#i still haven't played the demo for the record

[thelakesuite]

new game in threee weeks, but i feel like i know what's goin on

[gardenwalrus]

PAUL: I remember the great excitement at 20 Forthlin Road when we had the phone put in. I still remember the phone number: Garston 6922. George still remembers it. It's ingrained. John and I used to play pranks with our tape recorder: record stuff, then ring up people and play the tape recorder to them and record their answers on another tape. We were supposed to be making demos. We made one for Mr Popjoy, who was one of John's teachers from Quarry Bank. We had a message that said, 'That Mr Popjoy?' then there was a wait for some reaction. I’m calling about the bananas.' Then there was another pause. We'd put that to the speaker, call his number, and the minute we heard him answer we'd switch our recorder on and it would talk to him. We had a mic at the hearing end and we would record that, so we didn't know quite what he'd said until it was all finished but we could hear something going on. Then we'd just cut him off and listen back to it. It was great 'Popjoy here. Yes? Can I help? Bananas? What bananas? I haven't ordered any bananas!'

- Barry Miles, Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now (1997)

[its-vannah]

Girl, Put Your Records On | Eddie Roundtree x Reader

A/N: I haven't seen any fics with him, so I had to make one. I love his character so much.

Blurb: Being the daughter of a music producer has its perks, and one of those is meeting Daisy Jones and The Six's Eddie Roundtree.

Warnings: Just fluff and a hit of angst, implied intercourse (no detail)

Daisy Jones and The Six Masterlist

Being the daughter of a music producer had it's perks. For starters, you were able to listen to new albums and singles before anyone else. While the rest of the world waited for upcoming releases, you were already taking the record out of its sleeve and putting it on the phonograph.

Not to mention all the artists and bands you were able to meet. Your father was constantly popping open a bottle of champagne to celebrate his clients to celebrate their upcoming albums and tours.

Although you were too young to drink yourself, it was nice to feel included. Being there with your father, surrounded by new and interesting people with dozens of stories to share.

But being the daughter of a music producer has its downsides, too. On the smaller scale, sometimes your favorite songs wouldn't make the cut. When you were younger, it hit harder. But as you got older, you just accepted it and moved on.

That wasn't the only down that the role came with, however. You were a young, beautiful, kind girl with a heart of gold and a lot of love to give. Not many men in the industry had any problem taking advantage of that.

There was a thrill to it, for them. Sneaking around with their producer's daughter with the possibility of getting caught at any moment. You were sixteen when you had your first love. He told you all the right things, did all the right things. But the night before he left, he tried to convince you to "live in the moment" while leading you to his van.

It didn't take long for you to realize what was happening, so you freed yourself from his grasp, shoving him back and walking back inside your home.

He was too old for you, anyway. He was twenty, and you were still a kid. It wasn't right, but it was the seventies and he was gaining popularity. It didn't matter what he did, he had every girl in America wrapped around his finger. You, however, had made the choice not to be one of them.

A few years later, when you were nineteen, an up and coming group walked inside your father's studio. He was hesitant about letting them record, but he trusted Teddy and gave them a shot, alllowing you to sit inside the sound booth to hear them play.

You could see the nervousness written all over their faces as they got ready to play. They wanted to impress Teddy, and you didn't blame them. He wasn't easy to read.

Reclining in your seat beside Marcus, who gradually increased the volume on the lead vocalist and lowered the sound of the guitars, you smiled as you listened to them play.

By the end of their demo, you were on the edge of your seat waiting to find out whether or not they'd get an offer.

While Teddy went to discuss it with your father, you stepped out of the sound booth and made your way towards the group.

Smiling, you held out a hand to the only woman, who was closest to you when you walked in, introducing yourself, "Hey, I'm Y/N."

Karen gave you a gentle smile, shaking your hand, "Nice to meet you, I'm Karen."

The drummer, who was fiddling with his drum sticks, hollered over her, "That's Karen Karen."

Raising a brow, you couldn't help but release a small laugh, "Karen Karen?"

The blonde shot him a look, "Fuck off, Warren."

Warren grinned, nodding his head as a way of greeting you.

Beside him, the lead vocalist looked over at you, "Is there something you need, Samantha?"

"It's Y/N," You corrected, "And I just wanted to say I like your sound. It's different. I think you guys have a good chance of getting a deal."

One of the guitarists, the one with curly hair who had been ogling Karen for the past half hour, smiled up at you from his seat on the amp, "Thank you, Y/N. Our main focus is creating music that people l-"

"For the love of God, Graham, shut up," The vocalist grumbled, turning back towards you, "Look, it's nice to meet you, but we're a bit busy here."

Graham held his hands up in surrender, returning to fiddling with his guitar, mouthing "sorry" to you.

The fifth member of the group, who had been nervously tapping his foot flashed his bandmate an irritated look, "C'mon, Billy, she's just being nice. At least people actually like our music."

"Eddie, all I'm saying is that we need to spend less time socializing and more time figuring out what we do if we don't get this deal."

On that note, you cleared your throat, "You'll get the deal."

Simultaneously, Eddie and Billy spoke over one another, the former asking if you really thought so and the latter asking how in the hell you knew.

"I know Mr. L/N well, and so does Teddy. Look, the last few bands Teddy has invested in haven't been doing too great. But I really think you guys have a chance. I know you guys do."

Eddie gave you a lopsided smile, "They liked us in Pittsburgh, I don't see how this is any different."

Billy glared back at him, "If you'll excuse us, I think we have a few things to discuss."

Nodding, you turned to exit, giving the band one last smile. But before you could step out the door, Teddy came back in with your father in tow.

Teddy looked at the band, "We're giving you a shot, don't blow it."

The band, who Teddy had earlier referred to as The Six, erupted in smiles, hugging each other and patting one another on the back.

Your dad wrapped an arm around you, addressing the band, "I see you've met my daughter?"

Billy's eyes widened a bit. He thought you were just some random kid. But you had been in the sound booth, he should've known better.

Warren, who was very obviously high, nodded, "Yeah, she's hot."

Wincing, Karen glared at him, "She's been very kind, Mr. L/N."

Your dad eyed Warren, kissing you on the head before congratulating the band one last time, kissing you on the forehead, and walking back to his office.

Once he was out of sight, Eddie took one of Warren's drumsticks out of his hands and smacked him on the head with it, muttering, "Dumbass, that was her dad."

The drummer's mouth formed an "O", "You think he knows?"

"Jesus Christ, Warren," Karen said, shaking her head before turning to Billy, "And you, you need to get the stick out of your ass."

A look of pride settled on Eddie's face. You could tell the two of them didn't see eye to eye just from the small interactions you had with them.

Moving towards the exit, you waved them goodbye, "I'll see you guys around."

Warren and Graham waved happily, Karen and Billy nodded, and Eddie tilt his head to the side with a smile.

Once you were out of earshot, Karen looked back at Eddie, "Jealous, are you, Roundtree?"

"Piss off, Karen."

Warren looked between the two of them, connecting the dots, "Psst, Karen, I think he's jealous."

Rolling her eyes, she flashed him an irritated smile, "Yeah, I figured that out, thanks."

------------------------------------------------------------

Billy: As soon as we got the news and packed up, I ran to the nearest phone to tell Camila. She had always believed in us, and now everything was falling into place.

Karen: I think I went back and got drunk in my room afterwards. We may have gone out to eat, I don't remember. We had been living gig to gig, I was just happy to have an income.

Camila: It was the first time in a while that Billy really seemed happy with how the band was going. He had always believed in it, but I really think it helped him to see that everything was coming into place. That we wouldn't be living in a shack forever.

Warren: I don't even remember being in the studio. I was in my twenties, I was doing anything I could get my hands on. Drugs, alcohol, women. I was just along for the ride.

Karen: I could still kill Warren for telling the producer's daughter, Y/N, that she was hot in front of her dad.

Warren: We all thought it. Especially Eddie. I was just the one who said it.

Eddie: There was something about Y/N that was different. She wasn't just a newfound fan, she believed in us from the start. She and Camila were the first people to have our record in their hands. As for Warren's comment to her dad... She was beautiful, still is, I just think he could've handled it better. A lot better. By not saying anything.

Graham: It was nice to know that someone outside of the band and Teddy believed in us. Moving out to LA meant that we were starting over. In Pittsburgh, nearly the whole city had heard of us. At least, the people our age.

Eddie: That day was a turning point for the band.

Camila: There was no going back after that. They started recording and within a month, they were on their first tour.

------------------------------------------------------------

You came to every recording session The Six had, excitedly listening to their songs and giving input. You studied the way Marcus moved the volume and reverb, making a mental note of it. What he did had always fascinated you, and he was willing to teach you. It was one of the perks of being F/N L/N's daughter. People bent over bsckwards to make you happy.

Over the course of their time recording, you went out for drinks a few times with them.

You met Camila, who you adored, and quickly became friends with. You wouldn't have changed any of it for the world.

Well, except one thing.

From the moment you met Eddie Roundtree, your heart hadn't stopped fluttering, skipping a beat every time he walked into the room.

Warren constantly teased the two of you about it, suggesting different ways to release the tension between the two of you.

Karen kicked him under the table, giving him a look that sent fear down his spine.

It made the moment awkward for a minute, but the band could sense it was bound to happen.

Eddie was used to being pushed around by Billy, who was by far the most popular and well-known member of The Six. But for once, he was first place. With you.

The two of you often nursed a glass of champagne, talking to one another at the bar while Graham attempted to flirt with Karen, who wound up finding another guy to hook up with, and Warren fell into a crowd of women.

He took a sip, looking down at you, "What's it like, getting to hear new music before anyone else? Not just ours, but in general."

"It's incredible. Don't get me wrong, being in the studio so much has its ups and downs, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. There's nothing else I can imagine myself doing. That's why I want to work in the sound booth."

"You do?"

"Yeah, Marcus offered to teach me a while back. I just wanted to wait until you guys went on tour. I just want to focus on The Six, just taking it all in."

Eddie bit his bottom lip, "So... You and Marcus...?"

You shook your head, "Are friends. My mother is friends with his. We grew up together, he's just a few years older. He's protective, like how I imagine an older brother would be."

He nodded, "So, are you seeing anyone?"

"No," You let out a shaky breath, not meeting his eyes, "Are you?"

"No, are—I already asked you that," He said nervously, swirling his glass in his hand, "Do you... Have an interest in... You know, seeing anyone?"

"It depends on who it is," You said, heat rising to your cheeks, "And you? Anyone on your mind?"

He set down his glass, looking at you, "There is."

Meeting his eyes, you turned your back to the counter, leaning on it for support, "What's she like?"

"You have a mirror?"

You burst out laughing, "Is that your best line, Eddie? C'mon, you can do better than that."

He put his head in his hands, embarrassed.

Pressing a hand to his back, you used your other to pry his head away from his hands, "Don't worry, you can make it up to me."

Raising a brow, he tilted his head, "And how can I do that?"

"Pick me up on Friday at six."

"That's the day before tour starts."

"I know."

He nodded, "Wear something nice."

"Don't I always," You tease, stumbling into his chest.

He lifted the glass from your hands, "You know what I mean. I do, however, think you've had enough of this. C'mon, I'll drive you home"

------------------------------------------------------------

Warren: I was so happy to see Eddie leaving with Y/N. He was growing up, leaving the nest. It was about time he got laid.

Eddie: I drove her home. She had driven herself, but I was worried with her having three glasses. Truthfully, I just wanted to see her get home safe. And she did. I dropped her off at her door, walked her up, and waited until she got inside before I left. Once I got back in the car, it hit me—I had a date with Y/N.

Karen: I think he was more excited about the date than the record deal.

Eddie: It had just been a big few months. Moving to LA, getting a deal, meeting Y/N. Things were finally going my way.

------------------------------------------------------------

Eddie: Long distance relationships weren't easy by any means. I was the one who had to call, since we were constantly moving around. It strained us a bit, but she was able to go to a few of our concerts and I got to see her, take her out a few times.

Karen: Y/N visited us while we were in the northeastern part of the states. She stayed with us for a week and a half. And I never got any damn sleep while she was with Eddie. They could've been quieter, but I guess it was young love.

Eddie: She had her own hotel room during her time staying with us. Her dad set it up. We'd just stay in mine talking to one another.

Warren: Eddie swore nothing happened in his hotel room when he was alone with her, but I was on the other side of the wall. Look, I was pretty high, but it'd be hard to forget that. I may have been the one to call her hot, but he was the one that took it three, four steps further. Good for him, though.

Eddie: It was only when we got back from the tour that things started to go downhill with me and Y/N.

Camila: After I gave birth to Julia, Billy checked into Rehab. I was on my own for a while. But when the band came back, they were there to help me. Julia enjoyed time with Uncle Graham and Eddie, and Y/N whenever she was off work.

Graham: Eddie and I were there a few times a week just helping out and checking in on Camila and Julia. I loved that kid more than anything. We'd just sit out in the grass and I'd sing to her.

Eddie: Camila needed all the help she could get, especially with Billy not being there. Not that he would've done much anyway, to be honest. I tried to be there for her and Julia in any way I could. I didn't realize that it would tear Y/N and I apart.

------------------------------------------------------------

"Eddie, I barely ever get to see you. Can't you go one day without seeing Camila and Julia? You can stay with me. It's better than that shack."

"That shack is my home, whether it's shit or not, Y/N," He grumbled, "Camila needs all the help she can get with Julia. She's only a few months old."

"Her mother is with her, Eddie. She's got her mom, Graham, the whole band really. It's not that I don't want you to be with them, I just want to see you. I never get to see you."

Eddie sighed, "Y/N, they mean everything to me."

"They're your bandmates, I get it, I just—"

"Y/N..."

It was written all over his face. He wasn't just talking about The Six.

------------------------------------------------------------

Karen: We'd all known, except for maybe Billy and Camila, that Eddie was in love with Camila. We just thought that he had put those feelings aside when he met Y/N.

Warren: Out of all the girls Eddie had dated, which hadn't been much, she was my favorite. She was fun, she kept up with us, she was passionate about music and the band. When they broke up, I nearly snapped the guys neck. And I'm not a violent guy. She just deserved better than whatever the hell that was.

Eddie: Camila and Billy were married. I would never have come in the way of that. At the same time, it wasn't fair to Y/N. I loved her with my whole being, but I still had some unresolved feelings for Camila that started stiring when Billy was gone. It's wrong, and I know that, but it wasn't fair.

Graham: Eddie was an idiot for what happened. I remember when he came back from their first date. He swore up and down that they'd get married one day.

------------------------------------------------------------

When the band broke up, everyone went their separate ways. Karen continued touring, this time without Daisy and The Six. Warren got married and started working on boats, which became a passion for him. Billy stepped away from music and settled into life with Camila and his daughters and Graham continued working in the music industry, starting his own family. Daisy recovered from her addictions, and wound up adopting kids of her own.

These all took years to play out. But not for Eddie.

As soon as the band was over with, the first thing he did was buy a ticket to LA and knock on Y/N's door.

He explained everything and told her he loved her, he always had.

------------------------------------------------------------

Y/N Roundtree: Eddie proposed to me the night he showed up on my doorstep. He told me he couldn't imagine a life without me. I was touched.

Eddie: But she said no.

Y/N: I loved him, but I told him it would take time. We still had so much we didn't know about each other. It had been ages since I had seen him. I didn't even know that the Six had split up until he told me. He was back in LA that fast after the split.

Eddie: We did get to know each other, though. And I proposed almost a year later. We got married a few months after that. And the rest is history.

Y/N: It was a quiet ceremony. Eddie didn't want Billy there, and thought it may be a bit off putting for me to have Camila there. But I knew how much he cared about her and the girls, so we extended an invite.

Camila: Billy and Eddie never really saw eye to eye, and with Billy finally getting comfortable with family life, I didn't think it would be good to thrust him back into that.

Eddie: Y/N was a little upset they chose not to come, but understood. If you invite half a family, it doesn't exactly work.

Billy: I was surprised Eddie found the balls to get married.

Y/N: It wound up just being Eddie's immediate family, mine, Marcus, Warren, and Graham. Daisy showed up a few days earlier to congratulate us on our wedding, bringing a guitar with her as a gift. She just didn't think being back in that environment would be good for her. There would be too many questions.

Daisy: Just because the band was over doesn't mean the music couldn't continue. Eddie was a good guitarist and Y/N knew everything about managing sound and rhythms, so I figured it was an appropriate gift. I was really happy for them.

Eddie: Karen was touring at the time and wasn't able to make it, but she visited once the tour was over and stayed a few days.

Y/N: I preferred having a smaller wedding, with the people we knew the most.

Warren: They had great alcohol. I wasn't high during the reception, so I was actually able to enjoy it. I even met my wife there.

Graham: It made me long for a relationship, honestly. But it also made me realize I need to focus on myself first. I didn't want to just settle to settle.

Y/N: Our son was born a year and a half after we got married and music was automatically a big part of his life. He'd sit on Eddie's lap at not even a year old while Ed played the guitar. I still have pictures of them back then on the mantle.

Grant Roundtree, Eddie and Y/N's oldest son: I remember when I decided I wanted to pursue music. Dad sat me down and explained what happens when you achieve fame and how to handle it. Mom told me that I needed to take it one step at a time and really enjoy my childhood.

Farrah Roundtree, Eddie and Y/N's daughter: Grant never stopped playing that damn guitar mom gave him.

Grant: Sometimes I played just to drive Farrah and Eli crazy. I never stopped.

Eli Roundtree, Eddie and Y/N's youngest son: I wanted to be just like Grant when I was younger. He was my cooler, older brother. He even taught me how to play the guitar and I could carry a tune, but my stage fright got in the way of anything beyond that.

Eddie: Grant went into the music field, Farrah pursued modeling and is now acting, and Eli is just now graduating from high school, planning to attend college this fall.

Y/N: I'll always be grateful for Daisy Jones and The Six, but I've got to be honest—I'm even happier it ended when it did.

Eddie: Everything happens for a reason, and for me, it couldn't have ended at a better time.

[monstress]

fave 2024 korean releases

IMPORTANT CAVEAT: I HAVE YET TO LISTEN TO 'AAA' BY HYUKOH x SUNSET ROLLERCOASTER! IT IS NOT ON THIS LIST! I AM WAITING FOR THE RIGHT TIMING! IT IS NOT TIME YET!

on to this year's list:

beautiful world - kimhwol

akin to its album cover, it's best to listen when you are out on a walk. kim hwol's voice cradles you like a beating fire, like a baby bird. while forest child might be the best song of the album, my favorite is the demo track of dear my love with its plinky piano which i find particularly delightful. sparse, basic, but each tracks soars.

yin - colde

i was hesitant to place this here since it's only 3 tracks long but considering it's on my top spotify wrapped, i felt it'd be bias not to give it a place of honor. the background adlib at 3:25 mark in I Color You is laced with cocaine. solid rnb singles, per usual. where is that offonoff album.

dudndudndudn - yujin kim

get on the ground floorrrr. kim yujin is a gorgeous jazz vocalist (listen to her past 2 albums if you haven't) and this EP is rich, bright and her voice is playful and unpretentious. the double track You Love Me / I Love You are so disgustingly cheesy it rounds back to being good. personal fave track is hit me back where it dipped its toe in shoegaze.

orange hour - joyce kwon

have your ever heard an album that is so technically perfect that you get mad? this is that album. i don't even know what else to say.

neom 0541 - BØJEONG

during my first time listening of Unreal, i had to pause and check out if they were a side project of the band The Solutions - they're not. it doesn't mean this release isn't an absolute barn-burner. a concept rock album of landing in a desolate new world, this EP's highlight is Unreal but i implore to stick around for the next track Hyenoid as it hits you with a solo that can melt your face clean right off. check out their latest EP kin as well.

angel interview - meaningful stone, swervy

the latest entry in this list, not even a month old as i am typing this. however, i had a sneaking suspicion this album is going to be an instant shoegaze classic (red car and i open the window instead of the closed door especially) the transition from garage rock esc to house track _()_ is insane.

are you watching at all? - min.a

while i can't say i am a fan of the current epidemic of particularly nasal tiktok singing that's hitting youngsters, min.a is an exception to the rule because she actually has the sauce. by that, her EP thoroughly impresses in its production that i am here for everything she releases from now on. while skipping stones has the play numbers, do not skip on sunshower and petty because they are so cleverly arranged that i don't wanna spoil it.

cool - hyelyn joo

this is a funnnn indie-pop EP with great earworms like Kiss! and Crazy. it's bubbly nature oddly reminds of Lee Jin Ah, albeit steers more safely to the pop side. it's a true crowd pleaser release and each track can be someone's favorite. no on asked but B-Yum is my tongue-in-cheek fave.

the world you live in - ashmute

let it be on the record that everytime they release, it's gonnaaaa be on this list. i prayed for an album from them and my prayers were answered this year. to top it all, it's good and STILL so underrated. Air and Saudade deliver their signature sad sexy bops but surprisingly HARUMADA comes out as the citypop track i didn't know i needed.

honorable mentions:

growing pains - ghost bookstore, miniseries 2 - sumin & slom, play with earth! 03 - wave to earth, "L" - the volunteers, PUMP - epik high, sphere - jooyoung, gimbap - george, entire i & and july - kim kak sung, overtime life - 8호실 peridot, the earth - mrch, bonfire - cifika

[deadcryptiid]

Interview with Euronymous for Morbid Magazine 1987

You had planned a tour in Italy, what will happen now that Manheim is gone?

Euro: We'll just use Torben. But the tour will be in December instead of August as first planned. This is for several reasons.

Does Maniac use distortion on his vocals or is his voice natural?

Euro: Maniac's voice is actually natural! When I first heard him I was sure that he used distortion, but he don't. You can hear that on the demo/record, because he and Messiah use the same mike together! But I think he uses some ki nd of space effect.

How do you manage to play so fast?

Euro: Well, you know that the more practice you get the faster it goes, and we've played for three years, now. But we don't play fast compared to bands like Napalm Death! They're fast!

Has your demo sold well?

Euro: We've sold some, but most people prefer to wait for the record, I think. We've sold a couple of hundred records, even before it's out!

Are any record labels interested to make a deal with you?

Euro: I don't know.We haven't tried to get a deal yet. We recently got a letter from some label called Thunder Records. They wanted a demo so I sent them one. But except from that we haven't sent out any demo to record companies at all.A lot of people have told us that we'd get a deal easily, but we hate record companies. If we'd sign a deal, we'd loose all control. Now we do everything ourself, distribution, promotions and stuff, on our own label called "Posercorpse Music, Inc. "If we sign a deal, we might get much better distribution and more money, but still we prefer to do things ourself. I mean, which rec. company would print our lyrics? However, if we one day do sign a deal, I doubt that it will be more than a one or two record deal.

Were do people that buy your demo come from?

Euro: From all of the world.We've even got a lot of letters from strange places like Japan, Australia, Poland, Chile and Peru!

What do you think of the Norwegian thrash scene?

Euro: It sucks, but I think it starts to build up now. More and more people seem to become active in the scene which I think is good. One thing which also is good is that punks and thrashers now start uniting. But I think that more girls should get into the scene! I know about just 5-6 of them here in this country. However, the Norwegian scene has alot of suckers!It is people who just walk around, thinking "I listen to Slayer, I'm hard!" and we also have those who make crooked use on bands and others, I'm not going to mention any names, but this is Bad!

Do you feel that many people buy your demo after they have read a Fanzine with you in it?

Euro: Yeah, I think that's the way most people get to know about us. We've also been played on lots of local radios everywhere, but it's deffinetly the fanzines who make most of the promotion.

What music do you listen to?

Euro: Personally I listen a lot to electronic syntheziser music like Klaus Schule, Tangerine Dream, Conrad Schnitzler and Brian Eno. I also listen to lots of thrash and some hardcore. But, NO disco shit, pop music or HM.

What do you think about Vomit and the music they play?

Euro: They rule! Their new stuff is so great! To be honest, I think they're better than us! They're really great guys. When Manheim left us they lent us Torben and they let us come to practice at their rehearsalplace every weekend. That's a cool attitude. Support them! They will have a new demo out this autumn.

You visited Kreator some time ago, how did they react when they first heard you?

Euro: The German thrashers are psychos! At that time we had only released "P.F.A" demo, and a lot of them loved it! Then you have to be sick!

You've got some help from Metalion of Slayer Mag. what do you think of him and the Fanzine?

Euro: Metalion is a fucking great guy and our best friend. If it haden't been for him....... The Deathcrush record is dedicated to him, and he truly deserves it! His 'zine is one of the best ive seen and also definitely the sickest.

[oldiesstationlover11607]

Okay bestie I need a fake dating fic ?! I can’t think of a good idea so please use your amazing brain 🫶🏻 Josh or Tyler I just want the tensionnnn the piningggg yessss

Faking it - Josh Dun x Reader

Warnings: Tension and angst lol

Word Count: 2532

A/N: Girl I am so sorry this one took so long 😭 I've been very distracted this week so haven't gotten as much writing done as I normally would. Hopefully this makes up for it <3

‘Josh Dun and Halsey are over! What’s next for the twenty one pilots drummer?’ 

That was the headline on the People post at the top of my Instagram feed three weeks before I was contacted. Josh and I had been friends in high school–long before he met Tyler or had anything to do with twenty one pilots. At that point in our lives our small group of friends would spend Friday nights at his house, recording demos for theoretical albums in a desperate attempt to pass the long Columbus summers. Most of us had lost contact since we’d graduated and gone off to college. In fact, I hadn’t had Josh’s real number in my phone for at least 10 years. I’d be lying if I said that hadn’t bothered me. Celebrities were supposed to remember their friends, they were supposed to keep in contact and see them every time they visited home. Josh lived in LA. Tyler lived in Columbus. But everyone knew he came back to see Tyler and his family as much as possible–no one had heard from him. 

Except me. That one fateful day that changed everything. 

“Hi Y/N. It’s Josh. Josh Dun. I don’t know if you remember me from school or if this is even your number anymore,” the voicemail started. “I’m in town for the next few weeks and I’d like to catch up with you. There’s something I’d like to ask you but you know, it’s one of those things best said in person.” The faint buzz of another voice sounded in the background. The audio went silent for a few seconds before he continued. “So… uh… flick me a text or call me back or something but I’d like to see you. Bye.” 

It took me three days and a conversation with every one of our old friends to respond to the message. Half of them told me to ignore it–that Josh didn’t deserve anything from me–but something inside me felt like he needed it. Most of the pop culture news sites had been giving updates about the breakup and Halsey had been posting near constant tweets about the situation. It had to have been difficult on Josh, he was one of the most sensitive people I knew, and according to TMZ, he’d been keeping quiet about the whole thing. I’d stared at my phone screen for a long time, his voice still playing in my mind long after the voicemail ended each time I played it. As usual, curiosity got the better of me. Against my friends’ advice, I texted him. 

“Hey Josh. I got your message. How about we go to Margaret’s for coffee?” 

Margaret’s was a small local cafe we used to go to on Friday nights in the fall and winter, coffee being the only thing that kept us warm. 

Josh responded almost instantly, suggesting a time. I agreed, nerves building as the reality of seeing him again after so many years set in. What would we even talk about? Did we still have anything in common?

The day we decided to meet, I found myself at the cafe ten minutes early, anxiously tapping my fingers on the table. When Josh finally walked in, I was hit by how different yet familiar he looked. The years had sharpened his features, his hair dyed a bright yellow, his arms covered in more ink than I remembered, but his smile—the same crooked grin—instantly melted the years away.

“Y/N,” he greeted, pulling me into a quick hug, his scent instantly bringing back memories of those long summers. For once the man in front of me wasn’t the man in all the news stories or playing sold out shows–he was just Josh. 

“Hey.” I smiled, feeling his arms wrap around me before we split off and sat into the cozy chairs on either side of the little coffee table I’d chosen. We talked about everything, our old friends, our lives since high school, and then, after what felt like hours of catching up, Josh cleared his throat and leaned forward.

“So… there’s actually something I need to ask you. And I’m aware of how ridiculous it might sound,” he started, looking almost embarrassed. “But I really need your help and I didn’t know who else to ask.”

I raised an eyebrow, intrigued. “Go on…”

Josh took a deep breath. “The media’s been relentless since the breakup, and it’s getting hard to deal with all the rumors and speculation. My management team suggested that if I was seen… with someone else, it might get them off my back. Temporarily, at least.”

It took a moment for his words to sink in. “Wait, are you saying… you want me to be your girlfriend?”

He laughed, shaking his head. “I want you to pretend to be my girlfriend. I know it’s a huge ask, but we’ve known each other forever, and I trust you. I wouldn’t feel comfortable doing this with anyone else. It’d only be for a little while, just until things die down.”

I sat back, processing the situation. Fake dating Josh? I mean, it wasn’t like it was unheard of for celebrities to stage relationships for the media. But me? I wasn’t exactly a part of his world anymore. I wasn’t sure I even wanted to be. But the look in his eyes—vulnerable, pleading—told me this wasn’t just a PR stunt for him. He needed this.

“Okay,” I found myself saying, surprising even myself. “I’ll do it.”

His eyes lit up in relief. “Really? You will?”

I nodded. “On one condition—this doesn’t get weird. We’ll stay friends, no matter what.”

Josh grinned, a hint of his old mischievous self returning. “Deal.”

And so, the charade began.

The first few weeks were awkward, to say the least. Paparazzi seemed to follow us everywhere, and we had to carefully choreograph our interactions—just enough affection to seem real, but not too much to make it uncomfortable. Josh would hold my hand in public, drape his arm over my shoulders during interviews, and we’d smile for the cameras as if everything was perfectly natural. 

The Paramore show was supposed to be one of the easier ‘dates.’ At least, that’s what I told myself as we entered the packed arena. The buzz of excitement from the crowd, dressed in a mix of colorful costumes and band tees, should have distracted me from the knot tightening in my stomach. Josh seemed at ease, smiling and waving to fans who recognized him as we made our way to the VIP area just above the main floor. But even then, I could feel the weight of the act hanging over us.

As the lights dimmed and the band took the stage, I felt Josh move closer, his arm casually draping around my waist. It was a simple gesture, one that would seem natural to anyone watching, but the second his hands slid to my hips, something inside me tensed. He wasn't doing anything inappropriate, but the intimacy of it felt wrong. I wasn’t his girlfriend—I was playing a part—and this level of closeness blurred lines I wasn’t ready to cross.

I glanced up at him, hoping to catch his eye, maybe give him a silent cue to ease up. But he wasn’t looking at me. His gaze was fixed straight ahead, lost in the music. For a brief moment, I almost forgot the cameras were on us, the spotlight that wasn’t really ours pressing in from every angle. Then, he leaned down, his breath warm against my ear.

“Look at the camera,” he murmured, his voice low, almost too soft to hear over the music.

I stiffened. Even here, in this moment, we were still performing. I darted my eyes across the crowd, picking out the nearest lens trained on us like vultures waiting for scraps. I swallowed hard, forcing a laugh that sounded hollow to my own ears.

“Now laugh,” Josh added, his voice almost playful, but it grated on my nerves. Then, without warning, he pressed his lips to my neck, an action that was too intimate, too calculated for comfort.

I jerked back slightly, lifting my heel and grinding it down on the tip of his shoe—not enough to hurt, but enough to send a clear message.

“Watch it,” I muttered under my breath, just loud enough for him to hear.

Josh’s grip on my hips loosened immediately, his hands retreating as if he'd touched a hot stove. “I’m watching it,” he replied, his tone smooth but with a hint of defensiveness.

“You better be,” I shot back, trying to sound stern, but the words came out shaky. I didn’t know if I was warning him or myself. Still, a smirk tugged at the corner of my mouth, a reflex that came from trying to play it cool, even though everything about this felt far from easy.

He caught the smirk, his eyes finally dropping to meet mine, and for a split second, something unspoken passed between us. Annoyance, frustration—maybe a bit of amusement at how absurd this whole thing had become. But whatever it was, it was fleeting, buried under layers of whatever we were pretending to be.

“You’re a terrible actress,” Josh teased, his lips twitching into a smile, though it didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“Maybe I just don’t like my co-star,” I shot back, but there was no real bite to the words. If anything, the tension between us had only grown more complicated. I wasn’t sure if it was the act, the pressure of being watched, or something else entirely, but it left me feeling raw, exposed in a way I didn’t expect.

Josh’s smile faltered, and for a moment, he looked like he might say something more, something real. But instead, he just nodded, his gaze drifting back to the stage, leaving me standing there, caught between wanting to scream at him and wanting to laugh at the absurdity of it all.

As Paramore's set continued, we went through the motions—laughing, leaning into each other, playing the part. But beneath it all, there was a tension neither of us could ignore. The lines were blurring too much, and the more we tried to act like this was all just a game, the more it felt like we were both losing.

After a few weeks the articles started to slow. Things were slowly getting easier between us and we’d even managed to get a couple paps to catch us kissing. One afternoon, Josh invited me to a small gathering at Tyler’s place. It was supposed to be low-key, just the three of us hanging out—no cameras, no staged displays. Tyler had always been a grounding presence for Josh, and I wasn’t surprised when Josh mentioned he’d already told Tyler about our fake relationship.

“I want you to meet him,” Josh had said with a hint of pride. “He’s my best friend. And, well, it’ll feel a little more real if you’ve met him, right?”

So there I was, sitting in Tyler Joseph’s living room, sipping iced tea, and trying not to overthink everything. Tyler was exactly as I imagined—easygoing, warm, with a dry sense of humor that kept the conversation light.

At one point, he leaned forward, eyeing me with curiosity. “So, Y/N, Josh tells me you’ve known each other forever.”

I nodded, glancing at Josh, who was sitting beside me on the couch, fiddling with the string of his hoodie. “Yeah, high school. We were in the same friend group, used to hang out all the time.”

Tyler smirked, clearly aware of the irony. “And now you’re in a PR relationship.”

Josh groaned, throwing his head back dramatically. “Don’t start, man.”

Tyler chuckled but didn’t let it go. “Nah, I’m just curious. I mean, you two seem pretty comfortable around each other. Doesn’t look that fake to me.” He raised an eyebrow, watching as Josh and I exchanged a quick, nervous glance.

“We’re just good actors,” I said quickly, trying to keep the tone casual. “Right, Josh?”

Josh nodded, but the smirk on Tyler’s face told me he wasn’t buying it.

“Look, I’m just saying,” Tyler continued, leaning back in his chair. “Sometimes these things have a way of turning into something else. Just make sure you both know what you’re getting into.”

It was a harmless statement, but it lingered in the air long after the conversation moved on. I found myself glancing at Josh more often, wondering if there was any truth to Tyler’s words. Did we know what we were getting into?

As the evening wound down, Tyler gave me a knowing look before we left, almost like he’d seen something we hadn’t.

A few days later, Josh and I were walking through a park near his place, taking a break from the media frenzy. The crisp autumn air had a way of making everything feel a little clearer, and I found myself wanting to address the strange tension that had been building between us.

“Tyler’s not wrong, you know,” I said quietly, breaking the silence.

Josh glanced at me, his brow furrowed in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“About this. About us.” I waved a hand between us. “I know we agreed this wouldn’t get weird, but… doesn’t it feel like things are changing?”

He stopped walking, turning to face me fully. His expression was unreadable, and for a moment, I wondered if I’d said too much. But then, he sighed, running a hand through his hair.

“I’ve been thinking the same thing,” he admitted softly. “At first, it was just this… fake thing. But now, being around you again, it doesn’t feel fake anymore. I don’t know what to make of it.”

The honesty in his voice made my heart skip a beat. I swallowed hard, trying to find the right words. “Josh, I don’t want to complicate things. We’re friends, and I don’t want to lose that. But lately… I’ve been feeling things I wasn’t expecting.”

Josh stepped closer, his eyes searching mine. “I feel it too,” he confessed, his voice barely above a whisper. “And I don’t know what that means for us.”

I could feel the space between us shrinking, the air heavy with unspoken tension. My mind raced with a million thoughts, but none of them made sense anymore. All I knew was that the line between fake and real had blurred beyond recognition, and we were standing at the edge of something neither of us had planned for.

“What do we do?” I asked, my voice trembling slightly.

Josh reached out, gently taking my hand, his thumb brushing over my knuckles. “We figure it out,” he said softly. “Together.”

I looked up at him, my heart pounding as I realized that whatever this was, whatever it would become, we were in it together. The charade was over—this was real now.

But as real as it felt, there was still the looming pressure of the media, the world watching our every move. And even as Josh’s fingers laced with mine, I couldn’t help but wonder how long we could keep this new reality to ourselves before the outside world caught up.

//

REQUESTS OPEN

[familiaralien]

Giant monster tamer megathread

Decided for the sake of education and my own neurodiversity to make a post including every video game series or stand alone title I know of that focuses on creature capturing competitions that isn't Pokemon.

One big exception: the game has to be a reasonably playable state. So no games that are effectively or literally lost media (like Micromon) or games that only playable state is currently a short demo (like Bestieball). With that in mind here we go:

Digimon

This one is pretty obvious. While more of a multimedia franchise it has tons of games to its IP. The one that probably would appeal most to Pokenerds is Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth and its sequel as they're turned based RPGs with a monster capture mechanic.

Monster Rancher

Another one I think a lot of folks have heard about or least millennials would remember. I haven't personally played any of these titles myself but from what I gather they're raising sims with tournament combat. For a while their availability was mostly limited to emulation but Monster Rancher 1 and 2 have been ported to modern systems like the Switch.

Yo-kai Watch

A mid 2010s franchise that had a whole lot of initial success in Japan. Its an RPG series that doesn't take itself very seriously with cute and goofy monster design based on the Japanese folklore creatures called... well yokai. Has real time combat instead of turn based and more luck based capturing mechanics than Pokemon.

Palworld

Brand new game that's only in its alpha release as of now. Its effectively a parody of Pokemon where you're stuck trying to survive in the wilderness so you must build a base and farm resources to survive. Game did have some initial controversy due to some of its designs stepping a little TOO close to being outright ripoffs of existing designs. Also you can capture and enslave humans which may not vibe with some folks.

Temtem

Basically Pokemon meets a MMO lite. The game can be played mostly as single player campaign but does unfortunately still require a constant internet connection. Battles are turned based but 2 versus 2.

Shin Megami Tensei

What could be consider the original monster tamer game. The series is aimed at a somewhat older audience and the plots tend to be more philosophical then like "gotta be the best *insert title here* ever". Focuses a lot on fusing monsters as well as trying to convince them to join you. You actually battle alongside your monsters.

Dragon Quest Monsters

Monster Capturing mechanics do exist in the mainline DQ games as well (at least since DQ5 I think?) but its these games have them as the main gameplay. Much like SMT it focuses on fusing monsters as one of the main ways to expand your library off available species.

Nexomon

Franchise that started its life as a mobile game but has since gotten ports to other systems. Its very similar to Pokemon in terms of creature designs and combat but the worldbuilding is quite different as is its tone being a lot more comedic.

Coromon

Indie game with visuals similar to Pokemon Black and White. Its story was originally kinda so-so and its ending pretty abrupt but its since gotten a free patch that smoothed that out quite a bit. Also has a sorta unique "shiny" system where alternate colors are associated with higher potential which can actually be altered once. Also has a built in randomizer and "nuzlocke" mode.

Cassette Beasts

A pretty recent indie game. Unlike all the others you don't capture or hatch monsters but rather record them to transform into them yourself. Battles are always between you and a companion which there are multiple to befriend throughout your journey (including a dog!). Has some really interesting quirks with its type chart that adds a lot of extra depth. Will soon be releasing a mutiplayer update for anyone that's into that kind of thing.

Monster Crown

A game with visual based on the Gameboy era. It has some pretty fascinating breeding mechanics and a somewhat darker tone than Pokemon. WARNING: DO NOT GET THE SWITCH PORT! For whatever reason its especially glitchy and I have genuinely gotten entire save files ruined by game breaking bugs (such as my player character getting stuck in walls or clipping out of a bounds). As far as I'm aware the PC version is not nearly as much as a mess though.

Monster Sanctuary

Monster collecting meets metroidvania. Has a really fun skill tree type move learning system that allows for quite a bit of strategy. Also the monster designs are way less Pokemon and more inspired by traditional roleplay monsters (so there's like Goblins and stuff). My only gripe with the game is how you get monsters involves getting specific scores in battle which makes getting 1 of each monster way more tedious than it needed to be.

Fossil Fighters

Franchise is maybe dead since there hasn't been a new entry in it since the 3DS but its still easy enough to these games. Anyway this series involve reviving dinosaurs (and some other ancient animals) into new lifeforms called vivosaur and using them in 3 on 3 combat. Vivosaurs are obtained with a fossil digging minigame which is kinda neat.

Spectrobes

Another franchise that's been pretty dead for a while (it last entry was on the Wii). Spectrobes has a more sci fi like setting with its monsters being aliens you revive from fossils. Combat is real time and you participate alongside a couple of your monsters. I'm btw describing only the first game because I haven't played either sequel!

Evocreo

Mobile only monster game with a style similar to Pokemon Black and White not unlike Coromon mentioned above. Has a lot of focus on split path evolution. The devs are apparently going to release a sequel soon but its been in development hell for years so I'll come back and edit this if that actually happens.

Monster Hunter Stories

I have not played nor watched gameplay of this one so I can't really describe it that deeply all I know is its a spinoff of Monster Hunter involving befriending and using the titular monsters in combat.

Telefang

Its sad this game series is most famous for being badly translated and repackaged as a Pokemon game. Anyway these are Japanese only titles though fan translations exist. The gimmick of this game is that you call monsters up on your cellphone to get them over to participate in combat. This series this sprout out when cellphones were consider newfangled and hip so it makes sense.

Anode Heart

Pretty sure this one is PC only. Takes some inspiration from the Digimon World games and is semi open world. Sadly this one I don't know much about outside of that though it does have a free demo on Steam for anyone that wants to try it for themselves.

Ooblets

Extremely wholesome monster catching and farming game. Battles are actually dancing competitions instead of violent confrontations and monsters are recruited simply by beating them in a fight. Thing is monsters will only fight you if you offer them their favourite food so that's where strategy comes in.

Moonstone Island

I know very little about this one except its also a monster catching and farming game. I've heard that its really good though and I believe its PC only right now but has a planned Switch port.

Timenet

Probably the most obscure ass monster tamer on this entire list. This is a Japanese exclusive set of Gameboy games featuring very cute monster designs... and Hello Kitty. Yes Sanrio made a monster tamer back in the late 90s. I only learned this even existed after scrolling down a comment section on a random YouTube video.

Abomi Nation

I'm mostly excluding roguelike games due to most having nothing but battles an 0 plot but this one does actually has a story! You play as the actual monster as you make your way through somewhat randomly generated maps with lots of other randomized elements. The game allows for a lot of customization including turning off permadeath if you're not a fan of that. The visual style is a bit crude but its still a pretty cute game.

Jade Concoon

Another somewhat obscure entry but at least this one got an English release. Anyway its an old RPG for the PSX with monster capturing and a very fascinating monster fusing mechanic that uses an algorithm to determine the appearance of the fusion. The player character can also participate in battle and the plot is very complex. The game also has a sequel on the PS2 but I know even less about that one.

Robopon

Now if you thought Palworld was bordering on some copyright infringement this game is basically nothing but "Pokemon but the designs are robots". Still worth bringing up I think!

Ni No Kuni

Not sure how I got to mentioning several obscure titles and somehow didn't mention something that really isn't. Ni No Kuni is real time battles between you and 2 party members. You can both battle as the actual human characters or switch into a monster. Wrath of the White Witch's visual style in particular is very whimsical and even has some animated cutscene done by Studio Ghibli. I haven't played any other game in the franchise.

Siralim

I haven't played any entry in this series yet (there's apparently 4 games + a spinoff) but from reading up on the most recent entry these are basically procedurally generated dungeon crawlers with an insane level of depth. The story is apparently not that great but the games themselves apparently also make fun of it so it seems its an intentional dev choice. Battles are 6 on 6 and there's over 1000 monsters to collect.

Disc Creatures

A monster tamer with a visual style similar to the Gameboy and Gameboy Color. It has 3 on 3 combat. Impressively I'm pretty sure it was developed by just one person in the RPG Maker engine (I'm honestly surprised this is the first indie game made with ya know... an engine meant for turned based RPGs).

Monster Harvest

A Dungeon crawler mixed with farming. Its a bit shorter than anything else I've mentioned here and its a bit glitchy but its a cute little game worth picking up on sale at the least. Notably also only about a 1/3 of the monster in the game are combative with the rest being either used for farming resources or as mounts.

Loomian Legacy

A Roblox monster tamer.... yes there's 2 of those in this (I could even have added 3 but I think one is in still a pretty early state). Pretty sure this started as a Pokemon fangame and become its own thing later. It has your typical 1 on 1 turn based combat and all that. I think its free to play and there's like several hours of content on it so maybe worth a gander.

Tales of Tonorio

Pretty sure this is the same basic deal as Loomian (Roblox game, started as a Pokemon fan game, etc etc) though its has its own world building and creature designs since I'm pretty sure its made by a completely different team.

So yeah that's all of them I can think of right now. If I learn of others and/or there's new releases I may expand this.

PS: There is almost certainly numerous typoes in this. This post is way longer than anything else I've ever made on Tumblr so I can't be arse to fix them you're just going to have to deal!

[protect-namine]

Can I ask your top favorite fics that you've written (feel free how much that you want to list)? Why they're special to you? Is there a specific inspiration when you wrote them? Thanks 🌻

okay, finally answering this. this made me realize I have 39 fics on my AO3 already. how time flies...

gonna go with a 5+1 trope here. 5 favorite fics I've written + 1 that hasn't been posted

staccato (twewy) - sometimes there are themes, motifs, tropes, etc. that a writer will come back to over and over again. if you're lucky, you can pinpoint which piece of writing started all of this, and what every other piece of writing written since then is responding to or conversing with. this is that fic for me. this is old. it's from 2012. it's what got me started writing more experimentally. yeah I can write a straightforward story, but I also really like writing non-linear stories with unreliable narrators and ambiguous elements (either something to do with identity/memory/time messing up the narrative; for staccato's case, it's memory). it took me a while since writing this to actually understand that's what I like writing though, but this is definitely the seed from which my current writing style sprung from. for that reason, it's a very special fic to me. it's formative to my writing journey.

[h]eretic (nier automata) - (david lynch voice) "the film is the talking" but apply it to fic. it's 374 words. someone commented, "I like it when a work is short but gets to the point. This was powerful." so I accomplished what I wanted. this is my hemingway six-word story flash fiction moment 👍

time is a vinyl record (genshin impact) - I haven't continued this because it's a high effort fic to write and I just don't have the writing stamina for it right now. you can see how I'm very excited about it though. I like it because I get to play around with formatting a lot, to the point where I now maintain a separate workskin demo for formatting fics. so I enjoyed that process of it. it's also got time travel shenanigans, science is magic is science stuff. it's easier to show you pictures of why this fic is so high effort for me (see below). it's a "mixed media" fic, and requires three levels of research (travel research, because the characters travel the world. science research, because it's got spacetime shenanigans. and archival research, as in "what do archivists do and how do they archive"). so yeah. high concept, don't have the brain space for it yet to continue, but I'm very fond of it.

the gardener who only collects seeds (genshin impact) - another time travel fic. time loop one, to be precise. this is the fic where, as I was writing it, I realized, oh. this is staccato all over again. the plot is different, the fandom is different, but stylistically and thematically, it's staccato in a different font. or rather, the refinement of the je ne sais quois that staccato started. this will keep happening in other fics, such as in re:flect. re/fract. (which uses identity issues instead of time travel as the ambiguous narrative element). everything goes back to staccato. that said, a longer postscript of gardener can be found here if you want to know how it was written/conceptualized/etc.

AZAZEL (danganronpa V3) - I usually write for small fandoms or rare(ish) pairs (relatively speaking), so this is the first time I posted a fic where it got so many comments and kudos so fast (relative to my other fics). I didn't think people still regularly check the saiouma tag in 2024? so the response just blew me away. I enjoyed writing a casefic from my experience writing another fic that's not on this list, so that's what compels me about writing azazel. the mystery writing. but also! I am a huge fan of role reversal fics because it really pushes the envelope with character arcs, and this is kinda like that. I'm a slow writer, but I'm still writing the second chapter. additional thoughts on themes, etc can be found here. also, I guess this fic felt like a milestone for me, because I finally got over my word count worries. it's my fic, so I get to say it's totally okay to post 20k words for one chapter. and I'm currently of the mindset that each chapter of this fic will probably have around the same word count. if anyone reading this is a reader of azazel, uhhhhh. that's partially why I'm slow to update, but I'm also just slow in general.

+1: The Halting Problem (sgdlr): you said "written" and technically I have a WIP that's partially written (16k words and counting). it's just not posted. that counts, right? this is my favorite fic to write atm. the halting problem is a set of two fics (RE:cursion and async/await) that make up one whole story. they're being written in such a way that you need one to understand the other. I think I can't really post either of them until they're both finished/complete. moreover, I decided to use both fics as my testing ground to see if I can write interactive, choose-your-own-adventure stories. I just think those are neat! so I wanted to try them myself!! and I think lc is perfect for that kind of story. if you've played a cyoa game before, you know how this goes. and yes, you can do this on AO3 (with limitations)! it's been really fun seeing the many ways you can use "choices" as a storytelling device, aside from just making branching paths in a narrative. I feel like, in spirit, this belongs to this list, although yeah it's not posted yet. I cannot promise that it will be. I highly doubt that it will be finished, in all honesty. it's kinda ambitious lmao, and waaay above my skill level. but! in the moment, I am having so so so much fun with it. and that's what matters in the end. the conceptualization and writing process for this fic just feels really different from the others because of it's narrative structure, and I'm kinda learning a lot about my own writing process along the way.

[sleepy-hart]

So while working through game concepts and deciding what to work on next, I've been refreshing my Godot skills. Wanting to get back into 3D and prepare for doing more narrative heavy games. Made this demo to learn nathanhoad's excellent Dialogue Manager addon and also test drive Kenney's new Godot platformer kit.

I'm really, really enjoying Dialogue Manager so far and feel it has a tonne of potential. Think it covers a lot of things I've been looking for:

Direct engine integration is super useful, as well as using custom resources to store dialogue. They're also text files so can still use external editor to update

Straightforward syntax, reminds me a lot of ink and yarn. As well it's named node approach feels familiar

Able to access global game variables for conditionals, and having conditional based loops and choices is very straightforward

Also able to call methods directly within dialogue, which is super powerful when combined with signals (showing/hiding coin UI mid conversation, playing sound effect)

Lots of options for random dialogue choices - just used the single line ones for now but in docs have seen they also have option for setting custom probabilities, just ncie to add more flavour

Hyped it has a built in approach for translations (create IDs and reference CSVs) that looks like integrates with Godot's localisation tools - a bit of a future thought but glad it has stuff to help built in

Docs you can mention you can create dialogue resources at runtime. Can imagine this being very useful - an example would be creating a record of all lines seen to replicate Ren-py's "log" feature.

The methods for displaying dialogue are super flexible. At the moment just used their example balloons but looks like it should play nicely to let you build custom GUI - and maybe even multiple forms (e.g. dialogue scenes vs flavour barks in main game world). Think next experiments will focus on this.

There's a few more things I'm keen to learn and see if they're feasible with this - "disabled" choices that still appear but can't be accessed would be nice, also looking at how you can integrate this with an audio system for voice acting - I think they have an example that includes voice acting?

Only thing I'm a bit nervous of is it looks like it can only grab variables from autoload/global scripts, so when putting into actual game will need to take care with save systems and methods for loading choice variables into a choice master global so we aren't keeping too much in memory at once. But if I'm wrong on this assumption, or others have approaches, more than happy to be corrected on this!

Also really enjoying Kenney's 3D platformer kit and it's been fun and . Making the shopkeeper bot was super simple. All the details on the original character model are modelled so just adjusted the face and for changing colours just had to move UV islands for limbs and face to different parts of the pallete textures.

Haven't tried this technique for modelling and texturing before but seen it crop up a few times so will definitely experiment with this in the future. Also might help with optimization - I think most of the materials in the pack refer to this single image texture? By default the pack only has the model glbs and a single colormap png so assuming that's how it's working.

Original plan was to fill in the shop with another pack so there's a few little platform challenges within this, but they all needed collisions adding so might add that in future. But main aim was focusing on the dialogue and think we've got a good approch going forward, and highly recommend the add on for other Godot devs making narrative games!

[paperlovesadness]

No, because I'm not over processing "Now & Then" and freaking out about what a perfect epilogue it is for the Beatles, but also what a perfect homage it is to John & Paul's friendship. And how much it feels like destiny.

The words "Now & Then" have so many strange ties to these boys. Because:

-> John's last words to Paul (during a meeting that no one could expect was their last) were: "think about me every now & then old friend".

-> John was murdered in December 1980. In February of 1981 a friend of Paul's - fellow musician Carl Perkins spent a week with him, participating in a recording of a song for his album. To thank him and Linda for their hospitality during the time, the night before he was meant to leave, Carl sat down and spontaneously wrote them a song titled "My Old Friend". He played it to them the next morning and Paul started crying and had to leave to gather himself. Linda McCartney then assured Carl it was okay and thanked him for helping Paul, because he had problems facing his emotions about the attack before that. And then she stopped and asked him "but how did you know?" and Carl had no idea what she meant. She explained that the only people who knew what John's last words to Paul were was her and Paul himself. And then she revealed what those words were. Carl had no idea, but he ended up accidentally including them in that song.

The chorus of that song went as follows:

My old friend, Thanks for inviting me in My old friend, May this goodbye never mean the end And if we never meet again this side of life In a little while, over yonder, Where it’s peace and quiet My old friend, Won’t you think about me every now and then

Paul then insisted on recording that song with Carl Perkins, which they did - and recalling that story later Carl said that Paul felt like that song was sent to him by John through Carl.

-> By now we all know the story of how this "new" Beatles song came to be - After John's death, Yoko found a demo tape of songs he never completed, that she then handed over to Paul so that him, George & Ringo could record the last new Beatles songs in 1995 as part of an anthology that was being released. (they wanted to record new material, but had promised never to do so without all the members included. So using these demos was the only way).

There's lots of places that claim the tape with the demos had "For Paul" written on it by John - but admittedly, I haven't actually seen a source quoted. Still - the fact that one of the songs on that last demo of new material they ever got from John was titled with some of the last words he ever said to his best friend? The lyrics of that song being what they are? Come on.

(It very much also just felt like a song for Paul to me. With how complex that relationship was - how intense all the emotions were - through love and diss tracks to still calling each other best friends while they weren't on good terms. Missing each other).

Then - destiny working the way it did, not allowing them to record that one track in 1995 because of the awful quality. Making it so that it was their actual last song in 2023. Because only now did the technology allow for seperating those vocals and fixing them up so that they can actually be used.

Like are you kidding me??? It was that one. The one that felt most special.

-> Bonus fact. The back of the record sleeve has a photo of a special art piece on it - from George Harrison's collection. One that provides another serendipitous moment in connection to these words:

Image source: [x]

And I'm just supposed to be alright with all of this?????????

[insectoidvania]

HANDFUL OF BEETLE GAMES

hellohello! i'm making a game collection post for this week about games centering around beetles :]

the games will be formatted as such: an image from the game, the game name, an excerpt from the game page, content warnings if needed, and where to play the game. this is just somethin' more laid back than recording a video for this week ^^

all these games are free to play!

as most of these games i haven't played (either at all or only a little bit), please let me know if there's more things i should add to this post if you've played the game(s)!

post warning: image heavy!

BEETLE ARENA

"Beetle Arena is a casual arena fighting game in which you play as a beetle! Face infinite waves of enemies and grow stronger to survive. To play you only have to start a game, shoot the enemies and survive!" (from the itch.io page)

the game on the itch.io page is only an open beta version! the full game is actually on google play.

content warnings: flashing effects

play beetle arena on itch.io here or get it on google play!

DICE BEETLE

"Instead of dung, this little beetle likes to roll a die around! Try and get it to the goal with the special beetle face pointing upwards." (from the itch.io page)

play dice beetle on itch.io here!

A BEETLE ROLLS SOME DICE

"Play as a beetle who rolls dice around a map to get the correct number facing up on the designated spaces." (from the itch.io page)

woah! another dice rolling beetle game! i really like how these 2 dice beetle games have the same concept for the same game jam but they're still different than each other :]

play a beetle rolls some dice on itch.io here!

RHINO BEETLE GENERATOR

"The Rhino Beetle Generator allows you to randomly generate a wide variety of beetles, each with their own appearance, physical aptitudes, and personalities. Please take one home with you!" (from the itch.io page)

while lacking actual gameplay qualities, it's still a cute and fun little tool!

play rhino beetle generator on itch.io here!

BEETLEBUM

"Beetlebum is an insect-themed, classic survival horror demo with pre-rendered backgrounds. It takes around 10-20 minutes to complete on a first time play-through, and supports both keyboard and gamepad input." (from the itch.io page)

get beetlebum on itch.io here!

SPIKE THE BEETLE SIM

spike the beetle was an actual beetle whose owner gave him a marker to draw with! his legacy has ended recently, but you can still check out the twitter account here!

while also not too heavy on the gameplay, its fun to watch this little beetle sprawl around on the drawing board with its marker

play spike the beetle sim on itch.io here!

BEETLE ARCHAEOLOGIST

a simple click and drag, hot n cold game where ya play as a beetle archaeologist looking for artifacts and treasure!

play beetle archaeologist on itch.io here!

that's all for now! there's more beetle games in the game list but i'll be saving those for individual game posts! see you next time!! :]

[burberrycanary]

Tagged by the wonderful @booksandabeer 😘🍻🥰

Last song I listened to: Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor played by Nelson Freire with Riccardo Chailly conducting the Gewandhausorchester. 

I listen to a lot of classical music but I have never felt the urge to listen to Brahms much. Brahms, meh. But a friend got me into symphonic music a few years ago and I have yet to recover. I stumbled onto this magnificent recording by chance and I love how it combines the huge sturm und drang scope of this very cap-R Romantic concerto with a startling clarity that balances both a structural clarity about the overall shape of the work and at the same time an equally meticulous clarity about so many of the fine musical details. It’s sweeping, passionate and fun.

Last thing I read: I’m terrible about finishing things and generally have a half dozen books going at once, but the last thing I finished was either Red, White and Royal Blue (I was somehow very much the target demo for the film but not the target demo for the book even a little) or Christopher Logue’s War Music, which I have read at least a half dozen times by now. I am 100% exactly the target demo for this book, a brilliantly idiosyncratic partial translation of the Iliad that Logue worked on for decades, up until his death. If you like Anne Carson’s translation work, give Logue a try. 

Last movie I watched: René Clément’s Purple Noon on a gorgeously restored 35mm print. A recent binge-watch of Andrew Scott’s Ripley happily lined up with a local theater’s Alain Delon film series and here Delon is at his most impossibly beautiful. The film is shot almost entirely on location in 1960’s Italy and the colors are almost too beautiful, giving the film the quality of a fever-dream fantasy. But Highsmith’s cool eye and colder heart are still there, driving the story, right under the sun-struck surface. Delon gives a performance that’s ranging, nuanced and deceptively light. 

Last tv show: I recently finished Ripley, which I liked a lot. The cast is strong overall and Andrew Scott is mesmerizing. The cinematography is often striking and only very occasionally forced. The choice to shoot in black and white works well for the story they wanted to tell. Having such a definite point of view on an iconic and repeatedly adapted novel is refreshing and successful. The touches of black humor are pitch-perfect. One misstep at the end is sadly very much sticking with me—Caravaggio!—but I’ll always have all those fucking stairs. 

And I just started X-Men ’97, which is a must-watch for anyone who saw the X-Men Animated Series as a kid. As a queer kid, the X-men meant a lot to me and so far this series feels like a complicated love letter to something formative I still have a ton of nostalgia for.

Last thing I googled: Setting aside how I use google to look up how to spell things…spaghetti al burro and before that moliterno al tartufo, which are things I am going to eat this week 😋

Last thing I ate: A dark chocolate kit kat 

Sweet, salty, or savory: Savory just edges out salty—but only just. 

Sleep: Who amongst us sleeps well? Or enough. 

Currently reading: To pick one among several, I’m listening to Andrew Scott read Joyce’s Dubliners. Ideal. 

Tagging, no pressure—and if you haven't gotten to this one already— @village-skeptic, @deadalien, @skarabrae-stone, @amoneth-art and @starlightafterastorm

[tuulikannel]

Steam review for 2024 is out! Let's have a look!

"This year, you spent a lot of time playing…" they say. ^^;; Eheh. No comment.

...there's... some weird mistake there. It's not 11 demos, it's 1 demo. The one and only...

This is, btw, 4 games less than what I played last year. Tbh, I'm surprised I've played as many as 10 this year.

29 day streak with two games, huh? Hmm, I can tell you that one of them was Save Room, which is basically just Resident Evil inventory management. I wonder what the other one could have possibly been...

^^;;

57%... isn't too bad, right? I've spent nearly half of my gaming time playing other stuff, too! Or... have I...

So. Uh. That's altogether 80% for RE4 this year. ^^;; (And, for the record, the reason I played the demo so much was that 1) I needed the practice and 2) I didn't allow myself to play the main game before my thesis was finished.)

Here's one totally new thing I've recently started playing and like a lot so far! Haven't yet finished the game though.

So, yeah, my top 3 games in the review are in reality top 2... ^^;

Taking a closer look on my top 5:

12 days? What? Only 12! My streak was 29 days... Eh, the only reason this streak isn't longer than that is cause I couldn't play RE4 at mökki. I might have played some Save Room there though, to help soothe the worst RE itch... It does seem I'm now finally over the obsession.

But look at all my lovely achievements! (I'm still lacking 6, but I don't think I'll ever get them all anyway.)

Here's the demo's graph. I started playing it last year, and continued strongly in January. But... what happened in March??? Huh.

#3: Another Crab's Treasure. Yeah, the crab game has pretty much replaced RE4 now. (I'm nowhere near as obsessed about it, though. It's really fun, still.)

#4: Little Kitty, Big City. This is one really cute and fun game, too. ^^

#5: The Painscreek Killings. Oh. Oh yeah, Painscreek happened in March!

And I also played some other games in March. Both of the Save Room games, and... wait, it says I played We Were Here (the game I played with solarsavoy) but wasn't that last year? It's less than 1% though, maybe I've just accidentally started the game or something?

This is a bit weird...

And this graph confuses me a bit, too. So, uh, what is RE4? Mystery??? And... the crab game is the only souls-like game I've played, and it was only at 7%, but here it's practically maxed. So... Cats is Little Kitty, Inventory is Save Room(s), Investigation is Painscreek... uh, I don't even know what 3D platformer means, but it's really too low to be RE. It's... almost like they've left RE4 of of this graph? (Maybe I've played it too much and it goes off the chart XD)

So, there's my 2024. Curious to see what next year will be like. ^^

[hanafubukki]

Hiiiiiiiiiiiii Hanaaaaaaaaa :D

I did good on the exam! I mean, night classes are cool but I can't focus at all. The good thing is that the classes are recorded so I can always watch them again later ~

Oh, I don't doubt it 😐. Weren't they thinking about making another Persona 4 game?

Ok but he is so cuteee. I have to finish the demo, though 🥺❤

pfejuwpfwie perhaps I shall write psychologist Malleus when I some free time

Yep, it's probly a loop. Still, I think it's a little funny how Lilia's happy memories were the hardest moments of his life. I guess all the pain he went through, the loss of his beloved Meleanor, the journey to find a way to hatch Malleus, every gives him a sense of happiness in the aftermath. Do you think Lilia would then be trapped in that loop? Reliving everything again and again?

I really wish we could see more of Malleus aaa. He is one of my favorite characters and still, we haven't seen much of him at all :(((((((

Hi Lorkai 💚💞🫂

Congrats Lorkai 🥳🥳🫂🫂💞💞💞

Were they?? They already have so many persona 4 spin offs 😭😂

It’s so good Lorkai! I’ve been watching my sibling play and omg, there’s a bat character in this!! I feel personally attacked 😂😂

Aabsjss ahhhh yesssss 🥳🥳👏👏👏 psychologist malleuuussssss

For Lilia, his happiest moment in life was because despite all the pain in life, he was able to hatch malleus and that just?? It makes me so happy. 😭😭

I feel he would love through a loop…like you know how they say you have a flashback of your life before you die? Kind of like that…ironically….so everything that made him happy basically 🥹💞💞

Please I’m going to burst if we don’t see him soon.

I’m glad he’s in the new Halloween town event. I bet it’s to assuage the malleus fans after not seeing him for so long 😭😭

Have you seen him in the event? He’s so cute in it. ☺️💞💞

[canmom]

i haven't posted much more about erhu/zhonghu since there's not a lot to say that's amenable to text posts lol. but i've been making very satisfying progress, the sounds coming out of my instrument sound a lot like erhu music now!

i'm still only playing pretty short tunes, gradually adding more finger positions and complex rhythms with each exercise, but there's something immensely satisfying about getting to that point where you're worrying less about making the instrument sound at all right and more about like, expressing the actual piece you're playing. it really feels like a kind of alchemy, stuff that took immense thought sliding down into subconscious muscle memory, just by virtue of practicing. hooray for being a wet goopy neural net i guess!

with erhu, there's all sorts of subtleties to how exactly you touch the strings and hold the bow, and i definitely wouldn't have figured it out without teaching, i had no idea. big shoutout to my teacher Wen Li for like, immense attention to detail and patience, and also managing to get it all across in a second language, which is like ultra hard mode. here's an extremely brief clip of her playing, she's crazy good at it -

when she briefly took my instrument a few weeks ago to demo the technique i was thinking like damn, you can make this zhonghu sound that good? like it's one thing to know how good an erhu can sound in recording, another to see someone play your instrument and show you what is possible with it. i think she said she's been playing erhu since she was 7.

[janiedean]

hiii I hope you're doing well! I have a question for you since I'm getting into Bon Jovi: which albums would you recommend the most?

HELLO HELLO HELLO and I hope you're doing well too! I'm... trudging on let's put it like that but it could be worse T_T thank you though T_T

that saif FIRST OF ALL CONGRATS ON GETTING INTO THE BEST BAND IN THE WORLD I ACCEPT NO OTHER OPINION, for the rest I'mma just rank you everything, top three is imvho THE ONES YOU *NEED* TO HAVE DON'T PASS FROM GO DON'T COLLECT THE TWENTY DOLLARS, top five is top five from the rest on it's my personal opinion and I already warn I have an absolute hot take opinion wrt what's not in top three but anyway if you end up liking them in general no album is lost uwu, after top five I'm rating the others without doing the chart

SO WITH NO FURTHER ADO

THESE DAYS: 10000000/10 BEST ALBUM EVER IN EXISTENCE SURELY BEST BON JOVI ALBUM TOPS I ACCEPT NO OTHER OPINION no okay in existence is obviously my opinion but: imvho 90s bj were the peakest peak and these days is a masterpiece - best lyrics they ever put out, best music, best everything, these days the song is my single favorite song in existence, I haven't ever played a record as much in my entire life, there isn't ONE single song that doesn't work and jbj was at his peak vocally too and the fact that most ppl never heard my guitar lies bleeding in my arms and think bj is basic cheap stuff haunts me at night

keep the faith: 10/10 second best, as stated 90s bon jovi were the peak and this one would be my fave if these days didn't exist but like this one also has no song I don't know at molecular level, has a bunch of bangers, has bed of roses aka best ballad ever bye I'm a bed of roses truther and most of all it has dry county which is the other song I am haunted at night by not being general knowledge by the general public and it's a complete masterpiece 10 minutes of perfection but like it's all bangers and half of them are so fun also i want you most underrated ballad ever

new jersey: 10/10 best record bon jovi put out in the 80s and I'll die on this hill (yes my hot take is that slippery when wet has nothing on new jersey come at me idc) it shows that they have the best range, homebound train/wild is the wind are underrated gems, living in sin has the best vocals, bad medicine is the banger to end all bangers, born to be my baby is <333 and I'm also a stick to your guns truther even if no one remembers it exists but like new jersey is just so FUN I love it okay (so like THESE are the three bj records I think everyone should have but I'm also a crossroads advocate in the sense that it was a very decent best of until 1994 and it has someday I'll be saturday night which is one of my top five bj songs overall and I mean... I'm a 'demo always is better than released always' truther but I mean IT'S ALWAYS but it's not an ALBUM so we're gonna move over to...)

crush: 9.5/10 YES I PUT CRUSH ABOVE SLIPPERY WHEN WET THAT'S MY HOT TAKE BUT: it was my first bon jovi record ever, I think it's tbf the best they put out in the 2000s, it's my life is what hooked me for life and it's also like a very good album in the first place, it has the ballads, it has the bangers, it has the quality, there's no fillers and I'mma still say save the world is the best ballad they put out since 2000 onwards but like next 100 years has great guitar, I <3 two story town too not counting the beginning three which HELLO ALL BANGERS so yeah I'mma go with crush

slippery when wet: 9/10 okay tldr slippery is a GREAT record it has basically ALL bangers and there's absolutely nothing bad I can say about it and it's the best of their hair metal phase but like I've heard the hits so many times I can sing you livin on a prayer in my sleep and the ones I like best are the three that weren't singles also i prefer the lyrics in the post slippery records in general but yeah it's top five

for the rest, in order:

self-titled debut from 1984: I mean I'd give it a fair 6/10, runaway is a banger and I love shot through the heart but it's hair metal to the core and it's basically all around (1) hit so not what I'd start from if you're listening to them in 2024

7800 degrees fahrenheit: 6/10 too, it's an okay record but again if you're into hair metal you'll prob enjoy it if you're not it's fun but tbf slippery when wet was a complete jump of quality

bounce: I think ppl sorta evaluated it negatively since it came out for idk what reason and idk I think it was when people started being like EH THEY'RE CHEESY THEY SUCK but it had some very strong pieces when it came to slamming you with good solos, the ballads had admittedly cheesy lyrics but I'm a sap and love me back to life/open all night never fail to hit with me, the distance and right side of wrong were splendid and admittedly postcards from the wasteland which was imvho the best one was a bonus track so IDEK WHAT THEY WERE THINKING but for me it was a solid 7.5/10

have a nice day: absolute banger of a record 8/10 idc, who says you can't go home best banger, i am best ballad I've cried over that song an embarrassingly amount of times, the title track was GREAT, last man standing same and tbf the only thing I don't like about this record is that they never did the who says you can't go home duet song with keith urban because man I'd have paid to hear that

lost highway: I have no idea how ppl feel about this record but as a person who loves country music to a ridiculous degree bon jovi doing a country record was a total joy for me and I'mma 8/10 it because it's great it's fun the title track is honestly a joy to listen to and fine cheesy lyrics but who gaf it's part of the fun

the circle: honestly a solid record, 7/10 because I liked bounce better back in the day but it holds on, has bangers, the cheese is on point (idc superman tonight is how you do cheesy songs), not 90s level but pretty good

what about now: this one is 50/50 like the good (because we can, the fighter and amen at least) is excellent and the meh is not their best and as usual the best stuff is in the bonus songs but like tbf you could feel the sambora split was incoming, I'mma rate it 6.5 because I'd casually listen to it more than the first two but of all the post 80 ones where sambora was in it's arguably the worst

burning bridges: I mean it's not a full on album because it's all previously unpublished tracks they did to finish the contract with the previous label so it's like not exactly coherent but admittedly the tracks are all pretty good, we don't run was a banger but all of the others were p okay and admittedly burning bridges-the-song is a level of spite that should be rated 10/10 just for that, but like overall it's a 7, nice but not fundamental

this house is not for sale: listen if ppl thought they were done without sambora they were wrong and I'mma 7.5/10 this because it's solid, has very nice songs, tbf it's a breath of fresh air wrt sound and I think the latter half like songs 8-12 is like REALLY really good no filler no mood going down def very nice

bon jovi 2020: idk why people didn't go OMG WHAT on this record but like....... 8/10 absolutely great FINALLY they went back to the more socially aware these-days-time lyrics except even more, FINALLY they went back to 5+ minutes songs and it only suffers that limitless was like the first single and it's the only meh song imvho but american reckoning is TRULY something, blood in the water and unbroken are wow, do what you can was the song I needed in covid times, lower the flag was like REALLY good anyone who's like THESE PPL ARE SO GUNG HO AMERICA hasn't heard that probably and like I thought it was really good def the best lyrically since these days and in general since have a nice day

that's for regular albums now for the extra that you get just when you're graduated to I AM A BON JOVI AFICIONADO AND I WANT EVERYTHING:

100.000.000 bon jovi fasn can't be wrong is like... 4 records of b-sides and each of them is on new jersey level singularly for me so take it as you will but if you're a thorough person it's 10000/10 XD

this left feels right is alternative arrangements, some are very good some are whatever but the slow blues version of you give love a bad name was a win

one wild night live is a p decent live record tho if you want the best just get the live from london 1995 dvd with ALL the songs not just the first one they put out because that one is like mindblowingly good

also sorry i'm really being verbose but when I discuss bon jovi I'm what I am so.. SOLO RECORDS SMALL SIDES:

blaze of glory aka jbj's first solo record: listen the movie it was made for (young guns ii?) was forgettable and a soundtrack for a movie that bad had no right being this good but honestly it's a goddamned masterpiece, the songs are all amazing and every time i listen to santa fe/justice in the barrel one after the other I'm just like WHY DID YOU STICK THESE SONGS IN A SOLO RECORD FOR THAT MOVIE MAN anyway 9/10 I love blaze of glory

destination anywhere aka jbj's second solo record: my friends my romans my countrymen my nickname has been janiesomething since I was 12 because of a song on that record so like... you know XD but it's just really really good, it has VERY nice lyrics, no cheese anywhere, the sound itself is really refined imvho and I'mma 9.5/10 it idc I absolutely wholly recommend jbj's solo records they're both great

stranger in this town aka richie sambora's first solo record: excellent if you're into blues music also has some really great songs (ballad of youth in my heart) and a great wind cries mary cover song but like it's admittedly really good 8/10

undiscovered soul aka richie sambora's second solo: less hard than the previous but still has quite the bangers, I really enjoyed it, has some p. nice ballads (some ARE cheesy but it's good cheese so) and idk I got it when I was 13 and I listened to it an entire summer I have very nice memories tied to it I'd 8/10 it too

I can't say shit abt to the third because I pre-ordered it before he quit bon jovi, I received it A YEAR AND A HALF LATER after he quit bj so I was pissed at him and listened to it once so sorry can't recommend or not XD

... tldr: these days/keep the faith/new jersey/crush/slippery + crossroads for basics and if you want to have just the best and what I'd personally recommend getting if you want to just start, the rest is rated if you want more XD