#bonus points if you were able to catch the song reference I made here

[thelazymitten]

Everybody be hopping on the Count train this New Year’s Eve

Might as well hop on myself

Tw: alcohol

Here’s to 2024, my fellow sillies 🥂🍾

[sevikas-whistle]

Ours Part Two: In the middle of the night

Hellooo!!! I am sooo happy y’all enjoyed part one of “Ours”!! Like seriously. Here’s part two, I finished writing it instead of getting ready to pick up my best friend from the airport so I gotta blast as soon as I post this. (She’s actually the inspiration for Marina!) So I hope y’all enjoy part two! I’m making a Spotify playlist for this series, and the song I had playing on loop was “In the middle of the night” by Elley Duhe. It’s a whole ass mood.

Warning! There is some spice in this chapter. God I love Sevika. No Silco yet, sorry friends. We’ll get there!

*bonus points if you catch the tik tok references 😘

Ours pt 2

“She did What?!” Marina asked incredulously. So caught up in her fascination that she didn’t realize she had smacked the ice pack onto your already sore head. Catching them up on the nights adventure, you left nothing out. Including the surprise kiss your soul mate snuck from you.

“Geeze Marina, easy!” Chani laughed, handing you your own hot bowl of food. You made a look of surprise, and as if she had access to your thoughts as well, she interrupted your protest.

“Before you even go there, Dane left with us after you ran off. Insisted we get food. So shut up and finish your story. He knew your order by heart by the way. I always forget you like to add cilantro to your ramen.” She teased before taking a huge bite of her own noodle bowl.

An exasperated groan left you as you clutched the ice pack closer to your eyes. Already feeling a tension headache forming. That’s another problem that would have to be dealt with.

“Speaking of-“ Chani asked with her mouthful of food, before swallowing and continuing, “Isn’t he under the impression that you weren’t marked? Dudes been in love with you for years.”

“We ALL were under the impression she wasn’t marked. I feel deceived.” Marina pouted, finally sitting down to eat.

Shaking your throbbing head, you answered, “First of all, no he’s not-“ You didn’t have to open your eyes to know that Chani and Marina were rolling their eyes, “I’ve made it perfectly clear that I’m focusing on my life’s work. Which is exactly why I never talked about being marked in the first place.”

Chani and Marina were uncharacteristically quiet, giving you time to remove the ice pack to take a bite of your perfectly made ramen.

“….Were you, like ashamed of her or something? Because she’s a Zaunite?” Marina asked quietly, as if she was afraid to say it out loud. Mark rejection was a common practice for piltover citizens especially. Usually taking place when “higher born” citizens were bonded to those they felt were “less than” in status or class. There were entire books on how to live one’s life after rejecting a soulbond. It sounded like a horrible way to live. Wasteful even.

“No! Gods no. I’m not ashamed! When I received my marks.. I was actually really excited. My parents, however..” you sighed as you took another bite of your food. Manners out the door as you continued; “When they saw who they were, they freaked out; and sent me here. Shit, I was only able to visit them a few times a year. If that. They were so afraid for me…and at the time, that was enough of a reason to not actively seek them out.”

You shrugged, taking another massive bite while your closest friends processed this information.

“But you were never even a little curious?? That would drive me crazy! Also, that still doesn’t cover why didn’t you tell us? We easily have the resources to keep you safe here.” Marina said, putting her bowl back down before continuing.

“My parents made me promise not to tell anyone. And honestly, after tonight…I can see why. She chased me almost three blocks before I made it to the lift!” You laughed, sitting back onto the comfortable sofa.

“I mean, she is really hot though. I wouldn’t mind being chased by her. Shit let her just step on me, I would probably thank her.” Chani laughed, “What’s her name by the way?”?

You squinted at her playfully, “Watch it.” Laughing you answered reverently, “Her name is Sevika. I have yet to meet Silco.”

The revelation made your girlfriends pop up, Chani threw a pillow at you before Marina yelled

“Bitch! You have a double marking and you didn’t tell us!?”

You laughed even harder, putting your hands up in defense in case they had any other weapons to throw.

“I don’t even know who you are anymore!? The lies!” Chani laughed loudly “Good for you though! I knew you were into some freaky shit.”

“You’re done!” You threw the pillow back at her, “You know I didn’t choose this!”

“Yeah, even the cosmos knew “you’s a freaky gal!” I fucking knew it. It’s always the quiet ones.” She hummed, laying down on the pillow you threw at her.

The three of you laughed, enjoying the rest of your dinner/breakfast before reminiscing on the rest of the evening.

By the time you curled up into your own bed it was nearly 4 AM. Snuggling deeper into the sheets in your baggy T-shirt and fuzzy socks. You hadn’t heard from Sevika since you left her in the lanes. You shyly sent her a weak goodnight before drifting off to sleep. Completely unaware of the eyes watching you through your uncovered bedroom window.

*******

A strong, warm hand caressed the side of your body. As if trying to memorize every curve and angle

“Beautiful.” She hummed continuing her gentle onslaught

Pushing your hips back against hers you heard her appreciative murmur as she wrapped her metal arm around you. Fully encasing you, Bringing you together as close as physically possible.

As right as this felt, there was this feeling..similar to incomplete.

‘What is that?’ You wondered

Sevika smiled into her next kiss, “You’re feeling the incomplete bond… you’re calling for him. Silco.”

Opening your eyes, you realized this had to have been a dream. But Sevika’s humored laugh stopped that thought

“Not a dream sweetheart. But I’m flattered you think so.” Sensing your confusion she continued. “It’s a part of our bond. This place exists between the dream state and reality. It’s just for us. But I assure you, this is very real.” She finished with a squeeze of your hips for emphasis.

Gods, you could get lost in her voice alone. It felt like a summer night, at twilight. It felt like Warm air, tired lungs and muscles from laughing and having a really good day, that cozy feeling of sleepy as the sun went down..

Sevika actually laughed out loud, making you blush

“You’ll learn to keep your thoughts private, but right now, they’re incredibly loud.” She teased

Oh

She smiled into your neck before pulling away, flipping you on to your back so she could lean over you. Trapping you between her arms. A stuttered breath left you as you made eye contact, Temporarily getting lost in her. Everything was so overwhelming, yet not enough at the same time. She was strong, and beautiful, no doubt about that. From her full lips, strong jawline, healthy hair framing her fucking beautiful face. You wanted to pull it. Bringing a hand up to the back of her head, you intertwined your fingers through her thick hair. Getting a good grip, you pulled her towards you, leaving her inches away from your face. Waiting for permission, she slightly nodded before you brought her lips to yours. This kiss was even better than your brief one on the lift. In this state, you could feel her hunger mix with yours. The sheer power of it making you wet. Tugging her hair harder she let out a groan, and you took full advantage as your tongue explored her mouth. She allowed you a moment to explore before she began to fight for dominance. In the back of your mind you remembered how she liked to play dirty. Which gave you more than enough encouragement to wrap your bare legs around her, grinding into her as she deepens the kiss.

A low, long moan escaped her and she pulled the both of you up, placing you in her lap without breaking the kiss. Legs wrapping around her tighter, you began to grind against her. Your body suddenly in a heated frenzy. Pulling away you gasped for air as she laughed, “not trying to run from me now, huh?” She asked smugly. Her hands gripped your hips and she ground you against her again. The only thing separating you being the black underwear she wore as bottoms. Your head fell back as a whimper escaped you, making her chuckle.

“We’ve waited for you a long time darling.” She murmured into your neck, leaving kisses and bite marks between breaths.

“Sorry about that” you whispered

“Don’t be sorry, be better.” She snarked

“Meet us tonight at the library across from the capital building.” Giving no room for negotiation

She tilts her head, as if hearing something you can’t.

“I’m not sure if I should laugh at you or be jealous that you have such early company.” She teases.

“What are you-“

A loud knocking is heard and you look at her in amazement.

She winks before setting you gently back on the bed, “Be good. 7:00. See you then.” She leaves a kiss on your forehead before fading away.

Jarring awake in your own room, you see the sun has arisen and the city of piltover has woken up. Looking down at the wet spot on your bed, you blush before jumping out of bed.

The obnoxious knocking continues,

“I’m coming!” You snap

Not in the way you wanted, but who knows what will happen tonight.

[lady-annie-bee]

Peter Parker x Reader soulmate au!

Au where when your soulmate sings a song, it gets stuck in your head, and when they sing a duet, you're stuck singing the alternate part

***

Ever since he was young, Peter Parker's soulmate has been dragging him into duet after duet. There was a lot of Disney a lot of Broadway classics; everything she insisted on singing he didn't know but could somehow still sing along (however bad) to. As he got older and her talent grew, he couldn't help but marvel at her angelic voice. Which is why he dubbed her "Angel" in his head.

Peter never really sang to himself. Sometimes, if Led Zepplen or something was on, he'd sing along to that. Usually, though, there was no need. His Angel of Music was almost always singing, and he didn't mind listening or singing along.

Well, that was until he was stalking some petty thieves only to suddenly break out into song.

All my life has been a series of doors in my face, and then suddenly I bump into you! Her melodic voice came through.

Peter felt a jolt of panic as he recognized the song.

"I was thinking the same thing!" Peter said as he quickly figured a plan of attack.

One thief looked up as Spider-Man swung into the group, catching them by surprise.

Peter shot a few webs at the first one, tying his legs to a bike rack, "'Cause like, I've been searching my whole life to find my own place. And maybe it's the party talking or the chocolate fondue!" He hit the back of his head to knock him unconscious.

Peter grunted as a thug punched his stomach, but he shot a web at the guys fists and glued him to the building wall.

But with you!

"But with you! I found my place."

"Gah!" A thug cried, after Peter elbowed them in the face.

I see your face!

"And it's nothing like I've ever known before..."

There were two beats of silence, only disturbed by everyone's heavy breathing.

"Love is an open door!"

Peter swung around and kicked one of the remaining two in the chest, using the body to propel himself forward and tackle the other guy.

"Love is an open door!"

The other remaining thug got out his knife and headed to cut one of his buddies down, but Peter saw and and glued the man's hand and knife to the building wall.

"Love is an open door,"

With you

"With you"

With you

"With you!"

"Love is an open door." Peter panted, all the thugs, tied up and unconscious. His work here was done.

He swung home that day singing the rest of the song. Hoping the wind wouldn't carry his voice to the streets below.

***

"Hello, I'm your new neighbor!"

A beautiful girl had knocked on his door, introducing herself. Her voice had a lift to it, as if she was trained in speaking.

"Uh, right. I'm Park- er, Peter Parker,"

It seemed odd for a New Yorker to do this, he thought.

"I'm (Y/N) Wayne, it's nice to meet you!" She smiled and he found himself struggling to breathe. "Where do you go to school?"

Peter couldn't help but smile back, "I go to Midtown, a school of science."

She pouted her lips, clearly dissapointed about something.

"I'm going to the music school around here, Frank Sinatra? There sure are a lot of schools in Queens."

Peter quirked an eyebrow, "Yeah, I guess there are... Did you want to come in?"

(Y/N) nodded and followed him to the living room couch.

Peter quietly got her a glass of water, making sure the cup looked clean, before shyly handing it to her. Their hands touched for a moment and he could've sworn a shock passed through him.

"So you just moved," at her nod, he continued, "where from?"

***

Peter walked into his favorite coffee shop, ordering a large coffee. He had an essay due tomorrow as well as patrol tonight, and would be needing the caffiene.

I know you, I've walked with you once upon a dream.

I know you, that look in your eyes is so familiar a gleam.

A quiet little hum filled Peter's head.

And I know it's true that visions are seldom all they seem.

It was clear to him that she was in public, where singing as loud as she could was looked down upon.

But if I know you, I know what you'll do

You'll love me at once, the way you did once upon a dream.

His soulmate continued humming the next part of the song, which had no real words. And a little ways off, he saw his new neighbor, and figured he'd walk over to say hello.

I know you, I've walked with you once upon a dream.

I know you, that look in your eyes is so familiar a gleam.

The closer he got to her, the louder the voice in his head got. Which he found odd, it wasn't like his soulmate was in Queens.

And I know it's true that visions are seldom all they seem.

But if I know you, I know what you'll do

You'll love me at once-

"The way you did once," Peter found himself compelled to join her. "Upon a dream."

"Is my heart supposed to be racing this fast? I can't tell if it's you, or the three shots of espresso in my last cup of coffee."

***

His Angel found him, bloodied and knocking on her window. They had been dating for a few months now.

"...Spiderman?"

Peter pulled off his mask, "No, Angel, it's me." He bit back a groan, everything hurt.

She stared at him for a second, disbelieving, "Peter?"

"Yes, please help."

She shook her head and got to work, pulling him out of her balcony and into her room.

"I can't tell you how angry I am right now," she pulled a first aid kit from her desk, "I get hurt a lot in dance, that's why I have this."

"I'm sorry," Peter said, "I didn't-"

She cut him off with a glare, "Don't you dare say that you kept this from me for my own good, I've had enough of that to last a lifetime."

He would have to ask her about that later, when he wasn't in pain.

Peter stopped her for a second, grabbing her arm and forcing her to look at him.

"I wouldn't be able to live with myself if my selfish actions got you hurt."

She teared up, "When you say it like that..."

A lightbulb in Peter's head sent off, he had an idea that could cheer his Angel up.

"They made you cry. But that will end tonight." He sounded awful, which was fine. He didn't need to be a Broadway actor, just needed to convey his point.

She blinked away more tears.

"You are the only thing that's right about this broken world.

Go on and cry"

She let out a chocked sob.

"But when the morning comes

We'll burn it down and then

We'll build the world again

Our love is God"

She gave him a tearful smile, it was radiant.

"Are you okay?" Her voice trembled, the first time he heard it do that. Usually she was so strong.

"I was alone

I was a frozen lake

But then you melted me awake

See, now I'm crying too

You're not alone"

She gently held his face, tainting her pure hands. "You're not alone"

"And when the morning comes."

"When the morning comes."

"We'll burn away that tear, and raise our city here."

"Raise our city here."

"Our love is God."

All gentleness was gone, and his Angel broke down into mire tears and swiftly embraced him, Peter held himself back from groaning in pain.

"You'll, ruin your clothes. With my blood."

She cried, "I don't care!"

And that was that.

***

Bonus:

A day after Peter came bleeding to his soulmates window, he recalled something she said. They were hanging out in his living room, she was laying down on his couch and he on her stomach.

"Hey, what did you mean by what you said yesterday?"

"I said a lot of things Peter, you'll have to be more specific."

Peter rolled his eyes, "You told me 'I've had enough of that to last a lifetime' referring to me keeping secrets from you."

"Oh, well, since we're being honest. My dad is Batman."

"Wait, what?!"

*insert zesty zinger here*

[twdmusicboxmystery]

Suspicious Questions in the Cast Trivia Battle

Hey everyone! So, just before Christmas, someone sent me something about a TWD Cast Trivia video. I hadn’t heard anything about it, but quickly located it on YouTube and watched it. So, let me first give you some background for what this was.

Emily had participated it, so I was hoping her appearance could be another “weird” thing we could see as a TD-themed appearance. Strictly speaking, it didn’t entirely work out that way. But that doesn’t mean I was disappointed, either. It was just different than I expected.

Why couldn’t we call her appearance a TD thing? Because both Sonequa Martin-Green (deceased character) and Andrew Lincoln (alive, but not currently on the show) were there. So it’s not like Emily was the only deceased or “just gone” character who participated.

And before anyone rushes off to watch this (I’ll drop the URL at the bottom) let me say that I honestly didn’t love this. The reason they did it (and this is probably why it wasn’t widely publicized) was to support two local Georgia politicians who were trying to get elected to the senate the first week of January. Obviously, I don’t know anything about these guys or their politics. It wasn’t that that bothered me. But rather that every two minutes they did a political plug and it felt more like a political rally disguised as a zoom call (which I suppose it was supposed to be) than a TWD thing. That’s all.

So, Emily’s video appearance at the end was a plug for people to vote for the politicians they were supporting. And the actors proclaimed their love for Georgia and being able to work in Georgia and why this senate race is so important. Yada, yada. Like I said, I don’t judge them for it, but I found myself yawning because I don’t live in GA and obviously don’t have a stake in their local politics.

However. There is a silver lining.

The trivia questions. My jaw dropped open at some of the questions they asked. Most if not all of them had ties to TD in some way. And some of them were so obscure, ONLY a TDer would recognize them.

So, the first questions were just goofy things where they asked everyone to imitate iconic things. The first was to imitate Rick saying Carl’s name. The second was to imitate Shane saying, “Let me tell you something.” And the third was just to imitate Daryl grunting. Lol. All good fun.

Then they got to more trivia-like questions and this is where it got really good.

First question: who dropped the key to Merle’s handcuffs down the drainpipe? Answer of course was T-Dog. Honestly, I didn’t right away read into this as being TD. If anything, I just thought it was interesting that it concerned T-Dog, given all the weirdo stuff that’s happened lately about he and Emily being in the bonus episodes.

But given all the other questions they asked, I’m definitely side-eyeing it. We could see it as the beginning of a sequence where a character (Merle) disappeared and then reappeared several seasons later, alive and well. Of course there’s the key angle (Key Theory). And then the Emily/IronE thing.

Second question: What number did Shane wear on his necklace. (!!!) I can’t believe they actually asked that. Has everyone read @frangipanilove​’s Shane/22 theory. If you haven’t, do so HERE. But the point is, if you were ever skeptical about that theory, this just proved that it’s something they want us to pay attention to.  

Third question: I don’t remember how they asked it, but something about a grain Georgia exports. The answer was sorghum. Not a huge TD symbol, but given that grain can be turned into alcohol, and we saw it heavily in S6 around Denise….

Fourth question: What are Rick’s favorite statues at the airport doing? (This is a reference to the ones he discussed with Clara in 4x01.) The answer: playing leap-frog. (Frog = resurrection symbol.)

Fifth question: In what Atlanta hospital did Beth become a prisoner. Danai got it right.

Sixth question: Where, on his body, did the Termites start eating Bob? Again, not super TD, but of course Bob was a Beth proxy (X) and the fact that they focused on his missing leg is important, I think. (X)

Seventh question: What animal did Enid eat before she got to Alexandria. Answer: A turtle. (Turtle Symbolism.)

See how much TD stuff they included?

They asked what song Negan made Carl sing (You Are My Sunshine). Heaven knows TD had a heyday with that.

And there were a few that were kind of meh. What was the name of the woman at Alexandria who wanted a pasta machine (Ms. Nedermyer). And what did Deanna Monroe do before the apocalypse (congresswoman).

And there were other goofy ones about who would die first in other series (like Seinfield, the Simpsons, etc.)

Others I wrote down:

What trio saved Glenn and Tara in S4? (Abraham, Eugene, Rosita).

Whose house did Morgan stay in in ep 1? (I didn’t write down the answer, but no one knew it.)

Who was Eugene’s fake boss that he talked about? (T. Brooks Elison). I’m not going to go into this one too much here, but we (especially @wdway​) have been finding a RIDICULOUS amount of symbolism around Eugene, especially in past seasons. We didn’t always catch it before, but knowing what we know now, to go back and see the symbolism in those early episodes is jaw-dropping.

What tissue sample did Jenner accidentally destroy? (TS-19).

What fake name did the Gov give Tara and her sister originally. (Brian Heriot – side-eying that one, too. X.)

Then they did one where YNB would say a title and the actors had to say whether it was a real title or not. We can definitely read into some of these titles, but not all. The ones she named that were real were This Sorrowful Life, Dead or Alive Or, First Time Again, Twice as Far, A Certain Doom. The fake titles she gave were Beginnings End, You are Welcome, Gun Shy, Walker in the Well, A memory of Mercy, and The Grimiest Day Indeed. Lol.

In terms of the real ones, This Sorrowful Life was the ep where Merle died. Not only is he a character that disappeared and then returned to Daryl’s life, but Daryl and Beth discussed him in Still. Dead or Alive Or suggests resurrection. First Time Again and Twice as Far suggest a return or redo. And A Certain Doom was the CB issue where Andrea died.

Even the fake ones sort of imply something. Beginnings End sounds like Alpha and Omega. GUN shy. Walker in the Well is obviously supposed to be about the well walker in S2, but it also evokes water. Mercy was a title in S8, but I think a memory of mercy could apply to Beth. You get the idea.

So that’s pretty much all I have to say about it. I didn���t love all the political stuff, but the questions definitely felt purposefully TD to me. Thoughts? (Watch the video below.)

[twowivestwoknives]

Album thing:

I want more mce onions so three cheers for sweet revenge pls

oh Hell yeah aighty here we go: Revenge, best to worst as deemed by this bitch (me)

1. Cemetery Drive

I’m completely bias as it’s one of my all time favourite MCR songs BUT i have a reason. Revenge is a song known for it’s roughness and it doesn’t do the merging of soft and hard together as well as the band grows to be able to do (see Sleep or Save Yourself later on). Cemetery Drive is really the song on the album that marries the emotional intensity and desperation the band has been known for up to this point with the utilization of musical stylings that stand out from the rest of the tracks but still sound distinctly My Chem. It’s the Halos of Revenge and I fucking adore it. Plus lyrically? Fucking poetry 2. Hang ‘Em High This Song Fucks. It’s lyrically all over the place but terrifying and you can tell Gerard believes every word in how they sing it even if he has no clue what it means. It’s all the theatrical, violent drama the band is known for, and it in my opinion epitomizes Revenge as an album. Which is a big statement especially with songs like Venom and Helena on it, but I think it touches on all of the thematic cores (rebirth, being hunted to death, dead women, catholic guilt, murder), and I think as a “scene” of a song, as the album is concept, it really frames the frenzy someone who’s rolling with the punches of coerced serial murder would be going through. Plus murder goth cowboys. Woohoo. 3. It’s Not A Fashion Statement, It’s a Fucking Deathwish One of the most impressive opening lines of any song I’ve heard in my 25 years. It earns the spot in top three just for “For what you did to me! For what I’ll do to you! You get what everyone else gets....you get a lifetime!” Way to make a lyric sound like a prayer and a threat in the same breath. From there on it’s just a banger. A drag race of an MCR song that does 3 more laps than you’d ever expected to. Really embraces the energy MCR has in it’s speed, and not afraid to use a major sound here or there. 4. Helena It’s super weird for me to put a release this high on the list but Helena holds up as one of the most beautiful songs of the mid oughts. It shows “revenge” for what it is thematically on the album, a revenge on death. That is the running theme. i saw someone say Bullets is Gerard being terrified of death, Revenge is them being pissed about it, Parade is an acceptance of it, and Danger Days is a preoccupation with after-life in the form of memorium. Helena is also musically so outfield for the band at this point that really for the innovation gets it put here. The music video is also one of the most beautiful and aesthetically pleasing videos of all time imho.

5. To The End

You gotta love an anti capitalist homoerotic murder mansion anthem. I also believe the plot of this song was based off a book of the same name? Cuz Gerard really loves their cultural references. This song is so fun and hauntingly beautiful and I would Not want to be at this houseparty. Bonus points for the explicit gay lyrics and also Ray’s harmonies. That man has a voice of gold my lord. 6. The Jetset Life Is Going to Kill You I don’t know if this will make sense outside of my own brain but Jetset is what Prison could’ve been. Like Jetset is beautiful and haunting and absolutely about things that are not PG or even PC these days to talk about, but it weaves the themes so deftly with the music that it just works. Also did anyone else see that Sims2 youtube video of Jetset where Gerard was like...a secret ghost murderer of abusive boyfriends? No? Just me and my 6th grade class that I forced to watch it for show and tell? Cool. 7. Give ‘Em Hell, Kid This song just straight up fucks. I feel like it hones a lot of what MCR’s vibe was in revenge era (though I was still a little young for them at that time, I came into the band when I was 11 so that would be 06). It really does sum up the nonsensical metaphor, the hyper-drama, the almost drag levels of camp, the violence, the viscerality. Also points for a call forward lyrically to The Sharpest Lives. 8. I Never Told You What I Do For A Living This song is here because of the chorus, firstly, and the viscerality secondly. I scared the shit outta sixth grade teachers singing this one. But it is such a fun and interesting vocal line throughout the entire song and I’m a singer so I’m bias. Plus it’s such a phenomenal song to end the album just top tier. “The kinda dirty where the water never cleans off the clothes” is also just a to-the-core line 9. Thank You For The Venom Venom is actually a really good song, and I feel weird having it so low considering I have a tattoo from it. It’s not that I don’t like it, it’s just that I guess the songs above I like more? Venom is absolutely a fan favourite so it might just be a case of I’ve heard it too much. Lyrically and musically very fist-fight gut-punch. Fight with glass shards stead of knives type vibe. It’s really interesting to listen to a song critiquing substance use and forced medication because I remember back in the oughts when everyone was so anti-meds (some for fair reasons and some for not), and just seeing a song that lays prescribed medication and self medication on the same table saying “either could kill me but I wont let it” is....that’s a cultural moment right there. 10. Ghost Of You The song is beautiful and that chorus is fucking gutwrenching, I’m just so incredibly not here for war music videos. Doubly not if it traumatizes people to film them? Like...no need to give the state more propoganda boys just let the song be pretty. 11. You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison? Okay this song had so much potential, and it was pretty fucking radical at the time not gonna lie. Rape analogies ain’t it. The song was really written from how I understand it to do the kinda stage-gay MCR was known for in the oughts. Hearing them talk about it, 2004 wasn’t a time homophobes were shy in hardcore, so songs like Prison paired with the stage antics made Homophobes...not wanna be there. Which gave them more space for the actual queers in the audience (and arguably on stage) to rock out without getting hate crimed. Also lyrically a lottta critiques of the prison system but yeah, coulda thought it through a bit more. We coulda had another Jetset but alas. 12. I’m Not Okay (I Promise) This song is fun as hell and you will catch me singing every word when it comes on. It’s only down here as it is just...a little underwhelming compared to the rest of the album. It’s fun and lyrically pressing and great to headbang to, but a lot of the rest of the album is more complex or intense in ways that I’m Not Okay just fails to fill out 13. Interlude Like it’s pretty but it absolutely sounds like a “we need 13 songs cuz frank said so” song. It’s filler.

[coolpolarbear123]

Band Camp Day 2

I need to stop writing these at midnight.

August 21st, 2018

Day 1 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7

NOT LAST:

Alright, so I’ll begin with random stuff I forgot from yesterday, as always

1) This band is, if not the biggest, one of the biggest bands this college has ever had, at 127 people.

127 people

Re: “This band is 120 people--double my old band” from sophomore year

Catch my drift?

2) This is includes the picc section, by the way. Fifteen people is a lot. I understand. I really understand when we’re tuning.

3) Everything has a call and response. Are you turning? How about turning around? Lateral sliding?

This brings me to terminology: I’m so sad I don’t get to kick any babies anymore

And now today: First thing’s first: I’m noncompliant! This means I did something wrong.

I forgot my nametag.

If someone is noncompliant, they get to dance in front of the entire band at the end of the day. (Spoiler: half the band was also noncompliant. I stood in a corner and waited until it was done)

All of the instruments are really good at sticking to their stereotypes. The clarinets dance to everything, the saxophones formed an actual cult (they were holding hands, chanting or something at one point), the trumpets are... well, you know, and the piccolos?

Well, we screech a lot

And I don’t mean with the actual piccolo

I think our goal this year is to be more annoying than the saxophones. At this rate, we’ll be the first ever to do it.

Everyone loves talking about high school marching band--not just the freshman

So, while doing marching practice, there’s a block we have to stand in. We’re standing in this block, at attention, and we have our instrument in our hands.

We’re practicing turning, so we turn, and the band director makes a comment that’s something along the lines of, “Harder to do when you have a sousaphone or bass drum, huh?” And a bass drum happens to be walking by us at the moment and basically says, “Yeah, no sh*t, Sherlock,” except that’s in my words and not his because I don’t remember his.

There was a word that started with a T in his phrase. That’s all I’ve got for you.

Also, you know the classic: “Band atten-hut!”? And everyone goes to attention completely off guard? There isn’t really that here. We have a sort of “preparation” attention and then “attention-attention,” and those are just called by saying stuff like “to the ready” and “band, atten-hut, atten-hut,” like, super casually.

My humour is officially accepted by the piccs:

“...was that too dark for you? Sometimes that’s too dark for some people.” Me, walking up to the conversation, “Sometimes I’m too dark for some people.” “Whoa. whOA. WHOAAAA.” Cue laughter.

Counting outloud is encouraged and it’s fantastic

Stands songs!!! Have!!!! Dances!!!!!!!!!!!

At the end of the day, we always sing the alma mater and the fight song, and no one has taught it to us yet. Please. Let me learn. I can’t just keep standing there.

We’re playing “25 or 6 to 4,” which is a song my old band played, except this is a different key and the rhythms are different.

Speaking of which, this is my third time trying to reteach myself the SSB. Gods, I hate that song

“Star Spangled Banner” for anyone who doesn’t know

We were practicing indoors, and the band director had the percussion say something, and every now and then, there’s this weird noise coming from... somewhere. It sounded sort of saxophone-like, but it wasn’t a saxophone. Eventually we were all laughing too hard, and the conductor stopped and asked, “What is that?” “The speakers!” The band director then tried to fix it. It was not fixed. Let’s just say we had to move on.

Snares: “Hey, we have two pieces of the same song, and they’re both different. Which one do you want us to play?” “The one by X and arranged by Y.” “They both are.” “Pick the yellower one.” “They’re white.”

Man, during tuning, he’s going section by section, and piccs are always last at stuff, right? So eventually he’s like, “Oh, yeah, and piccs,” and we all raise our piccs to tune to Bb

The Devil’s noise is heard, and half of us immediately take our instruments down to adjust. We put them up, and more people take them down. Rinse and repeat. None of us actually want to hear fifteen piccs at the same time. None of us can tune fifteen piccs at a time.

The clarinets cannot hold in their laughter at us trying to tune

I couldn’t either, honestly. Gods, who made this instrument?

We break off into sectionals

The clarinets: “I mean... we could go outside, I guess.” The piccs: “Haha we wouldn’t. Someone would call 911 on us.” Picc Drill Instructor: “I’d call 911 on a piccolo, honestly.” The Rest of the Piccs: “So would we.”

So, we’re going over a song that has dance moves, and basically we dip either down or up on this one phrase. It alternates.

Drill Instructor: “Go down on the D” *wink* Section Leader: “OH MY GOD WHAT” DI: “That’s how I was taught it!” DI: “Okay, and then you go up on the F” SL: “YOU KNOW IT”

Fastforward, we’re practicing some runs on our own for the fight song, and one of the picc players walk in--a junior, I think--and she just says, “That sounds terrible.”

Yes, I know we’re picc players. Shush.

Look, I know that after hearing these stories, you’re probably thinking that we’re really efficient and use our time wisely--constantly practicing.

I assure you, we’re not. Literally every time we broke into sectionals during marching today, our drill instructor told us stories until someone looked over at us, where she made us march in circles until we could go back to storytime.

The picc section, everyone.

There’s a song we’re playing called Free, and some how people only either have the first page or the second page, or if you’re a snare drum, you only have the last two measures.

I’m not joking--it’s a tiny slip of paper that says “Free” at the top and only has two measures.

There’s another song, and the picc part is handwritten. It’s really fun to watch all of the piccs lean forward in unison as we try to read our music. It’s also fun to hear us all stop in confusion. You can tell when fifteen piccs aren’t playing.

Or, we can

And the band director could

Dinner! The most exciting thing that happened was that some football player was getting a drink, and the machine just kept going, even after he took his cup away. My friend and I were the only ones who saw, and we were laughing, and he looked at us like, “I have no idea what to do.” That continued for a couple more minutes before he managed to fix it.

It was super funny, though, the dude was frantic. Flailed his arms a bit and everything

Back to marching practice, and the drill instructor has to make us march because a drum major is making her way over. Everyone else is playing follow the leader, so what does she decide to have us do?

Play follow the leader

Also known as Snakes, I guess

Our section leader led, and as she went on, she got worse and worse, eventually just yelling “oh god, oh god, oH GOD” over and over until none of us could shout our commands because we were laughing too hard.

We almost ran into the percs at that time. That was a major “OH GOD” moment from our section leader.

The newbies all had to march in a block on their own today. We suckkkkk

There’s a formation we stand in to practice playing songs without marching, so we’re in that, and we’re trying to tune (which never ends well, as we’ve learned by now), and:

Band director: “Do you know what’s worse than one piccolo?” Us: “Fifteen?” Band director: “Two.”

It’s 9 o’clock: the day is over. However, every day there are schedules activities, and today’s is a scavenger hunt.

We’re in groups by section, and we all had to meet up at a specific place. Eventually there’s a bunch of sections there, and each are doing their own thing. Trumpets are yelling “oof” in unison, saxophones were being cultists, piccs were silently chanting “not last, not last,” and the mellophones were all trying to not pee their pants.

Literally all of them had to use the bathroom, and there’s more mellophones than piccs, if you need a reference.

Our section leader somehow gets one of the locked doors open, and yells over to our drill instructor, “Hey, look!” “[SL] OPENED THE DOOR GUYS” *Huge rush of mellophones run into the building at top speed”

Someone starts playing music near us piccs. Many emo songs. We all know the words.

We get the list, and we’re off. 20 minutes, let’s do this.

I should mention that this activity is optional, but we had a little over half of us there.

I should also mention some background. They do this every year, and last year the piccs got last. The returning picc players had been telling us this for all of today. That means for all of today, we had all been silently saying “second to last” as our goal for today. All we wanted was second to last. Low standards, right?

So, we race around. There’s bonus points for creativity. For instance, one the things is, “Throw out the trash.” Last year, everyone threw away people, so we decided to throw out our piccs.

We made our SL a Sasquatch at one point

etc etc etc fun times. This post is too long for me to name everything

Twenty minutes later, we’re all sitting in circles by section on the grass, and the trumpets start singing songs. The clarinets start singing songs. The saxophones are holding hands and doing... something. The flutes are playing an unsuccessful game of “Two truths and a lie.”

“Are we gonna play Never Have I Ever at B-Dubs, then?” “PICCS DON’T DO BUTT STUFF”

The piccs start singing, too, once we realize we can’t do anything else. It’s something of a competition at this point.

I bring up the idea of Bohemian Rhapsody (hm), and so we start singing it, the trumpets join in, the clarinets are in, the other band members also probably also in, who knows. We manage to finish the song.

From that point on, the clarinets just sang with us. The trumpets were able to get the mellophones every now and then, I think

The piccs eventually get up and do the “Cha Cha Slide.” We manage to get everyone to clap their hands at that part.

Returning picc players are now raving about how much better the picc section is this year. Apparently last year they were a bunch of b*tches. This year is better, according to them. They love us, also according to them.

We keep doing whacky stuff while standing up. It’s a lot of fun, honestly.

Lots of random screeches, calls, and screams. While the trumpets have an “oof” thing, we have a “whatever comes to mind” thing

This includes “Piccs don’t do butt stuff,” “not last, not last,” actual screaming, and much more.

Other songs we sang include: “Firework,” by Katy Perry, “You Belong With Me,” by Taylor Swift, “What Does the Fox Say,” “Call Me, Beep Me,” and many others.

The results are in

The piccs are crossing their fingers for not last

not last not last not last not last not last

“In last place... the... trumpets!”

The piccolos are screaming. Everyone looks at us like we’re crazy

“NOT LAST NOT LAST NOT LAST”

“SECOND TO LAST SECOND TO LAST SECOND TO LAST”

“In second to last... the trombones!”

Piccolos are screaming even more. There’s no way we made it so far up. The returning members are screaming about how good this year is.

“The clarinets!”

The piccolos are so loud, the drum major is staring at the clarinets while gesturing to us like they should beat us up

It keeps going, and the piccolos keep screaming. The goal is to beat the saxes

It comes down to first and second. How did we make it this far? It’s super clear that the saxes won, by the way. They’re the saxes

Drum rolllllllllllllll

“And the winner is....”

“THE PICCOLOS”

Screaming is too soft of a word at this point. We all started chanting “NOT LAST NOT LAST NOT LAST” again. The returning members are super excited about this.

So,,,, many,,,, pictures are taken

“Gang Sign”

Last year, this whole thing happened, I guess, and basically what came out of it was this gang sign for the piccs, so now we all do that for pictures.

In the large group photo, we held up pinkies for first place

In the picc photos, all of us did gang signs

I feel like I’m missing something big, but I’m always missing stuff, which is why I put it in the next post. If I remember, you can check Day 3 when it comes out.

[derangedroyalfae]

Feb 8, 2019 (as of 11:40AM)

1:35AM

He’s going to the backyard to think, and I’m thinking I didn’t think anything fucking through in my entire life. 

I’ve made the decision to check on him regularly twice a day, making sure he’s high functioning. I set 2 reminders, one around noon and one in the early evening. It’s not a check on how he’s feeling, more of to make sure he’s eating and taking care of himself. Last night, I let him get away without dinner and going to bed early since A. I literally just broke his fucking heart B. I know he ate at some point (though his body was clearly hungry and we both acknowledged it after his stomach growled).

Am I going to regret leaving him? Or is the regret for staying with him for so long?

I told him that I’m not sure if this is sorta like an “isolated incident” (not the choice of words I used) or actually me just being the terribly shallow person and this is who I am and will have to face for all my future relationships. That I will eventually just stop loving people when I no longer feel the need for them. 

Go away, Hollow, you’re not my friend. 

No matter what I said, I just couldn’t get him to demonize me. He used the “You can’t help the way you feel” line. 

I kept saying to myself this feeling will pass, but what if I regret all of this? I kept saying I wouldn’t, but we never can guarantee our future feelings. 

*up until the next morning, Hummingbird and Kitty were in a group chat with each other, but Jewel was a separate chat - however I was saying the same things to them for the most part*

Royal (02/0719 5:29 PM) I’m thinking of doing that talk with Nurd now. I’d rather get it out in the open sooner than later. Why let it build up and make things awkward, especially since I told the girls/you guys and I don’t want what happened to me where I felt so awkward and judged having been around people who knew I was going to broken up with. That being said, I’m not necessarily breaking up with him, I’m talking with him. I might end it with the proposal of breaking up or waiting a couple weeks or month for these feeling to possibly blow over, but I know if my partner was feeling this way, I’d want to know.

I was gonna do it Sunday, but 1. I’m coming out that day so why double stack? 2. It dawned on me that I’d be doing what was mentioned above since I’ve told the girls/you guys and we’re going to their/your place tomorrow.

Hummingbird (6:23 PM) Yeah having that talk before tomorrow might make it awkward. Either way we are here for you :purple_heart:

Jewel (5:38 PM) Makes sense, let me know how it goes

Also of course I totally relate to how you feel about wanting a guy that wants you as a guy

Royal (5:39 PM) A least I can say I gave it a week, which is more time than Nurd and I took to jump each other’s bones.

Though, I know I phrase it like it’s not technically a breakup talk, but if I was in Nurd’s position, the one I’m putting him in, I’d personally go with the break up option...even if I still loved them

Jewel (5:41 PM) Yeah, that makes sense

I probably would, as well, if I were in his position

Royal (5:43 PM) I’m his first everything, and that only makes it worse

Now, I’ll be his first heartache too

I almost feel like offering to wait is like hanging out a line of hope that could just be a rug pulled out from under him

But I feel like maybe I should give it a try, just maybe...I’m wrong, and it’s just another morning where I wake up angry at him for no reason

Jewel (5:45 PM) Honestly, I think you should just go into the talk without deciding the outcome, be it a line of hope or breaking up

Royal (5:45 PM) And I can end the night cuddling with him and apologizing for my unjust feelings, even though I was angry that morning

Jewel (5:46 PM) I get you

Royal (5:47 PM) A thought just occurred: But why would I wake up feeling that way?

If something wasn’t wrong

Why would I just randomly feel so upset or angry with him

Even before we got too far in

Jewel (5:48 PM) And it's not a general anger but specifically directed toward him?

Whenever it happens, that is

Royal (5:48 PM) Yes. I remember it happening that morning and just...I texted him before school telling him I felt so angry with him for some reason and I felt bad about it cuz I didn’t know why, I was just angry and I was angry at him.

We weren’t even living together at the time

And then there was over the summer, but we ruled it out to my hormones

But I just feel an overall annoyance with him nowadays, maybe not all the time, but half of it to a majority

Sometimes nowadays I just wanna punch him when he talks, what he says just gets under my skin, and the way he says it

Jewel (5:51 PM) Like, regardless of what he says?

Royal (5:51 PM) I know I haven’t been good at talking about these things, telling people about them, this is probably the first time you’ve heard it, but I’ve been feeling this way for a while

Not usually regardless, it’s usually on certain topics

But I’ve felt avoidant/annoyed by him regardless

Jewel (5:53 PM) Ah, gotcha

Yeah, I can understand why you wouldn't wanna talk about that

Royal (5:53 PM) But I’ve woken up now and it’s just

Almost like a mind fuck, sometimes a no brainer feeling, it’s so confusing

And I feel like a terrible person for it, I really do

I feel like a monster and heartless, like a real bitch

But it’d only be worse if I dragged him along and led him on. Playing the part is worse if I’m not actually the part.

Pretending is worse than not addressing. It’s unhealthy. It’s wrong.

And I’m the fuck doing this exactly a week before Valentine’s Day holy shit

Jewel (5:56 PM) Hey, it's a helluva lot better than on Valentine's day

Royal (5:57 PM) In my heart, I feel that I’ve already made the decision to break things off. I feel so melodramatic for it, but I’ve honestly felt that way this entire week, at least since Sunday.

I even wrote a song that makes it sound like I broke up with him already (though it could be more like I plan to)

And I’m just thinking that I could just be acting impulsive or that it’s the change of medicine, environment, routine, etc but why does it feel so real and so desirable?

Like, I feel like I actually want to not be with him, that I’d be free if I broke up with him

Jewel (6:04 PM) That's understandable

Royal (6:05 PM) The chorus is literally a reference to every song I wrote for him

"I kept you on the down low

And said you were my everything

You helped me find that happy song

And made my life a musical

I kept thinking we’re meant to be

Writing cheesy love songs

But I guess it wasn’t enough for me

When I lost that connectivity 

I broke your heart, so I’ll play my part as

The monster in this song"

Talk about going full circle...

He’s still my muse, whether or not I love him...

(I mean, I feel like I might still platonically love him, just to clarify)

Royal (6:38 PM) We talked, we cried, he said he’s known this was coming but was scared to ask

Jewel (6:43 PM) Are you done talking or it's still going on?

Hummingbird (6:44 PM) Oh... First question, are you ok? And second how did you end the talk (since you mentioned a couple possibilities)?

Royal (7:19 PM) He had gone to the bathroom when I sent that first message

He was crying so hard, and it happens off and on

We cuddled for a good amount of time

He asked if I’d stay in his room tonight, and I said yes

Perhaps a form of saying his last goodbyes I don’t know

Jewel (7:21 PM) Ah, okay

How do you feel?

Royal (7:22 PM) When he said that he’s been catching on, and how early he was noticing it, I felt so terribly validated in a way I never thought I would hurt...

I wasn’t alone in noticing

I thought I was making things up...he thought he was too

Jewel (7:23 PM) At least you both know you're not imagining things now

Royal (7:24 PM) I still feel like a terrible person, because I still feel so hallow

I just ripped out his heart

I might have just changed his entire fucking plan for life

But I’d rather that, than to have slowly rotted his heart with my artificial sweetener love, and not be able to provide what he deserves, and to get to the point where I resented and hated him because he deserve better than that

Hummingbird (7:27 PM) its  better to have short term pain instead of a life of spite

Jewel (7:27 PM) It's definitely better not to let things sit

Royal (7:27 PM) I know, but it doesn’t make hurt any less

Jewel (7:27 PM) Does this mean you decided to break up through the course of the conversation?

I understand

You do care about him regardless

Hummingbird (7:28 PM) I wont lie, the pain will take a while to pass.

Royal (7:29 PM) He noticed how happy I was talking to the girls/you guys...and how I hadn’t talked to him like that in a long time

He kept asking if he did something wrong. I kept reminding him this was completely me.

I never got into how I was feeling so...invalidated by him, how I felt a disagreement with his points of view, how I was bothered by how he treated me sometimes. Because those weren’t my real reasons at the end of the day, just a bonus.

No matter what, if we’re done tonight or done in a week or stay together forever, we will still be friends

And perhaps, we should have only been friends from the start

Jewel (7:35 PM) That's good. At least there's that, and you're not going to lose him forever.

Royal (7:41 PM) We say that, though, but there’s no guarantee

Trainwreck/Error said we’d be friends...though they are shitty people at the end of the day

I guess, Error and I did mend that relationship before I left

Jewel (7:42 PM) There's never any guarantee about anything, but regardless, having some hope is better than none

It will depend ultimately on how you both feel as time goes by

Kitty (7:37 PM) Catching up now..

Wow, that happened fast

It sounds like you're both ok... Emotionally drained, but ok

At least it's out in the open

Royal (7:38 PM) I asked him to promise me he won’t do something drastic

I know he’s never been a risk case, but I’m an anxious and paranoid person

Royal (7:44 PM) I felt just like that night all those years ago, it was the night after we talked about dating and I had been waiting for our ride after a show, I was laying on his lap and it was so hard NOT to kiss him. I knew I couldn’t and shouldn’t, but I wanted to so bad. As he held me in his arms, both of us laying down, it felt just like that again. For the same and opposite reason as the last...

I’m terrible

Jewel (7:45 PM) I just know you feel like an awful person for feeling the way you do, and I understand why, but it's also understandable how you feel

Royal (7:45 PM) I feel like I used him

Hummingbird (7:50 PM) I don't have the words to comfort you. I wish I could just hold you close.

 I know it can be tough not to lapse into doing what seems automatic. 

You are not terrible. People can fall into and out of love. It happens. You did not use him.

Royal (7:50 PM) At one point I had said, “I’m sorry if I fucked up your life...”

And he responded, “No. You gave me the best moments of it.”

Hummingbird (7:57 PM) You both will heal. It might take a while but you both will heal.  There will be things said either innocently or not that will cause pain.

I know just how tough it is. heck I was in a similar position 3 years ago. 

if you need us we are here :heart:

Kitty (8:02 PM) Yeah, 100%

Jewel (8:32 PM) Sorry I disappeared

Royal (8:37 PM) That’s fine, I did too

*once again, not a group chat, these are separate chats with Hummingbird and Jewel, but I was saying the same thing*

Hummingbird (02/08/19 8:43 AM) I love you!

How are you feeling?

Royal (10:04 AM) Love you too

Hummingbird (10:04 AM) :heart:

Royal (10:23 AM) I just keep feeling really guilty, cuz I don’t know what is or isn’t going to affect him to feel depressed. If seeing Araceli and realizing that now he’ll never be her uncle or that he’ll never have a family with me will set him off. If being around my family is just gonna crush him.

I don’t know and I worry it does. I feel so toxic and crushing to him right now, I put him in such an awkward position

But he can’t just pack up and move out with his family yet, he still has a job

I told him that we don’t have to tell my family anything yet until he’s ready. I didn’t want him to feel like he’s under pressured to leave because of them.

Jewel (10:26 AM) I’m so sorry this is all so much. You both really need time to heal from all of this.

Hummingbird (10:29 AM) The worry and guilt suck.  Not telling fam until he is ready will probably make it easier on him in the short term

As always I am here to listen if you need to vent, and there are lots of snuggles waiting for you  :heart:

Royal (10:27 AM) There’s nothing here that’s not going to remind him of the future I took from him

Hummingbird (10:31 AM) That may be true,  but having fam put extra pressure to move it would only make it worse

[cardcaptorcoconut]

Sakura Fest 2017

I went to Sakura Fest 2017 in Tokyo today!  It was a really amazing event and has already left both the Japanese and International fandoms buzzing!

Perhaps the biggest and BEST surprise was the reveal of the trailer for the Original Animation DVD coming out with the Special Edition of Volume 3 in September.

You can watch the trailer for the OAD here.

The rest of my rundown is below the cut. :) Most of it was posted on Discord earlier tonight in #ccs-general as well, so if you missed it and are curious, please have a look. ��I added in a few extra details as they came back to me.

I got to Rune Kodaira Hall just after 12:00. The goods stand was open to the general public at that point, so I did my shopping early before sitting down in the entrance lobby where fans were slowly gathering to wait. I was very lucky to make a friend there too!  (Thanks so much for sharing the day with me @brienneoftarth!!)

Around 14:00pm the staff had us line up and we waited for doors to open until about 14:40 or so (they were running a bit behind schedule). After doors were opened, they handed out our “participants’ gifts” which included a flyer for the June Ichiban Kuji, the September 3rd Volume Special Edition, and a pink light up baton wand.

The hallways were really quite crowded!  Also, all of the main companies involved with CCS (including Nakayoshi) had arranged for celebratory flower arrangements in honor of Sakura’s birthday.  We were allowed inside the concert hall itself at this point, but the performance was still a bit delayed.

Then suddenly, Aya Hisakawa in Kero’s voice addressed the audience, saying Kero’s typical “Konanachiwa!” Kero made sure to scold the audience for not having a bigger reaction at first, but was satisfied after a minute or two.  Then Sakura Tange as Sakura started speaking, followed by Junko Iwao as Tomoyo. Tomoyo asked Sakura to read her greeting and allow her to record it. Sakura read a greeting thanking everyone for joining and coming to her birthday party. Megumi Ogata and Motoko Kumai joined in at this point as Yukito and Syaoran respectively.

Then the curtain went up and all five seiyuu appeared. The MC came and she and the VAs greeted the audience.  They told us to wave our light batons when anything happened that made us really happy or excited. After this, they proceeded to do a panel for us. The panel was introduced in about 4 parts total, each part being relevant to a certain Clow Card:

#1) The Return #2) The Voice #3) The Song #4) The Release (An unexpected one from the audience since it’s not a card).

The Return:

Fitting the theme of the card, the VA’s reminisced about the beginning of their work on the series as a timeline was displayed on the TV monitor behind them. From memory, the points that stood out to me the most were:

Sakura Tange said she hadn't read it when the serialization started in Nakayoshi, but rather started reading the series when the first tankobon came out. She doesn’t follow the series month by month as many of us do, but prefers to purchase the manga volumes. Incidentally, she’s doing this with Clear Card Arc too and had not yet read Volume 2 yet today.

In terms of their auditions, Aya Hisakawa said she found out the roles and wanted to try for Kero, as she had been doing Ami from Sailor Moon before then. But when she spoke with her manager and said "This is the role I want to do" he reacted baffled and replied "What? Can you do this role??" as she often used Kanto dialect in her roles but is originally from Kansai and can speak that dialect fluently.

Ogata-san's was the funniest recollection: She said she'd been in all sorts of darker roles up until that point and said it was the first time she was in a world where all the characters were "in a happy world."  She was worried that Yukito was eventually going to betray or back stab somebody because that's the type of character she usually got cast as.

Then they talked about their auditions and Sakura Tange said she had some memory of having to do the dubbing several times.  It took her about 4 rounds of tweaking to finally pinpoint Sakura’s voice.

At some point during the recording sessions, the cast had to come to Nagoya on business and were supposed to be greeted on the platform by someone from Shueisha.  They weren’t sure who to would be picking them up, but as the train pulled into the platform, they looked out the windo and saw a very fashionable looking man standing with Kero somehow (I unfortunately didn't catch if it was a plushy or a mascot he had, but probably the former?).  The cast got excited and were pointed out the window saying "That's the guy! that's the guy!"  Aya Hisakawa said that all the kids on the train were also pointing at the escort because they knew who Kero was.  Hisakawa-san said that’s a memory she’ll never forget.

Ogata-san was the complete opposite of Yukito/Yue and was very animated and lively. Kumai-san, on the other hand, was very much like Syaoran and was quite shy.

The cast also discussed certain scenes and clips from the anime.  Motoko Kumai reflected on how she had to learn Kansai dialect for the scene from The Change card episode from Aya Hisakawa.

Motoko Kumai confessed that as a result of her voice work for Syaoran, there were several times where she mistakenly went to the men's restroom at work because she was so absorbed with the character. 

Kumai-san also said that Syaoran was at an age where his voice would be changing and she was wondering if she would be okay for the role.  At that moment, Ogata-san deepened her voice and said “Well then how about me?"  It gave everyone a good laugh.

The Voice:

After “The Return” session finished, the next card introduced was The Voice card.  The cast did a live voice over of various scenes from the original anime.  The scenes were:

#1) When Sakura originally accepts the sealing wand from Kero #2) When Tomoyo finds out about Sakura's secret and meets Kero for the first time #3) When Syaoran tried to take the Clow Cards from Sakura, almost fought with Touya, and met Yukito for the first time #4) The final judgement scene where Mizuki-sensei gives Sakura her second chance and the wand transforms #5) The infamous elevator scene where Syaoran yells Sakura’s name for the first time #6) And finally the opening scene from episode 70 where Sakura is spaced out in the classroom before Syaoran comes in and says good morning to both her and Tomoyo

The best part of it being a live dub over was that the cast ad-libbed several times!  In #1) Hisakawa-san shouted "Kero-chan CHEEECK!!!" instead of what the original line was.  Everyone laughed and Sakura Tange decided to roll with it and adapted her lines too.

It became a running joke through the rest of the live dub scenes as the characters kept referring to the “Kero-chan Check.”

In #3) when Yukito appears and breaks up the potential fight between Syaoran and Touya, instead of the original line Megumi Ogata started listing off all the different kinds of buns Yukito had bought. It went something like "Let's see... I've got pizza buns, curry buns, meat buns... enough for everyone!”  In the original scene, Yukito goes to hand one to Syaoran and he gets shy and backs away, but instead Motoko Kumai ad-libbed and said "No way, I want a pork bun!" making that the reason why Syaoran ran away.

The elevator scene was done very seriously and was lovely to see live.

The Song

After the live dubs, The Song card was introduced next and the audience was told that we would hear two live performances by Sakura Tange and Junko Iwao.

Sakura Tange sang the third OP song “Platinum” for us and Junko Iwao sang one of Tomoyo’s character songs from the anime - “Yoru no Uta.”

After this, a buzzer went off and we were told there would be a special guest joining us!  My heart stopped because I thought for a brief, foolish moment that it might be Nanase Ogawa, but instead the cast was joined on stage by both Kero and Suppie life-sized mascots!  Then a birthday cake was brought out and we were asked to sing Happy Birthday to Sakura. I think this is the point where the live feed on Animate’s website started for those of you who were able to watch.

The audience joined in and sang to Sakura, and Sakura Tange responded in Sakura’s voice.

The Release:

When the Birthday Song was over, the cast started to discuss the new Clear Card arc. The discussion wasn’t too in depth because they wanted to avoid spoilers for those who haven’t read the series yet.  However, this was the point the introduced the trailer for the 3rd Volume Special Edition’s OAD.

The hall got very quiet and everyone turned off their batons.  The trailer shows that they will be redoing the finale of the original anime to fit the original adaptation in the manga.  Syaoran’s confession at the park and Sakura’s gradual realization of her feelings and making of the bear for Syaoran are being animated for the first time.

Sakura Tange confirmed after the trailer finished that they literally just did the voice work for this about 5 days ago, so it was a very well kept secret!!

At this point I think the cast began to wind down the evening and gave us each their special thanks.  They all seem very happy and excited to be back and working on Cardcaptor Sakura again.  Sakura Tange said she had been hoping to do a live dub at most, but never dreamed it would actually happen.

For the finale, Sakura spoke her invincible spell saying “It will definitely be alright!” and asked the audience to shout “RELEASE” after reciting the spell to unleash her key. She chanted the spell and at the end the audience chimed in and shook the light batons as the curtain closed on the event.  The cast waved until the very.

Upon leaving, each member of the audience got a special copy of the Sakura Newspaper announcing the anime.  Also, as a bonus, @brienneoftarth (who had separate assigned seating from me) said that the row in front of her had been reserved for the member of Madhouse!  They came to see the performance with press passes of sorts and she overheard them saying “Wow there’s a great turn out for this... I didn’t think it would be so popular!”

Honestly, I think this was one of the best events I’ve ever been to and I’m so glad we are getting what we are with the anime. This year and next year, we have a lot to look forward to guys! :D  Until next time, take care!

[higuchimon]

[fanfic] Fair Won Prize:  chapter 3

“Excuse me, what did you say again?” Durbe didn’t look as if he could yet convince himself that he’d actually woken up and heard what he did.

Vector loved playing with people like this. He wrapped his arm around Mizael’s shoulders and leaned closer to him, ignoring the way Mizael rolled his eyes.

“I said, Mizael finally agreed to my courting and we’ve agreed on a relationship.”

Rio stared over at the pile of empty cups they’d drunk from the night before, then looked back at Durbe and Gilag. “I suggest we test whatever’s left to find out what else was in those drinks aside from that sleeping potion.”

Ryouga looked quite as if he wanted to agree with his twin. Instead, he gave Mizael a very firm look.

“Is he telling the truth?”

Mizael pushed Vector away – successfully, after trying two or three times – and stepped forward. “He’s leaving things out. Such as this isn’t romantic at all and is far more in the way of conveying my thanks for his actions last night. It’s also in no way permanent. Either one of us can cancel it at any point.”

Vector held back a smirk. He would let Mizael think that for now. Now he put a pout on his lips.

“I was rather heroic last night. I’m sure you can put it into a song, dear Ryouga.” The pout turned into a smile that was a hair’s breadth from a smirk. He waved one hand ever so dramatically. “There you all were, sound asleep and completely vulnerable to anything and everything those beasts wanted to do to you.”

He recited everything he’d heard on their plans, saving Mizael for last, letting his words linger over those schemes. He did not miss the sudden fury boiling in Alit’s eyes at what would’ve been his own fate, nor how it was flavored with sorrow. Something to keep in mind for the future, he thought, before returning to his recitations.

“Then that one idiot dared to lay a hand on Mizael here,” he said, gesturing so his fingers brushed by the ranger’s hair, but didn’t touch it. His every action he chose to make it clear how different he was from those fools who’d never heard of asking for anything.

Not that Vector himself especially liked asking or that the would-be slavers would’ve ever gotten a ‘yes’ in the first place.

“I decided at that point, it wasn’t worth being amused by their idiocy anymore.” With a flick of his fingers his knife was in his hand once more. He admired the edge of it, which would need a bit of sharpening before he used it again. “And I cut his hand off.” No one touches what’s mine. Even if Mizael didn’t know he was mine then.

“And you got blood in my hair,” Mizael pointed out. Vector tsked at that.

“I helped you get it out, didn’t I?”

“You killed all of them.” Durbe observed. “So where are the bodies?”

“We dragged them out there,” Mizael said, gesturing with one graceful hand. “And I asked Jinlong to set them on fire.”

“It was very beautiful to see,” Vector added. He toyed with the tip of his blade. “Though some of the locals tried to wander by. They didn’t stay long.”

Ryouga groaned, leaning back in his seat. “Tell me you didn’t kill them too. They haven’t done anything that we know of...have they?”

Mizael shook his head. “They didn’t stay long. They took one look at us sitting there and left.” He turned a look toward Vector. “I don’t think Vector playing with his knife and my hair at the same time inclined them to want to stay and talk.”

“I didn’t want them to stay and talk!” Vector defended himself, widening in his eyes in the best indication of innocence he could manage. “You’re right, though. They didn’t do anything to us, so they might not have been in on what was going on.”

He didn’t know if that were true or not. But he had ways to find out before much longer.

“So with all of that, you decided that Vector could be an acceptable… companion?” Durbe reached the point he clearly wanted to be at the most.

“I’ve known those who would be worse,” Mizael acknowleged, and Vector let himself smile broadly and openly this time, stealing another caress to the side of Mizael’s neck now. With their bargain made – if not fully consumated yet – then he let himself take a few more liberties with Mizael. Small ones, but only ones that he knew Mizael would agree to.

Durbe sighed, leaning his head back on the wall in mimicry of Ryouga, who just shook his own head.

“You don’t need our permission for this,” Ryouga said, “but I’m glad that you let us know.”

Ponta peered up from Gilag’s lap and giggled, an eerily human sound. “Because if you hadn’t, one of you would probably take his head off!”

Vector shot the tanuki a very annoyed look. As always, though, Ponta didn’t even seem bothered by it. Instead, he licked a paw and curled himself back up, while still watching everything with far too wise eyes.

Vector didn’t like Ponta. He’d always thought the magical creature knew far more than it possibly should have and that was something he preferred to no one else but he did.

But there wasn’t any real way to say that right now, so he turned back to the group as a whole. “Now that you know, I think we should head on to the next city. Some place with a good inn we can spend a night or two in.” Or three or four. “Just to make certain all of that drug’s cleared out of you all.”

He didn’t think he fooled any of them on that score. He’d not hidden his desire for Mizael for a moment since conceiving it. He wasn’t surprised when Alit buried his face in one hand and shook his head.

“I didn’t need to hear that. I didn’t want to hear that. I don’t want to know anything at all about it.” He lifted up his head and turned to Rio. “Can you make sure no one hears anything they do?” He turned toward Durbe and Gilag. “Or one of you? Please? Some kind of… I dunno, a silence spell?”

Vector snickered. “Do you really think we’re going to be that loud?” He would make a special point of it, just to annoy them all, spell or no spell. Not only would it annoy them if it didn’t work, but if it did, he’d know how loud he could get Mizael to be. Sometimes the best victories were personal ones.

“I don’t want to know if you are,” Alit pointed out. Gilag, Rio, and Durbe were already muttering to one another, even as Ryouga got up and started for the door.

“I’ll check on the horses. Be ready to go soon,” he said. All of them nodded; they did have a job to do farther along, and as much as Vector looked forward to his personal triumph, he wanted to get that taken care of as well.

Mizael knew quite well that he hadn’t made anything like a perfect choice, but one thing remained clear: if Vector hadn’t been there and been awake, then right now he’d likely be in that slaver’s bed. He knew and trusted his own skills, but he’d been at least mostly asleep, unable to properly defend himself. He had no idea of if the other would’ve been able to restrain him in a way he couldn’t get out of or not.

At least, he reminded himself, Vector remained honest about what he wanted. He restrained himself from touching Mizael in any way except which Mizael allowed, even if he did do that much more frequently now that they’d made their bargain.

He wasn’t at all the best, but he wasn’t the worst, and Mizael owed him now. Honor meant a great deal to Mizael, as it did to the dragons who’d raised him, and he would repay the debt in the only fashion he knew Vector would accept.

In the long run it wouldn’t make much of a difference in his life. Vector was human; Mizael wasn’t. A thousand years from now, Mizael would still roam the lands, free as only a dragon-trained elven ranger could be, and Vector would be little more than a passing memory. Perhaps one softly thought upon from time to time, depending on how their trysts went.

That was part of what he’d spoken of with Jinlong when he’d called him the first time the night before. Jinlong reassured him that dragons had done the same thing in the past. That was how some human and dragon hybrids now existed, or dragon and elven: sometimes even elven and human. A deed worthy of such a bargain wasn’t common, but Vector’s actions came under that heading.

Vector’s fingers touched the side of Mizael’s arm and he turned toward him.

“Ryouga says we’re ready to go.” Vector gave him a thoughtful look before he leaned over and touched his lips to Mizael’s. Vector was, amazingly, a good kisser, one with plenty of practice.

Mizael returned it, not surprised to find Vector sliding his arms around him and holding him close. Vector was warm and strong, and Mizael thought it wouldn’t be hard to get used to him.

The next proper inn, the kind of place that not only had good beds, a place where they could all get good meals and good drinks that weren’t going to put them into any unwanted sleep – none of them really wanted to touch any sort of ale again for quite some time, regardless of how clean they knew it was – and where they could repack their supplies wasn’t for another three days of travel.

Vector restrained himself. They stopped at inns along the way, but none of them had what everyone else wanted: privacy. Putting up a group of seven, plus horses, wasn’t something most village inns could handle, and certainly not in individual rooms.

Even with Mizael having accepted the courting and their arrangements more or less worked out – they dealt with small details as they came along, most of which included Vector not actually touching him that much – Vector could hardly wait for the actual consummation of the bargain. The fact it would include intimate relations – sex – had been implied and agreed upon from the very beginning.

I saved his ass, so now I get to have it. Vector held back a snicker. He really wanted to say that out loud, but the various annoyed looks that got shot his way whenever he opened his mouth lately kept him leashed.

To a degree. He had so many plans set up for when he and Mizael finally took that step. No one would be able to ignore him then.

“Looks like we’ll be staying in Deepflower tonight,” Ryouga said, checking the map he kept. “Tomorrow we can finally cross the border and we’ll be on the high road to the Echoing Woods.”

“What is it we’re supposed to do there again?” Alit wondered, rubbing the back of his neck. “I can’t keep this stuff straight.”

Vector wondered if Alit even knew how to read. From what he knew of the ex-gladiator’s history, it wasn’t likely. Good enough excuse to not know where they were going.

“The Echoing Woods are inhabited mostly by dryads,” Gilag said, turning his gaze in that direction. Ponta lifted his head up as well, watching the way the wind blew.

Or something.

Gilag kept going. “There are also stone spirits and a dwarven city in the area. Someone is robbing the city and all the signs are that magic is involved.”

“So we’re going to find out how and fix it up,” Alit said, nodding and stretching his arms out to work out the kinks. “Sounds good to me.”

“It’ll take us another few days to get there once we’ve crossed the border, so Deepflower is where we’ll restock it all,” Ryouga said, rolling up the map and tucking it away again. He cast a glance toward Vector, who rode beside Mizael, as always these days. He looked as if he wanted to say something. Vector inched closer to Mizael, a quick slash of a smirk across his lips followed by an anticipatory look at the ranger.

Ryouga held back whatever he had in mind to say and started down the road one more time, the rest of the Order of the Outcasts following behind.

Score one for me, Vector praised himself, stealing another look at Mizael as they rode. And tonight I’ll score even more.

The Golden Griffon was, without a doubt, the best inn in Deepflower. It had a lot of competition; Deepflower was one of the hub cities of the kingdom, where all manner of traders, travelers, and merchandise of every sort made its way from here to the various points of the kingdom and to many other kingdoms as well. Situated beside a swift-flowing, wide river that led to the ocean, from there one could go almost anywhere, and have supplies bought to make the trip that much easier.

With that much traffic, it wasn’t surprising at all that the team had a wide selection of inns to choose from. Vector made that choice this time, though.

“I’ve been here before,” he said, riding directly for the Golden Griffon and the familiar welcoming staff. “They know how to treat everyone like royalty.”

He could use a little pampering before they got back on the road for the serious business of saving people who couldn’t save themselves. He rather thought they all could, no matter who would admit it.

The owner of the Griffon knew exactly who he was, of course, and knew better than to speak of it to anyone else. He simply bowed low the moment he came out and saw who his new guests were.

“A pleasure to see you again, your worship,” the owner murmured, head bent respectfully. “Do you have any special requests today?”

Vector wrapped an arm around Mizael and pulled him close. “I’ll take the Grand Suite for the two of us, and have it well stocked.” He waved his other hand toward the rest of the group. “We’ve been shoved together enough on this trip. Individual rooms for everyone else.”

The owner glanced up, eyes going from one to the other of them, and Vector wasn’t at all surprised to see a gleam of greed there. He would be well rewarded for his services here and he knew it.

“As you wish. Would you like to eat in your rooms or in the main dining area?”

“Main dining area?” Durbe murmured, probably to Ryouga. “Most inns I know just call it the common room and be done with it.”

“Upscale place,” was all Ryouga said in return. Without looking, Vector had a feeling that the bard had his lute in his hands, idly checking the tuning. He had a habit of doing that whenever they were in a new situation. It helped make people ignore him as less of a threat, which meant he could watch what was going on and be ready to step in when necessary.

Vector hadn’t fallen for it, not once. But he had always had insider information anyway.

He focused his attention right now on the innkeeper, and enjoying the mildly startled look on Mizael’s face.

“We’ll eat in the suite. It’s much quieter.” He glaned at Mizael. “You don’t mind, do you?” He really hoped Mizael didn’t. He had one more order to give in regards to dinner.

Mizael shrugged. “I don’t care, as long as we eat.”

Perfect. Vector returned his attention to the owner. “I’m in the mood for the fourth special tonight. It’s still the one from last time, isn’t it?”

“Of course, sir!” The owner bowed again. “Also, the bathing facilities are empty at the moment, if you’d care to make use of them.”

Vector let out a very satisfied sigh at that. “I think we will.”

There were two sections to the bathing facilities. One for the usual sort of guests and the one that Vector led Mizael to. Both of the sections had the exact same features and were built to the highest of quality. But the one Vector wanted had something that the other one didn’t: absolute privacy. No one was going to get in there without passing by the guard on duty and having been granted permission by whoever used the facilities at that moment.

Vector made it clear that he didn’t want anyone else in there unless armageddon happened, and maybe not even then. He could think of few better ways to spend an apocalypse than with Mizael in his arms.

Not that there was one planned to happen any time soon that he knew of, anyway.

Mizael glanced around, a slight frown tilting his lips. Vector understood the ranger far better than some might’ve expected, and stepped up to enfold him in his arms again.

“It’s a little different from what you’re used to, isn’t it?” he murmured. The bathing room here was as wide as the tavern they’d stopped at with the would-be slavers, tiled in cool blue and pale green, with one large pool sunk into the floor. Warmed towels hung over a silver-wrought rack and lovely scents arose from the pool itself.

Another rack awaited their clean clothes, while a basket of finely woven reeds covered in silk awaited their laundry. Part of the service included all of their dirty clothes washed, dried, and mended, then returned to them.

Mizael didn’t move away from him, something Vector found pleasing. “Yes,” was all he said in response, though, and Vector nuzzled against him.

“We’ll only stay as long as we need to in order to rest up and get the supplies,” Vector promised. Overwhelming Mizael with sensual pleasures – of all kinds – wouldn’t work very well. He simply enjoyed the wilds too much.

But a small immersion in this luxury would please Vector himself quite a bit, and it was long past time that he and Mizael consummated their bargain, in every kind of way.

He started to fiddle with his clothes. He knew exacty what kind of supplies the innkeeper would provide, and where they would all be. This wasn’t even close to his first time bringing a new lover here for their first tryst.

And he so looked forward to introducing Mizael to every bit of sensual pleasure imaginable.

To Be Continued

Notes: Next chapter is the last one, and that's when they do it. It isn't graphic at all, so use your own judgment.

[mint-sm]

LOS CAMPESINOS! REVIEW: Hold On Now, Youngster...

It’s been around a decade now since Los Camp’s formation and the release of “Hold on Now, Youngster…”, and it’s been kinda funny seeing this as a starting point for a band that would go onto making stuff like “No Blues” or the not-quite-new-but-most-recent “Sick Scenes.” The band, especially singer/lyricist/face of the band, Gareth Campesinos! is really not fond of this “twee-style” period they ended up being pigeonholed in for a while, and they don’t seem to have many nice things to say about it aside from maybe the 3-4 songs from this record they still play in live concerts (when I saw them, I think they only played 4, 2 of them were for the encore).

The kinda depressing or funny thing (you don’t have to pick just one) is that despite their animosity towards this period and this album in particular, it evidently struck a chord with their audience, since this album did pretty damn well critically and commercially as a first outing. It’s juvenile and innocent and kinda bordering on emo music with a serious addiction to the glockenspiel, but there’s something with these releases that did have a serious appeal, and probably not just because there were a lot of emo/indie scenesters in the mid-late 2000’s.

(IT'S SAD THAT YOU THINK THAT WE'RE ALL JUST SCENESTERS / AND EVEN IF WE WERE, IT'S NOT THE SCENE YOU'RE THINKING OF)

Now I can’t really speak for other people, but as for me, the reason why I’ve become so fond of it does sort of tie back into that whole “pop-revivalist” thing, in that it just felt so damn refreshing. This was made before the term “indie” became a meaningless household buzzword that came to define anything with some slightly lo-fi guitar gunk to it, and Los Camp have a legit life and vibrancy to them, almost kinda punk-ish at times, but with just enough glockenspiel, violin and clean-ass major guitar riffs for you to want to dance more than… I dunno, probably mosh, but honestly, they’d likely still be naturally too colorful to do that (just check out their cover of a Black Flag song from this era).

It’s not the most utterly original sound -- their 80’s-90’s twee and punk inspirations pretty clear, especially from their B-Sides and bonus tracks consisting of covers of their songs (including Heavenly, Black Flag and Pavement) -- but you know what, every band is someone’s first, and damnit I immediately fell in love with “You! Me! Dancing!” the first time I heard it, and it’s still an excellent representation of this band’s era. The epic minute and a half giant wall of sound intro, the tight, loud percussion, instantly catchy guitar riff (thanks for singing Pavement’s “Box Elder” in live shows so we know where you got that from, Gareth!), and charmingly memorable chorus and spoken word outro, it all works incredibly well.

I say “this era” though, because some of what makes Los Camp even better in my eyes, namely its ability to convey such conflicting emotions with lyrics and composition, is kinda lost here, and that’s probably a reason why Gareth dislikes this album so much. It feels very more in-your-face and visceral, especially in the light of how he’s gotten much more comfortable with a wittier, more self-deprecating style, especially with newer releases like “Sick Scenes,” which I can only believe was his goal since day 1.

That’s fine, and I get his frustration about being associated with “twee” shit, but the thing is that I still heavily appreciate it, not just because I have a soft spot for this cheesy, UK-based indie music, but because on its own, it’s still really, really good. Damn good. Honestly, while I do like the slightly-more complex, bit more focused and specific Los Camp, musically, this is probably one of my favorites, and certainly its most playfully enjoyable and raw.

(IF YOU CATCH ME WITH MY HANDS IN THE TILL / I PROMISE, SUGAR, I WASN'T TRYING TO STEAL / I'M JUST SWIMMING IN COPPER / TO SMELL AND PRETEND LIKE A ROBOT!)

I’ve found in comparing lyrics from this album to other releases, even including the next one released 8 months later, “We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed,” is that they feel by far the most straightforward in their discography (aside from that “Sockets” EP). It’s not “simpler,” per se, because even back then, Gareth’s already managed to convey enjoyably-conflicting moods, such as the case with “This Is How You Spell ‘HAHAHA, We Destroyed the Hopes and Dreams of a Generation of Faux-Romantics’” (why yes, the entire title does appear in the lyrics!), and “We Are All Accelerated Readers,” which manage to contain kinda smarmy self-righteousness, but have an incredibly cathartic and gleeful “HAHAHA, FUCK YOU”-ness and a moody disillusionment and listlessness, respectively.

No, what I mean by “straightforward” is pretty much that Gareth doesn’t seem like so much he’s dancing around certain concepts, like it doesn’t feel like ambiguously dodging topics about death or failing relationships or the like underneath his obscure references and wordplay and stuff. Rather, here he’s preferring to confront those matters upfront and kinda shout at his targets. It gets both pretty heartbreaking but also darkly amusing in “Knee Deep at ATP,” where he recounts discovering a girl he meets at the titular festival is already in a relationship through a love letter, where his focus is “for each correctly used apostrophe / I could feel my heart sink inside my chest in front of me.”

Overly direct? Maybe, but it still paints a pretty clear image and mood, and is actually pretty charming, especially as the song starts up with its vivid energy, then trailing into an uncharacteristically (but not unappreciably) slow and melodic twing-twanginess and violin section before slowly building back up again to that energy as the band screams “‘Not what you like, but what you're like as a person’ /  Well, I need new hobbies, that's one thing for certain!” There’s a reason why Los Camp still seems to like this song and play it after all these years.

Another example of that simple-but-sweet-ness is “My Year In Lists,” where we get this really punchy, playful percussion and verses with this girl, I think is Aleks Campesinos!, gleefully shouting alongside Gareth as he details his long-distance relationship through snail-mail, how “You said, ‘Send me stationary to make me horny’ / So I always write you letters in multicolours /  Decorating envelopes for foreplay / Damn extended metaphors, I get carried away”. It’s ridiculously indie and twee and sardonic as hell, especially as the chorus repeatedly goes “I cherish with fondness the day (before) I met you,” but I fucking love it.

(MY YEAR IN LISTS / STOMPING ON YOUR FINGERS AS YOU'RE CLINGING ON TO THE ABYSS)

Oh yeah, other thing to mention is the occasional duet vocalist, Aleks Campesinos! (Aleksandra Berditchevskaia), who was featured very prominently in early Los Camp songs until her departure around Hello Sadness. Vocals have always been a bit of a weird thing for a long time, and up until Gareth really and suddenly got his shit together with “Sick Scenes” (really, compare any song from this album to “5 Flucloxacillin”), most of the charm with the vocals came from not being very good, but still heartfelt and poetic (which granted, he himself admitted was still technically not very good, and also a reason why he doesn’t like this album).

However, Aleks was able to consistently provide a great contrast for the many call-and-response duets in this album, such as with the AWESOME opener, “Death to Los Campesinos!” and later "...And We Exhale and Roll Our Eyes in Unison,” which really take advantage of her much smoother, more melodic voice to provide the band’s massively conflicting themes, and they would continue to do that for future albums. Though at times even she can’t escape the occasional cringey off-keyness, especially with "Don't Tell Me to Do the Math(s)," which considering how its themes are probably TOO basic for it to be really forgivable, is the only track I normally skip listening to this album.

(WE KNOW THAT WE COULD SELL YOUR MAGAZINES / IF ONLY YOU WOULD GIVE YOUR LIFE TO LITERATURE / JUST DON'T READ JANE EYRE)

But another thing that I really like about this album is just how it flows so damn well from song to song without any of them being too samey or too sticked-out. It’s able to sinewave really well from starting off, again, with the bombastic and catchy “Death to Los Campesinos!”, then suddenly escalating with the even-more louder, shouty "Broken Heartbeats Sound Like Breakbeats" before it suddenly decrescendos and slows down to fit the mood of “Don’t Tell Me To Do the Math(s),” etc., all climaxing with “Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks,” which is frankly the  band’s loudest, catchiest, most harmonious, most epic closer track in their discography (okay, technically there’s an unlisted bonus track called "2007: The Year Punk Broke (My Heart)", but I count that more as an epilogue, though it’s still awesome). There’s simply never a dull moment.

(AND IT HITS AS HARD AS A BLOW TO THE HEAD / OR A SMASH TO THE SKULL, OR A KNEE TO YOUR CHEST / AND SWEET DREAMS, SWEET CHEEKS / OH, TOMORROW, OH, TOMORROW, OH, TOMORROW)

Is it the most complex thing this band has to offer? Probably not, but it more than makes up for it in my eyes for its sheer raw energy. Gareth and the band itself might not look kindly on this because it doesn’t fit the wittier, more mature goals they’d later reach with future releases, and this is probably is something they’d rather mostly forget, but at the same time, it still accomplished something that made people want to care about this Cardiff joint.

It provided them with one hell of an avenue to speak their early concepts of brewing brilliance, and sure, audiences probably didn’t realize at the time just what they would later be capable of, but as is, it’s still a fantastic album that stands very well alone, even as an admitted black-sheep relic as it exists 10 years later.

It’s also amusingly ironic, since within this album itself, Gareth himself says in the awesome spoken-word outro to “You! Me! Dancing!” that “On the way home, it always seems like a good idea to go paddling in the fountain, and that's because it IS a good idea, and we're just like how Rousseau depicts man in the state of nature: We're undeveloped, we're ignorant, we're stupid, but we're happy.”  Is it as adolescent, at-times willingly pretentious and overly saccharine as Gareth makes it out to be? Eh, maybe, but be damned if it doesn’t manage to convince us (maybe unintentionally so, but still) that the idea of jumping in that fountain is an awesome one. (4.5/5)

FAVES: “Death to Los Campesinos!,” “My Year in Lists,” “Knee Deep at ATP,” “We Are All Accelerated Readers,” “You! Me! Dancing!” “Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks,” “2007: The Year Punk Broke (My Heart)”