#he's also one of the only musicians This Old and with this much success i know that didn't morally go to shit

[thewhizzyhead]

I know the reunion concert was literally just 2 days ago but my bros my guys my dudes I miss WATT so so much and I really do want this show Actually Revived because I miss my cheerleaders, pma's stories and music are fucking great and I wanna hear more, watt has so much room for improvement, and I wanna see watt thrive aaaaaaaa

[hoovesandfloorpaws]

Louis' rocky path to his first album

..and how it might have been the reason/one of the reasons why Louis shared Always You with us the way that he did.

I don't want to saddle this amazing post about the Always You snippet and little scavenger hunt Louis took us on on Aug 24, 2017 with a too-long derail, so i'm gonna make this separate post. But please definitely read that post, too, it's so good! It'll make you shake your fist and go "LOUIS!!" (affectionately) 💙💚

-

This is for possible context re: him saying he was "pissed off about industry shit" and it resulting in him sharing the snippet in August 2017 and what long breath Louis had to have in order to finally get to release his debut solo album. Disclaimer: obviously there was much more going on in Louis' life during those 3 years - lots of yucky stunting that left Louis looking dead behind the eyes (esp. because on top of it he was also still grieving heavily), Harry releasing his first album, starring in his first Hollywood film, and going on worldwide tours. Louis obviously not being able to accompany him publicly to premieres or to all the shows - in combination it likely resulting in a lot more physical separation than they were ever used to, possible rough patches between them as a couple, Louis' sister unexpectedly passing away and the subsequent massive grief after already having lost his beloved Mum just 2.5 years prior, weekly appearances on TV with the giant asshole who iron-closeted him and his spider mouse ever since they were teenagers, a few public slip ups/outings from within their work circles, Harry turning into a horse on live radio despite being able to yell NO when he wanted to, Louis beaming with pride every single time he was asked about his Harry - and much more. His/their life is complex and busy and I'm only shining light on a couple of things here.

We know Louis had wanted to finally record his album in 2017 and release it in 2018. He said it again and again in his tweets and I personally don't think he was lying or stalling. (additionally, a plan for a 2018 album release + tour for 'a managed artist' was mentioned in a strategic report of the 1D company One Mode Productions Ltd., but by that point it was directed purely by 3 big players from Modest! Mgmt and that plan could've been BS from the start and could have still been an old remnant of the original plans Modest had for 1D after their hiatus; it never happened and the company was acquired by Universal Music in July 2020. Exact detail about that will be/are in my H&L companies masterpost)

In June 2017 Louis had been finally supposed to be signed with a new label under Sony, RSA...

(tweet)

...but then an exec from Epic Records campaigned to get Louis to them instead, because she had loved Just Hold On, so he signed with Epic in July 2017.

(tweet)

It needs to be said that the reason for Epic wanting to sign Louis based on that collab with Steve Aoki potentially meant they were hoping he was going to make more of that kind of music. -- which he never did, so he possibly also never wanted to in the first place (quite the recipe for disaster). And Louis was lagging behind to the public eye; he was the only member of 1D who hadn't released more than 1 single since the start of the hiatus. Zayn and Harry had already released an album by that point, Liam had had 2 pretty successful singles, and Niall had his first album set to be released in October that year. Louis being at a disadvantage wasn't his fault or within his control at all, though, with having lost his Mum 8 months prior. Syco and Sony faffing about with the record deals for him is certainly not something a grieving (and closeted & stunt-riddled) first-time solo musician needs when they just want to focus on finally releasing their first album and wanting to focus on that. During that time, it's especially essential to have a record label on board which understands and shares the same vision of the album, so concepts can be discussed, demos sent and given feedback on, timelines for PR and marketing coordinated, release dates planned, etc.

Within the same month, on July 21, 2017, Louis did release Back To You on via his own label, 78 Productions. (78 Productions Ltd. is also one of his companies) and Epic Records. Syco helped with promo in the UK. Back To You wasn't a first single of the album, though! Like with Just Hold On, Back To You's genre was vastly different from the albums Louis would later come to release, so it leads me to believe it was a fun filler project for him to work on with Bebe Rexha and Digital Farm Animals and vice versa, and to finally put out some music that year and also do a few live performances.

A month later, he tweeted this:

(tweet)

4 days later, Louis gets pissed off "about some music industry shit" and a day later, he tweets:

(tweet) - and this is when he drops the snippet of Always You right at the part with the "I went to Amsterdam without you, all I could do was think about you". part and he keeps dropping hint after hint and we figure it out 💙💚 - and ends up putting that song on his debut album.

(1 month later, Harry leaves to start his first ever solo world tour in San Francisco, USA on Sep 25, 2017)

Months pass and still no album single incoming.

On Oct 11, 2017, Louis announces his next single will be postponed, but also drops Just Like You out of the blue:

(tweet) / (tweet) - although Louis says the song is "from the album", Just Like You never ends up on his first 2 albums.

Months pass again.. the single he said would come "later this year" turns out to be Miss You, released on Dec 1, 2017. The song doesn't end up on the regular album, only appears as a bonus track on the Japanese Edition.

(On Dec 8, 2017, Harry finishes his world tour in Tokyo, Japan)

The year turns into 2018... and Louis seems to become increasingly more frustrated:

(tweet)

3 more months pass..

(Harry leaves to start his 2nd solo world tour in Basel, Switzerland on March 11, 2018)

Another month passes..

(tweet)

3 months later, and as a first step into a hopefully better direction, on July 19, 2018, it is announced that Louis has switched management and is now with Matt Vines from 7 Seven Management.

In July 2018 it's announced that Louis will appear on X-Factor as a judge that year.

(Coincidentally, Harry finishes his world tour on July 22, 2018 in New York City, USA)

Louis' X-Factor filming takes place (with breaks in between) from July 28 until Dec 2, 2018. (together with Simon Cowbell, so that must have been quite unpleasant at times, but Louis' contestant won! HA!)

Most importantly: no music at all gets released for Louis in all 2018!

(Harry leaves to start a very short tour in Singapore on Nov 23, 2018 and already finishes on Dec 7, 2018 in Tokyo, Japan)

The year turns into 2019...

And then fucking finally, in Feb 2019, it is announced that Louis has signed with Arista, who also belong to Sony. Louis can finally really start working on the album now!

On March 7, 2019, he releases Two Of Us - the first proper single of the upcoming album and a beautiful song he wrote for his Mum. But the joy doesn't last long -- sadly only 1 week later, on March 13, 2019, Louis' sister Félicité unexpectedly passes away and this completely throws life off its hinges again :( 🖤

(Harry plays only 2 shows on March 28 + 29, 2019 in New York City, USA, because he inducts beloved Stevie Nicks into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame - but he doesn't tour again until October; is also in the process of finishing the recording of his 2nd album, Fine Line)

4 months later, Louis tweets this:

(tweet)

Things finally go according to (an obviously existing) plan now and it's clear that there's a proper release schedule at work. The single and music video releases are firing on all cylinders. Starting from September, there's basically a new Louis release every month. There's concepts for all music videos, as they all tell a multiple-part continuous story. Kill My Mind is released on Sep 5, 2019 We Made It follows up on Oct 24, 2019 Don't Let It Break Your Heart on Nov 23, 2019 then there's the usual Christmas break (X-mas is mostly for album releases, case in point: Harry's Fine Line's released on Dec 13, 2019) Walls, the album title single, is released on Jan 17, 2020 -- 2 weeks before the album release.

When asked what's his favorite song on the album, he replies with this:

(tweet) And on Jan 31, 2020 Louis' finally gets to release his debut solo album Walls! 🙌🏼

3 years in the active making and a frustrating 2 years later than he'd hoped for.

Because within just 3 years, Simon tried/succeeded to sign Louis to three different Sony-owned record labels! Possibly also because Louis made it clear he was not going to release his album with Syco alone, but that's just speculation on me part. (I also need to mention that Simon had already sold 50% of his shares in Syco Music to Sony in July 2015, leaving him with only 20% and he never re-acquired them, meaning since 2015 Simon was already 75% out of the door back then. Guess what he already knew would happen since the beginning of 2015, hmmmm?)

Personal thoughts: To me, that’s all absolutely wild behaviour to treat an artist like that. Someone who's made you such a fuckton of money already, too. (because let's be honest, the money's all people like Simon Cowbell and his Modest! minions care about) Simon's never had an ounce of integrity or loyalty in his body. To treat an artist, who to the public he claimed he was 'so close' to like this and to then see him struggle and still try to manipulate or bribe him into your own plans (the girlband, the management company, the DOA Triple Strings label) instead of finally letting him pursue what he so clearly wanted.. it's classic and disgusting. From my own professional experience of 15 years as an artist & tour manager, it is not surprising to me that Louis wasn’t able to establish any consistency within his career for the first 4 years. (And we probably only know half of the contractual shit Louis has had to deal with.) You'd usually need at least good management that you trust, that's ready to take the brunt of forces, but also makes sure you don't make certain mistakes (again), and that's ready to work with & for you in this. Record labels come second, especially since it's become easier nowadays to release shit indie and it's not like Louis' (and Harry's) household didn't have some funds-- but yeah, proper management is key! They're the junction where everything leads together. I have no idea what the James Grant Group thought they were doing with Louis, but it was complete weak sauce.

And although I'm also not a fan of Matt Vines and 7 Seven Management, they're definitely some kind of improvement. I understand Louis in preferring to work with people he's become close with and who he's already trusting, rather than taking the risk and choosing someone new - especially given Louis' very awful prior experiences with management. I hope Matt Vines steps up his game in the future, but from what I have learned in the past months, sadly I don't think 7 Seven Management have a good grasp on Louis' target group and fanbase and I'm not sure how much use they're making of proper market research. For an artist of Louis' caliber, they're doing too little.

Anyway, back to Syco, I think nobody is surprised that Louis had enough of it 1.5 years after Walls was released and finally ended things with Syco on July 11, 2020.

Now I want to end on saying that i'm only speculating something about his own record label / album delaying situation could've been the reason for him being pissed off. It also could've been something to do with the music industry in itself, something to do with Harry and him, something closeting- or stunt-related. I mean he did release a snippet of a song that's obviously about Harry and him. But he also released a snippet of a song that was supposed to be on his album. So yeah, the reason could've been a mix of both.

But even though we can't say that for sure, it was valid as hell that he was pissed. And he got to share the Always You snippet with us for it, such an incredibly special song; so clearly about Harry & him and he didn't give a fuck that night. And I think that's beautiful.

[petercapaldi-press]

INTERVIEW

'This is my tribute to 1980s Glasgow,' says Peter Capaldi

March 22, 2025

By Teddy Jamieson

We begin - and this may not totally surprise you - with a bit of swearing. There’s a line on your new album, I say to Peter Capaldi, that I have to ask about. At one point you sing: “I talk a lot and know f*** all.” Now, tell me, Peter, is that you singing in character or are you talking about yourself?

Sitting in his agent’s office some 400 odd miles south of me, Peter Capaldi - formerly the expletive machine that was Malcolm Tucker in The Thick of It, formerly a Timelord, formerly of Glasgow but long resident in London - smiles before admitting, “Yeah, that’s true. I do. That’s me.” 

But then he adds, “It’s a lot of people really. That’s quite common.”

Yes, Peter Capaldi has made a record. Another one. After 2021’s Saint Christopher he returns this month with Sweet Illusions which has - as you now know - sweary bits (though, actually, not that many) and guitars and synthesisers and songs called things like The Big Guy and Bin Night.

It’s not really what you expect 66-year-old successful actors to do. Especially 66-year-old actors who are still busy with the day job. Right now Capaldi is shooting a second series of his Apple+ police series Criminal Record and you’ll see him soon in Black Mirror.

Today, though, he’s talking to me, and, yes, he’s talking a lot. About music and acting and ageing and anything else that comes to mind. 

We start with the music. Even though he has previous experience as a musician - back at the start of the 1980s he was in a band with future comedian Craig Ferguson called The Dreamboys - it was still something of a surprise when he released his first album. Clearly, it didn’t scratch the itch and now he’s back with another.

The explanation is simple enough. “I enjoyed doing the first one so much I just wanted to carry on doing it,” Capaldi explains.

“When I was a kid, if you wanted to record an album you had to be signed to a record label. I essentially do this myself. I have collaborators who I work with, but essentially if you have a computer and you’ve got GarageBand or Logic you can start to put songs together.

“I take it seriously but lightly, if you know what I mean,” he adds. “My intention is not to have a new career or be a pop star. It’s just a creative thing that is very accessible.”

It was his friend and producer Dr Robert - once of The Blow Monkeys - who first encouraged Capaldi to start writing songs. And now Capaldi can’t stop.

“I read that the only way you get a good song is by writing a hundred terrible ones. I think I’m still working my way through the hundred.”

That’s self-deprecation at work. Sweet Illusions is far from rubbish. Ask him to describe what it sounds like and he says, “It’s fairly nostalgic guitar and synth tribute to eighties Glasgow. That’s what I think it is. Because I’m really picking up where I left off,” referring to his Dreamboys days 40 years ago. 

But it’s also the work of a man in his mid-sixties. It’s unlikely that the twentysomething Peter Capaldi would be writing a song called Bin Night after all.

“I’m a big fan of bin night. The night, not the song,” he quickly adds. “Because the world is chaotic, and terrible things are happening, and there’s only five minutes you get when you can exercise any control over your fate. And that’s bin night. If you get your bins together and you get them all out, you think, ‘Well, I’ve done something constructive.’”

More than that, though, Bin Night is also a love song to his grandchildren. “I became a grandfather. I wanted to do a lullaby because I have babies back in my life again.”

There is a lot of love on the album, it’s worth saying. If you have a tendency to conflate Capaldi with the parts he plays you might be surprised by quite how romantic it is. As he sings at one point, love is all that matters.

“Yeah, it’s love that matters. That’s not a new line to have in a song, but you can do it in a song and it’s easier than doing it in a film or on stage. You can fill things with your own emotions.”

It’s possibly worth remembering at this point that Capaldi has been married to his wife Elaine Collins, herself an actor and now a TV producer, since 1991. They have been through the highs and lows of a life in acting together.

That twentysomething singer in The Dreamboys, I say, does he feel very far away from you now, Peter?

“Not very far. I mean, physically, yes. Because I’m an actor I get to see how I look and I’m always horrified to see this old guy with white hair. I don’t know where he came from. I don't imagine myself as that, but the parts I get are like that. I don’t feel that old.

“The younger one is still there. The optimism is a bit more crushed. I went to the art school and at the time there was a great ethos of just having a go. It wasn’t just the art school. I guess that’s what the whole post-punk thing was, so I still carry that.

“It doesn’t matter if what you do is great, what matters is you tried.”

The son of Nancy and Gerald John, who ran an ice cream business, Capaldi’s desire to be creative can be traced back to childhood in Glasgow.

“I could always draw from when I was little. I remember my granny felt that drawing was an Italian thing. She was talking about Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, not the son of an ice cream van vendor.

“But when I was little I remember I had a shoe box and - this is how long ago it was - I cut the front off of it and made a wee studio in it. It was Ready Steady Go, a programme that was the precursor to Top of the Pops, and I drew little people; little John, Paul, George and Ringo, and a camera and all that.”

What he wanted back then, he says, was not to be an actor or a musician. It was simpler than that. “I wanted to be on the telly. I wanted to be part of that whole thing.”

What eventually happened was that he met the film director Bill Forsyth who gave him a role in his film Local Hero.(Image: unknown)

"I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him and a lot of people wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him,” he says of Forsyth. “My career is thanks to him.”

Everyone asks you about Doctor Who and The Thick of It, I say, but what I really wanted to speak to you about was Ken Russell’s incredibly camp 1988 vampire movie Lair of the White Worm which also starred Hugh Grant and Amanda Donohoe. What was it like working with Russell, the master of excess?

“It was great. We laughed so much. Hugh Grant was so funny. Such a smart, witty guy. He’s great company. Great cast all together, happy days.”

As for Russell himself, “he’d be fine in the morning and then at lunchtime he’d go into his trailer and he would emerge as the enfant terrible of the sixties. I don’t know if he had been quaffing champagne, or what had gone on at lunchtime, but he was mad then. He would push the cameraman off the camera and he would take over.

“I remember he was very serious about that film. It subsequently became well known as a comedy, but that wasn’t intentional at the time.

“It was a wee bit weird. I’d stumble onto a stage in Shepperton and there were some quite racy sequences that didn’t appear in the film being shot.”

Capaldi had his own ambitions as a director. In 1992 he wrote and starred in the romcom Soft Top, Hard Shoulder alongside Collins and a year later he wrote and directed the short Franz Kafka’s It’s A Wonderful Life which won him an Oscar at the 1995 Academy Awards. At which point he was being courted by the Weinsteins and a career as a Hollywood hot shot seemed just a contract away, only for the Weinsteins to renege on the offer.

“I think it was for the best,” he says now. 

“At the time it was difficult. The rug’s pulled from under your feet. But if I’d done that I wouldn’t have gone back to acting and I’ve enjoyed acting so much since then.”

Still, a year to the day after winning an Oscar, he told Kirsty Young on her Radio 4 show Young Again in 2024, he was shooting a local dog food commercial.

“We had to shoot it within the range of the M25, the ring road that goes around London, but the product was from Cornwall,” Capaldi recalls when I bring it up. “I had to find a farm and a field and a dog because we didn't have enough money to go any further than that

“And the client, who was from Cornwall, said the soil was the wrong colour. ‘This is brown, the soil in Cornwall is red.’ What am I supposed to do with that information? So I thought I don’t want to spend my life doing this, apologising for the earth.”

What followed were what we might call his Midsomer Murder years; guest parts in TV series and small parts in films. 

“I think I was a bit disappointed,” he says of that time. “You start to go, ‘Oh well, I’m not going to do those great parts or whatever. I’m just going to be a bellringer in Midsomer Murders.’ And there is a delight in that, a grace and a dignity in that. And I love that in actors. They really get knocked about. They’re up and down. They’ve got mortgages to pay and look after their kids. I can see it in their eyes.”

Of course at that point he was also sharing a house with another actor. 

“That was where Elaine’s production career started because there was a period there where I really wasn’t earning anything. She made some enquiries with some friends who were working in production and she got a job reading scripts and doing reports for the BBC. And they were so impressed by her they said, ‘There’s a job going.’ A script assistant or something in the drama department. ‘Would you come in and try and go for it?’ “That’s how she eventually ended up becoming a producer.

“She’s my boss just now,” Capaldi says, referring to Criminal Record. How is that?

“She’s great. The show that we’re doing now I really enjoy doing. It’s very demanding,very modern, and the subjects that it deals with are hard. 

“And that all comes from her. Crime wasn’t a particular interest for her, but she’s extremely well read. People would come into the house and go, ‘Oh Peter, all these books, you must be very well read.’ I have to go, ‘They’re Elaine’s books. They’re not mine. My books are the Doctor Who annuals over there.’”

Have you written a song for her yet, Peter?

“Many songs. Many, many songs on the album.”

It was being cast as Malcolm Tucker in Armando Iannucci’s scabrous political sitcom The Thick of It that heralded the second act of Capaldi’s career. Those fey, gangly, awkward young men he played in his twenties were now pushed aside as he became the fire-breathing spin doctor with a caustic line in sweary putdowns.

“That’s just what life does to you. I couldn’t have played that part until the time I played it,” he suggests. He needed to have experienced the “various kickings” life had in store for him, he says, to be able to play Tucker

“I knew by the time I came to play that part that things could go wrong. I was tougher, I was a different person. That helped ignite Malcolm.”

It is now 13 years since he said goodbye to Tucker, eight years (and two Doctors) since he handed the keys of the Tardis to Jodie Whittaker. Capaldi has now moved into the veteran-stroke-legend part of his career. Or, as he would have it, his don’t-give-a-stuff years.

That’s what’s great about being in your sixties, he says, you don’t care anymore.

“Physically, you can’t escape the fact that things can get a little bit tougher. But, as yet, that hasn’t really impacted me. I get a bit knackered, more knackered than I used to.”

He pivots to the personal. “I love having grandkids. I love … I wouldn’t call it wisdom …There’s a kind of understanding, a perspective, about what’s important and what’s not important which you don’t have when you’re younger and I welcome that very much. You don’t waste your time. You’ve only got X amount.”

He smiles again. “It’s funny, my wife …” he begins, “I’ve never been obsessed with death or the ending of life. I think she’s been obsessed with it since she was a kid.

“So, it’s only recently I’ve begun to realise, ‘Oh, right, so this doesn’t go on and on and on. There’s a point where this ends.’ And if you’re lucky it ends neatly.

“So I am conscious of that, but it just makes me want to enjoy life more, be a part of life. 

“I’m very, very lucky because the shows that I’ve been involved in - obviously Doctor Who, but also The Thick of It -  have a large appeal to young people. So I have a lot of young people talk to me. And also with the music, I’ve got a band who are all so much younger than me and it's great to be part of all that, to be in that world.

“And it's very stimulating rather than just locking the doors and saying, ‘I'm going to be old now.’

“Is it a struggle? I don't know. It’s a struggle sometimes because it's physically a bit tougher. But I don't find that I struggle psychologically. Other than the ticking clock.”

Towards the end of last year Capaldi returned to playing music live with a gig in Stereo in Glasgow. He’s not sure if he’ll do many more.

“I’m not trying to have another career, so I don’t really want to have a big tour. I don’t want a pile of people I have to answer to. So, we’re going to do Belladrum Festival in August and that’s great. The big band’s are on the big stage and we’re on a little stage and that’s perfect. 

"And hopefully we’ll do a couple of gigs before that as well.”

Maybe you could see the current chapter in Peter Capaldi’s life as a sort of homecoming. He’s reconnecting with that young musician he once was. And he is also reconnecting with his own origin story in Glasgow.

“I’m in Glasgow much more now than I have been for years. My daughter, who was born and raised in north London, has moved to Glasgow with my grandchildren. Because although she was a north London girl her granny was in Glasgow and she’d come to Glasgow to see her granny who’s no longer with us. So she’s very familiar with the place. She loves Glasgow, she loves the scale of it, the kids love it, so we’re spending a lot more time there.”

There’s a sense of circularity in that, he admits, and a reminder of the city that made him who he is.

“I love Glasgow. The thing is you carry it with you anyway. Glasgow is part of me and I’m happy about that.”

Peter Capaldi talks a lot and, it turns out, he does know a thing or two. Whatever he might sing.

Sweet Illusions comes out on the Last Night From Glasgow label on Friday. 

Credits:

With thanks to the Lord Palmerston Pub, Dartmouth Road, London.

Blue shirt and both suits by Edward Sexton, plum shirt by Paul Smith. 

Paul Stuart's Assistant: Elvis Elliott

[sickospaghetti-o]

Random future head cannons for Gravity Falls.

(I can’t sleep so I’m gonna make it everyone else’s problem)

Dipper:

- Starts the first ever ddmd club at his high school as well as a Cryptid/ Mystery club (Mabel is the vice president of the club and always plans club events)

- Studies ancient history and journalism in college

- Is 100% a loser trans boy (Mabel always helps him with his t shots)

- Makes journals of his own and tried to publish one (Didn’t go well)

- Meets a really nice girl in college that helps him get out of his comfort zone. She finds Dipper’s work on cryptids very interesting. “She’s the one, Mabel. I know it. She just gets me.”

- Forgets to tie his shoes all the time and is constantly tripping because of it

- Still loves BABBA but also listens to Midwest emo

Mabel:

- Waddles still lives with Mabel and wins the world record for oldest pig alive

- Studies Fashion in college and starts her own alternative clothing business (it’s very successful)

- Stan taught her how to con during the first summer she visited gf and she got really good at it but has refused to use her skills unless someone is being an asshole and “Totally deserved it, Dipper! It’s not my fault he didn’t know how to cheat at poker”

- Listens to bands like lemon demon and will wood after she goes through her boy band phase (she goes back and listens to several timz when she misses Grenada and Candy)

- She and Pacifica have been dating since the beginning of their junior year in high school (they confessed to each other over the summer and are currently doing a long distance thing)

Ford:

- He and Fiddleford hang out after weirdmagedon and manage to rekindle their friendship

- Started a new journal with Stan while they traveled the world on the Stan’o’ war

- Found out that the Cold War ended and he learned about the attack on 9/11 and he found out that gay marriage was legalized all in the same day (had to sit down because he thought he was going to pass out)

- Is slowly learning to forgive himself for “falling for Bill’s tricks” and still has to accept that it wasn’t his fault and that he was manipulated

- His favorite new “technology advancement” is bluetooth

Pacifica:

- Over the years she and her family have drifted apart and Paz has learned to live to be completely independent from her parents

- Works at the dinner with Lazy Susan and has come to see her as a mother figure

- Is actually really good with computers and technology

- She went on a walk on night and ended up at the old Northwest Mansion. She was feeling really homesick and so she walked around the gardens for a while and met Fiddleford. They found out that they have the same passion for computers and bonded of it.

- She made an indie mystery puzzle solving game based loosely on weirdmagedon with the help of Dipper and Fidds

- In a relationship with Mabel and still gets butterflies whenever she’s around

Fiddleford:

- Divorced his raccoon wife (the break up was messy, he doesn’t like to talk about it)

- Invites Tate and his family to live in the mansion with him and they all accept

- He and Tate talk a lot and Fidds apologizes all the time for leaving when Tate was a kid. They mange to figure it out and their relationship is getting stronger

- Teaches Pacifica tons about computer tech and teaches her a little bit of robotics (her first robot blew up and set fire to the south garden of the mansion)

- Relearns banjo and is still one hell of a musician

- Barely remembers dating Stan when they were younger but still has feelings for him, he won’t tell him until later (don’t mind me just spreading my fiddlestan agenda)

Stan:

- Took Ford to go visit Shermie (Shermie hits them both and then hugs them immediately after)

- Has stopped conning people as much as possible and now only does it when absolutely necessary (Normally while on adventures with Ford)

- His favorite band is They Might Be Giants and he and Ford sing their songs together all the time

- Bill still lives in Stan’s mind but has no power he’s just like an annoying little voice in his head (they manage to be “friends” and get along)

- He picked up lace making and is incredibly talented (He originally learned how to knit from Mabel, but didn’t like it as much. She showed him what Lacemaking was and he fell in love with the hobby)

- Has gaps in his memory but has been able to regain most of them

- He and Fidds used to date when he was rebuilding the portal but they don’t talk about it anymore. He has lingering feelings but he won’t ever admit it.

[ginsengkittensecondary]

I HAVE MOVED TO MY MAIN. PLEASE FOLLOW GINSENGKITTEN <3

“His large, rough hands adorned with rings, tenderly kissing the strings.”

*this is my very first gnr/slash fic. I’m not proofreading it either it’s just something for the depraved slash girlies*

✰ TEACHERS PET ✰

slashxreader

✰slash!xfem!/age!gap/praise kink/daddy issues/extreme!smut/NSFW ✰

Did not narrow down slashes age here. Anywhere from 40-current age- left up to reader

Because of your "fading talent", your dad thought it would be best to force you into guitar lessons. He told you if you took lessons seriously, that he wouldn't make you get a job. Guitar was your job.

You never resented guitar playing. It was your first love. You knew you were good at it. You could lose yourself in playing and the world would disappear. And you didn't want to disappoint your dad. You constantly felt like you weren't meeting his expectations of being some sort of renowned guitar player. But you knew nothing else and felt good at nothing else but guitar. It felt like you're only option as a career path.

Your dad worked in the music industry for over 20 years. He saw the success that could come from being a musician. He had connections and everyone knew him and he knew everyone. You remember tagging along in and out sporadically throughout growing up. It was just the two of you. You had met cool bands and musicians and other famous figure heads. While it was "cool", you also didn't care much as it had monopolized your childhood. Long nights, early flights, the rush of recording studios, backstages, waiting around on your dad in meetings. Probably sometimes being in places not meant for a kid. You became indifferent and tired.

But now you were older and the expectations of you were even more elevated. Your dad wanted more from you. You weren't sure if it was for profit or fame anymore for him. He never seemed quite satisfied and never gave any sort of clear affirmation.

-

You hopped out of the blacked out suburban with your equipment. Your dad closing the door behind you. You stepped into the cold night air. A shiver ran up your exposed legs under your skirt. Although a brisk walk from the parking garage to the recording studio, you wished you had dressed a little warmer. But dressing like a rockstar wasn't for wimps! You liked to model your style after female rockstars you had met growing up but always ended up just looking like some little groupie.

The recording studio was more or less an old penthouse with a recording area built in one of the rooms. It was nice but had this eerie grungy appearance that made it seem like it could have been a trap house in the 80s. While you tried your best to fit the role, you looked like you didn't belong there. Even your dad looked cooler than you. Suddenly you started to feel insecure. As you walked down the dark hallway inside, music became louder as the smell of cigarettes did too. A hazy light shone through a cracked door at the end of the hallway. Was this a guitar lesson or a concert? Your dad pushed through the door and you followed tucked behind him timidly. Immediately old friends of your dads excitedly gave him greetings and hugs complete with hearty slaps on the backs. You stood there nervously clutching your guitar. "You guys remember my daughter, Y/N!" Your dad announced you, stepping back to reveal you hidden behind him. Your cover suddenly exposed. "Well I'll be damned! If it isn't Y/N!" They all exclaimed happily. A scruffy man with blond hair embraced you fatherly and gave you a small gentle noogie on your head. "Man look at this kid! Haven't seen you since you were what, 12! Look at you all grown up now!" He said simultaneously exchanging his eyes from you to your dad. You grinned sheepishly embarrassed at the attention in the room on you. Guns n Roses. Man they were so fucking cool. You'd met them a few times growing up when your dad worked with them off and on. This part of his job was pretty cool. It was more like family friends than the world famous rock legends. Except when you were younger, the barrier between you and them was bigger. Your dad shielding you from the crazy drunken scraps, sessions and other rockstar mischief. You'd meet and then your dad would leave you with his assistant in another office or the tour bus while he fucked around with the guys elsewhere. But now you were an adult like them! You finally got to be on the inside. In the ring with the rockstars. This made you even more intimidated. 'Am I getting lessons from rockstars?' You panicked to yourself. Suddenly completely doubting your skill at all. They can't see you play! They'll laugh for sure. There's no way.

The music playing on the speaker suddenly changed to a softer tempo, "She Rides" by Danzig started playing. The slow intro intertwined with the dark atmosphere of the studio. Dark purple velvet curtains limply hung from the ceilings, old trunks full of excess junk and costume attire, records plastered the walls, the only light in the room glowing from dim warm lamps throughout the room. It felt safe and comfortable in here, like an old theatre. Cigarette smoke danced through the warm glow of the lamps.

The feeling of eyes on you started burning the back of your head. Someone was watching you. You turned your head to the left corner of the studio. A broad shoulder man sat open legged on a old couch and became illuminated by the warm glow of the lamp. The smoke trailed from his full lips out from under his dark full curls decorating his tan face. He had remained quiet and out of frame when the greetings went on. You dad shooting the shit with the other men in the room.

It's Slash. Your heart beat a little quicker in your chest. Oh my god of course, how could I forget SLASH! You became suddenly star struck for a brief moment. He was the GOD of guitar. He's so badass and he's so talented and he's....staring..at me? Your thoughts left your head. You felt his gaze on you like you were being hunted. Like his prey? You tried to examine him back, thinking you were being inconspicuous. His luscious curls sat atop his large broad frame, shirt slightly tight across his massive chest. His legs spread open as he relaxed into the couch like a lazy king on a throne. A cigarette pursed between his soft lips as he strummed a guitar. He kept his eyes on you, strumming without even looking. His large, rough hands adorned with rings, tenderly kissing the strings.

"Your new guitar teacher!"

You snapped into reality. "What?" You responded sounding a little more eager than you wanted to but so in disbelief. " Slash was kind enough to lend his time to you. You remember him right?" Your dad said flippantly. He walked over to the couch, harshly scooting you along with him. No fucking chance. You tried to lock back in and play it cool. Slash lifted his guitar off his lap and set it aside. He leaned forward on the couch to greet you. His gaze on you now more apparent and obvious. He scanned you up and down. "Well look who's all grown up." He said in a teasing but serious manner. He half smirked at you. You weren't sure how he intended that to come across but the way it landed made your stomach flutter and your cheeks flush. "I've been told you're quite the player these days" He said, still scanning you. Was everyone else in the room so oblivious to the electricity unfurling? Or was it just you? Was his blatant hungry gaze all in your head because you wanted it to be real? Because you wanted slash to think you were pretty? Because you thought he was attractive? No. It was real. His primal gaze on your body was definitely real. How was everyone else missing this? The energy in the room? Did your dad not realize the borderline dangerous fixation that slash's eyes cast on you? You snapped back again, remembering why you were there.

What you yourself were oblivious to was the fact that his eyes had locked onto you the second you entered the room. Not recognizing the delicate girl who looked like a brand new doll getting thrown into a junkyard. She stuck out like an Angel to him. Her soft and bright features contrasted the worn out room. She looked pretty but young. How young? Who was this girl? This wasn't Y/N was it? His friends daughter he had agreed to tutor although half drunk at the time of his agreement. It couldn't be her, this girl here now was grown up and filled out. He couldn't help but pour his eyes over her entire body. Her soft and smooth legs, her thighs tucked under a little black leather skirt that hugged her hips so perfectly. A nice little ass under there too. God she was perfect. His pants grew a little tighter. He couldn't stop looking at her. She's like a timid little bunny, he thought to himself. Too timid. Too young. Need to check yourself, he snapped back into reality as she walked over to the couch. It was Y/N. Wow- She had to have been 19 or 20 by now if he remembered right. Still, what would a bright young girl like herself want with a old man like him? He steadied himself. Remember why she's here. She's not your next meal. Yet.

-

It was nearly midnight at the studio. But to everyone in the music industry it might as well have been 5'o clock in the afternoon. The night just getting started to most. After and hour or two of your dad catching up with the guys and some other musicians, the penthouse became filled with people. This was one of your average studio parties it seemed. Not so much a lesson. You did wonder why the lesson was so late at night in the first place. Now it was apparent that your dad had wanted to party with the crews and the lesson was a back burner idea. You were not really a partier. In fact not at all. As the party began to rage louder and heavier, the more you stuck out like a sore thumb. You felt silly and out of place. Surrounded by drunk messy adults, heavy metal blaring through the sound system. Everyone had filtered out of the studio and you sat on the couch once occupied by Slash earlier in the night. His peppery, musky cologne lingered on the couch, it smelled so good. He smelled so good. You couldn't stop seeing the image of his face in your mind. The depraved, hungry stare he had locked onto you earlier. It simultaneously struck butterflies and fear into your body. Your dad had disappeared into the party and it honestly gave you relief that he wasn't there to hover over you, casting shadows of his disappointment in you through every undertone of every word he spoke. Technically though, that did mean you could practice without anyone's judgement.

You began unpacking your guitar on the floor, checking the strings, your picks, your sheet music. You put your headphones on and turned on none other than Guns N' Roses. Trying to drown out the heavy metal playing in the other rooms. You hummed to yourself while you fiddled with your things.

Moments later, the door opened slowly and slash entered. He was alone, holding a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other. He immediately saw you over the corner by his favorite spot. He quietly shut the door behind him and made his way to the couch. Seeing you oblivious to his gaze, he quietly studied you from the couch. His thoughts once again snaking their way through impure desires. The way your reddened knees held you on the floor. A small glimpse of cotton panties poking out from under your skirt. Your thighs curving across your calves like a puzzle piece. He watched the way your delicate small hands tried to handle the far too oversized guitar laid across your lap. Fuck she's so cute he thought. He could hear the GNR song "Think about you" playing from your headphones. Unaware you weren't alone, you softly chirped out a few lyrics to yourself as you hummed.

"I think about youuuu, deep inside, I love you best."

He let out a breathy chuckle

"I think about youuuu, you know you're the one I want..."

He could watch you in your own world forever like this. Your sweetness enveloped the room. A breath of fresh air he had been craving for so long. It made his heart pound in his chest. He licked his lips. Studying his student. The adoration danced with a dark and perverse stream of wishes. To get closer to you. To feel your warmth and inhale your sweet scent. To touch you. Your soft and delicate skin. To have you. He had to have you. He left the couch and stood behind you. The light from one of the lamps now being shaded threw you out of your little world and you slowly turned around in confusion.

"Oh my god!" You yipped out in a fast spool of fear, embarrassment and shock. You twirled back to him on your knees. His tall dark body towered over you like a monolith. He smirked big. Looked down at you on your knees in front of him sent aches down his chest and into his abdomen. It drove him crazy. It was exactly where he wanted you if it were up to him. Your innocent eyes peering up to him. Your fear almost adding a little bit of extra sweetness to him. You looked so cute to him when you were scared. You quickly took off your headphones. "Didn't mean to scare you doll face." He chuckled maliciously. You hesitated to believe that was true.

Suddenly Slash broke the thin barrier of space that had been aching to be ripped apart between the two of you. His large strong hands wrapped around your small wrists and he yanked you on your feet. At full stature you still only met his sternum in height, still peering up at him. The warmth of his strong hands touching your skin shocked you in the best way. Deep swirls pooling inside you. His scent now strong in your presence. You were so close to him. Almost body to body. Your doe eyes glittered up at him. He let out a slight huff as his serpent stare connected with you once again. Like a hungry animal. "This perfect body. I need to ruin her pretty cunt. Fuck me..." he thought. He glanced down at your chest concealed in your tight shirt and then back to your face, know you saw him do it too. He wanted you to see. A slight curl of his lips as he did it. His big hands still wrapped around your dainty wrists. You slightly try to pull them away as to relieve him of his duty to help you up but his grasp tightens and his lips curl. "You've grown up little bunny" he broke the thick silence in his scratchy and deep voice. Giving one more soul stealing stare and he let you go before you could reply. He sat on the couch, resuming his king like pose. He took a drag from his cigarette and sucked the smoke into his nose. Staring at you as he slowly let the smoke trickle out of his lips and nose. God did he know what he was doing? Fuck he was so hot you thought. You wanted to just climb on top of him and steal the smoke right out from his mouth. "So I've been told" you sneer back. "And you're sassy now too? Tsk tsk" he clicked jokingly. "So.." you ignore his quip. "When do I get this lesson of yours?" You ask earnestly. His eyebrow raises. Was that a serious question? He thought. The innocent and curious nature of your voice. He tried to ignore his pants becoming more uncomfortably tight again. He placed a guitar over his lap and strummed to hide anything. "I have a couple things I could teach you little bunny."

You wondered if his statement was two folded or if you were just imagining things. The conversation could have easily been interpreted as normal to an unsuspecting person. So your reply you camouflage in case his intention isn't what you thought. "I want to learn so many things. I'll be the best student. I promise" you say sweetly. That drives him crazy. This girl knows what she's doing doesn't she? He thought. He thinks on a reply before saying anything. Combing his mind to think what the next move is here. Calculating.

Everything else falls away and you deem it in this moment to finally have something YOU want for a change. No more expectations. If it fails it fails but it's not like you lose anything. It's not like anyone cares, let alone this massive superstar in front of you who can have anyone he wants.

Your need for his touch makes you brave and you trace your fingers over his as he plays. He doesn't stop at this though but glances at you. "I can be a real good student, Slash." You coo to him in exactly the right tone to drive him crazy. This now stops him. Hearing his name escape your perfect lips. He needs to have you. All to himself. As soon as possible. He traces his ring decorated fingers over yours on the neck of the guitar. You hover your face at the head of it. His fingers slowly snake up the neck. He takes a final pause before connecting with your skin once again. His thumb grazes your bottom lip. Goosebumps explode across your arms. The tip of his thumb dips into your mouth, he rests it atop your tongue. "Sweet girl" he whispers gravelly. He doesn't know your slit is wet with eagerness just as you don't know his cock is throbbing with excitement. He removes his thumb slowly from your mouth and grips your jaw with his robust hand. He pulls your face forward to him. "Do you want to be a good girl for me Y/N?" His hand tightly gripping your face. You ignited something inside him. You awoke something so primitive. He set his guitar aside and you quickly took its place on his lap. Your light warm weight resting on his crotch. You felt his bulge already at full extent. It felt good against your panties. You give it a slight grind as you secure yourself on top of his lap. He lets out a low sharp groan and gently throws his head back, leaving his thick neck open for the taking. You start peppering small kisses up his neck. His warm silver scruff brushes against your lips as his jaw clenches. You meet his ear.

"I want to be your good girl Slash." You whisper in his neck. You felt him throb underneath your wet panties.

He needs to fuck you. You were like a precious gem to be scrounged after. He wanted all of you. He needed to make you his. To own you entirely.

Climbing him like a jungle gym. He pulls you back with your hair in his fist. He grips your face again tighter this time and makes you look at him.

"Are you sure you want this?" He asks.

"Please" You cry.

-

You lock the door The air seems to leave the room. Is this really happening? What's happening? Does he just want to fool around? To kiss me? To fuck me? God I need him to fuck me. Your thoughts raced at the reality before you.

Suddenly his hands snake around your waist. His warmth flush against your back. You let out a small gasp of surprise and pleasure. His large hand grips your entire neck tilting it to the side. He sprinkles gentle kisses down your neck and you let out a sigh of pleasure. "I'm going to ruin you Y/N. You know that?" He cooed. "I'm going to make that pretty cunt of yours mine." He taunted. You let out a whimper.

I want to ravish her but at the same time I feel like I could break her in half at a single touch. He thought.

Fuck it. I need to have her."

You become blind with pleasure and melt into his arms. Still gripping your neck. He walks you both backward and falls back on the couch, towing you onto his lap. Still behind you, he fists your hair in his hand and the other travels down to your thighs. You get increasingly needy for more. You grind your ass on his lap. His ringed fingers tease up your inner thigh. "You ready to be a good little bunny for me?" He affirms one more time before letting himself go feral on your body.

"Please Slash"

"Please what baby? Use your words honey"

"Please fuck me. I need you. Please." You whine.

That was all the confirmation he needed. He just wanted to hear you say it again. Hearing you beg for him pushed him over the edge. He grips your hair tightly again. Ensuring your neck is wide open. He is suddenly completely animal. He dives into your neck and collar, this time his kisses are many and messy. He bites your neck. You whimper louder this time and he moans into your neck in reply. "That's its sweet girl. Let me hear that pretty little voice of yours" he pants

His fistful of your hair, guiding your neck open. His other hand slides up your skirt and finds your panties.

"My little bunny is already wet? That's a good girl." He praises into your ear from behind. You arch your hips into his hand. Needing more.

"Needy girl, aren't you?"

His hand moves from your hair to your breast. His large hand completely covering it. He gives it a strong squeeze and then slips it underneath your shirt and bra. You gasp as you feel his rough hand hold you. He loves the way your tits feel. Grinding your ass on his lap he begins rubbing circles on your panties. Right where it feels so good.

"I've wanted to do this since the minute you walked in tonight. In your tight little skirt. It drove me crazy." He whispers with hot breath on your ear. Still working his hands simultaneously on you. He shoves his hand into your panties and starts toying with your soaked cunt.

"So wet for me huh dollface?" He grins feeling his way through your warm folds. He hikes you up higher on himself and enters a finger inside you.

"Oh fuck Slash." You moan.

"Spread those pretty legs for me doll"

"This pretty pussy is mine now, you understand?" He growls in your ear. His hands so muscular and talented, he effortlessly slides in and out of your pussy while making perfect pinches on your nipple simultaneously. The years of guitar playing shining through his fingers. He plays you. His thrusts feel so fucking good inside you. You grind down on his fingers, he holds you tight in his arms like a wild animal trying to squirm. You grind your ass back on his cock, feeling his size through his jeans. He groans. "I need to see that pretty cunt". He exits you and places you on the couch facing outward and he kneels before you. He lays you back and grabs your legs and pulls you forward to his face. He carelessly flips your skirt up and hikes it over your hips, exposing your panties underneath.

"You don't need these anymore" he says. You raise your hips as he slides your panties down and off your legs. The cool air washes over your exposed bottom.

Now bare, he spreads your legs open wide and looks at your pussy as he prepares to dine on it like a wolf with fresh meat. "Such a pretty cunt" he gives it a slap and before you can fully react to the surprise or pain, his face disappears into your legs. His warm tongue glides right into your pussy.

"Oh fuck." You moan softly. You can't think straight. You lace your fingers into his thick curls.

Heavy rock muffles in the background but all you focus in on is the sounds of his lips on yours. He eats you like a savage. He looks up at you through dark eyes and flattens his whole tongue up your pussy in one long stroke.

"You taste so good baby."

You whimper. You need more. He looks at you with hooded dark eyes. He needed more.

He stands up and unbuckles his belt. You sit up on your knees and take over. Your hands stop his own and you look up at him. "Can I do it please?" You almost beg. He takes no time to think on that and allows you to continue. Your eyes line with his tanned happy trail peeking out from under his shirt. You dip your fingers into his waistline and feel a massive warm shaft. The other hand pulling down his waistline. You free his throbbing cock. It glistens along its thick veins. The girth is incredible. You waste no time and lick the pre cum off the tip. That send him into a craze. He tips his head back and groans loudly. "Fuck baby. Be a good girl for me." He commands. You take him in your mouth -or try to. He's so big but you manage to take it all in down to the back of your throat. You gag slightly on its size. He tastes so good. You Bob your head up and down. Swiping your tongue all over in a messy fashion. He fists your hair again and starts guiding your head on his hard cock. He lets out a deep hiss and pants faster.  You look up and see the muscles in his throat clenching. He looks down at you as he continues thrusting into you. "That's a good girl. That's such a good girl" he pants in disbelief and pleasure. Sweat beads down his face. Tears well in your eyes as you choke on his size. Giving a few last hard thrusts he slips himself out of your mouth and caresses your messy spit covered face. Looking at you on your knees if front of his cock, the hungry look on your face. It makes him throb. It's almost painful. "Lay down baby" he says. You obey and lay back vertically on the couch. He removes his pants and shirt, exposing a muscular yet softly toned and tan abdomen, decorated with a large tattoo across his stomach. He then leans over and removes your shirt and bra. All that remained was the small leather skirt riding up your waist more like a sash than a skirt now. He hovers over you, his necklaces hanging from him. He opens your legs and gives his cock and few pumps before teasing your soft wet entrance. "Look how sweet you look." He smirked devilishly. "Please fuck me slash" you beg. He grits his teeth out of pleasure to hear those words come from your mouth. Hours earlier this was nothing but a perverted fantasy in his mind. But now he had you, naked underneath him. Ready for his cock. He leaned down to your face and gripped it once more. His hand on your face, he licked your breasts briefly. You try to tip your head back but he forces it forward. " Look right at me honey. Right here. Let me see that pretty face as I fuck you. Are you ready? You're so ready." He grumbles out. He smiles at you, a painful grip on your face, forcing you to look straight at him. His tip brushes the leaking wetness from your pussy all around like a paintbrush. And then slowly he slides his cock in.

You want to squint your eyes shut in pleasure, he gives your head a firm shake to remind you to look at him "I know baby I know." He growls. He himself tries to control his voice through his own searing pleasure. You whimper loudly

"Oh fuck Slash oh my god" You sharply inhale and whine out.

"That's it little bunny, let me hear your pretty voice".

He coos as he begins thrusting in and out of your wet hole. His grunts vibrate your body. His thrusts rock your body like ocean waves. He begins a faster rhythm almost If only to watch your breasts sway up and down with each thrust. His stance towering over you.

You continue letting out moans. Your moans are like honey to him. Weakening his limits with each sweet cry out.

"Oh that's a good girl taking my cock." He coos again.

"Slash I can't-" words fail you. You begin feeling a familiar tenseness overtake your body. 

"Is my pretty girl going to cum out of her pretty cunt?" He teases.

His rhythm increases. His rough skin slapping agains your soft supple skin. Sweat drips down his tanned abdomen. The power of each thrust inside of you increasing.

He feels your wet walls tightening around his cock. Looking down at you getting fucked by him- he was close too.

"Slash I'm-" you moan

"Be a good girl and cum for me doll-face. Look at me, look at me."

"That's it, you can do it" he encourages before tipping over his own edge. His grunts louder and more animal. His chains sway above you. He slaps against you. His brow furrows and his sweaty curls drape along his face as he pants like a dog in heat.

The bittersweet finale of stars bursts throughout your body. Your pussy tightens over his cock once more in ecstasy.

"Oh that's such a good girl" he grunts as he also reaches his breaking point. He releases hot white spurts inside of your quivering cunt.

A loud grunt leaves his throat. His large cock twitches inside you, finishing you off with pure pleasure. He smiles still thrusting inside you. Shoving his cum deeper inside

"That's a good girl, take it. Take it all." he whispers

The wetness leaks out of you as he pulls out. You both panting for air.

"God you're beautiful. You're perfect" He says breathlessly. He looks at his disheveled masterpiece below him. Completely braindead fucked. You blush hard. A shyness making its way back to your senses. He continues eyeing you. He softens his hand on your face, thumbing your cheek gently.

He protectively dotes on you as he helps re dress you again. Taking pride in taking care of you like this. You feel satisfied yet silly. You blush as he finishes and smooths him hand down your hair. "I own you." He whispers.

To him. The most beautiful girl was now his and his alone. He felt prideful and protective of his girl. He didn't want anyone else here to even glance at you. You were too sweet and kind for a place like this. Parts of him questioned his own morality for corrupting something so delicate. But he was too far gone.

He had unlocked the door with luckily no one having tried to find them in the past hour. In precise timing, axl drunkenly stumbled through the studio door. "Studying guiar at a time like this?" He slurred.

"Careful now girlie or you'll end up the teachers pet."

"Alright fuck off" Slash Ushered him out the door and closed it. He locked it again.

You sat embarrassed on the couch and he sat next to you.

"You are a little teachers pet aren't you?" He smirked.

[gddancefloor]

kasane teto headcanons since i have a very specific portrayal of her

for context, chimera (in the way im going for here) are a type of japanese demons that take a form similar to humans (with the exception of wings and a tail) and are known for their mischeviousness. teto is part chimera from her father's side.

teto x miku is used in here, and ted and teto are siblings, ted being the older one by 6 years.

Text HCs below the cut [warning, long!]:

UTAU Teto (15):

Sapphic. Likes girls. A lot.

She was a kid with an attitude and never smiled in photos if she was asked to, only if she wanted to. She also usually can’t look straight into a camera and looks away.

Teto developed a crush on Miku when she quietly sang for her for the first time, and was completely mesmerized by her voice. Miku was her inspiration to pursue singing.

Speaks English very, very badly and has an extremely strong Japanese accent. She usually has Miku translate things for her, but not even Miku is that great either.

Has a bit of a “chubby”/round face. Didn’t grow out of her baby-face.

Her hair naturally curled into a drill-like shape once she put her hair into ponytails, and now she chooses to exaggerate their shape by using a curling iron.

Despite not liking stereotypical pop music, she secretly likes girls who listen to it as she is into girly girls. (ahem, miku)

She doesn’t like to have her hair down, she’s embarrassed by how she looks with it and was forced by her parents to wear it down as a kid. 

Cusses a lot when comfortable to. She is often horrible with manners and being “proper”, unless in a traditional Japanese setting. Otherwise, she gives zero fucks.

She has one of the most impressive singing voices and very beautiful control over her pitch, but doesn't like to sing in front of people due to stage fright.

Avoids eye contact. A LOT.

Her birth certificate lists “Chimera” as a sex by mistake from the issuer, and she is actually female. She sometimes identifies with it to mess with people and make them confused/frustrated.

As full chimeras age slower, Teto is often called a “31 year-old” despite being alive only 15 years. This is not true, as she ages normally due to being half human, and mistaking her to be older makes her angry. Unfortunately, she’s often called 31, or a “held back student” by her classmates.

She camouflages her tail as a belt, but it is very much so a real tail. She hates it being touched. In general, Teto hides any of her chimera features as much as possible in fear of being seen as a monster. If comfortable, or angry enough, they tend to come out on accident.

Miku is the only outsider that has ever seen Teto's chimera form because she trusts her. (Miku thought her wings were the coolest thing ever!)

She believes she's extremely unlucky, considering she was born on April Fool's Day, and has had nothing really go right in her life, especially in regards to bullying as a kid.

Definitely has sharp teeth. Gotta tear into that bread somehow!

Used to pull on Ted's hair and scream at him when she was a kid. To this day, she doesn't know why. He has nicknamed her "demon" for a while because of this.

Ted is quite overprotective of Teto and encouraged her to try her best to sing, even if Teto's singing was... quite bad as a kid.

She and Miku split up when they were kids due to a major argument and didn't speak again until Teto saw Miku on social media performing on stage. This is what drove Teto to become an "Online Idol" on niconico to regain the attention of her and hopefully get back in contact with her. It was just Teto made it very obvious she was being a Miku ripoff (hence the outfit).

Family doesn't like singers. They encourage every member of the Kasane family to pursue an instrumentalist career, but they never made it big, and so they had to resort to the "shameful" career of making ramen. Teto is the only successful musician AND singer in the family.

Synthesizer V Teto (late 20s):

MUCH more mature. Rarely curses, and tries to stay mannerable and quiet. She also has better control of her chimera form.

Doesn't mean she won't be bratty or snooty at times. That's just Teto naturally.

Hair reddened with age as any older Teto iterations prior to SV had her with pink hair. It's a chimera trait to have red hair and red eyes.

Is the one that handles all of Miku's (30-ish, NT) events and concerts, and likes to make sure that she's not overworking herself.

Now underneath a professional talent agency, Teto left behind her "copping Miku's style" thing behind and now dresses in something more like her style. She likes the military-chic look a lot.

Her and Miku don't get much time to hang out anymore, but they still keep in contact despite their hectic music careers.

Her and Miku are a married couple. You know how celebrity marriages are, except this one has no drama and they aren't public about it.

Teto's English is much better now and she can hold a conversation. Her accent is still quite thick though.

Just an older, more mature version of UTAU Teto. (I'll make a seperate post for her because this is getting LONG.)

I'll probably edit this a lot — it was copy-pasted from a google doc. Bear with any mistakes!!

[bisnes-socks]

confession: menestynyt yksilö was never a personal favourite of mine from käärijä. but when @lhma asked me if i wanted to write about it, and i started looking into it, i found some new aspects of the song myself.

the song is of course about feeling like failure when things don't work out the way you planned, the way you dreamed. there are many very direct references to this in the song, and as i'm not in the habit of posting full song translations, i won't be going through all of them.

but i had noticed the references to famous finnish songs and artists before, but this time they got me thinking. three references to three very well known finnish songs, two in the first verse and one in the second verse.. well he could have referenced anything at all, to make a point about success, but he referenced these songs, and he talked about these specific things in the song, so let's look at them.

the track begins with a reference to Haaveet kaatuu, which is a song by a finnish artist Jore Marjaranta. it was featured on the soundtrack of the movie Pahat pojat. The song is about life taking you down a dark path you didn't want or expect, and your dreams coming crashing down as a result. this was a massive hit in 2003 and that is why i do think he is referencing the song here, even though i guess it would be possible to just use the same expression. but i do think it is a reference to the song, every finnish person who was alive back in 2003 knows the song and could sing the chorus, and be reminded of it just hearing those two words.

then we get "kulkuri laulava, kullankimalluksesta kaukana, ei pahemmin naurata". this is most likely a reference to a song called naurava kulkuri, by jere's known idol, vesa-matti loiri. it's a comedy song; loiri plays a character, who is trying to demonstrate how to laugh authentically in a song. he spends the vast majority of the actual song just laughing in increasingly ridiculous ways. 

so "naurava kulkuri" means the laughing tramp/vagrant/vagabond. in menestynyt yksilö käärijä raps "a singing tramp, far from the glitter of gold, not much to laugh about". the way i interpret this line is multifaceted. calling himself the "singing tramp" when the loiri song is the laughing tramp, it's like.. he aims for the grateness of loiri, but doesn't think he can ever make it there. it's almost like he is a bit hard on himself for lacking originality but still not reaching the same heights? but then he also says that there's not much to laugh about, being a "singing tramp" far from the glitter of gold, which not only is clever word play on the laughing tramp but also saying he's maybe trying it hard to justify his music career when it feels like it's going absolutely nowhere, and so a singing tramp is far from where he feels like he should be.

and then in the second verse, we get "kela sanoi, meistä tuli muurareita, taksikuskeja, suutareita" which is a reference to the song 1972 by Anssi Kela, which also came out in 2003. the song basically details a school renuion by the singer both describing his old school friends now as adults and both as who and how they were back then. with this line, and the next "mut osast meistä tuli pelkkii tunareita, turhakkeita joilla vesi tulee läpi kumppareista" he is both comparing himself to his old class mates who are doing better than him, but also, i feel, comparing himself to anssi kela, who became what käärijä wanted to be: a successful artist.

for context: Anssi Kela was massive 20 years ago and still a very successful and well respected musician to this day. his debut album Nummela, was the best selling album of the 2000's, dethroned only in 2012. that album is still to this day the 13th best selling finnish album of ALL time. and vesa-matti loiri was a legend, an actor and singer, known for a massive range of skills and for being just an all round icon. one of those legends you can't really even begin to explain to someone who hasn't lived in the culture, you know? so the references in this song are truly to cultural giants.

so the clear cut references he makes about success and failure are fairly obvious: he talks about dreaming of having a family and a home, dreaming of opening his own bar or something, just succeeding in things, and he talks about the flip side of it, the failure side of it all being having no money and trying to drink the negative feelings away but only making it worse. but then these references to musicians, i feel like they're not accidents. he could have referenced any celebrities as examples of success, but he chose these references. and knowing how loiri was an idol to him, i think all three references mean something to him on a personal level too. these are the success stories he dreamed of, even if he isn't saying it out loud as clearly as the things i listed before.

the song sounds and has the vibe of a very honest song to me. so even if not everything in it is meant to be taken literally, the honesty comes from the relatability of it all. the sentiments in it are very recognisable. and honestly, maybe that's one of the reasons this was never a favourite of mine - because sometimes it feels like it hits almost a little too close to home, a bit too close for me to want to deal with, haha. but that's for me to figure out on the pages of my diary i guess.

but thank you for this request! it sent me down the rabbit hole of finnish music and references to finnish music in käärijä songs, which in turn turned into a massive project that i am going to post soon, so stay tuned if this was at all interesting to you!

[polaroid-petals]

Meet the characters: Stray

A comment asked for some more details about the Stray cast, more specifically the dynamics between Rowan, Flower, and Basil—and since I had fun typing that up, I decided to make a character guide for the most prominent Stray characters. Also on AO3.

Last updated 16 February 2025.

Main characters

💻 Omori Hirano

Born on the 20th of July 1996 – 21 years old

An outsider wouldn’t know who Omori is. After all, why would a family of renowned musicians have a talentless shut-in child they don’t acknowledge in public, and why would the Hiranos pass up on another potential prodigy? Only a conspiracy theorist would argue his existence.

Born as the twin to Sunny and the little brother of Mari, the twins’ arrival was a blessing to the Hirano family. While his parents, Heather and Ukon, stood at the cradle of what would become a successful musical career, they agreed that their children should be free to pursue whichever path they wish, be it music or something else. 

Still, Omori grew up with music as a central part of his life, and like his sister with the piano and his brother with the violin, he picked up playing the cello and several other instruments when he was just five. Omori learned quickly, faster than his siblings, and was soon branded with the label prodigy. He took comfort in his twin, as they were both silent, unusual children, and his relationship with his siblings was an important part of his childhood as he navigated his shy and quiet personality.

Omori never liked the unfamiliar, but his parents’ career continuously took him there. Shortly before his tenth birthday, they moved to Oregon—far away from home, and into a strange environment—to pursue music. With his progress came expectations, and with that, questions. Am I ready to stand in front of a crowd of people to show what I can do? Is this what I want to do with life? Who am I? Do I have a choice?

Although Mari had been strict with Sunny, she’d let Omori loose after seeing how much her perfectionism harmed her brothers—and as a result, Omori didn’t practice as much as would’ve been ideal for his development. His musical career would come to a screeching halt when, as a part of his debut to the world when he was ten, he’d be set to play a solo piece at one of his parents’ concerts. Mari and Sunny already nailed theirs, but something was wrong the day Omori was to play. His cello felt too large. His hands didn’t feel like they were his. He hadn’t eaten well, his head hurt, his legs were weak. He wasn’t ready.

The concert would ultimately lead to Omori seeking permanent refuge in their house in the woods, afraid to be seen by the prying eyes of the world and desiring to just be forgotten so that he, too, could forget about what happened. To this day, he still refuses to leave, unless under very specific circumstances.

Omori can at worst be described as an antisocial jerk who needs to pull that stick out of his ass already, though a more charitable interpretation would paint him as a tired boy whose childhood passed him by and who now lacks the means to save himself. There is little doubt that he’s selfish and struggles to factor others into his life. He has since grown to despise Sunny, blaming him for reaping success while all Omori got was trauma, and Mari is the only family member he has a good relationship with, though he wonders how long this will last. He’s not happy with the person he has become, but he feels like too much of a sad sack of shit to do anything about it.

Throughout his isolation, things initially looked hopeless. While homeschooled in theory, he mostly stayed inside and rotted behind his laptop. Still, by some miracle, he met one of Sunny’s friends when he was twelve. Some angry prick named Rowan. Big anger issues. Red flags even to Omori. Hated the guy, until he learned that he was also born a girl and seeking to be accepted as a guy. 

Rowan changed everything. Omori had just faced two years of being by his lonesome, yet this Rowan felt like he belonged in Omori’s life. They became friends, and although Omori had grown to hate music, Rowan would introduce him to new genres so far removed from the classical music that filled his life at home that if you were to catch him during a vulnerable moment, Omori might even admit that he loves this new music. They would enjoy alternative rock and metal together, though any genre that goes hard is fine. The more chaotic, the better.

The first time Omori left the house again during the night was to join Rowan to his home. The first and only time Omori left the house again during the day was to be there when Rowan woke up from his top surgery, though this event sits repressed in his mind. Rowan could move mountains, and Rowan could mean the world to Omori. Rowan invited Omori to his band and allowed him to create again. Rowan could make Omori accept that he might love again, and when Omori was sixteen, they would even start a romantic relationship. Rowan could do anything to Omori.

What Rowan can’t do is get Omori back out of the house.

Both Rowan and Mari have made many attempts, but it’s starting to look like it’s hopeless. Every step forward, Omori darts backwards two steps to stay within the cover of his home. No one can address the fundament of his agoraphobia, and he has thus far resisted all attempts at professional intervention.

No one can save Omori, and he doesn’t want to be saved. It would be better to just die, but he lacks the energy and drive to do it.

Because of his lifestyle choices, Omori never finished elementary and high school. He’s officially homeschooled, but he never ended up actually learning much, instead keeping himself busy as his parents weren’t exactly available. As such, he has learned to keep his empty mind semi-engaged, mostly filling his time with video games, drawing, and picking fights with people online. He doesn’t have any prospects of finishing his education or pursuing anything, as he has no clue who he is or what his role in society would even be.

He has developed at least some interests, despite everything. He loves trash metal and noise music, and he loves the music Rowan has brought into his life. He likes roaming around the internet doing nothing. He’s learning Japanese and hasn’t missed a single daily Duolingo lesson in over five hundred days. He likes to watch the stars from by the pool, and he likes space. Sometimes, he still draws, and he’s gotten into coding lately. But in the end, absolutely none of that changes anything.

Though he wants to get better, he has very little drive to do so. He’s deep into depression, and his motives are lower than ever. Constantly pulling Rowan closer only to push him away has become second nature. Deep down, he’s scared that Rowan will give up on him, and Omori needs to test these waters to feel briefly secure. Frustrations with Rowan have recently caused him to break things off abruptly, this contention the only way he can feel anything anymore.

No professional diagnosis has been made as the idea of meeting strangers sends him panicking. Were he to see a therapist, evidence would be more than sufficient to diagnose him with agoraphobia, depression, a cluster B diagnosis, more specifically something along the lines of borderline personality disorder, and a cluster C diagnosis, somewhere in the area of avoidant personality disorder. While this helps him understand Rowan’s specific anger disorder better, it also is an intensifier of their fights, and Omori’s attitude ultimately leads to an unhealthy, unsustainable relationship.

So what’s left then, really? Unless an earth-shattering event takes place in his life and scrambles his psyche into something workable, what chance does he stand?

🧩 Rowan Dorian Finley

Born in 1994 – 23 years old

At first sight, Rowan may seem like a handsome, well-mannered, and charming young man who has his life together. Those who know him more intimately understand that it cost him blood, sweat, and tears to get to where he is today.

Born to a Scottish mother, Rowan spent the first thirteen years of his life with her as his single mom. Growing up, he fell victim to extreme anger issues stemming from an unstable home and his sense of helpless directionlessness in life. He suffered from critically low weight due to an emerging eating disorder, not like he cared. The two often fought, and Rowan ended up learning about the identity of his father. He could leave for all she cared, and since Rowan had zero ties to his home country due to his inability to make friends, he ended up meeting his biological father, Olivier Moore, and his wife Camellia. 

Rowan’s existence was a tough to swallow pill. Camellia knew that her husband had cheated after the birth of their son, but she didn’t know it had happened before too. How many more times had it happened? Still, the two had compassion for this teen who travelled across the ocean to come see them and who begged them to let him stay, so Rowan ended up being dropped off at their two other sons, who stayed with Olivier’s mother at the time. Rowan was well aware that he was once again being a problem child pawned off to someone else, but he was eager to meet the rest of his family.

Although he was dropped between two apparent brothers he didn't even know existed before he arrived, they were the nicest brothers he could ask for. He quickly got accepted and bonded with them, and they became as inseparable as they might’ve been had they been together since birth. Rowan would go on to become fiercely protective of them. At the time, he was in denial that he had any responsibility for his issues and angry at the entire world, and he hid his problems from these new people he respected. He couldn’t keep them hidden forever, though, and would eventually struggle with harming people he didn’t want to hurt.

Then, he met Omori. So similar to him, it’s almost terrifying. Just as angry at the world as Rowan, but actually committed to shutting it out, and initially even rejecting Rowan as part of that world. Wearing the same dishevelled look as Rowan, though Rowan went all-in on the black clothes, hair dye, and washed-out eyeliner. Somehow, Rowan got a place in Omori’s life, and the two became tight friends, pulling each other deeper into pessimistic subculture. He was also the one who convinced Rowan to fully pursue living his life as a man and seeking transition.

Rowan faced a balancing act between his brothers’ constructive efforts to find him help and Omori’s lack of care for anything. In the end, improvement ended up winning, and Rowan finally got the professional help he needed when he was sixteen, missing the final years of his high school education to get ambulant care and therapy. He started taking care of his appearance, he got medicated and learned how to handle his anger, and he became a generally pleasant person to be around. As Rowan got better and Omori did not, he could feel them growing apart.

After a few years of effort and classes taken independently, Rowan goes on to get his high school degree at age 21. His life’s stable, his weight is under control, his transition is going swimmingly, he’s happy with Omori, and he starts his college degree for pharmaceutical technician the same year. And things will keep going well, until changes in Omori’s behaviour destabilise Rowan and he falls back into his old habits of undereating.

🦌 Florence “Flower” Delaney

Born in 1999 – 18 years old

It’s easy to underestimate Florence when everything about his appearance invokes the word “meek”, but if one were to get to know him, they’d find that between his brimming positivity and altruistic spirit, there sits a core of unwavering strength.

Born to a Canadian mother, Florence is the youngest of the three known sons of Olivier Moore, and one of his two extramarital children. While he was born to a kind mother, she wasn’t ready at the time to have a baby and chased Olivier down to step up as the child’s father. 

Florence initially grew up being raised by his father and his wife, Camellia, having no ties to his biological mother. Growing up, he always had strong ties to his half-brother Basil, and they have long been emotionally tight. Florence and Basil both went through the same cycles of parental abandonment, as their non-committal parents would eventually leave them at their grandma’s for extended periods of time, leaving them with only each other as the constant factor in their lives. Florence in a way feels responsible for their parents leaving, as he was the cheat baby, and he was probably what made his parents decide to take their distance from their children in an effort to mend their broken relationship. Despite the guilt, he learned to value voluntary bonds over familial ties, and the fact that both Basil and Rowan chose to stay with him gives him the strength he needs to stay hopeful.

When Rowan joined the family when Florence was only eight, he was quick to accept him as his brother and over the years became just as tight with him as he is with Basil. Florence went through the opposite journey compared to Rowan; as a teenager, he craved reconnection with his biological mother, and he ended up meeting her. Now, he still visits over the holidays, and they share a positive relationship.

People assume that based on his appearance and stature, he must be weak, and Rowan is immensely protective over him—but in his spare time, he commits hard labour working with wild animals, and he has slowly been working his way up to becoming a champion in his featherweight youth boxing class. He’s the type of friend to wrestle a bear to save you. Diligent and sometimes a little unhinged, Florence is fiercely protective of his friends and will do anything he can to support them. He has friends of his own in the animal care field, but he’s been known to roam around Basil’s friends and even potentially had (has?) something going on with Aubrey. While initially not that close to Omori, he stuck around Rowan enough to get a little place in Omori’s claustrophobic world and be considered one of his few safe people.

He finished high school this year and is embarking on his veterinary studies when the summer vacation ends so that he can more effectively work at wildlife shelters, and ultimately wishes to become a Yellowstone veterinary park ranger.

🌘 Stranger

<distressed whines>

An enigma. Perhaps getting to know the creature better will clear up some mysteries.

Artwork by @atempause-art.

🐈‍⬛ Mewo

Estimated to be born in 2006 – 11 years old

Lazy and mischievous, Mewo is the Hirano housecat.

Sunny and Omori initially found Mewo in the woods surrounding their new Oregon home while exploring beyond the property’s fence. She was a kitten of several months old, emaciated and barely hanging on by a thread. The boys took the kitten inside, and she was quickly taken to the vet, making a full recovery.

Mari ended up getting ownership after she’d wanted a cat for ages and the boys decided to give Mewo to their big sister, and she named her Mewo. After her brush with an early demise, Mewo lets herself be spoiled by her new owners, growing attached and fat and happy. She absolutely loves to laze around and cuddle in her owners’ laps, but she’d chase down a cougar to keep her beloved humans safe and alive. Even when she can’t win the fight.

Mewo’s breed never got determined. She is a black cat, and that’s about it. She’s most likely a bombay, though the thickness of her fur and her stature hint that the maine coon tomcat sometimes seen in the backyard may be her father.

Sunny, Mari, their parents, Basil, Aubrey, Hero, and Kel's info can be found below the cut to keep this post shorter.

Supporting characters

🎻 Sunny Hirano

Born on the 20th of July 1996 – 21 years old

Prodigal son and skilful violinist, Sunny isn’t so sure if this life that was chosen for him truly fits him. After so many years, does he really have a choice anymore?

Sunny is Omori’s twin brother and Mari’s little brother, born to Heather and Ukon Hirano. Growing up, he had a tight bond with his twin brother and with Mari, though both would go on to become tainted. 

Like his siblings, he picked up an instrument when he was five, in his case the violin. While he struggled with this immensely, he steadily improved with plenty of practice. Though close with both of his siblings, the presence of music proved to be a point of immense stress in his life, and in his relationship with his family. After Mari was asked by her parents to help tutor Sunny to catch up, he was pushed too far, and the two ended up having a fight that was only broken up because Omori intervened. With Omori’s encouragement and Mari stepping back, Sunny managed to successfully perform his debut to the musical world, though it planted anxiety within his heart that would go on to pervade the rest of his career.

After moving to Oregon, he met new people through school and made his first friends: Basil, Kel, and Aubrey. Though he was often busy practicing, they were the first people in a long time who allowed him to be a kid, and they would go on to become life-long friends. They accepted his silence and awkward shyness, and they understood that despite these traits, he still craved to be social. He’d introduce his friends to his family, and when he was seventeen, feelings that had been growing for a long time finally germinated into a romantic relationship with Basil.

It’s no lie that Sunny is a musical wonder, weaving touching melodies through the strings of his violin. Still, his interests lie elsewhere. He has always been a creative soul, and he spends a lot of his time daydreaming and escaping from this world into one where his brother didn’t turn against him and he is free to write and draw for a living.

He has never understood why Omori went from being his best friend to hating him. Why he got blamed for Omori’s bad performance, and why that caused his brother to turn against him. Sunny only encouraged him to stay strong and step on that stage, the way Omori did to Sunny once and that saved Sunny from going down. It’s never been fair, but when Omori doesn’t even want to talk about it, he has given up on having a positive relationship with him at all and focuses his energy on his friends and other family these days.

Sunny didn’t pursue higher studies due to how busy practice is, but like Mari, he may join the conservatory to finetune his skills and further his education. He’d rather stay home and be with his friends, and he doesn’t look forward to the near future.

🎹 Mari Hirano

Born on the 1st of March 1993 – 24 years old

Prodigal daughter and master of the piano, Mari wishes that she didn’t struggle so badly with perfection and she could instead help. Between family tensions, a depressed brother who won’t leave the house, and tight deadlines, she holds her head high and keeps her own troubles under wraps as well as one possibly could.

Eldest Hirano sibling, Mari grew up with music and standards imposed upon her by her parents. By no means was she forced to do anything, but that push to play music was all there. And when she became the big sister to a pair of twins, she immediately picked up her role as these tots’ guiding figure, making sure she’d be the best big sister she could.

If you were to ask her what her greatest regret in life is, she’d answer not being a good big sister to her brothers.

Despite her insistence upon doing anything she could to keep her beloved baby brother safe, she struggled with her own demons. She learned to play the piano at four, and she improved at a rate so rapid that every mistake she made came with anxiety. She had to do better, and it caused her a fair share of frustration that she couldn’t be. Once it was her brothers’ turn to learn, she’d do whatever she could to help them do the best they could.

She pushed Sunny too far. He couldn’t take it. Snapped one evening, when he was practicing for his debut, and the only reason that it didn’t escalate to a full-blown shouting match is that Omori intervened and stood up for his twin. Now facing not one but two strained sibling relations, Mari made the choice to let loose, shocked by the sheer distress she’d seen in Sunny’s eyes, the fear Omori had held for his siblings. And as a result, she didn’t properly guide Omori and he ended up locking himself inside the house for good.

Mari carries tremendous guilt on her shoulders for ruining her brothers’ lives, and she has no idea how she can help them out of this unfortunate situation.

Above all, Mari is kind and compassionate. She’s a bubbly and sweet girl with quite the bit of sass, liked by all and a central figure in the friend group. She hides her insecurities well, only revealing them to Hero occasionally but otherwise not wanting to saddle him with her troubles. Even when the two started dating at fourteen, she’d kept to herself and put up that act of the sweet, careless girl, despite knowing that Hero can look straight through her.

It’s her ultimate dream to stand on a stage alone and mesmerise thousands, but she knows she has a long way to go before she’s ready for this. With her conservatory studies finished, she should be prepared, but there are too many imperfections. Too many blemishes. And to juggle her own issues with those of her family, she’s not so sure she can keep her head above the water.

Ideally, no one will ever know.

🎼 Heather and Ukon Hirano

In their early 40s

As the Hirano matriarch and patriarch, Heather and Ukon form the centre of the success that the family has faced in the musical world over the past years.

String specialist Ukon and esteemed conductor Heather were a match made in heaven. Not only did their personalities mesh together well, but they also had a strong overlap of interests that ultimately pushed them together. Heather possessed mastery over an impressive amount of instruments, from strings to the piano all the way to percussion, and proved to be a strong leader that Ukon needed to further his own career. 

They’d go on to have their first child in 1993, temporarily putting their career on hold, and once more have twins in 1996. They never pushed their children to follow in their footsteps, but were overjoyed when they did anyway and each successfully picked up an instrument. While they’d keep their career central, they enjoyed the prospect of one day getting to become a proper musical quintet. 

Things didn’t go to plan. Omori would leave the musical scene after a bad debut—and worse, he’d refuse to go to school and leave the house anymore, forcing Heather and Ukon to pull him out of school eventually. Rather than focus on the negative, the pair decided to focus on the two remaining children who were still poised to pursue music while seeking appropriate help for the third. Eventually, Omori would fade from the media, and they’d use that to their advantage to hide this blemish on their family record.

In the end, someone who doesn’t want to be helped can’t be helped. Years of focusing on their career have exposed that perhaps, they could’ve done more to prevent this fate for their youngest.

Minor characters

🌿 Basil Moore

Born on the 18th of February 1996 – 21 years old

Initially a soft and sassy flower boy, Basil has had his fair share of abandonment from his parents’ side and troubles with his mental health. Still, his friends’ support system and his brothers’ care have helped him stay afloat and develop into the person he yearns to be.

Of the three sons, Basil is the only one whose parents were married as of his conception. That didn’t exactly lead to them favouring him, though. He learned that his brother Florence was from another mother pretty early on, and he always felt weird about his parents’ absence. Still, that didn’t stop him from loving Florence and later Rowan all the same.

Basil initially struggled with making friends, so when he met Aubrey and she introduced him to Kel, that changed everything for him. He had a relatively simple childhood, being an open and sassy child despite the anxiety that loomed under the surface due to his parents’ absence in his life. His good relationship with his brothers and grandma kept him from tanking. On top of that, his friend group always formed a strong support system, and at seventeen, he started a relationship with a newer member of the friend group, Sunny, which offered him extra support while at the same time dragging him deeper into the Hirano family tragedy. He started dating Sunny after Rowan started dating Omori, so Rowan and Omori call dibs on the marriage rights. He’s not worried.

Shortly after his 18th birthday, he started struggling with his senses and his grip on reality. He ended up getting a diagnosis of schizophrenia and a generalised anxiety disorder. While initially terrifying, both his brothers and his friends did everything in their power to get him the support he needed, and with the correct connections, he ended up medicated and relatively under control with the use of therapy.

These days, Basil is on the stable side, though his anxiety and his abandonment issues have a tendency to flare up at random. He has eased into his studies and is in his second year of biology in college.

🎀 Aubrey Avery

Born on the 23rd of May 1996 – 21 years old

A headstrong girl with a bubbly personality, Aubrey has managed to turn a bad family situation around by relying on her friends to improve her life.

Aubrey comes from a dysfunctional home. With a mother who’s long suffered from addiction and an absent father, she didn’t get much support from home. She’d meet a boy named Kel who stood up for her after seeing her getting bullied, and later a boy named Basil whom she’d seen sitting alone at the playground, and those two would quickly become her entire world. Kel’s older brother Hero would take care of her, and when Sunny and Mari moved into town, they quickly became ingrained in the friend group and formed yet another new home for Aubrey in the absence of a real home. She also built a strong relationship with Basil’s brothers, in particular Florence, with whom she shared a love for martial arts, fitness, and bunnies. She’s barely ever seen Sunny’s twin, so she can’t form an opinion on him, although Florence claims he’s great.

She didn’t stay at home for much longer after she turned eighteen. With the help of her friends, she managed to find herself a place to stay during the holidays, studying veterinary sciences during the year. She and Florence hope to become veterinary partners, though she’ll finish her studies before Florence will.

🍳 Henry “Hero” Montoya

Born on the 1st of January 1993 – 24 years old

Once destined for greatness as a physician, Hero in later years would end up picking what he wants over what his family wants and has found his footing in life.

Henry is the eldest child of the Montoya family. He grew up close with his younger brother Kel, though he was always the golden child, bringing with it benefits and detriments. His parents had high hopes for him over his intelligence, and they pushed him into becoming a doctor.

One day, when Hero was twelve, Kel would meet someone new at school. A boy from down south who’d just moved here. Hero would end up meeting the rest of his family and falling for the older sister, Mari, a girl from the same year as him whom he’d simply never met at high school before. The two would go on to start dating when Hero was fourteen, and they still are going strong, now engaged but waiting for the right moment to be wedded.

Initially, Hero started premed by his parents’ request. However, as Mari urged him to follow his heart and do what he desires, he gave it all up a year ago to go to culinary school instead. It was a blow to his relationship with his parents, but he’s ultimately happier this way, and he wouldn’t hesitate for a second to start out as a chef fresh out of high school if he could do it all over again.

He never finished his studies as a doctor, but he has gained enough preliminary knowledge on the subjects of physical and mental health to at least offer some solid advice.

🏀 Kel Montoya

Born on the 11th of November 1995 – 21 years old

Always the underdog of the family, Kel found success in sports and aims to further his athletic career.

Kel was the second Montoya child, little brother to Hero. Growing up, the two were close, though Kel wasn’t blind to his parents’ favoritism of his older brother. Still, he managed to smile through it and built himself quite the expansive friend group—both with his best friends Basil, Aubrey, and Sunny and with his mates from his sports clubs.

After high school, he ended up pursuing sports, signing a deal with a promising basketball club.

[pango-doots]

Y'know looking back on my time in the NSR fandom it's weird how victimized people tend to make the NSR elites, which I really don't think is warranted beyond Sayu's team and Yinu who are MINORS that were employed into a fascist government system under the guise of success. Yes, NSR was a fascist government, or at the very least an authoritarian hand over a dystopian society.

Even if its general tone is light-hearted and silly, the game tackles themes of propaganda, scapegoating, wealth inequality and planned obsolescence, environmental destruction, media control, saving face for tourists, authoritative voting and more, yet most of them aren't the player's main gameplay focus; a lot of lore and context clues are in the background like the town's layout, interacting with certain objects and talking to NPCs. But those themes are a core message of the game and by only treating the members of NSR as regular old musicians you take out all the nuance.

(Plenty more under the cut. TL;DR: No Straight Roads is a relevantly socio-political game and I wish fans would utilize that side of the characters more)

Both halves of the "music war" as I'm gonna call it for lack of an official term had their faults, and I do like that there is no 100% right or wrong side; no straight road, if you will. BUT ALSO. BBJ realized the entire city was suffering in some way under NSR's leadership and had nothing to lose by challenging the status quo (they literally live in a fucking sewer, I'd be full of rage too). They didn't benefit from initial fame, wealth, or military protection like NSR did; not to mention they were also egged on and decieved by one of their closest allies. When voices don't work ala DK West's attempt, then you turn to action. Action can include smacking the shit out of government officials, as a treat (I enjoyed every second trying to get an S rank in Supernova's level <3)

On that note, the woobification is ESPECIALLY bad with DJSS, Neon J and 1010. I love the silly object heads and smexy robots as much as anyone else but they are specifically meant to be critiques of self-absorbed billionaires (sorry to tell DJSS fans this but he's supposed to be Elon-Musk-adjacent) and the k-pop industry with its military involvement, plus the use of militial force to keep rowdy citizens in line. I'm begging people to PLEASE handle them with more care.

Thankfully, it's clear that NSR reduces its chokehold by the end of the game and all the artists put in a lot of work to improve thanks to BBJ's push. Whether the game's writers made that decision to appeal to their own government's approval or was a genuine end to the story, I like that Tatiana has a moment of reflection and does a complete 180 to make the city better in the end (beyond the threat of the city being destroyed ofc). Even if it's unrealistic, it's a hopeful message and shows that anyone can be corrupted by the right circumstances.

Just PLEASE don't forget the characters' actions and choices along the way for the sake of ship fics and cute art. There's a lot of complexity and angst you can add to the characters with that authoritarian history!

[aziraphales-library]

Heya!

I've read a LOT of GO fics in my time, but I can't remember if I've seen crossovers/AUs of the following movies with Aziraphale/Crowley, can you help please?

So my favourite rom coms of all time are the following, and I'd love GO versions (if they don't exist I may have to write them)!

French Kiss (Meg Ryan and Kevin Kline)

You've Got Mail (Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks)

When Harry Met Sally (Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal)

Runaway Bride (Julia Roberts and Richard Gere)

Never Been Kissed (Drew Barrymore)

I won't bother asking about Pretty Woman because I've read so many versions with either of them in either role lmaooo (and I have loved Every. Single. One.)

Or basically any late 80s/early 90s rom coms with Meg Ryan (except Sleepless in Seattle because I find it incredibly boring) or Julia Roberts!

Thank you so much for everything you do! You've helped me discover so many amazing fics and writers and it is much appreciated!!! 💖💖😇😎

Hello there!

Did you know there is a whole collection from the Good Omens Rom-Com Event that was run a couple years ago? You might find what you're looking for there! (Some of the fics are unfinished so keep that in mind)

We have previously recommended a bunch of You've Got Mail/She Loves Me fics HERE, so check those out.

As for the other ones you've asked about:

French Kiss AU:

A Bit of Crumpet by Fyre [E]

With a handsome, successful fiance and a respectable home in Manhattan, Aziraphale Fell thought his life was more than adequate. He never expected to be jilted in a long-distance telephone call and so he sets out for England to find out exactly what's going on and gets a lot more than he bargained for.

When Harry Met Sally AU:

it had to be you by curtaincall [M]

“What I’m saying,” said Aziraphale, looking fixedly ahead, “and please don’t take this as a personal insult in any way, is that an angel and a demon can’t be friends.”

“Why not?”

“Because,” said Aziraphale, firmly. “It’s against the order of things. You’re supposed to tempt. I’m supposed to thwart. We can’t go being friends.”

*

A canon-divergent AU inspired by When Harry Met Sally.

I don't know of any fics with your two last wishes but there is also:

Notting Hill AU:

Soho by Lurlur [E]

Aziraphale lives a quiet kind of life, running a quiet specialist bookshop in one of the liveliest districts of London. He's content with his lot, happy with his friends, tolerant of his probably-human housemate, living vicariously through the gossip pages.

One day, a chance encounter with Anthony Crowley, lead singer of wildly successful rock band The Demons, threatens to turn his whole world upside down.

Music and Lyrics AU:

pop! goes my heart by attheborder [E], WIP

When has-been musician Anthony Crowley is recruited by pop singer Anathema Device to write a song for her new record, he jumps on the chance to resuscitate his career with a hit. There's only one problem: he can't write lyrics to save his life.

But a chance meeting with a stranger by the name of Aziraphale, with a poetic streak that's a perfect fit for the song, changes everything for Crowley. Together, they'll create something beautiful, fight the forces of the music industry, and perhaps even find a way back into love...

A Music and Lyrics AU for the GO Rom Com Event, complete with all-new original songs written and recorded by the author!

Kate & Leopold AU:

Until by Nadzieja [T]

“I don’t want to go home.” Half-asleep Aziraphale murmurs into his ear and Crowley's heart clenches. His grip tightens reflexively around the warm soft body in his arms, around the smell of old books and sandalwood.

“Then don’t.” He’s trying not to sound like he's pleading, but his throat is tight and his voice hoarse.

*

Crowley lives his average life, working in a high-end advertising company at London that pays just enough to get him a room in a shared accommodation. That's just his luck that he ends up living with a literal witch. One day she brings home an even more eccentric man that has a taste for 19th century fashion, as if Crowley didn't have enough things to worry about. Little he knows that the man will turn his world upside down. Literally. And that's just the beginning of his problems.

~Mod N

[zot3-flopped]

He sounds so uncultured! Also, Coldplay and Ed are on an very different level...

«The 33-year-old British musician, who performed here at the third edition of Lollapalooza India on Sunday evening, enthralled the crowd with beloved hits from One Direction like ‘Drag Me Down’, ‘Where Do Broken Hearts Go’, ‘Night Changes’, alongside his solo tracks such as ‘Written All Over Your Face’, ‘Out of System’, ‘Saturdays’, ‘Back To You Now’, and ‘We Made It’.

"It's hot but great.. It's just quick flying in and out so it's a fast trip, but I'll be back, hopefully. I’m getting a beautiful vibe. Everyone feels happy. It's a good and infectious energy. I've not visited enough; that's why I must come back and spend more time outside of the gig,” Tomlinson told PTI in an interview.

The singer said despite the limited time, he managed to explore a few places around the St. Regis hotel in South Mumbai.

“I was very British, and I found a few bars to watch football. So, that was nice. The food is great and delicious. I’m a big fan. I’ve only had butter chicken so far... I'm going to have an Indian feast ,” he said.

The singer said he though he has not seen any Bollywood movies and would like to catch some during his flight back home, he is aware of the "absolute colossal presence those movies have world over".

Tomlinson said the success that Ed Sheeran and the Coldplay band had during their tour in India has opened doors for him and others looking to perform here.

“From afar, with Coldplay and Ed Sheeran coming over here , you feel like something's happening, not that it hasn't always been happening here. But with the size of the tour that Ed's gone on, that's great for me and everyone else because it makes all the conversations around this a little bit easier.

"There's a proof of concept with Ed and with Coldplay, and it's exciting. I think you're going to be seeing more of that."

Tomlinson said he has always felt a "strong presence" of his music in India.

“I've felt a strong presence, pretty much as long as I can remember from Indian fans online. People asking me to come. I answered someone online, maybe five or six years ago, saying, 'I don't know exactly when, but I'll be here'. It took this long."

For Tomlinson, being at Lollapalooza India was an emotional experience as his favourite band, Green Day, also made their much-anticipated debut at the same festival last evening.

“When I was 14, I was in a band at school. We didn't write our songs; maybe we did like one, and essentially, we would do cover songs, but 70 per cent of the covers were of Green Day at the time, who happened to be playing at the festival.

"So, that's kind of a nice full circle moment for me, to be playing at Lollapalooza, and then Green Day also here. It's a real proud moment for me,” Tomlinson said, adding that he attended the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago about ten years ago.

Growing up in England, the singer said pursuing his passion for music wasn’t easy.

“I'm not a musical connoisseur. I'm just a fan like everyone else. My relationship with music is that I feel and think about it all the time. I was from a place in England where music wasn't cool. As a guy to be a singer, anything that's a little bit arty like that wasn't what everyone did, so it was a bit different.

"It wasn't as if there were local people I could aspire to be. I feel lucky that I've found music because in a parallel world, I probably never would have. There are times where it's vital, not just to me as a professional, to me as a person and as a music fan,” he recalled.»

www hindustantimes com/entertainment/bollywood/sara-ali-khan-turns-cheerleader-for-ibrahim-ali-khan-amid-nadaaniyan-backlash-release-don-t-mean-to-brag-101741623659853-amp html?articleno=1

Louis really is a brainless worm. I hate how he constantly links being British to being shallow and obsessed with drinking and sport. He's in India for the first time ever but instead of going sight-seeing he heads to bars that show English football?

[thisaintascenereviews]

Lil Nas X – Days Before Dreamboy

I can’t believe it’s been six years since Lil Nas X broke a ton of records with “Old Town Road.” That song was a smash hit, and it’s still an influential song today, because I don’t think that Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter would have won the Grammy for album of the year, or Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song” would have been as massive as it was this year. In fact, I think neither of those things would have happened at all, because “Old Town Road” bridged the gap between country and hip-hop. Artists had been doing that already, but mainly what I call the “white trash rappers,” like Yelawolf, MGK, and Jelly Roll, were doing their thing. Both the genres of country and hip-hop have their roots with Black musicians and movements, whether it’s blues, disco, funk, soul, and R&B, so it only made sense for them to come together at some point. The country music charts didn’t like that, because it took Lil Nas X to bring Billy Ray Cyrus, of all people, in for a remix that was majorly successful. Hell, he still did some numbers after that with “Industry Baby” and “That’s What I Want,” but that was four years ago. Lil Nas X has had a bit of trouble getting back to the same level of success he was at, although how could he? When you make one of the bestselling songs of all time, the only way you can top that is by making a song that sells even more. He’s put out a handful of singles in the last few years, and they haven’t done extremely well, but people haven’t forgotten about him.

That’s why it was super cool when he randomly decided to drop six songs in the span of two or three weeks, and he just compiled them all (along with a couple of singles from last year) into an EP entitled Days Before Dreamboy. It seems like Dreamboy is the title of his upcoming album, which we should be getting later on this year, and I’m glad he put everything into an EP, because it was annoying having to find a bunch of different singles, but this thing is wonderful. Lil Nas X also kind of reinvented himself on this record, but I think the title of the album is representative of the overall sound here. Each song has a different sound, especially the singles he dropped in the past couple of weeks, and the cover art for each single was him dressed up in a different outfit in a what looks like a Ken doll box. In wanting to be someone’s “dreamboy,” he’s also wanting to change his style (whether that’s his clothing style or his music) to match that, so I wonder if that’s what he was going for. Either way, I love most of the songs here, but it’s still not very long.

With only eight songs on this thing, it’s not a lengthy listen at all; there are only a couple of singles here I’m not crazy about, namely “need dat boy” and “Light Again,” which are two of the singles released last year. I really loved “J Christ” from last year, too, and I don’t know why that’s not here, but there’s neither here nor there. Those two songs just don’t do much for me, whether it’s the lyrics and hooks just not being anything I’m crazy about, but they’re okay, regardless. They’re not bad songs, per se, but not my favorites. Songs like “Hotbox,” “Lean On My Body,” and “Swish” are among my favorites, because their hooks are strong, Lil Nas X’s vocal delivery is great, and the lyrics are a ton of fun. I’m excited for this new album, whether it ends up being called Dreamboy or something else, because it’s been four years since we last had an album from him, and music has changed a lot in the last four years. Pop music has changed lot, in particular, but it’s kind of because of people like him, who pushed the boundaries of pop music and what pop music can sound like. Lil Nas X combined country with hip-hop in a way that wasn’t just nu-metal, or ICP, but instead doing something interesting and fun.

A lot of people first saw that song as a novelty or a one-hit-wonder, but thankfully, he proved everyone wrong by not only making another set of hits, but also inspiring artists to push the boundaries of genre. Like I said in the beginning, I don’t think we would have Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song” if Lil Nas X hadn’t released “Old Town Road” back in 2019. That feels like an eternity ago now, but it’s just that things have changed a lot now. Music has changed a lot, and artists have begun pushing boundaries a lot more, because artists like Lil Nas X were able to break the floodgates. I’m excited for whatever he does next, but for what we got here, I really love it. He incorporates some more styles into these songs, and they’re actually less pop and more hip-hop in tone, so that’s something interesting. I liked when he rapped more on his debut album, but he has a singing voice as well, so I don’t mind it when he does sing, but I like that he’s trying new things. I’d check this out if you haven’t listened to Lil Nas X in a few years, or you weren’t crazy about the singles he dropped last year. A couple of those songs are here, but they’re not half bad. They aren’t my favorite songs from the EP, but they’re okay.

[insomniac4000]

First Impressions ChrisMD

Bethany Margaret Johnson didn't sound like a popstar name so she used the moniker Annie J professionally. Her first top ten single "Like Me" debuted in the charts at number four when she was just nineteen years old and she had gone from strength to strength over the past seven years. The thing that Bethany or Betsy to her friends believed what set her apart from others and the reason for her continued success was her love for music had never wavered.  Even when she was being hounded by the press and paparazzi, spent months away from home, was working fifteen or sixteen hour days for tour preparations she still loved her music. That didn't stop at her music either, she loved music in general and always kept up to date with the goings on, her contemporaries and competition as well as newer artists. 

Betty could be a perfectionist and would be the first person to admit she could be a bit of a control freak about things, she was never rude with it as she had a great team but she was not one of these artists where the team did all of the work, she needed to know all of the goings on, she chose the setlists for her shows, if the record company wanted to release a certain song she would push back as much as she could to fight her corner, she okayed her outfits and she always chose her own support acts. Her her latest UK tour the artists she had chosen to open for her was the Welsh MACY and the singer and TikTok/Youtube star Arthur Hill. She had previously has Talia Mar open for her a couple of years ago which exposed her a little to the online world, Betsy had to admit that was the one part of her job she was happy to hand over to her team, it wasn't really a world she knew too much about but Talia's then boyfriend and now husband Simon seemed like a decent guy. Her and Talia had struck up a friendship and she was even invited to Talia's wedding, she went despite the fact that she didn't know anyone. 

*Flashback*

"You look so beautiful! Congratulations," Betsy smiled as she hugged Talia, as the bride was the only person she really knew properly at the wedding it was a little awkward but she was glad to see her friend get married. 

"Thank you, you look gorgeous I'm so glad you're here! Now we've sat you next to one of Simon's friends Chris," Talia started to explain but Simon cut her off as he hugged Betsy while she congratulated him. 

"He's not long been dumped so sorry if he's a bit miserable." The sideman commented.

"Oh great," Betsy rolled her eyes a little, she came for fun. 

"He's a nice guy I think he was just blindsided by the whole thing but he is dating again so you might have fun," Talia teased and Betsy smiled but rolled her eyes. She walked round the room a little before finding her table and she smiled at the dirty blonde boy with piercing blue eyes. He had some facial hair which peppered a nice and not too defined jaw line. He was wearing a blue suit with a soft yellow gold tie, he looked good and obviously knew how to dress for an occasion. 

"Hi, I'm Bethany," Betsy  smiled as she sat down, smoothing out her gold dress as she did so. 

"Chris nice to meet you," the male said smiling showing off his white but slightly crooked teeth, not only was he cute but he was refreshingly normal. She had dated before, and as a musician the press were all over it, she dated her childhood sweetheart for six years but when they split when she was twenty five and she was linked with a model and a couple of footballers the press went wild. She wasn't a fan of footballers, she doesn't know why she did it and wasn't sure if it was all footballers or the ones she chose but they were self absorbed and pretty sure had photographers of speed dial. 

"So what do you do? The brunette asked taking a sip of water which had been pre poured in glasses. 

"Oh I do football videos on Youtube," Chris explained, Betsy surprised a sigh, not again. "You do music, right?" Chris asked also taking a sip of water, it was too early in the day to  be drunk yet. 

"Yeah," Betsy nodded she didn't mind being recognised but in some circles it could be so superficial. 

"I really loved that one you did  about the note. I had that on repeat for a while," Chris admitted and Betsy smiled, the song, Pen to Paper was an album track so he was obviously a fan.

"Thank you. I'm sorry I can't say I've watched any of your videos," she apologised, turning in her chair a little to face Chris slightly more.

"It's okay, it's like a ninety seven percent male audience so I'm not surprise, and thank you for the honesty."

The pair were interrupted as more people joined their table and introductions were made as well as Chris there were four couples on the table, Will and Mia, Theo and Jodie, Chip and Sabina and Callum and Laura. Betsy knew what Talia was trying to do, as the wine and conversation flowed it was working. 

By the end of the night Betsy and Chris were on the dance floor together getting incredibly close, his hands on her bum during fast dances and their arms around each other during slow ones. 

"Your room or mine?" Chris whispered in a gruff tone when the place was starting to empty and the after party was beginning. They had a good time and the pair swapped numbers but she grew disappointed with him when she messaged him but failed to receive a reply so she thought her very first impression of him was spot on, stupid footballers.

*Present day*

"Ah here she is!" Betsy's tour manager Lance announced when Betsy walked into the room. 

"Hi, I am so sorry I had a meeting and it overran," she apologised before shaking the hands of her support acts, she was meeting them for the first time and wanted to get to know them a little bit better, break the ice and give a run down of how she usually ran things. While she wasn't uptight she wasn't the biggest fan of the sex, drugs, and rock and roll cliche, she didn't care what people did on their own time so long as they arrived on time for rehearsals and their stage slots and didn't flaunt things in the public eye something which was a very reasonable request. 

Everything was set and everyone then had some casual chat to get to know each other a little bit. Soon Betsy was called away for another interview and made her goodbyes.

"Really nice to meet you both, let me or Lance know if you have enough tickets for friends and family I'm sure we can sort some things out, and VIP passes and things. 

"Oh great, my roommates said they're free to come now," Arthur mentioned  and Betsy nodded. 

"We'll sort them out don't worry," the brunette smiled before being ushered off.

Tour went underway and was a huge hit, they reached London of which there were three dates.

"This is really cool," George commented as him and his other housemates enjoyed the backstage tour. 

"It is, the crowds have been great too." The musician responded looking at his friends and noticing the smallest of the four was staring at the door as he clutched his beer, something he had been doing since he got there. 

"You've been very quiet," Arthur H said to Chris who just nodded his head, he was in two minds about whether he wanted to see Betsy or not, he did intend on messaging her back but by the time he got round to it it was a long time, plus he was quite intimidated by being with someone well known his relationship with Shannon was under the microscope enough and they were only two content creators. 

"Hi Arthur," Betsy chimed as she walked into his dressing room, stopping dead in her tracks when she saw the short male, his hair had changed but it was undeniably him, she looked in those eyes long enough to know them. 

"Sorry I didn't know you had company," Betsy went to retreat as she stared at the curly haired man who was suddenly finding his shoes very interesting.

"These are my flatmates, Arthur, George and Chris. Guys this is Betsy otherwise known as AnnieJ," Arthur Hill explained pointing out everyone in turn. George greeted her with a hug, Arthur and Chris settled for a handshake, the two previous lovers ignoring the spark of electricity that flowed through their hands. 

"Have you got time to hang out for a little bit?" Arthur asked, Betsy nodded as she didn't want to be rude plus the other two could be a laugh. 

Chris looked on clutching his beer bottle so hard his knuckles turned white staring at Betsy who was laughing at one of George's jokes. 

"Sorry I need to get ready, enjoy the show guys, it was nice to meet you Arthur and George and hopefully I'll see you after?" Betsy smiled before rushing off out the room. 

"What is your problem? We've only heard two grunts out of you," George commented pointing at Chris who just shrugged. 

"This is just not my scene," he replied, saying more words than he he had spoken in the past two hours.

"Okay, well next time I'll give your space to someone else," Arthur Hill replied as he checked the time, it was approaching show time. 

"This is nothing to do with the fact you two slept together at Simon's wedding and she's obviously forgotten about it," Arthur TV explained, he had only gotten Chris's side of the story so didn't know he had failed to message Betsy back. George and Arthur Hill looked at each other before laughing. 

"Chris we need to get you fixed," Arthur Hill joked before announcing he had to go and warm up. 

The show had calmed Chris down somewhat, MACY was good, Arthur was great and he enjoyed watching Betsy, it was obvious she loved doing what she did things changed slightly again when she sang one of her hit songs Infamy. On the surface it just sounded like the song was about relationships but there was a deeper meaning which was about the press's judgement and hounding of people's personal lives. There was one moment where Chris swore Betsy looked at him momentarily and he felt incredibly guilty, he ghosted her because of something she was already afraid of he felt small, well even smaller.

Arthur Hill was slightly surprised when Chris asked if he could come again, considering he was quiet the day before but Arthur agreed and this time Chris came with a plan. He kept himself a little scarce at the beginning but watched her intently from the side lines that was the first time Betsy noticed his presence there. 

After the show Chris knocked on Betsy's dressing room door he took a deep breath when he heard a soft come in. Chris couldn't help but smile when he saw Betsy in black leggings and a green jumper. Her regular casual self was so much different to her stage persona, she was just a regular girl underneath it all and Chris wanted to get to know her and not the flashy musician exterior he was afraid of before. 

"Hi, good show," Chris smiled. Betsy just nodded before placing her glasses on, her eyes got tired if she wore her contacts for too long. 

"Look I have been an absolute arsehole and if you don't want to listen to me excuses that's fine but I think I owe you an explanation," Chris continued and Betsy looked at him. His blue eyes looked so sincere, so kind and there was something about his little face she couldn't resist. 

"Look if you didn't want anything else a simple text would have sufficed," Betsy replied as she sat on the arm of the grey sofa. 

"But I did! I looked you up and saw all these stories and got flustered. When my ex and I broke up there's still jokes going on about it now and she still gets comments on social media and I just thought about how much worse it would be," Chris admitted and Betsy sighed, she had heard this before. 

"I get it. It's fine."

"It's not, look you probably don't want anything else to do with me but I just owed you a sorry." 

"I didn't say I didn't want anything more to do with you," Betsy smiled getting up from the sofa  and walking slowly over to Chris who nodded as he gave a small but cheeky smile. 

"Good," he smiled before his and Betsy's lips touched. 

[palomahasenteredthechat]

For me, the reason I haven't completely written him off yet even after all of this week is that I sort of feel like this going to end up being a growing pains situation for him.

Look at Tom H. He was the hot foreign actor looking to branch out from a big role who hooked up with a female musician on the rebound from an ex her fans hated. Sound familiar? Yes it was a giant mess. Yes, some of his fans left and thought he was cringe. But look at him now, years later. Very successful, beloved by millions, yes some still make fun, but he's married with a baby and a dog. Settled and confident. He has even looked back at the relationship with her and admits it taught him lessons about how to behave and date in Hollywood.

Chris Evans is another one. OH boy, that man had a track record. Pap walks, sightings with different girls every five seconds during his early Marvel era. Then he grew up. For the last few years he has been much more private, he is also married now and seems perfectly happy.

I'm genuinely not trying to make excuses, I'm not trying to baby Joe. He is in this situation willingly regardless of how serious or not it is. She is very problematic, but I think the allure of her level of fame may be enticing in this moment for more reasons than one, as well as the ease of having someone already admit from the off they are into you. He is a man, a young man who clearly wants his star to continue to rise. But I just can't help the feeling that at the end of the day this situation is going to end up being one of those "live and learn" scenarios. It's not going to last forever, if you are uncomfortable or hurt by it, then by all means disconnect from it and him. But I am still interested to see what the next move is after this ends. Does he continue to go the way Chris did for a while, or does he learn and adapt faster like Tom? Maybe somewhere in the middle until he truly feels he has his feet planted and can finally claim the autonomy he has always said he wanted? I apologize for the novel, but I just wanted to fully articulate it as clearly as possible.

Oh Nonny, thank you so much. Everything you wrote is sensible and reading it I realized you captured a lot of my thought process as well.

We keep learning and growing (or should) no matter what age we are. And he is still so young. I hope he gets out of this not only what he wants but what he needs.

I wonder what the old friend group chat is like right now. I wonder about the ST one too.

I hope he has some good friends who are there for him and can give him encouragement but also honesty.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Thomas Chatterton Williams

Published: May 19, 2024

We’d gathered that day at the cafeteria’s “Black” table, cracking jokes and philosophizing during the free period that was our perk as upperclassmen. We came in different shades: bone white, tan and brownish, dark as a silhouette. One of my classmates, who fancied himself a lyricist, was insisting that Redman, a witty emcee from nearby Newark, New Jersey, was the greatest rapper ever. This was the late ’90s, and for my money, no one could compete with Jay-Z. I said so, and the debate, good-natured at first, soon escalated in intensity, touching on feelings and resentments that ran far deeper than diverging claims about artistic merit.

“How can you even weigh in?” I still remember the kid fuming. “You ain’t even the pure breed!”

With that, there was nothing left to say. Friends separated us, the bell rang, and I headed home. A short time later, I went off to college, where I would meet a wider assortment of Americans than I had realized existed. But over the years, I have been reminded of that boy’s slicing racism, the lazy habit of mind that required no white people to be present but would nonetheless please the most virulent white supremacist.

Recently, two public controversies spirited me back to the suspicion and confusion of my high-school cafeteria. All spring long, an unusually nasty feud between the rappers Drake and Kendrick Lamar has been captivating audiences, both for the quality of the music it has engendered and for the personal and malicious dimensions of the attacks it has countenanced. Much has been written about the fight, in particular about the two men’s treatment of women, which I won’t rehash here except to point out that it’s a little funny that they both portray themselves as enlightened allies while also acting as if the ultimate disparagement is to call another man feminine. Less has been said about the potency of the racial dimension, which feels like a throwback to a time before Drake’s pop-culture dominance—indeed, to a time before the historic hybridity of the Obama era—and like a distillation of the skin-deep racialism of the current social-justice movement.

Drake, who grew up in Toronto, is the son of a white Jewish mother from Canada and a Black father from Memphis. Since the release of his 2009 mixtape, So Far Gone, he has been not only the most successful visibly mixed-race rapper—and arguably pop star—but also the most visible Black male musician for some time now. Anyone at the top will attract criticism. But not even a white rapper like Eminem has been subject to the kind of racial derogation that has been hurled at Drake.

Back in 2018, the rapper Pusha T released a diss track about him for which the cover art was an old photograph of Drake performing in a cartoonish blackface. The image makes you cringe, but—as Drake explained—that was the point. Drake began his career as an actor, and he wrote that the photograph was part of a “project that was about young black actors struggling to get roles, being stereotyped and typecast … The photos represented how African Americans were once wrongfully portrayed in entertainment.” But presented without context, it appeared to be a self-evident statement of inauthenticity.

Another rapper, Rick Ross, calls Drake “white boy” again and again in his song “Champagne Moments,” released in April. In an op-ed for The Grio, the music journalist Touré explains why the insult is so effective: “We know Drake is biracial. He’s never hidden that, but many of us think of him as Black or at least as a part of the culture … On this record, Ross is out to change that.” Touré calls this “hyperproblematic,” but his tone is approving—he admires the track. “We shouldn’t be excluding biracial people from the Black community, but in a rap beef where all is fair as a way of attacking someone and undermining their credibility and their identity, it’s a powerful message.”

In a series of more high-profile records, Lamar has built on Ross’s theme, both implying and stating directly that racial categories are real, that behaviors and circumstances (like Drake’s suburban upbringing) correlate with race, and that the very mixedness of Drake’s background renders him suspect. It is an anachronistic line of ad hominem attack that is depressing to encounter a quarter of the way into the 21st century.

Lamar’s most recent Drake diss is called “Not Like Us,” and reached No. 1 on Billboard Hot 100. It goes after Drake’s cultural affiliations with the American South. “No, you not a colleague,” Lamar taunts. “You a fucking colonizer!”

It’s hard to hear that and not remember that Drake’s mother is Jewish, and that this is the same invective used to undermine Jews’ sense of belonging in Israel. Such racist habits of thought have become potent rhetorical weapons in the progressive arsenal.

The second (if smaller) controversy followed an essay on language and protest published in The New Yorker earlier this month. The novelist Zadie Smith, who is of European and African descent, argued—carefully—that it is too simplistic to regard the world as sortable into categories of oppressor and oppressed. “Practicing our ethics in the real world involves a constant testing of them,” she writes, “a recognition that our zones of ethical interest have no fixed boundaries and may need to widen and shrink moment by moment as the situation demands.” This was an attempt to take seriously the tangible fate of Hamas’s victims on October 7, the broader implications of anti-Semitism that can at times be found in criticism of Israel’s response, and the ongoing tragic loss of Palestinian life.

Despite praising the protests that have engulfed college campuses and describing a cease-fire in Gaza as “an ethical necessity,” Smith was derided on more than intellectual grounds. One widely shared tweet, accompanied by a photo of Smith, stated the criticism plainly: “I feel like Zadie Smith uses black aesthetics to conceal her deeply pedestrian white middle-class politics. People see the head wrap and the earrings made of kente cloth and confuse that for something more substantive.”

This was not the first time Smith had been regarded as a racial interloper. The author Morgan Jerkins once wrote of the emotional “hurt” she felt reading another thoughtful essay Smith published in Harper’s asking “Who owns black pain?” Smith’s transgression here, according to Jerkins, was “intellectualizing blackness” from a distance instead of feeling it. “Do not be surprised,” Jerkins warned, “if a chunk of that essay is used in discussions as to why biracial people need to take a backseat in the movement.”

The retrograde notion that thought and action necessarily flow from racial identities whose borders are definable and whose authority is heritable is both fictitious and counterproductive. “Something is afoot that is the business of every citizen who thought that the racist concepts of a century ago were gone­—and good riddance!” Barbara and Karen Fields write in their 2012 masterpiece, Racecraft: The Soul of Inequality in American Life. “The continued vitality of those concepts stands as a reminder that, however important a historical watershed the election of an African-American president may be, America’s post-racial era has not been born.”

Of course, the first African American president was, like our nation and culture, himself both Black and white. One of the most disappointing—and, I have come to realize—enduring reasons the “post-racial era” continues to elude us is that it is not only the avowed racists who would hold that biographical fact against him.

==

This is why we call it neoracism, not "antiracism."

[rudnitskaia]

Found this in my phone notes. I wrote this when I was in one of my darkest and lowest points. I remember how I barely could breathe because of sobs and my hands were shaking while I was typing, and how I completely broke when I couldn't write one simple word without mistakes several times in a row.

And then one of my friends suddenly sent me a meme with a funny cat and I laughed on it, continuing to cry.

Now I feel like I need to share what I wrote that day.

I hid that note, which seems much more like a short story now, under the cut. PLEASE don't read it if you're sensitive to such themes as su!/c!de and depression. Thank you.

If I had a guardian angel

Sometimes I think that if I had a guardian angel, it would have been an approximately 40-year-old extremely tired and very quiet man, who has constant lack of sleep, disheveled hair, an oversize coat with some missing buttons and one splintered shoe. He chose me once because he was an extremely gambling person and thought that he can "lead this horse to victory" (even her name means that, right?), but unfortunately I turned out to be "a limping mare", so he simply lost all his resources while making bets on me. He was furious at me at first and desperately tried to push me forward without any success, but after a while, after watching on how I live, he has grown to care for me and has willingly dropped his reserves of wishes and miracles enormously below zero, all useless spent in order to cheer me up. Now he is in huge debts, and every time I start to cry and think that I'm not worth living he only sighs and again borrows some tiny happy coincidence from more successful angels just to prevent my disastrous thoughts and make me live through another day. He sits next to me, glances at his splintered shoe, then pats the top of my head and smiles, when that happy coincidence brings me some funny picture or a small notification that distracts me from sadness for a short while. And he murmurs under his breath: "There, there, my little one, we're gonna get through this, you'll see. You'll see".

And that is all just because he, like all the guardian angels, committed a su!/c!de in his past and doesn't want me to also work as a guardian angel when I die. Because after living beside me for so long he is pretty sure that I would sleep over all my shifts and miss all my chances to gain redemption and after that I'll be sent straight to hell, and definitely not that luxury hell, where many intelligent poets, musicians and other cool people of the past are chilling, but into the huge bureaucracy department where all the papers must be filled manually, folded, stamped, sorted and so on, infinitely. And there would be slanted toilets and no coffee in the whole damned office. At all. Knowing me and my devotion to coffee, he simply can't let that happen, and so he doesn't sleep, soothing my bad dreams, and walks beside me to catch me on every stumble and fall.

And sighs.

And borrows.

And then smiles.