#everywhere says like ‘$20 sold out’

[grandtheftautumn]

Sometimes you just have to lie on the floor & stare at the ceiling while “Favorite Record” by Fall Out Boy plays on repeat

[fairuzfan]

I’m a genocide historian and I do think comparisons between the Holocaust and the genocide in Palestine are unproductive because A) the Holocaust is pretty distinct from Palestinian genocide not in its exceptionalism but in its method - the “shipping” of victims from 20+ countries by international rail to a handful of centralized killing sites; 15000 people being gassed in Auschwitz daily (a single gas chamber had standing capacity for 2,000 people) and their stolen hair sold in bales for use as maritime rope and cushion stuffing - and forcing Holocaust parallels obfuscates the terrible and very unique methods of genocide being used by Israel against Palestinians. B) People often invoke the Holocaust as an emotional appeal regarding the moral culpability of all Jews (“how could you do what was done to your ancestors!”) when the same responsibility to end the genocide in Palestine exists regardless of one’s background or religion.

What Israel is doing in Palestine is 100% a genocide. Whether or not it is similar to the Holocaust (or any previous atrocity) does not make this any more or less true.

The thing that doesn't make sense to me with this point is that no one is saying that the Holocaust and Palestinian genocide are a 1:1 comparison. Like most people acknowledge the terrible genocide that occurred in the Holocaust against all its victims. But when they're talking about comparing genocides, there are tell tale signs that repeat throughout history that are precursers to larger events. Like when people compare the Warsaw ghetto to Gaza. I'd say those are quite similar in practice and intention. When we "compare" genocides (not a 1:1 but more of a drawing parellels by disecting the inteion and reasoning behind certain events that werent necessarily actively violent but passively violent) its to show "hey this is going to get really bad really soon because something like this happened before." Masha Gessen has an article about this that I reblogged.

People should care about fighting injustice everywhere I agree. But that doesn't change the fact that parallel drawing is an act separate from emotional invocation. When genocide scholars and survivors talk about "Hey this was like xyz that happened to me/in history" it's to show that there is precedent for this thinking and a terrible methodology happening when genocides occur. They dont just get really bad out of nowhere, you need to examine the precursors to prevent the large event from happening. How that large event happens differs from place to place, I agree. But to say that because things happen differently against different people means you can't examine the underlying reasons behind those actions is kind of reductive. By this definition you can never compare any genocide ever and all the terrible things that happen just happen naturally without any political or social influence.

Arnesa talks about how the Bosnian genocide precursors mirror the Palestinian genocide. She also talks about how Lula specifically should have mentioned other genocides (like Rwanda, Bosnia, etc) in his statement because there are parallels there too. I'd argue that's the real intention behind genocide studies, in that you notice trends and patterns to analyze how certain events might turn out.

I do want to mention because this is where im coming from a little bit, it is a pretty big zionist talking point (by especially American dems) saying you can't compare the holocaust to what's happening to Palestinians because it's antisemitic, which is not a real talking point and actually kind of rude in that it assumes that Palestinians can't call out parallels between their treatment and the treatment of those in the Holocaust because they're fundamentally doing it from a point of antisemitism and not a plea for recognition that the events are mirroring each other.

[onenicebugperday]

@dazzelmethat submitted: This will be a very strange submission and feel free to turn it down due to it’s vagueness.

I’m autistic and when I was real little (ages 3-9) my favorite toys were plastic caterpillars that I bought from Rainforest Cafe (in the early 2000s).  They came everywhere with me, they went on birthday cakes ect. There are five in total but I was able to identify similar species that the molds might have been based on for the other three.

The green and brown one is the one I most would like to find a similar species to (since the purple one’s only defining feature is the line running down their back I feel like if you can’t think of any similar species I’d be able to find one somewhere by myself.)

They all are just three inch plastic toys made in China that were sold in bulk with other molded plastic bugs. In the back of my head I always thought that these two in particular might just be fictional bugs. It’s one of the great mysteries that has haunted me for 20 years..

If you have no idea how to respond to this ask could you just give me advice on what websites/resources you use that could sort bugs by their colors or features?

I’d appreciate any help and would love to either pay you with money or with art if you could help me out any.

Thank you for your time!

Well first of all I absolutely love how much you enjoyed these little plastic caterpillars as a kid, that’s adorable. I think the colors on the green one are made up, but the general shape is that of a bunch of caterpillars in the genus Danaus - quite a few of them have six tentacles like that one does. The queen, the plain tiger, and the soldier come to mind. Monarchs are in the same genus, but they only have four tentacles. As for the other one, with no distinctive traits to go on, it’d be impossible to say. This site here is one where you can sort by color, pattern, and other traits like fuzziness - however it’s only for caterpillars in North America, so it may not be particularly helpful.

[venusvity]

.ﾟ۪ ♡ ۫     SWEET LIKE CANDY ... SENA'S DEBUT MINI ALBUM !

Sweet Like Candy is Sena's debut mini-album, making her the fourth and final member of VENUS to debut solo. With a track list of eight songs, Sena performed the title tracks "Exes" and "Get Him Back" for a total of six weeks across various music shows and concert appearances. Exes would go on to win three music show awards, and Get Him Back would earn two.

With a star-studded all-female producing team, Sena's debut mini album will feature tracks produced by the acclaimed producing duo SODA, one of Japan's most popular idols, Kaori, Evangeline's leader Namra AKA angeleyes, the producing trio of Venus' sister group SNS Mika AKA M.ka, Yuki, and Piper, MORNINGSTAR member Eris, Kaleina from KRUSH, Hiro from LUCKY, Love AKA lovelies from REJECTS, and her always supportive groupmates Chloee Lee, Baebi, and Klara Blix.

TITLE TRACK ... TRACK OO1. EXES

TRACK OO2. TASTE IT

TITLE TRACK ... TRACK OO3. GET HIM BACK

TRACK OO4. HIGH VALUE WOMAN

TRACK OO5. MY KINK IS KARMA

TRACK OO6. WE CAN'T BE FRIENDS

TRACK OO7. WAITING ROOM

TRACK OO8. CASUAL

Despite its divisive reception, Sweet Like Candy made a notable splash in the music scene. On its first release day, It sold over 1.8 million copies, showcasing Sena's shockingly strong fan base and the anticipation surrounding her solo debut. The album continued to perform well, reaching a total of 4 million copies sold.

The album's title tracks, "EXES" and "Get Him Back," quickly became fan favorites. "EXES" shot to the top of the Gaon chart, holding the number one spot for an impressive 20 days before "Get Him Back" entered the top ten and subsequently took over the number one position for 25 days. However, the album's overall chart performance was fleeting, with its presence dwindling from the charts after only a few weeks.

Sweet Like Candy sparked debate among fans and critics. Fans loved the album's personal, raw nature, speculating that several songs were about her past relationships, including rumored ties to a member of ArmCandy and Yeojun of Pushing Daisies. However, critics were less enthusiastic about the album's overall composition and thematic cohesion, saying she fell flat compared to her members' solo debuts.

Sena's vocal performance throughout the album was a standout. Her expressive delivery amplified the emotional depth of the songs. Her ability to seamlessly transition between high-energy pop anthems and introspective indie ballads underscored her versatility as an artist.

Critics had mixed opinions about the album's overall coherence and some of its production choices, but they all agreed on Sena's potential and the strong foundation she has laid for her solo career. Her debut album, "Sweet Like Candy," proved that she is more than just a member of Venus; it showcased her as a unique and talented artist in her own right.

YOU CAN GET YOUR SWEET LIKE CANDY PHOTOCARDS HERE!

OO1. Let's start off with the fact Sena's debut showcase SOLD OUT! All 15,000 seats were filled with constellations, her closest friends, and some other idols. You already know all of Venus was there cheering her on. They all made little signs to show their support. Klara wore a cute little headband with Sena's face on it that she and Elliot of Pushing Daisies; it was all very cute and a much-needed moment for Constellations.

Shockingly, Bliss was there to show her support alongside HautePink members Misun and Fame, which caused a lot of heated debate on constellation Twitter and some fan wars between them and Coutures, but what's new there? Not only were the Venus girls there but a whole bunch of idols came to support their favorite fake maknae! SEE WHO WAS AT SENA'S SHOWCASE IN HER INSTA DUMP!

OO2. Sena did a lot of interviews for her debut! She was on PSICK SHOW, The Kstar Next Door, Buzzfeed UK, and Hong Seokcheon's Jewel Box! This girl was everywhere and capturing the hearts of literally everyone she interacted with. She also got her own variety show, "Sweet Like Sena," where she'd basically try to make candy from scratch every episode and fail miserably. She'd have some guests on the show, which caused some really fun and iconic moments, like when Klara joined her to make rock candy. They literally made the candy so hard it was like a rock, resulting in the girls losing their minds as they tried to see who could break the candy first. This was the first time Sena really got to show her variety skills and she did not disappoint!

OO3. While on PSICK SHOW, they repeatedly tried to get her to spill who the album was about, and she would not give it up! Either she'd laugh it off or answer with, "I think it's obvious. Listen to the songs." with a smirk on her face. There were a lot of speculations from fans, but most concluded that the album is either about Yeojun of Pushing Daisies; they did major detective work to come to this conclusion, like, building timelines based on posts, deleted posts, and when Sena and Yeojun were seen together or a member of Arm Candy due to the on the nose title of the album.

"I don't think it matters who it's about. It just matters that it's good," Sena would say during her PSICK interview as she played with the ends of her hair and puckered her lips at the camera, "but some of you guys are riiight!" She'd teased, laughing at herself and covering her mouth.

OO4. Every encore stage, she did something special like pulling her Venus members on stage with her, a tradition for Venus solos at this point, inhaling helium from some balloons to pitch her voice during a stage, dressing like a cat for one of them, and most famously letting her backup dancers sing while she danced which was a hit with fans. Her live vocals were praised for her stability, though she was trashed for an encore performance of "Get Him Back" where she was a bit pitchy and out of breath, but in her defense she was tired so!

OO5. Not many scandals! The only real notable ones were her outfits being "too revealing" or "try hard" which...wasn't a big deal. It stayed in the stan twitter bubble relatively so Sena never saw any of it despite being very active on social media.

"They're getting you on Twitter...Okay, but are they streaming?" - Sena via Instagram Live, 2024.

The other scandal involved none other than our favorite DeepDive boy, Finn Lee! The pair were spotted out and about together A LOT, like if Sena was spotted by fans, Finn was right there behind her. Though they would consistently say they were just friends, they were also seen hugging and hanging onto each other outside of a club, which caused a bit of a stir. Still, they never cleared it up with fans, and Mydol never released a statement. This just wasn't at the top of the priorities list lol!

OO5. OVERALL! SENA HAS A GREAT TIME! She was always glowing when she was on stage or at fansigns and giving it her all every performance. It was a breath of fresh air for constellations fighting for their lives just a few months ago. It was really a good time, genuinely. Everyone was pretty happy and supportive of their girl, and she was so happy with how everything turned out! Despite not having much creative control over her music videos and outfits, she was super proud of how the songs turned out and how it all went about. Pretty smooth and overall happy era!

EXES PROMOTIONAL OUTFITS !

GET HIM BACK PROMOTIONAL OUTFITS !

OCS MENTIONED : @d3caynluv + @pinkscaped + @bluwavez + @hearthr0b + @alwaysvivid + @snspice + @lvcky0ne + @mcurningstar + @sug4rsweet

[sapphicmsmarvel]

modern au! competition

notes: in elains part i talk shit about The Exorcist. i’m sorry guys that movie is so so bad. Some of these are really short because i didn’t know how to elaborate LOL but yall will get the point. 

Azriel: 

This cranky bitch has beef with your kindle paperwhite. 

You took it everywhere, always made sure it was fully charged and loaded with books. You even used the app on your phone until one day you decided you would always carry your actual kindle with you everywhere. 

When he wanted snuggles and you were reading? You had pushed him away. Until one day, he’d had enough. 

It was a rough day at work, he wanted his girlfriend. He saw you on the couch, with your emotional support water bottle, his hoodie, fuzzy sock-clad feet and a blanket. And you were holding your kindle. 

He knew he wanted to join you in that cuddle pile, so he did. 

He took away your blanket which caused you to yell an indignant, “hey!” Then he spread your legs which had you saying “oh?” 

He rolled his eyes at your dirty mind and laid down on top of you. Your kindle was in the air, he laid his head between your boobs and snuggled in. 

Breathing in your scent, he hummed contentedly. 

He felt you shake with suppressed giggles, “you comfy?”

“Mhm.” He hummed, his eyes closing. 

“My big baby.” You said softly, kissing his head and running your nails through his hair. 

He didn’t need to look up to know you were still reading, just multitasking now. After all, that’s what the pop socket is for. Multitasking while reading. 

(get your heads out of the gutter) 

He loved how happy it made you, though. He also loved the sex that came from the books that you’d want to reenact. 

Cassian: 

don't get him wrong, he loves that you wear makeup because you love it. 

however that damn plumping gloss is gonna kill him. 

“It’s spicy!” 

“You’re being a baby, it’s minty.” 

“it’s fucking spicy!” 

It’s not his fault that your gloss is out to make him croak. He can’t help kissing you though, your lips look so plump and juicy, just perfectly kissable. And the gloss tastes like vanilla cupcakes until the spice kicks in. 

Rhysand: 

He's got beef with the sims. You’ll go missing for hours in your “cozy room” as you call it, and 9 times out of 10, he’ll walk in and see you hunched over like a cave creature playing the sims. It kind of scares the shit out of him because sometimes he’ll walk in on you like that, with a murder podcast playing on your TV. 

Eventually, he loves the game. Because he discovers that you can make your own families. You two have five kids in the sims, because even Sim-Rhysand is horny. 

Eventually he gets his own PC, he’s very excited. Owns and buys you all of the sims packs. 

Feyre: 

Your IPad. You do everything on that thing. Work, planning, reading; writing, even. It’s with you all day, sometimes all night depending on the activity you’re doing. You can’t stop playing candy crush or some other game. She’s fully pulled the IPad out of your grip before to cuddle, and also a few times 

She didn’t get it until you got her her own with procreate installed. And now you’re the one who has to pry her away. She, like Rhysand, has learned the naughty things she can do with her new hobby. AKA, lots of drawings of you. 

Naked, clothed. You two together being naughty. 

She’s learned to love the wonders of an IPad. 

Morrigan: 

fucking theme parks. In the beginning of your relationship she didn’t know how to feel, eventually she fell in love with them. She used to be against them because she hated being sweaty (who doesn’t) but with your help she was able to be comfortable and enjoy a nice theme park day with her girlfriend. 

You two are out of state disney pass holders. Taking random flights on random days for a day at disney. Flying in that morning and leaving that night. Or driving for a long weekend. 

Amren: 

her competition is concerts. you’ll go to any show at any time. Your friends favorite indie band is having a show with 20 dollar tickets? sold you’ll be there. 

She’s not a fan of intense crowds, mosh pits aren’t her scene. But if there’s an artist you wanna go see and your friends can't go? She’s buying you the tickets as an early birthday or christmas gift. She’s even used mother’s day as an excuse to buy you tickets. Or Veterans Day. 

And she calls you dramatic. 

Nesta: 

she genuinely doesn’t understand how you can play video games for hours. She does love it though because you’ll leave her alone to read while you play. 

You rarely play intense games, if you do you’re playing with friends and not some random lobby (because being a woman, a queer woman no less is not fun in random online lobbies). And that’s when you go into a different room because your friends and you are quite loud. 

But when you’re playing stardew valley or any zelda, mario game, or nintendo in general; you’re sitting by her. 

Your usual set up is you both on the couch next to each other, some asmr room video in the background and a few candles lit. 

She can even admit that your video games have awesome soundtracks. 

Elain: 

horror movies. you were a fanatic. On your first date you brought this up to her, nervous she’d be against it. She was all for watching them. She had never seen them, growing up her mother forbid her daughters from watching them. It didn’t stop Feyre and Nesta, however she was a bit of a rule follower. 

She thought it couldn’t be that bad. After all, they're fictional and the effects can be very cheesy. 

However, she hid that she was scared pretty well in the beginning and then when you two saw Jigsaw that killed her “street cred” with you. (her words, not yours) 

So after the intensity of Jigsaw, you had her watch The Exorcist, a movie you thought was ass but was a good movie to introduce her to horror with. 

She ended up thinking the movie was shit, too. But, it gave her a bit of a baseline to go off of.  

After that was The Conjuring universe, then The Paranormal Activity franchise ended up freaking her out in a good way. 

She liked watching supernatural, ghost hunters, and american horror story with you though! And she did enjoy the scream franchise as well as the scary movie franchise! 

She began to love them, and loved the adrenaline. 

She liked the idea of going to a haunted house during halloween, but it scared her a bit more. It was different with a screen in between her and the scare. 

Lucien: 

Your stuffed animal collection. You personified almost everything you owned (which made it a bitch to declutter when you knew you needed to; but you couldn’t stop imagining objects with personalities). 

He loved how passionate you were, how cuddly you always looked however: 

You’re supposed to be cuddling him!! Not a damned stuffed animal! 

Then one time, he came home after a long work trip and found you asleep on the couch, you were waiting for him. 

He found you hugging a fox build-a-bear with one of his shirts on it.  

How can he hate that? 

Eris: 

His own dog is his competition. 

The fucker will cuddle with you then give him a smug ass look like “haha she chose me, she dont want you.” 

He loved the immediate love you had for his (son) pet. And he reacted to you the same way. You two formed a bond, the dog would follow you everywhere around the house. 

His dog was supposed to be a hunting dog, then when you (mom) came into the picture, that’s when you began babying him and forbidding Eris from taking him hunting. 

“My son will not go through the mud! He’s a baby!”

“My love, his whole life’s purpose is hunting. He’s a hunting dog.” 

“His life purpose is being the cute snuggly idiot he is!” Said snuggly idiot was wagging at your feet with an expression on his face that Eris could only describe as a “you go, mom!” look. 

“What if he gets hurt?” Your bottom lip wobbled and he knew he couldn’t say no to you. 

You were sensitive when it came to animals. It was pretty easy to make you cry, you just had to look at the dog being cute and you’d start bawling. 

But, he loved waking up in the morning to you snuggled into him with his beloved (but an asshole) dog with you two. 

Even when the dog pushes in between the two of you in the middle of the night. 

Tarquin: 

Surfing. He can’t believe he’s competing with his own hobby. 

He introduced you to it, but you cannot stop. You spend hours out in the ocean, and he wishes he could be out there with you all the time. But he’s always working with the city's ocean conservation teams and is the leading man in marine biology in your city.  So he can’t leave the office a lot, but when he can, he does join you in the surf. 

You two began a surfing contest to raise money for ocean conservation too. 

[romana-after-dark]

The Wrong Way: Chapter 2

Raider!Joel Miller x Fem!Reader

DEAD DOVE DO NOT EAT

Masterlist

Summery: You are sold to Joel to clear up some of your fathers' debts, and he takes you back to his house where him, Tommy, and high ranking members of his raiding trope stay. Joel is mean, cruel, and hash, but had small moments of softness that confuse you in your venerable state. Over time, you get to know him and Tommy, and see different sides of each, an both are hiding secrets. Was it possible to fall in love under these circumstances? Or was that just another way Joel was fucking with you?

WARNINGS FOR FULL FIC, NOT CHAPTER BY CHAPTER UNLESS SOMETHING NEW IS ADDED AFTER MASTER WARNING LIST: DEAD DOVE DO NOT EAT!!!! Fic contains graphic depictions of sexual assault, rape, molestation, dubcon/non con. Blow Jobs, PIV sex, lose of virginity, sex trafficking, past incest, death/people dying everywhere, Stockholm syndrome, falling for your rapist, victim blaming, torcher, branding, physical abuse, attempted sexual assault (not Joel), somno, self-harm/depression/suicidal thoughts (not a lot)but fair warning, major age gap

This is a reader fic, reader is early 20's, Joel is 40's at this point, reader is small enough that the men can lift her, but these are strong men. Reader is also refered to as little one, little girl ETC, but that's more in reference to her age/innocence than physical size.

Please make sure you read the warnings, this chapter will have some of the most intense stuff of this fic!

You woke up with a start, scrambling on the dirty mattress to sit up. It was Tommy, not Joel.

“It’s just me” He said with a plate of food. “He’s doing business, he’ll be back later.”

You knew what ‘later’ meant for you.

Tommy set down the plate and stepped forward, making you scramble back against the wall. “Relax, honey, I ain’t gonna touch yuh. Joel made sure to give a  big speech full of vivid details on what he’d do to anyone who did” He pulls something out of his pocket; a deck of cards. “You know how to play solitaire?”

You nod.

“Good, you can have these. I imagine it’s gonna get real boring here when he-” Tommy stopped himself. Your purpose here was for Joel to fuck, and not much else, this was sure to lead to intense boredom in your solitary confinement; Tommy was offering you a small mercy, something to do.

“Go fish?” You asked softly.

*

You and Tommy end up playing the world quietest game of go fish, slowly easing up to him. You learned a thing or two from him in the small pieces he gave you, like that Joel was his older brother. You found it odd at first, to be sure, but the parts came together the more you thought about it. Their personalities were different, Tommy was much softer, kinder, gentle; it gave you an idea.

“Whats it like?” You asked.

Tommy looks up from his cards at that. “What’s what like?”

You don’t look at him. “Joel… he’s gonna…  and I’ve never” You feel your heart rate pick up, anxious for his reaction.

You hear a loud sigh, and see Tommy scrub his face. “I can’t be having this conversation with you” He starts to get up.

“NO!” You lunge forward, grabbing his hand and looking him dead in the eye. “No, please, I need to know what’s going to happen.”

With a groan, he sits back down, looking up at the ceiling. “Well, you’ll probably bleed, but not everyone does. And it’s gonna hurt. I doubt Joel’s gonna take it easy on you.”

There’s a long period of silence before you say your next words. “Can you do it?”

In a flash, Tommy was standing up and walking to the door.

“Wait! Please!” you scramble up, grabbing his arm before it turns the handle.

“No! I’m not participating in this! I got enough on my conscience as it is!” His eyes are shut tight as you pull on him to turn to you.

“Please, Tommy, you’ll make it easier, I don’t want it to hurt!”

He opened his eyes wide, gripping your shoulders. “It’s going to hurt either way! There’s no ‘easier’, you’re fucked!”

You freeze, tears welling up in your eyes. “Tommy, please. I need you to do this.”

The desperation in your eyes gave him pause to consider. He had tried to stop this whole thing from happening, tried to pull back his brother the way only he knew how, to give Joel some sort of moral compass that he lost the day Sarah died… but even Tommy wasn’t enough. He saw the look Joel had in his eyes, that intense focus, that desire, not just to fuck her but to control her, own her in every sense of the word… and if Joel ever found out he did this, he’d be fucked. But Tommy was trying his best to make things easier on the young girl, and she was right; he’d be easier than Joel.

“You can never tell anyone, or we are both dead.”

Tommy was careful, opening you up with his fingers first, then fucking you, placing his pants under you, stopping the bleeding from staining the bed; a dead giveaway. He tried to touch you, out of courtesy, give you at least something, but you declined. Joel wouldn’t do that, you shouldn’t get used to it.

When it was over, Tommy couldn’t look you in the eyes as he wiped you off, putting on his blood and cum stained pants and leaving the room.

You played solitaire for hours until Joel stomped in.

With wide eyes, you stare up at Joel, setting down the cards.

“Get on the bed” He spoke harshly, dirt and blood on his skin and clothes and you could tell it had been a long day, and you were about to get the end of it. You did as you were told, getting onto the ‘bed’ which was a mattress on the floor, and waiting for instruction. Tommy was right; it had hurt, and Joel was bigger, and much, much angrier.

“It’s simple, little one. All you have to do is lay there and take it. Don’t gotta do nothing fancy, no tricks, no skills.” he took a few steps closer, beginning to undo his belt. “I’ll take care of you, I’ll make ure everything is okay.” he pulled off the belt, and slid down his pants before stepping out of each leg, moving slowly towards your shaking form, towering over you. “ I don’t want to hurt you, and I ain’t letti’n none of them touch you, so no more worrying about whose cock is going to be in your pretty little mouth.” 

Joel bent over and you whimpered as he took your chin in his hand, forcing you too look up at him. “It’s yes sir, no sir, you don’t talk back, you do as you’re told, don’t try to escape and you’re good to go.” He let go of you, standing straight up and god, he was intimidating from where you sat. “You’ll never have to wonder where your next meal is coming from., you just get to sit pretty for me.” Joel finally pulled down his boxers, spitting in his hand before beginning to stroke his extensive length. “And really, isn’t this just better?”

Despite at least know what to expect, you were terrified. You had seen Joel kill your brother only yesterday, you knew what he was capable of, and you didn’t believe his ‘I won’t hurt you’ spiel for a second.

“Please don’t” you plea softly. “I don’t want to…”

Stepping out of his boxers, he huffs a laugh. “Funny, I don’t remember askin’ you”

Picking you up, Joel flipped you onto your stomach and straddled your legs, pinning you to the bed as you squirmed, quite ‘no’s’ and ‘please’s’ slipping out of your mouth, getting louder until he tugged down your pants and it all culminated in screaming while you twist and turn, trying to get away and hit him. “GET OFF ME! YOU FUCKER!”

Joel did not like that, turning you over fully onto your back and slapping you, hard. Your head rang from the force of his large hand, and you tasted blood in your mouth. Everything was hazy as you stilled in shock, and you didn’t even realize what he was doing until a second stinging pain pulled you attention.

“Ah, AH!” you shout as Joel thrusts into you in one go, splitting you open, and if you had any sense in you, you’d be thankful Tommy was your first; you couldn’t imagine the pain you’d be in right now. However, in the moment, you were only concerned with the pain as you continue to whimper.

“Shut the fuck UP!” Joel shouted, covering your mouth as he thrust into you, looking down to watch himself disappear into you. “You look so good like this, little girl, all stretched out around me, fuck. Awww you're bleeding?” Joel patted your pussy. "Am I braking you? Just a lil bit?" He picked up the pace, harsh and brutal, and you begin to cry, as quietly as you can.

“Fuck, you cry so pretty, no wonder all those men wanted to hurt you, so fucking gorgous” Growing more eratic, a thin sheen of sweat grew on his forehead and he smiled cruelly, slipping his hand around your folds "But they don't get to, not anymore" you were wetter than you'd like to admit. “Sure you don’t want this? You’re awfully wet. Think I can make you come huh? While you cry and pretend to hate the feeling of me filling you up?” Joel touched your click, and laughed when he felt you clench around him. “Yeeeeah, yeah you like this, sweet thing”

There was something warm brewing in your stomach, a warmth that spread to your skin, and you weren’t entirely sure what was happening. Were you poisoned? Is he fucking your dying body? But it felt good. 

“Let go, little one, come on my cock”

A pleasureful pulsing in between your legs and suddenly your body felt great, and you didn’t know why; it didn’t last long, however, not long enough to distract you from what was happening. When it faded, you realized Joel was coming on your pelvis and the dirty shirt you still had on from yesterday. You didn’t look at him as he got up, turning your head to look at the wall, trying to stop existing in the moment. When you heard him leave, you curl over on your side and keep crying, too tired and too upset to notice when he came back until Joel arms wrapped around you again.

“Please” You whimpered, too tired to put up much of a fight. “It hurts too much.”

“Shh, shhh sweetness, we’re not going to do anything.” Joel scooped you up, wrapping the ratty blanket around your exposed bottom before carrying you out of the room. You were disgusted with him and yourself, but you were scared and lonely, so you clung to him; you didn’t want to be alone. 

Joel carried you into the bathroom, pulling off the blanket and laying you down into a hot tub of water, pulling off your old shirt.

“There we go, little one, just relax, close your eyes and relax” Joel spoke softly, washing you with the harsh soap and gentle touches speaking softly into your ear. What did he think this was? What were you to him? When you were cleaned up, he put you in his clothes, whispering promises to get you your own. You could tell, as you walked from the bathroom to your room, that the men were watching you, but Joel arms around you left no room for them; you were his.

This was the routine for nearly a week. Joel would fuck you, and it would hurt. He never kissed you, but he always made you come, slowly conditioning you to have a pavlovian response to him; your body associating him with an orgasm, making you start to get wet when you saw him, despite how afraid you constantly were. This made things a little easier, but Joel never took it easy on you during sex, and it was multiple times a day. Afterwards, however, it was strange… sometimes he’d draw you a bath, sometimes he’d bring you food, clean you off, small, soft moments that never failed to confuse you with the juxtaposition of what was happening. You took it, however, whatever he gave you, because you were lonely, and you were scared. You saw Tommy sometimes, every day he brought you food and stayed to talk for as long as he could, even if just a few minutes, but sometimes long enough to play a card game or two. You felt like you were going crazy, secluded enough that you almost found yourself looking forward to Joel. Almost. 

Despite his insistence he didn’t want to hurt you, he did. Not on purpose, you didn’t think, but more that he was careless as he manhandled you, the painful grip on your face in he covered your mouth, the punishing pace he set, your face hitting the wall when he turned you. In the moment, it was painful, but after he came and he calmed down, he seemed to almost feel bad, hence taking care of you.

But tonight it had simply been too much, everything hurt, your heart ached, and you were going stir crazy in your room with nothing to do but play solitair and get fucked. You had been assessing the room and different options, and you realized while the window didn’t open, it wasn’t bared. If you broke the glass and climbed out fast, you could get a head start in the woods. It was spring, cool but not cold, and certainly you could find somewhere to go, right? Run away, somewhere far, far to where Joel could never find you.

That's how you found yourself, running in the woods, blood on your hands from punching the window open despite wrapping the thin blanket around your hand, fleeing for your life. You had heard shouts from the house as you escaped, they knew you were gone, and were after you. You could hear the sound of a horse, although the lay out of the woods made it impossible to tell where the hoof prints were coming from as Joel, Tommy, or one of the other men chased you down, you weren't sure who. Weak from lack of food and sleep, and the cold air in your lungs, you tried to run, not getting very far when Joel nearly trampled you with his horse, picking you up by your shirt and throwing you over it on your stomach. You kicked and screamed and pleaded and cried, but it was no use. Joel didn’t say a word, quickly riding back to the barn and yanking you down. His silence was terrifying, and eerie calm before the storm you knew was coming. 

“Joel, please, I’m sorry!” You shout, trying desperately to make things better, but Joel was on a mission, dragging you by your hair out of the bar and grabbing something you couldn’t see.

“JOEL!” You hear Tommy shout from across the field of grass, running over to where you were desperately attempting to keep up with Joel’s long strides and he pulled you by your hair, not caring if you tripped and it hurt. “Joel, stop, you need to calm down” Tommy tried to calm his brother, but Joel wasn’t listening, an Tommy attempted to pull you up to ease the weight on your scalp. When you got inside, the other raiders had gathered in the living room, and you expected Joel to take you to your room where he’d do whatever he was planning as punishment; instead, he stopped by the fireplace, throwing whatever it is he grabbed from the barn into the fire.

Joel pulled you up, hand still deep in your hair as he thrust your back up against the wall. “Don’t I treat you good?” He asked, oddly calm. “I take care of you, I feed you, I don’t let anyone else touch you.” Is that what he thought? That he was taking care of you? “You don’t have to do a damn but sit in that room and cum. You think things are so bad here? You think I abuse you? I’LL FUCKING SHOW YOU WHAT ABUSE IS!” Joel suddenly screams, loud and in your ear. “You think I treat you like a whore? I’ll show you how a whore gets treated!” Joel let go of your hair, but you were too terrified to move as Joel grabbed the collar of the shirt and ripped it open and pulling it off before yanking down your pants, exposing your naked body to Tommy and several hungry looking men in the room.

Tommy stepped forward, talking quietly. “Joel, don’t do this-”

Joel pulled out his gun, pointing it at Tommy, “Stand against the wall, you don’t get to play knight in shining armor this time.” 

Tommy looked at you apologetically, then backed away. Your eyes turned to another man you recognized from the first day, the redhead, was staring at you like a piece of meat before Joel yanked your face back to his. “Tommy ain’t saving you this time, neither is Nick.” He throws you over the table, bare stomach to the cold wood, and handcuffing your right arm to the leg. “Fucking ungrateful bitch!” You heard him unbuckle and before you had a chance to blink, he thrust into you violently. “This is how whores get treated, is this what you want?” When you didn’t answer, he screamed again. “IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT?!”

“No” You sob, looking up to Tommy for help, but Tommy stood where he was told too, closing his eyes. There was no point in trying to stop Joel on a rampage, unless you wanted to die.

You do as Tommy did; you close your eyes, and try to pretend you weren’t here, that the pain wasn’t happening, that you weren’t being violated in front of several men, including one that was the only person you could consider even close to a friend. From where you were bent over you could feel Joel hitting your cervix. Joel continued to degrade you, telling you this is what whores get, that dumb bitches don’t get cared for, that this was all you were good for before pulling out and cumming on your back.

You thought it was over, but Joel had one last trick. 

“Since you want to try and run away, despite how good I’ve been, better make sure anyone that finds you knows who you belong to.”

“STOP!” Tommy shouts, one last try. “This is enough, she’s learned her lesson Joel, you're going to fucking far!”

Joel didn’t listen, and when you turned to see what he was doing, you realized what he grabbed from the barn

A cattle brand, his initials on the hot iron. 

“Jo- AHH!” Your final attempts at begging for mercy are cut off by the searing pain on you hip, burning, blinding pain as you were branded. You were vaguely aware of Tommy yelling something, but you couldn’t tell anyone. Still handcuffed and bent over a table, Joel slapped the fresh burn as a last bit of punishment, and you were so exhausted you were only capable of a whimper. You could smell your own chard flesh in the air as the adrenaline coursed through you.

Joel walked around to the other end of the table and bent down to be face to face with you, brown eyes large and intense even in your bleary vision. “You’re gonna be thankful for just me, little one”

Joel stood up, and announced to the men there that they could all have a turn with you tonight, and stormed off into his room.

You were out of tears, out of pleas, ready to just lay there and take it until it was over, and hope to god if you behave Joel would go back to how he was.

You could see the redhead, step forward and begin to unzip, but Tommy, forever your savior, pushed him away. “Back off Nick”

“Oh I suppose you want her first?” 

“No one’s touching her” 

You felt a warm blanket draped over you, before Tommy knelt down and picked the lock on the handcuffs

Nick argued. “Joel said we can have her”

“And I said no. I can’t stop Joel’s bullshit, but I can draw the line with you all”

“What, so you can have her but we can’t?”

“No one but Joel is having her, fuck off”

"He said"

"And I said no"

Wrapping the blanket around you to cover your modesty, Tommy picked you up and carried you into your room, carefully laying you on the side that wasn’t burned. “I’ll be right back” he promised.

And he did, gently putting ointment on you and bringing his clothes for you to change into, but you were so shaken you preferred to just stay wrapped in the blanket.

“I’m sorry, honey” were the last words he sent to you before he left. You lay in your shitty bed, awake for hours, crying on and off.

When the door opened again, you thought maybe it was Tommy, but you recognized Joel’s footsteps, and froze in place. You weren’t sure how much you could take, at this point, how much more he could do to you before you gave up, before you found some way to end it all. For now, however you were going to behave, you were going to be good; you didn’t want to be hurt again. So you laid there, ready for Joel to take you how he always did, hoping to god he’d protect you from the other men and not hurt you again, not like he had, anyway.

But he didn’t.

Joel laid down behind you, pulling you in so that his body encased yours, wrapping his arms around you with a tender touch. Suddenly, your exhaustion took over the alert terror in your body that was keeping you up, and despite the fact he was the one that hurt you, you felt relaxed and safe. Before you drifted off to sleep in his arms, he gently placed his hand over the burnt skin where his initials were permanently etched on you. "Mine" he whispered in your ear. “No one else gets to touch you, little one”

*****************************

Thank you all sooooooooooo so much for the outpouring of support for this story!

I hope I got all the tags, if you'd like to be added to the tag list let me know!

I got two anons due to this side account, one telling me they lost all basic respect for me, and one saying that if i have a rape fantasy, then my real-life rape that i've talked about on my main page, wasn't really rape.

But I've gotten such an outpouring of love from this series, it makes up for it.

If you want a bonus chapter of Tommy taking Little One's virginity, let me know!

Next weekend i have a wedding i gotta travel 10 hours for so there wont likely be a chapter for over a week, SORRY!

Real quick promo for my main blog @romanarose , I have two Joel fics there, one one shot and one series, and if you like wild sex and Triple Frontier, consider checking out the Awakening series!

@my-secret-shame-but-fanfiction @howaboutcastiel @tidlewav3 @bunnnyy-dummy @slutfortimotheechalamet @foggymoonbanana @dinsbaby @miraclesabound @jenna-ortega

[maahtigor]

Okay. First of all.

WOAH THAT'S A LOT OF PEOPLE.

I did NOT expect 74 people to vote in the poll 😭🙏🙏🙏 (what the hell, where the fuck did y'all come from?????)

Second of all,,

TIME TO TALK ABOUT THESE FUCKERS 😈🔥🔥🔥🔥‼️💯

Just to state it here before I start yapping my ever living soul out, Shiver is an eastern tall-man, Frye is a beast-man (like Izutsumi) and Big Man is a kobold. I can get a bit more into their designs and headcanons in another post, but today I want to focus on the lore.

It allllllll roots back to Shiver and Frye's fathers, who were friends since lord knows when. They were a team of burglars, looters, thieves, whatever you may call them, but in the end of the day just let it be clear that they were BAD. And they engaged in BAD shit, like looting corpses in dungeons and stealing from people's houses.

One day, they hit a huge one, they got into the house of this really rich dude that turned out to traffic beast men and other illegal creatures. And the rich being rich and caring about their richness, the security was top notch, and let's just say they struggled to get out of the place alive. BUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They left in NO WAY empty handed.

While looting the place, Frye's father found a kobold cub, chained up inside a cage in the corner beside other creatures likely being sold illegally. He brought the cub with him, and after almost getting their asses turned into kebabs by traps everywhere, the two companions were like "holy FUCK i ain't ever ever ever doing this shit again man.,.,. Wgart the ehll,,,,,, I'm getting too old for this, hell naw!!!!!!!" and decided to settle down as (this time legal) and functioning members of society. Shiver's father opened a dojo, while Frye's father opened a restaurant.

However, the rich guy who owned the house was PISSED (and also happened to be a black magic user......... woah how unlucky of them) and as revenge for stealing his wealth and freeing their beast men, cursed Frye's expecting father, mending the soul of his firstborn with the soul of a monster. And alas, that's how the critter was born😋🙏🔥💯😭

So yeah!!!!!!! Frye is a beast man just like Izutsumi is a beast man. They're the same typa monster, pretty much, except that Frye is a leopard instead of a housecat.

Anyway, back to the kobold pup; you guessed it, BIG MAN (or Big Dog?), being raised in the Onaga's restaurant, was always raised around the kitchen, both because he was genuinely interested in watching people cook and because he hoped to get food that fell from the floor lmfao-- as years went by, he started working as a server, apprentice, and eventually assistant chef of the family-ran restaurant. (So yeah, Biggie is the party's chef!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He also has an incredible sense of smell when it comes to cooking btw, both because of genuine talent and because of his race).

Ironic to his early years as a burglar, Shiver's dad grew to become quite the overprotective father once his daughter started growing up, wanting her to do anything but follow his steps and become a criminal before the age of 20. That backfired though, because she started running off to hang out with Frye causing all sorts of trouble (and eventually dragged Big Dog into it all too). The three were raised almost like siblings, and later on joined together as a party and continued to cause all sorts of troubles inside dungeons, where they eventually bumped into the other idols and started this whoooole story years later.

(They weren't all like their fathers though, instead of keeping the money they got from dungeons to themselves they gave it to the poor, much like their canon bandit dynamics.)

Anyway, that's the end of the yapping session, I hope y'all enjoyed (and if you did, please enjoy this page I doodled while blasting ToyBox in my headphones 🦄🙏 perhaps I'll outline and color this one day, but not now because it's 1:30 in the morning while I'm typing this out.)

[itsametaphorbriansblog]

Intro

Pairings: Daisy Jones x reader, Eddie Roundtree x reader

Warnings of the chapter: spoilers of the series and the book, bad grammar, no beta we die like men

Dreams' Marterlist

"On October 4, 1977, Daisy Jones & the Six performed to a sold-out crowd at Soldier Field in Chicago Illinois. They were one of the biggest bands in the world at the time, fresh off their award-winning multiplatinum-selling album "aurora". It would be their last performance. In the 20 years since members of the band and their inner circle have refused to speak on the record about what happened... until now"

1997

"Thanks for accepting this interview, it means a lot to me" Julia said as she entered Y/N´s living room. The space was dark and cozy, only lit up by the fireplace that was on the opposite end of the door. "You deserve to be heard and seen, and I need to know what happened, everyone needs to really"

Julia could sense y/n anxiousness, it was clear to see too, y/n was fidgeting with her hands, touching her hair, and making excuses to not sit down on the sofa and start the interview. Even tho y/n was 43, she was acting like a teenager procrastinating on doing her homework. Julia could perfectly understand her, y/n hadn´t had an interview since the Scandal that came up after the infamous Rolling Stone article that almost ended her career.

"To be honest, I don´t know if it's something I deserve, I´ve been hurt by a lot of people, yes, especially your dad. A big part of the guilt It´s also mine, I was the one that caused myself the most grief... But It is something I need, to finally close that chapter and clear the air " y/n confesses while serving them a cup of tea, her hands finally getting steady.

y/n had that graciousness that comes with being sure of your skin and accepting yourself, something she cannot say when she was younger.

"Do you wanna start somewhere? It´s there something you want me to speak about specifically? Do they even want me here speaking to you? I don´t care about painting a bad image of your dad, but I do care about the rest" y/n finally said, accepting the reality of the impending interview. She sipped her tea like she was preparing for a war to come, holding the cup for dear life.

"They all agreed to tell everything, so don´t inhibit yourself, start from the beginning" Julia said while finished putting up the camera and equipment

y/n inhaled and exhaled

Julia signaled her to start

Y/N Y/LN (sound engineer and producer of The Six, co-owner of Pheonix records): Is this on? Can you hear me? Tommy, can you hear me? (she laughs) That one never gets old, oh, you needed a sound bite, right? (she smiles quietly to herself) You need to understand, It wasn´t easy at the time, being any type of different, it was alienating, othering, you were considered a second-class citizen everywhere, and being surrounded by lucky, privileged people, only made you.... angrier.... because what was our difference really? It wasn't the talent, I was far more talented than the entirety of the six combined, and they can testify to that. It was my sexuality? my skin? my clothes? my size? my gender? my face? my personality? I don´t know, choose your pick, I only knew that instead of helping me, like a family would AND should, daisy jones and the six only brought me down.

[herrlindemann]

Access All Area - November 1997, Concert Review

Thanks to ramjohn for the scans!

As you can see with us, there is a solution for everything, even if the Rammstein management really doesn't have all the cups in the closet. With an important air, our photo team was sent from one end of the hall to the other, and after the opening act KMFDM was over, there was finally the pass... « What, you are presenters? - I do not care? » With a contract that is not legally tenable anyway, you should coordinate your publications with this 'management', make copies of the pictures available and assign all rights to Rammstein GbR. The Berliners have a total damage, one can only say. In their home town, this has already resulted in nobody taking pictures of Rammstein anymore; none of those who once made the band great. We thought long and hard about how to proceed. In the end we decided against 'our' photos and used various agencies and some fans who secretly snapped the entire show. Thank you very much!

Marius Müller-Westernhagen needed ten full years for this behavior; Rammstein only a short one: You could celebrate extensively. Gone was the anger that jumped from the band into the audience when they caused a sensation as the support act for the Ramones on their farewell tour. Singer Till Lindemann tries his hand at pantomime, gesticulating wildly, but fails from the start of the show: First he crawls ridiculously through a second bass drum (?) set up especially for him, then he looks like a mixture of a tired Terminator copy and the Michelin man. Then later, during 'Bestrafe mich', he wears a kind of jockey pants with suspenders and beats his washboard back with a little whip. His eldest, 12-year-old daughter allegedly judged the Rammstein show with the words "Dad, you're crazy" - she's right!

The stage is immersed in white light throughout the show and, with the exception of Lindemann, the musicians hardly move from the spot, but thrash their instruments with a stony expression (uiiii, how cruel). Critics claimed in advance that the band would not manage to implement their brutal sound live on CD - correct, and that becomes clear at the latest with the fastest song of the evening, 'Bück dich': When the sounds blur, the guitars catch up again If the guitar sounds like electro-metal-industrial stuff, the fascination with the Rammstein phenomenon is over.

And they love to play with fire, the children. The self-proclaimed pyromaniacs are considered Kiss fans from the very beginning, but they are not light years away from the casual, decadent performance of a 20-year-old show by their role models.

Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley & Co. would only have a tired smile. Anyway, among the props were: foot fountains, air bursts, green fire, bow-string rockets, pyroballs, multiple CO2 and of course flamethrowers.

Maybe the expectations were a little too high or the band's stage fright?! Singer Till refrained from any conversation with the audience, which had given Rammstein a sold-out tour, except for a final "Thank you" - three words less than Arnie Schwarzenegger as Terminator! By German standards, it was quite a nice spring festival fireworks display and since everyone was curious about the band, you could also meet plenty of celebrities everywhere. It will be interesting to see what the band is planning next... at least not " Cut off" - that's what the doctors, who also come from Berlin, propagated almost 15 years ago. Although it would certainly not be a pity for Till's rubber dildo...

[monsieuroverlord]

Hellverine #1 2nd printing 1:25 Cassara Virgin Variant

My goodness, do I have a mini rant about this (I'll keep it under the cut if anyone wants to skip it):

It was such a pain in the ass trying to get ahold of a copy of this!

I saw it when it was first announced a little over a month ago, right?

So, I'm like okay, it'll probably be posted on my usual ordering site (no physical shops near me, but if you follow me, you know I got a pulse on the solicits. My pull list is immaculate, things are planned and preordered MONTHS in advance).

I check every day for a week. No dice. Not posted for pre-order.

After the first couple of days during this week, I'm also casually checking other comic book sites -- either already sold out or going for a minimum of $65 to $100. Ebay pre-sales are pretty similar.

So I'm like, screw that, it isn't even out yet! The official catalog price is like $9.99, I can wait.

A month goes by, I'm checking diligently every day. There are no changes.

Then I'm like, "Okay, I just have to wait until it actually comes out" and I'm sure the shops will be selling their extra incentive copies at a more reasonable price.

Tuesday night, I'm pulling out all the stops, I'm deep-diving. I'm utilizing all the secret advanced search commands I learned in college. AND I thought I found one!

It was a listing on Google shopping for $4.99, so I'm like "Jackpot" and click "buy now" so I do, and it redirects me to checkout on the website, and I think to myself "sweet!" so I buy it.

I get my order confirmation, and IN BIG BOLD LETTERS at the top, it reads:

"PLEASE NOTE YOU MUST BUY ALL INCENTIVE QUALIFIERS TO GET A INCENTIVE COPY"

(I'm paraphasing a bit, and there was a bit more after that, but you get the idea)

So, I'm thinking "what?" and I go and actually browse the site I ordered from, and I somehow stumbled upon a wholesaler store, like the kind a comic book store would use to order bulk copies for the store.

Essentially, if I was a store, I would've placed an order for 25 main 2nd printing copies, and then I would've qualified for this incentive variant.

I was quick, and sent and email request to cancel, and got my money back, no problems. (I don't have the budget to but 25 copies of one book just to get the one I want. That's the whole reason I'm not paying $100 for a copy)

So its the day of release in my timezone. Everywhere is still sold out. Slowly but surely, the Ebay resellers begin to trickle in. Its averaging about $70 to $80.

Then I see it! By sheer luck or diligence or a wild combination of both -- there's a $20 copy. But the listing says "DEFECT" in big bold letters.

Undeterred, I think "How bad can it be?" as I don't really need a flawless copy, I just like collecting my pretties, you know?

There were pictures provided, along with the description: some of the color is faded off around the lower left staple

(circled below)

That's not shininess, its actually faded white.

So I bought it. And it arrived today. Its my wonderfully imperfect copy and I'm so happy.

As of today, the lowest is like $49.99 + shipping o Ebay. All the online shops don't have it, even though it came out less than a week ago. And its still not on my usual pre-order site.

Like, I dunno if the 2nd printing didn't sell as well, or maybe there was a manufacturing delay, but good lord, I did not expect this particular variant to be such a pain to obtain.

Like, it's only a 1:25!! I dunno how many 25s were actually printed, but my goodness. I know this is such a first world problem and I recognize at least half of the drama is self-inflicted by my own hubris and dedication to also getting a good deal.

But I'm just trying to buy a little treat for myself. damn.

[traceofexistence]

here's some Karlach meta that is about Karlach and not her abusers.

What we know lore wise, is that Karlach is very big in size (210cm tall) that is like a tall basketball player in human terms, and teiflings are like humans in size (as they were humans themselves once)

so she's big for a tiefling.

Karlach lost her parents in a young age, the assumption is that she was a teen. (a very crucial age to have guidance and support)

she's not the smartest cookie in the jar, and there is a line she says that indicates she didn't finish school (whatever level of education there is in fearun). her actor Sam even suggests that she dropped out school the moment her father died(her mom died before her dad)

we know also that she's an immature person, we can see that based on her reactions and wording, and kiddo enthusiasm at times, and also in terms of romance.

what immaturity mean in her case:

prone to be manipulated

prone to affiliate with the wrong crowds

prone to use substances (soul coins) without thinking of the consequences

emotionally vulnerable

a kid without guidance is more likely to be taken advantage off

there is also something that Sam said that puts in perspective the point about her size, and I think it is an extremely valid point.

Sam has a friend who was a very big build when he was young, and while as kid he was a good kid, with well meaning parents overall. because of his body type he was clocked by gangs for recruitment. and his parents had to do extra work to protect him from something that had nothing to do with their parenting, or his character but his body type. because as Sam pointed out when you are 14 and look like 20 and even big for that age, gangs want muscles, and a 14 year old doesn't have the maturity to see the red flags and flee. Sam said that story specifically to put Karlach in perspective for us, they also of course told us that their friend is a whole grown up now with family of his own, and he managed to avoid the wrong crowds as his parents did the utmost to protect him. Karlach did not have that, because her parents were dead at the time she needed them most.

see for example the orphaned tiefling kids in act 1, they do petty crimes all around because there are no adults around who care to guide them.

Karlach probably started in the same way in her teens, because of her huge body she got into protection/intimidation (her friend Fytz asked her if she's still in the business of intimidation, so we know that was something she was doing)

and when she was old enough and deep enough to not have an alternative, G got her, a slaver, an abuser, and a master manipulator. Karlach was in need of a decent job, he gave her that. it was what she could do, it paid well, and it gave her a lot of freedom too, being the bodyguard of someone like him certainly opened doors for her way easier.

on top of that in terms of her romantic life, she never loved, and she was never loved, as she says herself whatever walked on two legs she would climb aboard, no strings attached. her first fantasy out of the hells is for her to fuck her way through baldur's gates, two at a time. the way she can not manage her own feelings when she meets us and falls in love for the first time. all those things are indications of her immaturity.

she also trusts very easily, whoever will help her. G was someone who helped her so she trusted him, protected him, did his bidding. she was fully aware he was one of those shady fucks who had his tentacles everywhere, she says so when we ask her. but in her naivety she thought he cared enough for her to keep her around.

instead he manipulated her quite easily to do the job until he didn't need her anymore, or more precisely she was more valuable sold to a devil and experimented on, to him, than being his bodyguard. he could find plenty of muscle if he wanted to. but someone who could go through mutilation and survive enough time to get his prototype?

she trusted him so much that if he was to tell her his plan, she would probably agree to do it, get an engine for a heart and all. but no he betrayed her he didn't even inform her what will happen to her, he just made a deal without her, he treated her like a thing, like a tool.

and lets not forget that when we meet Fytz, she tells us that he told everyone that Karlach just left, he LIED about what he did. blamed Karlach made everyone believe she just abandoned everyone without a goodbye.

he sold her to slavery, and then assassinated her character, so nobody would look for her.

she was the perfect victim, she didnt have anyone who would look for her, and she was completely in the dark of what he had planned to do.

Karlach was not a bad person, she was just loyal to a horrible disgusting abuser.

she tells Jaheira, that she wished she had met her before G, that way she would put her talents in good cause instead of doing what she had to do.

she never wanted that life, she never chose that life, she had ambitions, and she had heroes she looked up to.

I dont think the game through Karlach really puts in perspective the amount of torment Karlach suffered in hells.

they way she mourned her heart that her mama gave her, it is the only concrete enough indication of how torturous and sadistic the process of the engine installment was.

there is not reference that her heart is kept somewhere, and she can go and retrieve it. from the mourning what I personally get is that her heart was extracted and then mutilated, and thrown to the imps to eat. and Karlach was conscious during the entire process so she could feel all the pain. physical and mental

zariel made karlach her possession, all the tattoos and burns scars, the carving on her horn. she was marked, so everyone could know who her slaver was.

and then she made her an addict as well (soul coins)

Karlach managed to survive slavery, and escape, but the impact that had on her is unimaginable.

so yes she tries to live, she tries to leave the past behind her, Faerun is like a child's play in comparison to what she had to do to survive in the hells.

so she becomes loyal to the first people she meets. the first people who showed her compassion.

but she also is being upfront, she doesnt hide who she is, who she was, what she has done to survive. when we asked her about the asshole she tells us all about what her life was like.

when we ask her as tav what she thinks she would be doing in not for the tadpole, and she asks us back, and if we choose the adventurer answer, she's thrilled about us doing all kinds of shit, and wants to join us.

she's the type of "wherever life takes me" as long as it's not the hells, but even that, we can convinces her to go so a little while until we find a way to fix her.

final verdict is that

Karlach is best girl, with a past, and also a victim of abuse and slavery. and all the blame goes to the abusers and slavers and nobody else, especially not her.

[no-white-dress]

Alright everyone, gather around for

RIMINI COMICS INTERVIEW WITH IGINIO STRAFFI

Translated by me word by word because I do not have the patience to correct fake news spreading from half-baked translations again

HOST: As we already said, the Winx are turning 20. An incredible journey between 8 series [seasons], movies, spin-offs, and even a reboot, which I know you're preparing at this moment. In which moment – is there a particular moment when you noticed that this project was becoming something crazy? Was there a moment that made you understand this?

STRAFFI: Well, yes. It all happened fast. In 2004, when it aired first in Italy, then in France, then in the United States, then in Germany, in all the main countries and we got ratings that were double the normal for the various channels that aired Winx, and we got the data from Mattel and other licensees that sold products – dolls and whatnot – as if they were bread so we realized that these characters had, in fact, let's say, broken through everywhere. The recipe, the contents of the Winx were truly global and universal.

HOST: They worked. Cool, cool. I imagine it must have been an incredible emotion to find out that they were becoming an event...

STRAFFI: For me it was even earlier, when we started the animation tests, to see from the static drawing these characters who moved, flew, who talked etcetera, I already realized they had something really special. We studied the eye, a bit all that was the look of the Winx, it was all really, really powerful and us boys asked "please come out of the screen".

HOST (laughing): True, true. Raise your hand if you ever fell in love with a Winx! ...Pretty much everyone. What do you mean only Musa? [to the audience] And going back to the beginning of it all, were there creative difficulties during the creation of the show, maybe in regards to the construction of the Winx's world, the story, or their very personality?

STRAFFI: No. For the story I took almost a year, 9-10 months, like a real gestation, to pinpoint everything, so much so that I had already written the first 3 seasons, hoping for the first to do well. But there was already the fil rouge, the revelations that had to happen proceeding with the story. Instead, the graphical part was indeed a little more complex, because after having already realized one episode, and even presenting it to TVs, I realized that they weren't as strong, as original as we wanted, as made in Italy, as innovative, so we restarted everything. I told my closest collaborators, "I realized they aren't strong enough, we must start over with the graphic research". There have been scenes of people who wanted to jump out of the window, it wasn’t easy, and I added to the team a real fashion stylist, going back to the discourse about the arts, of how important specialization is. This girl, she was from Ancona but worked in Milan for the Prada group, Miu Miu, realized for us a series of looks, haircuts, very fresh and innovative, and from there, translated into models for animation, were born the Winx as you have known them on TV, because of the pilot which was called Magic Bloom, nothing aired.

HOST: I imagine in a creative process, to be ready to take the idea and set it aside to restart...

STRAFFI: You never do that in a cartoon, because it has frightening costs, so when you've already arrived to animation and color, you don't throw anything away, you go on anyway. However, this project was so important, Rainbow had some extra money from Tommy&Oscar, from previous projects, and since I'm passionate about my profession I said "who cares, let's throw everything away and make something even stronger".

HOST: It worked, it worked great! So I would give him an applause. Now, I'd have some questions that come directly from the community. A lot of questions were selected, we took the most requested, and we bring them here so maybe the community can satiate some curiosity. They ask: "if you could change something in the plot of Winx, what would you change?"

STRAFFI: I must say nothing, because it worked so well I wouldn't change anything. Maybe I'd be more careful from season 4 onwards, since we, let's say, followed the requests of broadcasters etcetera; instead, like we're doing in the reboot, I'd be more careful with that, meaning, with maintaining the story really, really in syntony with what is Winx's DNA, which is to always be one step ahead, with content different from the usual, ideas that maybe are new to the public, and I think this is the only element we always need to keep in mind.

HOST: Absolutely, absolutely yes. They also ask if it would be possible, although we just talked about it earlier, to know more about the origins of the Winx Club as Magic Bloom.

STRAFFI: Well, what I said before, I mean, the series was called [that as] working title because we never thought of calling it Magic Bloom, it's a too childish title, but, let's say, it was really different especially in regards to graphic; the story was pretty similar but the graphic was very different. From there, this huge work I mentioned to remake everything to make something new.

HOST: Then we have, instead, a curiosity about your personal taste: who is your favorite villain of the animated series?

STRAFFI: Which one? [to the crowd]

CROWD: Valtor

STRAFFI: Valtor is the favorite villain, but come on guys, the Trix are too cool. I'd even make a spin-off on the Winx, maybe live action, I'm thinking about it. [pretty sure he mixed up and meant Trix here] Because we know little of the Trix.

HOST: Exactly. Instead, your favorite transformation?

STRAFFI: Heh... Enchantix.

HOST: Enchantix. Dr Straffi gave something away about transformations. Then the community asks: "have you ever wanted to add a fairy with a different power, and in that case, which power?"

STRAFFI: I thought about it sometimes, but then... they're already so many, because 6 characters are a lot, plus Roxy, who is this seventh Winx who arrives every now and then, let's say I would've liked to have a telepathic fairy, who could read others' minds a bit, but let's say Musa is a bit like that, so we don't need another one, we have them all.

HOST: Instead, in the case of a brand-new character to add as a member of Winx Club, can you give us a famous person you'd be inspired by to create a new character?

STRAFFI: Well, now in the reboot we will have big news. A very, very important character will make his entrance in this new series [NOTE: he uses male pronouns because "character" is a male noun in Italian, we don't know the gender for sure yet!], and for the visual part we haven't got an inspiration yet, but...

HOST: There's a few ideas.

STRAFFI: There's a few ideas.

HOST: You have already answered the last question, in fact they asked if new characters would be introduced in the reboot, apparently there will be a few surprises.

STRAFFI: There will be big surprises in the reboot, something really, really new, so I invite you all to... now one more year, about one year and a half of production, but, but I think the new fans but especially those of yesterday will find it an interesting and engaging show, from all points of view, from the content to the graphic part of it.

HOST: I am really curious. Hands up if you're curious! But we can't do any spoiler, of any kind, can't help it. So I ask you one more big applause for Dr. Iginio Straffi, thank you again for being with us...

STRAFFI: Thank you.

[albertfinch]

Exhortation - September 13, 2024

Some say, 'The River is flowing. Just step in.' But we need to say, 'Just step in, and the river will flow.'

Some are passively waiting to see what God will do, while He is waiting for us to exercise faith to see Him move with power.

"And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord kept WORKING WITH THEM and confirming the message by the attesting signs and miracles that closely accompanied it" (Mark 16:20).

God worked with them instead of them working with God. THEY had a responsibility to step in FIRST.

Jesus told us that the Kingdom is like a treasure hidden in a field (Matthew 13:44). It was so valuable that a man sold all he had to get that treasure. When God's presence and work among us is so valuable that we would lay down other things for it, we will have it.

You are part of a grassroots movement amongst Believers that is emerging who aggressively have a single hearts goal to establish the King in His Kingdom on earth.

This is the time in which you must press into Him and continue to move with authority and power through your hunger, prayers, faith, and Christ calling. We must step in!

ALBERT FINCH MINISTRY

[apureniallsource]

Ahead of new album, The Show, Niall Horan on how he 'lives' for touring, his desire to connect with fans through his songs, and the challenge of going out for chips in his Irish hometown

It’s almost a cliché to call Niall Horan a “super-nice guy”, but really, there’s no getting away from it. He may have named his new album The Show, but Horan feels no need to put one on for a journalist. In fact, the Irish singer-songwriter is so laid-back and likeable when we meet at a smart London hotel – fresh flowers everywhere, bottled water waiting on the table – that I ask how he’s stayed so well-adjusted. “It’s probably a combination of the upbringing I had and the fact I already had enough character at 16 [to deal with it],” he says. “It might have been a different story if I’d started doing this when I was 10.”

Now 29, he has been scarily famous for almost half his life. After auditioning for The X Factor in 2010 as a solo artist, 16-year-old Horan was eliminated at the boot camp stage, then given a spectacular second chance as one fifth of a hastily assembled group called One Direction. He and his new bandmates – Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson – didn’t win that year’s show, but still used it as a springboard to become a chart-topping global phenomenon. By the time One Direction announced an indefinite hiatus in January 2016, they had sold 70 million records and debuted at number one in the US with their first four albums – something not even The Beatles achieved. When asked what he would say to his pre-1D, 16-year-old self, Horan replies: “Get ready. Your life’s about to change on a level that most of the world can’t even quantify.”

Horan says he still speaks to “the lads” on a regular basis, but like all of them, he has worked hard to carve out an identity as a solo artist. If Horan’s individual achievements still feel slightly underrated, that’s probably only because his flashier bandmate Styles is now a stadium-filling superstar. Released in 2017, Horan’s debut album Flicker was a deft blend of soft rock, folk and country that debuted at number one in the US and Ireland. His 2020 follow-up Heartbreak Weather added a dash of swagger to the mix – particularly on the Brit-poppy single ‘Nice to Meet Ya’ – and became his first UK chart-topper. Because it dropped in March 2020, just as Covid-19 was taking hold, Horan never got to take the album on the road. “I haven’t toured since 2018 – that’s wild,” he says. “I love live music and I love touring – I live for it. So, it’s sad that I haven’t done that.”

Happily, a few weeks after this interview, Horan announced The Show: Live on Tour, a 50-date trek across Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand that will keep him busy from February to July of next year. When Horan last toured five years ago, he mainly played large theatres, but now he is aiming to pack out arenas from Birmingham to Brisbane. During our conversation, he hinted that he was ready for the step up. “In my eyes, the bigger the venue, the better, because I fucking love looking out at an ocean of people,” he says. “For me, it feels like the bigger the venue, the better the show is gonna be.”

Horan also makes no bones about wanting The Show to become another UK number one after it drops on 9 June. “There’s nothing better than getting that little statue sent to your house,” he says with an impish grin. At the time of writing, he seems well on course for another express delivery from the Official Charts Company. The album’s breezy lead single ‘Heaven’ cracked the UK Top 20 in February, and its sprightly follow-up ‘Meltdown’ is now climbing the charts. A few hours before this interview, I watch him perform both songs in the Radio 1 Live Lounge. Horan is just as relaxed with his band during rehearsals, but when he spots that his vocals are getting buried in the mix, he quickly and calmly gets it corrected.

Horan began working on ‘The Show’ while holed up at home during the summer of 2020. The album title had come to him earlier in the year, but he “didn’t really know what it meant until the pandemic”. When he sat down at the piano that August, the lyrics that came out seemed to capture the confusion of the Covid era: “If everything was easy, nothing ever broke / If everything was simple, how would we know? / How to fix your tears? How to fake a show?” At this point, Horan says he realised ‘The Show’ was both “a metaphor for life” and an overarching concept he could run with. “When there’s no heartbreak [to write about], you have to come up with a different concept,” he says. “I realised quite quickly that what I wanted to talk about was the ups and downs and good and bad of life. That’s ‘The Show’.”

Having “no heartbreak” is about as much as Horan will say about his personal life. “Keeping that stuff quiet”, he believes, is one reason he remains so grounded. Since 2020, he has been dating Amelia Woolley, a designer shoe buyer who never appears on his work-focused Instagram. But when we discuss ‘You Could Start a Cult’, an idiosyncratic folk ballad from the album, Horan does offer a teasing glimpse into their home life. He says the song’s eye-catching title was inspired by the true-crime series they like watching. “I always try and write weird stuff like that, then see if I can flip it on its head and make the song [itself] not as dark as the title,” he says. In this case, Horan flipped it into a “love song, effectively”, albeit an intense one. “It’s about… not the desperation feeling, but the ‘I think you’re the best fucking thing in the world’ feeling,” he explains. “And if you started a cult, I’d follow you into the fire. You know, that kind of angst, though I don’t know if ‘angst’ is the word I’m looking for!”

Horan spends a lot of time in LA because his record label and producers are based there. His main collaborators on The Show were Joel Little, who he brought in because he liked his work with Taylor Swift, indie artist Noah Kahan, and long-time co-writer John Ryan, a veteran of four One Direction albums. “I think it’s really important first of all to be loyal,” he says of his enduring partnership with Ryan. “And you know, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.” Still, working with Little felt just as comfortable, partly because they could pick things up at a moment’s notice. “If I get the green light at the top of my street [in LA], I can be at Joel’s house in less than a minute,” Horan says. “It’s a fucking dream!”

But during the pandemic, Horan was grounded at his main base in southwest London. “I’ve never been fitter in my life because I was cycling 80 or 90 miles around Richmond Park every week – it’s gorgeous out there,” he recalls. Like many of us, Horan has conflicting feelings about the way Covid placed our lives on hold. “I don’t want to say I enjoyed it because I didn’t – it was such a horrible time,” he says. “But I got to a point about two or three months in, where I was like: ‘This is the longest I’ve ever had off.’ He particularly appreciated having to stay in one place for a sustained period of time. “Normally, I’m packing a suitcase every three or four days,” he says. “At Heathrow Airport, the guards at the [security] desk just laugh when they see me coming. They’re like, ‘How do you do this?’”

Having lived in London since he was 16, Horan says “it’s definitely the best city on the planet”. But at the same time, he still regards Mullingar, the Irish market town where he was born and raised, as home. His debut solo single ‘This Town’, a UK top 10 hit in 2016, was incredibly charming because it harnessed his ineffable longing for the place. Horan reckons he returns to Mullingar “seven or eight times a year”, although walking down the high street is pretty tricky. “I can’t just pull up outside the chip shop, run in and get the chips, then run back to the car,” he says. “Everything has to be thought through. Like, where am I going to park? How many streets am I going to have to cross? What am I going to wear?” Horan says all this with no hint of frustration: by now, he knows what is expected of a homecoming hero.

Horan knew he wanted to be a musician from a young age and says he “tried to make this as clear as possible” to his parents. They were “supportive up to a point”, but because the family didn’t have much money and Mullingar wasn’t a creative hub like Dublin, his mother urged him to “get some sort of qualification”. “I still don’t have any,” Horan says with a laugh, “I didn’t do GCSEs or anything like that because I didn’t finish school.” At 16, Horan made the 50-mile journey to Dublin to audition for The X Factor and grabbed hold of the One Direction rocket with both hands.

Did his parents come up with any ideas for a Plan B? “We didn’t get that far. Honestly, I just packed my bag and never came back – that’s the way they look at it,” says Horan. “My father worked in Tesco for 35 years and my mother worked at a pewter genesis company making little bits and pieces – clocks and things like that. They both had very regular jobs.” Horan notes astutely that some kids from a working-class background “like to spread their wings and leave the nest” – as he did, quite spectacularly – whereas others “like to stay in their hometown, or maybe can’t get out”. Horan pauses for a second, perhaps to ponder what might have been. “I don’t know what they would have wanted me to do, but I’m sure it would have been a good life,” he continues. “Like, my parents are having a good time.”

Thirteen years after he left to become a pop star, Horan’s own ambition remains undimmed. “I’ve achieved a lot in my young life, but I’m still fired up to do as much as I can,” he says. “My career has felt so good because it reminds me of everything I thought the music industry would be when I was a kid. I got the good end of the stick [in terms of] travelling the world and playing to millions. And I still want more of that.”

For this reason, the audience is always at the forefront of his mind. “When I’m writing, I ask myself, ‘Have I gone too specific to the point where it only makes sense to me?’” he says. “And then I try and broaden the thought to make it as relatable as possible.” ‘Never Grow Up’ from Horan’s new album was partly inspired by his girlfriend’s parents, who are “still madly in love”, but its lyrics will chime with One Direction fans who, like him, are close to turning 30. “Hope we still drink like we’re back in the pub,” Horan sings. “Hope we grow old, but we never grow up.”

In Horan’s eyes, the songs that fully stand the test of time – from Simon and Garfunkel to Whitney Houston and Adele – are “the ones that really mean a lot to the people”. It’s this kind of universal connection that he is always striving for. “These are the things that go on in my head when I’m writing,” he says. “I don’t want to alienate anyone, and I don’t want to be introspective to the point where I ruin it for everyone. So, if they can connect to it too, then we all get what we want out of this.”

[australiablog]

25/7

Somehow my wake up time for the last few days has been 5am and today was no different, I didn’t have to be ready anytime soon so I took my time in sorting out my bag. Today I’m doing a scenic flight over the Whitsunday islands and pick up time was 7:45. The ride to the airport was only 10 minutes, it’s a local airport where only tiny planes and helicopters take off. There are houses next to the runway and those people ironically complain about the noise. They all had two garages and I was a bit confused until they told us that one was for their cars but the other was for their plane or helicopter. I don’t even know how to imagine having that much money. I took a motion sickness pill just to be on the safe side and ordered a breakfast wrap for after the flight. I wasn’t nearly as nervous as I was before the JetSki tour but I had butterflies in my stomach nonetheless. Our pilot was Bonnie who had her parents, a Dutch couple and their son and myself on her plane. We couldn’t pick where we sat, it was preset for us (based on weight I’m guessing) and I was behind her on the plane. The headset was very tight on my ears but I figured it was only an hour so I didn’t say anything about it. Takeoff was much smoother as I anticipated, and it was only a few minutes until we were already above daydream island. It took the boat yesterday about 35 minutes to get there. Whitehaven beach was even more spectacular from up in the air, it was low tide and you could see the reef all around the island. We saw whales fairly quickly on the journey. They look like tiny blobs in the ocean and you can only spot them when they blow the water. There is a heart reef at about a 20 minute journey, and it’s the heart of the reef. Get it? Hah I thought it was hilarious that they make this joke every time. The plane does two passes, once for the left side of the plane and then the second for the right. We could see even tinier blobs that were turtles. The hour went by so quickly and there was only a little turbulence over some of the islands. The reef was a 3 hour journey by boat and we saw the rough sea we had yesterday which you have to cross so no Thank you. Once was more than enough. My breakfast was waiting when we landed and I honestly was far more hungry than I thought I would be. Yesterday they warned me about being sick on the plane but I wasn’t at all, not even a little bit. The bus ride was just as fast going back and I went to my room to swap a few things in my backpack. I went for a wander around town to look at all the various shops they have. They had very cute boutiques that sold about everything you could imagine. Found myself a very cute dress when I was actually looking for a bathing suit. I didn’t find one but that’s ok. There was a tiny market next to the hotel because apparently a massive cruise ship was at the harbor. We saw it from the air and I can’t even imagine how big it was when it looked enormous from up there. First I went nearly a month without seeing any people from the Netherlands, nor Belgians and now they seem to be everywhere. The weather is just as weird as in Belgium since one second it was sun and way too hot and then there was a rain shower all of a sudden. I sheltered under one of the tents until it passed. I had a look around the harbor and went to the boat haven beach. I read my book a bit before I made it back to the beach opposite my hotel. I stopped to buy a hat for dad at one of the market shops, this was my plan for the entire trip but I was wondering how I would get it home. Well I ended up buying a squishable kangaroo leather hat, so handy for in my bag! I wore it for the rest of the day, I might as well use it to protect my head. Today I’ve been having quite a headache day, and either I’m still dehydrated from yesterday (I didn’t drink nearly enough to be in the sun all day) or I gave myself a sun stroke by not wearing a hat. So I went to cool down in my hotel room and to refill my water bottle. I sat on my balcony a bit, but with no wind it was way too warm to sit there.

[kulturegroupie]

THE YARDBIRDS: 1967 INTERVIEW

Friday, 20 January 1967. An interview with all four members of the band is published in Psychedelic Honi Soit, the University of Sydney Student Representative Council magazine, dated The Ides of March, 1967. This obviously took place before the band had a chance to rehearse at the Sydney Stadium, perhaps on the afternoon of Friday 20 January or the following day.

MUSICAL PSYCHEDELICATESSEN: THE YARDBIRDS

(David Dale Interviews)

D.D.: How do you regard your stage performances? Is it worth trying to do a good stage act when it will probably be drowned by screaming?

Jimmy [Page]: As long as they're enjoying it .....

Keith [Relf]: We still always try to maintain the same quality. We won't sort of not bother to play properly because the kids are screaming and jumping all over the place. We still try to play our best.

D.D.: Would you prefer an audience that sat and listened quietly, to a screaming audience?

Jimmy: No, it's best to have all the different types of audiences. Otherwise you can become bored.

Keith: We'll enjoy a university audience who sits there, and, as you say, listens to every note, and clap at the end, but we'll also, the next day, enjoy an audience that's screaming.

Jimmy: It just depends how much screaming there really is - if the whole act is obliterated it's not too good, but we'd like a variety of audience reactions.

D.D.: Do you think that it is impossible to reproduce the same sound on stage as on record?

Jimmy: No. Come along and see.

Keith: Although with your stadium we don't know. It depends a lot on the acoustics of the hall.

Jimmy: We found in America with the younger kids, the most important thing for them is to hear the group play the songs as the record sounds. And they've come up to us and said, "You're the first group we've heard who sound just like your records. They've listened to things like "Over, Under, Sideways Down" and they sound so different to them from what the normal group attempts that I suppose it pleases them to hear us perform them the same as on record.

Jim [McCarty]: How about the people sitting behind the group at this stadium of yours?

D.D.: There's a revolving stage. The stage is the size of a boxing ring.

Jim: Perhaps we ought to have a fight on stage.

Chris [Dreja]: Good visual effect.

Keith: Perhaps we ought to phone up Jeff for that.

D.D.: On stage do you perform only songs you have recorded?

Jimmy: No - we do a lot of other things. With I'm a Man we make It much longer than any of the recorded versions, and much different.

Keith: It starts off like the single version but then It develops into a load of different styles - a semi-classical part, er ...

Jimmy: Indian part, Arabic part.

Jim: They've asked us to do all our singles here, so I don't think we'll have much time for anything else. We play for about thirty, thirty-five minutes.

Keith: If we're playing a concert at a university where we can do a one-hour spot we go to town with the wilder stuff - some blues. We prefer not to play the hits to college students.

Jim: What was our last hit out here?

D.D.: "Over, Under, Sideways Down."

Jim: Where'd that get to?

D.D.: About number six in the Sydney charts. But I want to ask you about the single you released after that call "Happenings Ten Years' Time Ago."

Keith: It was an experiment that didn't come off.

Jimmy: It was supposed to be released in anywhere but America. It was a mistake - the typical commercial dealings of record companies. As soon as they get a tape they release it everywhere without consulting the group.

Jim: We had very little time to record it. We decided the American market could have it.

D.D.: How did it sell in America?

Jimmy: It sold very well.

D.D.: But not in England?

Keith: Well, we weren't there to promote it, you see. We haven't been in England now - apart from a couple of days here and there just to get home - for about four months.

D.D.: Is that because you think the English pop scene is dying?

Keith: That's right.

D.D.: Can you get work there?

Jim: Oh, yeah. We'll be working when we get back from this tour. Good money, too.

Keith: We would just rather play the world market.

Jimmy: All these groups slogging it to death in England and killing themselves in the long run, because they're making it go over saturation point. They can come to places like this where the pop field is not so over-saturated.

D.D.: What's the situation with record sales?

Keith: In England, to sell a record you must do the TV shows and plug it all the time.

Jimmy: You've got to realise that in England's such a small place with so many groups there's no glory left to anyone except the Beatles. People don't go out and buy a record because of the artist's name - they buy it if they like it. They must hear it before they like it, obviously. If you're not in the country they won't play your records, because you've got to push them all the time. The Stones won't sell on their names any more.

D.D.: Do you intend to write all your own material in the future?

Jim: We'll take offers from other writers if they're good and if we can't do any better ourselves.

D.D.: Don't you think your own material let you down in the case of "Happenings Ten Years' Time Ago"?

Jimmy: Well, it was done in such a rush. It was recorded in virtually a day.

Keith: Written and recorded, I might add.

Jimmy: Yeah, written and recorded in a day - made up in the studio. We weren't really satisfied with it but our manager had it released.

Keith: We're not making any excuses - shouldn't have been released in that state.

Jim: Why don't you think it made it in Australia?

D.D.: No air-play.

Jim: Aaah.

Jimmy: It was a strange sort of number. You had to hear it a few times to realise what we were doing. There's so much going on on that record.

Jim: It was labelled a psychedelic record, which I think people might have associated with drugs and refused to play it.

Keith: It got lots of air-play in Hollywood and was number one over there.

Jimmy: I think when record players review a record, they put it on once and then throw it away. You could hear "Happenings" the first time and not like it.

The group's road manager (?) arrived at this point.

Jim: Ay ay.

Road Manager: Oh, ho, I got drunk last night.

Keith: Last night? I went to bed at four in the afternoon and didn't get up till eight this morning.

R.M.: You're joking.

Keith: No.

R.M.: Right. Well .....

He then muttered unintelligibly and disappeared.