#and well DJ Grooves has already done just that

[wysteriaisapenguin]

Time-travels back to 2020 so I can watch my two faves fight!

Based off of this tweet:

[gerogerigaogaigar]

Boogie Down Productions - Criminal Minded

The story of Boogie Down Productions is necessarily a two part story. I'm not sure if the follow up album By All Means Necessary is on this list. It should be. In 1987 only a few months after releasing this album DJ Scott La Rock was killed in a shooting while trying to break up a fight. Criminal Minded is typically seen as the first gangsta rap album. It introduced the exaggerated kayfabe of kids with guns shooting each other over Petty squabbles over which borough is best. BDPs second album By All Means Necessary is a stark stripped down album with serious lyrics about inner city violence and other socially conscious themes. Scott La Rock's fingerprints are all over both albums in very different ways. Criminal Minded is full of camp bravado and the beats are matched to that energy. A little cheesy and a lot of heart La Rock chooses samples that keep the mood light despite the violent subject matter. And both La $ock and KRS-One will often devolve into silly little riffs on completely random songs (Hey Jude by The Beatles and It's Still Rock And Roll To Me by Billy Joel). It's a light and cheesy album that still shows off frank depictions of life in the Bronx while also ahowcasing the talents of KRS-ONE, D Nice, and of course DJ Scott La Rock.

Kraftwerk - Trans-Europe Express

By the time Kraftwerk hit the scene electronic music had already existed for decades. But before Kraftwerk it was mainly the realm of experimental mavericks and there was little commercial interest outside of a few oddities. With Trans-Europe Express Kraftwerk found themselves refining their sound in a more ambient and minimal direction. Tracks average six minutes a pop and feature rolling soundscapes of mechanical synths. The songs take more influence from minimalist composers and feature melodic ideas that slowly evolve over a long run time. It's an amazing album although it definitely overshadowed by the follow up album The Man-Machine which makes this one look like a warmup.

Willie Nelson - Red Headed Stranger

This was Willie Nelson's eighteenth album, but the first where he had full creative control. The result is a sparsely arranged concept album about a man trying to get away with the murder of his wife and her lover. The use of perfectly placed covers of country classics interspersed with original numbers to tell a coherent story is incredibly well done. And the stark instrumentation makes every single note feel significant. Every sorrowful guitar solo and walking bass line communicates as much story and emotion as the lyrics themselves. This is one of the greatest masterpieces in all of country music.

Daft Punk - Discovery

Where Daft Punk's debut Homework featured very traditional Chicago style House music Discovery evolved the sound into something completely new. The rigid mechanical grooves are replaced with a new, softer sound influenced by pop and R&B. Naturally fans of their first record hated it. In fact hating the newest Daft Punk record is kind of a tradition in the fandom. The instant commercial hits that were One More Time and Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger are well known but the album is loaded with catchy enjoyable tracks from start to finish. Whether it's the buzzsaw arpeggios of Aerodynamic or the slow balladry of Something About Us, the albums deep.cuts hit just as hard as the hits. Not to mention Too Long, my favorite Daft Punk song, which is a sprawling ten minute prog house epic.

Metallica - s/t (the black album)

After riding high as one of the greatest thrash acts of all time Metallica finally hit the mainstream by putting out one of the most tedious and boring pieces of shit imaginable. Yeah Enter Sandman has a pretty iconic riff, well one good song doesn't make a good album. Literally everything after that sucks and it's the opening track. The album is a slow plodding mess that is constantly on the verge of becoming the thrash metal version of a Cinderella ballad. And let's not forget the overtly libertarian song Don't Tread On Me! Fuck this cringe ass album. I scooped the cat box right after listening to this and I'd rate that as a better experience than listening to the black album.

Black Sabbath - Master Of Reality

Master Of Reality provides the blueprint for all slow, sludge, stoner, and doom metal to come. The guitar and bass are down tuned and the sound is chuggy which hugely influenced later bands looking to make their sound heavier. The opener, Sweet Leaf is the original stoner metal song. And the acoustic interludes, Embryo and Orchid are definitely echoed in the slow acoustic intros to a million death metal songs.

Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes

Tori Amos seems to be working through some emotional baggage here, but my god is it the most overwrought garbage I've ever heard. Plodding piano ballads come one after another only occasionally pausing to become interesting. Little Earthquakes wants to be meaningful so very badly. It wants to be Hounds Of Love so very badly. But where Kate Bush can craft evocative beautiful music and lyrics Tori Amos produces melodramatic piano ballads and lyrics that feel like chatgpt trained on Kate Bush songs. I'm gonna say it again just to be mean: listen to Kate Bush instead.

John Coltrane - Giant Steps

After an iconoc tenure in most of Miles Davis' groups in the 50s saxophone legend John Coltrane set out as a solo artist. Giant Steps wasn't his first outing as a bandleader but it was the one that cemented him as the jazz artist of the 60s. The performances are monstrous here super special credit goes to Paul Chambers on bass for not just being able to keep up but for doing it with flair. The real thing about this album though is the chord changes. Coltrane pioneered a series of chord changes that used third intervals to keep the root of the chords equidistant from each other resulting in a loss of tonal center. The songs rapidly change keys and wind up being famously difficult to improv over, and that's before the frenetic pace of many of the songs comes into play. You may not understand any of what I just said, but trust me your brain can hear the effects. It's beautifully disorienting and you have no choice but to give in to Coltrane's whims, trusting that he knows where it's going

[abloomntime]

Kiddo Week Day 3 Act 2: Dead Bird Studios

Prompts by @kinglieste and @snatchersnatched

Prompts found here

https://at.tumblr.com/abloomntime/kinglieste-kinglieste-a-hat-in-time/gfyc7trjfxj4

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

Dead Bird Studios.

The place where for YEARS had been the birthplace of creativity and actors on the big screen. And now she was standing right in front of it. The others didn't look so fazed at the big building considering they had been there multiple times before but that didn't stop her from staring up in fascination at it all. It. WAS. HUGE!! WAY bigger than those tall buildings back on the moon. A giant logo sign of a black bird skull and film real decorated the outside on the big front there with the giant words under it reading DEAD BIRD STUDIOS. A parking lot stood between them and the entrance and they were already walking across it towards the entrance. It was normal by this point however. There was times Cookie had been forced to take her along with her to work if no babysitter could be found or if she couldn't watch her herself which was the case today. The babysitter called out sick on Cookie last minute leaving the poor cat to scramble to get Muriel to look presentable and shoo her out the door and to her workplace mind coming up with only one idea to fix this entire situation. Dragging the poor girl through the studios she didn't stop until she came across a certain yellow owl director. The Conductor was busy minding his own business, probably thinking about how to beat DJ Grooves again for the next Bird Movie Awards, but smiled when seeing the frazzled cat run up to him in a hurry.

"Ah! Lassie! I was nah expecting ta see ye today-"

"Thank goodness Ah found ya!," she panickily spoke before pulling Muriel in front of her and pushed her towards the older bird who would've blinked if he had eyes but his head turned towards the blinking blonde girl letting them both know he was looking at Muriel. "I'm late for work b-but the sitter cancelled on me last minute! I need ya to watch Muriel for me until my daily show's finished! Yo-You wouldn't mind watching her for just an hour would you?"

"I- W-Wha-" He didn't get a chance to say anything before Cookie was already turning and booking it back towards the penguins' side of the studios. "Thanks, Sugah! I owe ya one! Muriel you be good for Mr. Conductor ya hear!?"

And then that's how the two of them were left alone. By themselves. With each other staring at the direction at which Cookie had disappeared. An awkward silence was filled between the two of them as they stood there for the longest time shuffling and glancing at one another before. Well...this was awkward. For both of them tremendously. It's not that he didn't have any experience with children, after all he's raised a son and has five wee grandchildren he sees sometimes, plus there's that hat lass and her cheerful cat loving friend that came quite often to visit him and the peckneck penguin. But this girl-...She was an entirely different story. She was his lover's child so he was used to seeing her around but hadn't interacted much, but that wasn't just it. They weren't on good terms, or at least they were on awkward terms at most. He'll NEVER forget the battle between her and the hat lass, what she did to the world and calling her the 'Red Lass that needs to get lost' a couple times during that time. Imagine his giant surprise when he saw her again with Cookie and how motherly the old cat was with her. Why it had infuriated him to the core! Why the PECK was Cookie coddling this monsterous child!? Didn't she forget what Muriel had nearly done to everyone!? And it wasn't just Cookie. DJ Peckneck had also had no problem welcoming the child and treating her with the same gentle care he's give Hattie and Bow. Along with every other penguin, owl, and even the lasses themselves had no problem with her. Hattie would still give her a look and attitude from time to time. For the sake of his growing relationship with Cookie he had learnt to let go of most of his anger towards her and it had worked for the most part. The two were on a 'small talk from time to time' basis and he had let her have a roll in one of his movies at one point but that was more of a friendly gesture than anything. Awkwardly the two still stood there before Muriel finally spoke.

"Sooo...I heard you were using more explosives for your new movie?," she tried Gold eyes blinking.

He flinched for a moment. "Um-....Yes. I am."

"Good, good. Using them responsibly I assume. Wouldn't want it in bad hands."

"Wot!? Of course I am! I'm nah irrrrresponsible with my things!" He felt a bit irritated she'd just assume he would do something like that!...Well...Maybe he did once blow up his train, but ONLY ONE TIME!!

"Are you sure?" She crossed her arms. "You're not really the responsible type."

"OH! I suppose YE are any better!?", he steamed shouting back looking annoyed and anger rising now. He pointed right at her. "AT LEAST AH NAH SENT THE WORLD INTO CHAOS AND TYRRRRANY WITH THEM BLOODY HOURGLASSES!!"

The little girl froze for a moment stunned he said that, before she scowled herself and accused back, "OH YEAH!? Well what about you!? What about trying to shishkabob Hat Kid in the basement after you stole her time piece!?" He froze- "Or trying to blow up your train with everyone on it for just a stupid movie!? How does that make YOU any better!?"

Conductor was-...very much taken aback. In shock even. Opening his and closing his mouth as he stared at the girl before he settled on, "H-HOW THE PECK DID YE KNOW ABOUT THAT!?"

"Hattie told me!,'' she shouted back and he flinched when she sniffled and he just now noticed the small tears that threatened to spill from her golden eyes. "B-But I never said a-a-anything b-because Cookie likes you! I don't know why! You're so mean all the time to everyone!" her hands came up to rub at her eyes. "Y-You don't think everyone already knows what I did? *hiccup* People tell me all the time I'm a bad guy b-but I'm not! I'M NOT A BAD GUY!! Cookie said I wasn't one....I'm not a bad guy."

And he stood there stunned watching as she started to hiccup and wiping at his eyes and he felt-...Awkward. But guilty. Very, very guilty. He wanted to argue back, to say he wasn't the bad guy here either but-..She was right. He-...He DID do terrible things. Really, REALLY bad things same as her. Admittedly blowing up his train and possibly-..Ok. ACTUALLY putting everyone on board including himself was a pecknecking stupid idea. And as for what happened between him and Hattie-...That heavy guilt came back tenfold as it hit him. The child had long since forgave him, never knew why, but that still didn't change the fact he still did that. And unlike her-...He had no excuse. He was an old BIRD for peck's sake! He knew was right and wrong! Muriel was-....just a child. Just-...J-Just like his grandchildren. She wanted to get rid of bad guys and well-..Could he expect a child who grew up in a menagerie like Mafia Town to really not be affected by it? She probably took the first chance at fixing things she saw and ran with it. Things got-...extreme to put it lightly, but was that any better than him or what he did? He'll admit her reasoning was better. Can't say wanting to get rid of bad guys was worse than just being selfish over getting a trophy. She continued to sniffle and wipe at her face in front of him and he continued to stare at her in shock before sighing and reaching a hand to rub his face feathers drooping. Conductor you done pecked it up.

"*sigh* L-Lassie I-...*sigh* Aye." He nodded and she sniffled looking up at him with red eyes. "Aye. Ye right. M' an old peckneck who nah thinks about things enough. Guess that makes us both even mistakers."

Muriel still sniffled and looked at him for a moment before attempting to scowl and with red eyes pointed at him. "Yeah?...W-Well I'm still gonna keep an eye on you! I won't let Cookie be hurt by any bad guy! Mark my words! I'm the best hero in the world!!"

He..attempted a small smile and huff. "Aye, Lass. That's something we can both agrrree on."

"...Agree on what?"

"That we both care about the same person!," he pointed out. Hey..Maybe they did have some common ground after all. "If any peckneck tries anything...They'll meet my friend who's not rrrrubber."

"Dunno what you mean by that but you're right about that." She nodded but narrowed her eyes. "But I've got my eyes on you! Don't think just because you're dating her that I won't be watching out."

"Aye, Lass. That's a fair assumption." If he had eyes he would've rolled them. Kids. "I suppose you'll want to inspect me train next?"

She blinked. "....You want to show me your train!?" Her eyes widened. "Like the ones they have in the movies!?"

"The ones they have in the movies. I'll have you know there is only ONE train in any of those pictures and I happen to own it," he stated proudly much to the girl's wonder, "Would ye like to see it?"

"YES!!"

"Well tis just outside the studios! Ye need to jus show your bird ID card to the security guard-"

"Bird ID card?,'' she asked back confused raising a brow. "But...I don't have anything like that."

"Ye don't?" She shook her head no and he hummed. "Well this won't do at all! How does anyone expect ye ta not wrack up damage coverage if ya ain't a bird? C'mere Lass an' we'll get ye one."

Needless to say Cookie returned to a very excited child and an old bird with a better understanding of things.

[echantedtoon]

Kiddo Week Day 3 Act 2: Dead Bird Studios

Dead Bird Studios.

The place where for YEARS had been the birthplace of creativity and actors on the big screen. And now she was standing right in front of it. The others didn't look so fazed at the big building considering they had been there multiple times before but that didn't stop her from staring up in fascination at it all. It. WAS. HUGE!! WAY bigger than those tall buildings back on the moon. A giant logo sign of a black bird skull and film real decorated the outside on the big front there with the giant words under it reading DEAD BIRD STUDIOS. A parking lot stood between them and the entrance and they were already walking across it towards the entrance. It was normal by this point however. There was times Cookie had been forced to take her along with her to work if no babysitter could be found or if she couldn't watch her herself which was the case today. The babysitter called out sick on Cookie last minute leaving the poor cat to scramble to get Muriel to look presentable and shoo her out the door and to her workplace mind coming up with only one idea to fix this entire situation. Dragging the poor girl through the studios she didn't stop until she came across a certain yellow owl director. The Conductor was busy minding his own business, probably thinking about how to beat DJ Grooves again for the next Bird Movie Awards, but smiled when seeing the frazzled cat run up to him in a hurry.

"Ah! Lassie! I was nah expecting ta see ye today-"

"Thank goodness Ah found ya!," she panickily spoke before pulling Muriel in front of her and pushed her towards the older bird who would've blinked if he had eyes but his head turned towards the blinking blonde girl letting them both know he was looking at Muriel. "I'm late for work b-but the sitter cancelled on me last minute! I need ya to watch Muriel for me until my daily show's finished! Yo-You wouldn't mind watching her for just an hour would you?"

"I- W-Wha-" He didn't get a chance to say anything before Cookie was already turning and booking it back towards the penguins' side of the studios. "Thanks, Sugah! I owe ya one! Muriel you be good for Mr. Conductor ya hear!?"

And then that's how the two of them were left alone. By themselves. With each other staring at the direction at which Cookie had disappeared. An awkward silence was filled between the two of them as they stood there for the longest time shuffling and glancing at one another before. Well...this was awkward. For both of them tremendously. It's not that he didn't have any experience with children, after all he's raised a son and has five wee grandchildren he sees sometimes, plus there's that hat lass and her cheerful cat loving friend that came quite often to visit him and the peckneck penguin. But this girl-...She was an entirely different story. She was his lover's child so he was used to seeing her around but hadn't interacted much, but that wasn't just it. They weren't on good terms, or at least they were on awkward terms at most. He'll NEVER forget the battle between her and the hat lass, what she did to the world and calling her the 'Red Lass that needs to get lost' a couple times during that time. Imagine his giant surprise when he saw her again with Cookie and how motherly the old cat was with her. Why it had infuriated him to the core! Why the PECK was Cookie coddling this monsterous child!? Didn't she forget what Muriel had nearly done to everyone!? And it wasn't just Cookie. DJ Peckneck had also had no problem welcoming the child and treating her with the same gentle care he's give Hattie and Bow. Along with every other penguin, owl, and even the lasses themselves had no problem with her. Hattie would still give her a look and attitude from time to time. For the sake of his growing relationship with Cookie he had learnt to let go of most of his anger towards her and it had worked for the most part. The two were on a 'small talk from time to time' basis and he had let her have a roll in one of his movies at one point but that was more of a friendly gesture than anything. Awkwardly the two still stood there before Muriel finally spoke.

"Sooo...I heard you were using more explosives for your new movie?," she tried Gold eyes blinking.

He flinched for a moment. "Um-....Yes. I am."

"Good, good. Using them responsibly I assume. Wouldn't want it in bad hands."

"Wot!? Of course I am! I'm nah irrrrresponsible with my things!" He felt a bit irritated she'd just assume he would do something like that!...Well...Maybe he did once blow up his train, but ONLY ONE TIME!!

"Are you sure?" She crossed her arms. "You're not really the responsible type."

"OH! I suppose YE are any better!?", he steamed shouting back looking annoyed and anger rising now. He pointed right at her. "AT LEAST AH NAH SENT THE WORLD INTO CHAOS AND TYRRRRANY WITH THEM BLOODY HOURGLASSES!!"

The little girl froze for a moment stunned he said that, before she scowled herself and accused back, "OH YEAH!? Well what about you!? What about trying to shishkabob Hat Kid in the basement after you stole her time piece!?" He froze- "Or trying to blow up your train with everyone on it for just a stupid movie!? How does that make YOU any better!?"

Conductor was-...very much taken aback. In shock even. Opening his and closing his mouth as he stared at the girl before he settled on, "H-HOW THE PECK DID YE KNOW ABOUT THAT!?"

"Hattie told me!,'' she shouted back and he flinched when she sniffled and he just now noticed the small tears that threatened to spill from her golden eyes. "B-But I never said a-a-anything b-because Cookie likes you! I don't know why! You're so mean all the time to everyone!" her hands came up to rub at her eyes. "Y-You don't think everyone already knows what I did? *hiccup* People tell me all the time I'm a bad guy b-but I'm not! I'M NOT A BAD GUY!! Cookie said I wasn't one....I'm not a bad guy."

And he stood there stunned watching as she started to hiccup and wiping at his eyes and he felt-...Awkward. But guilty. Very, very guilty. He wanted to argue back, to say he wasn't the bad guy here either but-..She was right. He-...He DID do terrible things. Really, REALLY bad things same as her. Admittedly blowing up his train and possibly-..Ok. ACTUALLY putting everyone on board including himself was a pecknecking stupid idea. And as for what happened between him and Hattie-...That heavy guilt came back tenfold as it hit him. The child had long since forgave him, never knew why, but that still didn't change the fact he still did that. And unlike her-...He had no excuse. He was an old BIRD for peck's sake! He knew was right and wrong! Muriel was-....just a child. Just-...J-Just like his grandchildren. She wanted to get rid of bad guys and well-..Could he expect a child who grew up in a menagerie like Mafia Town to really not be affected by it? She probably took the first chance at fixing things she saw and ran with it. Things got-...extreme to put it lightly, but was that any better than him or what he did? He'll admit her reasoning was better. Can't say wanting to get rid of bad guys was worse than just being selfish over getting a trophy. She continued to sniffle and wipe at her face in front of him and he continued to stare at her in shock before sighing and reaching a hand to rub his face feathers drooping. Conductor you done pecked it up.

"*sigh* L-Lassie I-...*sigh* Aye." He nodded and she sniffled looking up at him with red eyes. "Aye. Ye right. M' an old peckneck who nah thinks about things enough. Guess that makes us both even mistakers."

Muriel still sniffled and looked at him for a moment before attempting to scowl and with red eyes pointed at him. "Yeah?...W-Well I'm still gonna keep an eye on you! I won't let Cookie be hurt by any bad guy! Mark my words! I'm the best hero in the world!!"

He..attempted a small smile and huff. "Aye, Lass. That's something we can both agrrree on."

"...Agree on what?"

"That we both care about the same person!," he pointed out. Hey..Maybe they did have some common ground after all. "If any peckneck tries anything...They'll meet my friend who's not rrrrubber."

"Dunno what you mean by that but you're right about that." She nodded but narrowed her eyes. "But I've got my eyes on you! Don't think just because you're dating her that I won't be watching out."

"Aye, Lass. That's a fair assumption." If he had eyes he would've rolled them. Kids. "I suppose you'll want to inspect me train next?"

She blinked. "....You want to show me your train!?" Her eyes widened. "Like the ones they have in the movies!?"

"The ones they have in the movies. I'll have you know there is only ONE train in any of those pictures and I happen to own it," he stated proudly much to the girl's wonder, "Would ye like to see it?"

"YES!!"

"Well tis just outside the studios! Ye need to jus show your bird ID card to the security guard-"

"Bird ID card?,'' she asked back confused raising a brow. "But...I don't have anything like that."

"Ye don't?" She shook her head no and he hummed. "Well this won't do at all! How does anyone expect ye ta not wrack up damage coverage if ya ain't a bird? C'mere Lass an' we'll get ye one."

Needless to say Cookie returned to a very excited child and an old bird with a better understanding of things.

[s-creations]

Return the Flames - Chapter 13

All at Dead Bird Studios knew of Amos' (The  Conductor's) ability. How the owl could suddenly erupt into flames if  angered enough. When the studio first opened, Dominic (DJ Grooves) was  told that Amos had his ability under control. Nothing to worry about. No  possible loss of anything from an open flame.

A few years later however, and that control seems to have lessened to a dangerous degree.

It should have just been a simple, week long drive to fix the problem. It really should have been.

Dominic should have asked a lot more questions and should have been prepared for a twist ending.

_________________

Fandom: A Hat in Time           Rating: General Audience           Relationships/Pairings: The ConductorXDJ Grooves         Warnings: Eventual depictions of violence, slow burn relationship, named characters, attempt of an accent, being hunted down, a race against time (sort of).

As the sun slowly descended over the horizon, Amos was slowly making his way up the mountain. 

  It was a painful process. Every part of him was screaming in agony. Attempting to fully put itself back together as Amos charged forward. As best he could. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been out since his fall. All he knew was he’d been away from Dominic for too long with the creeps breathing down his neck. So, even though all he wanted to do was sleep, Amos pushed forward. His mind focusing on getting back to Dominic. 

  The area was quiet. Sure, Amos was climbing up a mountain with wind roaring around him. But he was expecting to hear something. Or at least see something that counted as trouble. Anything. However, there was nothing. No noise, nothing showing that C.A.W. was still attempting their capture. It was unsettling. Because Amos wasn’t fully sure what to expect when he reached the top. 

  Had Dominic and those Nomads successfully block the way in? Or did they maybe chase off C.A.W. by some miracle. No, if that was true, he had a feeling Dominic would be hanging over the edge of the mountain, helping Amos up. So did that mean C.A.W. had captured them all? Were they going to be used as bait to better lure Amos out? 

  The owl let out a strangled cry as part of the mountain fell underfoot. Amos scrambled to find his footing again before falling too far down. Panting hard, pain flaring up again, a few minutes passed before Amos felt he could move again.

  He was getting closer. The familiar cart was getting bigger. A carved out, leveled section of the mountain was what said cart was resting by. Still no signs that anything was amiss…

  Amos really needed to keep his mental mouth shut. 

  He was only a few feet away when an explosion sounded. Not directly above him, but to the left. Amos assumed that was another entrance that Bakle had talked about. Rocks went flying away, Amos thankful he wasn’t under where that was happening. The relief was short lived when a rock seemed to shine in the dying light. Amos realized it was a large chunk of ice. Pure ice that looked like what Dominic had created back at the camp. 

  The owl’s attention snapped forward hearing desperate cries and shouts echoing from the temple. It seems as if the fight Amos had been fearful of was finally happening. 

  He was moving faster than he’d ever had before. Claws cracking the flat plateau as he finally reached the temple entrance. The doors were already open, showing a raised pillar in the center with a midnight blue feather resting on it. Amos paused, laying his eyes on it. His heart rate speeding up, feeling a pull deep in his soul. Which was instantly broken when he watched as a familiar C.A.W. agent slammed Dominic against said pillar. 

  Anger that Amos had never felt before filled him. Every part of him felt as if he was on fire. But it didn’t hurt. In fact, nothing hurt anymore. All he knew was anger and an overwhelming need to protect. 

  Amos knew he didn’t pass out. But all went black as his basic instincts took over. 

  __________________________

  There was not much that could be done but wait for something to happen in the temple. 

  Dominic felt uncomfortable with how quiet it was. Sure he could hear the wind and the crackling of the ice he’d made as it settled. But no one was saying anything. Bakle and his father were resting by the pillar. The penguin sitting on the steps, facing the entrance they’d come through. 

  “Where are you Amos…” The penguin muttered weakly. 

  “I’m sure the Child is alright.” Bakle offered as an attempt to calm Dominic. The child faltered when he didn’t receive a reply. Instead of dwelling on it, Bakle’s attention turned to the wall of ice and stone. “Do you think they’re gone?”

  “I doubt it,” Dominic replied, “If I had to take a guess, they’re trying to ‘solve’ this. Break the wall down somehow.” 

  “Oh…”

  Dominic was pulled from his own thoughts hearing the quiet reply. He looked over, finding Papa attempting to comfort his child. Letting out a low sigh, the penguin made his way towards the other two. “I’m sorry. I really wish this wasn’t happening.”

  “I… We don’t blame you or your partner sir.”

  The penguin flushed, but made no comment. “Still...what an absolute nightmare this has become. A road trip turned into a life and death struggle. How ironic that a rather cliche movie plot has become reality. Wonder if Amos and I could profit off this somehow.”

  “It certainly is an interesting story.”

  Dominic laughed softly, going to make another response. Only to pause, hearing something strange. A sort of ‘ping’ sound that sounded from the ice/rock wall. Leaving the other two, Dominic approached said wall.

  Hearing mumbles and harsh whispers as he neared it. A familiar hissing sound followed. A sound that Dominic had heard numerous times in Amos’ movie. Before an explosion went off…

  Dominic wasn’t able to get a warning out before the wall was blasted away. He was stunned, unmoving as he was sprawled on the ground with his ears ringing. There were muffled shouts and panicked pleas. Dominic looked over to find Papa being held down by thick ropes. Struggling to get to Bakel, who was being held back by two agents. 

  Any thoughts of helping were immediately broken when Dominic was picked up and thrown. His back hitting the pillar and collapsing at the base of it. Getting no time to recover as he was picked up once more. Hands grabbing his collar and pushing him against the pillar. 

  “You think you’re so clever…” The head C.A.W. agent growled darkly. “You’re just prolonging your fall.”

“And you...really are...full of yourself…” Dominic choked out. 

  “You could have avoided all of this! If you just gave us the Phoenix at the beginning-”

  “Why would I! You’re going to kill him!”

  “Because nothing that dangerous should exist.” 

  “Amos is not dangerous! He’s scared and in pain. He would never intentionally hurt anyone. You and your agents are the dangerous ones.”

  The crow’s feathers ruffled, beak opening to make one final comment. Only to release Dominic and step away when fire erupted between them. Stumbling away as well, Dominic collapsed once more. Leaning against the pillar as he looked up, mouth dropping as what he saw. 

  Amos stood between Dominic and the agent. Hunched over and breathing hard, his entire body was shaking. With rage or exhaustion, Dominic couldn’t tell. The most alarming feature were the flames. The tips of each feather turned to flames that combined with the rest of them, growing and in turn, making Amos appear larger. But the most outstanding part was the color. It wasn’t the typical yellow and orange, not the threatening burn that Dominic had been used to seeing. These flames were a merge of colors. Deep blues and purples, with the tips of the flames a bright pink, melding together with the natural orange of Amos’ feathers. It was as if day and night were competing to shine the brightest. 

  The penguin was in absolute awe. The agent, however, was less than impressed. 

  “There you are… I was wondering when you would stop hiding behind your accomplices.” The crow said calmly. Even with torn and tattered clothes, staring down an angry creature that was engulfed in flames, the agent seemed to act as if he was in control. “Now, do you plan on coming quietly? You’ve honestly caused enough trouble.”

  “You absolute peck neck,” Amos growled dangerously, “You chased me down, threatened me, threatened the people I’m with, drugged me, and ya think I’m the problem?”

  “Yes.”

  “Ya absolute wretched person-” The owl stumbled slightly when a familiar dart entered his arm. The agent who fired it looked pleased...only for their smile to slip away when the dart actually melted away. 

  Dominic flinched when, in a flash, Amos was suddenly standing before said agent. Grabbing the gun and easily melting it before the shaking crow. “I would highly suggest ya run.” 

  That was all it took for the surrounding underlings to frantically rush towards the exits. Practically tripping over each other with small, terrified chirps. Now free, Bakle rushed over to his father as the larger Nomad sat up slowly. The lead crow watched on furiously as their team ran out. 

  “You idiots, we’re so close to ending this! Where do you think you’re going?” They let out  small squawk when a clawed hand grabbed the front of their collar. Amos towering over them, glaring with a scowl. 

  “Ya should have run when ya had the chance.” 

  “I will bring you down.”

  Dominic stood up, hand reaching out to pull Amos away. “Sweetheart-”

  “Sir!” Bakle called out, him and his father hiding behind one of the large pillars. Getting Dominic’s attention, the young Nomad pointed towards the opening in the ceiling. 

  The sky was filled with stars, the inky black in such contrast towards the bright afternoon. The moon was in full view in the opening, almost touching the other side. Below it, the feather was giving off a gentle glow. Amos, who had also looked over hearing Bakle, had his attention drawn towards the feather. 

  Before he could move, Dominic let out a yelp of surprise as the larger Nomad lifted him up. Pulling both the penguin and his son behind the pillar again. 

  “What is happening?” Dominic frantically demanded, struggling to get out of the grasp. 

  “No sir, don’t go out!” Bakle gripped the penguin’s arm. 

  “What-”

  “The Child needs to return the given power.”

  “I don’t even know what that means!”

  On the other side of the temple, the C.A.W. agent struggled to break free from Amos’ grip. The owl fully focused on the feather. Beginning to walk towards it when the moon filled the opening fully. Dragging the agent along with. 

  “What do you think you’re doing creature!” The crow spat.

  Amos didn’t respond, keeping a tight grip on the agent as he reached the base of the pillar. Dominic was able to peak around just as Amos began to reach out. The penguin was pulled back gently and kept in place just as a clawed hand collected the feather. 

  To anyone outside of the temple, the peak of said mountain suddenly erupted into flames. Every available opening had a pillar of fire escaping from it. The tallest seen from the top. One could make the assumption that it touched the heavens. 

  The trio that were tucked behind the stone pillar cowered away from the flames. The heat unbearable as it quickly traveled past the group. Dominic screwed his eyes shut to protect from the blaring light. There had been a brief sound of a scream of pain and fear before it had been cut off by the roaring fire. 

  It all lasted for a few seconds. The deafening silence that followed seemed to cause more fear than the fire. Dominic let out a slow, shaky breath, pulling away from the rest to step around the pillar. He retched at the burnt husk of the C.A.W. agent. The blackened bones showing it’s beach open in a forever silent scream. The feather had returned to the top of the pillar. At the base of it, completely unmoving, the tips of his orange feathers burnt black, was Amos. 

  “Amos!” Dominic rushed over, rolling the owl over to cradle him close. Amos didn’t react, head rolling to the side to rest against Dominic’s shoulder. The fear only grew when he realized the owl felt cold. Frozen even. 

  “Amos… Amos, please, you need to wake up. You can’t...you can’t do this… We were going to make movies together, remember? Going to take the world by storm, right? ...Amos?” Dominic gave a small sob, pulling Amos closer. Hiding his face in the orange feathers. 

  “Please come back…”

[bittybattybunny]

A novel?! That's so cool!! Can't wait to see!! Life is kicking my ass right now so I haven't been able to read any fics :'( I'm a slow reader a d I like to take my time...but! Next week I'll be able to relax and one of my favorite ways of doing it is by reading fics!! I kind of got behind TLC but I'll be able to have a full marathon then :D

That’s the idea!

Tbh I’ve actually debated it for a while cuz like TLC is already so fucking canon divergent and I’ve basically written my own lore so extensive I’d need to make a powerpoint somedays.

Like really I’d just need to change a few names (Subcon Snatcher, Nyakuza, Moonjumper, DJ Grooves) and do a lil redesigning (Like Hattie probs will get more curly hair like Ru has, Ru’s leviathan form will be the Natural Leviathan form with a couple tweaks, Redesigning the cryptic, redesigning the Moonjumper design (tho Ive actually already redone Sena’s Twilight demon form so I’ll need to futz with Morgan and Marcus)

And I think it could be good to swap over!!

Plus if I do this once I finish the fanfiction I can rewrite and reorganize the plot because it’s changed soooo much. like rn I’m pretty on course for the rest of the fic and Know what i’m doing but earlier on I can changed a lot of details during the course of writing that I wanna kinda retailor. Plus I can go into more details in the earlier bits when I was getting back into the swing of writing!

Like it’ll be a lot of work I mean it’s a god damn monster

but I think I’d break it up and change it up to fit more in volumes---

so like volume one would be Hattie meeting snatcher and Snatcher’s adapting to life on land and would end when he’s in the swing/his feelings tart forming (so around sun festival/moon festival)

Volume two would be the section I’m currently in progress of posting with Him swapping from the “im a lonely grouchy eel” to “I’m a dad and I think Im in love” and his relationship with eclipse and would end probs around a big angst event coming up :3 (yeah look forward to that)

Volume 3 would be what I normally call “climax” whenever i bring it up in regards to TLC and it’s the part I’ve hinted a lot of what’s going to happen but I’ve been kinda tight lipped on other wise and would be the final volume with a potential epilogue for the story (and this is the part I’m currently typing for tlc and it’s had mouse screaming when she realized what was happening and that its finally happening cuz she and gin know what i have planned but not how it goes down)

Other things I’ve considered is a few ‘spin off’ books to go with the main 3 (also notice i kept it in 3s? I like 3.) Like the actual story of Hattie’s parents (probs expand it to be a solo novel), probs a like ‘lore’ book (think the gravity falls journals0 that explains the demons, religions and stuff I’ve created

And of course there’s a few other things I’d plan >u> but I’ll keep a lil hush (but a hint is it may involve ‘alternate realities’ tied to tlc) because this is all still a huge ‘maybe’ and will happen when the main fic is done and I have a lil more time on my hands/health improves (tho tbh past week I’ve been dealing with the fact one reason my hip was so fucked for like all of 2021 may have been MY FUCKING SHOES and I’m so mad at how much pain I was in for such a stupid thing)

if you can’t tell this isn’t like a sudden thought thing I’ve actually been thinking about this since... I want to say I’ve considered this since when I was posting the sun festival chapters!

ahhh I hope you enjoy!!! tbh I’m unsure if I’ll update this week and next or not. I have the chapters done and covers sketched but I’m so nervous posting these chapters blah (nothing bad in them. I think i’ve mentioned just. mental barriers and stuff I deal with. the next like 4 chapters are all kinda angst heavy but also plot heavy and mean a lot to me personally lol aka--- Eclipse’s werewolf reveal as well as the in canon reveal of her scar origins)

but i feel you on life kicking the ass, hope you can rest up!

[shadowthrone-ammanas]

Guilt

Drabble request from @iscaredspider on Discord that ended up not being much of a drabble at all. They asked for Dadcher angst; Snatcher feeling guilty about trying to kill Hat Kid. It ended up being not super angsty and delving more into Hat Kid’s past than I intended it to but that’s okay. Thank you for the request!

Hat Kid had been gone nearing a full year now. A long time, meaning she was probably gone for good, her promises to come back and visit forgotten. That was fine though, Snatcher didn’t care. Why would he? He was glad she was gone, she’d been a pest, nothing but a thorn in his side. He didn’t miss her at all, not even a little.

He was only thinking about her because he’d pulled out the ‘How to Kill Kids’ book he’d always made sure to have open when she was around in a failed attempt to get a reaction out of her. Maybe she’d somehow known it was a fake title… or couldn’t read the language despite knowing how to speak it, she was an alien after all. He’d only brought it out because... because… why not? It was his book; he could pull it out whenever he pleased and it didn’t mean anything, certainly not that he missed Hat Kid or anything like that. In fact, he was going to…

“Snatcher!” That voice…

He looked up to see Hat Kid strolling up to his reading hollow, balancing on the vine leading to it. She was noticeably a bit taller now, her hair longer too but still tied into a neat ponytail and… still using the bow he’d made for her.

“I’m back,” she said with a wide smile and flourish of her arms as she stepped into the hollow. “Did you miss me?”

“No, course not,” he replied, forcing a sneer to hide how much his mouth wanted to smile for some reason. “Why would you even come back?”

“Because you’re my BFF silly.”

Again with the BFF thing. Why? He’d tried to kill her. And then he’d put her through the Death Wish contracts. Yes, she’d chosen to do them but… she should hate him. He was a bad person and she was a good person; good guys hating bad guys was how things worked for almost everyone else on the planet and presumably the universe because it was the most logical thing. Why was she so different?

“I would’ve come sooner,” she continued. “But uh…” the joy fell from her face, replaced with sorrow. “Stuff happened that delayed me. But that’s okay,” and suddenly she was all smiles again. “I’m here now. How have you been?”

Should Snatcher ask her what had delayed her and why thinking about it had brought that look to her face? He wanted to know purely for the sake of curiosity, not because he cared. If he asked though, she probably would assume he did so… he’d ask later, pretend it was an afterthought. “It’s been quiet around here with you gone.” Too quiet. “It’s been nice but now unfortunately you’re back.”

“Yeah, I’m sure, you’re real upset about that huh?” She giggled. “You can’t fool me, I know you missed me because even if you won’t admit even to yourself I know you care.”

“Kid, I tried to kill you more than once. What part of that says I care even a little?”

“A lot of those challenges weren’t you trying to kill me though, just challenge me. And if you were really trying to kill me with them, you wouldn’t have given me the option to not do them. And when you were trying to kill me for real it was because that’s what you do with all your contractors. If that wasn’t the standard you’d already set yourself, you probably wouldn’t have even done that, am I right?”

“Even if that was true,” and maybe looking back on it was, though Snatcher wasn’t going to tell her that, “that still doesn’t explain why you insist on bothering me so much. Most people hate people who tried to kill them, regardless of their reasons for doing it.”

“Well, I don’t.” Hat Kid shrugged. “Almost everyone I know has tried to kill me at least once or at the very least put me in a situation where I could easily die and didn’t care if I did. So, if I lived life by that standard, I’d hate everybody and that’s no fun.”

Welp, that just made it worse. Was Snatcher really just among a long list of people who’d tried to kill her? … Mustache Girl had, DJ Grooves had, without even counting the Death Wish contract, the Conductor had almost blown his train up with her on it, the Empress had and… that was almost everyone she interacted with in a major way from this planet. The only one who hadn’t put her in danger or outright tried to murder her was the Walrus Captain. Hat Kid was just a child, what was wrong with all them? Snatcher had at least had had an excuse… right? Sort of anyway? … Maybe.

“What about your parents?” he asked, pushing aside those thoughts.

Hat Kid moved forward to sit on the footstool and look up at him. “I don’t have any.”

“Meaning, you’re… an orphan?” Making the whole trying to kill her thing that much worse because who went around murdering orphans?

“Maybe, I guess. I don’t really know if they’re dead or just abandoned me to the school for whatever reason. I don’t care either because I have a spaceship.” She smiled proudly. “I get to visit other planets. It’s fun even if very few people actually like me. A lot of the people I meet always either want me dead because they want my Time Pieces or want to capture me so they can study me because I’m an alien. Sometimes they want to do both so they can dissect me.”

Every word out of her mouth even if they were spoken in a nonchalant tone just made Snatcher feel worse for her. Surely, she was exaggerating though. It couldn’t really be that bad, right? “You said something about a school, what about the teachers and principle?” Presumably the people who’d taught her how to fly a spaceship. Teaching such things to a child was questionable at best but… “Surely they take care of you, right? They’ve never tried to kill you or anything like that.” She had to have an authority figure in her life somewhere that cared for her.

“Uh… I really shouldn’t tell you about them, it’s against the rules. But you’re my BFF and the rule is specifically not to tell intelligent lifeforms this stuff but you’re dead so it’s technically not a violation of the rule.” Loopholes were great, weren’t they? “So… no they haven’t tried to kill me. But some of their tests are pretty dangerous because being a space pilot can be super dangerous so you gotta be prepared. I don’t know for sure if anyone’s died during them, though there are tons of rumors about it happening so it probably happens sometimes. And one guy I know got maimed during a test somehow and failed because of it. I don’t know the details because he got kicked out for it so I never saw him again. Heck, maybe he died and that’s a lie they told us.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me. That’s a huge lawsuit waiting to happen.” The fact that no one had sued the school out of business yet was a miracle. “They’re going to get sued into the ground, just you wait.” Everyone would be better off when it finally happened too. Snatcher would do it himself just for fun if he could.

Hat Kid shrugged. “Hmm… I guess, I don’t know. But my point was, I’m not upset you tried to kill me because I’m used to it.” And that just made it worse. “So, you don’t feel bad either, okay?” She smiled up at him, way too cute and innocent.

All right fine, Snatcher felt bad about trying to kill her. After hearing more about her life than he wanted to know, how could he not? He had before too though, hadn’t he? But only a little bit. But this is why he hated children. It was far too easy to grow a soft spot for them and then have stupid emotions and gross feelings like this. They were worse than cats because cats at least had the decency to not have the same depth of emotion, intelligence, and understanding that children did. And now he had to apologize, didn’t he? Because he done a bad thing to someone he… – ugh – cared about, and felt bad about it. So…

“No, kiddo… ugh, I apologize, okay? I didn’t know you’re an orphan and I didn’t know any of that other stuff about how awful people tend to treat you. So, stop looking at me like that, it makes me uncomfortable.”

She blinked up at him. “Did you just…” A smile spread across her face, “apologize? Are you actually admitting you care? At least enough to apologize anyway.”

His instinct was to say ‘no’ but… he kind of had just admitted it, hadn’t he? And… the reason she was so excited about that prospect was… because based off what she just told him, not many people cared about her, right? So… “Fine, kiddo, fine, I… care about you a little, okay? A tiny bit, like this much.” He held up a hand to hold his thumb and finger apart about an inch or two. “I feel bad that I tried to kill you, I shouldn’t have, it was wrong.” Not that he didn’t do wrong things all the time and not feel bad about it but she was a special case because she just was. She’d wormed her way into his cold dead heart somehow and he couldn’t rid himself of that now matter how much he would prefer if he could.

“I knew it!” She jumped up and onto his chair to hug him, even nuzzling his mane. He sighed and tolerated it. It wasn’t that bad… but it didn’t mean he liked it. It made his regret worse though because she was so happy he cared about her after he’d… tried to kill her, more than once too. And in general, she shouldn’t be so happy somebody cared about her, regardless of who they were. That was something she should be used to, not people wanting her dead or not caring if they killed or injured her somehow.

Maybe later he’d offer to try to fix that whole orphan situation of hers. He had the credentials to draft up adoption papers after all. And finding someone who wanted her as a daughter shouldn’t be too hard, she was adorable and sweet after all – though he’d never tell her those things. Heck, if he weren’t against the idea of being a parent, he might’ve offered to take her in himself. No way was that going to happen though.

For this drabble event.

[syahaz]

Camp TV Short Story - Guyliner Interest I

Notes: This short story has the majority of the Camp TV casts. So if this AU ever gets adapted into a chronological timeline, some of the characters (except Trenton, Heather, Lindsay and Tyler) may be absent due to elimination as the main possible reason. It also has an alternate plot that is very long. I usually don’t address it as the previous one is very short compared to this story you’re about to read. As I stated earlier, since many characters are present, the main event will be dragged for so long to give space for said casts to have their own moment before the actual event starts. 

Cut confessional/scene means confessional or scene that has never been released to the public because of Chris moderation and the editing crew work. Doesn’t mean it is purely protected from possibility of loss and leakage though.

I don’t know if I want to add Cody when writing this as I’m not sure what kind of personality I want to write him with for this AU.

I usually try my best to do less ‘tell’ than ‘show’ but for some very complicated scenes, I just had to do it because I find it puzzling when I read it myself. Sorry for that. Maybe I could try it for shorter fics in the future if applicable.

---

The ending of this first route of this story is rough, at least for me. If you want a more mellow ending, go read the second route of this story. You can skip reading where the altered ending starts (indicated with “///”).

---

It’s a fine lovely morning with the birds chirping and the ocean beating the beach sand. Several campers gathered around Lindsay because she made invitations the day before.

“Okay everyone, gather up! We’re going to do something exciting today!” Lindsay announced. “Well as you can see, I first thought this show was gonna be a talent contest. So I brought a lot of makeup leftover. You know what that means?” She added, holding a dazzling makeup pouch. “Makeover!” Katie & Sadie excitedly scream. “Yeah… No.” Lindsay opposes. They aww in disappointment. “Okay technically you’re both right because we all girls are going to make-up the boys here!” She backs up. Katie & Sadie back to their cheerful selves. “Whoa! Is that why we’re all guys here bra? I already bring myself for the groove.” Geoffrey dances a little despite being surprised as he expects a morning party will be going on. “Not all guys, I’m outta here.” Dunc leaves without wasting any second. “Can’t believe I waste precious time for sleep or planning pranks.” He mumbles as he walks away. “Duh, what else is the reason to bring you boys here?

Okay, so now I’m going to assign the pairs for our makeup session.” Lindsay replies. “But wait. Where’s Eva? Owen, and Zeke?” Bridgette interferes. “Eva is on her routine jogging with Zeke. You know, to let him get around the outdoor world. Not sure about Owen though.” Lindsay shrugs. “Alright, let’s begin! Ahem, ahem. Lewshana, you’re with Harold.” she continues. “Yesss. A makeover by a beautiful woman. What a lucky day!” Harold makes a yes hand gesture with a happy grin and glimpses at Lewshana. She naturally rolls her eyes, hands on hips and shakes her head. 

“Katie, Justin.” Lindsay assigns the next pair. Sadie gasps. “But I wanna make up Justin too!” “Too bad that I just got lucky to give him the best makeup ever.” Katie sneers. “How dare you!” Sadie was irritated. “Ladies please, calm down. I don’t like to see you two best friends fighting over someone handsome like me.” Justin puts both his hands on Katie and Sadie then pulls them closer to him. “You see, I have two faces, and by that I mean the right side and the left side. Sadie can do my right and Katie can do my left side. What do you say?” He makes peace between the girls. “Deal.” They both agreed satisfiedly.

Lindsay shakes her head and rolls her eyes seeing the girls’ instant tension. “Beth, you and DJ.” She points at both Beth and DJ. “Nice. We’re so going to have so much fun!” Beth utters and high-five DJ, he smiles. “ … Bridgette, hm… you’re with…” She taps her right index finger on her chin while she tries to pick either Geoffrey or Trenton, the boys left for options. Geoffrey is a bit panicked because he wishes to be paired with a particular girl. Meanwhile Trenton is just static as he’s not seeing what’s befalling him, same as Bridgette. Heather contrarily bites her lips. Nervous about the possibility of Lindsay’s choice. “Geoffrey.” Lindsay finally picks her choice. “YESSS!” Geoffrey shouts excitedly and jumps to the air as high as he could. Bridgette raises her eyebrows at him. Totally confused with his reaction. Heather gawking at Lindsay’s selection.

“Wait, so that leaves me with-” Trenton speaks under his breath. “Heatherrr!~ You go with Trenton.” Lindsay says. “WHAT? NO!!” Trenton objects. Heather hugs herself and takes a few steps away from him. “Aww, come on. If you go then who’s Heather gonna put makeup on?” Lindsay insists. “Well uhh, Tyler’s there.” Trenton points at Tyler who stands beside Lindsay from the start. “Sorry man. I just can’t do that.” Tyler declines. “What the? Then why are you here then?” Trenton perplexes. “I’m Lindsay's assistant for today. Never heard of makeup assistants?” Tyler states. “Well, to be fair, nope. I don’t.” Trenton replies. “You’re one poor guy. That’s why you need a makeover. C’mon, light up your face! The world would looove to see it.” Lindsay persuades with a sweet smile on her face. “Really?” Trenton feels a little delighted. Lindsay and Tyler smile and nod in sync. “Ahahaha, alrighty then.” Trenton complies. “Everyone! All of you can choose your spot around this area. Call me and Tyler whenever you’re done alright.” Lindsay says to all campers. After the grouping segment, all the participating campers took their spot facing each other. The girls get assorted makeup tools that they can trade with others or Lindsay later on.

“Sadie no, not there. Here. Katie, you dab a little lighter there.” Justin half-complains to make sure the makeup won’t ruin his looks while Katie and Sadie happily put blush and eyeliner on him with glittery eyes.

Lewshana suddenly stops from working as something is ticking her off. “What’s wrong, Lewshana? Are you alright?” Harold asks worriedly. “Oh yes I am until you keep smiling at me non-stop! It’s creeping me out.” She tells him what’s bothering her for minutes. “Ah sorry… It’s hard to resist when seeing such a magnificent woman like you this close.” He apologizes, rubs hands in guilt. She smiles pleasingly with raised eyebrows seeing him like that. “Just... keep still until I say I’m done. Okay, dreamy guy?” She tries to compromise with his silly behaviour. “Anything for you~” He willingly agrees.

“It’s been quite long since I put makeup on others. So I’m not sure which blush colour suits you hmm.” Beth being indecisive determining the suitability of DJ’s skin tone with the several colours available on the blush palette. “This one.” He casually points at one of the colours available on the blush palette with a friendly smile. “Wow, how did you know right away? Oh oh. Teach me! Teach me!” She was amazed by his confidence. “Of course. I can makeup you too if you want.” He gladly replies. “Yes please!” She gleefully accepts his offer.

“So Bridgette right? How long have you been surfing?” Geoffrey tries his best to spark some chatting time with Bridgette in an attempt to get to know her more. “I’ve been surfing since I was a little girl. My parents are such advocates for appreciating nature, saving wildlife and enjoying the breeze of the ocean. For short, it’s in my blood.” She proudly answers. “That’s awesome bra! Maybe we could surf the next day or whatever.” Geoffrey invites her by chance. “Sure, why not?” She’s being the same mind as him. “Cool.” He  says shortly.

Trenton slouches on his seat while Heather fakes her excitement getting him as her partner with a split-second insincere smile. They both groan as soon as they meet eye to eye. “What an unfortunate day.” She throws her head back. “I was about to say the same.” He acknowledges her frustration. She calmly breathes. “Let’s… get this over alright?” “Okay.” He replies shortly with no enthusiasm.

While the others are busy with their makeup business, Owen comes to the scene with brownies smeared on his mouth. “Owen!~ Where have you been? I thought you wouldn't come.” Lindsay welcomes Owen. “Hello guys! Sorry for coming late hahaha. I've just finished my mission just now.” He claims. “You mean stealing brownies from Chef's kitchen?” Tyler notices the thing on Owen’s mouth. “Oops!” Owen wiped his mouth. “Hehehe, please don’t tell him. Or he’s gonna kill me! I mean, who could resist those delicious brownies?! The chocolate, the chunks, the yumminess!” He then starts to weep in fear. “Alright alright, we promise. Now that you’re here, why don’t you join the rest doing makeup?” Lindsay pats his back gently. “Did you say makeup? Ohh, I love makeup!” He claps lively. “Lindsay! We’re donee!~” Katie and Sadie finish their task. "Nice. Show me your work girls!” Lindsay encourages. “We presenting you, ... JUSTIN!!!” They proudly reveal Justin with makeup on. Lindsay & Owen ogle Justin’s beauty. Their view filled with imaginary hearts and sparkles on Justin. Tyler gasps. “Wonderheart!” He was annoyed with Lindsay’s reaction. Lindsay snapped out of her dreamy world. “Oops, sorry. But that’s what makeup does, Tyling. Maybe you could have some makeover on you?~” She teases her lover. He pushes both his palms towards her. “Uh, maybe save that for later, or never.” He anxiously rejects her offer. “Guys, I don't want to cut the scene but uhh can I see my face now?” Justin slips in. “Whoops! Sorry Justin.” Katie & Sadie give him a mirror. “Hmm, not bad. Could do a little more work here and there but this will do.” Justin comments. “Yayyy!” They gleefully cheer. Katie, Sadie and Justin go their own way after Lindsay takes a picture of them three. “Hey Owen, you can join us here. DJ is reaaally good at makeup. Look at me!” Beth invites Owen. “Wow! You look gorgeous, Beth! Maybe Justin will notice me more with cool makeup on me. I’m on your way guys!” He dashes to Beth and DJ.

“Geoffrey…” Bridgette sighs deeply. “What is it?” He concernedly asks. “I’m sorry... Like very sorry.” She apologizes all of a sudden. “What’s wrong?” He put hands on her shoulders. “I’m just… Not good at this makeup thing.” She shamely covers her face. He gently holds her hands trying to calm her down. “Aww Bridge, I’m sure people gonna like it.” He notices Lindsay and Tyler that are sauntering while checking on pairs that are still working on their makeup. “Hey look! It’s them. C’mon, show them your makeup skill.” He convinces her. “Are you sure? B-but you don’t even look at your face yet.” She opposes him. “I don’t need to look at it to know that you're very talented bra.” He assures her with a bold grin. She smiles sweetly.

--- Confessional ---

“Wow, this is the first time someone who barely knows me praises me for something other than surfing. It’s like-” Bridgette says joyfully then takes a quick breath. “-a fresh breath of air!” She continues.

---

“Lindsay! Tyler! We’re hereee!” Geoffrey waves with both arms up high.* Lindsay and Tyler walk together to them. They hold their laugh halfway when they get a close look at Geoffrey. “What’s so funny dude?” Geoffrey asks. Truly curious of their reaction. “Your face my man. Very funny.” Tyler replies and takes a pic without Geoffrey and Bridgette ready. “This is a gold comedy.” He adds. “Funny? Don’t you mean beautiful?” Geoffrey tries to be as positive as he can. “Perhaps you have to take a look for yourself.” Lindsay lends Geoffrey a mirror. Geoffrey quickly becomes wordless but screams terrifyingly as he terrorizes with what he sees. He then glances at Bridgette. She slumps her shoulders. Looking down with frown seeing his reception on her makeup work. “Bridge. … I-” He tries to console her but she collects tears in her eyes in flash.  After that, she covers her face then runs away in embarrassment. “Bridgette? Bridgette! Argh, I messed up!” He regrets his actions. Possibly mad at himself as well.

Lewshana brushed a few last strokes on his face. “Mmm mmm! I think the cooking is ready now!” She speaks satisfiedly. “You can cook while doing makeup? Wow, what a superwoman you are!” Harold was amazed by her supposed abilities. “That means I’m done with the makeup, Funky Guy.” She corrects his statement. “Oh, so my face is like food? If it is, is it delicious?” He says in pure enthusiasm. She facepalms as he takes her words too seriously. “Hey you two over there! I’m all done with this dreamy white boy. So what do we do now hmm?” She calls out Lindsay and Tyler that happen to arrive nearby. “Wow, Lewshana! Your makeup is so... fantasy-like I’d say. In a good way of course.” Lindsay comments and Tyler nods along. “Is that true? Let me see my face first for confirmation. Even though I will say it’s perfect anyway.” Harold was eager to see the makeup. Lindsay passes him the mirror in her makeup pouch. “Woooowwww. I look…. like… a beautiful princess!” Harold is so amazed that he subconsciously enters his fantasy world while imagining himself in a beautiful dress and Lewshana in knight suit. He then kneels down and holds both her hands with pleading eyes. “Oh Lewshana, would you be my knight in shining armour, protect me from those mad dragons?” He points at Lindsay and Tyler. “HEY!” Lindsay and Tyler exclaim but less serious as they know he is just goofing around. Lewshana laughs amusingly at Harold's unscripted skit. “Your imagination is truly something sugar.” She pinches his cheek playfully. “Cut cut! Acting's over hehehe.” Lindsay claps an imaginary clapper meanwhile Tyler is ready with the camera. “Camera will be rolling for the next pic. Pose and say cheese in 3,2,1!” She counts with her fingers. Lewshana and Harold pose and smile accordingly, arm on each other’s shoulders. Harold has a big grin of proudness in the shot particularly.

Bridgette stumbles upon Geoffrey while trying to collect herself at the beach. “Sorry. Oh, umm. What are you doing here?” Geoffrey apologizes for the incident between them earlier and asks in concern. “You know, just umm, getting some time to cool off a little?” She replies. “Cool. Can I join?” He says. “Sure.” She says shortly. They sit down together on the sandy beach. Trying to dim their tension. “Sorry about that. ... You know?” He starts after a couple seconds of silence. She shakes her head. “I know I’m kinda being dramatic and because of that, I owe you an apology. So, I am sorry. I knew you did that just to be nice and stuff, but that's not an excuse to not improve myself. Next time, try to be honest with yourself, alright?” She nudges him. “A-are you sure about that?” He stutters. Unsure he hears things right. “Of course. We all humans have flaws. The difference is some people are more open about it, some people are not. Others might lie, and the rest never notice it. Well... maybe until someone else points it out.” She lectures humbly. “Whoa. That’s a lot of word bra! Might take me awhile to understand it.” He massages his forehead. She giggled and pats his shoulder. “It’s okay. I’m sure you’ll get it eventually.” “If you say so.” He chuckles. They next exchange slow eye blink and charming smiles.

DJ, Beth and Owen are happily sharing moments together with the makeup time. “Y’all seems so alive here. What’s the buzz all about?” Lindsay asks sportively. “Of course hahaha. Look at me! I’m beautiful!.” Owen answers. “Wow! DJ, you’re soooo going to be my makeup assistant!” She shrieks excitedly.

--- Confessional ---

“I secretly played with my Mama’s makeup one time. One day, I got caught. Thought I was gonna get punished but I ended up getting a makeup lesson from her.” DJ puts some blush on his cheeks with a proud smile.

---

Tyler gasps. “Wonderheart!” He was a little jealous. “Aww, of course you’ll always be my first and forever, Tyling. *Lindsay gently strokes his chin. “Hehehehe okay~ Alright, everyone. Get in your place and ready for a shot.” He gives in and sets up the camera for another shot. DJ, Beth and Owen all make peace signs and delightful grins as a trio unity. Tyler flashes the camera. “There, all done. I think we can call it a day now. Great job everyone!” He gives a thumbs up. The trio makes the same gestures back as a reply. “Is it though? I feel like we forgot someone. … Or sometwo?” Lindsay tries to track back their list of the makeup event participants. “Who could it be? Hmm…” Beth slips in. “Well, I saw Justin, Katie, Sadie, Geoff- Ah huh! Now remember. Did you?” Lindsay then turns to Tyler. “… Oh…” He pauses for a couple seconds and nods. “But before that can we take a break under the tree there? All the walking makes me a bit tired.” He says. “Aww, of course Tyling. Bye you three. See ya later!~” Lindsay and Tyler hold hands and casually leave the trio after they finish and return her stuff.

“What took you so long, porcupine?! I already can feel like we’re definitely the last one to finish.” Trenton whines. “Excuse me but this is a work of ART, greasy hair. Of course it’s going to be long to finish. Just shut your mouth and eyes so that my job will be done in a minute. Sheesh!” Heather replies sharply. “Urgh, fine!” He rolls and closes his eyes and mouth. “Phew!” After a couple minutes, Heather wipes her forehead with the back of her hand. “Your face is one big wall but this will be worth it.” She was satisfied with her work. “Whatever, can I see my face already? He asks dryly. “Sure thing!” *Passes him a mirror while holding her laugh.

/// ENDING 1 ///

“Wha-WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY FACE!???” Trenton screams hysterically, seeing his face resembling what he was terrified of as a kid. “Give a makeover that you deserve!” Heather burst out a laugh as soon he was horrified by his so-called new look. “You kidding me!? I look like a mime!!!” He shouts ragingly. “Okay, what about it hmm?” She replies with a sassy voice. “Do you know how much I hate mime?!” He furiously asks. “Judging from your face, I just so happen to know it now.” She boldly faces him. “You give me bad makeup, I give you bad makeup!” He angrily snatches eyeliner from her hand while threatening her. She gasps and fastly snarls. “Oh no you don’t!!!”

Somewhere nearby Trenton and Heather, Zeke was huffed slowly stopping from running. “Who told you to stop pipsqueak?! I’m not slowing down all day just to see you being lazy!” Eva runs and shouts far behind him. “But my legs are starting to cramp! Ah!!!!” He tiredly sits and massages his legs. “That’s because you don’t warm up correctly! I already warned you but you don’t listen!” She reprimands of his carelessness. He suddenly hears some commotion. “Did you hear something?” She eventually stops from her running. “Now that you’re mentioning it, yes I do. I wonder where it came from?” She wonders, scanning her left and right. “I think it’s coming from over here.” He directs her to the sound source. Zeke and Eva instinctively hide behind a huge growing tree. They’re seeing Trenton and Heather fighting tooth and nail. “Great. Now the angry pants are making a show.” Eva puts hands on her hips and rolls eyes. “But I’m enjoying it.” She adds with snickers. “Uhh aren’t we gonna check them if they’re just playing around? They look serious, like that one couple who fight to death on the TV.” Zeke anxiously persuades her to check the fighting duo. “Nah, I’m sure they’re good.” She brushes him off confidently. This makes him stare at her in concern and worry.

Trenton hardly grips her shirt and pulls her closer to him with his other hand ready with eyeliner, held in a way to attempt stabbing it to her eyes. Heather grabs his arm with the eyeliner and hardly pushes it far enough for her jaw to open and presses his arm with her teeth solidly. He is only barely able to scratch her face with the eyeliner and throws it aside as his plan fails. In no time he pulls his bitten arm away to let it free from her jaws grip. After that he used the other arm to try snatching a bottle of white foundation that rolled nearby to continue his messing-up-her-face mission. Out of rage adrenaline, she swings her leg high and near his head with her front leg (read: high roundhouse kick). He hastily grasps her motionful leg, causing a huge pushing impact on his side face and losing body balance in split-second.

“Wait a minute, that’s illegal! Zeke, I think you’re right. We need to do something.” Eva is fancy watching Trenton and Heather like they're amateur wrestlers for a couple seconds until she realizes they did some illegal moves in wrestling. “Oh now you’re agreeing.” He crosses arms and sulks. “We have no time to waste, pipsqueak. Go get help and FAST!” She raises her voice up. “Then what you’ll be doing?” He asks, dissatisfied of her sudden direction. “I stay here because I’m your instructor. Now go go go!” She commands sternly. Having no much choice siding him, he sighs then runs in order to find someone nearby for the emergency. “HELP! HELP! SOMEBODY HELP!!!” He screams. “Who’s that?” Lindsay heard Zeke but unsure whose voice it was. “Sounds like Zeke. Looks like he’s in trouble.” Tyler dashed towards Zeke as Zeke is soon seen by him from far away and Lindsay tags along. “Hey dude, you look hurried. Is there anything we can help?” Tyler asks worriedly. “They. Fight. Real. Argh, I have no time to explain, just follow me!” Zeke rushes back to where he and Eva saw Trenton and Heather while the couple tail him from behind. They’re very shocked to see a huge altercation between Trenton and Heather. Without a question, Tyler impulsively joins Eva giving an extra hand to drag raging Trenton away from Heather. Meanwhile Lindsay and Zeke lock Heather’s arms and abdomen to avoid more injuries than they already had.

“YOU! What are you so mad about?! Did you know you could kill her in any second?” Eva scolded him. “What if that’s what I wanna do...” Trenton growls, glaring both Eva and Tyler intensely. They’re bulging their eyes of terror as they don’t get to see much of his face while the two are fighting because his hair covers most of it. “I was about to ask that too. Ahahahahahaha… haha… ha...” Tyler tries to break the silence with awkward laughter.

--- Confessional ---

“I swear, if Eva and I lose our grip for one second, Heather would definitely be a dead beaten meat in no time with Trenton in that much anger!” Tyler shudders remembering the incident.

---

Heather collapsed as soon as Trenton was far away from her. “A-are you okay, Heather?” Lindsay gets Heather up sitting on the ground and patting her back. “Other than my face smeared with bonus makeup, I’m alright… I think…” Heather says, seeing her injuries inflicted by Trenton’s massive rage. Some part of her was satisfied but other part felt it was wrong of her for causing him to do so. “Don’t guys are not supposed to wear makeup?” Zeke slips in. “No, you get that wrong, Zeke. Trust me, once you see DJ’s makeup work, you’ll change your mind.” Lindsay puts a hand on his shoulder and the other hand wipes the air. He nods in trying to understand Lindsay’s statement. “So if what you’re saying is true, that means YOU’RE the one who gives the wrong kind of makeup to him.” He points to Heather. Heather gasps in shock. “What? No! It’s a work of art. He’s the one who can’t appreciate it. You too!” She crosses her arms, looking away. “Then why would he be so mad?” He sighs as he gets tired because he had too much information to digest in one go. Something that is still new to him due to him being homeschooled where he was taught things slowly one by one. “You know what, suit yourself. I’m outta here. Geez…” He’s so done for the day and walks away. Lindsay shakes her head seeing them two.

--- Confessional ---

“I can’t believe that even the homeschool boy said my makeup sucked! Why am I surrounded with uncultured people? Arghhhh!” Heather rants in dissatisfaction with “everyone” trying to burn her down.

---

--- Cut Confessional ---

“Yes, correct and A+. I know the fight is gonna happen. Too bad I don’t get to take some shots of them. Actually, I do plan to mess up with other Gophers beforehand but putting Trenton and Heather together is easy instant drama. Stab the surface then ambush the interior! Ahhahahahahah! But to be fair, Heather is the one who gave him the makeup. She digs her own grave. Not me.” Lindsay disclosed the essence of the incident.

---

Later in the evening, Trenton knocks the girls’ cabin door. Coincidentally, Lindsay is the one who opens the door. “Oh.” She says half-surprised. “Lindsay hey! Good that you’re here. Well, umm I want to say that err I’m very sorry about this morning. I don’t mean to ruin your makeup tools.” With his back slightly down, a hand brushing his nape and eyes on the floor, he politely apologized. “Aren't you supposed to say sorry to Heather?” She low-key tries to stir his mind but actually curious with his reaction as well. “Maybe for the later time. Besides, she left me all these marks and bruises.” He gently brushes his bandaged arm. “Man, that girl is something grr! I don’t think I even want to talk to her for a couple days unless I reaaally have no other choice.” He complains. “Understandable. I would be mad too if I get horrible makeup done on my face… She nods in understanding his difficulty. He then bitterly smiles. “So what do you say?” “Alright alright, forgive you. Besides, my stuff's all fine. Don’t sweat it. I worry more about your injuries here. It looks ... so serious.” She inspects his covered wounds half-worried knowing that she’s part of the cause. “Yeah… Umm, can I ask you something?” He tries to change the topic. Not wanting to keep dwelling about it. “Sure what is it?” She goes along. He scans his surroundings and beckons after that to whisper his request to her. She simply nods to what he's whispering about.

Skipped to the next day. Almost all campers except for one are already gathered around Chris. At this point they’re hoping for the last camper to join them as soon as possible or the challenge will not be started. Impatience started to get into Eva. “What took him so long??! Urgh! I swear if he doesn’t turn up in the next second, I’ll-” “Sorry for making you wait awhile, Miss Eva, and everyone.” Trenton interrupts while catwalks towards them. “Oh, you again... No wonder.” Eva sighs gladly that she doesn’t have to wait any longer. “Yeah… Hey, thanks for yesterday, and you three too. I owe you guys a lot.” Trenton thanks Zeke, Lindsay and Tyler with smiles and keeps walking. All other campers stare at him with assorted reactions. “Whatever”, weirded out, curious, wonder, and even impressed, all jumbled in.

“Well, well, well. What we have here hmm?” Chris asks. So puzzled with Trenton’s new style. “I just got a new routine. That’s all.”  Trenton shrugs. “Yeah yeah. I can see that. Make sure to beat the clock next time dude, the clock is still ticking when you’re not walking.” Chris taps his watch that is hugging his left wrist. “Heheh alright.” Trenton replies shortly. “Man, you’re looking like you have an attitude with that face, and the bandages too.” Duncan sportively taunts. “Oh Dunc! I already had that actually. But only for a PARTICULAR person. You know who.” Trenton smashes Dunc’s words including a smirk. “Haha, Nice one.” Dunc was thrilled with Trenton’s wit. Trenton then seeks for remaining seats. He feels disappointed as no other seat other than next to Heather. Eventually, he reluctantly sits beside her.

“Well, well, well…” Heather tries to needle him but he quickly snarls in front of her. “Okay, okay. I-I’ll give you some space.” She pushes palms towards him and slides herself slightly away from him. “… I’m sorry alright…” She looks down and brushes her arm with guilt. He only blows steam through his nose and rolls eyes. Not in the mood to respond to anything from her.

--- Confessional ---

“Yesterday's event was very harsh with all these hurties, but it inspires me to start having a new look. You know, trying something new hahaha. All thanks to Lindsay.” Trenton pulls out an eyeliner, presumably given by Lindsay from his trouser pocket. “... Okay maybe porcupine as well urgh!” He finally admits begrudgingly.

---

[stella-monstrum]

Rob Zombie; "Why it's time to step outside the confinements of his own box."

For close to four decades,

 Rob Zombie has brought nonstop psychedelic grooves and a rockstar presence while gracing his own music and the silver screen with gut-churning, drug-tripping visuals. He not only commands quite the presence in films (whether his own successes or others’), but also makes appearances within many other horror soundtracks. There’s no denying that Zombie is a bloodied savant who has stayed incredibly consistent. 

[ᴿᵒᵇ ᶻᵒᵐᵇᶦᵉ. ⁽ˢᵒᵘʳᶜᵉ: ᴳᵒᵒᵍˡᵉ ᴵᵐᵃᵍᵉˢ⁾]

(Written by Stella, edited by Jacob J.)

(Side note; tumblr’s photo formatting is a pain)

Let’s take a dive into his music before getting into his film library. From 1985-1997, White Zombie released six albums (between studio and compilations). La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume One didn’t break into the Billboard 200 chart until a year after its 1992 release. Shortly thereafter, it became the hot and groovy bong success of the band, going on to sell two million copies. Astro Creep 2000, their final and fourth studio release, was their first and only album to chart within the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 in 1995. Up to this day in 2020, “White Zombie” has been featured in 47 TV, film, and video game soundtracks, from Beavis & Butthead to Pen15 to Bride Of Chucky (which includes a personal favorite moment of mine), amongst many others.

After the disbandment and separation, Zombie continued on his solo journey. He has gone on to release six studio albums, with a seventh on the way in March 2021, titled The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy. A multitude of hits—eight to be exact—sat within the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 records. 

══════════════════

Zombie’s extensive film career is a “Super Beast” on its own. 

He has been very vocal about gaining inspiration from 1920s-1980s horror culture. In many interviews, he’s cited Stan Lee, Bella Lugosi, Alice Cooper, and Steven Speilberg as being responsible for molding the brain that we know today. 

Some of his influences include:

George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead (1978)

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) 

The Shining (1980)

Zombie’s upbringing in the carnival industry alongside his family is another key influence.

[[I’ll only be focusing on Zombie’s live-action films here.]]

══════════════════

In 2000, Rob made his directorial and (very memorable) screen debut with House Of 1000 Corpses. 

It took three years to be released because of quarrels with major production companies regarding the film’s majorly aggressive themes of torture, blood, violence, sex—not to mention his arrogance with MGM, fighting to get rights back from Universal. Eventually, Lionsgate bit the bullet, albeit with the major stipulation of having Rob edit it down much further so House could pass with a “tame” R rating. 

[[House of 1000 Corpses: Rainn Wilson as taxidermy merman (Source: Tumblr—and if you’re brave, you can view the scene here.)]]

══════════════════

In 2005 and 2019, the franchise’s next two installments—Devil’s Rejects and 3 From Hell—were released. The franchise is heavily influenced by the shocking, sickening, and unforgettable ’70s classic Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It follows a family of psychotic, sadistic, and bloodthirsty (if I’m being honest) necrophiliacs. They kidnap, kill, torture and brutalize anyone who gets in their way. At the end of Devil’s Rejects, they somehow manage to survive a police shootout, escape prison, and waltz on into Mexico (as seen in the franchise finale 3 from Hell).

Look, it’s all complicated.

Main Characters from the franchise:

Captain Spaulding—Sid Haig

Baby Firefly—Sheri Moon Zombie

Otis B. Driftwood—Bill Moseley 

Momma Firefly—Karen Black (recast as Leslie Easterbrook after Karen’s passing)

(Other notable appearances throughout: Chris Hardwick, Rainn Wilson, Danny Trejo, Dee Wallace, Ken Foree, and Diamond Dallas Page.)

⁽“ʰᵒᵘˢᵉˢ ᵗʳⁱˡᵒᵍʸ”, ᵈᵛᵈ ˢᵉᵗ﹔ ˢᵒᵘʳᶜᵉ﹔ ᵗᵃʳᵍᵉᵗ.ᶜᵒᵐ⁾

══════════════════

The notorious/controversial Halloween (John Carpenter, 1978) remakes from 2007 and 2009.

(ᵃ ᵛⁱᵉʷ ᵒᶠ ᵗʰᵉ ᵇᵒˣ ᵃʳᵗ ᶠᵒʳ ᵗʰᵉ ʰᵃˡˡᵒʷᵉᵉⁿ ʳᵉᵐᵃᵏᵉˢ ⁽ˢᵒᵘʳᶜᵉ﹕ ᵃᵐᵃᶻᵒⁿ⁾)

Look, this is a remake that you either adore or hate with a burning passion. If you’re a horror fanatic, you know what’s up with the original.

I personally adore Zombie’s take. The fact alone that he gave us an entire background story as to why Michael became the psychotic slasher that we’ve come to know and love. Plus, with an increased suspense and gore factor? Worked incredibly well and did justice (in my opinion).

The film made me feel bad for Michael, with moments of child Myers in therapy, particularly his love for making masks to pass the time while he was locked up and the touching family moments between him and his mother Deborah (Sheri Moon).

ᵈᵉᵇᵒʳᵃʰ ᵃⁿᵈ ᵐⁱᶜʰᵃᵉˡ ᵐᵉʸᵉʳˢ ⁱⁿ ʲᵃⁱˡ ᵗʰᵉʳᵃᵖʸ. ⁽ˢᶜʳᵉᵉⁿᶜᵃᵖ, ʰᵃˡˡᵒʷᵉᵉⁿ. ˢᵒᵘʳᶜᵉ﹕ ᵍᵒᵒᵍˡᵉ⁾

[Michael’s cell in the 2007 Halloween remake. (Source: Google)]

Add in the supporting cast of Michael McDowell (Loomis), Brad Douriff (Sheriff Leigh), Scout Taylor-Compton (Laurie Strode), etc., and I honestly think that it came together very well as a remake.

The films rated relatively low, but they did gross higher than the budgets that they originally had to film on. Again, I’m not going to give much attention to the higher-ups of critical perception—it all comes down to personal taste.

══════════════════

“Lords of Salem” (2013) 

[[Promotional art for Lords of Salem. (Souce: Google Images)]]

A film that’s centered within Salem, Massachusetts, 

this film—you guessed it—tackles witches, occultism, possession, Satan, and all the usual topics. Heidi (Sherri Moon) is a radio DJ who gets sent a mysterious record that’s labeled as being from “The Lords.” From then on out, shit gets a little dicey and admittedly, very disjointed. You can’t fault the cast here, and I loved the visuals that they were going for. However, with set schedule conflicts and multiple rewrites, which led to essentially running out of time to film? As a whole, what looked great on paper just couldn’t be done justice.

My FAVORITE sequence within the film (SPOILERS): 

I can forgive the disjointedness solely because of how mind-boggling and brilliant the film’s history and proper visuals were. Also, we got to see Dee Wallace, Judy Geeson, and Patricia Quinn as creepy and badass witches who moonlight as Heidi’s landlords. Also Meg Foster who leads their coven? Can we talk about what a femme-fueled power cast that is?!

[[Left to right: Patricia Quinn as Megan, Dee Wallace as Sonny, and Judy Geeson as Lacy Doyle. (Screencap, Lords of Salem. Source: Google) ]]

[[Meg Foster as coven leader Margaret Morgan. (Screencap, Lords of Salem. Source; google)]]

Like I said prior, the film gets a little wild. If you’re...well, buzzed prior to watching, it may make a little more sense. 

══════════════════

“31” (2016)

[[Film poster for 31 (Source: Google)]]

[Synopsis from IMDB; “Five carnival workers are kidnapped and held hostage in an abandoned, hellish compound where they are forced to participate in a violent game, the goal of which is to survive twelve hours against a gang of sadistic clowns.”]

Here, we clearly see that Zombie is invoking his childhood growing up within carnivals. In a 2013 interview with LA Weekly, Zombie divulged more about it:

“When we were kids, my parents would [work at the carnivals], and me and my brother would get dragged along to these things all the time and have to work.”

He went further on to say;

 “Yeah, and it's not the nicest world. As a kid, you get exposed to the crazier underworld of the carnival. Me and my brother, when we were very little, we'd be inside the haunted house playing all day. So, already, what people are paying money to be scared [of], we're just playing in because it's fun. We saw the inner workings behind the machines.”

(”31″ trailer, source; Youtube)

Once again in this film, Zombie brings a powerhouse cast:

Jeff Daniel Phillips as Roscoe Pepper

Meg Foster as Venus Virgo

Malcom McDowell as Father Murder

Judy Geeson as Sister Dragon

Richard Brake as Doom Head

You can view the entire cast at IMDB here.

Set in 1976, Zombie stays true to his nods. Again, depending on taste, this is a huge hit or a wild miss with mindless homicidal violence, campiness, and climbs across the monkey bar of standards that we’re used to seeing from him.

══════════════════

So at this point, you’re probably wondering why I think that it’s time for Rob Zombie to step out of the confinements of his own box...

══════════════════

It’s no secret that Zombie sticks to only a small group of tropes: 

Slashers, families or groups of homicidals that lack remorse, the occult, etc. There’s no shame in sticking to what you know. Hell, Zombie has seemingly cracked the code over the past two decades that he’s been in the film industry that so many directors still don’t seem to get.

IMO, despite whatever you personally feel about the films mentioned above- I feel like we’re living a freaky groundhog day repeat within Zombie’s filmography. 

══════════════════

Now, if it ain’t broke, why fix it? Look, I’m not saying that Zombie has to change anything. However, I would love to see him tackle some other nuances that we’ve already seen from him in small doses.

- Children: We haven’t seen Zombie exactly take on what horror films depict kids as. Sure, he made a breakout and impeccable choice with young Michael Myers (Daeg Faerch) back in 2007. I personally would adore to see a reimagined (NOT remade) Children of the Corn on acid, one we all know Zombie can tackle and turn every existing view on its head.

- Witchcraft, The Occult, Satan, Voodoo:  Zombie genuinely had a phenomenal concept (on paper) for 2012’s Lords of Salem. It was unfortunate that they ran out of resources and ran into unfortunate circumstances on set while filming. 

The film wasn’t a total tank, though, given how inspiring and insane all the visuals were throughout the 1 hr, 41min film. I am absolutely positive that, given a full-force opportunity, Rob could rectify the mess that was out of his control. We completely saw that he provided visuals that left quite the impression, and he could take those taboo subjects by the goat horns.

- Animals (not the human form): It’s no secret that Rob and his wife Sherri are ethical vegetarians. It would be so tongue and cheek to see them take on such topics as animals getting their revenge, or even vegetarians torturing carnivores. This twist on the formula would make for an interesting viewing.

══════════════════

2.) In regard to time periods, 

Zombie stays within—and pays homage to—the 1970s and 1980s quite a bit. Obviously, those are the eras that Zombie personally loves the most when it comes to filmmaking. However, it would be very interesting to see him take on current day settings. 

Zombie has such a unique viewpoint. Given changing climates in politics, human decline/growth, the economy, etc., he would do work that could easily put Ryan Murphy to shame.

══════════════════

3.) He could also do with some different casting every now and then.

Let me preface this by saying that I adore every repeat casting choice that Zombie has made for his films. 

Of course chemistry is a huge thing, and sticking to his friends is a very smart choice. However, he also has the potential to make new stars, boosting the power of those that may be under the radar. He can support those new stars with cameos from classic actors that we haven’t seen in awhile. I can’t begin to even fictionally cast those who fit the bill, but I do believe that with the “Zombie Touch,” he can bring so much more fresh air to the usual casting.

══════════════════

There’s no doubting what Rob Zombie is clearly very good at. Despite mixed reviews from the horror world and critics, it’s time that his fans open their eyes to new possibilities. Of course, there are die-hards, but digging your feet in further doesn’t allow the growth of horror and its ever evolving themes.

[[ʳᵒᵇ ᶻᵒᵐᵇⁱᵉ, ˢᵒᵘʳᶜᵉ﹔ ᵍᵒᵒᵍˡᵉ ⁱᵐᵃᵍᵉˢ]]

This theory has been on my mind for a very long time—since 3 from Hell came out. I’m sure, in his usual fashion, we won’t be seeing any new films from Rob anytime soon (what with his new album set to release in March 2021, not to mention the toll that the pandemic has had on Hollywood.)

Still, it never hurts to challenge the set standards and ways.

[erekiosuncreativeideas]

The Part-Time Puppeteer - Chapter 02

<= Chapter 1

Summary : Lukas meets some new people and discovers that almost no one is this studio has manners. Also available on AO3 : https://archiveofourown.org/works/23828971/chapters/57463666#workskin

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YOOOO NEW CHAPTER I had started it a while ago and left it to rot until I posted the first chapter. And... I ended up writing 90% of this chapter in less than 48 hours. My old self would be so, so impressed with my current productivity.

Also.... You cannot IMAGINE how eager I was to post this chapter, mainly because of one character I fell in love with. You'll probably guess who it is by the end of this chapter. The drawing is mine, like usual. Mike's (awesome) design belongs to @levshany​.

If you like this story, don't hesitate to leave a comment or a kudo, it helps me so much !! I get so inspired and happy when I read your reaction, I'm so thankful for everyone reading my stories ! (after my 2 years long writing and art block, it feels absolutely wonderful)

Happy reading !!

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Chapter 2 - “Excuse me?”

Lukas’s family wasn’t exactly poor. His father worked in an office and his mother was a junior high school teacher, and both gained enough money to maintain the household and guarantee a higher education for Lukas. However, when the young man had announced to his parents his wish to study law in a famous university, uncertainty fell on his family. They could afford to send him to a less renowned university, though Lukas had always been a very good and serious student. The more his parents thought about it, the more they felt like they would waste their son’s potential if they refused him the future he wished for. Compromises had to be made and all the household began to think about ways to finance Lukas’s studies. Eventually, Lukas decided to take a part-time job in order to help his parents to deal with the financial situation he put them in.

Lukas was a perfectionist, even if that lead him to stay awake a few nights just to be absolutely ready for a usual test or a more important exam. Sleep was an issue for the young man: it was always in the way of his revising sessions! More often than not, he found himself falling asleep quite often during his less important lectures.

That’s why, at the present moment, Lukas couldn’t help but wonder if he was dreaming or truly awake.

All around him, people were moving very quickly, carrying extinguishers and buckets full of water. The young man didn’t have to think more as his arm was grabbed by an older stagehand, pulling him towards the huge fire in the centre of the room.

-“What are you waiting for? Use your goddamn extinguisher!” pushed the man while pointing to the flames. It seemed enough to pull Lukas back to reality and he obeyed. He joined the other stagehands trying to put the fire out and brandished his own extinguisher. He had to fiddle with it a little bit until he was able to disable the lock. Once it was done, he started spraying the flames with the extinguishing foam. The heat was almost unbearable and the proximity and movement of people around him made him even more nervous. A deafening fire alarm rang in the room, making his head hurt. He couldn’t believe that his first task as a stagehand would be to put a fire out! It wasn’t one of Lukas’s phobias, thank goodness, though it was still a very stressful experience to him. As if his student life wasn’t stressful already!

Fortunately, the flames soon disappeared under the foam, to Lukas’s great relief. He put the fire extinguisher on the ground, his arms sore for holding such a heavy object for so long. He was sweating a lot, both from the effort and from the heat. He dried his forehead with his sleeve, not caring if he was putting sweat on it. That was the least of his problems at the moment.

The student’s inner monologue was cut short as a voice was raised despite the commotion in the room:

-“Alright, people! Five-minute break, you deserved it!” The words came from an imposing dark-haired man, whose expression looked severe. He was wearing a beige shirt as well as black pants with braces. The man had a broad face, just like his shoulders.

Lukas let out another sigh of relief. No more than an hour had passed since his conversation with both of the directors and he was already glad to have a break‌. He couldn’t help but wonder if this job really was a good idea, after all… Yet, he pushed this idea out of his head: he needed the money, so until he found a better job, he would have to deal with this one. This was only temporary.

The man from before waved at him, asking him to come closer. The student was a little surprised but supposed that this person was the one in charge of all the stagehands. Lukas hadn’t been properly introduced to any of his superiors or to his job at all, in the end. It made sense that it would only happen after the huge fire. The young man obeyed and approached the other, trying to avoid bumping into the other stagehands walking all around him. He would never get used to crowded places.

-“Hell-”

Lukas didn’t get the time to introduce himself as his first word was cut short by his interlocutor:

-“Yeah, good morning,” said the man, not even looking at Lukas, his eyes scanning a document he had in his hands instead: “You’re a new stagehand, aren’t you?”

The student was frustrated at the manager’s lack of manners but decided to put his pride aside. This was only his first working day, nothing was going to be perfect, obviously. He extended his hand, forcing a polite smile on his face as he tried to answer:

-“Yes, my-”

-“Your name?” demanded the man, cutting him short once again.

Lukas could feel his annoyance start to appear on his face, though he did his best to hide it nonetheless. He certainly didn’t want to lose his job after all the trouble he went through to get it! He took a deep breath and replied, with the calmest tone he could manage:

-“I’m Lukas, Lukas Pryce.”

He didn’t see the need of saying anything else, as his interlocutor was likely going to stop him in the middle of a sentence. He took his hand back, well aware that the man wasn’t going to shake it. It apparently was the right thing to do, since said man finally looked up from his document to stare at him, examining him from top to bottom. The student didn’t like being scrutinized this way, though he did his best to stay silent and unmoving, waiting for the other man to talk again.

-“Yeah, okay. I’m Kaleb, I’m the one in charge of everything that’s happening in the backstage. I’m also your boss, but I guess you pretty much figured that out.”

Lukas only nodded, not wanting to be interrupted again. The manager rummaged through the papers he was holding and handed one of them to the student, who examined the first sentences written on it. It was a job contract.

-“You were hired on the spot, weren’t you?” questioned the man, though his tone showed it wasn’t really a question. Maybe it happened a lot more than Lukas first thought.

-“Yeah,” he replied while reading the paper he had now in his hands.

-“Well, okay, so… Technically, you’re not hired yet, so go fill that while the others and I clean this mess. Once you’re done, come back and give me your contract. Then I’ll give you some things to do until we figure out what particular position you’re going to get. Got it?”

Lukas nodded again and walked away. He spotted a white and blue folding table and chairs in a corner of the room, probably for staff breaks. Most of the seats were occupied, though some of them were still free. Thus, the student joined the seated members of the studio and put the paper down. He took a pen from his shoulder bag and started filling the document. Well, finally a calm activity! At least, minus the hubbub all around him.

However, as he was about to fill one of the last section, someone nudged him with their elbow. Surprised from the sudden contact, Lukas lifted his head, looking for the person who tried to catch his attention. His eyes fell on a young man who seemed to have the same age as him. He had black and white hair and was wearing a red turtleneck, as well as black glasses. He had a kind expression on his face. Was he a stagehand just like him? He didn’t seem to help the others, so probably not. Maybe an actor, then? His face was familiar to the student, so it could be the case.

-“You’re a new stagehand?” asked the mystery person, smiling warmly at him. Lukas couldn’t help but feel reassured at the nice expression: finally something good in this unbelievable day!

Lukas smiled back and pointed to the form he was filling:

-“Yep. Just got hired an hour ago,” he laughed, thinking back at the improbable interaction with the two movie directors. Lukas then extended his hands, not wanting to be impolite just like his new manager: “I’m Lukas.”

His interlocutor took his hand -finally, someone who had manners!- and shook it, still smiling.

-“I’m Mike. I’m the lead designer for puppets and costumes. Well, more puppets than costume these last few days…”

The mention of puppets caught the student’s attention. So, he wasn’t an actor, then. So, that still didn’t explain why his face seemed so familiar to Lukas. Why did he feel like he had seen this person somewhere before?

-“Puppets?” he repeated, amused.

-“Yeah. The team I’m in is working on a kids’ TV show, featuring puppets and stuff,” explained Mike: “But it’s only the beginning for now, they’re still looking for actors for the main cast.”

-“I had no idea this studio was making kids’ shows,” replied Lukas, amazed: “I only heard of it through the Conductor’s and DJ Grooves’s movies.”

The puppet maker laughed at his enthusiasm and shook his head:

-“Actually, that’s a first. You know how they have a hard time working together, right?�� Lukas nodded and Mike continued his explanations: “Well, this time, instead of fighting over the direction, they’re trying to see if they can each focus on different aspects of the projects. The Conductor will lead the action scenes while DJ‌ Grooves will write and compose most of the songs and soundtrack. I mean, it’s already supposed to be the case usually, but they can’t help but focus on the other’s job anyway. This show is another chance of them minding their own part of the work and see how it turns out.”

The student rose his brows, surprised. Well, from what he knew about the subject, each one of their collaborations ended up having direction problems. It was quite a shame since they always had very good ideas, at least, probably before one sabotaged the other’s work.

-“Why a kids’ show, though?” questioned Lukas with a voice full of curiosity.

-“I guess it’s just a precaution process. Better to fail on a kids’ show rather than on an eagerly-awaited blockbuster, isn’t it?” supposed the costume designer.

-“Yeah, you’re right, it makes sense.”

The student looked around him, watching the stagehands cleaning the remains of the scene. He had no idea what they had been filming, but most of the props had been destroyed in the incident. They likely lost any footage in the fire which certainly wasn’t going to improve the tensions in the studio. The young man turned back to his new friend and finally asked the question he was scared to voice:

-“Uh, is it… Always like that?” he wondered, gesturing to all the people working behind them, wincing at the idea of having to deal with such problems on a daily basis. Mike laughed and gave him a sympathetic smile before replying:

-“Pretty much, yeah, sorry.”

Lukas felt the usual pain in his stomach appear from the sudden rise of stress. Not only did he have serious and important studies to deal with, but he would also need to do the same in his free time? Now, working here didn’t seem like such a good idea after all… His nervousness must have been quite visible because the other man put a hand on his shoulder to try to reassure him:

-“Hey, hey, it’s going to be okay, it’s not so bad!”

“Yeah, right,” thought Lukas sarcastically, probably showing a bit of this emotion unconsciously.

The costume designer stared into space as if he was trying to find something to say before lifting his head again, smiling at him widely:

-“Hey, wait, maybe you could work with us!” offered Mike, suddenly very inspired and motivated: “We haven’t started filming yet but we’ll definitely need stagehands soon! Plus, it’ll probably be way less wild than working on the Conductor’s action movies or DJ Grooves’s musicals. Not that I’ll have a lot to say in the matter, but I can still recommend you.”

Lukas opened his eyes wide at the suggestion. Wait, could it really be that easy?

-“You… You’d do that? Really‌?” The young man couldn’t believe it: how lucky was he being today? It was too good to be true! Karma was soon going to collect his debt at this pace…

-“Yeah!” exclaimed Mike, almost happier than Lukas himself: “You seem nice, plus you don’t have a lot of experience. It would be better for you to start working in a smaller and calmer team.”

Lukas was about to thank him for the offer when he was interrupted -again- by a loud noise coming from behind his back. The student turned around, curious about what could have caused such a loud sound. He was surprised to see a man entering the room, having slammed the door as an entrance. His hair was black and white and he was wearing a long green coat as well as black pants. The man was wearing converse shoes and round glasses. However, Lukas’s eyes widened not because of the man’s appearance or entrance but because he knew who it was. This guy was a very famous actor, one that Lukas knew very well because he had seen him in several movies by now. MJ, that was his acting name. Just like The Conductor, MJ had done his best to keep his real name a secret, for reasons most people didn’t know yet.

And suddenly, Lukas understood why Mike’s face had seemed so familiar to him: they both had the exact same face!

The student turned back to his friend with a confused expression. There was no doubt about it, he hadn’t imagined it: apart from their haircut and clothes, they looked absolutely the same. Lukas was about to ask about it but Mike forestalled his question:

-“Yeah, we’re twins,” he explained, though it was possible to see some weariness on his face. This was surely not the first time someone had asked about it. The student felt a little guilty, though it was a bit too late for that.

-“I had no idea MJ had a brother, let alone a twin,” admitted the young man, quite embarrassed.

-“We agreed to keep it a secret. I'm not a fan of the celebrity life like my brother is. I feel ill-at-ease in crowded spaces.”

Lukas rose his eyebrows, taken aback, and threw a glance at their surroundings. Welp, apparently, they didn’t have the same definition of “crowded spaces”, if all of this wasn’t bothering him. Maybe Lukas was just shier than most introverts? It was strange because he didn’t think he was much of an introvert until now. Yeah, sure, he spent a lot of time studying in his room, but it wasn’t because he didn’t like people or anything. Or so he thought. Now that he was actually in a place like this, he wasn’t so sure of it now. It did make him uncomfortable‌.

Even more, now that he knew that there were famous actors near him.

-“Hey,” greeted a voice behind him, very similar to Mike’s one. Lukas turned to the origin of the said voice and felt his heart sink in his chest when he realized that MJ had come to them. Fortunately, the actor wasn’t looking at him but at his brother. Lukas didn’t know how he would have reacted otherwise. He knew celebrities were people like everyone else, yet he couldn’t deny the sensation of stress he had at the idea of meeting one.

-“Hey,” replied Mike, with a softer tone, smiling at his twin. If they looked the same, their attitude seemed to be different. From the way MJ stood and dressed, he looked like a very assertive extrovert. Mike, on the contrary, seemed to be the complete opposite: with his red turtleneck and his very straight posture, he was the perfect image of the introvert concept.

It was like two sides of a coin: both looked like the other, yet they were not the same on many aspects.

MJ noticed the student’s stare and glanced down at him, absolutely unimpressed.

-“And who are you again?”

The actor’s tone was everything but nice or curious. The other sounded like he just asked that question because Lukas was in the way. No need to say that the young man’s frustration grew again: apparently, people had some problems with manners here. He still put his pride aside, deciding that replying to the provocative introduction wasn’t worth it. Instead, he extended his hand for what seemed like the tenth time that day:

-“My name’s Lukas,” he answered in the nicest way he could manage, then decided to be polite, for both of them at least: “I really like your movies, they’re amazing!”

His interlocutor smiled back while, in the corner of his vision, Mike looked away in embarrassment. What for? Lukas’s confusion intensified as he heard MJ’s answer:

-“Why, thank you!” replied the other, though it sounded too exaggerated to feel sincere. The latter didn’t shake his hand back either. Then, he looked above Lukas’s shoulder to read his soon-to-be-filled job contract: “Oh, are you a new stagehand?”

The question was asked in a particular way that made the student ill-at-ease. He couldn’t help but suspect the other’s niceness was completely faked. Though, he tried not to think about it and continued the conversation:

-“Yeah, I got hired a bit earlier. I helped to put out the fire.”

MJ looked around him as if he was only noticing the remains of the incident just now. His face immediately changed from cordiality to utter disgust. The sudden change unsettled the student, who didn’t know how to react. Next to them, Mike looked even more ill-at-ease than before. Why, did they have a bad relationship? Lukas couldn’t help but wonder, until MJ spoke again, making him come back to reality:

-“Okay, so this is all very interesting but-”

-“MJ, please don’t,” warned Mike, now frowning at him. Lukas had the impression that he was in the middle of a battlefield. This was extremely uncomfortable for him, who had no idea what to do with himself in the meantime.

-“What, I’m just socializing, as you told me to! Isn’t it what you want?” nagged the celebrity mischievously. Mike only glared in response. Well, this was officially more than awkward.

-“So, as I was saying…” continued the actor innocently, as if nothing just happened: “I need a coffee, two sugar lumps, no milk, and take it to my dressing room. And quick. Thanks!”

Lukas stared at the other with bewilderment.

“What?” The student was just astounded and didn’t know how to react at first. Did he hear that right?

MJ waved hypocritically at him, his true personality finally exposed. That’s why everything coming from his mouth had seemed so insincere! Just as he was about to turn away to leave, Lukas stopped him, full of mixed emotions such as confusion, surprise, but mostly irritation:

-“Uh, excuse me?” retorted the young man, absolutely offended.

MJ faked not hearing him, leaving the student and his bottled emotions seated at the table. Who did that guy take himself for?

Next to him, Mike sighed, rolling his eyes. He shook his head at Lukas in a tired way:

-“Don’t mind him, he’s like that with everyone. Except me I guess. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of the coffee.” The other stood up and gestured to the forgotten paper on the table: “you should complete that and give it back to Kaleb. I’ll speak to him as soon as I can. For now, just do as he says.”

Lukas agreed, still astonished by the interaction he just had with this so-called actor. Welp, guess he knew who was the evil twin between the two, now.

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Welp. Guess who ABSOLUTELY LOVED writing MJ ? You can read more about him here (warning : SPOILERS)

Chapter 3 =>

[twilightprince101]

The Drifter’s Roles

I’ve been hyperfixating on my Dimensional Drifters AU for a bit now, thinking about how exactly Campsite Starlight would be structured. Like, if there are crops then who tends to them? Who oversees construction and expansion? Who cooks? 

Well after spending a night daydreaming about it, I’ve come up with a list of each of the Drifters’ specialties at the campsite! These aren’t the only things that they do, somebody who works on farming can freely help work on construction. These are just the things each person specializes and excels at. 

(Oh and of course, everyone also has equal chance to go on adventures and the like)

Farmers/Cooks - Those who focus on basic needs first. In charge of tending to the crops, managing food supply and ensuring people have food on their plates (And also eating healthy, not just snacking 24/7)

Elora - As a satyr who has a natural affinity to nature, she has knowledge of the proper conditions different plants need to thrive, being the groups flora specialist/botanist to help the crops grow healthy.

Moominmama - A mother to all, cooking the meals everyone needs to eat. Having spent plenty of years managing their farm back home, she is very knowledgeable in tending to crops and the proper way to structure the different plots.

Likulau - While he doesn’t know as much as Elora and Moominmama, he still assists the two as the muscle, tilling and plucking the different crops. He also occasionally uses his guardian spirit powers and imbue plants with chi to help the crops grow healthier and faster.

Cartographers/Loggers - Those who value knowledge above else. Responsible for mapping out the different worlds they go to and taking notes of what that world contains, including its culture, flora/fauna and residents.

Moominpapa - Already a natural born storyteller, Moominpapa writes down and logs the different places and adventures that the group went on when exploring different worlds (although they do have to be edited down for exaggerated details here and there).

Hat Kid - Interdimensional travel isn’t so different from space travel! She’s in charge of mapping out wherever they go, along with keeping a chart of the different worlds and their relative locations/links to one another.

Bow Kid - Already a natural born animal lover and master scrapbooker,  Bow Kid keeps a record of the different plants and animals that they find. Although her and Hat Kid’s work can come off as... childish, they still get the job done!

Scouts/Supply Runners - Those quick on their feet with a good sense of direction. These people peek into unfamiliar territory to see what they find, along with running back to old worlds for any supplies they need.

Morgana - With his history in phantom thievery and ability to transform into a housecat when needed, Morgana is a pro at gathering intel without being noticed. His wide range of tools also comes in handy for any sticky situations they may find themselves in.

Shu Chi - A natural born athlete and expert in espionage, Shu Chi can get stuff done quick and efficiently. Whether it’s scouting out information or collecting supplies, his yaoguai powers truly shine here.

Spyro - The secret weapon, tagging along both to help with materials and act as defence in case trouble arises. Although the Drifters try to avoid conflict, nobody can argue against the strength of a dragon.

Moomintroll - Back home he learned and mapped out every nook and cranny of the Valley, so he’s a natural when it comes to discovering new places! When it comes to direction and learning the path forward, this Moomin is your guide!

Construction/Development - Those who help the group have roofs over their heads. These people focus on the overall structure of Campsite Starlight, planning what to build and where to build it, along with making sure everyone is comfortable.

Lindar - As an Artisan and mechanic, he has a wide array of knowledge in design and tools. Whenever development work needs to be done, he’s the one that makes the blueprints and the game plan with how to proceed.

Bubba - The main muscle! Helps construct and build different facilities and structures for the group, combined with directing those who wish to help out in that department with proper safety.

DJ Grooves - What’s the point of living somewhere if it doesn’t have style?! Works to make sure people are comfortable, sprucing up the campsite and help people feel at home, including designing and maintaining their condos.

Strategists/Planners - Those who make the tough calls. These people assess Campsite Starlight as a whole to determine what needs to be worked on, along with courses of action regarding matters both inside and out.

Twi - Maps out where the group should explore next and focuses on individual problems within the group. Makes plans focusing on the group’s well being first and evaluating possible ways to go forward without resorting to conflict.

Empress - She’s ran a yakuza before, this couldn’t be easier! Looks at situations from a gain/loss perspective, often giving harsh but necessary advice in order to make sure the group doesn’t go under.

Lin Hu - Assesses supplies and stability of the campsite, ensuring that the group doesn’t waste all of their materials and rations when needed. Restraint is necessary when trying to support a civilization, no matter how big or small it may be.

Mustache Girl - The expansion and battle strategist. After so much of her life devoted to sabotage, she’s excellent at forming plans of attack. Although due to the drifters having a “no violence unless needed” policy, she sticks to expanding their home base, mapping out where they could get materials and areas of interest.

If any future F/O’s join the team, they’ll be added to the proper team!

[reinabeestudio]

Spring (Western Ballad)

Wow, me? Writing stuff and actually posting it?? Truly a year of unexpected events huh.

Ever wanted to read your favorite characters be ooc while and bland writing? You’ve come to the right place✨ Anyway this is self-insert (Bard (oc?)/Conductor), so if you don’t like that, you won’t enjoy this :v Good luck with the reading, luckily it’s short lol

||Quick info: My character in AHiT is called The Bard, her design is 90% black and white (like old 30s/40s ads lol), and her ship with the Conductor is called Western Ballad||

*I’m horrible at writing any type of accent, so his lines will sound weird, sorry;;

Finally, Spring arrived. Flowers bloomed and spirits seemed to lift up after the dark and cold nights that Winter brought. But most importantly, everyone went out more, which meant that things were finally going to get busier around Dead Bird Studios.

And there was the Bard, always watching from the sidelines. Her warm presence and magic lyre certainly eased up things for the poor overworked crew, as well as keeping the Conductor from getting too mad at any of them. She made a very colorful visitor, despite being black and white in aspect, as if she jumped out of an old television show.

However, visits from the Bard were becoming a rarer sight as time passed. She’d greet everyone as soon as she arrived, and then she was gone before anyone could notice-- Until she stopped visiting altogether.

Grooves noticed right away: how the owls were less motivated during work hours (which was already not an easy task, bossed around by such a loud old bird), the quieter moments between the recording sessions… but the most obvious one was the Conductor himself. He seemed less focused, irritated more than usual, and easier to get mad at any tiny detail that didn’t go his way. Sure, he was a perfectionist, but this was unusual even for him. 

Something needed to be done.

As expected, he found the Conductor on his office, sitting behind the old dark cherry wood desk. The jacket was tossed on the carpet, sadly abandoned like some used rag, along with many crumpled papers. He lifted his head from the paper he was writing, instant displeasure as clear as day on his face.

“Whatever you have to say, make it quick,” he said. “I’m busy.” 

He was always busy. Grooves was familiar with the job as well, but as much as he disliked to interrupt, he couldn’t back down now.

“Something is troubling you, darling, and I suspect the Bard has something to do with it.”

The Conductor said nothing, drumming his claws on the table.

He went on. “I’m sure she’ll tell you why she stopped coming. If you talk to her, of course”

“Why don’t ye talk to her? Yer friends too, aye?”

Grooves frowned. “Because I’m not the one throwing a tantrum over his crush not visiting!”

If looks could kill, he would... probably still be alive, having no eyes and such. But the Conductor was facing him with such an intense aura that he expected the desk to start burning at any given moment.

The old bird was quiet for a long time. Eventually he said, “Get the peck out of my office. I have a script to write.”

Grooves looked at him one last time before leaving the office. He released a tired sigh when he was out, feeling as if he just left from a fight from an angry cat.

You’re friends too, yes?

That was true, they got along really well! Their mutual love for music brought them together. Then again, no matter how much she tried to hide it behind her energetic personality, the Bard was as easy to read as his rival. Grooves hoped that their short “conversation” would anger him enough to prove him wrong and finally talk to her.

Back at the office, the Conductor sat back on his chair, staring at the framed picture he had on his desk of him and the Bard back when they went to last year’s New Year Gala.

He usually rejected the invitation, but his friend seemed so excited about that he ended up going with the Bard as his partner. He remembered how much the other directors pestered her just because they attended together-- and how well she managed in front of them. It was as if she did all of that before, like she was used to it. Annoying guests aside, the night had been fun, specially when she dragged him out of there and together watched the fireworks display from her “secret place”… and admittedly, she looked dazzling in a dress.

The Conductor shook his head, trying to not get distracted by the strange feeling on his chest. He put the picture back on its spot and went back to the script. But his efforts were to no avail, his mind reliving memories from that lovely night. He threw down his hat in annoyance. Darn it, he was completely unfocused now. That guy caused this with his annoying lies.

He would prove it.

He would prove that DJ peck neck that he was wrong and then he could focus on his movies again.

He stood up and left his office, not even bothering to close the door behind him. He had a gut feeling of where the Bard could be now. No doubt, she had to be there. Their secret place.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

There was a nip in the air as the day grew darker, the few flowers that already greeted the new season swaying gently with the breeze.

The Bard sat on the hill watching the beauty of dusk, the remaining rays of sunlight reflecting on the sea. She summoned her old instrument, and her fingers barely plucked the strings when she heard footsteps behind her.

“Ah, there ye are.”

That voice, she’d recognize it anywhere.

The Bard turned around to face the Conductor. He was not wearing his distinguishing black hat, nor his slightly oversized jacket for that matter. In that moment, he looked so vulnerable.

He didn’t say anything else after that, merely taking the empty spot next to her and sitting down cross-legged. She stared at him for a while, but after a moment of silence, she took a breath and started to play her lyre. The old bird looked at the distant orange-tinted sea as the calm melody filled the silence between them. Alone but together, enjoying the sunset in her secret place.

Not long after they first met, the Conductor quickly noticed that the Bard rarely played in front of others, and he wondered why--- after all, she did so well at the party back then, it couldn’t be stage fright, right?

The Bard explained that it had magical properties, and some of the songs had powerful abilities (like the time she accidentally summoned rain inside the studio). But she played for the grandkids countless times, and nothing happened. It was a small mystery that got him curious since then.

“You want to know why I stopped visiting, don’t you?” She didn’t stop playing, her eyes still focused on the sea.

He didn’t look away from the water, his ear tufts dropping as he spoke. “Is it me? Something I said? My temper?”

The Bard shook her head. “None of that... Although your temper does need work, hehe.”

“Then… why?”

The music then stopped. The long silence that came after that question was loud in the Conductor’s ears. She snapped her fingers and her magic lyre disappeared completely. She took a deep breath and finally she looked at him.

“I’m in love with you.”

The Bard noticed how he started to fluff up slightly, but besides that, there were no words. Had she been too forward? He didn’t even face her. It would be nice if he straight up told her that it wasn’t mutual, instead of staring at the horizon endlessly!

The Conductor tittered. “Ye have a very strange sense of humor, lass.” 

“Wha- no, I’m serious!”

“Aye, aye, sure thing.”

“But I am!” the Bard grabbed his shoulders, forcing him to face her. “It’s fine if you don’t feel the same, but I am telling the truth!”

The startled fluff ball poofed up even more as he stood still. The pair was silent for a few moments until he took her hands off the shoulders, the monochrome girl looking at him visibly confused. She had no chance to question if he was angry before he slowly took her hands on his claws

“You...” He grasped for words. “Yer full of surprises.”

The Bard blinked a few times before she laced fingers with his claws. “I am your surprise now.”

The couple leaned towards each other, gently resting their heads together with a smile. 

“The most precious one in a long time.”

Perhaps flowers weren’t the only thing that bloomed in Spring after all.

[detroitswindle-blog]

Detroit Swindle: Move Out The Way. I need Coffee In The Morning

Lars Dales and Maarten Smeets are Detroit Swindle and have had quite a run the last decade. From making music for the hell of it, to making tens of thousands of fans all over the world happy with their releases, mixes and performances, they have seen their star rise in a seemingly unstoppable manner. With a string of releases on renowned labels like Dirt Crew, Freerange, Tsuba and their own Heist Recordings, they've cemented their place in the House Music scene by keeping true to their roots and keeping diversity and authenticity at the centre of their story. 

Notorious for their energetic DJ sets at clubs like Panorama bar, Fabric or Social Club and praised for their productions with that signature shuffle and those carefully designed drops, they put as much energy into their music as they have always done and they are treasured for it. They have their own label Heist Recordings and one thing is clear, they refuse to be tied to any given genre, celebrating the broad fabric of House Music in all its forms. 

Despite being in isolation (this interview took place in the last week of May 2020), the duo is still really busy. They are releasing two tracks on the 5th June; ‘Coffee in The Morning and ‘Move Out The Way’ with vocalist Jitwam which speaks to the soul of their creativity and they should be roundly applauded for releasing material in what are very challenging times.

We are therefore extremely grateful that Maarten Smeets talked to us on the phone for over an hour to tell us the Swindle story.

So Maarten welcome to the Switched On family. How have you been handling the pandemic and has it given you a different perspective on life?

Well, the entertainment industry was the first one to suffer. We saw our events getting cancelled very early on. I think the gig that got cancelled first was actually our tour in the US. We woke up, I think it was like a Friday morning, two weeks before the tour in March, with an email from our agent saying, ‘Hey you guys, Trump has closed down the country. So it’s going to be hard for you guys to tour here if all the borders are closed’. That was the first thing that we noticed and we soon realised it was really happening. I think within a week, we saw that pretty much everything was getting cancelled. All the countries were tightening the rules on social distancing. 

That was a bit of a heavy changeover for us because we went from touring full on every week to not touring at all. It's weird because your whole life was touring. It means getting up Friday morning, taking a plane, playing and arriving back home on Sunday night and trying to do as much as you can during the week and spend some time with the family. Now suddenly all that travel was done with, which was a relief, but gigging was gone as well. It’s a shame as we really like DJing. We like playing music and we like visiting different countries; seeing what kind of music works in different cultures. So that was a big change. The upside of not having to travel anymore, because it can be tedious and tiring and heavy on the mind and body, was outweighed by the fact that what we lost three quarters of what we do. 

But there is a plus. We work as a duo. We're not actually allowed to be in one room together because we're not family and don’t live in the same household. We therefore decided to split the work up a bit. I get to work in the studio because I have three kids at home. 

We've taken on a few more remix projects than we would usually do, which is great because we've managed to secure a couple of really fun projects. So that was actually a great change for us because we both really enjoy the production side of our work. 

It hasn't been like that since we started touring in 2012. We have never taken as much time off of touring as we have done now. Even though it's not our choice, it feels really nice and it feels like it gives us room for new creativity and allows us to look at things from a different perspective; like how we run our label and how we've run our business so far. 

We've had the opportunity to vary our activities a bit which is also nice. Obviously, we have to deal with less income. So that's always a bit of shame but there's loads of people out there that have it way harder than us. So I'm not gonna cry about it. For me personally, it's been a bit more complex because my wife works in one of the big hospitals in Amsterdam with people that have leukaemia. So the security measures that they have in place are intense. What that meant for us is that we had to be super strict with our lockdown as well. So that was a bit heavy for me and the kids. It's a new world right now.

So I think the next six months will see some incredible music come out?

I'm super interested to see what happens. Obviously, there's a bit of a delay between production and music actually. People are either starting new projects or maybe dusting off old projects that they always wanted to finish. So that's going to be exciting. That's going to be interesting. 

I really hope that the market will stay intact. For our label, we still see sales going well and obviously streaming is important. From a creative perspective, I think a lot of nice projects will come out. The challenge of course for everyone, is how to make music together if you're not allowed to be in a room together. For bands doing session recordings, it's going to be a bit more working with Zoom session recordings. Might not be as fun as a personal session but it saves a lot of flying.

So you grew up in Amsterdam?

We both lived in Amsterdam for a long time; Lars is still there. I actually live 20 minutes outside of the city in a lakeside area. Me and my wife both felt it was time to get a little bit more space. Spend time with nature a bit more. Amsterdam is where our studio is and where we meet and where most of our life has taken place. 

Born in the early part of the 80s. House Music was an already established genre by then; what appealed to you as you headed into your teenage years about House Music?

Actually, to be honest, House Music was not a thing where I grew up. People were into bands and rock music and I played drums with some high school friends and we did punk. We liked surf punk and that was our big thing. So House Music was, I think, more of a big city thing. It only really reached me when I moved to Amsterdam in the late 90s, early 2000s. I know for Lars on the other hand that he was a club kid and he had a fake ID and went to all the raves. 

The feeling I get is that for a lot of DJs there needs to be an accumulation of musical genres to be able to develop a sound as they go into music production.

Yeah, I think I think that you could be very right with that. For me, I'm very easily bored with repetition which is a weird contrast because House Music is all about repetition; I need to find different new genres and different types of music to cater for different types of mixing and applying different types of effects to really get inspired. That can come from anything. 

I still like the raw feel of that punk. I really liked that a lot and how they had dub influences as well as being able to deliver a harder sound. I think musical diversity is a blessing and it's something to embrace. Lars loves hip hop as well and is a huge De La Soul fan. We go through everything. 

I was just compiling a Spotify all night long playlist to go along with our new release. It was doing my head in over how to approach that because obviously you can't compile a list of 1000 songs. Because I like so many genres, it's hard. Where do you begin? Where do you end? All these different types of inspirations that have shaped my view on music. They have also shaped the sound that we put out with our own productions and our DJ sets. It's super varied.

I've noticed that you've also started getting into that Afro sound lately. What is it about that genre that some appealing to you?

There are so many things. I think as DJs we've been playing Afro related or Afro inspired music for a while now. If you look at our productions, it's been there. I think one of our releases on Freerange, five or six years ago, was an afro house record. And then on our latest album, in 2018, we did an Afro song with a Dutch brass band. So it's been there but the recent remixes we did for Pat Thomas and The Mauskovic Dance Band, they are full-on Afro.

The nice thing about Afro is that everything is lively. There's so much energy in it even with percussion that's over six or seven minutes long and that's just slightly offbeat or changing. It's so vivid and everything is connected. Even sometimes when the drummer is kind of losing the rhythm, when they get back into the groove you have that uplifting energy. Bubblegum music is also inspiring because of the fact that its music made with very limited means. You hear and feel the energy of the singers and the artists playing it. It's a really honest and true genre. That's what I really like about it; the unpolished raw feel gives it so much authenticity. 

The fact that we get to work with all these original artists and work on the stems of some great recordings is very rewarding. It's great to put your own personal touch on it. Obviously, we have a more electronic approach so it'll sound different. But for us, the chance to work on these tracks and give it our own perspective, the club perspective, is amazing. 

So Detroit Swindle was really an homage to Detroit and the Motown experience. Motown has those big sweeping arrangements of musicality with your music of being more of that deep house stripping much of that production away. How do you align those different concepts?

The reason we chose the name; it's the common ground we have. We both grew up with Motown and we really like Marvin Gaye and artists like that; acts that we've heard over and over again during our childhood. That’s why the name is really appropriate for us. In terms of musicality; House has a different approach. I already mentioned the fact that it's mostly based on repetition. So the many changeovers that there are in most soul songs are just too much. You need to strip it back to the essentials and find a tight groove that gets people in; like a little bit of a hypnotic seal. We use the catchiest part of a song or the catchiest part of a certain chord progression and we build around that. They all have these thermal changeovers or different chord progressions and we can build so many elements around that little piece of groove we find. That could be a two-bar sample. There are so many things you can build around that. 

Simplicity is our main challenge. To go back and take older records to their simplest form and to strip them of all the excess waste and all the stuff that is actually unnecessary to portray the message of the song. It's not about getting 10 or 15 different elements or extra elements in; it's about the opposite. 

And is that the driving element behind why you have resisted the temptation to go for commercial?

No, I think the driving element behind that is actually most of what we really like is just not commercial. We've had many opportunities to do really commercial remixes and work with artists that really want to make it in the mainstream area. It's just not what makes us tick. I can listen to some music, pop music or jazz, that's super popular and really appreciate that. But the stuff I like most is very uncommercial. It's very low key. I mentioned Spotify playlists earlier. I was going through my Discogs page of all the records that I've been buying the last few years just to see where to start. Most of the stuff I buy, I can’t even find on streaming sites. So, my take and I think our combined take on it is, that luckily, what we produce is popular enough for us to be popular.

I was gonna say it all stems back to when you originally met where Lars had to sack you for playing too much underground. So you have stayed true to yourself, right?

Well we both were making money with something else. When we started, we said, ‘all right, this just has to be for the love of it’, because of the type of music we really love to play and produce. Our endgame wasn't to make a living out of this. That kind of just happened. So when it did happen, we decided to embrace it and honour it by staying true to what we started. So everything we remix, or every track we make, needs to be something that we make out of love and belief in the music. Being commercially viable is not part of the decision-making process because we feel that when you start to do that, it's a very slippery slope towards making music for money. 

When you start making music purely for money it becomes less and less from the heart. Suddenly, you end up not getting booked for the kind of parties where you get to play the music you love. People will only remember you for the commercial stuff you've done and then you've wasted all that energy on building a profile. Suddenly that's lost. So, for us as producers and as DJs, I think there's no other way. I'd rather make less money and have more fun than the other way around.

That brings us to the fun that you have in the live performance space. Because you tend to put on shows with the inclusion of a keyboardist like Lorenz Rhode it becomes an event rather than a DJ experience. How important is that to you?

We both feel that the experience of dancing should build up towards something. When we are in full control of a line-up we can build something exactly the way we want. When you don’t have that control its way harder to connect. With full control, you can take the audience on a path that you've decided on; whether it's three, six or 12 hours. It all adds up to something. The more you're in control, the more you get to introduce people to the music that you that you really want to play. You can kind of ease people into listening to something that they weren't planning on listening to or that they’ve never listened to before. 

When you only have an hour to play there's loads of stuff happening around you. There's not much of a story to tell. So, with an added keyboard player at a live show, we get more flexibility and we get more of the live energy that we really like in our music. We also get to take people along with old genres that we like. If we do an all-nighter, we start at 90 BPM with downtempo Disco or hip hop even and slowly move towards some faster tracks. We build up the tempo and we change from genre to genre; like 110 BPM, Bubblegum or South African dubs. Then towards House and then Electro and Techno and up-tempo disco. 

The awesome Highlife came out in 2018. Looking back on it now what does that album means you?

Wow. It was a really special process because for the first time we really took time off touring to write music whereas normally we just wrote music in-between gigs. This was recorded in a unique way for us. If I look back at it, I don't think we could write it again. It could have only been written then. Lorenz was a big part helping with it; writing the key parts for pretty much half of the album. We rearranged our whole studio and put some synths in. We also had this chance meeting with Tom Misch who came to Amsterdam afterwards for recording sessions. 

The whole album was unplanned, sound wise, and unplanned in terms of what we wanted to achieve. We just wanted to explore our sound. I think when I listen to it now it gives a really good perspective of all of our interests. So yeah, I'm still super happy that we got to write that.

So, we know you started out in a completely digital environment, but you gradually incorporated more analogue processes into your production techniques. Is that because you like to challenge yourself because it's infinitely harder in the analogue space? 

Yeah, definitely harder and more time consuming. Machines don't necessarily respond the way they should. Especially old machines which sometimes do completely different things (from what you intended). Then you need to find out if something's broken or shut down. You need to turn them off and on and some synths don’t have midi so there's no sequencing. You have to do everything live and edit it. But it's just the feeling of sitting behind the keyboards or the drum computer, making use of that device rather than using your mouse and clicking on some stuff or automating everything. The likelihood of doing something that you didn't really plan but actually found really interesting is high. Purely because the filter resonance was a bit too high or something or just because the reverb in the patches you've made is different from what you thought it would be. It gives you a few more surprises and it feels more real. 

Even though VSTs can sound great, just the feel of playing a synth and touching the knobs with your hands, making your own patches while you're playing, rather than having a sequence running from a MIDI clip; that for me feels infinitely more interesting. That's just personal. I really enjoyed the way we worked before as well. But to be honest, producing with two people behind the one laptop is not that exciting.

I'm gonna ask you a DJ question now because you've been on this journey. What weapons does a good DJ need?

I think the most important weapon is originality and timing. You need to find your own sound. If you don't have your own sound, you can be anyone and anyone could be you. You need to find something that fits with you and that hopefully will connect to a big enough crowd to get enough people moving in the club. But to be a really good DJ, you need to know when to take risks, when to go safe or when to build up a bit longer and then go for your delivery. 

If you go to a festival and a DJ just plays hit after hit after hit after hit for an hour and people go there because they just want to be able to say I've seen this DJ at this festival; well yay for them. But for me, that's not that's not the art of DJing... Anyone can plan a show and if you have enough hits behind your name, you can play live off those hits. 

But the interesting part for me as a DJ is when you actually get the crowd moving to music that they never expected to hear and never expected to dance to. You unleash all these new emotions. And for me that's also why the combination of Lars and me works so well together because Lars is really good at finding the moment of delivery and when you need to throw in a bomb; I'm really good at extending the track and throwing in the odd-balls. 

People know what kind of vibe they'll get when they come to see us play but they never know what they're going to hear. We have a certain energy in our sound and our music but whether we play one Detroit song or zero Detroit songs, our DJ sets are always different and full of surprises. So I think a combination of those factors makes for a good DJ. 

Even when you're touring as much as we do, there's nights where you can really feel the connection with the crowd but sometimes it's just not there. But the most memorable nights are the ones where you feel like you're part of the crowd. You're not standing on a stage far away but you're connected and get the opportunity to play anything you like. You just know that whatever you play, people will be into it. And those occasions are amazing. And that's why I love being a DJ. 

Let’s talk some Amsterdam industry stuff. The ADE festival used to be a very community-based affair. Now it's grown to this really big occasion. Do you think that's detracting from what it was originally set out to achieve?

That's a hard one because I understand their path. I mean, I've been going for such a long time and I've been organizing events so I know the struggle in general. For ADE, the popularity grew and the organization also needed to find a way to actually make it economically viable. So obviously they connected with bigger artists or bigger labels to get the mainstream people to actually buy tickets. I get that. 

What I don't like about ADE is that it's very, very hard to have a normal party. People arrive at your party and they help build your vibe but there is this mentality of party hopping. They visit maybe four or five events on the night so you lose half of your crowd every hour and a half. That's really hard to build a connection with an audience because the story is always changing. The new arrivals don't have a clue about the idea of the night. That's a bit of a shame; they can still have fun and they can still listen to my records, but they won't get the full package. 

On the other hand, we've done three or four hostings at the same venue and we've always had a super steady following with our label and for Detroit Swindle. We've always really enjoyed our nights and we don't have that many industry people networking on the nights themselves. We tend to meet everyone during the week, during the day or outside of the clubs and make sure that the events are still about that love of music

I know some people from Amsterdam leave the city because it becomes touristy x 10. Normally Amsterdam is already full of tourists but at ADE time its super hectic. On the other hand, an event like that in our city is an amazing opportunity for us to catch up with people that we haven't seen in a while and who we only get to see when we're in South America or Australia or wherever. Suddenly everyone's in Amsterdam and you can show them your favourite coffee spot and catch up on releases, hand out records rather than posting them. So there's so many advantages.

Okay so that leads me to who's your favourite DJ behind the decks. 

I really enjoy guys like Hunee and Antal and a guy from London called John Gomez. He has an amazing taste in music and a large collection of Brazilian and South American music. We play together with him and every time he surprises me with something that I'd never heard before but which feels like I should have it in my collection. So, yeah, I'm a big fan of his music 

Who do you need to thank for where you are in your life right now?

I need to thank Lars because without him we wouldn't be where we are and I think he would thank me because it's really obvious.

My wife, for sure. She made so many sacrifices for me to be able to do this. The moment we started touring full time was the moment when our first kid was born (my daughter). She decided to cut back on work for me to be able to do more and then at some point we decided together that she would take time off full time to be able to run the family. Without her this would never have been possible.

Quickfire Round

DAW? Ableton 

Favourite keyboard? The Korg Monopoly. 

Preferred Decks? SL 1200s 

Favourite Mixer? Carmen Rotary. We take it on tour.

Favourite Sound? Waves crashing on the beach.

Love is…? Compassion.

Favourite club? In Australia … Revolvers

So besides playing back to back with Lars, who would be     the one person that you'd love to play back to back with?     Soundstream 

What are you most proud of? I am at this point really     proud of how, me and my family are dealing with the challenges in life.     We're very open minded and I'm proud of being open minded. 

So finally, this is a fun question is not meant to be anything sinister in this. So your family gets a phone call to say you're in a bit of trouble. What friend are you with?

My friend Pete.

He's always up to no good. Whenever we're on a night out you just know it's gonna be trouble lol 

 Stream Detroit Swindle

https://store.detroitswindle.com/ 

 Jay B is a published author, music journalist and international DJ who has deep roots in the global House Music community having played the music he loves for over 30 years. From London, New York, Paris, Tokyo and Sydney, he has travelled the globe and interviewed some of the biggest names in the business as head honcho of Switched On Music! 

[nerdmars]

The 2018 Grammys, which was held in New York City for the first time in 15 years to celebrate their 60th year, featured powerful performances from a host of artists and bands, including U2 (who performed outside, with the Statue of Liberty visible behind them), as well as Lady Gaga, Elton John (with Miley Cyrus), Sting, Kesha, and more.

Bruno brought down the house with a joyfully chromatic and high-energy performance of “Finesse,” evoking his beloved spirits of ’90s music and his own remarkable onstage moves. A songwriter and musician who has long honored his roots, his acceptance speeches were remarkable for their gracious recognition of those musical heroes who shaped his life.

“First off,” he began upon accepting the Grammy for Best Album, “to the other nominees in this category — Lorde, Kung Fu Kenny, Jay-Z, Gambino — you guys are the reason why I’m in the studio pulling my hair out, man, because I know you’re gonna only come with top-shelf artistry and music. Thank you guys for blessing the world with your music.”

Then, in another show of genuine gratitude for his own musical heroes, he urged the producers first to let him finish (“Don’t cut me off, Grammys, please!”), before relating a story of being a 15-year old in Hawaii entertaining big crowds of tourists. With no false humility, and to much laughter he said, “I’ll be honest; I was incredible at 15.”

But, as he explained, it was all about the timeless power of those songs he chose to perform then, songs which inspired him to become an artist and have sustained him to this day:

“Later in life.” he said, “I found out that those songs were written either by Babyface, Jimmy Jam/Terry Lewis or Teddy Riley. And with those songs, I remember seeing it first-hand: people dancing that had never met each other from two sides of the globe, people toasting each other, celebrating together. All I wanted to do with this album was that.”

By that, Bruno means capturing the spirit of genuine joy in the studio – and in the writing of the song – something which, as all songwriters know, cannot be faked.

“Those songs,” he said of the classic ’90s records on which he was raised, “were written with nothing but joy and for one reason and one reason only: love. And hopefully I could feel that again, and see everybody dancing and everybody moving. I’d like to dedicate this award to them. They are my heroes, they are my teachers. They laid the foundation. This album wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for these guys that had written these songs. Sure, I had to sprinkle a little Mars sauce on them. This is for them.”

His love of ’90s hip-hop and gratitude for those artists who made it has been a constant through the few interviews he gave about 24 K Magic.

“Obviously, you hear these ’90s influences in the whole album,” he said to Beats 1. “That’s because of West Coast Hip-Hop. That’s because of Dr. Dre and DJ Quik and Suga Free. This is what we grew up on. It was at a time when it was okay to party. It was okay to be flashy.”

To capture that celebratory vibe in the studio and inject it directly into the heart of his tracks, he brought together two teams of writer-producers, and like Michael Jackson in the studio, showed exactly the dynamics and groove he required by dancing. Merging his own songwriting-production team the Smeezingtons (Bruno, Brody Brown, James Fauntleroy and Philip Lawrence) with old friends the Stereotypes (Ray Charles “Charm” McCullough II, Jeremy Reeves, Ray Romulus and Jonathan Yip) he crafted this joyful, dimensional album.

Even after completing the writing and production of a song, as he had with Song of the Year winner “That’s What I Like,” he’d invite his pals to focus completely on the groove, shifting and fine-tuning it until it had that precise ingredient of danceable joy that Bruno wanted.

“Bruno would have the general outline of the song,” said Jonathan Yip of The Stereotypes, “and said ‘I need to get that bounce.’”

As Charm explained, “That’s What I Like” has a slow tempo, but is in danceable double-time, so that “you bounce twice to it. We love slower tempos. You can body-roll to it. We didn’t change the tempo at all, but we added those in between beats, which made it modern. These days the drums lead.”

As musical joy can be captured but not contrived, Bruno and the gang made the recording process, and the studio set-up itself, as conducive as possible to musical fun. “We were like kids on a playground,” said Yip, “with all these instruments laying around. It took all of us. None of us could have done it by ourselves. Everything we did we did together. It’s the result of friends having a great time in the studio.”

To get the party started, Bruno played everyone the songs he had already recorded.”It was very nostalgic,” said Yip, “and heavily drenched with ’90s influence, which is my favorite era. [Bruno] said he wanted to make an album that people could dance to, with music that made him feel like when he was back at school dances. He told us he wanted something with the New Jack Swing feel, so we started vibing out until we all felt we had something.

To connect with the authentic sound they wanted, Bruno and his engineer Charles Moniz filled the studio with those instruments used back in the day.

“We were all transported back,” said Ray Romulus. “They got the actual keyboards from the era we all loved. Bruno’s no less hands-on than MJ. He’ll be dancing, and then the next second he’s on the keyboard. To me, he is almost the reincarnation of Michael Jackson, and he made us feel like Quincy.”

As Moniz recalled, Bruno was always receptive to any ideas about how to improve the music, never clinging to ideas that went nowhere. “He has the ability to look at his own work objectively,” Moniz said, “and that plays a huge role in it all. If you’re trying to get people on the dance floor, but the song doesn’t make you want to dance, you’re going to have to make some changes. He’s never afraid to make changes and no idea is ever too precious.”

The lyrics came from Bruno. “All that about the Cadillacs and champagne,” Romulus said, “that’s how Bruno is. He’s giving you a day in the life.”

In the end, Bruno said to Beats 1, it’s all about the music. All this attention on him and his own life is fine. But without the authentic joy of music at the center of everything, none of it matters.

“I hope that my music does the talking,” he said. “I just want to do music. I don’t want to be known for any …. scandals or controversy. I want to be the guy that brings joy to your life through his music. That’s it. And I want to go home.

In addition to winning the three major awards, Bruno also received Grammys for Best R&B Song, for “That’s What I Like,” given to all of its songwriters, Bruno, Christopher Brody Brown, James Fauntleroy, Philip Lawrence, Ray Charles McCullough II, Jeremy Reeves, Ray Romulus & Jonathan Yip. He also won for Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Album.

[grimelords]

My March playlist is finished! This one is slightly more diverse than usual, swinging all the way from vibraphone jazz to Bhad Bhabie to black metal so I’ve taken the liberty of actually sequencing it properly for you. So if you’ve got 3 hours you can listen to this straight through and be taken for a hell of a ride. No matter what you like I’m sure you’ll find something in here that you love.

Tahiti - Milt Jackson: For an unknown reason I had a big jazz vibraphone phase this month and when you're talking jazz vibraphone you're talking the Wizard Of The Vibes himself, Milt Jackson. I feel insane even having an opinion on this but it's a shame that some of the best vibraphone performances were made at a time when the actual recording technology wasn't really there, they all have this very thin quality that I think misses a lot of the great character of the instrument.

Detour - Bill Le Sage: Like compare this from 1971 to Wizard Of The Vibes from 1952, the sounds is miles warmer and gives so much more of the full range and detail of the instrument. I also listened to this song five times in a row when I first heard it, the central refrain is just so fuckin good. Like I said, big vibes vibe and who knows why.

Blowin' The Blues Away - Buddy Rich And His Sextet: Superhuman playing aside, it's unbelievable how good these drums sound. The whole first minute just feels like a tour of each specific drum and I absolutely revel in it. I feel like flute and vibes is a relatively rare combo so it's extremely nice to hear Sam Most and Mike Manieri go ham in tandem.

Yama Yama - Yamasuki Singers: A friend sent me this song that he's had stuck in his head for ten years ever since it was in a beer ad from the days when beer ads were incredible strange for complicated legal reasons about not showing people enjoying the product or something https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORfkh0OojxY and this incredible song is apparently from a 1971 French concept album where a couple of guys wrote a bunch of psychedelic songs in Japanese for an unknown reason that later became a massive drum and bass breaks album, and one of the guys was Thomas Bangalter from Daft Punk's dad! Music is crazy.

Alfonso Muskedunder - Todd Terje: I'm starting a petition to get Todd Terje to write the soundtrack for the next Mario Kart. I absolutely love this song and this whole album because it's so joyful and strange and it just sounds like nothing else I've ever heard. He seem to truly operate in a world entirely of his own.

Pala - Roland Tings: I love this song. It's like he wrote it with normal sounds and then went back and replaced every instrument with the party version. This song hands you a coconut and says welcome to the island where bad vibes are punishable by firing squad.

Keygen 13 - Haze Edit - Dubmood: There's a fucking album of keygen music on spotify and it's absolutely great and so good that someone's doing the work to recognize the value of the music this extremely weird scene produced and preserve it. If you don't know, back in the day when you pirated photoshop or whatever, you would download a license key generator which was a program made by extreme nerds who had cracked the license key algorithm to give you a fake one, and for unknown reasons they would make the keygen program play original chiptune music that someone in their nerd crew would compose. Who knows why but god bless them.

My Moon My Man (Boys Noize Remix) - Feist: The very concept of a Boys Noize remix of My Moon My Man is hilarious and it turns out it sounds absolutely amazing as well. Two great tastes that taste great together.

Low Blows - Meg Mac: I had a big Meg Mac phase this month too, listened to her album a lot and it's extremely solid. Great timing too cause her new one comes out in a month or so too. I really am excited to hear her next album because she's so good but I've always got this feeling that she hasn't reached her full potential yet, she's only going to get a million times better in an album or two.

Patience - Tame Impala: I love that the cover of this single is a pic of congas because it feels like that's the central thesis here. Kevin Parker bought some congas and is making disco Tame Impala now and I really couldn't be happier about it.

Unconditional (feat. Kitten) - Touch Sensitive: I love a 90s throwback done with love. There's nothing cynical or ironic about this it's just fun as hell!

Last Hurrah - Bebe Rexha: Get a fucking load of this Bebe Rexha song that interpolates Buy U A Drank by T-Pain for the chorus! It's a testament to how good that song is that she's using the verse melody as the chorus. T-Pain will quite literally never get the respect he deserves. Also this song goes for 2.5 minutes. There's something happening where pop songwriting is getting more and more compact, completely trimming the fat and ornamentation and it's very interesting.

Hi Bich - Bad Bhabie: Also I'm fully six months late on Hi Bich but I'm of the opinion that it's extremely fucking good. A perfect little reaction gif of a song and it only goes for 1m45!

Friends - Flume: I'm doubling down on my thesis about emo rap from last month but this song literally sounds like a Flume remix of a Hawthorne Heights song. The whole melody of it, the overlapping yelled/clean vocals. The lyrics obviously. I don't know it's just very odd how close it is. A sort of emo trojan horse to trick people into thinking The Used are cool again. 

How To Build A Relationship (feat. JPEGMAFIA) - Flume: I've been meaning to check out JPEGMAFIA (AKA Buttermilk Jesus AKA DJ Half-Court Violation AKA Lil' World Cup) for a while but this is the song that convinced me. There's just so much to digest in this. Every line is gold and delivered with massive conviction even when he realises it's total nonsense like 'dont call me unless I gave you my number'.

Bells & Circles (feat. Iggy Pop) - Underworld: Underworld alive 2019?? I love this song becuase Iggy Pop has been riding a fine line between punk provocateur and old man yells at cloud for a while now and this song is the perfect mix of both. You can't hijack airplanes and redirect them to cuba anymore and as a result it's over for liberal democracies. Just yelling about air travel for six minutes and it's good.

Guns Blazing (Drums Of Death Pt. 1) - UNKLE: This beat is some of my favourite DJ Shadow work I think. The menacing organ bass throughout, and especially the distorted drum freakout near the end. It's just great all the way through.

Homo Deus IV - Deantoni Parks: Another Deantoni Parks track like I was raving about last month. This whole album is great and flows together as a single piece of work amazingly. I love the purposefully limited sample palette of each track forcing an evolving groove throughout. He absolutely wrings every bit of variation he can get out of every single sound he uses and once you get into the groove of it it's absolutely mind blowing.

Boredom - The Drones: I love that The Drones can write a song about joining ISIS that's also a lot of fun. Spelling out radicalization in a way anyone can understand and sympathise with and then switching it in the second verse to spell out how we got into this situation anyway. 

Loinclothing - Hunters And Collectors: I love how much this song sounds like a voodoo celebration in christian hell.

The Fun Machine Took A Shit And Died - Queens Of The Stone Age: There's a good bit on the live dvd they put out after Lullabies To Paralyze where they play this song and they say it was supposed to be on the album but somebody stole the master recordings from the studio, which is an incredible and brazen crime. Then when they put it out on Era Vulgaris as a bonus track Josh Homme said in an interview "The tapes got lost. Actually, they were just at another studio, but we falsely accused everyone in the world of theft" which is extremely funny. This is really one of their best songs and I sort of really with it had been on Lullabies because it fits perfectly between The Blood Is Love and Someone's In The Wolf type of vibes, I love how it just kind of keeps shifting ideas and riffs throughout. An absolute jam overflowing with ideas.

10AM Automatic - The Black Keys: This song is an all time great in my opinion. It's so straightforward and so effective. I wonder if we'll get a blues rock revival ever or if Jack White still being alive and bad is souring everyone on that idea. This song also has one of my favourite guitar sounds in history I think - the outrageously huge sounding solo that comes out of nowhere and swallows up the rest of the mix like a swirling black hole near the end.

Gamma Knife - King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard: I've never gotten much into King Gizzard and because of their one million albums already it's hard to know where to start but I've been listening to Nonagon Infinity a bit and it's great, it's just good old fashioned 70s prog jams front to back.

Gina Works At Hearts - DZ Deathrays: I absolutely love this song and I absolutely love the second guitar sound in the chorus of this song that sounds like it's made out of thin steel.

Black Brick - Deafheaven: When I saw Deafheaven the other month I was right up the front and it was a life changingly great experience AND they played this new song live for the first time before it went up everywhere like three hours later which was very exciting to be given a sclusie like that. After they finished a guy behind me whispered to his friend "Slayer..." which was very funny to me.

Gemini - Elder: I found this band because one of my Spotify Daily Mixes was all stoner metal for a while, which is a good genre to see all lined up because it'll have Weedeater, Bongripper AND Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats right there in a row for you. Anyway this album is extremely good, the very best kind of stoner metal where it's groovy and fun and has big meaty riffs and ripping big solos and it's extremely easy to listen to three times in a row.

The Paradise Gallows - Inter Arma: My big obsession the past little while has been Inter Arma ever since Stereogum posted The Atavist's Meridian from their new album. It is just so fucking good and I can't believe I've never heard of them before. You know when you find out about an amazing band and then you find out they've been around for nearly ten years and you can't believe everyone in your life has been selfishly hiding them from you?

The Atavist's Meridian - Inter Arma: I think a big part of my enjoyment of this band has also been that I discovered them at the same time as I'm listening to an audiobook of the complete Conan The Barbarian omnibus so I'm very much in the brain space for music that sounds like it would be nice to swing an axe to.

Untoward Evocation - Impetuous Ritual: I love how halfway through this kind of just turns into a big swirling mist of dark sounds. It feels so formless and dark that it could just shake apart and dissipate at any moment and you'd look down to realise your skin is gone.

Eagle On A Pole - Conor Oberst: from Genius: 'In an interview with MTV news, Oberst stated “We were on the bus one day and a friend of ours that travels with us and works for the band kind of came out from the back of the bus and said that first line: ‘Saw an eagle on a pole… I think it was an eagle.’ And then this guy Simon Joyner, who is a great songwriter from Omaha and one of my great friends, he was on tour with us and sitting there and he was like, ‘You know, that’s a great name for a song.’ We kind of had a contest where he wrote a song with that first line, and [then] I did, and a couple of our other friends. We kind of all played them for each other. Simon’s is better than mine, but it is a good line to start a song.” Another version–Mystic Valley Band drummer Jason Boesel’s interpretation–is on the next album, Outer South.' The idea that such a good song has such a braindead origin only makes me love it more.

Lake Marie - John Prine: When I saw John Prine the other month he played this song that I had never heard before and I had to look it up after and now I'm completely obsessed with it. It feels like falling asleep during a movie and missing a critical plot point so the rest doesn't make sense when you wake up but is thrilling nonetheless. Also he absolutely screamed "SHADOWS!!!" when he played it which was a fucking cool thing to see a 72 year old man do.

Little White Dove - Jenny Lewis: The drums on this whole album are absolutely huge for some reason and I love it. My favourite recent sound is in the first chorus where there's a funny little pitch correction noise as she sings 'dove'. It's very strange and very very good.

Locked Up - The Ocean Party: I only found out The Ocean Party existed as they announced their farewell show this month which is a real shame but I'm glad I got to hear of them at all because they're very good. A very good song about that feeling we all know and love: driving for a long long time.

Plain & Sane & Simple Melody - Ted Lucas: I found out about this song from Emma Ruth Rundle's Amoeba Records video and she makes a good point about this whole album sounding like something's gone wrong and it got accidentally pitched down slightly in the recording process. It's unclear if that's what happened or that's just how he sounds but it adds a very softly spooky undercurrent to a very nice song.​ 

listen here

[s-creations]

Return the Flames - Chapter 10

All at Dead Bird Studios knew of Amos' (The  Conductor's) ability. How the owl could suddenly erupt into flames if  angered enough. When the studio first opened, Dominic (DJ Grooves) was  told that Amos had his ability under control. Nothing to worry about. No  possible loss of anything from an open flame.

A few years later however, and that control seems to have lessened to a dangerous degree.

It should have just been a simple, week long drive to fix the problem. It really should have been.

Dominic should have asked a lot more questions and should have been prepared for a twist ending.

_________________

Fandom: A Hat in Time       Rating: General Audience       Relationships/Pairings: The ConductorXDJ Grooves     Warnings: Eventual depictions of violence, slow burn relationship, named characters, attempt of an accent, being hunted down, a race against time (sort of).

It was so painfully cold. The flame that had scared him for so long, he now begged for it to return. Something, anything to starve off this chill that he seemed to be drowning in. The voices were gone as well. The quiet was somehow worse than their constant chanting and teasing. There was nothing here but the cold and the quiet. And he hated it.

 No one was there to see him struggle. To see him try and claw his way back up. He was alone and it hurt.

 He just wanted this to end.

 Someone just end this please!

 “You’ll be okay. I promise you’ll be okay.”

 But he hurt so much.

 “I know. But you’ll be okay.”

 He was so tired. 

 “I know. But you’ll be okay.”

 How could you say that so easily?

 “Because you’re stubborn and I know you won’t let something like this take you down. Please remain. I need you.”

 When Amos woke again, he was far more aware of his surroundings than the first time. Meaning no wild and frantic outburst while threatening others with a chair. It may have also helped his peace of mind to find Dominic passed out in the chair next to him instead of missing from the action. Said penguin’s upper body was laying out on the bed. Amos looked down, surprised to find his hand trapped in Dominic’s grasp.

 Sitting up as best he could and keeping his hand connected to the penguin’s, Amos took in the decor of the hut. Or at least what was actually there. As it was rather basic in it’s set up. Shelves on the wall near the bed held small pots and clean rags. The pots held so potent herbs if Amos’ nose was anything to go by. A small table was placed near the bed with a wooden cup holding water resting on top. The bed Amos was resting on was the only one in the small hut, Dominic resting on one of the two offered chairs. The hut itself was small but not cramped, with the door being nothing more than an archway that was covered by a deep red cloth that was gently moving in the chilled wind. 

 It was all oddly relaxing. Normally, Amos was uncomfortable with the quiet and the calm. Wanting to just move and work on something. At this moment however, he just wanted to stay like this for a little while longer. Laying on a rather comfortable bed with no one hunting him down and Dominic sitting so close.

 “Amos…?” Said penguin grumbled weakly, slowly starting to wake. One hand still gripping onto Amos’ while the other wiped at his eyes.

 “Hi…”

 Dominic laughed softly. “Hello. How are you feeling?”

 “Better...more aware than I was before. Where are we?”

 “A small village near the base of the mountain.”

 “H-How far?”

 “About a day's walk, maybe two.”

 “Good...Good, then we can leave and get this done with.” Amos winced as he attempted to stand. Only to be held back down by Dominic.

 “Calm yourself. You’re still healing.”

 “But we need ta go.”

 “Amos, we’re safe here. We’re hidden away and they have patrols set up to make sure no agents get too close. Please give yourself a day to relax before we start moving again.”

 Amos frowned, reaching out to grip Dominic’s hand again. The penguin happily returned the gesture, both hands wrapping around Amos’ single. A thumb rubbed the back of the owl’s hand. It was such a soothing gesture that Amos had no reason to argue. 

 “...We’ll leave tomorrow?”

 Dominic smiled. “Tomorrow, I promise Sweetheart.”

 “Alright.”

 “Is the Child awake?” The birds turned towards the entrance as the Elder and two healers walked in. Dominic pulled away to allow Amos to be examined. The owl was upset at the loss of that comfort. But instead of focusing on that, he turned towards the Elder.

 “Child? I ain’t that much younger than yer grizzled self.”

 “Amos.” Dominic berated from the sidelines.

 The Elder merely chuckled. “So, you are also close to 600 years?”

 “...No.” The owl grumbled. 

 “Don’t fret. I only call you Child, not because of your age, but because of your heritage.”

 “Heritage… Ya mean the Phoenix side o’ me.”

 “Correct! You are the Child of the Pure Flame. A being who’s a direct descendant of the Celestial Phoenix.”

 “Yeah, great fun. Nothin’ like bein’ related to a deadbeat father.”

 “Fair point.” The Elder fell quiet when one of the healers spoke up. Nodding a few times before addressing the visiting birds again. “It seems as if the Child is going well.”

 “The ‘Child’ has a name.”

 “Ah, very well. While you’re doing well Amos, I would advise you take it slow today. It’s unclear if you have fully ‘flushed’ everything out of your system yet. It would be a great misstep if you started your journey again only to relapse.”

 “...Fine.”

 “Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on him.” Dominic smirked at the glare Amos sent his way.

 “Wonderful!” the Elder laughed, “I will find something for you to wear.”

 Amos’ feathers fluffed at that. “We have luggage…”

 “I’m well aware. Where do you think I’m getting your outfit from?”

 Dominic held in a laugh at the Elder’s mocking tone, said monk and the healers leaving the visiting birds alone. Amos laid back down, arms crossed and clearly pouting.

 “...Sassy goat.”

 Dominic couldn’t cover up his laughter at that.

 ___________________

 It was in the early afternoon when they emerged from the medical hut. The owl swearing up and down he was going to pull his feathers out if he stayed in that bed any longer. Amos put up a disgruntled facade when he realized he would have to lean against Dominic to keep himself upright. Hoping it was enough to pull attention away from his furiously beating heart as the penguin slipped an arm around Amos’ waist. 

 Being able to move, even if it was slow going at first, changed his attitude quickly. Instead of feeling confined, he was able to see where they’d tucked themselves away while hiding from the world. It was quaint and small. Something clearly not touched by anything outside in the modern world. A place Amos was actually happy they were able to stop at before this journey ended. 

 Although it was confusing as to why all in the village seemed to be running around.

 “What are all these nomads doin’?” Amos questioned as another group returned with baskets filled with fruit.

 “Setting up a feast for us.” Dominic replied simply.

 “Us?”

 “Well, more of a way to help us relax. But yes, us.”

 “Ah, of course…”

 “Are you uncomfortable with this?”

 The owl squirmed. “...Maybe.”

 Dominic merely laughed. “Rather strange to hear that coming from you.”

 “What are ya yammerin’ about?”

 “That you're not alright with all this attention. You. The bird who flaunts every 1st place trophy you’ve ever gotten.”

 “I earned the right ta flaunt them! Also, very funny comin’ from you. You with yer flashy outfits.”

 “How dare you.” Both attempted to hold their glares. Only to end up laughing the next second. “Good to know we both have our prideful hangups.”

 Amos waved his hand to easily push the conversation away. “Good ta hear yer happy. Now, let’s see if this village has somethin’ ta drink.”

 “You’d better be discussing water.”

 “Only if it’s fermented.”

 “That makes no sense!”

 Amos laughed as he broke away from Dominic’s grasp, limping slightly as he headed over to the  first collection of food. The penguin quickly followed. But the owl was already sniffing the nearest piles of fruit when Dominic joined his side again.

 “And how are you going to ask for a drink? I don’t think nomads even have alcohol.”

 “I wasn’t lyin’ about the fermentation. Here.”

 Dominic fumbled slightly as a lumpy skinned, purple fruit was tossed his way. He gave it a tentative sniff. Which he instantly regretted and he pulled away in disgust. “That’s horrible, it smells like brandy!”

 “Ya know it.” Amos confirmed, taking a large bite out of the one he held. “Oof, that’ll put feathers on yer tail.”

 Dominic frowned as the owl quickly polished off the fruit he had before going for another one. The penguin quickly grabbed the other’s wrist. Smiling sheepishly at the disgruntled look he received. “I’m sure this is your typical way to, uh, self medicate. But I would like you to try and take it easy.”

 Amos huffed. “Fine...one more and then I’ll wait for the festivities to properly begin.”

 Not really what Dominic was asking for. But he supposed that was the best he was going to get. Perhaps he could make another convincing argument later. 

 To keep themselves somewhat entertained, Dominic volunteered them to help set up the feast. With Amos responding to this by grumbling about wanting to just relax. And the nomads gestured to explain that they were guests and should just be enjoying themselves, not working. But the penguin was able to convince both parties to participate in some way. 

 It was a little touch and go as far as where the visiting birds would be able to help out. But they eventually found their comfort zones. Dominic primarily stayed with the cooks. Helping out with the multiple dishes that were being prepared and layout the table that would hold the mountain of food. Chatting with the cooks that could understand him and looking forward to recreating some of these dishes when he got home.

 Amos, however, stuck with the younger generation. Keeping the children of the village entertained by playing games and helping them carry the needed wood for the planned evening bonfire. Dominic saw that personality the owl’s grandchildren clamored for whenever they saw him. Amos even seemed younger than what his true age was. It was endearing to watch him chase the small forms around the large pile of firewood. 

 The owl was darting everywhere in that village, seeming to carry multiple children at a time. Dominic smiled whenever Amos would pass by the cooking area, happy to know the other was feeling better.

 “Amos seems to be doing well.” The Elder commented, the penguin unprepared for the other’s arrival. 

 “He is...He really is,” Dominic replied after his heart calmed down, “I’ve only heard him laugh a few times over our working years. But this trip, despite its hardships, has opened him up just a little bit more.”

 “You’ve done well with helping in that aspect. I hope he understands that.”

 The penguin became flustered, placing the knife down to address the elder better. “I...I think he does.”

 “Bonfires are a rather romantic setting.”

 “I- Why are you so interested in my love life? I don’t even know you!”

 “Hello, I’m the Elder of the Starlight Mountain village.”

 “You know what I mean.”

 “Dominic, I understand that flustered, nervous feeling. All too well actually. I know the situation is not what you would expect it to be. But...I’m worried that your window of opportunity is slowly closing.”

 “I know…” Dominic huffed as he chopped vegetables. A bit more violently than what he probably should have done. “I know. But this isn’t about me. It’s about keeping him happy and healthy...and hope that is enough to keep him here.”

 The Elder nodded slowly. “Believe me when I say, you make him happy.”

 The penguin was not pleased with how hot he’d become from that statement.

 As the sun began to set, the large bundle of collected wood was finally lit. Dominic was pleased with the numerous pieces of food he’d helped create. Even partaking in the fermented fruit before Amos ate it all. The owl clearly flushed, even with how early in the celebration they were. Music soon started being played, numerous nomads taking up places around the roaring fire. Dancing around it either alone or with a partner in hand. Dominic felt his foot tapping to the beat while Amos made some half-hearted comment about it being unnecessary. 

 The sky was completely dark when Dominic lost some inhibitions and allowed the loud music to take over. Joining the already dancing nomads surrounding the large fire, he moved from partner to partner, the music seeming to swell as he moved to it. He’d almost forgotten what it was like to let all just melt away and allowed himself to just move. Move without a care and let the music take control. 

 All of it came to a short pause when he felt a clawed hand grab one of his. Quickly being pulled flushed against Amos, whose face was very red. 

 Dominic was only allowed a moment's pause to look Amos over before he was pulled in to dance. The owl took the lead. A skilled dancer even in his drunken state. It was an absolute thrill. Dominic laughed as he pressed closer, Amos responding in kind, and the rest of the world seemed to just disappear. It was just the two of them, having a moment where they could just focus on themselves. Better than the fair as Amos initiated the contact. Even if he was drunk. But if that smile on his face was any indication, the owl was just as happy as Dominic was right now.

 The penguin was brought back when the cheers of the nomads became louder than the music. Dominic’s attention was pulled towards the fire. Which had become taller than what it was before. A spiral of different colors that reached out towards the sky as it twisted and turned. It was a spectacular light show that seemed to speed the penguin’s heart rate. 

 Amos let out a small chirp before nuzzling under Dominic’s beak. The penguin felt warmer suddenly and he gently nipped behind the owl’s ear. The roaring fire wasn’t the only source of warmth for that evening.