#gonna need to redo it i think. its fine but its kinda boring

[noroalia]

im the coolest tf2 player on earth actually

[amazingmsme]

1, 2, & 5 for the writer asks!! ^^

1. Tell us about your current project(s)  – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?

I have a few fics I’m working on! First I have a commission that I haven’t started yet, but will soon. It’s a Love Simon prompt where Martin manages to convince Simon to do a fundraiser. The catch is that he’s gonna be in stocks & yeah you know where this is going

Next I have a chaptered fic that I plan on working on where Lambert rescues Jaskier & they become reluctant friends, then bffs.

I have a nsfw Dexter fic where Risa admits she thinks movie serial killers like Michael Myers & Jason are hot & asks Dexter to role play with her

An imposters fic where Ezra & Richard are being smuggled in the trunk & are cranky, bored & cramped so Richard starts a tickle fight to pass the time

I’m still working on that blue exorcist fic don’t worry. Rin has a little Miley Cyrus jam session with Kuro & Bon walks in on them. Rin’s a flustered angry mess & Bon won’t stop teasing him

I have the scraps of a lee!fjord fic that I might completely redo I’m not sure yet. Critical role is my biggest fixation right now & there’s not nearly enough lee!fjord to quench my thirst. I mean the dude is canonically ticklish!! He admitted to it!! & when Jester tried it again in episode 99 he literally said it was fine & that he actually enjoyed it (it was probably just cause serious shit went down & he needed comfort but shh) he is such a fucking sarcastic dork why doesn’t he get wrecked?

2. Tell us about what you’re most looking forward to writing – in your current project, or a future project

Even tho the witcher fic is coming along slowly I have 1 part that I literally can’t get out of my head. Jaskier convinces Lambert to take him to a ball or gala to perform. Not gonna spoil my own fic but just know Jaskier has 2 jobs to do that night & its v important. But Geralt & Yennefer also happen to be there! Geralt notices Lambert first & is confused but thrilled to see his brother. Of course he has questions & he finds out Jaskier’s there. Lambert manages to drag him over & it’s pretty tense & awkward, but they’re still really happy to see each other. But to both of the witchers’ surprise Jaskier greets Yennefer much more warmly. Huge grin & open arms, a kiss on both cheeks. & just to piss Geralt off, & because she’s always wanted to, she grabs Jaskier & makes out with him right in front of him. Jaskier is of coursed dazed, flustered, & fairly aroused. Trust me it’s gonna be a great scene

5. What character that you’re writing do you most identify with?

Hm, this is hard to say. I identify with a lot of characters I write, especially Klaus from tua cause ghosts love to bother me & I hate it. I really feel for Rin since I was constantly the outcast growing up & it felt like everyone avoided me because I had a lot of health issues that meant I couldn’t keep up with other kids. I also really relate to Jester cause she’s such a fun, bubbly, & sweet person & that’s kind of how I’ve always been. I’m a huge people pleaser & try to make others happy, plus I talk to my plants in a voice that kinda sounds like hers, even tho I did that before I watched campaign 2

Thanks for the questions, this was fun to do! As you can see, I have a lot of things planned & some others that I didn’t mention.

[floatingtoad]

Piano Lessons.

Title Piano lessons.

Pairing: Clementine x Louis.

Summary: Louis and Clem have a little fun playing the piano together.

A/n: I was never going to post this but I did it anyway, here you go.. I hope you enjoy Baha. Ignore any spelling errors, its like 12 am and I’m writing in the dark. I’ll make sure to edit it soon!

Warning: None, cute, kinda angsty.

Requested by: Not requested (:

-

The off-key sound of the piano goes through her ears as Clementine sits in a chair across the room with a boring old book in her hand, her big hazel eyes glancing up at him every once in a while when he would get frustrated and curse to himself— redoing what he did wrong until he got it right. It was soothing, it just being them in a room all alone together doing what they love and ignoring the fact the world was slowly dying but all they could think about was what they just did merely an hour ago.

Marlon had just died, they both had just buried him together and the tension was strong between the girl and boy— but Louis didn’t change his opinion on her because his best friend got killed by her kid, which she thought was going to happen right after. Clementine didn’t know how he could forgive her for something so horrible, but everyone knew Marlon was going to lose his shit one day.. it was only a matter of time. After they buried him, he nervously asked the girl to go in the piano room with him which she obviously she agreed.

So here they are, two broken kids sitting in a room with only the sound of a badly played piano breaking the silence, trying to stay calm and collected which was helping due to each other’s company— though they weren’t really talking much.

Louis’ mind gets to him, causing him to mess up a key and curse out of frustration with a small frown on his face as he wonders why he’s failing at it, out of all times why now? Why can’t he just do something right for once?

Clementine notices this, eyeing him down with the look of worry before sitting up and putting the book she just had been reading down. “..You okay?” Stupid question, of course, he wasn't.. but she didn’t know what else to say other than that.

He looks back at her, eyebrows furrowing and that sad look in his eyes got even sadder before looking away. “As fine as I can be,” He replies with that smile she knows so well by now before scooting over and tapping the side beside him gently, “Come sit I wanna teach you how to play a song.”

Louis gives her a reassuring smile, patting the empty spot beside him while observing her as she narrows his eyes at him in the slightest bit. “I don’t bite, Clem.” He teases as she hesitantly stands up and slowly walks over. “ Well, I could but I, Louis, would never bite my precious Clementine.” He rambles on, Clementine rolling her hazel eyes as a hidden smile tries to form on her face.

“Good, because if you did I’d bite harder.” Louis didn’t know whether to take that as a threat or just to laugh it off, so he did the last option-- a tiny chuckle escaping his lips ever so slightly. 

The very unlucky girl plops down beside him, her eyes going over the keys as a lump in her throat forms from anxiety, how could someone even remember what to press?  Clementine had a feeling she was going to embarrass the shit out of herself in front of him.

“I know, it’s intimidating at first-- but you’ll get the hang of it sooner or later.” Louis tries to encourage her, it only helps a little. He remembers being so scared to start but Marlon, Marlon encouraged him to do it.. and so he did, that was when he was 10, almost 11.. boy, things have changed a lot.

“I guess,” She responds, eyes still stuck on the black and white keys. “What song do you have in mind?” Clementine rubs her hands over her jeans out of nervousness, her stomach doing flips as she thinks how bad it could go.

A smirk forms on his face, coughing before pushing the same keys he pressed when he had first met her, humming out the song out of instinct as she couldn’t help but blush.

“Really, could it not be anything else other than that?” She asks jokingly, Louis grinning as he stops pressing the keys, facing Clementine.

“It’s easiest and who wouldn’t want to have the first song that they can play on the piano not about them!” He exaggerates, waving his hand around ever so slightly... He had a point, but it’s not like she’s going to be playing piano all the time.

Louis stands up from his seat, making his way around her before leaning against the piano, his elbows propped up as his arms across over each other-- Leaving clementine in the seat alone.

“Why’d you move?” She questions curiously, looking over at him. The dork was still very close to her.. just standing up beside her against the piano.

“You’re gonna need room if you actually wanna learn, silly.” He teases, shaking his head as she rolls her eyes at him while shooting just a bit.

And so piano practice begins, Clementine struggles a bit, pressing each key shes told but as soon as he tells her to play it without his help-- she almost loses her shit from frustration, luckily he was there to help.

Covering her face with her hands, she exhales before looking over at him after pinching her eyebrows together as a thought comes to mind.

“Why are you being so nice to me?” It was a random question that she’s been thinking about all day, and it definitely caught him off guard. He asked himself that many times, most people these days would kill each other if it were them..but Louis was different and he knew it was not Clementines fault at all.

“What do you mean?”

“All day you’ve been so sweet to me and I don’t know why,” She frowns, looking away.” AJ killed your best friend, how do you not hate us?” he could tell Clementine was feeling guilty as hell, and he couldn’t blame her because he’d feel the exact same way.

“I have no room left in my body for hate,” he responds, “ especially for you, Clementine, all people do these days is express hatred and I don’t want to be like them. Plus I know its not your fault, you thought you were doing the right thing and it turned out bad.” Louis speaks, watching as she looks back over at him with hurt eyes. All he wanted to do right now was hug her, but right now probably wasn't the time for that, also they just met 4 days ago... That’d be pretty weird, wouldn't it?

The girl who sat beside him made his heart breaks ever so slightly, the world needed more people like him. 

“I’m really sorry,” She gulps. “ I never thought he’d do anything like that.” 

“Apology accepted my sweet Clementine,” he lightens up the mood by calling her that, but for her, it just makes her blush.” Let’s continue, shall we?”

-

schreeeeeeee @orphic-days

[saintjane]

"The Six Wives" by a couple of mentally exhausted high school kids with horrid senses of humour

Henry: I NEED the two s’s in life: sex and sons

Catherine: HARK - arthur died and i’m a little caesar’s pizza

H: wanna fuck???

C: *subtle nodding*

*still births and miscarriages*

Squire: IT’S A BOY-

H: ah heck yEAH

S: Wait nevermind it’s dead. IT’S A G-no dead. ANOTHER BO-another death, dang okay

C: hey i’m pregnant again

H: will it work this time?

C: *gives birth to daughter Mary* We’ll name her Mary

H: It didn’t work smh

Anne 1: *sultry-model walk-by with a flirty lil wink* aye bb you know you want this

H: *wolf whistles* you heckin bet i do

C: *awkwardly raises hand to slap him but then remembers you can’t hit a king & deep breath*

A1: sorry henny. i will only hop on that dick if it makes me queen, otherwise imma just lead you on

H: in that case, imma hit up ma main man the pope

H: Yo, popey, my wife is broken. Please fix her. The bible says I shouldn’t have married her ‘cause she did the dirty with my bro. I want sons that don’t die. Send help

Pope: your bro has to be alive, dinkis. And your wife is, like, related to the totally not German emperor cause Germany isn’t a thing yet lol, soooooo I’m not gonna cross her. You also told me they didn’t do the dirty you fracken liar. Find a better waste of my time you fukin weeaboo. P.S. what kind of loser looks for really obscure bible verses? Get a life, ginger

H: But what if I give you money?

P: Then I’ll have money and you’ll still have a wife. are u dense????

H: what am I going to do?

A1: here, read this

H: what is it?

A1: 95 Reasons Why Fuck The Church by Martin Luther

H: this is solid. hey popey screw you i’ll create my own church

P: You can’t do that

H: Watch me. *walks to catherine and hands her a paper* it’s not me, it’s you. you’re broken. enjoy a musty dusty crusty castle and don’t ever try to talk to your daughter

C: *runs out hiding her face*

H: hey Anne wanna fuck

A1: heckin yeah

A1: *births elizabeth*

H: *unamused* what is this

A1: a daughter

H: well you definitely had it because of incest and adultery and not at all because i’m in love with Jayne Seymour

H: I King Henry VIII order Anne Boleyn to be executed on the date of May 19th and on Tower Hill. An expert swordsman from Calais will be coming in to do the execution. He slices and dices heads like its nothing.

*leaves to go hunting anne walks on stage gets on knees before executioner*

Executioner: any last words, cause imma slice you up anyway

A1: the king is a total 10/10. everyone should fuck him. very fair and kind lover. also, it’s a good thing I have a long ass neck because then i know for a damn fact you won't botch this

E: cool *slices off head*

H: *pops up out of thin air* She dead yet?

E: Totes

H: hey Jayne wanna fuck

Jayne: *shrugs* why not

J: *births Edward*

J: I give to thee a son

H: good lord finally someone who isn’t broken

J: *dies*

H: *laying on the floor in a ball rocking* oh,,, ok

H: I need a rebound

Squire: *holds up painting* how bout this hottie?

H: yeah sure

Anne 2: sup

H: ehhhhhhhhhhhhh wanna fuck or whatever

A2: I mean yeah we’re supposed to

H: idk i’m just not in the mood though tbh

Kathryn: *exists and breathes near the king*

H: oh dang

A2: k, i’ll just leave since we didn’t do the dirty and I’m pretty sure I never broke up with my last hubby

H: k, imma just call you “King’s Sister” ‘cause that’s not weird at all

A2: k cool bye

K1: hey

H: wanna fuck

K1: that’s kinda forward but yeah ok. Can i fuck everyone else too

H: no, that's my thing

K1: sucks *winks*

H: I don’t get it

K1: oh you will just not from me

H: wait a diddly darn minute *dramatic pause*

H: I think she’s cheating on me

S: Noooo. You don’t say

H: somebody Anne Boleyn her

E: you rang?

H: I, still King Henry VIII, once again sentence my wife to death cause this one is a jerk, guys. Okay? She just *sighs* she just isn’t loyal. These girls ain’t loyal. So kill her. Please.

E: any last words? The last girl was uber lame

K1: sorry he just couldn’t get it up and sex was so boring. 3/10. couldn’t do it anymore. I have needs and they have to be met, you know?

E: understandable. have a nice day *sword goes ching*

E: lmao. I love this job

H: now what?

Katherine: Hey big boy

H: flustered oh dang

K: my hubby died and I can’t marry your dead wife’s brother soooo, wanna fuck?

H: oh cool

K: btw, I’m named after your first wife. I’m basically an infant but let’s not talk about that

H: Whatevs

K: I find your reformation of the church mildly attractive

H: thanks I guess

K: so ummm, when are you gonna die?

H: Right now *drops dead*

K: Yay I’m free to marry that Thomas guy. Btw, do you want help with your whole regency thing Eddie?

Edward: get out don’t call me eddie, you swine

Mary: what about me?

E: no

M: Yes

E: ok. *dies*

M: yay, now to undo my father’s work *kills protestants with fire*

Elizabeth: can I be queen when you die?

M: no

E: please

M: no

E: fine, jerk

M: imma die now, just don’t let my sister become queen *dies*

E: ha ha. Get wrecked cunt. imma redo my father’s work and never marry cause guys are dumb and also HA looks like i'm getting the last huzzah enjoy your tomb in the protestant church bitch. soon i'll be buried on top on you maybe you should have played dolls with me more when we were children lololol

THE END

[the-no-good-moonite]

cortana, find “how to remove STD”

So yeah here’s my thoughts on Star Trek Discovery as of the ninth episode:

its ugly, sounds like trash, is terribly badly written and probably smells weird if in a physical format

but allow me to elaborate a bit a lot

the sound and visuals are the smaller problem admittedly; I like plenty of things that looked arse when they were first made and look like double arse now, so if the writing wasn’t so bad I would be willing to accept this as a flaw of the series and concentrate on the rest of it. as it stands...

the music just kind of being “there” is nothing new (see: large chunks of the other series), but it’s still disappointing. the sound design being terrible on top of that? that’s trash. nearly every time a ship opens fire we get minor variations on generic and ill-fitting turbolaser sounds... I mean come the fuck on. you don’t want to be restricted by tradition, go nuts, but if that’s the best you’ve got to offer you shouldn’t have 

(I realise that choice is likely a result of a directive from on high and not entirely the sound team’s doing, but it’s still executed poorly)

as for art direction... well, John Eaves is a very poor choice for how much they’re giving to him (most of starfleet it looks like? not sure who’s doing the klingons but what little I can see of them isn’t impressing me either). I don’t hate his stuff outright like some people do, but he’s very “safe” and has exactly one aesthetic that has worn out for me and compares badly to what they’re making it contemporary to here

the art direction in general is quite bad though - there’s so much nebulous shit that glows blue in the same kind of way that it legitimately confuses as to whether or not it is the same thing - and the way it’s all shot is boring and unremarkable at best. 

(and oh look, it’s another trek villain who has a colour scheme of mostly metals and neon green. get the fuck out of here)

the... space fight choreography (not sure what else to call it?) is absolutely the worst part though, it’s almost claustrophobic, everything’s jammed together like it happening in a bloody fish tank. the camera has no great desire to give us a clear view of what’s happening, or of any object other than the discovery and the ship of the dead. they almost appear to be going out of their way to avoid giving a clear look at anything else, which makes me think they’re not being given the time or budget to make models that will withstand close examination... which would be expected, but still laughable as ever

the spore drive and all the effects associated with it are ugly as sin and conceptually terrible also; I will accept no dissent on this point

sets and props are kinda “eh”, but i’ve not seen anything overtly wobble, and that’s apparently the only metric that matters so uh, good job there

so! the writing. the horrible, horrible writing.

I’m going to mostly ignore the actual dialog here, because while it is deserving of flak, it’s mostly stock phrases and interactions you’ve seen significantly better or worse versions of. so not a lot to actually say about it. I don’t like much of it and the attempts at humour are pretty lame.

what I take issue with is the overall construction of it... like they’re doing a “maybe the federation isn’t right about how it does things?” kind of thing and im onboard with that, asking questions on if the federation is really what it presents itself as has potential. but they’re not actually asking any specific questions.

and this kind of attitude pervades the whole show; there’s vague noises about stuff - maybe both sides are wrong - or whatever and the odd “aren’t we explorers?” but ultimately the show has little to no opinion on any of it (or doesn’t yet anyway), just making enough of an effort to try and get you to think it does, and then let you fill in the answer you agree with most... 

if it sounds like im leading in to a “intellectually hollow centrist liberal” kind of comparison, you fucking bet I am, because that’s pretty much what it feels like to me

I mean I expect someone’s going to try and claim they’re just going for moral ambiguity, but I struggle to think of many actual examples of that in anything, and it DEFINITELY looses any claim to such when you have characters being told that actually no, Their War Crimes Were Entirely Justified and then nobody says any different

(star trek has no substantive claim on moral consistency, but that’s just fucking indefensible, and it shouldn’t be left even slightly ambiguous if Lorca was in the right for saying that. which is kind of a recurring problem with that character, contradictory as that may appear for me to say that right after my previous comment...)

then you’ve got the portrayal of the klingons as man-eating space orks... who are doing a holy war... even if that didn’t conflict horribly with the (for star trek) more complex portrayals of klingons in the past, on it’s own it feels like it’s undermining the claims to progressiveness  just a little bit 

(well it’s part holy war and part MQGA [Make Qo'noS Great Again] but you know what I mean)

and plotwise now we’re doing... voyager? maybe in the mirror universe? I don’t know. I guess they won’t stick with it for long enough to redo voyager’s worst mistakes but why am I having SG:U flashbacks all of a sudden

funnily enough I actually like SG:U more than discovery, though that may be partly not having watched it since it aired

lost my train of thought here, uh, characters bad?

or some characters bad anyway. I like maybe half of them to some degree actually, despite the dialog and how inconsistent the portrayal of nearly everyone is in between - or within - any episode (another old problem for trek, but it’s really grating with the format here)

there’s plenty to criticise though; i’m really unsure the writers have any clear idea of what Tilly’s “deal” is (only socially awkward? on a spectrum? just “weird”? who can say!) or if Stamets is an asshole or a just good-hearted grump... there’s other things like that. maybe they’ve detailed stuff in interviews, but the show itself is terrible at communicating any clear intent

but Michael and Voq’s fake personality Ash are definitely the worst characters, so i’ll focus on them

I will maintain that Michael’s backstory is rubbish, making her Spock’s secret sister is amazingly unnecessary rubbish. on top of that, we’re told she’s a top of the line member of starfleet which is then immediately undercut by her doing something stupid and reckless that almost gets her killed (after which she then presumably irradiates everything between sickbay and the bridge...) followed by doing something stupid and reckless that gets a lot of people killed and starts a war! this is arguably the most prominent trait of the character

she kind of comes off as a suicidal maniac, is my point.  Captain Georgiou is quick to jump to a suicidal option too (and im just gonna say... most prominent asian person in the series to date... suggests a suicide attack...) 

does this version of starfleet just not do psych tests until you hit admiral? of the two that have actually done things we’ve had two walk into obvious traps, but one of them seems comparatively well adjusted

anyway, so we’ve got Michael, a pet character of some writer who changes personality every other scene and totally not Voq, we swear and Ash. who is about the most blandly likeable love interest possible, and definitely Voq infiltrating starfleet, how long are they gonna drag this secret cylon constructed memories bullshit out just bloody kill me already and also a survivor of sexual abuse (and torture) with PTSD. 

they heavily implied this was the case when they introduced the character, and then in episode 9 it was confirmed explicitly by the character in question... that’s all fine, feels like a bit of a cheap grab so they can be a “mature“ story but let’s see how it plays out... and oh.

they went and showed (what was framed as but aren’t necessarily) the events in question. this is, at best, tasteless and inappropriate

now, i’m not going to say they’re going to handle this in the worst way possible, but what they’ve done so far is making me really fucking uncomfortable! I do not have faith that this will resolve even remotely well

and then there’s the whole thing where his memories are likely 100% manufactured as cover, which has a good chance of giving this whole situation an unpleasant taste all on it’s own

I also really had no need to see these new klingons naked anyway, or any naked klingon really, and in context cable drama nudity is absolutely the worst thing they could’ve copied from game of thrones without thinking about it

anyway, that’s [however many, I don’t want to check] badly formatted and often grammatically incorrect words to say: 

The show is bad. You disagree? Ok. I disagree with you. Now nobody is happy. I would prefer to be happy. I am not.

Goodnight.

[chorusfm]

Misterwives

The indie pop band Misterwives just released their sophomore full-length album Connect the Dots. It’s a technicolor shot of adrenaline to the music industry and quite simply one of the most fun listens of the year. Just before their explosive set at Firefly Music Festival, we got a chance to sit down with Misterwives’ Mandy Lee, Jesse Blum, Etienne Bowler, Marc Campbell and Will Hehir, to discuss a variety of topics. In our discussion, we touch upon how some politicians have a tendency to hide immoral action under party politics, why the music industry is a tough place to work, and just how many drummers is too many drummers in a band. We’re here with Misterwives at Firefly Music Festival. You guys just released your second full-length record Connect the Dots last month. I know you guys are excited about that for sure. Now that it’s been about a month have you guys been pleased by the reaction or surprised with the songs fans are gravitating towards? Mandy: Yes to all of the above. We’ve been very pleased with how everyone has receiving the new music. They’ve been far too gracious. And it’s pretty cool that everyone has a favorite song off it. There hasn’t been just one. Every tweet goes through the whole entire list of the album. I know sometimes you’ll see a post like “What song do you want to see on tour?” and the replies are just every song on the album. Mandy: Yeah! It’s really amazing, because you never want to have just like one song and then filler. That’s not how we approach an album. So it’s cool to see people gravitating towards others. So when you went in to start writing Connect The Dots did you go into the writing with a conception of what you wanted it to be in relation to your first record? Or did that start to take shape as you were writing the record? Mandy: We definitely wanted it to be a gradual step up from the previous album. We really pushed ourselves sonically and lyrically to create the best music that we could. But yeah it kind of just happened, where we said “alright, let’s rip it off like a Band Aid. Let’s start writing and see where this takes us.” And naturally the whole concept and theme of Connect the Dots came together from how the music came together. So were there songs on this record that were particularly difficult to write or put together? Songs that perhaps you really wanted to get on the record but weren’t sure if they would make it? Mandy: “My Brother” was one that I had the most difficulty with. I can see how that would be difficult to find a place for in the tracklisting, considering its a step-down in tempo from a lot of the other tracks on the album. Marc: It was. We actually recorded it as one of the first three or four songs. We actually tracked the whole thing and we were like 95% done, and then we went back to other songs. And then it ended up being one of the last songs we finished for the album. Mandy: Yeah, we went back over it in our apartment. We were like, “We have to redo this. It’s just not feeling right.” But I like slow tempo songs. That’s how we started out was doing those kinds of songs. I have always loved those songs from you guys. I saw you guys before the first album came out and remember seeing “Not Your Way” and how the tempo would change around and gravitating towards those songs. Mandy: That’s this guy here. Our drummer. (points to Etienne) Etienne: I like fast. Drummer like fast (everyone laughs) I feel like you’re sitting back there saying “I’m kinda bored by this slow stuff let’s speed it back up again.” Mandy: It’s nice to have a break and collect your thoughts. Will: There is no fast if there is no slow. (everyone laughs again) That’s so poetic. So at the start of a new album cycle, do you guys set goals for yourself for where you want to be by the time you start the next one, or are you just enjoying the ride? Mandy: We’re definitely enjoying the ride, but we’re also setting the bar high. We just want to be as big as we possibly can and grow our fanbase and continue to fulfill this dream. Etienne: Yeah, we’ve put so much energy into the record. And then so much energy into the live show. We just want that to be successful. And lyrically I know you guys definitely pushed yourselves pretty hard on this record. Etienne: We pushed ourselves so hard (points to Mandy and everyone laughs) So I wanted to bring up “Revolution,” because it’s a song that I gravitated towards when I was listening to the record. It’s certainly the most expressly political song on the record, I would say. So was that a song that was written before or after the election? I don’t want to talk politics if you don’t want to. Mandy: Yeah, to me it’s not even politics. It’s human decency and human interaction. Marc: Were you talking about “Oh Love”? I was talking about “Revolution” but I suppose “Oh Love” could apply here as well. Mandy: It applies as well, yeah. But “Revolution” is the more positive outlook on things. It was during the whole election season (that we wrote “Revolution”). There has been so much injustice, and wrongness, and turmoil and negativity. We wanted the message of unity and equality and love to ring louder than all of that. But it is really hard to see all of these things happen. And you feel really powerless. And we’re just lucky we have music to be a vehicle to bring to people together and spread that message. That’s so great. And you know I didn’t want to bring it up and discuss it if you guys didn’t want to because I know it’s difficult. But for me that was a big part of the song. I know for me when the election happened and the Muslim Ban was signed, I personally was in the process of applying to law school. And when I saw there were a dozen lawyers sitting on the ground at JFK filing paperwork to allow refugees and immigrants to enter the country, and I decided I had made the right decision right there. Mandy: Oh wow, good for you. So that’s why that political song, even if it’s just meant as a more unifying rallying cry, still means a lot. Mandy: And it’s so crazy that that is deemed political when it’s really just about being a good person. It’s just the foundations of morals. And it’s sad that in this day and age that’s what counts as politics because things are so fucked up. And people can say, hide their immorality behind the guise of political party. Will: The political veil, yeah. You put it in a different platform and you have the capacity to all of a sudden say it’s for political reasons, so you don’t have to deal with the fact that you’re being a dickhead. Jesse: To me, it makes me really happy to be a part of an organization that is striving for something better and to have a platform where we can do it. When (Mandy) came in with that song it made me really happy. So the other song I wanted to talk to you about for a bit was “Machine.” The first song had a few songs like this as well which were addressing the music industry and the commoditization of success and sort of the assembly line production of music. Has managing that side of the music business gotten easier for you guys as you have had more success? Mandy: Noooo. Nope. Jesse: It’s just the same annoying thing forever. Mandy: It’s just the same nonsense. And you would think if a label could see how far we’ve come. Or there’s people like me where you have to go from one interview right into another interview unfortunately. (laughs) Mandy: Oh, not it’s not that at all. Jesse: That’s not what we’re talking about. You know that, right? We don’t mean you. I know I was just being self-deprecating for a minute. I know you’re discussing the label politics of it all. Mandy: It’s the man. We’re sticking it to the man. Who doesn’t let you be who you are and write your own music and have your own brain and your own thoughts. Who doesn’t let you be expressive and celebrate individuality. Those are the things that are shunned, and you are told you’re not gonna make it, and you need to play by the playbook, and all this crazy shit that really gets your blood boiling. Cause you would think, we’ve done pretty well just being ourselves and you would think they’d see that and say, “maybe there is something good here.” Some people will say, “you need a single for this album,” and you’ll be sitting there saying “I wrote the best 12 songs I could” or whatever. Mandy: Yeah, because you don’t have ten writers on it, that’s considered a gamble for them. Marc/Will: They’re scared of the real. They treat it so much like a business. Where it more comes down to metrics and things. Mandy: Numbers! Instead of it being about connecting to your audience, connecting with people. Mandy: Rather than listening to the music and being like, “Do I like this or not?” instead it’s all about, “well, your numbers don’t show the growth we want.” And who knows, there’s a million different things that could go into why the first week sales aren’t there… And that’s another thing, the first week sales is what decides it now? Mandy: Yep, that is it. You could have millions of people listening on Spotify, but if you don’t sell 100,000 copies in Wal-Mart apparently people care. It’s a bizarre set-up. Marc: It’s insane. Jesse: Thank you, statistics. For nothing. Mandy: Well, Jesse’s just working on getting a hacker. Jesse: I’m gonna be working on modifying the numbers. All you have to do is go into Hits Daily Double and add a few zeroes and you’ll be fine. Jesse: How hard could it be to hack into Billboard? Probably not hard. I wanted to ask Mandy, there’s a lot more love songs on this record than on the first record. Mandy: Yeah (leans in towards her fiancee Etienne) But it’s really them too! (motioning to everyone else in the band) So how has performing these new songs, and being able to perform them next to your fiancee. How has that affected your enjoyment of these new songs? Mandy: Yeah, it’s just been really amazing and fun to be able to perform these songs and he’s playing the drums behind me and we’re a unit. And it’s really not just the two of us, now. It’s also to the crowd too. It’s a love song to everybody. We’re the luckiest people in the world to be able to do this together, and to fulfill our dreams and to be in love. Jesse: It’s very nice to be around that. Mandy: He doesn’t talk much about it, but I talk too much about it, hence why there are so many of those songs. You think you guys are going to play your own wedding? Or how is that going to work. Mandy: Hell no (laughs) Hire another band for that! Mandy: We do want to make it like a music festival though. Live band weddings make all the difference in the world. It’s crazy how much the difference between a DJ and a live band at a wedding makes. Will: Yeah, definitely. Mandy: Oh yeah. Live music is incomparable. I have one more silly question for you. I’m a big fantasy football. I see the looks on your faces already so I’m not going to ask you about sports. Will: Thank God. There’s not always a big overlap between sports and music, I get it. But I will ask you, we used to do this thing on our site called the Fantasy Band Draft, where you pick a guitarist, bassist, drummer and singer to form a fantasy supergroup to like play this festival or whatever. Any bands out there. Who would you pick? Mandy: Okay on the drums… Jesse: We could do either Chris Dave or Dave Grohl. Someone with the name Dave. A lot of people do pick Dave Grohl. Marc: Or Taylor Hawkins. You could just have Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins. Mandy: 2 drummers! Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins. We already know they have good chemistry with one another. Mandy: We’ll definitely have Chance The Rapper. For sure. He was amazing last night. Marc: I feel like Flea has to be on bass? Mandy: Is it just Chili Peppers all around? Etienne: I know cause I would really want John Frusciante. It’s too bad you guys were in Carrboro last night because Chance blew it out of the park here. It was until like 2 AM. Mandy: I know. It’s insane. Hmm, for singers, we should pick someone alive. Obviously, Prince or Michael Jackson would be great, but… Jesse: I was thinking like an a capella group with like Prince and Michael Jackson, and just all vocals. Etienne: We would put Prince on guitar too. Mandy: James Murphy, on percussion. I saw him this summer too, it was incredible. Marc: That’s good. He’s a genius. Mandy: Who else? Marc: I think we should go back to Chris Dave on drums. Jesse: So we’re having three drummers? Three drummers, seven singers. Mandy: No we need a keys player, synths? Marc: Kenny Kirkland? Jesse: I don’t know. All I can think of is like fusion guys. Mandy: I know, I know. Jesse: No one who would just want to be in the background just playing. Marc: How about the guy in Spinal Tap (Viv Savage), for comedic relief. Mandy: And Beyonce, just because she’s Beyonce. Jesse: We need to get Beyonce. Mandy: She’s the lead singer. For those following along at home that means Misterwives’ Fantasy Band Roster is as follows: * Chris Dave – Drums * Dave Grohl – Drums * Taylor Hawkins – Drums * James Murphy – Percussion * Flea – Bass * John Frusciante – Guitar * Viv Savage – Keyboards * Prince – Guitar/Vocals * Chance the Rapper – Vocals * Michael Jackson – Vocals * Beyonce – Lead Vocals So I have one final question for you, that I forgot to ask before. I know we were just talking about Chance the Rapper. Last year, you guys released the “Same Drugs” cover, and it was one of my favorite things that came out last year. Are there any plans to do another cover maybe in a different or the same genre for this album cycle? Mandy: We have a cover coming out in like a week actually. We recorded it with Spotify. Etienne: You will have to check Spotify to find out what song we covered. I would say it definitely pushed us. Mandy is very impressive on this one. Marc: It’s really a wild ride. Jesse: One could say it’s the wildest of rides. Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us. Misterwives are on tour now supporting their new album, which you can listen to on Apple Music or Spotify. For more tour dates and information, you can visit their website. --- Please consider supporting us so we can keep bringing you stories like this one. ◎ https://chorus.fm/interviews/misterwives/

[thelustinlimbo]

Okayyy so this is my review of my favorite morphe brushes I just got and tried! Tbh I really wasn’t sure what to expect with morphe, I looked through countless reviews and videos, looked up pictures and negative rants. So I was kinda expecting the worst but hoping for the best? I picked out a bunch of brushes that were reviewed countless times through youtubers, and then some that just caught my eye and felt like I needed to try them out. I was super worried that the negative reviews were right and I just wasted a bunch of money on a bunch of garbage, I’m always skeptical with “YouTube” brands because of past bad experiences. So for a while I just put myself in the mindset of “if I don’t see and try it in a store or in person I don’t want to waste money on it”. I’ve kinda been bored with makeup and not into for the past year or so, like it became not fun for me and I just stopped buying and trying new products as much as I had before bc what was the point? I just restocked what I needed, mainly bought skin care, and sometimes tried new things but they didn’t excite me. I missed the joy makeup gave me before so I felt like I needed to “redo” my collection to hopefully fall back in love with my favorite hobby, the brushes I had were all old and idk I just felt like my makeup was blah bc of it, so I finally decided to give morphe a try since they have a huge selection of inexpensive raved about brushes!! I’m honestly SO surprised with the quality!!! I thought out of the almost 60 brushes that I purchased I would really like and use maybe 10 tops, I thought I would be disappointed in a bunch of them and just use the ones I really like, but oh my god!! I swear I haven’t been this excited about a purchase in soooo long! Every brush I bought had a purpose I can think of and use for, even the ones that I initially was like eh or what the hell can I use this for?? Ended up my favorites!! (Mainly eye and brow brushes which I will show in the review) the brushes are all super soft and just great quality over all, idk if they just improved over the years or people were just being negative but I don’t know why anyone would trash talk these inexpensive high quality brushes.. Anywayssss.. So here is a round up of my favorites so far!!

E43 - is just basically a smaller E3 but today I used it for my cleaning up my under eye setting powder and then I grabbed it again to apply my highlighter very soft, and just feels like a high end brush.

E3 - I used it for a slight contour, I don’t like harsh contours on cheeks but this picked up the product just enough and the shape of it reallyyyyy just added the right amount of product in the right places!

E4 - a simple blush brush, but it’s so soft and picked up a small amount of product and applied the blush flawlessly to my face so it got a rank in fave face brushes so far!

E8 - I looooove small chubby round brushes, they are perfect for creating an “airbrush effect” in larger pore areas, I don’t really have large pores but when I use brushes like this to blend out foundation and powder around my nose/cheek area it creates just a smooth flawless finish and I have been needing a replacement for a Sephora brush I had for years that started losing its density and amazingness. This is a great cheaper alternative that is just as good!!

E41 - I have never applied my bronzer to my face so perfectly and quickly as I did with this brush, it picked up just the right amount of bronzer without creating the orange face look, applied it without scratching my face or leaving behind a bunch of fall out like a sorta similar sigma brush I have does!! Looove it!!!

M439 - I feel like every youtuber/reviewer/Mua and their mother has this brush and raved about it so I had to pick it up and try it out for myself. It really does live up to its expectations!! It gives a super full coverage even with a medium/light coverage foundation, I don’t always like to have fullllll coverage but when I do this brush will do the job! It does kinda suck up a lot of product, but not as bad as some other similar brushes I have. It’s super soft and you will have a even full coverage on in like 10 seconds with this brush.

M528 - I think I applied my Laura mercier secret brightening powder with this one, I can’t remember what I did with this brush but I threw it into my love pile and it doesn’t have any colored product on it so I think I just applied the powder with it. It’s super soft and can my used as a highlighter, or setting brush! E - 18 if you have smaller almond shaped eyes like me YOU NEED THIS BRUSH and also the M501, and E36 but I’ll get into those in a bit, the E18 is absolutely perfect for applying a crease color into small spaces, it picks up as little or as much product as you need and is just a must have brush.

M250-0 - OHHHH myyyyy godddd!!! The eyeliner brush I have been searching for but never found, I always came close but it was either to thick, had stray little hairs, was too long, or too stiff, something was always slightly justttt off with other liner brushes. They were good, they did the job, but they didn’t make it as easy as this one did!!! I haven’t had this even winged liner in like two years I swear lmao. I always have one eye perfect and the other one is it’s less perfect twin, or they both just looked like shit and I eventually came to except the fact that a super amazing winged eyeliner was just not gonna be in my life, untillllll this beauty came in the mail today😭 it’s. Just. Perfect. I completed a winged simple cat eye that was as even as humanly possible for me in the shortest amount of time it ever took me to do it, idk if I was just running on adrenaline from finding a perfect liner brush or bc my eyeliner looked amaze on the one eye I did first lol.

M213 - You also need this in your life, trust me. If you are sloppy in your eye makeup technique or just want something to really tightly apply shadow to your lower lash line effortlessly, then you need this brush. Don’t even doubt it just buy it. Also for some reason it looks really big in the picture above but it’s a super tiny little smudger with soft bristles but it isn’t flimsy. Just try it, you will see.

M575 - when I first saw this brush I felt indifferent about it, it kinda looked too long to be a good blending brush, I usually liked “fluffier” blending brushes and this one looked to long and slender, but wow.. for my eye shape it was the perfect “precision” blender! You know how with fluffy blending brushes shadow tends to kinda go all over your eye? And if you have smaller eyes like me it starts looking sloppy really quick, but this really helped blend and diffuse color ONLY where I wanted it! Surprisingly amazing!

M501 - okay… This brush is the brush out of alllll the brushes I kinda took one look at and was like?? “What the hell am I going to use this for?? Maybe highlight?? Idk?” It’s really oddly shaped, tapered, slim, slender, weird… Looks like a useless little highlight brush if your really particular about where you want to place high light or if you’re gonna be doing an infants highlight lol. For some reason I grabbed this weird little brush and started using it as an eye blender and was SHOCKED it’s like this brush was made for my eyes, it diffused my crease color so perfectly, the tapered part went into my crease and just idk, it was magical. I blended carelessly throughout my eye and it just created the perfect eye look!! The problem I always have with blending my shadow is that I get a dark color too far into my inner eye, creating like a Natalie Portman from the swan lake ballerina movie effect if that makes sense, I hate the way that looks on me and this brush just effortlessly blended without dragging color into my inner eye corner. I feel like I have a difficult eye shape and I hate doing shadow bc of it. But not anymore 😍 M432 - this is a basic flat square brush, it's great for the waterline but I used it to shape up my brows and it did a great job! It's the perfect density and size to sculpt brows without adding a crazy amount of product to the area, it's a must have in a makeup collection especially if brows are your least favorite makeup application like mine, my brows annoy me and a good brow day for me is rare because I have a giant scar through one which always makes the shape of it different then the other one. But today I'm having an amazing brow day and it took me half the time it normally would to do my brows with my new brushes :D M224 - another staple!! I had a Mac one that I used for years but it was starting to look raggedy, I use these brushes on days I have a blemish I need to cover and apply a bit more product, to sometimes apply foundation to my face before going in with a beauty blender, to shape brows, to apply a concealer from a pot to my under eye. I use these types of brushes as like product picker uppers and packers, it's like a forgotten brush that is very useful but not as talked about by me because it's boring but very much needed in a makeup lovers collection! This one has synthetic bristles and is overall really well made, I was expecting this one to be a super cheapie garbage brush, but it's up to par with my Mac one when it was in its prime days lol. M160-1/16 - another brush I saw and was like this kinda looks terrible.. The bristles seemed to long and soft to use for brows, but I tried it today and it's wonderful for creating a softer brow look!!! Like wow, it picks up a little bit of product so if you're heavy handed with brows like me it's a MUSTTTTT it applied my favorite brow powder to my brows and I swear it made my powder work and look better then ever, I used it in the front part of my brows and it's just gonna be an everyday staple for brows. M413 - I feel like I judged all the brow brushes to harshly when I first opened my package, I thought these were gonna be the crappy brushes of my entire order which was fine with me because they were the cheapest so not too much lost I thought. This brushes bristles are FIRM like super firm.. And kinda long. Immediately I thought that it was gonna scratch my skin and pick up way too much product.. I tried it gently, and applied my powder to my scar and wow this brush is def a favorite, I just have to be light handed when applying! But it picked up product and applied it right where you put it, I then brushed and diffused the color with the spoolie. My brows look so refined but natural in combination with the M160-1/16 brush, I used the M413 towards the ends and middle. I think this brush is also great for people who like bolder brows bc of how easy it is to shape and apply product with it. Andddd lastly, for not at least! G20 - this brush is great for packing on shadow! It works great for my eye shape. I mean there's not much to really say about it other then it does its job! I also like the gunmetal color, I got a few brushes from gunmetal collection but haven't tried them out yet. The bristles are soft, the shape is perfect, the size is great. It can also be used as a concealer brush for blemishes. Overall I'm super happy with my order and I think it's money well spent!! Sorry about the longgg post but I tried to sum up my favorites so far as best as I can. I haven't washed these brushes yet so I don't know how they shed or how they are after washing but I'll keep all you updated!:)

[peterhongwrites]

(Ch. 9) Hugh Jadhav and the Library Intermission

Hugh’s backpack hit the library desk.

“Okay, so, uh,” Hugh said.

Hugh swept off the dusty table. Dust flurried left and right.

Alder stood in front of Hugh. Alder stood still.

“Yes?” Alder replied.

The sixteen walls of the library breathed with stiff, page-sweetened air.

Hugh swatted around the flakes of dust. “Here’s what I--” Dust caught in Hugh’s throat. “Ack-- sorry-- ack! Sorry, redo.” Hugh coughed, coughed, and took a breath. “Here’s what I got for you this week. That’s what I wanted to say. Yeesh.”

Alder’s eyes were set on Hugh.

“Yes?”

Hugh continued. “Now I don’t-- I don’t wanna get your hopes up.” Hugh’s bag stood tall on the table; taller than Hugh. “So, you know, don’t hold your breath. I just figure, it’s worth a shot. Might as well try. Can’t hurt. Or whatever. You know?”

“Yes, Hugh Jadhav,” Alder replied, “I know.”

“Yeah, so,” Hugh replied. “Lemme just fish that out for you…”

Hugh sized up his bag. His hands slid along the metal teeth of the zipper.

“Okay. Uh. Hold a sec.”

“Take your time, Hugh Jadhav.”

Hugh’s fingers grasped onto the zipper tab, and pulled its stream down open.

Hugh plunged his hand into the depths of the backpack.

His hand sank deep, deep in the bag.

“Uh. Maybe more than a sec.” Hugh muttered to himself.

Hugh felt his hand first press against the crust of the “A” section. Inside, he felt arithmetic, apples, and the aristocracy.

“Junk,” Hugh mumbled. “Look at me, holding on all this junk.”

“Steady, Hugh.”

Then, his hand drilled down through the mantle of the “B” section. He bored through boron, the history of the Bolsheviks, Benjamin Franklin.

“Tch. Might take a while.”

“Take your time, Hugh Jadhav,” Alder repeated.

“Yeah, I know, I know.”

His hand dug deeper through the earth of the “C” section, now: Calculus, Chemistry, candlemaking.

“C’mon, c’mon.”

“Take your time.”

Hugh’s hand sped down, deep past the “D” section.

“Tch,” Hugh said, dodging a dart. “Stupid.”

“How was your day, Hugh?” Alder asked.

Danger leaped out at Hugh. Hugh dodged again. “Uh. My day?”

“Yes, Hugh.”

Hugh reached down to “E”.

“Not dead yet, so I guess, ‘bout as well as it could.” Hugh’s hand traveled through the empire. “Chem was kinda rough. Big test this morning. Half the class didn’t make it.”

“Oh,” Alder said. “That sounds serious.”

“Yeah, well.  Funeral services are gonna be next week.”

Hugh dived down to “F”.

“How did you do, Hugh?”

Hugh dove faster through the bag. “Okay, probably. Not really worried ‘bout that, honestly. Chem’s not my problem. Just wanna have a lab partner that doesn’t go off and choke it in some tragic accident, for once.”

“That sounds difficult.”

A fire broke out in the main pocket. Hugh’s hand stopped.

“It’s whatever, “Hugh replied. “If you wanna talk hard, there was art today, and uh, hope my teacher’s into dada.”

“They might be. It’s possible.”

Firefighters froze the fire. Hugh’s hand continued.

“I dunno. I think I might not be much of an art guy. Just don’t have that technique down.”

“I am sure you will be fine.” Alder said. “Art is a personal process, more than a physical one.”

“Yeah, well. Not so good at that touchy, feely stuff either,” Hugh said. “Call me zero-for-two.”

Alder didn’t move a single muscle, but Hugh could hear a smile in his voice. “Oh, Hugh, I wouldn’t say that.”

Hugh’s hand darted straight to “G”, now.

“Alright, alright, now we’re getting somewhere. Wait shouldn’t be so long now.”

“Take your time.”

Hugh slinked past Ganymede, and garbage, and a collection of gel-pens. He slid past a book on Ghana, a glass menagerie, and gnocchi. He reached past gondolas, a load of gibberish and--

Then, he stopped.

“Aw, crud.”

“What?”

“Ran into a gate.”

Hugh’s palm rested flat against the cold, metal face of the gate.

“I can get past it, but it’s gonna take a little. Just hold on a sec.”

“Of course.”

A wave rippled out through the library walls, surrounding Hugh, surrounding Alder. The walls rose at the bookshelves in the east, peaked at the book-cliffs in the south, fell at the book-shores in the west, and died in the book-fields in the north.

As the wave passed over Hugh, Alder saw how small the student was underneath it. Above, the walls roared and lunged and crashed and hissed. Below, Hugh, a speck, with his hand still wrenching through the backpack pocket.

Alder cleared his throat.

Alder asked Hugh: “How have you been doing? Since the other day?”

Hugh paused for a second. Hugh got back to work.

“I dunno,” Hugh replied.

Alder continued. “How are you feeling?”

“I dunno.” Hugh kept his eyes on the bag. “Could tell you, same old same old. Wouldn’t be a lie, you know.” His voice fell into a mutter. “Just making stuff more complicated, like always.”

“Hugh,” Alder said. “Can I ask, what’s complicated?”

Hugh sighed.

“I dunno. God, I gotta stop saying that, I dunno.” Hugh shook his head, and continued opening the gate. “You really wanna hear this?”

“Yes,” Alder replied.

The drywall tide circled around again, cresting higher.

Hugh looked down. “If you wanna know, then… I guess it’s kinda like,” Hugh looked up. “Like…”

“Take your time, Hugh.”

“Yeah, don’t gotta tell me,” Hugh replied. “It’s like. I dunno why I’m still holding onto all this mess.” Hugh paused. Then, he continued. “I’ve been thinking, I could probably try to forget about it if I wanted to. My friends have. I dunno if it’s cause of magic or whatever, but it’s all just gone for them. I think, sometimes, last couple days at least, it’d probably make me happier if I did too.”

“But you aren’t.”

“But I’m not. I’m not forgetting,” Hugh said. “That whole day-- I don’t even really know what to say about it. It still feels like some weird dream I had. But it happened. I know it did. It reminds me every day it did.”

“Hugh,” Alder said.

“I guess... with the whole, reminding myself thing, I needed-- I still need to know-- it was all real.”

“Hugh,” Alder replied. “I was there. I am here now. It was real.”

Hugh breathed out. “Yeah.”

“Hugh,” Alder said. “You are just trying to understand what happened.”

At that moment, Hugh finally unlatched the gate from behind, and opened it up,

“Okay! Enough on me! Gate’s open, so just gimme a moment.”

“I will give you that moment, Hugh.”

Hugh moved his arm through the bag. His fingers clasped tight around something. “I dunno how this thing got stuck here but...”

Hugh reeled his hand out the mouth of the bag.

“Okay! Here it-- is!”

Out from the backpack fell another, golden-colored backpack.

Hugh reacted quickly.

“God-- damn it! Urgh!”

Immediately, Hugh kicked the golden backpack under a table, and recoiled back.

“God! Leave me alone!” Hugh cursed. “Christ’s sake!”

Hugh’s head ached. Fingers moved to temples to rub it away.

“Ugh. I swear! It’s like some horror movie, just following me like that. ‘Cept the horror is-- it’s nothing, it’s tacky school fashion. God, gimme a break!”

Alder spoke.

“You are right,” he said, “to be fearful of it.”

Hugh turned back to Alder.

“Hugh Jadhav, you are right…” Alder spoke, “you are right… you are right...”

“Hey, hey, don’t strain yourself,” Hugh said. “I get it. The bag’s bad news. You can’t tell me. Don’t hurt yourself.”

“Hugh Jadhav…” Alder’s words trailed off. The name faded in the air.

Hugh sighed. “Okay. Let’s try a take two. If that thing’s gone--” Hugh pointed to the gold bag, “I bet I know where the other stupid thing is.”

Hugh sucked in a lungful of breath, clamped fingers on his nose, and dove cannonball-style right into the backpack.

Alder waited. Stalks of books waved next to him, in the library wind. The walls had calmed down now, and hummed quietly. Emotions beamed down from each one, onto the desk, the backpack, and the librarian. Their soft colors, spilling on colors, spilling over the scene.

Three or four minutes passed.

Then Hugh, on cue, jumped back out of the backpack. He landed heavy on the floor. He gasped for breath. Air flooded back into his lungs.

“Hooooooo boy,” Hugh wheezed. “Just, just lemme take a moment, just a sec for myself here.” Hugh stretched his back out. “Hooooh, okay. Okay, okay.” Hugh stood himself up straight. “Alright, I’m good, I’m good.”

Hugh clutched his catch in one hand. “Kept you waiting long enough, but here’s what I gotcha. Take a look.” Hugh held up a small, thin sewing needle in his fist, made of gleaming gold.

Alder was still.

“Uh. You’re looking, right?”

“I am looking.”

“Stupid question,” he whispered. “Okay, so. Before anything, lemme just remind you, just a moment,” Hugh said. “No holding your breath, alright Alder? Promise?”

“I will not hold my breath,” Alder said. “I promise.”

“Okay. So…” Hugh held the needle between his fingers. “I picked this thing up last night. Went through a heck of a lot just to pick this up, you know. Did you know there’s this whole, like, underground settlement somewhere in the basement of the school?”

“No,” Alder replied. “I did not. How was it?”

“A big old pain, that’s how it was. It was unbelievable. There was this disaster in the halls-- I guess there’s always some disaster in the halls-- and then a whole hour-long thing with the school supply store there, and I got in this big stupid fight...”

“Are you unhurt?”

“...It was such a--” Hugh stopped.

“You were not harmed along the way?”

Hugh took a second to pause. He patted himself down.

“Oh. Uh. I guess I’m fine. Uh, didn’t need to pat to show that but, uh...”

“Good. That is good to hear, Mr. Jadhav.”

“Yeah, good. So.” Hugh said. He shifted back into conversation.  “It was a huge pain, had to fight, confronted my mortality, yadda yadda, anyways. Take a look at this.” Hugh twirled the needle in his fingers. “This here’s a Gold Needle.”

“Gold Needle?”

“Yeah, basic name, isn’t it?”

“Very descriptive.”

“Tch, that’s for sure,” Hugh rolled the Gold Needle around. “This thing’s supposed to cure petrification. Like if someone’s been turned to stone, you just prick ‘em, and that’s that, poof, everything’s fine.”

“I see.”

“I know you aren’t like, petrified, technically,” Hugh went on, “like you aren’t literally frozen in stone…”

“No.”

“So, that’s why I don’t want you to hold your breath.”

“Ah.”

“Yeah. Uh.”

Hugh stood there with his needle, silent.

“Hugh. Let’s try it now, then.”

“Oh, yeah, duh.”

Hugh took the needle, and pointed it to Alder. “Okay. Just gonna, gonna poke you with this needle. Uh. We were clear on that, right?”

“Of course, Hugh.”

“Okay.”

Hugh looked over the needle. The needle looked over Alder’s skin. The needlepoint was shiny. The needlepoint was sharp.

Hugh had a thought.

“Okay, funny story,” Hugh said. “So. I was just thinking about my, uh, well, my uncle. I have this uncle, and he’s, he’s,” Hugh struggled for the word, “he’s one of those, acupuncturists.”

Alder said nothing.

“I was thinkin ‘bout this one time, I had to stay with him during work cause my mom and dad were super busy. I ended up watching him a little at his job.” Words kept pouring out of Hugh. “You ever seen acupuncture take place? It’s the weirdest thing ever. He’d just sorta, flick those needles in. You don’t even see them sink in. He’d just, flick them, and they’d be stuck there, like that.”

Hugh’s hands wobbled.

“He told me, after the job, he told me this whole thing to just imagine all the acupuncture points, and how to know where to hit.” Hugh looked at Alder. Hugh looked for the points. Hugh saw skin, on skin, on skin. “And he said, if you hit the wrong point, everything gets thrown off. Everything…”

Hugh put the needle down.

“Um. Alder. I dunno what to do with this thing.”

The breeze curled around Alder, like a statue, and passed.

“Take my third palm, Hugh.”

Hugh’s eyes searched for Alder’s third palm. “This?” He said, pointing.

“Yes.” Alder said. “Trace your eyes along its lines. You should see a point where they intersect, in a sort of cross.”

Hugh’s eyes traced the lines. Hugh traced them to the cross.

“Strike the needle there.”

Hugh tensed up. He centered the needle over the middle of the cross.

“There. Okay. There.”

The metal felt cold in his hand. The spindle, thin and tiny in his fingers. He thought again about his uncle. He saw his rough hands flicking in each silver pin. He saw each one, sticking out in the soft flesh. He saw pressure points, glowing, overlapping, messy.

“Okay. Whatever. It’s there; let’s just do this thing,” Hugh said.

Then Hugh stuck the needlepoint in.

Hugh was still.

Alder was still.

Hugh was still.

Alder was still.

Hugh was still.

Alder was still.

Alder was still still.

Hugh drew the needle back.

“Well.”

Hugh slumped over in a chair growing next to him.

“Hugh?”

Hugh hunched over. “Guess it was right to tell you not to hold your breath.”

“You think so?” Alder asked.

Hugh looked straight at the floor.

“I’m sorry, Alder. Really.”

Alder replied, “it is okay, Hugh. It is okay.”

“I know I gave you that whole dramatic speech before ‘bout helping you.”

“Hugh.”

“I gave you that whole spiel about it.”

“Hugh. I am fine.”

“But I guess, so far, I’ve been a liar.”

“Hugh Jadhav,” Alder said. “That isn’t right at all.”

“Alder. It’s okay. Don’t gotta be nice for my sake.”

“I am not.”

Hugh looked up at Alder.

“I am being perfectly honest,” he continued. “Hugh, I appreciate all you’ve done so far. I do. I appreciate you coming here. I appreciate your conversation. I appreciate you coming to help me.”

Hugh sank. “It’s just. Alder. When my body was stuck in that book it was-- I’m not gonna lie, it was awful. Just… awful. And you. You’ve been like that for how long now?”

“I understand, Hugh. And it is kind of you to want to help me.”

“I dunno about that.”

“Hugh. It’s true.” Alder moved nothing, yet Hugh could feel his presence shifting towards him. “I’ll tell you right now, I’ve been in this state for a long time now. Longer than you have been alive. Longer than your world has existed. Longer than your mind can know.” The books stalks waved around Hugh, as Alder spoke. “And over that time, I’ve met students like you. Not too often, but always someone. They want to talk. They want to help. They try.”

“And?”

“And that’s it. Nothing has changed.��� Alder’s words hung. “But I don’t feel frustrated, Hugh. Do you want to know how I feel, Hugh?” Hugh could feel warmth off of Alder’s voice. “I feel happy, Hugh. I feel happy that you tried for me.”

Hugh shook his head.

“Yeah, well. Bet you’d feel happier if you could move.”

The clock hand ticked against the hour then. Next period was soon.

Hugh stood up from his chair. “Period 3’s coming up in a couple minutes. I better get going.”

“Yes. Don’t forget your things, Hugh.”

“I won’t.”

Hugh re-organized his backpack, and zipped it back shut. He slung the strap around his back, and turned to the door.

“Well.” Hugh said. “Be back next week.”

“I’m looking forward to it, Hugh.”

“Okay.”

Hugh’s back was turned to Alder.

“Next week,” Alder repeated.

“Next week,” Hugh repeated.

Hugh walked to the doorway.

At that moment, without Hugh or Alder noticing, something had started to stir on the library floor. The golden backpack, hidden underneath its table, began to hum. Its humming began quiet, and firm. Softly and slowly, the humming grew. Over the next row of seconds, a momentum swung thicker and thicker through the music. A stiff melody was starting to unfurl in the sound. Then, as the melody bloomed wide open in the momentum of the song, a brilliant light seeped out from the backpack pocket.

The light pooled in the pocket. It grew, beginning to sculpt and mold itself. The light separated, shaping into thin, invisible threads. The threads streamed out from the pocket. The threads became wind. The wind drifted out into the room.

The wind was being called. It whirled, spun, and swirled around the walls. Its destination was close. The wind spiraled up. It hunted through the air. It found its target. It darted forward. It sank against Alder’s skin.

“Oh, Hugh,” Alder said.

“Yeah.”

Slowly, Alder groaned his neck, and his head twisted an inch towards Hugh.

“I wanted to say, take care.”

Hugh sighed. He looked back. “You too.” He looked forward.

Hugh continued to the hall. Hugh walked on through.

And then, Hugh realized. “Wait--” Hugh turned, snapping back to the library.