#bowie's crappy writing

[ryukoishida]

Wind Breaker Week 2024 | Day 3: In which Sakura is flustered (again) and Nirei has a decision to make.

Title: hush hush Fandom: Wind Breaker Characters/Ships: SuoSaku, Nirei, Hiiragi Rating: PG Summary: In which cop!Sakura and gangster!Suo meet, fight, and fall in love (probably). A/N: Took me an extra couple of days but here's day three~

Written for @windbreakerweek

Also on AO3~

Day 3: Firsts

“Y-You’re fucking insane!”

After managing to reign in the coughing, his gold and grey eyes watery from almost choking to his death — for the second time that week, no less — Sakura cursed, wiping the dripping tea off his chin roughly with the back of his hand while glaring up at Suo accusingly.

“I wouldn’t say that’s an apt description of myself,” Suo chuckled while offering the other man a paper napkin, which Sakura snatched from his hand without so much as acknowledging the fact that their fingers just skimmed against each other, and the heat that spread from the one small touch was enough to make Sakura blushed a deeper red.

‘Get your shit together,’ Sakura scolded himself.

Amused by the officer’s adorable reaction, Suo continued, “but people have said that about me a few times in passing.”

“I bet nothing good came out of that, huh?”

”Well, they aren’t you, Sakura-kun,” Suo gave him another quiet, little smile that was definitely doing something to Sakura’s chest, if his heart beating painfully against his ribs was any indication.

With that vague sentiment hanging in the air between them like something tangible and delicate, Suo left him to his own thoughts.

Sakura swore the man was even humming to himself, like he was proud he’d made a mess out of him.

This wasn’t the first time he’d been confessed to (‘Did that even count as a confession?’ Sakura wondered, his brows knitted together in bewilderment.) but what he had experienced as most people would consider sweet, memorable moments only brought him bitterness and pain. He didn’t like to be reminded of those handful of times when someone had told him they liked him, because despite everything — despite all the lies he’d been told, all the tricks he’d fallen for, all the promises broken so effortlessly — despite all that, he still wanted to believe that someone out there in this world could love him.

All of him: jagged fragments, barely held together, bruised and full of blemishes.

He did believe them, and his heart was torn to shreds because of his own foolishness.

Never again, he promised himself.

-

“Hey, Nirei, is Sakura okay?”

“Hiiragi-san, sir!” Nirei scrambled to give his superior the mandatory salute, but the lieutenant of their team simply waved the greeting off.

His frown was etched deeper than usual on his forehead, and he could feel his stomach cramping up at the sight of their usually energetic junior officer, who could be found either tapping away at his laptop enthusiastically researching for a case or bothering one of the senior officers to train with him, sitting so still at his desk that if it wasn’t for his occasional blinking and muttering to himself, he could be passed off as a statue.

“Sakura-san is… uh…” Nirei scratched his head with his pen, hesitating to fill Hiiragi in on what had happened at Windchimes last week.

Sakura had told him with a terrifying stern expression that they needed to keep their meeting with Suo a secret from the rest of the team. Knowing Hiiragi, the lieutenant would probably want to put a stop to whatever shenanigans the duo was planning after their identities had been discovered.

There was no point in closing in on Suo as undercovers anymore, so they needed another plan. When Nirei asked his coworker to clarify, Sakura’s eyes were gleaming with such ambition and determination that part of him kind of regretted asking.

Did he really want to take part in whatever craziness Sakura had cooked up in his desperation to capture Suo Hayato?

They’d been partners since they were fresh out of the police academy. During their training days, both Sakura and Nirei had been popular targets for bullying: Sakura for his strange hair and eyes, and Nirei for his weak physique. Through fate or just the fact that Sakura couldn’t leave a poor kid who couldn’t — or wouldn’t — defend himself alone, he saved Nirei from a particularly serious bout of beating.

The situation had been so grave that it’d escalated to the point where the higher-ups had to be called in for a series of meetings.

The trainee who’d started it all and acted as the leader of the group was expelled at once; he would be blacklisted in any line of work related to the disciplinary services.

The rest of the group had been given dire warnings and punishment in the form of various hard labour, physical tasks in the training facility, as well as handwritten letters of repentance, articulating their wrongdoings and ways they should improve themselves.

Sakura was close to getting kicked out, too, since he’d injured some of the boys so badly that a few of them had their bones broken, and one individual even suffered a concussion and remained in a coma for a while.

It was Nirei who pleaded with the instructors to spare Sakura. He told them all that had happened: how he and Sakura had been consistently taunted and abused while the staff’s backs were turned, how they’d never once raise a fist in self-defence, until the group had taken it way too far.

Since then, Nirei and Sakura had been inseparable.

Sakura personally taught him self-defence techniques, and trained with him at the gun range until closing everyday; in return, Nirei’s personable and bubbly, happy-go-lucky attitude gradually softened up some of the sharp, harsh edges that initially made Sakura unapproachable to most people.

They were good influences to each other, and Nirei would always be thankful that Sakura had taken that step to give him a helping hand when he needed it most in his life.

And that was also why it was incredibly difficult for him at this very moment in time: on one side was his best friend and most trustworthy ally in the force, asking him to keep their encounter with Suo a secret, and on the other side was his respectable lieutenant whom he knew cared deeply for his men, showing concern for a fellow officer and wanting to know how he could help.

“I think this may be the first time I’ve ever seen the brat being so quiet and calm since he transferred to this department,” Hiiragi mused, shaking his head. “I’m worried. Should I be worried? Is there something going on with Sakura that he’s not telling me?”

He directed that question at Nirei, whom he knew was a close buddy of Sakura’s in the workplace. He was loyal and dependable where it counted, and Hiiragi was certain that if he phrased the question in a way that made the junior officer consider this more as a matter of his partner’s wellbeing, he was definitely going to get some useful intel from the blond.

Nirei glanced at Sakura’s side profile, biting his lower lip in worry.

Ever since he’d returned from his one-on-one visit with Suo at Windchimes that morning, Sakura had been acting so unlike himself that it was almost unnerving. He didn’t seek out Nirei either, so he could only assume that, whatever Sakura and Suo had discussed, his companion wanted to keep it between just the two of them.

He couldn’t stand seeing Sakura suffer silently by himself like this, so he made a decision, praying to whatever deities there were that Sakura would forgive him after this.

“See, Hiiragi-san, the thing is—”

And Nirei told him everything.

[raccoonfallsharder]

rocket says take a fuckin' study break ✩࿐࿔

in honor of it being finals season for many of you, i'm resharing the take a fuckin' study break drabble/minific from ✩࿐࿔ take what you need here, in full. ao3 version here.

fluff | gn reader | no use of y/n | drabbles | word count: 1,020.

“Ow!” you yelp, rocking back on your stool and scrubbing a hand at your forehead. “Did you just flick me?”

“I been talking at you for like two minutes,” Rocket grouses. “It’s like talking to a frickin’ wall.”

You glower. “I told you. I’m studying. And writing. And studying. Leave me alone.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he jeers. “Terran finals. Whatever. Sounds like a waste of time. Haven’t the humies on that backward mudball realized yet that tests don’t actually measure learning? It’s like using a yardstick to measure time.”

You sigh and lean back. “Yeah, they know. Doesn’t matter though. If I want to pass these classes and get this stupid degree, I need to–” You scrub at your forehead again and sigh. “You know what? Never mind. I cannot have you un-motivating me right now. What did you want?”

He leaps neatly onto the stool across from you and sets two glass bottles on the tabletop, then leans his forearms on the little table between you, smirking smugly. “To pay you back, cupcake.” The mockery in his voice does not bode well for you. “Remember what you told me last week when Adam was whining about how I was making him study the Bowie’s schematics for too many hours?”

You feel your stomach drop. “No,” you lie, big-eyed.

His smirk only grows. “Lemme refresh your terrible frickin’ memory, then.” Now his teeth are sharp and he heightens his voice into a whiny falsetto. “But Rocket. Maximum productivity is only five-to-seven hours a day. You can overload the crappy baldbody brain if you go longer than that–”

“Pretty sure I did not say ‘crappy baldbody brain,’” you interject dryly.

“–and he could lose everything you’ve taught him already. Plus, he needs fifteen-to-twenty minute breaks every fifty-to-ninety minutes.”

You stare at him flatly, unwilling to dignify his bad mimicry with a response. Unfortunately, he doesn’t seem to care. He’s snickering openly at this point.

“Time to take your fuckin’ break,” he tells you. “It’s for your own damn good.”

You feel your brain fluttering in your skull like a trapped bird, and your heart is already starting to pick up the pace too. “Rocket,” you plead, all that old academic anxiety spiking high. “Unlike Adam, I’m actually on a time table. I need to finish all this by–”

“And if what you told me was true, I’m not gonna let you overdo it and lose it,” he tells you, his voice dropping for just a moment into something serious and intent. “Now get up. You’ve been at this for at least an hour-and-a-half.”

You hesitate, staring reluctantly at your laptop screen.

“Do I gotta give you a direct order, kid?”

You glower at him and drag yourself off the barstool. He turns sideways on his own, leaning against the table lazily and taking a mouthful of his ale. “Five deep breaths,” he orders lazily. “Your eyes aren’t laser cannons, and your angry looks aren’t gonna shut me up, cupcake.”

“God, I hate you,” you tell him, and then close your eyes and plant your feet and take your five stupid deep breaths.

“Roll your shoulders. Three times in each direction.”

You start and he cuts you off with a barked, “Slower. Start over.”

You scowl at him and do it.

“Touch your toes.”

“Geezus, I hate you,” you repeat. He just raises a brow and waits till you follow his instructions.

When you rise back up, he’s nudging the second glass bottle in your direction. “Drink half a’ that.”

You glare but lift it to your mouth anyway. It’s just water – but it’s the perfect temperature, and you suddenly realize you haven’t had anything but caffeine all day, and even that had been hours ago. You end up drinking more than half, easily.

Rocket sighs and shakes his head when you put it down. “Okay, ready for your next mission?”

“Rocket, I don’t have time–”

“It’ll take less time if you shut up and do what I frickin’ say.”

“You are the worst.”

He grins and his tail flicks. “So I’ve been told,” he concedes with mock humility, like you’ve just given him a compliment. He raises a clawed finger. “You need some fresh air, and you need to eat. You’re gonna go down to that street food stall in the Zygomatic Arch and get yourself a roasted yaro root wrap. Then you’re gonna come back and Kraglin’s gonna meet you across the street from here with a data pad. As long as you’re eating that wrap, he’s gonna let you scroll through those Terran holovid transmissions–”

“It’s goddamn Tiktok, Rocket.”

“–for exactly five minutes. No more an’ no less. And then you’re gonna come back in here and drink the rest of your water and I’ll leave you alone.” His grin widens. “At least for the next ninety minutes.”

You stare at him witheringly. “I hate you.”

“You keep saying that, cupcake, but I don’t think it’s true.”

You sigh, and feel your shoulders drop in defeat, and you head toward the open tambour door that leads into the streets. It’ll be nice, you grudgingly suppose: to breathe some fresh air and get some of the artificial Knowhere sunlight on your skin. To stretch your legs out and grab a snack and see some people, even if just in passing.

And it’s good that Kraglin’s gonna be in charge of the datapad because he’s such a fucking simp for his captain that he’s not gonna let you go over the five minutes Rocket has rationed for you on Tiktok.

“Kid.”

You pause in your steps and glance back over your shoulder at Rocket. His smirk is just a little softer, and you abruptly remember that this jackass actually cares about you – like, really cares about you. He just tries to hide it under layers of being fucking annoying.

“You’re gonna win your finals.”

You blink, and a laugh startles its way out of your chest, softly puffing out of your mouth. “That’s not–” you start to say, and then you laugh again and shrug. “Sure will,” you tell him affectionately. “For you, Captain. Thanks.”

please remember to take 15-20 minute breaks every 50-90 minutes! (set alarms on your phone to help.) use that time to open your window or go for a walk (even if it's cold). take some deep breaths. stretch. drink water. unclench your jaw. talk to someone who won't let you stay distracted for too long. and grab something to eat (even if it's just a granola bar). brains don't retain jackshit without sleep, nutrients, and moments of rest.

you got this. you're gonna win your finals.

check the ✩࿐࿔ take what you need masterlist for more self-care reminders, including eat somethin, drink some goddamn water, and go to frickin bed already (yeah that means you).

[messrmoony71]

Intro I guess

It seems a lot of people do intros when they start posting stuff soooooo this is it.

Age: I am a MINOR (so please no weirdos) and please stop asking for donations, I am a minor and therefore unable to donate, it makes me feel incredibly bad when people ask and I can't do anything about it, I'm so sorry :(

Pronouns: she/they

LESBIAN (but secretly in love with Remus Lupin)

INTP - T

Favourite artists: Hozier, David Bowie, The Smiths, Sum41, ABBA. Led Zeppelin, The Who

Favourite shows: Doctor Who, The Dead Poets Society, HTTYD, The Dragon Prince, GOOD OMENS

Favourite fandoms: Doctor Who, Marauders, DPS, Good Omens

Current hyperfixation: MARAUDERS ERA

Marauder Era character: Regulus.

Interests/Hobbies: amateur artist (pretty bad at it but its fine), fanfic writer (literally all I do in my spare time), knitting (making the Doctor Who scarf atm!!)

Works In Progress:

In Loving Memory - Character's dealing with grief after Reggie's death.

We Are Coming Home - Fourth Year Marauders

Just for one day... - canon divergent 31 October 1981 - sirius doesn't go after Peter, harry is raised by wolfstar

Posts: I'm literally gonna post anything I feel like. Probably a few fic updates if I feel like it. Lots of crappy drawings cause school sucks and definitely Marauders, maybe Good Omens, DPS and Doctor Who

Find me on Ao3: Messr_Moony_7_1

If anyone has marauders one shot fic/ship requests, share with the class and I will not hesitate to write!! I enjoy writing little snapshots for people <3 ESPECIALLY IF THEY'RE RARE PAIRS

[hinnymicrofic]

Hiya lovely people!

Yes, I've been a crappy mod (again 😭) and I have just gone on a fast-reblog spree to catch up 😪

Last week I got diagnosed with ASD. Anyone who has been through the whole assesmant process will know how difficult it is - especially at an age where you've spent an awful long time having no clue that you were autistic, and it was just that everything you did was wrong! These next few days, I'm probably still going to be a seriously bad mod - but hopefully everything should be back on track soon 😊

Big thank you to you all still writing/reading Hinny Microfic - even when I'm not here being my usually snazzy self 😆 particularly big thank you to @ravenclawrockchick @hinny-canons and @diana-bookfairchild who have written for most (if not all!) prompts over the last few days! I always love reading your work 😄 And sending love to anyone and everyone who has written something - whether it be something for Hinny Microfic, or your own random works! Well done for being fabulous!

Love on ya (as the late and very great Bowie said!) Lynne 💖

[littleskittles325]

About me/what I write

About me: I absolutely love 60-90’s music, I live to write and draw, I love all David Bowie songs and movies.

Message me if you have a request! 📱

Right now I’m writing smut/fluff/angst(try) with

Avatar

Guns’n roses

Queen

Joe Quinn

Jamie campbell bower

Stranger things

(smut:only 18+)

The 100

David Bowie

If you have any others I can try to do those too!

Accepting any requests for them!

I only write with female main character

I will see all requests from 9am-10pm

Updates:

5/26-working on 6 posts at the moment! Get ready🌸

7/9- working on pt.3 of something new and two more posts.🌟

8/14- I’m sorry for not posting,everything has been real crappy this past month. I have 4 stories upcoming.

12/23-New story posted, part 2 for sweet words, dirty thought coming soon!

Thanks

- Luv,littleskittles325

[lostgenres]

History of Frog Rock

The initial spark for Frog Rock lit in 2005 when childhood best friends Theo Eustis and Lilac Glazier met in a coffee shop in Portland. Theo writes in his memoir, Before We Croak: 

Lilac was wearing her tie dye t-shirt, with a giant frog in the center giving a peace sign. I was wearing a Nirvana shirt that I had spray-painted a giant X on. We had been playing together in some crappy alt-rock outfit, and we both hated it. The rock ethos of the time,  the self-flagellation, moaning “rape me before I kill myself” or whatever, just seemed pointless. Why can’t you rock out and have fun? We were talking about this, getting more and more frustrated, and all of a sudden I stopped, looked at her shirt, looked at her, and said “I’ve got it. Frog rock”. And that’s how it started.

The pair joined up with drummer Kylie Swift and keyboardist Ben Beckham. They called themselves Ribbit, and quickly developed an aesthetic- and a cult following- centered around bright colors, crazy stunts, and a free-for-all attitude. Their first concert was in the middle of  a performance by the Portland Circus, in which the band snuck backstage, ran on stage carrying instruments and pushing a drum set on a trolley, got quickly set up, and played three full songs before getting kicked off again.

Ribbit’s first album, The Ribbit Show featuring Rex the Frog, was released on June 7th, 2007, and was a minor success among college stations and internet users. The record caused a slight controversy when many parents, thinking they were buying a children's record, were shocked to hear lines such as “death metal is for punks/ and punk is for bastards/ we’re not like that, we’re Ribbit, baby/ fuck first, think after”. The scandal escalated to the band being sued for false advertising, after which they were forced to put a sticker on records saying We Are Not Actually A Children’s Band.

The Ribbit Show eventually caught the attention of two other musical misfits. One was Lynne Cason, a 19 year old from Eugene, Oregon, who was inspired to start a similar band called Amphibalicious with drummer Sid Bennet and bassist Clarence Duke. Her brand of frog rock was slightly more fine-tuned, with notes of David Bowie, Prince, and later on Nancy Wilson.

The other protogée was Portlander Ruthie Danniel. He discovered Ribbit at 18 and quickly became part of their small circle of crazed fans, the Froggies. Ruthie briefly had his own frog rock group, the Order Anura, and later started a record label called Skin Shed Records. He is credited with bringing the frog rock community together, and supposedly invented many of their traditions, such as the Frog Rock Circus, an annual music festival (named in honor of the infamous Portland Circus show), and the Frog Olympics, in which band members and fans compete in ridiculous sports such as Rock Paper Scissors Mega and Frogball, a fast-paced combination of tennis, dodgeball, and rollerblading.

The first wave of Frog Rock quieted down around the 2010s, making way for the second wave: the London Revival. Seminal records by Ribbit, Amphibalicious, Chorus of Colors, and Pipa Pipa were imported to indie stores in London, and slowly new bands started to form. The South London music venue Maniac Mansion became a hotspot for these new british Froggers, which included The London Croakers, Darwin Frog, and Poison Dart.

This time around, the ringleader is universally identified as Vincent Cobb, aka Mr. Hopp, aka the Kermit Crimelord. The young musician with bright green hair and a Bowie-esque stage presence was also the co-founder of LiliSounds, the label that pressed most of the important London Revival records.

The London Revival took the bare bones of American frog rock and added a dash of britpop and British dry humor. This is the frog rock (at this point it was always written lowercase) that, to some extent, spread around Europe: to France (Les Crapauds, Empoisonné), to the Netherlands (3eaweed, the first "frog rock boyband", and Superkwak) and even to Basque Country (Igela Izan, jauzi egin).

Nowadays we are living in the third wave of frog rock, kickstarted during the pandemic and thriving on the internet. With a glimmer of hyperpop and gen-z culture, this wave is dominated by bands like Messrs. Marsupial, Tie-Dye-Die-Time, and The Bowling Stoners. Though frog rock is now international, and more and more online, the original frog rock community still holds much weight, and events like the Frog Rock Circus and the Frog Olympics have been going strong since the very beginning.

[lovemesomesurveys]

Did you know that all the fish are dying out? I haven't heard that.

Would you ever wear a white tuxedo? No.

Do you judge a book by its cover? In a literal sense, yes. Some just catch my eye or make me curious so I have to pick up and check it out.

Do you like chips and dips? Yes, anything that comes with a dip I'd be all over. <<<

Last time you went on a rollercoaster: I don't do rollercoasters.

Ever been to a pottery class? No.

Does your milkshake bring all the boys to the yard? Ha, no.

Who was the last person to stay over at your house? One of my aunts.

Do you like red lipstick? Yeah.

Can you recall your country’s national anthem? Yes.

Do you believe in ghosts? i believe in demons and spirits. Not like Casper ghosts.

Which sweets/candy would you put into your dream pic'n'mix? Reese's and the cookie crunch M&Ms.

If you had a boat, where would you sail in your boat? I have no idea.

Can you rap? Ha, I'm definitely not a rapper, but I like rap and can "rap" along.

Are you a light sleeper? Sometimes.

When you were young, did you ever pretend to “marry” somebody? No.

What is your favourite Disney film? Toy Story, Alice in Wonderland, Winnie the Pooh, A Goofy Movie.

Do you prefer brown or white bread? I'll eat either one.

Have you ever spent an entire day in bed? That's how I spend most of my time.

Don’t you just find it annoying when people get too much plastic surgery? I wouldn't say it's "annoying", but I wonder why they do it.

How high’s your pain threshold? Low, hence the need for my pain meds.

What would you wear to a red carpet event? I see myself declining the invitation, lol. <<<

Whose birthday is next, out of all the people you know? My cousin's is today.

What kind of coat are you going to wear in the winter? I wear my puffy coat most of the time.

Did you ever go through a Goth phase? I had my emo phase, but let's be real it's not just a phase even if I dress and look differently.

Do you find architecture interesting? Not really.

When on the computer do you ever think about how it all works? It's probably crossed my mind.

How many songs are there in your iTunes library? I haven't used iTunes in over a decade.

Describe the worst date you’ve ever been on: I've hardly been on any dates, but the few I had weren't bad.

When did you last go to the park? Uhhhhh.

Which two animals would you breed together to make a hybrid? Nah.

Do you ever forget how to walk? I can't walk, soooo.

Do you own a Jesus bracelet? I own a cross bracelet.

How far out can you stick your tongue? Not far at all.

Do you like David Bowie? I like some songs. Nothing against him, I just wasn't like a stan or anything.

Would you eat a live cockroach if it made you a millionaire? fskdfjkjffjdkfkdj no.

Does it annoy you when you feel like people aren’t really listening? I hate when I'm trying to talk to someone and they're all deep into something on their phone and they're clearly not really listening.

Are you the type who usually plays it safe? Yeah.

Do you want what you can’t have? Don't we all.

Ever been copied by somebody, clothing or style-wise? Ha, no,

Is there a point to clear nail varnish? A nice shine, I guess? *shrug*

What is the latest time you’ve ever woken up? Like almost 5pm.

Ever gotten into trouble over something you didn’t really do? I don't think so.

Are you currently ill? In a way cause of health stuff I generally crappy.

Don’t you just hate being corrected? If it's done in either a condescending or a really harsh reprimanding tone, then yeah. <<<

Are there any really beautiful buildings close to where you live? Sure.

Who do you think about most? My mind feels like such a jumbled mess.

Do you have embarrasing parents? No.

How often do you use the word “poltent”? Never?

How’s your grandmother? My paternal grandma is doing okay. My maternal grandmother passed away 15 years ago.

What in your opinion is the most annoying noise in the world? Kids. "<<< Hahaha. I'd say also excessive beeping.

Are you any good at writing? Probably not now.

Can you speak any Spanish? A little bit.

What’s your favourite type of cloud? I don't have one.

What’s something that really matters to you? My family.

Did that pass some time? A little.

[dukeoftheblackstar]

mun-x-muse kinks?

I'm assuming this is related to yesterday's headcanons I imply on the Duke that also applies to me as opposed to my own kink on the Thin White Duke himself, David Bowie.

Daddy Kink.

I think this stems from the fact that my love for anything father/dad related is pretty fucked up.

I love the fluff of being a daddy and overall protector, spoil you cause your mom said no, carry and toss you in the air, teach you to play sports, dad jokes, take and pick you up from school in a vintage car trying desperately to remain that 'dad's so cool' vibe, to the take you down the aisle/be your best man at your wedding (someone needs to adopt me as their dad in rp because this is something of a dream come true?), or beat the shit out of your crappy ex-partner... Oh goodness, I can go all day so I'll stop here.

If you've been around me for a time, you'd know I'm a sucker for angst. The painful, the better. With society's demand of fathers being these stoic, emotionless beings who do nothing but serve and protect, the restraint of emotions and being deprived of right to be emotional is a kink (not necessarily sexual, but I use the word kink loosely).

And of course, daddy in that sense. I'm power-starved with my muses. I love making them take control, be authoritative, spoil and set them lose with everything they'd want and more and slowly yank the chain back and make daddy feel good.

Poetry Kink.

I shouldn't really be sharing this but if you'd read to David, you'd have his heart. If you'd write poetry about him/to him, you'll send him to the moon as you would me.

Put on a show for him? Be as dramatic as you would in a play in silly medieval garments or even your pj's? It's the cuddle monster for you. But surely, he'd be proper about it.

Recite an excerpt from a book, you can get him to stop just about doing anything and lay with you.

Faff over new book/story/poem interests and he'd indulge. Lovingly listen to you like you're the only one who matters.

Just two for today, I think.

[lavendersewingcircle]

3 & 27! and/or 30 if u don't really drink

3. three songs you were recently obsessed with

Androgynous by Joan Jett & The Black Hearts - it is a gender mood, and very catchy, everyone should listen to it. I actually like the version Joan Jett recorded for Spotify recently more than the original; her more mature, gravelly voice adds a lot to the texture of it.

Forbidden Colours by Ryuichi Sakamoto & David Sylvain - the MELODY of this song. God. Don't look at me I have this song in my playlist right next to 3 other very slightly different versions of it, it's such a beautiful piece of music. I'm undecided if I like the more acoustic or the synth version better tho! It's all good, just hit me with that meldoic hook and David Sylvain's low, understated vocals and I'm closing my eyes and going to a better place.

Up The Hill Backwards by David Bowie - why is this such an underrated song in the Bowie catalogue? Catchy hook, interesting guitar breaks, lyrics that I REALLY want to pick apart one of these days and write an essay on. But then that could be said about a lot of Bowie songs lol, this one just grabs me in particular. I love the fact it's more so sung by a chorus than Bowie's individual voice, can read a lot into why that is.

I don't get drunk sO

30. three songs you really want your followers to know (for reasons other than all those above)

Gone Tomorrow by Jobriath - This is such a beautiful and tragic song, especially considering Jobriath's real life story, but it has an optimisim to it, and anyone who knows me knows that optimisim in the face of tragedy GETS me. More people should know about Jobriath.

It's Okay To Cry by SOPHIE - The production on this is everything. The break in the very very last part of the song, my crappy headphones don't do it justice and crackle all through it BUT if you have a decent pair lol, then it's amazing.

Shame by Eurythmics - Annie Lennox's voice on this, the way her accent comes through in the second verse aH! Like most Eurythmics songs it's underrated, but especially so this one. So underrated the official Eurythmics youtube channel doesn't have the official video uploaded on it ghjkhsdrfj someone please give Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart their rights.

[ryukoishida]

Wind Breaker Week 2024| Day 4: In which Umemiya has a plan and everyone thinks it's a bad plan. (They went with it anyway.)

Title: hush hush Fandom: Wind Breaker Characters/Ships: SuoSaku, Umemiya, Nirei, Hiiragi Rating: PG Summary: In which cop!Sakura and gangster!Suo meet, fight, and fall in love (probably). A/N: Here's day four... it's taking me longer and longer between each prompt but I do have an ending planned. Sort of. :')

Written for @windbreakerweek

Also on AO3~

“Sakura, you don’t have to agree to Umemiya’s idiotic plan, you know,” Hiiragi Toma told his subordinate with his version of a worried expression. It might still look like a disgruntled frown to most, but Sakura knew the older man long enough to decipher that face as someone who thought this idea of their captain’s was a bit… unconventional, to say the least.

And due to said questionable plan, Hiiragi was understandably concerned for Sakura’s personal safety and sanity.

“I know, but it’s fine,” Sakura shrugged, although when he’d first heard about the details of the plan himself, he’d been stuttering into an uncharacteristically speechlessness, too.

Seeing as how Nirei betrayed him — he sent the blond a meaningful dark look, at which Nirei had the audacity to send him a bright smile before looking away — Sakura was called into Captain Umemiya’s office soon after, where he was cheerily told to sit down next to Hiiragi (looking extra stressed if the pinch between his brows was any indication).

He wasn’t stupid; he already saw Nirei’s guilty and apologetic expression right before he got summoned by his supervisor, so he was mentally prepared for a good scolding, possibly a harsh warning to leave Suo Hayato alone, or surrender all his intel he’d collected so far to another team in the department to follow up, as Sakura had already had his identity revealed to a possible suspect, there was absolutely no way the higher-ups were going to allow him to participate in the investigation anymore.

Except he had once again underestimated Umemiya Hajime and the strange schemes this man’s brain came up with.

“F-ffffake dating?!”

If humans were capable of spontaneous combustion, Sakura was sure he was very close to it. He could feel his cheeks burning at the d-word, even if it was play-pretend, if he were to understand the captain’s plan properly.

“Umemiya…” Hiiragi started in a warning tone, but with an easy smile, the captain of their department put up a hand, signalling Hiiragi to allow him to finish first.

“Well, Sakura, what do you say?” their captain continued as if a ridiculous plan didn’t just sprout out of his own mouth. “I would commend you and Nirei for locating Suo Hayato’s base, but it still stands that you two have disobeyed direct orders from your superior. Not only that, but from all the rumours surrounding Suo’s past history, you could have landed in life-threatening danger. I don’t know what that man is planning, but I can only assume that when he decided to let you two go unscathed, it wasn't out of the kindness of his heart.”

“I-I apologise… sir.”

Umemiya waved the awkward and half-hearted apology off.

“I could pass the case off to Mizuki’s team; they have been conducting their own investigations on the drug trafficking business of Vaisravana Unit, and I’m sure having them tail one of their top lieutenants would result in some invaluable intel.”

“He’ll be even more vigilant than before, now that he knows the cops have their eyes on him,” Sakura muttered in protest.

Umemiya’s smile brightened.

“Exactly! That’s what I thought as well! So, instead of wasting this precious lead by throwing multiple rocks against an impenetrable metal wall, I’d rather have one of our own people infiltrate even deeper through this opportune opening and gain as much intel as we can.

“However,” Umemiya’s expression sobered slightly as he continued, his gaze unwavering as their eyes met over the width of the desk, “there are risks involved with this job, as you can imagine. You’ll be by yourself with no backup when you’re around the suspect, and even if we send teams to protect you if Suo is participating in any of Vaisravana’s various criminal activities outside of our jurisdiction, your safety is not guaranteed, especially if civilians become involved.”

“I don’t care about any of that,” Sakura scoffed.

When he chose this career path for himself a few years ago, he’d decided that the only way he would make a positive impact with his ‘skill set’ was to punch out bad guys and kick down any evil obstacles until criminals were arrested and peace of the city was reclaimed. Well, he wouldn’t think that highly of himself, but it was a goal and mindset he was working towards. Very, very gradually. Being dropped into dangerous situations, getting injured on duty… those were all things Sakura had expected he’d have to face eventually coming into this job, and the thought of it had never fazed him.

After what he’d been through, nothing much could.

“Maybe you should care about that a little,” Hiiragi huffed, and Sakura ignored him.

“And anyway, aren’t you being just a tad bit overly optimistic here?” Sakura said, his mismatched eyes expressing obvious doubt that other junior officers wouldn’t dare articulate directly in front of their captain, but he’d never been the type to remain quiet when it came to important matters, and this was important in more ways than one. “This will only work assuming he even wants to… d-date someone. What if he doesn’t swing that way? What if he already has someone he’s seeing? I don’t fancy playing the third wheel in someone else’s relationship.”

“Ah, such a pure and kind heart you have, young Sakura,” Umemiya praised him, though Sakura was sure the older man might be half-mocking him. “Don’t you worry about that front. From what we know, Suo’s past romantic partners have all been men, and he’s currently single. Most likely.”

“Most. Likely.” Sakura had a huge urge to roll his eyes, but he stopped himself.

“Well, from what you’ve told us, it sounds like Suo has taken a special liking to you,” Umemiya pointedly ignored that little, tiny gap in his perfect plan. “There’s no reason he’d say no, right?”

‘Who’d be insane enough to date a cop whom they know is after them?’ Sakura wanted to retort but kept the thought to himself, because he already knew the answer, didn’t he?

[raccoonfallsharder]

✩࿐࿔ take a fuckin study break [new 12/5]

a surprise/unexpected update

smut-free | no use of y/n | gn reader | drabbles | word count: 1,020.

✩࿐࿔ take what you need. ࿔ eat somethin. at least grab a frickin’ snack. (wc: 576) ࿔ go to frickin bed already. (wc: 737) ࿔ get outta bed & get your shit done. & stop doomscrolling (wc: 925) ࿔ take a damn bath. (wc: 1,375) ࿔ leave your frickin skin alone. (wc: 1,579) ࿔ take a fuckin study break. (wc: 1,020) for like 80% of you probably ♡ ࿔ drink some goddamn water. [est 12/9] ࿔ stop destroying your frickin clothes. [est 12/19] ࿔ did you take your meds today?

so many of you are either already into finals or heading into them?? so like remember. rocket says to take 15-20 minute breaks every 50-90 minutes. use that time to open your window or go for a walk (even if it's cold). take some deep breaths. stretch. drink water. unclench your jaw. talk to someone who won't let you stay distracted for too long. and grab something to eat (even if it's just a granola bar). brains don't retain jackshit without sleep, nutrients, and moments of rest.

seriously i feel like so many of you are going through some form of finals right now and so i felt like i kinda had to write this last-minute (minimal editing tbh) so just. be kind to you. don't be too hard on yourself.

this is about as wholesome as it gets (for me) i think. can be read platonically or romantically. mcu-based, meant to take place post-volume 3, but headcanon however you want ♡

“Ow!” you yelp, rocking back on your stool and scrubbing a hand at your forehead. “Did you just flick me?” “I been talking at you for like two minutes,” Rocket grouses. “It’s like talking to a frickin’ wall.” You glower. “I told you. I’m studying. And writing. And studying. Leave me alone.” “Yeah, yeah,” he jeers. “Terran finals. Whatever. Sounds like a waste of time. Haven’t the humies on that backward mudball realized yet that tests don’t actually measure learning? It’s like using a yardstick to measure time.” You sigh and lean back. “Yeah, they know. Doesn’t matter though. If I want to pass these classes and get this stupid degree, I need to–” You scrub at your forehead again and sigh. “You know what? Never mind. I cannot have you  un-motivating me right now. What did you want?” He leaps neatly onto the stool across from you and sets two glass bottles on the tabletop, then leans his forearms on the little table between you, smirking smugly. “To pay you back, cupcake.” The mockery in his voice does not bode well for you. “Remember what you told me last week when Adam was whining about how I was making him study the Bowie’s schematics for too many hours?” You feel your stomach drop. “No,” you lie, big-eyed. His smirk only grows. “Lemme refresh your terrible frickin’ memory, then.” Now his teeth are sharp and he heightens his voice into a whiny falsetto. “But Rocket. Maximum productivity is only five-to-seven hours a day. You can overload the crappy baldbody brain if you go longer than that–” “Pretty sure I did not say ‘crappy baldbody brain,’” you interject dryly. “–and he could lose everything you’ve taught him already. Plus, he needs fifteen-to-twenty minute breaks every fifty-to-ninety minutes.” You stare at him flatly, unwilling to dignify his bad mimicry with a response. Unfortunately, he doesn’t seem to care. He’s snickering openly at this point. “Time to take your fuckin’ break,” he tells you. “It’s for your own damn good.”

read more on ao3

if you find any of these at all helpful, they're meant for you.

feel free to ✩ request reminders ✩ via reblogs, asks, and tumblr or ao3 comments if they would be helpful for you. it may take me a hot minute to get to them depending on life n stuff, but i will do my best

if you’d like to join my fanfiction taglist, please comment or send me a message or ask! ♡

@suicidalshitstick ✩ @glow-autumz ✩ @evolvingchaoswitch ✩ @wren-phoenix ✩ @pretty-chips (total word count: 5,192)

[tiesandtea]

An in-depth & really interesting review of Head Music’s various - often forgotten but actually brilliant - b-sides. Originally posted on The Vapour Trail London blog on 20 November 2019.

The folklore of early Suede and the B-sides compilation ‘Sci Fi Lullabies’ would lead the casual observer to believe that the band had peaked creatively to the point that post-1997 B-sides would not be worth investigating, however I believe differently and now, thanks to the reissues of ‘Head Music’, these can now be easily accessed for wider reappraisal.

Full article under the cut.

Coincidentally coinciding with the recent release of Brett Anderson’s second memoir ‘Afternoons with the Blinds Drawn’, Suede have issued the 20 year deluxe edition of their fourth album, ‘Head Music’. Their final number one album to date was issued in May of 1999 to much fanfare, following in the footsteps of their classic ‘Coming up’ in 1996, a record that spawned no less than five top ten singles and saw them achieve astronomical fame across Europe and Asia (indeed, Anderson remains a genuine celebrity in parts of Scandinavia as a direct result). Whilst ‘Head Music’ was a hit, its making has gone down in the annals of history as being even more fraught and littered with personal scandal than even that of their second album, ‘Dog Man Star’, the record that infamously served as original guitarist Bernard Butler’s swan song. The chief reason was Anderson’s spiralling addictions to heroin and crack, which in the eyes of the singer served to influence what he and many others deem the patchiness of the record. Indeed, when Suede first reissued their heyday albums back in 2011, Brett would include within the sleeve notes his own rewritten track listings in each, citing Suede’s fervent devotion to ensuring that their B-sides were up to the same quality as their singles and album tracks, thus costing the associated albums some potential improvements. Songs from the album that often raise debate amongst its makers and listeners include ‘Asbestos’, ‘Elephant Man’, and the almost universally-derided title track, a scrappy, crappy exercise in suggestiveness that even producer Steve Osborne initially refused to have anything to do with.

Perhaps due to all of this, the resultant B-sides of the album’s singles have been lost in time somewhat. Whereas the B-sides associated with the first three albums reached legendary status in such a short space of time that the band issued a compilation double album of nearly all of them in 1997, ‘Sci Fi Lullabies’, their 1999 counterparts are rarely spoken of within the same reverent breath. I would argue that this is vastly remiss to the point of sacrilege as, taken in one listenable chunk, they serve to create what on its own would be an incredible record.

But before we investigate further, it’s worth exploring the genesis of Suede’s musical direction at this point. As Brett and the band have noted many times over the years, Suede sought to follow each album with a record almost diametrically opposed to its predecessor stylistically. The kitchen sink gutter glam of their groundbreaking debut was consciously followed by an ambitious, widescreen and darker ‘Dog Man Star’, the pretension and bluster of which was then followed by a strict album of ‘ten singles’ in ‘Coming Up’. Each time, at least one B-side would serve as a blueprint for what would follow; 1993’s ‘High Rising’ and ‘The Big Time’ served very much of signposts for what would follow in 1994, and then again in 1995, Richard Oakes’ sexy glam pop of ‘Together’ would point the band towards ‘Coming Up’ in 1996. Here, they would seek to expand upon the sonic direction of Mat Osman-penned ‘Europe is Our Playground’, a song they so loved they reworked its arrangement live and subsequently re-recorded for the aforementioned B-Sides compilation of 1997. Caked in icy synths and led by a dub-inspired bass line, it signified something cold and electronic, the desolate melancholy of ‘Dog Man Star’ reimagined by Kraftwerk or Berlin-era Bowie. The band promised this new direction in interviews and the public’s appetite was whetted.

Early in 1998, as part of a Pet Shop Boys-curated tribute to Noel Coward’, the band released one of their prime hidden gems, a suitably synthetic and clinical version of the great writer’s ‘Poor Little Rich Girl’. Unfortunately this was shown to the masses on television via a mimed performance that saw an utterly wasted Anderson grinning inanely with zoned out eyes whilst trying not to fall off a chair. This performance distracted from the impressive song (also featuring the highly talented Raissa, who had supported Suede on their Coming Up tour, on vocals) and seemingly left no impression on anybody.

And so to fast forward to the album. The making of the record has been documented extensively not only in Anderson’s second autobiography but also in David Barnett’s authorised biography ‘Love and Poison’ and Mike Christie’s recent documentary set ‘The Insatiable Ones’. If you’re not familiar with the story, it is a jaw dropping tale of decadence, debauchery and depression, the likes of which have seemingly and thankfully been removed from the culture of music making today. Indeed, there’s not a lot of money around now for bands to blow on endless recording sessions fuelled by endless drug abuse. But what emerged was a flawed but often brilliant record that has stood the test of time well and honestly sounds as fresh as the day it was released. The album’s track list can and will continue to be debated but ultimately, had they shaved off two of the more superfluous numbers (I would argue that the title track serves no purpose as does the turgid closing track ‘Crack in the Union Jack’), it would likely be held in the same high regard as the vast portion of their other records. But we won’t dwell on that here.

First single ‘Electricity’ was accompanied by no fewer than five b-sides, all of which carry some merit. ‘Popstar’, a concise lyrical study of the relationship between fan and band, contains the kind of crystalline synths and dubby bass that the band had sought to highlight with their two musical blueprints prior to the album. Richard Oakes’ guitar parts are sparser than ever before but serve the song well, and the chorus is cold and epic in a way that takes the song from good to great. ‘Killer’, complete with a lyric that seems to expand upon the ficitonlised femme fatale of ‘Coming Up’s ‘She’, is more impressive still; a dark, brooding slice of electro-noir that slinks and stalks in the manner suggested by the song’s lyric. It builds and builds to a desperate crescendo and brings to mind the best of Depeche Mode at their ‘Violator’ zenith. ‘See That Girl’, complete with yearning Anderson vocals lamenting ‘this dog shit world’, is less impressive but still good. A real undersung high point of the time is the Neil Codling-written and sang ‘Waterloo’, an electronic folk classic that sees some beautifully melodic guitar lines almost acting as choruses, and a tenderness rarely reached by the band. The fifth and final b-side (it was on the minidisc – yes, minidisc – version of the single), is ‘Implement Yeah!’, an old co-write with Justine Frischmann where Brett parodies Mark E Smith to amusing effect over a gutter-punk thrash that the band premiered with Justine at the 1997 Reading Festival.

‘She’s in Fashion’ followed in 1999 and quickly became one of the band’s better known songs via endless radio play that perhaps contributed to it being their first single since ‘New Generation’ in 1995 not to reach the top ten. Looking back, I imagine the fact that you could walk into any shop at any time during that Summer and be exposed to it as one reason why fewer people bought it than they might otherwise. The B-sides rank among the band’s very best. ‘Bored’ continues where ‘Implement Yeah’ left off with a Stooges-like guitar thrash adorned by sweet synths and a classically anthem Suede chorus. During an interview at the end of 1999, Mat Osman threatened a harder, rockier direction for the next album which never did come to fruition and it’s possible that this would have been one of its blueprints. ‘Pieces Of My Mind’ is better still, and a rehearsal recording of it sounding very different can be found on the new reissue. Taking its cue from ‘Europe is Our Playground’, it is a dreamlike wander through almost psychedelic electronica and its lilting chorus imprints itself on your mind immediately. ‘Jubilee’, a Codling creation, is one of the best of the era and would probably have made for a better first single than ‘Electricity’, a romantic epic that chugs along like ‘Trash’ and bears a dramatic and addictive chorus that would surely have been incredible live. Perhaps the lyric was somewhat off-putting to the band, a blank retread of other songs including the ‘run with me’ hook of the ubiquitous ‘Europe’. If so, this is a shame as if we are to be honest (and Brett has said so numerous times himself), the entire era was marred by some seriously autopilot lyricism that was charming in places in its framing of the Suede lyrical lexicon of language, and just plain boring in others. The single is rounded off by the gorgeous ‘God’s Gift’, a simplistic piano piece aided and abetted by swirling synths and understated bass that had been written by Brett about Justine many years before. As with a few of Suede’s records (most notably the first album), the spectre and influence of Ms Frischmann lurks around the songs of this era but in perhaps a much more positive way; the two had rekindled their friendship prior to the making of the album and it was Justine’s love of new wave that inspired some of the music.

‘Everything Will Flow’, the great lost ballad of the era in the same way as ‘The Wild Ones’ had been five years prior, saw an interesting bag of B-sides attached that differed in style in a far more pronounced way than the two earlier singles. ‘Leaving’, which Brett sees as the ultimate casualty of this period, is prime Suede in its romantic portrait of a girl departing relationship for a new life, although the underlying sentiment is entirely opposite of that of ‘Another No One’ in 1996. Although still featuring synthesised textures, its abundance of gentle guitar and piano is much more organic and not only serves as an appropriate backing to the not dissimilar ‘Flow’ but also as a subtle nod to where the band would go next. ‘Weight of the World’ is entirely a Neil Codling construction as with the earlier ‘Digging a Hole’ on the ‘Lazy’ single of 1997, however here he is eschews piano in favour of nylon strung guitar. Ruminating on the idea of his own demise, the song finds Neil in introspective form and perhaps shows a window into how he must have been feeling at the time, his health suffering significantly during the making of the record resulting in a chronic bout of ME of which he would never fully recover. It is sad and beautiful and at the time I wondered whether he would one day make a solo record. To date, he never has. ‘Seascape’ is up next, an ambient instrumental piece at odds with the majority of Suede’s output (indeed I believe this is Suede’s sole instrumental within their canon). Pleasing and dreamy in a subtly Eno-esque way, it lures you into a false sense of security for what would follow. The final song of the ensemble is the shocking and brilliant ‘Crackhead’. Noted by Q at the time for its outlandish appeal, it remains one of the most captivating songs in Suede’s history. Built around a staccato electronic motif, it lurches and grinds in a manner the band never achieved before or since, as a hoarse Anderson vocal tears apart his own addiction to the ice with suitable ice. At the time, Brett was in recovery, however this sounds like an isolated howl from the depths of dependence. It roars and builds to a final shrieking chorus of ‘you can’t give it up’ which says all that really needed to be said.

The final single of the era, ‘Can’t Get Enough’, another candidate for what should have previewed the album in place of ‘Electricity’, limped to number 24 in the charts but boasted perhaps the greatest array of B-sides of all the singles. In archetypal Suede fashion, ‘Let Go’ cut an honest precursor to the musical way forward, which would culminate in the predominantly folky ‘A New Morning’. Three-layered harmonies and melodic acoustic strum back one of Richard Oakes’ finest guitar performances, chiming and chugging riffery that would be revisited on later single ‘Obsessions’. Brett’s lyrics convey an all-pervaying positivity minus the bland triteness of the single of the same name, capping off an irrestible euphoria that would be deemed suitable for release as an A-side in their commercial home from home that was Sweden. It’s a shame that they were unable to replicate the feeling of the song across the subsequent ‘A New Morning’ album, however upon reflection the fault may lie in the fact that said album would be over-produced to the point of clean-cut nothingness by the otherwise accomplished Stephen Street. Next song ‘Since You Went Away’ is folkier still and retains much of the same charm, with Brett lamenting the feeling of loss felt in the aftermath of a realtionship break-up. Again, this is truly lovely stuff and acts as a further blueprint for album number five that would never quite be capitalised on. Heading over to CD2, ‘Situations’ is powered by a synthesised Eastern motif and ponders the ‘lonely minds’ and ‘vacant stares’ typical of Anderson’s lyrics of the time. While slightly over long, it would have worked on ‘Head Music’ had it been the more darker record the band initially promised, and even to these ears sounds somewhat influential on final Suede single (at the time), 2003’s ‘Attitude’. The very final B-side of this era is the brilliant and biting ‘Read My Mind’. As with ‘Crackhead’, it reveals a starker, harsher sound complimented by the blank words defining a phase of depression, most likely revealing the way the writer was feeling at the time. The chorus harmonies add to the relentlessness of the piece and once it’s over, you’re honestly left wanting more.

So these B-sides make up the lost record of 1999 whilst also pointing towards Suede’s final record of their first run. The rockier record that Osman hinted at was surely influenced by the likes of ‘Bored’, ‘Crackhead’ and ‘Read My Mind’, whilst the likes of ‘Let Go’, ‘Leaving’ and ‘Since You Went Away’ were very definitely influences on what eventually did surface. The folklore of early Suede and the B-sides compilation ‘Sci Fi Lullabies’ would lead the casual observer to believe that the band had peaked creatively to the point that post-1997 B-sides would not be worth investigating, however I believe differently and now, thanks to the reissues of ‘Head Music’, these can now be easily accessed for wider reappraisal.

[tardis-stowaway]

Ten years after the Not-pocalypse, Adam Young, age 21 and recently graduated from university:

-Works in a crappy retail job and lives in a tiny, crappy flat in London

-The crappy flat has no sound insulation, so he’s always hearing the absurd amount of movement from the people in the flat above and the really loud but not quite intelligible conversations from the people in the flat next door. It’s a long way to the nearest public park, and he misses the green of home.

-Is not all that good at his customer service job, with the exception that if a customer is irrationally angry about something, he says he wants to make sure he understands the problem and repeats their complaint back to them with this look in his eyes, and they universally back down and often apologize. His coworkers love him for it. Everything else is just drudgery.

-Single, despite his best efforts. Okay, maybe not his best efforts, but some efforts.

-Knows that his childhood was uncommonly idyllic at least partly due to his powers. He’s not entirely sure how his life went quite so off the rails lately.

-Maybe his powers have faded gradually since he rejected his destiny, or maybe it’s just that on some level he absorbed the expectation that being in one’s early 20’s means being broke and a little lost, and the expectation made it happen whether he wanted it or not.

-Or maybe he just should’ve chosen a more employable course of study at uni instead of comparative religion. In his defense, it seemed relevant to his life.

-Spends much of his free time on climate crisis activism. He’ll be damned (ha) if he stood against the forces of Heaven and Hell, the Four Horsepeople of the Apocalypse, and his own birthright to preserve the continuing existence of humanity on the Earth only for humans to blunder into destroying themselves unintentionally through greed and shortsighted decisions.

-He’s been doing this since he was twelve, when Brian sent the Them’s group text an article about the group Extinction Rebellion with the caption “named for us?? :)” Adam had laughed, then actually read the article. Within a week he’d convinced the Them and a dozen of their classmates to show up at the next town council meeting with a list of sustainability demands.

-No matter how many civil disobedience events he takes part in, he never seems to get arrested. Adam suspects it’s his supernatural entity privilege. Pepper says it’s probably mostly that he’s white and great at charming his way out of trouble.

-He’s still friends with all of the Them, but they don’t live especially close together. He does have a flatmate, an American who Adam met at uni.

-At this point you, a genre-savvy reader of much Good Omens fic and meta, are probably seeing the word “American” and thinking that Adam is flatmates with Warlock Dowling. For once, you are wrong. 

-Adam’s flatmate is Jesus.

-Not Jesus Christ, but a young man named Jesus Dominguez, pronounced the Spanish way (like hay-soos).

-Jesus is from Southern California, and he talks more than a little bit like a surfer stereotype. He’s got warm brown skin, shoulder-length dark hair in perpetually-mussed waves, and a little beard. He’s kinda leaning into the look  to mess with people, but it’s also the same style found on at least a third of the other male-presenting hipsters in London.

-When he learned that he was going to share a flat with someone named Jesus, Adam called Crowley and Aziraphale. He’s never been gladder that he stayed in touch with them, because he NEEDED someone who understood how the Antichrist and Jesus sharing a flat sounded like the setup for a joke or a sitcom. Crowley did indeed laugh out loud, then told Adam that as a fellow lapsed member of the forces of Hell, he could personally recommend sharing quarters with a heavenly adversary. Aziraphale just muttered “oh, stop” at Crowley.

-Adam moved to London because it was easier to get to the important protests there, and because he was curious. He spent the first six months desperately homesick for Tadfield. The city was so crowded but somehow he still felt so alone, other than Jesus.

-Then a midnight fire-alarm in their building sent him and Jesus into the streets along with dozens of their neighbors. Adam finally met the people in the flat above theirs who made all that moving around noise. They were an older couple who took ballroom dancing lessons at the senior center and liked to practice at home. Mrs. Kapoor tried to teach Adam how to foxtrot right there on the pavement in the middle of the night. He stepped on her feet, but since he was in bare feet and she’d actually taken the time to find shoes it wasn’t a big deal.

-Meanwhile Jesus was finally talking to the loud young men from next door. By the time Adam wandered over, Jesus had learned their names (Leon, Seamus, and Nazim) and secured an invitation for the two of them to come over to watch Saturday’s football match, and to join their next D&D campaign (“just no more  paladins,” said Nazim). Adam looked forward to finding out whether it was the D&D or the football that was the cause of more yelling.

-As the evacuation stretched on with no hint of either actual fire or clearance to go back inside, the building’s children began to get fussy. Adam found a coin on the ground (successfully picking it up, because Crowley didn’t make it to this neighborhood very often) and proceeded to distract them with stage magic.

-He initially learned stage magic from Aziraphale, but he’s better at it than the angel ever was. He hardly cheats physical reality at all. The kids love it.

-When the fire department finally gives them the clearance to go back inside, Adam’s stomach rumbles. “Is anyone else hungry?,” he asks, to a chorus of agreement. It’s too late for any nearby takeout, but Jesus chats with their neighbors about options.

-Jesus enlists Adam’s help in going from flat to flat gathering ingredients from everyone, and before long they’re serving fish tacos and grilled cheese sandwiches to a small crowd of pajama-clad people. It’s 2 am, but everyone is smiling, or at least has contentment at the edge of their yawns.

-The next day, Mrs. Kapoor brings Adam and Jesus a spider plant cutting, because she thought their flat looked too bare. Adam texts a picture of it to Crowley and receives back lengthy instructions on watering, pot size, soil, and the most effective threats for the species.

-Five months later, the local planning council has an intense debate about why crime rates in one neighborhood have dropped by 75% since their last meeting. They each try to claim credit for their pet civic projects. Actually, it’s because Adam Young has started to love London, or at least his nook of it.

-Buskers soon realize that certain tube stops are generating far more tips than they ever have before, with no obvious demographic shift accounting for the change. The common ground is that these are the stops on Adam’s commutes to work and his activist meetings. He can only occasionally spare a tip himself, but his enjoyment of the music is contagious.

-Even after the breakthrough, not every day is good. On a late summer day that just happens to be the anniversary of the day the world didn’t end, Adam comes home from a protest fuming.

-“Dude, you okay?” asks Jesus, looking up from his guitar. (Jesus sometimes goes to protests with Adam, but not usually the ones where they’re planning on breaking laws. “I’m a brown-skinned foreigner, man. Do you think I’ll get away with what you get away with? I’m not ready for that yet,” he says, and Adam can’t argue.)

-“The media barely showed up at our event, probably because it was about a million degrees and even though that’s exactly what we’re protesting, nobody wants to be out in it. Six of our people passed out from the heat and three got arrested. They still didn’t arrest me, but I got pushed over and cracked my phone screen. On my way home, some drunk on the tube vomited on my shoes. Our green jobs bill still doesn’t have the votes in Parliament, and have you seen the latest news on the Antarctic ice sheets?” Adam kicks off his shoes, then collapses dramatically onto the futon and groans.

-“Sounds rough,” says Jesus.

-“I should’ve just ended the damn world when I was eleven and I had the chance. Would’ve been quicker,” Adam mutters.

-Jesus gets up and goes to the kitchen. He brings Adam a beer. “You don’t mean that, bro,” he says.

-Adam sighs, accepting the beer. “I suppose not.”

-He drinks his beer. Dog, now grey-muzzled and slow, shuffles over to curl up at his feet. Adam pulls out his phone, which is cracked but still seems functional. He’s got a text from Aziraphale.

-“Dear Adam,” the text begins, because Aziraphale might have finally deigned to learn to text but he steadfastly refused to adopt its stylistic conventions, “I hope that you have returned safely from today’s protest. I’m very proud of your continuing efforts, and though he won’t admit it I know that Crowley feels the same. Please write back at your earliest convenience. Fondly, Aziraphale”

-Adam texts back to reassure the angel, who will doubtless pass it on to Crowley, then he texts similar reassurances to his parents and to Mrs. Kapoor upstairs. He’s still figuring out this adulthood thing, but he’s got a lot of parental figures looking out for him. His Infernal Bio-Dad isn’t one of them, and that’s the way Adam likes it.

-Through the open window comes the sound of music blasting from a car stuck in traffic below. Freddie Mercury and David Bowie are singing:

And love dares you to care for the people on the edge of the night, And love dares you to change our way of caring about ourselves.

-He turned down the chance to rule the world, and he’d make the same choice again, but he still feels a certain proprietary responsibility towards the planet and its inhabitants. His father—his real, earthly father—didn’t raise him to shirk responsibility, and he’s not one to cave under pressure.

-Life is hard, people are mostly idiots, and the world is coming apart at the seams, but it’s his messed up life and his idiotic people and his beautiful, half-broken world.

[umbral1s]

Tagged by @thebittervampire. Thanks 💜 you got me into the mood for doing tags now too

rules: answer the questions and tag people you’d like to get to know better

when is your birthday: 26th November

where do you live: Germany

three things you are doing right now: Lying in bed, listening to music and doing the tag

four fandoms that have piqued your interest: hmmm that would be The Witcher, Dishonored, Fire Emblem and Dragon Age, I'd say

how has the pandemic been treating you: found ot pretty hard at first, still do. I really do miss having a normal uni day and some appointments I had are constantly pushed back. But I got used to it too. I feel like there were some advantages, like having time to think

a song you can’t stop listening to right now: not a song, but I really like having In the Green in the background while preparing presentations. It's somewhat soothing. If I had to name a song, I'd say Starman by David Bowie. Could always listen to that song

recommend a movie: I really loved The Breadwinner. Such a beautifully made movie and creative storytelling 💜

how old are you: 22

school, university, occupation, other: still studying art history and classical archaeology

do you prefer heat or cold: I cant stand heat. So cold for sure. You can always add clothes and also wear turtlenecks and nice coats

name one fact others may not know about you: I used to help my grandpa, who's a vet. So I sometimes would assist with surgeries, but I did nothing big. It was pretty cool tho, because I saw a lot of cats

are you shy: depends. Sometimes yes, sometimes no

pronouns: she/her

biggest pet peeves: museum websites not having a proper archive with good photos and scans

what’s your favourite “dere” type: not my thing

rate your life from 1 to 10 (1 being crappy and 10 being the best it could be): I feel like I can't really answer that question, so I'll pass on that. There's too much to take into consideration here to really pass a good answer

what’s your main blog: the one you're reading that very tag on

list your sideblogs and what they’re used for: they are mainly for me or inactive, so don't want yo put them on here

is there something people need to know about you before becoming friends: the same as @thebittervampire wrote also applies to me. Writing back is just pretty hard, because I forget, don't notice how much time passes or simply are not in the right mindset. Especially now with so much uni workload I don't notice how much time passes and it also makes me really tired

I tag @swingxilly. Have fun!

[juhele]

i was tagged by @aziz-the-fangirl, thank you!! :))

rules: answer the questions and tag people you’d like to get to know better

when is your birthday: 25.02.

where do you live: Czech Republic

three things you are doing right now: writing this, watching tiktok, convincing myself to go to bed

four fandoms that have piqued your interest: tbh i don’t really know i haven’t been watching anything lately

how has the pandemic been treating you: yeeet. idk, there are people who definitely have it worse so i shouldn’t complain. let’s just say that i’m not doing great but i wasn’t doing that great before either. i’m grateful for what i have you know and i don’t really want to talk about anything else.

a song you can’t stop listening to right now: ehh, I’ve been listening to Hogwarts March a lot lmao (the song at the end of the triwizard tournament when cedric dies lol), which is kinda random i guess. Also I listen to All The Young Dudes by David Bowie at least once a day since last February. I think both of these say a lot about where I am mentally lol.

recommend a movie:  if you haven’t watched Swiss Army Man, you’re missing out a lot. 

how old are you: 23

school, university, occupation, other: univeristy

do you prefer heat or cold: cold so i can hide my body in layers

name one fact others may not know about you: i was an extra for one day on Sex Education, you can see my blurry head with blue hair in the background of one of the scenes. it was pretty fun day, got paid, stood next to gilian anderson for a bit. (i have a friend who even has lines in that show)

are you shy: it depends, but probably

pronouns: she/her (but don’t be talking about me behind my back)

biggest pet peeves: hmmm when people are pretentious i guess (i study theatre so i see that a lot), also in terms of habits i guess i really hate when the furniture in our house is not aligned how i like it

what’s your favourite “dere” type: omg i had to google this and i do watch anime you know. but i seriously don’t know 

rate your life from 1 to 10 (1 being crappy and 10 being the best it could be): eh i mean i have a pretty good life compared to the rest of the world so let’s give it a 7

what’s your main blog: i only have this one

list your sideblogs and what theyre used for: i don’t have any, i barely go on this one

is there something people need to know about you before becoming friends: i’ll try really hard to make you laugh but i also won’t stop with the depressive jokes

okie, i’m sorry but i suck at tagging so anyone who wants to do this, please feel free. Seriously. If you want to, consider yourself tagged and tag me so I can see :)

thanks again for tagging me :)

[thenightling]

Just read The Dreaming issue 20

I feel like I just wasted two years of my life reading this and I want my money and time back...

Where do I begin?  The first four or five pages are just a rambling Cabalic rant just narrowly avoiding copyright infringement on the song Station to Station by David Bowie.  

It felt cold, it felt without heart.   Ironic since it repeated over and over again “The point is to feel.”   I felt nothing.   Daniel uncreating Wan was the only interesting thing in the whole story.

Speaking of which...  Daniel was able to uncreate Wan?  But Wan isn’t a dream entity or Nightmare.  Wan is a man-made A. I.  You can’t uncreate something you didn’t create to begin with, Danny. That’s just murder.  Be it murder of an obnoxious character that should never have existed but still murder.  And if Wan is technically related to Rose (because he was The Dream King...) doesn’t that mean you just spilt family blood, by that same idiotic logic / non-logic?   Shouldn’t The Kindly Ones be on your ass now? Please... Kill him...  It’s unfair this bastard gets to live.   Someone invoke The Kindly Ones!  You claim Wan is family blood enough to take in the vortex, that means Daniel “uncreating” him (which was actually killing) should be enough to mark his doom.  Daniel, spilt family blood.   And... no one will mourn this time...  at least not among the fans...

Daniel was very nonchalant about possibly having to kill Rose until the Good side of Wane offered up himself.  Why is Daniel so pro-homicide?!    Morpheus was very reluctant to kill her, apologetic, and kept stalling. Daniel, on the other hand was like “Oh, well.  Gonna have to kill my great niece now.”  Only the mother of his intended wife...

So the fact that we never literally see Death (But she’s in at least three scenes) or half of Desire’s face is never addressed or acknowledged.   Ivy is lost ...in another universe Daniel created and can’t find her way back?!   ...Okay...

That created universe felt like a potentially big plot and now it may just get abandoned.  

The only good part is Cain killing Abel after Abel says he loves him and Cain saying “I love you too.”

Daniel is more of an asshole than Morpheus ever was.  What the fuck is wrong with this Dream Lord?  Can someone please kill him already?   Where are the Kindly Ones when you need them?  I never despised Morpheus.  I. want. Daniel. Dead.

Also the dreamkin are happy because they realize they aren’t just slaves to a cold king?   But YOU MADE him a cold king, Simon!    YOU decided that valuing their company, their very presence- that them being able to relieve his loneliness was somehow a bad reason to exist but to be TOOLS to summon him back, THAT is “Not slaves to a cold king.”YOU- YOU- YOOOOOOOUU Simon, you, you fucking moron, YOU made them slaves to a cold king when you decided loneliness was a bad reason to have friends around! What the fuck is wrong with you?!

If someone has the means to absolve your loneliness it’s because you value them and their company.  Why is yours a good reason for them to exist but not loneliness?  What. the. fuck? 

Someone, please, politely convey this to him.   

It felt rushed.   It felt heartless.  And I’m pretty sure David Bowie’s very ghost cna sue you for slander at this point. 

“Life lingers where it is most despised.” - Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, KILL OFF DANIEL!  HE IS DAMAGED GOODS!  

Twice now Daniel has been written with improbable assholary in two different versions of The Dreaming.  Stop trying to salvage this dumpster fire of a character already.  It’s clear the writers hate him, even if it’s on a subconscious level.  And I can’t keep telling myself “Oh, that never happened.  That’s not canon anymore.” every time someone writes him like the incompetent brother of Marvel’s Nightmare.  Look back on this twenty issue train wreck and Morpheus (even now) is still more likable. The writers don’t hate him!  

What a waste of potential.  What was the point of bringing back the ruby dreamstone?   To tease us?   Or just for that crappy Sailor Moon-esque scene?  why do Dreaming Sandman spin-off writers seem obsessed with 90s anime?  Caitlin R. Kiernan made Goldie into Cubone and Simon Spurrier had to have a Sailor Moon moment with Dreamstones.   No, it was like Captain planet.  “Water!  Fire!  Earth! Wind! Ruby!  ...I mean heart!”  “By your powers combined I am Captain Douche Dream!”

Plot holes:

1.   if Wan is family blood enough to take Rose’s vortex into himself than he’s also blood of The Endless. That means Daniel just spilt family blood.  This SHOULD (in theory) be a problem.  

2.  if Wan counts as Rose’s blood because he was Dream King does that mean he counts as an aspect of Dream?  And if so do traditional rules apply?  By that I mean are we getting a “Buffy” thing here? (the way the show got two slayers co-existing.)   When one dies another comes to take his place.  A new aspect replaces the old.  Will this lead into two aspects of Dream co-existing since one comes to replace Wan?    The Dream King that comes to take the pace of the destroyed Wan Dream King could easily be an old aspect of Dream.   Daniel stil existed when Wan ruled so he doesn’t count.   They existed at the same time as each other.  By technicality another aspect of Dream should have manifested the moment Wan died.

This could have / should have opened the door for two Dreams co-existing.

So many loose ends...   Some parts are boring and drawn out and then other parts are rushed and then you get rambling, pseudo-intellectual “Look at me, I know the form of occultism and Cabalistic mysticism Bowie was into when he was out-of-his-mind on cocaine!  Aren’t I clever? I’m name dropping from mysticism and 1976 song lyrics all at once!”   (Are you trying to make me no longer be a David Bowie fan?  You dared taint him with this awful writing!) 

Who liked this?!  Why was this allowed!?  Why did you do this to us?!   What did the fans do to deserve this?

...Why?

Did we offend you in some way?  Why did you subject us to this stupidity?  Is there ANYONE who actually LIKED this?!

This was so bad, it left such a bad taste in my mouth / mind that I’m not sure I even want to read The Dreaming: The Waking Hours.   Two, that’s TWO incarnations of The Dreaming (1996 to 2002 version and 2018 to 2020 version) that felt like something left in an unflushed toilet after too much spicy food.  And you want me to trust a third version?

I wish I could bleach my brain...