#guys i downloaded the whole 3 minutes of this song just for this 3 seconds clip | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

wherethewordsare · 4 years ago

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#44. Im your new neighbor and git locked out, help. With uhhhhh tiktoker jask who likes to sing in the stairwells 👀 bonus points if they become boyfriends loooool

thanks for the ask Cheese!!! I hope you enjoy!! <3

I also want to thank @buttercupbard for being a really amazing sport about me borrowing their handle for the tik tok bits!!! I’ve sent some weird dms in my life but honestly, that was the oddest CYA i’ve ever done. I’m super glad it worked out though!!! Thank you again so much, Buttercup!

44. I’m your new neighbor and I got locked out, help!

The first time he heard it, Geralt had been taking his laundry down to the bottom floor because the units on his level were full. It was only for a moment, but who ever it was who was singing scurried away before he had a chance to make out the song they were singing.

The second time, he had passed the door to the stairwell on his way to grab his mail. This time though he was careful as he pushed the door open as gently as he could. The lyrics to Blackbird resonated in the concrete and steel and it made Geralt want to call home. It was a song he remembered his father singing at the kitchen sink while doing clean up in the evening or working in the garage on weekends.

Geralt tried not to be a creep about it, but it was quickly becoming a habit that was hard to break, sneaking into the side stairwell and listening to one of his neighbors sing. It felt somewhere between a terrible invasion of privacy and a private concert.

There were songs that made him ache with nostalgia, where he ended up calling his dad after or texting his brothers. There were songs that made him want to go work out and go get something accomplished. And then there were those songs that made him want to climb the stairs and face that voice and take them into his arms because he sounded so lonely. Geralt usually slipped back out when those feelings started to creep in.

Omg, Geralt, you have to see this dude! He’s insane!

Eskel sent him a link to a tik tok. It took a moment but after it loaded, Geralt nearly threw his phone across the room as if it had burned him. The only thing that stopped him were the blue eyes and brilliant smile that looked back at him.

@buttercupbard

I think my fan is back on the lower floor. Hope he enjoys today’s #lavieenrose 🙌🎶🌹🌹

Oh... Oh no! No no no, this could not be happening. Geralt watched, listening to the same rendition of La Vie en Rose he had heard the day before. Geralt knew only just enough about tik tok to know that the 500k under the little heart and the fact that he knew that this Buttercup Bard had only sung that song yesterday, he could deduce the facts in front of him. One, the singer knew Geralt snuck in to listen, and two, so did his probably thousands of fans.

Geralt clicked the little chat button on the side, pulling up the comments.

“You should go say hello!”

@buttercupbard: Oh no, I don’t know if they’d like that, otherwise they would have come up to say hello by now!

“Wouldn’t it be sweet if they found your tik toks?”

@buttercupbard: 👀👀🙈🙈🙈 Think they’d give me a review? Three words or less!

He wanted to scream. He wanted to run. He wanted to walk up those stairs and be able to drink in the full view of this Buttercup Bard as he sang knowingly to an audience of one. He wanted the earth to crack open at his feet and swallow him whole.

He went back to the video and pulled open Buttercup’s account, scrolling through what seemed like a lot of videos for just a few weeks. He found the one labeled Blackbird and gave it a listen. The caption simply said “This might be the last time I can sing here, someone came in again.”

Geralt frowned as he paused the video, looking down at those bright blue eyes that kept flitting away from the camera to make sure no one was coming. Geralt remembered standing at the bottom of the stairwell, leaning against the cold concrete with eyes closed. It had been peaceful but now it felt as though Geralt had just been encroaching. He couldn’t go back, not now. What would he say if Buttercup came down.

He also had to stop calling him Buttercup, but he had no other name for him. Geralt stopped going to the stairwell and he did his best to not pull up tik tok once in a while just to get his fix. He was doing fine, at least for a little while.

It was about three weeks later when Geralt finally broke down and opened the app he had downloaded just to watch Buttercup sing. That’s when he noticed the little pink ring around his icon.

Buttercup was live right now. Geralt’s feet moved under him without his noticing, walking him to the door. His hand was on the handle as he watched, his whole attention on the screen in his hand.

“I don’t know what happened to them. I guess I wasn’t meant for that kind of cheesy romance story after all!” Buttercup laughed and it sounded like a melody all in itself. Comments rocketed passed and Jaskier chuckled, ducking his head. “Well, you never know, I can’t be everyone’s cup of tea. Do you guys want to hear another song? I was thinking some Presley if you guys-” More comments poured in and Buttercup beamed.

That’s when Geralt heard his door shut behind him. Locked. Fuck.

He dropped out of the live stream and texted Eskel who took a few minutes but finally shot back that he was stuck at work and on the other side of the county. Geralt was going to have to find something to do until he could run over with the spare.

Fuck.

He couldn’t well stand in the hall barefooted. He looked down at his phone and sighed. There was only one thing to do.

----

“Like a river flows, surely to the see, Darlin-” Jaskier gave his camera a wink, chuckling through the lines but below the door opened.

“Uh, excuse me, Mr. Bard?” a voice came up, low and uncertain.

Jaskier gasped, looking in the camera as the chat exploded. He put a hand over his mouth and winced.

“Hello?” Jaskier dropped his head into his hand biting the inside of his lip. When he heard footsteps on the stairs he looked back at his phone and mouthed ‘Got to go’ and blew a kiss. Hopefully it didn’t lose him followers.

Suddenly the follower count didn’t matter. When Jaskier looked up he was greeted by a wall of a man, his white hair pulled back and the most startling hazel eyes. His bare feet wriggled on the linoleum.

“I hate to be a bother, and I know you were in the middle of something,” the man suddenly looked like he wanted to bolt.

“You’re the one who was listening down a few flights,” Jaskier couldn’t help the grin that was breaking out on his face. His followers were going to flip.

“Ah shit, sorry about that I feel like… I should go.” The man turned away from Jaskier and started to make his way back down the steps.

“Wait. Wait, no. Don’t go. Stay, please. Why aren’t you wearing shoes?” His damn mouth got ahead of him.

“I’m locked out of my apartment,” he stood there, looking up through the rail, frowning.

“I… Jaskier.”

“What?”

“My name. It’s Jaskier. Mr. Bard was my father,” he smirked, taking a step down. “Would you like to wait at my place until someone comes to your rescue? I have carpeting and coffee?”

The other man laughed, leaning to press his forehead against the rail for a second before looking up. “It would be appreciated. I’m Geralt from 2C.”

Jaskier tilted his head and smiled. “Well while we wait, Geralt of 2C, you can finally give me a review of my singing.”

“Hmm,” Geralt let himself be led up the rest of the stairs, “Am I restricted to three words or less?”

Jaskier flushed and snorted. And to think he nearly made a habit of doing his videos in this bathroom.

---

You can drop me a prompt from this list here!!

Tag list as it stands now <3: @jaskierswolf @geraskier-trashh @elliestormfound @artistsfuneral @thetinymm @fontegagrilledcheese @anythinggoesfandoms @electricrituals

#geraskier #modern au #prompt fill #singer jaskier #tik tok jaskier #neighbors au #fluff #geralt of rivia #jaskier #idk you guys #it's 3am

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starlight-writes-stuff · 4 years ago

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camping hc’s w/ the feral boys <3

AYO LOOK AT THESE : implied smut if u look hard enough , but really just some cute , fluffy feral boys content lol . these ended up being really fun to write so let me know if u have any other ideas for more hc’s !! ily , starlight ☁

reblogs are always appreciated !!! <3

all as a group -

god help us all this would be a MESS

you guys would get one of those massive tents that have separate rooms for everyone

s’mores are a guarantee

alex and clay would light their marshmallows on fire

and chase each other around with them

karl is FOCUSED on getting the perfect golden roast

sapnap keeps nudging him to mess the marshmallow up

george literally has his marshmallow in the fire for .2 seconds

clay would give him so much shit for it and the two of them would “argue”

but george would end up breaking his smore in half for clay

and feeding it to him most likely

alex would bring his guitar and play it while everyone sat around the fire

sapnap would definitely start singing ‘campfire song’ from spongebob

everyone would pick up

and dissolve into laughter

clay would be the first to bring up telling scary stories

you’d be scared as shit from the words he was crafting

youd sandwich yourself between karl and alex

alex would poke your waist , jumpscaring you

and you’d pout saying you’re going to bed

youd walk into the tent

they would all C O M P L A I N but eventually join you

at least one of them pees on the fire “to make sure its completely out”

george would ‘knock’ on the tent to see if you were dressed

because they’re respectful , your honor

everyone would meet in the main part of the tent with sleeping bags and pillows and blankets

completley abandoning all the separate rooms

you’d all take turns talking about nothing at all really

making stupid jokes

if you fell asleep first , clay and george would make everyone whisper

you need your beauty sleep

they’d all fade pretty fast after that

but karl would wake everyone to watch the sunrise together

dream -

would have the top of the line camping equipment

even if it was for like

a two day trip

he’d go to an outdoor store and come home with an entire car full of camping shit

a portable grill

a blowup mattress

the nicest two person tent money could buy

the full nine yards

would put you in charge of planning meals

which is probably a good idea

has had the campsite booked for months

somewhere by a lake

“clay , we literally live by the ocean”

“it’s not the same , baby”

he’s right , its not

would take a mini road trip to get there

he’d make sure to stop at all the tourist traps along the way

you two would end up with a bunch of fruit from a roadside stand

once you finally got there

the tent would essentially pitch itself

he’d do the car salesman slap on the nylon

“best tent money can buy”

you’d probably take a nap , tired from the drive

by the time clay shook you awake the sun was setting

so he'd fire up his little camping grill

pls he’d geek out so hard over it

you’d be awake from the nap

so clay would light a lantern and the two of you would just

wander around the campsite holding hands

you two would absolutely go swimming at midnight

clay would pick you up in the water

and have you wrap your legs around him like a koala

he’d pepper your face with kisses

then dunk you under the water

once you two got out you’d get in pajamas

and clay wouldn’t be able to inflate the air mattress

he forgot the pump

but you brought sleeping bags just incase

you two would fall asleep as close as two people in sleeping bags possibly could

sapnap -

would insist on being the manliest man

like would collect firewood and everything

he’d show off the axe he brought

then would chop the wood

he's gloating smh

and would get 125670 % more overprotective when you wanted to try

would stand behind you and show you how to swing

would guide your arms and everything

but would stand like

10 feet away

when you went to actually swing

spooked by how hard you chopped

but also proud ???

would build a fire as it got dark

and tell you how pretty you looked in the light from the flames

he’d be pretty old school w camping food

would stab a poker through hotdogs

he’d help you roast yours , rotating it so it cooked even

would forget the buns and condiments

“i thought we had everything!”

the two of you would die of laughter

just eating ur hotdogs

off of the pokers

however

would remember a stash of candy and snacks

so you end up eating those too

nick would have the tent up in less than five minutes

“fastest tent pitcher on this side of the mississip” 😎

would bring it up 13790 times

he would find a way to zip your sleeping bags up together so it's one big franken-bag

he’s so warm

keeps you toasty

George -

camping was most likely your idea

but gogs is all for it

gets really excited and buys a two person sleeping bag

“so we can still cuddle”

you’d bring all your camping equipment so you had a pad to sleep on

“sleeping on the ground hurts , baby”

“isn't that the whole point ?”

would have his hand on your thigh as he drove to the campsite

and would play loud music the whole way there

with all the windows down

you two would set up camp while it was still light

both struggling™

to get the tent up

it would take y’all like an hour

and both of you would be all sweaty after wrestling with it

so george would change into swimming trunks and wait on you to put on a bathing suit

then he would piggyback you to the lake

running straight into the cold water while you scREAMED

you’d smack him so he’d let you down

then you’d splash him

a splash war would ensue

george would grab your hands , threading them through his

“be nice to me >:,(“

you’d get all soft and wrap your arms around him

the two of you would swim for h o u r s

until someone got hungry

you’d show gogs how to make a campfire

he’d knock over your demonstration

“i want to try”

would nail it on the first shot

you'd be baffled but entirely impressed

after dinner he would show off the oversized sleeping bag

you two would get in together , legs tangled

would probably download movies on his phone beforehand for you guys to watch

he’d fall asleep first , lulled to bed by the sounds of outside

Karl -

loves camping so much

just loves outside in general

would already have a bunch of gear

but would insist on finding a way for you two to be able to sleep together

we all know this boys love language is touch

even in his sleep he needs some sort of skin to skin contact

would buy a camping bed

i feel like karl would want to make “real camping food”

so he’d do hotdogs

and those foil packet thingies with potatoes and corn

he’d show you how to seal they foil and bury it in the coals properly

would scrunch his nose at you while you messed the wrapping up on purpose

“let me do it for you , baby”

would proceed to do it for you

he’d take 100000000000 pictures of you

in the sunset lighting

the campfire lighting

the moon lighting

because he cant help how beautiful you look

would feed you bites of vegetable in between your hot dog

“are you staying hydrated?”

brought juice boxes , too

he’d set up a place for you guys to stargaze

and would point out all the constellations

yall would make up your own too , giving them full backstories

he’d slow dance with you under the moon until it got too cold to be outside

the two of you would … take advantage of the camping bed

crossing ‘outside’ off the bucket list 😌

by day 3 he was tired of his traditional camping food

would beg you for some of your snacks

you’d feed him oreos and fruit snacks while you guys hiked

Quackity -

was not down™

at first

but once he saw how excited you were

he would be all in

would go to a camping store with you and pick out equipment

alex would insist on getting the stereotypical camping cookware

“we have to !!!”

“no we dont???”

“yes we do 😤”

would refuse to sleep on the ground

buys one of those camping pad things

would buy a two person sleeping bag as well

“if im doing this im at LEAST sleeping next to you”

you’d beg him to bring his guitar and play it at the campfire

he’d sing you soft songs while you toasted marshmallows

and you’d feed him s’mores

but you two would end up just eating the chocolate bars instead

he’d bring some sort of card game

and you two would get way too competitive

probaby uno

you’d be screaming at each other at like 1 am

“yOU DIDN’T SAY UNO”

would get a noise complaint

but alex does not care

not one bit

would make a joke about you screaming his name instead

ends up loving falling asleep to the sounds of nature

somehow finds his way into being little spoon

you two fall asleep holding each other

and wake up a tangled mess

begs you to stay another night

because he actually likes being away from it all

and getting uninterrupted one-on-one time with his girl

next time you guys get a free weekend , he’s the one who suggests camping

because he loved it so much

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hauntedbythefanficsofmypast · 5 years ago

Text

When you need a Superfriend

By Nach0Ava

On Archive of Our Own

Tumblr user: @nach0ava

So I have not really watched Supergirl however when I read the first chapter I had to share this with you all! This is the first chapter by Nach0Ava. (Second chapter is on its way as well!) Marinette gets sent away by her parents to America! Please go read Nach0Ava's story!

Summary:

When Tom and Sabine believe Lila's lies, they send Marinette off to live with an old family friend in National City. When living with a government agent and a physiologist, how long is it until she gets figured out?

Chapter 1:

“I don’t understand! Why are you sending me away?”

Marinette looked up at her parents in disbelief. They had just told her that she was going to be sent to live with a family friend. In America! Sure, she could speak fairly good English, but it still didn’t make sense!

“Your recent behaviour has led us to think that the change could be good for you. Kelly and her girlfriend Alex are lovely people, and they might be better equipped to deal with you than we are.”

As her mother spoke, Marinette felt a bitterness rise in her. Of course. Lila. She had made good on her threat, managing to turn even her parents against her. Claiming that she was involved in a gang, she had an older boyfriend, she did drugs, the list went on. And when Tom and Sabine had caught Marinette out past curfew one too many times, they took it as the truth. She couldn’t tell them that she was Ladybug, so all she had was half-hearted excuses. Still, she needed a way to stay in Paris, as she couldn’t be Ladybug somewhere else, and if there was no Ladybug, there was no-one to catch the akuma, and no-one to cast the cure, never mind all her guardian duties…

She was getting off track. She had a goal and she needed to accomplish it. Just like taking down an akuma. Except she couldn’t hit this problem really hard for it to go away.

“Is there any way I could stay in Paris? I’ll switch schools, I’ll go live with grandpa Roland, I’ll do anything!”

Tom and Sabine exchanged a look. They didn’t want to believe it, but they had to make sure.

“Honey, calm down, aren’t you worried about an akuma?”

Marinette started pacing as she rambled, mostly to herself.

“Right, I’ll get upset, then you guys will get mad at me, and then one or both of you will be akumatised and then I’ll have that whole mess to deal with.”

Tom reached out a hand to her shoulder to stop her pacing.

“You aren’t worried about you getting akumatised?”

Marinette shook her head.

“No no, I’ll be fine.”

A slight push from her bag and the looks from her parents made her backtrack.

“I mean, I’m really good at calming down before they get to me, I mean, it’s worked so far right?”

She let out a nervous chuckle while her parents stared at her.

“Marinette… Are you working with Hawkmoth?”

Marinette looked for the start of a smile from her mum, the laughter in her dad’s eyes, anything to say they were joking. When the just kept staring she burst into laughter.

“Haha, you guys… You guys really thought… Haha, that’s hilarious!”

Her parents failed to see the humour and gave her thatlook.

“Remember all those times I’ve been attacked? Reflekta, Horificator, pretty much any akuma that clones or traps people I’ve gotten tangled up in.”

Not technically a lie, she never said she got hitspecifically, but she definitely got attacked.

“Well, maybe you should get out of Paris anyway. It’s clearly not safe here, and maybe it’s best for you to leave. You’ll like it in National City, they even have their own superheros!”

Great. A reminder of what I have to give up because of Lila. She was about to keep protesting, but she felt three quick pushed on her side by Tikki. We need to talk.Her argument died on her tongue and she sighed.

“When am I meant to leave?”

Her parents exchanged relived looks.

“The plane is booked for next Friday. That gives you about a week to pack up. We could mail over a box with all of your sewing things once you get settled, if Kelly and Alex are ok with it of course.”

Marinette fought the eyebrow that was threating to raise. A week? I was hoping for some more time to test and train a new guardian, and a new holder for Tikki. It would be a rush, and there weren’t many people she trusted anymore. Still, there was work to be done, so she had to get started.

“I guess I’ll go start packing then. Can I be un-grounded so I can spend my final week saying goodbye and sorting things out?”

Her parents nodded, glad she was taking this so well.

“Of course honey, just not tonight ok? It’s getting rather late.”

Marinette nodded and ran up to her room, shutting the trapdoor quickly. She went up onto her bed and starting crying into her pillow, feeling the weight of all the kwami comforting her. Eventually she rolled on to her back, drying her tears.

“I’m sorry Tikki, you said you wanted to talk?”

She looked at her expectantly. Marinette already knew what Tikki wanted. She needed to find a new wielder and Guardian, and she shouldn’t have been putting it off, but sometimes it felt good to cry. Tikki came to settle on her lap and patted her leg comfortingly.

“Marinette I know what you’re thinking, and you don’t have to give up being Ladybug or being Guardian. So you better stop that train of thought right now missy.”

Marinette sat up, blinking. How could she… Oh.

“I’m an idiot.”

Tikki giggled while she flew up and booped her nose, while Kaalki sniffed from the corner.

“I can’t believe you forgot about me Guardian. You’ve given me out before!”

Marinette giggled at the kwami’s haughty attitude.

“Sorry Kaalki, I got a bit too emotional to think clearly.”

Kaalki just grabbed a sugar cube with a huff and flew off. Marinette climbed off her bed and grabbed her bright pink suitcase.

“So who wants to help me pack?”

~~<3~~

Chloe, Kagami, Luka and Marinette were all sitting at a table at a café during their lunch break. Luka had graduated already, so he was usually free to hang out. Chloe had come up to Marinette not too long after Lila’s takeover with an apology. Marinette had been wary at first, but Chloe was actually really nice when she wasn’t putting up an act. She had soon proven herself and had been given another chance at being a hero, under the new name Honeybee. Kagami had approached her after Adrien had asked for advice on the Lila situation. She had hated his passive approach, and when she had tried to talk to him about it, he just refused her help, ignoring the fact that he had asked for her help. Kagami had come to offer her help, and they become friends soon after. She had re-claimed the dragon, under the new name Tempête. Luka had heard Lila’s heart song and immediately knew that was someone that he didn’t want to hang around. He had tried warning Juleka and the rest of Kitty Section, but Lila had told them that having an older singer wasn’t a good look. He had been kicked out, and Marinette had been there to comfort him with pastries and musicals. After she had introduced everyone to each other, they had become a tightly knit group. So, as one could imagine, they weren’t taking this well.

“They gave you a week? That’s ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!”

Kagami made a noise of displeasure as well.

“Sending you to America seems a bit extreme, what reason did they give again?”

Marinette scoffed.

“My ‘recent behaviour’ or something like that. Also known as, Lila. Oh, that’s not even the best part.”

Marinette gave out a dry chuckle and everyone looked on in interest.

“Apparently, I’m working with Hawkmoth.”

Luka plucked a string on his guitar, sending out a loud note. Chloe just stared in disbelief, and Kagami made for her foil.

“I’m going to run them through with my sword.”

Kagami gripped it tightly, ready to get up and make good on her threat, but Marinette grabbed it from her, unbothered by the fencer’s unimpressed glare.

“No-one is stabbing anyone. I don’t really have a choice, so I just have to suck it up and deal with it. Besides, it could be good to get away from Lila.”

Chloe was the first to get up to give her a hug, followed by Luka, and then by Kagami, who Marinette wasn’t completely sure that she wasn’t just trying to get her sword back.

“It’ll be ok guys, we can still video chat through Skype or something. I won’t be able to text, because I’ll be on an American phone plan, but we can figure something out!”

Chloe pulled away and took out her phone, tapping away immediately.

“I’m going to get you an amazing phone plan, with unlimited overseas. Same for the rest of you. That way, we can all talk and not worry about the fact that there’ll be an ocean dividing us.”

Marinette slowly took the phone and added it to her slowly growing pile, pointedly ignoring the glare Chloe shot her.

“I’m sure there are other, free, ways to contact each other. I think there’s an online service, what’s the name in English? Chaos or something like that?”

Luka strummed at his guitar in thought before pulling up an app on his phone.

“Is this the one you were thinking of?”

He had opened Discord, in dark mode of course, and had his profile open.

“Yeah, that’s the one! We can talk on there, and it has the bonus of being accessible from computers! So, no reason to go overboard, ok Chloe?”

Chloe humped and opened up the app store, downloading Discord. Kagami noticed what she was doing and mirrored her. They all took a few minutes to make accounts and become friends, before Luka, the one with the most experience, had set up a server for them all. Quickly choosing nicknames, Marinette pocketed her phone with a grin.

“Now that that’s done, anyone want to come help me pick some things to take?”

~~<3~~

It felt like the week passed quickly, lessons passing by in a blur. She didn’t pay much attention, just enough to keep Mrs Bustier satisfied. She didn’t bother alerting anyone in the class (outside of Chloe) that she was leaving, ignoring their taunts and insults. Chloe and Kagami had been big helps in learning how to ignore them, so now they rolled off her like water on a duck. She made sure not to bring anything valuable, most of her stuff was in a suitcase anyway. On her final day, she only had her schoolbooks, the school assigned tablet, and three neatly wrapped gifts. As she was packing up to go meet her friends for a final goodbye, she was stopped by Alya.

“I need you to make a dress for the upcoming school dance.”

Marinette briefly noted that this was a demand, rather than a request, but she just started her usual commission speech with a sigh.

“Depending on the materials used and the time it takes to make, the dress could cost anywhere from €300 to €500. There will also be shipping costs, plus the fact I’m not taking commissions right now, so it will probably be a few weeks before I might be able to get started on it.”

Alya was staring at Marinette like she had grown another head.

“€300, what are you talking about? I’m not paying youfor a dress, and you make mine every year, so what’s the problem? I can’t wait a few weeks, the dance is next weekend!”

Marinette sighed and pushed past the taller girl.

“The problem is that I don’t have time, materials are expensive, and I made you those dresses when we were friends. But we’re not now. So, leave me alone. Goodbye Alya.”

She walked out to meet her friends, leaving Alya behind, too stunned to talk. When she snapped out of it, she grumbled to herself.

“She’ll see reason on Monday. She has no right to refuse after all she’s done to Lila! Maybe if she makes Lila’s dress too, she’ll forgive her! Lila’s nice like that, Marinette will come around after making up for everything she’s done!”

Alya walked away, satisfied, planning her new dress in her mind.

Marinette ran up to her friends, engulfing them in hugs. They all hugged right back, sad to see her go. Marinette suddenly pulled away from the hug, and grabbed three parcels out of her bag. She handed them all out, urging them to open them. Luka opened his first, finding a beanie that perfectly matched his hair, with a teal snake pattern around the rim. Chloe went next, her patience not holding any longer. She got a headband with tiny bees embroidered all along it. Kagami received a red handkerchief, with an elemental dragon on one side, and a storm cloud on the other, a lightning strike going all the way across. They all started to thank her at once, with Marinette just blushing sheepishly.

“I just took note of all your favourite heroes, and added them to a design. It’s not that big of a deal.”

They all hugged again, before the clock chimed behind them, making Marinette jump.

“I have to go! I’ll send you all a message when I land, but you better not stay up for it if it’s late here!”

A chorus of “No promises!” filled her ears as she ran home, taking in the sights one more time. She burst into the bakery to find her mum still working the counter, and her dad busy baking. Not thinking much of it, she went up to her room to grab her belongings. After some quick cuddles from the kwami, she had everything she needed. Most flew into the suitcase, comfy in the hidden area Marinette had made, lined with a soft faux fur. Only Tikki and Kaalki flew into her jacket, ready to transform if need be. They had assured her they wouldn’t show up on the x-ray, so she was fine with having them in there. As she lifted her suitcase and went downstairs, her strength from being Ladybug shining through, she was surprised to see her parents still busy at work.

“Maman, Papa, I thought we were going to the airport now?”

Her parent’s exchanged looks before Tom stopped his baking and walked over.

“Honey, we can’t afford to come with you, we need to keep the bakery open. There’s an Uber outside for you, but you’ll have to go on your own. I’m sorry.”

He pulled her into a hug, one she half-heartedly returned. She walked over to hug her mum as well, and went outside with her suitcase.

This was it.

She was really being sent away.

All because of some dumb liar.

With a comforting press coming from inside her jacket, she got in the Uber, prepared to start her new life.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous marinette #marinette dupen chang #miraculous au #miraculous fandom #miraculoustalesofladybugandcatnoir #ml salt fic #superfamily #supergirl #arrowverse #kelly olsen #alex danvers #lila bashing #lila salt #class salt #alya+salt #chloe sugar

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spockina · 5 years ago

Text

Kiss Your Best Friend

100% came to after i watched a bunch of ‘kiss your best friend’ tik tok challenges. no i’m not great with titles

the biggest thank you ever to @hearteyesforbuck for being the kindest, nicest person, welcoming me into this community, and reading this and giving me valuable feedback. thank you. <3

4.1k words / fluff

this is my first 9-1-1 fic. pls be kind to me

ps.: this was also posted on ao3!

Buck will be the first one to tell you that he isn’t the greatest person with pop culture – and that extends to technology. He’s not even embarrassed about it; it just never piqued his interest, and that’s about it for explanations. So, no, he doesn’t know that the Jonas Brothers are back together – in fact, he only has a vague recollection of who they are –, and the only reason he keeps getting new iPhones is because they keep calling him to offer a trade (and everyone knows shiny new things are always fun, okay?).

Chimney, on the other hand, is a pop culture pro.

“There’s no such thing as too old for apps, Buck,” he says, waving his phone around as if to prove a point, “because if I still have a phone in my hands, then I can still enjoy the damn apps that go in them, right?”

Buck nods, unsure of what else to say. He hates feeling unsure, more so if the subject is as dumb as popular-things-he-doesn’t-know-and-or-care-about.

“What I’m tryna show you,” Chim continues, as if Buck isn’t about two seconds from tuning out of this conversation entirely, “is a funny series of videos on Tik Tok. I promise you’re gonna laugh at ‘em.”

“What’s… Tik-Tok…?” Buck asks instead.

Chim sighs, but then laughs a little. “Ok, Buck, it doesn’t matter, come watch the videos!”

It starts with a soft, mellow song, and on screen he can see some pictures, all accompanied with text explaining them, that'sthats my best friend, we been best friends for 3 years now, he doesn'tdoesnt know i like him, and then it cuts to a cute moment of a blonde teen leaning in and placing a tentative kiss on said best friend’s lips. They laugh and then hug, and then the video ends. After that one come a few more in succession; some go horribly wrong, and some are funny. Most of them work out as planned, though.

Then Bobby calls Chimney from downstairs, and Chim pockets his phone to leave.

“That’s the ‘kiss your best friend challenge’, Buckaroo.” He says with a grin, all teeth. “Thought you’d enjoy it.” He winks at Buck, and then goes, yelling coming! and leaving behind a very confused and only somewhat amused Buck.

That’s how it starts.

So, no, Buck doesn’t really know the first thing about apps in general, what’s trending and what’s not, but he does know how to work the App Store. Knows how to find apps. Knows how to download Tik Tok.

It’s innocent enough at first. The videos are funny, for the most part, and it’s a mindless distraction, even if only slightly better than the games he’s used to, and only better because of the amount of variety he gets.

He can’t help but come back to the stupid videos (and why even call them challenges anyway? What’s challenging about them?) about kissing your best friend.

They’re mostly adorable, but some are heartbreaking. He’s soft, okay? No shame in his game. He’s a soft guy, who’s (mostly) in touch with his feelings. Some of the rejection ones are upsetting; God knows Buck has faced a couple of rejections in his prime, and they hurt.

He keeps watching them anyway.

This week has been a rough one. Eddie picked up an extra shift, which made Buck decide to pick one up, too, because why the hell not? Christopher wasn’t even going to need anything Buck could help with, as he already had plans with Abuela. That extra shift, it turned out, was a horrible mistake.

(Not really. Buck really, really does love his job. Loves doing what he does, loves knowing he’s helping people. Sometimes it gets exhausting, though. Sometimes he’s made to face what losing his friends, his family, Eddie would feel like, and those hurt days like a motherfucker.)

A huge house fire reached the two neighboring houses. They needed backup, the whole thing was insane. Half of the roof collapsed not even two inches from where Eddie was standing, twin girls in his arms, Buck watching from the ladder where he was ready to take the girls. It doesn’t matter how many times they go near death; every single time it happens in slow-motion. Everyone came out alive, but the bitter taste followed Buck’s mouth into the truck, where he places a hand on Eddie’s shoulder, and leaves it there until they reach the station.

“Plans for the evening?” He asks softly. They feel extra raw tonight.

“Not really.” Eddie replies, and the silence stretches. Buck thinks that’s all Eddie’s saying, until he clears his throat, continues. “Christopher’s staying with Abuela, and then Carla’s picking him up and taking him to school in the morning.” Another pause. “I’m just tired, Buck. I need to crash.”

Buck nods. “Yeah. Yeah, I know. I just. I won’t be able to,” he says, complete honesty without even thinking, and that’s probably his favorite thing about his friendship with Eddie. No filter, just truth. Mostly.

Eddie nods, but it’s more of a jerky motion. Buck doesn’t inquire further.

“You wanna grab a couple pizzas and some beer? We can pretend to watch a movie until we collapse.”

The suggestion sounds heavenly. Buck grins, nods, already picking up his phone.

“Domino’s fine? The usual?”

Eddie nods. “Your place or mine?”

In the end they only get the pizzas because Buck has more than enough beers for the two of them at his place.

They have three mostly empty pizza boxes on the coffee table, beer in hand, a half a dozen other bottles around the boxes, a movie they’re pretending to watch – but even as it plays on screen, Buck can’t pretend to know what’s going on. He’s sitting on the far end of the couch, with Eddie right beside him, head on his shoulder.

Buck’s a naturally tactile person. Craves physical touches, and the warmth of another person’s skin. Eddie wasn’t always like that; it took him some time to open up, and Buck doesn’t know if this is for him only, or if he’s as open with any of his other friends, but that doesn’t matter to Buck.

Buck moves his arm behind Eddie, so that they can both be more comfortable, and Eddie looks up a little startled, soft around the edges and glassy-eyed, which means he was probably on his way to falling asleep when Buck moved. He smiles at Buck, a small smile that’s open and honest and free. And Buck… Wow. Buck realizes, then and there, that he wants to kiss Eddie.

It’s only a second, and then Eddie’s looking back at the screen, burrowing just the tiniest bit more into the space Buck has made for him, taking a sip of his beer, sighing very softly.

And, oh. Oh. Buck understands now. Buck knows, deeply and suddenly, why they’re called challenges, and what the challenging part is about the whole kiss your best friend thing.

It’s a bet he’s not sure if he’s willing to take.

Buck can’t stop thinking about it.

He doesn’t remember when he knew he was in love with Abby. That’s always where their relationship was going to go, there wasn’t another option. They weren’t ever in it for anything other than being together. Sure, Buck tried, for the first time, to be a better man, and that was what moved them along, but Buck always knew how they were supposed to end up. Together. Which is why he doesn’t know when he realized he was in love with Abby. If the goal was to get the girl, then being in love with her was an integral part of the plan. He just doesn’t fucking know, which is making everything worse.

Because he’s pretty sure he’s in love with Eddie.

Because he didn’t know, and then he did.

Because it was easy to figure out.

Eddie looked at him, open and carefree, even if for just a minute, and Buck thought yes. And that was it. Buck thought yes, Buck thought he would do anything to just keep Eddie looking like that, soft, and safe, and tranquil. In his arms. Buck thought all those things in a millisecond, and he knew what they meant. He knows what they mean, because he hasn’t stopped thinking about them ever since they materialized in his mind.

I’m in love with Eddie.

Buck wanted to be a better man for Abby, and he was, but Eddie makes him a better man.

He hates knowing this. He doesn’t know what to do with it, because, while he would never do anything to jeopardize what he has with Eddie (this friendship, this trust, this love – that is above the romance part of things, and involves everything else – namely, Christopher, and the feeling of belonging he gets when he’s with them), he also knows himself. He knows this isn’t going to last very long before he bursts and makes a mess of things. He needs to think, but he has, has been doing nothing but think about this.

He needs to do something.

He just hasn’t figured out what just yet.

The idea comes, funnily enough, when they’re at a call.

The universe sure loves a good dose of irony.

Some (dumb) teenager stuck in the air vent, was what the 9-1-1 operator said. There’s a really big, sour looking man yelling at a teenage girl – who’s yelling right back at him – outside when they get there, a lady watching them, clear from her face that she’s both the girl’s mom and the man’s wife and that she’s given up on whatever’s going on. He half hears as Bobby tries to placate things enough to understand what’s going. The girl outside starts sobbing, but now he’s concentrating on the girl inside, upstairs in a bedroom, stuck in the air vent.

“Hey, can you hear me?” He says loudly, and gets some noise back that he’ll take as an answer. She’s already all the way in the vent, save for one foot hanging out from where she got stuck trying to move, a knee up and one leg straight. Stupid, stupid idea. “What’s your name?” He asks, and then they start to work.

“Sage,” she answers, loud. He’s not sure if she’s yelling or if the sound’s carrying, but he keeps being loud just to be sure.

“Ok, Sage, we’re gonna get you out, don’t worry! Wanna tell me whatcha doing in there?”

“Looking for a rat,” she replies, and Eddie huffs a laugh beside him, shakes his head. “Sorry, I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be rude, I just panicked!”

“Hey, don’t worry about my feelings, Sage, we’re fine. You wanna tell me what happened for you to hop up there?”

“What’s your name?” She says, and that takes him by surprise. His eyebrows go up, and he looks at everyone around before answering.

“Uh, it’s Buck. My name’s Buck.”

“Look, Buck,” she starts, and she sounds so, so angry, but also so very sad, “Baileya’s dad hates me, ok? I haven’t seen her in a month! She’s my best friend!”

“Ok, Sage, I’m gonna need you to take a few calming breaths before we continue, ok? Do you want me to breathe with you?”

“No, no, it’s okay,” she says, and then she’s quiet, and they can all hear her breathing deeply. “Okay, sorry. Look. Baileya’s dad he, uh, he thinks I’m a bad influence. He was supposed to be somewhere, fuck if I know, but he was only supposed to come back tomorrow. I haven’t seen B in a month –” that last part sounds so sad it breaks Buck’s heart a bit, “– and I just. I missed her.” She’s silent for a little bit, and no one presses for more, but then she speaks up again. “We saw his car outta the window and I just panicked. This air vent hasn’t had a pane for the longest time and I’m a fucking gymnast, so I thought I could just jump up here and hang out for a minute. I know it was stupid, but he would kick me out if he found me, and I mean that very literally.”

Buck looks at his team. They all know what this means.

Finally, Bobby says, “Well, Sage, you’re gonna be out of there in a minute, and you’re gonna get to see your best friend, and no one’s touching you under the protection of the LAFD, okay? Don’t worry.”

She sounds shaky when she says thank you.

When they get her out, she asks them to stay at the door so she can get all her things in her backpack, and Buck notices her phone was propped up against some books in a table in front of the bed. Everyone trails out and he lingers behind to protect her, but also to say, in an almost-whisper:

“Hey, Sage, why was your phone propped up like that?”

She turns tomato red in a second, flat-out. “I was, uh. I was. Um. Filming a thing.”

And of course Buck knows. He knows that angle. “A challenge?”

She looks surprised. “Yeah. For, um, for Tik-Tok.”

“Did you get to do it?”

“Yeah, Buck,” she says, and he wouldn’t ask, normally, but her voice says it all.

“Did Baileya like it?”

She smiles at him, almost as if she can’t keep it in. “Yes.”

He decides then and there that he’s not going to look them up, but he can’t stop thinking about the smile on Sage’s face when she said yes.

The whole way back to the station he keeps watching Chimney, who has noticed, but hasn’t asked what he’s looking at him for. He wonders if he was always obvious to everyone else, and only oblivious to himself. He wonders whether he’s obvious to Eddie or if Eddie is oblivious to him.

More than anything, though, he’s pretty sure he found a way to do something. He feels silly. It was staring at him this whole time. Or, well, he was staring at it, really, for quite some time, in fact.

It’s another Saturday, and he’s been psyching himself up for a week.

Sure, he’s figured out what to do, and he doesn’t wanna risk anything. That doesn’t mean he’s not jittery about it. So much, in fact, that Eddie notices as soon as he walks through the door.

Christopher jumps up as soon as he sees him, saying a long and excited Buck! and all but flinging himself at Buck, who has just enough time to drop the bags he has on the floor carefully and pick up Christopher in the same motion.

“How’s my Superman doing?”

“Good, Bucky. How are you?”

“Ready for a fun day with my favorite boys,” he replies, easy as anything.

He drops Christopher, and Eddie gives him a quick hug before picking up the bags he brought.

“What are these?”

“Well, it’s a nice day, thought we could, you know, make a day of it? You said you didn’t have plans and I have everything for a nice picnic.” He shrugs.

“I don’t see a basket,” Eddie teases.

“It’s in the car, you jerk.”

Eddie laughs. “Hey, Christopher, what do we think about a picnic?”

“Picnic!” is all the reply he gets from a very excited Christopher. “I’m going to change,” he says, already shuffling to his bedroom, and Eddie shakes his head.

“I also got us some beer, but that’s more for later in the evening. Thought we could order a pizza after Chris goes to bed, maybe?”

Eddie looks fake-shocked. “You want a whole entire day of eating not really health stuff? Who are you and what did you do to my Buck?”

And Buck knows, okay? Buck knows he’s just joking, but it still tugs at his heart, makes him feel like those butterflies people talk about are real: his head feels light, there’s a tingling on the tips of his fingers. Instead of any of the stupid things he wants to do, he just shakes his head, smiles.

“Nah, man, just wanted a nice day with the two of you, that’s all.”

Eddie’s smile is blinding. “Sounds good to me.”

“I’ll tuck him in and you order the pizza?”

“Yup.”

“‘K. Chris, go say good night to Buck.”

Christopher moves slowly. They’ve had a fun, long day.

“Good night, Bucky. I love you.”

“Good night, Chris. I love you, too.”

Buck listens to the sounds of the two of them as he orders the pizza. He thinks about how familiar it is, how at home he feels.

How he is, maybe, about to mess the whole thing up.

He sure has his excuses in place in case things don’t go the way he wants them to – “it’s just a joke, look, I can show you the other videos. It’s a challenge for Tik Tok. I just wanted to be down with the kids, Eddie! I thought you’d be game! It’s just for show!” – but it’s not going to stop things from being awkward for a little bit until they get back to normal.

When Eddie comes back, the pizza is there already, and Buck is nursing a beer that’s already halfway down, but has one out for Eddie, cold and fresh. Eddie collapses on the couch with a grunt.

“That boy’s getting big, por Díos, where did the time go,” he says, sitting up nicely, taking a swig of his beer.

They’re having a good time. But they’re never not having a good time. This is it, Buck realizes. He can’t imagine ever again feeling so at home in the presence of someone else. He can’t imagine loving a child so deeply; can’t imagine loving a man more for the way he loves his own son. This is it.

Eddie goes to the bathroom, and it’s Buck’s chance.

He puts the phone up against a vase Eddie has on the coffee table; knows Eddie enough to know he won’t notice, especially after two beers.

“Alright, what did I miss,” Eddie says as he walks in the living room, more conversationally than interested, and Buck knows it’s now or never.

“Hey, Eddie,” he says, slowly, which makes Eddie look at him immediately, confusion and worry written in the lines around his eyes.

“You ok, Buck?” He asks, placing his beer bottle on the coffee table in front of them, worry making him move more into Buck’s personal space.

Ok, Buck. Now or never. Do it.

“Yeah, yeah, I just. I. Look, Eddie, I just need to –” Buck cuts himself off in favor of moving entirely into Eddie’s personal space, meeting him in the middle where Eddie already was. The air between them mingles, Buck can feel the warmth they’re creating back on his lips.

“What are you doing?” Eddie whispers, sharp, and for a second Buck feels as if he has lost; this exact moment is suspended in infinity for Buck to commit it to memory, to remember his loss, forevermore. But then. Then, Eddie looks down at Buck’s lips, and licks his own. Buck needs nothing else. He goes in.

Eddie is very still when their lips touch, but Buck can absolutely not help but notice how soft they are. Eddie is all hard angles and big muscles, but his lips are so soft, how’s that even possible? And then Buck notices he isn’t moving. He isn’t even breathing, actually, holding himself taut. Buck’s thankful for his foresight of not touching Eddie anywhere besides the lips.

Buck backs away slowly, hoping that Eddie won’t look at him too close, hoping Eddie will take pity and just let him run away for the night. But Eddie is watching him intently, looking into the blue eyes that already feel wet, so obviously they look wet. But hey! Buck tried, didn’t he?

All the apologies and speech he had ready die in his throat. He’s not going to lie to Eddie; he doesn’t want to lie to Eddie. He should know. He should know that Buck is in love with him, heart-achingly so. He needs to know. So Buck doesn’t say anything. He looks around; for a second he had forgotten the phone was even there. He starts to get up, his mind a mess.

Eddie holds his wrist. Buck looks at where they’re touching as if it’s burning. Eddie tugs, hard, making him sit down.

“Did you mean that?" He asks, voice only above a whisper, but still crystal clear.

“What?” Buck says, confused.

“Buck. Did you mean to do that?” He asks again, eyes on Buck’s.

“Yeah,” he breathes out. “Yeah, Eddie. I’ve been meaning to. For a while now.”

Buck closes his eyes, then. Eddie's eyes are too bright, too beautiful for Buck to keep looking at. And then, Eddie’s hand is up against his neck, his jaw, against his cheek, resting there, thumb awfully close to the corner of Buck’s mouth. And then, Buck’s being kissed. For real.

Eddie kisses exactly like he does all other things: quietly, not showing off, but assured of himself and of what he’s doing; he’s a pro and he knows it.

Buck is about to shift into ‘two can play at this game mode’ when he remembers the phone recording.

He pulls away slowly, softly, regrettably, but covers Eddie’s hand on his cheek with one of his hands, moves it to his mouth to kiss Eddie’s palm. Free. Able and allowed to do this.

They smile at each other. Buck could stare at Eddie’s smile forever.

He reaches for his phone on the coffee table and says a fuck so heartfelt Eddie moves away from him on the couch.

“Buck?”

“It. Wasn’t. Recording.”

“What?”

Buck is, admittedly, a little late on the uptake of how bad that sounded. It takes him a while to explain the whole thing to Eddie, which of course includes showing him a few challenge videos.

"So you had a speech ready in case I flipped out on you,” Eddie concludes.

“Yup, correct."

A beat, and then: "You didn’t say anything, though."

Buck looks up at him, confused. "What do you mean?"

"You pulled back, and you didn’t say anything. You were just going to leave."

And, wow. Buck forgets, sometimes, just how perceptive Eddie is. He looks away for a second, but decides Eddie deserves honesty, even if it’s at the cost of baring his soul. He already did a lot of that tonight, might as well keep going.

"I realized I wanted you to know. Our friendship is the most important thing I have, and so I knew that, whatever happened here, you needed to know that I’m in love with you. I was sure we could get over it and back into our friendship eventually, but I just needed you to know."

Eddie nods, understanding, taking one of Buck’s large hands between both of his.

"Thank you, Buck. Not just for your honesty, but also for taking a chance on us."

They kiss.

A lot.

Eddie, bless him, not only is a good sport and has fun with the whole thing, but also helps Buck find pictures of the two of them.

"Hey, Chim! Come up here!” Buck yells as soon as he sees Chimney coming in through the station gates.

He’s happy. He feels like he might burst with happiness.

The past week has been everything he dreamed of, and more. Christopher was so happy he cried, which made Buck cry, which made Eddie sniff, which the two other boys in the room knew meant Eddie was trying not to cry. Buck was finally happy.

Sure it had only been a week, but he was ready to share that with the world. And he was going to start with Chimney.

“What’s up, Buckaroo? You look awfully chirpy for this early in the morning.” He then noticed: “Oh, hey Eddie. You’re up early."

"Someone had to contain Mr. Buckley over here. He’s excited."

”…Okay. Buck? Anytime now.“

"I just gotta show you this video on Tik Tok."

"Wait, what? You got Tik Tok? Look at you, Buck!"

Buck can’t help the blush. "Yeah, yeah, whatever.” He places his phone in Chimney’s hands. “Watch."

Chim presses play, and his mouth does some weird things, but he looks positively pleased.

"I knew it!” He yells when he’s done, excitement he can’t contain.

They hug, and Chim promises not to tell anyone until they do, offering them well wishes and relationship help, which they both wrinkle their noses at, but say thank you all the same.

Eddie moves into the kitchen, and Chimney takes the opportunity to say, so that only Buck can hear: “I knew you’d enjoy the challenge, Buck."

Buck knows he’s a sap, but he can’t help the smile. "Yeah, Chim. I’ll owe you one forever."

Chimney shakes his head at him, his smile so fond even Buck can see.

"Nah, Buckaroo. Just be happy. That’s all I want."

#buddie #eddie diaz #evan buckley #buck #911 on fox #buddie fanfic #i don't know what else to tag i'm shaking!!!!!! this feels like so much pressure #pls give me feedback i need it to breathe #lol ok #my words #i don't even know if i have a writing tag lmao???#ok here goes nothing

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fanfics4all · 5 years ago

Text

The Piano Man

Request: Yes / No

Requests are closed <3 Have a nice day/night

Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader

Word count: 3999

Warnings: TALK OF RAPE I will not be tagging anyone but do not read if you are triggered by rape! (This is based on season seven episode 12)

Y/N: Your Name

Y/L/N: Your Last Name

PLEASE DO NOT STEAL MY WORK, I WORK HARD ON MY FICS AND IT’S NOT COOL TO STEAL SOMEONE ELSE’S WORK!

If you want to be on the tag list for anything (My series fics, specific character fics, or just all of them) All you have to do is send me an ask and I will add you!

Masterlist

(Not my photo, credit to whoever made it!)

A long time ago I used to live in Houston. That was a part of my life that I never wanted to return to. But now, it looks like I had no choice. I had joined the BAU team in the FBI and our case was back in my hometown.

“So Houston PD needs our boots on the ground for the Piano Man case.” Garcia said and I silently gulped.

“The serial rapist?” Morgan asked.

“A case we consulted on about eight months ago. Twelve victims over five years.” Hotch said and he glanced at me. He knew that I was one of those women that he had hurt, he was the only one that knew. Not even my boyfriend of one year knew, I couldn’t bring myself to tell anyone else. Hotch needed to know because it came up on my psych eval, but that was the only reason. The local PD didn’t even know, I never reported it because I was scared…

“He crosses racial and social lines, ages too.” He added and kept glancing at me, I knew the others noticed as well.

“Power assertive?” Prentiss asked.

“Knocks them out with a date rape drug, and binds them with piano wire…” Rossi said.

“They wake up with no memory of the assault or how they got the permanent scar the wire leaves.” I said, managing to keep my voice leveled.

“So he’s branding his victims. How does he dose them?” Prentiss asked.

“Houston PD still isn’t sure ‘cause, you know, date rape drugs metabolize quickly, and he’s keeping them for twelve hours.” Penelope answered before I could say anything. To be fair, I have no memory of how he drugged me, so even I didn’t know.

“So why are they calling us in now?” Morgan asked.

“Because of these most recent attacks. This piece of work has elevated sick and twisted to a whole new dimension. Cases in point- Brittany Anderson filed a report after she woke up outside the restaurant she was abducted from, and Vanessa Campbell was just reported missing.” Penelope answered and my eyes widened.

“Wait, those were victims two and five, weren’t they?” Spencer asked.

“Yes. He’s going back and attacking survivors a second time.” Penelope confirmed.

“Vanessa was grabbed from her house? He’s changing his M.O. from what we studied. He’s upping his game.” JJ said.

“Well, we know he stalks them. But public venue abduction, he has the power. Home invasion, he’s on their turf.” Morgan said.

“So he’s betting he can gain control before they get to a phone or a gun.” Spencer said.

“The question is why? What is he getting from revisiting old victims?” Rossi asked.

“It seems careless for someone who’s been so controlled up to now.” Hotch said.

“What is this? On the floor?” Prentiss asked.

“Uh, that- oh, God, that is the contents of Vanessa Campbell’s stomach, which she ralphed up.” Penelope answered.

“And in the glass?” Prentiss asked.

“According to the police report, it is salt and water.” Penelope answered.

“Homemade emetic.” Prentiss said.

“E-what what?” Penelope asked.

“Quick and dirty cocktail meant to induce vomiting.” Rossi answered.

“Vanessa Campbell and her husband moved to a new address. They’ve put locks on the doors. They took precautions. She even knew what to do if she was dosed again, and it still wasn’t enough. That’s what he gets out of it.” Prentiss explained.

“Their fear. He wants them to know that no matter what, he can still get to them.” Hotch said and I felt a chill run up my spine.

Everyone was getting ready to get on the jet. I gathered my stuff up and headed to the jet early. I walked on and saw Hotch sitting there alone.

“Hey.” I said.

“Y/N, I’m glad you’re here. Sit.” He said motioning to the seat in front of him.

“I don’t want you to go on the case.” He said and my eyes widened.

“Hotch, I’m fine.” I said and he shook his head.

“No, you’re not. You are too involved with this case.” He said and I shook my head.

“This man is the reason I studied so hard for this job, I want to catch people like him and now I have the chance to catch this son of a bitch. Please don’t take that away from me.” I said and he started at me for a few minutes.

“He’ll try and come after you.” He said and I nodded.

“I know the risks, but Hotch I can promise you I’m okay. I’m not gonna let him scare me.” I said and he sighed.

“Fine, but you listen to what I tell you and don’t try and find him on your own.” He said and I nodded.

“I promise.” I said, although I knew I might not be able to keep it all that well. Hotch and Rossi were talking with the chief and JJ and Prentiss were interviewing the victims. Reid Morgan and I were sent to the latest crime scene.

“Does Vanessa smoke?” Spencer asked her husband.

“Yes, Vanessa smokes. What does it matter?” He asked.

“It might explain how the unsub is drugging these women.” Spencer said and my eyes widened slightly. Thank God I quit.

“The media has done a very good job of warning people to watch their drinks so that bars are no longer a fertile hunting ground, but cigarette smokers aren’t as careful. They might ask to have a cigarette from a stranger, or have their pack swapped out of their purse when they put it down and then unknowingly inhale PCP or scopolamine, both of which mimic the effects of date rape drugs.” Spencer rambled, it honestly was always so cute to me, but now wasn’t the time to be thinking that.

“She hid them in her purse. She didn’t think I knew. She cracked the windows so I wouldn’t smell it when I got home.” Mr. Campbell said.

“You know, if the unsub stalked her from the backyard, he’d have a good view when she lit up.” Spencer said.

“He also took out the window with something like a center punch.” Morgan said.

“What’s that?” Mr. Campbell asked.

“It’s a spring-loaded device used to punch divots into metal. It also breaks glass.” I explained as Spencer walked off towards the kitchen.

“No cigarettes. He must have taken them with him to hide the evidence.” Spencer said while looking through her purse.

“You know, it might not be all he’s trying to hide.” Morgan said.

“What do you mean?” I asked him.

“Mr. Campbell, was this on when you came home?” He asked.

“The police told me not to touch anything.” Mr. Campbell answered.

“Well, you sure got a lot of MP3s on here.” Morgan said scrolling through them.

“Was it playing one of them?” He asked.

“No. Why?” Mr. Campbell asked.

“The media center keeps a history of the last twenty songs that were played, but either you don’t listen to any of them or someone erased it.” I said catching on to what Morgan was thinking.

“It wasn’t me.” Mr. Campbell said.

“I’ll call Garcia.” Morgan said, pulling out his phone.

“Whatcha need?” She answered.

“Hey, there’s an MP3 player in the Campbell house, can you tell me anything about the erased history?” Morgan asked.

“Okay, I can’t tell you who deleted that playback list, but I can tell you exactly when the log was cleared. 7:43 P.M..” She said.

“Why erase a history of someone else’s music?” Spencer asked.

“Because he didn’t erase someone else’s music. At 7:36, he loaned an MPS via USB drive, played it, and promptly deleted it.” She said, showing us on the Campbell’s T.V..

“Cleared the history so he could cover up his tracks.” She added.

“The unsub brought his own music to an abduction?” I asked confused.

“Yes, he did, and that is creepy. Fortunately, whatever is imported onto this computer downloaded the home network, so, ladies and gentlemen, the mystery song of Mr. Gruesome is…” She said and the music started playing. “That’s specific.” Spencer said.

“That’s another reason to call this guy the piano man.” Morgan said.

“Turn it off. Please.” Mr. Campbell said. Morgan turned it off.

“Does this song mean something to you or your wife?” Spencer asked.

“Vanessa hates it.” Mr. Campbell said and I gulped.

“How come?” Morgan asked.

“I don’t know. She doesn’t know. But every time it came on the radio, she’d burst into tears.” Mr. Campbell explained.

“So the unsub just happened to play it the night he came after her.” Morgan said.

We got back and JJ and Prentiss brought the woman back in to see if they had songs that triggered them too. All of us were in the room the local PD had set up for us and looked at all the songs these women now hated.

“Lady in Red, Up Where We Belong, Glory of Love. Each victim has her own piano ballad.” JJ said.

“You know, considering the survivors lose consciousness during the rape, we think this functions as the unsub’s signature. He most likely plays the songs repeatedly during the assault, resulting in pavlovian response when they heard it later, sort of a subconscious rape trigger.” Spencer said.

“The night of Vanessa Campbell’s abduction, that signature became part of his torture.” Rossi said. Hotch looked at me and I shook my head.

“We need to know.” He said and everyone looked at me.

“No.” I said.

“Know what?” Spencer asked confused.

“Y/N is one of the victims from the first time.” Hotch said.

“Hotch!” I said and I felt everyone looking at me in shock.

“So, what song is it?” He asked and I looked away from everyone.

“Endless Love…” I said.

“So, why these songs? What do they say about him?” Hotch asked, but before anyone could say anything more his phone rang.

“Go ahead, Morgan.” Hotch said.

“We just found Vanessa Campbell’s body. He didn’t even bother hiding it.” He said and my eyes widened.

“How long has she been dead?” Hotch asked.

“Maybe five hours.” He answered.

“He’s never killed before…” I said.

“Are we sure it’s our unsub?” Spencer asked, he was clearly worried.

“He used a piano wire as a garrote.” Morgan answered.

“Alright, Morgan, you come back here, I’ll go to the coroner's office once they’ve looked her over.” Hotch said and hung up.

“Keep working.” Hotch said and pulled me out of the room.

“You need to go back home now.” He said and I shook my head.

“I’m not going anywhere until he’s behind bars.” I said, standing my ground.

“Y/N this is serious, he’s getting more confident, you need to leave.” He said.

“Hotch is right Y/N.” Spencer said coming out of the room.

“I’ll give you two some time to talk.” Hotch said and went back into the room.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” He asked.

“Because I wanted to forget about it. Hotch is the only one that knew because of my psych eval.” I said not meeting his eyes.

“I can help you.” He said, gently touching my arms.

“Spence, there’s nothing to help. The only thing I need to do is to catch him.” I said. He gently guided my eyes to look at his.

“I understand, but this is dangerous for you, he could try and come after you now and what if he kills you? I can’t lose you…” He said with tears in his eyes.

“I promised Hotch I wouldn’t go looking for him alone and as hard as it is to keep that promise, I need to. Because if I ever see him again, I will kill him.” I said and Spencer’s eyes widened, but he saw the tears in my eyes.

“I can’t let him get away with this again.” I said and a tear slid down my cheek. Spencer pulled me to him and held me close.

“Just stay with me okay? I can tell Hotch that we need to stay together, I can protect you.” He said and I smiled.

“You know, I think that’ll be better for the both of us.” I said and he smiled back.

“I love you.” He whispered.

“I love you too, now let’s get back to doing our job.” I said, but he stopped me.

“There’s nothing I can do to convince you to go home?” He asked and I smiled slightly.

“You know there’s not.” I said and he sighed, but nodded.

We walked back in the room and Hotch said the three of us were going to the morgue. So we hopped in a car and headed there. They didn’t have too much to look over apparently.

“Tissue inflammation is consistent with inhalation of some sort of drug. I can’t tell what yet.” The doctor told us.

“And the ligature marks?” Hotch asked.

“Same as before. New wounds on top of old scars.” The doctor said holding up the hand and I felt myself reach for my own wrists.

“No sexual assault, though. Possibly because she regained consciousness at some point and fought back.” He added.

“She doesn’t show any signs of defensive wounds.” Spencer commented.

“No, but I did fish this out of her trachea.” The doctor said handing Spencer a bag.

“Neoprene?” I asked.

“From a glove. My best guess is she bit him.” The doctor said.

“Not enough to break the skin, unfortunately.” He added.

“An exam glove?” Hotch asked.

“Most likely.” The doctor answered.

“Actually, it’s a surgical glove. A little bit thicker than an exam glove. If he was wearing neoprene, it means he has an allergy to latex.” Spencer said.

“I’ll have Garcia check hospital records.” Hotch said and left the room.

“Thank you doctor.” I said and Spencer and I followed Hotch out.

When we got back to the PD Hotch told Spencer and I to take a little break. I objected at first, but he said it was an order so we took a walk around the block.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.” I said grabbing Spencer’s hand.

“I understand why you didn’t.” He said.

“I can hear him still you know…” I said and he looked at me confused.

“What?” He asked.

“He sang the song, I remember his voice. I was new to smoking so I wasn’t used to it yet. I was out with some friends and I went to smoke alone, when I tasted it, it tasted off so I got rid of it, but I blacked out after. I couldn’t open my eyes, but I could hear that song and him singing it…” I admitted.

“We need to go back.” Spencer said and grabbed my hand. We ran back as fast as we could and we saw everyone sitting at a table.

“Hey you guys are back, we got a suspect.” JJ said and we looked at her confused.

“Y/N remembers his voice.” Spencer said and everyone’s eyes widened.

“Let’s go, Prentiss you try and get him to talk. Hotch said and the four of us walked towards the investigation room. Emily went inside and started playing to his fantasies.

“It’s not him.” I said.

“He’s definitely assaulted Dianna though.” Prentiss said.

“Arrest him for that, but he’s not the man that raped me.” I said and walked out of the room.

“How can Herman Scodie not be the piano man? We’ve got the medical gloves, the medical record he pulled.” Rossi asked. We were all gathered in the room, after Hotch had sent JJ, Spencer, and Morgan to go check his house anyway.

“The taunt he said to Diana Mitchell, he repeated to us.” Prentiss said.

“Well, Scobie definitely assaulted Diana the second time. He’s probably re-victimizing all of the survivors.” JJ said.

“But apply the profile to Herman Scobie, and look at what’s different. There’s no piano wire, and there’s no song played.” Morgan said.

“You think there are two unsubs, the piano man and a copycat?” Hotch asked.

“A copycat studies the original unsub in order to learn. Herman Scobie’s a doppelganger.” Spencer said.

“He’s trying to pass himself off as the piano man.” I said.

“Why?” Rossi asked.

“Convenience, maybe. If he assaults the piano man’s survivors, they’re less likely to reach out to the police.” Morgan said.

“And if they do, the women claim it was the piano man. No one thinks to look at hospital orderlies.” JJ added.

“So who killed Vanessa Campbell, the piano man or Scobie?” Hotch asked.

“It’s a lay-up. Same neoprene glove in her throat as we found in Scobie’s van.” Rossi answered.

“There’s something odd about that too, though. If Vanessa swallowed this it would be scarred by digestive acids. I mean, even if it got caught in her trachea as he choked her out, gastric reflux would be evident, but there isn’t any.” Spencer said.

“So the unsub placed that in her throat postmortem.” I said.

“Which unsub?” Prentiss asked.

“He used the piano wire, he played the song, it must be the piano man.” Morgan said.

“So he plants a piece of evidence to frame Scobie.” Rossi said.

“Okay, let me get this straight. The piano man is trying to convince us that Scobie is responsible for all of these crimes.” Prentiss said.

“And if these two have studied each other this closely, then Scobie is the key to finding the piano man.” Hotch said.

“His lawyer’s here. Scobie’s not gonna talk to us.” JJ said.

“He will when he finds out he’s been set up.” Hotch said.

“Let me talk to him.” I said and everyone looked at me.

“No way.” Hotch said.

“If he’s studied the piano man he’ll know who I am. He’ll want to talk to me.” I said and Spencer shook his head.

“No, we can’t let you do that.” He said.

“Fine. I’ll go in with you. That’s the only way.” Hotch said and I nodded.

“Hotch, you’re serious about this?” Spencer asked shocked.

“She’s right, if he knows who she is then it might put him on edge.” He answered.

“Let’s go.” He added and we walked inside. Herman and his lawyer looked up at us and I noticed Herman’s eyes flash with realization.

“My client has nothing to say.” His lawyer said.

“Good. We’d rather he listen anyway.” Hotch said.

“You’re going away fro rape. The question is whether you’ll let your competition hang Vanessa Campbell’s murder on you as well.” I said.

“I didn’t kill her.” Herman said.

“I didn’t even touch her.” He added.

“Herman.” His lawyer warned.

“From what you’ve told us, we know exactly what you think of these women.” Hotch said.

“You don’t need to kill them.” I said speaking as if I wasn’t one of them.

“They’re not worth that much effort to you.” I said and he never took his eyes off me.

“But the piano man can’t take that risk. When he’d heard what you’d done, he killed Vanessa Campbell.” Hotch said.

“He went back to an old victim, just like you, but then he places a piece of neoprene down her throat. Does that sound like an accident?” I asked and he glared at me.

“He’s setting you up.” I added.

“I need to discuss this with my client.” The lawyer said.

“No, he talks to us now, or he takes his chances with a jury.” Hotch said.

“What do you want to know?” Herman asked, eyes still never leaving mine.

“Who is he?” I asked and he smirked.

“You should know, I know who you are.” He said leaning forward towards me.

“His unknown victim. The one that didn’t report him.” He said.

“Who is he?” Hotch asked again.

“I never met him. I just read about what he did in the hospital records.” He said looking up at me.

“You were the only one that didn’t report him, but you came in with the same marks as those other women.” He said, looked at me again.

“The weird thing though, I had three chicks picked out to do next. I was gonna start with Vanessa, but… He got to her first.” Herman said.

“Who was the other ones?” Hotch asked.

“Regina Lampert and Y/N Y/L/N.” He answered.

“You’re going away for a long time.” I said and walked out of the room. Spencer grabbed me and pulled me to him.

“It’s okay.” He whispered and kissed my head. We all met in the room and tried calling Regina.

“Okay, guys, regina Lampert is not answering her phone, and I found something hinky on her, which I’m sending to your tablets.” Garcia said.

“Alright, Garcia, what are we looking at?” Hotch asked.

“It’s a surveillance video from the bar that Regina Lampert works at. Do you see the guy she’s talking to?” She asked.

“PLaying the piano. He’s taunting her.” Rossi said.

“She knows it too. Look at her body language.” Hotch said.

“Watch what happens when I fast-forward to closing time.” Garcia said and sped up the video.

“She seems to warm up to him.” I said.

“And then, watch this.” She said and the video changed to a different angle.

“Garcia, freeze it right there.” Hotch said.

“Look at her face. No, she doesn’t. She set herself up as bait.” Hotch said.

“Credit card says that the guy at the piano is Hamilton Bartholomew. This is what I know, his wife just filed a missing persons report on him this morning. She directed me to some job he just applied for, so I got a background check from that where they did his fingerprints.” She said.

“Alright, Garcia, pull Regina Lampert’s rape kit and cross-reference the prints found with Bartholomew’s, and see if you get a match. We need to get to her house.” Hotch said.

“Sending her address to your GPS.” She said and then we hung up. We all left to get to her house.

“Garcia, did she pick up?” Hotch asked, answering the phone.

“No, but we did just get a 911 call from her house, and it is freaking weird.” Garcia said and then started playing the call.

“911 operator. What’s your emergency?” A lady asked.

“Hello?” She asked when no one said anything.

“My name is Hamilton Bartholomew. I’m being held captive by a lunatic!” He said then a gunshot went off.

“She took the piano man captive?” Prentiss asked.

“Unless he’s not the piano man. I mean think about it. Would the piano man call us to rescue him?” Morgan asked.

“She could be shooting at the wrong guy.” Rossi said.

“No, it’s him.” I said.

“What?” Spencer asked.

“That’s his voice… I know it.” I said.

“The lab just confirmed, it’s him.” Prentiss said. We pulled up to the house and everyone got out.

“Y/N you stay out here, that’s an order.” Hotch said and I knew there was no fighting this on.

“As long as I’m the one that puts the cuffs on him.” I said and Hotch nodded. They went in and Spencer stayed out here with me. Hotch and Prentiss came out with both of them and Hotch handed him to me.

“Hamilton bartholomew, you’re under arrest for the rapes of thirteen women and the murder of Vanessa Campbell.” Hotch said and I put the cuffs on him.

“It’s you…” He said to me.

“I’m gonna make sure you stay in jail for the rest of your damn life.” I growled at him. Hotch took him from me and Spencer came up and held me tightly.

“Should have let her pull the trigger.” I said.

“Come on baby, let’s just go.” Spencer said and took me to the car.

“He’s never gonna see light again, you know that.” He said.

“But he’s still alive…” I said.

“And I’ll be here for you, whatever you need.” He said and held me close.

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katyatalks · 5 years ago

Text

Mob Psycho 100 - “Psychic Human Show” Drama CD Translation - Track 2 ‘A March Through Snow’

Initially released 2017/01/25, “Mob Psycho 100: Psychic Human Show” is the first Drama CD released for MP100, before 2019′s S2 OVA Drama CD. Official description is, “With 12 drama episodes written by Director Tachikawa & every scenario checked over by ONE-sensei, character songs for Tome and the Body Improvement Club, and a talking song between Mob and Dimple with lyrics written by ONE-sensei, this is a compilation of 15 tracks!” A bunch of tracks remain untranslated from this one.

Here’s the translation of the second track, “A March Through Snow”!

Characters: Gouda, Kumakawa, Yamamura, Shimura, Sagawa [Body Improvement Club]

[SFX: heavy breathing]

GOUDA

That’s… Everyone, keep going! Just a little further! I can see the light from the mountain hut from here!

[SFX: collapse]

KUMAKAWA

C-club president… I can’t do this anymore…

GOUDA

Get up, Kumakawa! If you fall asleep in this snow storm, you’ll catch a cold!

KUMAKAWA

My shorts are frozen stiff… this is so uncomfortable… Club president, the pet tropical fish I have at home… I leave it in your care…

GOUDA

Save me having to hear all this self pity! Are those triceps surae of yours just for decoration!?

[SFX: collapse]

YAMAMURA

Club president… I think I’m also at my limit…

GOUDA

What?! Yamamura!! You, too!?

YAMAMURA

My muscles have frozen over, I can’t… move anymore… leave me behind… I’ll make something like a snow hut and persevere until morning…

GOUDA

Pull yourself together! If you can make a snow hut then you can move, can’t you!? Believe in your erector spinae muscles!

[SFX: collapse]

SHIMURA

Nng… I… can’t speak anymore…

GOUDA

SHIMURA!! Even you!?

SHIMURA

My hair is frozen stiff in the complete opposite direction to how it usually is thanks to this blizzard… my spirits have fallen…

GOUDA

*Surely it’s better to have icicles drooping from your fringe than to die out here! You can definitely push through with those forearms of yours!

[SFX: collapse]

SAGAWA

Club president… it’s cold, it’s so cold!!

GOUDA

Sagawa… for you to say something so obvious, given we’re in the snowy mountains of winter… you’re usually so composed, it was calming for me, too!

SAGAWA

Club president, how can you have so much stamina…? M-my head has chilled over completely… it shouldn’t have gone to my head… and, my eyebrows are cold…

GOUDA

With that hair style of yours the snow slips off your head without piling up - isn’t that a good thing!? Plus, you have those trapezius and sternocleidomastoid muscles of yours, don’t you!?

[SFX: Abominable snowman growls]

GOUDA

What!? you, too?! … Actually, whose voice was that? This club is only meant to have five members…

?**

Club President, behind you!

Who is this guy!? His whole body is completely white! What incredible thick hair!

He’s… impressively covered with thick hair!

No, not only does he have thick hair… the muscles he’s got hidden under it all aren’t ordinary!

GOUDA

Wait, you guys! ...It looks like he has something he wants to say.

[SFX: Abominable snowman makes noises]

GOUDA

Mhm, mhm...

[SFX: Abominable snowman continues]

GOUDA

I see… Is that right…?

[SFX: Abominable snowman walks away]

KUMAKAWA?

He’s gone… Club president, could it be, was that… an abominable snowman?

GOUDA

I don’t know. But, I understood what he was trying to say.

KUMAKAWA?

Huh!? You understood his groans!?

GOUDA

No. I didn’t understand them, but… my ears were drawn to the voice of his muscles.

KUMAKAWA?

I see. If that’s the case, I get it.

GOUDA

“If you really want to tackle this mountain, then after training some more… try again.” That’s what I heard. Everyone… there is no limit to excellence!

EVERYONE

Club president!

GOUDA

Yes! That’s the spirit! When we get back to the mountain hut, let’s train our muscles!

EVERYONE

YES!

GOUDA

Let’s come again next year! And bring Kageyama along with us! Let’s GO!! BODY IMPROVEMENT… FIGHT!!

EVERYONE

ON!!

GOUDA

FIGHT!!

EVERYONE

ON!!

GOUDA

FIGHT!!

EVERYONE

ON!!

GOUDA

FIGHT!!

EVERYONE

ON!!

---

TN:

*; he says something at the beginning of this line that I… cannot understand for the life of me. ほうむせ、ほうむせ is what I’m hearing which. Is nonsensical. So I’ve chosen to omit it. But please if you have better ears than me drop me a message, I wrote like 10 theories down but decided it would be better to just have this as a little “help” note rather than mistranslating haha ;;

**; I also apologise for the question marks here, I’ve had a very hard time telling voices apart for like… my whole life (Kumakawa and Yamamura sound identical to my ear). If u don’t have ear congestion and can actually tell their voices apart please let me know!!

---

Twitter crosspost omitted for this particular translation because of the question marks...

Here’s the link to the masterpost that includes a download for each track!

Track 1 (Opening) is here.

Track 2 (A March Through the Snow) is here.

Track 3 (NIkukai Fai~! Body Improvement Club Song~!) is here, by hikapoi

Track 4 (Overeating) is here, by Yoli

Track 5 (A World Seen For the First Time) is here.

Track 6 (How to Use Your Power) is here.

Track 7 (Telepathy Life) is here.

Track 8 (Telepathy Fairy-tale) is here.

Track 9 (Body Improvement Club’s 3 Minute Cooking) is here.

Track 10 (Interview) is here, by Kaga

Track 11 (Hobby) is here, by zeitara, hikapoi and Yoli

Track 12 (Body Improvement Club’s 3 Minute Cooking 2) is here.

Track 13 (Ghosts and Such Phone Consultation) is here, by freshmb100fan

Track 14 (Ending) is here.

Track 15 (Story of a Dream) is here, by zeitara, hikapoi and Yoli

#MP100 #mob psycho 100 #mp100 drama cd #psychic human show #mp100 psychic human show #goda #kumakawa #yamamura #shimura #sagawa #my stuff #body improvement club

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owlways-and-forever · 5 years ago

Text

Not Giving Up (Pt II)

A/N: Okay, well, my quickly written one-shot has rapidly turned into an MC because I can't get enough of these two adorable idiots.

WC: 1470 | Pt I, or read on AO3, FFnet

o . o . o

Neil was coding.

He was lying in his bed, having a heart attack, and she could hear the machines beeping even though there were no heart monitors in his apartment. His neck was extended against the pillows, arteries popping against his skin as his muscles tensed excruciatingly. His mouth was dropped open in a silent scream.

She was in the kitchen, making pasta for dinner when it happened. She dropped the wooden spoon on the floor, let the water boil over onto the stove, sizzling, and she ran to the bedroom. It seemed like it took an hour to get there, a battle to cover every inch of ground. But then she was standing over him, rolling up her sleeves to do chest compressions and hopefully regulate the pace of his heartbeats.

Except she couldn’t remember the right rhythm.

Was it 5 compressions or 3? There was some song that was supposed to guide her, but all she could think of was Stayin’ Alive and she knew that was wrong. Worst misconception in the world because it was false but it was also a stupidly catchy tune and the second you thought about it every other song on the planet seemed to disappear.

It would have to be close enough.

She folded her fingers together and placed the heels of her hand right over his heart.

Ah ah ah ah stayin’ alive.

The sound of the imaginary monitors was flooding her ears, distracting her. She wanted them to shut up, but she also didn’t because that would mean he was dead. And she was not going to let that happen.

Claire woke up, confused and sweating, tears coating her cheeks. The nightmares were frequent, taking over her subconscious almost every night. Neil had been home for almost a week, and every night he died in her dreams. Except that was exactly what confused her. He died, every night, except tonight. Tonight he was dying, but not dead. Why had she woken up? She never woke up in the middle of a dream.

In her dazed, half asleep state she finally registered the feel of Neil tossing and kicking violently beside her. Oh.

She rolled over, grabbing his face with both of her hands. She really didn’t want to wake him, he needed the rest, but he was going to tear his stitches out and shred his abdomen to pieces if he kept moving like that.

“Neil,” she whispered, trying to wake him gently. Her voice didn’t seem to register with him, and she tried again, louder. “Neil!”

His eyes flipped open dramatically, wide and scared as he searched his surroundings. This was always hard. The two of them having nightmares that they didn’t want to talk about or acknowledge. At night especially, it seemed too scary to give voice to what happened inside their heads, as if that could suddenly make it real.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Claire asked, offering even though she knew the answer was going to be no.

Neil shook his head, staring up at the ceiling with tears building, and he reached out for her hand, holding it tight.

“Tell me something happy,” she demanded, knowing that distraction would be the best way to get the awful thoughts out of his head. She tried to keep her voice light and teasing. “Tell me about your tattoo, I’m dying to hear the story.”

“That’s not happy,” he croaked, his voice broken.

Well, crap. She searched her brain for anything else she could think of to ask him, but she was coming up frustratingly blank.

“About a year before you started at St. Bonaventure,” he said after a few minutes, taking a deep, steadying breath, “my dad passed away. He’d been sick for a long time - MS. He was a very pious man, and deer symbolize communication with God. But he was also stubborn and strong. A stag seemed like a fitting representation.”

Claire propped herself up on her elbow, reaching out to run her hands through his hair and smooth her thumb across his cheek, gently wiping away the tears that had gathered.

“I’m sorry about your dad,” she whispered, frowning at him.

“I haven’t been back home since the funeral,” he admitted, swallowing hard. “I talk to my mom at least once a week, and she always comes out here for Christmas and Easter, but I just haven’t been able to go back to that house. There are so many reminders of him there.”

Claire stayed quiet, unable to even imagine what that was like. She’d lost her mom, sure, but her childhood hadn’t been filled with many tangible things, so there wasn’t much that reminded her of her mom. Other than alcohol.

“Where’s home?” she asked, realizing the extent of things they didn’t know about each other. Sure, she’d done all kinds of research on his education and professional background, but looking up his personal history had always seemed like some kind of line that shouldn’t be crossed.

“Phoenix,” he replied, looking at her with a curious expression. “We lived in the same tiny house my whole life. It was nice though. My parents spent pretty much all the money they had to raise their kids in a decent house in a good neighborhood.”

“When you talked to me about my mom…” Claire started, thinking out loud and remembering the night after Angie’s death. “Were you angry at your dad for dying?”

“Yeah,” Neil answered, nodding. “For a long time. He declined treatments, and I tried to get him into every trial I could find, but he wouldn’t do it. So yeah, I was angry at him for not fighting harder. But eventually I stopped being angry and I just missed him.”

Claire nodded next to him. She was still waiting for the anger at her mother to fade completely.

“What’s your mom like?” she asked, changing the topic to something that was hopefully a little bit happier. Hopefully, one day Claire would meet Mrs. Melendez herself, but for now she was more than happy to listen to his stories about her.

“Mamá is a spitfire,” Neil answered, smiling wide. “She wants to take care of everyone all the time and fix every problem. She is so proud of me, and she tells me every time we talk. If she were here, she would probably tell everyone in the hospital embarrassing stories about me as a kid.”

Claire laughed, wondering what exactly Neil’s mother would have to tell.

“She’ll love you,” he said, reaching out to play with her curls. “You guys are two peas in a pod. Kind, smart, witty, beautiful.”

“So you’re saying you’ve got an oedipal complex?” Claire teased, grinning ear to ear.

“Oh yeah, big time,” he quipped sarcastically, reaching out to tickle Claire with the tips of his fingers.

She shrieked in response, curling up into a ball and trying to roll away from him, but he caught her with arms around her waist, fingers still wriggling against her skin. Claire laughed and twisted in Neil’s arms, making him laugh as well, until they were both breathless and he finally ceased the onslaught. Neil pressed kisses to her neck instead, nuzzling his nose against her skin sweetly.

“Hey, you want kids, right?” Claire asked suddenly, a thought occurring to her. “I mean, I heard that was what happened with you and Jessica. I don’t mean to pry, I just wondered…”

“Yeah,” he answered quickly, looking at her quizzically. “Do you?”

He felt his stomach pitch at the realization that her answer might be no. It hadn’t even occurred to him that she might not want kids someday, but it was entirely possible. Wracking his brain, he knew that he’d never heard her allude to wanting to be a mom. Ever. And after her own experiences with her mom, he could understand it if she had her qualms about it. But Claire nodded with a small shrug.

“Someday,” she said, smiling at him. “You would make a great dad though.”

Neil hummed, burying his face in her shoulder. After being pleasantly distracted from his own nightmares, he was getting sleepy again, and his eyes were drooping closed, eyelashes fluttering against Claire’s skin. She waited until he was asleep, and then grabbed her phone off the nightstand. She opened the app store and immediately began downloading Duolingo. She had never paid much attention until he had been talking about his mother, but the details were registering now, and she was putting the pieces together. Neil spoke Spanish at home, at least sometimes, and she was pretty sure he was going to want his future children to speak Spanish too. So if she wanted that future with him, she better get learning.

Plus, she really wanted to impress his mom.

#the good doctor #neil melendez #claire browne #melendaire #tgd ff #tgd fic #gen writes

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iohourtime · 5 years ago

Text

Hey!Say!JUMP 2019 in Taipei - Reports from various newspapers

Notes:

I was going to do this back in October when it was more timely but I was going nuts trying to organize all the articles in some semblance of order. Why now then? The concert DVD’s will be released on August 5! A digest version of the Taipei concert will be included in LE 1. According to the fans, they only cut 3 songs (and probably a lot if not all of the MC).

This article was translated mainly from the Apple Daily article, but I filled in the details from other articles, con reports, and news clips.

Johnny's group Hey!Say!JUMP held their first concert in Taiwan in 7 years. The 9 members of Hey!Say!JUMP are Yabu Kota, Takaki Yuya, Inoo Kei, Yaotome Hikaru, Arioka Daiki, Okamoto Keito (studying abroad), Yamada Ryosuke, Nakajima Yuto, and Chinen Yuri. For two days, they took over the Taipei Arena and were greeted with great enthusiasm: the 22,000 tickets sold out immediately, with the 2 performances grossing 58M TWD in ticket sales.

The concert was not just attended by local Taiwanese fans, the Japanese fans also formed their own tour groups to go to the concert, and you could find fans from many countries like China, Thailand, etc… Wu Chun, who co-starred with Yamada Ryosuke and Arioka Daiki, sent flowers to congratulate them on opening night. They also arranged a lot of "Taiwan limited events" for the local fans, such as opening a pop up shop, releasing 2 songs on streaming services, as well as a collaboration with Line Poko Poko.

2 minute digest video here.

Opening Introduction

As the LED sign of Hey!Say!JUMP's name rose to the top, the 8 members appeared on stage donned in sparkling suits in their own members' colour. The 11,000 fans switched on their penlights to their biases’ colour and turned the arena into a spectacle of lights.

Yamada shouted "Are you ready!!!!" Takaki* (or Arioka & Chinen) said in Mandarin, "Are you having fun? OK, we are having fun too. Taiwan! Welcome to our concert!" The other members didn't want to lose to each other and they all chimed in with their newly learned Chinese phrases like "you guys are super cute", "sing along with us" , "please sit" or “let me hear you scream”. They started with a performance of “Arigatou~ Sekai no doko ni itemo”, a song that included lyrics in many languages, such as “Thank you” in Manadarin.

* The Taiwanese media could not tell some of the members apart, so certain quotes were attributed to multiple members. I used 1 and put the other possibilities in brackets. I suppose we will find out when we watch the DVD.

When it was time to introduce themselves, they did not forget to flirt with and charm their fans in Mandarin. Yabu Kota started by saying “We’ve learned a bit* of Chinese. Please bear with us as we are not very good. How are you, I am Yabu Kota. We’ve let you wait for too long. Friends in the back, I can see you clearly!”

* Another article said we’ve spent a year learning Chinese. That’s what I heard from the news clips too, but either is possible because of his pronunciation. 😅 我們學了一點 (yī diǎn)中文 vs. 我們學了一年 (yī nián) 中文.

Hikaru Yaotome continued, “I remember the last time we came here. Let us melt your hearts.”

Takaki Yuya also shouted, “I really really missed you guys.”

Inoo Kei, who wasted no time telling the fans they were cute made a “shocking” declaration. “You are all our girlfriends. Can my girlfriends on the left hear me? How about my girlfriends on the right? ” Then he put his arms around Chinen Yuri and said, “But my real girlfriend is…” and trailed off, leaving the fans to draw their own conclusions.

Chinen Yuri was worried that the fans did not recognize him, so he kept asking “Do you know me? Do you know me? Really?” When he heard the affirmative responses, he said, “I like you very much! Thank you.”

Meanwhile Yamada Ryosuke tried a different strategy and used Taiwanese to tell everyone in the audience that they were cute*. However, his pronunciation was quite off so nobody understood what he said and the response was very tentative. He panicked and kept repeating the phrase*, when Chinen finally asked him to clarify. Yamada said “You’re cute” in Japanese and that was met with kyaa’s. Nevertheless, his failed attempt brought a lot of joy to the audience.

* Cute in Taiwanese is 古錐 (Actual pronunciation). 😅

Finally, Nakajima Yuto used both Mandarin and English to address the audience. “It’s been a long time. We are so happy to see you again. We’ve been waiting to see you again for 7 years since we came here last time. For 7 years. Our dream to come back here has finally come true. We are so glad.” (Source: a clip from a Taiwan TV entertainment show.)

You can watch some of the exchanges here.

There were many familiar songs on the set list but with a Taiwanese twist. For example, in Kimi Attraction, the members mugged the camera and acted cool as usual. At the end, Chinen said “As expected, Taiwan is No. 1.” Inoo added in Mandarin, “So cute!”

They also brought back the "flying circle" from the stage show “SUMMARY”, which was something they had not performed for years. Dressed in white, they quickly hooked each other up to the harnesses and held each others’ hands as they flew, their capes flowing gracefully as they twirled to the music while they sang “Born in the EARTH”, the audience went wild. The rest of the concert was filled with effects like confetti, smoke, dry ice, and gin tape. It was a spectacle.

Just before the end of the first half, the 8 members were chatting with fans and each other on stage. When they found out a lot of them attended their concert at Nangang 101* 7 years ago, they immediately said “Thank you” in Chinese. They then asked each other (in Mandarin), “Do you have a smartphone?” Nakajima also asked the audience, “What kind of group is Hey!Say!JUMP?”

* Nangang 101 was a small concert hall that has since been demolished. From what I heard, it was actually a pretty bad location. Supposedly, Taipei Arena is a much nicer space.

At this time, it looked like Yamada was going to introduce each member, but all he did was point at each one and said “他很帥! (He is handsome)”. When it was Arioka’s turn, Yamada pointed at him and said, “他是笨蛋! (He is an idiot)”. Arioka, who didn’t know the Mandarin for “idiot”, immediately asked, “Hey, the word you used to describe me is different from the others!” The audience roared.

After Yamada introduced everybody, Chinen introduced Yamada* with “他是...我的錢包. (He is my... wallet.)” Yamada clarified, “不是,我是...銀行! (No, I am... the bank!)”

*This is not in any of the news articles, but the Taiwanese fans won’t shut up about it, so I’ll add it here. Either the whole thing was in Mandarin or it’s a mix of Japanese and Mandarin. I have no clue but at least “wallet” and “bank” were in Manadrin.

Meanwhile, out of nowhere, Chinen showed off the line he learned and said, “I will not make the same mistake next time”*. The members were completely baffled by that.

* When Yabu, Yuto, and Chi went to Taipei for the press conference, they appeared on a number of TW entertainment shows and were taught a bunch of “useful” Mandarin phrases. I think this was one of the lines.

They also remembered to advertise the pop-up shop. Since the members arrived a day earlier in Taipei, they secretly visited the pop up shop to check it out and signed the poster. The members teased Yamada, the spokesperson for Lachesca cleansing product, and said “The shop is filled with Yamada.” At this time, Yamada brought out all the products and promoted them to the audience. Nakajima added, “If you use this, you will have the same soft skin as Yamada!” Yabu said, “I heard a lot of items that were sold out will be restocked tomorrow. Please go check them out.”

They also promoted the Line Poko Poko game they were repping. Takaki jokingly said, “Yesterday, I went to the sauna. Just when I was very relaxed, I suddenly saw our ad on TV. It was a bit embarrassing.” They also revealed that the stickers were designed by Yaotome Hikaru and even used Mandarin to say “Go download it.” Indeed, they were good spokespersons.

Second Half

After a short intermission, the second half of the concert began. The members changed into purple Japanese outfits for the “Wa” corner, with Nakajima on taiko and Yaotome playing shamisen. The “Wa” corner was reminiscent of senpai Domoto Koichi’s musical, “SHOCK”. Each member performed a series of fan dance and ribbon dance, set to a rearranged version of “Over” and “Give Me Love”, etc. The background also changed throughout the set into various Japanese motifs. During “Give Me Love”, Yamada and Chinen grabbed the white ribbons and started flying on stage with no safety harnesses. The audience was shocked and awed.

As the main part of the concert came to an end, the audience was treated to a highlight video of HSJ’s last Taipei concert 7 years ago, giving them a chance to reminisce. They changed into sparkly gold outfits and sang a 12-song medley of their hit singles, including their debut song “Ultra Music Power”, “Mayonaka no Shadow Boy”, “Mae wo muke”, etc., while… you guessed it… flying through the air again! They finished with “White Love”, their single from the previous year, but to the audience’s surprise, they sang the last half of the song in Taiwanese (correctly pronounced apparently)! The audience completely lost it with excitement at this point.

「White Love」（台語版）：

若有一天會實現

咱兩人永遠做伙的彼個夢

妳就是唯一願望

妳是我的從今以後的未來

最後一擺的戀愛

我的愛乎妳一個

獻予妳全心全意的一個人

我的心愛妳到底

我愛妳　遮愛妳

全世界只有妳一人

我愛妳遮愛你

妳是我永遠註定的命運

上愛的故事

“White Love” (Taiwanese version)

If it comes true one day,

That dream where we are together forever,

Then I only wish for you,

You are my future from now on.

My last love story,

I give my love only to you,

To you, who love me wholeheartedly.

In my heart, I will love you till the end.

I love you, I love you very much,

There’s only you in the whole world.

I love you, I love you very much,

You are my destiny,

The best love story.

You can watch the video here

Encore

After the thunderous shouts of encore from the audience, the members appeared on stage again and sang “Fanfare!”” and “You & I”. They promised their Taiwanese fans to “not let them wait this long for the next time”. However, since this was the last night, the 11K fans shouted for a second encore and the members appeared on stage again. Chinen said with a smile, “We see each other again so soon!” Yabu used Mandarin to ask the fans, “What do you want to hear? What do you want us to sing?” They then performed “Ultra Music Power again, and rang around the stage. Nakajima Yuto said in pretty fluent English, “Thank you everyone for coming. We are so happy. We will not forget tonight when you are here with us in Taiwan together!” Chinen also said in Mandarin that “We will come again!”. The members wistfully said goodbye to their fans.

Fan stories and fan service

Hey!Say!JUMP’s concert was like a grand entertainment show. In addition to the members’ hard work, the fans also brought a lot of enthusiasm. In Johnny’s tradition, fans communicate to their idols through homemade uchiwa, which was a sight to behold for [those unfamiliar with Johnny’s concerts]. Fan messages included “Wink at me”, “Blow me a kiss”, “Point at me” etc., and the fans could quickly switch to different uchiwas depending on the member who appeared in their sights.

A 30 year old OL fan, Sen, brought a Yamada Ryosuke and Nakajima Yuto uchiwa as well as 2 message ones that said “Give me a kiss” and “Did you drink bubble tea?” She said the handmade ones were actually borrowed from a fan, who successfully got a kiss from Yaotome Hikaru the day before, so she hoped the luck would rub off on her.

Apple Daily’s reporter even saw a Japanese fan who brought 8 uchiwa, and she even joined forces with her seat mates, all holding up that members’ uchiwa together to catch the attention of their idols who appeared in front of them. During the encore, Nakajima Yuto immediately started running around the stage to look for fans. When he found a fan from Singapore and he asked this fan directly, “Did you fly here from Singapore?” He also compiled with all the fan service: blowing kisses, giving them thumbs up, heart signs, the fans were super excited. [I guess you can say his service is excellent.]

Sources (in addition to news clips and twitter / weibo):

Apple Daily

https://tw.appledaily.com/new/realtime/20191006/1644575/

China Daily

https://www.chinatimes.com/amp/realtimenews/20191006002555-260404

Liberty Time News

https://ent.ltn.com.tw/news/breakingnews/2938402

https://stars.udn.com/star/story/10092/4089578

Now News

https://www.nownews.com/news/20191006/3674832/

https://www.nownews.com/news/20191006/3674976/ (White Love lyrics)

Star UDN

https://stars.udn.com/star/story/10092/4089727?from=udnamp-referralnews_ch1022artbottom

#hey say jump #taipei concert 2019 #translations #yamada ryosuke #chinen yuri #nakajima yuto #arioka daiki #inoo kei #takaki yuya #yaotome hikaru #yabu kota #hey!say!jump #Hey!Say!JUMP 2019 in Taipei

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achieveandhunt · 5 years ago

Text

live typing extra life 2019

part 2

warning: this was a mistake and i’m in the grapes

this starts right at Facilities vs AH. link to first post

let’s fuck some shit up babEY

oh what the fuck they’re playing a prerecorded video

last year was a fuckin doozy, nobody forget that

“legends of the under achiever” i didn’t know someone wrote my biography

why do i hear geoff screaming “FIVE FUCKIN FOUR” in my head, like in the legends of the hidden temple minecraft videos

jeremy looks. so dead inside on this fine november evening

ryan buzzing while they’re trying to explain the rules

my video quality went down so much that i thought i was watching someone playing roblox for a second

ryan “salty mother fucker” haywood has made a lovely appearance. he’s my favorite

michael and lindsay looking so domestic makes me so happy,, they’re my parents

someone donated under the name “ryan goes feral” uh??? yeah? you say that like it’s a bad thing??

oH FUCK MICHAEL GO DRIVE WIN PLEASE

jeremy HAS BROKEN OUT THE GLASSES SHIT’S SERIOUS

NO THEY’RE LOSING GOD DAMMIT

ʳʸᵃⁿ ᶦⁿ ᵗʰᵉ ᵇᵃᶜᵏᵍʳᵒᵘⁿᵈ, ᵠᵘᶦᵉᵗˡʸ: ʰᵉˡᵖ

JEREMY IT’S TIME TO TEST OUT THAT NONEXISTENT GAG REFLEX AND SWALLOW THE OPPONENT’S CONTROLLER

oh nvm they’re winning again lmao

OH FUCK thEYRE LOSING

oh nvm

OH FUCK

oh nvm they unplugged his contoller lol

OH FUCKING TH EY LOST MICHAEL JONES MY HEART IS BROKEN

the amount of people watching has gone up from 32k to 40k in the past fifteen minutes

michael “hurry up you dumb cunts” jones

“oh don’t worry about destroying our cabinet, it’s essentially matchsticks”

“how are you feeling john? are you ready for this?” “MM M M Mmm mM”

TEAM NICE DYNAMITE IS NEXT AND IM READY FOR PERMANENTLY RINGING EARS FROM ALL THE LEET DONATIONS

oH god here we go

“hopefully they haven’t been saving them all day” oh honey. you’ve got a big storm coming

if xavier slaps gavin i think gav might go up in a puff of smoke

i did the math, they went up 45k+ within five minutes of team nice dynamite showing up on stream

GAVIN AND MICHAEL ARE GOING TO DIE

THERE’S GONNA BE A MOONBALL SIZED HOLE IN GAVIN’S CHEST

ryan and lindsay both donating a grand during this segment... so good

the day gavin free successfully gets a tattoo is the day i drop dead

lindsay saying she didn’t want the TND tattoo on michael but she agreed because gav is michael’s boi :(((

i’m too sleep deprived for this i might cry

oh god michael’s punching the floor

i’m too sober for this

EIGHTY EIGHT LEET DONATIONS IN TWENTY MINUTES HOLY FUCJKIGN SHIT YOU GUYS ARE GONNA BE THROWING MOONBALLS FOR FUCKIN SIX YEARS

on a sentimental note- i love how much collective love we have for gav and michael,, they deserve it all

milk boarded has some not-so-great connotations attached to it

gavin “the bullshit bitch” free

a mark nutt reference?? in my 2019 extra life????

this just in: sarah is going to obliterate gavin

oh. oh my god. that was the sound of a wet fish smacking a wall

why is jeremy the liquor goblin walking like a crab that has a bird attached to its back??? see: flapping arms

that beer and milk concoction... gag

“drink that milk yard”

“YOU GOT MY TOES MILKY”

no. nO MICHAEL NO YOUR INTESTINES NOO

michael “the milk’s in my brain” jones

“stop pouring it on people!” “iT’S HARD DICKHEAD”

lindsay is now. taking a milk shower

*caiti brings a small roll of paper towels* *gavin gently places a single paper towel on the massive puddle of milk*

no LINDSAY NO THINK OF THE CHILDREN

gavin: this has gotten way out of hand. she’s... she’s swimming in an inch of milk! everyone knows you should swim in at least two!!

the fajita seasoning will solve everythinG everyone calm down

fiona: yeah this is my first extra life. jack: and what were you expecting? fiona: this. exactly this.

ah yes. the bunny suits have arrived and michael is ready to tackle gavin

aaaand here comes the AH fanfic. it can only get worse from here so buckle up fuckos

“holy fuckeroni”

“re-reanimated trevor”

michael is so fucking smashed and god i wish that was me

“cum-ductor”

fiona “this is a white man” nova

“bone-ating” *leet donation* *leet donation*

“ready set blow” made me genuinely bust a lung laughing

aaaand michael’s licking the floor which is to be expected

jeremy “i’m gonna actually harm you” dooley

IF ONE MORE PERSON BRINGS UP RANCH IM GOING TO WALK TO AUSTIN AND PROJECTILE VOMIT ON THE OFF TOPIC SET

no JEREMY NO YOU WERE THE CHOSEN ONE I THOUGHT YOU WOULDN’T DO THIS GET OFF THE F L O O R

don’t get close ups on jeremy’s tongue. don’t do that to me. i don’t want nightmares

“fuck root” “let’s just fucking fuck”

1 2 3 CONSENT

michael has gone full gerkie

alfredo’s look when larry is reading the part about trevor choking him is how i feel about everything that’s happened in the past twenty minutes

almost 300k in less than an hour

fiona saying “i don’t want this” overlaying michael humping a trash can

“TAKE THE TACO CHAD”

aaaand michael’s in the trash can

nO why is there a triangle is this a POETRY READING ALL OF A SUDDEN

oh thank god it’s over

OH FUCK THERE’S A N EPILOGUE

aaand trevor’s dead again. poor treyco

DUSK BOYS DUSK BOYS DUSK BOYS EVERYONE PUT A CUP IN YOUR PANTS

people singing along... what goes on

why am i downloading this fuckin song asap

jeremy turning his phone flashlight on and waving it like he’s at a concert god dammit i love these people so much

those are my BOYS

oh my gosh they’re still singing the song. why is my heart so happy from this i need to get slapped

“come on you’ve never been waterboarded before gavin?”

everyone standing in a circle shining their flashlights at gavin

someone surprise them and instead of a moonball just yeet a whole gallon of milk at them

actually, on second thought, no

OH god GavIN Is GOING to Die

gavin “i forgot to breathe” free

several milk explosions

gavin “my brain is cold” free

michael has milk dripping from his ears

i’m about to pass out i don’t know what’s happening

michael is in the grapes right now man

how many moonballs? oh, only 107. :)

i’m not writing this part- you guys have to watch the moonball segment yourself, if you didn’t watch it live!

team nice dynamite finishes up with over 300k!! holy shit, that’s so cool! this community is awesome

werewolf is up next!

xavier is such a gentleman can we keep him

alfredo: *chooses to kill miles* trevor in the audience: *silently freaking out*

xavier is about ruin another man on stream

miles has no self preservation instinct

barbara is now smelling fiona

this just in: i love alfredo and 100% would have done the same thing

trevor running up to film alfredo getting smacked. what an icon

alfredo SCREAMING oh my god i felt it in my soul

the high-five of the backs in solidarity of intense pain

miles choosing alfredo is so fucking good

and also, i feel so bad

his heart might shoot out of his asshole this time guys

oh NOOO HE’s so bruised :(((( fredo nooo :((

oh my god it’s gotten to the usual point in the stream where you start to question whether someone is going to die this time

rip blaine but at least i think he can take the hit

he can but ouch it still hurts me

barbara “i’m participating in the game” dunkleman

yo miles might win this game

the crowd when someone needs to shoot barb: TREVOR TREVOR TREVOR! trevor, with the strength of a thousand suns: N O

people are now chanting about shooting an unprotected trevor. the man already died once this stream god dammit

alfredo is about to throw hands for fiona

that’s a big F in the chat for miles, but his loss is well deserved

xavier’s hands could serve as a defibrillator

alfredo showed jeremy his chest and jeremy shied away as if he was looking at the sun

--- i’m taking another break to finish an assignment---

i’m barely alive and it’s ready set show time

oh god please no more shock collars

i’m so fucking tiiiiredd please take thge res t of this post wigth a grain of salt lbecasue i can hardly type at this ponitn

“do you want to control the shock collars” “will there be repercussions” “no” “fuck yeah i’ll do it then”

“smother the children. steal the baby” “DONT STEAL THE BABY TREVOR”

lunging forward “s c a r e t h e b a b y” “OKAY I’M PASSING THIS ONE”

“you can’t bake popcorn????” jeremy hits the floor

alec and matt clearly = dream team

oh thasnk god the shock collars are on their arms now i was stressed out for chris earlier

this stream does not promote recreational nyquil usage

i don’t even know how to explain the pure insanity of what ready set show has become

alec has become this whole segment

i would write more but i have no thoughts because my brain doesn’t work

larry “makes people fuck other people besides their wife” insert last name that my brain can’t come up with

anyways. marbles

oh. no marbles

i’ve blacked out idk what happened during backwardz compatible

i mean i was awake but does that really mean anything at this point

SPPOKU PSOOKY SPPOKKKY SPOOOKY !!! FUCL YEAH

cole is so good during this segment

oh so many 1337s right away

the real scariest thing during the segment: being genuine

oH my god the scream being pitched up. i have fucking dogs outside of my house now

i don’t fuck w/ ghosts no thank you

“aba-jail” wow if u guys weren’t gonna get haunted before you will now

okay i’m about to pass out i have to take a nap

oH fucking I SLEPT until thirty minutes before the en d fuck

conclusion: this community is incredible and raised an unimaginable amount of money for charity. the fact that rooster teeth does this every year is awesome, and honestly, it makes me feel hopeful in times when things aren’t so great. so yeah! for the kids & stuff

#extra life 2019 #rooster teeth #geoff ramsey #jack pattillo #ryan haywood #michael jones #jeremy dooley #gavin free #lindsay jones #trevor collins #matt bragg #fiona nova #alfredo diaz

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dustedmagazine · 4 years ago

Text

Dust, Volume 6, Number 11

HAAi

As it was with September, so it is with October. After what felt like the dam breaking on all those albums optimistically held back by the pandemic, October continued to rain down releases and there was no shortage of them to cover. As ever, if diversity’s your thing, we have it: From pimp-rap to free jazz, death-metal to AM gold, jungle to Azerbaijani guitar jams, we got it all for you to peruse. Contributions this go ‘round come care of Ray Garraty, Ian Mathers, Bill Meyer, Jonathan Shaw, Andrew Forell, Tim Clarke, Justin Cober-Lake, Patrick Masterson and MIchael Rosenstein.

AllBlack — No Shame 3 (Play Runners Association/Empire)

youtube

Just when we thought that pimp-rap was going out of business, AllBlack blessed us with No Shame 3. It is a lot of what it claims: playfulness with no shame, ignorant beefs, endless balling during California nights and showing off in earnest. AllBlack alludes to the fact that even though he’s getting that rap check, he’s far from quitting the pimp game: “Made 40K in eight days, that was just off pimpin'.” But behind this happy façade is something darker that’s looming on: “As I got older, I ain't scared, I guess I'm cool with death / You speak the truth and they gon' knock you down like Malcolm X.” While admitting that rap is a cutthroat game, AllBlack is only one of the few artists of a younger generation who is ready to pay respects in his songs to the OGs — the godfathers of pimp-rap, to Willie D, Dru Down and Too $hort. The standout track here is “Pizza Rolls,” where DaBoii and Cash Kidd drop in to deliver the funniest lines.

Ray Garraty

Bardo Pond — Adrop/Circuit VIII (Three Lobed Recordings)

Adrop / Circuit VIII by Bardo Pond

There are plenty of reasons to do small, limited runs of certain releases, in music as in other artistic fields, ranging from the brutally practical/logistical to the aesthetic, but when the material released in that fashion is good enough, it can be a relief to see it given further life (and not just digitally). This year saw the mighty Three Lobed Recordings (who we featured in an anniversary Listed here) has seen fit to reissue on vinyl two Bardo Pond LP-length pieces that were originally issued in limited run series back in 2006 and 2008. They were in good (and varied) company then, but resonate together in a pretty special way, whether it’s the tripartite Adrop wandering from gnarled, crepuscular grind to violin-powered epiphany or back down to delicate nocturnal acoustics. The longer Circuit VIII doesn’t have as distinct phases but still builds to an all-time Bardo Pond-style crescendo, featuring Isabel Sollenberger’s only vocals of the duo. Even with a band and label this consistently on point, these particular recordings are worth the wider dissemination, whether considered as archival releases or just a hell of a double album.

Ian Mathers

John Butcher & Rhodri Davies — Japanese Duets (Weight of Wax)

Japanese Duets by John Butcher & Rhodri Davies

There’s a bittersweetness about Japanese Duets that’s as pungent as the puckered, perfectly placed reports that English saxophonist John Butcher sometimes punches out of his horns. This is the third in an ongoing series of download-only releases that Butcher, idled by COVID-19, has culled from his archive, The Memory of Live Music, and the unbearable lightness of its format, only accentuates the sense of lost opportunities and experiences. One of the things that a touring musician gains in exchange for their embrace of uncertainty is the chance to go to some unlikely place and undergo something extraordinary. The four-page PDF that comes with this download reproduces photos from Butcher and Welsh harpist Rhodri Davies’ 2004 tour of Japan, which took in swanky museums and shoebox-sized jazz cafes; each image looks like a moment worth living. But if all you can do is hear the evidence, that’s not exactly settling. This improvising duo was audibly on a roll, pushing reeds and strings to sound quite unlike their usual selves, and challenging each other to move beyond logic to the rightness of jointly made and imagined moments. Thanks, guys, for sharing the memories.

Bill Meyer

Ceremonial Bloodbath — The Tides of Blood (Sentient Ruin Laboratories)

The Tides of Blood by Ceremonial Bloodbath

Yikes — talk about truth in advertising. Canadian death-metal band Ceremonial Bloodbath delivers the goods promised by their moniker and this new LP’s title. It’s a repellent record created by dudes that play in a bunch of other death-metal bands based in British Columbia: Grave Infestation, Encoffinate (not Encoffination), Nightfucker and numerous others that tunnel even further under the broader public’s attention. Give these guys credit for their single-mindedness: None of those bands is likely to make you feel any happier about the human condition. Neither will listening to The Tides of Blood, but it’s a better record than any that those other acts have released. The songs are low-tech, dissonant and about as subtle as a bulldozer’s blade knocking through your front door. In other words, the record is largely in line with what we’ve come to expect from the death-metal recently dug up by Sentient Ruin Laboratories, and for a certain kind of listener, that’s a good thing. Check out “The Throat of Belial,” which comes on hard and fast, then downshifts into second gear and unleashes a tangled, coruscating sort-of-guitar-solo. The mechanical chug reasserts itself, then speeds up again, unleashing steam and the smell of something… organic. The song has a ruthless momentum, as does the rest of the record. Pretty good Halloween music if you want to scare all the trick-or-treaters off your lawn.

Jonathan Shaw

Cut Worms – Nobody Lives Here Anymore (Jagjaguwar)

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Max Clarke evokes a wistful nostalgia for an America that existed perhaps only in the mind, the warm campfire glow of an era personified by The Everly Brothers’ harmonies, the twanging guitars of country rock and 1970s singer songwriters. On his new album as Cut Worms, Clarke literally doubles down on his musical project. Nobody Lives Here Anymore comes in at 17 songs that, while individually fine enough, meld into one another and gradually fade from the memory as the album unwinds. Clarke never quite transcends his influences and is not a strong enough lyricist to engage at this length. The effect is similar to that of The Traveling Wilburys where the whole is lesser than the sum of its parts. That said, Clarke is engaging company with a voice that splits the difference between the aforementioned siblings, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty. He has an ear for a melody and skillfully recreates an AM radio sound that trips the memory for anyone who grew up with this music either as inescapable background of their lives or soundtrack for their teen dreams and heartaches.

Andrew Forell

Dead End America — Crush the Machine (Southern Lord)

Crush the Machine by Dead End America

This new EP by Dead End America (DEA — see what they did there?) comprises four short, piledriving hardcore songs, all directly addressed to the current occupant of the Oval Office. “Bullet for 45 (Straight From a .45)” neatly captures the EP’s essential sentiments, and also suggests the general level of restraint exercised by the whole enterprise. Hint: Restraint and nuance are not Dead End America’s strong suits. That’s not surprising, given the folks involved. The band and record were conceived by Steve “Thee Hippy Slayer” Hanford, late of Poison Idea, and of this world. It’s pretty wonderful that this is some of the last music Hanford produced — pissed off and irreverent to the very end. Additional contributors include Nick “Rex Everything” Oliveri (the Dwarves), Mike IX Williams (Eyehategod), Blaine Cook (the Fartz) and Tony Avila (World of Lies). Sort of remarkable that a record including players from all those legendarily vile, venomous bands doesn’t just spontaneously self-combust; maybe it helps that they focus their collective rage on such a deserving target. RIP Steve Hanford. The wrong people are dying.

Jonathan Shaw

Chloe Alison Escott — Stars Under Contract (Chapter Music)

Stars Under Contract by Chloe Alison Escott

Chloe Alison Escott is the frontwoman of Tasmanian post-punk duo The Native Cats, and her pre-transition solo album, The Long O, released on Bedroom Suck back in 2014, received justified plaudits upon its release. (It remains a low-key favorite of mine.) New solo piano-and-vocals album Stars Under Contract was all recorded in one day by Evelyn Ida Morris (Pikelet), which lends these performances an on-the-fly liveliness. For the most part, it’s rollicking fun, with some wryly funny lyrics that betray Escott’s sideline in standup comedy. This performative confidence comes through in early highlight “There’s Money in the Basement,” which has the jaunty barroom bounce of “Benny and the Jets.” Later, Escott reaches for the heavens on single “Back Behind the Eyes Again,” with a truly heartbreaking piano progression. Though the 16 tracks are wisely interspersed with short instrumentals such as “What Are You Reaching For,” “Evening, Sunshine” and “Playfair,” 43 minutes is a lot of piano-and-vocals songs to get through in a single sitting. On closing track “Permanent Thief,” there’s a tantalizing flash of drum machine and bass, which could be a nod there’s another Native Cats album on the way soon.

Tim Clarke

Eiko Ishibashi — Mugen no Juunin - Immortal - Original Soundtrack (King)

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If you sit up nights fretting about how Eiko Ishibashi and her partner, Jim O’Rourke, pay the bills, this music may be your melatonin for your worried mind. Immortal is the soundtrack for Blade of the Immortal, an anime adaption of a popular manga that’s been picked up by Amazon Prime. Ishibashi composed and played the music with contributions from Tetuzi Akiyama, joe Talia, Atsuko Hatano, and O’Rourke, who also mixed the music. Ishibashi’s music echoes the affect-stirring melodies of her song-oriented material and the careful sound placement of her recent electro-acoustic work for Black Truffle; when the swirl of keyboard tones looms over her piano on “Animal,” there’s no mistaking it for anyone else’s work. But this is still made for a mass market, with unabashed classical music lifts and big, booming electronic percussion that would make a multiplex’s walls throb if you gave it a chance. There’s no physical release or Bandcamp option, so if you want to check this out, Apple Music and iTunes are your options.

Bill Meyer

Ela Minus — Acts of Rebellion (Domino)

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Colombian musician Gabriela Jimeno’s debut album as Ela Minus is a collection of original tracks that merge songcraft and club sounds into an assured mix of electronica on which she plays all the instruments and sings in both Spanish and English. After spending her teenage years drumming for hardcore band Ratón Pérez, Jimeno studied jazz drums as well as the design and construction of synthesizers, and she eschews the use of computers to create her music. She brings a DIY spirit to her work combined with meticulous production style that gives acts of rebellion the experimental edge of early 1980s independent synthpop. The highlight "Megapunk” is musically close in spirit to Cabaret Voltaire, its defiant lyrics — “There’s No Way Out But to Fight” — tying freedom of expression to wider human progress. A textured and nuanced album, Ela Minus joins an ever-growing group of South American producers to tune into.

Andrew Forell

Erik Friedlander — Sentinel (Skipstone)

Sentinel by Erik Friedlander

Cellist Erik Friedlander seems to pop up in the oddest places, playing now with the Mountain Goats, then with Dave Douglas, and finding a little time for film scoring on the side. It's reasonable that for new album Sentinel, he'd connect with a couple of other artists — guitarist Ava Mendoza and percussionist Diego Espinosa — equally comfortable with finding unexpected sounds in a variety of styles. The group, given their background, sounds their best when they're blending genres. “Flash” starts off as new jazz, turns into rock for a moment, then some strange cello lead pushes it into alien territory. At the edges of the trio's work, heavy rock often feels about to break out, but the group refrains from ever indulging that impulse. “Feeling You” even provides some light, pretty pop, allowing the band to show its full breadth.

Friedlander's compositions provide the basis for the album, but Sentinel never feels like just his album. The band, assembled for what sounds like a hurried set of takes, found their partnership quickly, turning the pieces into fluid performances. “Bristle Cone” lets all three members shine and functions like a microcosm of the disc as a whole: As soon as you think it's a guitar album, you start paying attention to the percussive elements; as soon as you remember it's experimental cello work, you're back to guitar rock. The trio's engagement with the music and with each other comes through, the playful innovation guiding each piece into a multifaceted whole.

Justin Cober-Lake

HAAi — Put Your Head Above the Parakeets EP (Mute)

Put Your Head Above The Parakeets by HAAi

Though it was Teneil Throssell’s mixes that initially made her name as HAAi (and remain strong even amid the pandemic, her latest for XLR8R another beauty), her own productions are a wonder unto themselves that demand repeat listens even as they come a trickling single or carefully cultivated EP at a time. The Karratha, Australia native, Coconut Beats hostess and Rinse and Worldwide FM veteran’s latest is the delightfully titled Keep Your Head Above the Parakeets EP, pure headphones music meant for sunrises, sunsets, walks in deep snow, rain-swept moors, you name it. Her talent is in balancing airy synth melodies with ever-shifting percussion influenced primarily by jungle, breaks and (ultimately) house; when people talk about psychedelic dance music, this is something like what I always hope to hear. Another unmissable missive.

Patrick Masterson

Hübsch, Martel, Zoubek — Ize (Insub)

Ize by HÜBSCH, MARTEL, ZOUBEK

Decades have passed since Derek Bailey wrote his book, Improvisation. At that time, it was already clear that the intentionally non-idiomatic music he pioneered and practiced was a subset of the more universal matter of improvising as a necessary aspect of playing music. It was also becoming clear that non-idiomatic improvisation’s aspirations and proscriptions amounted to a new but quite identifiable idiom, and this Swiss trio is okay with that. If you told Carl Ludwig Hübsch (tuba, objects),Pierre-Yves Martel (viola da gamba harmonica, pitch pipes) and Philip Zoubek (piano, synthesizer) that the music on Ize sounds a bit like the British ensemble AMM’s, they’d likely nod and thank you for noticing. They’re not trying to make a new kind of music, they’re trying to be good at a kind of music that they love, and on those terms, they succeed. Aside from the occasional Feldman-esque piano phrase, they mostly trade in layers of tone and texture, operating in complementary parallel to one another, taking the listener through states of meditative stillness and slow-motion vertigo.

Bill Meyer

J Majik — Your Sound - Photek & Digital V.I.P 12” (Infrared)

J Majik - Your Sound - Photek & Digital V.I.P by J Majik / Photek / Digital

Released on the same day as the “This Sound” single that allegedly was refashioned from “unfinished jungle project from the vaults,” “Your Sound” was further proof that UK drum n’ bass vet Jamie Spratling bka J Majik still has plenty of material from the golden era to get out into the world. The original is a certified mid-’90s Metalheadz classic, but Photek and Digital’s reworking on the a-side “originally only destined for the dubplate boxes of the ultra-elite” has been floating in the ether for years as an alternative; its light Amen sequences and booming bass will have you yearning for every closed club you can’t attend. J Majik’s remix of his own tune on the flip was originally the b-side to a 1997 Goldie VIP edit, so having a more readily available remaster here does it a world of good. One for the headz, obviously.

Patrick Masterson

KTL — VII (Editions Mego)

VII by KTL

Most of KTL’s recordings have been seeded by theater and film soundtrack commissions. But when Stephen O’Malley (Sunn 0))), Khanate) and Peter Rehberg (Pita, Fenn O’Berg) found themselves in Berlin this past March with more time on their hands than they expected, they booked themselves into Mouse On Mars’ MOM Paraverse Studio sans portfolio and set to work. The first track, “The Director,” seems to acknowledge the situation by introducing the Shephard-Risset glissando, a repeated scale that sounds like it is endlessly ascending or descending. The titular figure never arrives, but while you’re waiting, fat looped electronics impart the experience of going somewhere while leaving you exactly where you’re at. The director isn’t the only value missing from this equation; O’Malley’s default sonic signature, a massive metallic wall of sound, has been softened to a close-shaving buzz that rattles and circles around within Rehberg’s synthetic/sonic biodome. That’s right, while you’ve been baking bread and putting on that COVID-15, KTL has actually lost weight!

Bill Meyer

Lisa Cay Miller/Vicky Mettler/Raphaël Foisy-Couture — Grind Halts (Notice Recordings)

Grind Halts by Lisa Cay Miller/Vicky Mettler/Raphaël Foisy-Couture

Montreal-based guitarist Vicky Mettler, bassist Raphaël Foisy-Couture and Vancouver-based pianist Lisa Cay Miller are all new names to me. For their trio collaboration on Notice Recordings, the three work their way through a set of eight free improvisations that range from one and a half minutes to eight minutes long. The combination of piano, guitar and upright bass is striking from the start: Miller slips seamlessly between the keyboard and inside-string preparations, mostly eschewing readily identifiable sonorities of her instrument. Mettler’s resonant, brittle electric guitar is the perfect foil to Miller’s piano and one often has a hard time teasing apart where inside piano strings end and guitar strings begin. Add to that Foisy-Couture’s dark low-end bass, which he attacks with groaning scrapes, shuddering arco and assorted string treatments. The three engage in active improvisations, plying their respective instruments into a collective whole while steering clear of garrulous interaction. The fourth piece, “Lower” is as close to trio exchanges as things get, opening up the ensemble sound to allow shredded guitar textures, resounding piano chords and scabrous bass abrasions to accrue into pulsating timbral layers. A piece like “As It Spins” is more about process, adding in the rumble and clatter of assorted percussive detritus, used on their own and to activate the strings of the instruments, which jangle with resultant shimmering overtones. The pieces often segue one into the other, creating an enveloping sound-space throughout. Based on this one, I look forward to hearing more from each of the participants.

Michael Rosenstein

Mint Field — Sentimiento Mundial (Felte)

Sentimiento Mundial by Mint Field

Mexico City-based duo Estrella del Sol Sánchez (voice, guitar) and Sebastian Neyra (bass) enlist drummer Callum Brown to expand the range of their dreamily psychedelic shoegaze on Mint Field’s second album Sentimiento Mundial. Sánchez has the breathy cadence of Rachel Goswell and moves easily between an almost folky introspection in her guitar playing to squalling walls of sound underpinned by Brown’s often motorik drums on tracks like “Contingenicia” and “No te caigas.” The bulk of the album is more reflective, Sánchez’ Spanish vocals close to your ear as she concentrates on atmosphere and dynamics. The result is a dreamscape that lulls, then hits with febrile bursts of restless dread, an impressive collection that fans of 4AD in particular should recognize and embrace.

Andrew Forell

Takuji Naka/Tim Olive — Minouragatake (Notice Recordings)

Minouragatake by Takuji Naka/Tim Olive

Minouragatake (a mountain outside of Kyoto, Japan) is the fourth recording by Takuji Naka and Tim Olive, a duo that has played together for close to a decade now, melding together music of slowly evolving rich timbral abstraction. Each are consummate collaborators and for this session, they make their way across the seven untitled tracks with steadfast focus to the nuanced details of their respective sound sources. Naka utilizes “long loops of sagging/distressed cassette tape winding into and out of similarly distressed portable tape players, with real-time analog processing.” Olive uses his regular array of magnetic pickups and low-tech analog electronics, drawing out volatile hums and changeable striations that coalesce with his partner’s slowly devolving layers of sound. These pieces are imbued with unflappable deliberation, each sound integrated into the cohesive, gradually unfolding improvisations. Each of the pieces sound as if one is tuning in mid-stream and end with a sense that they could continue on indefinitely. Rather than adhering to any formal developmental arcs, the two patiently sit within unfurling sonic worlds as layers ebb and flow. Naka’s degraded tapes lend an aura of catching wafts from some distant celestial emission which Olive subtly shades and colors with hisses, whispered mutable fuzzed gradations and aural grit. Snatches of scumbled lyricism morph into static-laden swirls; washes of flaked and tattered textures disperse into shuddering thrums. Naka doesn’t record much so it’s good to hear another project from him. Olive has been on a particular roll as of late and this one is a laudable addition to his discography.

Michael Rosenstein

Okuden Quartet — Every Dog Has Its Day But It Doesn’t Matter Because Fat Cat Is Getting Fatter (ESP-Disk)

Every Dog Has Its Day But It Doesn't Matter Because Fat Cat Is Getting Fatter by Okuden Quartet: Mat Walerian/Matthew Shipp/William Parker/ Hamid Drake

Put aside the bleakness of this double album’s title because this music embodies the idea that things can get better. Not that there was anything wrong with Polish woodwinds player Mat Walerian’s previous recordings, which have all involved some combination of the musicians on this one. But Walerian has never sounded so strong on his various instruments (alto saxophone, bass and soprano clarinets, flute); so clear on how to get the most out of Matthew Shipp, William Parker and Hamid Drake; or so engaged with jazz, and not just the free jazz that he’s made with these gentlemen to date. By turns subdued, impassioned and bathed in all the shades of the blues, Walerian no longer sounds like a guy who has great taste in sidemen who happen to have played with some of the greats of our time, but a guy who sounds like he belongs in their company. Each lengthy track (they range from 11 to 18 minutes long) imparts a narrative feel without dispelling the mystery that makes you want to hear them again. Here’s hoping that when things start moving again, this band finds a way to move around the world and move us in person.

Bill Meyer

Om — It’s About Time (Intakt)

It’s About Time by OM - Urs Leimgruber, Christy Doran, Bobby Burri, Fredy Studer

To a fan, It’s About Time might sum up the feeling upon learning that the Swiss quartet Om finally recorded a new studio album 40 years after its predecessor, Cerberus (ECM). It also captures the existential question facing a quartet of improvisers, some of whose paths have often crossed during that time, but some of whom have taken very different roads. On the one hand, drummer Fredy Studer and guitarist Christy Doran play in a Jim Hendrix cover band with Jamaladeen Tacuma; on the other, soprano saxophonist Urs Leimgruber works mainly in freely improvised settings with the likes of Alvin Curran and Joelle Leandre these days. Burri seems to be the guy who has maintained connections with everybody. How to make sense of such a history without denying anyone’s musical identity? During their first go-around, between 1972 and 1982, Om was played polyrhythmic electric jazz. During the mostly low-profile gigs they’ve played since reconvening in 2008, they’ve had time to forge an updated vocabulary that is less groove-oriented but takes full advantage of the timbral resources on hand. While it’s evident that time has passed, it’s by no means a waste of time.

Bill Meyer

Rüstəm Quliyev — Azerbaijani Gitara (Bongo Joe)

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Azerbaijani music, by and large, hasn't broken through to the American mainstream. That might not change, but the new anthology release of Rüstəm Quliyev's work, titled Azerbaijani Gitara, at least makes a case against our insularity. Quliyev's work, even for an insider, would be hard to pin down given that the overriding goal seems to be the synthesis of as many styles of music as possible. Western ears will be most comfortable with the psych-rock influences here. Quliyev also reworks Bollywood, folk, Middle Eastern dance and more on his electric guitar. Taken from recordings from 1999-2004, this nine-song collection sounds more coherent than that idea might suggest, but no less frantic. Quliyev plays with a persistent energy, his kinetic approach matched my his chops, often with a tone reminiscent of Carlos Santana (if we reach a little). On songs like “İran Təranələri,” he allows the piece to develop patiently, but these cuts rely on movement and virtuosity. Quliyev had a challenging life cut short by lung cancer, but his music finds itself unleashed through apparent joy.

Justin Cober-Lake

ShooterGang Kony — Still Kony 2 (Empire)

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A fortnight shy of his 22nd birthday (this coming Wednesday, mark your calendars and send best wishes), Sacramento rapper ShooterGang Kony has dropped his second full-length project of the year in Still Kony 2, a skit-free set of songs with a Biggie homage as the cover that explores further his emotional depths while still retaining the bouncy Bay Area nature of his livelier side. There’s stuff like “Red Ice” and “Fasholy Good,” of course, but there’s also the stretch of sobering songs later in the tracklist, including “Overdose,” “Flaggin” and the particularly affecting “Do or Die.” No matter the type of beat, though, Kony feels completely at ease with his cadence and wholly in control of his verses despite occasionally verging on a Detroit-like dismissal of the beat. Even if you can’t see the geekin’, you can certainly feel it.

Patrick Masterson

Suuns — Fiction EP (Joyful Noise)

FICTION EP by SUUNS

For better or worse, Suuns’ new Fiction EP is pretty much the sound of 2020 encapsulated, not in the sense of distilling current musical trends, but rather in succinctly conveying the disorientating feeling of living through a year that has been such a traumatic mess. Across these six tracks, the Montreal-based band creates a fuzzy, feedback-streaked, claustrophobic racket that just about coalesces into song forms around breakneck rhythm tracks. “Fiction” and “Pray” will meet the expectations of anyone expecting Suuns to continue sounding like fellow noise-rockers Clinic, but elsewhere there’s surprising variation to the band’s sound palette. Opener “Look” emerges out of the darkness like a warped apparition, concluding with a chant of what sounds like “Sheep, sheep, sheep.” They enlist the help of Jerusalem In My Heart for droning instrumental “Breathe,” and Amber Webber lends ghostly vocals to “Death.” At the EP’s end, the Mothers of Invention’s wailing blues-rock classic “Trouble Every Day” is barely recognizable, foregrounding Zappa’s lyrics and chewing them up into a garbled rush of splenetic invective. Though short, there’s something satisfyingly ghastly and cathartic about this EP that really cuts through.

Tim Clarke

Women — Rarities 2007-2010 (Flemish Eye/Jagjaguwar)

Rarities 2007 - 2010 by Women

Some outlets rode much harder for Women than others when the band was still a dysfunctioning unit (RIP Cokemachineglow, namely), but there’s little doubt left a decade on that what the Calgary quartet had going was a volatile yet beautiful indie-rock ideal that hasn’t been duplicated in Viet Cong/Preoccupations or Cindy Lee since. These rarities, affixed to a deluxe decennial reissue of Public Strain due out in November, could all have made the final tracklistings of either of their full-lengths. The music veers between sunny ‘60s singalongs and dark guitar dissonance; I find myself thinking of The Walkmen’s first LP on “Bullfight” (a free release from 2011 in the aftermath of the band’s collapse the year before) and of The Chameleons on “Group Transport,” which is considerably more Janus-faced with its juxtaposed harmonies, for example. It took me much longer than it should have to come around on Women, but in case you’re still on the fence or also just never got around to them in the first place, perhaps this small coda will sway you in their favor once and for all.

Patrick Masterson

Yo La Tengo — Sleepless Night EP (Matador)

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In July, Yo La Tengo released the abstract, droning instrumental EP We Have Amnesia Sometimes, harking back to the sound of their excellent soundtrack album The Sounds of the Sounds of Science (2002). This new Sleepless Night EP brings together five covers and one original, first released in conjunction with an L.A. exhibition by Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara, who helped the band pick the songs. Sleepless Night opens with “Blues Stay Away” by The Delmore Brothers and “Wasn’t Born to Follow” by The Byrds, both fairly straight renditions of the blues and country-rock originals. The real keeper in this collection comes next in the form of Ronnie Lane’s “Roll On Babe,” beautifully sung by Georgia, which hypnotizes with its languid sway. Their cover of Dylan’s “It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry” also has Georgia take the lead over beatless organ, bass and guitar. “Bleeding” is the sole original, a shimmering atmospheric piece with ghostly vocals from Ira, which dissolves in a pool of pitchshifted reverb. Finally, “Smile a Little Smile for Me” strips out the rhythm section from the Flying Machine original and slows the tempo, Ira’s measured vocal performance lending the song an affectingly forlorn slant. Though the material here offers few surprises, it’s a reassuring release from a justifiably loved band at a time when we could all use a little more reassurance.

Tim Clarke

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epic-potato-crisp · 4 years ago

Text

Home (AjinWeek2020/4)

Day 4: Favorite friendship (Eriko&Kaito&Kei) /Soldier.

Also featuring Kotobuki and Ritsu Nagai.

Background music: https://youtu.be/xJtQmCoko_

By @ryokasmagic

Note: Too many favorite friendships to choose from! Technically speaking the friendship among the entire team is great and if you see certain relationships in platonic ways (Izumi and Tosaki, Kou and Kei) they also count among them. And Sato’s group are one legendary bunch as well.

There’s not much focus on Eriko and I always thought it was adorable how she and Kei grew up together with Kaito. So here’s one to childhood friends.

……..

“Are you sure he’s not coming back?” Eriko asks, quietly.

Kaito turns around with an apologetic expression. “I’m pretty certain.” he says.

They waited for two hours after Kei said he just needed to take a short trip, before Kotobuki insisted they leave already. Finally, Kaito had given in.

Kaito had almost felt it- in his hesitation, in the way he averted his eyes as if he could neither look at him nor Eriko - that he had never planned on coming back.

“He’s probably gone back to his team. Honestly, I can understand. He probably doesn’t want to betray them. He’s on the run either way.” Kaito sighs. He tries not to think about how he had been looking forward to having Kei by his side.

“I see.” Eriko says, frowning, “He’s always been like that.”

“Like what?”

“Occupied with his own things. Back at school, he was busy with his studies. Now he’s busy being a fugitive. Typical Kei.”

Kotobuki snorts and throws her an amused look through the rearview mirror.

“He doesn’t exactly have a choice in the matter.” Kaito intercedes gently.

“I know.” Eriko sighs, curling up in the backseat, “Sometimes I just don’t know who he is at all.”

………

It’s past 3 am. Ahead of the, the highway stretches indefinitely. They’re almost alone too, which suits Kaito fine.

Kotobuki stares ahead on the road, knuckles white from how tightly he grips onto the steering wheel.

“Sure it’s the right address?” he says, glancing at the navigation app on his phone.

“Yeah, I’m certain.” Kai says. He knows Kei’s address like it’s been etched into his heart.

“Do you want a snack, Eriko?” he asks, reaching into the glove compartment and pulling out a chocolate bar and a strawberry mochi.

“Shouldn’t you guys be saving that up for yourselves?”

Kotobuki gives him a look that signals he has similar thoughts.

“We’re not the ones who got attacked by a raging pitchfork mob in a hospital.” Kaito answers, as though he wasn’t the one who threw himself in front of said mob to get her and Kei safely out of there.

“Your blood sugar levels are probably very low. Please take it.”

……………..

Eriko’s hunger wins over her hesitation. “Thank you.” she says, taking the mochi out of his hands, unwrapping it and sinking her teeth into the soft, chewy texture.

She feels better instantaneously.

“Good?” Kaito asks, and she nods.

“I’m glad.”

Then there’s silence, only sporadically broken by the noise of a car or a bike whizzing by, until Kaito turns up the volume of the stereo system. A cheery JPOP-tune fills the car.

He grins, turning it up even higher and nodding along to the rhythm.

“Ugh.” says Kotobuki, eloquent as always.

“Just trying to lighten the mood.”

“Kei wouldn’t like it, either.” Eriko throws in, crunching the wrapper in her hands, anxious to keep herself busy in some way.

“Are you sure?” Kaito glances back, “He was really into AKB48 in middle school.”

Eriko’s stunned for a moment. “No way!”

She tries to imagine her usual stoic brother with idol posters on his wall and can’t quite make a connection. But who knows, perhaps he did. It wasn’t the first secret he’d have kept, either.”

“He’d ask me to download their songs and videos for him, because he didn’t want to get in trouble doing it himself. He probably had a whole file on his desktop.”

“I thought you guys…weren’t in contact for a few years?” Eriko says, twirling a strand of hair around her finger.

Mom made him delete your number. He did. I despised him for that.

“Well, just because he forgot my number, doesn’t mean I forgot his.” Kaito says, and she picks up on the melancholic tone of his voice, and how his smile seems a little too wide to be genuine.

………….

Eriko checks her phone. They should be home in twenty minutes.

If they get that far. She pushes these thoughts to the back of her mind.

The events have left her shaken and feeling more out of control than she ever did.

Of all the places she expected to get attacked at, it hadn’t been her long-term hospital ward.

They’re the real monsters. These people. Not my brother. Whatever did he do?

She doesn’t miss Kei, she tells herself. After all, she saw him merely a few hours ago.

She just doesn’t know if there’ll be a next time.

…..

“Can your IBM cover us from behind?” Kaito asks Takeshi in a whisper. They’ve stationed the car away, in an inconspicuous cul-de-sac. Then, holding tightly onto each other, Kaito’s ghost had flown them all the way into the Nagai’s backyard. They’re crouched in front of their back door.

Any reporters that were there had either apparently dispersed for the night or were hiding out in front of the house. Kaito can’t quite believe how lucky they are, and wonders for how much longer.

“What do you think the I stands for?”

“Sssh.” Eriko whispers, phone shaking in one hand, a finger pressed to her lips.

Kaito and Takeshi seize their conversation immediately. Now, Kaito hears it, too.

Footsteps.

Kaito nearly jumps back when the flies open all of a sudden and Ritsu Nagai appears, holding a flashlight in her hand.

“Eriko!” she gasps, relieved, pulling her daughter close. Then her eyes stray towards Kaito and Kotobuki and she sighs.

“Come in. Hurry.” she says, and they don’t hesitate for a second.

…..

Nagai-san pours them juice and insists they sit. Eriko slides onto an armchair while Kaito and Kotobuki take up residence on the sofa. She is the only one who opts for standing instead.

“You saved my daughter.” she says, placing a hand on Eriko’s shoulder. There are bags under her eyes. Her fingers are trembling.

Eriko had summarized the events of the night for her- those she didn’t already know from watching the news.

“It’s not a big deal. We would do it again.” Kaito responds in a serious tone, “We’re glad she’s safe now.”

“So am I.” Ritsu agrees. She leans against the wall. “And you saved my son, before.” Her eyes don’t leave Kaito for a second. “Before, and today. I’m afraid I don’t know how to properly repay you.”

“You don’t have to.” Kaito says quickly, raising his hands, “Please, don’t feel pressured. We’ll be fine.” Kotobuki groans quietly next to him.

“Do you know where my son is now?” Nagai-san asks. She doesn’t quite manage to keep the worry out of her voice.

“I think he’s safe. He’s hiding out with a group, but I don’t know where. He said they’re going to go up against Sato.” Kaito says.

“He looked fine when I saw him, Well, considering the situation.” he sighs, “I think he’ll be okay. I hope so. I’m sorry I can’t be more of help.”

“I see.” Ritsu Nagai says, “Please give me a moment.”

She hurries out of the room.

………

“We shouldn’t have accepted that.” Kaito says, staring at the envelope on his lap.

“We need the cash.” Kotobuki grumbles, “You tried to turn it down twice.”

“It’s a lot of money.”

“We need a lot of money to get to India.” Kotobuki says, “Didn’t you hear her? “Consider my debt repaid.” It’s to ease her conscious as well. And you did save her kids. Relax.”

Kaito stares down at his feet, at the bag with packaged foods and water bottles Eriko had put together for them in a flash.

“I’d do anything for Kei.” he says.

………….

After she’s showered and taken her nightly meds, Eriko slinks upstairs. She can sleep, she assures her mother. She doesn’t need a sedative. Her mother relents, finally, bids her a goodnight and hugs her once more.

Tomorrow, they’ll phone the hospital and arrange a transfer to another facility, but Eriko doesn’t want to think about that right away.

She wonders how many people saw her on the news.

She wonders if the mob will follow her to the new hospital too, if this is ever going to end.

As though on autopilot, she passes her own room and heads to her brother’s instead.

Everything right the way he left it, from the neatly stacked desk to the made bed.

Except…

Eriko takes the calendar from the wall, and flips the month forwards, until she arrives in the present.

Now it’s like he never left at all.

#ajinweek2020 #ajin #ajin demi human #eriko nagai #kaito #kei nagai #ritsu nagai #kotobuki

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grimelords · 6 years ago

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My March playlist is finished! This one is slightly more diverse than usual, swinging all the way from vibraphone jazz to Bhad Bhabie to black metal so I’ve taken the liberty of actually sequencing it properly for you. So if you’ve got 3 hours you can listen to this straight through and be taken for a hell of a ride. No matter what you like I’m sure you’ll find something in here that you love.

Tahiti - Milt Jackson: For an unknown reason I had a big jazz vibraphone phase this month and when you're talking jazz vibraphone you're talking the Wizard Of The Vibes himself, Milt Jackson. I feel insane even having an opinion on this but it's a shame that some of the best vibraphone performances were made at a time when the actual recording technology wasn't really there, they all have this very thin quality that I think misses a lot of the great character of the instrument.

Detour - Bill Le Sage: Like compare this from 1971 to Wizard Of The Vibes from 1952, the sounds is miles warmer and gives so much more of the full range and detail of the instrument. I also listened to this song five times in a row when I first heard it, the central refrain is just so fuckin good. Like I said, big vibes vibe and who knows why.

Blowin' The Blues Away - Buddy Rich And His Sextet: Superhuman playing aside, it's unbelievable how good these drums sound. The whole first minute just feels like a tour of each specific drum and I absolutely revel in it. I feel like flute and vibes is a relatively rare combo so it's extremely nice to hear Sam Most and Mike Manieri go ham in tandem.

Yama Yama - Yamasuki Singers: A friend sent me this song that he's had stuck in his head for ten years ever since it was in a beer ad from the days when beer ads were incredible strange for complicated legal reasons about not showing people enjoying the product or something https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORfkh0OojxY and this incredible song is apparently from a 1971 French concept album where a couple of guys wrote a bunch of psychedelic songs in Japanese for an unknown reason that later became a massive drum and bass breaks album, and one of the guys was Thomas Bangalter from Daft Punk's dad! Music is crazy.

Alfonso Muskedunder - Todd Terje: I'm starting a petition to get Todd Terje to write the soundtrack for the next Mario Kart. I absolutely love this song and this whole album because it's so joyful and strange and it just sounds like nothing else I've ever heard. He seem to truly operate in a world entirely of his own.

Pala - Roland Tings: I love this song. It's like he wrote it with normal sounds and then went back and replaced every instrument with the party version. This song hands you a coconut and says welcome to the island where bad vibes are punishable by firing squad.

Keygen 13 - Haze Edit - Dubmood: There's a fucking album of keygen music on spotify and it's absolutely great and so good that someone's doing the work to recognize the value of the music this extremely weird scene produced and preserve it. If you don't know, back in the day when you pirated photoshop or whatever, you would download a license key generator which was a program made by extreme nerds who had cracked the license key algorithm to give you a fake one, and for unknown reasons they would make the keygen program play original chiptune music that someone in their nerd crew would compose. Who knows why but god bless them.

My Moon My Man (Boys Noize Remix) - Feist: The very concept of a Boys Noize remix of My Moon My Man is hilarious and it turns out it sounds absolutely amazing as well. Two great tastes that taste great together.

Low Blows - Meg Mac: I had a big Meg Mac phase this month too, listened to her album a lot and it's extremely solid. Great timing too cause her new one comes out in a month or so too. I really am excited to hear her next album because she's so good but I've always got this feeling that she hasn't reached her full potential yet, she's only going to get a million times better in an album or two.

Patience - Tame Impala: I love that the cover of this single is a pic of congas because it feels like that's the central thesis here. Kevin Parker bought some congas and is making disco Tame Impala now and I really couldn't be happier about it.

Unconditional (feat. Kitten) - Touch Sensitive: I love a 90s throwback done with love. There's nothing cynical or ironic about this it's just fun as hell!

Last Hurrah - Bebe Rexha: Get a fucking load of this Bebe Rexha song that interpolates Buy U A Drank by T-Pain for the chorus! It's a testament to how good that song is that she's using the verse melody as the chorus. T-Pain will quite literally never get the respect he deserves. Also this song goes for 2.5 minutes. There's something happening where pop songwriting is getting more and more compact, completely trimming the fat and ornamentation and it's very interesting.

Hi Bich - Bad Bhabie: Also I'm fully six months late on Hi Bich but I'm of the opinion that it's extremely fucking good. A perfect little reaction gif of a song and it only goes for 1m45!

Friends - Flume: I'm doubling down on my thesis about emo rap from last month but this song literally sounds like a Flume remix of a Hawthorne Heights song. The whole melody of it, the overlapping yelled/clean vocals. The lyrics obviously. I don't know it's just very odd how close it is. A sort of emo trojan horse to trick people into thinking The Used are cool again.

How To Build A Relationship (feat. JPEGMAFIA) - Flume: I've been meaning to check out JPEGMAFIA (AKA Buttermilk Jesus AKA DJ Half-Court Violation AKA Lil' World Cup) for a while but this is the song that convinced me. There's just so much to digest in this. Every line is gold and delivered with massive conviction even when he realises it's total nonsense like 'dont call me unless I gave you my number'.

Bells & Circles (feat. Iggy Pop) - Underworld: Underworld alive 2019?? I love this song becuase Iggy Pop has been riding a fine line between punk provocateur and old man yells at cloud for a while now and this song is the perfect mix of both. You can't hijack airplanes and redirect them to cuba anymore and as a result it's over for liberal democracies. Just yelling about air travel for six minutes and it's good.

Guns Blazing (Drums Of Death Pt. 1) - UNKLE: This beat is some of my favourite DJ Shadow work I think. The menacing organ bass throughout, and especially the distorted drum freakout near the end. It's just great all the way through.

Homo Deus IV - Deantoni Parks: Another Deantoni Parks track like I was raving about last month. This whole album is great and flows together as a single piece of work amazingly. I love the purposefully limited sample palette of each track forcing an evolving groove throughout. He absolutely wrings every bit of variation he can get out of every single sound he uses and once you get into the groove of it it's absolutely mind blowing.

Boredom - The Drones: I love that The Drones can write a song about joining ISIS that's also a lot of fun. Spelling out radicalization in a way anyone can understand and sympathise with and then switching it in the second verse to spell out how we got into this situation anyway.

Loinclothing - Hunters And Collectors: I love how much this song sounds like a voodoo celebration in christian hell.

The Fun Machine Took A Shit And Died - Queens Of The Stone Age: There's a good bit on the live dvd they put out after Lullabies To Paralyze where they play this song and they say it was supposed to be on the album but somebody stole the master recordings from the studio, which is an incredible and brazen crime. Then when they put it out on Era Vulgaris as a bonus track Josh Homme said in an interview "The tapes got lost. Actually, they were just at another studio, but we falsely accused everyone in the world of theft" which is extremely funny. This is really one of their best songs and I sort of really with it had been on Lullabies because it fits perfectly between The Blood Is Love and Someone's In The Wolf type of vibes, I love how it just kind of keeps shifting ideas and riffs throughout. An absolute jam overflowing with ideas.

10AM Automatic - The Black Keys: This song is an all time great in my opinion. It's so straightforward and so effective. I wonder if we'll get a blues rock revival ever or if Jack White still being alive and bad is souring everyone on that idea. This song also has one of my favourite guitar sounds in history I think - the outrageously huge sounding solo that comes out of nowhere and swallows up the rest of the mix like a swirling black hole near the end.

Gamma Knife - King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard: I've never gotten much into King Gizzard and because of their one million albums already it's hard to know where to start but I've been listening to Nonagon Infinity a bit and it's great, it's just good old fashioned 70s prog jams front to back.

Gina Works At Hearts - DZ Deathrays: I absolutely love this song and I absolutely love the second guitar sound in the chorus of this song that sounds like it's made out of thin steel.

Black Brick - Deafheaven: When I saw Deafheaven the other month I was right up the front and it was a life changingly great experience AND they played this new song live for the first time before it went up everywhere like three hours later which was very exciting to be given a sclusie like that. After they finished a guy behind me whispered to his friend "Slayer..." which was very funny to me.

Gemini - Elder: I found this band because one of my Spotify Daily Mixes was all stoner metal for a while, which is a good genre to see all lined up because it'll have Weedeater, Bongripper AND Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats right there in a row for you. Anyway this album is extremely good, the very best kind of stoner metal where it's groovy and fun and has big meaty riffs and ripping big solos and it's extremely easy to listen to three times in a row.

The Paradise Gallows - Inter Arma: My big obsession the past little while has been Inter Arma ever since Stereogum posted The Atavist's Meridian from their new album. It is just so fucking good and I can't believe I've never heard of them before. You know when you find out about an amazing band and then you find out they've been around for nearly ten years and you can't believe everyone in your life has been selfishly hiding them from you?

The Atavist's Meridian - Inter Arma: I think a big part of my enjoyment of this band has also been that I discovered them at the same time as I'm listening to an audiobook of the complete Conan The Barbarian omnibus so I'm very much in the brain space for music that sounds like it would be nice to swing an axe to.

Untoward Evocation - Impetuous Ritual: I love how halfway through this kind of just turns into a big swirling mist of dark sounds. It feels so formless and dark that it could just shake apart and dissipate at any moment and you'd look down to realise your skin is gone.

Eagle On A Pole - Conor Oberst: from Genius: 'In an interview with MTV news, Oberst stated “We were on the bus one day and a friend of ours that travels with us and works for the band kind of came out from the back of the bus and said that first line: ‘Saw an eagle on a pole… I think it was an eagle.’ And then this guy Simon Joyner, who is a great songwriter from Omaha and one of my great friends, he was on tour with us and sitting there and he was like, ‘You know, that’s a great name for a song.’ We kind of had a contest where he wrote a song with that first line, and [then] I did, and a couple of our other friends. We kind of all played them for each other. Simon’s is better than mine, but it is a good line to start a song.” Another version–Mystic Valley Band drummer Jason Boesel’s interpretation–is on the next album, Outer South.' The idea that such a good song has such a braindead origin only makes me love it more.

Lake Marie - John Prine: When I saw John Prine the other month he played this song that I had never heard before and I had to look it up after and now I'm completely obsessed with it. It feels like falling asleep during a movie and missing a critical plot point so the rest doesn't make sense when you wake up but is thrilling nonetheless. Also he absolutely screamed "SHADOWS!!!" when he played it which was a fucking cool thing to see a 72 year old man do.

Little White Dove - Jenny Lewis: The drums on this whole album are absolutely huge for some reason and I love it. My favourite recent sound is in the first chorus where there's a funny little pitch correction noise as she sings 'dove'. It's very strange and very very good.

Locked Up - The Ocean Party: I only found out The Ocean Party existed as they announced their farewell show this month which is a real shame but I'm glad I got to hear of them at all because they're very good. A very good song about that feeling we all know and love: driving for a long long time.

Plain & Sane & Simple Melody - Ted Lucas: I found out about this song from Emma Ruth Rundle's Amoeba Records video and she makes a good point about this whole album sounding like something's gone wrong and it got accidentally pitched down slightly in the recording process. It's unclear if that's what happened or that's just how he sounds but it adds a very softly spooky undercurrent to a very nice song.

listen here

#playlists

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cjostrander · 6 years ago

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Devin Townsend: Ziltoid the Omniscient

Hey guys! i didnt get you last week due to training and likely won’t get you next week since my girlfriend graduates with her Bachelor’s degree from AIC. So today i can going to tackle a new artist i downloaded. His Z2 album was up for an anniversary review but since it’s technically a sequel album and i’m new to him i am playing it safe and going with the first of the two concept albums first. Expect this musician to be very over the top in terms of production with the goal of achieving an overall powerful sound, It is more comedy based as well so; expect a lot of audio segments in it. Long story short for the album concept; it’s an alien coming to earth for coffee; finds that it sucks and invades Earth in response. hopefully this is a smooth listen but let’s see where it goes!

ZTO: We start off with a pretty triumphant opening track full of choir based vocals aggressive guitar riffs with powerful drum beats. The growl vocals are decent and help create an interesting show of aggression to new fans before the audio segment arrives to delivers the alien conquerer’s request for black coffee. It’s barely over a minute so i won’t score it but it sets the tone quickly for the odd comedic factor and the show of aggression in the instrumentals. 0/0

By Your Command: The first gradeable track is an 8 minute long number. It begins with a decent instrumental opening that shows rather strongly produced keys combined with powerful riffs and aggressive drum bashing. The vocals are pretty muffled by the production value but for the most part you can make out what he is saying. This should appeal fairly well to fans of aggressive growling but the high clean vocals will change things up and show an interesting change up i dynamic for a first time listen. Because of the smothering at times it becomes a bit hard to get into the concept but for a live performance i could see it coming off fairly decently considering that this guy is known for putting very high production value into his live shows. Gotta give the guy props for making his own label to release his music since it provides a lot of risk to him financially but allows him to express himself and grow more honestly as an artist. It does create issues for criticism since he writes and nearly performs most of his work like Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails’ but as i said; it gives the listener a sense of honesty from the listener. This track does do well to showcase some interesting technicality in both the instrumental and production side of things. I actually see the audio segments as adding a fair value to the song otherwise the lengthy instrumentals would run the risk of getting boring after awhile and from what i’ve gotten; this guy does not write short albums by any means! 8/10

Ziltoidia Attaxx!!: This track is a little more straightforward in terms of length at just under 4 minutes long. It begins pretty quickly with Ziltoid calling on his forces to attack Earth. The instrumentals move quickly with little need for a warm up and deliver some very nice headbanging instrumentals. It definitely works well to infuse a nice sense of aggression for the listener to build some adrenaline to. The vocals are very hard to make out due to their presence in the background but their aggressively raw texture mixes well with the blast instrumentals to create an interesting show of force for the listener to be hammered with. Despite the very high production that on other other albums would be viewed as excessive; since he flaunts it very bluntly from the start i can actually find myself to dig this album pretty strongly. It is certainly interesting for a work out so far; so hopefully the album keeps things fresh for the listener remain engaged by because it will certainly be an invested listen the first time around. 8.5/10

Solar Winds: By two seconds this is the longest song on the album at nearly 10 minutes long. Holy fuck i hope this is a mind blowing listen to review lol. I would have like 3 songs done by the time that wraps up ha ha. It starts off with a decent softer instrumental opening that builds up a nice bit of tension and allows vocal segments to help add to the concept with a bit of dry humor as well. It introduces a hero by the name of Captain Spectacular and Devin utilizes some softer vocal harmonies to build the song up into an interesting show of theatrics. The bass gives the backing vocals a nice layering for Devin to infuse further high notes for the listener to be engaged by. It does feel a hair over the top but being a 10 minute long track this lengthy build up is written interestingly to explain the album’s story further if the listener is paying attention. As a guitar player i cannot knock the guy at all since he pretty much plays everything with the section of the programmed drums and it manages to fit together fairly well. The aggressive elements showcase nicely and may shape this up to be a track to stand out stronger from the previous ones. Not that the others were less memorable but this album so far has an interesting knack to lead into another song without you noticing if you arent careful. 8.5/10

Hyperdrive: Well so far it looks like with the exception of track 9 everything is under six minutes and a few are interlude tracks; so the rest of this album should breeze by a little quicker for you if it is feeling like too much. This next track begins with a decent fade in set up by the ending audio segment of the last track. It uses distortion to fade into an rather soothing yet fairly energetic instrumental segment. It creates a nice melody to balance Devin’s smooth harmonies. It will help to ease things up a bit for a listener that is just getting to understand the musical mindset of Devin Townsend. He infuses some growl vocals that will graduate amp up the instrumentals and give the listener a nice degree of adrenaline to pump to while still having some atmospheric melodies to lose ones self under. As a middle track i certainly have to give him props because its clearly a heavily complex work in a manners of things but still eases things down a bit without boring the listener this far into the album. 9/10

N9: We begin with a little more tension than the last song brought and instead bring back a sense of chaotic conflict compared to the peaceful nature of the last track. It uses layered vocal harmonies to give the instrumentals an airy touch that makes you still feel like you are zooming around in space. Some aggressive growls are tossed under the mix to add to the fullness of the song without drawing any intended focus onto them. The vocals manage to bring out a surprising sense of emotion from the instrumentals that will be energizing yet soothing for the listener to appreciate. It shifts into a nicely chaotic but calculated set of guitar riffs that really showcase the tension going on at this stage of the conflict; which i can only assume is a space battle between Ziltoid and Captain Spectacular. It definitely has a little length to it but boy does it bring substance to the listener whether they want it or not lol 9/10

Planet Smasher: The guitars start off with a rather tense strum which showcase a catchy rhythm segment that would get a live audience engaged very easily. The concept starting off is basically Ziltoid giving orders to his subordinates to bring in a super weapon for combat. It brings a nice sense of tension that makes this lengthy dialogue worth sitting through, The very low growl vocals definitely make a nice dungeon monster format that shows that Captain Spectacular is getting ready to fight a very powerful being, Devin;s usual high scream vocals are very aggressive but clean and easy to understand; which only adds to the clearness of presenting the concept to the listener. I gotta give him props for actually paying heavy attention to the concept and not leaving the listener to try and guess what the tracks are contributing to the overall story. You do have to pay attention and listen to the album in order obviously; but it’s very easy to get where things are going with each track. That certainly makes this album a very surprisingly interesting listen, 9/10

Omnidimensional Creator: This interlude track is surprisingly under a minute long and informs the listener of Ziltoid’s failure to get the Planet smasher on his side and moving onto his next plan which involves some stoner hippie/surf guy. Sounds about right. 0/0

Color Your World: This is the other track that is just under ten minutes long and begins with a very blunt show of aggressive riffs before Devin arrives with clean high notes for the listener to be engaged by. It gives off a slight holistic feeling that shifts things slightly from aggressive screams to some a bit more positive but equally as powerful. It then brings back some very compelling growl vocals that are interesting and mesh with the blast instrumentals to really get the listener in the mood to head bang. It does get a little carried away with the rawness of the heavy segments but it shifts back to some melodic interlude segments to ease things up. The melodic guitars will be a nice refreshing portion to wind the listener down a bit before some very beautifully emotional vocals arrive to further enthrall the listener. Gotta give him props for being skilled at both aggressive growl vocals and heavily risky high vocal melodies. It shows a very talented range for him and is making his work surprisingly more interesting to review than i initially thought it would be. I was expecting to be overwhelmed by each track due to the heavy production value; but this album so far has been flowing by with relative ease and would make for an interesting show to see being played live as a whole. 9.5/10

The Greys: This likely finale track begins with a strong guitar opening and very emotionally compelling vocal harmonies in the background. You can’t really make out what he is saying but it brings forth a sense of emotional power that is ideal for this stage of the album. As he slowly weaves the song the instrumentals move with compelling speed to fill any gaps that you could think of without overwhelming the listener with excess. This one is easier to find yourself zoning out to a bit more than the other tracks but considering that it is the finale track it is understandable. 7/10

Tall Latte: This outro track concludes the finale with essentially an employee at a coffee store waking from a slumber and dealing with a rush. Assuming that it simply means the whole story was a stoner dream but you take what will from it. 0/0

Overall album rating: 8.6/10

Well; that was a surpringly worthwhile album to review. I figured get this one done so that i could tackle the anniversary album; but it was actually a solid entry album into Devin Townsend’s music style. I cant speak for how easy it will appeal to the average listener since it clearly is too complex to be mainstream; but it’s still a very nice surprise to come across. I hope you guys enjoy this album and i’ll probably crank out the second half (which is a double album technically so expect two more album reviews in total) next time when i have a good amount of time put aside. Sleep well everyone and check this guy out!

*Reviewer’s Pick*

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