#fightin round the world

[maggotwithanf]

a fun thing about my job is you can meet someone you get along with and would like to get drinks casually and chat about media but they live in fucking australia,

[blkdaddie]

A New Day

Part of the Natural As Breathing Series

The sun was just creeping up, castin that soft, warm glow through the lace curtains. The kind that make you feel like the day’s gonna be alright, no matter what. But this morning, I knew it wasn’t just any day. Them pains started in the middle of the night, slow and easy at first, but now they was coming on strong. It was time.

 I made the room ready earlier, pushing furniture aside, clearing a space on the floor where I could move ‘round and do what needed doing. Mama’s old quilt was laid out, those patches full of memories, and a pile of fresh towels and blankets beside it, waiting to catch new life. Nate, bless him, had his doctor stuff all set up too—his little black bag, a basin of warm water, and all the things he said was necessary. He’d been my anchor, calm and steady, just like I needed him to be.

The knock came at the door. Miss Lucille, one of the church ladies, had come by to take the kids for the day. I could hear them little feet scampering toward the door, excited to have a visit at Miss Lucille’s. She always spoiled ‘em, giving ‘em cookies and tellin’ stories about when she was a girl.

“Y’all behave for Miss Lucille now,” I called out, wincin’ as another pain gripped me. “And don’t be givin’ her no trouble, ya hear?”

“Yes, Daddy!” came the chorus of little voices, and I heard the door creak open, Miss Lucille’s warm voice spillin’ into the house.

“Don’t you worry ‘bout a thing,” she said, peekin’ into the room, her eyes full of kindness. “I got these babies. You focus on bringin’ that new one into the world for me to spoil.”

“Thank ya, Miss Lucille,” I managed to say, breathin’ through another wave. “I know they in good hands.”

She nodded, then ushered the kids out the door, leavin’ the house quiet, save for the sound of my breathin’ and the shuffle of Nate movin’ around.

Them contractions kept coming, stronger with each pass. I found myself swaying and breathin’ through ‘em, tryin’ to stay in control. Nate was right there, his hand on my back, warm and firm. He’d check me every now and then, his touch sure, but tender. I could see that look in his eyes, that mix of doctor and husband, both focused and full of love.

Been a doctor for years now, but I swear he turns into a different man when it’s his own child comin’. All that fancy schoolin’ don’t do nothin’ to calm his nerves when it’s his baby on the way.

When the pains got closer together, he helped me down to that quilt. His voice, always so smooth and steady, kept me grounded. “You’re doing great,” he said, squeezin’ my hand like he meant it. “Not much longer now.”

I took comfort in that room, filled with pieces of the past—Mama’s quilt, family pictures, the smell of the lilacs outside the window. It was like bein’ wrapped up in all the love that came before me, holdin’ me steady when things got tough.

“Breathe with me,” Nate murmured, his voice a gentle guide. “In through your nose, out through your mouth.”

I did as he said, breathin’ deep, tryin’ to ride them waves of pain instead of fightin’ ‘em. The baby was pushin’ down hard now, and I could feel it, that life inside me wantin’ to meet the world. Nate was right there, helpin’ me shift, findin’ the spots where the hurt eased up just a little.

After all the sweatin and gruntin my body knew when to push, all my muscles workin to help this baby on its way . I never was scared of hard work and birth is some of the hardest. I grunted as the baby crowned and paused to catch my breath when the head finally come out. “Nathaniel!” I growled, my use of his full gov’ment name let him know I was hittin my limit. “I’m sorry babe. Just hold on, almost there.”  I grit my teeth as he poked around to check the cord, then nodded when he gave me the go-head.  With one last push, I felt that baby slide into Nate’s hands. There ain’t no words for that feelin’—the release, the relief, the pure joy. Nate, all careful and gentle, cleaned the baby up before layin’ that little bundle right on my chest. Warm and wrigglin’, our child, finally here.

The baby’s first cries filled the room, and I swear it was the sweetest sound I ever heard. I gave a soft chuckle; now I know why Mama did this 8 times. Holding this new soul is pure heaven. Nate was still workin’, makin’ sure everything was right—clampin’ the cord, cuttin’ it just so, then wrappin’ up our baby in a soft blanket.

“We done good, huh?” I say, my voice barely more than a whisper.

Nate nods, leanin’ down to kiss my forehead. “We did, love. We did.”

Eventually, Nate helps me get settled, and we lie there together, our baby nestled between us. The house is quiet, peaceful. This is home.

[statementlou]

Hi! Louis rocked last night! Do you know what was so special about the post malone song?

like why did Louis pick it? I mean obviously I/ we can't know, and I assume he likes the song for starters (he followed Post Malone on insta a couple years ago, for what it's worth). And him and the band were able to make it work, it sounded great in the set and sounded great with his voice, so he must have seen that potential in it. But the lyrics are wild for Louis to be singing and the fact that they echo like half of his songs and pretty much all his other covers in theme makes it pretty hard not think that's why, that it is a song that grabbed him and resonated with him, or at minimum that it being so parallel to KMM was a factor. Also I think he likes being a little daring and getting to sing explicit stuff and being like ooooh I'm really not in a teen pop boyband anymore I can do songs about getting my brains fucked out (not that he ever let that stop him😂). Plus as @goldcrumble pointed out, the nod to Seven Nation Army (the song that the crowd chant to him in latam especially and they've teased covering) in the lyrics is hilarious, it wouldn't be our SBB Louis if he did something simple and unlayered without a clever little extra, bless him🥰 (lyrics under the cut)

Oxytocin makin' it all okay When I come back down, it doesn't feel the same Now I'm sittin' 'round, waitin' for the world to end all day 'Cause I couldn't leave you if I tried

You break me, then I break my rules Last time was the last time too It's fucked up, I know, but I'm still

Outside of the party, smokin' in the car with you Seven Nation Army, fightin' at the bar with you Tell you that I'm sorry, tell me what I gotta do 'Cause I can't let go, it's chemical No, I can't let go, it's chemical

Every time I'm ready to make a change You turn around and fuck out all my brains (woo) I ain't tryna fight fate, it's too late to save face I can't get away, maybe there's no mistakes (maybe there's no mistakes)

You break me, then I break my rules Last time was the last time too It's fucked up, I know, but I'm still

Standing outside of the party, smokin' in the car with you Seven Nation Army, fightin' at the bar with you Tell you that I'm sorry, tell me what I gotta do 'Cause I can't let go, it's chemical (chemical) No, I can't let go, it's chemical (chemical) No, I can't let go, it's chemical

I can't let go, it's chemical

Tell you that I'm sorry, tell me what I gotta do No, I can't let go, it's chemical

[lucygxybaird]

shelter and adore you - billinea

more than anything, more than anything, i'll shelter and adore you more than anything... cause in the end, you are part of who i am. i'll support your dream, whatever lies in store. more than anything, more than anything, i'm grateful you're my daughter, more than anything. (more than anything - hazbin hotel) Billy and Dulcinea's daughter, displaying genetically predisposed tenacity, is fighting off going to sleep. So Billy decides (hopes) a lullaby will do the trick. (companion piece to 'Only One of Two Ways', but can also be read separately).

“One pleasant summer’s morning, when all the flowers were blooming, oh…”

Billy’s mother used to say that Irish men were full of nothing so much as pigheadedness, but if that’s the case — and he isn’t saying she’s wrong, exactly — it can’t compare to infants who just won’t sleep. Maybe it’s his own Celtic blood mixing with Dulcinea’s aristocratic ancestry, but either way, Kathleen Bonney refuses to do what she’s told. Namely, drift off, so that her parents can do the same. 

(He supposes, technically, her name is Kathleen McCarty, but — even if one doesn’t consider that he isn’t yet married to her mother — it’s been so long since he’s gone by the name that it seems to belong to someone else. The ghost of the man he might have been, if a gun hadn’t become as natural in his hand as the skin of his own palm. But he might be becoming maudlin from lack of proper shut eye.)

He’s sitting by Kathleen’s cradle, gently rocking her from side to side. She watches him as though faintly amused by his efforts — silly Pa — and babbling to herself occasionally. She’s just started doing that in the past few weeks, and he thinks of the little sounds like pearls, small and round, infinitely precious. He’s sure she’s talking to him, and he just can’t understand what she’s saying yet; but he always answers her back, which usually just makes Dulcinea laugh. 

“Nature was adorning, and the wee birds, they were singing, oh…”

Dulcinea watches from the bed, leaning against the pillows propped on the headboard. “I can…” She yawns, covering her mouth with the back of her hand. “I can try to feed her, maybe…”

Her words are almost slurred, barely able to make their way out of her mouth before another yawn forces its way between them. Billy smiles. “Now, don’t you start,” he says. “The both of you fightin’ sleep might be too much for one man to handle. I got her.”

He can tell she’s weighing her options, the siren’s song of slumber warring with her desire to stay awake as long as he’s awake. Solidarity, and all that…but it seems like her body decides for her, shoulders slumping as she slides further beneath the coverlet. Her eyes are shut before her head hits the pillow. “Thank you…”

Deciding the cradle just isn’t doing it, Billy stands up, lifting the baby into his arms. Sometimes she seems so delicate that he feels as though he can’t possibly hold her, that she’ll slip from his grasp; he straightens up carefully, holding her against his chest. She fits against his heart like she was made to go right there. 

Before he goes, he goes to the bed and leans down, one hand cradling the baby’s head protectively. He kisses Dulcinea at the temple. “Honey, you don’t gotta thank me,” he says. 

There’s nothing in the world more important than this, after all. The two of them — his girl and his daughter — there isn’t anything he wouldn’t do to protect them, to keep them safe. He would plant his feet and lift his gun, facing down every man he’s taken out of this world with a bullet, if it would guarantee that they would never know fear or hurt. 

Billy walks out of their little bedroom, out onto the front porch. He can hear the night singing, crickets accompanied by the rolling whisper of the wind through the grass. The air is soft and cool, a vast tapestry of stars flung out overhead. He starts walking the length of the porch, back and forth, adding his own voice to the music. 

“I met my love near Bambridge town, my charming blue-eyed Sally, oh…”

A pair of blue eyes watches him now, her little face serious, as if she’s contemplating the meaning of the lyrics. “Don’t think too hard on it,” he tells her. “It’s just a little song your Grandpa  McCarty used to sing.”

His pa hadn’t been much of a singer, but Billy remembers the way Patrick would sometimes swing his mother around the kitchen, clasping her in his arms and warbling this very tune. Ma would tilt her head back to look at him, her arms around his neck, and she would laugh. He can recall the way the light from the hearth would gild their faces, gleaming in their eyes. Joe wasn’t born yet; maybe he came from one of those nights, a night of music and love and firelight. Billy had barely out of babyhood back then himself, but old enough to understand that this was what love looked like. 

If music be the food of love, play on…

He had desperately wanted to be in love when he was young. It wasn’t so much a void that he sought to fill, but a creature he sought to quiet, one which gnawed at him like a wolf ravening the remains of a carcass. He’s never been able to name it — maybe because it’s a chimera, not one thing or another, but a mixture of many things that transforms itself without warning. Loneliness, in part; grief, tinged with anger (at God, at himself, at men like Riley and Antrim who only thought of other people when it came to wringing what they wanted out of them, like a dishrag to be twisted and torn before getting tossed away); fear (of God, of himself, of men like Riley and Antrim).

Helplessness.

The feeling of being terribly, achingly small, one man squaring up to a hurricane as though he can tame the winds with his bare hands. Who is he to think that he can change the world, even if it’s just his small corner of it? Things are the way they are because it’s been years, centuries, of the same thing: big men making themselves bigger by climbing over anyone they can, kicking them down, digging their boot heels into another man’s neck just to make themselves a little taller. He’s just Billy. “The Kid” was tacked on for him, a mask crafted by others. 

Really, he’s just Billy.

He sighs. “Where was I?” 

Kathleen says: MmmMMmmm-bah.

“Ah, right.” He clears his throat. “She is the Queen of County Down, my flower of Magherally, oh…”

He looks down at her as he walks back and forth, back and forth. She’s certainly small, but it doesn’t seem to concern her awfully much. If anything, he suspects that she sees it already as a challenge, as if she quite dares anyone or anything bigger than she is to just come on and try her. The older she gets, the more he catches her looking around with an inquisitiveness that’s almost…well, pigheaded. What is this? Who are you? What do you want? Don’t just stand there, tell me!

Once, he mentioned that to Dulcinea, and together they said, “She gets that from you.”

To be fair, she is probably closer to the mark than he is, but still…he remembers the way she looked at him the night they first met. One dark eyebrow ever so slightly raised, chin lifted, feet firmly planted as she studied him. Teased him. Challenged him. She may have grown up the sheltered, beloved daughter of a wealthy family, but she was never a wallflower. No, there had always been a fire in her, one that called to his own.

“With admiration I did gaze upon that blue-eyed lassie, oh…”

Admiration, certainly; he’s always admired Dulcinea. There was desire, always (and who can blame him for that? Just look at her, for God’s sake), but that had never been what drove him. At least not when it came to her. It was a different sort of appetite, almost a desperation, to learn everything he could about her. To soak her in, like a sunflower turning its face toward the sky, yearning for the warmth and light of the sun. Being with her — now and always — affords him a life he never could have pictured otherwise.

A life where he is both himself and a better version of himself, somehow not only existing within the same skin but thriving there, growing together. A life where he does not have to treat violence like the air he breathes, necessary for survival. A life where he can know peace. 

“Adam never had so much joy, when he saw Eve in Eden, oh…”

The baby smacks her lips, and he hums, nodding. “I know,” he says. “That line don’t do much for me, either.”

But still, it’s part of the song. 

She makes a hmm sort of noise back, and he grins at her. “Hmmm, mhm. Are you ever gonna go to sleep?” 

Kathleen just looks up at him, smacking her lips again. Nope, I don’t think I want to, thanks, anyway. He sighs, cuddling her closer. 

“Her skin was like the lily white, that blooms in yonder garden, oh…”

He moves her to his shoulder, almost melting right to the floor when her little cheek nestles against his neck, her small body burrowing into his. It’s an implicit, inherent trust, a connection which fills him up better than any food he’s ever put in his mouth. Love, she has taught him, can be communicated in a thousand little ways, none of which require words.

She’s started, however, blowing raspberries recently, which he chooses to interpret as an I love you. Or at least as close as he’s gonna get for six more months.

“She is my queen and my heart’s delight, my flower of Magherally, oh...”

Billy hums tunelessly for a few moments, one hand rubbing his daughter’s back. It’s a couple minutes more before he chances shifting her again, cradling her in his arms. 

He can hardly believe it, but it looks like — if not through sheer force of gravity, winning out over his daughter’s stubborn streak — her eyelids are finally drifting shut. Her eyelashes, long and dark as the wing of a crow, flutter once or twice, as though resisting. 

“Her yellow hair in ringlets hung, her boots of Spanish leather, oh…her bonnet with blue ribbons on, her scarlet scarf and feather, oh…”

He’s started to rush the melody a little bit, thinking (hoping, maybe) that it’s his song, his voice, which is lulling her to sleep. 

“Like Venus bright she did appear, my charming blue-eyed Sally, oh…she is the girl that I love dear, my flower of Magherally, oh…”

She gives a little sigh, a soft snuffle,.

“And I hope the day will surely come, when we’ll join hands together, oh…it’s then I’ll bring my true love home, in spite of wind and weather, oh…”

Another small sigh.

“And let them all say what they will, and let them reel and rally, oh…for I will wed the girl I love, my flower of Magherally, oh…”

Her breathing evens out and stays that way, deep and slow. The sleep of an innocent. He doesn’t know if angels exist, let alone if they sleep, but if they do, he imagines they must look just like this. Or maybe a little shabbier; he doesn’t believe anyone, seraphim or no, can compare to his little Kathleen.

Her mother excluded, of course. His flower of Lincoln. 

He carefully creeps back into the house, hardly daring to breathe himself lest he wake her, or her mother, for that matter. Dulcinea is nestled in their bed, her hand pillowed beneath her cheek, curled on her side as though waiting for him to fit against her. 

Billy lays Kathleen back in her cradle, watching her for a few moments more before he gets into bed himself. Curling up behind Dulcinea, slipping his arms around her waist carefully, his chin nestling against her shoulder. He moves as slowly as he can, trying not to wake her, and his eyes slip closed. 

Her voice comes a moment later, slow and soft as a rose petal. “Good night, Billy.”

Without opening his eyes again, he smiles. “G’night.”

“I love you,” she says. 

“And I love you.” 

He hums a little bit of the song, smiling again when he hears her drowsy chuckle. 

For I will wed the girl I love…

[dashdotshows]

I'd never heard of them, but their wikipedia page sure is a ride:

Their songs were heavily influenced by their Baptist faith and warned against sin.[citation needed] Nevertheless, Ira Louvin was notorious for his drinking, womanizing, and volcanic temper. He was married four times; his third wife Faye shot him four times in the chest and twice in the hand after he allegedly tried to strangle her with a telephone cord. Although seriously injured, he survived. When performing and drinking, Ira would sometimes become angry enough on stage to smash his mandolin when he was unable to tune it, and - when sober - glue it back together. His style was heavily influenced by Bill Monroe, and his brother Charlie Monroe, who had a tempestuous relationship with Ira, considered him one of the top mandolin players in Nashville. Although the brothers are still remembered today for their musical talent, they are also remembered for the unusual cover used for their 1959 album, Satan Is Real. Designed by Ira Louvin, the cover features the brothers standing in a rock quarry in front of a 12-foot-tall (3.7 m) plywood rendition of the Devil as several hidden tires soaked in kerosene burn behind them as fire and brimstone.

The title track:

this is one of the best album arts of all time imo

[asordinaryppl]

A3! Main Story: Part 4 - Act 15: PAINFUL RE:BAKE - Episode 33: Even If It's A Failure,

Sakyo: Who’d have thought the guy who started kickin’ around during practice would be performing his first stage.

Omi: All thanks to Zen-san’s guidance.

Banri: I think it’s his food, man.

Juza: It’s got to be his deserts. Eat it once, and you’re stuck here forever.

Taichi: What a convincing argument…!

Azami: It’s like he tamed you with food or something.

Towa: H-Hello, Autumn Troupe!

Ibuki: Everyone’s here.

Izumi: You came too, Towa-kun, Ibuki-kun?

Towa: Zen-san told us this is Keiku-kun’s first stage!

Banri: When did y’all start gettin’ along so well?

Towa: There’s no way I’d miss out on going to the store owned by Zen-san from the original ManPany! Especially when I heard that ManPany are regulars here!

Izumi: That’s Towa-kun for you…

Zen: Oh, you’re all here. Go greet ‘em, Keiku.

Keiku: … Heya.

Izumi: Oh, what a cool costume!

Omi: It suits you. Good luck.

Azami: Are ya gonna go there with your face looking like that?

Keiku: Yup.

Azami: Give me 5 minutes. Is there some place we can use?

Zen: You can use the end of the kitchen.

-

Keiku: …

Azami: Do the other guys go out with their faces like that too?

Keiku: They do their own makeup. This is my first time so I dunno left from right.

Azami: Dude… This is your first stage.

Azami: Wait, should I erase the mark?

Keiku: You can do that?

Azami: Easily.

Keiku: Uhhh…

Azami: I can also use makeup to highlight the mark.

Keiku: … Nah, I wanna erase it.

Keiku: Zen told me not to worry ‘bout it, but it scares the guys at school pretty often…

Azami: Got it.

Azami: … There, it’s gone.

Keiku: Damn… That was quick and easy.

Azami: I think the fact that you can hide anything you want through costumes and makeup, and become anything you want, is one of the best parts of theater.

Azami: You can choose what you want to become. … So become what you want to be.

Keiku: Mhm.

Keiku: Uh, show me how to do that later.

Azami: Sure.

-

[Keiku performing]

Keiku: Ha!

Keiku: Ya!

Izumi: (Keiku-kun really does have a knack for this.)

Banri: (His moves are sharp. We gotta up our game, too.)

Juza: (Looks like he properly learned the sword fightin’ moves.)

-

[Applause]

Cast A: Thank you very much!

Cast B: Come on, Keiku. You gotta greet the audience too.

Keiku: TY.

Towa: SO COOL! He really is amazing!

Ibuki: Hmmm, I guess the moves were good?

Keiku: …

Sakyo: He’s not sociable at all.

Banri: Don’t the cast normally smile and go ‘round the tables greeting the guests at the end?

Izumi: You were really good, Keiku-kun!

Azami: Almost as if you’re used to it.

Keiku: Mhm.

-

Towa: Keiku-kun!

Keiku: ?

Towa: PLEASE act with me! You have to!

Keiku: Hah?

Towa: I’m trying to start a troupe, but so far the only members are me and Ibuki-kun, and we’re looking for a third one!

Towa: I thought you were amazing back during the workshop, but after seeing you on stage today, I REALLY want to act with you!

Keiku: (Ahhh… He really is him.)

Towa: I’ll be coming here and asking you every day until you say yes!

Keiku: Uh…

Ibuki: Just a warning, but he’s being for real.

Keiku: Heh… Yeah, okay.

Towa: Huh? You mean…

Keiku: Acting, yeah? I’ll do it, I will.

Towa: WHAAAAA!? Even though I haven’t asked you even once!?

Towa: REALLY? You’ll join my troupe and become our third member!?

Keiku: Okaaay.

Towa: YAAAY! Ah! I gotta go report this to Director-san!

[Towa runs off]

Keiku: So, judgin’ by the name, you’re Iv?

Ibuki: Ahh, then you have to be Kar. It’s crazy how small the world is!

Keiku: It’s not “Kaa”, it’s supposed to be “Kar”.

Ibuki: Kar, then. Okok. But anyway, I had my suspicions during the workshop.

Ibuki: You did say in BlooCha before that you’ve got a scar on your face, and it scares people off.

Keiku: Did I?

Ibuki: I wonder how momo’s not realizing this. Even though he was boasting that he’d never be scared of your scar.

Ibuki: I mean, he didn’t realize who I am either.

Keiku: He’s not the brightest. He really ain’t scared, tho.

Ibuki: IKR.

Zen: Oi, Keiku. Your timer's going off.

Keiku: ‘Kaaaay.

-

Keiku: … Huh? It’s way undercooked.

Zen: C’mon, that’s why I told you.

Omi: Zen-san, I wanted to talk to you about the workshop–

Omi: Oh, did Keiku bake that?

Zen: He said he wanted to bake his favorite cake, so I left it up to him. Figured it’d be fine as long as he gave it to you guys.

Keiku: I can still give it to ‘em.

Zen: You’ll fuck up their stomachs.

Zen: That’s why I told you to let me show you the ropes. But you wanted to do everything by yourself…

Keiku: This one’s a failure, so I’ll just make another…

Zen: Hold your horses. It’d be a waste to throw this away.

Omi: Yeah. All we have to do is rebake it.

Keiku: … Won’t it just get burned?

Omi: Haha. Well, if it does, we’ll hide that with cream.

Omi: There’s people who will eat it with gusto, and even people who'd prefer it slightly burned.

Zen: We’ve got lots of recovery recipes.

Keiku: (... It can become anything.)

Zen: Juza would eat a burned thing if it’s just covered in cream.

Keiku: … For now, I’ll just rebake it.

Keiku: (... Even if it’s a failure, you can rebake it.)

Keiku: … Heh.

previous episode | masterpost | to be continued...

[setaflow]

Rempe is doing the "Fightin' 'Round the World" Gauntlet I see

[veterantrainerray]

Lost connection thanks to a storm that even Piezo couldn’t punch through for the most part. Sorry ‘bout that. Here’s a quick rundown of what ya missed.

- Tried to set the Dratini back in the lake. One of those huge fish Pokemon came to shore and tried to terrorize the little guy, so I sent out Piezo and hit it with a Thunder to keep it from rampaging and smashin’ the whole shoreline I was standin’ on.

- Ya’ll know that look in a kid’s eyes, right? That moment of awe and wonderment when a kid decides on their dream. Well, I learned that Dratini can get that look too. And he was starin’ right at Piezo after she dropped that fish Pokemon. Name escapes me, only heard it once. So, I got a Dratini now. Needs a name, but it’s started letting me and my other partners touch it without fightin’ us. Gonna make sure he’s got a solid handle on Thunder Wave ‘fore I try to teach him somethin’ stronger, but he’s eager.

- Currently on a fishing vessel heading up much closer to Kitakami ‘fore I make the journey inland. Got on board by volunteering to protect the crew from wild Pokemon attacks at sea. Fewer nets broken that way. We arrive soon, but the captain ain’t been specific.

- Per the handful of anons who want to see if I can pull it off, I’m gonna take a stab at instilling some discipline in this Munkidori fellow native to the province. Along with doing an old-fashioned Pokemon catchin’ expedition, like I did when I was a kid first startin’ out. Ain’t sure I’ll come away from it with a new partner or not, but it just sounds plain fun, to strike out into fresh territory to see what Pokemon I can find livin’ there.

- My little vacation’s either a week long, or however long it takes ‘fore I get too bored or worried about matters back home to warrant stayin’. Might post a lot in that time, might not find the time for that, who knows. I’m makin’ it a point not to plan that much here.

- Maya’s apparently befriended one of the Ponyta on the ranch. She says he likes “being glamorous” like she does, whatever that means. Been too long since she took on a partner ‘sides Rose, her Nidoqueen. I plan to do a test drill or two when I get back to see how well she’s workin’ with the critter.

- Mara’s askin’ if she can adopt a Mudbray to “match” her sister. I see no reason to say no, frankly. I ain’t sure Mudbray matches a Galarian Ponyta, but it’s a very… Mara choice and I know she’s up to seein’ to its needs… and she also needs a partner ‘sides her Nidoking, Alexander, to avoid stagnating as a Trainer.

- Both of ‘em heard about Terastalization when they looked into where I was goin’ and they’re wanting to get themselves a Tera Orb. I was gonna tell ‘em they wouldn’t work, but was corrected while I stayed at Naranja/Uva for a day. Apparently Terapagos’ discovery made the orbs self-powering. If the class is how they wanna spend their own vacations, that’s their business.

- Got to meet the critter ‘fore leaving Paldea. Ain’t exactly what one would think of a Legendary Pokemon at a glance, but bein’ functionally immortal (not that I tried to test that) and bein’ the source of an entire phenomena like Terastalization in places all ‘round the world… Yeah, that seems epic in a very literal sense. I’m told the super dense crystals that spring up in its habitat over time are what they harvest to make Tera Orbs. Can’t help but find it neat. It’s currently in the care of Naranja/Uva, and they’re pretty proud of it.

- Started lookin’ into volunteering Piezo for ranger work on the side. Ain’t contacted anyone yet, but it’s pretty clear she’d love doin’ it. And I’m sure rangers have plenty of use for a Magnezone’s raw magnetic power in crisis response.

[dashdotshows]

Discworld covers list:

Eric (09)

The Colour Of Magic (01)

Reaper Man (11)

Equal Rites (03)

Pyramids (07)

Small Gods (13)

The Light Fantastic (02)

Sourcery (05)

Mort (04)

List format: Image number. Novel title (Novel number in publication order)

Josh Kirby's Discworld

[indietourney]

Hey, is there a list of competitors that has there names instead of icons? Some of these I want to check out but, I don't recognize them by their icons.

Hiya! You're in luck :D

I've been keeping a list of titles to keep track of the competitors since the beginning, for my sake and now for yours too. Feast your eyes!

Logic & Optics The Witness, Monument Valley, The Room (series), FEZ

It Takes a Village Owlboy, Night in the Woods, Bug Fables, Spiritfarer

Like Clockwork Cook, Serve, Delicious! (trilogy), Bejeweled 3, Satisfactory, Creeper World (series)

Darkness Falls The End is Nigh, Rainworld, LISA: The Painful, Brutal Orchestra

The “Flash”backs FireBoy & WaterGirl (series), The Bart Bonte Collection, Duck Life (series), Learn to Fly (trilogy)

The Walls are Written GRIS, Titan Souls, Flower, FAR: Lone Sails

Four Square Fair Just Shapes & Beats, thomas was alone, 140, Super Hexagon

The Gun Show Deep Rock Galactic, ShellShock Live, Risk of Rain 2, Nuclear Throne

Heart of the Cards One Step From Eden, 100% Orange Juice!, Dicey Dungeons, Rounds

My Home Away From Home Cult of the Lamb, Aground, Stardew Valley, Forager

Test of Temperament Give Up (series), I Wanna Be The Guy, Jump King, The Impossible Quiz (series)

Team-Building Exercises ibb & obb, Sky: Children of the Light, Vitamin Connection, Pico Park

Retrogradation Creepy Castle, Tower of Heaven, The Messenger, Old School Musical

Speed Menace Freedom Planet (duology), Spark the Electric Jester (trilogy), SpeedRunners, Azure Striker Gunvolt (trilogy)

Blood for the Blood God They Bleed Pixels, Dead Cells, Hotline Miami (duology), ULTRAKILL

Jump Up, Super Stars! Electronic Super Joy (duology), Umihara Kawase (series), Woodle Tree (series), Yooka-Laylee (series)

Traveling Companions Alto's Adventure (series), Fruit Ninja (series), Plants VS. Zombies (classic), Canabalt

The Chessmasters Bloons TD (series), GemCraft (series), Wargroove (duology), Pit People

Just Plain Adorable Sushi Cat (series), Pikuniku, A Short Hike, Petal Crash

LevelWare D.I.Y. osu!, Baba is You, Levelhead, Crayon Physics Deluxe

“Flash”bang Deep Sea Hunter (duology), Age of War (duology), Raft Wars (series), Bubble Tanks (series)

Untold Horrors LIMBO, Fran Bow, Dread X Collection (series), Yume Nikki (series)

Answer: Fisticuffs Tunche, Skullgirls: 2nd Encore, Guacamelee (duology), Them's Fightin' Herds

Neverending Dungeons Darkest Dungeon (duology), Rogue Glitch, Loop Hero, Noita

Please check each of these games out as time allows and as you desire. Use the divisions to roughly sort the competitors by genre and theme :)

And happy new year to everyone! I'm in the midst of winter break, and as such I can happily say I intend to resume progress on this project after an unpredictably indefinite hiatus. Thank you all for staying tuned!

- Zettaflake

[voodoodaaddy]

🍸

send 🍸 for a starter with my drunk muse!

It's not a normal occurrence to get this drunk so far away from the hotel, but here he is, practically rambling on to a random demon while he complains about the King of Hell.

Alastor is leaning back against the bar, his coat off and legs crossed. He's had his 5th round of Rye for tonight and feeling pretty swell. The Radio Demon is in a lengthy conversation without a care in the world. "....Elephants to the left of me, elephants to the right o--of.." He hiccups. "...To zee ri--right of me....and he has NO shame whatsoever to keep putting them aaaaallllll around the hotel." He slammed his glass down a bit and points a finger at the demon, "I tell you WHOT, I wasn't having any of it...he was..I was fightin' him tooth and nail about it and I took that short stack over my knee and gave him a firm SPANKING HA!"

[whitepolaris]

Elmer McCurdy, the Outlaw Who Wouldn't Give Up

Gather 'round my children, and I'll tell a tale of woe About a famous cowboy outlaw who lived a hundred years ago . . . A hundred hears have come and gone since he spoke his final words. I'm not afraid to die and leave behind this rotten world. So go and pull the lever hangman, now my race on Earth is run. And he thought his life was ended but it had only just begun. -Brian Dewan, The Cowboy Outlaw

Imagine this: It's 1973 and Steve Austin, a fictional astronaut, is a man barely alive. Now it's 1911: Elmer J. McCurdy, an outlaw-very, very dead! Who would have thought these two show biz personalities would ever meet up?

In 1976, while Lee Majors played the role of astronaut Steve Austin on television's Six Million Dollar Man, the show's film crew found the mummified body of outlaw Elmer McCurdy as they were setting up for a shoot.

The crew was filming in Long Beach, California, at a funhouse called Laugh in the Dark. The place contained the regular spook-show decor, including wax figures, ghosts, and fake skeletons. While setting up at the location, the producer noticed a neon orange wax figure hanging from a makeshift gallows and asked one of the crew to take it down. He didn't like the way it looked in the scene.

The stagehand grabbed at the wax dummy's left arm, only to have it come off, revealing a human bone sticking out from its shoulder. Medical examiners and forensic investigators determined that the wax figure was actually a mummified body-and that it had been show by a .32 caliber bullet manufactured between 1830 and 1920. Upon further examination, investigators found in the mummy's mouth a 1924 penny and a ticket from the Museum of Crime in Los Angeles. The ticket helped police identify the body as that of outlaw Emler McCurdy, and the many roads he had taken in life-and afterward-that had led him to that Long Beach funhouse.

McCurdy had joined a few outlaw gangs and killed a few people, then he planned on robbing a Missouri Pacific train that supposedly was carrying a safe containing more than $1,000. On October 6, 1911, he robbed the train in Oklahoma, but when he opened the safe, he discovered it was the wrong train. Only $46 was inside. But he did manage to find a shipment of whiskey instead.

Heading to the Oklahoma farmlands a few days later, drunk and tired, McCurdy stopped at a farmhouse and fell asleep in the hayloft. A three-man posse that was tracking the outlaw trapped McCurdy and began firing. After an hour, a farmhand was asked to go inside the barn and tell McCurdy to surrender. The outlaw refused, telling the farmhand, "They can go to the devil." The barn was shot up, and McCurdy was discovered dead soon afterward.

His body was taken to a funeral home In Pawhuska, Oklahoma, but he was never identified, and no one claimed the corpse. The undertaker embalmed him with arsenic, (a does seven hundred times greater than we used in Egyptian mummies) and came up with a very entrepreneurial idea: Since the deceased looked very well preserved, and very stiff all dressed up in his last gun fightin' suit, he named the corpse "The Bandit That Wouldn't Give Up," and for a nickel, he would let the citizens of Pawhuska view it. The nickels were dropped into the mummy's mouth, later to be retrieved by the undertaker.

The mummy was on view for more than five years, and the undertaker refused many offers from carnivals and sideshows for his bandit corpse to use in their traveling freak shows. The nickel-swallowing mummy became a regular attraction for the funeral home in Pawhuska.

One day two men showed up at the funeral home claiming to be cousins of the mummy, and the undertaker had no choice but to give up the stiff to his next of kin for a proper burial. The two men turned out to be sideshow promoters who traveled around Texas, using McCurdy as, you guessed it, The Bandit That Wouldn't Give Up.

After Texas, the McCurdy mummy traveled around the country, often showing up at amusement parks, lying around in an open coffin in an L.A. wax museum, and-believe it or not-being used as a prop in low-budget films. He was known sometimes as "The Thousand Year Old Man." After a while, his body was coated with wax to help preserve it during his many road trips. His greatest tour was in the 1930s with Louis S. Sonney, a sheriff who acquired McCurdy for his traveling Wild West show.

Elmer was shuffled as collateral from one sideshow to another and eventually faded into obscurity. No one knows exactly how Elmer ended up at the defunct Laugh in the Dark funhouse in Long Beach, but when he was identified as McCurdy, medical examiners used a little-known method called "medical superimposition." Known photos of McCurdy were overlaid with x-rays of the mummy's face. From this they made a positive ID.

McCurdy was given a proper funeral in Summit View Cemetery in Guthrie, Oklahoma, in 1977 and was buried in the same cemetery as such notorious figures as Wild Bill Doolin (of the Doolin-Dalton Gang) and Tom Capers, in Oklahoma's only Boot Hill (a.k.a gunslinger cemetery). The town residents gave old Elmer the full treatment: a parade ride to the cemetery in Wild West gear.

With his California show-biz days now behind him, McCurdy was certain to never again be a "ramblin' man:" The Oklahoma state coroner ordered two cubic yards of cement to be poured into McCurdy's grave.

[zot3-flopped]

brave of Louis to cover Chemical by Post Malone a few days after Kelly Clarkson did

He got Steve to rearrange the song to get rid of all the high notes, and it sounded terrible.

The actual song as sung by Post Malone is much better.

Lyrics

Oxytocin makin' it all okay

When I come back down, it doesn't feel the same

Now I'm sittin' 'round, waitin' for the world to end all day

'Cause I couldn't leave you if I tried

You break me, then I break my rules

Last time was the last time too

It's fucked up, I know, but I'm still

Outside of the party, smokin' in the car with you

Seven Nation Army, fightin' at the bar with you

Tell you that I'm sorry, tell me what I gotta do

'Cause I can't let go, it's chemical

No, I can't let go, it's chemical

Every time I'm ready to make a change

You turn around and fuck out all my brains (woo)

I ain't tryna fight fate, it's too late to save face

I can't get away, maybe there's no mistakes (maybe there's no mistakes)

[idrewabee]

I’ve always praised whoever chooses the music for 911! So if, sorry when (we’re manifesting), we get coma/hospitalised Buck and the subsequent Buddie first kiss I’m sure that whoever picks the music will, once again, slay but I’ve had A Thought. I'll either turn this into a proper song fic, or teach myself how to edit once we have a kiss shot I can use but for now, picture the scene. (Or you can read on AO3)

Buck’s been awake for a few days now, still in hospital recovering and Eddie told himself over and over that he can’t wait until something actually does kill one of them to admit his feelings, now that he’s worked them out, and come to terms with them. So he was going to tell Buck, he really was! But it’s just, there’s always been someone else there… And now Eddie’s sitting, in a chair next to Buck’s bed, watching Buck have an animated conversation with Chris even though he’s absolutely shattered and is clearly putting on a brave face. And in the background is what sounds suspiciously like a piano/power ballad, but it’s quiet, you’ll only hear the lyrics if you listen really carefully and then the music swells, crescendos and a guitar joins in. And Eddie says “Screw it”, and he grabs both of Buck’s cheeks and kisses him just as the chorus takes off.

“And I can’t fight this feeling anymore, I've forgotten what I started fighting for, It's time to bring this ship into the shore, And throw away the oars, forever”

Then I need a really dramatic spinning shot or something for the remaining duration of the chorus, with the background fading out of view

And as the next verse starts, we begin the flashback:

“My life has been such a whirlwind since I saw you”

Buck watching Eddie putting his shirt on (Season 2, Episode 1)

“I've been running 'round in circles in my mind”

Buck running away from the tsunami carrying Chris (Season 3, Episode 2)

“And it always seems that I'm followin' you, girl”

“You can have my back any day” “Yeah. Or, you know, you could... you could have mine.” (Season 2, Episode 1)

“'Cause you take me to the places”

Taking Chris skateboarding (Season 3, Episode 12)

“That alone I'd never find”

Young Buck failing to skateboard (Season 4, Episode 5)

“And even as I wander”

Grocery store fight (Season 3, Episode 5)

“I'm keeping you in sight”

Lawsuit make up hug (Season 3, Episode 6)

“You're a candle in the window”

“There's nobody in this world I trust with my son more than you.” (Season 3, Episode 3)

“On a cold, dark winter's night”

Buck and Eddie talking before finding Chris after the tsunami (Season 3, Episode 3)

“And I'm getting closer than I ever thought I might”

Buckley-Diaz dinner scene (Season 6, Episode 1)

“And I can't fight this feeling anymore”

Eddie smiling at Buck when he’s introduced to Clara (Season 2, Episode 4)

“I've forgotten what I started fightin' for”

Shannon tells Eddie she needed him to have her back, Chris’ birth, Eddie fighting with Shannon while trying to soothe baby Chris, Eddie under fire in Afghanistan (Season 2, Episode 7 and Season 3, Episode 15)

“It's time to bring this ship into the shore”

Buckley-Diaz video games (Season 3, Episode 9 and Season 4, Episode 3)

“And throw away the oars, forever”

Eddie breaking up with Ana (Season 5, Episode 3)

“'Cause I can't fight this feeling anymore”

Buck watching Eddie pick up Chris after the earthquake (Season 2, Episode 3)

“I've forgotten what I started fightin' for”

Taylor leaving Buck’s loft after the breakup (Season 5, Episode 18)

“And if I have to crawl upon the floor”

Buck crawling under the truck after the shooting (Season 4, Episode 14)

“Come crashing through your door”

Buck breaking the door down during Eddie’s breakdown (Season 5, Episode 13)

“Baby, I can't fight this feeling anymore” And we return to the kiss for the outro, they pull back, eyes closed, foreheads resting against each other, dopey grins plastered on their faces. And just as the song ends we hear from Chris “Finally!”, breaking them out of their little world. They pull him into a hug, the Buckley-Diaz family laughing and, more importantly, safe.

Lyrics from Can’t Fight This Feeling by REO Speedwagon

[patchedd]

The Cost of Freedom

Guard duty. Of course she would be on guard duty. She missed all the excitement of the Ilsabard Contingent's arrival since she was posted so high up in the cliffs, and spent more time taming those who were tempered than she got to spend fightin' any of those abominations patrolling the Tower. And now here she sat. Those Scions got to take a lunar trip, and she had to sit among the discarded crates and railwork. Fine compensation for her work.

Content as she was to spend her next few weeks resting her weary bones, that ever familiar alarum began to ring out. And the commotion coming from the nearby halls was enough to get her to move with a purpose, couldn't be a simple refugee trying to sneak a peak. But whatever it was, it wasn't a simple bear, or one of those "roses" that stalked the snows. The wounded, the discarded weapons... whatever it was, it was a monster, through and through. And she was more than familiar with taking down monsters.

And monsters they were, of a kind she had never seen before. Scattered amongst more and more of her comrades belongings, she fought beings and creatures the likes she had never seen. Where they had come from, she couldn't fathom... not at first, anyway. Until she came across the lad she was to tag in when her shift was done, cowering before the largest she had seen. Until he too was one of the abominations, transforming before her eyes into one matching the very thing staring him down.

She hadn't any time to think, to process what had just transpired in front of her. She went right into the fray, striking at the very creature that had seemed to turn him, maybe in a brazen attempt to bring back her now far gone companion. But as she struck at the heart of that fiend, she would know just how gone that friend of hers was, as the sound of her arm being ripped from it's socket by that creature's great maw rang out, the sheer pain blinding her as she fell clattering to the floor.

She could feel her body beginning to despair. The aether around her warbled, moving in flux as she tried to stand, tried to hold her gunblade in defiance of the fate she was being dealt. Had things been different, 'twas likely to be the end of her story, just another of the fallen to these so called Blasphemies. But a voice rang through her linkpearl, the Ishgardian woman that had headed the contingent that was overseeing Garlemald's rebuilding. It likely rang out through all the linkpearls in the tower, but as far as Ayers knew, she was the only one to hear. She stood, checked the cylinder of her gunblade. One last shot. It would have to count.

She dove forward, blade primed for that one last blast of those aetherically charged rounds as it found it's target, stuck right into the eye of the beast that had claimed her arm, that had once been her fellow man. As she pulled the trigger, she kicked off the beast, landing flat on her back in the same puddle of her own blood she had jumped from. Struggling to stay conscious from her grievous wounds, she reached for her linkpearl. "Need medical. Situation controlled," was all she could muster, before her vision faded, out cold in the ever dangerous Tower of Babil.

Time passed more quickly than she could've ever thought. She had spent many of the Final Days in recovery, wasn't much a gunbreaker could do in the field without a second arm. That is, until someone from the Ironworks approached her, Allagan tech in hand. Rearmed as she was, and with the world her oyster once more, she set out in search of those selfsame ruins that had made her new arm. After all, never hurts to have replacement parts.

[zezacle]

The Gorilla

“So, Garett, who’s your best fighter in the pits these days?”

The old foreman laughed, “You’ve not heard?”

“Heard what?” He said, sipping his tankard of ale.

Garett leaned in with his ugly smile. “A few weeks ago, a young man wanders into the quarry on fight night. Couldn’t be older than fifteen or sixteen. He asks to fight.”

“You let him?” The merchant asked, concerned.

“No, I refused!” Garett shakes his head. “I’m not gonna let some poor ignorant sap get beat down by our boys here, but he wouldn’t accept no for an answer. Before I could throw him out, he challenged one of our boys personally, with his own coin!”

“Really?” The merchant asked surprised.

The foreman’s face was ecstatic as he recounted the tale. “Aye! Boy had scrounged up enough silver for a wager. I felt bad taking the other’s bets on the fight but the boy was determined for a bout, and I’m not one to leave coin on the table.”

The merchant hummed. “Oh trust me, I know.”

Garett chuckled. “So the fight comes ‘round. One of my bigger men, Ullie was to be his opponent. When the boy walked in the ring, even the crowd was hesitant. Mind you, the boy was quite well built. Tall, lean, had some decent reach, but he was green. A pretty face with naught but peach fuzz upon his lip.

“I’d have stopped this boy’s inevitable beatdown, but I could see something in his eye.” Garett closed an eye as his telling of the tale got more dramatic. “A grit. An anger. Something that said that he didn’t just want this fight, he needed it.”

The merchant furrowed his brow as his interest in the story grew. “So what happened?”

“The bell rings, fight starts. This boy ain’t even holding up his hands. Ullie bet his own coin on this, so he’s not gonna go easy on the lad.” Garett lowers his voice. “He steps forward an socs the sap in the gut. One hard hit.” The merchant winces as he imagines the sound. “The boy goes down on one knee and the crowd knows not what to think. None of the lads want to cheer to a kid getting pummeled. People are calling for him to give up and go home, but he lifts himself to his feet and stares down Ullie.”

The foreman chuckles, his broken grin creeping across his face. “The boy smiled. Like the taste of the pain was saccharine on his tongue. He stepped toward Ullie and demanded another hit-- no defense, let him take a free shot right to the face.” He threw a fist wildly as he reenacted the story. “Boy goes down harder, I thought surely for good this time.” The merchant smiled at his old friend. He wouldn’t be hearing such a story if that was the end. “But, he stands once more, this time with cut and bleeding nose…” The foreman traced his fingernail across his nose. “And he snarls…”

“What came next was fightin’ unlike any I ever seen ‘fore. He was an animal. The boy lept at Ullie and began pummeling him. Left, right-- coming down atop his head like swinging a club. He threw his fists with a strength and speed that seemed impossible for his build. It was feral, tenacious, and the crowd was loving it.”

The merchant grimaced as the story unfolded in his imagination.

“Ullie got a good few hits in, but it seemed to hardly faze the boy, he just kept coming at ‘em. Eventually, Ullie lost his footing, fell to the ground. In a flash the boy was atop him, just hammering down on him.” Garett mimed the repeated swings. “I called down to my men to break it up, if we let this go on any longer, we’d be picking brains up off the pit grounds.”

The merchant shook his head at the idea. “That sounds horrible.”

“Bah,” Garett dismissed his friend’s queasiness. “That’s the thrill of the pit. Anyways, usually when you pull a man in a rage like that out of a fight, ya have to wrestle him yourself until he calms. But the boy… It was like he’d found a certain… peace. He boasted a wide grin and it looked as if a world’s weight had been lifted from his shoulder. The crowd was alight. They cheered and chanted for this young lad. I ran down and asked the boy his name. Before he answered, someone shouted that he battled like a beast of the jungle. A Gorilla.”

“A what?” The merchant asked.

“Gorilla, an animal built like a man, with dark skin and fur, as tall as a Goliath, but far more muscled. The boy’s grin was so wide as blood streamed down his face. It was right then he made his name. The Gorilla.”

“Wow.” The merchant smiled and sat back in his chair. He knew Garett to be one to embellish stories, so it likely wasn’t as dramatic as he made it seem, but even if there was an element of truth, it was quite impressive.

“After that, he was an instant legend, a Champion of the Pits.” Garett boasted. “I took ‘em under my wing of course. Been thickenin’ him up and teaching him to throw a proper punch, hone that fight in him. Won’t be long ‘fore that lad can lay out any fighter in Stonehills.”

The merchant gently shook his head and smiled. “All while you collect a pretty chunk of coin off each fight, huh?”

The foreman laughed. “Aye, but you know that first bout, boy felt so bad for poor little Ullie, he gave him the winnings anyway.”

“Really?”

“Yup, the whole pouch of silver, like it was nothin’ to him.”