#but anyway i love that they went for a heavier and more epic feel in pla

[goldensunset]

i love the mt. coronet theme so much btw

i’m making it my mission to listen to the dppt soundtrack now so i can find all the musical references in pla

[purpleandsilver]

@lifemod17 tagged me in this so here's

Scarlet's Top Ten Songs

Here's the list:

Ascensionism- Sleep Token

The Summoning- Sleep Token

Work Song- Hozier

Stick Season- Noah Kahan

Waiting On The Sky To Change- Starset ft. Breaking Benjamin plus Judge & Jury

Hurt You- Spiritbox

Faultline- Starset

Already Dead- iPrevail

Ashley- Halsey

Concrete Jungle- Bad Omens

This list was almost impossible to make. My music library on YouTube Music is HUGE. Would be bigger if I was still a fan of Taylor Swift.

Full explanations below the cut 🔽

Tagging @murderofcrow if they want to participate 💜

1. Ascensionism: Sleep Token

Album: Take Me Back To Eden

Why: The god-tier drums, the guitars, the piano at the beginning and end, the lyrics. Everything about it is a masterpiece made for my ADHD brain to absolutely vibe to. Vessel said "worship" and my brain went, "bitch I may be asexual but I'm on my knees for this song"

Favorite part: lipstick, chemtrails, red flags, pink nails/ with one eye on the door, other eye on a rail/other other eye following a scarlet trail and the last drops from the Holy Grail

2. The Summoning- Sleep Token

Album: Take Me Back To Eden

Why: TikTok likes to call this song "the baby making song" and you know what? I get it. I've never fucked, but I suppose men can last for six minutes and thirty six seconds. Women definitely can. Anyways, I love how this song has range. It goes from god-tier drums (II is an absolutely amazing drummer), to epic guitar, to just the most epic of everything. The lyrics are even better.

Favorite Part: Oh and my love?/ Did I mistake you for a sign from God? Or are you really here to cut me off?/ 'Cause these days, I'd be lying if I told you that/I didn't wish I could be your man.

3. Work Song- Hozier

Album: Hozier

Why: Back when I felt like I had to listen to pop music Just Because, I wandered into the realm of Hozier. Now, Hozier I would classify more as alternative, maybe even folk, more than pop. But this song popped up when I was listening to cardigan (by Taylor Swift), and it's just... omg. Work Song is utterly an obsession and every time I hear it I'm hitting repeat faster than the speed of a bullet.

Favorite Part: Nothin' in her room, but an empty crib/And I was burnin' up a fever/didn't care much, how long I lived/But I swear I thought I dreamed her

4. Stick Season- Noah Kahan

Album: Stick Season

Why: Once you become a Hozier girlie (gn), the path that leads you to Noah Kahan is nothing more than a slip n' slide. Stick Season's chorus sums perfectly why I hate living in Ohio even though the song is about Vermont

Favorite Part: And I'll dream each night of some version of you/That I might not have, but I did not lose/Now you're tire tracks and one pair of shoes/ And I'm split in half but that'll have to do

5. Waiting On The Sky To Change- Starset ft. Breaking Benjamin + Judge & Jury

Album: N/A (single)

Why: Starset was introduced to me in high school. I'm not sure how I found their first album, but somehow I went from Bastille to Starset. Don't ask. No, I wasn't okay. Lol. This song was released two years ago and it's a whole vibe.

Favorite Part: I've been frozen since that day/ I saw my clear blue skies as they turned to gray in front of me/ It's hard to find my way Can I rise above when giving up is all know?

6. Hurt You- Spiritbox

Album: Eternal Blue

Why: The beat and especially the drums (I love me some good ass drums).

Favorite Part: I hope you find what you're fighting for/ I am happier when I hurt you/ Your medicine is the coldest war

7. Faultline- Starset

Album: Divisions

Why: Again with the drums. But particularly the lyrics. To me, it's a song about feeling insecure and anxiety. I often feel shaky in my most anxious moments so this song gets it. What's more anxious than an earthquake?

Favorite Part: It's never black and white, no/ Going seismic out of spite, oh/ I never know if it's your fault or mine

8. Already Dead- iPrevail

Album: Lifelines

Why: The heavier metal beats, the loud vocals

Favorite Part: Tell me now, how do you sleep at night?/With the Devil in your bed laying right by your side

9. Ashley- Halsey

Album: Manic

Why: I can't explain, but I feel this song deeply and personally. It's a song of longing.

Favorite Part: And if only/ the time and space wasn't lonely/ l'd disintegrate into a thousand/ I think I'm making a mistake, who will fill the empty space?

10. Concrete Jungle- Bad Omens

Album: The Death Of The Peace Of Mind

Why: I love the synth vocals, I love how the chorus feels so epic.

Favorite Part: The coyotes cry/ And the sirens pass and harmonize/ Fires starting every day and night/ Burn around us while we're trapped inside/ Wouldn't it be nice/ To play the game without a crooked die

[severalpossiblemusiks]

I have an issue with prog rock/metal

To start: I love prog, and have a pretty extensive collection of prog albums, but I also find prog kinda… bland. Which seems antithetical to what prog is supposed to be.

When prog got started in the 70s, it was a child of psychedelic music, which took elements of rock, folk, world, classical, jazz, avant-garde, and early electronica to make the weirdest and most unusual music possible. It had a close cousin in space rock, though it has to be noted that space rock was more heavily improvised, while prog was carefully composed with no sound out of place. Bands like King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Camel, Gentle Giant, Kansas, Rush, and Genesis were part of this early prog scene, and are some of the best bands: they combine and utilize a wide variety of musical inspirations and methods to make some incredible songs.

Fast forward and prog was dead in the 80s, with a few bands like Rush and Genesis surviving the shift, while new bands like Asia and Marillion made “pop-prog” in the 80s.

Enter prog metal. Dream Theater took the Rush style of progressive hard rock and made it heavier, with some next-level musicianship, and led into the 90s with a full head of steam. Several other prog metal bands also got started, but none quite held the same grip on defining the genre as Dream Theater.

And this is where I think things get bland for me. As I said, 70s prog was a cornucopia of musical influences and styles. The 80s forced a stripped-down prog that focused on uncommon time signatures and synths. By the time prog metal comes around in the 90s, and especially in the 2010s with the djent subgenre, it really hits the point of “weird time signatures, and that’s about it”. Bands like tool, Polyphia, Tesseract, Meshuggah, and a lot of solo YouTubers, do incredibly virtuosic stuff that to me sounds like empty posturing, if that makes sense. All this musicianship, and not a single song that sounds like a song. What I mean by that is a song is a story, even an instrumental. It has rising and falling, ebb and flow, a start and an end, and by the end it feels like you went somewhere.

Take for example the Rush song YYZ. All instrumental, an iconic Morse code opening rhythm, which leads into an equally iconic and catchy guitar line, so catchy in fact that live performances often had crowd singing along to an instrumental! It’s not terribly easy to get those results. The song gets louder and quieter, the song has discernible sections, and it ends on that same Morse code rhythm. It’s a story and it takes you somewhere. A fair amount of contemporary prog I’ve heard doesn’t seem to do that.

Now I have to be aware that musical trends change and styles evolve and develop into new things, and tastes are different from person to person, band to band, genre to genre, decade to decade, etc. but my big thing is that prog was conceived as a sort of fusion genre: it would fuse multiple different styles and musical traditions and instruments. Now it’s just math with a guitar. I miss when prog had violins and spacey synths and could devolve into a polka rhythm before rising again to a 5-against-3 polyrhythm or something like that.

One prog band that I think still follows the spirit of the 70s prog bands is Ayreon. He mixes analogue synths with classical, jazz, folk, metal, electronica, and even opera to achieve his sounds. And each album is an epic rock opera telling the epic tale of humanity as an experiment by the godlike Alphans, and the “pulling back of the curtain” to see what all goes down in this weird universe.

Anyways I should stop ranting. Modern prog is good, but it lacks the progginess of old prog.

[linghxr]

Playlist Spotlight - My Rock-ish Mandopop Playlist

Not long ago I shared that you can follow me on Spotify! Thanks to everyone who has followed me/one of my playlists. Anyway, I wanted to make a post dedicated to my Rock Out playlist (yes I know the name is lame—I couldn’t think of anything good). This playlist is also my most followed!

Before I got into Mandopop, I mostly listened to indie rock, alt rock, pop rock, etc. I used to listen to heavier music, but my tastes slowly shifted. As a result, I don't really listen to straight-up Chinese rock, but I do love rock-ish music.

Today I’ll be highlighting some songs/artists from Rock Out. I hope you enjoy them. I went through to try and make sure none of these songs have been featured on my blog before (but I may have missed one or two).

周笔畅 / Bibi Zhou Bibi doesn’t have a lot of rock songs, but the few she has are soooo good. And the clips I’ve seen of her performing them live are great as well.

《别装了》 has a slightly-dated sound, but I mean this in a good way. Everyone needs a go-to 2010 pop-rock song.

《沉默的真相》 is from a soundtrack, and it’s so good that I’m planning to watch the show. It starts out more dark and lowkey but really takes off.

《荷米斯》 is one of those songs that makes me feel effortlessly cool (which I am not).

孟慧圆 / Meng Huiyuan 《背比》 is a very bouncy song. It’s also short and snappy—just a lot of fun to listen to all around.

张惠妹 / A-Mei I mean, you already know the legendary A-Mei. I don’t even have to say anything. A-Mei has two great rock albums (AMIT and AMIT2) plus some other rock-leaning songs here and there. But I wanted to feature some of her songs from other albums.

《发生什么事》 is loud and powerful. You can just let go and jam out to this song.

《不要乱说》 gives off strong don’t mess with me vibes. I feel empowered yet intimidated at the same time.

《不顾一切》 would make the most perfect spy or action movie theme song! And I would definitely watch the movie.

徐佳莹 / LaLa Hsu 《拉拉队》 puts me in a instant good mood. It’s very peppy, which is perfect because 拉拉队 means cheerleading squad.

林宥嘉 / Yoga Lin 《热血无赖》 is fast-paced and upbeat. It will definitely jolt you awake if you’re drowsy. I hope that 林宥嘉 makes more rock-infused songs in the future!

林忆莲 / Sandy Lam 《盖亚》 is arguably one of the least rock songs here, but it’s a true masterpiece, so you should listen to it anyway. It will 打动你 for sure. It’s very grand and powerful with a strong message too.

莫文蔚 / Karen Mok About a year ago I was listening to Karen Mok 24/7. And I still listen to her all the time today. She has some great rock songs from throughout her career.

《I Will Be Fine》 would be the perfect song to play while racing through the city at night with the windows down. Yes, that is very specific. But that’s how it makes me feel, and I think the lyrics fit.

《因为所以》 is mellow in a sad, wallowing way. The lyrics are quiet tragic, but they are a good opportunity to practice 因为……所以.

《野》 gets the blood pumping! It makes you want to get moving or maybe even headbang a little.

萧敬腾 / Jam Hsiao I’ve been meaning to explore 萧敬腾’s discography ever since I heard 《皮囊》 on 乘风破浪的姐姐. I think the best way to describe this song is wild and in-your-face. The delivery comes across as the perfect amount of unhinged.

蔡健雅 / Tanya Chua 《多米诺》 is not a style of song Tanya has explored a lot, which is a shame because she’s good at it! It’s not anything groundbreaking, but it’s a solid and catchy pop-rock song.

薛之谦 / Joker Xue 薛之谦 is my latest Mandopop obsession. I’ve been listening to his music nonstop lately. He has quite a few rock-ish songs, but he can truly pull off all styles.

《慢半拍》 has an addictive little bounce to it, but it also has a rather sinister feel. And it’s infectious from the first listen.

《野心》 to me sounds epic in a dark way? It’s hard to describe. It feels like there is a story with many twists and turns behind the lyrics.

《凤毛麟角》 was described as causing goosebumps in the YouTube comments. I find that very fitting. It’s kind of haunting, at least the quieter sections are.

许含光 / Lumi Hsu 《安森girl》 gives me the feeling of cutting loose. It sounds like youth and making mistakes.

路嘉欣 / Jozie Lu 《你不懂》 is a perfect teen angst song. It makes me feel oddly nostalgic. I think I would have liked this song a lot back in high school too.

邓紫棋 / GEM 《不存在的存在》 is the closest to rock I’ve heard from GEM. This song slowly and steadily builds to a crescendo, and then calms down again. It’s very dark and sorrowful.

郭顶 / Guo Ding 《落地之前》 is so smooth and atmospheric. There’s really nothing to dislike. And of course I just had to include a 郭顶 song. The whole album this song is from is perfection.

韦礼安 / WeiBird 《狼》 astonished me upon first listen because I had no idea 韦礼安 had this in him! And wow, he really pulled it off. This song is bombastic!

[heezoneie]

Enhypen: when you wake them up just to say "I love you"

i love this one 🥺! thank you for the request! <3

group: enhypen

member: all

genre: the fluffiest

word count: 1.5k

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Heeseung: You had just gotten home from a long day at school/work, and all you wanted to do was cuddle with your boyfriend and eat some food. As you set your stuff down, you looked around noticing your boyfriend was no where to be seen. You looked at the time on your watch: 8:30 pm. “It’s not that late,” you thought. Making your way to your shared bedroom, you saw the door slightly ajar. You quietly pushed opened the door and walked in to see your boyfriend passed out in the middle of the bed. Smiling fondly, you walked up to Heeseung. His adorable face was squished against the pillow, and to you that was the best sight ever. After admiring Heeseung for a little, you went to put on some more comfortable clothes for the night. You crawled into bed and snuggled up to Heeseung. His eyes fluttered open. “Hi baby,” He said with a raspy voice. Looking at him, your eyes held nothing but pure adoration for him. “Hey,” you whispered. He put his face in the crook of your neck, “When did you get home?” “Just now, you look so cute while you sleep,” you mused. He buried his face deeper as heat rose to his cheeks. A comfortable silence fell, and neither of you wanted to leave your current position. “I love you,” You said with sincerity. Heeseung’s eyes met with yours, and he leaned in to connect your lips. “I love you too.”

Jay: The journey home was long. Sitting in the back of the travel van, Jay rested on your shoulder. You had your earbuds in, listening to whatever shuffled through your playlists. While one hand was latched with Jay’s, you used the other to adjust the air to make sure it wasn’t too cold for him. The passing lights mixed with the moon beams cascaded onto your boyfriends face. You didn’t think it was possible for someone to look so ethereal. Even though he wasn’t all dressed up as he normally is, you couldn’t have been more in love. His dark hair falling over his forehead perfectly, while his body was covered in a simple sweatshirt and a pair of shorts. You were truly in love. You began to pepper kisses lightly over his face. Lifting his head up, he looked at you with droopy eyes. “How did i get so lucky?” You said without thinking. A blush found it’s way to the tips of his ears and cheeks. “Honey....” He trailed off, taken back from just waking up. It wasn’t very often Jay got flustered like this. You decided to take it to your advantage. “I’m so in love with you, I don’t think you understand.” Jay could see the genuine glint of love in your eyes. “I love you too, honey.” He pressed a soft kiss to your lips, leaving you falling deeper in love with the boy in front of you.

Jake: The sun was beginning to set, the purple and pink hues in the sky slowly dissipating into the twinkling black night. Your head rested on Jake’s chest as you two stared at the stars. It was a normal thing for you two to go stargazing. There was something so special and intimate about the moments that only you, Jake, and the stars would ever know about. The countless kisses and jokes made under the stars were something that you couldn’t replace with anything else. You had been rambling about a possible shooting star, when you noticed Jake’s breathing had gotten heavier and slower. You looked up from you position on his chest, to see your amazing boyfriend illuminated by stars. The shine of moonlight graced his face like a painting made by the most exquisite of artists. Every detail of him made you fall deeper and deeper into him. Moving some hair out of his eyes, you whispered, “I love you, so much. I’ll never be able to express how much Jake.” His mouth curved up into his heart-melting smile. “I’m glad we feel the same way angel.”

Sunghoon: Curled up under blankets, you and Sunghoon’s eyes were glued to the tv in font of you. You guys were having your annual movie night. Typically, it would be loud, as the other boys join you, but tonight they were all busy doing who knows what. Of course, neither you nor Sunghoon were complaining, this just meant more alone time. With their comeback happening, you and Sunghoon haven’t been able to be alone, him doing show after show, stage after stage. Being the supportive s/o you were, you made sure not to complain, all you wanted was to see your boy happy. You began to notice how Sunghoon’s eyes started to get heavier, trying to stay awake for you. You slowly reached your hand to his head, tangling your fingers in his soft hair. After his eyes finally shut, you placed a kiss on his head, “I love you Hoonie.” Too tired to make coherent words, Sunghoon snuggled impossibly closer as to return the gesture.

Sunoo: The sounds of the rain and the soft music leaving the speaker filled the silence of the room. The space illuminated by the candles lit on the bedside table. Even though it was a rainy and cold day, you couldn’t help but relish in the time you were being granted with Sunoo. You both were cuddled together under the fluffy comforter in his bed. You two had been in his room for the past couple hours, hiding from his fellow members, and cherishing being with each other. The day consisted of you two whispering sweet little words and playful cuddles, falling deeper in love. You did whatever you could to make sure you got see the beautiful smile that could easily put any diamonds or gems to shame. After deciding to rest, Sunoo fell asleep rather quickly, leaving you time to admire his features. A quiet “I love you,” slipped past your lips and into his ears. Despite being in dreamland, he still heard you. Mumbling a sleepy, “I love you too,” Sunoo’s grasp on you tightened. Smiling softly at the sight, you laid your head down and followed him into a deep sleep.

Jungwon: Gathering every pillow in sight, you and Jungwon began to build the most epic pillow fort anybody could have seen. Laughing amongst yourselves, the other members helped bring you guys blankets for your little fort. After about an hour of trial and error, you both finally were able to find a sturdy way to keep your fort from falling. Setting up extra blankets and pillows, you both cocooned yourselves together in the fort. A laptop sitting in the middle of the fort played a movie, which helped give some light in your otherwise dark space. Adjusting to a more comfortable position, you and Jungwon tangled your legs together. Your head in the crook of his neck, and his own resting over top yours. Jungwon soon fell asleep, unbeknownst to you. Hearing some mumbling coming from the boy, you assumed he was still awake. Some more incoherent words fell from his lips, and you decided to speak up, “Wonie? I can’t understand what your saying.” Lifting your head, you looked at his sleeping face. As you did so, his words began to get more clearer, “I love you...” A blush formed on your cheeks, and you laid your head back down. “I love you too, Wonie.”

Ni-ki: Riki had come to spend the day with you at your house, as he had time away from the company. He arrived at your house around lunchtime, with a bag of food he picked up on his way over. After eating the food, you both retreated to your living room to hang out. “We should play Just Dance,” Riki said looking over to you. “Nooo, you know your gonna beat me. You have an unfair advantage.” You huffed. Chuckling, he stood up to turn on the game system anyways. He walked back over to where to sat on the couch, and handed you a controller. “Get up, we are gonna have fun. If it makes you feel better we can do the team setting so you are guaranteed to do good.” He offered. Deciding to participate, you stood up. “Fine, but ONLY if we do teams.” Smiling, he pulled you to the middle of the room and you two began your Just Dance marathon. After a couple of hours, you both collapsed on the couch, Riki on top of you. “Wow, i’m so tired after that. I feel like i just ran 80 miles.” Laughing at your statement, Riki found himself falling asleep rather quickly to the feeling of your hand running through his hair. Feeling his breathe even out, you whispered a quiet “I love you,” in his ear. “I love you too,” he whispered back. After some time, you realized you were both sweaty, “Riki, we both need to go take showers.” As he lifted his head, you saw a mischievous smile on his face. Looking at him questionably, his hands rose to your sides and began tickling you. It was safe to say neither of you got to take a shower for a while.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I hope you all enjoyed! feel free to send in any requests, thoughts, or ideas! <3

[hanjisquirrel]

a stupid party

Han Jisung x reader

2.0k words

warnings: swearing

|| A.N. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JISUNG!! It’s so crazy how many birthdays we have in september ahah! I know this is a little late but what’s new?? Stream IN Life guys ITS SO GOOD!! Back Door MV is ... just ... I have no words. Comment what your fav off the album is!! My personal 3 favorites are B Me, Wow and We Go (obviously ahaha) hope you guys like this one, follow for more :) and please, please stay safe!!

——————————————————————————

It’s crazy how fast time goes by when you’re having fun.

Is what I would have said to myself if I was having fun. Now I feel like I would rather be in a pit of snakes then this stupid party Changbin invited me to.

Somehow this man convinced me that it would be a small get together with him and his band mates, but alas, we entered a room full of at least 40 people and nothing but the smell of human sweat and alcohol wafting the air around us.

“What happened to it only being you and the boys?” I ask while eyeing the crowd in front of me. Changbinnie just scoffs. “You know the only way I could get you here was if I told you it was just us. Plus, Jisung practically begged me to invite you because he’s too chicken to do it himself.”

I blush at his statement. I elbow him lightly and start walking towards where Jeongin, Jisung, and Minho were chatting.

A few steps before I reach them Jisung meets my gaze and his puffy cheeks immediately fill with color. Minho notices his eyes are elsewhere and follows them to where I was and smirks while waving at me. All three boys then get up as I make my way to them and make room on the sofa for me to sit.

“Didn’t think Binnie could actually convince you to come.” Minho says while slinging his arm around my shoulder. “Have no fear dear Minho! I was forced to.” Everyone except Jisung laughs at my sarcasm and Minho squeezes me tight before removing his arm from around me and standing up. “I’m gonna get a drink. You guys want anything?” The two boys shake their heads and ask for just water. Minho voices that I'm boring but since he loves me so much I get a free pass.

“So y/n how have you been?” I look away from where Minho had walked off and focused on Jisung who had asked the question. “I’ve been better. Nothing like coming to a party you didn’t want to be at.” He hums in response.

The space got awkward after I said that and I wanted the ground to swallow me whole. Why the fuck did I just say that? “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that Ji.” Still no response. Jeongin then says he’s going to try and find Seungmin and Felix and leaves Jisung and I alone. He gives me a quick glare as if telling me to stop being mean. I roll my eyes at him but speak up anyways. “Y/n, you know that you didn’t have to come if you didn’t want to. No one was actually forcing you.” His hands are messing with the ends of his shirt and I can tell he was getting upset just by his tone of voice. “Hey, I want to be here,” Jisung looks up to watch my expression. “I was just trying to make a joke but that obviously backfired on me didn’t it.”

Jisung’s face softens lightly at my attempt to lighten the mood. Which was epically failing by the way. “I want you to be here too.” We held each other's gaze for a few seconds before Minho’s loud, booming voice was heard from across the room. “Dude what the fuck!” Jisung and I both give worried glances to each other and immeadietly we stand up and rush to where everyone was beginning to gather. My eyes quickly scan the room for 6 particular faces but come up with only the 2 boys I've already seen. I feel a gentle hand being put on my shoulder and turn around to see Jeongin with a scared face on his baby features. “Where are the others?” He just shakes his head and suddenly more yelling can be heard from the guy Minho had spoken up to a few seconds ago.

“Shit we need to get everyone out now.” Luckily Jisung had heard me from the few steps he was in front of me and turned around to spot me and Jeongin looked towards him for guidance. Quickly he steps towards us in a hurry. Placing one hand on my upper bicep and the other on Jeongin’s shoulder. “You guys go find the others and get out of here. I’m going to get Minho and hopefully get him out without any injuries.” “What about you?” My voice is shaky and I can feel my body start to shut down when the yelling gets more and more intense.

Jisung signals Jeongin to leave and go find the others while making sure my eyes are always on him and not the shitshow unraveling behind him. “Hey, y/n, breathe with me okay?” I nod my head and look down at his chest to focus on copying his pattern. His hands gently rub up and down my arms to try and comfort me.“There we go, just like that. In and Out.” Through the pounding in my ears I hear Changbins voice telling Jisung that he has it from here and then I feel the warm comfort of Changbins arms as he leads me out to the car in the parking lot.

Before we fully walk out I turn my head to search for Jisung just to make sure he is okay. When I do find him he already has his eyes on me with an expression of fear coating his face. “Can you breathe better now that we are outside?” Ignoring him completely my heart speaks for me as I say these next words. “We need to go back and get Jisung. What if he gets hurt and we aren't there to help him?” Changbin just sighs and looks back through the open front door of the house. He ruffles the top of my head before telling me he will find him and the others and bring them out.

The cold engulfs me the second Bin leaves and I pull my thin jacket tighter around me to elicit some type of warm comfort.About 10 minutes into waiting for the boys, I tilt my head towards the sky as I felt a raindrop hit the apple of my cheek. “Seriously mother nature!” I yell towards the moving clouds. It only starts to sprinkle but, I don’t doubt the rain to get worse if we are out here long enough.

“Yelling at her doesn’t make it go away you know.” Felix says as all 8 of them walk almost all together out of the chaos that is that house. Minho walks out last with Jisung holding him up. Both boys sported some cuts and bruises to the face and arms. “What the fuck happened in there?” I shout rushing towards the two. Hyunjin began to explain what had happened but my mind fell elsewhere as my hands went to Jisungs face to see how much damage was done.

His eyes sparkle with affection at the way I'm tending to him and he smiles softly at me and leans into my touch. Suddenly my arms wrap around his neck and he stumbles slightly from the impact but his arms go right around my waist to catch me in an air tight hug. “You’re such an idiot. What if you died?” Jisung laughs at the whispered words that fell from my mouth to his ear. “That’s a bit dramatic don’t you think?” He squeezes me tighter when a voice speaks out.

“Hello! I also am injured. Where is my love and affection.” I pull away slightly to see Minho sporting a pout and big puppy eyes. “Awe hyung, why didn’t you just say so.” Hyunjin jumps on him in a back hug and Minho instantly shoves him off. “Not you dipshit!” The whole group laughs at the interaction.

After Chan and I make sure everyone is okay, we all start to walk towards our respected cars. Right as I'm about to walk towards Changbins car, Jisung grabs my arm to pull me towards him. “Can I talk to you for a second?” I look at Changbin and he just waves me off and says he will wait for me in the car.

The rain had now gotten a little bit heavier and I tried to make myself as warm as possible with how much colder it had gotten. Jisung noticed this immeadietly and shrugged off his much heavier jacket to put around my shaking frame. “You’re going to get sick now.” My voice came out quiet, as I found it too hard to speak loudly.

“Don’t worry about me. I needed to talk to you about something, but considering the weather change I will make it fast.” He steps closer to me and brings his arms to close any space between us. I nuzzle my head into his chest, basking in his warmth. “I like you y/n, a lot and I don’t know what I would have done if something happened to you in there.” I bury myself farther into him, and his arms tighten around me as he says these things to me. “I don’t know if you feel the same or not but I just needed to tell you.” The rain began to pour on us and Changbin was yelling at us to wrap it up as he didn't want us to get sick.

Although the rain was strong all I could smell was him, woody with a hint of sweetness. My mind all night has only been about him the moment Changbin told me he basically begged me to be at this stupid party.

Before Jisung can say anything else I press my lips against his in a slow, unsteady kiss. His hands immeadietly go to cup my face gently, kissing me back with equal softness. My knees grow weak as the kiss intensified. His lips felt soft yet a little chapped at the same time. My whole body tingled, the feeling of his body fully engulfing mine felt almost wrong. My hands move to his hips as an anchor to know if this was all in my head or not. Jisungs right hand moved to the back of my head to deepen the kiss and I felt as if the world around me stopped.I was levitating and nothing but Jisung and I were here at this moment.

A car horn screamed at us and I slowly ripped myself away from paradise. “Let’s go shortstack!” Changbin yells through the rolled down window.

Jisung leans his head to the side with a pout on his perfect reddened lips, as if to tell me not to go with him. “Come home with me?” His voice almost unheard through the windy rain surrounding us. I face him and place gentle pecks on his lips which he easily accepts. As I go in for the last peck he stills my head in his hands to keep me in place not wanting this kiss to end. Our mouths moved with ease and I couldn’t stop the smile that spread across my lips. “I would love to come home with you.” Quickly I pull away from Jisungs warmth to tell Changbin that I won’t be needing a ride home.

He scoffs with a smirk adorning his face as he tells me to ‘be safe’. “Oh shut up and drive home safe please.” My body moves away from the car and bumps into a hard chest, arms wrapping around my waist.

I pull Jisungs arms away from me and run to his car with him right behind me. Just as we reach the car I spin around and reach my arms out for him to collect me in a hug. Even though the rin was still pouring down on us, Jisung ran straight into my arms and leaned his face down to look me in the eyes. His eyes glance down at my lips before they travel up to my face, asking for permission. I nodded my head as he closed the gap between us. The kiss was hurried but no less passionate than our first. “Incase you didn’t get the hint,” I spoke as we pulled away from each other.

“I really like you too.”

[iatethepomegranate]

Wally getting backed into a corner, hurt and unable to escape. How would he react if Dick tried to protect him? If Dick had gotten hurt would he blame himself?

(So… I kinda took this prompt and wrote a 2k fic instead. Oops? I was originally going to do pre-season 2 but then I thought: what would make this worse? Ah, post-Endgame. Wally is back because of *mumblemumble* reasons.)

The wound in his leg was deep. Too deep. Wally slumped against the wall. Every time he tried to tap into the speed force, the wound bled faster, pain lancing through his thigh with enough force to make him see stars. It would heal eventually, but eventually did not help when half a dozen heavily-armed and heavily-muscled guys were bearing down upon him.

He let himself slide to the floor, lightheaded from the effort it had taken to remain upright. He wasn’t even supposed to be here. Black Canary hadn’t cleared him for active duty yet, and he didn’t even have a new hero name to replace the one he’d given to Bart.

But most of the Team had been on other missions, and he wasn’t about to let Nightwing go into the field without backup. God, he hoped Nightwing was in better shape than he was. This was supposed to be a simple recon mission. In and out. Automated defence systems Nightwing could take out in his sleep.

Their intel had been wrong. Badly wrong.

And now Wally was trapped in a corner, his rabbit-heart pushing blood out of his wound faster than his body could clot it.

One of the men had a scythe. A scythe. It still glinted with Wally’s blood, wicked and hungry for more.

“We could take him,” said the shortest of the men. “He could have useful intel.”

“We’re not equipped to trap a speedster,” the scythe-wielder replied. “Besides, he’ll bleed out before we get him to base. Keep it clean. No witnesses.”

“What about the other guy?”

“Psh. The other six went after him. He’s dead.”

Wally didn’t want to believe that. Nightwing–Dick–was endlessly resourceful. He’d faced worse odds before. 

Besides, weren’t they owed some good fortune by now? They’d been through enough.

Six Months Ago

“Dick, we need to talk about that kiss.”

“Do we?” Dick still had a weird look on his face, like hefully expected to wake up any second. Wally couldn’t blame him.

“Uh, yeah, dude,” Wally told him. “It’s not every day yourbest friend plants one on you.”

“It’s not every day your best friend comes back from thedead,” Dick said, his voice oddly cool. Wally tried not to take it personally;there was tension in Dick’s shoulders that betrayed his discomfort.Embarrassment, more likely. He’d kissed Wally in front of the entire team.

“Speedforce.”

“Whatever.” Again, that wasn’t really in character for him.Dick had become more and more fact-oriented as he’d grown older, possibly aside-effect of leading the team while running a complex undercover operation…and being Kaldur’s only point of contact for a long time before Artemis joinedhim.

Wally sat on the couch in Dick’s Blüdhaven apartment. Dickhad made a hasty escape after the debrief at the Watchtower, and Wally hadgiven him a ten-minute head start before coming after him.

He’d hoped sitting down would encourage Dick to do the same,but he just kept standing there, his hands curling into fists and uncurlingrepeatedly. It wasn’t like him to have such a blatant tell. Wally could usuallyread his tells anyway, owing to how close they’d once been, but this was somethingelse.

“I’m not angry,” Wally said. “I’m just surprised and I wannaknow where that came from.” He could feel his hands shaking, but out of respectfor the fact Dick clearly couldn’t hide his tells, he didn’t try to hide his,either.

“You really don’t know?” Dick said in a small voice. Wally’sheart stuttered.

“Let’s just say I don’t,” he said. His voice as small asDick’s. Could this mean what he thought it meant?

“Wally…” Dick’s voice cracked, and he lowered his gaze toblink rapidly. “I’ve been in love with you for years.”

“How long?” Wally croaked.

“Seven years.” Dick let out one rueful laugh. “Maybe evenlonger.”

So, Wally had been dealing with his fair share of curveballssince he was unceremoniously dumped back into the physical world after spendingmonths in the speedforce. But none of them had knocked the wind out of his gutlike this one.

“I’m still fuzzy on my timelines, dude,” Wally said, and hecouldn’t stop his voice from shaking. “When was what, exactly?”

“Not long before we saved Superboy,” Dick replied. He wasstill tense.

“I… me too, then. Huh.” Wally had never given it muchthought, mainly because he hadn’t thought it’d amount to anything. He’d alwaysbeen good at denial.

“You…” Dick let out a sharp breath. “Are you saying…?”

“Yes.”

“Oh my God.” Dick finally flung himself onto the couch, onlyto hide his face in his hands. “I’ve been sitting on this all this time for no reason.I thought you were straight.”

Wally snorted. “Ditto.”

“This is a disaster,” Dick muttered.

“Guess we better do some crisis management,” Wally replied,poking Dick’s shoulder. “I… look. Everything’s a mess right now. I need time toget my head sorted out, but… I wouldn’t mind giving us a shot… I mean, if youwant.”

“I want, Wally.” He sat up, his blue eyes overbright as if holdingback tears. “I thought I’d lost you forever.”

“I’m here, babe. I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere.”

Now

“Shit, it’s Nightwing!”

Wally jerked awake, just as one of the guys looming over himtook an escrima stick to the head. How long had he been out?

A streak of bluecrossed his vision, and then another guy was down. Nightwing slowed, and eventhrough the haze of Wally’s blood loss, he could plainly see the look of sheerfury etched onto his face. He was pissed,and all on Wally’s behalf. That was kind of flattering. And maybe a little hot.

Wally had definitelylost too much blood.

The four remainingmen took on Nightwing at once. The motions made Wally lightheaded, but hecouldn’t stop watching. Nightwing ducked, swerved, hit, blocked, kicked. Thescythe caught his arm, flicking blood in an arc. Nightwing grabbed the scytheand slammed the handle into the man’s face, knocking him out cold.

The other three went down quickly. Nightwing stood theregasping for a moment, pressing a hand to his bleeding arm. Then he rushed toWally’s side, pressing a cloth to his leg.

“Nightwing to…” He growled under his breath. “To anyone. Original Kid Flash is down. Epicblood loss. Need immediate assistance at my coordinates.” Nightwing pressed thecloth harder to Wally’s leg, but Wally couldn’t feel very much anymore. “Hey.Dude. Don’t you dare die on me.”

Wally must’ve closed his eyes. He couldn’t remember doingthat. He forced them open, but they were heavier than a food truck.

“I’m… trying.” It was all he could promise. God, he wastired.

“Wally, you promised.” Dick took in a sharp breath. “Staywith me. I still technically outrank you. I will make that an order.”

Wally laughed weakly. “Yes, sir.”

He tried to stay awake, tried to listen to Nightwing’sincreasingly frantic rambling, but his injuries could not be denied. Soon enough,he was dragged out of the waking world once again.

Next he woke, he was in a nice hospital bed. The soft mechanicalwhirring told him that he was on the Watchtower. Dick wasn’t nearby. Where was…

Oh, no. He’d been hurt, too. He didn’t heal like Wallycould.

Wally sat up, probing the spot on his thigh the wound hadbeen. He found a bandage, and the telltale bumps of stitches. They’d dissolvesoon enough. There was an IV hooked up to his arm, so he’d have to drag thedamn thing with him to find Dick.

He should’ve fought harder. Dick probably already tired fromfighting the rest of the guards, and then he had to save Wally’s sorry ass. Wallywasn’t even supposed to be on the mission. Maybe he should’ve listened to Dick’sconcerns and stayed home.

Sometimes having super-speed was a curse. Too many thoughtsat once.

The doors leading out to the corridor hissed open, and thenin walked Dick, having replaced his Nightwing gear with a pair of sweats and sunglasses.His arm was bandaged to hell and back, held in place in a sling.

“Hey,” he said quietly. “Sorry I wasn’t here. Had to debriefBats. Been awake long?”

Wally shook his head. Dick came to sit beside him, wincing alittle.

“How’s the leg?”

“Just waiting for the stitches to dissolve.” Wally wanted togather Dick into a hug, but couldn’t bear to cause him any more pain. “How’sthe arm?”

“Our wannabe Grim Reaper got me pretty good,” Dick said,seeming to relax now that he was talking about his own injuries. “I’ll be offactive duty for a few weeks. Have to watch for infections, look after thebandages, blah blah blah. It’ll be fine. I’m fit, and Alfred will make sure Ieat my vegetables.”

Wally had gotten Dick off patrol for weeks. God damn it. Heshould’ve been faster, smarter, or not even gone on the mission at all. Dick hadbeen relying on him, and he just made the whole thing worse.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“Don’t do that,” Dick replied. “We weren’t meant to have anyresistance at all. Besides, everyone gets hurt. If anyone should beapologising, it should be me… for not getting to you sooner.”

Wally didn’t feel any better. Dick always tookresponsibility for things he didn’t have to.

“Don’t give me that look,” Dick said sharply. “It’s not yourfault you got hurt.”

“It’s not your fault either!” Wally hadn’t planned to yell,but it burst out of him like he was possessed.

“Okay,” Dick said primly. “Neither of us is at fault.”

“No, I…”

“Shh. The decision’s been made. You didn’t mess up, andneither did I.”

“Since when do you ever give up responsibility?”

“When it’s the best decision. This isn’t the first time. Youknow that.” Dick sighed, and the fight drained out of him. “Wally, I can’t argueabout this anymore.” He swallowed visibly, and the fingers on his unbound hand grippedthe edge of the bed. “I nearly lost you. Again. Please… can we just…”

Wally still hated himself a little bit for getting Dickhurt, but he couldn’t keep fighting, either. They were both exhausted andemotionally wrung out.

So Wally set all of it aside and put his hand on the smallof Dick’s back. “Let’s get out of here. You can watch me eat my body weight inpasta and put on a bad movie we can laugh at.”

Dick managed a tiny smile, but one that was far more genuine.“I like the sound of that.”

They hadn’t really resolved anything, but sometimes it wasbetter to take a step back and deal with it later. The fear of losing Wallyagain wasn’t leaving Dick’s eyes any time soon, and Wally wasn’t about to shakeoff the guilt of getting Dick hurt, but they could comfort each other tonight.

Sometimes that was more important.

[katana-no-neko]

Preview for Lucid

Alright folks

So it’s been about a year since I first posted a rough draft of the first chapter for a story titled Lucid on fanfiction.net.

I didn’t want to start posting the story before I was done with it because I didn’t want to end up with an abandoned story, but I wanted to generate some responses.

Anyways, I’m still working on it, but I can feel my motivation start to wane, so I’d like to get some more feedback from a different audience than the few who responded on fanfiction.net.

This first chapter does have a lot of exposition and crap, of course, but the story does gain some more meat as it goes on; trust me on that.

So here you go. Please, please, please, tell me what you think.

Lucid Chapter 1

In a world where war looms just beyond the horizon, magic exists just beyond mortal sight, and the monarchy holds the power, Lucy just wants to escape her father’s manor. However, she fears what she can manage to do beyond her pampered life. Can the literal “man of her dreams” bring her the adventure she craves?

Rating: T Genre: Romance/Adventure Nalu-centered, with other ships coming in eventually

"That is all. You may return to your bedchamber, Lucy."

"Yes, Father." The seventeen-year-old woman bowed out of the room. She put on a stoic face as she headed towards her room, nodding to servants as she passed in recognition of their bows. She tried to walk as she was expected to, lightly and lady-like, but all the servants who saw her couldn't help but notice that her steps were heavier than normal, her strides were hurried, and her nods were curt. They could tell that she hated whatever her father had said.

Lucy was finally to her quarters. She opened one of the huge double-doors and tried very hard not to slam it. "Virgo?" she called. "Please fetch for me my nightgown. I think I shall be retiring for the night." It was only seven, but Lucy was emotionally exhausted from trying to hide the anger she held for her father. Lucy lounged on a velvet loveseat within the first of her rooms and closed her eyes as she massaged her temples.

"Yes, Princess," the pink haired maid said as she appeared with her mistress' favorite raspberry-green tea to cheer her up. Virgo had not been immune to figuring out Lucy's anger. The girl was always angry after visits with her father. Lucy thanked her maid, took a drink of the fruity delicacy, then sighed.

"I am not a princess. I'm only a duchess, and I don't even want to be that." Virgo often called Lucy by the nickname and while it was odd, it normally didn't bug the blonde all too much. But right now, Lucy wanted nothing to do with it.

"The Heartfilias are next in line for the throne after the Dreyars, so you're almost a princess," Virgo pointed out. Lucy shot her a glare. Giving Lucy her nightgown, Virgo sat down beside her. "What happened this time?" The girl asked bluntly. Lucy shook her head, not knowing where to start. "Would you like to take your anger out on me with punishment?" This time Lucy shook her head at the maid's ridiculous suggestion. "Shall I retrieve Lady Levy, Princess?" Lucy took another sip of her tea as she nodded. Virgo nodded back, then stood from the loveseat and bowed herself out to retrieve Lucy's close lady-in-waiting and friend.

As she waited, Lucy strode to her bathroom, changed into her night clothes, and brushed her medium-length, golden hair out of its ornate style so that it was straight. "Ow!" Lucy yelped. She frowned, then pulled the hidden pin out of her hair so that it wouldn't yank again. By the time she was setting her brush down on her exquisite vanity, her maid and lady-in-waiting had both arrived back. As usual, the bluenette that was Levy had a pile of books in her arms. She must've been in the library before Virgo fetched her, Lucy thought.

"What'd he say this time, Lu?" the blue-haired friend asked, getting right to the point.

Lucy sent Virgo away, then sighed. "The heir of the Prominence family will be arriving tomorrow, and I'm 'expected to show that I'll be a good wife', so that the 'Heartfilias can continue to prosper with the wealth your marriage will give'! I haven't even met Lord Prominence, and he already expects us to get married! I know that's the custom, but it's a stupid custom and one that even the royal families have moved away from!"

"Wasn't Prominence supposed to marry the lady of the Titanose household of Bosco?" Levy started. This was not really the time, but her curiosity could not be willed away.

Lucy understood her friends love for learning, so she didn't worry about not getting advice yet. "It was called off. I'm not sure why, I just heard something about 'bad behavior'."

"Oh. Alright," although Lucy could see that Levy was not quite sated and would certainly be delving through documents for more information. Luckily, the advice came next as Levy sighed and shook her head. "I've told you: if you hate it here, then you should run away! I'll even come with you so you won't be alone! It would be just like this book I re-"

"That's just it, Lev! I'm not in a book! I wouldn't know the first thing about living outside of the manor, even if you are there! I have no skills! For all my years, I've had everything I need and have barely been allowed to do anything for myself, so what would I do when I couldn't get things at the snap of a finger!?" Levy grew quiet. She just didn't know what to say or what advice to give. "And besides," Lucy started again, her voice returning to the steady tone that told Levy her next sentence would be one that Lucy practically rehearsed to herself to justify staying. Levy noticed that it did sound a tad regretful, though. "I need to be ready to run the kingdom should something dreadful become of Prince and Princess Dreyar." Lucy sighed.

"You know as much as I do that it's very unlikely for Mira and Laxus to be rendered unable to rule anytime soon. And stop talking so formally. I know you hate it."

Lucy just sighed in response. She had dropped some of the formalities after leaving her father’s study, but she was still a tad stuck in it, apparently. She also knew Levy’s first words were true. Both members of the couple were formidable fighters, the Princess Mirajane possibly moreso than her husband. If anyone were to attack them, it wouldn't turn out great for the one doing the attacking They’d probably be announcing an heir to the throne sometime soon, as well. "I think I'm just going to go to sleep. Thank you for talking with me. Good night." Lucy stood up from the loveseat and went into her main bedchamber, closing the door behind her. Levy sighed. Perhaps she could find more books for her friend. Those always help her escape, if only for a short while. With that thought, she left, hoping that she could cheer her blonde friend up somehow.

Lucy slumped onto the foot of her bed. Sighing deeply, she climbed under her thick, woolen covers. She rested her head on the fluffy feather pillows billowing at the head of her bed and pulled the covers up to her neck, curling up into a ball under them. Trying not to think of her father, Lucy closed her eyes and drifted into dreamland, hoping for some adventure there.

The woman found herself in the clearing of a forest. Or, what she imagined a forest to be like. Oak trees surrounded her and a plethora and variety of plants spread across the ground. Vines crawled up the trunks of the trees, releasing a mystical feeling into the clearing. Being a noble, she hadn't spent much time traipsing in the wilderness, so it all had to be arranged from descriptions in stories. Lucy loved to read. Epic fairy tales were her favorites. The adventures in them were exciting, and she so desperately wanted to go on such epic quests. Just as she had told Levy earlier, though, she had no clue how to. One of her favorite stories, as well as her mother's, had had fairies in it. As a child, she had often dreamed of going to forests and searching for fairies. Her mother had promised they would do just that sometime. Unfortunately, such a trip had never happened, and never could. Her mother had died when she had only been a little girl.

Lucy saddened a bit at the memory of her mother and the trip that could never happen. With the death of her mother, she'd been left without a proper parent figure. Her father hadn’t been a parent to her ever, so perhaps the closest she’d had after her mother had been her butler, Capricorn. Capricorn had been very close to Lucy’s mother and had thus always been there for Lucy, too. Lucy smiled at the memories of Capricorn before she heard a long groan and a loud crack behind her, followed closely by a crash. Turning around, Lucy saw that a tree trunk at least four times her width had fallen through the edge of the clearing to create a wall across it.

"Cool! I just knocked a tree over!" A voice called. Lucy watched the owner of the voice, a boy that seemed to be her age, jump onto the trunk and pump his fist in the air proudly. At the sight of him, she immediately felt a strange relief and smiled softly, but also felt a pounding feeling in the back of her head. She ignored the sudden headache in favor of studying the man, though. He had bright, spiky, pink hair covering his head, and eyes that shined with excitement, but when Lucy's eyes were drawn to the cheery grin on his face that seemed to exude excitement and happiness, Lucy noticed that her own mouth widened to mirror it. His grin was too contagious to not react in such a way, and she had the strangest feeling that she'd seen that grin before. She was certain she would've remembered this strange-seeming boy, though, had they met before.

Suddenly, the log lurched, causing the newcomer to slip and fall off, landing on his back with a dull thud and a groaned out 'ow'. Lucy was concerned for a bit, about to race over to him and see if he was okay, but then he darted up off the ground and started waving his fist at the log.

"You want a piece of me!?" he yelled. "I'll teach you to make me fal-" He was interrupted by a fit of giggles and turned around to see a blonde girl, holding her sides and bent over at the waist with laughter. The boy felt the same relief and pulsing in the back of his head as the girl had, not that either knew of the shared feeling. He hardly noticed it, though, used to having headaches from falling, fighting, and simply being whacked in the head for being stupid. The boy couldn't help but smile. The jovial and bell-like sound of her giggling was too contagious for him to avoid laughing along with her, and it even sounded a bit familiar to him. Why was that?

The two's laughing slowly rolled to a stop. Once it did, Lucy let out a shaky breath and wiped at her eyes. She winced a little at the pain in her sides, not used to laughing so much. Her father thought that laughter was such an obnoxious sound, so the most she could ever do was giggle lightly when with a friend. "I'm sorry for laughing," she apologized with another shaky breath, "You just took me by surprise, and then the tree-" Lucy giggled again, causing her partner to also snicker once more.

"It's fine! It was pretty funny. I'm Natsu! Who're you?" The pink-haired boy, Natsu, asked. Lucy blushed a little at his forwardness. She knew this mysterious boy's first name right away, something she wasn't used to. Strangers were always referred to by their family name until she deemed them a friend. For example, Levy she had dubbed "Lady McGarden," until they had gotten to know one another. It was likewise with her own name. All the visitors outside the manor knew her as "Lady Heartfilia," and most of the servants beyond the ones she thought of as friends were to keep formalities and call her "Lady Lucy."

This Natsu person didn't seem to go by those customs. She hadn't met any nobles who didn't follow them, so that meant the man was most likely common. This was a dream, though, so he probably wasn't even real, merely a figment of her imagination. Whether he was real or not, her father would throw a fit if he knew she was talking to a commoner, let alone reveal her name to one, and that spurred her to continue the conversation. But that wasn't the only reason she decided to tell her name. Natsu had a certain air around him that made her feel comfortable, as if she were speaking to her best friend. She felt she could trust him. She felt comfort around him.

"Hello? Are you gonna talk anytime soon, Weirdo?" Natsu snapped his fingers in front of Lucy's face. Lucy jumped with a start as she realized that she had been staring into space and completely silent while she thought. Her cheeks puffed put in annoyance when she realized what he had called her, and Natsu decided that seeing that was almost as great as hearing her laugh, and just as oddly familiar.

"Weirdo!? Maybe I won't tell you my name!" Lucy suggested, with both an angry tone and a joking tone in the words.

"Well, I have to call you something! If you won't tell me your name, then I'll have to stick with 'Weirdo'!" Natsu grinned as he teased her, causing Lucy to not only roll her eyes, but also blush again.

"Lucy!" She suddenly said.

"Huh?"

"My name! It's Lucy!"

Natsu stared at her for a bit with a blank look, then smiled to her once again. "Okay, Loony!"

Lucy's eyes bugged out. "Excuse me!? I'm over here, deciding that I can trust you enough to reveal my name, and you have the audacity to make fun of it!?"

Natsu, instead of being apologetic, as Lucy expected, just looked confused. "Odd Ass City? Where's that?"

"What!? No! Audac-" Lucy shook her head, not wanting to bother explaining, and decided to just yell, "You're an idiot!"

Lucy had expected him to get defensive, but the strange boy just chuckled and gave her his bright grin again. "I've been called that before!"

Lucy scoffed. "That's to be expected! You are one!"

"You seem nice," Natsu said. "I like you." To Lucy's surprise, there wasn't a hint of sarcasm in his voice. It had been a genuine comment. Lucy's cheeks became tinged with pink again.

"Well, I like you, too. You seem nice as well." Lucy could see him smile at the comment, and she couldn't help but smile back.

Very suddenly, Natsu felt the sensation of cold water washing over his face, and he disappeared from the forest and from Lucy's dream, putting an abrupt end to their conversation. "Natsu?" Lucy called. "Where'd you go?" She turned and checked all around her for the pink-haired man and came to the conclusion that she was alone in her forest of dreams. Then, the scenery around her began to fade, and she found herself in her bedroom, awake and in the dark.

"Natsu?" she quietly questioned the empty room. Lucy shrugged and decided to lay back down and go back to sleep, but she still had lingering thoughts of Natsu left on her mind. Is he real? And if he is, then who is he?

The rest of her night went dreamless.

Natsu jerked up out of his dream to wake up in a courtyard. Lush, green grass was speckled with brown patches of dirt. Who was she? Lucy had been her name, he could remember. She had yelled it at him pretty clearly. She was weird. At that thought, he smiled. He heard a snicker beside him and looked up to see a man with dark hair above him, holding an empty bucket.

"What's with the smile?" the man asked with a smirk.

Natsu scoffed and sent the image of Lucy away. "Nothing," he claimed, making the asker wonder what had happened. Natsu scratched the back of his head and felt that his hair was cold and wet. Tch. So he did dump water on me, he thought, remembering the bucket. "Why'd you wake me up, Gray? And when'd I fall asleep?"

Gray, the man with the dark hair, became straight-faced. "The king would like to see you in his study. He has too much paperwork to do, or he would've gotten your ass himself." Then he smirked again. "And to answer your second question, about five minutes into our duel when I knocked you out." Natsu hated the cocky look on the speaker's face, so he punched him just there. "Hey!"

Natsu ignored the indignant call of his rival and stood up. Looking around, the eighteen-year-old spotted his sword a little farther away and picked it up, putting it into the sheath attached to his belt. He loved his sword. It was a broadsword, although he didn't use the advantage of a one-handed sword to carry a shield; a shield would just weigh him down. If he was fast enough to dodge, then there was no need for a shield, which was part of why he chose a broadsword. It was lighter than some of the other options. Another reason he loved the sword so much was the hilt's design. The hilt was fashioned as a dragon, with the wings acting as a guard and the dragon's open mouth leading to the blade. He didn't know what the blade was made of, but he liked it. The metal was a slightly reddish color and was very shiny, giving it the awesome illusion of fire when it glinted in light. All those features caused him to dub the sword "Fire Dragon".

Gray, nineteen, often made fun of Natsu's sword, but Natsu personally thought his was much cooler than Gray's. Gray's sword was a claymore, which he had called "Icecalibur". Besides being inspired by some legend that Natsu never cared to remember, the name had partially come from the light blue gems that sparkled along the guard, almost giving it the appearance of ice. The blade was of another bright, shiny metal that Natsu didn't know the name of, but it didn't have the reddish tinge of the Fire Dragon's blade. It was just a plain silver colored metal.

What Natsu really didn't get about Gray's fighting was that he had a shield. Despite the difficulty in using both a shield and a two-handed sword in combat, though, Gray used both quite frequently. The shield was made of the same shiny metal as his Icecalibur, and had some more of the tiny ice-like gems on it. It was kind of shaped like a star, and if Natsu had to guess, then he would say it had fourteen or fifteen points on it. When he had first seen it, Natsu made fun of it, saying it looked like a flower. That had earned him an angry punch in the face. Apparently, Gray had made the shield with his old mentor or adoptive mother or something just before she had died, about twelve or so years ago. She had taught him the basics of swordplay and being a knight.

Natsu gave his friend another punch before heading into the castle from the courtyard. He would have to fight Gray again later, but make sure to knock him out in the first five minutes. After walking through some long, red-carpeted hallways and climbing up some tall, winding stairs, Natsu had arrived to his destination. He opened one of the heavy wooden doors and went in. At the large, regal, wooden desk covered in paperwork sat a red-haired man: King Igneel Dragneel of Kasai. Natsu cleared his throat and called to him.

"Hey, you wanted me, Dad?"

[elastigirl72]

Day 20: Herceg Novi>south of Shkoder, Albania

Mountains or coast?

Sometimes and without planning, things just seem to fall into line. I reconnected with my younger brother, Alex, 19 months younger than I, and #4 of 4 siblings born within 5 years to two crazy, outlandish parents. That reconnection in itself is a long story and I won’t go into now. But i regularly work in Norway and by chance, in Alex’s home town where he lives with his wife, Monika and two girls, Emma and Susi. Life and families are complicated but, stars aligned and 25 years or more have passed, and the next time I’m there. I’ll stay and be Auntie Michelle to nieces I love.

Also by chance, the last time I visited, I mentioned to Alex about my planned trip, and where I was heading. He looked at the route and said “I have a friend who has an apartment there. Let me call him”. So he did. It just so happened that Per was happy for me to stop by if it worked in with my plans, even if he wasn’t there. As if by magic, I came through, and it coincided with a rest day. I was met by Lidija, who having checked with me a few days earlier, met me with freshly caught fish, and a potato salad, a bottle of wine of choice (red or white. Or both!), bananas, strawberries picked from her friend’s garden that morning, and a barrel full of conversation. After 3 cups of tea, she left me to indulge in the shower, with shampoo, hair conditioner, body cream, moisturiser, radiators, chocolates a washing machine and a view if it became visible across the whole of Herceg Novi. I have never met Per, and only just met Lidija, who I believed lived in the same road, but in fact had caught a taxi from a nearby village, just to make me feel welcome. I am now so fed and rested, if I don’t do a big week, I’ll go home heavier than when I set off!

This was the shelter in a storm, quite literally. And couldn’t have happened at a better time, at any point during the 3.5 week expedition. How do you show gratitude for such generosity? If I wasn’t already in heaven, to top it off, Lidija returned the next day with home made lunch, and took me on a walking tour of her home town. An amazing woman who is a Tony Robins coach. I am apparently a sun person, and she a moon. I need 20 minutes of sun a day and she needs to sleep. She knew everyone in the town as we walked around. I fell in love with Herceg very quickly.

As the storm passed over during the early hours of the day, I noticed a figure on a rock outcrop, and was sure the silhouetted figure was fishing. Walking along the promenade, I learnt the figure was a statue of a haunting and beautiful woman, a memorial to a lady who was betrothed to a sailor, who went to sea and never returned. For the rest of her days, the lady returned to wait for her love to sail back to shore, and did so until she died. Truly moving and befitting of such a small sanctuary in deepest Europe where most people won’t visit or have heard of.

Every trip I’ve done, I’ve come across incredible, memorable people who have stayed with me since. Mario (Italy 2015), Jonathan and Pete (Canada 2016 and 2018). Sadly, from my first ever trip, in 1991, I met equally kind people who are written in a diary, but long since past. It’s these moments that erase the challenge days and sow a seed deep inside. I hope that I can in turn be so generous and kind.

6th May is a big day, and start to the biggest week, both mileage and climbing but also uncharted waters. I’m a little anxious but at least slightly recovered...if something is going to go wrong, it will be in this next week. So near, yet so far...mountains or coast? Start days early and ride as far as possible?

6 May: Shkoder 1430

After the mountains lit up in a fury of lightening bolts and torrential rain, I felt confident that setting my alarm for 5am was a good decision. Early miles were the plan, and at 7am, although there were still torrents running across the roads, the bay was calm, and I was on my way.

One day’s full rest was telling from the first rotation. I felt great! I was prepared for the intermittent downpours with my new bin bag and trusted shower caps, and knew, come hell or high water, I was crossing into what in my head felt like another continent today but was in fact, just another country, and my 10th on the list: Albania.

You can get to Albania by bike several ways from Montenegro: outright ferry, around a huge bay and up Kotor or a €1 ferry crossing, which takes 10 minutes and provides a panoramic view of the black mountains. I opted for the latter, and sailed my way through towns and up climbs, barely noticing the gentle early headwind, almost a pre-requisite to a ride now. The traffic was less, although I did see an elderly pedestrian spontaneously leap in front of a speeding knackered old VW Mark I Golf...how he wasn’t killed! If it wasn’t suicidal pedestrians, it was motorists pulling out of side roads or shop fronts, almost teasingly to see what a cyclist with right of way might actually do: stop or ride straight into the now stationery vehicle blocking the carriageway because in fact they can’t pull out on to the opposite carriageway anyway. I counted at least 20 stray dogs between Herceg and the border, and now have come to expect them at every turn in the road. I will need to plan my defence strategy as I believe at some point, a dog and I are going to get better acquainted, probably as I find my steepest climb, am tired and can’t escape 😃. I am considering tying a stick to my bike and working out my war cry as I write.

Maybe it’s because I am recharged or maybe it is because even with impending doom looking down on me from the heavens, the green clad mountains that now surrounded me made for yes I know I’ve said it before, an epic day’s cycling. The bin bag and shower cap yo-yo’d in and out of my bag, gaining me much attention in the rural Montenegro countryside as I rode through as the joker on wheels. Here, the people, buildings and cars all changed, decrepit, off the beaten track, and oblivious to style, just functional living: the need for a car, a roof and clothing rang through and any signs of wealth disappeared as I approached the Albanian border. Soaked, I noted that I’d never seen such dark and threatening sky over any mountains. I wondered if the swallows that darted around the road indicated anything, but it was memorable and beautiful.

I’d already fallen in love with the day before I reached Albania, and despite twanging my bad knee before the climb between countries, was prepared to ride on as long as I felt as I did. 😀

And suddenly, surprisingly, Albania! (And another passport stamp 🎊)

Where the tarmac is smooth, the ageing locals ride bikes, the area feels untouched by time or tourism, and the surrounding countryside is jaw-droppingly Jurassic. In 10km I rode past two mosques, minute and not what I expected. Every last morsel of flesh was covered so being a heavily Muslim country, I felt I was being respectful. Motorists gave way, and many people, young and old, even waved, or honked positively. I even got a “go, go, go” from one driver! I wanted to stop and take so many photos, but the ever threatening sky bore down on me and reminded me to keep pedalling.

I barely noticed the city of Shkoder; I was through it so quickly. The driving here made me laugh, as it was chaotic. My lasting memory will be of a very large old lady in her local dress, headscarf and woollen tights, pinned with her bottom just on the edge of the scooter seat, driven by her husband, bouncing off down the road in front of me. I wish I’d got a photo of that, or the old guys on scooters, smartly dressed, but weathered and worn.

Not long after leaving the city limits, I saw lightening ahead and a distant rumble of thunder. It was only 16 miles till my planned stop, and another 56 to Tirana, my stretch goal. I was feeling great. But checking these details and considering my options, I’d stopped right outside a brand new looking spa hotel. I went inside, enquired, and found the room, full spa access, and breakfast would cost €35. I repeat €35! And the possibility of booking a massage. Even with this information, I had to sit down, digest and consider my options: the weather radar, my knee, how good I was feeling...

The weather is looking better from tomorrow, so why push on? I am lying down in my €35 room, snuggled in a huge dressing gown having had a luxury shower and awaiting my massage. I am hoping very much my knee twang isn’t terminal but it doesn’t feel good. But if my journey ends here, I am truly happy. I love Albania, even if I’ve not spent a night here yet. I couldn’t feel more welcome. I hope you can make it too someday...till tomorrow...and decision time; mountains or coast? 🤔

[handsofdarkness]

WITHIN TEMPTATION To Release 'Resist' Album In December

Dutch symphonic metallers WITHIN TEMPTATION will release their new studio album, "Resist", on December 14. It is the band's first release through Spinefarm Records, the specialist hard rock label of Universal Music Group.

Vocalist Sharon Den Adel told Metal Hammer magazine WITHIN TEMPTATION has taken inspiration from modern music, but given it a "dark" face.

"Sometimes it feels that today's pop music lacks a rebellious edge," she said. "Our main goal was to collect pieces from sounds we did like then roughen the whole thing up as much as we could, allowing us to shape a new musical world that is heavier, dirtier and more futuristic than we've ever created before. 'Resist' is our new take on metal; our way of giving a fresh lease of life to the rebellious edge of modern music."

Earlier this year, Sharon told Cryptic Rock that the four years since the release of WITHIN TEMPTATION's last album, "Hydra", have been "like a roller coaster. It has always been like a roller coaster with WITHIN TEMPTATION, since the day we started the band," she explained. "The train started moving and it just has kept on going. Also, with 'Hydra', it was a very successful album, we toured everywhere in America and Europe. It was an intense tour again, although we did try to plan it a little bit better from previous years.

"When I returned home, I was pretty exhausted," she continued. "Normally, when I come back from a tour I have a lot of ideas and I want to start writing again immediately. This time, I didn't have any energy for anything, I was really exhausted. I thought, 'Okay, I am going to start anyway,' but nothing came out, and it was pretty frustrating. Also, that has always been my way to deal with life — I love writing music, it's the best thing for me, even more than being on stage because that's where everything starts creatively. There was an essential part of me that didn't work anymore. I didn't panic in the beginning, but later, I panicked a little bit more because I felt, 'Okay, if I don't have this anymore, did I lose the magic somewhere? What is happening to me and why?' Figuring that out, I came to the conclusion that I didn't have the kind of vibes I needed to write songs for WITHIN TEMPTATION. WITHIN TEMPTATION is big, storytelling, but epic and always very powerful as well as uplifting in a way. I didn't feel that way at all and it's very difficult to write that kind of music if you don't feel that.

"I felt like I needed to take a step back to see why that was happening and why I was feeling this way," she added. "It was taking more time for myself to do a little bit of soul searching. [Laughs] There was some time I took off for that, it's still a process that goes on and on, and it went deeper than I thought. I have been touring WITHIN TEMPTATION for so many years and there is always a pressure to perform. Also, I never really had the time to re-evaluate what I was doing, to think, do I still like what I am was doing? I liked what I was doing, but I never had the time to process the highs and lows of our career as well as personal life. That was in front of me and I needed to deal with it. Out of that came music again."

Den Adel's pop solo project, called MY INDIGO, released its self-titled debut album in April. When she first announced the project's existence, she said that that composing the songs for the disc was a therapeutic experience that helped he deal with a family "crisis." She later said that her "dad got very sick" during this period, which made her "think about how I want to spend the next 20 years in music, and what do I want to do with my life."

[calliecat93]

RvB16 Episode 12 Review: Docudrama

Earlier in the week, Joe confirmed that the season’s final episode count would be 15 total. This will make it the series’ shortest season, though Joe has said that the final runtime is the same as S12. My point is, we are in the final stretch my friends. So last week had some mixed responses regarding Tucker... and IDC cause Grif got n Energy Sword! WHOO!!! But now, after ten straight episodes of our heroes being separate, it’s time to bring them back together.

Overview

This episode has a rather interesting premise. You know how movies have those behind the scenes documentaries/features? Well this episode is shot as one, beginning with the actors for Wash and Carolina... having sex... while the two real ones look. Jax wanted sex appeal... though he apparently plans on making a Grimmons scene so you know what? Add all the sex appeal Jax! Also hope you all can tolerate shaky came cause haha... we get light eight straight minutes of it... be afraid people.

So Sister, Tucker, and Grif have just arrived, so at last the gang is back together! We even have Grif showing off the new sword to Simmons and them proceeding to come up with sword puns, all while Simmons is in awe. Ah I missed these two being together so much. Donut also appears to joint he party! Grif isn’t happy about this considered that... you know, Donut’s with the bad guys. But Donut apologizes for getting everyone into the mess to begin with and wants to help get them out of it. This seems to satisfy everyone for now, but... yeah don’t fall for it viewers.

Grif reveals the deal to meet with the Cosmic Powers and tries to get everyone on board with it. The Freelancers have concerns however and Sarge isn’t willing to give up the gun yet. But Grif, as well as Sister and Tucker, explain about the shield protecting them and Grif trusts Huggins enough that he thinks it’ll be safe. Carolina worries that this is a trap, while Wash is just happy to be back in the usual ‘get involved in shit with the others’ groove. Before a final decision can be made, Jax wants to know more about if time travel is a bad thing or not once Tucker explains about the time line being damaged. As such, Jax wants to interview everyone and create a timeline based off everyone’s travels in order to see if there are any true consequences to all of it.

So the interviews are conducted, where it’s implied that Sister shot JFK and Grif may have killed Ceaser. Oops. Caboose also discovered Chinese finger traps. The most interesting though is Donut talking about how Chrovous saved his life and has been nothing but respectful towards him. The Reds and Blues on the other hand, well... yeah... anyways, onto the results! Jax concludes that while the Reds and Blues have failed in fixing any past mistakes or losses, there so far haven;t been any actual consequences to their shenanigains. He would know since, as it turns out, he’s been using Sarge’s gun to do some time traveling of his own. More on that later. The unified time line... well... it’s a dock. No seriously, it is an actual drawing of a dick. Science is mean man.

With that out of the way, Grif again presses everyone to meet with the Cosmic Powers. Wash still has concerns though... namely in how this is supposed to help find Church. To say that everyone is confused would be an understatement. What Wash is refereeing to is Chuch’s message last season... which IDT he ever did get told that it was just a past recording. Carolina tries to pass it off as him fooling around and while t looks like Wash realized that he lapsed again, it very clearly troubled him. But anymore discussions bout that will have to wait as the Reds and Blues take the guns and head for the Cosmic Gods. Oh and what did Jax do during his time travel you asked? He got actors like Tommy Wiseau and The Dude form Big Lebowski and cast them as the leads. Wow... wow... oh and the studio doesn’t like it, so they cut the funding and with the Reds and Blues gone, Jax can’t fix it. So much for no consequences, haha...

The Reds and Blues arrive at what we can now refer to as Starseat, the base of the Cosmic Powers. Although Jax briefly pops in via the open portal to convince them to help get funding back. It ends when Atlus throws his weapon into Jax and knocks him back into his own time. Oh and we also learnt hat Kalirama is Atlus’ wife... and sister... did I ever mention how fucked up mythology can be?! We also find out who Golfing Guy is. So there’s been a popular theory around that he is Jenkins, who was the ‘camera man’ for Blood Gulch and was in one of the S5 alternate endings. And... it is indeed Jenkins... well Genkins to be exact. He also says that the pink one is going to steal the hammer, HMM... so once intros are done, Carolina asks to hear everything form the beginning. Atlus begins to talk... and because Joe is a jerk, the episode ends there. JERK!

Review

Lets get the annoying out of the way first. SO the documentary style? I liked it! I think Joe mentioned last year that he’d wanted to o an Office-style episode in S15, but simply didn’t have the time. This was a nice place to revisit the idea. but... Joe honey, why did there have to be shaky cam? Okay I know why. It’s documentary style, and those have plenty of shaky cam. It annoys the people watching so Joe got that down... the problem is it annoys the audience. I definitely think that he should have had maybe some int he beginning, and left it after that to make it more bearable to watch. Still credit where it’s due, he got the desired emotion out of me. I’m also kind of annoyed that Tucker is back to being his usual self after the last episode, though he is acting more like regular Tucker so I guess we’ll see what happens.

So the Reds and Blues are finally together again and let me tell you, THANK GOD. I did not realize how much I missed everyone being together until this episode. I lied that it wasn’t overplayed and everything just... went into place. Grif and Simmons joking around, Sister getting referred to by her actual name, Tucker and Wash’s little ‘hey’.s to each other, it was just nice. I also liked how they discuss the issue. There’s the irony of Grif trying to get everyone to follow the plot now, the Freelaners asking questions, the Grif SIbs and Tucker explaining what they found out. Like it’s not over the top... I mean there’s plenty of humor like Grif knowing that he was gonna have to lie to Sarge to make him cooperate. But as much as I’ve enjoyed the crazy time shenanigans, it was nice to have a more calm episode of everyone just discussing what the next step is for them. IDK why I liked just seeing everyone talking so much, but I do.

There was just a lot that I loved. Like the shipping joke in the beginning, Grif still trusting Huggins, both Donut’s return and his interview bit (that hurt...), Simmons trusting Grif’s word and siding with him over seeing the Cosmic Powers, Caboose and the finger trap, the Reds and Blues trying to give themselves epic titles, it was all just great. Even with the heavier moments like Wash having another memory lapse and Carolina still trying to hide it were nice to see... and also hurt, but still well done. Everyone was just, for the most part, happy. I missed the happy.

So time travel stuff. Honestly IDK if this is a Closed Loop anymore or not due to Jax taking actors... though tbf aside form John Wayne IDT any of them are dead in the current time. So what we can conclude with the info that we have is that with the current brand of time travel, you cannot change the past. If you got your men killed or betrayed someone? You can’t change it. You feel bad about your sex life? Can’t change it. You lose a penny? Can’t change it. Now the whole ‘pizza doesn’t exist’ thing is still a huge hole... but we COULD attest that as damage to the timeline. It’s a consequence of the time travel. As we just saw with Jax’s movie losing funding, there are consequences to making changes and we saw that with Sarge where recruiting the new Reds ultimately did nothing for him.

There’s still a lot unclear about time travel, and with three episodes left IDK how Joe is going to explain it all. Maybe he won’t and we’ll have to see if he does next season. Now it looks like we’re finally getting some exposition which I think is sorely needed at this point. My guess is we’re going to learn about how Chrovous got locked away and hopefully just why tie travel is as dangerous as it is. But there’s also Genkin’s comment about ‘the pink one steals the hammer’. It seems to hint that whatever Donut is going to do, next episode he’s going to do it. IDK where that’ll lead, but I imagine that it won’t be good for our heroes...

Final Thoughts

This is probably my shortest review so far, but even so I loved this episode. The shaky cam was annoying as Hell, but it had a lot of fun moments that makes it forgivable. Plus it was just so good to have everyone back together again after so long. We have three epsodes of S16 left to go, and honestly I have no idea what to expect at this point. All I know is that whatever happens, we’re not ready for it.

[highwiredazeken]

SAGA: EPIC ACOUSTIC SYMMETRY AND BEYOND

Interview by Ken Morton - Photo by  Alexander Mertsch 

Saga has been presenting their sweeping progressive rock tapestries to the world since 1977, unveiling an intriguing auditory adventure on each and every album.  Symmetry is the next exhilarating chapter in the Saga legacy, featuring imaginative acoustic renditions of their classic songs.  Inspired by the final tour of founding member Jim Crichton in 2017 where they opened their shows with an all acoustic performance, Symmetry presents another side of Saga that longtime fans will want to revisit time and again.  Highwire Daze recently interviewed guitarist and Saga co-founder Ian Crichton to find out more about the vibrant world of Symmetry, the Canadian bands connection with Los Angeles with their song Say Goodbye To Hollywood, creating music in a pandemic age, and other topics of interest.  Read on…

How did the idea of Symmetry come about and what was it like revisiting these songs in a different way? The idea came – we did a final tour with my brother Jim Crichton in 2017 in Europe – and we wanted to do something special – so we came up with the idea of opening up for ourselves acoustically. It’s something we’ve always talked about doing in the past – about doing these heavier prog rock sort of songs acoustically – let’s do it! So, we put a set together – a 50-minute set – where we opened up for ourselves – and we had a giant backdrop which was actually the front cover of Symmetry – like an old library overgrown and all that which covered the main show. Anyway, people really liked it – it went down really well – so that sparked the idea of doing a record like that – and it took about a year and a half to do it – I was touring in between. But then with the event of Covid last year – I was touring in February – we got shut down March 14th – and I’ve been here ever since. But that made it really possible to get down and finish the record.

What was it like to record this music in the middle of a pandemic and all of this social unrest in the world? Was it more difficult to record? You mean keeping your eye on the ball and that sort of thing with all of this crap going on? Once you get into the music and stuff, it actually helped make everything else go away. So, there was no problem that way. It actually of helped, because I kept touring with Saga – we still tour – and that kind of shut everything down. And it was a challenge of making a record that’s not just a couple of acoustic guitars and cut down of songs. We wanted to keep it exciting and keep the same kind of feel – only on acoustic instruments.

I would like to talk about three of the songs on Symmetry then and now. The first single on Symmetry is Tired World. Give me a little background on the song and what it was like to do this remake of it. Tired World was on our first record – I was 20 years old when we recorded that. We played three years in the clubs before we started breaking out into shows. We used to play that every night and it was a great little thing, because you get a great long guitar solo in it. You really got your chops together playing in the clubs every single night. And do to it acoustically – yeah it was challenging. The solo that I did on that song – it’s pretty long – and I really had to think about it. I’d be playing banjo for a while – so what I ended up doing was implementing part banjo / part guitar and building a solo that way to make the same kind of excitement. It was pretty challenging, but we’re happy with the record.

Wind Them Up is the second single and the second song I’d like to talk about. Give me a little background on that song then and now… Wind Them Up was one of our biggest hits. I arranged Wind Them Up myself and I re-wrote the ending. I thought if we were going to do an acoustic record, it would be nice to tackle one of the bigger hits.  So yeah, I sat down and mapped that whole thing out on acoustic as a bed track and we just when from there.

And then the third track I wanted to talk about was Say Goodbye To Hollywood, then and now. Highwire Daze is based in the Los Angeles area and I was wondering if you have any connections to the Los Angeles/Hollywood area? We certainly do Ken. My brother Jim – our relationship with Los Angeles started in 1986/87. We chose a famous producer to do one of our records Wildest Dreams – Keith Olsen whose done mega records – and we went down there and had him produce us. We were living in England at the time – Michael, my brother and myself – and that lead to Jim moving to Los Angeles. We actually made a studio in his ranch house on Burbank there – and then when he moved out, he built a regular studio right beside Sound City in Van Nuys there. Jimmy built a full-on studio there for 25 years – and we recorded every Saga record in Los Angeles from 1987 to 2005. I spent a lot of time in your area Ken.

And tell me about the Say Goodbye To Hollywood song then… Okay, well that song was sparked – once again we were in Jim’s studio in Van Nuys. We were hired by Stephen J. Cannell to do songs in his upcoming show Cobra – which ran 22 episodes and was not a hit. The album we did called Steel Umbrellas was on the back of this TV show. It was kind of a different record for us. Anyway, Goodbye To Hollywood was one of the songs and that was going to go into the show too. That was about all I could say about it. That was the sign of the times, the TV show and all that kind of stuff. It didn’t mean I wanted to Say Goodbye To Hollywood. (Laughs) Because I love it down there. It’s like 10 degrees up here right now in Southern Ontario…

Have you managed to play any live dates at all during the pandemic? No. I had an offer from Quebec City to do a show and then the Covid numbers went crazy – up and down and up and down. At one point we were going to have this beautiful theater and we could have had maybe 300 people in the theater and then do a sort of small pay for view, put it on the net show. I was sort of working on that for a while. It just fell apart – their numbers went crazy up there with Covid and no one was going to be allowed in. Plus, the fact that Mike Sadler – our singer – Michael, he lives in Missouri in the States and he couldn’t get over the border – so that kind of shut that down. We’re all kind of in that mode, until everyone gets vaccinated or whatever is going to happen here.

You announced a few upcoming shows. What are you looking forward to the most about these Out Of The Shadows tour dates and do you think that they’re going to happen? In June? Yeah, we’ll your guess is as good as mine. I got a call from our tour manager a couple of days ago – tickets are selling really well and that makes me nervous – happy at the same time but it’s in this world – right? I’m told that the Norwegians are urging for shows to go back on and all that. After all this time I just don’t know. But I am going with the flow. If we could do it, it would be great – but we’ll see.

What do you think has kept you so passionate about Saga since 1977? It’s been like a family business with Jim and myself – with brothers – we played when we were very young as kids – we went into various bands and all that sort of stuff and ended up starting Saga. And hell or high water, we were hellbent on making this into something. And once you’ve put so much time into it – depending on if everyone is still getting along and all that stuff – I didn’t see any reason in discarding something like that. With Saga, I’m very fortunate – we’ve been playing original music my whole life. For me, it’s better than going off and playing other people’s songs. I haven’t done that. This has more satisfaction.

What do you think has made you and Michael Sadler work so well together after all this time? Well, I’ve known him forever. I met Mike when I was 13 years old or whatever. He was around. Mike and Jim were in a band called Truck – it was a cover band doing Genesis and Gentle Giant and all this. Up here in the clubs you could play Monday thru Saturday night, week after week after week – it was so healthy for bands in the 70’s. You weren’t making a fortune, but you were making enough money. You were playing every night and it was in a world where everyone liked going out to bars and seeing bands. So yeah, it was really healthy. And then comes the 80’s and everything starts shutting down, you know. Different generation don’t like to go out to bars anymore to see bands and all that. But Michael, I’ve known him forever and it works.

Do you still keep in touch Rob Moratti? I understand you’ve actually played on some of his solo albums. Yeah, I speak to Rob still. I’ve played one solo on one song per record. He did one of my favorite Saga records, The Human Condition.

What do you think about The Human Condition in retrospect – the one Saga record without Michael Sadler on lead vocals? I love it! When Michael (briefly) left the band, I spent the entire year, day after day, right up to New Year’s Eve – first of all, I had to find a singer – and I could not find another Mike Sadler. Michael’s got his own voice and stuff. So, I gave up looking for that. Basically, I just wanted to find a great singer – and the band was going to change a bit of course because Michael wasn’t there. And I wanted to make sure it was really good – and boy, I never worked harder in my life I tell you. I’m very happy with that record. I like all the songs on it very much. Rob did a fantastic job!

Are you involved with any other projects outside of Saga? I had been in the past – 15-20 years ago I put out a couple of solo things that were okay. I’m involved with something right now, but I can’t really talk about it – I’ll see where that goes. But mainly Saga. But it’s the biz – it still works – it still draws in (many) people and it works.

Any chance of any brand-new Saga albums coming up? We’re talking about it. No set date or anything like that, but there are discussions going around about doing another record like that. And I’m getting a lot of requests to do another acoustic record too – and tour acoustically too!

What do you hope 2021 brings for Saga overall? I hope the world gets healed and we get back to business and all that. Good will to everyone really. Saga is an endless thing – it’s the Saga story forever!

Do you have any messages for Saga fans out here in the States? I’d like to say from the bottom of my heart that we miss you. It’s been a long time since we’ve played for you. We’ve had a lot of requests on the Internet and stuff like that. We’ve had a lot of challenges too in being able to secure shows there, but I’m still going to keep trying. We’re still looking around for promoters – not at the moment because of Covid. But we hope to see you soon.

Symmetry by Saga is now available worldwide via earMUSIC!

Current line-up Michael Sadler – vocals, guitar, bass, synthesizer, drums (1977–2007, 2011–present) Ian Crichton – guitar, synthaxe, banjo (1977–present) Jim Gilmour – synthesizer, keyboards, vocals, clarinet, saxophone, harmonica (1980–1986, 1992–present) Mike Thorne – drums, electronic drums, vocals (2012–present) Dusty Chesterfield – bass, keyboards, Moog synthesizer (2019–present)

(Interview by Ken Morton)

Saga on Facebook

[amonoff]

Ah, memories

My first contribution to Ninjago and first writing in awhile, so...it’s stale, I’ll admit. I’ll probably work on other things to practice.

Slightly different events with the movie!Garmadon family just before Koko left.

“And that’s when the super wimpy, super pathetic, skeleton general appeared atop the mountain! He said some mumbo jumbo about beating us…the pathetic worm, am I right, Luh-Lloyd?” Garmadon cooed, rubbing the hand puppet version of himself on Lloyd’s face. Lloyd squealed with joy, right arm raising up to try and grab it. Garmadon grinned making little baby noises as he booped his son’s nose with the puppet.

“Absolutely! Anyway, back to my story,” Garmadon raised the puppet of himself and the skeleton general high for him to see. “Now see here, Luh-Lloyd the first important thing about being evil is breaking the rules. Like y’know how heroes actually let their enemy finish their speech? Well, obviously bad guys don’t do that!”

He threw his puppet self over to the general, smacking it around and using fingers in the arm sleeves to punch the general. Lloyd giggled, cheering at his father. “I fought and kicked him halfway in! Even stole his sword to beat him with it, and then I punched him with my four arms! You should’ve been born then, Luh-Lloyd. It looked cool-”

Garmadon made to show himself strangle the general when he heard the soft creak of the door behind him. He turned and of course there was the most beautiful, bravest, most accomplished woman in all of Ninjago; his wife. Just looking at her as she took off her helmet made him feel weak. He got up from the floor, taking Lloyd into his arms and brought him to his mother. Lloyd immediately let out a small, excited cry for her. It made Misako smiled. She walked over with open arms to take her son while Garmadon kissed her.

“Welcome home, Koko. I trust everything went smoothly on your side with dealing with the rebels?”

“Of course, Garmy. They were just a few small, disorganized groups. No big threats.”

“Excellent. Now everything will be set!” Garmadon walked over to the room window, looking through the glass and out to the glowing city, sitting just beyond the coast of his volcano. His smile was the brightest it had been in awhile. He didn’t notice the sudden falter of his wife’s gaze at him, or how her arms shook as she carried their child, who had gone quiet.

She walked over beside the freakishly tall man. “Garmy, I’ve been meaning to ask, what’s all this for, exactly? The towns we’ve captured are hardly rich with money or resources. I don’t see them becoming very big in the future.”

“Hmm? Ah, well…” Garmadon thought for a tentative moment, actually hesitating for a moment before he felt Misako brush her hand over his face. He looked down to see her and Lloyd.

“C’mon, Garmy. You can’t have me running your army around without knowing why any longer.” Then she bobbed Lloyd up and down a little to get a cute cry from him.

Looking at the two...any doubt cleared. They were already so close anyway.

“Oh, alright. I wanted it to be surprise, but I don’t know what might happen. You should know.” He takes Lloyd from his wife using his bottom two arms, and the opens the windows for a full, unobstructed view on Ninjago with his upper arms. He brings Lloyd up to better see the brimming city. “Koko, I’m going to conquer Ninjago City!”

“W-What?” Misako asks, a lot quieter now. Garmadon looks at her with concern sees her wide eyes and hanging lips. Yes, of course she would be surprised and concerned. He immediately goes over to her and lays his hand on her shoulder to assure her. “I know it sounds crazy, Koko. But I’ve thought my plan through!”

“That’s what many before you said too, Garmy.” Misako sighed, lifting her hand as she softly held husband’s hand. “Though there’re only five elemental ninjas guarding the city, they’re all powerful. Masters of combat, and the elements of fire, water, earth, lightning, and ice. And your brother Wu is among them.”

At that, Garmadon frowned, mostly in annoyance at the mention of his annoying little brother. He let go of his wife and crossed his arms behind him as he turned back to the city, staring with a narrowed eyes now. “I know. That is why I’ve placed spies in the city. To watch the Ninjas’ activities and Wu. They recently told that my brother will set off on a trip soon in five days. When he is gone, that is when I plan to strike.”

“So you’ll fight the Ninjas in the assault?”

Garmadon shakes his head. “No. I plan on sending my army as a diversion. I will set off in secret alone on a small air vehicle to top of the Ninjago Tower and set my flag on top. Once it’s planted, I will be Ninjago’s official conqueror.”

Misako looked at him in shock. It was understandable since such a tactic wasn’t very glorious or epic one. Garmadon hated it, but it had the best chance of granting him victory. No one would expect it, especially the Ninjas. He was sure Misako understood this too when he saw her nod quietly “Garmy, why do you want to conquer Ninjago? Aren’t the other cities we’ve already conquered enough?”

“Ninjago isn’t for us, Koko.” Garmadon explained, then turning down to little Lloyd, who still had his eyes on what probably was strange bright light of different colors, very much unlike torches that lit up Garmadon’s castle. “I want to conquer it for Luh-Lloyd.”

“Lloyd?”

“Yes. Luh-Lloyd is weak, puny…bald. And can’t even walk. Just hiding my face makes him cry.” Garmadon sighed. He shook his head to get those thoughts out and back on his point. “But someday, eventually, he’ll learn how to walk and talk. Hopefully when he finally grows his hair. And when that time comes, I want to pass to him an empire.”

“And the towns and cities we’ve already conquered aren’t enough?”

“No, that’s not it, Koko. They’re okay, but like you said, none of them will be very big in the future. Ninjago, though, is vibrant, brimming with life, and filled with strong warriors, just like our son. That place has a far more prosperous future compared to that. It’s the only fitting place for our son to rule.”

“But...he’s still only just a baby, Garmy. Don’t you think this is too fast?”

“Nonsense! I had to start learning Spinjitsu since the day I was born! And besides, Luh-Lloyd is already making great strides to becoming a great ruler! Look!” He brought Lloyd up closer to his face and cleared his throat, as loud as he could manage to get his attention. Of course, Lloyd turned up, making small sound.

“WAHAHAHA!” he bellowed. It was a generic evil laugh, he had to admit, but then he heard his son giggle excitedly and then-

“Wahahaha!” he squeaked, mimicking his laugh albeit maybe laughing too quickly. Still, an evil laugh was an evil laugh!

“See, Koko! Maybe it’s not maniacal yet but in a few years, it will be dripping with pure evil! He will be the most vicious, dangerous, and feared evil ruler of Ninjago.” He explained gleefully, and he laughed a little at the thought. His son growing up to become just like him and his mother.

But as he looked to his wife for a smile or at least some sign that she was reassured of Lloyd’s capability, she only looked...lost. He lips still hung a little and her eyes remained only Lloyd. There was depth to it he hadn’t seen before. Usually there was a fire in his wife’s eyes. It burned bright when she was happy, and exploded when infuriated. In them now, he saw nothing.

“Koko?” He asked, and suddenly she jolted in surprise.

“S-Sorry. I guess I was lost in thought.” she apologized. She never apologized.

“Misako, are you feeling alright? You’ve been strangely these past few days as well.” Garmadon inquired, remembering how less energetic she had been of late, or how she took less glory at the face of felled foes amidst combat. He had always chalked it up to post-pregnancy, but now he worried it was something else. All the same, Misako smiled at him and placed her hand on his shoulders.

“I’m fine, Garmy. I guess…” she stared at Lloyd again, who looked at his mother confused, wondering why she looked so sad. She wrapped her arms around him and carried him off Garmadon’s hands. “I guess I’m just worried about Lloyd. If he can really do it, y’know?”

At that, Garmadon smiled widely. “Of course he can, Koko! He is our child, after all! He will grow up a strong, proud, accomplished warrior like you. And take my handsomeness and leadership!” He gave his wife another kiss to the cheek, earning from her a small laugh.

“I suppose you’re right.” she said to him, smiling a little now. “Anyway, it’s getting late. It’s Lloyd’s sleeping time.”

“Wait, already?!” Garmadon turned behind him and indeed, the time was now close to nine. “Aw man! Can’t he stay up a bit longer? I was telling him about our battle with the skeleton general!”

“No, Garmy. He needs his sleep.” Misako chuckled, leaving to get Lloyd’s formula. Garmadon groaned, but he conceded to his boy getting stronger.

“Well, that only gives me more time to prepare all the stuff for a grander tale. I’m gonna go to our room and prepare it all. Oh, and work! Yes, work!”

Garmadon hastily collected the puppets, with exception to two, of course. The puppets of himself and Koko. Those he placed in Lloyd’s crib.

“I’ll see you later, Koko.” He bidded. 
“Bye, Garmy.” she said. Just before he could leave, he heard her continue. “And I love you.”

It sounded different. Heavier, if he could put it. He turned to his wife to see her beginning to bottle feed Lloyd, still smiling. He pushed the thought away. “I love you too, Koko.”

Garmadon stared at the photos spread on the wall, all hung in an orderly fashion. Despite all the dust, they were in a clean state almost untouched from the centuries that passed. He supposed they must’ve been handled with care before...the owners passed.

Lloyd stood by his side, no longer an infant but now a grown young man of sixteen years. He stayed quiet as he listened to his father’s story. Garmadon imagined how hard it must be to believe every word. That there was a time where the three lived together, and were blissfully happy.

“That was the last time I saw your mother.” Garmadon finally continued after his brief pause, sighing a little as he focused on the photo with him, Misako, and baby Lloyd. “It wasn’t until midnight that I grew worried. She never stayed up late. I went to your room to see if she was still there, but there was only a note in your crib. She left and took you with her to Ninjago. She wanted you to have a normal life.”

Garmadon paused again, getting lost once more in his memories. The day he met Misako, every battle together, the day Lloyd was born, the day they named him. “...I could’ve changed.” he whispered quietly, as if it was to himself.

“What…?” Lloyd asked.

“I could’ve changed, Luh-Lloyd. Become a better man for Koko. But I didn’t, and lost you both.”

Silence filled the room. Garmadon’s story was finished and now...it was actually getting kind of awkward. He looked around for the other ninjas to say something but he realised that it was only him and Lloyd in the room.

“Uh, Dad?” Lloyd asked, turning to his dad. “Did...mom take anything with her when she left? I mean, aside from me. Like, a toy or something?”

“Hm, I don’t really know.” Garmadon admitted, stroking his helmet as he tried to recall. “I became so focused with conquering Ninjago after that that I never went back to your room for months. By then, it was cleaned up.”



“Oh. Um, coz... I think-”

“I THINK I FOUND IT!!” Jay suddenly screamed from wherever he was, causing the to jump a little in surprise.

“W-Where, Jay?!” Lloyd yelled.

“In the hall, over here!” Jay yelled back, a little excited. “C’mon!”

“All right, we’re coming!” Kai said, suddenly coming out of the kitchen to follow where he thought he heard Jay. Nya, Cole, and Zane began to run in to go to wherever Jay was too. Seeing this, Lloyd and his father followed, deciding to put the conversation off till later.

It was a memory from a long time back, so most of what he could recall was hazy. He hadn’t remembered what happened that day, but he remembered being upset and crying about it in his room. He had his head stuffed under a pillow so no one would see when he heard someone call him.

“Luh-Lloyd~? Hey, are you okay, Luh-Lloyd~?” It was a low but whimsical voice. Lloyd couldn’t help but poke his head out to see who it was.

It was his mom, with the black samurai puppet on her hand.

“Hey there, Luh-Lloyd! Tell me what’s wrong!” the samurai asked, still with the goofy voice. Lloyd wiped away the tears, not wanting his mom to see them.

“N-Nothing’s wrong!”

“Aw, are you sure?” the samurai tilted sideways. “Well, then I suppose you don’t want ice cream?”

Lloyd perked up. “No, I want ice cream!!”

His mom laughed, then bringing up a full-bowl, chocolate-flavored with fruits, for him. Lloyd grabbed it and quickly got a spoonful. Just like that, he was already smiling.

“See? Feeling better already?”

“Yeah!” Lloyd answered. His mother laughed, and he took another bite when she carried him off the bed. She brushed his hair aside to give him a kiss on his forehead. She was smiling at him.

“I love you, Honey.”

Lloyd beamed back at her. “Love you too, Mom!”

And suddenly, she brought the black samurai up again, who piped, “Aw, not me~?” He drooped to look sad. Lloyd couldn’t help laughing.

“You too.” Lloyd patted to puppet’s head.

After that, his mother brought him to the living room where they watched some shows together before he did his homework. Then he had dinner, did more homework, and watched TV again.

If Lloyd had to be honest, that day was basically his normal everyday life, even up till now. Heck, the only difference was that he actually had friends this time, and the puppet...he outgrew it years ago.

He had it for as long as he knew his mom, so never thought about where it might’ve come from. 

If he was right, it should still be in his closet, tucked away with the other toys he had forgotten. Maybe...he should show it to dad once they got back?

...yeah. Why not?

[sailor-freak]

Black Stone Cherry: The Human Condition - Album Review

(image source)

Wow I went through a lot listening to this album it took about twice as long cos LIFE anyway let’s go!!

Ringin’ In My Head - Oops I forgot to post about this one when it came out but I LOVE IT gonna be honest there’s not a song on this album I dislike they were all amazing but this works so well as the start to this album! The way it fades in with distorted sounds at the start and then BOOM music love it 😂. The lyrics seem to have multiple meanings, to me anyway, the obvious one is the current pandemic which I sort of feel like can’t apply directly since this was written and recorded just before that all went down?? But I think it can also apply to the political world, with the lyrics “I’ve got something that needs to be said”, it’s very much reminiscent of recent songs regarding the public voice and speaking out against the bad things being done by people. Which I guess the album is called the Human Condition so that seems to fit 😂.

Again - Already posted about this song but yeah BOP probably my favourite BSC song so far haha.

Push Down & Turn - I love this one as well omg, the verses are quite slow and grounded but I love that 😂. Then the chorus obviously builds it up but it keeps that overall grounded earthy rock and roll sound with Jon’s heavy bass and Chris’ more gravely vocals being used. The riff section is such a change though, it kind of quietens down and focuses on the guitar, then it just builds and builds and gets almost manic, before going back to the slower, earthier chorus. It’s a fun ride 😂.

When Angels Learn To Fly - Lol I love the trick at the start with ballad sounding instrumental then NOPE 😂. Sorry I’m not really a ballad person I love that 😂. The instrumental itself is quite separated from the other songs so far though, the verses particularly are very drum heavy with a couple of bass and guitar additions, then in the chorus there’s some other instruments which just gives the whole song a very different vibe to the rest of the album. It’s a very sweet song lyrically though, but it doesn’t give in to becoming a pure ballad for nice lyrics, which we all know I like 😂.

Live This Way - This one is veeeeeery dirty rock and roll yes sir 😂. The drums give it a very nice bouncy boppy sound, but the guitar and bass are still very heavy and give it a sort of 80s sounding rock and roll sound, especially with Ben’s riff like duuuuude the effect on his guitar there is hoooot 😂. The lyrics are again similar to the idea of speaking against the negative politics of the world but aren’t as harsh as Ringin’ In My Head, it’s almost polite with the “sorry if this comes out wrong” 😂. Chris you should never apologise we love you 😂.

In Love With The Pain - ALSO forgot to post about this when it came out sorryyyy it’s not bad at all but it doesn’t stand out to me? Not as much as the other 2 singles at least 😂. Idk to me it doesn’t reach out to me musically as much as other songs, it does have quite a nostalgic sound with the lightness of the chorus and the acoustic layered over the electric guitar, but personally it just doesn’t stand out as much. It’s not bad AT ALL, it’s great, but there’s better songs IMO.

The Chain - That snare at the start omg gave me Black Parade vibes ANYWAY back on the bops 😂. It’s a very guitar heavy verse but it fades away for the pre-chorus before both the guitar and bass are just BOOSTED up for the chorus, it works well 😂. The pacing of the vocals as well switches around in different sections of the song and it works well, I guess with switching between more slower, then up-tempo, then slower again, it’s like the alternating links of a chain? SO WELL DONE BSC I APPLAUD APPLAUSE PLEASE EVERYONE 👏👏👏👏. That riff as well holy FUCK I’m worried about Ben’s fingers is he okay did that hurt 😂.

Ride - This one sounds like a J-rock song and idk why?? That’s just the vibe I got lol. The instrumental of this is AMAZING, but Chris’ vocals really stand out to me in this one. Especially in the chorus, something about his note progression and the long note of “ride” just HITS THAT MUSIC SPOT I love it so much 😂.

If My Heart Had Wings - Omg I didn’t think I was gonna like this song but it’s SO good wtf 😂. It is quite ballad-y as it uses a lot of acoustic and even a little harmonica lol, but the lyrics are quite sad 😭. The sadder the lyrics get the darker the music gets, the guitar riff seems very depressing as Chris sings about wishing things that could have been said and done in a relationship. It’s so sad but it’s so sweet 😭.

Don’t Bring Me Down - This is an ELO cover so idk how much I can say about it, but it’s nice 😂. Comparing it to the original it’s a little bit lower and naturally leans more towards the rock and roll round, but it still kept the 80s vibey sound of the original which was great 😂. Probably my favourite BSC cover haha.

Some Stories - Someone had fun with the effects menu on this song 😂. The lyrics really stand out, they seem to be very heavily about conspiracy theories and the people higher up in the world feeding us all lies 😂. It’s quite odd... but it bops so idc 😂.

The Devil In Your Eyes - Another old sounding rock and roll song love it 😂. It’s quite a dark sounding song, Jon’s bass being very prominent in the verses but mainly John Fred’s drums, it gives it a sort of intense creepy sound. Then when the chorus hits the guitar comes in and Chris’ vocals are boosted and WOW it gets intense, the whole song is just INTENSE 😂. Especially with the way it does some downwards scales rather than the usual upwards, and uses some minor notes which just give off intense, creepy, EPIC 😂.

Keep On Keepin’ On - One of those optimistic songs it’s such a sweet happy ending to this album 😂. It just has a very light, happy, almost feel-good sound, especially in the chorus it’s so sweet and happy 😂. I know I keep saying that but it is I love it 😂. It’s still rock and roll, and Chris sometimes utilises a heavier sound in his vocals, but the acoustic running throughout the song just really keeps up and almost pop-rock optimistic sound 😂.

Overall this album BOPPED, honestly all the songs had something unique to them which made them all stand out to me (some more than others), but they all fit together in one album really well. The consistent themes of humanity, both in the broad sense of the state of the world, and the personal level of human relationships and feelings, linked all the songs together well where their musical styles could be very diverse. Basically it bloody slapped 😂.

[anneedmonds]

Foundation Review: Pat McGrath Labs Sublime Perfection

I don’t think I’ve ever had so many questions and comments about a foundation as I have about the Pat McGrath Labs Skin Fetish Sublime Perfection. I photographed myself oh-so-casually wearing it on Instagram stories and it has made background appearances in some of my videos; each time I’ve mentioned it I’ve been inundated with DMs about how long it lasts, how good the coverage is and which shade I wear.

And so here’s a proper, in-depth review. I’ll start out with the same warning regarding the price that I gave on Instagram: it’s £60 in the UK. Incredibly pricey, but I have to say that very few people I spoke to seemed perturbed by this quite considerable financial outlay. Surprisingly. Which makes me think that Pat McGrath and her marketing team have done an epic job of carving out a niche in the highest end of the cosmetics market – if you can establish yourself to the point where beauty-aficionados don’t flinch too much at a sixty quid face base then I’d say you’re doing pretty well!

The brand showcases clever formulations in luxurious packaging and is most definitely powered by Pat’s reputation as one of the world’s most successful and inventive makeup artists. I’d say that the Sublime Perfection foundation is one of the hero products, but then I’m really into “skin looking like skin” and so I’m possibly biased.

But Sublime Perfection is more than your standard kind of “real skin” foundation – it has a few tricks up its proverbial sleeve that I think sets it apart from the rest when it comes to achieving the holy grail of makeup – a flawless finish that still looks believable. It has the sort of finish that looks supple, dewy, bouncy and fresh yet still manages to blur imperfections and create a perfect canvas, but there are some very notable bonuses, which I’m going to come to after another disclaimer.

I have good skin.

I say this not to brag, but to be helpful, because a foundation that I love, that makes my skin look visibly perfected and dewy, might not feel so magical if you have blemishes that need a full coverage to be concealed. This Skin Fetish Sublime Perfection potion is sheer. Yes it’s buildable, as I’m about to delve into in more detail, but the medium coverage is almost a perceived medium – as in minor imperfections are cleverly blurred and veiled – rather than the solid coverage you might get traditionally.

So, the notable bonuses – what sets Sublime Perfection foundation apart from the rest?

Well as I said, it’s buildable. And I mean properly buildable, not just “let’s see what happens if I tap a bit more under the eyes because I can’t be bothered to look for my concealer” buildable. You can go from sheerest sheer, which Sublime Perfection handles impeccably because the formula is so hydrating, right up to a medium-ish coverage.

Now loads of foundations are buildable; the difference with this one is that it retains its freshness and increases its sheen as the coverage builds. Which is quite a feat. Usually the more you apply, the more you start to look a little flat, but here we have a coverage that is comprehensive but a finish that is expensive, glowing and bouncy with the same feeling of sheerness as with a light application.

You never get a blanket, opaque coverage, so full coverage-hunters will be disappointed; it’s almost as though the pigment is suspended in a kind of pliable, flexible sheen, so the more you build the more sheenier it gets.

Pat McGrath calls this a “customised couture finish” and I really couldn’t think of a more apt description; it’s the classy, non-obliterating type of finish that you get in a Vogue editorial or at a Paris show. It’s about good skin and not creating a mask. It screams expensive – the blurring particles that give an almost soft focus effect, the “lit from within” glow. But then I do think that the finish somewhat also pivots on the user having relatively blemish-free skin, too.

The most surprising thing about this foundation, though? It’s longwear! Name me a dewy, lighter-than-light base with the texture and comfort of a tinted moisturiser but the elegance of a high-end, finely-formulated foundation that lasts for the whole day? I’ll wait.

Estée Lauder’s Futurist comes pretty close, with its plumpy-bouncy texture and ultra-hydrating finish (review here), but it’s not quite on the same level in terms of refined coverage and glow. Zoom right in on the Sublime Perfection –

– and it’s genuinely almost undetectable on the skin, whereas the Futurist has a slightly more visible dewiness. In terms of hydrating finish, they are on a par, but the Sublime Perfection has been specifically designed to be buildable and tweakable to your exact coverage desires, whereas you wouldn’t want to go silly overboard with layering up the Futurist because it’s so moisturising – you’d just go for a higher coverage foundation.

I have to say though that the Pat McGrath base, even at its sheerest, gives such a heady dose of soft-focus glow that you rarely need to build it up unless you’re going “out out”. I hate the phrase “a little goes a long way” but this really does, especially if you apply with fingertips as you would skincare, rather than a brush.

Here are the before and after photos, although I think that moving film captures the glow best. In fact I almost wish I didn’t have to post the comparison pictures, because it’s in real life and when the light is moving that the skin really comes alive! Nevertheless here we are:

There’s no dramatic total-wipeout of the facial features, but the overall skintone is more even, more glowing whilst retaining the nuances of real skin.

You can probably tell that I like this foundation a lot, even with its couture price-tag. Many would want a better return on investment – a more dramatic transformation – but for those who seek the ultimate “my skin but better” finish, it’s a viable option. It comes in a whopping 36 shades with different undertones well catered for and it’s suitable for any skin type. Though you might want a spot of primer beneath it on oily parts of your face, if you get them. After a full (hot) day I might get some minor slippage on my nose, but at certain times of the month my nose becomes a grease factory and so that’s really splitting hairs.

Apply after moisturiser and/or sunscreen (Sublime Perfection doesn’t contain any, which I kind of like because if I’m out then I always have a standalone SPF on underneath anyway) and use fingertips to sheer out and blend or a brush to build up slightly heavier coverage. I wear a mix of shade 13 and 8 (those were the samples sent out, I didn’t go drunk shopping!) with about two parts 8 to one part 13. So I reckon I would be a 10 or 11 if I actually went out IRL and got matched at a counter.

You can find the full Pat McGrath Labs range at Selfridges on the brand website. The Skin Fetish Sublime Perfection foundation is £60 at Selfridges here*.

If you like that fresh glow  effect then take a look at Clinique’s Even Better Glow here or the aforementioned Estée Lauder Futurist foundation, review here.

The post Foundation Review: Pat McGrath Labs Sublime Perfection appeared first on A Model Recommends.

©2020 " Foundation Review: Pat McGrath Labs Sublime Perfection published first on https://medium.com/@SkinAlley

[theplaguezine]

SEAR BLISS

Interview with András Nagy by Daniel Hinds

(conducted February 2000)

Sear Bliss is one of the coolest bands to emerge from the dark/black metal scene in the past few years.  Mixing up elements of black, death and doom metal with acoustic guitar and mournful trumpet, the band really defines their own sound.  1998 saw the release of the epic The Haunting and the band has been busy readying a follow-up for release sometime this year, as soon as a solid deal is signed.

Bassist/vocalist András Nagy (pictured above with drummer Zoltán) reveals the story behind this dark and creative outfit...

Can you tell me a little about how you personally first got interested in playing bass? Well, I first got interested in bass when I was 14. Then I bought a bass guitar and started rehearsing with some of my friends. I had a couple of bands back then but nothing serious. Anyway, I started playing guitar when I was ten years old. Later, I discovered that bass is my instrument. When things turned serious with Sear Bliss, I went to a professional bass teacher to have some lessons. By the way, I have always been into low tones and I really love the grounding sound of the bass guitar. That's why I chose the bass.

When did you first get into metal?  What were some of your early favorite bands/albums? Probably it may seem impossible but I'm a metal fan since the age of 9. You know, I always had elder friends in the school and when they showed me Inside the Electric Circus from WASP, suddenly everything changed in me and I got hooked on metal. Of course, I didn't understand the meaning of it then but it changed my life. That is still one of my dearest albums anyway. Besides WASP, my early favourites were: Metallica (Master Of Puppets is one of the best album ever), Iron Maiden (Powerslave mostly), Running Wild, and some heavier like Sodom, Destruction, Kreator, Deathrow, etc..... I still like them very much.

Did you play in any bands prior to Sear Bliss? As I told you, I played in a couple of bands before but they were nothing serious. I formed Sear Bliss in 1993 and I was quite young then, so it was and still is my main band.

How did Sear Bliss first come together? In a very spooky night and a very eerie autumn... haha, I like these cliches. Actually, it happened in 1993 when I decided to form Sear Bliss with the aim to create something fresh and a bit outside the norm. The line up was ready quite quickly, as I had some musician friends. So, we started rehearsing like hell and we wrote a couple of songs. We have shown no sign of existence til 1995 when we recorded our first and only demo, entitled The Pagan Winter.

'Sear Bliss' is a great band name.  How did you come up with it?  Is there any special meaning behind it? I'm glad you like it. Thank you. Actually, I can't remember exactly how I come up with it. I often read poetry and I was inspired by a poem of Charles Baudleaire when I found out this name. I wanted something unique, not the average shit, you know. I was sick of the many boring and brainless band names at that time.

On the main page of your web-site, it says "Atmospheric Black Metal."  Is this how you would describe Sear Bliss' music? No. It was probably the idea of the web masters. I'm going to tell them to change it. I'm not into labeling our music as atmospheric black metal. I would describe it as a very dark and sorrowful music - similar to black metal. Our music is more complex in some ways. I mean, we use acoustic guitars, trumpets, etc. and we try to play intelligent music in the metal genre. It's a mixture of the feelings and emotions of the different personalities found in Sear Bliss. Anyway, it's up to the people to describe it.

Can you describe to me the typical process you guys go through when writing songs? We write our songs at home mostly. My ideas for a song are born when I'm alone. I play it for the other guys and each of us put his own ideas into the song. The process is very democratic in Sear Bliss. Each of us has got the right to put something into the song. We rehearse the parts and try to get a whole song together. Sometimes it takes quite a lot of time. By the way, a lot of things inspire us during the process of writing.

On The Haunting, you had a few people outside the band write or co-write some of the lyrics. How did you hook up with them? They are close friends of ours. They knew our music and the songs very well, so they created some lyrics for us that we liked and thought would fit well to the songs, so we used their ideas. We like these lyrics. The names of those who contributed to the lyrics are: Attila Halasz, he is a great friend of mine for a long time. He taught me to speak English and he helped a lot to Sear Bliss when we started. Anyway, he lives in Australia. Laszlo Fodor is a friend of ours and he is the editor of Stygian Shadows 'zine and David Bowers is a Sear Bliss fan from the States and we are in contact for years now.

The use of trumpet is very inspired and really adds to your sound.  What made you guys decide to take this rather bold step in the first place?  Can we expect more trumpet in the future? The idea of using trumpet in this rather violent type of music came to my mind when I formed the band. Actually we wanted to try fresh things and to be original and exciting, that's why we include this instrument. Actually, with the softening sound of the trumpet we try to find the right balance between anger and desire, the two main components of Sear Bliss' music. A lot of bands use violins and cellos but I think the brasses are a lot more powerful. Some people think it's nonsense to use a trumpet in this music but when they listen to our albums or come to our gigs, their point of view changes. Yes, you can expect more trumpet in future, definitely. We will give more creativity and space to this instrument.

It has been a couple of years since The Haunting was released.  Have there been any line-up changes during that time? Yes, there have been some changes, as we have a new guitar player and a new keyboard player now. Two years have passed since "The Haunting" and it turned out that some of us weren't dedicated to the band totally, therefore the changes were needed.

Have you started work yet on the new album? Absolutely. With full force. Actually, we have written the whole album. We are ready and eager to record it.  The fact is that our contract is fulfilled and we are looking for a good label. Fortunately, we got some offers, so I hope we can record the album soon. We will make an advance recording in February and hopefully we will record the album in spring. It will contain 7 songs and probably it is going to be our most powerful material.

How is it sounding in comparison to your previous works? The songs are more violent and fierce, but we keep the moody parts played with the acoustic guitars and the trumpet. We want to eliminate the faults we had in the sound last time. So, we are striving for a more dynamic production. Music-wise it is going to be more improved and it will have a deeper meaning but let's talk of it when we hold the CD in our hand.

Who will you have produce the new album?  Where will it be recorded? We will record it in Hungary this time, in a very professional studio and we will have a very good producer, so we hope the production will live up to our expectations. The advance recording in February will take place in a smaller but quite good studio in our town anyway.

The Haunting was recorded in Holland.  What made you decide to record there? Actually, our label advised that we should record there. It was a very good studio but our label fucked up the sound. We spent almost two weeks there to record everything and to make a rough mix which sounded quite good. Then we went home and let the sound engineer do the final mixing. When he finished, our label wanted to re-mix the whole thing because they were not satisfied with the sound. They did the remix without any sense for sound engineering and this is the result. We were quite angry because the production they did is quite shit but what can we do? We were not pleased with this label anyway. It was great fun to record in Holland, but this time we won't let anyone fuck the production up. We want to control everything by ourselves.

So far, all your releases have been through II Moons/Mascot.  How did you initially hook up with the label?  Are you satisfied with their work so far?  Will you continue working with them in the future? When we released our demo The Pagan Winter in 1995 we sent it to a lot of labels. That demo was quite popular in the underground scene, we sold 900 copies of it without any promotion and we got very good responses and reviews. Things went quickly and we got some offers from a couple of labels and Mascot seemed the most serious one, so we signed to them. As I told before, we are no longer at Mascot and we are looking for a better and more trustable label, so we will not continue working with them. All in all, we are satisfied with their work and they helped a lot in the early times which is good, but on the other hand they were dishonest sometimes and we don't like that, so the change was needed.

How is the scene in Hungary?  Are you in touch with many other bands or not? It's getting strong now, there are many good bands over here, playing serious music and wanting the world know that "yes" there is high quality original metal music in Hungary. I hope more and more Hungarian bands will get international recognition soon. We are not in touch with many bands. We are now used to working on our own.

Looking at the concert dates on your web-site, it appears you played a number of shows all over Europe in 1997.  Any special memories from that tour that you'd like to share?  Who all did you play with? Yeah, it was a very good and memorable tour. We played with Marduk and Tsatthoggua and it was a great opportunity for us. We have a lot of special memories, I wish I could return to those days. Marduk is a really great band and it was a nice surprise that they are such cool guys. As far as the shows are concerned, people were surprised by our music. You know our music is quite different than Marduk's. It was unusual for the crowd to see a trumpet player. It was good to see that Sear Bliss is not unknown abroad. Especially people in Holland and Italy have shown big interest for our music. I really enjoyed the whole tour. The guys from Marduk were great and it was good to meet some exciting people, to see different countries. Travelling a lot and playing each night is quite a big challenge, but I enjoyed it anyway. We had an opportunity to tour with Ancient to support The Haunting but unfortunately we had to cancel it due to my studying at a university. I regret it but I hope we can tour again after the release of our new album.

How have the albums sold so far?  What countries do you have the largest followings in? Unfortunately we don't know too much of the sales because of the dishonesty of our label. I don't know exact numbers but we know that almost 10,000 copies have been sold from the first album Phantoms, which is very good for a debut album. The Haunting was sold a bit lesser and The Pagan Winter mini-CD, too. Sale wise Holland, Germany and Greece were the best countries but I think we have the most enthusiastic following in Hungary.

All of your CDs have very beautiful, epic album covers.  Is it the same artist (Kris Verwimp) that did all of them or not?  How did you hook up with him? Yes, Kris did all of our cover artworks and we are very satisfied with his works. I think our covers are perfect visualizations of our music and Kris is able to paint what we want to see. We always tell him our ideas and draw some drafts, he listens to the songs and reads the lyrics to have a clue of what we want to express. Anyway, our label offered him and I was really astonished when I first saw the artwork for Phantoms. We met Kris in Holland when we toured and he is a nice guy. We want to continue working with him in the future.

Do you follow the metal scene at large?  What is your opinion about how the black metal scene as a whole has developed over the past ten years? Of course I follow the scene, as I'm interested in it very much. As far as the development of the black metal scene is concerned, I think it's got both the negative and positive side of it. I mean, it was good that suddenly a lot of great albums were released, but on the other hand, there were too many poor productions released. Many young bands without knowing how to play even one single note on their instrument. That fact surely destroyed the scene. I see that there are not too many black metal bands nowadays than a couple of years ago and the style is not so popular or trendy and that's good because the weak bands passed away and mostly the stronger and original bands stayed, there are not that many average ones. Black metal is existing for a long time and will be here forever.

The lyrics to "Land of Silence" are very interesting.  It seems to reflect a yearning for times of old, before so-called 'progress' destroyed the bond between humans and nature.  It also has something of an optimistic feeling, that there is hope.  Is this even close to what you were trying to express?  Please tell me what thoughts and feelings inspired this track. Yes, what you told is perfectly right but actually there was a real inspiration for this song.  After the first World War, the mighty Transylvania (along with other great territories) was stolen from Hungary. Transylvania now belongs to Romania because some fuckers decided that a beat country has to lose more. Transylvania is almost as big as the whole of Hungary now. It was a very mournful moment in the history of Hungary. I'm of Transylvanian origin, so it means a lot for me. My grandparents had to escape over the border to come to Hungary because the Romanians tried and are still trying to destroy everything which has got something to do with Hungary. These mournful things inspired this song. Transylvania is an incredibly beautiful place, full of enormous mountains and forests. If you read the lyrics now, aware of the things I mentioned, you can find these inspirations. Of course, these lyrics can be described the way you did figuratively.

What are your personal thoughts on religion vs. spirituality? Actually, I hate any kind of religion. Every religion is worthless when it becomes organized. So for me the image of any god means nothing. Religions destroy the personal freedom, individuality and spirituality too. Those who need religion are weak in some ways, I think.

Do you have any special interests outside of music? Sure. I have a lot of interests. For example I'm interested in movies, mostly David Lynch movies. I love sci-fi too. 2001 is definitely the best one ever created. I'm into motor bikes, too, and I'm interested in some sports, but these are just daily hobbies.

Has anyone in the band worked on any side-projects or is everyone pretty focused on Sear Bliss? Sear Bliss is definitely the most important for us; it is our main band, however some of us are involved in other bands, too. Our drummer is playing with a jazz band but it's only a project and he helps them as a session drummer. I got a side project which I do with our former keyboard player. It's a very dark and terrifying music. Quite horrible and chaotic, haha. Anyway, we plan to record a demo in the next couple of month.

Do you have any long-term goals for Sear Bliss? Of course we have. Now the most important is to record and release our new album firstly. Then we will have a couple gigs in the next months and we would like to tour as soon as possible. By the way, we have a strange plan for the summer. We were asked by a quite famous Hungarian director to do a very special performance. They want Sear Bliss to be featured in a Brecht opera on stage. He directs the opera with our music and it's quite strange as we don't write music for this opus, but he directs it to our songs. The money for the budget is almost there, so the rehearsals will start in April and the performances will take place in the summer as a tour in Hungary's theaters. It's definitely a unique plan and a great challenge for us. We don't know what to expect but we will see, haha. People will be surprised for sure.

www.searbliss.hu