#but yeah it's a very good album

[crispyflowerblaze]

been listening to the album You Don't Mess Around With Jim by Jim Croce (albeit, skipping Photographs and Memories almost every time and sometimes skipping some others, but not as much lately) so much lately so i wanted to just list thoughts about every song

You Don't Mess Around With Jim - honestly such a freaking bop, just gets better every time I listen to it. one of many songs where there's a lot where i genuinely don't know the words and my singing is just mumbling and very vaguely getting the sounds and stuff, but honestly, i love to be blissfully ignorant about lyrics and just sing nonsense. every time i learn lyrics where before i just sang nonsense, a little bit of my innocence dies. anyway

Tomorrow's Gonna Be a Brighter Day - love this one, not going into details about him but sometimes this song reminds me a little of my boyfriend, and yeah i just love this one, i always get so into, love "reach into heaven and pull you down a star" ahhh

New York's Not My Home - not the most exciting song, but gosh i appreciate it so much. i feel like everyone loves New York City (that's a humongous generalization obviously) but i am just so not a city person and i love this song that's just like yeah New York City is really weird and not very good, also i like the part about learning a lot of lessons but they weren't the nice kind, like yeah sometimes you learn a lesson but you wish you didn't have to go through that, so yeah it's not like i absolutely love how it sounds or think it's amazing lyrics but i love what it stands for

Hard Time Losin' Man - such a bop omg, yeah i really love this one, the "i hit a bump" lyric always makes me laugh, i love the oregano lyric, and yeah it's just a bop! another one where i'm just singing nonsense for a lot of it and yeah ditto to what i said earlier about that, i do not need to know the lyrics

Photographs and Memories - yeah i've listened to this one way less than the others cus whenever i do listen to it i'm just kinda bored. my personal opinion obviously, not saying it's a boring song

Walkin' Back to Georgia - another one i skip sometimes, but i definitely like it. i like how all of the "the girl who said you love me" or whatever it is sound, the way i worded that was so clumsy but whatever, and yeah it's definitely nice

Operator (That's Not the Way It Feels) - for the longest time this was the only song i knew from this album, and yeah i'm so obsessed with it, like of course whenever i listen to it i think like yeah this is just like customer service interactions when the customer is trying to tell me their life story and being so annoying lol, but i don't care, i just absolutely adore this song

Time in a Bottle - another one i sometimes skip, i think it's like i'm not in love with the lyrics or the way it sounds but it makes me think of my boyfriend lol, cus yes i really do want to save every day till eternity passes just to spend it with him, yes relatable

Rapid Roy (That Stock Car Boy) - man i love this one, another freaking bop and possibly the biggest bop on the album? but don't hold me to that. what's so funny is that at first whenever i listened to it, like earlier this summer, every lyrics besides that whole part that repeats just went completely over my head and i genuinely thought this song was just that part and then that part again and i was like yeah it's catchy but too repetitive, so i don't know what was going on there, but yeah this song is so freaking catchy and such a bop, the thing about a tattoo that says baby and another one that just says hey is so fucking funny to me lol, but yeah i'm thinking maybe it is the biggest bop on the album (?)

Box #10 - another one i love, i don't really know what it is about it that i love but it's just really nice, hmm i somehow don't have any more thoughts on it

A Long Time Ago - one i used to skip before i was really familiar with it but that i don't anymore, yeah it's a nice song, i like the thing with like in the gold of morning there was nothing that i had not seen in your eyes, or whatever it was, cus like yeah for real

Hey Tomorrow - ahh i love this one so much, the first chords just strike such a specific feeling in me, so specific i can't describe it of course lmao. but yeah it's just so great

hmm let's try to rank them??

1) operator (that's not the way it feels)

2) you don't mess around with jim

3) rapid roy (that stock car boy)

4) tomorrow's gonna be a brighter day

5) hey tomorrow

6) hard time losin' man

7) box #10

8) new york's not my home

9) a long time ago

10) time in a bottle

11) walkin' back to georgia

12) photographs and memories

explanations:

nothing could go above operator, it's just too great, and the next four were pretty hard but i do love a bop, and i just felt like i enjoy you don't mess around with jim slightly more than rapid roy and same with tomorrow's gonna be a brighter day and hey tomorrow, then i love hard time losin' man and box #10 but they're just a little bit lower, and new york's not my home is next because of what it means to me, and then time in a bottle makes me have mushy feelings but i just had to put a long time ago above cus otherwise i'm kinda eh on time in a bottle, and then walkin' back to georgia is the one i'm most eh on besides photographs and memories

and just because i can't resist i want to mention other Jim Croce songs i've been listening to, which are just my faves, cus both other albums (well there was one before this one but i haven't listened to it, he looks so different on the cover and i think that's the main reason way lmao, i'm just like he doesn't look the same so it won't be as good lmao) didn't have enough ones i really liked to make me listen to all of it

I Got a Name - holy shit i love this song, it just feels so profound and just gets me deep in my soul, gosh i love it, i love that it mentions a whippoorwill, i just love it so much oh man

Workin' at the Car Wash Blues - ahh i love this one so much too, like the titular lyric is just so damn catchy, how did he make like the literal best melody in the world, i don't understand, points taken off for the gross lyric about the secretary but i just can't help adoring this song

One Less Set of Footsteps - i am literally obsessed with this song, oh man it's so good, just the part where there's like harmonies along with what he's singing or whatever that's called, like it just feels so full, ahh it's such an amazing song

Bad, Bad Leroy Brown - before discovering operator this was the only Jim Croce song i knew, and holy shit if you can only know one of his songs it should be this, i would die for this song, i love it so so so much, i'm still mad at that post i saw on here a while ago where it was a poll for this versus you don't mess around with jim, and that song won, and you saw that i love that song, i put it at #2 up there, but when i tell you that this song absolutely eviscerates that song, it absolutely eviscerates it. i could say maybe nostalgia is part of that, and obviously yes to some extent, but i truly believe this is his best song and one of the best songs ever, i just can't help but bounce in place when i hear the opening chords, i'm obsessed with it, it's so amazing

so let's try to do my top ten Jim Croce songs overall??

1) bad, bad leroy brown

2) one less set of footsteps

3) i got a name

4) operator (that's not the way it feels)

5) workin' at the car wash blues

6) you don't mess around with jim

7) rapid roy (that stock car boy)

8) tomorrow's gonna be a brighter day

9) hey tomorrow

10) hard time losin' man

was conflicted with operator vs car wash honestly, cus i mean the fact that i listen to operator and just can't not think about how i'd be annoyed at a customer like this (not like my job is anything like being an operator lmao) does mean that i'm not like so absolutely all-encompassingly obsessed with it as i used to be lol

but yeah, basically the takeaway from this post is that if bad, bad leroy brown has 100 fans i'm one of them. if bad, bad leroy brown has 10 fans then i'm one of them. if bad, bad leroy brown has 1 fan then i'm that fan. if bad, bad leroy brown has no fans then i am no longer on this earth. if the world is against bad, bad leroy brown then i am against the world

(i've never seen the original source of that meme so did i do it correctly? i don't know and i'm content with that. this is my point from earlier about blissful ignorance)

[keirientez]

band au rahhhhhhhhhhh

[jackass-jones]

Come back home when you have some sense

You can throw your life away just not at my expense

You’re not the son I raised

[theywontletmebeprincipal]

compiled all (I hope) of fydolla ho (shawnee smith’s rock band)’s music into one (1) google drive file so that nobody has to listen to ads in between songs/worry about the yt reuploads getting taken down. have fun (`･ω･´)ゞ

[seaofreverie]

Today I want to share the joy that Reading A Newspaper has brought me recently (yesterday).

Because you see, it's not very often that I can read a several pages long good quality feature on a band that I'm something of a fan of, considering that until last year at best, all and any musical favourites I had were next to unheard of in the, let's call it, professional music business. And said feature also gave a few mentions to the one and only fav band of all time which I'm also still not used to being able to read about in my language (because it only happened like 5 times in total so far anyway, but still). And I can buy the newspaper in my local store in this minuscule town and find Sparks inside, like wow, it really is My Sparks, in this real life physical newspaper that I just got. This was like a belated but very epic christmas gift for me and I'm not kidding.

But well yeah getting to the point now, Franz Ferdinand are starting their tour soon promoting their upcoming new album and they're stopping in Poland too, so there was this whole 14-pages long overview of their whole career, and while I was obviously interested in the whole thing I was most hyped about the fact that there would have to be something about FFS and Sparks there and this brings me to my delighful observation that wow, all of this is so, connected in a way. Like how there are these connections in inspiration and collaborations between many of my favourites that I didn't even think about probably being a thing before, but when I think about it it just makes so much sense. Like how in this interview with Alex Kapranos, the interviewer brings up Talking Heads and specifically Fear of Music, because the new Franz Ferdinand album also has this sort of overarching theme of fear. And it's funny because that's the first Talking Heads album I've ever listened to and still my favourite from them to this day and overall one of my all-time favourite albums. And I guess it shouldn't be that shocking that it'd come up here because Talking Heads were super influential and inspired thousands, but also until now I didn't think about how both these bands share the general direction of creating dance-able type of rock with lyrics that are often on the more reflective and "intellectual" side. And also that album has been recommended to me as the most TMBG-like of theirs so. Wow I wonder why I like it.

Ok there were also all these other things that I want to mention too, so, other miscellaneous points of interest:

In the debut album review, the reviewer said that during Tell Her Tonight Alex sings a lot like Russell Mael, who likes to sing in falsetto. And well I know there's also the Sparks connection in the form of FFS to come later but still, this was such a great SPARKS MENTION!!!! moment for me anyway. But also they got one thing wrong, because it's not that Russell likes singing in falsetto, Ron forced him to sing in falsetto by writing all of his songs in this crazy uper range of notes, and that's a very important detail !!!!!!

And ok I had no idea that Piss Off already existed in some form as far back as 2004!! Or I knew about this and then I forgor. Either way, fascinating piece of information

I need to know more about how these star-based ranking systems work because why would you call FFS an "excellent album" and then rate it 4 stars. Instead of, I don't know, 4 and a half or 5 maybe?? Especially since it apparently has only 2 "weak songs". And I have some major objections when it comes to this too, because we're calling Things I Won't Get a weak track now?? It's just underrated as heck, and that's a hill that I will die on

Also I could never be a music reviewer because these people can fit their whole commentary on one song within one sentence and I feel like I would have to write at least 3 paragraphs on even the least exceptional of songs on a given album before I can feel like I did it justice. I mean, this whole post itself shows how much of a problem this is for me, lol

Also guys were we all aware that FFS turns 10 next yeah. Oh god. Well I need to remember to keep my tradition and preapre a cool piece of fanart for that occasion then. Maybe they should give us FFS 2 to celebrate, I'm pretty sure there'd be lots of interest among the fandom in something like that. Anyway

Well also this wasn't the only article in this whole thing of course and CAN YOU BELIEVE IT, there was a little bit on the Harrison & Belew Remain In Light Tour, which I will also be attending!!! Lots of great stuff is cooking for the first half of 2025 for me musically I can't lie

And also CAN YOU BELIEVE IT, that a year and a half since it was supposed to be released "worldwide" and long after I already lost hope that I'd ever see it in a cinema, they're releasing Stop Making Sense in cinemas over here too. Fucking finally!!! By gods and heavens, that rare moment when you learn about something crucial through a goddamn instagram ad of all places. And then they also reminded me about this in an actual article so well wow. Can you believe this. I can't. So stocked for next saturday when i'm seeing this movie the way it was always supposed to be seen hehehe

Ok I think that's it. Thank you for reading and maybe I should really make that personal website for my rambles in the new year. I'd definitely put that thing to use.

[lesbianherald]

IM BACK WITH ANOTHER THOUGHT

Sadly all I have been able do when listening to music for well over a month is relate it to jayvik so I need to share that One Upon a Poolside by The National and Sufjan Stevens feels so Coming Home (But Not To You) to me. I think it’s actually about having to perform when depressed but some of the lines sent me into a jayvik spiral

“Everything is different. Why do I feel the same?”

“I'll follow you everywhere

While you work the room

I don't know how you do it”

(Feel so Viktor observing Jayce to me)

“I thought we could make it through anything”

Basically I am never not thinking about them dear lord

Also I cannot wait to read Here at the End of All Things but I am waiting for a moment when it won’t emotionally destroy me (I fear that moment won’t come so probably just need to bite the bullet)

Anyway hope you’ve had a lovely start to 2025 and so excited for your new projects!!!

Once Upon a Poolside you mean the iconic collab between my two favorite artists of all time?!?!? I CANNOT BELIEVE I FORGOT THIS HAPPENED. YOU DONT UNDERSTAND HOW INSANE IT IS THAT I SPECIFICALLY FORGOT THIS HAPPENED.

I swear I was in such a weird headspace when that album came out. I am forever in your debt for reminding me that existed.

I am adding this so fast to the playlist near the songs for chapter 7 thank you.

[pardonmydelays]

fyi you should listen to saturdays by louis tomlinson

i just did it four times and now my heart is broken so thank you i guess

[acquiescest]

irt the lrb what would you say if i said liam & noel spent new years 2023 together in paris

what would you say if i said liam bought the house in france (the one with noel's name carved into the walls) in march 2023 and that month noel talked about wanting to spend several months in paris

which could mean nothing

[cyncerity]

HOLY SHIT HOOOOLY SHIT

click read more for some rambling in all caps but tldr: please please please listen it’s so good i’m not kidding it’s incredible

IVE DONE MUSIC MY ENTIRE LIFE. I PLAY LIKE 6 INSTRUMENTS. MY MOM IS A MUSIC TEACHER. HALF MY FRIENDS ARE GOING TO COLLEGE FOR MUSIC ED/THEATER.

THERE IS SOMETHING ABOUT THIS ALBUM THAT IS HYPNOTIZING. IVE HEARD ALL DIFFERENT TYPES OF MUSIC IN MY LIFE BUT THIS MADE ME FEEL SOMETHING IN A DIFFERENT WAY. SOMETHING VISCERAL AND RAW AND I DONT EVEN FUCKIN KNOW BUT ITS SO GOOD.

THE SONGS FREQUENTLY CALL BACK TO EACH OTHER WITH LYRICS AND RHYTHMS AND MELODIES AND ITS SO OBVIOUS HOW MUCH LOVE AND ATTENTION TO DETAIL IS IN THIS THING AND IT TELLS A WHOLE FUCKIN STORY AND THATS WHAT I LOVE IN MUSIC

I FEEL LIKE IM SPREADING THE WORD OF GOD IVE BEEN LISTENING TO THIS NON STOP PLEASE IF YOU HAVENT BLESSED YOURSELF WITH THIS SOUNDTRACK GIVE IT A LISTEN

[cadaverre]

my nap album of today was good riddance. very sleepable 👍

[ningtual]

oh i'm gonna be so annoying about this album..... i even took notes while listening to this just now...

[linagram]

linagram season 3 announcement!

hi hi everyone! thank you so much for waiting! i'm glad to say that linagram season 3 is finally starting!! this post will contain a short summary of season 2 that you can read in case you forgot anything or if you don't know much about linagram but still want to participate and a list of everything you can expect from season 3 (things like voice dramas, interrogations, you get it).

you can read about the first season here.

linagram has (or more like.. used to have) two guards and ten prisoners. the guards' names are (last name, first name order) sanada eiji and andou miki. the prisoners' names are miyagawa akio, hanasaki aimi, ishizu shun, chiba naomi, sanada kei (yes, him and eiji are brothers), yoshioka eiko, yano asahi (who is actually miki's brother), maruyama yurika, kuroki riku and himura reina.

however, season 2 was.. quite intense. because of an injury that happened because the prisoners were somehow able to touch him (and it later turned out to be a punishment for not being a "good guard") sanada eiji had to take a break from being a guard, so the new guard came to take his place- ah, but not, like, completely replace him! he's just here to help miki so that she doesn't feel too lonely, haha..

anyway, i hope you will greet the third guard of the milgram prison, kuroki hinode (riku's older brother), with open arms.

the trial results were much more polarizing than the season 1 results too.

if season 1 ended with seven innocent prisoners and three guilty ones, season 2 ended with five innocent prisoners and five guilty ones. (though to be more specific, one of them actually got a 50/50 verdict, so in the end we went with her canon trial 2 verdict: guilty).

the five innocent prisoners are miyagawa akio, hanasaki aimi, sanada kei, yano asahi and himura reina.

the five guilty prisoners are ishizu shun, chiba naomi, yoshioka eiko, maruyama yurika and kuroki riku.

a lot happened after the trial too. since sanada eiji, who was responsible for punishing the guilty prisoners, got injured, it was kuroki hinode's responsibility to come up with a new punishment. he decided to go with something that the guards simply call a "memory machine": a small device that they can use to "steal" the prisoner's memories. they can take any memories they like and they can give them back whenever they want. i sure wonder how that went..

the prisoners also got some presents in the christmas special and uh.. this may sound weird, but i think you should pay attention to those presents more. they are actually kind of important.

one prisoner even found out that her parents are most likely associated with milgram and they may even be responsible for all of this.. how scary..

but oh well! that's all for season 2!

now, let's take a look at what awaits us in season 3.

i know that it would most likely be better to post a schedule and i know that people can miss something but. i find schedules too stressful, because my life is just. like that and i'm afraid i won't be able to follow it. (i know i can just queue stuff or something but the tumblr queue has failed me before. i do not trust it)

but if you need to know when you can expect an update, i try to post stuff weekly or at least once in two weeks.

i use tumblr polls and everyone's trials last a week simply because 1) i am impatient and 2) i just think that's enough.

the prisoners' voice dramas usually get posted once in a week (but there may be exceptions) and each pair's interrogation usually gets posted a week after the both prisoners' voice dramas. (all interrogations have already been written) each voice drama also includes the prisoner's music video description and a poll.

anyway, this is how season 3 will go!

- linagram season 3 albums info (album covers, original song titles, cover songs, album trailer + song trailer voicelines)

- linagram season 3 designs info (this time we're going without the character profiles, apologies for that. instead of that, i will simply put all designs in one post and talk about them a little bit. hopefully i can show how the characters have changed through their designs and the voice dramas.)

- pre-t3 voice drama #01 (the linagram verdict system will be explained. i've made a poll earlier and asked if people would prefer the verdict system to be revealed or to stay a mystery and the first option won)

- pre-t3 voice drama #02 (this one is the usual discussion of the previous trial's verdicts and how they have affected the prisoners)

- miyagawa akio's trial

- hanasaki aimi's trial

- akio and aimi's interrogation

- ishizu shun's trial

- chiba naomi's trial

- shun and naomi's interrogation

- sanada kei's trial

- yoshioka eiko's trial

- kei and eiko's interrogation

- yano asahi's trial

- maruyama yurika's trial

- asahi and yurika's interrogation

- kuroki riku's trial

- himura reina's trial

- riku and reina's interrogation

- the end of the third trial voice drama

- [REDACTED]

-[REDACTED]

anyway yeah, that's it! please be careful with your verdicts everyone. this is the last trial after all.

(and no, voting them all innocent won't make it any better... sorry </3)

[jackass-jones]

Listening to Jhariah is like being Walter White in one of those breaking bad edits where he’s in a mario kart level fighting for his life but he hits a big rock and crashes his car and starts ascending into a higher plane as the consequences of his actions start reaching to him to drag him down but he simply rises above

[gideonthefirst]

You have no taste

DHDDHDHD??? I've made so many media posts in the past hour I don't even know what this is about....come off anon so we can passionately argue and then fall deeply in love causing me to have to break up with my beautiful girlfriend before yours and my hot-and-cold off-and-on relationship inevitably explodes and I never forgive you for tempting me into ruining the happiness I currently live in...

[seaofreverie]

So I actually finished listening to the whole Sparks studio album discography today, with Plagiarism, which I probably would have put off still for an indefinite amount of time, but since that was the last album on the list and the new Sparks era is now imminent... felt fitting to sort of finally listen to that. So I've been thinking of making a (short-ish? lol) post and talking a (little? lol) bit about all the albums I've left off from my Sparkstember writeups because I wasn't familiar enough with them yet at the time. So that the essay collection is completed at last yay. But well yeah, big day I guess, I'm officially all caught up, after... A year and 10 months?! I take my time with things... even if I'm super into them, or maybe especially??

[godsweakestsoldier]

“one scene” 🥺🥺 🤝 one fear 🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠

if you listen really carefully you can hear me shaking like a tiny beetle with a sword facing down a lawnmower 🥺🪲🗡️😭😭😭

Oh my sweet friend, do not be afraid, it's just a *checks word count* 1.2 k little scene. But, you are so brave in the face of the one fear. I hope you enjoy whatever this is. It's got your favorites, love you.

-

“Bea,” Shannon starts. It’s the first time she’s spoken since she settled next to Beatrice. Knee bumping into her shoulder as she adjusts. A whisper breaking the silence that had been filled with hushed supplications.

Beatrice’s fingers ache as rosary beads work themselves through pinched fingers. They’re cool beneath skin, solid beneath callouses, heavy as they drag with each Hail Mary. Lips wrapped around words, praise that she couldn’t remember learning yet mutters all the same. There will be bruises, and she knows that. Blossoming across her knees from where she kneels and knuckles where she clutches the rosary. She doesn’t care.

Polished oak creaks as Shannon shifts her weight. Heat growing prominent from the movement, a constant rolling heat that Beatrice had begun to associate with her from their first moments. A fire capable of consuming.

“Bea,” there’s steel in her voice now, not harsh nor chastising, but it’s there. Her hand warm as it wraps around Beatrice’s clasped hands, “Beatrice, that’s enough.”

It’s the formality that causes her to stop, not the words. The sudden shock of her name, of vocal chords dipped in steel. Shannon’s fingers twitch where they rest against blood-soaked hands. A few flecks of dried blood breaking free, floating to the wood beneath them, disappearing into the darkness. Dried blood cracks as Beatrice finally opens her eyes. Their hands are cascaded in the soft yellow lights, darkening the maroon blood coating her fingers. Deep blue beads catch the soft glow of artificial candlelight.

“I’m sorry,” Shannon whispers, barely audible over the sound of the heater buzzing above them.

“No.”

There’s a sigh of resignation that emerges from her chest, and Beatrice watches her shadow become distorted—passing over pews, stopping just before the steps to the small altar. Feels the weight of Shannon sliding onto the kneeler, air escaping in protest. Watches as she removes her hand, makes the sign of the cross with her precision, and there’s silence.

Familiarity seeps in and sinks beneath cutaneous tissue and tendons and sinew. Settles against her bones, filters into marrow to be circulated through her body again. Kneeling, fingers held high with bowed head. Beatrice couldn’t count the amount of she had done this, with her parents, the bordering school. It had been months since she had stepped foot in a church, taken communion, confessed. Her communion, her refugee, currently lay sprawled out in a hospital bed.

“I’m sorry.”

“Shan, please,” Beatrice breathes, gentle and heavy, and it sits strangely in her mouth. It’s wrong. Wrong to consciously speak after relying on muscle memory, on scriptures and prayers cemented in her head.

Her eyes flicker up, meeting the clock held aloft by a long-forgotten string. 2100, just over two hours.

“Beatrice,” it’s a plea and a command wrapped into one, “look at me.”

Reluctantly, Beatrice turns her attention towards the woman beside her. Takes in the black sweatshirt emblazoned with a small halo in the right corner, the way it sags around the shoulders, clearly made to accommodate border shoulders. Trapezius and deltoids, she reminds herself. It’s Mary’s, of course, it’s Mary’s. The smaller hairs that had escaped her braid framing her head. There’s desperation in her eyes underneath dark circles; it is nothing like the Shannon that Beatrice knows.

“Shan-.”

Shannon’s hands unfold from where they rest against the back of a pew, one gripping onto wood, the other closing the gap between them. Her fingers resting over bone and cartilage.

“No, you don’t get to Shan me, not right now,” Shannon says, the steel sneaking back into her voice, “you only get to listen to me and that’s it, do you understand?”

Beatrice nods, because she is nothing but obedient, and it’s Shannon who sits next to her. Her fingers start to unlace hers, gently unwrapping taunt fingers. Allowing the beads to drop, dangle and reflect golden light across the curve of Shannon’s jaw.

“We didn’t know where you went, didn’t know if you were alive or not. You could’ve been dead or bleeding out somewhere,” she pauses, gently lifting the rosary from Beatrice’s hand. “And, when we found you, you blatantly ignored me,” Shannon’s fingers land on the curve of her jaw, her thumb brushing back one of the fallen strands. “Beatrice, you’re supposed to be the smart one.”

“I know,” Beatrice replies, and it’s smaller than she’d like.

“No, I don’t think you do because if you did, you would’ve stayed with us or at least told one of us where you’d go,” there’s a softness to her voice, a slight uptick of her lips, “you’re lucky I’m patient.”

“Lily?” a silent, desperate prayer manifested finally into words. Beatrice can feel tears well, the sting as one slips across broken skin, shame reaching out across her chest cavity.

“Will be okay,” Shannon answers, gently brushing the pad of her thumb across the curve of a cheekbone. Her eyes soften slightly, a glimpse of gentleness hidden in their depth. “I promise you I would never lie to you,” she mutters, lips warm against Beatrice’s brow.

“Is she awake?”

“No, not yet.”

Something deep within Beatrice cracks, some edifice crumbling underneath the confirmation. The tendrils of shame gradually retreat in the light of relief. Warm fingers move across taunt muscles, sternocleidomastoid, and tuck underneath strands of hair. Shannon’s here and present; she can smell the slight acidity of coffee. She’s not alone anymore. They, Shannon and her, kneeling with foreheads pressed together, remind her of that fact.

“The others?” Beatrice whispers, her eyes fluttering shut.

“Are okay, although I think Cam may have walked a rut into the waiting room’s carpet.”

She smiles then, for the first time in hours since the fight. It’s small, barely noticeable, except for the slight upturn of her lip and dimple, “That sounds about right.”

Shannon chuckles and the sound chases away the shame entirely, at least for now. There’s an easiness to being around her, something Beatrice revels in, “Yeah it does. I love you, you know that right?”

Beatrice hums in acknowledgment.

“I love you, but you look like shit,” Shannon continues, her hand leaving its resting place at the nap of Beatrice’s neck. Warmth fleeting as she moves away. Cartilage cracks as Beatrice hears her stand, opening her eyes. Blue refracting from the rosary dangling from her fingers, coating the kneeling woman in light. “Do you promise not to start praying again if I give you your rosary back?”

“I promise.”

It’s offered then by two fingers held aloft between the two women. A golden crucifix dangling before her face, Beatrice takes it with her right hand.

“If Mary asks, I gave you this,” Shannon says, her hands coming to the collar of the sweatshirt. Beatrice watches her pull the sweatshirt over her head, and traces the plane of abdominal muscles as her shirt rides up, corded muscles flexing with the movement. Until she stands there in a grey tank top, coated in shadow, St. Christopher medallion glinting, her sweatshirt held out in silent offer.

“Shannon,” Beatrice starts.

“Just put it on. I’m not about to be seen escorting a blood-soaked woman through a hospital.”

Beatrice reaches out, taking the slightly worn fabric in her hand. It smells faintly of incense, myrrh and frankincense, and distantly of gunpowder. Sacredness in both senses of the word. It’s surprisingly soft as she pulls it over her head, avoiding the fresh clot on her cheekbone. Lose around the shoulders and waist, yet comforting.

“Come on,” Shannon says, offering her hand at last, which Beatrice takes and is pulled to her feet. Hands come up, placing the hood over her head, “Let’s get you back where you belong, yeah?”