#because it’s a kid song about living in a submarine

[sp0o0kylights]

Wayne takes in a Beat to Shit Steve Harrington after Starcourt as n Owed Favor to Hopper Part 4

Part Three: link

First Chapter (parts 1-3 on tumblr) on A03: Link

The kid was madder than a wet hen.

Just as slippery as one too, when he got like this--music pulsing like a living thing to signal all his rage and upset. 

Not like Wayne hadn’t expected it. 

He just wished it wasn’t quite so damn loud. 

The music had started up almost immediately after Eddie had stormed to his room, startling Steve awake and nearly making Wayne curse for it.

Normally it was a good thing--music meant Eds was willing to listen instead of heading for the hills.  

Normally, they didn't have a house guest who looked like he'd gone ten rounds with a bear.

They had a routine for this, was the thing and the music was a key part of it. It worked all the edges off for Wayne, and he'd long figured out that about thirty minutes was a the perfect length of time for Eddie to stew before he could actually talk things through.

Given the hand Harrington put to his forehead, Wayne wasn't eager to give him that thirty minutes.

Not when Steve deserved little peace he could have.

Unfortunately, so did Eds. 

Still.

 Strutting through the door and demanding to talk right now was a bad move and so, with a sympathetic look given to Steve, Wayne did what he did best

Gave space.

Let Eddie rage, as Wayne got up and shuffled about the kitchen.

Pulled out the soft earplugs he pretended weren’t there for Eds to steal (playing that damn loud guitar all the time could not be good for his ears) and offered them to Steve, before making two cups of what Wayne privately thought was the Munson “chitchat” drink. 

One cup of hot water, one packet swiss miss, a small amount of maple syrup drizzled in, topped with little marshmallows they reserved for these types of situations. 

Wayne took his time with it, thinking through what he wanted to say. 

‘I understand that this is a screen door on a submarine kind of situation...’ 

Nope. 

‘Son I know you hate listening to anyone for anything but this is serious...’ 

Absolutely not--that would end up with the boy bolting for sure. 

‘Ed’s, I love you but could we please turn Ozzy off while we talk? That man wails louder than any damn cat I have ever met.’

That one was purely self indulgent, mostly because the wall was starting to shake. 

Wayne put the finishing touches on the cocoa before staring at both of them. 

Perhaps if he stared the Garfield mug in its eyes hard enough, the right words would come through. 

They did not.

He kept trying, standing there long enough for the cocoa to reasonably have cooled and for Eddie’s song to flip over to something with more screaming in it than singing. 

Wayne supposed that this was the hardest part of being a parent. You just didn’t get to have the magical one liner. The right thing to say at just the right time.  

The joke that would ease all the tension and let things progress forward nice and easy.

Instead, you got to fumble your way through the dark with a flashlight up your ass and hope you were going in the right-ish direction. Ideally without making things worse. 

Wayne was here though, and that had to count for something. 

(Knew it counted for something--because Eddie was still here. 

They had cleared hurdles far higher than this when it came to trust. They’d get through this too, come what may. 

Steve too.)

“Can I just ask,” Eddie started, aggressive as always when Wayne finally gave in and entered his room, feeling all sorts of awful for the migraine Steve had to have, “what the absolute fuck is happening?” 

Sure as fire he was sitting on his bed, leg bouncing a mile a minute.

An unlit cigarette hung between two fingers, looking a little chewed on, but otherwise undisturbed--as it should be, because one of Wayne’s few rules was that smoke stayed outside the house. 

“You could.” Wayne said loudly but agreeably, as he turned himself around and dropped down next to his kid.  

Held out the Garfield mug, and was happy when it was taken from him. 

“Figured you might have other things to say, though.” 

Likely a lot of things. 

It was as good an opening as any, and his kid didn’t disappoint, launching right to it. 

“Why is he here and not at a hospital?”

 ‘Here’ was punctuated by Ed’s hand winging towards the door, and while it wasn’t the righteous fury Wayne expected, it was at least, an easy answer to give. 

“Steve has some people looking for him. Bad people. Hospital makes him an easy target.” 

Wayne was still talking loud. Could only hear Eddie himself because he was looking at the kid’s lips more than he was actually hearing his voice. 

Eddie took that in, swallowing it about as well as he’d swallowed anything he hadn’t liked. 

And thank the stars above, he finally reached a hand out and turned the music down. Not a lot--Steve wouldn’t be able to hear them over all this--but enough that Wayne didn’t have to struggle. 

“We’re hiding him from the cops now?!” Ed’s spat. 

“Cops know he’s here. Hopper’s the one who asked me to take him.” Wayne reminded him, because it was the truth. 

Not the full truth, but given how Ed’s pissed off half the local PD on a good day, Wayne absolutely did not want to see his nephew take on Federal Agents.

(Particularly not the kind who were going ‘round killing kids.) 

“So--what?” Eddie yanked hard on his hair, a gesture that looked less intentional and more like he was trying to fight his own anger down. “Hopper just called you up and said ‘Hey, we had a whoopsie with the rich kid, the hospital’s not safe anymore. Can we stash him with you for a few days?” 

Wayne nodded once, slow-like. 

Always remembered how too fast movements had made Eddie flinch and jerk back when was littler, and given the way Steve was looking, figured it was a good time to be cautious again. 

“He did.”

“And you just--agreed? Just like that!?” 

“I did.” 

He pretended not to see Eddie boggle at him at the simple admission, so furious that he seemed to struggle for words when he normally had too many to say. 

Wayne took advantage. 

“We did talk a bit more than that, I’ll admit.”

Ed’s scoffed. “About the weather I’m sure.” 

“‘Bout trust.” 

Eddie blinked at that. 

“Trust.” He echoed flatly. 

“What have I always told you? People like to ask you to trust them, but you they don’t get to have it until--” 

“They provide proof or a reason.” Eddie finished with an eyeroll. “So which did Hopper provide then?”

Wayne took a noisy sip of his coca. Smacked his lips a little before saying: “Both.” 

Didn’t bother to say anything else, because he knew Eddie would finish the thought for him. 

“One of them was me, wasn’t it.” 

Eds didn’t say it like a question, but Wayne hummed in agreement anyway. 

He wasn’t gonna shame his boy, but he wasn’t gonna sugar coat Eddie’s involvement in this either. Not when he’d already admitted that was half the reason Hopper had gone to Wayne to begin with. 

“No one is expecting Steve to be here.” He said, seeing the chance to hammer home the most important part of this entire shitshow. “So long as no one finds out he’s here, he’ll be safe. Everyone will be safe.” 

Steve from the Feds who were hunting him for while he was busy being involved in shit he couldn’t control and Eddie because he had a mouth that most people didn’t like. 

Not small town people anyway, and absolutely not authority figures with guns. 

“Who’s even after him?” Eddie was theatrical as always, hands waving away as he talked. “Did he make a deal with the mob? Piss off some other rich guy? I know it’s not anything drug related, I’d have heard about it by now.” 

After years of experience, Wayne knew exactly how far to lean away to stay out of range, too used to his nephew talking with his entire body.

“That’s his story to tell ya, Ed’s. It ain’t mine. Same way it ain’t my place to tell him your story.” 

That at least got the boy to think for a minute. Put down that frustration he carried with him all the time, and use the brain they both knew he had. 

“How long is he staying here?”

Wayne shrugged. “Don’t know.” 

Eddie sighed and mockingly mimicked Wayne, taking an obnoxious slurp of his cocoa. “The neighbors are going to notice if he’s here more than a few days. The trailer park isn’t exactly big.” 

“They didn’t notice that time you decided to make fireballs with the cooking spray and about blew up half the driveway. Don’t think they’re gonna notice someone being quiet in the house.” 

Eddie snorted, and probably rolled his eyes again, not that Wayne could see it given the kid was looking into his own mug as he thought it all through. 

Wayne sat with him as he processed. 

Eds worked at his own pace with things, and while life at large might be against that, Wayne was happy to let him do it. Found it easier that way, then trying to poke and prod and force him like so many father figures did. 

Wayne’s patience was rewarded not even a full minute later, when Eddie turned to him and asked; 

“What if he finds out?”  

This in a quieter voice. An unsure one--words and body hunching in a way unlike the Eddie the world outside knew, but very much like the little boy Wayne had brought inside his home. 

It took Wayne  a moment to connect the dots--he’d been speaking out of the place parents and authority figures often do, and in doing so hadn’t thought much of the fact his nephew had a real secret. 

The kind small town minds didn’t like--and would kill him over. 

This all wasn’t about Wayne taking in Steve, he realized abruptly.  It was that Steve being here meant Eddie couldn’t be himself. 

Could not relax in a place he was accepted for who he was, because Wayne knew and made sure Eddie understood he was wanted here, had a place here, regardless of who he loved. 

Now, Wayne had gone and removed it.

‘Shit.’ 

“He won’t.” Wayne said. 

Knew that wasn’t enough, and so, promised: “But if he does, I’ll make sure he understands his safety here relies on your own.” 

Ed’s chin jerked in a nod, the two of them sitting in silence for a moment before the boy did as he often did when he wanted a hug but felt too awkward to ask for one, and tipped himself into Wayne’s side. 

“Thanks old man.” Eddie whispered into his shoulder and not for the first time, Wayne wished things were easier for the poor kid as he put his mug in one hand and hugged his kid with the other. 

Hoped that in the future, it would be.

Even if he had to force everyone and everything coming after him--and now Steve--to do it.

(Wondered vaguely, how bad it was that he was already getting as protective as Steve as he was of his own kid.

Probably very, given his kid clearly hated Harrington.)

xXx

Wayne took the first night of Steve’s stay off.

He wasn’t the type to use his PTO lightly. Was used to rationing it for any possible thing Eddie might need him for.

A night up sick when he was younger, to a night spent chasing him down during some of their bad spots--but the last year or so Wayne had slowly realized he hadn’t had to use it much.

He was still careful with it though, precious as it was, and was thankful for it now as it ensured his nephew didn’t murder their house guest. 

Or at the very least, didn't sit there pecking at him.

The kid might've failed English a few times, but he had a real gift with words and an even better one with insults.

(Wayne wasn't quite clear on what all the "King" jabs were about, and absolutely did not get why Steve looked far more hurt at the comment about his "sad ass floppy hair" but given the increasingly flat look Steve was throwing Eddie's way, Wayne figured it couldn't be anything good.)

Thankfully a pointed reminder about Steve's injuries had finally gotten them all some peace, enough for Harrington to drop back to sleep--and for Wayne to realize he looked a little too dead while he did it to be comfortable getting any sleep himself.

The kids chest barely moved, and that it ate at Wayne’s until he got up and shoved a hand under his nose. 

Felt his breath, and told himself the poor sod was fine. 

Hurt, absolutely, but alive. 

Over and over again, until the sun had made its rotation in the sky, bringing the morning with it.

‘Better than nightmares, I suppose.’ Wayne figured, as exhaustion scraped at his eyelids.

Those Wayne knew, would come later. When Steve’s brain caught up to the rest of him, and stopping dumping survival chemicals through his battered body. 

He'd given up on sleep entirely sometime around 1 am, and now he sat at his small kitchen table, writing out a medication schedule for Harrington so he and the kid both knew when he could have his next Tylenol. 

Wasn’t even halfway through it before Eddie made his typically late appearance and blew through his door. 

Had his back up from the moment he’d stepped a foot in the kitchen and it didn’t take a genius to see he’d worked himself into a snit again.

Unfortunately for him, whatever scenario that imaginative brain of his had cooked up fell flat to the reality that was the poor kid on the couch. 

Steve Harrington was one a hell of a sight.

Didn’t help that he was doing his level best to make himself as small as possible, curled deep into Wayne's ancient couch.

The blankets covered the ribs and hid away most of the damage, but there wasn’t much Steve could do to hide the shiners on his face--or the marks around his neck.  

Not when they’d grown worse overnight, practically inviting questions.

It was almost laughable how quickly Eddie ate whatever words he’d prepared, mouth awkwardly chewing around them as if they were tangible. 

The less-than-sneaky looks he threw at the younger teen were equally amusing, and if Wayne wasn’t trying to peace keep, he’d have given in and chuckled when Eds split attention caused him to pour half his coffee into the sink rather than a cup. 

Looked utterly lost when, after finishing putting his coffee together and grabbing some junk food thing that absolutely was not a breakfast item, he came to stand awkwardly at Wayne's shoulder, openly staring as Steve blatantly ignored him.

Eds didn’t know what to do, and Wayne couldn't blame him. 

Seemed to keep thinking he was going to encounter a boy that likely no longer existed, and whose blood tinged specter just made things sad.

Shit like this, Wayne knew, took a man’s ego and warped it, shaping it to something else entirely. 

At least for Steve, it seemed that getting wrapped up in whatever mess he had had shaped him for the better, instead of pretzeling him into something worse. That, Wayne thought, spoke to the boy's character more than anything he’d done prior. 

(It helped to know what Hopper tolerated and what he didn’t. That he’d vouched for Steve in the same way Wayne knew he’d vouched for Eddie, even if Eddie didn’t yet realize the cop he antagonized so much would do that for him.) 

That didn't erase the history his kid had with Harrington, though.

Wouldn't stop him from seeing the old Steve, first.

‘Don’t you got school?” Wayne asked when he decided Ed had stared enough. 

“Yeah, yeah.” Eddie waved him off, trotting out the door. “Bye old man, house parasite!” 

It was clearly a jab, meant to nettle, but Steve barely acted like he heard it. 

Wayne rolled his eyes. 

“Goodbye, Eds.” He said firmly, much of a warning as he ever gave, and fondly watched his nephew scuttle out the door. 

Turned to see how Steve was taking things, and was once again given a reminder that Steve wasn’t doing a hell of a lot other than feeling his injuries. 

“I think I promised you a game, son.”  Wayne said gently, startling Steve out of the distant, dim look he had trained on the wall. 

It wasn’t a lot to offer in terms of a distraction, but it would have to do.

[the-boney-rolls]

the way that yellow submarine, of all songs, is actually so heart wrenching. paul dreams up a song for ringo (something fun for kids because why shouldn't the world's biggest rock band be for everyone?) and john hears paul's song about friendship and community and comes to him with a fragment of a ballad that just happens to be about aching lifelong loneliness and what do they do, they make the sad song better, they blend the two so seamlessly no one really knew for 60 years where paul's song ended and john's began.

and on the final track, ringo’s voice is so pure and tender and open. and there's the four of them singing together, a rare example of all four voices together as one, singing about living together in a magical land with all their friends, a fanciful version of the dream that john had for all of them.

[ironmandeficiency]

modern lotr character headcanons

characters included: aragorn, boromir, gimli, legolas, pippin, merry, frodo, sam, arwen, eomer, eowyn

word count: 745

summary: random thoughts abt lotr characters if they lived in modern times

a/n: this is literally just silly shit, enjoy

boromir listens to old country (conway twitty, george jones, loretta lynn, etc.) and does not tolerate anyone insulting the opry legends

he also listens to divorced dad rock (hinder, nickelback, theory of a dead man, etc.) which gimli will sometimes jam to as well

gimli lovingly maintains an old-as-dirt bench seat ford truck despite there almost constantly being something wrong with it. ignores legolas’s badgering about him getting something more reliable

obviously legolas drives a hybrid and he almost acts as if this fact makes him better than gimli (not in a dickish way, though)

horse girl aragorn.

frodo is the epitome of shy emo boy with the black skinny jeans & death cab for cutie playing in his air pods

merry is the golden retriever in the “golden retriever in love with the black cat” trope 

aragorn and arwen host game nights and various other parties for their friends, but neither of them can cook so they just order delivery (or sam hijacks their kitchen for the hours before)

pippin has a large follower base on social media bc of his drinking songs and other inebriated antics that are usually recorded by whoever happens to be with him that night. usually it’s eowyn & merry, and the three of them will shake some major ass to megan thee stallion

sam goes to open mic nights at local coffee shops to people watch. he will never perform himself, but it’s nice to watch people he knows do their thing

eomer accidentally goes viral on tiktok when eowyn records him doing some dumb shit. never lives it down

the amount of joy gimli gets from going to rage rooms is almost alarming

arwen has a very thorough skin care regimen that she introduces to aragorn, and it becomes a sweet nightly routine for the two of them

eowyn & eomer don’t allow anyone to talk shit about or annoy the other bc that’s their job fuck you very much

frodo has a shitty immune system but sam’s homemade soups seem to always heal from the soul outward

sam is the little spoon favored by the resident neurodivergent

frodo is the resident neurodivergent

yes they’re dating

arwen is always the dd

when it comes to birthdays, don’t ask boromir to remember anyone but faramir’s. hell, he forgets his own birthday sometimes

legolas is the best at remembering the birthdays of his friends but forgets his own

they have to remind each other of their own birthdays when that time of year comes around

merry is always the favorite audience member at a drag show

arwen & eowyn never dress like they’re going to the same place when they hang out

gimli says southern grandpa idioms unironically — “as useless as a screen door on a submarine”, “higher than eagle titties”, “busier than a one-legged man in an ass kicking contest”, you get the idea. merry keeps a running tab of said quotes

boromir is the “we’re not getting a dog” dad. said dog ends up being his best friend & the sole inheritor in his will, fuck them kids

aragorn & gimli have their own moonshine still they think is perfectly hidden from everyone

that does not include merry & pippin, who are booze bloodhounds and immediately knew where to find it but swore to secrecy as long as they got more than everyone else

frodo sips fruity little drinks because he can’t shoot whiskey

sam can drink in the way only a divorced middle-age man can despite not being a divorced middle-aged man

eowyn cannot drive for shit & the several dents on her car prove it. the only reason her insurance hasn’t gone up astronomically is because she just. doesn’t report any of it

said car has a fuck ton of bumper stickers with all sorts of silly things

gimli can’t ride a bike AT ALL but has a motorcycle, make it make sense

he goes on bike rides with eomer when they have the time & the weather is nice

merry & pippin are two halves of a whole idiot at every given moment

eomer LOVES 90s and 00s country music but is kinda picky about newer country (he is a massive fan of cody johnson but will throw you through a wall if you talk about morgan wallen in his presence)

arwen dances in the rain & literally never gets sick from it. merry is insanely jealous of this fact

frodo’s favorite video game is animal crossing: new horizons & has very sound opinions on what villagers are the best (fuck you, rodney)

[dollarbin]

Nickel Bin #24:

Pink Floyd's Echoes

I'm usually not a fan of male pomposity. A shirtless man band strutting around a Roman amphitheater in Pompeii for a 24 minute song sounds like my idea of a bad time.

But if the men in question are dedicating themselves to one of the most epic pieces of popular music ever created I guess I'll let it fly:

I generally don't like Pink Floyd and that is simply because nothing else they ever did comes anywhere near this mammoth song. Ian Matthews look-a-like and Floyd pianist Richard Wright anchors the whole thing with his deft playing and his Matthews-like singing.

(I'm serious about the look-a-like thing: you tell me if you can tell the difference between these two dudes in 1972:)

Anyway, I'm glad Wright took his shirt off for Echoes.

David Gilmour partners with him on the vocals and produces a sensational spectrum of sounds, from empire-building to primordial. We'll give his shirtless form too an approving nod.

The drummer, whose name I'm too lazy to google, checks every rock drummer cliche box with aplomb. Seriously, check out his tank top and drum fills. Someone should gift him a giant gong. Even so, I'm glad he kept his shirt on. Enough's enough.

And Roger Waters never opens his largely soulless pie hole. He shuts the hell up, doesn't even consider the shirtless approach and plays a mean bass. If he followed this same plan elsewhere during the band's 70's run I'd listen to a lot more of the Floyd. Waters should have kept his trap shut far more often. Maybe then he would have convinced his bandmates, and any one of his five - so far - ex-wives, not to drop kick him straight outta their lives.

Silly 70's direction aside, Echoes' Pomeii performance is pretty damn great. The ancient gods surely knelt.

But it's not as good as the original:

There are more ghosts to be beheld on the studio track, and far more textures. Everything truly is green and submarine, surging towards the light. As a kid I'd listen to Echoes with my headphones on and a deeply serious expression on my face. When the whale calls emerged from the mid-song funk workout I'd produce poetic thoughts.

Clearly, I was full of crap.

Today I no longer aspire to poetic thoughts. I write this nonsense instead. But I still listen to Echoes, usually while doing the dishes. I'm pleased to report that they come out quite clean. And at several points in the process my wife churns through the kitchen and song and asks the house at large whose cell phone alarm is going off.

"That's no cell phone alarm that you hear, fair wife," I tell her. "That's my music."

All of which makes me wish I'd discovered this video below when it emerged four and a half years ago at the dawn of the pandemic. Rodrigo y Gabriela's version of Echoes sounds, at points, like something you'd hear in your dentist's waiting room in-between easy listening instrumental versions of Here Comes the Sun and Tears in Heaven.

But at other points Rodrigo, and especially Gabriela, sound like they are center stage in Pompeii, shirtless and soulful, forcing all our gods, and a cowering Roger Waters, to kneel.

[sweetmaggie]

Rules: Tag 10 or more people you want to get to know better

@general-illyrin and @novelmonger thank you <3

Relationship status: um... in love with a fictional character...

Favourite color: Blue

Song stuck in your head: 🎶 We all live in a yellow submarine, yellow submarine, yellow submarine! 🎶

Favourite food: Chocolate! ('Cause I've got a Golden Ticket!)

Last song played: "Look at the river", Ayla Nereo

Dream trip: After a hard day, the only place I dream about is my bed

Last thing I googled: Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea... It's an old children's series and it's in a language I barely understand (French) but I love it anyway! 😅

And it's time to tag someone...

So @heckin-music-dork, @bookish-tardigrade, @ellegamgee (Who is a person I would really like, because, in her own words from Discord: "Been a big LotR fan since I was a little kid." Me too, my dear, me too!), @writingvalkyrie , @sleepingreader, @glitteringaglarond , @a-music-undergrad , @a-lonely-dunedain (you're not as lonely as you think, dear ranger!), @the-sunshine-dragon and... @frodo-with-glasses (I would be very happy if you could do this. Also, I have to tag you before Meg does it 😂)

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #650

Top Ten Songs by Ex-Beatles

Have you heard of this sweet band called The Beatles? Turns out they were really big a few years ago. They had a bunch of hits and then broke up and then were never heard of again.

I kid, I kid. I do wonder sometimes what it must be like to be a Beatle. If you’re like, Paul McCartney; you must walk around with this knowledge that, on balance, you’ve probably had more direct influence on Western popular culture than anyone else currently alive. Who else is there? George Lucas? In terms of sheer number of people touched (not like that). You can absolutely draw a dividing line in music between “before the Beatles” and “after the Beatles”, and whilst I’m sure that does a huge disservice to all the influences the Beatles had, and similar bands that came both before and after, let’s face it – it’s true. They’re, like, the band, just like Wolverine is the X-Man (I don’t think George Lucas is the director, to be fair, but Star Wars is probably the blockbuster; Spielberg is probably the director, if you’re talking about mass appeal, but he’s “just” a guy who’s top of his game and redefined Hollywood moviemaking fifty years ago, but there are other phenomenally successful and talented directors, just as there are other phenomenally successful and talented musicians and writers and artists and, I dunno, pastry chefs. But right now we’re talking about the Beatles).

Because the Beatles were around as a proper group for a surprisingly short amount of time, and because all four of them were Very Good, they’ve had quite a while to build up a collection of solo hits. And that’s what I’m celebrating this week, for no particular reason: the various post-Beatles Beatles songs. I’m gonna come right out the gate and say, I don’t think – generally speaking – any of their solo efforts eclipsed the best of the group’s output; but still, there are some proper bangers here as I’m sure you’re aware. Soulful ballads, love songs, hymns to peace, arguably the best Bond theme, and some frogs. What more do you want out of a legacy?

Now, I’m calling these “solo” songs, when some of these are technically from post-Beatles bands – specifically I’ve got a couple of Wings songs on the list (“the band the Beatles could have been”, A. Partridge). But let’s be honest, Wings is basically Paul and his mates. As, I suppose, the Beatles was, to be fair; but for the sake of this list, as much as it may unfairly underestimate the contributions of his bandmates, I’m just calling Wings songs “Paul McCartney” songs for the time being.

I said there’s no real reason why this list is happening this week – it’s one of those that I’ve been meaning to get around to for a while – but funnily enough I did see something recently that I’ve never seen before. You may or may not be aware, but about a decade or so ago, Robert Zemeckis was going to remake Yellow Submarine. This was when he was deep in his mocap phase; you remember, when the Oscar-winning writer and director of Back to the Future and Who Framed Roger Rabbit decided to sack off live action and just make those freakishly uncanny mannequin movies like The Polar Express. Anyway, he’d assembled a cast and got to work, and then the film was cancelled – probably because these performance capture movies are very expensive to make, generally turned poorly, and more often than not bombed at the box office. As much as I’m not really a fan of the photo-real approach Zemeckis usually went for (like I said, it gives the characters an odd, uncanny look; the same is true, I’d argue, of the human characters in the Shrek movies, which have dated a lot more than, say, the cartoonish Incredibles), I’ve always thought this was a bit of a shame. Zemeckis is a huge Beatles fan, the guys playing the band were really good, and the wackiness of Yellow Submarine meant he might have been able to do some funky shit. And lo and behold, some test footage has emerged. Yes, it’s still a bit weird and uncanny, but it’s also exaggerated and strange; it would have been nice to see if it had held up across an entire film. C’est la vie.

Anyway! Where were we? Oh yeah. A list. Here you go: have at it.

My Sweet Lord (George Harrison, 1970): Harrison wrote a number of songs that are really spiritualistic peans to peace, and this is the greatest. An evocation to the almighty, a striving quest for spiritual understanding, but also something that feels greater, feels allegorical, feels like it’s about more than just God. The Hindi chorus and other eastern influences add flavour and complexity to the sixties-style folk rock, and Harrison’s voice is beautiful. There’s a sadness to it, too, like it’s someone reaching for something they know they can never possess.

Live and Let Die (Paul McCartney, 1973): surely a shoe-in for best Bond song, this is a multifaceted number that I adore for its eccentricities. From the vaguely seventies-folk-rock stylings of the opening, to the almost disco-flavoured instrumental section, to the weird jaunty bits (“When you’ve got a job to do,” sounds like it could be the title song from “Oh James!”, a cheesy sixties sitcom about James Bond), it really runs the gamut. It’s strange, it’s funny, it’s cool, it’s badass. Perfect Bond.

Jealous Guy (John Lennon, 1971): there are, funnily enough, a couple of songs here that seem to express a similar sentiment: a bloke who’s in love with someone and sort of feels he doesn’t deserve them. This is an interesting and complex song, a man apologising for his misdeeds, but presented as an absolute love song. Lennon – arguably the best voice of the band? What do we think? – is on top form here, with a pained, haunted, but ultimately beautiful vocal.

What is Life (George Harrison, 1971): an incredibly upbeat, propulsive love song, and – vaguely similar to Jealous Guy and Maybe I’m Amazed – another one that sees a bloke basically saying he’s nothing without his love. What is life without you by my side? Whether this question is passionate or even metaphysical, the song itself is so beautifully cheery, so optimistic, so jaunty, it makes you feel only good things.

Maybe I’m Amazed (Paul McCartney, 1970): here’s McCartney circling similar topics to his mates; a tender song of a man just flabbergasted that he’s got this woman in his life, attributing all these good things to this one other person. There's a fantastic juxtaposition, too, between the beautiful piano ballad and the throaty, stadium rock register in which McCartney sings; like the love is bursting out in explosive fashion, even in a tender love song.

Band on the Run (Paul McCartney, 1973): this is just so delightfully weird; a bonkers hymn to, well, I don’t really know what. The number of different styles and genres it explores, the multiple types of musicality, the different vocals and instrumentations, all telling a story that frankly defies explanation. There’s a touch of the Seargent Pepper to it, but with the oddness dialled all the way up to nearly Walrus proportions.

Gimme Some Truth (John Lennon, 1971): Lennon is perhaps most famous, post-Beatles, for his songs about peace and love. This, though, is an angry tirade at “short-sighted, narrow-minded hypocritics”; a howl of fury at The Man and all he has wrought. It’s also got some fantastic wordplay and stunning lyrical work – “son of Tricky Dicky”, the use of “Mother Hubbard” as a euphemism. Plus Harrison making magic on guitar.

Give Me Love (George Harrison, 1973): another one of Harrison’s songs of love, peace, and tranquillity that can either be seen as resolutely spiritual – asking god for love – or just, well, a song about someone he fancies, wanting love with this one person. It's beautiful and optimistic, a quest for eternal happiness, with some great lyrics. He just made you feel happy, by George.

We All Stand Together (Paul McCartney, 1984): I’m being deadly serious. Macca comes in for some stick for some of his, er, weirder songs – Mull of Kintyre also nearly made the list – but outside of me flat-out loving this song as a kid, it’s a very well-constructed harmony and is a masterpiece for its target audience. The dude’s got range is what I’m saying.

It Don’t Come Easy (Ringo Starr, 1971): now I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking I’ve just stuck this sole Ringo song here at the end of the list because I felt bad that the star of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends didn’t write anything as good as his former bandmates. To which I say: what’s that over there?! Seriously, though, whilst I don’t think anyone would try to claim that Mr. Starkey is quite the solo artist his fab friends are, this song is still a nice chunky bop that sounds like something from the Beatles’ heyday and also has an appealing bit of edge to it.

So this list, right; this was incredibly hard. In fact, it’s basically arbitrary; there were at least another five or six songs (Beautiful Boy, Silly Love Songs, All Things Must Pass) that could have been on this list – just as good, really, as the songs I’ve chosen. And the placements of most of the songs could easily be swapped almost entirely. It turns out that the Beatles are very good at music. Who knew? Cilla, probably.

Something else I’m just going to say quickly, is whilst the achievements of the Beatles are phenomenal in and of themselves, I can never get over how George Harrison more or less did the same thing all over again by effectively saving the British film industry in the 1980s. Honestly, the guy wrote While My Guitar Gently Weeps, and got everything from Life of Brian to Withnail and I to Mona Lisa made. Genius.

[acharlescoleman]

I’m still bad at introducing myself. I’m like 98% certain a person who I’m literally a Patreon person of was in my row a couple seats from me and I wasn’t sure what to say so I didn’t say hi lol. Like I knew I could have said that but it felt like a tongue tied thing to say and I don’t have a booming voice but I feel like I still could’ve said hello. I don’t know her, don’t know her but idk why I didn’t just say hello, are you yada yada I’m yada yada, nice to meet you. In theory that’s so simple. Like hours later. Urgh.

Also the guy in the seat in front of me was like 5’5” or 5’7” and I still had a hard time seeing the stage in clear view whenever he stood up. In my defense, he also had a tendency to raise his arms to take his pictures, dare I say photographs at the Ringo show but I felt tiny as hell. Like I legit wondered if I was shrinking in height or if it was just the angle of my seat. (worst thought maybe he was actually 5’3”. Like I’m 4’11.5” with like I guess tiny legs or feet because I had a hard time seeing the show on my tippy toes.)

Anyways the show was fun. The weather was cold which wasn’t fun and I think Ringo got cold a few times. Like I totally saw him trying to cover himself up to warm himself on the drums. But then later on he also did a few jumping jacks and he sounded really good so he was totally a trooper especially for his age, at almost 83.

His band was awesome too. He really minded the material from Hamish Stuart (Average White Guy Band), Edgar Winter (his own band, duh), Steve Lukather (Toto) and freakin’ Colin Hay (Men at Work)! It was really awesome to hear Rosanna, Hold the Line (one of my fave songs), Who Can It Be Now, and Free Ride along with Ringo’s songs.

I was nearly in tears during Photograph, that’s such a heavy beautiful song. And of all the Beatles songs he did, it was most fun to be in a large audience with Ringo singing a long to Yellow Submarine.

He seemed to have a lot of fun doing Johnny B. Goode. If you’re a Beatles fan or a fan of any of those other bands, def go see em live. They did a few jams together like during Edgar’s Frankenstein and Hamish’s Cut the Cake.

OH and I’m disappointed that the crowd initially started to sit down during I’m the Greatest which I think effected Ringo’s performance of that song. I love that song. It’s such a goofy fun rocker. To be fair, when Lennon wrote it for him Ringo it had the line “and now I’m only 32 and all I wanna do is boogaloo” and now he changed the lyrics “I’m only 82..”. Although the lines about being in the “greatest show on Earth for what it was worth” and “Yes, my name is Billy Shears…” got nice pops from the crowd so it wasn’t a total boo the crowd song.

“And now I’m a man, a woman took me by the hand. And you know what she told me, I was great.”

“I looked in the mirror. I saw my wife and kids. And you know what they told me? I was great!”

Such fun lyrics to sing! 😎

Btw hot damn, I can’t stop listening to Overkill, a Men at Work tune.

[moldygreenblue]

‘Catnapped!’, or ‘The trailer that is on the Pioneer Entertainment Sailor Moon Dub movies’

If you know what I’m talking about, you’re a legend. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, this is worth watching. It actually gives away much of the movie but honestly speaking, the fact it still got me deciding to watch it after all these years means it did its job as a trailer to hook someone.

Catnapped!, or Totsuzen! Neko no Kuni Banipal Witt, was a children’s anime film released in 1995. It’s a movie I think is one the two films that will have me getting close to understanding what is an acid trip (said other film is Yellow Submarine). And WOAH the background of Catnapped! are super gorgeous at times! The details on it to be honest, always got my attention even when watching the trailer, but watching the movie in its entirely is something else!

The simple details of the normal, everyday world Toriyasu and Meeko and Papadoll live in vs the complex details of Banipal Witt shows how whimsical the latter is. The fairy-tale vibes of Banipal Witt gets more greater when seeing Buburina’s flashback and how she got her curse (that dancing section is in my mine), and the odd scene regarding the cat and mouse romance (felt out of place, made worse because it’s never brought up again) are the stand out.

The cat characters who live in Banipal Witt honestly have cool designs (the three scientists character design’s fit their personalities, ChuChu, DohDoh, and Buburina’s design are cool and I love as well, for it fits their personalities too. Buburina’s child design I love the most! Really works with the fairy-tale vibes as mentioned before). and the fact that Toriyasu and Meeko’s human designs translation into cat is so cool and not really creepy. Well, except for the teeth stuff, but that’s just the exception. And Papadoll’s monster form...

The movie is really straight forward in its plot. Two children lost their dog and have no idea where he is. Meeko, the younger of the two who is excitable and a believer of aliens and other sorts, is a bit more concern of their lost dog Papadoll. Toriyasu is more...uncaring, for he’s something of a jerk and skeptic of many things, like aliens and other sorts. However, as the movie goes on, you see more of Toriyasu’s character and how he came to be by the movie’s present. I think it went a bit too fast in my opinion, but it’s a kid film with a limited time, and well, I still like it.

Overall, it’s a movie I think that needs more attention, but I understand why it doesn’t because this film is old and honestly forgotten. At the very least, watch the trailer that I linked so you can see the gist of the movie, and hear one of the catchiest songs you’ll ever hear in your life.

[halbereth]

Tip for when you’re feeling apprehensive or jumpy

Just the low-key unpleasant buzz of “I don’t want to do this” (make a phone call or something); overly caffeinated yet inhibited; or still dealing with the aftereffects of “YIKES that is a big scary bug” and adrenaline in still in your system--if you’re feeling jittery and irritated because there is no reason to feel that way, try this:

Sing.

I don’t know if it will work for anyone else, but for me it’s like yelling on a roller coaster: forcing yourself to make noise eases the knot in your chest that you didn’t realize was there (or didn’t realize was disproportionately large). And then you’re singing, which is generally a cheerful thing. I like “Yellow Submarine” because it’s hard to stay on fearful anticipation mode when you’re singing a boppy song about how all your friends live on a submarine with you.

Alternately, “You’ll be Back” from Hamilton, because it’s very hard to be scared while going “Ba da da dah daaaah” and accidentally doing chorus line kicks.

Or almost anything by Weird Al. Harry the rich kid’s a friend of his who horns in on Mary Jane, but to his great surprise it seems she prefers guys who can kiss upside down in the rain . . . .    Some indoor plumbing would be nice, but we’re living in an Amish paradise . . . .   I love rocky road, something something eat it by the gallon, baby! I love rocky road! Wontcha have another triple scoop with me!

[laughingphoenixleader]

top five spacecraft, top five video games, top five kanera moments, top five songs atm, top five flowers, and top five background rebels characters!!

whoaaaa dude that is so many things but LETS GO

Spacecraft:

1.) The Ghost, obviously

2.) X-wings. I just love them, man. Hera, Poe, AND Luke all fly them.

3.) SPEEDER BIKES BC I WANT ONE

4.) The Phantom, also obviously

5.) The Yellow Submarine from @kanerallels’ Steve Miller AU (aka my favorite thing ever I’m so obsessed)

Video Games:

1.) Kwazy Cupcakes.

lol kidding (iykyk)

1.) JEDI: FALLEN ORDER MY BELOVED

2.) Lego Star Wars: The Clone Wars aka my childhood

3.) Super Paper Mario

4.) Bowser’s Inside Story (old DS game—so nostalgic for me!)

5.) umm…Nintendo Land!

Kanera moments (screams indecisively)

1.) The kiss in Kindred. I just…ahhhhh.

2.) What I like to call the “Druggie Hera scene” in Jedi Knight. SO funny and iconic.

3.) The hug at the end of Season 1. SO sweet.

4.) Their meet-cute in A New Dawn!!

5.) “I wish I could see you.” “You could always see me.” *more screaming*

Ugh there is not enough Kanera in SWR. Anyone want to sign a petition for more content with me?

Songs atm:

1.) 30/90 from tick…tick…BOOM is an enduring favorite, as is the next one!

2.) Death of a Bachelor by Panic at the Disco!! My beloved

3.) 11:11 by Ben Barnes—SO OBSESSED WITH THIS ALBUM AND THIS SONG IS KANERA-Y

4.) Pirate Song by Ben Barnes—@kazoosandfannypacks can empathize!

5.) Right Down the Line by Gerry Rafferty courtesy of @kanerallels—it never fails to make me think of her and her fics, which are two beloveds of mine!

Flowers:

1.) at the moment, hibiscuses. They’re just so PRETTY

2.) cherry blossoms my beloved

3.) sunflowers! @auroramagpie got me obsessed :))

4.) irises! and not just bc of @accidental-spice — my mom and I have always loved them!!! they come in so many gorgeous colors!!

5.) roses!

Background Rebels characters: oooooooh, fun. see, this is hard, because I’m so obsessed with the main characters (two in particular) that everyone else matters not to me lol

1.) Sheev Palpatine

lol jk apparently I think I’m funny this evening

1.) The Loth-cats. I accept no criticism; they are my babies.

2.) Does Leia count? Bc Leia.

3.) Does Hondo count? bc Hondo.

4.) OKAY BUT WAIT THE ONE STORMTROOPER WHO SAYS “I KINDA LIKE IT” ABOUT SABINE’S MASTERPIECE OF A TIE FIGHTER. HIM. I LOVE HIM.

5.) The one helpful little droid that Chopper yeeted out of the Ghost that one time who now lives among the Loth-cats. Poor child. I hope he has a long and fulfilling life as a cat

woooo this was so fun! thanks for the asks!!

[blindrapture]

As much as I do love Salmacis, that is a heavy song to leave You with, and the impression I want to leave is that Genesis brings me joy. So here's the Dodo suite.

After six albums, Peter Gabriel left the band and Genesis was led by Phil Collins. Everyone knows that, more or less; that is the Genesis factoid. And then after two more albums, guitarist Steve Hackett left, and Genesis became its long-running three-piece form who wrote 80s pop music and got mainstream success (this is the other Genesis factoid). I happen to love both distinct forms of the band, myself (I am a big boy with a lot of love to share), but what definitely helped me appreciate the Collins era is that they never really stopped making longer-form developed experiments; they just reserved these to maybe one per album. Duke has the 25-minute Duke suite, the self-titled has "Home By The Sea," Invisible Touch had "The Last Domino," We Can't Dance had two different ten-minute tracks. Abacab seemed the exception, and it is an album that hangs its hat on pleasantly abstract pop music.

But there was one song on the album, "Dodo/Lurker," which maybe stood out. It was clearly two songs tied together, and the Lurker section was weird and mysterious and I always liked it for that. And that's when I bring up... the B-sides. These took me a long time to learn about, since I was working with the CDs alone as a kid. A lot of them are just extra Collins-era songs, there are a couple of Gabriel-era ones which made me so happy (IF YOU LIKE GABRIEL-ERA GENESIS AND WANT JUST ONE MORE NEW SONG FROM IT, HERE IS "TWILIGHT ALEHOUSE," IT WOULD HAVE BEEN ON SELLING ENGLAND BY THE POUND AND IT SHOWS), there's also "Pigeons" which is just fucking charming,

and, pertinently, there are the two B-sides from Abacab: "Naminanu," and "Submarine." Alone, they're interesting wordless curiosities. But when bookended onto "Dodo/Lurker," they become The Dodo Suite. The band confirmed this to be the intended order, and I seem to recall they only broke it up because they didn't want Abacab to have such a long song on there. It's 15 minutes. It is fucking adorable Phil Collins. It ends like a fucking chill Pink Floyd song, seriously see for yourself.

It is a Good Time.

LYRICS:

NAMINANU:

naminanu naminanu naminanu namina

DODO:

Too big to fly, Dodo ugly so dodo must die. Dog go, with fear on its side; Can't change, can't change the tide.

Dog baiter, agitator, Asking questions, says he wants to know why. Ain't no reason that money can't buy. Mink, he pretty, so mink he must die, Must die, must die.

Sun, he giving life in his light, Part of the system. Friend to man and friend to the trees, No friend to the snowman.

Where does he go? What does he do? Does he meet with the mole, the stream, the cloud, And end up at the bottom of the sea?

Fish, he got a hook in his throat, Fish, he got problems.

Where does he go? What does he do? Does he hope he's too small, to poor a haul, Who'll end up bein' thrown back in the sea? I'm back in the sea.

Caretaker, horror movie, Only one eye, only needs one boot. Sweet lady, she know she looks good. Vacuum coming for the bright and the brute.

Big noise, black smoke, So pig-headed, couldn't see the joke. But it ain't funny, ask the fly on the wall. It's only living, it don't matter at all, At all, at all.

Pimp, he make you drool and grunt, He got an answer. One, he got a dream of love Deep as the ocean.

Where does he go? What does he do? Will the siren team with Davy Jones And trap him at the bottom of the sea? I'm back in the sea. I'm back in the sea. I'm back in the sea.

LURKER:

Meanwhile lurking by a stone in the mud Two eyes looked to see what I was and Then something spoke and this is what It said to me…….

Clothes of brass and hair of brown Seldom need to breathe Don't need no wings to fly And a heart of stone A fear of fire and water Who am I?

SUBMARINE:

(instrumental)

[burricane]

@lordealbum :(

the beatles be hitting different during covid like YES mister ringo starr i WOULD like to live in a yellow submarine at the bottom of the sea of green with all my friends aboard right now jesus christ

[disneylanddilettante]

The Disney Renaissance Killed the Disneyland Star

This post has been brewing and stewing in my brain for some time.

We here in the Disney theme park fandom are prone to lament the modern attraction design philosophy that says everything must be based on a movie. Aside from spectacularly clueless comments about “a random mountain in India or whatever” and misuse of the term “barrier to entry,” the reason behind it seems to boil down to: That’s what guests want. On the one hand, this is very clearly an excuse to do what Marketing wants (because film IPs are proprietary in a way that broad concepts are not, and can be merchandised accordingly), but on the other hand…it seems to be…kind of…true? The vast majority of the public, in my experience, does think of Disneyland (which I am going to use as synecdoche for all Disney parks, because it’s the one I grew up with, it’s easy to say, and because I can) as a place where you see Disney characters walking around as if they were real, and go on rides based on Disney movies, and anything else there is just to, idk, fill space until they can think of a cool movie makeover for it.

I have spoken to people online who quite enjoy Disneyland, but also think the Enchanted Tiki Room should become a Moana attraction, Tom Sawyer Island should be something to do with The Princess and the Frog, and the Matterhorn should be turned into Frozen. When I challenged them as to why, they didn’t seem to understand the question—what did I mean, “why?” Isn’t it self-evident? A couple years ago, one of the Super Carlin Brothers (I don’t remember which one; anyway I couldn’t tell them apart if you put a gun to my head) made a video expressing bafflement over the use of Figment as a mascot in Epcot because “He’s not from anything.” As if a ride in that very parkwere nothing.

So there is something to the assertion that film IP tie-ins are what regular guests expect and want. But the question remains as to why they want that—after all, it didn’t used to be that way. Costumed characters and rides based on movies have always been part of Disneyland, of course, but in past decades, the most elaborate and promoted attractions were the ones based on unique concepts that had nothing to do with the movies. The reasons to love Disneyland were things like the Haunted Mansion and the Mark Twain and Space Mountain…not so much the chance to meet Mickey Mouse. So what gave the public the idea that it was all about movies and characters? I’m sure there are several reasons, but I’m going to focus on one that I don’t see brought up that often.

I’m going to blame the Disney Renaissance.

Let me give you some personal background. I’m a young Gen-Xer, born in 1977. I was a child of the 80s…and in the 80s, Disney wasn’t doing so hot. Feature Animation had dropped to a cinematic release about once every four years, the live-action division was even less productive, and the corporate raiders were pawing at the door. In those days, when I saw a Disney movie in theaters, probably four times out of five it was a re-release of an older classic. (Anyone else remember when that was a thing?) There wasn’t much new at Disneyland either. The biggest thing to happen in the first half of the decade was the remodel of Fantasyland, which added one new ride—based on Pinocchio, a 43-year-old film—and otherwise just rearranged and refined what had always been there. On the other hand, the big Imagineering projects of the 60s and 70s were mostly still going strong.

The upshot is that if you were a Disney fan in those days (there weren’t many of us, even in my age cohort), you were a fan of the older movies and/or the parks. And for all its genuine quality, that stuff was showing its age. It was made in decades past, and there was a corniness and a quaintness to much of it. Most of the kids my age considered Disney “baby stuff” and were eager to put it behind them. It seems to have been a widespread phenomenon, because I don’t remember the park being very crowded when I was a young kid. Queues for even the roller coasters tended to top out around 45 minutes and it was very rare that we didn’t have time to do everything we wanted on a given visit.

And then, the year I turned 12—the year my age bracket hit puberty and could definitively be said to have outgrown cartoons altogether (except for the weirdos like me)—The Little Mermaid hit theaters.

Two years later, we got Beauty and the Beast.

And the hits kept coming. Suddenly, Disney was the hottest thing in entertainment again. Not just kids—by this time the generation that would come to be known as Millennials—but their parents watched these movies and went wow, this is really good. Disney is better than I thought. Maybe we should rent some of those older movies that I remember from when I was a kid. Maybe we should go to Disneyland… Unlike in the past, when families went to Disneyland because it was advertised and known as a family destination, families went to Disneyland because the kids were going gaga over the new Disney movies and the parents wanted to make them happy.

So a whole new generation of fans flocked to the parks, most probably never having been before, or not recently. They didn’t know what to expect. They just knew they loved these new movies with their endearing lead characters (so much more full of personality than Snow White or Alice or Pinocchio) and their big bombastic Broadway-style musical numbers (so much more in line with current musical tastes than the Tin Pan Alley ditties from Cinderella or Peter Pan or The Jungle Book). That’s what they wanted from Disney, whether they were paying six bucks a head plus popcorn, or fifty bucks a head plus lodging.

And that would have been fine but for the fact that endearing characters and big bombastic musical numbers are really hard to build traditional dark rides around. What you can do, though, for people who want to meet their favorite characters, is build dedicated character meet-and-greet spots. What you can do for people who want to sing along with Academy Award-winning songs is create huge colorful parades and stage shows that feature those songs. Best of all, if you are certain people who shall go unnamed, these sorts of things are much cheaper to create and operate than rides. Corporate was more than happy to meet, rather than try to exceed, the expectations of this new wave of fans.

The newer guests got used to seeing more-or-less verbatim (condensed) film content in the form of these shows and parades. The classic dark rides began to look decidedly odd to them—why are the movie events out of order? Why doesn’t the main character show up more? Why don’t we get to hear all the songs? And no one was there to explain it to them, because the older generations of fans had largely drifted away and the internet wasn’t quite a household staple yet. Rides that weren’t even based on a movie seemed even odder—what does a Wild West roller coaster have to do with Disney? What does a submarine ride have to do with Disney? I thought this park was supposed to be for kids, but my kids don’t recognize this stuff! They should build a Lion King ride! They should build a Toy Story ride! That Snow White ride isn’t suitable for kids; they should do something about that! I didn’t pay all this money to stand in line for an hour and a half and go on a ride that my kids don’t get!

The pattern was set. IP tie-ins were what the people wanted, and they closer they hewed to their source material, the more guest approval they got, simply because people didn’t know any different. And it has snowballed from there. The Disney Renaissance was amazing for the art of animation, but I think it was a net negative for the art of theme parks.

Tl;dr The Disney Renaissance changed guest expectations for Disney entertainment products in ways that were incompatible with classic Imagineering principles.

[annelizabethwrites]

Pairings: Roger Taylor X OC (Scarlett Walker); George Harrison X OC (Star Walker)

Rating: Mature (See Notes, Muses & Warnings for the actual warnings)

POV: Third-person, Scarlett, Star & Roger

Warning: This chapter will briefly talk about abuse, losing someone close, substance abuse & Death this could be triggering for some readers so please read at your own risk

Wattpad||AO3|| Playlists||Table Of Contents

♕☮︎︎♕☮︎︎♕☮︎︎♕☮︎︎♕☮︎︎♕☮︎︎♕☮︎︎♕☮︎︎♕☮︎︎

Sometime in December of 2019

As Scarlett Walker walks home, she starts to listen to a playlist of her favorite bands. Her music got interrupted by a text from her mother. In all caps, it stated, "Scarlett Marie Walker get your ass home this instant!"

"I'm only a few blocks away," Scarlett texted back. She rolls her eyes when she read the text. Help! by the Beatles started to play as she walked into her house. Her mother gave a ferrous expression while Scarlett paused her form of therapy.

"You're failing Biology!" Her mother screamed.

"Not a 'hey Scarlett, how was your day?'," Scarlett sarcastically said.

"You are going to fix your grades, or you're not going to see that Queen concert on Saturday," Her mother stated.

"Mom, those tickets were a fortune, and it's Thursday! I can't bring my grade up until Monday," Scarlett yelled.

"Well, you shouldn't be failing in the first place. I'm giving the tickets to your sister, and that's final," Her mother said.

"It's not my fault that my teacher didn't teach me." Scarlett protested.

"You're not going. That's final. Maybe if you didn't lock yourself in your room, just laying there and watching Queen and Beatles documentaries instead of doing your homework. We wouldn't be having this conversation." Her mother shouted. Scarlett ran to her room with rage and locked her door. She started to play her playlist again, and Yellow Submarines by The Beatles came on. I wish my mom understood me. Why can't I live in a decade that I belong in? She thought, but she knew that wasn't going to happen. She placed her back gently against her Queen poster and started to do her homework. Then her sister, Vivian, walked into her room, rubbing in that she was going to see Adam Lambert. She doesn't even like Queen. She thinks she's going to an Adam Lambert concert. Scarlett thought to herself while rolling her eyes. Then she went back to doing her homework. She just wanted to go to the concert and listen to her favorite songs. Scarlett worked hard for those tickets, she had to do some extra chores, babysitting, animal sitting, house sitting, and a few more odd jobs, so she could get those tickets. Scarlett always loved The Beatles and Queen, she loves Roger Taylor from Queen and wanted to meet him so bad, but now that is just a dream. For the Beatles, she loves John Lennon and wishes she could go back in time to meet him. Although Roger and John were her favorites, she loved all the Queen and Beatles members' equality, but if she could just meet one from each band, it would be Roger Taylor and John Lennon. Scarlett was the youngest but had the oldest soul in her family. Both of her parents are in their late 30s early 40s. In contrast, She and her sister are in their early 20s, late-teens. Scarlett is almost 17, but she would rather be older. So she could live through her adulthood in the 70s-80s.

Later that night...

Scarlett was on her porch listening to her music and stargazing. She and her friends did that before they all moved away. Scarlett is a military kid, and all of her friends are too. That's how they met in a small community center room for all the military kids. They all moved away, and she hadn't heard or seen them since then. She will get an occasional text message from them, but that's it. Her friend's parents all got deployed in different time zones, and they all decided to go with their parents. Because of that, none of them could talk to each other anymore. She doesn't have that many friends around her, just her internet friends, with whom she had never had a physical interaction at all, only online. As she was looking at the sky, and she noticed how beautiful the stars were, her mom came storming in, drunk, as always, and told her to clean up her room. Even though her room was spic and span, then her mom trashed it by throwing things. Her mom became a nighttime alcoholic soon as her dad got deployed, and Scarlett was closer to her dad than her mom, so they were never a great mix. As soon as her mom left, she cleaned the mess that her mother had made, and Scarlett wished that her life was different and she could have her role models in her life like her friends. After she cleaned her room, she grabbed her stuff from the porch and went to bed, dreading for the next day to occur. As Scarlett woke up, she went down to grab something to eat and saw her mother passed out on the couch with a bottle of Russin Vodka in her hand and munchies in the other.

"She has been out for an hour," Vivian said, coming from the laundry room. Scarlett sighed and now knew she had to walk to school.

"We had a choice to go with dad, but she said no," Scarlett's voice broke, "But she didn't want to go and blame us."

"Dad deployment is almost over," Her sister looked at her. Scarlett shook her head and walked away to finish getting ready. She started to walk on a cold December day. I'm getting my license in a few more months. She thought to herself in the cold as her fingertips were freezing over. She ran to school, and made it before the first bell rang, then she started her day off. During the day, Scarlett was quiet and thinking about how she wished all of her wishes from the night before came true. How she would live in the 70s and 80s because she thinks that's where she belongs. How she would love to have the Beatles and Queen members in her life as friends, so she didn't feel lonely and to have friends to do the things she loves to do. It was the 5th period of the day, and Scarlett was called down to the office. It was her sister. She had to drive from college to bring her home. The car ride was quiet, and when the two girls got home, Scarlett noticed a police car and another car that she had not seen before. Scarlett and Vivian walked in, and their mother, a police officer, and an Army man were all in the living room.

"The Walker family?" The Army man spoke after they were told to sit.

"That is us," Scarlett's mother said.

"I am so sorry for your loss, Admiral Stephen Walker died in action," The army man told the family.

Scarlett's POV

"I am so sorry for your loss, Admiral Stephen Walker died in action," The army man said. My heart dropped. I was just told that my only favorite person on this planet had died. I can't breathe. I can't do anything. I just dropped on the floor in tears. When I finally had the strength, I ran to my room and locked myself in there. Then all of my Military kid friends started to text me hearing about the news. I just wanted to go back in time when I could grieve in peace without my so-called friends texting me from all different time zones. My mom broke my door drunk again but this time with white power on her nose. Not only did she drink about my dad's death, but she also started to snort drugs. I just wish that I had grown up already and left her and this place behind me.

Days later...

I didn't go to school for a couple of days. I just couldn't get out of my bed. I felt stuck. The only time I got out of my bed was when I went to the bathroom. It's been a week, the funeral is tomorrow, and I'm not ready to say goodbye to my dad, but I have to. I've been listening to my Beatles and Queen mix and watching old interviews, and that helped a bit, but it was more like a distraction than anything else. I started to hear banging from downstairs, and I thought it was time to face my demons, so I got out of my bed. I went downstairs, and my mom was passed on the couch with more than one bottle of booze and some drugs on the table. Is this her way of coping?! Vivian started to come upstairs from the basement with filled boxes.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"You finally got out of your room, Scar," She hugged me, "I'm still moving to Virginia for my job."

"What?" I said Vivian is still moving from Washington to Virginia after we bury our father.

"I need this job, and it's hard to live here," She leaned to me and whispered, "With mom getting worse, dad passing and all."

"So you're leaving me," I said. I can't live with my mom if so then I will add more than 2 hinges on my door.

"Scar, you know this was going to happen one day, but I need to finish packing. I'm leaving in 4 days," she said then started to finish packing.

The Next Day...

It's the day, the day I have been dreading for a week but I knew it would come. Today is my father's funeral, so I'll give my mom some credit for being sober, but not for long. My sister was already packed and only had today's outfit and tomorrow's, she wanted to leave a couple of days early. As the day went on, I learned it was harder than I thought. We had to be in front of the casket for the viewing, and I just wanted to run until I couldn't anymore. Everyone paid their respects and we finished the day. At the lunch-in, everyone tried to make me do anything besides sit there, eating with music blasting in my ears. As I was eating, I noticed that my mom made her way to the bar, that's not going to end well. Vivian walked up to me and pulled out an earbud.

"You know shutting everyone out is not going to help you," She said.

"Neither is moving away," I said, "And drinking and doing drugs but we all have our ways of coping."

"Okay, moving away is a bad move and mom has a drug and alcohol problem that she should fix," Vivian started. We both looked at our mother, "We should go grab her before she fucks this up."

Vivian and I agreed and walked to my mother, one took the drink and one shoved water in her throat.

"You are not getting drunk or high today, this is not the time or the place to do so," Vivian said shoving the water down our mother's mouth. To be honest, it was funny to see my mom trying to fight with us, as Vivian is easily shoving water down her throat, I ran to the bar and gave back the drink.

"If that woman comes back up here for an alcoholic beverage, refuse and give her a soda or water," I pointed to my mom with Vivian still shoving the water down her throat. I'm guessing the Bartender knew why because we were making her sober up.

Later that night...

All my "friends" left without a text, call, or even a goodbye, I found out by Snapchat. My mom went back to doing her nightly routine of drinking and my sister went to bed early because she was moving tomorrow. God, I wish I could live a life I want and where I'm crying happy tears not sad, or hanging out with my friends knowing they are my real friends not fake, to not have an alcoholic mother, a self-centered sister, and A not dead father. I wish I lived in a decade that I fit in to, I wish I had a main best friend that will be like a sibling to me, I wish I didn't live this life and lived a better one, I wish my life wasn't so Shitty. But only one could hope but in my case, that is not going to be true, but I can only dream, hope, and Wish.

The Next Day...

My sister left early this morning, just a note of her goodbyes and what she wanted to say but couldn't do face to face. I had my first day back at school, it went quick thank god but it felt long since it's school. I closed my door and played my Daily playlist from Spotify and looked at all the homework I have from not going to school for over a week. I opened my computer to start my work.

"SCARLETTTTT!" I heard my mother scream, what is the bullshit of today? She opened my door and grabbed me by my hair and pulled me downstairs to her mess from last night.

"I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU, YOU ARE CLEANING THIS!" She screamed in my ear.

"And I said I'm not cleaning your drunken mess because you're a drunken slob," I said with an annoyed and sarcastic tone, what happens next I didn't expect. She started to hit me, I dogged some of the hits and punches but she punched me in the face and started to scream at me. After she passed out from the drugs I ran to the bathroom and locked the door to see one of my hazel eyes starting to swell to show my new black eye and my brown hair covering my new cuts and welts that she gave me.

Later that night...

I watched the stars and talked to my dad or said things to the air, hoping he would hear me from heaven.

"She lost it," I said, "Dad, she hit me, and her drinking got worse and she is now starting to use drugs!"

I could feel the tears falling down my cheeks, I wish I could go and never come back, I wish that I could have a life I love not loath. After I washed myself up, I ran to my room and started to pack. I'm done. I want to run and never come back. I plan to leave at midnight and escape and probably live with Viv. If she lets me stay, if I can get there before my mom notices, I'll give it 2 months. I started to play a random playlist from Spotify. Once I had finished packing, I quietly walked downstairs, I stole my mother's keys. I have been getting ready to take my permit test, so I know the basics of driving. It's foggy, plus a bit icy but I should be fine, I started the car and drove to my sweet freedom. As I started to go, the light turned yellow, I pressed on the gas trying to make it before the light turned red. I wasn't fast enough and a big flash blinded my eyes before a car had collided with me and the next thing I knew everything was black...

Third-Person POV

As Scarlett closed her eyes, everything in that life had ended but her life had just begun. Once Scarlett closed her eyes, she saw an old face. It's the same face she has but instead of Brown hair and Hazel eyes, she has blonde hair and gold eyes.

"Star?" Scarlett's eyes fixated on her old imaginary childhood best friend. Star smiled, as Scarlett ran up and hugged her. Scarlett thought it was weird that one minute she was feeling the car hit her and the next she was able to hug her imaginary best friend. The two caught up and Scarlett ranted on how much her life had gone to shit. Star asked Scarlett one simple thing, "What would you wish to do about this?"

"Honestly, I would love to live a life that The Beatles and Queen were still around," Scarlett sighed and went on about all of her wishes to live in another generation. Scarlett thought it was a little weird that she is having a dream about Star. Since Star has not been thought of since Scarlett was nine years old.

December 13th, 1968- Scarlett's POV

"Is she alright?" I heard.

"She hasn't woken up yet," I heard a more feminine voice say. I started to open my eyes, at first everything was blurry, then my eyesight started to clear up. I looked around, nothing looked up to date, everything looked like it came straight out of the 1960s. I turned around and saw a group of people quietly arguing outside of the room, I examined them trying to make out the faces. I moved a bit and sat up to examine the room some more.

"Scarlett?" I heard someone with a British accent say, I turned around to see a blonde, she has green eyes and her hair was in a messy bun, soon as I responded to my name she ran up and hugged me, "Thank god you're awake!"

For some sick reason, I'm relieved that some stranger is hugging me and is happy that I'm awake.

"Um... Not wanting to be rude or anything but who are you, may I ask," I asked, noticing that I too have a British accent.

"Scarlett, it's me, Elaina, your flatmate," She softly uttered, as I got more confused about the whole situation.

"I have a flatmate? For what?" I asked with more confusion in my life.

"For college, we bought a flat together in 1967, after our sophomore year."

"Wait for what? What day is it?"

"It's Friday, December 13th,1968, you're a senior in Uni."

What?! The last time I checked It was 2019 and I am a junior in high school.

"What happened," I tried to puzzle together what is happening.

"You had a basketball game yesterday, you were driving to dinner and got into a car crash, you were taken to the hospital right away. We were told that you had hit your head when the collision had happened but you have no other injuries. You've been out since," Elaina told me. That explains why I woke up with a splitting headache.

"Do you remember anything at all?" Elaina asked me. To think about it, I had a weird dream before I woke up. I had gotten into a car crash in 2019, passed out and suddenly I was in the 1960s! Well the late 1960s, but all my wishes came true I escaped my mother, but I have no clue what went on in this life, so I played the amnesia card. We talked before nurses and doctors rushed in. Elaina had to step out as I got examined by the doctor and got asked loads of questions. The doctors left with Elaina walking back in, she sat on my bedside and smiled.

"I have a question," I looked at a nervous Elaina.

"What's up," Elaina smiled at me.

"When is my birthday? What major am I? Where do we go to school? What's my middle name?" I started to ask questions about myself.

"Your birthday is February 22nd, 1947. Your full name is Scarlett Rosemarie Walker. Your major is Apparel Designer and we go to Ealing College of Art." Elaina answered. My birthday is right, but my middle name is different. Back in 2019, my middle name was Marie, here it's Rosemarie. The Doctor walked back in reading his notes.

"I have good news and bad news," He said.

"Bad news first," I asked, I always like to hear the bad news before the good.

"You have a concussion and total Amnesia. We don't know if you're going to get your memory back," He then turned into Elaina, "Start telling her memories but give her all the important information first."

Elaina nodded to the doctor.

"The good news is that you don't have short-term memory loss or anything broken," the doctor said, turning to me, "I might release you tonight or tomorrow morning. Depending on how fast the paperwork can get processed. If your head is in unbearable pain come here, but if you have just a headache take aspirin. If you get any memory back don't hesitate to call here's my card."

"Thank you, doctor," I smiled, grabbing the card. The doctor smiled then walked out and I looked at Elaina, "Do I have a family, like a mother, father, or siblings?"

I mean if I'm probably going to live here forever I might need to know this information.

"Yes, but you and your mother never got along, because she was an abusive junkie," Elaina said, Yay the worst part of my life is in this one, "But she died because of an overdose when you were 15. Your father died when you were 14 and you were close to him, He died serving a tour."

The worst parts of my life are here but are my sister in this life as well?

"Siblings?" I asked.

"You have an older sister, six older brothers, and a twin sister," Elaina nodded. So apparently I have more siblings in this life, sweet.

"What are their names and oldest to youngest?" I asked.

"Your sister, Venessa is the oldest out of all of you guys, she's turning 36 in three days. Your brother Stuart is technically your honorary brother but you always said he's your brother. He's 28 and lives in Germany. Your brother Richard is also your honorary brother but yet again, he's your brother, he's also 28. Your brother John is also honorary but also was your legal guardian until you were 18, he's 28 as well. Your brother Paul is also an honorary brother, he's 26. Your last honorary brother, George, is 25, your birthdays are close to each other. Your only biological brother, Payton is a few months older than you, he's 22. Your twin Star is the younger twin out of you two. You're both 21," Elaina responded, "It's funny because you and Star are identical twins but act nothing alike and look somewhat different, one chooses Apparel design, and the other chooses Journalism. Star has blond hair while you have brown hair and she has gold eyes while you have hazel eyes."

"Does Star know about the accident?" I asked.

"Yes, all of your siblings know. Well, the ones that live here at least...Star and the lads have been with you since they arrived. I told them to go home and freshen up. They should be coming back anytime now," Elaina answered.

"I'm tired, I'm going back to sleep now... but thank you it's nice to meet you," I smiled.

"Night Scar," Elaina smiles, then got up and walked out as I fell back asleep.

Later...

I shifted to my side, I heard talking, the voices sounded similar. I heard footsteps and felt people sitting around me. My eyes opened once more and I noticed four very familiar faces. I'm in shock, the four men on my bed are the Beatles. All with caring and soft looks. I'm my past life John Lennon and George Harrison was dead and now they're looking at me, sitting on my bed! My inner Beatles fan started to thrive just from them looking at me, I wanted to do it burst and tell them how much I loved them but sadly I had to pull the amnesia card on them too.

"Umm... who are you lots?" I coughed.

"Told you she wouldn't remember you lots. What do you idiots not understand when they said she has amnesia," I heard a girl's voice as I turned around and there was the imaginary best friend I had dreamt about before I woke up into this madness.

"Sod off, would ya?" John rolled his eyes.

"Ummm," I coughed as John looked at me.

"Hello, I'm John Lennon. You probably don't remember right now but I'm your brother... well honorary but you just refer to me as your brother," John coughed, I love Star if she made this happen.

"How long have you known me?" I asked.

"Since you were two days old," John responded.

"Who are you three?" I asked, I can't believe I just asked the Beatles who they are! Of course, I know who they are!

"I'm Paul, I've known you since you were 10," Paul smiled, "I'm also one of your brothers."

"Ringo, I have known you since you were 15," Ringo chirped, "You were the first to welcome me into the group."

"I'm George," George shyly said, "I've known you since you were 10, you're my little sister."

"Hi," I nervously waved at the four boys and looked at Star, "Can I talk to her in private, please?"

The four all looked at each other, nodded, and walked out, closing the door.

"Your welcome by the way," Star smirked.

"What the hell Star?" I looked at her.

"What did I do now?" Star rolled her eyes. I forward my look at her as she rolled her eyes with a smirk, "I didn't do this, this was all you, I just helped."

"Please explain how it was my fault I woke up in the 1960s," I got out of bed walking up to her.

"You started to make all these wishes during one of the busiest months in the solar calendar," Star explained, "Every time you wished about something they listened."

"And?"

"And after so many wishes and the pain you have received in the past week," Star started to explain, "All those wishes, plus your dream about me, all happened during a Solar event. Then you wished one more time then crash happened on a Friday the 13th, and someone made them all true."

"So is this just one big dream? If not, is this permanent? What happened to my life before this?" I asked with more confusion in my life.

"No, this is not one big dream and if you don't believe me, you won't feel the pain in your head and won't feel this," Star said as she kneed me in the crouch, I know girls don't have balls but it still hurts like hell and now I know this isn't a dream. Then Star continued, "Yes this is permanent, you got into a car crash in your old life, and when you were in transition, do you remember what you said?"

"I said, 'I wish I could move on and never look back," I said in a low tone.

"What else did you say?" Star asked.

"I said, 'I wish I could leave permanently and live a life I loved and no one remembers me,'" I remembered.

"Yep, so whoever did this, brought you to the 1960s so you could start your life," Star said, "And you were never born in the 21st century, that life is completely erased in this timeline."

"So how do you get wrapped around in all of this," I asked because she's the missing piece of the puzzle.

"I am your guardian angel, just kidding. I have no clue why I'm in this life, but everything happens for a reason, so I'm not complaining." Star shrugged but she was right everything does happen for a reason but you also want to be careful about what you wish for.

"But what happened to me in 2019?" I asked.

"Do you really want to know? It's depressing," Star looked at me as I nodded, "You died, the car hit you and you died. But instead of, y'know, dying, god, or whoever, sent you here in a timeline where I exist and we're the Beatles sisters. Not a bad exchange, yeah?"

"I died?!" I looked at her.

"Not here, you're alive, really alive... If you weren't then you wouldn't have the pounding headache and your crouch wouldn't now hurt because I kicked it... sorry about that... but if you still don't believe me, check your heart rate, if you're dead there won't be one," Star shrugged. I quickly checked my heart and it's beating, a bit fast since Star sent me to an anxiety attack, but it's there, so she's right. I'm very much alive.

"So let me get this straight, I kept on wishing on living in a life I belong and love in, during a busy month of something. I got into a crash, died, and when that happened it sent me to the 1960s where I already have a life?" I asked for clarification.

"Yep. Well, your 2019 crash and this car crash were Parallel. So when you crashed, you time-traveled to this life. This is a permanent switch, no going back and no more changes. So congratulations you got the life you always wanted," Star smiled, "Just try not to think that hard about it because I have no clue what just came out of my mouth."

"Okay," I sighed going back to bed, "Was kicking me in the crouch necessary?"

"Depends," Star opened the door and the lads walked back in. I sunk in my bed a bit, trying not to totally fangirl over them.

"How are you feeling?" Paul sat on my bed.

"Eh, my head hurts and I'm a bit confused but that's all," I shrugged, "Where did Elaina go?"

"She had to go and meet up with your friend group," George explained, "They're all worried about you."

"Oh... okay," I smiled. Then I heard arguing outside, I looked over and saw, in complete shock, the Freddie Mercury, but during this time he still goes by Farrokh Bulsara, fighting with a nurse or someone meanwhile Roger Taylor, yep Roger Meddows Taylor, looking at him and laughing.

"Oh for Christ's sake stop fighting she's right here," Elaina walked up and pulled them inside. Freddie's face perked up and ran to me, embracing me. At this point, I'm just dying inside from the fact this is my real life and not a dream.

"Roger and I were driving behind you and saw the car collide with yours. I kept on worrying about you until Elaina said you finally woke up today but you have amnesia," Freddie started talking fast then quietly and slowly spoke, "Right you have amnesia, you probably don't know who I am."

"Yeah, may I ask who you and Roger are?" I gave him the 'who the hell are you' look.

"I am Freddie Bulsara, I go to uni with you and we meet freshman year of university and we have been best friends ever since," Freddie's eyes broke a bit while he started to explain.

"So, Bulsara, what else do you know?" I replied with a snarky tone.

"Well, we have been through thick and thin since we met."

"Okay, I believe you, but who is he," I pointed to Roger.

"Oh that's Roger, He and I are planning to open a little store in Kensington market."

"May I ask why he's here?"

"Still don't like me even without your memories, princess?" Roger smirked as Elaina and Star elbowed him.

"Shush," The two girls looked at him.

"He's been worrying about you too, just being a prick at the moment," Freddie said.

"When is he not?" John scoffed as Roger tensed up.

"Well, we were driving to dinner last night. We were going to try to make you two get along and get to know each other properly," Freddie explained.

"Why?" I asked.

"I think you two will like each other, mostly because your personalities are somewhat alike," Freddie whispered so the lads didn't hear him, "Enough about that how do you feel?"

"Confused," I laughed a bit.

"Hey guys, have you told your partners that she's awake?" Star coughed as the lads' eyes widened.

"We'll be right back," they smiled and quickly walked out.

"I have to call the Liverpool siblings on what's going on, you two coming?" Star looked at Freddie and Elaina.

"Oh, yeah," The two smiled and walked out leaving me in the same room with Roger. It was quiet and awkward, I examined his style. Looks nothing like any of the pictures I have seen from the early years. He has short hair, looks a bit longer from the mop-top style. He tried his best not to stare but kept on looking my way and looking off. I didn't know what to do, but words escaped my mouth before I thought anything through.

"Hello, I'm Scarlett," I smiled then coughed.

"I know, I've known you for a few months now," Roger smiled, as I got a bit embarrassed, "Not to mention I saw you crash your car. That thing is Totaled."

"Right, forgot," I quickly said. Forgetting that I have "Amnesia" then I realized what I said. I grabbed my pillow and buried my head in it to hide my embarrassment from Roger.

"Yeah, that's the main symptom of Amnesia," Roger laughed, as I awkwardly laughed, getting my head out of the pillow. It wasn't long before everyone started to come back in. We talked a bit, I started to warm up to the group. After a couple of minutes, My head exploded, all my life I wanted to see Queen in concert and cry when the hologram Freddie goes on and see Roger looking like Santa, now I am in the same room with Freddie Bulsara, Freddie Mercury in two years, and Roger Taylor who doesn't have a dad vibe yet. Not to mention I lived in a generation where John Lennon died almost 40 years ago and he's sitting on my bed, talking about memories we shared growing up. Plus George Harrison has been dead since my existence but right now, he's adding onto John's stories and laughing along.

"You were at the Beatles' first gig, I reckon you were 9 about to be 10 in a few days," John said talking about my history with the Beatles.

"How did I meet all of you guys?" I asked the lads.

"We live next to each other, your family is well known in Liverpool but your dad and my mum went to school together. Then your dad moved right next to my aunt Mimi. When you and Star came home from the hospital your dad brought me over and I got to hold you two. You met Paul when I met him back in 1957, you were 10. Then when George joined, it was the same thing, you and Star told me to give the lad a chance," John shifted his spot on my bed, so I practically grew up with the Beatles, sweet! Then John finished saying when I met Ringo, "Then, in 1962, you were 15, you met Ringo, I was you and Star's legal guardian by then, and you two traveled around with us."

"You and Star are our little sisters, while we are your older brothers, it's always been like that. Our family, that we have going on, is the most important thing to me in the world." John smiled.

"To all of us," Ringo, George, and Paul added. Must. Not. Go. In. Fangirl. Panic.

"Aww...were important to you lots," Star teasingly interrupted.

Minutes later...

We talked a bit more then I heard a knock, I turned around to see Pattie Harrison, Maureen Starkey, Linda Eastman, and Yoko Ono, along with Brian May and Tim Staffell. Bri's hair isn't big and puffy like it is known for. Pattie and Maureen ran up and hugged me with Brian and Tim.

"Ummm...." I coughed.

"She has amnesia, she can't remember you lots," Star coughed. The four backed off as I smiled, trying to be nice. I examined them and seeing Roger and Brian in person, I can see Brian is taller than Roger by a lot more than I thought.

"Hey, Scarlett," Brian and Tim shyly waved at the same time, Tim walked over to me and added, "You don't remember me but we're high school best friends. I'm Tim, and over there is Brian."

"Hi," I smiled, I don't really know what to say, "Nice to meet you guys... all over again."

"Hey Scar, I'm Pattie your sister-in-law. I'm George's wife, I've known you since you were 17," Pattie welcomely smiles.

"Hi," I shyly wave, she's much more beautiful in person than the pictures from the internet.

"Hey Scarlett, I'm Maureen but you usually called me Mo. I'm Ringo's wife, we met when we were both 15/16," Maureen smiled, she seemed more beautiful but also very intimidating.

"Hi," I repeated.

"What do you know, or was told?" Brian asked.

"My name is Scarlett, my birthday is February 22nd, they're my brothers, that's my twin, you guys are my friends and they're my sister-in-law," I pointed to everyone, "And Elaina mentioned something about having a sister named Venessa and brothers named Payton and Stuart."

"That's pretty much it," Tim shrugged.

A few minutes later...

Everyone had to leave, so the doctors could check me out, some tests got ran. The doctors left but not too long after Star walked back in.

"Everyone else had to go, they promised to be back later," Star half-smiled walking in and closing the door, "Your crotch feeling better?"

"You had to kick me there?" I groaned.

"It was the only way to show it's not a dream!" Star shrugged, bouncing on my bed, "Anything you want to know?"

"How come you know I time jumped but no one else does?" I looked at her.

"Simple, in 1947 when we got popped out, you were already from 2019, I went with you knowing the same knowledge. When you got into the crash, I fell asleep waiting for you to wake up and got the knowledge. We're twins, we're connected but as time went on we slowly forgot about the future. I guess this is a reset button," Star shrugged, "But enough about that mumbo jumbo I'm sure if we keep on talking about it we'll get caught and who knows what happens there. Anything else you want to know?"

"Earlier Elaina told me we have a brother, Stuart... am I missing something because last time I checked the only Stuart they knew that lived in Germany died on April 10th, 1961," I looked at Star.

"Funny story, due to our existence we saved Stu. We broke up the fight that later on killed him just in time before any brain damage occurred," Star shrugged.

"Really? That's amazing what happened after?" I asked.

"Well months later Stu and Astrid got married, and just like your previous timeline they came along for the ride but they haven't visited since July of '67. We all went on a family trip, they came but that was the last we'd seen them. They call frequently but stopped visiting, every time we invite them over here, they always find some form of an excuse not to come," Star explained.

"What about the Beatles? How are we with them?" I asked.

"Really well. Also...Umm, you see... in the early years when John had just got custody of us and on, they had some separation anxiety with us... so we had to get a title because the fans constantly kept on attacking us... were known as The Beatle Twins, John's idea for the name. It's just assuring the fans we are their sisters and nothing more," Star smiled but I could tell at the end it was fake but I left it, "But we're really close with them, they're all we have left. Yes, sure there's Payton and Venessa but they're in Liverpool and the lads were always there for us this past decade and on."

"What about us and the Beatles girls?" I asked.

"We got along pretty well with Mo, Cyn, and Pattie. We were fine with Jane at first but as her relationship started to crumble our friendship did as well. We kinda just met Yoko and Linda so no comment there but in all, they're just glad your okay," Star softly smiled while gently touching my arm, this set some form of a reaction. I screamed in pain, holding my head as a memory appeared... I was little and Star was next to me, we were walking to some house. Star knocked on a door and John opened the door...

"Scar? Are you okay?!" Star gave a concerning and worried face.

"I'm actually better than okay! I remembered something!" I looked at Star, whose face was just brightened by the news.

"Stay here let me get the doctor!" Star rushed out with excitement and rushed back in with the doctor. I told them what happened.

"What exactly do you remember?" Star asked as the doctor was examining me for like the fourth time today.

"Us, when we were little, walking to John's then he opened the door when you knocked on it," I explain the memory as I'm replaying it in my head.

"This is normal, every case is different and for some, they will have physical pain while unlocking memories," the doctor explained to me and Star, we thanked them and they walked out.

"I feel like that is something I should tell the others... eh they'll figure it out," Star talked to herself.

Later (Star's POV)...

I'm outside smoking a bifter, it's a joint that has the strength of a cigarette. Scarlett fell asleep, feeling a little tired from everyone testing her and whatnot. Everyone started to walk back over, John realized I was smoking something, he ran over, smacked the bifter out of my hand, and stomped on it.

"What the fuck!" I glared.

"Are you trying to kill yourself?! You know you can't fucking smoke tobacco!" John snapped at me.

"It's weed dipshit," I looked at him.

"Why are you smoking weed?" John started.

"Listen I don't have the time nor the energy but I have important news. Scarlett got a memory," I stated.

"Really?!" John, George, Ringo, Paul, Roger, Elaina, Tim, Freddie, and Brian were all amused.

"Not all happy, she got physical pain from it, she screamed in pain then got the most vivid memory she could get," I rolled my eyes, everyone's face's dropped.

"Is she okay?" Roger worried, surprisingly.

"You know for a girl you fucking hate so much, you're really concerned for her," I crossed my arms glaring at Roger.

Roger's POV

"You know for a girl you fucking hate so much, you're really concerned for her," Scarlett's twin sister, Star, said crossing her arms. To be fair I don't actually hate Scarlett, I just love pissing her off. I don't know why but I have the urge to protect her, it's probably because Scarlett has been my celebrity crush since I was 15. I never really had the chance to actually talk to her before since the first time we met didn't go so great. But I always get this feeling around her that I just can't ignore.

"Yes, I am. She's a likable person," I responded.

Star's POV

"Never to you," I rolled my eyes, "Anyways, just be careful, I just touched her arm and she got a memory."

"Got it," They all said, we started to head to Scarlett's room and Elaina tapped my shoulder.

"You moving in soon?" Elaina asked.

"Not now," I rolled my eyes.

"Star, I still would like you to be our new flatmate and it would be nice if you lived with me and Scar to help her," Elaina looked at me.

"Yeah, but it would be too much to have Scar in her condition and me moving in," I looked at Elaina.

"You're fine, it would help her. You also have to start to move somewhere because after this semester you don't have a dorm." Elaina protested, a little too loudly since when we walked into Scarlett's room, everyone looked at me. Scarlett was awake and talking to the doctor about something.

"You could be discharged by tonight if everything goes well," The doctor said.

"Thank you," Scarlett smiled, the doctor left while everyone still looked at me.

"So what is this about Star moving in?" Scarlett looked at me and Elaina.

"Not-" I started.

"She was going to move in today but now refusing. But if not, she's going to be homeless," Elaina pointed to me.

"I am not going to be homeless," I said with frustration.

"Star, you are moving in and that's final," Scarlett looked at me.

"Someone is getting bossy like old times," John laughed taking a seat.

Scarlett's POV

"Why did the doctor come in?" Tim jumped on my bed.

"Told me I can go home. They checked and everything is fine besides the concussion and amnesia. So I'm allowed home," I shrugged, "But I need a change of clothes."

"On it," Star walked out with Elaina following her and bickering about something.

That Night...

I'm changed and waiting for the discharge papers to go through. I got my bag of things but I figured I'll go through it later. For past time, everyone is all telling stories, probably hoping I will get my memory back.

"Remember when you two pushed us into the pool," George said, "And we were in clothes for a photoshoot."

"How could I forget your faces were priceless," Star laughed.

"You and Star photobombed our photoshoot," John looked at me.

"May I hear the story?" I said, I kinda wanted to know what we did. John rubbed his chin and started to tell the story.

Flashback: John's POV (John)

(We had to do a photoshoot for some bloody magazine. They wanted poolside pictures, you and Star were god knows where...)

"Smile boys," the photographer said, "John, you need to give me more of a smile."

(They were annoying not going to lie but what you two did next was funny.)

As soon as the photographer said that, the girls walked out in bathing suits.

"John doesn't smile," Scarlett said, dropping her towel on a chair.

"Why aren't they in a pool," Star asked, "It's a very boring poolside if they aren't in the pool."

What are they about to do I thought to myself as they walked closer to the photographer.

"Scarlett Walker," Scarlett put her hand out for the Photographer.

"CANNONBALL!" Star screamed then a huge slash hit me and the boys.

"They can't get wet," The photographer freaked out.

"Why? To make the pictures boring?" Scarlett jumped in the pool by a backflip. She had a bigger splash because the water hit her on the front side.

(By this time we are soaked and the photographer is freaking out.)

"See, now they are perfect for the poolside," Scarlett said as we saw Star in the corner of our eye and she pushed Paul and George in the pool. Scarlett was laughing her ass off, and the photographer was mortified.

"You are dead," Paul said to Star as she is laughing still on the ground.

"Am I though?" Star said, then jumped in, "You guys look like you're having fun."

"Come on John and Ringo," Scarlett said, "Don't make Star push you guys in too."

(Scarlett kept on asking a few more times but then the photographer was said, 'No, they cant get wet')

"Oh shut it, the other two are already in the pool," Scarlett said to the Photographer. Then she got out of the pool and pushed me and Ringo in, then she jumped in.

(The Photographer took pictures of us in the pool and then left. Then we stayed in there for a bit)

Flashback ended (Scarlett POV)

"You guys had fun," Star told, "You were in the pool for hours."

"You still pushed us in the pool," George said, "But why me and Paul first."

"Because you guys were sitting on the end of the diving board," Star laughed.

"Hey, I can't remember anything so don't ask me why I pushed you two in," I chuckled.

"You probably pushed them in because they were being buzzkills," Star joked. It wasn't long before I was free, I got into Star's light blue 1966 mustang with a white convertible top. We drove to this building, I followed the girls up as they talked. We got to the third floor then walked down the hall to the door that has '3W' on it. We walked into a mini hallway, it ended at the living room, across from us is the entrance to the kitchen, on the wall to our left has three doors and on our right has two doors. The last wall, it's filled with mostly windows. There's a little high rise with a piano near the windows. The couch is in the center of the room, with two chairs on each side. The coffee table is located at the center of the couch and chairs while the television is between two doors and parallel to the couch. I walked into the kitchen, when I first walk in there is a bench attached to the wall, with the bench there is the kitchen table and two seats across from the bench plus a chair at the head of the table. A few feet from the dining area is the actual kitchen, the left wall has a few countertop cabinets and cupboards with the stove in the middle. The wall parallel to the bench has a window in the middle, below the window is the sink, with countertop cabinets on both sides. The right wall is more countertop cabinets and cupboards with the fridge parallel to the stove. I was next shown my room, once I walk in I saw my bed and nightstand against the parallel wall, at the end of my room had a little loft area, on one side was my vanity and on the other side was the closet door. In the loft, there is a couch bed. My dressers were on the same wall as the door and there was this small empty space of the wall that has art supplies in front. I looked around, and the wall above my bed had pictures hung up with lights around them. There is one picture of John, his sister Julia, Star, and me all at some park playing, there is another one of a teenage me and Star with John in the middle of us then there is one of me, Freddie, Tim, and Elaina in front of Ealing College of Art. I looked around to learn more about my new life, with this overwhelming starstruck feeling taking over my body.

[svgarangy]

How good would the princesses relationships with their parents be if they lived in the real world?

Bear in mind I left out a few because my brain stopped working

Mermista: 

Not a great relationship but they tolerate each other. It all started going downhill when she was 15 and started to wear her black eyeliner unironically instead of ironically, confirming too her parents that grandchildren were off the table. Her parents quickly went alcoholic, and everyday they had two pints of Sam Adams, and working on three. By day, young Mermista runs a man-hate Tumblr blog and spends most of her time in her room sipping iced tea menacingly and listening to the audiobook of Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto narrated by Ellen DeGeneres. However, by night she puts slightly inappropriate thirst comments on shirtless pictures of Chris Hemsworth on Instagram from an anonymous account named ‘SusanSmith123’ that has the phrase, ‘Jesus loves you’ in the bio, as she cries to white girl country songs. Because at the end of the day, she just wants to be loved by a good man.

Perfuma: 

Was everything her parents hoped for and more. Both of them cried the day she was born, because they knew that they would never be better than her. Her perfect grades, loveable personality, and #GoodLittleChristianGirl aesthetic made her parents weep with pride daily, and almost make them forget about the time she stabbed her cousin in the eye with a garden trowel at 8 years old after they dropped the Frisbee just one too many times.

Frosta: 

When Frosta’s mother and father first went to get an ultrasound of their beautiful new baby, they found not one or two, but three babies inside Susan The Snowman’s belly. (I’m assuming that Frosta and her whole family’s surname is ‘The Snowman’ for humor reasons.) However, as soon as Frosta The Snowman Fetus gained just a grain of consciousness, she ate both her siblings and birthed herself through sheer willpower without her mother even realizing what had happened. Over the next few years she would accumulate a collection of terrible grades, countless detentions and a kill streak of 895. And a few years later Frosta’s parents died of the guilt they felt for setting their monster loose on the world, and they spend their last moments crying over the loss of what could have been.

Scorpia:

Thembo mom child who was so perfect and mature for her age, she basically had the mental age of a 35-year-old unnaturally beautiful middle-aged white suburban mother when she was just 1 year old. You think SHE was the one getting her nappy changed? Nah she was the one changing the nappies on all the other kids. You think SHE was the one getting read stories too? Nah she was reading to the other kids AND the teacher. You think SHE was the one getting breastfed? Nah she was so strong, mature and motherly she developed SUPERHUMAN MOM POWERS that put all the actual moms and dads to shame. Due to this the locals often called her Crabby McSuperbaby and called on her to solve their problems with her big muscles, and ever bigger heart, and even bigger lesbian sex appeal.

Glimmer: 

Was separated from her parents at birth by the United Nations because of the threat she posed to the sanctity of the Geneva Convention. She was raised on a 1960s soviet submarine by 30 sailors and one cow named Maurice, and was nicknamed Spuck Spuck Sparkle for reasons that you will have to contact me privately to find out. A few years later when she was 10 years old, her dads gave her a sacred Submachine gun named Bow to keep her safe and she finally left the submarine to pursue her destiny. In their long lives, Glimmer and Bow would accomplish great things, including the destruction of both communism and capitalism, the extermination of music as we know it, and the creation and raising of 65 children named after prominent figures in the history of socialism. She is forever thankful for her fathers, cow and submarine for raising her the right way, and always loving and caring for her, and she cries when the time comes to bury them.

[adultswim2021]

Metalocalypse #2: “Dethwater” | August 13, 2006 – 11:45AM | S01E02

Frontman Nathan Explosion keeps deleting Dethklok's highly-anticipated upcoming album in a fit of perfectionism. In that same fit of perfectionism he decides that the only way the album will live up to the hype is if the band records it in the deepest place on earth: the Mariana Trench. The record label insists on sending a producer to oversee their activities, which does not sit well with Dethklok. They get down there and record their album, but due to a recording mishap they need to isolate Toki in his own pod to record his track, but instead he sings a lighthearted song about making fish friends. Toki being a sweetiepie is a very good running bit.

The producer winds up loving Dethklok's album so much that he turns his back on the tribunal, who initially had him tapped as a spy. Early on the show was sorta vaguely setting up some grand plot that would become apparent as the show went on. I guess. Honestly, I think I watched every episode of this show and I started losing interest at the end of it and I don't even really recall a whole lot about it. I think I prefer this element as just being more absurd or meta. It's almost like a Saturday Morning cartoon where the main characters just inexplicably have a villain character that hates them and tries to thwart them just cuz that's what you did in a Saturday Morning Cartoon. The fact that Dethklok sorta became a real band because of this show sorta demonstrates that they were backwards engineering this concept; It's almost like if the Harlem Globetrotters became real guys because of the Saturday Morning cartoon and not vice-versa.

The current conversation in the boys DM is about how hideous the animation is for this show, and I basically agree, but I think I find myself appreciating certain aspects of it. Like, the character designs are also really ugly, right? But they also sorta seem like they're supposed to be drawn by amateurs? Like there's the one part towards the end where the producer guy is ascending way too fast in his submarine in order to escape a monster, and he gets the bends so bad that his eyeballs explode, and it keeps zooming in on his face. You can see like jagged tossed-off lines, as though whoever drew it wasn't actually very good at drawing. I don't know man, it's a thing.

EPHEMERA CORNER:

MAIL BAG:

have you ever enjoyed a real life Adult Swim? You don't seem like the public pool type based on your eccentricities in your writing.

The only time I ever enjoyed an Adult Swim was when I was a little kid. All Kids Outta the Pool and into the clubhouse; there’s arcades in there baby!!!

Is it just me or when Will Forte says "THANKS FOR CARING" at the end of the JJ Pepper Videography sketch on Awesome Show it takes the air out of the whole bit? It feels like an SNL instinct instead of a Tim and Eric one. Sorry, I just don't like it, and I'm not gonna wait for you to get to Awesome Show to ask because I can die any day and you are going simply too slow. It would have been a Legen-DARY sketch if it wasn't for that final line.

I think it’s such a wild and weird way to end a commercial TV that I’m glad it exists.... but! You may be right. It’s just too weird. Is JJ Pepper for real?

Did you skip covering the Space Ghost Coast to Coast Volume 3 DVD set? Is it because of the Pavement menus? Did Stephen Malkmus come to one of your Simpsons Nights and insouciantly tell you he prefers watching sports?

I suspected that I DID miss it, but thought maybe I’d get away with it. But since I’m covering that season for Space Ghost Week maybe I’ll just do an entry for it to kick things off. Or... NOT!

Hm. I'm a moron for just telling you straight up how it is. Okay. Goodbye.

Bye bye! See you hell LOSER!

Here's 10 Ways To Make Your Blog's Mailbag Funner and Funniers. Number 10: Make a Call to Action with every post. This is a surefire way to get people to talk back. Number Two: Lay some ground rules. While no one likes a hall monitor, laying a few ground rules will make people know what to expect when sending you mail. Number Three: Throw in some red meat. Drink Dr. Pepper? Menton it in a blog post. It may not be relevant but a little autobiographical info can inspire some replies. Number Four:

I don’t drink Dr. Pepper. Thanks for caring.

I don't think that bug wars movie that guy was talking about was real. You have some really stupid people reading this blog. Maybe make people solve a brain teaser before they can submit something to you.

Thank god it’s not real. I think the mail bag is at it’s best when it’s an equal mix of smart cookies and sick puppies and I gotta say, COOKIES: STEP IT UP!