in December 1980.

GH: That's what the gossipers say. From time to time I get a flash of John's death. Sometimes it happens when someone I don't know approaches me by surprise. But you can't be afraid. I live a normal life. I don't go to cocktail parties and discos.

EP: How has Lennon's death affected you?

GH: I don't think anyone ought to die this way, at the hands of a madman. John's death has affected me, like it has most people. It's sad that someone can ruin the life of another. And when it's a longtime friend it's like losing a family member, a father or a brother.

EP: Even though you have written popular songs you have not had a hit since 1969. Do you think you were misunderstood and your talent underused in the Beatles epoch?

GH: For sure, because John and Paul dominated the group and had an arrangement for songwriting. Our producer for many years, George Martin, has publicly asked me to forgive him for this. But there is a moment for everything and at this time I was marginal.

EP: I remember reading in Rolling Stone that Lennon once said you were an invisible man between two egomaniacs.

GH: Absolutely.

EP: Is there something to the rumors of a Beatles reunion? There are rumblings that Lennon will be replaced by Elton John.

GH: Every six months or so someone invents a story like that. There is no possibility of the Beatles coming back to life. That era has ended. It is better to leave it like that.

[returntosaturn271995]

Saturday, September 9th: Aesthetic instead of anesthetic

Not sure if it was the tiny bite of an edible I took last night or the pseudo red wine herbs I drank or just the insane amount of East Coast hours I've been working: but I slept for 13 hours last night.

I woke up half past noon: disoriented and with a mild headache that I medicated with my birth control, morning coffee, and effexor. An ode to modern womanhood. Maddy and Eric FaceTimed me from Portland eating oysters and encouraging me to visit for Halloween. Maddy is sure she's going to marry her new boyfriend Colin. Meanwhile, I'm avoiding seeing my ex-boyfriend at Maverick's.

He's so tall and pale, I'm afraid that if I bump into Mitch I'll mistake him for the Babadook.

So instead I took my sober ass in a very cute outfit (Floral orange, green, and cream colored 70's inspired jeans, white halter top, bolo tie w/ moonstone, white leather sandals, brown satchel) to the park to start reading my latest book. I love a hardcover and I'm about one chapter into "The Rachel Incident" by Caroline O'Donahuge.

"A brilliantly funny novel about friends, lovers, Ireland in chaos, and a young woman desperately trying to manage all three"

I sat next to two girls around my age and their pug was named after the Baby Yoda character from the Mandalorian. The weather was perfect in the shade of the massive tree at the top of Kate Sessions Hill. Warm and breezy wind stroked the side of my face as I leaned back and stared upward at the tree branches through my amber-tinted sunglasses. The sun winked at me from behind the leaves and I listened to the Poetry Pharmacy. It counted as today's meditation. (I actually hoped the narrator would be British and sure enough the introduction was done by William Sieghart talking about going to boarding school at 8. Flawless. No notes.)

"Sometimes we refuse to forgive another so as to postpone the moment when they forgive us and we admit to having been wrong."

I thought about Morgan again. Her inability to say sorry. The fragility of some people that they have to be right, at the expense of peace and relationships. It's a weird emotional anniversary to keep remembering when I haven't thought of it in months. Even weirder that I'm more and more on my own side lately.

That was fucked up. No, I didn't have to put up with any of it. Yes, I am better off. I don't want to cling to that thought cycle though. No good can come from relitigating a closed case for a non-existent jury.

My feelings are valid. No one else needs to validate them for me.

Afterward, I headed home (stopped to see that boxer who always presses his nose to the window when I walk by) and whipped upa spicy pork meatball & wonton noodle stir-fry with bok choy & chili crisp. It's fucking great.

I want to look into passport renewal for Amsterdam, stretch out my calves, and maybe organize my closet a little. That's my sexy/non-chaotic Saturday in a nutshell.

Aesthetic instead of anesthetic.

Also, Olivia Rodrigo's new album came out!

"Driving at night, you can only see as far as your headlights. But you can make the whole trip that way."

[drdemonprince]

Huge Jugs Summer crested and crashed into dark, sweet, pleasurable, still Hedonistic Ego Death Winter... it was a period of restorative dormancy, interiority recovery, unknowing, unlearning, and pleasure. there’s a kind of death-drive to succumbing only to pleasure and short-term gratification, or at least there is for me. it’s an escape, or sometimes the only available balm, when you cannot envision the future, or lack the spirit to plan for it yet. 

Hedonistic Ego Death Winter has burst open and spread the seed pods of Budding, Purposeful Spring. a time of fecundity and abundance, and of growing toward a goal. lets do this gamers 

i might think of a catchier title for it just yet. but now is a time for planning and hoping. for preparing one’s body, mind, and emotional landscape for greater things. it’s a time to have a real reason to grow. beyond simply getting better at accepting love or receiving pleasure. it’s time to grow, together, toward. 

i feel purposeful for the first time in ages -- not stressed by some relatively short term goal like getting a book deal or finishing a project or getting through the week, but summoned toward something greater than my current self. it reminds me of how i felt before leaving for college as a teenager, when i would bike around the corn fields brimming with a sense of promise, because i knew i was about to enter an entirely new kind of life, and become an entirely new person. i was hopeful then. hopeful in a big vague bright way.it was that my entire future was about to open up in front of me and the possibilities were expansive and exciting. 

and i remember how that felt, now. i thought i would never get to feel that way again. i thought that was just childish naivete but... i remember how that felt now. 

i know it’s corn ball activist speak but ever since i read her book, mariame kaba’s line that hope is a discipline has stayed with me. and when my worst case more negative jaded selfish lines of thinking start to play out in my mind, lately, i sweep them away by reminding myself that i actually can choose to feel better, and be happier and more loving and open. i can practice that discipline. 

im not someone who is very disciplined mentally. i am prone to getting swept away by my emotions and thoughts, many of them bad and pessimistic, but i understand now why one of my ongoing projects of late has been to abandon these impulses, which have never brought any good to me.  i see now what some of the quasi spiritual rituals or purposes i have been casting about in search of are actually in the service of. and that i can grow again, build toward something. my life has always lacked emotional structure, even when it had the external contours of a schedule and obligations. ive always been a bitter little atheist with no guiding light. but now i want to actually direct myself toward one. i want to have hope for the future of my life. i dont want to just work my little stupid jobs and side hustles and retire early and then disappear into endless directionless pleasure anymore. that is not the end of it. thats not the culmination for me. there is something more. for a long time that was the best possible outcome i could imagine for myself. but i am going to do better than that. i have more to live for than that. i have more of a purpose than that, and i can choose to believe in it and grow into it. 

[blairsanne]

In the Cards (13)

Big Wolf on Campus fanfic. Merton x OC. [Tommy also gets some pairings.]

Chapter Summary: As Kalida ponders what to do after graduation, Tommy meets a new girl in town. A suspicious wind storm leads to power outages, and the trio face off against another monster.

Chapter 13: Breeze

Kalida shuffled her tarot cards, focusing her intent.

The inside of the camper was dim, lit only by the candle she had burning on the table, and the faint glow of sunlight hitting the curtains. She had stolen away to Betsy at lunch to meditate and clear her head, but the same recurring stream of thought kept interrupting her. What do you want, Kalida?

Tommy had raised some questions she'd been trying to avoid, about life after high school. Where was her place in the world? Which 'home' was really for her?

She drew the first card and reflected on it. "The six of cups. Nostalgia. Looking back on the good old days." She sighed. "Been doing a lot of that." She pictured her group of friends clearly; the sounds of their laughter, the way being around them made her feel. Is that just the past, now?

She drew the next card. "The four of cups. Apparently it's cups day." She mulled it over. This card is about counting your blessings and being grateful for what you have… not being sad over what you don't have. She drummed her fingers against the table. "Things really aren't so bad here, so why am I so uncertain?"

She pulled the final card and put the rest of the deck to the side.

"The nine of wands reminds us to take a deep breath and not let worrying overwhelm us. Take it one step at a time." She closed her eyes and tried to let that message sink in. "I need to be calm, and think carefully about what's got me so scared." She touched her fingers to her lips. Am I scared?

She frowned and took several slow, deep breaths. Guides, help me know myself and my path. She sat quietly in the dim camper and meditated on this.

Some time later, she was startled from her self-reflection by the school bell. She quickly extinguished the candle and tucked her supplies away. "Guess I'll worry about it later," she muttered, rushing out of the camper toward the school.

---

That night found the trio at their usual haunt. The Factory wasn't as busy as normal, but they had a local band playing live music on the stage.

Tommy drummed his fingers against the table. "Let's dance!" "Ooh, yes." Kalida hopped off her stool. "You coming, Merton?" Merton feigned hardship. "I guess so." He slid from his seat and let Kalida and Tommy pull him by each arm onto the dance floor.

"I think these guys go to our school," Kalida commented, bobbing along to the beat. Merton nodded. "Eric and Gary do, but Connor graduated last year." "Do you just know everyone?" "It's a small town." "Right."

She looked around to see that Tommy had wandered off to dance with a girl she didn't recognize. She leaned in toward Merton and pointed to her cousin's new dance partner. "So who's that, then?" Merton studied the petite brunette, rubbing his chin. "I… don't know, actually. Might be from out of town?" "Well she's pretty into Tommy," she laughed.

The mystery girl was running her hands up Tommy's torso as they danced, making him laugh. He took her hands in his and twirled her around once before releasing her. "My name's Tommy, by the way," he called over the music. "Joelle." "Are you new in town?" "Yeah," Joelle grinned. "Is it that obvious?" "I just feel like I'd have noticed you before." "Yeah, I bet." She hooked her fingers into his belt loops and bit her lip.

"You're pretty forward," he winced, trying not to let it get to him. "Don't act like you don't like it, pretty boy." "I'm just trying not to get too worked up," he said honestly. "Aww, that's no fun." She walked a circle around him. "Getting worked up is the first step to having a good time." "That's your way, I guess." "Oh, live a little." She pulled his hands down to her hips and swayed. "It's just a dance."

Merton couldn't help but glance over to Tommy and the mystery girl periodically as he danced with Kalida. "Hey, you already have a date. Hello?" Kalida poked his stomach, eliciting a giggle from Merton. "Sorry. I was just noticing that Tommy's been getting better at not, uh…" He made the now-ubiquitous ear gesture. "I was thinking that lately, too. He was able to calm himself down the other night in my room."

Merton raised a brow. "Beg pardon?" "Yeah. His eyes got yellow and everything, but he just focused on relaxing and he was fine." "What had him worked up?" "Oh!" She leaned forward, speaking fervently. "When I got home from our date, Uncle Bob had found out that one of us skipped school, and he went postal. But then Tommy took the blame and was really mad at his dad."

"Ahh." Merton nodded, looking somewhat relieved. She bugged her eyes. "What did you think had him worked up?" "I-I dunno, you said he was in your room-" "He's my cousin!" She smacked his chest. "Don't be gross!" He laughed and grabbed her hand. "Stop assaulting the King, that's heresy." "Oh, watch me." She used her free hand to poke him repeatedly. Merton laughed, squirming this way and that in response to her jabbing. "Keep this up and I'm going to have to get Margaret to behead you."

---

When the band finished their set, Tommy looked away from Joelle to see that Merton and Kalida had settled in at a table on the other end of the club. He put his hands in his pockets. "So, wanna grab a drink?" Joelle smirked up at him. "If you're buying, Tom." "Sure."

He led her over to the bar and placed their order, taking one of the many free seats. Joelle hopped up on the stool next to him. "So I take it you're a local? Born and raised?" He laughed. "Is it that obvious?" "Ehh, you've got the look." He sipped his cola. "What look is that?" She gestured. "You know, like, all American, captain of the football team, wholesome small town boy."

He laughed again. "Wow, well, I guess you've got me pegged, then. Starting quarterback, captain of the football team. My dad's the mayor, and my mom's the top local news anchor." She snorted. "Wow, I didn't think it was that bad." He mocked offense. "Hey now, be kind." She smirked and gave him a look over. "No, I think you can take a little punishment." She sipped her drink, looking him in the eye. "Captain."

He chuckled. "So, are you going to Pleasantville High, then?" "Oh, no, I finished my diploma at the end of last year." "Early graduation?" "What, you don't think I'm smart enough?" "That's not-" She put her hand on his forearm. "I'm just kidding. I hated high school, I just wanted it over already. I took a job at this chicken place in town to make ends meet-"

"The Hungry Bucket?" "Uh, yeah. Is that, like, the only chicken place in town?" "Actually, yes." She laughed, rolling her eyes. "Wow, okay."

"So what about your parents?" She gave him a weird look. "Yeah, I don't live with them." "Oh." He blinked. "Right, graduate." "I have my own place, up on third." "The big apartment building?" "The tiny apartment building, yeah." He laughed. "It's the biggest one in town." "Which isn't saying much, cornbread."

"Anyone ever tell you you're kind of salty for a girl?" "No, because then I'd have to kick their-" "Noted," he laughed.

---

Kalida came up behind Tommy at the bar. "Hey. Merton's gonna take me home. You staying?" The pale brunette he was with gave Kalida a lookover. Tommy clucked. "Um… I don't know. Joelle, you sticking around?" Joelle shrugged. "Sure." Tommy nodded. "Okay. I think I'll head home a little later."

Kalida nodded. "Okay. See you there later." She looked between the two of them. "Don't get into any trouble." Joelle laughed. "Well that's no fun." Tommy waved her off, then turned back to Joelle.

"So is that your sister or something?" "My cousin. How could you tell?" She shrugged. "She's got your eyes. Plus she said she'd see you at home later, and you don't seem like the type to have an open relationship." "Right." He rolled his eyes, but grinned. "Because you know me so well." "Like an open book."

The band started up another set. "Want to dance some more?"

---

When Tommy finally got home, it was past midnight. He snuck up the stairs as quietly as he could, grateful to hear both his parents' snores through their bedroom door as he crept past. When he reached the end of the hall, Kalida's door slowly creaked open. She stood in the doorway in pajamas and yawned.

"Hey, how was your date?" she whispered. He stepped into her room and grinned. She noted the way his hair was sticking up in unusual places. "It was pretty great," he whispered back. "She must have liked you." She reached up and smoothed his hair out. He looked away bashfully. "Yeah, she did."

Kalida giggled. "I didn't think she was your type." "What's my type?" Kalida scratched her forehead. "I guess I have no idea. I just assumed more wholesome cheerleader, and less edgy out-of-towner?" Tommy shrugged non-commitally and shifted his weight. "I guess not." "And you didn't wolf out?" "Not even an eye glow."

She nodded. "That's so nice, I'm happy for you." "Thanks." She yawned again. Tommy flashed her a soft smile. "You're tired. Go back to bed. We can talk in the morning." "Kay. Just wanted to check in." He patted her head. "Thanks." "Night Tommy." "Good night."

---

Tommy slid into his seat at their usual table in the cafeteria. Merton perked up. "Hey Don Juan." "Uh, hey." "Don Juan? Legendary fictional libertine?"

"What?" Merton rolled his eyes. "Nevermind. How did things go last night after we left?" "Really good." He grinned to himself. "I'm getting better at this whole being-around-girls thing." "Yeah? No sudden need to run away?" "It was almost like I was a normal person," Tommy agreed self-deprecatingly.

Merton grinned. "That's great! If you can get good enough at keeping the wolf at bay, you'll have a much easier time." "Yeah." "So what changed? What have you been doing differently?" "Well…" He leaned over and lowered his voice. "Actually, I've kinda been reading a book I took from Kali's room about meditation. Merton rolled his eyes. "I gave you a book on meditation last fall." "I know, but it seemed like a bunch of…" He cringed as he finished his sentence. "Hippie garbage?" Merton snorted. "I see." "It's been helping, though." "So I'm told. Kal said you didn't wolf out when you got mad at your dad."

Tommy's face fell. "Oh, she told you about that?" "Not in specifics…" "I, uh, asked her about after grad." "Oh?" Merton looked up from his plate, hopeful. "What did she say?" "That she didn't know what she wanted to do." Merton frowned. "Oh." "Um, what about you? Do you know where you want to go?" Merton shrugged. "I haven't decided yet either. Not officially." Tommy let out a loud sigh. "Cool."

"Have you?" Tommy looked to the side. "Unlike you two geniuses, I only really have one option. I was offered a full scholarship to State U." "Are you applying anywhere else?" He shrugged. "Alright then." Merton rolled his eyes, unsure what to make of Tommy's apathy. "I guess if you've got all your urges under control it doesn't matter if we go someplace together or not."

Tommy pushed his food around with his fork, feeling irritated. "Yeah, I guess not."

---

That night, Tommy and Kalida settled in on the couch beside Dean's chair. "It's about to start," Dean enthused.

Tommy grabbed a handful of popcorn out of the bowl Kalida was holding. "You've really never seen this, Kal?" She shook her head. "Nope." Dean grinned, laughing with excitement. "Well you are in a for a treat, little cuz." "It's my favourite Christmas movie." "I didn't know that Die Hard was a Christmas movie." Dean scoffed. "Uh, guys? Hello. It's starting." Tommy and Kalida held fingers to their mouths, silently shushing each other.

The lights dimmed momentarily before going back to normal. "Wow, that wind is really picking up," Tommy murmured. Kali whispered back as Dean turned the volume up on the tv. "I hope the power stays on." "Right, you're afraid of the dark." She elbowed him hard, making him laugh.

---

Kalida woke, disoriented. The room was still grey, the early morning sun barely lighting her curtains. When she rolled over, she made out the shadow of a person beside her bed and let out a sudden scream, flinching away.

"Kali, it's just me!" Tommy put his hands up defensively. "What are you doing?!" She sat up in bed and caught her breath, pulse racing. Tommy lowered his arms and sighed.

She could see now that he'd wolfed out. "I just came to wake you up. The power's out." "Oh." She looked around the room. Her alarm clock was blank, and her computer was off. The whole house was quieter than usual.

"Mom and Dad are off dealing with it. Apparently it's all over town. Mom said school's out today." "Oh." She yawned. "So I can go back to sleep?" "I guess. If you want to." Tommy tilted his head this way and that, trying to stretch his neck to help himself de-wolf.

"Sorry. Here, sit." She patted the bed. "I'll give you a back rub." He climbed onto the mattress and sat facing away from her. She rubbed her hands together, then set to work kneading the knots from his shoulders. He let out a low, pleased whine. "Thank you." She snorted. "No problem."

"I wonder if Merton knows that school is out today." "I dunno. How would anyone find out?" "Radio, I guess?" "Oh, yeah. I never listen to the radio here. It's all old music my parents wouldn't even listen to." He laughed. "I guess we could call him." "The cordless phones won't work if the base isn't powered, though." "There's the old phone in the kitchen."

"Right. Hey, should we invite him over?" "Or we could go to his place. He has all those-" he groaned as she worked on a particularly bothersome spot. "-candles, everywhere." His ears rounded and facial hair cleared, back to his usual self. "Yeah, okay. But you ask him." He laughed. "Why? Are you afraid that he'll say no to his girlfriend coming over?" "W-we're not…" She pulled her hands from his back. "I mean, we're not calling each other girlfriend and boyfriend yet."

"After one date, I guess that's not surprising. But you're headed that way." He hopped off the bed and rolled his shoulders, giving a pleased sigh. "You two have dancing around each other for weeks." "Well, anyway…" She slid off the other side of the bed. "I just don't want him to think it would just be me and him alone, or that I just want to see him all the time and not give him space, because what if he thinks I'm clingy and then-" "Okay, okay." Tommy held his hands up to stop her rambling. "I'll call him." "Alright. Thanks. I'll get dressed."

Tommy made his way down the dark hall and stairway with ease, able to see just fine thanks to his wolf abilities.

The wind whistled through a poorly sealed section of the window above the kitchen sink. He stepped over and looked out, surprised to see how far the breeze was bending the trees. Bits of debris flew through the sky in the distance. "I hope mom's not reporting from outside today…" he murmured. Making his way over to the phone, he had to think a moment to remember Merton's number. "That's right… I think…" He leaned against the wall as the phone rang.

A girl's voice answered. "Hullo?" "Hi. Is Merton home?" "Ugh." Becky sighed. "One minute. FREAKER! ARE YOU AWAKE? I'M NOT GOING DOWN INTO YOUR CREEPY DUNGEON TO-" The other line clicked on. "Hello?" "Hey, it's Tommy."

Becky slammed the phone down, the clanging of the receiver echoing in Merton and Tommy's ears. "Sorry about that. She's miffed at me right now." "When is she not?" Tommy laughed, playing with the phone cord. "Touché." Merton grinned. "Are you calling to tell me the power's out and there's no school?"

"That's part of it." Tommy conceded. "But also Kalida and I were wondering if you'd want to hang out, since we have the day off and all." Merton grimaced at the thought of driving. "The weather's pretty bad. The neighbour's gazebo blew into the street. I'm not sure we should be out in that." "I was thinking more along the lines of us hanging out in the lair." Merton made a concerned groan. "You think you can get here safely?"

"I could pick Kali up and run us over," he teased. "Yeah, real stealthy, wolfed out in broad daylight." Merton clicked his tongue. "But… if you think you can get here without a car accident, I'd be happy to have you." "Alright, we'll head over soon."

---

The roads were covered in bits of tree and brush, though most of the larger wreckage had been moved out of the way. Kalida was glad for her sturdy tires as she slowly moved Betsy down the street.

"Wow, Merton wasn't kidding about it being rough out here." Kalida frowned. "Hopefully they get everything sorted out today. Being without power for extended periods is not a good thing." "We can keep ourselves entertained." "Okay, but what about heat? What about hot showers? And all the businesses who have frozen and refrigerated food-" "They would have generators." "Oh, I guess so. That's good."

When they pulled onto Merton's street, the neighbour's gazebo was still blocking their path. Kalida stopped the vehicle. "Wanna get out and move that for me?" Tommy rolled his eyes, but sighed and hopped out of the camper.

Eyes glowing yellow, he strong-armed the structure over to the sidewalk by himself. When he got back in, Kalida whistled. "Remind me to borrow you next time I need heavy lifting done." Tommy grinned and flexed his arms, winking at her. "Wolf life."

---

Merton had strategically placed stable candle-holders around the space, the brightest ones on the table near his couch. He'd also pulled open all the curtains to let as much natural light in as possible, but the basement was still dim for late morning.

When the knock on his door came, he pulled it open wide. "Guten morgen. Please come in, friends." Kalida snickered, stepping in first. She held up a plastic bag full of food. "We come with snacks." Tommy held up a bag of his own. "Turns out the gas station has power." Merton shut the door behind them. "Maybe they'll get our end of town up soon, then."

Kalida settled in on the couch. "It's quite the mood lighting in here. Cold though." She pulled his usual black throw over her lap. Merton hopped over the back of the couch and sat right next to her. "I could warm you up." He wiggled his brows at her. Tommy pushed the back of Merton's head. "Don't be gross." Merton put a hand to his chest. "Cuddling is not gross. It's very natural."

Tommy sat down on the other side of Merton and pulled him onto his lap. He squeezed Merton tightly, pressing his head into his neck. "Yeah, this feels very natural." Merton laughed, then sighed wistfully, wrapping his arms around Tommy in return. "See? What'd I tell you?" Kalida feigned concern. "Hey, I already told you I don't want to share!" "We're just having a friendly snuggle." Merton grinned, rubbing his nose against Tommy's.

"Okay, you made it weird." Tommy snorted and pushed him off, into Kalida. "You can have him." Merton laid back on her lap, resting his feet on Tommy's. Kalida leaned down to give Merton an awkward hug. "Mine." Merton closed his eyes and gave a wistful sigh. "Feel free to fight over me whenever you like."

Tommy relaxed into the back of the couch. "I think we both know who would win." "I do look better in a dress than you," Kalida nodded. Tommy laughed. "But which one is the werewolf?" "Oh, that's right. Merton did say he has a thing for monsters." Kalida poked at Merton's belly. Merton squirmed. "I can't help it. I told you, trouble follows me."

---

It was late afternoon when the power finally lurched on in the lair. "And then there was light!" Kalida squealed. Merton laughed. "I guess that means they've repaired the power lines."

"I wonder if mom's reporting." Tommy grabbed the remote and turned Merton's TV to the local news channel. Sally popped onto the screen, standing in front of a large window that revealed wind blowing against trees outside.

"…unforecasted winds continue to blow through the town, most of the power grids have been restored. Meteorologists are uncertain how long the storm will last, but are warning residents that we may lose power again this evening."

Kalida frowned. "That's weird." Tommy shrugged. "It's still windy, so we might lose power again." "No, I mean that it wasn't forecast and they don't know how long it will last." She got up and made her way over to Merton's computer, pushing the power button to boot it up. Merton raised a brow. "What are you thinking?"

"Might be magic? I read about weather witches in this one book my mom had." She chewed her lip. "Plus didn't you say something about farmers when that perendi showed up?" Merton hummed. "Right. They're supposed to be summoned. I guess we didn't figure out who summoned it." Tommy furrowed his brow. "So someone's just messing with the weather for fun?"

Kalida shrugged, punching in Merton's password. "Maybe. I just figured I'd look up if there was something that did this kind of wind effect." "Anything with air element magic?" Merton offered. "That's a pretty wide net." "Yeah. Is there something that counteracts it, though?" "A whole element of magic? Probably easier to find the exact creature or spell at work and take it out directly."

Tommy got up and stretched. "So we're going hunting tonight?" Merton got up too, and made his way over to his desk. He read over Kalida's shoulder as she searched. "Seems like it."

The TV played a loud guitar riff, catching Tommy's attention. "…at the post-storm Power's On Party tonight at the Factory!" "Oh hey, they're having a party at the Factory tonight!" He held up his index and pinky fingers and mimed head banging. "I bet Joelle will be there."

"Great," Merton snorted. "Maybe when we're done saving the town, you can go flirt with the new girl." Kalida reached up behind her to smack Merton's chest. "Let him have his fun." "Yeah, I recall a certain other person being excited to spend time with a new girl." Merton smiled down at Kalida. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Kalida leaned in toward the screen. "A sylph, maybe?" Merton pressed in close to read the article she had pulled up. "Yeah, it might be." Tommy walked over and stood on the other side of the desk. He picked up Merton's skull and started tossing it like a baseball. "Cool, so how do we kill a sylph?"

"We could drown it?" "Or we could burn it." Merton shrugged. "I feel like it's easier to burn an air elemental than to hold it under water." Kalida twisted to face him. "You have a flamethrower in your closet I don't know about?" His eyes lit up. "No, I wish." He fingered his chin. "But I do have some big torches we used at the last tri-state LARP meetup."

Kalida nodded. "Okay, those should work. We have to figure out where it would be." She typed into search engine, looking up the local weather forecast. She pulled up a map that showed the movement of the storm. "Weird, it just started up right on the edge of town and has been moving north." She studied the map. "I think it'll be up the mountain tonight, if it keeps a steady trajectory. By the lookout."

"With all those trees? Might be a dangerous place to be in a windstorm." "Also let's try not starting a forest fire." Tommy passed the skull from hand to hand. "So when do we head out?" "I think we should wait til night falls. Sunset's not for a few hours yet." He sighed. "We're totally gonna miss the party." Kalida shook her head. "No, we won't! We'll fight the thing, and then go to the Factory. I promise."

---

Kalida peered out the front of the hearse. "Are you sure we shouldn't be taking Betsy instead?" The wind was still kicking up tree bits and garbage into the sky above them. "It's more likely to flip in the stronger wind," Merton explained. He tapped the steering wheel with affection. "Besides, she's got fresh tires and a proven track record." Tommy rubbed his hands together, watching the sun get swallowed by the mountains. "Let's go catch us a sylph." "Okay, okay." Kalida did up her seat belt. "Fine." She glanced into the back of the hearse. Three large torches took up the length of the carriage. "This had better work."

The road up to the lookout was littered with pinecones and twigs, but the treeline shielded it from the brunt of the wind. Merton looked up toward the sky and pointed at the circle of clear indigo in the center of swirling clouds. "That would be the eye of the storm." "I guess we're on the right track," Kalida murmured. She could feel an unfamiliar vibrational energy in the area. "Feels… tense, up here." Tommy clapped his hand onto his cousin's shoulder. "We'll be fine."

"Y-yeah, that's not what I meant." She squinted up at the dark sky, making out a strange movement against the stars. "It feels unnatural, like out of the natural order." "Well, it is an unnatural storm," Merton offered. "Yeah, I guess that's all it is. Magic storm."

Tommy watched out the windshield as they pulled into the clearing at the top of the hill. Merton parked near the forest, far from the cliff edge. "It just feels windy to me," Merton laughed. He flashed her a lopsided grin. "Must be your witch sense." She pointed up to the eye. "Do you see something up there?" Tommy squinted, focusing. "Like a blurry… shape?" "Yeah." Merton tried to spot it too. "Would that be the sylph then?" "Let's find out." Tommy hopped out, letting wind into the vehicle as soon as he opened the door.

Kalida shivered. "Oh, it's cold!" She slid out the door after her cousin. Tommy pulled open the back doors of the hearse and passed one of the long torches to Kalida. "One for you," He pulled another out, and passed it to Merton, who had joined them behind the hearse. "One for you." Kalida lit the torch with her lighter, then held the flame to the end of Merton's.

"Do you think you can get its attention with the arrows?" Merton asked, looking over at Tommy. "It's pretty high up there, but we'll see." He pulled a hunting bow out of the back and prepped an arrow. Merton had fashioned them into flaming arrows that could be lit before launch, but they hadn't been able to test any. "Hopefully this works."

Merton and Kalida held their torches upright while Tommy pulled back his shot. Kalida leaned over and lit the bundle of fuel-soaked fabric that had been tied on, then pulled her hand away as it erupted into wild flames. Tommy let it loose the moment her hand was clear.

The fireball soared into the sky, nearly directly upward, reaching the center of the circular cloud clearing, then arched downward and died out before it hit the ground. The blur that Tommy had been tracking darted erratically, then lurched downward toward them. The three teenagers winced in the sudden blast of wind as the sylph landed before them on the cliff side. It had a tall, stocky, translucent body that caught the light of the torches in a strange way. Its vague features blurred with movement as it approached them, hair swirling around its body.

Tommy wolfed out and shot another arrow, not bothering to light it. The sylph dodged easily, moving several feet to the side in the blink of an eye.

The torch flames danced wildly in the wind, but remained lit. Kalida lowered the end of her pole and ran toward the creature, trying to stick it with the flames. Merton followed suit, but the sylph was fast, darting between them. It raised its ephemeral arms and sent a stinging gust of freezing wind their way.

Kalida was knocked back, the fallen torch pinning her to the ground. "Motherf-" Tommy grabbed the pole and swung the flaming end erratically at the creature. "Go back where you came from!" "Are you okay?" Merton barely managed to hold his torch upright as he looked over at Kalida. "I'm fine," she waved dismissively, then pulled herself up off the dirt and gravel. She took the bow from the ground and ran back to the hearse for another arrow. Gee, Tommy, you could have taken more than two with you.

She pulled it back and watched the scramble between the sylph and her guys. She didn't want to hit either of them, but the torch had proven unwieldy. She took a deep breath and whispered a prayer to her guides. She watched as the boys flailed their burning torches at the creature without making purchase. When intuition told her to, she let loose a single shot. The arrow narrowly missed Merton's arm, passed through Tommy's torch flames, and stuck into the shoulder of the sylph. It screeched in pain, so loudly the trees shook.

Tommy took the moment of distraction to bring the pole up against the sylph's back, knocking it to the ground. He pinned the creature beneath the flaming end of the torch, and Merton followed suit. Kalida watched with mild horror as the creature burned before them, it's death cries echoing out above the gusting wind.

The swirling clouds above their head calmed and dissipated. The trees in the valley creaked back into their normal position in unison, followed by a sudden silence as the whistling that had been filling the town for nearly twenty four hours stopped as suddenly as it had begun.

Tommy jogged back to the hearse, putting out the torches before loading them into the back. "Okay, let's go to the party." Kalida shivered. "Dude, you just burned a thing alive. Maybe tone down the chipper 'tude?" Merton put his hand on Kalida's back. "His animal instincts are taking over his brain." "Come on!" Tommy hopped in the front seat and shut the door.

"Wow." Kalida blinked and put the bow away. "I guess he really needs a girlfriend." Merton laughed. "You wanted him to have his fun." They piled in on the driver's side and started back down the mountain.

Tommy had de-wolfed and was tapping his hands on the dashboard. "It's too bad we'll have power tomorrow. If school was out, I could stay out later." "Oh yeah?" Kalida elbowed his side. "You planning to spend the night?" "She does have her own place." He wagged his eyebrows at her. "Tommy, seriously? What if you wolf out?" Merton glanced over with concern. "I won't let it get to that." He waved dismissively. "Relax."

"So who is this mystery lady anyway?" "Her name is Joelle. She graduated early and moved here last week. She got a job at the bucket, and she likes to party." "That's it? You spent the whole night with her and that's your summary? Did you get her last name?" "We didn't spend that much time talking. We danced a lot. And other stuff." "Other stuff." Merton raised a brow.

Kalida put her hands up. "No, I don't want to know. I saw his hair. I don't need mental imagery to go with." Tommy snickered. "We're all adults here." "Actually, no. None of us are. Technically, here, we're a few years off yet." "Oh right, the age of majority is only nineteen in Canada."

"Well, where I'm from, yeah. I think it's lower in some provinces. I remember Nate saying he was gonna visit Laval when he turned eighteen so he could drink." "Who's Laval?" Tommy questioned. "No, Laval's a place. In Quebec. He has family there or something. Or he wanted to see the space center maybe. I don't remember why he chose there specifically."

"Well, anyway," Tommy rolled his eyes. "It's not like you two can pretend to be so pure and innocent when it comes to liking people. I was there when you were under Mark's spell." Kalida elbowed him hard, making him double over and wolf out. "Owwww! What was that for?!" he whined.

"Next time you're possessed by some demon, I'll be sure to tease you about it." "I didn't mean it like that…" Tommy rubbed his side, trying to relax. "I just meant that you two clearly like each other." "Well it's none of your business." Kalida folded her arms over her chest. Merton gave Tommy a pitying glance. "I'll circle the block til you calm down."

---

A/N: Yes I am shamelessly using Faith from Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Eliza Dushku) as the faceclaim for Joelle because that's exactly how I have always imagined her.

Tags: @self-conscious-author

(Please let me know if you'd like to be tagged on Big Wolf fics specifically.)

---

Chapter 14 here.

Chapters: 1&2, 3&4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17

[bodyswapmischief]

The Cabin Boy

(Spring Break Pirates 10 of 14)

So, it finally, happened. Today, I woke up and was 305lbs. This fucking spell has more than double my weight. I started out as small sexy young twink, barely reaching 120 pounds. Now, I'm this big fat hairy middle aged man. Mr. Black as been more forceful in his feedings, I think he's getting close to his end game.

As, for me, I fucking struggling to find away out of this situation. After what happen to Will, I knew I had to be more careful. So, I been acting friendly towards Mr. Black and his little snitch Eric. I've been pretending that my mental state has been greatly affected by the boat. Acting like a dumb, sex, and food crazed fatass has let me fly under the radar. And, given me a lot of time spent in Mr. Black's quarters.

So, I've been spending a lot more time with the book. And, I was right it's more than a ledger ... it's a spell book. But, I can't acess it. I see the words. But, when I try to read a spell everything gets jumbled. In one of the pages, I was finally able to read a meditative breathing exercise. I've been doing that and it's been improving my mental state and making me less prone to the mental enchantment. That doesn't mean my body is not getting fatter.

All this weight is still affecting me. I still crave food a lot. I'm heavier and slower. It takes a lot of energy to do anything. I keep telling myself, I need to hurry before it's too late. And, I fear that time is coming soon.

...

Oh, Fuck!

Mr ... mr ... Black. I'm in your room because ... because ... I need you. I need you to fill me up. Are you ready to feed me, again? Your big fat pig is hungry. I need to be filled. And, I need your dick in my ass. I'm craving being filled from both sides. Yes, I'm your obedient hog. Where's the food, master? I'm not hiding anything. I just want to serve you.

No, no, no. There's no need to search around. Stop! ... wasting time and feed me. Im craving it. Fuck! Okay ... okay you caught me. I was looking at your book. I hate what you did to me. I need to change back. So, what are you going to do to punish me?

What!? Your impressed by me. You didn't expect any of this? I'm more proof something is going wrong with your plan? Ugh ... fuck what are you doing to me!? Ooooow!! It fucking hurts! St.. st... stop!

What!? I'm me again. You changed me back. Wait no! Not exactly. I look like myself but, it feels different. It feels tainted. Almost unnatural.

What the fuck are you talking about!? You turned our bodies into ash? Then how am I back in my body? The book is filled with death magic. And, only those with blood on their hands can read it, to it's full potential.

You used a resurrection spell on me. You burn up a soul in order to give me my body back. Wait? What soul? You fuckin killed Will!? No, he's still on the island. Then who? Those five rings? You didn't have them before. Why are four of them glowing? Wait ... no ... the harem. You have there souls to power the last few spells in your plan. Who the fuck did you kill!

No! Not Leo! You fuckin monster! Why are you doing this? Why did you change me back? You messed up? Some things are not going how you planned? So, you needed extra souls to fix your mistakes, taking a few loses to ensure success.

Those losses happen to be my friends, you asshole. You need my help, to finish your plan. What's in it for me? You'll teach me your magic. I would be your apprentice. With two necromancers we would be stronger together. Your right, I have been spending a lot of time with the book. It has been calling to me. Okay... okay I'll do it. What is it you need me to do anyways? Kill the first mate. Tonight?

If, I do this ... you need to restore what's left of the harem. Yes, I know there original bodies are gone. I meant restore them to the bodies they were just in. Can you do that? Yes, okay good. I'll come find you when the deed is done.

...

There, back into my room. I should be safe for now. I don't know if I'm being played or if Mr. Black is dumb enough to actually trust me. What game is he playing now. I can't believe Leo, is gone. But, the weird part is my emotions seem dampened. I kinda feel less human. I guess it makes senses. I am the product of necromancy, now thanks to Mr. Black's spell. I know I should feel devastated but, I'm just focused on achieving my plan and making sure Mr. Black loses everything. It won't be hard, I can smell the desperation coming off him. He's scared. I can see it in his eyes he messed up bad. And, he's doesn't want to get punished.

Are my eyes playing trick on me. I'm starting to see siegel's. They are all over the boat. Am, I seeing the enchantment, placed on the boat. I guess having necromancy casted on you counts as having blood on your hands.

What a pity, if Mr. Black wasn't such a lying, manipulative l, weasel we could have worked together. But, it looks like I don't need him after all. Now, let's see ... how am I going to end him.

[kneipho]

Submission: @mantrabay​

--

A Little Known Shortcut.

Wandering the roads. It has me under a spell.

Even when prickly brambles

scrape my eyelids or those bony ankles are being twisted by tooth like stones. The angular sort clustered mischievously among the green shoots that litter every footpath.

They lie in wait, in ambush.

It goes with the territory for this seasoned footman.

Meandering landscapes are house and home to the spiral lanes and clover clad hills that are rife in my area.

Their rustic heritage sometimes sacrificed to the orphanage of malleable motives.

Crop farmers obsessed with bountiful harvest.

A restless developer pushing the limits of an urban jungle.

Fellow traveller in league with fugitives from the cockpit.

The pressure cooker of modern life.

The town dweller with split loyalties who clings to the tumult of the city but hankers after some rural idyll.

Culprits one and all.

A lair from the hubbub.

Dwellings of the quaintest kind huddle together like dots in a matrix separated only by a minuscule space.

The more alluring aspects of tradition have been preserved.

Among these are shortcuts or bypasses.

Those sequestered passages that shave miles off for the perennial rambler or clueless hitchhiker.

The eye becomes a lense to all these

things hidden or supposedly hidden.

Human vision as sensor to magic trails.

Those tucked away secret spots beloved of local wiseacres.

They festoon the sprawling countryside at random.

My name is Eric Spring.

Anthea, my partner a transcendental meditation teacher retired early at an early age.

Her withdrawal from work was never meant to be permanent.

A final decision hinged on Anthea’s ability to purge that fiendish veil of sadness that had been shadowing her.

There were several obstacles in her path but they weren’t insurmountable.

Thoughts of Anthea in her halcyon days haunted me.

Mental pictures of a vibrant woman imbued with passion.

Poignant evocative heart-tugging images.

Bar excursions into town my station is that of Anthea’s carer.

This eternally stoic woman is mindful of her mental boundaries and the abyss concealed by each of them.

But she is not prone to self-hate or abuse. The more lethal plagues of the psyche hadn’t yet impacted on her.

Anthea was groping for exits but hadn’t found the signs.

She remains housebound as I embark on those age defying treks into town.

We keep in touch by mobile phone.

A very angelic sensitive looking person is she.

Reminiscent of a Sunday Times editor.

The accent filters every noun and stresses every nuance.

Like the sounds from an early morning orchard.

Anthea’s job became monotonous and her other pursuits painting and writing fled without trace.

A budding artist’s most dreaded syndromes struck.

Writer’s block. Artistic vacuum.

The wellspring of her imagination now devoid of those inspiring flashes that sustain creative impulse.

She had few outlets bar my care and a lady called Fidelma who had the edge on me with regard to local knowledge. I longed to hear Anthea’s voice on my device.

Her hypnotic voice bridges gaps.

You feel close even when speaking to her from a distance.

I love the walks and savouring all those pivot points of folklore.

I pride myself on my intimate knowledge of every branch strewn rivulet, stream and layered rock formation.

My links to the environment are almost erotic as I crave it’s sensual touch.

At times I enter a tranquil zone where the shutters are drawn.

Just myself and all those habitats.

“Hello Eric? Lost in thought again.

How is anthea these days?

I spoke to her over the phone a few days ago.

I sometimes drop in on her when you are out.”

Fidelma speaking with that chirping red robin voice of hers.

She had this penchant for suddenly appearing like an archaeological site.

And she vanished just as quickly leaving the person she spoke to scrambling to process her asides and insights before they disappeared.

Neighbour, friend, root and branch archivist whose grasp of detail was legendary.

“She seems to be coping.” I said.

“Glad to hear that. Maybe I can pay a flying visit some time soon.

But aren’t you a foolish man to be imposing all those Olympic Marathons on yourself?”

Fidelma about to share one of her treasured nuggets.

“I love walking but any tips?”

Spring enquired naively as events soon demonstrated.

“There’s a shortcut…..a little known shortcut.

People in the know recommend it though I have never actually used it myself.

Maybe I will one day.

See, it’s on the right hand side up the road there.

Think it might be useful when you want to get home in a hurry.” She concluded.

Fidelma in advanced middle age was still sprightly and youthful in her ways.

I missed a text from anthea and Fidelma noticed.

“Yes. I have one of those gadgets too.

Keeps me connected.

Took me awhile to master it.

Wish there was a shortcut for that.

But I’ll best be on my way.

Take good care whatever the route.”

As always having spoken to Fidelma I wondered about in a trance.

Another colourful aspect of Fidelma’s personality was her “Banana Skin Syndrome.”

She could lose her balance betimes when enthusing about a topic or when she stumbled on an area that fascinated her.

The feet were a little wobbly.

All this against her philosophy about how interconnected everything is.

The mind is an antenna sending out signals to others was a frequent broadside of hers.

Even when Fidelma said very little she always had this magnetic effect on others.

Those terse one liners could trigger an avalanche in the mind.

Her thin phrases were always shrouded in a well crafted poetic meter.

It was in the tone, gestures and body language.

Those beady yet expressive eyes scanning her environment like a radar screen.

A cascade of images and sound bytes ensued when she left.

Several hours passed as my mind was in overdrive like a central processing unit.

I heard this inner voice telling me to explore this “shortcut.”

Having texted Anthea I then proceeded to this offshoot of a lane.

It was going to lighten the journey of this slope and pavement plodder.

Off I went down this quaint country shortcut.

Nothing out of the ordinary to begin with until Anthea rang.

“Gnawing feeling of sadness.

My mind is a dark blue canvass at the moment.”

Her lilting twang mingling with the song birds at the start of my downward journey.

I sensed this was urgent and started to walk quickly.

That’s when problems arose.

Just a plain country passage with a primarily flat surface at this point.

There were houses on each side and some weeds strewn and partially mangled, turned to mulch by wild and indiscriminate boots.

Strange feelings welled up within me as I felt like a geyser at yellowstone.

The puff and splutter of tractors in nearby fields as furrows, the epicenter of future yields were turned.

Scarecrows were strategically perched in the meadow behind the right hand hedge to ward off some menace or other.

Something told me to relate my surroundings to Anthea.

If only to divert attention from an impending gloom.

Those barely audible inner prompts again.

“Eric, I don’t want to pressurise you but at the moment I feel this dark cloud.”

Eric paused.

It then occurred to me that I was engulfed by dark foreboding clouds in tandem with a rising rainbow like haze.

As Anthea continued her disorders seemed to be complemented by external threats of rain intermingled with sunshine.

“I feel, Eric there is a radiance trying to break through.

Just to see you … your presence is a light which I could focus on.”

Then I realised that speed was of the essence.

That’s when I could have panicked.

Anthea’s voice seemed louder, but also more lyrical as I realised this obscure

overlooked route could have done with some restoration!

Tufts of grass oozing slime.

Mounds of mud with pockets of oil stained water.

The briars were a shock team that endangered every part of the human body.

I was conveying all this to anthea as I was trying to dash at my normal pace.

Oddly Anthea’s tone of desperation started to dip.

But she did appear less tense as I told her this story over the phone.

“Someone told me this is a shortcut.”

Eric said gingerly.

“Who was that ? Anthea asked.

“Fidelma. We met on the main road just a short while ago.” I responded.

“You know her a bit better than I do.”

Anthea observed. “She’s going to call over one of these days I’m sure.”

By now Anthea, initially nervous was mellowing as I continued with my frantic running … and staggering commentary!

She didn’t have had much to excite her over the last five years.

But I had to be careful lest those dark brooding phases returned.

Like a roving reporter I regaled her with lurid descriptions of limp green shrubs, tea brown leaves shredded on fissured rocks, juice dripping blackberry bushes with foraging earwigs seeking shelter from the sun.

But here I was almost knee deep in tangled foliage while keeping the love of my life up to speed!

The labyrinthine outcrops and mock craters were all included.

Suddenly misfortune struck without warning.

I nearly sprained my leg as I fell face down on a grassy patch.

Sprawled awkwardly across this surface my phone went flying but I managed to catch it.

“Eric, are you ok?

I don’t mean to be a burden.

Will I get someone to meet you at the end of this lane or short cut.”

Anthea again.

“I’m fine, Anthea.”

Eric said before slowly rising.

I kept detailing my observations and Anthea was reacting positively.

But I made it eventually with the sounds of the road as guide.

The temperatures continued to rise causing perspiration.

Peering thru the maze of entwined growths I saw … Fidelma.

“Where did you spring from?” Eric punning his own name.

“Fidelma …you fell too.” A question that might have appeared tactless.

She was getting up, having fallen when taking her bearings it seems.

“Fidelma …. thanks but no thanks.

The shortcut.” I said.

“You are shivering.” She observed.

“I am. Spring responded.

“Got to get to Anthea because she might be in need of help.” Spring continued.

We both headed for my house as quickly as possible.

But it wasn’t far.

I texted Anthea and she answered by saying she had every reason to speak to me.

One wondered what that might be.

My face whitened.

Fidelma and I soon reached the house where I lived.

Eric pressed the doorbell as his heart pounded.

The door opened suddenly and we couldn’t believe what we saw.

“Anthea, is that you?

I haven’t seen you smile like that in years.”

I said.

Fidelma and I were perplexed to say the least.

“It’s early days yet but those locusts of darkness hopping around in my head maybe dwindling.

Those creative juices returned when I sensed your anxiety down the lane because I didn’t want two sick people in this house.

But you brought splashes of vivid colour into my drawing room.

I could almost smell the rustic fragrance of every wilting petal and the creaking of every twig.

You set a whole cycle in train.”

Anthea then showed me two items she was working on.

“I have started a rough sketch of the lane you detailed and a short story.

There’s been a sea change.” She said.

“Oh I wonder what I’ll call this sketch and that short story?

Any ideas?” Anthea enquired.

Fidelma and I looked at each other and spoke almost in unison.

“I think we both have a fair idea what they both might be called.

Your story included.”

A little known shortcut indeed!

Photograph and short story mantrabay copyright protected

[mantrabay]

A Little Known Shortcut.

Wandering the roads. It has me under a spell.

Even when prickly brambles

scrape my eyelids or those bony ankles are being twisted by tooth like stones. The angular sort clustered mischievously among the green shoots that litter every footpath.

They lie in wait, in ambush.

It goes with the territory for this seasoned footman.

Meandering landscapes are house and home to the spiral lanes and clover clad hills that are rife in my area.

Their rustic heritage sometimes sacrificed to the orphanage of malleable motives.

Crop farmers obsessed with bountiful harvest.

A restless developer pushing the limits of an urban jungle.

Fellow traveller in league with fugitives from the cockpit.

The pressure cooker of modern life.

The town dweller with split loyalties who clings to the tumult of the city but hankers after some rural idyll.

Culprits one and all.

A lair from the hubbub.

Dwellings of the quaintest kind huddle together like dots in a matrix separated only by a minuscule space.

The more alluring aspects of tradition have been preserved.

Among these are shortcuts or bypasses.

Those sequestered passages that shave miles off for the perennial rambler or clueless hitchhiker.

The eye becomes a lense to all these

things hidden or supposedly hidden.

Human vision as sensor to magic trails.

Those tucked away secret spots beloved of local wiseacres.

They festoon the sprawling countryside at random.

My name is Eric Spring.

Anthea, my partner a transcendental meditation teacher retired early at an early age.

Her withdrawal from work was never meant to be permanent.

A final decision hinged on Anthea's ability to purge that fiendish veil of sadness that had been shadowing her.

There were several obstacles in her path but they weren’t insurmountable.

Thoughts of Anthea in her halcyon days haunted me.

Mental pictures of a vibrant woman imbued with passion.

Poignant evocative heart-tugging images.

Bar excursions into town my station is that of Anthea’s carer.

This eternally stoic woman is mindful of her mental boundaries and the abyss concealed by each of them.

But she is not prone to self-hate or abuse. The more lethal plagues of the psyche hadn't yet impacted on her.

Anthea was groping for exits but hadn’t found the signs.

She remains housebound as I embark on those age defying treks into town.

We keep in touch by mobile phone.

A very angelic sensitive looking person is she.

Reminiscent of a Sunday Times editor.

The accent filters every noun and stresses every nuance.

Like the sounds from an early morning orchard.

Anthea's job became monotonous and her other pursuits painting and writing fled without trace.

A budding artist’s most dreaded syndromes struck.

Writer's block. Artistic vacuum.

The wellspring of her imagination now devoid of those inspiring flashes that sustain creative impulse.

She had few outlets bar my care and a lady called Fidelma who had the edge on me with regard to local knowledge. I longed to hear Anthea's voice on my device.

Her hypnotic voice bridges gaps.

You feel close even when speaking to her from a distance.

I love the walks and savouring all those pivot points of folklore.

I pride myself on my intimate knowledge of every branch strewn rivulet, stream and layered rock formation.

My links to the environment are almost erotic as I crave it's sensual touch.

At times I enter a tranquil zone where the shutters are drawn.

Just myself and all those habitats.

“Hello Eric? Lost in thought again.

How is anthea these days?

I spoke to her over the phone a few days ago.

I sometimes drop in on her when you are out.”

Fidelma speaking with that chirping red robin voice of hers.

She had this penchant for suddenly appearing like an archaeological site.

And she vanished just as quickly leaving the person she spoke to scrambling to process her asides and insights before they disappeared.

Neighbour, friend, root and branch archivist whose grasp of detail was legendary.

“She seems to be coping.” I said.

“Glad to hear that. Maybe I can pay a flying visit some time soon.

But aren't you a foolish man to be imposing all those Olympic Marathons on yourself?”

Fidelma about to share one of her treasured nuggets.

“I love walking but any tips?”

Spring enquired naively as events soon demonstrated.

“There’s a shortcut…..a little known shortcut.

People in the know recommend it though I have never actually used it myself.

Maybe I will one day.

See, it's on the right hand side up the road there.

Think it might be useful when you want to get home in a hurry.” She concluded.

Fidelma in advanced middle age was still sprightly and youthful in her ways.

I missed a text from anthea and Fidelma noticed.

“Yes. I have one of those gadgets too.

Keeps me connected.

Took me awhile to master it.

Wish there was a shortcut for that.

But I'll best be on my way.

Take good care whatever the route.”

As always having spoken to Fidelma I wondered about in a trance.

Another colourful aspect of Fidelma’s personality was her “Banana Skin Syndrome.”

She could lose her balance betimes when enthusing about a topic or when she stumbled on an area that fascinated her.

The feet were a little wobbly.

All this against her philosophy about how interconnected everything is.

The mind is an antenna sending out signals to others was a frequent broadside of hers.

Even when Fidelma said very little she always had this magnetic effect on others.

Those terse one liners could trigger an avalanche in the mind.

Her thin phrases were always shrouded in a well crafted poetic meter.

It was in the tone, gestures and body language.

Those beady yet expressive eyes scanning her environment like a radar screen.

A cascade of images and sound bytes ensued when she left.

Several hours passed as my mind was in overdrive like a central processing unit.

I heard this inner voice telling me to explore this “shortcut.”

Having texted Anthea I then proceeded to this offshoot of a lane.

It was going to lighten the journey of this slope and pavement plodder.

Off I went down this quaint country shortcut.

Nothing out of the ordinary to begin with until Anthea rang.

“Gnawing feeling of sadness.

My mind is a dark blue canvass at the moment.”

Her lilting twang mingling with the song birds at the start of my downward journey.

I sensed this was urgent and started to walk quickly.

That's when problems arose.

Just a plain country passage with a primarily flat surface at this point.

There were houses on each side and some weeds strewn and partially mangled, turned to mulch by wild and indiscriminate boots.

Strange feelings welled up within me as I felt like a geyser at yellowstone.

The puff and splutter of tractors in nearby fields as furrows, the epicenter of future yields were turned.

Scarecrows were strategically perched in the meadow behind the right hand hedge to ward off some menace or other.

Something told me to relate my surroundings to Anthea.

If only to divert attention from an impending gloom.

Those barely audible inner prompts again.

“Eric, I don't want to pressurise you but at the moment I feel this dark cloud.”

Eric paused.

It then occurred to me that I was engulfed by dark foreboding clouds in tandem with a rising rainbow like haze.

As Anthea continued her disorders seemed to be complemented by external threats of rain intermingled with sunshine.

“I feel, Eric there is a radiance trying to break through.

Just to see you … your presence is a light which I could focus on.”

Then I realised that speed was of the essence.

That's when I could have panicked.

Anthea’s voice seemed louder, but also more lyrical as I realised this obscure

overlooked route could have done with some restoration!

Tufts of grass oozing slime.

Mounds of mud with pockets of oil stained water.

The briars were a shock team that endangered every part of the human body.

I was conveying all this to anthea as I was trying to dash at my normal pace.

Oddly Anthea’s tone of desperation started to dip.

But she did appear less tense as I told her this story over the phone.

“Someone told me this is a shortcut.”

Eric said gingerly.

“Who was that ? Anthea asked.

“Fidelma. We met on the main road just a short while ago.” I responded.

“You know her a bit better than I do.”

Anthea observed. “She's going to call over one of these days I'm sure.”

By now Anthea, initially nervous was mellowing as I continued with my frantic running … and staggering commentary!

She didn’t have had much to excite her over the last five years.

But I had to be careful lest those dark brooding phases returned.

Like a roving reporter I regaled her with lurid descriptions of limp green shrubs, tea brown leaves shredded on fissured rocks, juice dripping blackberry bushes with foraging earwigs seeking shelter from the sun.

But here I was almost knee deep in tangled foliage while keeping the love of my life up to speed!

The labyrinthine outcrops and mock craters were all included.

Suddenly misfortune struck without warning.

I nearly sprained my leg as I fell face down on a grassy patch.

Sprawled awkwardly across this surface my phone went flying but I managed to catch it.

“Eric, are you ok?

I don’t mean to be a burden.

Will I get someone to meet you at the end of this lane or short cut.”

Anthea again.

“I'm fine, Anthea.”

Eric said before slowly rising.

I kept detailing my observations and Anthea was reacting positively.

But I made it eventually with the sounds of the road as guide.

The temperatures continued to rise causing perspiration.

Peering thru the maze of entwined growths I saw … Fidelma.

“Where did you spring from?” Eric punning his own name.

“Fidelma ...you fell too.” A question that might have appeared tactless.

She was getting up, having fallen when taking her bearings it seems.

“Fidelma …. thanks but no thanks.

The shortcut.” I said.

“You are shivering.” She observed.

“I am. Spring responded.

“Got to get to Anthea because she might be in need of help.” Spring continued.

We both headed for my house as quickly as possible.

But it wasn’t far.

I texted Anthea and she answered by saying she had every reason to speak to me.

One wondered what that might be.

My face whitened.

Fidelma and I soon reached the house where I lived.

Eric pressed the doorbell as his heart pounded.

The door opened suddenly and we couldn't believe what we saw.

“Anthea, is that you?

I haven't seen you smile like that in years.”

I said.

Fidelma and I were perplexed to say the least.

“It’s early days yet but those locusts of darkness hopping around in my head maybe dwindling.

Those creative juices returned when I sensed your anxiety down the lane because I didn't want two sick people in this house.

But you brought splashes of vivid colour into my drawing room.

I could almost smell the rustic fragrance of every wilting petal and the creaking of every twig.

You set a whole cycle in train.”

Anthea then showed me two items she was working on.

“I have started a rough sketch of the lane you detailed and a short story.

There's been a sea change.” She said.

“Oh I wonder what I'll call this sketch and that short story?

Any ideas?” Anthea enquired.

Fidelma and I looked at each other and spoke almost in unison.

“I think we both have a fair idea what they both might be called.

Your story included.”

A little known shortcut indeed!

Photograph and short story copyright protected

[timeisthewound]

Mick Mars MSN Chat Transcript

01-feb-2005 DishDiva says: Mick, welcome to MSN Live! Mick_Mars_Live says: Hi. DishDiva says: It's great to have you here for the first time! Christi4618 in Onstage_1 asks: What's is the feeling you get when you perform live. P.S. YOU ROCK SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mick_Mars_Live says: Thank you, the feeling I get is I go into a whole different world. Very euphoric. Dave_sth in Onstage_1 asks: Hey Mick,, Do you still have your Mirror Guitar and the Theater Of Pain Guitar?? They were awesome!! - Watton, Guadalajara Vincevixen in Onstage_1 asks: Are you ever going to write your own Biography, Diane Ontario, Canada. Love you forever. Mick_Mars_Live says: I don't have the mirror guitar anymore but I do have the Theatre of Pain guitar, I keep my guitars in the studio, they don't go on tour. Mick_Mars_Live says: Thank you for loving me, I need love right now. I am thinking about it, but you never know. motleycruefan88 in Onstage_1 asks: Hey Mick im a new Crue fan and im 16. Is there anything you can tell me about the new tour, what to expect? Mick_Mars_Live says: It's gonna be really crazy, over the top, Circus de Soleil, it's going to be loud and nothing you've ever seen. I promise. DishDiva says: What are you doing to prepare for the show? Mick_Mars_Live says: I'm learning songs I haven't played in 20 years. We're rehearsing and getting the show together and the costumes and acrobats and fire breathers together. That kind of stuff. Newtattoo222 in Onstage_1 asks: Which of your guitars means most to you and why? Mick_Mars_Live says: All of them mean something to me so that's a tough one to pin down. It's like girlfriends and past girlfriends and past wives. That's a tough question to answer my favorite right now Fender built me two Stratocasters and there's a black and a white one. marschick69 in Onstage_1 asks: Do you have rituals before a show? tommi from ok Mick_Mars_Live says: No, not really. I just play my guitar before to limber up my fingers, there's no meditation. I do sacrifice women though. (laughs) CrueCi_Fied in Onstage_1 asks: Hey Mick, what do you do to prepare yourself for being on the road for so long? Scott - Edmonton Mick_Mars_Live says: Some things you just do. It's what I do, it's what I love to do. I'm sure that you have a job, how do you get up every day. It's the same for me, it's what I love to do. It's my gig. punkett527641 in Onstage_1 asks: Are you glad to be back with the guys preforming again? Mick_Mars_Live says: Of course. The four of us, it's crazy when you have to go on. I call it more of a separation than a breakup, so it's all good. Shout1985 in Onstage_1 asks: Mick, what's your favorite Crue song? - Atlanta, Ga. Mick_Mars_Live says: Hmmm. To play or listen to? To play would be "Primal Scream." MentallyTwistedWolf in Onstage_1 asks: Hi Mick Been Waiting over 20 years to see you live! Are you gonna make it to Indy or Louisville before my twisted mind goes on permanent hiatus? Mick_Mars_Live says: Oh yeah! We'll be there. I think we'll be there in February. I believe. Moonstarchic2004 in Onstage_1 asks: Hi Mick, What got u into the music world, I have been a fan for a long time I will be going to my first Crue concert at Mci center in D.C. I cant wait. Luv Ya Mick_Mars_Live says: When I was 3 years old I went to a 4H fair and there was a country western band player, Skeeter Bond was playing and he came out with his big bright orange Stetson. I knew  inmediately what I wanted to do! crue887 in Onstage_1 asks: Whats up with that 20 minute solo? i read about it in an interview with nikki. - Craig, MA Mick_Mars_Live says: What 20 minute solo? I don't know if I know 20 minutes on the guitar. (laughs) Texangirl_21 in Onstage_1 asks: If you weren't in a rock band, what would you be doing? Amarillo, Tx Mick_Mars_Live says: Strippin'! (laughs) Newtattoo222 in Onstage_1 asks: Who would you like to play you in the movie of 'The Dirt' Mick_Mars_Live says: Colin Farrell because he's better looking than me. Paulyc75 in Onstage_1 asks: I'm so psyched!! I had to hide my 'Theatre of Pain' tape from my mother oh so many years ago!! Now I can't wait to take my pregnant wife to see the Crue!! Mick_Mars_Live says: Very cool. I'm flattered, thank you. Jamespain0 in Onstage_1 asks: With only 2 weeks away from your first show, are you feeling nervous, excited, worried? Mick_Mars_Live says: I always get concerned about the first few shows. Once they are over, then I'm thinking it's a piece of cake. MA_86 in Onstage_1 asks: What are your advice to someone (like me) who wants to start a band? You Rock, by the way = ). Gerda, Sweden Mick_Mars_Live says: I had to search for so long to find the right people. Just find some people until you feel it's right. Don't be afraid to tell them if it's not right and keep looking until it is right. Dave_sth in Onstage_1 asks: Hey Mick!! Are you playing this tour your horizontal slide guitars you used on the Feelgood tour? I hope you guys come to Mexico again!! - Dave, Mexico City Mick_Mars_Live says: No, I don't think I'll be using those this year. I do think we are playing Mexico but I'm not sure when. stereoguy75 in Onstage_1 asks: Do you like the new songs as much as the old? Mick_Mars_Live says: Yeah because they are becoming more current sounding. I'm not dating the old songs, but it's hard to keep up with the times and still sound like Motley Crue. Latexluv_2 in Onstage_1 asks: Could you tell us the meaning of the scorpion tattoo on your hand? Latexluv, Dallas, TX Mick_Mars_Live says: I like Scorpios. I like to feel the sting. Texangirl_21 in Onstage_1 asks: Was shooting the video "If I Die Tomorrow" rough for you? Amarillo, Tx Mick_Mars_Live says: It was a little bit hard for me because I just had gotten out of the hospital. It went pretty quick though, it was only about 8 or 9 hours. It was ok, a little rough in some spots, but it was ok. Nikkimars1 in Onstage_1 asks: Hey how do you like being on tour? DishDiva says: Something you look forward to? Mick_Mars_Live says: Always! Yeah, very fun. A lot of times people will come up to me and ask if I remember them, that's the hard part, you meet so many people it's hard to remember every one you meet. 9GUNNZ in Onstage_1 asks: Hi Mick, glad you could be here, did you ever think Motley Crue would still be sitting high on top of the Rock -n- Roll mountain after 20+ years? Mick_Mars_Live says: I'm not trying to sound conceited because I'm not, but I had every intention. NikkiSixx_MotleyCrue1 in Onstage_1 asks: Hi Mick, how are you? How does your family feel about the Crue tour and do you read fan fiction? HJ, AZ Mick_Mars_Live says: I'm not married, but my mom and dad are thrilled I'm able to go on tour. DishDiva says: Were your parents always supportive of your career in music? Mick_Mars_Live says: No. They always totally supported me and the music world. They were regretful that they couldn't help me more. ♫♫♫t©hΦμρρe♫♫♫ in Onstage_1 asks: Hi Mick, how many guitars you have to bring on tour? Mick_Mars_Live says: Not very many, 6 or 8. nightbaby2007 in Onstage_1 asks: Mic how did you guys come up with the song if i die tomorrow?it is a cool song. Mick_Mars_Live says: Nikki came up with the song. He just went in and did it. It is a cool song, it's a fun song to play. ĸοЯŋ_ŁûvęЯ in Onstage_1 asks: Seeing you guys will be my first concert ever ill just have turned 18 and its the best birthday present ive ever had! THANK YOU!!!!YOU ROCK!!! Mick_Mars_Live says: That is great. Dave_sth in Onstage_1 asks: Hey Mick!! You rock my world!! Do you guys plan to play DANGER live on tour?? That song is a Classic!! - Dave ,Mexico City Mick_Mars_Live says: We're not playing that particular song but we are playing songs off that album. We haven't played them in such a long time. We'll play some really cool older stuff and some new stuff. It progresses, it's all good. Overglam in Onstage_1 asks: Are you ready to go to Europe to kick major ass! it's been a long time ! JoNixx from France Mick_Mars_Live says: Of course. I love Paris, that's my place! Yes we'll be there soon. AllisterFiend77 in Onstage_1 asks: What advice would you give to a beginning guitar player? Mick_Mars_Live says: I guess I would say (this is going to sound corny) but be true to your roots. Whatever you like best like rock, jazz, blues, stay with what you love because if you don't you'll regret it. MA_86 in Onstage_1 asks: Hi, Mick. You Rock! Your favourite song to listen to, then? Gerda, Sweden Mick_Mars_Live says: The Jimi Hendrix song "Angel." Vincevixen in Onstage_1 asks: I know Beck was a huge influence for you(great choice) any other influences that are that strong for you? Diane Ont, Canada Mick_Mars_Live says: Lots of people. Jimi Hendrix, Alvin Lee, Jimmy Page, Michel Bloomfield, Eric Clapton, a lot of people like that. I could name a million more, but I'll leave it like that. badboyrocker77 in Onstage_1 asks: hi mick my wife and i are taking our six year old daughter to your spokan show its her first and she loves the crue!! Mick_Mars_Live says: That's cool. I love new fans, especially young ones. Texangirl_21 in Onstage_1 asks: What was one of the best times you've had with Motley Crue over the years? Amarillo, Tx ClassicAndHardRockIsBest in Onstage_1 asks: What is one of your most memorable moments? Patrick from Waukegan, Illinois Mick_Mars_Live says: Let's see... Probably... I was in Sweden, we were playing there and the first night three Swedish girls took me home. It wasn't a sexual thing, we just had fun. gurneecrue in Onstage_1 asks: Mick, Do you still have the red corvette seen in "motley crue uncensored"?-Kent, Chicago Mick_Mars_Live says: Yes. Jamespain0 in Onstage_1 asks: Whats the hardest crue song to play and get right? James from London Mick_Mars_Live says: "Afraid" off the "Generation" album. There were so many electronics going on and it was hard to copy the synthesizers. I still have trouble with that song and that album too. DishDiva says: Mick, we have so many audience questions about where you guys will be on tour. Is there one place you are really looking forward to going? Mick_Mars_Live says: I think Argentina because I haven't been there before. I have a lot of favorite places, but I'm really looking forward to Argentina because we haven't been there before. DishDiva says: Mick, thanks for taking the time to stop by to talk with fans about the tour. DishDiva says: From all of your fans here on MSN, best of luck with the tour! Mick_Mars_Live says: Thank you for staying with us, thank you for being Motley fans, I can speak for the rest of the guys, we all love you and will see you on tour!

[janethepegasus]

BMC Miraculous Ladybug AU RP Thing: Penumbra

An RP me and @pika-ace did relating to the BMC Miraculous Ladybug AU, which involves one of the movies, Penumbra, where Artemis kidnaps Cyber and Leo and tries to force them to use Union Form DURING the Eclipse Effect.

(Toby sits at his desk, going over his notes; ever since his superior Lockstin got arrested he had been obsessed over what he accomplished while akumatized)

(He looks at all the notes Lockstin has made, everything about alchemy and everything he knows about the Miraculous and how it ties to history itself)

Toby: Such power...and Lockstin had it all at his fingertips...perhaps it was too much... (He turns to his notes about the Eel and Lion Miraculous) Toby: These two...these hold the greatest power...they were reason he was stopped...

(He looks at the notes about the Eel and Lion Miraculous, and saw that in the notes, it mentioned that they’re tied to the sun and moon)

Toby: What did Lockstin say when they were dragging him away...? Something about them being the eclipse...? He was rambling quit a bit; he always had a tendency to get

drunk with power...

(He tries to remember what Lockstin said while looking at the notes)

Toby: The Eclipse...the sun and the moon...those two alone were able to beat the power of all the Miraculous...clearly Lockstin bit off more than he could chew by

taking on the other Miraculous

Toby: But why are they so powerful...?

(Toby growls in annoyance and slams down his notes as he can't find an answer) Toby: Why did Lockstin have to be akumatized?! I bet I could've figured out more; if I could get my hands on the Eel and Lion Miraculous I know I could tap into that

energy and harness it!!

(Toby sighs in annoyance)

(Just then an akuma flies through the window and enters his lab coat)

(He shots up and a Raven visor appears on his face)

Raven: Hello, Artemis; I am Raven Claw. I heard your grievances from my tower; you wish to finish what your partner started and unlock the power of the Eel and Lion

Miraculous?

Toby: Yes!!

Raven: Very well, Artemis; all I ask is that when your research is complete you give me the two Miraculous; and I certainly hope you won't make the same mistake as

your predecessor

Toby: I won’t disappoint you, Master. >:3

Toby: Although I do have one request; I'm going to need help executing my plan. Could you akumatize my other co workers in this building? Raven: Oooooh! :3c

Raven: I’ll certainly do that! >:3

(Toby transforms into Artemis and looks at his moon calendar) Artemis: The eclipse will be upon us soon...the time to strike is now >:3

(Artemis does an evil laugh)

(A few days later, the school day has just ended)

(Everyone in the classroom leaves the classroom)

Eric: *gets his things* *to Jeremy* Ready to go?

Jeremy: *gets his things* *to Eric* Yep!

(They head out of the school) Jeremy: You ready? Eric: Eclipse effect in two days? No. XS Jeremy: Same XS

Jeremy: God, it’s always so painful to go through! But we just gotta deal with the fact we have it. XS Eric: Indeed... XS

(As they head home, they're unaware of people watching them from the shadows) ???: Holders of the Eel and Lion Miraculous identified.

???: Targets on sight!

???: Begin diversion; draw them out. (One of the akumas starts to pretend to cause trouble, catching the attention of the holders)

(Eric and Jeremy see the Akuma) Jeremy: Really?! Ugh, we gotta do what we gotta do... >_>

Eric: Be glad that the Eclipse Effect isn't for another two days... (They transform and head out, the first on the scene)

(The people in the shadows smile with glee) ???: They fell for it! >:D ???: Now we wait for our chance to strike! >:3

Cyber: That's odd... (The place where the attack happened is eerily quiet)

Leo: It's quiet...TOO quiet...

Cyber: Stay close to me... (They look around and Leo's ears twitch) Leo: Cy, I can't put my finger on it but there's some-erk! (Leo's cut off as a syringe enters his neck and pumps a drug into him, making him woozy)

Cyber: Leo, wha-erk! (Cyber is cut off as a syringe enters his neck and pumps the drug into him, making him feel woozy)

(They both stagger and stumble until they fall to the ground, their bodies completely numb)

(The Akumas surround them and picked them up)

Akuma: Subjects neutralized >:)

Akuma: Now we must bring them to our boss. >:)

(They drag them to a van and load them in the back; Leo and Cyber can still see and hear everything but can’t move or properly react due to the drug)

(The Akumas get in the car and they drive off)

(At the same time, the rest of the Holders arrive on the scene)

(The Holders look around and they find nothing)

Timber: What the hell..? Hound: Nothings here...

Owl: Odd...

Papillon: And where are Cyber and Leo? They were the first to tell us about the attack...they should be here

Tiger: Yeah, where the hell are they?

(Meanwhile, x amount of time later, Cyber finally gets his senses back)

(Cyber starts to move parts of his body, the ones he can feel)

(He blinks and finds that he’s strapped to a table; the straps are made of rubber and there are even rubber gloves on his hands; he’s even surrounded by lightning

rods, preventing any electricity)

Cyber: What the hell...?

(He looks around and sees that he’s in a lab; Leo is strapped to a table next to him, only his straps are made of metal and his hands are completely immobile; he even

has a muzzle on his face to prevent him from roaring)

Cyber: Leo...!

Leo: *muffled* Cy...!

Leo: *muffled* What the hell is going on...?!

Cyber: I...I don’t know...!

Leo: *muffled* Me neither...! DX

(Just then the door opens and Artemis walks followed by his akuma henchmen) Artemis: Good, you’re awake; and you seem aware

Cyber: What the...?! Who are you...?!

Artemis: You can call me Artemis. I’ve been looking forward to seeing the great Cyber Shock and Leo King up close and at my mercy

Leo: *muffled* What do you want from us...?!

Artemis: I want to pick up where my old friend left off; I’m sure you’re familiar with his work; after all, it was thanks to him you discovered that eclipse power of

yours

(Cyber and Leo tense up, remembering what Apollo did)

Leo: *muffled* You...know him...? Artemis: All too well; we worked together

Leo and Cyber: WHAT?!

Artemis: Yes; studying the Miraculous was always our pastime; Toby how ever flew a bit too close to the sun when he was akumatized. (He goes over and he and his henchmen get the equipment ready) Artemis: I plan to just utilize the two most powerful Miraculous out of the 30. That’s where you two come in

Leo: *muffled* So...what are you gonna do to us...?!

Artemis: We’re going to tap into that magic jewelry of yours and find a way to extract that magic. Perhaps when the actual eclipse hits, it will gain more results; I

want to see that power that you used to defeat Apollo

(Leo and Cyber tense up in fear)

Cyber: You can’t...! It’s too dangerous...!

Artemis: So what? All i care about for this little experiment is that i get results! >:)

Leo: *muffled* But...the Eclipse Effect...! Artemis: What Eclipse Effect?

Cyber: It's what when a solar or lunar eclipse happens! Me and Leo go through three phases that could kill us if we're not properly cared for! Leo: *muffled* And the third phase is REALLY dangerous...!

Cyber: If we’re in Union Form when that happens...! Artemis: ...Interesting >:3c

Artemis: We’ll just have to test you and see what happens if we put the two together! >:3

Leo: *muffled* But...we could die..!! Artemis: Then I’ll be extra careful >:3

Artemis: After all, i do want you two to be alive by the end of this! >:3

(Artemis places a strange object over their Miraculous) Artemis: Now...let’s get started

(Cyber and Leo tense up in fear)

(The next day, the holders are worried sick as Jeremy and Eric have vanished)

Jordan: Damn it, where the hell did they go?! Michael: I don't know! But i don't like the feeling of missing them! XS

(Just then they get a text in the group chat from Joe) Joe: Everyone, I think we have a problem...

Jordan: *text* What is it?

Joe: *text* I did a little meditation to try and locate the missing Miraculous and their signal is being blocked; if they were in trouble our Miraculous would have

flowed, but for some reason something is preventing that

Michael: *text* Wait, there's a thing out there that can BLOCK the signal of the Miraculous?! O_O

Joe: *text* Apparently; we all need to look for them immediately; the eclipse is tomorrow night

Max: *text* Yeah, and they have that Eclipse Effect every time an eclipse happens.

(Everyone transforms and heads out)

(Meanwhile with Cyber and Leo...)

(Both of them cry out in pain as the device does something to their Miraculous analyzing it in a painful way)

(Artemis analyzes the data as this goes on)

Artemis: Interesting...there’s less to do with the animal you represent and more to do with the sun and moon. I suppose that makes sense since the other Miraculous

aren’t connected to celestial bodies...at least that we know of

(Artemis looks at Cyber and Leo, unphased by their screams of pain)

Artemis: So, this Union Form...how do you activate it?

Leo: *screams in pain* GAH! W-Why you asking us now, instead of, you know, WHEN WE'RE NOT IN PAIN?! >:(((

(Artemis rolls his eyes and turns off the machine) Artemis: Fine; now tell me. Or I might just ramp up the juice next time >:(

Cyber: *sighs with relief* Alright...we don't know how it works EXACTLY, but all we know is that when we hold our hands together and connected our minds and hearts

together...the form would appear.

Artemis: Awww how sweet. Have you tried it since?

Leo: Well...the closest thing is just training ourselves to make sure that form doesn't kill us the next time we use it.

Artemis: Hmm, Interesting; I look forward to the eclipse (He turns on the machine again and still ups the power despite his promise earlier)

(Leo and Cyber scream in pain)

Artemis: Let’s see if we can bring out the Union Form out of sheer desperation

(He slightly cranks up the power and Leo and Cyber scream in pain)

(Their Miraculous glow brightly, Zip and Leo screaming and calling for the kwamis and a few slivers make it out) (Meanwhile, as the holders are looking, a few of their Miraculous start to flicker like something’s trying to reach them)

(The Holders notice their Miraculous flickering)

Hound: Guys?! Tiger: Yeah, we’re seeing it!

Timber: I can kinda sense them!

Owl: C’mon! We have to follow the trail while we still have one! The Eclipse is hours away! *looks at the sun that’s just set*

(They follow the trail as quickly as possible)

(Meanwhile in the lab, Artemis opens a skylight right over Cyber and Leo, revealing the rising moon) Artemis: Now you have a clear view >:3

Artemis: And now we just have to wait for the eclipse to come! >:3

(Cyber and Leo are already starting to sweat or shiver, feeling the heat and chill creep up on them)

Leo: Oh god...! Cyber: The Eclipse effect....!

(Artemis moves over and restraps their hands so their holding each other’s hands and tied to stay that way) Artemis: Don’t want anyone disturbing the connection

Artemis: Now, let's see what happens when the Union Form activates WITH the Eclipse Effect! >:3

Cyber: We won’t...do it...! Artemis: Are you sure? It might be the only way to survive the wave of pain coming your way >:3c

Artemis: If you don't...then this may be the last time you'll ever live on this Earth. So you better do it! >:3c

Akuma: *enters* Sir? There seem to be a number of intruders heading to our location

Artemis: Intruders?! Well, make sure they don't get near these two subjects *gestures Leo and Cyber* Is that clear? >:/

Akuma: Yes sir! (He leaves) Artemis: Nothings going to get in my way...not when the eclipse is so close!

Artemis: I am going to get my results and NO ONE will stand in my way! >:(

(Meanwhile, the holders storm the lab)

(The Holders rush through the lab, however an army of Akumas surround them)

Hound: Whoa What?! More than one?!

Akuma: We will not let you get near our boss! No matter what you do to stop us! >:(

(They start fighting)

(The army of Akumas try their very hardest to beat the Holders down but also stall them so the eclipse could come)

(After a while in the lab, Artemis grins up at the sky) Artemis: Here we go...! (The eclipse begins)

(Leo and Cyber start to glow while the Eclipse Effect is still there. Forcibly connecting their minds to activate the Union Form)

(Light bursts through the area, interrupting the fight outside)

Akuma: It's happening! :D

Scarlet: That doesn't look like the normal Eclipse Effect...! Owl: No...he didn't...!

(Leo and Cyber slowly turn into their Union Forms, but they were also screaming in pain with the Eclipse Effect)

Artemis: Incredible! So much power! >:D

(Their eyes started to glow as this continued.)

(Just then the holders burst in and see the sight) Owl: Oh god no...

(Leo and Cyber were close to turning into their Union Forms, their eyes were glowing, and they were screaming in pain. But oddly, parts of their skin were starting to

blend in with the glow on their bodies)

Artemis: Like what you see?! >:D Owl: *to Artemis* What have you done?!

Artemis: I'm doing research on the two most powerful Miraculous of course! And it's going VERY successfully! >:3 (Leo and Cyber are VERY close to becoming their Union Forms, and parts of their skin were blending in with the glow)

Owl: You have to stop!! They're going to disappear if this keeps up!! Hound: Wait what?!

Timber: What did ya say?! O_O

Owl: Everyone, break that connection and free them at ALL COSTS!!!

Artemis: Oh no you're not! I will not stop until i get my results! >:(

(The machines are shaking from all the energy and data) Pacific: Dude, I think that's the least of your worries!

Artemis: So? I'm not ending this research! >:( *he pulls out two long swords, one with a moon theme, the other with a sun theme* And i will not let any of you stop me!

>:( *he launches towards them with the two swords*

Owl: Get to them! One of you try to get to them and hurry!! *the fight starts*

(Artemis fights VERY viciously, slashing and kicking away the Holders, while the Holders try their best to beat him down but also find a way to get past him, because

Artemis tries his very hardest not to let ANYONE get past him) (Owl looks behind Artemis and sees that Leo and Cyber are in their Union Forms but their bodies were slowly transforming into light)

Owl: No....! (Cyber and Leo scream and writhe in pain as their bodies transform)

(Seeing how Artemis was beating down the rest of the Holders, Owl decides to do the task himself. He makes a flying leap over Artemis and runs towards Leo and Cyber)

(He reaches for their joined hands, to rip them apart)

(He grabs the joined hands and uses all of his strength to tear them apart.) (He looks at Cyber and Leo, seeing that their bodies are half light) Cyber: *Union Form Voice* Erk...J..! Guardian of the Miraculous...! Leo: *Union Form Voice* Help us...!! Set us free...!!

Owl: I will...I promise...I won't let you...share the same fate as me...!!!! (The light burns his hands as he slowly pries their hands apart)

(Artemis looks back and sees Owl trying to pry Leo and Cyber's hands apart)

Artemis: NO!!

(Artemis slashes any nearby Holders and dashes towards Owl. Once he got close, he put the blades near Owl's throat, threatening him to let go)

Artemis: Step away from my subjects, or your head is gone >:(

Owl: *glares at Artemis* Do you even realize what you're doing to them?! Not only are you threatening their lives but ALSO making them disappear from this world UNTIL

the Miraculouses are needed again! They would become Guardian entities like me! Living for all of eternity as immortal! And by the time they would return, everyone

that they knew and love would be gone! And you're willing to do this, all because you want results?!

Holders: Wait wha- Artemis: You're lying!!

Owl: I'm not!! You are threatening their very existence as mortals! *Owl looks at Cyber and Leo and sees that their bodies are almost completely converted into light*

(Artemis hesitates and Owl takes the opportunity to yank their hands apart)

(Once their hands were apart, there was a HUGE explosion of light, the Holders and Artemis cover their eyes in the light explosion)

(Everyone is blown back and the light eventually fades)

(Everyone looks at Cyber and Leo and see that they transformed back, however, their clothes were almost completely burnt off, they had burn marks on their bodies and

hands, and the thing that were on their Miraculous was completely burnt off, letting the two Miraculous glow)

(The machines were also completely destroyed, having been overloaded with power; Cyber and Leo are also not moving at all)

Timber: WILL!!!

Hound: JERE!!!

(The holders hurry over to them; the eclipse had ended, so everything was silent)

(The Holders surround the two and they released them from the straps)

Timber: Will?! Will talk to me!! Atlantic: C'mon kid, snap out of it!!

(Cyber and Leo didn't respond)

(Meanwhile, Owl has knocked out, and purified Artemis) Owl: They won't wake...

Hound: Wh-What?!

Owl: They were in Union Form for far longer than last time...they're likely comatose

(The Holders tense up, and a few of them started to tear up)

Owl: We need to get them to the hospital...and I need to make sure their Miraculous aren't damaged... (He takes them off, making them change back)

(Owl looks at the Miraculous and finds that, aside from a few scratch marks, they're okay)

(Timber and Jade pick up Eric and Jeremy, who are limp and completely unresponsive)

(They leave the lab and head towards the hospital)

(Jeremy and Eric are both set up with breathing tubes and heart monitors to keep track of their vitals)

(Jordan, Michael, and the Trinity all stand by their beds)

Max: They better fucking wake up...

Sebastian: Yeah, please wake up Jere-Bear... :'(

Jordan: Peach...

(Jordan looks at Eric, tears were starting to form in his eyes)

(Michael leans against him)

(Michael comforts Jordan, as tears start to fall on Jordan's face)

(They stay for as long as they can) (XX amount of time later...Eric and Jeremy stir...)

(Eric and Jeremy slightly open their eyes, seeing figures around them)

(They try to look around, but they're tired and their bodies can barely move; the figures around them are asleep next to their beds)

Eric: *internally* Wha...what....what happened...? Jeremy: *internally* Wh...where...am i...?

(Jeremy shifts ever so slightly and opens his mouth, but a weak barely audible noise comes out)

(Eric moves slightly, sighing very softly)

(The figures then start to stir)

???: Huh...wha...?

???: Oh my god...JEREMY?! ERIC?!

Jeremy: *very softly* Wha...?

(The Armada gathers around them, tears in their eyes)

Michael: Jere?! Jordan: Will?!

Eric: *weakly* G...Guys...

Jeremy: *weakly* Is...is that...you...?

Christine: Yes!! Oh my god you’re alive!!

Michael: Oh my god, Jere you're awake!! :'D

Jordan: Jesus Christ peach, don’t you ever scare me like that again!!

Eric: *softly* I-I won't...

Jeremy: *softly* What...happened...? Joe: You nearly became one with the universe

Eric and Jeremy: *softly* Wha-What...?!

(Joe explains what Artemis’ experiment nearly did to them)

Joe: You see, when a Lion and Eel Miraculous Holder use the Union Form during the Eclipse Effect, it will cause them to turn into an entity like me. Their existence as

mortals, or regular humans, would be washed away through this. Once your bodies turned into light, you would disappear from this world, and you would not appear again

until the Miraculous are needed again.

Jeremy and Eric:  O_O

Joe: And of course your condition was made worse by the fact that you used Union Form in such a state; you were comatose for almost a month

Jeremy: W-We were out...that long...?!

Eric: Oh my god...!

Michael: Yeah...for a moment...w-we thought we lost you two...

Brooke: Even the doctors weren’t sure if you’d make it...

Joe: But...miraculously...you did. :')

Jeremy: Yeah... Eric: And I suppose...we owe you thanks...for saving us...

Jordan: Yeah, we saved your very existence as, well...humans.

Joe: Just recover...that’s how you can repay us ;) Jeremy: Roger...

Eric: Will do... :)

(Jordan takes out a little bottle) Jordan: I brought sugar water every day in preparation for this, Now you can finally use it

Eric: Thanks... :)

(Jordan gives Eric a little and then passes the bottle to Philip to give Jeremy)

(Philip gives a little to Jeremy)

Philip: Now you can just focus on moving again Jeremy: How long...will that take...? Eric: True...last time we were just out for a day but we could move after a day...now we were out for a month...

Jeremy: Does this mean...we can move...after a month...?!

Eric: Who knows...not moving for a month has probably taken its toll on our bodies... Michael: Either way, though, that’s gonna suck... XS

Jeremy: Yeah... XS

Joe: But we’ll help you through all of it

Jordan: Yeah! :) (Eric and Jeremy smile at them)

[pattie-remembers]

Famous muse Pattie Boyd says she neglected herself in her rock star marriages

10 April 2018 — 10:21am

If you remember the '60s, you weren't there: so it is said of that explosive decade of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll when girls sashayed down the Kings Road in tiny skirts and Biba boots, boys wore ruffled shirts over tight velvet trousers and London was the epicentre of cool.

Oblivion came with the territory: Eric Clapton was supposed to have slept with more than 1000 women but as he told me in an interview for Fairfax Media, "I wouldn't know, I was in a blackout for quite a few of them".

George Harrison and wife Pattie Boyd.

Photo: Keystone Pictures USA / Alamy Stock Photo

Pattie Boyd was both muse and wife to Clapton, to George Harrison before him and no stranger to drug and booze-fuelled partying. But there was little danger of failing memory for her. She kept a record of the wild years – portraits and reportage style snaps taken with a Polaroid and, later, on a Hasselblad.

As fans and paparazzi clamoured at the door, Boyd had the inside track, hanging out with The Beatles and friends, at home with George, on tour with Eric. "I took endless photos," she says. "It was something to do, otherwise you could feel a bit spare."

Pattie Boyd and her then husband George Harrison in England in 1968.

Photo: Pattie Boyd

We are talking in her Kensington flat ahead of an exhibition of her photographs and a series of speaking engagements in Australia in May. I'd spent several minutes on the rather grand doorstep, repeatedly ringing the bell and wondering if I'd got the wrong address. Perhaps she'd been having a nap; she is 74 after all and it is that snoozy, post-lunch time of day when I often feel like one myself. She does seem quite dreamy, half-heartedly remonstrating with a friendly Irish terrier called Freddie who inspects me thoroughly before jumping onto a large pouffe, not quite as pristine white as the matching sofas. "He's allowed on that one," she says.

Boyd is wearing skinny jeans on her long, slim legs and a deep blue mohair jumper; a fall of blonde hair frames what is still recognisably the face that launched, not a thousand ships, but three of the greatest love songs of the 20th century.

George Harrison wrote Something in the first flush of his youthful marriage to Boyd; the soaring guitar chords of Layla expressed Clapton's yearning obsession with his friend's wife. Then, when he had won her, he wrote Wonderful Tonight – and who hasn't danced dreamily to that, wrapped in a lover's arms?

There is a photograph of a 19-year-old Boyd in the flat: blonde fringe, huge blue mascara'd eyes and a tiny Union Jack stuck on the end of her nose. It is from a weighty coffee table book, Birds of Britain, containing portraits of London's posh totty – society girls who roamed the bars and vintage clothes stalls of Chelsea. Boyd's face is on the cover.

George Harrison, 1968

Photo: Pattie Boyd

She was a model then, on the run from her dysfunctional family, broke and living on Birds Eye chicken pies in a shared flat. "You had to go round the photographers persuading them to use you for shoots," she says. "Norman Parkinson said, 'Come back when you've learned to do your hair.' It was all DIY hair and make up back then."

Did photographers hit on her? "Well some might try it on but you didn't submit and say, 'Oh must I?' You'd get out of there and warn the others." So it wasn't a #MeToo scene? "No! I don't know why these women don't just say, 'F--k off, I'm not having a meeting with you in your dressing gown with nothing on underneath.'" Is she a feminist? "Well not in the old 'hate men' way, but I don't like women being treated badly. I think the young generation – what are they called, snowflakes? – don't take responsibility for themselves."

George Harrison and Eric Clapton in England in 1976.

Photo: Pattie Boyd

She met George Harrison on the set of A Hard Day's Night – she played a schoolgirl – and they married when she was 21. They moved into Friar Park, a gothic pile in Hampshire where the Beatles came to record, friends drove from London to stay and she threw herself into decorating, cooking and entertaining. She was, she says, blissfully in love but often lonely: wives and girlfriends were not allowed on tour and Harrison was frequently absent. After the Beatles had discovered the Maharishi Yogi and they all went to India to learn meditation, Harrison returned gripped by eastern mysticism. "He chanted a lot," she recalls, "it's difficult to talk to someone who's chanting."

He had also discovered that he was attractive to women: "He was famous, good-looking, had tonnes of money and flash cars – what a combo. Girls were offering themselves everywhere and he loved it. To come home to old wifey must have been a bit dull."

I took endless photos. It was something to do, otherwise you could feel a bit spare.

Does she think all men would be like that if they could? "Yes I do," she says firmly. What constrains them? She shrugs: "Society, women, family?"

Eric Clapton had been a frequent visitor to Friar Park, laying siege to Boyd and, famously, playing a guitar "duel" with Harrison in the kitchen: she was the putative prize. "It was John Hurt [the actor] who described it as a duel," she says, "and he was so on the button. I sensed it but I hadn't formulated it."

She was attracted to Clapton, by then a rock deity – the legend "Clapton is God" was spray-painted on city walls – but determined to stay in her marriage. Her parents had split up when she was 10, her stepfather was a cruel and unusual man who tyrannised the family and left her mother for another woman: "As a child I always thought I would do anything to avoid divorce."

By the time she left Harrison – "He didn't want us to be together, it was a life of rejection" – Clapton had made good on his threat to take heroin if he couldn't have her. It would be four years before they got together.

Propped on an easel beside the window of Boyd's flat is a rather beautiful black and white photograph of John Lennon. Did she take it? "No, I bought it." Wasn't he the most interesting of the four? "He was, yes, he was. He was quite volatile, you never knew what he would say next. He was a pretty sexy guy actually." Did they have a fling? "No!" she exclaims. I explain I'd seen it suggested somewhere in a newspaper article. "How cheeky," she says comfortably. Later, reading her autobiography published in 2007, I find another reference to the rumoured liaison. True or not, I don't think she minds the idea.

Boyd and Clapton married in 1979: "I was madly passionate about him," she says. "We lived at Hurtwood Edge [Clapton's home for the past 50 years], I was in my 30s and ready to have babies; I used to wander round the house thinking, this will be the baby's room, the nanny can sleep here." But it was not to be: despite visits to a series of doctors and several rounds of IVF, the longed-for baby never arrived.

Clapton, meanwhile, had replaced heroin with alcohol and was drinking heroically. Boyd joined him on tour where he and the band would have girls to their rooms after the show. Cruellest of all, two of his extra-marital relationships produced babies: a daughter Ruth and two years later a son, Conor, who would die, aged four, in a fall from the window of his mother's New York apartment. Boyd and Clapton divorced in 1988.

Asked once who was the great love of her life, Boyd nominated Harrison: "I think he always loved me … Eric loves himself. She admits now: "In both my marriages I had neglected myself, and got lost in a big cloud of fame, I got lost in their lives."

When the music stopped Boyd found herself with a legacy – cardboard boxes full of photographs which she exhibits and sells as prints from her online gallery. They are the archive of an era: here is an angelic George lying in bed in an Indian ashram, Eric in a woodshed leaning on an axe and looking Lawrentian in corduroy trousers, Paul and Linda McCartney at Boyd's wedding to Eric, Anita Pallenberg and Marianne Faithfull at the Brixton Academy. They are candid and intimate: did anyone ever object? "No, not at all," she says, surprised, "I would never show a photo where someone's not looking good."

The collection has been a useful earner for the girl who left school with three O levels and had no need to work while married to rich men. She has continued to take photographs – portraits of actors for their books and pictures from her travels. Does the contemporary work sell? "No one's really interested," she says without rancour.

Freddie needs a walk so we put on coats and set off for Holland Park where the trees are still leafless but there are daffodils and a hint of spring. Boyd has been with her partner, property developer Rod Weston, for 20 years – "we are old friends" – and they wed in 2015. They share the Kensington flat and a cottage in Sussex bought for her by Clapton. Why did they decide to marry? "We have lots of nieces and nephews between us," she says, "we wanted to put everything in order so there wouldn't be any tears." We walk on a few paces: "It's funny," she says, "Rod has been much nicer since we married and I am happier and less selfish. I didn't anticipate that."

She remained friends with Harrison until his death from cancer in 2001 and has stayed in touch with Clapton, many years sober and married with three more children. Last year she accompanied him to the launch of a documentary about him, A Life in 12 Bars, in which she features, naturally. "He rang me and said, 'It's a bit raw Pattie, I hope you'll be OK.' I said, 'I'll be fine Eric. I'm a grown-up now."

George Harrison, Eric Clapton and Me: An Evening with Pattie Boyd will be held at Sydney's Four Seasons Hotel on May 15. Boyd's work will be shown at the Blender Gallery in Paddington from May 5 to June 2 as part of the Head On Photo Festival.

Morning & Afternoon Newsletter

Delivered Mon–Fri.

https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/famous-muse-pattie-boyd-says-she-neglected-herself-in-her-rock-star-marriage-20180409-h0yi6e.html

[xmoonlightjasminex]

Take Center Stage

Chapter 1

: Testing.....Testing....1-2-3Chapter Text

It was a beautiful day in the city of Paris, The City of Lights and Love and Fashion. People were bustling around, each with their own business in mind. Teachers were teaching, bakers were baking, and in a darkened room stood a costumed man. He wore a dark purple suit and a mask that hid his face. In his hands was a cane and a very interesting brooch in the shape of a butterfly.

Yes, even Hawkmoth the city's resident villain was having a nice day so far. He was just about to scour the air for a new victim to be akumatized. To offer them powers beyond their wildest imagination, for the price of them acquiring the miraculouses of the two town heroes Ladybug and Chat Noir.

Now, if this was a normal day a potential akuma could be found at any time, but try and search as he might Hawkmoth just couldn`t find one. After a full hour of searching he growled before spitting out the words. “Fluther off!” Which was lucky that no one was around to laugh at the sheer ridiculousness as the adult man spat those words as if they had personally offended him.

A tiny lavender creature emerged from the brooch gem, looking at the man in front of him in wariness.

“C..can I help you master?” the Butterfly creature, named Nooroo was still wary of the stone faced man standing in front, no matter how many times he had spoken to him he was still shy.

“Nooroo...Why is no one akumatized yet?” The silhouette of the man spoke, in the dark room illuminated only by the window.

“W..well Master, it seems that no one is angry today?” Nooroo`s statement ended more as a question.

“....I see. And tell me Nooroo. Does one have to be angry to become an akuma?” The man questioned.

“N..not really.” The tiny creature mumbled, looking at his tiny nubs for hands.

“T..they just have to feel a strong enough emotion.” He was going to continue explaining, but was cut off.

“A strong enough emotion? One that does not have to be negative?” The man asked as a completely new idea formed into his mind. “W..well yes but…” poor Nooroo was cut off from speaking as he was sucked into the brooch by his wielders next words. “Fluther on!” The newly masked Hawkmoth began to search with renewed vigor for an akuma. And not five minutes later he found his next champion.

A girl in a state of ennui, wanting and wishing to be special. And he could make her special, give her a gift to differentiate her from all the others. And all she had to do was, obey him. Just as he summoned a butterfly to rest on his hand and to corrupt before sending it to his new victim, there was a knock from the other side of the door.

“Mister Agreste? I am sorry to bother you, but there is an urgent matter concerning the newest production line….” A female voice spoke from the other side.

As he had turned to the door, Hawkmoth didn't notice a the small butterfly with a tiny black dot on its pristine white wings fluther away. No, but the tiny god currently residing in the brooch did, and it didn't plan on saying anything. “I will be out in a moment Natalie.” The man spoke, before hastily de-transforming, showing renown Fashion mogul Gabriel Agreste to be hiding behind the Butterfly mask.

Completely forgetting about the planned akumatization, the man took off said brooch and left it and the tiny creature in the room. Soon he would be so swamped with paperwork and business associated stress, that he will completely forget the new discovery he learned from Nooroo.

Unlike him, once he was left alone, Nooroo flew towards the window and if he squinted he could see the tiny butterfly flying away to its new champion. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Edelweiss Amarante was bored. The German-French brunette blue-green-eyed girl had just arrived to Paris with her mother and father a month ago, and already the young teenager was bored. And she had been so excited to finally get to do something unusual. She loved the moving, and she loved the townhouse her parents had gotten from a very distant relative who wanted to move to the Alps, for whatever reason. She loved her room, which was at the top floor of the huge house, an entire floor to herself. Granted it had been the attic before, but it had such a rustic charm to it.

Heck ,she even loved the tenants her parents had taken under their wings when they arrived. She loved family dinners where she met a bunch of people from all different kinds. The only downside to that was that none of the tenants had any kids, either they were too young in college or still trying their luck in finding work, or too old with their children and grandchildren all grown up. Or not married.

She was the only child at the entire house. Of course by default that meant she was babied and had a bunch of big sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles and elderly who looked after her and greeted her. And she loved that, she loved greeting Madame Beauchamp as she left for school and the older woman was watering her beautiful gardenia bush in the enclosed garden. She loved visiting Natasha, Katya and Mila the three Russian students that studied at the Royal Academy of Dance. They would fuss over her, teaching her tips and tricks and words in Russian.

She liked talking about books with Lucas, a British gentleman who lived to read. And his complete opposite of a partner Mark who was a boisterous and loud. And their poor roommate who had to be a witness to their couple moments the jokester Enric who would crack a joke anytime to make the two blush.

She liked to greet the resident mystic Madame Dorina, as she liked to be called. She had transformed her living room into a fortune tellers parlor, and had regular visitors. She would often usher Edelweiss in and make her a cup of tea to tell her fortune, her beloved white Persian Cat Leila mingling under the table begging for a scratch or a treat. Her other cat Hades, a pitch black Shorthair stood a ways away, always watching like a silent protector. He had the arrogance his name gave him, Madame Dorina had once told her, that she never let anyone in whom he didn't like.

Monsieur and Madame Hawa were an Arabic couple that had emigrated to France in the 80`s, they were a delight in the dinner table. Madame always knew a brand new recipe and a way to change a dish flavor by using a tiny amount of spice, and Monsieur Hawa could spin the best of stories, like a magician speaking magic.

For Edelweiss it was beautiful, there was never a dull moment. But compared to all those people who were there, even her own parents she was completely ordinary. Even her schoolmates weren`t excluded. She heard there were many talented and even a famous model at her school. She had yet to meet them or learn their names, but compared to them what did Edelweiss had?

A tiny passion for singing? What a joke.

The brunette girl sighed as she had looked out the window to the sky. It was a lovely day, that she had spent helping Madame Beauchamp with her prized flowers, and a small bouquet of fragrant blossoms sat on her desk.

So deep in thought was Edel, that she didn't notice when a beautiful white butterfly fluttered into her room, and after a moment of flitting around the space before finally resting on her chest and disappearing in a glow of white.

The moment that happened Edelweiss felt a drowsy slumber overtake her, so closing her eyes she dreamed a dream filled with wonder and beauty. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day rose bright and early, and Edel was already bustling through her room. She was up and couldn't make herself go down stairs yet. Her parents Eric and Christine, yes she knew how ironic those names were, she had watched Phantom of the Opera. It didn't help that her folks had quite the pipes on them, or were avid music lovers.

She had the idea to try and sing a song, maybe it would make her feel better.

I want to be extraordinary Not just extra-ordinary She began singing, before shrugging her shoulder, sitting down on her bed.

It seems like everywhere I see People far more interesting than me I know the changes kinda scary But maybe I should try to vary She remembered the tenants and all their talents and hobbies, all so very different and new and interesting.

Some minor details A small degree A slightly different version of me Looking out her window, she began to imagine the possibilities.

Well I could learn to cook vegetarian Or take fashion workshop Meditate, calculate Learn to knit a tank top She did notice that her imagined scenes were far more realistic looking than usual, like she was actually trying these thing, albeit for a brief few seconds. The cooking, the fashion, meditating, calculating and knitting. All of them, but she still continued to sing.

Yoga, hula Clogging, jogging Walking on a tightrope Take a correspondence course And learn to make my own soap Even more activities she cycled through.What was going on??

Jumping on a pogo stick Standing in a wheat field Going on a snipe hunt Gonna keeps my eyes peeled Take a little time to really decorate my door And change my hair to black and then I'll dye it even orange She could feel the texture of her hair changing, she wansn`t imagining these places she was making them appear. How was she doing this?!

Underwater taxidermy Shopping for a suitcase Peeling tangerines while placing second in a sack race

Lion taming, online gaming Try'n to win a prize fight Appear in a talk show Dress-up like a water sprite She really started to go into the song, liking her scenery changing after her voice.

Yeah! I'm gonna be extraordinary I'm gonna stand out from the crowd And shout out loud You'll see That it's a brand new me!! Finally she finished her song,going through several other hobbies before she was back in her room, breathing slightly hard. Looking around she couldn`t understand what happened, how did she do that? The burst of confidence that song and that experience gave her was so good!

‘I`m glad you like it.’ A voice whispered and she shrieked in surprise looking around for the source.

‘Wh-what the!! Who, who said that?!” She asked aloud, but no one was up there.

Here it is if you wanna read it: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13883553/chapters/31944003

[themoskabot]

tagged by @mabel-butterfly (I'm so sorry I forgot to do this until now)

Colours I am currently wearing: grey with a few bursts of color  Last band t-shirt I bought: none (I meant to buy one at the Eric nam concert but the group I was with was leaving so fast I didn't have a chance) Last band I saw live: Eric nam isn't a band but he's the last person I saw live..(if we’re talking actual bands, it was the rose) Lipstick or Chapstick: yes Last song I listened to: all I wanna do by jay park (the Korean version) Last movie I watched: a quiet place Last three tv shows I watched: strong girl bong soon, Futurama, and apparently good morning call  Book(s) I’m currently reading: weirdly, none

Rules - Bold the statements that apply to you, italicize your aspirations, then tag nine people.

AIR I have small hands  •  I love the night sky •  I watch small animals and birds when I pass them by  •  I drink herbal tea  •  I wake to see dawn  •  The smell of dust is comforting   •  I’m valued for being wise  •  I prefer books to music •  I meditate •  I find joy in learning new truths from the world around me

FIRE I don’t have straight hair  • I like to wear ripped jeans and overalls  •  I play an organised sport   •  I love dogs  •  I’m not afraid of adventure (it does occasionally depend on what adventure it is tho) •  I love to talk to strangers  •  I always try new foods  •  I enjoy road trips  •  Summer is my favourite season  •  My radio is always playing 

WATER I wear bracelets on my wrists  •  I love the bustle of the city  •  I have more than one set of piercings  •  I read poetry  •  I love the sound of a thunderstorm •  I want to travel the world  •  I sleep past midday most days  •  I love dimly lit diners and fluorescent signs  •  I rewatch kids’ shows out of nostalgia  •  I see emotions in colours not words

EARTH I wear glasses/contacts  •  I enjoy doing the laundry  •  I am a vegetarian or vegan  •  I have an excellent sense of time  •  My humour is very cheerful  •  I am a valued advisor to my friends  •  I believe in true love •  I love the chill of mountain air    •  I’m always listening to music  •  I am highly trusted by the people in my life

AETHER I go without makeup in my daily life • I make my own artwork •  I keep on track of my tasks and time  •  I always know true north  •  I see beauty in everything  •  I can always smell flowers  •  I smile at everyone I pass by  •  I always fear history repeating itself  •  I have recovered from and learned to accept or live with a mental disorder  •  I can love unconditionally

I can’t think of people to tag, so just do this if you want and say I tagged you!

[audio-luddite]

Eric Clapton, Paul Horn.

I went to the little LP store on the corner and browsed.  I grabbed one disk from the used bin and one from the new rack.

Old Bin; Paul Horn “inside” probably the original new age record even before whale sounds.  Mr Horn, and his flute in the Taj Mahal.  I had the CD of this years ago.  It is fun.  It is relaxing and meditative.  Well he was in India hanging with the Beatles at that Ashram.  I suppose you could stream it.  But this old LP was in remarkable shape.  Good sound even if it is mostly echo and natural reverb.  Gotta love hard stone construction.

New bin: A reissue of Eric Clapton’s “Slowhand”  Yes there are a couple of hits and yes he had someone else play the trickier guitar bits.  Overall a document of the time.  180 gram as is the fashion now.  Good solid recording.  Yes the band was drunk most of the time, but for some that works.

The AT 440 is still on duty.  Nothing wrong with that.  I ran through both albums twice.  Part of that is to plow out the mold release stuff and give it a good clean.  I suppose I should invest in a record cleaning machine.  I am impressed with how quiet my system is.  My big amplifier has a fan that is pretty quiet, but now it is almost annoying.

In a related thing I just read a 2 year old article in Absolute Sound of all places about moving iron and moving coil phono pickups. (Sept 6, 2018 Paul Seydor)   One take of it was the move to moving coils may have been a mistake.  They distort and that is what the reviewers liked. A rising treble is called inner detail and on and on. Another item is that the founder of A.S. HP went over to the dark side and dragged all the lemmings with him to moving coils while loading them incorrectly.  Such comments would have HP spinning in his grave I imagine.

Aside from the stupid cost of moving coils there are a couple of recognized phono pickup gurus who swear by more conventional design.  Grado and Soundsmith.  They can (and do) build whatever they want and it aint MC.  Soundsmith for one touts that their design is much much lighter than moving coil armatures which reduces several serious artifacts. Grado concentrates on simplification and vibration damping in their expensive units.

There is that fundamental bias in people where they assume cost and quality are proportional and they then pick the experts they already agree with. If they have the money fine. I have long been impressed with what people will spend their money on dare I say foolishly.

I am protected from such explorations by cost.  One more thing, is the article reviewed the bottom line Grado Black and liked it.  (Read the article)  The one I got was the green which is selected units of the Black.  And I liked it.  The top of the line prestige gold is just under $300 usd.  Well its the top of the line of the lower level.  Grado sells 5 figure moving iron units.  Well you need to to be credible, but even those are moving iron. Note that Grado invented moving coil pickups.

In my modest exploration I find there are what I think are big differences in sound. I try not to go this is better than that too often.  All the cartridges I have are different from one another.  I like natural sound and detail. I think the 440 is really good but it has things about it.....  The 7N was interesting.  In my system it misses some things. I have some new headshells on the way.  The goofy twisted ones I got are just wrong. 

I figure in an even fight the 440, the Signets, and say a Grado Gold would all be about the same to my ear.  Different in small ways, but basically really good. 

Oh and my Sony TT is on the Audio Mart listing for 1750.00 CDN. I am throwing in the Shure Cartridge.  Now that is retro.

[lunaschild2016]

Worth Fighting For Chapter 18 - The Only Thing We Have To Fear

Rating: M (violence, smut, language, references to abuse and violence)

Romance/Tragedy

He was ruthless, cunning and completely committed to protecting his city but her arrival to Dauntless called everything he ever thought he believed into question. Duty and following orders were no longer enough. They both found more than they ever thought possible. They both found something worth fighting for. Eric/OC AU M Tragedy/Romance

@kenzieam@ericdauntless@jojuarez26@jaihardy@iammarylastar@captstefanbrandt@badassbaker@readsalot73@fuckthatfeeling@dani5102@beltz2016@beautifulramblingbrains@affabletimelady@irasancti@meganbee15@meganbee15@lauraaan182@gylisaa@scorpio2009@bookgirlthings@pathybo@violetsonthelam XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Chapter 18 - The Only Thing We Have To Fear

Eric

The minute Tris’ fight with Peter started I knew it spelled trouble. Not only for the lack of control Peter went through, most likely brought on by Kat’s words, but also from the way Kat reacted.

She went she-cat on me. I knew she had issues with her performance based on emotional or mental distractions but this….this was something else.

Her eyes went wild at the sight of her sister being beaten. She went feral and was acting on instinct alone. Did she know how hard she fought against Edward and Al? How much she hurt them until I finally couldn’t take it anymore and had to pull her off them and restrain her myself?

I was livid at her, myself, but most of all fucking Four. Four who walked out of the room during the fight.

Walked. Out.

Couldn’t stand the sight of the fight taking place that he himself set up. So he walked out and left me to deal with all of the shit alone. He only came back in, conveniently, when I called enough after Tris took Peter down. Then he took them both to the clinic with another initiate.

Any other time I would have been inwardly laughing my ass off or smirking in pleasure at the shattering screams that boy let out when she got a good kick straight into his junk. But considering she was barely conscious herself and I was still holding onto Kat, it didn’t register that way for me.

Having to send Kat into her fight, knowing she was in no state of mind to do it, killed me. I wasn’t prepared for the pain I would feel watching her go through that. I couldn’t tell if it was watching her suffer emotionally. I couldn’t tell if it was watching her take hit after hit. Maybe it was all of it and I didn’t know how to deal with those emotions at all.

Then she started to do something that shook me to my fucking core. It was like I was looking at a complete confirmation of everything I hoped I would never find with her. The way she focused herself. She used a meditation technique that would signify Erudite. She answered her own emotions using specific mantras that signified Candor. Facing her fear and pain signified Dauntless. And gods fucking help me even the way she was fighting signified the want to end the fight quickly and causing as little pain as possible...which signified Abnegation. The combination of traits she used in the span of minutes was astounding.

Kat is divergent. 

My guess would be she is very divergent and would register high on the testing scale. I have never been more scared for someone in my life as I am for her right now and it pisses me off. Because I don’t know if I can save her and I realize, that is all I want. 

Whatever it takes, I need to save her.

When the fight is over and she makes no move to get off Drew, the rage I felt at him touching and hurting her is amplified by the illogical jealousy I get when I see her just sitting there still straddling him. I don’t even think when I move to pull her off. Some semblance of sanity resumes but only when I see her bleeding and hurt. Then the need to get her taken care of takes over.

I barely restrain myself from just picking her little ass up and carrying her out. She can walk though so I drag her along with me. It is a repeat of this morning, only there is no one that is going to fucking stop me from taking her myself. I am tensed and ready to tear anyone apart that stands in my way.

“Eric?” It would be deja vu right now with the way Kat is trying to break free from my grip. It would be, if I didn’t hear a tremor of fear in her voice. It stops me cold and has me spinning around to face her.

Her eyes are wide with fear and I see her wincing under my hold. “Fuck.” I get out and scowl as I loosen the grip but pull her closer. “I...I didn’t know I was…” I stop and look to her, still staring with apprehension at me. “Are you scared of me right now, Kat?”

“A little, yes.” She replied truthfully but was slowly losing that look of apprehension in her eyes. Her voice still trembled slightly but it was firm and soft.

We were in the middle of a corridor but I pulled her along further down, into an out of the way place with no cameras. This was a normal spot for couples that wanted a bit of privacy.

“Did it occur to you that maybe you should have lied, Kat? Admitting you are afraid...could be a big mistake. Especially to someone like me.” I grit out, upset at the thought that she is afraid of me at all. I try not to be hurt by it.

I turn to face her, her back is against the wall and a frown has her nose scrunched up. “Anyone else Eric and I probably wouldn’t have hesitated to lie to them. But you…” She stops and takes a deep breath. “Besides the fact that you would know and it would make things worse for me if I did. I am oddly enough not afraid to admit my fear to you.”

The weight of her admission takes my breath away for a moment. It takes me a minute to get my voice back and the entire time I fight my urge to press her further against that wall and kiss her. To let her know with my body exactly what that means to me, the trust she is showing me even getting a front and center show and taste of how bad I can be.

“Do you mean, that Kat? Really mean that even after….”

“Seeing how angry you were with me for failing you and myself? For not being able to keep my shit together when it was on the line?” She grinds out in a self-recriminatory tone, interrupting what I had been about to say.

I shake my head and try not to let the disbelief that right now she is showing more disgust at her own behavior and not mine.

“For showing how I can really be. How I am to everyone else but the very few I count as friends. Even them, I won’t lie and say it never happens.”

There are long moments of silence before she answers but it isn’t what I expected. “Eric, when you transferred, did you learn everything you could about who might have your fate in their hands? Or did you just go into things blind?” Her tone is soft and there is something there, a weight to her words that I feel pressing in on me.

I am taken by surprise at her question because there is so much I can’t say in answer to that. I also feel absolute disgust at the things she would have heard about me, if what she is hinting is true. “I prepared. If you know I was a transfer then you also know where I transferred from...that was our way.”

She nodded and winced a little, pain flashing in her eyes. “I know what I could learn and what I heard. I knew what to expect coming here, or at least I thought I did.” She tries to smile and when she winces one more time my gut clenches.

“Fuck. Kat, we are getting you to the clinic but you are to go no where near Peter again. Do you hear me? He will be in there but you stay away.” Not only because I wanted her to be no where near him until I took care of him but because I wasn’t sure she wouldn’t go after him again. In fact by the momentary fire that lit her eyes at his name I was pretty fucking sure she would.

“I kind of went crazy, didn’t I?” She gets out in a pain filled and soft voice.

My lips thinned at the memory as I nodded. “We can talk about that later. Let’s get you looked at.”

I take her arm again, and while still firm, it is more supporting and less forceful. When we get into the clinic I direct her to one of the nurses and take on my normal looks.

“This one needs to be looked at. I want her kept away from the guy that was brought in here by Four. Make sure he stays the fuck away from her too unless you want a few deaths on your hands.” I am making it sound like they will kill each other, and while that isn’t far from the truth...what I am really thinking is if they allow him near her...they will be on my hit list.

She blanches and nods while Kat groans in pain but also worry. “Can I be near my sister at least?”

The nurse looks to me and I give her a tight nod. Then an idea strikes me and I smirk a little. “I am sure both of the female initiates will need to stay over night. You can release Peter as soon as he finds the ability to walk. Am I clear? Those two do not leave this clinic before the morning.”

Kat stiffens under my hold and looks at me. She isn’t happy and honestly I don’t care. This keeps her under watchful eyes and out of the dorm but also away from Four’s scheduled punishment.

“Understood Eric.” The nurse says with a nod and motions for Kat to follow her.

I let her arm go, or rather I have to force myself to let her arm go. As soon as I do the rage I was feeling starts to build again. Like just her touch and being near can keep my beast at bay.

Someone is going to find themselves on the receiving end of it, and soon. I stay and watch her be helped onto a bed beside her sister after the nurse has to force her away; assuring her that Tris will be fine.

The look that flashed in Kat’s eyes made me glad I gave the order to keep Peter and her far away from each other. Speaking of…..

I make my way over to the area where Peter is on a bed,  eyes closed, groaning and clutching his dick gingerly. A nurse comes over to me, shaking her head and whatever is going on with him has her barely holding in amusement.

“Status of the initiate?” I ask her with a raised eyebrow. I am still seething in rage right now so my voice is that deadly calm and soft one it so often takes on in these times.

“Oh, he’ll live. He won’t exactly feel up to any romantic relations for some time and will have a hell of a time should he try, but he’ll live. Apparently he decided it was a great idea to get a piercing...during fights.” She lets out a snort before she pulls it back and bites her lip.

Oh you have to be kidding me? Not that I am complaining because honestly, he deserves what he got for being so stupid.

I shake my head in disbelief and wait until she moves off before approaching him. Sweat is beading on his skin and he is tossing and turning. I am sure he isn’t feeling much of the pain he should or could be, judging by the IV of meds he is getting.

Looking around I close the curtains more in his bed area and slip a knife that I have in one of my vest pockets out.

I know the exact moment he realizes I am there when his eyes pop open and a wicked grin slithers across my face when he registers the blade of the knife being pressed against his throat.

“You and I are going to have a little chat, Peter. I am going to make you an offer….and it would be in your best interest to not refuse it.” My tone is low, still in the deadly soft tone.

His eyes widen even more and his adam’s apple bobs as he swallows nervously, making the knife press slightly into the skin. He gives a small nod letting me know I have his attention.

I have only started to make sure I have it fully. That thought makes my wicked grin turn even more feral in pleasure.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I can’t go back to the clinic to check on Kat without drawing too much attention so I am stuck getting second hand fucking reports from Chase and Zach. The three of us didn’t feel like going to the dining hall for dinner so had gone to my apartment. I busied myself in making something simple, slamming pots and pans around the entire time.

Kat had several bruised ribs, a slight contusion, her left eye was swollen and would be black. Her nose had escaped being broken, just bloodied and somehow a few fingers had been dislocated during her fight.

She would recover well but was refusing any heavy pain medications. Chase hadn’t been able to stay there and watch her, knowing she was letting herself suffer. Now I am glad that I can’t go there myself. The rage I feel at her letting herself go through that is through the roof at the moment.

“Do you think you got through to the asshole?” Chase growled out as he took a bite of the pasta I had thrown together.

“Based on the fact that he literally pissed himself? I am going to say my….incentive….will keep him in line.” I smirk wickedly as I push my salad around on my plate.

Zach had gone down to check on Kat. Taking her, and despite my less than willing attitude, her sister a plate of food to the clinic.

Chase grumbled something about ‘reinforcing the offer’. I sighed and looked at him seriously. “Did you pull the footage from the fights today?”

Chase stopped and looked to me with tight lips and nodded. “I made sure to pull it all for us but also left Kat’s fight with corrupted bits. It will look like the camera integrity started to corrupt and won’t draw attention. There have been issues with camera visibility in that training room for a while anyways so it isn’t beyond belief.”

I nod thoughtfully. I wasn’t being paranoid here. 

Ok, maybe overly paranoid. 

Leadership or even Jeanine wouldn’t be looking this soon for the divergence to show but I was being careful. I was trained to start looking for any signs at all times. All of the instructors were given specific things to watch for and report. I couldn’t guarantee that Four wouldn’t report what had occurred during her fight so was making sure that any evidence of it was gone.

“Did you watch it?” I ask him, crossing my arms over my chest.

He tensed and nodded to me stiffly. “I did.” The tone of his answer was also stiff not giving a fucking thing away to others but I picked up on what he wasn’t saying.

He knew, just like I did. I hadn’t said why I wanted him to pull the footage for my review but then to make sure no one else would be able make anything out of the fight. It hadn’t been safe to say anything at the time. I knew he would watch it though and wanted to get his unbiased opinion so made sure not to taint it by hinting at anything.

“And?” I ask, brooding and trying to figure out what to do with this bombshell that has been lurking in my mind since it hit me.

“What are you going to do if it is true, Eric? That is the question I need answered before I say another word.” One hand of Chase’s is clutched around the fork he is holding in his hand while the other is clenched into a fist on the table. His jaw is tight as his ice blue eyes hold mine.

I stay quiet for a moment, questioning myself and the decision I had reached almost instantly in that training room. The minute I came to the realization that my suspicions weren’t only true but that it went beyond what I had first thought.

“Before Kat? I don’t know that I would have hesitated to do what I thought to be my sole duty. I wouldn’t have hesitated in thinking she was the threat that I….have been told...she is supposed to be. Maybe she is a threat, or at least a threat in a way that is completely different than what I...we..have been lead to believe.” I shake my head and smirk as I shrug. “I just don’t fucking care. I am going to do whatever it takes to keep her safe, Chase.”

Chase let out a slow, relieved breath and while he wasn’t quite as tense, it didn’t lessen much. “You know this means if we are found out…”

I nod interrupting him but also letting out a relieved breath that he was with me in this. I shouldn’t have doubted him, but I had. I didn’t know if his bond with me, his friendship, would be enough to go against an entire faction. Fuck that...an army if you put what Jeanine was wanting to do eventually. Maybe our friendship alone wouldn't have been enough. But that and Chase’s own feelings for Kat were. And even if I wasn’t ecstatic about that, right now, I was thanking fuck we had both fallen for the same girl.

“I know. I don’t know what we are going to fully do about it yet. The first thing is to get her through fucking initiation.” I say, shaking my head and groan realizing how much work is ahead of us.

“So what exactly was in her aptitude test that caused concern? She didn’t get a manual entry, that would suggest inconclusive. The system put it in as Dauntless.” Chase’s wheels were turning as much as mine were in how we should handle this.

“Usually, when there is a concerning test the person that administers the test reports some kind of reaction to the serum. That is the most common cover. With Kat’s test there was no serum reaction at all. The test ran as normal but there was a cascading failure in the program until finally it ended abruptly with the entire station malfunctioning.”

“Wait….Kat caused that?” Chase asked confused.

I shook my head in thought but also denial. “No I don’t think so, at least not all of it. I think the person administering the test recognized it early on and started to alter things. Either to try and force the program to narrow things down or head towards one specific result. Or they could have known that wasn’t going to happen so, from the start, began to slowly degrade the program. Either way, they were fucking smart about it because when Jeanine had her techs look at it, the degradation looked like it came from the program server and not the user or terminal. “

“But she still is saying she wants her?” Chase growled out, knowing that wasn’t how we had been handing things for years now. We didn’t and wouldn’t just hand someone over on Jeanine’s say so. Things were and had been going downhill fast lately though.

“Of course. She is going to use whatever excuse to get a hold of Kat and her sister.” I sighed and pushed food around on my plate. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Tris is just as high as I suspect Kat is.”

“So my question still stands. What are we going to do about this? Are you going to save Kat just to hand her sister over, Eric? You know that won’t work. You saw her during Tris’ fight.”

Fuck, this was just getting even more fucked up and complicated by the minute. Did I really care to save Kat’s sister? It might be fucked up, but no. Not really, other than I knew it would kill Kat if anything happened to her. I knew I would lose her in one way or another if I didn’t do something though.

It was quickly becoming clear that it wouldn’t just be as simple as keeping Kat safe. That meant shit if in the end those she cared about were hurt or she found out I had any part of what is on the horizon.

Was keeping her safe, having her by my side, worth abandoning everything I believed and have fought for?

No the better question here is do you even really believe in any of that any more? Had you really ever?

Maybe there was a reason I had become so hollow before now, so dead to the cause that was supposed to be just. Maybe I knew it wasn’t. But Kat...she was worth fighting for.

“Chase, they go to the fence tomorrow. Stick close to Kat and her friends. I have to go to council meetings at the Hub while you guys are gone.” I order him and pick up my fork to spear some pasta.

“What are you planning?” He asks quietly.

“Maybe it’s time I had an actual conversation with those I have been told are our enemy. I am thinking Andrew Prior is a good choice.”

If what Kat had said about her parents, her father specifically, is true then speaking with the man would be a good idea. I could try and figure out if what we had been told and lead to believe about Abnegation….the leaders anyways...has any merit or not.

It is time I started asking questions and getting answers for myself. I am quickly becoming far from the perfect leader and soldier I had been. It would remain to be seen if that was a good or bad thing though.

[supernovabucky]

Unknown King - part VIII

Pairing: Bucky x reader

Great Gatsby AU

Summary: After moving to New York, aspiring author Y/N gets more than what she bargained for when she befriends her mysterious neighbor. In a blur of riches and beauty, she finds herself falling for the man who remains unknown.

A/N: It’s been like what? 2 weeks? I am so so sorry! I’ve been really busy with work and school but here it is part 8!

Word count: 1.7 +

Part I Part II Part III Part IV Part V Part VI

Masterlist

You stood in front of the giant mirror on an elevated platform in your closet. You adjusted the skirt on your two piece dress. The black maxi skirt ended just above your toes, it's split thigh exposed your leg. The top was also black, it was sleeveless and had a plunging v-neck bodice, the rest was sheer.  The two-piece exposed a small portion of your stomach. Shea had picked out a gold armband to go with the dress. She handed you a pair of black lace-up heels. You slipped them and nodded in approval at your appearance.

This would be your fourth date with Bucky. So far you've been to three different restaurants and in each one, Bucky has done something unexpected. He went out to a business meeting early in the day and he hasn't arrived yet. Shea had reassured you that he'll arrive soon enough and encouraged you to get ready. Now you were all dolled up and no Bucky. You checked your phone for any signs of calls, text messages or voicemail, but your notifications were dry. You frowned.

"I was informed that Mister Barnes would meet you at the restaurant," Shea said.

You turned and stepped off the platform, "Then I should get going."

She nodded, "Trevor has been assigned to drive and assist you in any matter necessary. He will also serve as your protection."

You nodded meekly, already feeling like this was gonna be a terrible night.

Trevor opened the door for you. You thanked him and stared in awe at the restaurant. The sun was just beginning to go down, casting a golden hue on the reflective glass.

"I'll be a phone call away if you need me, Miss Y/N," Trevor said.

You nodded and walked up to the hostess who smiled at you. You forced a smile onto your face, "Barnes, table for 2."

"Follow me," She turned and led you to a lonely table at the edge of the restaurant. It was secluded from the other tables. "Will they be accompanying you later on?"

"Yes," You replied and sat down. "I hope." You mumbled the last words under your breath.

She nodded, "Would you like something to get you started?"

"Glass of water," You said.

She left you at the table, you checked your phone once again. No new messages. You huffed and attempted to fill your head with happy thoughts. He'll be here, you told yourself, he'd never miss out on a date. And even if he wasn't going to come, he'd shoot you a text. Bucky isn't the type of stand you up. Right?

After a few minutes, a waiter came back with your glass of water. He gave you a kind smile and asked if you wanted to order your food, you told him you'd wait until Bucky arrived. He nodded and left to attend another table. You picked up your phone and decided to text him.

You: Where are you? I'm at the restaurant

Delivered

You continued to stare at your screen, expecting him to immediately start typing. Instead, you started nervously drinking the water and in no time you found yourself reaching the bottom. You called the waiter over.

"Can I get a martini with extra alcohol and extra olives," You said.

He wrote down the order in his notepad and scurried away. You leaned back and felt like people were staring at you. You shuddered and looked around the restaurant. It was dimly lit. Its main colors were red and gold, bathing the room in a royal elegance. You looked out the window, pedestrians were walking by or trying to hail a cab. You turned away when the waiter came back with your drink. You thanked him and immediately began sipping on the edge of the glass.

Forty minutes passed and you were still alone. You had already guzzled down two drinks. Both were packed with alcohol. You sent him another message. In total there were three others that you had sent.

You: I can see that you're not coming, I'm leaving. See you tomorrow morning, if you're even there.

You knew you probably shouldn't have been that harsh but damn! He didn't even bother to say he wouldn't make it. He stood you up and you were disappointed, upset, bitter and a bit dizzy. The hostess came around, she gave you sympathetic smile and you returned a sheepish one.

"I think I'm done," You muttered. "can I get the tab?"

"It's already paid for," She said.

"By who?" You asked.

"A gentleman right over there," She pointed to a sharply dressed man who flashed you a grin when your eyes met. You turned back to the hostess and thanked her for the service. She told you that your two-piece was beautiful. You messaged Trevor to bring the car around. Just as you did, you received a message from the devil of the hour.

Bucky: doll, I'm so sorry, I wasn't able to make it to the restaurant, I'll make it up, I promise.

You left him on read. It was probably petty as hell but you were bitter and it was okay to be a bit petty. You felt humiliated as you walked through the restaurant, feeling like everyone's eyes were on you. You reached the door of the restaurant when the man who paid for your tab opened it for you.

"I'll get that," He smiled. "What's a girl as beautiful as you doing out alone?"

"Leaving," You said and walked past him, not having time for this flirty bull.

"Would you like to get some drinks one of these days?" He asked.

"I'm seeing someone," You replied.

"But you got stood up, right?"

You turned to him, "Yeah, and?"

He shrugged, "Just think you deserve better."

Trevor got out of the car and escorted you towards it. A smilies head of blonde hair made your head snap in that direction.

"Y/N?" It was Emma. She looked as shocked as you. Her eyes skimmed your figure. You turned and got into the car. Trevor closed the door and quickly drove away from the curve.

You lay in bed for a good hour before rolling off the bed. Your skirt was replaced by a pair sweats but you didn't bother changing out of the top. You went into the bathroom to freshen up. Last night Bucky came home at around 2 in the morning. You knew this because you told Shea to not let him in your room no matter what. Bucky wanted to go in and see you but Shea said you were resting. She knew that was a lie, you weren't asleep. You just didn't want to see him in that moment. You met up with Shea at the bottom of the stairs.

"How did you sleep?" She asked.

"Okay," You mumbled. "You?"

"I slept well, thank you," She replied.

Shea followed you outside where the doors opened up to one of the palace's patios. It overlooked a beautiful fountain and gave a view of the lake that was just in front of the house. You sat on one of the chairs, your hands rested on the glass table. The sun hit your skin, you closed your eyes and took in the heat.

"Good morning, Mister Barnes," Shea said.

You opened your eyes and raised an eyebrow at Bucky's figure. His hair was disheveled and it looked like he didn't sleep all night. He cleared his throat, his eyes never left yours.

"May I speak to Y/N alone?" He told Shea.

She looked at you. Bucky looked a bit agitated that he no longer had a say in what Shea did. She was your handmaid but you saw her as a friend rather than a maid.

"It's okay, Shea," You told her and closed your eyes once again.

You listened carefully as Bucky sat down on the chair opposite of you. You breathed in and exhaled, meditating quietly to yourself. Bucky cleared his throat once again and began talking.

"Y/N, I'm so sorry," He began. "I wish I could've called you but the meeting ran longer than expected. We just had to go over some plans in Chicago, I didn't think we'd take too long."

"It's fine, James," You said. "I understand." He winced. You almost never called him James. Only Bucky.

He reached out and took your hand, "Let me make it up to you." You looked at him. "Have you ever been to Los Angeles?"

You looked out of the plane window of Bucky's private jet. This was your first time in California. It looked amazing from the sky. Bucky had told you to pack a bag for a week and you did. You were excited to travel. Your first big trip was your move from home to New York.

After the jet landed Bucky escorted you onto solid ground. You were a bit taken aback by the humid, very sticky heat. It didn't feel good and you were beginning to regret wearing a black shirt. You practically attracted the heat. Two black SUV Cadillacs were already waiting. Four men stood guard. One stepped forward.

"Welcome back, Mister Barnes," He said.

"Good to be back, Eric" Bucky replied. "This is Y/N, my beautiful girlfriend."

You smiled and shook hands with him, "Nice to meet you."

The car door was opened ad you climbed inside, Bucky followed. The car door was closed and Eric got into the driver's seat and turned on the ignition.

"Where to, boss?" He asked.

"The house," Bucky replied.

You shouldn't have been surprised when the SUV rolled into the driveway of Bucky's luxurious Hollywood home. It was something straight out of the movies. It wasn't as big as his palace on West Egg, but it was equally extravagant. You gawked at the house the towered over you. The architecture was almost ancient. It had tall columns and a roof that seemed to resemble the Athena Parthenos.

"It's grand!" You exclaimed as you stepped out of the car.

"It's one of the first houses I ever bought," He replied.

You turned and had a breathtaking view of the city. The skyscrapers all seemed bunched together in one area. You've never been to California. The air smelled of smoke and humidity but it looked beautiful from up here. From the view of wealth.

"Will I get a tour?" You asked.

Bucky smiled at you, "I'll give you a better tour. C'mon, time for me to make up last night's event."

Tags: @i-want-to-fuck-that-dorito-man @jade-cheshire@caitsymichelle13@brooklynnewsie1899@brooklynnewsie1899 @nebulaeofpie @fave-fan-fic @avengerswitch @barnes-and-noble-girl @5-seconds-of-sebastian-stan @sheerio-styles@fearthedietcoke @lost-to-my-mind @buckys-other-punk @secrets-rain @theriumking@faithful-music@myhighanddry-blog @amrita31199 @nadialinett14@heismyhunter@marvelgoateecollection@imgettingmarriedtobuckybarnes @heyitsannexcx @crazy-attack@akaganhan @star-arm-and-shield @sebstan01@kcsavege4134 @t0ny-st4nk@virtualenemygalaxy@blackcoffeeandgreenteaforme @seargantbcky@heytherepartner@falling-buxky @aweways @elisaramirez14 @xxhushaaxx @bucknastywinterbear @bucky–b4rnes @oopsmybagofplums@crazychick010 @rapunzxl @fangirl1029  @shannonfayee@sammiplier1 @slut-for-barnes @brooklhyn@multiple-fandomimagines @multiple-fandomimagines@annehansen1012@winter-in-wakanda @heaven-bound-angel@thesherlockblr @therealme13posts @im-a-wretched-human-being  @queenof-wakanda @njavezan @bvckys-bvtt@bvckys-doll@themermaidpirate @wolfseekerr @marvel-fanfiction@jimmysneutrons @payt-missj-n-loki@mllx-anazra@anbrax5553 @apeshit7x @edward-lover18 @disgustingpatdstan@theofficialsamantha @joyfullychiefmagazine-68866574 @hollycornish@accidentally-in-hell @kendallefire@hopelesslywaitingforfood @goodniight-my-sunshine @iamwarrenspeace

[robrob1127]

<!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Times; panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {mso-style-noshow:yes; color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} p {margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Times; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family:Times; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} -->

Andy McKee Returns to Philly

for Two Solo Shows

  By Rob Nagy

  Had it not been for social media, the world may never have discovered the talents of American fingerstyle guitarist Andy McKee.

  Currently on tour in the U.S. Mckee is splitting his time between performing live, and work in the studio for an impending album release.

  “I have a new album that I am working out that will probably be out in the fall of this year,” says McKee, from his home in Oklahoma. “It’s going to be kind of different from what I’ve done before in a way.  It looks like it is going to be half instrumental acoustic music, like I’ve been known for the last 15 years, and the fingerstyle and some harp guitar; I’ve just been looking to branch out a bit. I still enjoy the acoustic thing and writing pieces for that. In the past I’ve experimented with other instrumentation and things, and I’m just diving into that a bit more.”

  “It seems like the 80’s are having a revival right now,” adds McKee. “It’s something that has been a part of my acoustic life in the past. I’ve done covers of 80’s pop tunes for solo acoustic guitar and I’ve always liked that music, so I decided to start writing my own 80’s sounding music with synthesizers and electric guitar and drums and different bass idea. When you’re writing solo acoustic guitar pieces you’re really focusing on all the aspects of music on one guitar. When you’re arranging for multiple instruments it give you the ability to maybe do some things that are a little more sophisticated.  You kind of think of these different voices, they’re all going and how you want to balance them to write a complete piece of music. So, it’s been fun to write that way.”

  A local burgeoning guitar legend in his hometown of Topeka, Oklahoma, McKee served a dual role as a highly respected guitar instructor and performer in the regional coffee shop circuit. It wasn’t until he posted videos of his song “Drifting, Rylynn”, “For My Father” and an interpretation of Toto’s “Africa”, which all went viral with over 100 million views, that McKee garnered international attention and a launching pad for his now flourishing career as one of the worlds premier instrumental guitarists.

  A self-taught guitarist, McKee experimented with shred guitar focusing on the works of Joe Satrianni, Eric Johnson, and Metallica. At 16, he attended a show by guitarist Preston Reed, exposing McKee to the world of acoustic guitar. Feverishly studying Reeds techniques, McKee broadened his creative inspiration, ultimately delving into the works of guitarists Michael Hedges, Don Ross, Pat Kirtley, and Billy McLaughlin, on his self imposed journey to master the instrument.

  “I’ve played guitar with all of my heroes, the ones that are still around,” says McKee. “It just seems like I’ve done everything I ever I wanted to, almost. It’s been good and bad because I need to find a new goal, I guess (laughs). The only thing now is trying to keep writing good music and continue to inspire people, and help them feel good for a little while.”

  McKee released his independently released debut album, Nocturne in 2001. Guitar competitions followed. He placed third at the 2003 National Fingerstyle Guitar Competition in Winfield, Kansas. That same year McKee performed on a concert tour in Taiwan, and as well as earning first place honors at the Miscellaneous Acoustic Instrument contest of the New Jersey State Fiddling and Picking Championships. Mckee placed second at the Fingerstyle Guitar Competition of the Canadian Guitar Festival

  Subsuquent album releases Dreamcatcher (2004), Art of Motion (Candyrat) (2005), The Gates of Gnomeria (2007), Split DVD with Antoine Dufour (2007), Common Ground EP (2009), a collaborative album with Don Ross, The Thing That Came From Somewhere (2008), Joyland (2010), featuring interpretations of the songs “Layover”, by Michael Hedges and Tear For Fears “Everybody Wants To Rule The World”. A 75 minute DVD was included, featuring additional video material and a documentary entitled Andy McKee: Joyland, Common Ground (EP) (2009) Mythmaker (EP) (2014) and the live album, Live Book (2015), served to expose McKee on a global scale.

  McKees legendary status has landed him on the cover, as the feature story, in Acoustic Guitar Magazine, in the U.S. and, Acoustic Magazine, in the UK. 

  Performing to packed concert venues throughout the U.S. and abroad, McKee is the figurehead of the Guitar Masters concert tours. He has also performed on tours with the legendary Prince and Dream Theater.

  “Everything that has happened so far in my career has been unbelievable,” says McKee. “I didn’t expect any of this stuff to reach this sort of level.  I really had no idea what to do with my music other than trying to do well in some guitar competitions, and maybe get my name out in the acoustic guitar world a little bit, try to release albums, and see what happens. I never thought YouTube would be a thing. When that came out and I put videos on it I had no expectations. There really wasn’t such a thing as a viral video back then (laughs). So when it crossed over I suddenly got opportunities to play all over.”

    “I hope my music brings people a sense of calm,” adds McKee. “I think there is something meditative about most of my music.  Some of my music is a bit aggressive or percussive, may have a different vibe to it, but most of my stuff is sort of meditative or looking introspectively. I just hope it helps people think clearly or feel better about things.”

  Andy McKee performs two shows at the The Locks at Sona, 4417 Main Street Manyaunk, Pa. 19127, on Saturday February 16, 2019. The 8:00 P.M. show, with special guest Dave Bakey, sold out. Tickets still remain for the 4:00 P.M. show. For further information call 833-533-0330 or visit www.thelocksmusic.com

  To stay up to date with Andy McKee visit www.andymckee.com