#i just wanted to write some shitty shitty kid!david

[umnitsa]

Throughput & Prioritization - A Tale of Management

Summary: You need some help. David Wallace is there to lead you.

A/N: I'm a manager. I need a good c-level to lead and inspire me. I have a crush on David Wallace and as I resignify my work, I write the self-insertiest fic I've ever had the chance to write. I hope you enjoy <3 (there is a chance I will continue this)

Pairing: David Wallace x f!reader (just a hint!)

CW: A lot of cussing. Mostly talk.

Divider by @cafekitsune

“May I speak candidly?” You dropped on the chair in front of the CFO’s desk, huffing. He frowned, looking worried at your distress, then nodded. He leaned on one elbow, hand in the air. “Your CTO is an asshole, and I really can’t make you money if he keeps making those shitty, maddening decisions.”

David laughs, his big hand resting against the desk as he moved, sitting forward.

“Bad meeting, hm?” He leans forward, eyebrows raised, his lips crooked, on a smirk.

“Bad meeting? Shitty meeting.” You growled, crossing your arms and your legs, pouting. “I need you. He won’t listen to me because I have a vagina, probably.”

“I really don’t know how you feel comfortable talking to me like this.” David chuckled, amusedly.

“You know I’m good and I am one of the few managers that have a profitable team in IT.” You huff, shaking your foot. “And you are a good boss, you recognize talent when you see it. And results.”

“Touché.” David slapped the desk, chuckling. “You managed to sell yourself and praise me in the same sentence while avoiding the subject altogether. Congratulations, you became a manager!”

You broke, chuckling, shaking your head slowly. You uncrossed your leg, relaxing against the chair.

“Feeling better?” David asked, his eyes softening.

“Much better.” You sighed.

“Tell me what happened.”

“The CTO keeps throwing more work than my team has the capacity to deal with.” You take a deep breath and shrug. “My team keeps changing initiatives, leaving work in the middle of the way, we can’t get to the end of anything. I showed the numbers and explained little’s law, and he just fucked my backlog again. And I’m pretty sure the thing he prioritized doesn’t even fit the company’s strategy for IT. If I do it, I’ll tank my throughput and get fired, if I don’t he’ll be mad and I’ll get fired.”

David nodded as you talked, his complete focus on you.

“Yeah, Charlie is in a pickle, his decisions affected the productivity of the whole IT team. And his budget was cut, which means no new hires.” David rolled his eyes and tapped his fingertips on his lap.

“I just need someone to influence him. Maybe he’ll listen to you.” You said, moving closer to the end of your chair.

“You’re better than this, you know.”

You look at him, surprised. He smiled gently.

“What does he want? What does he need?” David asks, the tone of his voice soft, enticing.

“He needs a quick win.” You realized, blinking slowly. “He wants fast results.”

“Can you guarantee those?” David moved his big hands, his index and middle finger tapping against his lips. He looked like an eager kid in the classroom that had the right answer to the teacher’s question. But it was your turn to answer. His eyebrows raised, his blue eyes shining in expectation.

“I may have the right thing in my backlog. But why should I save him?”

“Because when it’s time to look at his headcount, he’ll remember you as the only one by his side.” David shrugged, smiling. “And if you can have a quick win…”

“My results will stand out!” You completed, clapping. “Why didn’t I think of that?”

“You’re frustrated with his management. And you’re angry. That’s a terrible mindset to make decisions.” He said, very matter of fact. “Now go make your presentation. I’ve seen you in meetings, you can convince him… I’m sure your team will follow you to the ends of the earth.”

You stand up, fire in your veins, your brain quickly making assumptions and connections. You opened the door to his office and paused.

“I owe you a drink.” You blurted, turning to David. He raised his head and looked at you over his glasses.

“You can pick me up here, 6pm.” He said, with a smile.

“It’s a date!” You chirped happily, closing the door.

“Finally,” David muttered absentmindedly, grabbing a pen and focusing on the wad of papers over his desk. “Took you forever...”

[mvltisstuff]

What about a fic where reader is Evan’s sister and gets into a bad car accident? Lots of angst but also some fluff please. 🫶🫶

slipping through my fingers - e.b

summary: request :)

evan buckley x sister!reader (a lot of maddie too 🩶)

a/n: i have an eddie diaz oneshot in the drafts currently that i’ve been debating on posting. it contains a pretty sensitive subject, so i really wanted to get it right. it was inspired by another request, along with another show. i hope you enjoy this and i’ll keep on writing some more for you guys :))

y/n could say growing up with as the youngest buckley wasn’t the easiest task. the consistency of begging for attention was draining from the start. going above and beyond for just a grain of appreciation was the default in their house. she was repeatedly looked through, almost as if she wasn’t there due to her parents grief.

she had come after buck in a desperate attempt to be able to save david, but failed in the end. he was gone too soon, so therefore, y/n was almost like a chore. sure, her parents loved her, but she wasn’t the child they wanted. dealing with the discovery of why she wasn’t loved enough was just as bad as experiencing it. maddie was in boston with doug, and buck had gone onto his own adventures. meanwhile y/n was stuck at home with nowhere to go and no plans of leaving. she dreamed about it, though. she heard about buck moving to los angeles and immediately wanted to be with him. she was almost done with college, and after that, she packed up her diploma and degree and flew away.

life in california was amazing. she had friends, she was loved, and she had no reminders of the lonesomeness she felt at home. for once, she was able to make a home out of where she was. maddie was safe, and it felt like they were a fixed version of their family.

out of the pure intentions in her heart, y/n invited her distant parents back to LA. with maddie expecting a new baby, and the years of a few texts, there was a new hope that maybe things could be turned around. it wouldn’t change their childhood experiences, but maybe they could heal them. maddie was on board, but buck was still skeptical. their words were like knives and the scars couldn’t be helped. he showed up anyway, wanting to give maddie and her baby the opportunity to have a life with them.

they travelled six hours, and chimney and maddie were gracious enough to host a dinner for everyone. maddie received hugs and gifts as buck and y/n were kind of nudged away. when maddie got her baby box that her parents had from when they were kids, buck and y/n had just become dusty figures. they didn’t say anything, at least not about that.

an explosive speech from buck had ignited from the judgmental words from their parents, causing him to be begging for love and expressing his inner teenage self. he had removed himself from the dining room of the apartment, and y/n sat in her seat, slumped over with her head in her hands.

“god, can you guys please just do something other than reprimand us?” y/n breaks the awkward silence.

“we were just speaking, y/n!” says their father. “if evan wants to storm out, let him.”

“well, maybe he wouldn’t have stormed out if you didn’t nit-pick ever part of his life.”

“you invited us, y/n. i don’t know what you want us to say. you know what we went through-“

“and you think that’s an excuse? if so, it’s a shitty one and we all know it. no parent should have to say goodbye to a child, but no child needs to go unloved because they don’t care anymore. and you didn’t even bat an eye when he begged you to ‘love him anyway’. so if you want to sit here, and tear down everything we have build from your actions, be our guest.”

“you always defend your siblings, y/n. you guys have never once put yourself in our shoes!” their mother cries out.

“oh, trust me, we did. for over 20 years,” maddie breaks in.

“how do you think we feel, maddie? you all just packed up your stuff and ran away to leave us with nothing,” speaks their father, again.

“dad, i can’t… i can’t do this. everything i did, i did it myself. i made this life here for myself! so did maddie, so did buck. don’t go putting yourselves on a pedestal,” she begins to gather her things, and put hers and bucks dinner plates away for maddie and chimney.

“where are you going?” chimney says, trying to calm everything down and he’s definitely in the most awkward situation.

“chim, thank you for dinner and letting us come over. you’re welcome over to my place anytime. i’m sorry, but i’m going to see my brother,” y/n says, shutting the door behind her.

while maddie stays back, trying to pick up the broken pieces, y/n drives over to bucks apartment. she repeatedly calls him, making sure he’s okay and to say that she’s coming over. the roads were dark from the early sunsets of the fall, barely illuminated from the streetlights.

“buck,” she says into her phone. “i know you’re pissed off, and im sorry i arranged this. but i need to know you’re ok, so im on my way over. please call me back.”

she ends the voicemail and tries to put her phone back into the holder. it slips out of her shaky hands and onto the floor of the seat. she groans out, worried he would call her back and she wouldn’t be able to answer. she doesn’t reach down, but she looks at the phone on the floor.

a drunk, someone intoxicated with alcohol, must have been driving like a maniac. swerving through lanes with no warning and passing several signs. she tried so hard. she tried to move out of the way, but the spontaneous movements of the driver had confronted their cars head on.

the flash of white from y/n’s airbags flew out at her. the glass of her windshield was shattered, laying all over the dashboard and the seats. her head drooped onto her shoulder. the cuts on her face were stinging and the other pain in her body went unnoticeable due to shock. the soft ringtone of her phone was vibrating on the bottom of the car. the ringing in her ears caused the sound to be faded out, and she couldn’t even get it to call 9-1-1.

“maddie, hey,” buck says as maddie picks up the phone. “have you, uh, tried calling y/n? she left me so many calls and now she won’t answer.”

“no, i haven’t. she said she was coming to see you,” maddie replies, confused.

“where’s mom and dad?”

“the hotel, they left soon after her.”

buck pulls his phone away from his ear and the buzzing on his hand. y/n’s name appears across the screen. “oh, she’s calling me know,” he hangs up the phone and answers it to a bone-chilling sentence.

“is this evan buckley?” a deep, unknown voice asks in bucks ear.

y/n was awake in the ambulance, hearing all the chaos and jargon around her. she knew she’d never hear the end from buck, being a firefighter. she begged them to let him know, telling them repeatedly, “my brother works at the 118,” and how maddie is a dispatcher.

she was wheeled into the hospital on her stretcher, collar on and a big bandage around her waist for a massive piece of glass in her abdomen. “y/n buckley, 27, three-car pileup with an oblique fracture to the tibia and penetration wound to the abdomen, likely to not have hit any major organs.” and before she knew it, she was sped into the trauma rooms and given more morphine. she just wanted her brother and sister. not all these doctors or her parents.

buck picked up maddie on the way to the hospital, not thinking twice before smashing the gas pedal down. he ran through those doors like a strike of lighting, being seen in one place and somewhere else the next. he forced her name out to the nurse as maddie caught up to him. “relation to the patient?”

“brother, and sister,” he says, impatiently, both hands flat on the counter.

the nurse typed rapidly on her computer. “she’s in surgery, honey. but she’s stable.”

buck puffs out a sigh of relief as maddie grabs his arm, leading him to the waiting room. almost all of the 118 was in this hospital, like she was a firefighter herself. chimney had brought hen, and eddie had come as well as bobby. athena had told bobby, as she was the one who arrested the man who caused the crash.

buck tries to calm himself down remembers all the times he tried to one-up her and smiles at the memories. he and maddie exchange small and sweet memories of their little sister, as her life remains in the hands of someone else.

“hey,” maddie nudges him, trying to think of something to cheer him up. “remember when she stole 20’s out of our wallet to buy us christmas gifts?”

buck giggles a bit, “yeah, and then we tried playing tag, so we spun her around a ton of times and hid inside until she just sat there.”

“and then she fell down the stairs from being so dizzy,” maddie smiles.

“ruthless!” chim interrupts, sitting next to maddie.

“you know you two are what made it so hard to leave.”

“i know. imagine having to leave her all alone with mom and dad, though. she’s gotta be ok, maddie.”

“she will, buck. no one’s getting rid of her that easy.”

the doctor with a scrub cap on comes walking into the waiting room, followed by a few interns and others. “buckleys?”

maddie and buck shoot out of their seat first, and chimney and hen follow soon after like a train. “oh, my bad.” hen says, pulling her and chim back down to sit.

“what’s goin’ on, doc?”

“y/n will be fine. she had a fracture in her leg which we fixed up. she’ll need some help getting around, but she’ll be good as new,” the doctor informs.

they knew she would make it out, but hearing it being confirmed by the doctor made it so much more real. buck was speechless, not being able to mutter out any words. “can we see her?” maddie asks.

“you can, she’s still sedated from anesthesia and intubated, but cynthia, here, can lead you to the room.”

seeing y/n’s fragile and hurt body on the bed was an agonizing sight. maybe if buck hadn’t stormed out, she wouldn’t be in this bed and have come across that driver. maybe he could’ve driven her home. all the ‘if’s’ and ��maybes’ in bucks head were floating through, thinking it’s his fault. he always takes the blame for these situations when it is completely the opposite.

buck sees tragedy every day, and maddie hears it. maddies only sister was in the small hospital room with a tube down her throat. she needed y/n there to help her, and her baby needed her aunt. buck needed his little sister, the one always there for him and forever will be. the thought of her not being there scared him to death. even though they see get rushed into the hospital or sent to the morgue every day, it will never prepare you from seeing your favorite people in that position.

buck stumbled over to the chair by the side of the bed, pulling it out for maddie to rest her aching feet. he walked to the other side of the bed, sitting down and grabbing lightly onto y/n’s hand like he was scared to break it. “i don’t know if we should say something. let her know we’re here, you know.”

“she knows, evan,” maddie says, meeting bucks eyes with her own. “i know that.”

buck smiles and looks down at y/n, her chest rising and falling with the hissing of the tubes and machines. he observes the iv’s and cuts and fresh new bruises. he wants to kill whoever did this, but at the moment, his only concern is the well-being of y/n.

so, for the rest of the night, maddie and buck didn’t move from their spots once until she was awoken and the tube was removed. they held her hand, and when y/n was awoken, she knew she was safe from the hands that were tangled with hers.

[aledethanlast]

Seriously, how are those FBI agents doing in that Baltimore hotel for the David Wesninski AU? They signed up for none of this, yet here they are, dealing with the craziest family drama any of them have ever witnessed. Honestly, their faces when it gets confirmed that Wymack is the identical twin of this serial killer must be priceless

The first thing you need to understand about fbi ops is, you don't just write those up on a whim. Theres investigations and plans and preparations. They were prepared for the Hatfords to push the agreed boundaries and kill against orders. That's why they were contacted in the first place. They were prepared for the cleanup, and the inquiries, and to throw the Hatfords under the bus as an excuse to begin what was sure to be a years-long investigation into Nathan Wesninski's network.

The second thing you need to understand about law enforcement operations is that you're either going shit shit shit shit shit when things are going according to plan and fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck when they aren't.

So, on the whole? It was a shitty night. The whole thing got pushed back by like two hours because of an alleged break in, and then by three more hours after a fight with op command on how much can they look over the police's shoulder without tipping their hand. And then it all goes down, and there's corpses everywhere, and it's all gone to shit...

And then Junior is on the front lawn.

Which, first of all, how are you not dead? Rhetorical question, clearly Nathan tried. Second, no seriously, how are you not dead. The fuck you mean it's a secret bitch I will [redacted]-

But it's fine. It's fine. Actually, hold on, this is great. They get to skip years of investigation all it costs is some witness protection. The kid seems like a real shithead but once they get him talking...

And then Towns says "We gotta talk about his team."

Oh right, them. "Once they calm down we'll give them a basic rundown of what's happening and send them home. Considering what they said so far it doesn't sound like they know much."

But Towns shakes his head. "You don't know who they are, do you?" Browning raises a brow. "Palmetto State Foxes?" Nope. "Edgar Allen. The ravens." Nope. "Kevin Day?"

That does sound familiar, but Browning knows he doesn't get the points for that. "Sure, one of the other players, no?" He never cared for exy, personally, and while he gets that people get excited about college sports he's always believed in some healthy iconoclasm. He shakes his head.

Towns grumbles. Then out of nowhere, he says, "Call Suzie."

"What?"

"Call her. Right now. Put her on speaker."

She should be at lunch, so Browning obliges, but he really doesn't see what his teenage daughter has to do with...

Click. Suzie's high, confident voice. "Daddy?"

"Hey Suzie, it's Freddie, your dad's pal from work," Towns says.

"Oh. Um. Hey?" Suzie sounds nervous suddenly. "Is my dad okay?"

They both suddenly realize what this call must look like, especially after Browning hadn't come home last night, and they both rush to reassure her that he's fine. "We've just had a long night," he reassures her. "No, I'm just calling because...hey Freddie, why am I calling?"

It's Towns' turn to raise an eyebrow, as if to say watch this. "Nah, I was just wanted a reminder, what's your husband's name again?"

Silence. A quick, sharp inhale, and in his mind's eye Browning can see his daughter's eyes focus like an eagles. "Well, first of all, it's future husband, because daddy says that the law says I have to be 18 to get married..."

Ohhhhh.

Fuck.

"But his name is Kevin Day. He's the world's best exy player, even after he had an accident last year. A lot of people abandoned him but I'm never gonna because when a mom and a dad love each other very much..."

A thousand dinner conversations run through Browning's head line an electric current as he opens his phone browser and searches the name. The results look nothing like the bruised shell of a man his colleagues have stuck in a hotel room, but they look like every poster on Suzie's wall. A terrible, terrible thought strikes him. "What about his friend. The, um, the short one."

The response is automatic. "Neil is cute too I guess. There aren't as many good posters of him, but Jessica from biology did her binder from shots she printed from youtube. Her dad yelled at her for wasting the ink."

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.

[agentcaboose]

Day 3: ... and they were roommates

Me and Michael (MGMT) - washboose

welcome back to the midwest emo Blood Gulch Avenue AU

some tags: washboose, onesided cabnut (donut x caboose), side grimmons, endgame chucker, some angst, system epsilon

disclaimer: still super disjointed, I'm working on timel line and relationship stuff, it's a little messy, but they are all messy twenty-somethings, (eventually I'll release full tracks and who wrote what songs and about who, I promise)

(tw: canon typical character death and mental illness)

Michael and David meet at a funeral. David had just lost his best friend, Connie, and Michael is about to lose his to grief. Caboose isn't the best drummer in Blood Gulch, but he enjoys the sound and the repetitive movements. Wash is trying to reconnect with music after losing the one person he felt comfortable making music with passes. When Church leaves Violets Are Blue, and Tucker is forced to seek out a new guitarist, he remembers that other guy who played at Tex's funeral.

They suck together. Like really suck. They can't practice in Church's garage anymore, which lands them in the shitty community center basement. Caboose has a friend at the center that is teaching him acoustic guitar, and they write songs together. His friend, Donut (Wash swears that can't possibly be his name), also drives Caboose around after the big guy got his license suspended. Wash offers to take up some of the carpool duties since he doesn't live too far from where Caboose works.

At the center, Caboose's drumming is too loud, Tucker blows out his amp, and Wash has never touched an electric before in his life. Grif overhears the monstrosity that the Blues have become and begrudgingly invite them to his garage to practice. Donut has been filling in for Simmons after a big Grimmons fight, momentarily disbanding Red Riot. Donut and Caboose play a few of their songs for the group, the songs remind Grif of Simmons, Tucker thinks about Church, and Wash can't help but feel like Caboose is only playing to him. No one notices how Donut seems to only be singing to Caboose.

Wash writes a song for the first time since Connie passed. He sings this to the group, and Donut clocks him immediately. Later, Donut has a heart to heart with Wash about how different Caboose is. How he doesn't have a good memory, he doesn't understand a lot of basic concepts, how he seems to be in his own little world, and how Caboose wasn't always life this. Donut confesses that he has loved Michael for a very long time, since they were grade school kids. Then, Michael was in a bad accident that cut of oxygen to his brain. He deteriated quickly into someone Donut didn't recognize. Yes, he was still Caboose, but not his Michael. "He can be your Michael now."

Me and Michael, solid as they come.

Time passes, and they become The Reds And Blues. Grimmons is together, Church is back, but not the same, Wash reunites with Carolina who he hadn't seen since basic, and Caboose is, well, he's Caboose. He has a new dog he found on the street, he has his best friend back, and he gets to make music with more people. Caboose follows Wash around now that he's being super nice to him. They even play acoustic together! Caboose one day decides to share a song that reminds him of Wash. He doesn't remember where he heard it, but he asks Wash to help him finish it. They play this for The Reds And Blues. Donut leaves the band that night.

All I want is you, will you stay with me? Hold me in your arms and sway me like a sea.

Okay, I think I have to stop writing or I won't post this before midnight ^^" I love this AU so dearly,,, I wish I could actually, ya know, write it.

[fangirl-writes]

Dancing in the Street

Willard Hewitt x Fem!Reader; Ren McCormack x Sister!Reader

Warning(s): Just general stuff in the movie. If you’ve seen it you should be fine. Also the reader doesn’t like Ariel so if you like her, sorry.

Request(s): 

I lost all these asks trying to answer them so idk what happened I’m sorry.

1) Hi hi hi, I was wondering if you could write a Willard x reader fic from the 2011 footloose? I'm having Miles Teller brain rot and cannot stop thinking about him!! 💕💕✨

2)  Can I get a Willard Hewitt x reader where your Rens sister and you guys meet at school then is really impressed you and your brother dance so good at the diner plssss?? I love Willard

3)  hi!! i was wondering if you could write something for willard hewitt (footloose 2011)? i can not find a single fanfic for this man so if you could write something with fluff and maybe like best friends to lovers that would be so awesome! thank you so much :)

Notes: Hope you guys are happy. I had to watch the Footloose remake to do this fic. The remake. It’s...not good.

Anyway, first footloose fic! Yay! I hope you like even if it’s ridiculously short.

When you agreed to move down to Bomont with your brother, you didn’t think it would be as shitty as it was.

You’d already lost your mom, you didn’t need the rest of the joy in your life sucked out, but apparently the town was looking to do just that.

No music? No dancing? Are you kidding? Isn’t that against the first amendment or something?

Apparently not, as it seemed this rinky-dink town hadn’t changed its views since the ‘80s.

You worked as a waitress at Starlite and Ren was stuck in a cotton gin. The school hated Ren’s guts and didn’t take too kindly to your “explicit and vulgar display” of band t-shirts. Plus that plus prissy little Ariel Moore made you wanna hurl, even if Ren was infatuated with her for some god-knows reason.

It wasn’t all bad. You helped Ren fix up the yellow bug and he drove you to school every day, not that you had another choice besides maybe walking.

And there was also Willard. The ray of sunshine through the cloud of darkness in all his southern glory. 

You guys met him the first day of school and the three of you meshed right away. You told him when Ren was bullshitting him and he explained what all of his crazy phrases meant.

You weren’t sure you were into him “like that” yet, but you’d heard Ren smack him upside the head for commenting on your looks once, which told you enough.

And, lucky for you, Woody’s uncle, Claude, was a pretty rebellious boss.

“Hey, Woody!” Claude said. “Check the door man. Cop still here?”

Ren and you exchanged a glance as Woody went over to the window to watch the cop pull away.

“Five-O getting his move on,” Woody reported. “Whatcha got for me, Uncle Claude?”

Claude reached down below the counter and pulled up a burner CD. “David Banner, bootleg. Don’t get too krunk out there. First sign of the police, I’m gonna pull the plug. I don’t want a fine and you don’t want another ticket.”

“Wait,” Ren said. “You got a ticket for dancing?”

“He got two tickets for dancing,” Woody’s girlfriend answered. “One more and he’s off the team.”

You followed Claude to the back where he had a record player that doubled as a CD player. Your mouth dropped open in awe.

“All right, let’s get this party started,” Claude said.

He flipped some switches that turned on the outside speakers and turned back to you.

“Now, I know you’re new here so I’ll let you go watch this one time,” he said. “But don’t expect me to let you off work just to dance.”

You grinned widely before practically tearing off your apron to follow Ren, Rusty, and Willard outside.

The speakers were like old drive-in speakers that blared in the parking lot and you watched in awe as the previously perceived boring small-town kids danced better than you could.

“Yeah, dude, they- they get into it,” Willard said.

"Hey, you,” a girl said to Ren. “Come on, let’s dance.”

She pulled him out onto the floor and you watched gleefully as he busted a move.

“You dance, Willard?” You asked.

He blushed a little, shaking his head. “Oh, no, no way.”

“Why not?”

He shrugged. “I don’t dance.”

You rolled your eyes.

“Me and my boys are going to push everybody back,” Woody said to Ren over the music, pulling his leather jacket right off his shoulders. “Let me see you and your sister do your city slicker thing.”

Ren jogged over to usher you in with him and you happily obliged.

“Number 24,” Ren said and you nodded.

You both fell into a dance you’d choreographed together back in Boston, moving easily to the beat and doing your “city slicker thing.”

You shared a quick glance, a silent communication, before you both ran up and backflipped off the edge of a blue pickup sitting on the edge of the dance area.

The crowd cheered.

You laughed, falling into freestyle mode with the others as Ren walked over to dance by Ariel (who looked eager to receive the basically lap dance he was offering).

You felt alive for the first time since your mom. You missed dancing.

That was until you spotted Ariel and Ren grinding on each other shamelessly.

“Oh, gross,” you said, turning away and spotting Willard, who was already looking at you.

You flicked your head, gesturing for him to come join you.

He just shook his head and saluted you with his coke cup.

You sighed and walked over to where he was gathered with Woody, his girlfriend, and Rusty.

“Mind if I have a sip of that?” You asked Willard.

“Oh, uh, sure,” he replied, handing you his cup. “That was some pretty good dancing out there.”

“How would you know, you don’t dance,” you joked.

“I got two eyes, don’t I?” He asked, grinning right back at you.

You two were leaned so close you felt his breath on your face. It made your stomach flutter.

“Y/N, I was wondering-”

“You can put on a show for that guy, but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna.”

You both looked over to find Ren walking up to the group.

You and Willard leaned away from each other.

Ren’s jaw was so tight you thought he might crack his teeth. 

“That guy block your boner?” You joked, referencing a joke Willard made a few days ago.

“Shut up,” he replied, shoving your head away jokingly.

Suddenly, the music cut out and Claude came over the loud speaker. “Attention, Attention. Ariel Moore, will you please come up to the front of the diner, your daddy is here for you.”

The crowd sniggered and laughed as “daddy’s girl” stomped her way up to the diner.

“Show’s over,” she said as she passed your group.

Your face contorted.

“Daddy’s gonna take her out to the woodshed,” Willard said.

“What the hell does that mean?”

“It means she’s in deep shit.”

You bit your lip to keep from laughing. 

“Come on, loverboy,” you said, shoving your brother. “Let’s get home before we get picked up by the law at ten o’ one. Oh, and Willard,”

The boy in questioned looked up at you.

“We can finish our conversation tomorrow, okay?”

He smiled. “Yeah, alright,”

You grinned back and turned away from him.

Ren’s eyes narrowed at you. “What was that all about?”

You shrugged. “Nothing. Willard and I were having a conversation while you were feeling up the preacher’s daughter.”

“I was not feeling her up,”

“Oh, please, Ren, the whole parking lot could tell,” You replied, sipping the last of Willard’s drink you’d never given back. “You’re practically throwing yourself at her.”

“I was just dancing,” Ren retorted, pulling open the door to the bug.

“Funny, you never dance like that with me.”

“That’s because-” Ren huffed dramatically. “You know what, this conversation’s over.”

“Oh, I’m sure it is,” you replied, getting in the passenger side. “Can I pick the music?”

“Can you ever pick the music?”

“No?”

“There’s your answer.”

You rolled your eyes as Ren picked “dancing in the dark” by Bruce Springsteen for the ride home.

You turned to look out the window, noticing Willard in the rearview talking to Woody.

You smiled. This town might suck, but Willard makes it more bearable. 

[despazito]

wish script doctor bc i feel like this movie could've been a lot stronger with some things altered. like i dont even think it needs a complete story overhaul, a handful of changes could make it much tighter imo

asha does not live so close to central rosas, but a village on the outskirts of the kingdom, and this will be her first time venturing to see the mythical king in person.

not all wishes are equal in this magic system. selfish and shallow wishes do not contain much power, but noble and selfless wishes are very strong. (also i don't see the point of forgetting your wish you made?)

the grandad was animated way too in shape for 100 years old, make him weaker and frail. hell, put him on his death bed to raise the stakes.

perhaps have asha's grandfather be an esteemed but very humble scholar or medicine healer whose dying wish is to establish a library or hospital for the local people (or something). asha believes that if she meets with king magnifico herself, she can convince him to grant her grandfathers' wish. she believes she can do this because an old childhood friend of hers now works in the castle as his aid.

asha travels to rosas and meets her friend dahlia. expecting her to be very close to the king, dahlia sheepishly admits to being a much lower ranked servant who hardly ever sees the king in person, but still sneaks asha in to show her around the castle because she's such a fan of magnifico + introduce asha to all her friends/coworkers.

have dahlia be the only primary friend, relegate the rest of the lot to the background. we don't need much time with them all, use it to strengthen other relationships.

asha attends a wish granting ceremony and magnifico does not grant grandad's wish. after the event asha uses a sneaky corridor that she just learnt to ambush magnifico and plead her case to him. away from the crowd he goes mask off and tells her to fuck off, asha narrowly escapes his guards.

defeated, she sings her I Wish song and we meet the star.

instead of the short guy, have valentino play the grouchy foil. valentino hates the star, and they have slapstick together. hell if disney wants to be meta, have him resent the star for turning him into a funny talking animal or something.

dahlia is the only one who believes asha when she tells her about meeting the wishing star. the other friends think she's some kind of lunatic from out of town until they see the star for themselves.

have queen amaya be equally self absorbed as king magnifico and together act as an evil couple like in the concept art. she enjoys the luxury of being a self-made monarch and throws lavish balls and pampers her shitty cats or something. make them evil and campy together like mink stole and david lochary in a john waters film (we've had a villain based on divine, now its their turn)

alternatively, amaya can still have a redemption, but later on in the third act. perhaps she's vain and perfectly content with a certain level of fraud until magnifico crosses a line. have magnifico explain to her long ago that he gets strength from the wishes, but he only culls the shitty wishes bad people make. amaya thinks its reasonable that he crushes the wishes of bad people and people who "deserve" it. but selfish wishes aren't as powerful, and as magnifico begins to crave more and more power, he begins taking more innocent wishes to power himself. maybe he finally crushes the wish of some sick kid or asha's grandfather and that finally snaps amaya into realizing what they're doing has become completely irredeemable. i know disney is allergic to writing romance now so have asha stay single and instead take some time to explore this romantic relationship.

asha & co. defeat magnifico with the power of friendship or whatever, maybe even have the final final part of the battle be between magnifico vs amaya as asha rushes to care for her grandfather after his wish was just crushed. or magnifico goes full magical sorcerer and explodes asha's family home or something

everyone in rosas realizes they don't need magnifico to live their dreams and together (with some pitching in from a now queen-regent amaya) asha is able to build the library/school/hospital/insert public service building her grandad always wanted. amaya hangs the magnifico mirror above her cats' litter boxes. the end

[ghost-bison]

Introduction Post

Dear creature, abstract concept, wildebeest and whoever else stumbles upon this, hello!

My name is Eléonore and I will be your ghost for this evening (see what I did there)

If you are here, it must mean you are a Doctor Who enjoyer or maybe a lost little Teen Wolf/Vampire Diaries fan. If the latter's true, then sorry bug, I rarely ever post about those anymore, the hyperfixation is over :( But if you want some Doctor Who content then hi girl. welcome here I think

So here's a random info dump about me to either trigger your fight-or-flight response or become sisters:

I'm an artist. I mean that's what you call people who create stuff and I do that a lot: I write and I draw and I annoy the shit out of my neighbors by reorganizing my room in the middle of the night (for the sake of architecture)

I almost always take 20 years to answer texts

I haven't really slept since 2016

I'm kind of a dick

If you want to unleash the curse, then you may mention Doctor Who in my presence, or Catherine Tate/Christopher Eccleston/David Tennant

My top 3 Shakespeare plays are Winter's Tale, Much Ado About Nothing and Hamlet

I'm really enthusiastic about literary analysis, zombie apocalypse media, ghost stories, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and Beksiński. Like really enthusiastic

I had the biggest obsession with Derek Hale for 10 years to the point where it got embarrassing. Like if you talked shit about Derek I would bite, and after seeing the shitty-ass movie I didn't talk for 3 days

I'm terrified of the dark, that québecois show called Têtes à Claques TV and Gojo Satoru fans

I listen to everything, but my fave genres are probably country, celtic music and whatever you call that other genre that has geniuses like Michael Malarkey, Adrianne Lenker, Jenny Hval, Sharon Van Etten, Vashti Bunyan, Kyla La Grange, Kate Bush, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds etc... like idk what it's called, I just call it cottagegore personally

I also love B-52's, Portishead, Foo Fighters, Sheryl Crow and Minnie Riperton

Favourite foods and drinks are black tea with milk, well-seasoned tomatoes, bananas and reese's

But I'm also a bit of a raccoon I'll eat anything. even that fake concrete you find in kids' construction kits cause it smells really nice

I have adhd, anger issues, dyscalculia and sometimes in the street I look at my feet and then my thumbs because if I don't then I'm afraid I'll teleport. They had me do an IQ test once and said I was below average in some fields. it made me laugh

I kept getting into trouble at school because of how spacey and unhinged I was (I wasn't a troublemaker or anything I just didn't know what was going on)

I'm part of the crowd that thinks humans are more interesting than other animals (sorry bugs I love cat videos as much as the next person but we're just such a fascinating species)

I wanna move to Scotland soon

I had a pet fish once. Philippe. He was nice

I'm bi but I've never had a straight crush on a guy before except Christopher Eccleston and Jean-Pierre Polnareff (from Jojo)

I wonder if one day I'll feel like an adult

My works as of now:

"I'll see you when I fall asleep" (Doctor Who - TenDonna)

[comicalarchitect]

Samantha Reads Comics #1

I used to liveblog comics a lot on Twitter, and people enjoyed that sometimes, but once Twitter went to shit I mostly stopped doing that, so I'm gonna experiment with doing it in a longer format (though still keeping it pretty cazh) here on Tumblr. Lately I've been going through the comics bibliography of one of my favorite writers, Peter David, in chronological order, and rather than filling anyone in on the stuff I've already read, I'm just gonna pick up where I'm at now, dumping my thoughts in this post as I go through. (If people enjoy this, I might eventually go and do a catchup post with my thoughts on David's early Spider-Man stories, his first Phantom miniseries for DC, and his first year on Hulk.) This post is gonna cover the first few issues from David's second year writing Hulk, out of a pretty definitive and influential stint on the character. My thoughts, carrying over from my time writing Twitter threads, will be pithy and discontinuous.

I like that David brings out this aspect of Bruce--that he has the potential to lash out and be cruel to people even in this aspect. It makes the whole Hulk-as-repressed-id deal seem a lot more authentic. (Also love the absurd way Todd McFarlane draws Bruce's hair.)

"Bruce being petulant and jealous of Hulk" is another weird side of that dynamic that David teases out, and again, I'm very into. Hell, Hulk's hatred of "puny Banner" makes a lot more sense when you don't make Bruce a saint, but instead make him kind of a whiny hypocritical nerd. "Puny" as an insult works a lot better when it's not just an assertion of might-makes-right superiority, but is instead an observation of the way Bruce almost egoistically weaponizes his weakness, making himself an object of toxic pity who never really has to face consequences. (That's not really all contained in the page excerpt here, but it's definitely present in David's ongoing characterization of Bruce. If you want my analyses to be laid out more predictably, pay me to write a book.)

Rick, I think Mar-Vell's answer would involve some degree of "I would use the Power Cosmic on them," which means it would be pretty unhelpful to you right now.

Solid gag, and very much augmented by Rick Parker's work as letterer.

okay go to Writing Jail now, Peter David

I kid, though. This page right here, this is the deft, subtle, absolutely original level David was working on. This kind of psychodrama is why it's worth writing a Hulk comic in the first place.

I love how David always drops in these shitty little side characters whose petty, disingenuous lives get utterly trampled by the main plot--this kind of guy right here is why Hulk hate puny humans.

Oh FUCK this is a good development. Both a left-field move with possible dire consequences, and also completely in-character for Betty, which makes it the best kind of plot twist.

Betty is such a fucking good character.

McFarlane's style, especially with faces, is just getting goofier and more caricature-ish as he grows into his confidence (Image Comics wasn't even a twinkle in his eye yet), and it really is a good match for David's writing.

owned

it's about ethics in gamma journalism

what a bunch of clowns

okay but now I really want a "Teenage Idiot" epitaph (even though I'm 25)

[racetrackhigg]

FAME AU- newsies

im gonna talk a bit ab their jobs and stuff but also just hcs that i have of them in this universe. i would love to make this into an actual au with each chapter focusing on a different character but i dont have the time rn. the ships are javid, blush and ralbert, although i don't talk about them much. i rlly want to, maybe on another post i will

Jack “Cowboy” Kelly - Artist

Age when the au takes place: 26

Song: You’re On Your Own Kid - Taylor Swift

Jack would have grown up in the foster system. His parents died in a car crash when he was young, leaving him an orphan.

Since he was a kid he would’ve used art as a way to escape the shitty situation that he was in. He would’ve been in numerous bad foster homes, and he would’ve been failing school, but art would be the one constant that would allow him to escape. 

Then at 15, he got adopted by Medda, and she took him to art classes and bought him proper supplies

Crutchie would be his foster brother

Jack went to art school. He started entering (and winning) contests, as well as publishing his art online. He got an agent and the attention of some important people who helped him in his journey, giving him positive critiques and advice. 

Then someone really famous would’ve purchased one of his works and that made him blow up

Jack would live in an apartment in the centre of Manhattan. His apartment would always be a mess, and he’d usually do most of his paintings there, so a lot of things are permanently stained with acrylic. 

He DIY’s a lot of his clothes, painting on his jeans and jackets and things like that. This was a habit that he kept since the foster system to try to make the shitty clothes he had a bit more him, and he never stopped doing it.

This also means that he DIY’s so many things in his apartment, and it always turns out amazing. Doesn’t like the colour of that couch? He dyes it. Feels like the wall is too bare? He’ll paint something over it. Feels like the windows are too boring? He’ll buy a kit and make them into fake-stained windows that he can peel off when he wants to, in case he wants to sell the apartment or he gets bored of it.

He’s also amazing at gift-giving because he always makes sure to write a card or add something handmade to the actual gift. He used to give his boyfriend handmade flowers so they’d last forever before, yknow, they broke up (he would’ve chated on Jack)

Other than art, he would be a big sports fan. He would love F1 and would eventually get a VIP pass to the paddock. He’d be a Red Bull fan.

David “Mouth” Jacobs - Director

Age when the au takes place: 26

Song: the lakes - Taylor Swift

David’s mother would have been an actress. She hadn’t been very famous, but it already gave him an in the industry. 

He used to participate in the school musicals as the “director’s assistant”. 

He preferred movies over the theatre though, and he often wrote his own movies that he would’ve loved to direct someday.

He made a lot of short films with his friends and participated in different contests, building his portfolio for when he went to college.

In college, he continued to participate in many different movie contests and got a lot of recognition for his short films. He would have a very distinct movie style, very much giving “dark academia”.

He’d be given various awards for his work and eventually, he’d get to direct a full movie. It would do pretty well for being his debut. 

He’d continue creating short films and co-directing some movies. He’d start working on more important movies and gaining a large following.

His most popular movie would be one that would’ve been inspired by a painting. One of Jack’s paintings. It would be about the obsessed artist trope (think Black Swan or Whiplash).

David would live in Boston, and most of his short films would be filmed there. 

Outside of directing, David reads a lot, it’s his way of escaping from the world for a moment.

He’d love vintage books and would have them scattered all around his house. He’s a big fan of the classics.

Has a black cat named Dawn.

He’s a very private person. He doesn’t really date much, and he doesn’t post stuff online. This all changed when he met Jack, of course.

Antonio “Racetrack” Higgins - Formula 1 

Age when the au takes place: 23

Song: Labyrinth - Taylor Swift

Racing number: 16 

He drives for Ferrari 

He’d come from a well-off family, but they wouldn’t be rich. His dad would’ve been an F2 driver, but he never made it to F1. He would’ve been a huge Ferrari fan, something that he passed on to his son.

Started karting when he was 5 years old

His parents would’ve gotten divorced when he was 7. He would’ve blamed himself because they used to fight a lot over him doing karting. His mom didn’t want him anywhere near racing, but his dad supported him fully. 

He’d have a 5-year difference with his little brother 

After his mom remarried, she moved to France with his little brother (Romeo), while Race stayed in Italy with his dad.

At some point, Race almost had to quit racing because his dad wouldn’t have been able to afford it. However, his stepdad offered to help, and they had no choice but to accept. Race would have a really bad relationship with his stepdad and his mother, he would’ve been much closer to his dad.

He joined the Ferrari Driving Academy, wanting to drive for them once he joined F1

He joined F1 when he was 19, and joined Ferrari a year later, full filling his lifelong dream.

The same year he joined Ferrari his mother died.

His goal is to win a championship someday, and is currently second in the driver’s standings. But Red Bull is dominating and unbeatable, so the chances of winning this year are slim.

He would live in Rome. He has 2 cats, a Ragdoll called Sofia (but he calls her Sof) and an orange cat called Stella  

He would meet Jack in the paddock and they’d hit it off immediately, become really good friends. Despite the fact that Jack was there to support Red Bull. He’d know who Jack was because his ex-girlfriend would’ve been an artist and a huge fan. 

Outside of racing, he would love music. He’d play the piano and the guitar. He started composing his own songs after his mom died and continued after he broke up with his girlfriend (they would’ve dated for 2 years, and broken up a year before the au started). But he’d keep them to himself.

Think folklore and evermore (particularly seven, the lakes and tolerate it)

However, he would mostly listen to rock music, completely different from what he composed. 

His favourite band is “Untitled”, and he’d go see them when they came to Italy on their world tour.

Albert DaSilva, Kid Blink, Jojo de la Guerra and Finch Cortez - Band

Band Name: Untitled (I'm bad at names, if I think of smth better I might change it)

Genre: Rock

Albert and Finch met in high school and became best friends. Finch played the guitar and Albert played the drums, and they usually did covers of songs together. 

Flash forward to college and they meet Blink. They went to college together studying music composition and became close with Blink, who plays the bass guitar. Suddenly they have a new addition to their band. At this point, their still just making covers of songs.

Then they meet Jojo, who also joins their band. He sings. After this, they start making their own songs and playing at bars. They got noticed by a record label and signed a contract. 

They gathered a large following when their first album was released, but they blew up with the lead single of their second album. After that, they quickly rose to fame. 

In each album, there is one song dedicated/about each of the members, but they never say which song is about who

Fans love to speculate, though, and a lot of the time they get it right

They all live in Manhattan.

Albert

Age when the AU takes place: 24

Song: I Can See You - Taylor Swift

Lives with Finch, their roommates. 

They have a dog named Cheese. Why? No one knows.

His mom would’ve died soon after he was born, and he’d grow up with his dad and older brothers. They’d struggle a bit financially, his dad would be working all the time and when he’d be home he would usually be drunk.

He’d never be abusive, just incredibly distant and Albert would have to take care of him after his brothers moved out. 

Once he moved out he kind of cut contact with most of his family

He has a Twitch account and streams all the time. He’s a big fan of video games, particularly horror games. 

He often calls with friends and plays with them, for example, he calls Elmer a lot (his best friend other than Finch)

He also skates

He tried to take Finch to a skate park to teach him once and it did not end up well 

Probably the most disorganized person you’re ever going to meet. His room is a mess and it drives Finch insane. 

He would have a bit of a reputation when it comes to dating. He usually wouldn’t get involved in anything serious that lasted more than a couple of months.

Then he’d do a world tour where he would meet Race, a Formula 1 driver who apparently loved their music, and all that would change

Finch

Age when the AU takes place: 24

Song: Welcome To New York - Taylor Swift

Lives with Albert, their roommates.

He’s a big movie fan, particularly sci-fi movies.

He’s not much of an animal person. But in middle school, he used to have an obsession with birds, so Albert started calling him “Finch” and it just stuck

He’s really close to his family. His parents would be so supportive of him, they’d be there at almost every concert. They’d be really proud.

His fashion sense is atrocious but he’s trying his best and that’s what matters

He loves cooking. He’s really good at it too, and he’s always trying new recipes.

He has a TikTok account that has literally nothing to do with the band, it’s just him sharing the recipes he made. He also has a series where he does a meal for each college major and things like that. 

He has a secret Tumblr account where he interacts with fans and no one knows it’s him. 

People are aware of the existence of this account, but no one knows it’s him

Kid Blink

Age when the AU takes place: 25

Song: It's Nice To Have A Friend - Taylor Swift

Lives with his boyfriend, Mush, who owns a cat cafe.

They met in freshman year of high school and became best friends before they started dating in Junior year

He gives their PR manager a heart attack each time he opens his mouth because this man has absolutely no filter. 

Not allowed to post his own things on Twitter because he would get cancelled in a second

He used to watch BuzzFeed Unsolved religiously, but now he watches Watcher all the time.

Always knows the most random and disturbing facts. He’ll say the most unhinged things at the most unexpected times and provide no context.

He only posts things about the band, he’s a very private person and doesn’t like people getting in his business.

His private account however is basically a fan account for his boyfriend, since that’s almost all he posts about. And his cat cafe. 

Only his family and friends follow him there, though.

Also has a secret Tumblr account, but it’s just to see the Watcher posts. 

Middle kid energy

Jojo

Age when the AU takes place: 23

Song: Foolish One - Taylor Swift

He does pottery!! 

He’s a plant dad and all of his flower pots are made by him

He writes his own music separate from the band, but he doesn’t release any of them. It’s just something he does for fun sometimes

He was practically raised by his older brother since his parents weren’t great

His brother was the one who helped pay for his singing lessons when he was a kid. His parents didn't want him to have anything to do with music, they didn't think he'd make anything of himself

But his brother supported him fully and it got him to where he is now 

Wears his heart on his sleeve and tends to get hurt because of it

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

Hey CJ, you mentioned that you disagree with a lot of your old TWDG opinions, any that stand out you wanna share? Also i agree with what you said about wanting to play the series for the first time again with no prior knowledge - i would love to meet louis character for the first time again.

Yeah, some opinions have changed with time and moving on from being a hardcore, active fan in the fandom. I'm pretty sure I've talked about some of them more recently, like how I used to not like Jane but now I've become something of a "Jane apologist," if you will.

I was also super vocal about hating the Clementine comics when the 12-page comic dropped, and I'm pretty sure I was shitty about Tillie Walden... which I look back on now and feel embarrassed. In fact, I specifically remember calling attention to the fact that Skybound turned off comments on the first book trailer and on their instagram, twitter, etc. and being like, "look at these COWARDS! they know we hate the comic and that Tillie's a bad artist, they're trying to shut us up!" ........but then I heard they turned them off because Tillie was getting threats, and it caused me to dig around and see the vile shit fans were saying.... It gave me pause to think things through and I feel very differently about it all now.

I've also changed my mind on Minerva. Like Jane, there was a loooong period of time where I didn't like her, but now? I think she's great. A real tragedy.

In fact, real talk, I think my perspective on most of the female characters in TWDG has shifted dramatically. I've done a lot of thinking on this just in general; I'm much harder on female characters than male characters. I can pretend like noooooo I was always soooo fair... but no, not always. I'm sure it's from some deep-rooted, internalized misogyny I have that I'm working on, but I also think the games sometimes neglect those characters, too. Which makes it easier to brush them off as just "poorly-written" and "bad characters" if I don't like them when that's not always the case.

Or let's be real, we all know how this goes; the games give us a flawed male character and fans are like "he's my blorbo, here's a 50k essay about why he deserved better and a list of my headcanons and the twenty AUs I've written for them-" but then a female character's just as flawed and fans are like "lol she's poorly written, here's an essay on why-"

Don't look at me like that. I know I'm guilty of this. I know y'all remember Mitch. Back in the day, Mitch was my boy and I used to write about him all the time but like... god forbid I put that much effort into writing about Violet or Minerva, right?

Or even look at Kate, for example. Past CJ would've talked about how much she doesn't like Kate and she hates the forced romance with Javi, she's just there as a way to make David and Javi fight, etc. But you ask me about Kate now and I'm like, "Girl, ANF did you so dirty, you didn't deserve this."

Or how about Bonnie in S2? We all love to hate on Bonnie, but like... she's such an interesting character?? She's a recovering drug addict so desperate for a place, and you can see Carver's manipulation at play in the way she talks about him to Clementine. It takes seeing him physically beat Kenny within an inch of his life before she's like "Yeah no, fuck this, we're leaving tonight." And we give her shit about Luke's death and being mean to Clementine but frankly? Yeah, she's mean to Clementine and that's fine.

What, it's okay for Kenny to lash out and call her a stupid kid when Sarita dies because he's your poor meow meow and it makes his character soooo morally gray and complex? But Bonnie lashes out about Luke's death and suddenly she's just a massive piece of shit? No complexities or anything? There's no grey morality? No underlying motive or emotions behind the choice to abandon the group with Mike and Arvo?? She's just a bitch??

And do I even need to talk about Sarah? Hmm? We all know how Sarah was received and how fans still talk about her. Again, Sarah has a complete meltdown over losing her father and people get hurt, and fans wish death upon her... but Kenny has a meltdown and brutally beats up Arvo or threatens to smack Clementine or a number of things.... "that's fine, he's just really upset, he lost his family, y'know? everyone keeps trying to GASLIGHT me that he's bad but if you really think about it, Arvo totally deserved to be abused and it's actually Clementine's fault Kenny hit her because she tried to stop him-"

I just... the lengths we go to justify and defend this violent, toxic character but then act like Jane is the worst, I can't-

It's so funny to me whenever I see someone in the fandom complain about wanting more morally grey, flawed female characters because like... y'all couldn't even handle Jane. Or Lilly. Or Sarah. Or Bonnie. Rebecca. Eleanor. Christa. Minerva and Violet, in a lot of cases. So like... what do you actually want?

Note that I'm guilty of this, too, and I've asked myself that question... haven't fully worked out the answer yet.

That's the major thing that comes to mind about opinions I had that I've changed my mind about. I think a big factor in that is letting twdg go and getting invested in other fandoms, doing a lot more reading, getting back into writing, etc. Obviously I've really gotten into the Dragon Age fandom and that's what triggered this "journey of self-reflection~" when it comes to how I perceive female characters. Like, you want flawed, morally-grey ladies? That's your series... assuming you can actually handle it.

But I also recently finished a playthrough of Fallout New Vegas and remembered my love for Veronica Santangelo, like... I don't care that the game doesn't technically have romance, that's my girlfriend, I love her. Then the other night I finished my first playthrough of Life is Strange True Colors [I know, where the fuck have I been, right?] and I spent 40% of the time looking at flowers, 10% being sad about Gabe, and the other 50% trying to figure out who I liked more, Steph or Ryan.

I've also been reading a lot of wlw novels which is just..... THAT'S a whole mess I won't get into because this is already long enough and you didn't ask. Just know that's also another factor in this reflection.

And to answer the other part of your ask: I miss Louis. I would love to play TFS again for the first time again, that was a fun time.

[deeptrashwitch]

This is wholesome and because my granny gave me the idea ^^

Julio was sit in front of the table, with a cup of coffee in fornt of him as he watched the news, staring at the date with a tired smile. On the other hand, Rosa left his breakfast in front of him, kissing his forehead while she put a hand over his shoulder. She whispered a quiet "happy birthday, gordito" (that's how my grandma calls my grandpa ^^ so it's their term of love) before look at the landscape as well.

"Thanks mija" he answered, taking her hand with carefulness

"What are you thinking about?"

"I...just wish that the kids could come and say hi today, but all of them said that they were busy. I guess I can't blame them"

"They'll come this month, I'm sure"

"I know, it's only that I just wanted to celebrate my birthday with my whole family" he answered with a sigh, then looking at Rosa "however, I'm happy that you are here, amor, I'll always be"

The old woman just smiled towards her husband, kissing him again, before going for her breakfast to eat together. It was a lovely moment, just like the ones they had when they were much younger, but both of them missed the laughs and screams from their children and grandchildren. Like that the breakfast passed, and soon Julio was getting prepared for his daily walk around their big land, just to be interrupted by the door bell.

"Were you expecting visits, mija?" he asked with a raised eyebrow

"No, I was about to ask you the same"

"No...I don't"

The old man frowned but went to the door, looking how near of him he had a machete, just in case. But when he opened the door, a surprising view welcomed him, leaving him frozen of the pure surprise. It certanly was a surprising visit, but a lovely one as well.

"Feliz cumpleaños, abuelito!" his grandkids exclaimed at unison

August was carrying the cake with Nicolás help, while Elías and Alicia were carrying some boxes, and at the same time Camila and Juan David brought some lemonade with them. They coordinated between the six of them to go to Colombia, just to celebrate with their grandparents together as a surprise, and they managed to have it right!

Julio couldn't say anything, just letting them enter to leave everything inside, watching how his wife screeched of happiness and hugged their grandchildren. At the same time, he laughed a bit, then locked into a big hug from Camila, who kissed his cheek. One by one, all the grandkids hugged him and wished him a happy birthday, making him laugh even more.

"Why did you come? Weren't you busy with your work?" he asked, touched by the gesture

"We wanted to came, and the world can burn on the mean time" Alicia said with a smile, pushing Elías away from her "that won't keep us away from our grandparents!"

"Agree! Also, we missed you both!" Elías continued, throwing himself over Alicia "hah!"

"Get off of me!"

"Those two..." August murmured, shaking his head before looking at his grandpa "we came here as a surprise, I hope we didn't caused you any trouble"

"If someone told me, I could've waited for you with a good meal" Rosa said with a little frown

"We'll manage it, abuelita, don't worry" Nicolás said, taking control of the kitchen and then looking at the youngest "and you two what?"

He was just answered by Camila and Juan David showing him the middle finger, which make everyone chuckle.

"Spoiled ones" the older said with a laugh

"Jealous?" Camila asked with a shitty smile, thightening the hug over their grandpa at the same time that Juan David did it with their grandma

"I bet they are" Juan David said with a mocking smile

Julio was happy, what a great way to pass his birthday!

Ahh, I wanted to write this and now even more because my granny was so happy hearing my rant about my characters ^^ she was the one who asked me to write this one.

[purplemys]

Clay Puppington and Cameron Campbell vs. Endeavor : Why I Like Their Character Writing and Not The Latter's

Clay from Moral Orel and Campbell from Camp Camp are from opposite ends of my Shitty Person Character spectrum.

My spontaneously-made scale for these characters include Disgusting But Interesting - Sympathetic (The Golden Area of my Morally Gray Characters) - Entertaining Scumbag.

Disgusting But Interesting

Clay is about as realistic as abusers come. He wasn't born evil, he isn't some spawn of hell, but he's definitely portrayed as a monster. The thing with Clay is that he's an abuse victim. His childish act of rebellion caused his mother to have a heart attack and since then his father resented him for what happened. His substitute for love is physical abuse. It's how he grew up, it's how his brain coped. And he knows this. He knows he's fucked up, he said so many times throughout the show, he's very aware of what his issues are and how to stop it.

You would think a character like Clay (sympathetic, realistic, self-aware) is a prime candidate for redemption and reconciliation with his family, esp Orel, his kind and forgiving son, yes? No. The ending, while somewhat rushed gave me such a good feeling. Orel didn't have to keep his father in his life to be "a kind and forgiving" person. Orel got to live happily ever after with Christina and break the long cycle of abuse which neither Clay nor Bloberta (the wife) broke once they got out of their abusive households. Orel honored his parents by keeping their photos in the new house, next to photos of his brothers who were equally abused and went on to be good people.

That's the main point with Clay, the conclusion to his and Orel's relationship, because this father-son dynamic is the main plot of the show. Anyway, back to Clayduring the entire show's run. Season 1 put a bit of a comedic spin on the scenes where Clay was threatening to beat Orel while he was drunk, to reflect how Orel saw the situation and the world in general, his mind wasn't registering the awful shit going around him yet, esp about his father. As the show goes on, the abuse dawns on Orel eventually. But we as the audience were always supposed to take the punishments very seriously, to see the alcohol, the belt and the twisted lectures Clay gave and immediately think "Abuse". None of that "Twisted form of care/love". None of that "It's a mistake". None of that "It's just how he is." The show makes it clear that this is abuse and this is a choice and he knows it.

Which is why he was never redeemed.

Entertaining Scumbag

Cameron Campbell doesn't really have a sad backstory like Clay but he gets to have a chance at a redemption arc in Season 3 and 4. I just find him to be entertaining as a side character. His list of crimes mean little in a show that's full of very violent or selfish characters (most of which are kids). The characters talk trash about him too. Only one of them really gives him a chance to change (Yes, the kindest of characters, my favorite, David). They even make it a point in the episode "Keep the Change", Campbell would never be able to change for the better because he's selfish through and through. Was Max (the protagonist) right about his assumption?

Well you see, Campbell in that episode when repeatedly urged by David to do good, he kept slipping back into his selfish and narcissistic ways. Like wanting to only give to charity for adoration and fame. All that. David rightfully calls him out for that. That's another thing, they repeatedly give him shit for the things he say or do, to make up for the lack of legal consequences for his crimes.

(One day I hope the thing with Jasper gets resolved though. It was an accident but the fact that Campbell was being negligent was another thing. That being said, another kid died in Gwen and David's care too. Talk about off-screen negligence.)

Anyway, "After Hours" shows Campbell for the first time without Gwen or David telling him what to do or how to run his own goddamn camp. The first glimpse of him doing nice things without thinking much about them. The plotline with Campbell ends with this cute scene here.

When David saw them and woke them up, he was likely about to compliment Campbell about how good he handled the situation or whatever, but Campbell cut him off and started complaining about the campers and grumbled about getting some sleep. Good, I don't want to hear another sappy speech about Campbell! It was a nice episode overall. :)

So that's the main point about Campbell. How the characters act around him.

Now about his backstory, as a contrast to Clay's. Campbell is selfish. Greedy. Self-absorbed. An asshole. Campbell used to have friends, a girlfriend, and a stable job. He was so good at his job that he was eligible for a Camp Corporation(?) Magazine at some point. Point is, he had it all and his greediness made him lose all of that. And he definitely wasn't getting any of that back.

The fame went to his old friends, Camp Corp. founders the Campwells, since he was always in hiding because tax evasion and other crimes. He can't have his camp back because he went to jail and his new punishment is to surrender his funds and services to David, who he wasn't respecting before being knocked down a few pegs. Lastly, when he and his girlfriend reunited and he asked if they could "pick up where they left off", she rightfully called him out for that being such a shit thing to ask after 17 years apart. They banged in the end of that episode but the rest was up to interpretation until maybe Season 5 (if ever).

So his redemption is funny and definitely not giving him things easy since it's not like he has the things he always wanted: Fame, Money, and Control.

Endeavor and Why I Just Hate Seeing Him On Screen and Why The Decision to Redeem Him is Ridiculous and If He's Simply "Atoning", then everything else surrounding this plot is Confusing

I think a lot of you already know this by now but I'm Filipino and from an abusive household. Our culture is all about community. The majority over the individual.

Abusers get away scot-free unless... you broadcast it to everyone. The radio, the television, to anywhere and everyone who will pay attention. What Dabi did was the only way to give his abuser some semblence of repercussions since his family surely wasn't going to do it. Because here's the thing, E slur wasn't just some random jackass breadwinner. He is an authority figure, with wealth to top it off. He had everything in his disposal to manipulate things in his favor.

Like bro, even then, even when everyone in the neighborhood knows your situation, no one is still going to step in because the decisions ultimately lie within the family. And they (my family) sure aren't going to do something because "This is just how things are" "This is how the matriarch is" "This is how our family deals with it"

I wouldn't be upset with E slur not getting legal repercussions if it's clear that the entire family straight up hate his guts and not even bother to associate with him in any way. None of this forced family dinners, none of this getting the family to talk to him. None of this Rei and Fuyumi giving him a chance. None of this invasion of space and boundaries (like hugging Natsuo or acquiring Shouto's number from Fuyumi, and if she gave it willingly, I find that uncomfortable).

Sometimes, we just live in resentment and no one here is happy because we simply can't. How can you when your entire existence revolves around a dream your parents never got or a life they never lived? Who can forgive when your very life hinges upon how useful and cooperative you are? That your presence only matters when you're not a burden? Because I sure can't.

I can't imagine if they were actual authority figures that will double the pressure on you because they have the media monitoring your entire family~

So how about the opposite? What if the family is indeed willing to give the selfish, extremely abusive, egotistical asshole a chance? (Not Natsuo, never him) Then why not have the media absolutely hound him. Have his coworkers scorn him, yes even Hawks who looked up to him and supported him. Have the entire world look at him and his entire posse with distrust, all of them. And the end of all this? Lose his hero license.

He can't have both.

Hell, he doesn't deserve either.

But if the narrative insists, then I'd rather he be a social outcast, esp by his own family.

Now about how he's treated within the story, you have all these characters pointing out how he's better, less of an asshole, "a changed man". Camp Camp did this for ONE episode. Because this is annoying. The man doing the bare minimum is so laughably sad. Especially all this was before the reveal of the abuse. And after the reveal, nothing. Crickets from the people who know of it. Those who do talk help nothing for this plot, like Hawks for example. 😬

It's important to note that Campbell is to David like E slur was to Keigo. Except Campbell and David did meet 14 years ago when he was 10.

The thing is though, that David grows out of this parasocial relationship with Campbell throughout the seasons. Hawks lately is Endeavor-san this Endeavor that, shut up. Jesus Christ. Like I know admiration. I know obsessive. It's not a cute look when you're 23 and supposed to be self-aware it is painful to watch unfold. Because I think a reveal like your idol (not even a friend) being such a scumbag can't have a Denial/Slow Burn Breakdown Reaction. And if the "It may be true but...I'm sure it's not like that anymore." is the final reaction/acknowledgement then 1) I've heard that before from irl 2) How are you SURE? Some random not-even-close-with-any-of-the-victims outsider? 3) Beyond underwhelming.

😬

Back to E slur, they never should have tried to give this man attention of any kind. He doesn't have a sympathetic background (not that I'd want him to) so he doesn't have anything to relate to. Yes, the """"inferiority complex"""" maybe but not everyone has the wealth and power at their disposal to buy a wife and coerce her to make children-

So he's not relatable, he's heinous, we're supposed to take his crimes seriously, so he's not even entertaining what else? He's doing a good job of atoning for his mistakes? He's a massive invasion of boundaries and that is uncomfortable.

1) Him giving Rei her favorite flowers.

My brother gave me a nice gesture once. Made me cry and everything. Wanna know why? Because this is the same dude who used to beat me with a broom stick! :D

Yes, abusers can do nice things omg shocker, do they deserve to get within 10 feet of you and then leave you presents, maybe even at an attempt at asking for forgiveness? Hell no. God that's spine-chlling. Because it could be genuine, and no one deserves to feel like they owe someone that kindness and forgiveness.

2) Him suddenly hugging Natsuo without regard for how Natsuo would react.

This is after years of neglect and subjecting him to domestic violence. This is him touching him just because, what, he was "scared of losing him"? Your child was just as likely to die from getting neglected or sheer stress and you're only worried now? Laughable and quite pathetic! I personally don't like getting grabbed without my consent, esp if it's someone who's hurt me before. Mother may have never hit me but I know what it feels like to be threatened. She gets mad when I get mad at her for suddenly grabbing me every now and then. I explicitly told her I hate getting physical. I'd hate to think how E slur would have reacted if Natsuo had the reaction time to flinch or shake him off. Again, uncomfortable.

3) Getting Shouto's number then bombarding him with messages.

If your kids don't want to talk to you, maybe stop pestering them? Maybe stop being such a nuisance? Maybe stop inserting yourself in their life whenever you can because you feel entitled to a chance? Or maybe get to know your kid first and that being he doesn't talk much to begin with so knock it off.

Again, if they never should have made him try. And if they insist, not like this.

My Aight Im tired. Goodnight.

[latenightsleeper]

Fellow Darlin’-Chrissy Truther here, you can’t NOT tell me what this storyline for them is! I have one of my own as well, but I’m always intrigued by other ways of viewing the same story!!! (Sorry to bother, but I’m so psyched that someone else agrees about this!)

A WILLING SACRIFICE—(*grabs you*) okay so, I’m so happy you asked!!!!! I have a lot to say about them so I’m very excited to tell you

Okay some basic info about my version of Tank is that their humanborn, hence why they have a harder time connecting with the pack. They don’t understand the magical world and by proxy, the Shaw pack as well someone who wasn’t a humanborn would. I mean, I think we all known how biased the empowered world is to humanborns (cough cough DAMN cough DUMP cough cough) their parents were a bit…late to understand their needs as a shifter and even later to fully grasp what was happening, let alone accept it. The scare on their cheek was a testament to that

So, here’s teen Tank, with a very messed up attitude about themselves and feeling isolated within minutes of being introduced to the pack. Once again, the pack kids already have an understanding of the world around them so they do things very much differently than Tank is used to. Things Tank has no idea how to do or even understand, it’s been said before Tank wasn’t close to David or Asher growing up but even then. I’d imagine someone would try and help tank get used to and understand their new life. It didn’t alway work and the questions they asked were hard to answer or know why they asked.

Enter Christian, born into an empowered family and taught everything Tank wanted/needed to know since he was a baby, just as much as a loner as Tank was since he wasn’t a legacy kid like David or Asher as well as having a decently bad attitude… he was a huge dick to Tank when they first came, like full on asshole the way teens are when a new kid who doesn’t understand what you think is basic knowledge shows up. Chris was relentless in his teasing and childish jokes, always laughing at their innocent questions and chiding their attempts.

Tank didn’t take it laying down tho.

They fought, a lot. Verbally, physically, pranks and tricks. They were at each other’s throats from the second they woke up, to the second they went to bed. Rinse, cycle, repeat. Like clock work, some of the older pack members had some bets they’d kill each other before they got along.

Surprisingly they do start to get along, but not in the way people thought they would. My personal HC is that Christians parents weren’t the…best, this feeling coming from Chris sisters specifically using “ if you didn’t help raise him “ when the Asher and Milo tease him about Amanda and call him Chrissy(which seems to be a family nickname?). Maybe I’m reading into it a bit much, maybe I’m not. I’ll keep on rolling with it till Erik proves me wrong (not likely tho with how much he writes parental problems with his characters)

Both Christian and Tank have that in common and big places gossip, people talk and the walls have eyes. They started to see each other as something like kindred spirits, bad attitudes and shitty parents with more than a few people willing to let them dig a big hole for them to throw themselves down. They still fought and shit but it was more like a game to them both, some way to keep active and to have fun. Bloody noises and complaints from local law enforcement aside.

Things changed tho, Tank and Chrissy were still close but it was harder and harder for Tank to take the isolation from the pack. They had Christian, they’d always have him but he started to find his place, hell he even started to see Amanda. Tank? Nothing, just..an outsider.

Enter Quinn, I don’t really think I need to explain what happened with him.

Being with Quinn just drives a bigger wedge between Tank and the pack, even Christian. They start making excuses and excuses, they still showed up when he needed or asked them but there was something wrong. Just something off, maybe it was this new guy Tank was seeing, maybe it was how Tank was hiding something from him. But Tank never showed so he never asked.

Then he gets a call that Tanks in the healers, something about a rough Vamp and them being hurt. He was the only one they could think of for Tank, their parents are gone and aren’t even on the list for emergency contacts.

He leaves hours later with a promise to catch up next time when their more healed and rested, not knowing right after he left. That be the last he’d see of Tank.

Tank lies as we know to David about heading to their parents to heal and they lie to Christian about catching up. Both for the same reason, to keep the pack and most importantly-to keep Christian safe. Tank just hopes the hurt from them leaving will keep him off their trail.

Christian doesn’t know their gone till they don’t show at the pack meeting and David tells everybody the news. Christian immediately knows something is wrong and is deeply hurt, but he knows tank better than anyone else. He didn’t look for them bc he knew they didn’t want to be found-not now at least and he wanted to trust Tank at least told the truth about them just leaving to heal.

And then a month passes, then another and then it becomes close to a year. (Ten months to be precise, I counted )

Contact with Tank is minimal before drying out on everyone but David and that’s just checking in to see if their alive.

Then David finds out a full year later (once again did the math, tank was actually hunting Quinn outside of Daliha for about 10 months and then showed up, it took David a full 3-4 months after that to realize something was up) and gives Tank a rightful talking too and tells them to show up to the next meeting. so who would show up to the next pack meeting?

Tanker and they look very different than anyone saw them, especially Christian. More scars than he remembers and a haunted, sad, angry look in those eyes.

This is just general lore, don’t have all the kinks worked out but man lemme tell you! There is a lot to Tanker and Chrissy’s relationship, lots of emotions and stuff

[marcusrobertobaq]

I'm to lazy to get on my game and take screenshots or look for a gameplay with these dialogues, so

X1202C_PBY_LINES_PC_X12CCOP01_VIOLENT01] {S}{1}Our guys shooting down those androids is all over the news. [X1202C_PBY_LINES_PC_X12CCOP02_VIOLENT02] {S}{1}Good: {2}let the world see. {3}Our job is to protect people, and that’s what we’re gonna do. [X1202C_PBY_LINES_PC_X12CCOP01_PACIFIST01] {S}{1}I still haven’t done my report on that android march… [X1202C_PBY_LINES_PC_X12CCOP02_PACIFIST02] {S}{1}Hey. {2}Stop calling it a march. {3}Humans march. {4}Androids just go batshit. [X1202C_PBY_LINES_PC_X12CCOP01_PACIFIST03] {S}{1}Right… Right… {2}Yeah.

Not a march, they say. Detroit Become Human Cops.

To play this game u gotta understand the law enforcement is officially against the android rebellion and civil rights movement in general, that's one of the reasons Hank just doesn't care bout the police by the end anymore and mf just gtfo.

In HPR Allen just confirms the orders are "arresting" androids or gunning 'em down if they resist. The DPD, the feds and the national guard are working on the same shit. I think Allen got a similar opinion to those cops or he really doesn't care what to call everything that's happening, he just wanna do his job even if he's impressed by Connor.

In a world where the androids won it would fall into the same issue we got nowadays, unfortunately androids would become "a minority" to get abused by cops - cuz that's one of the metaphors David Jaula uses in his shitty ass writing, it's explicit in the game.

So, no...i know u know what i'm criticizing.

I ain't talking about pov justifications or if the cops are wrong or right in "wanting to protect the city from defective androids that were tools taking care of kids few days ago and now are walking on the streets as if they're people", i'm talking about % of specific events happening. Be aware public opinion is a false alarm. U don't get support from everybody, u just shocked the whole world and they gonna act in a defensive way - public opinion supportive means some groups ain't hating u anymore and are actually supportive in androids having civil rights, what i bet doesn't make even half of the population - what should be something for a country where hating androids is almost a rule in a way u dehumanize 'em for 'em looking "too human" so u don't feel guilty at all. People questioning things to the android side is already a bad signal for a corrupt gov controlled by a megacorp like that, people questioning about it is enough to force the fucking president to do something. But will it be enough? I DOUBT IT.

Politics is also a dangerous game, we've been seeing propaganda war at least 3yrs in 2 major conflicts that still happening till today.

Internet posts won't do shit and i dare saying this is where android support in dbh falls, cuz we don't see any human marching with the androids, making protests in favor of androids. Not even the mfs that were protesting wanting jobs and android ban (cuz they were taking jobs).

But we see the opposite.

[eyepool]

Last week I read a big omnibus post made of screenshots of lots of really good posts about creativity and impostor syndrome. I reblogged it and even emailed the whole thing to my writing group.

Now I want to reblog this specific post from it, because I keep thinking about it and it’s pretty profound. (Shout out to iOS’s ability to copy text out of pictures, which made it easy to search tumblr for the original post.)

A negative side effect of our modern ability to record, distribute and play back our activities is that, since we now have instant access to the best [by whatever metric] performances of the past and present, we judge our own against them.

Do you sing as well as Kate Bush or Frank Sinatra? Play guitar as well as Eddie Van Halen, sax as well as Coltrane? Dance as well as BTS? Write songs as good as John Lennon's, novels as good as Philip Pullman's or D.H. Lawrence’s? Play basketball as well as Shaq?

No? Then why bother, since you clearly suck at it. Or else, if you think you have talent, better devote your life to practicing all day long, and after 10,000 hours you might be good enough for fame and fortune.

Fuck that. The truth is that music and art and writing and dance and games are fun, even if you’re not particularly good at them. They make us happy. I wouldn’t say they’re instinctive behaviors, but they grew out of those, and they’re a big part of what make us human.

I say from experience that, due to the above, if you start to (e.g.) play guitar you can get some basic “Kumba Yah” level of competence in a few sessions. But you then find yourself at the bottom of a sheer cliff with EVH and David Gilmour and Robert Fripp up at the top. Even that showoff kid at Guitar Center is halfway up.

Someone once said that as we learn to create, our ability to recognize Good Stuff grows faster than our ability to create it, so we get stuck at a point where we realize we're shitty. The wrong reaction is to quit. Better is to either keep practicing until you get to a point where you actually like what you make (which doesn’t take that long if you keep at it!) … or to just have fun making shit, because that is 100% OK too.

pretty shitty how baseline human activities like singing, dancing and making art got turned into skills  instead of being seen as behaviors

so now it’s like ‘the point of doing them is to get good at them’ and not ‘this is a thing humans do, the way birds sing and bees make hives’.

[rainydawgradioblog]

A. Savage showed me I can write a decent song (I’m delusional)

My first major purchase after arriving in Copenhagen last summer was a ticket to see Andrew Savage’s European tour in February. The legendary Parquet Courts co-frontman played Ideal Bar in Vesterbro with his band Midnight Stew to a crowd of me and 99 tall mustachioed film bro-looking Danish lads in their 20s and 30s. I fit right in wearing my artsy new A. Savage “Riding Cobbles” t-shirt, as Andrew convinced me with his lovely little tunes to write a song of my own.

Andrew’s visual aesthetic had me straight to Ticketmaster before his latest album Several Songs About Fire even dropped. Everything he rolled out in promo shoots, cover art, and concert merch was drenched in David Hockney meets “The Adventures of Tintin” meets the doodles on the back of my middle school binder. 

Paired perfectly with the cartoony visuals, the music of Sevel Songs About Fire boils down melodies to a uniquely simple formula. Nothing is overcomplicated, leaving plenty of room to feel every chord change and focus on his glorious rusty voice, which is down-to-earth but also smooth enough to make me think he could burn the house down singing Frank Sinatra hits if he wanted. Andrew’s style makes great songwriting feel like something that anyone with a shitty guitar can do, and that’s not meant to sound shady. 

Another major draw to Andrew’s music is his lighthearted pessimistic humor that he throws all over his lyrics. It’s the same humor that my dad’s college buddies who never had kids embody. You can tell he’s got a weird whimsical take on the world in the way he phrases his feelings. “My weekly dinner of popcorn and Coke / Every Friday, like communion that I took as a joke” in the intro “Hurtin’ or Healed” is objectively a bit bleak but you can’t help but smirk and hope you're as witty as him at age almost 40.

I can thank Andrew and his band Parquet Courts for my appreciation of art punk and a lot of the politically charged folk rock I obsess over today like early Courtney Barnett and Fontaines DC. The band’s pop art aesthetic and funky yet punky take on indie rock recontextualized a lot of harsh punk aesthetics into something that made a lot more sense to me when I was first getting into music. Album’s like Wide Awake and Human Performance were palatable but gritty enough to slap some taste into my teenage brain.

Where Andrew’s solo work deviates from Parquet Courts is his more laid back take on songwriting, packed full of energy without doing the most. He’s got a handful of chords and progressions that are standard but still sound so uniquely his own. Hearing a song like “Le Ballon” or his latest single “Black Holes, the Stars and You” put Andrew’s skill at building tension and emotion with just a few particular chords and subtle melodies on full display.

Most of the emotion conveyed on Sevel Songs About Fire is rooted in finding comfort in simple pleasures and observations in a life far from a sense of home. Living all the way in Denmark, I listen to “Riding Cobbles” bumping down the cobbled Copenhagen streets, “My New Green Coat” while wrapped in my new thrifted Bob Dylan jacket, and “Mountain Time” watching the geese fly in Vs like they do in the Cascades back home. 

To me, the album is music to ramble to– it’s the music you listen to with your thumb out on the side of the road with a knapsack tied to a stick over your shoulder. I listened to the new album for the first time while waiting for trains between Berlin and Copenhagen, anticipating a long bus ride to Stockholm the next day. Being on exchange often felt chaotic, trying to experience as many new things as I could without a lot of regard to my ability to settle down, and Sevel Songs About Fire is exactly that. Andrew mentioned during his set that he loves touring because he has the unique ability of finding a sense of home in a lot of places, something I wish I was better at.

After Andrew’s show, I picked up my very own $35 guitar from the charity shop down the street and started thinking about tiny observations or inanimate objects that made me feel any kind of something. However insignificant these things seemed, they were unique to me which is exactly why Andrew’s music is so important. Several Songs About Fire was never about reinventing the wheel but more about a unique perspective and personality using the bread and butter of what makes a great song. 

I beg of you please listen to Several Songs About Fire and after you’ve realized it’s your favorite album ever I’d give his debut album Thawing Dawn a listen. For more political indie rock stuff I’d listen to Parquet Court’s Wide Awake and if you like it even punkier, try Light Up Gold. 

You’re welcome!

Mead Gill