#but shes invested now what are you gonan do you know?

[colorisbyshe]

oh FUCK jessie ware lyrics videos are already UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

okay my quick reviews of pre-release singles: pearls > free yourself > begin again but they’re all FLAWLESS tracks

OKAY THOUGHTS OF THE ALBUM IN ORDER:

that! feels good!: the FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNK. HER SULTRY VOICE???????????????????? YES IF YOU’RE GONAN DO IT WELL, DO IT WELL! hONESTLY this track really highlights my gripe with a lot of current pop/dance music. samples and interpolation or just heavily relying on a nostalgic sound can be fucking INCREDIBLE if you put your pussy into it. like reviving old sounds nad songs is GREAT!! but you hav eto OWN IT AND JESSIE IS OWNING HTIS  SHE IS DOING IT WELL. OH THE HORNS ARE HERE?????????? YESSSSSSSSSS MS WARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

okay free  youself and pearls are here, i’ve alreayd gushed about them on this blog

hello love: time has turned its back on us is a line that huuuurts. i’m not big into slower songs but this has juuust enough momentum to keep me engaged and it’s got me got me got me invested and ready to wail along. oooh the horn throughline, is this gonna be a mainstay across the labum? into it. god i nEED to see this live. GOOSEBUMPS!!!!!!!!

also pause to say jessie mentioned wanting to collab with beyonce and just listneing to this much of the labum... they need to do a joint PROJECT. not jus ta song... a fucking album

beautiful people: ooh LUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSH BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE ARE EVERYWHERE!!! this album is leaning heavyyyy into its disco-inspiration and i’m here for it. the slick production of 2023 could end up feeling kinda sterile but instead its slick like sweat on the dance floor. this song has ths sort of urgency of like being drunk at the club and wanting to tak ea break but you literally just can’t stay off the dance floor like you gotta get back UP!

freak me now:

freak me now is gonna be a mainstay of my work out playlist like... so simple and yet so FUCKING EFFECTIVE. PUT THAT ASS ON THE FLOOR. god the way she sings don’t cool me doWN is fuckin me uppppppppp

shake the bottle: camp (complementary) intro. i think tracks off what’s  your pleasure did this type of song a bit better than this track did but i’m NOT mad at this track. the oooh ah! bits are addictive, i love a lil ad lib thing. i think this album needs to... shake  up the sound a bit more, beacus ei think it get sa bit loss in the repetition, but like if THIS is the weakest rtrack on the album, this rEMAINS a top tier album

lightning: WHY IS THERE NO LYRICS VIDEO??? I WILL RETURN WHEN ITS AVAILABLE TO SHARE MY HTOUGHTS

these lips: MOANED AGAIN. this song is pussy licking good. the singing is so pretty and then the lyrics are just like HELLOOOOO WE FUCKIN

anyways my final thoughts:

this is SUCH a conceptually cohesive album, sometimes to its detriment (I know it’s going to take a while for me to tell some of the songs apart). i think what’s your pleasure set the bar SOOO high with how it was both cohesive AND extremely varied, with extremely high highs and no lows. buuuuuuuuut... god? this albums only weak spot is just... not being as good as the previous album

i hope it sparks a true blue disco revival. i hope jessie puts out some incredible remixes.

this album is teh song of the summer

[evienyx]

You answered that one question about the Earth Kingdom kid Lee and it got me thinking... You know that one line where the kid is like 'When my dad goes... Will you stay?' What about an AU where, instead of saying no, Zuko says 'Yes.'

Gansu and Sela’s footsteps faded away as Lee tugged on his sleeve. Zuko met the boy’s eyes as he asked, “When my dad goes... Will you stay?”

Zuko blinked. Thoughts roared through his head, images of his mother, and his sister, and his father. He thought of a wanted poster he’d seen when he and Uncle had taken a risk passing through a Fire Nation outpost, the words proclaiming he was wanted dead or alive. He thought of Azula, sent by his father to being him home as a prisoner. He thought of his mother, her loving words, and the day she disappeared because his dad was going to kill him. He thought of the Avatar, looking down at him with shining eyes, asking if they could have been friends. He thought of Uncle Iroh, out there somewhere, alone and yet, surely, still wishing the best for him.

Zuko thought about about how, for the first time in a long time, he truly had no one left, and nowhere to go.

So, instead of moving on, he looked down at the young boy’s shining eyes, so much like the Avatar’s own when he asked that question all those months ago, and said, “Yes.”

- - -

“I’ll get you some food for the road,” Sela said the moment Zuko entered the house. She was wrapping food up already, for her husband, he guessed. “I assume you’ll be leaving around when Gansu does?”

“Uh, actually, I...” Zuko hesitated for a moment. Was he being presumptuous and just assuming they’d still want him around? “I was wondering if I could... stay here, a while longer? Help... Help around the farm, or something?”

Sela’s hands stopped moving and she turned to look at him, her eyes widening a bit. “What?”

“If... If that’s fine?”

She stared at him for a moment, her hands slowly beginning to move again as she said, “We don’t have any extra money to pay you with. All I could give is a place to sleep and something to eat.”

“That’s fine,” Zuko said, his heart pounding in his chest. “I don’t have anywhere else to go.”

Sela’s eyes moved to the bedroom where Gansu was packing up his things, and then out the window where Lee was out in the sunflower field, whacking at a bug flying around his head. Her gaze moved back to Zuko and she cracked a smile, her face tired as she said, “We’d love to have you.”

- - -

Gansu was gone, and Gow was coming down the path to the house. The pigs squealed at him as he and his men came toward them.

Zuko met Gow’s gaze as the men got closer and was reminded of another man who cared only for himself and his own glory, who fought for himself and himself alone until the Ocean Spirit dragged him into oblivion.

Zuko’s swords rested at his side, but he didn’t make to grab them, yet. 

“Seems we caught you on your way out, stranger,” Gow said. His smile was akin to that of Zhao when he knew he got the one-up on Zuko. 

Zuko’s lips felt dry as he shook his head. “Actually, I think I’m gonna stick around for a while.”

Gow’s smile fell into more of a sneer. “Shame. Thought you were smarter than that, stranger. Seems not.”

Zuko’s hand slowly moved up to rest on the hilt of his swords. “Why are you here?”

Gow glanced back at the door to the house, where Sela and Lee stood, watching. “The army’s in need of food. We’re going around to... collect, from all the wonderful families in town. We know how much they all support our troops and are eager to show their appreciation.” 

Sela was out of the house in a moment, carrying two bags of feed. Her eyes were even more tired than they had been when Gansu had set off. She hands the bags to Gow, who looks satisfied, though his eyes flash when they meet Zuko’s again. Zuko almost starts forward, but Sela places her hand on his shoulder and shakes her head, and instead Zuko stands there, watching, until the Gow and his men are long gone.

- - -

It’s during dinner the first night after Gansu’s left that Sela asks him his name.

“If you’re going to be staying here, that might be a bit of valuable information,” she said as she spooned more rice into his bowl/

Zuko freezes for a moment. He glances up at Sela, and then at Lee.

“My... My name’s... Well, my name is Li.” They both stare for a moment and he quickly adds, “Li with an ‘i’.”

There’s a beat of silence, and then Sela snorts and Lee throws his hands in the air and rounds on his mother, exclaiming, “Why did you have to name me the same thing that everyone else is named?!?”

Zuko doesn’t realize he’s smiling until after it’s already happening.

“So, what should we call you, then?” Sela asked.

Zuko thought of the mask sitting hidden deep in his bag and replied, “Uh, I’ve been called Blue, before.” At the questioning eyes, he shrugged and said, “It’s a long story.”

“All right, then,” Sela said, nodding. A soft smile graced her lips as she bowed her head in a formal greeting. “Nice to meet you, Li. May I call you Blue?”

Zuko returned the greeting. “Nice to meet you, too, Sela. You may.”

Her smile widened a bit more. She told him to eat, and he did.

- - -

The soldiers come every day.

Every day, Zuko does his very best to stop them from taking more.

Sometimes, it’s not enough.

And yet, sometimes, it is.

(Every time Gow approaches and sees Zuko standing there, again, he seems a bit more on edge than the time before.)

- - -

It was the eleventh night, when he’s laying in the barn, staring up at the ceiling and trying to go to sleep, when the realization hit him.

Father didn’t care about him.

Father didn’t love him,

Father didn’t even want him.

Zuko had been banished over three years ago, and the Avatar hadn’t returned until late last autumn. No one had known that the Avatar would come back. And yet that had been the only way Zuko would have been able to go home.

Agni, if he had been captured for good at Avatar Roku’s temple on the solstice, he would be dead now.

He was banished.

“He didn’t want me,” Zuko murmured to himself. “Oh, Agni, Dad doesn’t want me.”

He sat there for a moment, and then he started sobbing.

Sela found him about an hour later, pressed against the back wall, trembling, tears still streaming down his face. Agni, Dad didn’t want him. He never had. He had never loved Zuko. Burns dotting his body (and one marring his face) proved it.

“Blue. Blue, it’s all right.”

Zuko shook his head. “It’s not, it’s not.” She didn’t get it, she didn’t get it. She didn’t understand, and she couldn’t, because if she did, then that was it. Nowhere left for Zuko to go. End of story.

(He hadn’t been in one place for this long since before he was banished.)

“Could you tell me what’s wrong?”

The words escaped him before he could stop them. “He doesn’t want me. He never did. He doesn’t love me, he doesn’t care, he doesn’t want me.”

“Who?”

“My father.”

She’s quiet for a moment, and Zuko’s not looking at her. He’s simply trying to breathe and to stop crying but he can’t, he can’t, he can’t-

“Why do you think he doesn’t want you?”

Zuko let out a wet laugh and shook his head. “He knows me. He doesn’t want me.” He paused. “You wouldn’t, either, if you knew.”

“Why?” 

He didn’t respond.

Sela stepped forward and knelt in front of him. “Blue, please, talk to me. How do you know that neither your father nor I would want you?”

“I know that he doesn’t want me. He’s made that pretty clear.”

“What do you mean?”

Zuko felt a surge of emotion run through him as he looked up and met Sela’s sad, tired eyes. He yanked up the sleeve covering one of his arms. “I know he doesn’t want me, because he gave me these.” Zuko waved at the small burn scars visible across his skin, from training gone wrong, and, more, from discipline from Father. These ones were light, fading already. “And he gave me this.” He gestured at his scar, and Sela’s face scrunched up, her eyebrows furrowing as she thought deeply.

“What... What do you mean he gave you those?”

He supposed that she was going to figure it out already anyway, so he reached a hand out, folded down all fingers but one, and then, with blood rushing past his ears and his heart pounding in his chest, lit a single finger on fire.

Her reaction was instantaneous. She jumped back from him like she was the one who had been burned, her eyes wide and fiery, even after Zuko let the flame fall away. Her gaze moved from him to the house, as if she was wondering if she could get to her son faster than Zuko could burn down the farm.

“I told you,” he said. His voice must have been more exhausted than he thought, because something in her eyes softened just a bit. Still, she remained silent.

Zuko stood up, and Sela tensed, her shoulders rising just a bit. He stared at his feet for a moment before saying, “I’m going to go grab Lychee. I’ll be gone in five minutes, I promise.” There was a beat of silence, and then he added, because he felt obligated to, “I’m sorry.”

Zuko took a few steps to grab his swords. Just as he was leaning down to grab the straps, he froze as two arms suddenly wrapped around him.

When he was released, he turned around, and Sela looked up at him and cupped his good cheek and asked, “Your father did that to you?”

Zuko’s throat felt tight, and he nodded rather than speaking.

Her eyes were so tired, and sad, as she whispered brokenly, “They won’t even spare their own children...”

Zuko didn’t leave that night. Instead, Sela dragged him inside and had him sleep in the recently emptied attic.

There was a small hole in the roof, and through it he could count the stars.

- - -

The next day, Lee didn’t speak to him. Just glared.

Then, the morning after, he did.

The boy’s voice was tight as he said, “So. My mom said you’re a firebender.”

Zuko’s throat felt tight again and his mouth was dry and his heart was pounding  as he nodded.

“She also said your dad was the one who burned your face.”

Zuko paused, and then nodded again.

Lee made an odd face. Then, he said, “The Fire Nation sucks.”

Zuko slowly shook his head. “Not all of it.”

A beat. “No. Not all of it.”

Lee sounded years older than he was, and it made Zuko hurt inside to think about another child forced to grow up too soon.

- - -

It was the fourteenth morning when Sela visited him as he fed the pigs (just as Gansu had shown him, before the man had left).

“What’s your name?” She asked. 

He paused, and then said, “I told you. It’s Li, with an ‘i’.’”

“No, it’s not. I know it’s not.” She took a step forward. “Please,” she said, her voice tired. “Don’t lie.”

“...It’s Zuko.”

“...That’s the name of the prince.”

“...I know.”

She didn’t say anything else. He didn’t know if she thought he was the prince, or if she thought he was simply named the same thing.

He didn’t deign to say anything more, and she didn’t deign to ask.

- - -

It was the seventeenth day when everything went really wrong, really fast.

Zuko was in town with both Sela and Lee. The boy was slowly warming up to him again, which made Zuko happy in a way he couldn’t quite describe.

Zuko watched Lee play with two other children while Sela traded some of the farm’s grain from the last harvest for a variety of medicinal herbs. Zuko was tasked with selling the sunflowers they had picked to the merchant that came by every few weeks. The flowers would be made into dye, and Lee was excited about the extra coin they would have. Sela had promised him a nice dinner.

“Looks like a storm’s coming in,” said a woman to her husband. “We need to make sure to bring the cows in before it hits.”

The merchant handed Zuko the coin for the flowers. Zuko pocketed the money before turning and scanning the sky. Sure enough, dark clouds gathered to the west. 

“Gonna be a big one,” said an older man across the square. “Weird to see something that big outside of monsoon season. Spirits, it’s weird to see something that big during monsoon season this close to the desert.”

Zuko furrowed his eyebrows. The way the clouds rolled, the color, it all seemed... wrong. He moved toward an alley between two buildings and passed out of the square. Zuko’s eyes trailed the clouds. Why did it feel like he recognized the way the clouds looked?

It hit him like a sack of bricks.

It was because he did recognize the way the clouds looked.

Because those weren’t clouds.

That was a blanket of smog.

Zuko didn’t know why the Fire Nation was moving that many machines into the Earth Kingdom right now, but he didn’t have the time to wonder. He guessed that they were aiming to capture another large piece of land in one swoop, and, based on how close that ‘storm’ was, he guessed that this village would be in the blast zone.

Zuko ran back into the town square and, without even thinking much, yelled, “That’s not a storm! It’s smog. The Fire Nation is on its way!”

Silence. Gow and his men moved forward.

“Stirring up a panic is not a good look on you, stranger,” Gow said, even though Zuko had been here for three weeks now.

Gow took a step. Then, a fireball shot out from nowhere and struck him in the face. Another hit him in the chest. Gow flew back with a pained cry, and didn’t get back up.

Someone screamed, and then panic.

It was hot, and there was fire, and suddenly Zuko had scooped Lee into his arms and had Sela’s hand in his and was running.

Zuko’s bag was packed already when they made it back to the farm. Sela told her son to grab clothes and food and stuff it in a bag and then get to the barn and untie the one remaining family ostrich horse. Zuko grabbed up his bag, stuffed feed into the remaining space, secured his sword, and went to grab Lychee from the barn.

“Where are we going?” Lee asked five minutes later when Zuko was helping him onto the mount, Sela securing the boy in front of her.

Zuko hopped onto Lychee and the horses started moving as the pigs started squealing, as if someone was coming.

A plume of smoke rose behind them as Sela handed a map to her son to hold. She glanced down at it, then at Zuko, and then said, “We’re going to Ba Sing Se.”

The sky was dark with smoke and Zuko rode away from the town he had entered as a single traveler after three weeks of labor.

Now, his muscles ached, and his heart pounded, and he wasn’t alone anymore.

[staliasjeronica]

Riverdale S5 Ep15 Thoughts *Spoilers*

Thoughts under cut to keep tag clean!

- I’m so fucking excited and hyped for this ep. I saw my entire tl on twitter SCREAMING so I can tell I’m going to love this ep. I mean, why wouldn’t I, focused eps are *chef’s kiss*

- THE OPENING OMG ALREADY PERFECTION! I’ve missed Valerie and Melody 🥺🥺

- “babe” SCREAMING BYE “MY LOVE” “BABY” I CANNOTTTT

- When Riverdale is able to write relationships within two minutes, just not for bhva asdfghjkl; its so funny to me tbh anyways they’re so cute pls

- JOSIE 💞💞💞 TABITHA BEING A FANGIRL DAHFKJADSGF we love “in the flesh, in the faux fur"

- the song, the flashbacks… I’m gonna be dead by the end of this oMG CHUCK AND JOSIE </3 they deserved a chance. Archosie, another couple who deserved more AND SWOSIE!!!

- Omg Val and Mel joining in the song FUCK this is why they should leave the actual singers to the songs/musicals because when they force it, it’s all cringe.

- MS. NEWMAR? “No live music”�� okay sure like it’s happened before lol. The ONLY people we know who live in the Pembrooke are Hiram and Veronica, and everyone else don't seem rich enough to live there (but again they never show anything to explain so we wouldn’t know) so like… suffer Hiram <3 Josie is more important

- “Nice to know you’re still a little bitch.” GO OFF JOSIE!

- TABITHARONNIE!!!!!!!!!!!! If only you didn’t buy a football team or a firetruck, but at least she didn’t do it anyways to fuck Tabitha’s idea up. But then again she’s not Betty lol

- Teaching a music class at Riverdale 🥺🥺🥺

- Alexandra Cabet?? Oh that’s the girl from the stills I was wondering who the hell that was lfajsdkf VERONICA HELPING FIND SOMEONE TO INVEST IN POP’S/TABITHA AWW we love our good girl Veronica Lodge

- JOSIE’S OUTFIT FUCKKKK and them singing broooooo

- Josie seeing Archie 🥺🥺🥺

- nO NOT THAT BEING MY RINGTONE NOO

- Jeronica sitting together muah

- JOSIE CALLING OUT JUGHEAD AND BETTY AND CHERYL we love that for her! But yeah guys chill tf out with making plans that involve her… without asking her

- SWEET PEA OMG “WELL YOU WANT A RIDE” I’M GONAN FUCKING FAINT

- THE MAKEOUT SESSION FIASUDJKHFBDSJKHFUGDBJNSDFIHKJ THE HAIR THAT’S DANGLING

- SP sleeping bby and him being soft UGH BABYYYYYY. HIM NOOT WANTING HER TO LEAVE FUCK MEEEEEEE god they’re so cute they deserved so much betttter

- OMG SP BEING A LITTLE LOVESICK PUPPY I’M GONNA BE SICKKKKK HOW CUTE the second I can make gifs of this ep……

- Josie being gobsmacked at their performance ahhhhhhh!!!

- VALERIE EATING UP THE STAGEE OKAY GIRL I SEE YOU

- OH HELLO TONI! Omg little shop of horrors!

- THOSE BLUE POP JACKETS…. I WANT!

- it was so weird that Kevin was just… there and then he disappears like what was the point of him being there?

- TWENTY YEARS? girl what—why so long?

- Josie’s dad died huh :(

- She knew Josie would go to Riverdale 😭😭

- Considering my mom died like last month this hits so fucking hard right now FUCK

- All of her dad’s songs 🥺😭💔

- Melody having Valerie’s back 😭😭

- NO WE ARE NOT CHANGING THE MILKSHAKES BITCH! First black owned business in town, a LEGACY! Go Tabitha 🥺🥺

- no but I’m crying. “I just wanna sing with you one more time.” STOP

- Josie and the Pussycats deciding to help save Riverdale 🥺🥺🥺

- Veronica next to Fangs my besties! Also of course curdle is a Josie fan fadsfjksdfhajs

- God their voices are just so good together

- That little Archosie moment BRUH

- ARCHIE?!?!?!? KISSING KEVIN!?!?!? BRO BRO BRO

- “There is no better spot to play music than here.” Yeah Alexandra or whatever your name is mmhm

- Josie singing a song for her dad 🥺😭💔❤️

- FANGS AND CHERYL HELPING TONI HAVE THE EBABY BRUHHHH also Sweet Pea in the back muah also also BARCHIE SITTING IN A BOOTH BY THEMSELVES!

- “Typical Riverdale, the Pussycats getting upstaged by something.” “Better a baby than a dead body."

- It’s a boy 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 also we see that foreshadowing for Freddie Andrews! Barpregnancy here we come!!

- Veronica in leather muah

- That fake baby love it. wasn’t her grandfather awful to her? But anyways Anthony <3

- I’M IN IT FOR THE LONG HAUL, MARRIED OR NOT <3

- Sweet Pea in plaid muahhhh Sweet Pea wanting to leave with her I COULD BE YOUR ANYTHING FUCKKKK I hope this isn’t a send off for Sweet Pea (but also that means they can’t fuck with his character, and if there IS a pussycats spin off as there should be, he might show up there because Swosie endgame!) this definitely gives off pilot vibes “You’re gonna be hearing from us again” THE OUTRO? Nah there HAS to be a spin off

- and back to the crazy for next week