#and george going i don’t have to tell you explicitly when i’m having fun

[cupidlakes]

george responding “very pog :)” to quackity giving him a genuine compliment is so him, this is the essence of georgenotfound

[strawberrymilkgeorge]

Part Nineteen. The Bench Trio and Sapnap make Phasmophobia 10000% Funnier

warnings: swearing maybe, word count: 3.5k (not including pictures) 

behind the screen (irl dream x f!reader) series masterlist ultimate masterlist

note: wooooo last chapter before... the trip........ be excited >:) 

**********

Y/n grimaced in anticipation as she looked at Karl’s wide eyes and open mouth as he leaned against the kitchen counter. He hadn’t said anything in almost a full minute and she wasn’t sure how much longer she could take.

“Say something, Karl,” she mumbled as she tugged on the strings of her new, lime green hoodie. She stared at him as he switched between leaning his elbows on the countertop and standing up straight with his palms pressed to it instead.

“I... wh—what?” Karl finally voiced his scattered thoughts, cackling abruptly as he threw his head back and clutching his stomach. “WHAT THE HECK, Y/N?!” He stood up straight and beamed at her, his eyes darting to her hoodie and then to her face. “Dream sent you his own hoodie?? How am I suppo— what in the— WHAT? Is this one his?” His fingers gently tugged at the hem of the material as he stared at it, eyes full of curiosity.

Y/n shook her head, face burning at Karl’s joy and surprise. “This one is just the merch one he sent. His hoodie is… very obviously his.”

“What do you mean?” he asked cautiously.

Y/n laughed lightly before leading him to her room, where the maroon hoodie lay neatly folded on the end of her bed. Karl picked it up and laughed. “It has a Florida thing on it?” he giggled and shook his head, not being able to get enough out of the whole situation and his best friend’s clear embarrassment. “Why aren’t you wearing this one? Too shy to flaunt your boyfriend’s clothes?”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” she clarified quickly, sending Karl a sideways glance. “But I’m trying to… you know… preserve it.” And because she worried that if she never took it off, she would only get more and more attached to the boy who lived three states away, hundreds of miles from her. She preferred sleeping in it over wearing it around the apartment. It was more comforting that way.

Karl lost it. He cackled maniacally and nearly fell on Y/n’s bed, losing his mind at how stupid the two were. “Preserv—Y/N! If you just tell him you like him, he’ll probably give you a new one when we go to his literal house.”

Y/n’s face heated up even more as she hummed. “About that…”

Karl’s laughter stopped abruptly, wide eyes staring at the girl. “No way.”

Y/n cowered lightly, nodding her head ever so slightly.

Once again, the curly-haired boy acted like he won the lottery. “NO WAY! Y/N, NO WAY! You’re lying, you told him??”

A wide grin spread across her face and she nodded as she recounted the details to him, almost like telling a little kid a fascinating fairytale. Karl’s face was glowing the whole time, his excitement for his best friend clear in his toothy grin and bright eyes.

He nearly tackled her when she finished, her hands tugging roughly at the hoodie strings, but tried to compose himself instead.

“Y/N! THAT’S SO AWESOME!! Wait, wait, wait, so, are you guys, like…?”

She shook her head. “We’re not dating, we’re just two people who like each other who are going to go on a date in…” she paused to the check the date on her phone and her stomach fluttered with excitement, “like, a week??”

Karl laughed and wiggled a little, his excitement nearly bursting at the seams. “Please, can I please give you a celebratory hug?”

Y/n laughed and opened her arms. “Of course.” He jumped at the opportunity, wrapping his arms around her in a huge hug and squeezing tightly. “Wait a minute, I’m mad at you!” she pulled away and Karl’s smile dropped.

“What did I do?”

“You and George knew how Dream and I felt and didn’t tell either of us anything?”

Karl raised his hands in defense. “No, hold on, to be clear, Dream himself didn’t say anything to me until, like, a week ago. I only knew before that because Sapnap and George told me stuff.”

“What the hell, Karl!! Sapnap too?”

“Yeah, of course Dream told him stuff, they live together and are best friends. Why wouldn't he know?”

“You’re all traitors.”

“We were sworn to secrecy! Both of you made us promise to not say anything!”

“That didn't stop you from talking to Sapnap about my feelings?”

“Ah, but I kept my promise and didn't tell Dream… you never said anything about Sapnap.”

Y/n gave him a deadpanned look and crossed her arms over her chest.

Karl paused. “Does it help if I tell you that we talked to Quackity about it too?”

“WHAT?” she snapped, though a small disbelieving laugh chased her words. “What, are you all just talking about us behind our backs? You told Quackity and Sapnap about my crush but you couldn’t have hinted at it to Dream? Or told me you knew how Dream felt?”

“You think I didn’t?” Karl laughed. “I hinted to you about his crush all the time, but you just never believed me!”

Y/n paused, recalling all the times Karl was super encouraging, promising things would work out, and even the times Karl straight up told her he thought Dream liked her. She pouted. “You know that I’m stupid.”

Karl stuck his bottom lip out in a smile. “You are. But you’re also ballsy and finally admitted you like him so all this can be in the past and you don’t have to be mad at me anymore. Right?”

“I’m not actually mad at you, Karl. I am embarrassed that you've told them things I’ve said.”

“Oh, no, no, don't worry. N one of us really explicitly said things you or Dream have said. We all mostly just complained to each other about how stupid you two were being,” he assured. “Well, Sapnap is Sapnap though, so he did tell us some very specific things Dream has ranted to him about regarding you.” He giggled as Y/n’s jaw dropped lightly.

She crossed her arms over her chest. “No, I don’t want it to ‘be in the past’ anymore; I want you to tell me everything Dream has told the others about me.”

“No! That’s private information. You can ask him yourself on your daaateee,” he sang, making her face heat up more.

“I’m going on a date with Dream,” she whispered in disbelief and Karl beamed at her. “Even better, you’ll see him in person in exactly a week.”

Y/n’s eyes went wide. “That’s so soon. Karl, I’m going to faint or something.”

The boy just smiled at her. “You’ll be fine. Naomi and I will hold you up if you need.”

A few days passed and Y/n found herself with her tucked her knees to her chest as she greeted her chat enthusiastically. “Today, it’s gonna be intense. Today we’re playing Phasmophobia!! So if you don’t like scary games or paranormal stuff or anything like that, feel free to not watch and just listen or even close out completely. I don't want anyone to get triggered or be actually scared or anything.”

She watched as hearts flew by in her chat and she smiled.

“Yeah, don't feel bad if you need to leave! But if you do want to stay, it’s going to be super fun and probably very chaotic. Today we’re playing with Sapnap, Ranboo, and Tubbo, and Tommy is in the call but he’s not playing.”

“And me!” Karl said from beside her and she laughed.

“Oh, yeah, and Karl is here in real life because he’s clingy.”

“That’s a lie; Bugsy is terrified so she asked me to be here for emotional support.”

“If I wanted emotional support, I would have asked Naomi to be here instead. You get scared easier than me.”

Karl laughed and looked at her chat

“Okay, so, yeah, remember to leave if you need to and take care of yourselves but I’m going to join vc now!” Y/n unmuted in the call, announcing her presence loudly. She switched her stream screen to the Phasmophobia lobby where her, Ranboo, Tubbo, and Sapnap’s lanky characters walked around aimlessly messing with stuff.

“Hiiii,” Tubbo dragged out sleepily. “Are you ready to be spooked by the scary game, Bugsy?”

“Yes, I'm so ready.”

“The Scary Game,” Ranboo laughed. “Trademark.”

“Hello, Bugsy Games,” Tommy greeted robotically and she laughed, responding in the same voice.  

“Hello, Tommy Innit.”

“How are you doing?” His voice was monotonous and reluctant, almost like he was being forced to be nice to her. She knew it was all a joke between them though, as Tommy had come to her for advice about things before.

“I'm doing well, how are you?” she laughed.

“'I'm doing well’,” he mocked. “How pretentious of you to say.”

“TOMMY,” Sapnap called out. Her nerves spiked at the new knowledge that Sapnap knew more than she had told him about her feelings for Dream. Not that he would ever say anything on a livestream in front of tens of thousands of people, but it still made her nervous. “WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO HER?”

“I'm not scared of you, big man,” Tommy explained. “I will say what I want to Bugsy and you can't do anything about it.”

“What about me and Sapnap combined?” Karl asked from her side. “We are the BugsyGames protection squad.”

“I think George is on it, too,” Sapnap declared.

“Can we be part of the protection squad?” Tubbo asked. “We can intimidate people with Ranboo’s height.”

“I'm the least terrifying person you will meet,” Ranboo claimed. “I am only tall.”

“I'm not scared of any of you,” Tommy assured. “I will continue to say mean things to Bugsy if I feel like it.”

“Okay, but you might be scared of someone we know, though. Someone who lives with me?” Sapnap hinted obviously. Everyone, including chat – who were spamming the name of that certain someone –  knew who Sapnap was referring to. Someone, who the mere mention of, made Y/n’s face heat up.

Tommy went quiet for a moment before mumbling close to his mic, “I'm sorry, Bugsy, you are not pretentious. You are actually a very kind person.”

She absolutely loved the fact that so many of their friends, joking or not, knew that Dream cared about her so much. Had it really been obvious all along, even to someone like Tommy?

“You're a menace to society, Tommy.” She smiled to herself as Karl laughed.

Tommy sputtered in surprise. “WHAT!”

“Are you guys ready to play?” Y/n asked as she went to the whiteboard in the game to start.

“Yes, let’s go!!!” Tubbo cheered.

Phasmophobia was eventful to say the least. Between Ranboo’s panic, Sapnap’s screams, Karl’s cackling laughter, Tommy yelling as he watched the stream, and Tubbo being blissfully unbothered by all of it, Y/n could barely catch her breath between laughing fits.

An outside observer might have thought the group was insane, and she felt bad for her chat having to put up with the obnoxious screams and cursing each other out, but it was the most fun she had had in a long time being able to mess around with this group of chaos she called friends. It only made her more and more excited for the upcoming trip, which was days away now.

“Okay, okay, I think I’m going to end here, is anyone going to stream?” she asked, still giggling from Ranboo’s latest bit involving him crying in the corner of the haunted building.

“I will be,” Ranboo announced.

“Then go start and I’ll raid you,” she offered, leaving him to thank her and leave the voice call to start his stream.

“Okay, thank you so much guys for playing! Wait, fit check?” she interrupted herself as her eyes caught the spam going through. “Chat…” Y/n trailed off with a laugh at the end. “I don’t know how to tell you this, but… you can’t see me. How am I supposed to give you a fit check?”

Tommy laughed from the other side of the call.

“Bugsy, does your chat not know you are faceless?” Tubbo joked, making her laugh.

“I-I guess not? Chat, we need to talk…”

“I can give a fit check for them,” Karl offered as he looked up from his phone. “I’ll just describe what you’re wearing.”

Y/n laughed but agreed.

“Do it, Karl,” Sapnap encouraged. “Feed the Bugsy stans. Then send me a fit check picture of you, Karl.”

Karl laughed. “Okay,” he said distractedly as he looked at Y/n. “She’s wearing, uh...”

“Can you even see her outfit or does she have the comforter around her like always?” Tommy asked, half genuine, half mocking.

“Actually, she doesn’t because she has her new hoodie on. So that, and just, like, black pants. And fuzzy socks.”

Y/n held her breath as she looked down and realized what hoodie she was wearing. The good one. Normally it was reserved for sleeping in, but she wanted the extra comfort it provided while she played Phasmophobia. Any hoodie would have done, but having Dream’s clothing wrapped around her body gave her an extra level of security that she was too embarrassed to ever admit aloud.

“New hoodie?” Sapnap asked. “Give the people some more info, Karl. What does it look like?” She couldn’t tell if there was malice behind his words or if he was genuinely curious. Did he know about Dream sending her one of his hoodies? They were roommates after all, Sapnap had to know, right? Especially since Y/n now knew that Dream told Sapnap a lot.

Karl looked at her with a huge grin, knowing exactly where the piece came from. “Yeah, super new. It has a Flori—”

“It’s just red,” she said quickly, giving Karl a wide-eyed look.

“Oh?” Tubbo asked. “W-why did you sound so suspicious? What kind of red?”

“Suspicious?” she scoffed. “What’s suspicious about a hoodie?” she paused before adding quieter, “And.... it’s maroon.”

“Interesting…” Sapnap said, his smile clear in his voice. He knew. He definitely knew.

The accusatory tone of his voice paired with Karl hiding his giggles behind his hand made Y/n pull her collar over her face in embarrassment. The action only caused the lingering smell on the material to fill her nose, but she wasn’t necessarily complaining.

“I have a maroon hoodie!” Tubbo related, oblivious alongside Ranboo and Tommy about the teasing going on between her and Sapnap. “What kind is it? Maybe it’s the same one?”

“Tubbo, you should not sound so pleased at the possibility of matching Bugsy,” Tommy sneered and Y/n momentarily forgot about the embarrassment of knowing Sapnap knew.

“Tommy, when we meet, I will personally make sure that you do not have fun.”

“Oh, I’m so excited for that!” Tubbo said obliviously. “It’s going to be so fun!”

Y/n glanced at her chat again and smiled at all the accusations that she was meeting up with some of the other streamers in the call. Little did they know how many of them were not only meeting up, but spending a week and a half vacation together.

“Me too, but chat doesn’t get to know anything about it.”

“Right, right, sorry chat!” Tubbo apologized. “You all are forced to stay out of the loop.”

“Oh, Ranboo went live, I’m going to end. I’ll talk to you guys later! Thanks again for playing!”

“Thanks, Bugsy!” Sapnap said. “It was fun.”

“Bye Bugsy…” Tommy dragged out and she laughed.

“Bye guys,” she said finally and muted, turning her attention back to her stream. “Thanks everyone for watching! And for everyone who donated or subbed or anything like that, thanks! I’ll stream again on Friday but after that I won’t be able to stream for a while, but I do have YouTube videos I will be posting so look out for those!”

She finally ended and turned to Karl after everything was shut off.

“Sapnap definitely knows about the hoodies,” Karl giggled at her expression. “Man’s voice was pure teasing, he knows.”

Y/n laughed and shook her head. “I know! What the heck. Thanks for hanging out with me, by the way.”

“Of course! I like hanging out even if I don’t get to play.”

“Even over your secret friend?”

Karl turned pink. “She’s busy. I’m also still not talking about this.” He stood up and Y/n smiled, dropping the topic.

“Karl, I was joooking.” She followed him out to the kitchen, where Naomi sat typing rapidly on her laptop, most likely cramming for an exam. Y/n’s phone buzzed from her pocket so she pulled it out and couldn’t help the smile or heat that made its way to her face.

Y/n excused herself from the kitchen — where Naomi was still typing furiously and Karl was now thoroughly entertained with something on his phone — to answer the incoming FaceTime call from Dream. She hit accept as she fell on her bed.

“Hi,” she greeted.

“YOU’RE WEARING THE HOODIE I GAVE YOU? HOW EMBARRASSING! HAHA LET’S ALL LAUGH AT Y/N FOR WEARING MY HOODIE!!”

Y/n frowned at his joke and hit the red end button underneath Dream’s face. Her screen defaulted back to her home screen before a new call lit up.

She answered again. “Are you going to be nice?” she asked, pulling the soft, red material over her face, leaving just her eyes to see Dream’s adorable pout.

“Yes,” he said softly. “Sorry.”

She smiled and released the fabric, showing her whole face again, which made the boy smile.

“Hi.”

“Hi.”

“I watched your stream,” he started and she scoffed.

“I know, how else would you have known about the hoodie?”

“Well, Sapnap also texted me so even if I wasn’t, I would have found out.”

Y/n shook her head as her face heated up with embarrassment. She knew the trip was going to be full of teasing from practically the whole group.

“But I was saying I watched your stream and it looked like a lot of fun. Sounded like you had fun, too.”

“I did,” she confirmed. “I love those guys, they’re awesome. I love how everyone just bounces off each other, it’s so funny.”

“I can tell,” Dream laughed, “I haven’t heard you laugh that hard before.”

“Oh gosh, did I sound like a crazy person?”

Dream smiled and rubbed one of his eyes sleepily. “No, well, maybe a little but, like, in a cute way.”

“In a cute way? So I’m crazy but in a cute way? Yeah, okay, Dream.”

“No, I mean, like, your laugh was just super loud and energetic but it wasn’t obnoxious or gross or anything, it was adorable. It’s probably the cutest sound I’ve ever heard.”

“You might be a little biased.”

He hummed as he smiled at his screen for a few seconds. “Maybe a little, but so what?”

“You weren’t supposed to agree to that!” she said.

“Secret’s out that I like you so I get to say things like that now, Bug. As long as it doesn’t make you uncomfortable, I’m going to call everything you do cute.”

“Shut up.”

“Cute.”

Her stern expression broke with a laugh and she hung her head. “Got any ideas about our date yet?”

He smiled widely. “Yes.”

“What are they?”

“You really think I’m going to tell you? Absolutely not. You have to wait.”

“Can you at least tell me what day? You’re not making me wait until Georgia, right? The date is while we’re in Florida?”

“So eager, sheesh!” Dream teased. “But so am I, so yeah. I was thinking maybe the 23rd? Since you guys will get here on the 22nd?”

“Oh, who’s eager now? The day after I get there?”

Dream pouted so she smiled and assured him that she was just as excited for their date as he was. “I’m kinda nervous because it’ll be the day before Christmas Eve, so a lot of places will be super crowded and I know you said you don’t like big crowds so we might have to work around some stuff—”

“Dream, I’m honestly just excited to see you. Anything we do will be fun, I promise. I’m just happy I’ll get to see you and spend time with you.”

His worried expression softened as it was replaced with a fond smile. “Down bad, huh?”

Just like that, the tender moment was ruined and Y/n groaned, a laugh bubbling in her throat. “What is wrong with you? You’re the one stressing out so much about a date! You’re the one who’s down bad.”

“Yeah, but at least I can admit it.”

She shook her head at him for what felt like the millionth time and sighed. “I can’t believe I put up with you.”

“You must like me a lot, I guess,” he said, pushing her to admit it again.

“I guess I do.”

PREVIOUS | NEXT

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[trinitytrilogy]

What kind of parenting styles would the parents have if they had been able to raise their children themselves?

OOoooh, I like this question. I'm going to be relatively vague because you will be meeting the parents in-game, but...

Aphrodite: Have you seen mean girls? Think Regina George's mom with a little more structure. Absolutely dresses up and makes sure that everyone's comfortable, but probably won't give out liquor. Not afraid to get nitty gritty and change a diaper, per se, but not jumping at the chance to do so.

Athena: Low-key a tiger mom. Like never explicitly states that she wants you to be the best at x, y, and z, but if you fail at something she'll urge you to try harder and not quit. She won't get mad, but she might get... hurt almost? Like it's a personal affront that you're not good at math per se.

Ares: Will fight to defend your honor 24/7. Some kid pushed you in the playground? Let's see how they like it. Your teacher said something that hurt your feelings? It will be brought up in a parent-teacher conference. But, when you're alone together, they don't really know what to say. More silent pillar of support.

Demeter: Overbearing but well-meaning. She just wants the best for you, so listen to her. No it's too dangerous to go out to Hawaii with a group of friends even though you're off to college. No you cannot cook in her kitchen. She'll do almost everything for you and practically cry a flood when you finally leave.

Dionysus: Definitely more fun than work. Wanna skip school and go on a pegasus ride? Let's go. Your homework is boring? He'll get you ice cream during your (too frequent) breaks. He will definitely have you drinking before the legal age, little sips at a time to get you used to it. Better with a good co-parent. A lot better.

Hephaestus: Unintentionally neglectful. Like if you need him, he'll be there, but if you're not explicitly telling him you want his help, he won't help you. More likely than not, he'll be in his workshop 90% of the day, so if you want to show him a cool thing you learned, you'll have to go down there and wait a little while. If you say something is important, he'll most likely remember.

[daimonhalos]

Appreciation post for the eggpire and more during the red banquet cause I'm not seeing enough love for how well they organized and delivered and because I'm so proud of cc!Bad for how far the Bloodvines arc has gone ♥ (this stuff is from Bad's vod btw)

Also something to cheer people up a bit in case the lore got u hard like it got me cause I'm still not okay bestie <3

The starting soon screen being an animation (with glitches to show another frame!!) plus the jazzy electro-swing soundtrack underneath. Just such a good intro, I felt like I was actually in the waiting line for an event, just awesome.

Ponk. Just Ponk, dapper man, handsome Ponk just standing there. Gorgeous, thank you, standing ovation, I love him.

Just everything Bad and Ant did with the building of the room, the stairs!! The coat room!!! The statues right in front of the table, everything looked SO pretty.

ANT MY BELOVED LOOKING HANDSOME AS ALWAYS I just loved all their outfits. The banquet's skins just SLAPPED HARD.

The little moment where Bad changed view of his character and we could see him, Ant and Ponk cwc

Bad singing >>>>>>>>>>

Everyone getting lost despite the oak signs

THE ARC ABOVE THE DANCEFLOOR, WHAT THE HELL YOO

Bad complimenting everyone on their outfits and giving out some gapples here and there

Bad also always repeating the same catchphrases

Sam just drinking copiously and the dumpy situation

People actually dancing + HBomb being the dj

Puffy walking around Bad to see his outfit and complimenting him, just felt like their old friendship cwc

FOOLISH GAVE BAD A FLOWER <3

Bad scolding George for not wearing an outfit (Sam's "his name is Gogy and he is beautiful")

"It's almost time for the feast. It's gonna be delicious." the foreshadowing

Everyone dancing together cwc

"minecraft dancing is speed squats" eret ilu

Bad and Ant complimenting moment ♥

The eggpire all on the same side of the table. Them

Ponk's little "Hello!" after Bad said he made the soup, plus everyone going "good job!!" just twt

When Bad started asking if anyone wanted to give a toast, I realized eventually that this was more of a disguised "Want to say your last words before death?" and it now sounds s o freaking cool. ye s

P O N K 'S S P E E C H

"you look beautiful right now" sam i will cry

When in the middle of his speech, Bad turns to Ant who's already looking at him, nods, Ant nods back, and as Bad turns around again we can see Ant walking away from his seat. I am OBSESSED with this scene, like you already know something is about to go down and oh gosh it was delivered so good

THE LAVA COMING DOWN FROM THE CEILING AS BAD KEPT TALKING, NONE NOTICING, HIM TALKING ABOUT HOW THE BANQUET WILL BE UNFORGETTABLE. SO HOT

"And yeah! Thank you for coming everybody" the little mischievous giggles right after "And prepare uh ... yep. Prepare to die." AND THEN HE FUCKIGN DRINKS FROM HIS GLASS LIKE COME ON YOU CANT BE ANY COOLER THAN THAT YOOO

"The leaf is staying the way it is" you can hear the laughter in his voice like HAH GOTTEM that's so good

Bad still giving Hbomb gapples cwc

"Where you looking for this perchance?" AND THEN EQUIPS THE ENTIRE ARMOR AND WEAPONS E Y E when the twists started dude. this si where the twists started and never ended

HANNAH CROSSING SIDES AND SIDING WITH THE EGGPIRE. QUEEN SHIT that was such a cool moment for her i'm so glad she's getting her moment

The eggpire laughing, just pure villainy, love them

"Time to get on the main event" the nonchalance. The way they equipped the crossbows and readied the arrows at the same time. B r u h fucking awesome they are

The eggpire faking being afraid when Sam was talking about blowing the egg up. Sad that we already knew about the obsidian thing, but still made it a very cool scene. Especially right after when they started laughing at them again. I don't know what it is about it but I love them being so sassy.

FREAKING EXECUTIONS THEY WORKED FOR MASS EXECUTIONS they were able to trap all those freaking people!! And trick them and counter attack all the time! what the fuck, I'm so impressed

Thank you Fundy for sounding super terrified /gen ♥

Wait ahah they really said EGGSECUTION-

THE EGG HATCHES THE EGG HATCHES THE EGG HATCHES im not saying IT but im saing Velvet

"Follow me! Follow me!" HANNAH SOUNDED SO ENTHUSIASTIC i love

"We trusted you!" "Well, that was your first mistake-" THE WAY BAD WAS ABOUT TO LAUGH. DUDE they definitely had so much fucking fun making this

sassyboyhalo

Foolish acting thank u ily. Also the thunder not working what the heck i wanna know what was going on inside his mind right then he sounded so lost. THE ACTING

"Sacrifice!" Hannah idk how to say this but I love you

ANT MOMENTTTT

When puffy called them selfish i was expecting bad to just do a huge double take. I wanted him to snap immediately PLEASE SNAP-

BAD DELIVERING AGAIN WITH THE AMAZING ACTING

"Not just for the egg but for what the egg is going to give us" he's so desperately trying to make them udnerstand it promised him his friend back he literally mentions it every single time but everyone calls him selfish because they think he wants power when he just wants skeppy's friendship back in this essay I will- Anyway yes I love that he never explicitly says it because it kills us viewers with pain cause we KNOW and then the reveal will be 100 times more powerful. This is so awesome

"I can't stop Quackity and you know why I can't stop. If I stop I can't get what I need." his voice grew so much lower like he's just holding back MAN I HH IT WAS SO GOOD

SECRET RETREAT ROOM YOOO

Ponk giving Bad some food and telling him to stay safe, Bad telling both Hannah and Ponk to stay safe too. My tears

And now the solo Bad lore part, where we actually see the true part of him that's absolutely devastated and makes me cry, the way he acted all confident and then saw everything crumble in a few seconds and now he's destroyed again because what if they find a way to destroy the egg what then? what if he never gets skeppy back? dude, you can just read his emotions it's so sad and i love how it was portrayed

"I know where I can go. I know who I can see!" BDI REF BDI REF FOR SURE I have a feeling that's going to be explained in the next lore stream with Skeppy and I'm so hype. I love the little crumbs of references here and there.

"But now they have it.." he sounded so broken??? bad your acting please ill cry

"I didn't really want to hurt anybody" his true self trying to get back cwc especially because he's farther away from the egg. I just love the transition between the guy Bad portrays who's so sure about the egg when it's in front of others and the doubts and anxiety he actually has when he's alone. Just so cool

"Did I screw up?" im just pointing out everything that moves me emotionally cause these people's acting is so cool

Ending the stream with simple black background my beloved

Okay but really I'm so so so proud of the ccs for making this happen and it's only going upwards, I'm literally so in awe, they really said go big or go home

Free space for Ant's villain speech I wasn't able to hear yet, but they said it was v cool, so I'm trusting people on this

Thank you for listening, stan Bloodvines arc /hj

If I made typos no I didn't

[acenancy]

The Ace x Nancy x Tamura of It All

I’m here as a hardcore Nace shipper (see the URL) to throw my two cents into the Ace x Nancy x Tamura discussion.

Some of you straight up hate Tamura and that’s cool, I get it, no judgement, but I personally like him a lot as a character. And I LOVE the connection he and Nancy have. Their repartee is entertaining, they share a passion for solving mysteries which is key to being Nancy’s friend, and their very different life experiences help balance each other out. 

You know, since one of them is grounded in reality and the other is navigating through life in a supernaturally charged hellmouth.

That being said, I hope they grow closer during S3 WITHOUT becoming explicitly romantic. And I think that may be exactly what happens! At most, I think that while solving magical mysteries, Nancy and Tamura will engage in a fun little flirtationship  that will lead to genuine friendship. His partnership with Nancy would be solidified this way as well as his honorary membership to the Drew Crew. This could serve three purposes: 

Forcing Tamura to accept the supernatural elements of Horseshoe Bay, thus weaving him more intricately into the plot.

Creating tension between Nancy and Ace 😏

Exploring and adding depth to whatever sort of relationship they’re trying to establish between Tamura and Ace.

I see all of this playing out fairly simply: while Nick and George are busy juggling real life and a wedding, while Bess devotes her time and energy into researching her family history and finding love, and while Ace prioritizes Amanda, Nancy finds herself without proper backup. So! Perhaps unintentionally, Nancy gravitates to Tamura. There's crimes and mysteries to be solved and since her friends are not fully available to her, who better to turn to than the guy who’s job it is to investigate these things? And so begins the Nancy and Tamura buddy cop comedy that is both dreaded and highly anticipated depending on what social media outlet you’re using.

Though let me repeat: BUDDY COP. 

I really don’t think we’re going to have an Ed and Lorraine Warren situation on our hands with these two. Truly, if the S2 finale is anything to go by, I think S3 will allow Nancy to grow into herself outside of a romantic or sexual relationship. She’s not running from herself and into someone else’s bed anymore. She’s embracing and learning to love herself. I’d even go so far as to say Nancy’s love interest next season will be...Nancy lmao. 

As for Tamura, if they decide to give him a romantic interest, I think they would either have his ex-fiancée reenter the picture or maybe even do him dirty and stick him with Temperance for plot reasons. A doomed Tamura x Temperance romance would actually be fun to see, in my opinion, and would be a great way to open Tamura’s eyes to the supernatural. That’s just me spit-balling, though. Whether it’s because of Temperance or not, I think Tamura is finally going to have to accept ghosts and witches and magic are real this season. It’s just a requirement for working with Nancy Drew.

MOST IMPORTANTLY, we have to address the Nace of it all. Sorry to Tamura but I do believe you’re being used as an obstacle in True Love’s way next season. I think fandom’s general consensus is that the more time Nancy and Tamura spend together, romantic or not, the more jealous Ace will become. While I agree, I think Ace’s jealousy will stem from somewhere a little deeper than just seeing Nancy with another guy. 

Take Gil, for example. Ace was sort of jealous of Gil, but more than anything he was wary of him and concerned for Nancy’s wellbeing when she was with him. Unlike Ace, Gil never had anything to offer Nancy except for sex and a getaway car. He sure as hell was never her number one person. In fact, he wasn’t even Nancy’s number five person. There was never a reason for Ace to be envious of him.

Tamura, on the other hand, can prove to be just as much of an equal to Nancy as Ace is. As chief/lead detective, he also has power and influence that Ace and Nancy do not, and access to people and resources that Ace does not have (unless he can hack into them). Tamura can help Nancy bend and break the law without consequence if need be, too. And, although naive in regards to the mystics of Horseshoe Bay, he is just as smart as Nancy and has, on the rare occasion, even been one step ahead of her. Tamura is an asset, to say the least. Together, he and Nancy make a formidable duo.

That’s what will make Ace jealous. More than the prospect of romance between Nancy and Tamura, I think that Nancy finding another intellectual match is what will rub Ace the wrong way. They’ll find themselves at a brief moment in time where Nancy will turn to Tamura for assistance before anyone, including Ace, and Ace will realize he absolutely hates that someone who is not him is Nancy’s partner in crime now.

Maybe Nancy won’t notice, but Ace will probably realize his love for her is not of the philia sort. I’m sure Amanda also will. And? Maybe Tamura will see it too.

Which brings me to one of my favorite dynamics of the show: Ace and Tamura’s.

I’m not gonna sit here and spin my crazy conspiracy theory that they’re brothers. Though that idea will always hold a special place in my heart, slowly but surely I am accepting that Ace’s long lost brother really is Grant. I’m being a total grownup about it. I swear.

Nevertheless, I do think they’ve been trying to build some kind of relationship between Ace and Tamura since before Tamura even met Nancy. What sort of relationship? God, I wish I knew.

They meet each other first, which doesn’t necessarily mean a lot, but it’s worth noting that they’re on each other’s funny little shit lists before Nancy even enters Tamura’s picture. It’s also Ace and Ace alone that hears from McGuinness that Tamura will be replacing him in the same episode. Then, of course, we have that crazy Shabbat dinner in 2x03 that exacerbates their antagonistic relationship further. Then there’s their snarky banter and all of those totally unnecessary side-by-side shots of them saving Noah in 2x10. Apart from Nancy, Ace is the only member of the Drew Crew that we’ve seen Tamura develop a real connection with, even if it is an unfriendly one. And, as of now, their relationship doesn’t even have anything to do with Nancy.

So where are the writers going with this hilarious and hostile bond between Ace and Tamura? Has all of this really just been buildup for a romantic rivalry? Hey, maybe! I really can’t figure out another reason why the writers have gone out of their way to create their dynamic since the Brother Theory has been disproven. But something tells me this may be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

And when I say “this”, I mean Tamura taking a step back from Nancy once he realizes he may just be filling in the love of her life’s shoes. Because that’s where I think all of this is going. Not necessarily anywhere romantic between Nancy and Tamura, but somewhere more friendly between Tamura and everyone.

At the end of it all, Tamura is going to finally embrace the supernatural, he’s going to become an ally to Nancy, Ace, and the rest of the Drew Crew, and, when the timing is right, he’s going to hop onboard the Nace ship with the rest of us. 

I HOPE.

Side note: this is just where my head is at. I truly respect all of your opinions and ask that you respect mine too. If you agree with what I’ve said and want to talk, let’s talk! If you disagree and want to talk, we can talk too! Please, just don’t get nasty with me. This is a television show about fictional characters at the end of the day, and I am a real person. Much love to you all. ❤️

[lady-star-strings]

About Dream’s Tweets...

To begin with, I’m demisexual and have been part of the community for years - I think I have pretty good credence to speak on this matter. I try not to throw my two cents into situations like this because I can’t stand the ignorant responses of the internet anymore at my age - DeviantArt Dark Ages vet right here - but sometimes I just have to. Whether you agree or not, I could honestly care less, but I would appreciate it if you read everything and gave it some thought before responding, be it positive or negative. With that said, let’s dive in...

At this point, if people are taking the shipping/fanservice jokes and banter between the Dream Team and other creators surrounding them seriously, I don't know what to tell them or really even say, honestly. They've all stated they're not looking to start relationships with each other - multiple times and on-stream/Twitter, might I add, because people keep donating and asking/demanding an answer to both that and about their sexualities - and that it's just messing around with friends. (If we want to talk about making people uncomfortable and being offensive in that regard, don’t you worry because I've got opinions on that too.) Bottom line is, you can't get mad at them for the fan-service now when you supported it before, especially when nothing has changed and they’ve been transparent about how everything actually is.

I understand that some may feel it’s an insensitive and inappropriate thing to do in some regards, and that's perfectly valid, but please don't go mobbing through the town with pitchforks over literal jokes between friends. Keep in mind, they’ve made it clear that’s all it was before people starting jumping down their throats, and still there are groups using their sexuality to attack them over it because "YoU'rE nOt MlM sO yOu CaN't MaKe ThOsE jOkEs, YoU'rE hOmOpHoBiC!!!!!" They're even openly attacking lesbians and bisexuals - whether they agree with them or not - because they're not gay and that somehow renders their words “invalid.” You can't accuse them of being ignorant for messing around as friends because it entertains the fans, and then turn around to attack literally the entire rest of the community for offering their opinions because they aren't valid enough for you in the argument to count - that makes you ignorant. You also can’t claim to be of the opinion that everyone’s sexuality is their own business, but then demand for them not to be ambiguous about it when it pleases you. Honestly, even thinking about people doing that is so incredibly hypocritical that it gives me whiplash.

I completely understand not everyone is a fan of this behavior, but to accuse them of queerbaiting, being homophobic and faking allyship over it all right now is just ridiculous and borderline disgusting to me. They've made it clear they're not romantically interested in one another countless times and that it's just fun between friends because they're super close - they aren't playing the "Am I, or am I not?" game with anyone for gain so no, they're not queerbaiting. Queerbaiting is when it’s not explicitly said at any point whether someone is or isn’t LGBTQIA+ so they can play both the community and conservative side by putting them in ambiguous situations that can lean one way or the other for gain, whether it be monetary or otherwise. Not to mention, if they were really as “homophobic” and “falsely allied” as everyone thinks, why would other LGBTQIA+ creators such as Antfrost, Eret, Scott Major, etc. not only support them, but also consider them friends? Again, I get the offense and hurt people might have taken from this behavior, but your opinions and feelings are ultimately not universal so while they are all valid, that doesn't make them right and the final say on the matter. I don’t mean this to say you’re wrong or inferior in the argument, just that you can’t demand others to see your point of view and abide by it without granting them the same respect. The road goes both ways kiddos, I’m sorry. 

Side note, there's no one to blame but the fans themselves for the jokes and whatnot to have continued on this long because they not only supported it, but also actively encouraged it. It’s been taken so seriously that Dream has outright stated on a stream - and now on Twitter - that he and George aren't together and more than likely never will be because they're honest to goodness just really good friends screwing around. Now if you think you're uncomfortable as part of the community, how do you think they feel being accused every five minutes of being against it because they won’t openly state their sexuality? Not to mention, they can't ever talk about actual relationships or joke about other ships because people will literally send death threats to whoever the other party is because they're "rUiNiNg ThE sHiP" at this point - need I remind you of the Septiplier fiasco? It’s alright if it’s a persona or a personality, but for the love of all things holy, please stop treating people like Barbie dolls that you’re trying to make kiss. They gave us the go-ahead to ship them because it makes us happy and allows us to be creative with the concept - don’t ruin it by trying to force them to play the parts you’ve constructed in your head and then get pissy because they won’t.

Also, it is unbelievably messed up for you to donate money to ask their sexuality and/or for them to tell each other that they love them - which then basically makes it a demand because if they ignore it they get blasted for not responding and “taking their money.” For example, Dream will say he loves any of his friends without issue because he does - just not in the way everyone is assuming or wants - and that's just the type of person he is, but George doesn't like to express it that way and that's okay. He shows his love in other ways that we don't always need to know about or see to make it real, just as it is with anyone else in the world. I don’t know how so many people miss it, but when he gets a donation to tell Dream - or anyone for that matter - he loves him on stream, you can easily tell how uncomfortable it makes him - and yes Dream presses/teases him about it sometimes, but he still drops it and doesn't flame him for it for eternity. Those that donate and chat, on the other hand, will not let it go when he doesn’t say it and continue to pour donations in begging him to say it when he’s already made it clear he won’t. You honestly shouldn't be bribing them to say or do anything through donation because that's beyond messed up and manipulative, especially where these matters are concerned.

And even if they weren't straight - which used to be the case and may have changed by this time, we can’t determine such things nor should we try to - or were in a relationship with each other, it isn't any of your goddamn business to know - no way, no how. What they do offline and out of the public eye isn't anyone's business but their own and people need to respect that, not try to force it out of them or play detective to dox that information for the attention. I mean, if you want a good reason as to why Dream hasn't done a face reveal yet, this is absolutely number one on the list because there will be little to no form of privacy for him after he does and he isn't ready to lose that just yet. I certainly can’t blame him for that considering all that’s been happening to him and his friends as of late, and neither can multiple other creators who hold the same beliefs and fears - ie. CorpseHusband, H20Delirious, Ohmwrecker. No one should have to tip-toe on eggshells in their personal life because fans online don't understand boundaries, that's just cruel and unfair after providing the content and comfort that they do without asking anything but support in return.

At the end of the day, I truly just don't understand how people can join in and support the jokes that they've made clear are purely just messing around, but then turn around and crucify them for the exact same thing later down the road. How can you practically harass them about their sexuality and relationship status through providing monetary means, then go on a witch hunt because they’ve decided to be more private with that information in the present? You can't play both sides and then expect to somehow be right or justified in the situation whichever way the tide turns because, at that point, the only wrong one is you. I completely agree that they need to watch their step with what they say and do sometimes - just as everyone with a strong platform does - but only more so now because people will create a problem the second they do anything that could spin into them being horrible people with too much power.

They’re all still incredibly fresh and new to the realm of social media popularity all things considered, and they reached said popularity startlingly fast so it can’t be easy to adjust to all the attention on everything you say and do. With that said, they’re doing remarkably well so far and I have faith that they’re going to continue to learn and grow in this arena given the time. They might mess up and make mistakes - already have, in fact - but that’s part of the gig and you can’t always please or satisfy everyone, so the best you can do is acknowledge your faults and move forward. You can’t demand someone’s head on a pike when they’ve made an effort to right things and it wasn’t good enough for everyone, it’s just not a fair standard to hold anyone to. In that same vein, you also can’t demand whatever you want out of them with the excuse that they owe it to you as a fan - you’re not a fan in any way, shape or form when you play that card, and you need to either shape up or ship out if you're doing that.

If you don't support it and/or don't like it, just don't follow or watch them anymore, it’s truly as simple as that. You can't continue to watch and support them as a “fan” while also touting how ignorant and horrible they are as detractors, that's just not how it works - pick one or the other and stop attacking them and those that don’t agree with you. They’re only on year one of their careers and the amount of people trying to ��cancel” and tear them down over things that really aren't issues already is ridiculous, you aren't the righteous keyboard warriors you think you are and it's things like this that are ruining the internet for everyone, not just you.

That’s all I have to say on the matter and will continue to say going forward - sorry if you came here looking for my usual nonsense, but I really felt this needed to be said and addressed. I usually try not to do these sort of rants, however, this is a serious matter and a discussion that we as a community have been needing to have for a while, so now’s as good a time as any.

So, with my peace being given and my two cents thoroughly tossed, why don’t we focus on the bigger issues with YouTube such as their blatant ignorance of pedophilia and copyright abuse? Those seem like a much bigger problems to address at this point in time since that effects creators and fans as a whole - both in the present and the future - don’t you think?

[takeshitakyuuto]

poc queer novels?????? please???

yes!! thank you for asking!!! i mostly read YA novels so thats what’ll mostly be represented here ♥ also i might not get all of the rep and content warnings exactly right sorry. also this is (obvs) not an exhaustive list and if youre looking for something more specific (like plot points or specific rep) feel free to ask!

Black rep:

• You Should See Me In A Crown by Leah Johnson - bi - a girl goes out for prom queen in order to win the scholarship money that goes with it and ends up falling for one of the other contestants. just a book full of joy that will have you smiling the whole time (cw homophobia, family illness)

• Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender - trans, gay - a trans boy gets outed and deadnamed at his school so he begins catfishing who he thinks is the culprit to get back at him. this is a really tough one emotionally but a great read regardless with a great romance (cw transphobia)

• Full Disclosure by Camryn Garrett - bi, gay, hiv+ - a girl starts falling for a boy until she’s blackmailed by someone who threatens to tell the whole school her hiv+ status unless she stops hanging around her crush. musicals, cute romance, predictable but worth it for the fun that is this book

• All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson - gay - a memoir manifesto about the author’s life growing up as a Black queer person. although it’s not covered in the book, the author later came out as nonbinary (cw homophobia, transphobia, incest)

• The Stars and the Blackness Between Them by Junauda Petrus - lesbian - when a girl from Trinidad gets caught by her mother with another girl, she’s shipped off to America to live with her father where she meets another girl struggling with a terminal illness. this one also deals a lot with the prison industrial complex (cw homophobia, racism)

• Anger Is A Gift by Mark Oshiro - gay, trans, lesbain - a boy gets caught up in protests after a riot breaks out at his school. another book with lots of great casual queer rep but also a hard read, especially in times like this (cw racism, transphobia, major character death, violence)

Latinx rep:

• Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas - trans, gay - own voices trans rep about a trans boy who’s desperate to prove to his family that he’s a true brujo and ends up summoning the wrong ghost. hijinks ensue. this one is so cute please read it also i can’t see takis at the store without thinking of this book (cw transphobia, parental abuse)

• More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera - gay - i’m not sure how to summarize this without giving anything away but it’s soft scifi set in NYC with unrequited love. not a happy ending but one of the best plot twists ive read (cw homophobia)

• Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz - gay - set in the 80s, two boys living in El Paso, Texas meet one summer and the book follows them as their friendship grows. slow and character driven, also my all time favorite book. basically a ya classic at this point (cw homophobia, transphobia, on page violence)

• Red White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston - bi, gay, trans - first son of the united states and a prince of wales fall in love. the 2020 everyone wished for. this isn’t won voices for the latinx rep and i’ve heard some own voices reviewers say that it’s not the greatest rep unfortunately. great casual queer rep and really funny (cw homophobia)

Middle Eastern rep:

• Like A Love Story by Abdi Nazemian - gay - set in 1989, it follows a friend group making their way through the aids crisis in NYC. lots of gay culture including diva worship and Madonna. just as gay 80s as you’d expect and wonderful for it (cw homophobia, illness)

• Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram - gay - although not explicitly gay until the second book, the main character is certainly gay coded. it follows him as he visits Iran for the first time to meet his grandfather before he passes and his struggles relating to his Persian heritage. this book is definitely worth sticking around for the queer rep in the second book and this first one is amazing regardless (cw racism, illness) 

East Asian rep:

• I’ll Be The One by Lyla Lee - bi, lesbian - a girl tries out for a kpop competition despite people telling her she’ll never win due to her weight and falls for a competitor. this one is so damn cute ;-; also i know close to nothing about kpop so not knowing the industry doesn’t take away from the book at all imo (cw fatphobia, homophobia)

• Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan - lesbian - a fantasy novel that follows a group of girls kidnapped by the demon king to be his human consorts. a forbidden romance blossoms (cw rape, violence)

South Asian rep:

• The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar - lesbian - an enemies to lovers romance about competing henna stands in a class business competition, this also talks about cultural appropriation vs appreciation (cw racism, homophobia)

Indigenous rep:

• Ziggy, Stardust & Me by James Brandon - gay, two spirit - I tried not to include books where the main character isn’t the representation here but unfortunately I don’t have many queer indigenous books. if you know any please recommend them! this one follows a boy in the 70s going through conversion therapy when he falls in love with a boy he’s doing a school project with. the love interest is indigenous and two spirit (cw homophobia, anti-indigenous racism, parental abuse)

[leo-gold-hotchner]

HELLo, Underworld - 1

I decided to just split up cuz I couldn’t continue more with my sleep deprived brain. I just love Greek Mythology and couldn’t keep the idea from my head. If anyone asks my religion, I’m ready to tell them my religion lies with Greek Myth.

My intention was Hotch appearing in the fic, but o well. Foyet. Don’t know about others but definitely Hotch and Reid will be spotted.

G.N. Reader friendship(?) George Foyet

G.N. Reader X Aaron Hotchner (LATER just not this chapter)

Summary: Reader is no longer living and arrived in Underworld. And you decided to make friends with the residents of Underworld.

Word: 1.4k

The void of darkness. That was the name of the place you dubbed as soon as your brain started to function. Despite being in a dark space you could see around you as if there was light. Beautiful white luminescence speckles sparkled like a clear night sky. You blinked. You weren’t scared strangely enough. Curiously, yet hesitantly you took a step and the floor made gentle waves as if a drop of water splashed in the vast calming ocean. 

As you walked forward an exit full of bright light welcomed you. You looked back into the darkness, wondering what you were forgetting, wondering why you were feeling you were leaving a very important piece of something in life. But something was pulling you into the light. Despite the unnatural pulling, you didn’t want to enter the light. 

You had a feeling that if you entered the light, you’d lose yourself. Losing who you were was a scary thing. You jumped as a voice talked in your head. From the voice, you couldn’t tell if it was a man or woman. The voice echoed in your head, but it wasn’t scary. It felt more natural. 

‘You might lose your sanity if you linger with your mind too long.’ 

“Who am I talking to?” 

‘I am everything, yet nothing.’ The voice replied in a riddle. ‘Many choose to give up who they are, choosing a second chance of life.’ 

Perhaps you should’ve stayed in the void. Perhaps you should’ve chosen a second chance, forgetting everything you experienced while you lived. The darkness was gentle, like a warm affectionate hug from people you love. But here? You were wondering what you did to deserve this kind of strange experience. 

You made a sour face to yourself as you observed your surroundings. The sky was blood red with threatening looking dark clouds hovering above you. The land looked deserted with harsh rocks and dried soils, dead trees and grass withered sadly. Red-ish dried dirt flew alongside with a stuffy wind. 

You were not the only one in this terrible place. Men, women, old, young, children, even toddlers were absentmindedly walking -crawling for young ones- towards somewhere in lines. You tried to stop one of them and talk, but they didn’t stop to hear you. Just with a blank face they walked like a robot that was designed to just walk. Their destinations seemed to be the same one. Watching the march warily, you decided to follow them. While following them, you looked at the children and you felt ill. No children shouldn’t arrive in the afterlife before experiencing what the world could offer to them. 

As you walked, you saw a beautiful large pantheon on the hill. It looked as if the white pantheon was glowing in hope in this desperate land. You nearly tripped as you bumped into the person in front of you while your eyes were on the glowing architecture. 

“Sorry,” you muttered an apology despite the person in front of you didn’t show any reaction. 

As you turned to see why the march stopped, your mouth hung a little as you gaped at an enormous ship. The ship was black, emitting a creepy aura like a monster engulfing people. The shade of the dead. People were climbing tall stairs to board the ship with their blank faces. 

“Boat?” 

“A ship, mortal,” a gruff voice drawled next to you. 

You jumped as you didn’t notice a man in a black hood standing next to you. He was leaning on a tall pole that was wrapped around with heavy chains several times. You could see grey peppered hair under the hood, and the black cloak couldn’t hide the sharp eyes of the man. His lips were curled in an arrogant smirk. 

“I haven’t seen a mortal who chose to keep their memory for a long time.” The man curled his long bony finger to you. “Unless you want to cross the Five Rivers with your previous life, I’d stop there.” 

You looked at the marching people, one by one boarding the ship anchored on the transparent yet eery water. You pondered a little and decided to listen to the man. You took a step away from the marching as you kept your curious glance to the pale man. You were already dead. What was the harm to listen to this man?

“What happens when I cross with my memory?” 

“There was one time when they’d gone insane.” The man cackled as if he was telling a funny joke. “You mortals are funny in that way, think you could achieve anything with your little power.” 

You scowled but kept your comment to yourself. Apparently, the man wasn’t ‘mortal’ as you. 

“Since then, my boss explicitly ordered me not to let any mortals with their previous life cross the Rivers.” He shrugged. “No sense of humour, that man.” 

As the man looked over your shoulder, you twirled and noticed you could see the end of the march. 

“That’s the portion of this afternoon.” The man explained as if he was answering your curiosity. 

“I didn’t know it was afternoon.” You looked around the cloud filled sky, but you couldn’t spot the Sun. 

“Helios doesn’t come down as far as here, so Apollo doesn’t reach here. You wouldn’t know if you just arrived here.” He gave you a wicked grin. “Besides, Kronos doesn’t do anything here. I just felt like afternoon. It could be evening.” He shrugged nonchalantly. 

You just raised a brow and the man mirrored with a sharp grin. The end was slowly coming as people -though you didn’t know if they were people now- boarded the ominous ship. 

“You don’t have any obligation to answer me.”

“No, I don’t.” 

“Why?” 

“I’m merely bored. It’s not every day I get to speak with someone who can actually have a talk with me.” He glanced at the mindless people. “Without their previous memories, they’re just empty souls crossing the Rivers.” 

The man then started to follow the last person on the march. He wagged his bony finger at your face as soon as you started to follow him. 

“Haven’t you heard what I said? You can’t go with them.” 

“But what am I going to do here?” You snapped in frustration. 

“Not my problem. You could always look for my boss.” He scoffed but added the last sentence without a beat.

“Your boss?” 

“He’s somewhere here. Wallowing in his misery all the time. But he’s here. If you look carefully, you might find him and tell him you want to leave.” 

“Who’s he?” 

“Hades,” he rolled his eyes as if it was a matter-of-fact. 

You should’ve known when he was blabbering about the Greek Gods’ names. Of course you were in the Underworld ruled by the God of Underworld, Hades. You glanced at the River, and then the ship, then to the man. 

“You’re Charon the Ferryman.” 

“Half-correct.” The man showed his crooked teeth, and you frowned. “As you took some of my boredom of this tedious and horrendous job, I’ll tell you as a reward.” He peeked his behind to see the last passenger boarding his ship. “The name’s George.” 

That was unexpected. The name was just so… mortal. 

“I was once a mortal, mind you.” He gave you a pointed look. “This is my punishment for my sin. I guide people across the Rivers and watch them arrive in Elysion to get a chance to be reborn. I was given to Charon, the original ferryman. I do the duty of the ferryman now. Living in this chain of monotonous life without any fun.” 

“So, you were a mortal.” 

“Wasn’t that obvious?” 

“You talked to me as if you were not mortal.” You scoffed. 

“I am no longer mortal.” He narrowed his eyes. “I have to go. Both my boss and master won’t be happy if I delay ferrying the souls.” He busied himself by manually moving the stairs. 

“Well, thanks for telling me. And bye.” 

George stopped himself and looked at you strangely. “You’re an interesting person.” 

“I’m sure that’s a compliment from a man who’d met many people.” 

The ferryman surprisingly chuckled at you. “Good luck with finding Lord Hades. Or should I say break your leg as mortals say?” 

“If I break my leg I can’t find him,” you retorted drily. 

“Of course, we wouldn’t want that.” 

You blinked as the man suddenly disappeared in black cloud. Then you heard his yelling from the deck of the ship. He pointed his finger behind you. He was pointing at the beautiful pantheon. 

“Other Gods visit there sometimes. If you get lucky, ask them, you want to have an audience with my boss.” 

His voice echoed in your ears as you fixed your gaze at the pantheon. When you finally turned to thank George, the ship had already sailed, and he was gone from the deck. 

To the pantheon then.

--------------------------------

In case anyone who aren’t familiar with Greek Myth

Helios - God of Sun

Apollo - God of Sun and other things -the list is too long- (but I think he’s more like Sunlight rather than the Sun itself)

Kronos - God of Time (sometimes Chronos and Kronos become one, but they’re different gods)

Charon - the ferryman of Underworld 

Hades - God of Underworld

[edie-k]

Cost Nothing (R/Hr, PG-13)

Title: Cost Nothing

Rating: PG-13 (mild sexual humor)

Pairing: Romione

Summary: "Compliments cost nothing, yet many pay dear for them." Thomas Fuller

When Harry and Ginny point out a shortcoming of Hermione's, she turns to Ron to set the record straight.

Notes: Thanks to accio-broom for the beta work and lovely feedback.

Happy birthday to Ron! To celebrate properly, I called upon the OG of the Ron Weasley Defense Squad, one Harry James Potter.

Link to AO3 or click below

“Hey,” said Ginny, flopping down on the blanket next to Hermione. 

“Oh, are you finished playing?” 

“Just a break. Get this - Percy sent an owl and said he, Charlie and George are coming back at 4 to play.”

“Wow, he’s really trying to make this up to you all,” said Hermione, impressed. She glanced up to see Ron and Harry walk towards her, brooms in hand. She used her bookmark to hold her place.  

Harry dropped his broom to the ground and laid down between the two of them. “Hermione, your cooling charms are just as great as your warming ones.” 

Ron stood in front of them. Hermione shielded her eyes from the sun as she looked up at him warmly. He smiled back and stuck his arm into the air above her blanket. “Bloody hell, that feels good.” 

“Come lay down,” said Hermione, patting the blanket next to her. 

“I won’t get up if I do. And I was thinking I should run up to the house and grab some drinks and snacks to bring back here?” 

“Ah, great idea, mate,” said Harry. 

“Cute and brilliant, what more could I ask for?” said Hermione with a smile

Ron flushed and gave her a grin. “I’ll be right back.” He walked up to the house. 

Hermione pulled out her wand to expand the blanket and cooling charm to give them a bit more space. As she was putting her wand to the side, she caught Harry looking at her with a bemused expression. “What?” 

“I am just not used to that yet,” said Harry. “Especially from you.” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?”  

“I’ve never heard you compliment him before. Certainly not on his looks,” said Harry. 

“Harry Potter! You know that I think Ron’s wonderful and always have.”

 “I’ve thought Ron was great for almost a decade now. I assumed that you did too. I’ve just never heard you say it.” 

“You’re joking!”

“To be fair to you, you were quite complimentary of his basilisk fangs idea during the battle, but I otherwise stand by my statement.” 

 “Ginny!” Hermione appealed to her friend that had been observing silently. “You’ve heard me compliment Ron before, right?” 

“To his face? Never. To others? Also never.” 

“Well, the two of you aren’t around us all the time,” said Hermione. 

“It’s true. There were dozens of minutes over the last year that I was away from you two,” said Harry.

Ginny laughed. “It’s fine, Hermione. You just don’t hand out compliments easily.”

“That’s not true,” said Harry, shaking his head. “You’ve said loads of nice things about me.”

“Did she?” asked Ginny, quirking an eyebrow. 

Hermione rolled her eyes. “Harry, I’d recommend not triggering that Weasley jealousy. You’re my best friend, and who else was going to bolster and build you up? It certainly wasn’t based on any personal interest I had. I was just passing along the gossip and giggling I’d hear in the loo.”

“And Ron Weasley, bastion of self-assuredness, was in no need of compliments,” said Ginny drily. “Especially when you’re showering Harry in them.”  

Hermione’s face darkened. “That’s quite rich coming from someone who compared Ron to his best friends just to embarrass him. I fancied him, and you expected me to tell him that Bridget Nichols wanted to quote, ‘climb him like a tree’? Besides, I seem to recall that he wasn’t lacking female attention at the time,” she sniffed. 

Harry sat up, looking nervous. “Uh, look, there’s no need for you and Ron to rehash sixth year.”

“Ron and I have already come to an appropriate understanding on that. What there’s really no need for is the two of you butting into our relationship.”

“You’re right,” said Harry. “We should-”

“It all checks out,” said Ginny, voice dripping with sarcasm. “You complimented Ron constantly, which gave him the confidence to never make a move.” 

“Oh, and what about him? It’s not like he was showering me in praise!”

“Well, he did -” Harry stopped his sentence short. “No. I’m sorry I brought any of this up; it was a careless joke.”

“Finish what you were going to say,” Ginny and Hermione demanded in unison. Hermione looked at Ginny, surprised by the synchronicity before glaring and looking back at Harry, who she could tell desperately regretted the whole conversation. 

Harry looked between the two and sighed. “All I was going to say was that Ron has told you how brilliant you are loads of times over the years.”

“Well, so has Professor Flitwick, but I didn’t think that meant he was trying to get in my knickers.”

“It’s Ron, though. He hardly ever misses an opportunity to put his foot in his mouth, yet I can still think of dozens of times he fawned all over you.” 

“Those aren’t exactly signals a boy gives you to say he’s attracted to you,” said Hermione. 

“No, I suppose not,” said Harry, laying back down. He looked as if he wanted to say more but was holding his tongue. 

“I think that what Harry said originally is true. Neither of you ever explicitly told us you liked the other, but we always knew Ron thought you were amazing. We had to assume that you thought Ron was too,” said Ginny, the edge now gone from her tone.

Hermione opened her mouth and then closed it. She knew they were wrong, but she just didn’t have the proof yet. 

They lay contemplating for a few minutes before Harry broke the tense silence. “Ugh, I’m still trying to decide what’s more disturbing - Flitwick trying to get in your knickers or Ron.”

“Ron doesn’t have to try,” Hermione cheeked. Ginny laughed, and Harry’s face contorted. 

“What don’t I have to try?” asked Ron. He had returned with a basket filled with cold butterbeers, crisps, biscuits, and a couple of apples, which he set next to Hermione as he eased himself down.  While the others stretched around to grab snacks, Hermione cringed as she noticed he looked uncomfortable to have discovered them discussing him. She decided to be straightforward. 

“To get into my knickers,” Hermione responded with a grin. His ears burned, but she saw a light in his eyes when he noticed Harry’s continued cringe. 

“Oh,” he said as he sat down next to her. “Are you actually wearing knickers today? That’s disappointing.”

Harry broke a biscuit and threw half at each of them. 

**********************************

“Hey Hermione?”

“Yes?” It was well after dinner now, and the two of them were taking a walk as dusk began to settle in. The decision to take a walk was met with teasing from all of his brothers that left Hermione rolling her eyes. It was truly only a walk. After years of seeing only the downsides to his status as the youngest brother, he was finally reaping a benefit - his parents were turning a blind eye to the fact they were sharing a bed in a silenced and locked room so an uncomfortable roll in the orchard was unnecessary. 

“Yes?”

“Why were you talking about me getting in your knickers with Harry and Ginny?”

Hermione bit her lip while Ron continued on. 

“Don’t get me wrong. I would be comfortable taking out an ad in The Daily Prophet bragging about shagging you, and I’m sure they knew well before today. But as fun as it was to make him squirm, I thought we’d been trying to not make Harry uncomfortable.”

“He sort of brought it up.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. After you walked away, he mentioned it was odd to hear me call you cute.”

“And brilliant,” he said with a rakish grin. 

“Of course.”

“But how did that lead to your knickers?”

“Oh, it was infuriating. The reason he thought it strange was that he couldn’t remember me ever giving you any compliments.”

“Oh.”

“And I was telling him how silly that was.”

“Right.”

“Obviously, now that we’re together... I’ve been attracted to you for as long as I can remember, but it’s certainly easier to tell you now, don’t you think?”

“Uh, sure. I mean, previously I worried that telling you how gorgeous and sexy you are would get me slapped, and now I’m just curious which one of us ends up on our back.”

 “Stop,” she giggled. “But before we were together, I always told you how highly I thought of you.”

“Well, I don’t think you hand out unearned praise.”

 “Of course. But I’ve complimented you loads over the years. Right?”

Silence hung between them. 

“I love you?” Ron finally responded. 

“You agree with them?”

“I really love you?” said Ron. 

“You truly don’t think I ever complimented you?”

“You… tried once. When I got the prefect badge in 5th year,” he said. 

“The only reason I didn’t have anything was that I couldn’t think of a way to say it without hurting Harry’s feelings!”

“Really, love, don’t worry about it. You said things about my Quidditch performances as well. At least the good ones.”

“No! We.. we cleared the air on all this. Viktor, Lavender, the locket. Why didn’t you say anything then?”

“What would I say? You should have complimented me more? How self-involved would that sound? And now that we’re together, you do compliment me all the time. If I’d said something, maybe I’d question if you were being genuine or not now.”

Hermione was quiet. “I never realized that I wasn’t. It all ran through my head so much, but I guess I never… things would have been so different if I had.”

“We don’t know that.”

“Really?” she said with disbelief. 

“Yes, really. I won’t lie - compliments couldn’t possibly have hurt. But you basically asked me on a date, and my mind still couldn’t process that you wanted to be with me. And at that point in my life, the praise to Harry would have still bothered me, so the locket would have glommed onto that.”

“I would never have said-“

“Hermione! Listen to yourself! You didn’t do anything wrong telling Harry those things. His life was shit, and he’s your best friend. It’s not your fault I was an immature prat.”

“I was really just passing along what the girls were saying about him in the loo.”

Ron looked amused. “Is that how girls talk in the loo about boys?”

Hermione laughed. “I’m not even sure what I told you.”

“At the risk of reinforcing what an insecure git I am, you mentioned how tall and fanciable he was and went into all of the Chosen One and Ministry persecution stuff,” Ron said. “I’m just saying that is not how we talked about girls in our dorm.” 

“Ah, yes, I did clean it up a bit, but they did at least talk about Harry with a bit of reverence and respect as opposed to treating him like a  piece of meat as they did with you. But I’m interested in how the boys discuss girls.”

Ron winced. “Sorry, I never even thought about what she might say that you’d have to hear.” 

“No, that was a whole different set of issues. These were other girls.” 

Ron stopped. “Other girls? What did - nevermind, it uh, doesn’t matter.” 

Hermione was surprised to find that his aborted question hadn’t even bothered her. “I won’t tell you everything, but I did already tell Harry… Bridget Nichols said she wanted to climb you like a tree and -” 

“What?!” 

“Yes,” she laughed. “And you remember Tori Daylon?” 

“She was that short little thing, right?” 

“She thought she was the perfect height to make you very happy.” 

“Merlin, you girls are just as bawdy as us,” Ron laughed. 

“We have hormones too.” 

“You never said anything about me, did you?” he asked. Hermione shook her head. “But what type of review am I going to get in the bathroom this year from you?” 

“You’re incorrigible,” she laughed.

“Is that a compliment?” 

“Absolutely.” 

[lesbianrobin]

if you’re still taking character asks....hopper👀

favorite thing about them

ok there’s a lot i could say but my Absolute favorite thing about hopper is how much he cares about kids... like hopper is not in a place to be taking in el but he does it anyway because he Needs to help her yknow he just can’t sit by knowing this little girl is out there alone he has to leave food for her and make a home for her and he goes to extreme lengths to do whatever he thinks will keep her safe... he risks his life breaking into the lab and walking straight into the upside down to rescue will, he goes out of his way to comfort jonathan in s1, and GOD the way he held mike in s2 while mike was cussing him out and hitting him... 

what gets me about hopper is that like. he could have been this guy completely driven by his past trauma yknow he Could just care about keeping these kids safe as a way of making up for not being able to do anything to help his kid like it could be a personal ego sort of thing. but it’s not. he doesn’t Just care about keeping them physically safe, he wants them to be happy, too, even if he’s not as good at that part of parenting. he still tries! he knows el’s favorite foods and he compliments her little punk makeover and he tries to let her see her boyfriend all she wants even though he hates it (though he eventually cracks and fucks up the whole situation lmao) and he lets el have her little sleepovers with max freely. it’s just like... so often parenthood in real life and in fiction is just an exercise in egotism and the fact that hopper KNOWS he’s not the best dad but he keeps trying every day because he wants to give el and the other kids the kind of father and protector they deserve... god. i just love him.

least favorite thing about them

it would be easy to say my least favorite thing about hopper is how he can be pretty selfish or short-tempered or jealous but like. it’s honestly those flaws that make him more real and loveable to me ksjdnckdmn so this is hard.

i guess my least favorite thing about hopper is his stubbornness? like it’s one thing to be short-sighted or insecure but it’s another to be unwilling to listen to other people and question yourself and talk things out. he got called out for it in s3 though and i get the feeling his arc in s4 is Really gonna challenge his worst traits, so i’m not too mad about it.

favorite line

god there are So many and the black hole scene is... a revelation. but it’s hard to pick a single line from that instead of just the whole conversation sdkcnm so i’m gonna have to go with his line from s3, when he and el are talking in the mall and el says “i can fight,” and hopper says “Better than any of us. But I need you safe.” 

it’s just. god it’s simple but it just shows how much he knows his daughter yknow? he knows that el doesn’t like feeling incapable and he DOES know that she’s strong and she can fight, and he makes that clear. he tells her explicitly, yeah, i know you can fight, i believe in you and i trust your assessment of your own abilities, but i’m your father and i need you safe. it’s “i love you” and “i believe in you” and “you’re an incredible kid” and “you’re the most important thing in the world to me” all in one and it fucks me up. 

brOTP

if bob was still alive i’d say him and bob skjdnckn but as it is... idk about brotp but i really like the dynamic between hopper and owens i think their sort of like. half hostile half friendly exchange of favors is just super fun. 

OTP

nOTP

honestly as far as i know there’s no hopper ships really floating around in the fandom besides jopper dkjncmnc i don’t even know what to put here... my man is a one woman kind of guy 

random headcanon

whenever el asks him a remotely hard question about like politics or religion or sex or economics he’s always like hm good question i don’t have time to answer that one right now i uh i just remembered i promised joyce i’d help her with something but i’ll tell you as soon as i get back :) and then he goes to melvald’s and he’s like heyyy joyce got a question for ya :) 

he never actually ends up saying what joyce tells him to say but just talking to her makes him feel better about it <3

unpopular opinion

i think i’ve said this a dozen times but i don’t think hopper was that bad in s3 like. yeah he was a dick but the narrative clearly wasn’t on his side and he was the butt of the joke yknow plus his s4 arc is definitely gonna make him change in a big way. so i don’t have that much of a problem with it besides like just thinking he should have been more worried about the kids once he and joyce found out that some shit was going on in hawkins again.

song i associate with them

literally i have too many there are like three i want to say right now... i’ve talked about hopper and you never even called me by my name by david allan coe before (“i’ll hang around as long as you will let me/and i never minded standing in the rain” ...s2 jopper) and i’ve also talked about him and one bourbon, one scotch, one beer by john lee hooker (blues) OR one bourbon, one scotch, one beer by george thorogood and the destroyers (rock n roll medley between hooker’s version and another hooker song, house rent boogie). the thorogood’s my personal favorite version, but they’re so different they’re both worth listening to and they might as well be totally different songs.

anyway i’ve said that all before so i’ll give u all a NEW one and say jim dandy by black oak arkansas!! just to like preface it IS a cover and the original’s by lavern baker but i picked the black oak arkansas version because it’s a lot more wild and i feel like it matches hopper’s Vibe better. it’s a really goofy kinda nonsense song but the lyric “i’m dandy the kind of guy/who can’t stand to see a little girl cry” just makes it impossible for me to listen to it without thinking of hop <3

favorite picture of them

idk if this counts but it’s this screenshot of a tiktok where stranger things is playing on the big screen at a club and hopper’s watching his daughter die while everyone in the club is partying

but if that doesn’t satisfy u i’ll give a bonus

whore <3

[weasleydream]

Family reunion - Part 3 (Last part)

Here we are for the last part of this mini-serie! I hope you enjoyed it and don’t forget to tell me what you thought about it, I really would like to know. Enjoy!

Masterlist

Part 1 - Part 2 

Later that day, while Fred, George and I were eating dinner, I told them what happened at the Ministry. I told them everything, except the fact that Percy was afraid they would hate him forever. I felt like I didn’t have the right to do so, and I could just hope that one day, he would have the courage to face his beloved family.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

The two following weeks had been busy, to say the least. 

George was almost constantly angry because of Percy’s reaction. I knew he would have been, I knew him quite well. The Ministry’s commands of Shield Hats were increasing, and made it impossible for the boys to keep up, I had to help them although George was not okay with it. Being aware that I didn’t like Verity’s proximity with him, he had begun to be more distant with her, which obviously didn’t please the helper. In short, our private and professional lives were full of tension. 

However, George had never been sweeter with me than now. He always tried to keep his anger away from me. He was so protective, and when we cuddled together, his hands eventually found a new home: they both rested on my belly like a loving protection for our baby. 

We were currently in each other’s embrace. The moon was shining in the sky, but I couldn’t find sleep. It was like this since the day we found out I was pregnant, one week ago. Too many preoccupations were in my mind, too many questions were obsessing me. 

Would I be a good mother? My only model was Mrs Weasley. Of course she was awesome, but was I really able to be as gentle, caring and perfect as her? And the war… We didn’t even know if we would have a future. I was afraid - no, I was terrified. What if something happened to George? He would do anything to keep us safe, but that was the point: he would do anything, even if it had to kill him. Without him by my side… Of course, I would have Fred: he would be broken, devastated, but he would still be here for us. If only nothing happened to him. 

Merlin, Y/N, stop this right now! They are both here with you, alive and okay. Stop this!

But I couldn’t. The dark in our room was an invitation for the dark thoughts. It was like when you’re a child: you’re not afraid of the dark but of what’s inside. I was in the same situation. What was scaring me was the vicious fears creeping where I couldn’t see them. I curled up in a small ball, my head resting on George’s torso, and his slow and regular heartbeat acted like a beautiful lullaby. 

“Fireworks, really?”

I had just told the twins about my idea. I wanted to announce my pregnancy in a special way, and considering their talent, I had thought fireworks could be fun. George smiled sweetly while holding my hand. Fred, however, seemed like he couldn’t believe it. 

“Yes, it could be fun! Plus, I thought you loved fireworks?” I added in a teasing tone.

“Of course I love fireworks! It’s just… Well, usually, you’re not the one to propose such extravagant things.”

“I know, but we’re going to announce the arrival of George Weasley’s baby! We have to do something extravagant.”

“I’m in!” Fred was, indeed, very excited to organize a firework at the Burrow.

“Whatever you want, babe.” George agreed. 

It was going to be fun. 

The friday before Easter, Bill arrived from France. He had let Fleur with her family. 

“I know mum doesn’t really like her and I didn’t want to ruin her family reunion.” he explained. 

The flat was small and, even if Charlie, Ron and Ginny weren’t here yet, we were starting to run out of room. Fred shared his room with Bill and they would be joined by Charlie. George didn’t want me or Ginny to sleep on the couch: he decided to sleep in the living-room with Ron while Ginny and I would stay in the room. When Charlie, Ron and Ginny arrived the following day, the flat was full. It remembered me of the Burrow at Christmas. 

It was the first time in more than two years that Charlie was in England and he had plenty of fascinating stories about dragons. We spent all the saturday afternoon listening to him, watching him with big eyes, gasping when he told us about a particularly dangerous Hungarian Horntail, Ginny and I cooing when he described the three dragon births he had the chance to see. 

By this time, the fireworks were ready. Fred had decided to develop them alone so that it would be a surprise. No one knew about the baby: obviously, the Weasley were suspicious, they knew something was going to happen but we did a pretty good job ensuring everyone this reunion was perfectly innocent. 

Easter was the following day. Everyone woke up way too early for me. Once Ginny in the kitchen, I was alone in the bedroom, still under the soft blankets. George came to see what was taking me so long. When he saw me half-asleep, he couldn’t resist the temptation and cuddled with me, which caused Fred and Ron to mock us the entire morning. 

We had decided to take the Knight Bus in order to go to Ottery St. Catchpole. When we finally stepped out of this hell-with-wheels, relieved and wanting to throw up (it was my case), we headed towards the Burrow. The walk was nice, the sun was already high in the sky and the trees showed the most beautiful colours. Soon, the fantastic house could be seen, and Charlie seemed a bit emotional. We stopped outside, in front of the door, positive that Mr and Mrs Weasley were up but not aware of our presence. I grabbed George’s hand as I was starting to feel stressed. He hold mine tight, sending me a sweet smile as Fred knocked at the door. 

To say that Mrs Weasley was shocked was an understatement: in fact, she looked like she didn’t know if she would scream or faint. Fortunately, she choose the first option. Her shouts of joy along with her tears were heartwarming. She practically jumped into Charlie’s arms, sobbing and constantly repeating how much she was glad to see him. Charlie, with the biggest grin I had never seen on his face, was hugging his mother and stroking her hair, telling her he would stay in England during all the holidays. Knowing her son wouldn’t vanish soon, Mrs Weasley finally moved to Bill, then to Ginny, to Ron, to Fred and finished with George and I. Mr Weasley arrived soon after we all entered the house and seemed quite shocked, like his wife. Like her, he pulled Charlie into a strong embrace, though shorter, and welcomed everyone. 

“Who do I have to thank for this beautiful surprise?” Mrs Weasley’s voice was still emotional.

“I think the one you can kill with your hugs is Y/N, mum.” Ron responded. “Even if we had to drag her and George out of bed.” He added, much to Fred’s amusement. 

Mrs Weasley practically ran to me and engulfed me in one of her famous hugs. I could feel her tears on my skin, and she apologized about a hundred times before I could stop her. 

“You don’t have to apologize, Mrs Weasley, it’s a pleasure to see you that happy.”

Everyone was gathered in the living-room, chatting happily. Charlie was telling his father the story about the Hungarian Horntail he had told us before, and Ron and Ginny were also listening to him. Fred and George were showing Bill some new product they kept in their old room. The only one silent was Mrs Weasley, and, when I saw a single tear on her cheek while she was rushing to the kitchen, I knew it wasn't a tear of joy. I joined her and found her sobbing. I sat next to her and silently passed my arm around her shoulders. I knew what was bothering her. 

“I’m sorry.” My voice was quiet. 

I didn’t want to tell her why Percy wasn’t here. She would probably run to London, begging him to talk to her and ensuring him they didn’t hate him. However, I didn’t want her to think her son hated her either. I decided to tell her the truth. 

“Mrs Weasley, I… I went to see Percy at the Ministry.”

Her reaction was immediate. She squealed and looked up to me with teary eyes. 

“He doesn’t hate you” I spoke softly. “He’s afraid, Mrs Weasley, afraid that his father would hate him. He’s sorry.” I added, even if he hadn’t told it explicitly. 

She nodded, sighed, and started to prepare the lunch for everyone. I helped her and, after a while cooking silently, George’s worried voice echoed in the house. 

“Y/N, where are you?” 

“In the kitchen” I replied, not without hearing Ron chuckling to Fred’s answer (“Your boy wants to cuddle, kiddo!”)

George went to check on me and sent me a questioning look. I shook slightly my head, and he understood I would tell him later. He joined Fred in the living-room without telling a word. 

“Why did you do that, Y/N?” 

Mrs Weasley’s voice was calm. She was obviously curious, because she stopped what she was doing, waiting for my answer. I suddenly found myself very uncomfortable, because we wanted to wait for the night to fall to announce my pregnancy with the fireworks. We thought it would be better. I avoided her eyes and responded quickly.

“I just thought you would be happy.”

She seemed suspicious but didn’t tell anything. We finished while chatting about a lot of things and everyone reunited around the table. The lunch was a typical Weasley lunch: loud, full of laughters and absolutely delicious. The good old habits were slowly re-emerging: Mrs Weasley was complaining about Bill and Charlie’s hair length and Mr Weasley was babbling with Ron about some muggle objects. Ginny was laughing at Fred while he was trying to turn a chicken wing into something more entertaining. George was holding my hand under the table, just like he used to when we were younger. 

“It was a wonderful idea, baby.” He murmured into my ear. “Look how they’re all so happy, and we didn’t even tell them the good new yet.” 

The afternoon was honestly one of the best I had in months. After eating, we installed ourselves in the living-room. I sat on George’s lap while Ginny was complaining about the Slug Club. Then Ron proposed to play Wizard’s chess, and a true tournament was organized. It reminded me a bit of Percy, because playing chess was something I did with him during the holidays. Ron was the undisputed winner. During the following hour, each one went about their occupation. 

George and I went into the twins’ old room and cuddled in my boyfriend’s bed. He immediately put his hands on my belly and sighed in satisfaction. He had been unable to do that since Bill’s arrival and it was pleasant to feel his hands again. But George seemed to have missed our baby more than I thought: he slowly lied me in the bed and kneeled next to me. He slowly pulled up my shirt. He kissed lovingly my belly, murmuring some sweet things to the baby. 

“I love you so much, little one.” His voice was low, his eyes full of pure love. “I love you both so much. I can’t wait to finally meet you.” 

My eyes were filling with tears in front of this beautiful scene. He seemed so happy, at this moment, so genuinely happy that my heart seemed to be ready to explode. He slowly came back in the bed and kissed me. Moments that emotional were rare, and I knew George wasn’t really comfortable with opening up like this. That’s why he started to tickle me, my giggles getting louder and louder as he continued. I was almost crying when we stopped, a soft knock on the door being heard. It opened and Fred’s face was on the opening. 

“The night is falling, lovebirds.”

We followed him downstairs. Everyone was gathered in the living-room, but soon Fred was nowhere to see. Outside, the sky was turning bright red as the moon started to show itself. A loud noise disturbed the peaceful silence and everyone hurried outside, almost as if they were waiting for something like that to happen. 

The sky stayed empty for a few seconds. It was as if the purpose of the noise was to make everyone go outside. Then the real show started.

At first, the space in front of the family was coloured in blue and pink with plenty of pretty little explosions. It looked like flowers. When these first fireworks disappeared, others were thrown and wrote a sentence in the air. 

George and Y/N have a surprise for you!

All eyes turned towards us. George sent his family a bright smile and his grip on my hand tightened. When other fireworks exploded, no sentence was needed and everyone understood perfectly. It was a pretty good representation of George and I. The firework-George was behind the firework-me and both had in their hands a baby. Below this pretty portrait of our future family was written:

We're going to be parents!

While it was fading, a big orange W, the inimitable signature of the twins, appeared in the sky with written in yellow:

See you soon baby Weasley!

And the sky was empty. The silence was almost deafening as I was waiting for the reactions of the Weasley, and most particularly for Mrs Weasley's one. I was also tearing up because what Fred just offered us, it was… It was perfect. He showed up, a huge grin on his lips. The other Weasley were still silent, probably trying to process what they just saw. Ginny was the first one to squeal happily as she threw herself in my arms. 

“I’m gonna be an aunt!”

From this point, everything became a blur where I could just distinguish the congratulations. George never released his grip on my hand. However, despite everyone’s kind words, I couldn’t stop to look anxiously at Mrs Weasley who was still silent. Tears were rolling on her cheeks and when she made a first hesitant step, everyone stopped and watched her. Then she ran towards George and I and took us into a bear hug, our heads colliding in the process. She was sobbing and muttering something that seemed like “I’m too young to be a grandmother” but when she looked at us, her eyes showed her happiness and her pride. 

“I’m genuinely happy that you have decided to start a family. I still think you are too young but… I know you’re made for each other. Congratulations!” 

Her voice was still a bit trembling. We all went back to the living-room because it was starting to get cold outside. Mrs Weasley looked like she wanted to talk to us alone, but we had something to do before that. I spotted Fred and jumped into his embrace, sobbing like Mrs Weasley a few minutes ago. 

“Fred, it was… It was… It was perfect! Thank you so much! Thank you Freddie!”

He laughed and ruffled my hair. 

“Anytime kiddo. I can’t wait to see the little one.” 

When I finally agreed to let him go, George took my place and pulled his twin into a hug. 

“You don’t know how much it means to me what you did, mate… Thank you.”

“I know George, I know… You’re gonna be a great father.” Responded Fred while patting his brother’s shoulder. 

“And you a great godfather.” Replied George with an emotional voice.

“Godfather?” Fred looked like he couldn’t believe it, but a sparkle in his eyes showed how much he was touched. 

“Of course you silly, I would have asked Hagrid but he’s too far right now.”

“Hagrid? You’re disappointing me brother, I was sure you would have chosen McGonagall.”

  As laughter erupted in the living room, Mrs Weasley took my hand and led me into the kitchen. We were now alone, and she sat next to me. 

“Are you mad?” My voice was trembling. 

“No dear, I’m not mad.” She answered sweetly. “But I’m worried.”

“Me too.” I confessed. Seeing her interrogative look, I explained to her my insomnias. “I always think about this war. What if George is killed? What if I’m killed? Who- who would take care of our baby if we weren’t here anymore? What kind of life can I offer to my child with all this darkness in our world?”

Mrs Weasley listened to all my questions, all my uncertainties, all my worries without saying anything. She was just holding my hand, allowing me to know she would always be there. When I was finished and waiting for her answer, I was half-sobbing. Her answer was short and her voice was sweet.

“Everything will be okay, dear, because George and you have a family who’s gonna protect you at all costs. I promise you that you will be able to raise your baby with George. You hear me? I promise.”

I nodded slowly. But I had other worried, way more normal for a pregnant woman. I felt like I could confess these things to Mrs Weasley, after all, she had always done the job my mother should have been able to do with me. She had answered all my questions, she had helped me. 

“Does it hurt?” 

I felt quite ashamed to ask such a thing, but I wanted to know. 

“Giving birth? Yes darling, it hurts like hell. But when you have your baby against you… All the pain vanishes. It’s the beginning of a wonderful story.” Her eyes were a bit teary because of the memories. 

“What if I’m not a good mother?” As I expressed my worst fear, Mrs Weasley took firmly my hand and put her other one on my cheek. 

“The fact that you’re already worrying shows that you’re gonna be a wonderful mother, Y/N.”

With that, we headed back to the living-room, where George was telling how we found out about my pregnancy. He was already at the pillow part, but Mrs Weasley wanted to hear all the story. 

“Y/N hadn’t thrown enough pillows at Fred’s face and he found it suspicious.” Ginny summed up the story. 

Her mother seemed confused. As everyone laughed at her furrowed eyebrows, George went to me and kissed me.

[maryellencarter]

SO! A week or two ago I got the DVDs for both seasons of "Justice League: The Animated Series", which I hadn't seen in ten years and remembered loving a lot. Spoiler: I still love it a lot. I put off watching it for a while because I was scared I wouldn't, but then I watched it pretty much straight through without even stopping to liveblog.

So. THOUGHTS! ^_^ Any of y'all who've ever shared a fandom with me know I'm always around for one particular character. In this case, that's J'onn J'onzz, the big green guy, whose official comics codename (sensibly not used on the show) is Martian Manhunter.

(There's a bit in one of the tie-in comics where a parent is telling their kid "don't be scared, honey, he won't hurt you, that's the uhh... Martian Maneater..." which has never ceased to amuse me.)

Anyway, we all know I have a tendency to give reviews in the vein of "Good story but no werewolves", and it must be granted that I never did bother watching Justice League Unlimited because Carl Lumbly (J'onn's voice actor, Minnesota born and raised with Jamaican parents, which is apparently how you get a Martian accent I couldn't place to anywhere on Earth) wasn't a regular anymore. But y'know, it's a really good ensemble team too, even if I like Tim Daly's Superman (from Superman: The Animated Series in the same animated universe) a lot better than George Newbern's. Or, well, I did. I haven't heard *him* in ten years either. Anyway! Off topic.

SO ANYWAY. Obviously, spoilers hereabouts, although it's what, fifteen, twenty years old by now? But if you care about spoilers for somewhat elderly TV, you might not be following me anyhow.

So the meta premise, just in case anybody was unfamiliar, is thuswise: First there was Batman: The Animated Series, in which Mark Hamill was the best Joker while not being an asshole as a person, because he is a competent actor and not a dickwad. Then there was Superman: The Animated Series, which I remember as being a delight and I want to watch it again too someday. Then, because apparently if you have Batman and Superman the next step is the entire Justice League, there was this.

The actual premise is, that during an alien invasion of Earth, Superman and Batman rescue a prisoner, J'onn J'onzz, the last survivor of the Martian society the invader aliens wiped out. (J'onn and Clark get little bits of bonding over the last-of-their-kinds thing but I've always wanted more. In a fandom auction I once donated $60 for a fic on the topic, but life happened and I do not hold it against the person. Still a little sad though. It's not something I've ever quite been able to write myself.) J'onn has a whole grab-bag of superpowers including telepathy, with which he summons additional heroes The Flash (speedster, this one is twentyish goofball Wally West), Green Lantern (specifically John Stewart, a black ex-Marine), Wonder Woman, and Hawkgirl (a winged humanoid-alien woman with an energy mace). Together, they fight crime! Mostly.

Specific episodes: I'm going to use "episode" to refer to the runtime covered by a single title so I don't have to say "two-parter" or "three-parter" every single time, because this show had literally only one single-part episode out of the whole 52 episodes.

* Secret Origins, three-parter: In which the Justice League is formed and repels the invasion of Earth by the aliens who wiped out J'onn's people. A very strong start, good character intros. I will never be over the very small worldbuilding fact that J'onn is rescued by Superman and Batman, and has seen nobody else on Earth yet but invader aliens (these are what used to be called the White Martians but the show does not use this name either which I think was a wise choice), so when he shapeshifts from his more alien "natural" Martian form to the look which will be his default for the series, he chooses a briefs-and-cape look because based on the two examples he's seeing, that's what Earth people wear. It's not explicitly called out, but it's a great way to make it a little less... comic-booky that you have no less than three extra-beefy guys with almost identical costume silhouettes here.

I think the arc between Batman and J'onn is one of my favorite parts of this, the way Batman starts out being like "I still don't trust him" and winds up trusting him enough that it's their teamwork which saves the world this go-round. Also, speaking as a fan who likes me some whump, can we talk about the scene where J'onn is being mindprobed with all those tentacles under his skin? I have so fucking many feels about that scene, okay. God, that whole climactic sequence is so damn good. And his tiny lil smile at the end of the last episode! I do love me some microexpressions, nonetheless that they are animated. (I can't draw so I am constantly boggled by just the skill it has to take to draw a character so on-model that varying one line by a few pixels Says Things.)

* In Blackest Night, two-parter: The one where the extremely Kirby-designed cop robots frame Green Lantern into believing he blew up an inhabited planet. Introduces several alien members of the Green Lantern Corps. Flash trying and failing to act as GL's lawyer is fairly embarrassment-squicky to me; many of the things anybody does with Flash on this show are fairly embarrassment-squicky, although he does get some great moments. René Auberjonois does two voices, as a spherical Green Lantern and as the "witness" who helps frame GL. The climactic scene is great -- sometimes the Green Lantern ditty just doesn't work, but between the sound design and the animation and Phil Lamarr's voice acting, this scene blows me away every time. I feel like this one could have been shorter though.

* The Enemy Below, two-parter: In which (blond) Aquaman guest-stars, J'onn takes on the first of many roles where he acts as bait by impersonating a villain's target, and the thing where Aquaman cuts off his own hand to escape a manacle is very tastefully handled for a kids' show. I probably would have found that scene way too suspenseful and traumatic as a kid but I was an extremely sensitive small child. Opinions on this episode: I don't really have many. This universe's Aquaman is a *dick* who appears to live by the rule that you must always fight a superhero when you meet one on the street before explaining your business. I always squee when somebody turns out to be J'onn, because I've usually forgotten. (He usually is people and not animals or, like Odo more than once, a bag. I wonder if he has some conservation of mass thing going on or if it's just easier to animate when you keep your same basic arrangement of limbs.)

* Injustice for All, two-parter: Lex Luthor, dying of kryptonite poisoning, puts together the Injustice Gang to try to destroy the Justice League. He didn't invite the Joker, but Hulk expy and heavy hitter Solomon Grundy is also voiced by Mark Hamill, so the Joker naturally turns up around the point where Luthor captures Batman, commentating on Luthor's misguidedness in keeping Bats alive and generally providing a running peanut gallery. Clancy Brown and Mark Hamill are both always fun, so this one is pretty entertaining.

* Paradise Lost: Wonder Woman backstory-ish episode. A sorcerer turns the other Amazons to stone, then blackmails Diana into stealing four artifacts for him, which he assembles into a key to free the god Hades from Tartarus. Notable mainly for the extreme mangling of Greek mythic cosmology into an aggressively Christian shape. Not good. It does have J'onn and Flash teamed for a bit, which is interesting, and J'onn gets to one-punch a giant magic brass cobra, but that's about all there is to speak for it. It looks like the writer also did my very least favorite two-parter of the whole series, unless this is some sort of Alan Smithee situation, because the name is Joseph Kuhr and I have a half-memory I can't catch that there is *something* more than coincidence in the whole, you know. "Joe-Kuhr" thing?

* War World: Apparently this one was pretty nearly universally hated. I do not hate it, because the concept "Superman and J'onn are accidentally blown across the galaxy together and sold to an alien gladiatorial arena" is something I am 110% down for, but I wanted a lot more interaction between them and possibly a lot more fic. I can't decide if I actually want to ship them, but they're obviously very close and I want to see more than snippets of that, dammit.

That's halfway through season one. Imma go sleep. more later.

[nerianasims]

Billboard #1s 1987

Under the cut.

"Shake You Down" -- Gregory Abbot -- January 17, 1987

The only reason I've heard this song before is because of Todd in the Shadows' worst hit songs of 1987 video. I do not entirely agree with his list, but this one definitely belongs on it. I don't think the song's writer knew what "shake down" actually means. This is supposed to be a love song about how the narrator is missing the woman he's staring at (um) and wants her back so he can "shake you down." It sounds creepy, and yet the music is so painfully bland it can't even rise to that. It's no surprise it hasn't gotten radio play since it was a hit. That it was a hit in the first place is mystifying.

"At This Moment" -- Billy Vera and the Beaters -- January 24, 1987

A rather good blue-eyed soul song. The narrator is singing to a woman who just told him she's in love with someone else. It sounds like she's acting scared, and he's upset by that as well as by her leaving him, because "I'd never, never hurt you." And he'd give up twenty years of his life if she'd stay. There are some massive blues horns, Billy Vera sings it well, and it's cathartically sad. The song became a hit years after it was first released because it was on Family Ties. Billy Vera keeps on chugging, and he's also a music historian. He won a Grammy for "best album notes" in 2013 for a Ray Charles boxed set. I had no idea that was an award category.

"Open Your Heart" -- Madonna -- February 7, 1987

Watch out. When Madonna says "I've had to work much harder than this/ For something I want, don't try to resist me," it's absolutely believable. She worked incredibly hard to get where she was. I guess the song is stalkery when looked at from a certain angle, but that is not the angle I choose. I hear it as I did as a teenager -- as something aspirational, because I got huge and powerful crushes on guys (mostly friends) and then did absolutely nothing about it, both because I had no idea what to do and because I didn't actually want a boyfriend yet. (That changed in college.) Musically and lyrically, the song is Motown mixed with disco and updated, as most of the True Blue album is. It's a lot of fun.

"Livin on a Prayer" -- Bon Jovi -- February 14, 1987

I wonder what I'd feel about this song if it hadn't been overplayed for years and years. I don't think it was/is played more than "You Give Love a Bad Name," but I have never been sick of "You Give Love a Bad Name." This one... meh. I don't want to run screaming from it, even after hearing it a zillion times, so that's something. It's about a working class couple who's having serious money troubles. It's just a snapshot of this difficult time in their life, and how they're holding on to each other. I'd be happier with it if the story were rounded out, and especially if they got a happy ending. The music is fine, acceptable rock, but nothing special.

"Jacob's Ladder" -- Huey Lewis and the News -- March 14, 1987

This song is a "fuck off" to televangelists, though if you only listen to the chorus you might not know that. I always appreciate anyone telling televangelists to fuck off. I could use it being nastier, but you can't expect real nastiness from Huey Lewis and the News. Genesis would go there a few years later, and I like that song much better. "Jesus He Knows Me" is also more interesting musically. This one's fine, but not memorable.

"Lean on Me" -- Club Nouveau -- March 21, 1987

The original "Lean on Me" is one of the great songs. This version is annoying. A go-go beat and a faux-reggae break. The original of this song is deeply emotional and touching. This one is not even a good dance song. I liked it when I was a kid, but that makes sense, because it's a very kiddie song.

"Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" -- Starship -- April 4, 1987

This song is actually not bad. It's pretty good, even. It's a very slick synth-heavy drum machine love song, but I really like the way Grace Slick sings on it. Mickey Thomas, well, he hits the notes. Could be worse. If they'd gotten a male vocalist who could match Grace Slick on his part of the duet, this might be a great song. They didn't, so it's just pretty good.

"I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" -- Aretha Franklin and George Michael -- April 18, 1987

George Michael is an excellent singer, but he's no Aretha Franklin. But who is? He holds his own pretty well here. As both Franklin and Michael know how to push emotion in a song, they end up with good chemistry on this one. Unfortunately, though the vocal performances are great, the music itself is dull. The melody slips out of my head while I'm listening to it.

"(I Just) Died in Your Arms" -- Cutting Crew -- May 2, 1987

*silent scream of anguish* I wish this song would slip out of my head permanently. It is my personal most overplayed song in existence. My hate for it could end worlds. I have no idea about what qualities it might or might not have. I just want it to shut the fuck up.

"With or Without You" -- U2 -- May 16, 1987

I don't think U2 actually counts as "alternative," but the alternative stations were the only ones who played them where I lived. The song is extremely structured and carefully designed, but it feels somehow raw at the same time. It doesn't have the layers upon layers of synth that most of the songs on the charts did. It has a beautiful melody. The lyrics are thoughtful, heartrending poetry. I'm not sure what I thought of the song at the time -- I associate it more with a couple years later, when my family moved to a town near a huge state college and I started listening to the college station. It hasn't aged a bit. An amazing song.

Also Bono’s personality is somewhat insufferable if one is silly enough to look into it. But his voice is incredibly hot, and I very much appreciate that.

"You Keep Me Hangin' On" -- Kim Wilde -- June 6, 1987

Back to the layers of synth. This is the Supremes song updated as a 1987 dance song, and it sounds exactly like you'd think it would. It's okay.

"Always" -- Atlantic Starr -- June 13, 1987

This is the kind of song I made gagging noises about at age 10, when it came out. I'm tempted to now too. It's like corn syrup, both lyrically and musically. It sounds like it was written for weddings.

"Head to Toe" -- Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam -- June 20, 1987

I liked this song a lot when I was a kid. I had a lot of fun dancing to it. Now I hear Lisa Lisa's vocals in the opening and chorus, which are kind of like a police siren, and want to cover my ears. I can't listen to it without getting a headache nowadays.

"I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" -- Whitney Houston -- June 27, 1987

This is a Whitney Houston song I like. She doesn't oversing as much as usual -- she mostly, though not entirely, saves it for the chorus. She wants to dance with "a man who'll take a chance/ On a love that burns hot enough to last." It's a simple dance song that speaks to real emotion.

"Alone" -- Heart -- July 11, 1987

In the 80s, Heart did hair metal ballads. All the men who did the same were copying them. Including the hair itself. Heart did it first, and Heart did it best. So lyrically, why can't she get this person alone? Not even on the phone? Whatever, it doesn't matter. What matters is the emotion, the music, and that this is a great song to sing along with.

"Shakedown" -- Bob Seger -- August 1, 1987

Unlike Gregory Abbott, Bob Seger knew what "shakedown" meant. The song was written for Beverly Hills Cop II, and that's exactly what it sounds like. It's a good movie song, but doesn't transcend that box. Still fun though.

"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" -- U2 -- August 8, 1987

This is a spiritual pop song. But it's very far from the sanitized happy clappy Christian-brand pop that's so foul. It's about a search for transcendence that's ongoing -- eternal, really. And while this song is explicitly Christian, it speaks to a universality that doesn't require religion of any kind. Also it's beautiful musically.

"Who's That Girl" -- Madonna -- August 22, 1987

I'm surprised this was a number one. Or even charted in the top 20. I'd have predicted #46 or something. The movie it was written for was terrible, and Madonna was particularly terrible in it. Like, aggressively terrible, when in most movies she was just kinda blah. I've never liked the song. I don't hate it either; I don't feel much of anything about it. That is very strange for a Madonna song -- "American Life" is awful, but it makes me feel things. (Mostly embarrassment.) But "Who's That Girl" is bland, which a Madonna song should never be.

"La Bamba" -- Los Lobos -- August 29, 1987

This is a nearly faithful rendition of Richie Valens' original hit, which was based on a Veracruz folk song. But where are the castanets? The original is better, a true classic, but this one isn't bad. It's simply... unnecessary. It was done for a movie about Valens, so I guess it was sort of "necessary" in that way. Skip this one and go for Valens' version.

"I Just Can't Stop Loving You" -- Michael Jackson with Siedah Garrett -- September 19, 1987

This is from the Bad album, which I did not like in 1987 and continue to not like now. I find this song extraordinarily dull. Whitney Houston and Barbra Streisand both turned it down, and I'm not surprised. This song weirdly makes me think of The Love Boat. Like it belongs in a television series. It's legitimately bad. When do we get to Janet again?

"Didn't We Almost Have It All" -- Whitney Houston -- September 26, 1987

I think the narrator in this song is trying to get an old flame back. It's a pretty melody, and the lyrics are wildly repetitive but not bad, but I can't get past Houston's oversinging. Anyone who doesn't mind that will probably enjoy this song.

"Here I Go Again" -- Whitesnake -- October 10, 1987

I wonder what makes one feel a song is "horribly overplayed" vs. just "played probably too much but I'm fine with it." This song is the latter for me. It's a really good song, so obviously that's part of it. The beginning is thoughtful and searching, with an organ and everything (or probably a synth on the organ setting), and has that same spiritual feel as "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For." Then in come the guitars, which are awesome. It absolutely rocks, and the emotion is of "like a drifter I was born to walk alone" is amplified by the rock, rather than buried under it.

"Lost in Emotion" -- Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam -- October 17, 1987

Lisa Lisa does not sound like a police siren in this, thankfully. And I got frozen on this song because I listened to it over and over and managed to feel absolutely nothing about it. I guess she's falling in love with a friend and worried she's telling him too much, and I should identify with this because it's happened to me more than once. But I don't. I like the bass line, and it's updated Motown, so I should like that. But again, I feel nothing. Maybe it's the way Lisa Lisa sings it. I don't know, and I've wasted far too much time on something I cannot make myself care about in any way.

"Bad" -- Michael Jackson -- October 24, 1987

I think the Bad album is bad. Actually bad, as in not good. I was 11 when this hit #1, so everything in the universe embarrassed me, but this stood out. I no longer knew anyone who liked Michael Jackson. I certainly didn't. In my opinion, Jackson had exactly one good album in him, and that album was Thriller. Thriller is one of the greats. Bad is blah.

"I Think We're Alone Now" -- Tiffany -- November 7, 1987

I wonder what makes stations decide to play #1 hits and what makes them decide not to. I don't remember hearing this much at the time, and never after. It's a cover of a 1960s song that was never that great, and it's worse here. In 1967, the "ooh we're alone gonna do something naughty" idea was still edgy. In 1987 -- are you kidding? Madonna's tearing up the charts in 1987; what on earth is this thing doing on it? It's an annoying song, annoyingly sung.

"Mony Mony" -- Billy Idol -- November 21, 1987

I had to do aerobics to this in middle school. Next!

"(I've Had) The Time of My Life" -- Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes -- November 28, 1987

This is one of those songs I can't really evaluate because it feels like background music to my life. Not that it was ever particularly important to me -- it's not. But it's sort of like "Eye of the Tiger", movie song and all. Medley and Warnes are well-matched on the song, and they do a great job. I wish the music were more interesting, but well, movie ballad. It's a good one for what it is. By the way, Dirty Dancing is another movie I've managed to never see. For no reason -- I might even like it. But somehow, it's never come up.

"Heaven Is a Place on Earth" -- Belinda Carlisle -- December 5, 1987

Ooh baby, do you know what that's worth? Yes. I love everything about this song. It's a big and unashamed dance power ballad about how great love is, and the lyrics are simple but powerful. But I have  a question: What the heck is up with the video? It looks like she's being inducted into a cult, not like she's in ecstasy over great romantic love. Well, it was the 80s, the videos usually didn't have anything to do with the songs. Still, weird.

"Faith" -- George Michael -- December 12, 1987

I've known the lyrics to this song since it came out, but I never registered them before. Only "I gotta have faith, faith, faith." I remember the video, though, with its prominent focus on George Michael's butt. I'm watching the video now, and huh, there's a basically naked woman in it too. That, I didn't remember, because it wasn't relevant to my interests. Anyway, the lyrics are about how the narrator needs a break from relationships so is not gonna have sex with this hot woman. Sure, George, that's why. Ahem. Sorry, we didn't know then, and it doesn't matter one bit anyway, because the singer is playing a role. It's a fun song for which the lyrics don't matter at all.

BEST OF 1987 -- "With or Without You" by U2  WORST OF 1987 -- "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" by Michael Jackson with Siedah Garrett

[wildeoaths]

LGBTQ Book & Film Recommendations

Hello! As someone who tries to read widely, it can sometimes be frustrating to find good (well-written, well-made) LGBTQ+ works of literature and film, and mainstream recommendations only go so far. This is my shortlist. 

Some caveats: 1) I have only watched/seen some of these, though they have all been well-received.

2) The literature list is primarily focused on adult literary and genre fiction, since that is what I mostly read, and I feel like it’s easier to find queer YA fiction. Cece over at ProblemsOfABookNerd (YT) covers a lot of newer releases and has a YA focus, so you can check her out for more recommendations.

3) There are a ton of good films and good books that either reference or discuss queer theory, LGBTQ history and literary theory. These tend to be more esoteric and academic, and I’m not too familiar with queer theory, so they’ve largely been left off the list. I do agree that they’re important, and reading into LGBTQ-coding is a major practice, but they’re less accessible and I don’t want to make the list too intimidating.

4) I linked to Goodreads and Letterboxd because that’s what I use and I happen to really enjoy the reviews.

Any works that are bolded are popular, or they’re acclaimed and I think they deserve some attention. I’ve done my best to flag potential objections and triggers, but you should definitely do a search of the reviews. DoesTheDogDie is also a good resource. Not all of these will be suitable for younger teenagers; please use your common sense and judgement.

Please feel free to chime in in the replies (not the reblogs) with your recommendations, and I’ll eventually do a reblog with the additions!

BOOKS

> YOUNG ADULT

Don’t @ me asking why your favourite YA novel isn’t on this list. These just happen to be the picks I felt might also appeal to older teens/twentysomethings.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo - poetry.

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender - trans male teen protagonist. 

Red, White & Royal Blue

Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda

The Gentleman’s Guide To Vice And Virtue

The Raven Boys (and Raven Cycle)

> LITERATURE: GENERAL

This list does skew M/M; more NB, trans and WLW recommendations are welcomed!

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. One of the most acclaimed contemporary LGBTQ novels and you’ve probably heard of it. Will probably make you cry.

A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood. Portrait of a middle-aged gay man.

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh. M/M affair, British student high society; definitely nostalgic for the aristocracy so be aware of the context.

Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman. It’s somewhat controversial, it’s gay, everyone knows the film at least.

Cronus’ Children / Le Jardin d'Acclimation by Yves Navarre. Winner of the Goncourt prize.

Dancer From The Dance by Andrew Holleran. A young man in the 1970s NYC gay scene. Warning for drugs and sexual references.

Dorian, An Imitation by Will Self. Adaptation of Orscar Wilde’s novel. Warning for sexual content.

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg. Two wlw in the 1980s. Also made into a film; see below.

Gemini by Michel Tournier. The link will tell you more; seems like a very complex read. TW for troubling twin dynamics.

Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin. Another iconic M/M work.

Lost Boi by Sassafras Lowrey. A queer punk reimagining of Peter Pan. Probably one of the more accessible works on this list!

Lie With Me by Philippe Besson. Two teenage boys in 1980s France.

Maurice by E. M. Forster. Landmark work written in 1914. Also made into a film; see below.

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. An expansive (and long) novel about the story of Cal, a hermaphrodite, by the author of The Virgin Suicides.

Orlando by Virginia Woolf. Plays with gender, time and space. Virginia Woolf’s ode to her lover Vita Sackville-West. What more do you want? (also a great film; see below).

Oscar Wilde’s works - The Picture of Dorian Gray would be the place to start. Another member of the classical literary canon.

Saga, vol.1 by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples. Graphic novel; warning for sexual content.

Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinburg. An acclaimed work looking at working-class lesbian life and gender identity in pre-Stonewall America.

The Holy Innocents by Gilbert Adair. The basis for Bertolucci’s The Dreamers (2003). I am hesitant to recommend this because I have not read this, though I have watched the film; the M/M dynamic and LGBTQ themes do not seem to be the primary focus. Warning for sexual content and incestuous dynamics between the twins.

The Animals At Lockwood Manor by Jane Healey. Plays with gothic elements, set during WW2, F/F elements.

The Hours by Michael Cunningham. References Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway. Probably a good idea to read Virginia Woolf first.

The Immoralist by André Gide. Translated from French.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline MIller. Drawing from the Iliad, focusing on Achilles and Patroclus. Contemporary fantasy that would be a good pick for younger readers.

The Swimming Pool Library by Alan Hollinghurst. Gay life pre-AIDS crisis. Apparently contains a fair amount of sexual content.

What Belongs To You by Garth Greenwell. A gay man’s coming of age in the American South.

> LITERATURE: WORLD LITERATURE

American and Western experiences are more prominent in LGBTQ works, just due to the way history and the community have developed, and the difficulties of translation. These are English and translated works that specifically foreground the experiences of non-White people living in (often) non-Western societies. I’m not white or American myself and recommendations in this area are especially welcomed.

All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson. The memoirs and essays of a queer black activist, exploring themes of black LGBTQ experiences and masculinity.

A People’s History of Heaven by Mathangi Subramanian. Female communities and queer female characters in a Bangalore slum. A very new release but already very well received.

Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima. Coming-of-age in post-WW1 Japan. This one’s interesting, because it’s definitely at least somewhat autobiographical. Mishima can be a tough writer, and you should definitely look into his personality and his life when reading his work.

Disoriental by Négar Djavadi. A family saga told against the backdrop of Iranian history by a queer Iranian woman. Would recommend going into this knowing at least some of the political and historical context.

How We Fight For Our Lives by Saeed Jones. A coming-of-age story and memoir from a gay, black man in the American South.

In The Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado. Another acclaimed contemporary work about the dynamics of abuse in LGBTQ relationships. Memoir.

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo. Contemporary black British experience, told from the perspectives of 12 diverse narrators.

> POETRY

Crush by Richard Siken. Tumblr loves Richard Siken, worth a read.

Diving Into The Wreck by Adrienne Rich.

He’s So Masc by Chris Tse.

If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho, trans. Anne Carson. The best presentation of Sappho we’re likely to get.

Lord Byron’s works - Selected Poems may be a good starting point. One of the Romantics and part of the classical literary canon.

Les Fleurs du Mal by Charles Baudelaire. The explicitly lesbian poems are apparently in the les fleurs du mal section.

> MEMOIR & NONFICTION

And The Band Played On: Politics, People and the AIDS Epidemic by Randy Shilts. An expansive, comprehensive history and exposure of the failures of media and the Reagan administration, written by an investigative journalist. Will probably make you rightfully angry.

How to Survive A Plague: The Inside Story of How Citizens and Science Tamed AIDS by David France. A reminder of the power of community and everyday activism, written by a gay reporter living in NYC during the epidemic.

Indecent Advances: The Hidden History of Murder and Masculinity Before Stonewall by James Polchin. True crime fans, this one’s for you. Sociocultural history constructed from readings of the news and media.

Queer: A Graphic History by Meg-John Barker. It’s illustrated, it’s written by an academic, it’s an easier introduction to queer theory. I still need to pick up a copy, but it seems like a great jumping-off point with an overview of the academic context.

Real Queer America by Samantha Allen. The stories of LGBTQ people and LGBTQ narratives in the conservative parts of America. A very well received contemporary read.

The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson. Gender, pregnancy and queer partnership. I’m not familiar with this but it is quite popular.

When Brooklyn Was Queer by Hugh Ryan. LGBTQ history of Brooklyn from the nineteenth century to pre-Stonewall.

FILMS

With films it’s difficult because characters are often queercoded and we’re only now seeing films with better rep. This is a shortlist of better-rated films with fairly explicit LGBTQ coding, LGBTQ characters, or made by LGBTQ persons. Bolded films are ones that I think are likely to be more accessible or with wider appeal.

A Single Man (2009) - Colin Firth plays a middle-aged widower.

Blue Is The Warmest Colour (2013) - A controversial one. Sexual content.

Booksmart (2019) - A pretty well made film about female friendship and being an LGBTQ teen.

Boy Erased (2018) - Warning for conversion therapy.

BPM (Beats Per Minute) (2017) - Young AIDS activists in France.

Brokeback Mountain (2005) - Cowboy gays. This film is pretty famous, do you need more summary? Might make a good triple bill with Idaho and God’s Own Country.

Cabaret (1972) - Liza Minelli. Obvious plug to also look into Vincent Minelli.

Calamity Jane (1953) - There’s a lot that could be said about queer coding in Hollywood golden era studio films, but this is apparently a fun wlw-cowboy westerns-vibes watch. Read the reviews on this one!

Call Me By Your Name (2017) - Please don't debate this film in the notes.

Caravaggio (1986) - Sean Bean and Tilda Swinton are in it. Rather explicit.

Carol (2015) - Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara are lesbians in 1950s America.

Clouds of Sils Maria (2014) - Hard to summarise, but one review calls it “lesbian birdman” and it has both Juliette Binoche and Kristen Stewart in it, so consider watching it.

Colette (2018) - About the bi/queer female writer Colette during the belle epoque era. This had Keira Knightley so by all rights Tumblr should love it.

Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) - Lesbian love in 1920s/80s? America.

God’s Own Country (2017) - Gay and British.

Happy Together (1997) - By Wong Kar Wai. No further explanation needed.

Heartbeats (2010) - Bi comedy.

Heartstone (2016) - It’s a story about rural Icelandic teenagers.

Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party (2015) -  Queer teens and religious themes.

Je, Tu, Il, Elle (1974) - Early Chantal Akerman. Warning for sexual scenes.

Kill Your Darlings (2013) - Ginsberg, Kerouac and the Beat poets.

Love, Simon (2018)

Lovesong (2016) - Lesbian and very soft. Korean-American characters.

Love Songs (2007) - French trio relationship. Louis Garrel continues to give off non-straight vibes.

Mädchen In Uniform (1931) - One of the earliest narrative films to explicitly portray homosexuality. A piece of LGBTQ cinematic history.

Maurice (1987) - Adaptation of the novel.

Midnight Cowboy (1969) - Heavy gay coding.

Milk (2008) - Biopic of Harvey Milk, openly gay politician. By the same director who made My Own Private Idaho.

Moonlight (2016) - It won the awards for a reason.

My Own Private Idaho (1991) - Another iconic LGBTQ film. River Phoenix.

Mysterious Skin (2004) - Go into this film aware, please. Young actors, themes of prostitution, child ab*se, r***, and a lot of trauma.

Orlando (1992) - An excellent adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s novel, and in my opinion far more accessible. Watch it for the queer sensibilities and fantastic period pieces.

Pariah (2011) - Excellent coming-of-age film about a black lesbian girl in Brooklyn.

Paris is Burning (1990) - LANDMARK DOCUMENTARY piece of LGBTQ history, documenting the African-American and Latine drag and ballroom roots of the NYC queer community.

Persona (1966) - It’s an Ingmar Bergman film so I would recommend knowing what you’re about to get into, but also I can’t describe it because it’s an Ingmar Bergman film.

Picnic At Hanging Rock (1975) - Cult classic queercoded boarding school girls.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) - By Celine Sciamma, who’s rapidly establishing herself in the mainstream as a LGBTQ film director. This is a wlw relationship and the queer themes are reflected in the cinematic techniques used. A crowd pleaser.

Pride (2014) - Pride parades with a British sensibility.

Rebel Without A Cause (1955) - Crowd-pleaser with bi coding and James Dean. The OG version of “you’re tearing me apart!”.

Rocketman (2019) - It’s Elton John.

Rent (2005) - Adaptation of the stage musical. Not the best film from a technical standpoint. I recommend the professionally recorded 2008 closing night performance instead.

Rope (1948) - Hitchcock film.

Sorry Angel (2018) - Loving portraits of gay French men.

Talk To Her (2002) - By Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar.

Tangerine (2015) - About trans sex workers. The actors apparently had a lot of input in the film, which was somehow shot on an iPhone by the same guy who went on to do The Florida Project. 

The Duke of Burgundy (2014) - Lesbians in an S&M relationship that’s going stale, sexual content obviously.

The Gay Deceivers (1969) - The reviews are better than me explaining.

The Handmaiden (2016) - Park Chan-wook makes a film about Korean lesbians and is criminally snubbed at the Oscars. Warning for sexual themes and kink.

The Favourite (2018) - Period movie, and lesbian.

Thelma And Louise (1991) - An iconic part of LGBTQ cinematic history. That is all.

The Celluloid Closet (1995) - A look into LGBTQ cinematic history, and the historical contexts we operated in when we’ve snuck our narratives into film.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post (2018) - Adaptation of the YA novel.

The Neon Demon (2016) - Apparently based on Elizabeth Bathory, the blood-drinking countess. Very polarising film and rated R.

The Perks of Being A Wallflower (2012) - Book adaptation. It has Ezra Miller in it I guess.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) - No explanation needed, queer and transgressive vibes all the way.

They (2017) - Gender identity, teenagers.

Those People (2015) - They’re gay and they’re artists in New York.

Tomboy (2011) - One of the few films I’ve seen dealing with gender identity in children (10 y/o). Celine Sciamma developing her directorial voice.

Tropical Malady (2004) - By Thai auteur Apichatpong Weerasethakul. His is a very particular style so don’t sweat it if you don’t enjoy it.

Vita and Virginia (2018) - Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West biopic

Water Lilies (2007) - Celine Sciamma again! Teenage lesbian coming-of-age. 

When Marnie Was There (2014) - A Studio Ghibli film exploring youth, gender and sexuality.

Weekend (2011) - An indie film about young gay love.

Wilde (1997) - It’s a film about Oscar Wilde.

XXY (2007) - About an intersex teenager. Reviews on this are mixed.

Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001) - Wonder what Diego Luna was doing before Rogue One? This is one of the things. Warning for sexual content.

[petriichvrs]

DAY THREE   :   personal edition.

001.   𝐃𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐎 𝐌𝐀𝐋𝐅𝐎𝐘   &   𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐘 𝐖𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐋𝐄𝐘. “i’m sorry,” he tells her, voice cracking, and he doesn’t know what he’s sorry for anymore. for the sins of his father? for ginny’s ruined childhood? for the fact that he is draco malfoy, and not someone else?

we joke around a lot about the draco + ginny dynamic, but the reason that i love the noxtms version of them so much is because... we had a thread very early on between these two characters who, by RIGHTS, should despise one another, and instead what we came away with was something very real. human, if you will. there’s so much to unpack from their past, especially given how they met, and what happened afterwards. draco’s father was the reason that ginny lost... all of her childhood innocence, really, and every year after only added another reason to dislike the malfoys. the fact that we took all of that and turned the expected on its head, but did so in a way that i still think about, today - pretty iconic behaviour, honestly, and the WHOLE reason i think so highly of them as a dynamic. 

002.    𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄 𝐋𝐎𝐍𝐆𝐁𝐎𝐓𝐓𝐎𝐌   &   𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐘 𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄.  he had heard the first syllables, imagined the flash of green light, had the terrified thought that he wasn’t ready, he wasn’t ready... but this woman who he had spoken to for the first time in front of his arch had tackled his would-be murdered and saved his life.

i know that technically, the neville / merry dynamic formed by CHANCE with the benefit plot drop. i know a part of me at the time did that on purpose, because we had already established that these two people should have something, some complicated relationship born from the fact that they’re COUSINS, but merry’s father took part in the torture of neville’s parents. went to jail for it. deserved to die for it, really. i think about it a lot, though, because it’s a pretty good example of the way in which all of these families and friendship circles can entwine - things are so tight, that’s just the way it is, but from that tightness comes situations like these. times when things aren’t black and white, but shades of grey. honestly, birdie, every single dynamic that i write with you makes me so happy. i’m not going to dedicate another POINT, but i will say that if i did, i’d use pain-fear-need for nev & ginny, and i’d have to touch on kodi’s distaste for niko, and ginny winding mirabella up at the weird sisters, and you know what? kingsley + arthur, who are kind of ours, too. i could go on. i want to go on, because i want to do so much more. please and thanks.

003.    𝐆𝐄𝐎𝐑𝐆𝐄 𝐖𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐋𝐄𝐘   &   𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐘 𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄.  if it was honesty she asked for, surely she had to know : it was honesty that drove them to their little entanglement and honesty in return that broke it off. no matter their best intentions, it seemed their collective relationship with truth was scandalous at best and damning at worst.

admittedly, i always forget that george and merry haven’t had as much on the dash as what i think they have. i think that’s the mark of a good connection. i didn’t ever imagine there being so much layers to the relationship formed between merry and the person that she had an affair with, but then... you gave me george, and he’s brilliant. they’re brilliant. there’s something so heartbreaking about the ways in which they needed one another, and the ways in which they pass by one another, only sometimes able to collide. there’s a different sort of need with each of them, and i really love that this sort of complicated relationship formed between a weasley and a lestrange : yet another pair of people who should hate one another, united by something... indescribable. daisy, george brings me such joy, all of the time. you write him incredibly, and his struggle is so real. ginny and george are so near and dear to me ( the video of george in gof clutching ginny to his side to protect her as the de’s attacked the campsite lives rent free in my head ), and i could have mentioned them, too, and gone off on them just as much. but george and merry are unique. and i love ‘em ! 

004.    𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘𝐎𝐍𝐄   &   𝐍𝐈𝐊𝐎𝐋𝐀𝐈 𝐊𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐀𝐑𝐎𝐅𝐅. everyone’s favorite bug eyed bastard, apparently.

you guys. i’m kidding. i’m not, really, but, this will change subjects rapidly very quickly so just stick with me. i was going to do an actual dynamic, again, i had my little list, but... i didn’t realize until tonight how much people enjoyed reading niko, specifically the ways he interacts with people. i’m a little self conscious about him all the time. there’s things about his character that i didn’t ever write explicitly, such as... the reason for the way he is, etc- and i love him, but i worry that i don’t characterize him properly, or that people will perceive him wrongly. most of all i live in fear that his SORT of character will turn sour, eventually, and people will stop being interested in him. i think it’s a testament to everyone else that niko has become... noxtms nikolai, because i couldn’t have shown so many different parts of his character if it hadn’t been for all of you - birdie with kodi, blo with nell, of course lex with kaela and of course gia with damien, sam with viktor, nancy and selene, and... u know, even the uncle igor memes. thank you for taking him and allowing me to write him opposite of all of you, and allowing me to create dynamics that i really enjoy. they’re... very special to me, thank you.

BUT. like i said. i really... didn’t know how to narrow this down. i have been blessed by... the girl gang ( aura, mafalda, ginny ) that likes to feed a giant squid. an AMAZING luna played by mozzie, who i’m admiring so much and can’t wait to start swamping in threads. finally, the hermione that we all deserved. an ALICIA SPINNET who’s training ginny, now, who’s like a sister to her, who she loves so much. heather by atlas, a dynamic that hasn’t resurfaced, yet, but was so fun and chaotic, at one point. and then. we go deeper. i’ve got MALFAM thanks to blo and cherry, i’ve got sybill’s favorite student lavender thanks to beth, i get to write with a fantastic tonks because of gia ( who’s going to be an EQUALLY fantastic molly ), and sybill finally has her daughter, and i love her, and i’m so excited about her. there’s gin’s drinking buddy dudders and merry’s favorite bookshop owner, penny. and i’m. just. full of love tonight, you guys. i really am. thank you so much. thank you for writing with me, and forgiving me when i’m just so fuckin busy. i really do love you ALL, and if we don’t have anything yet, i cannot wait until we do. 

[onestowatch]

Get to Know Indie Newcomer, KALI [Q&A]

Photo By: Zealand Yancy

16-year-old artist KALI, full name Kali Flanagan, opens up the year by announcing that her debut EP CIRCLES is out May 7th. The project includes her previously released single "Back To The Start" as well as new track, "Lucy.”

A prodigy of sorts, KALI grew up playing recitals and covering Beatles songs, taking private lessons with music teachers, participating in after school music programs, and even taking songwriting masterclasses to nourish her passion. In 2017, KALI assembled her first band, Big Wednesday. The relatable and honest indie-surf arrangements that KALI wrote for the group drew sweaty, teenage crowds to local venues like The Smell and The Viper Room and would lead her to her now solo work.

KALI self-describes her music as “bouncy” and after listening to her newest track, “Lucy,” the bounce that she creates her music with is evident. “Back to The Start” and “Lucy” are Gen-Z anthems, and perfectly explain KALI’s indie-pop and rock influences. They both incorporate driving grooves and upbeat vibes, but lyrically speaking, showcase the more somber reality of the ups and downs of life as a teenager.

In a music world often filled with computerized instruments and overproduced songs, KALI represents a refreshing change of pace. Her subtle layering of instrumentation including electric piano, shakers, and a gritty guitar provides the song with a full sound without feeling cluttered. Additionally, you can tell that her musicianship and performance can clearly translate into an energetic live show.

Get to know KALI and watch the music video for her latest single, “Lucy,” below:

Ones to Watch: As you previously mentioned, your name is pronounced Kaw-Lee. Do you ever catch people saying Kay-Lee?

KALI: Oh yeah, all the time, but I’ve gotten used to it. Nowadays it’s easier for me to correct people, but before when I was a kid it was so uncomfortable for me to explicitly say, “Oh excuse me it’s KALI.” Nowadays it’s just my name, and also, I want to acknowledge that part of my culture. My mom is Indian so I think when people get my name wrong, I should correct them because it’s part of my heritage and it’s an important part of who I am.

When did you first start playing music?

I started playing music when I was about four or five, and I started with the piano. The piano is the center of music theory, and I’m so glad I learned it first because it set me up for success and gave me a good grounding to create music. After I learned piano, I picked up the guitar maybe two years later. Then I got involved in a lot of afterschool music programs and there was a need for a bass player. I picked up the bass really quickly and played the upright bass at school in the orchestra. Oh, and I always wanted to play drums, so I taught myself drums. I played more classical music and jazz and stuff in school, and outside of school it was a lot of rock music.

When did you know you wanted to be an artist/songwriter?

I’m not sure, because I tried writing music when I was ten or eleven, I would say, and it didn’t go so well. I guess I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind, but a year later when I was twelve it really clicked for me. I wrote on the acoustic guitar originally, taught myself how to use GarageBand, and made really horrible sounding demos. But what really created the spark for me was the combination of writing, production, and crafting songs. I think it’s so interesting. It’s like putting ingredients together.

What do you think it was that drew you to creating your own music?

Originally, I was drawn to music in general for the performance aspect, but when I started making music it was completely different. There is such a different feeling with something that you make and something that’s entirely yours. You can do anything with it. It’s infinite, it’s so magical and enthralling, and that’s what drew me to it. When I was younger, I didn’t necessarily understand the fact that I was expressing myself in a creative way in terms of my emotions and how I felt, but then when I got to high school, I really started to express how I was feeling through music. I would have all these emotions building up inside of me as I went through life, going to school, and being a teenager. Creating music was like an emotional exhale for me and it’s become an even bigger part of my life in that way. I needed to be able to express myself and have this outlet to move through life. It’s so fun and there’s so much unknown. There’s so much I have to explore, and I guess that’s what keeps me making music and enjoying it, the excitement and having so many possibilities.

If you could describe your music with three words, what would you say?

Drawn-out, layered, bouncy

Do you remember the first song you ever wrote? What is it about? Can I find it on the internet anywhere?

Oh God, I’m pretty sure you could find it. My mom just loves posting my videos on the Internet. I think there’s a video of me when I was seven years old wearing a wife beater and playing a red miniature Stratocaster, and I’m just strumming these three chords. I even remember what key it was in, it was in D. But the first song with lyrics that I wrote was in the sixth grade, and I wrote a song for my mom for Mother’s Day. It was about how much I appreciate her. I think it was called “She’s My Mom” or something. I’m sure you could find it. It would take some digging.

Who are some current artists or songwriters you love or would like to work with?

Mk.gee, Billy Lemos, Adrianne Lenker, Q, Dijon, Porches, Phoebe Bridgers, Ethan Gruska, Beach House, Pharrell, Matt Maltese.

Who are your favorite all-time artists and biggest influences?

The Beatles, Paul McCartney and George Harrison, the film composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, Elliott Smith, Mac DeMarco, Angel Olsen, Billie Holiday, The Strokes.

You just released your newest song, “Lucy,” off the upcoming EP. What is the song about and who is Lucy?

I would say that Lucy represents this idea of not having a very clear picture of reality after becoming infatuated with someone; when your infatuation kind of covers up the parts that maybe aren’t the best. I wrote “Lucy” when I was really involved with this girl and she wasn’t out to her friends or her family. I was chasing after this person who was very closed off. So that’s who this character Lucy is, someone that’s figuring themselves out but hurting someone else at the same time because of it. It’s not an ideal situation at all but I’m hoping it would be. There’s a juxtaposition between the music and the lyrics because the song has this fun energy and this bubbly spirit to it, but when I think about the lyrics and what I was writing about it kind of brings this element of sadness to me.

What do you do when you’re not playing or listening to music?

I mean if we weren’t in quarantine I would probably be with my friends. We listen to music in the car and do a lot of aimless driving and screaming. My friends are really outgoing people and I have a lot of conversations with them, I do love talking with people. I go for walks. I read a lot nowadays, I watch movies. I live a very simple life I would say. I love spending time with my family. And I spend time with my dogs, I have a boxer and a mini pinscher.

What do you miss most during quarantine?

I mean I really miss shows. I think every artist is going to say this, but I really miss playing shows. It was such a big part of my life and such a huge part of my high school. Everyone went to shows, it was a huge event going to The Smell or this record store that got shut down called Time warp. Every Friday and Saturday we’d be at a show. The energy of playing to people my age was so crazy and is a feeling that I can’t describe as other than enthralling. I really miss it and I don’t know when it’s coming back, it was so special. But I really miss being able to just call up a friend and go over to their house and be stupid with them. But yeah definitely shows above anything else.

What are you most excited about for 2021?

Well, this is going to sound like I’m a very promotional person, I’m not a very promotional person, but I’m so excited to get my music out because I have been sitting with it for so long. I am very new to releasing music, and it’s really cool to see what people think of it because I never thought anyone would think of it in the first place. With the new year, I’m also really making an effort to read. I’m absorbing the world like a sponge. That’s what I’m excited to do in 2021. And Joe Biden being president instead of Donald Trump of course.