#it unlocks the whole meaning of the album

[predetachment]

Just remember what happens on earth stays on earth

[naturesapphic]

Yn throwing a BIG tantrum she was having a bad bad week and came home and saw that billie had some friends over and she was laughing with them and all when previously she told you that she had to concentrated on her album so y’all couldn’t have a little moment together like a movie night. After her friends left the tantrum begged and I mean like slamming doors screaming cursing crying pushing her away trowing things and all

Ignored

billie eilish x fem!reader

Warnings: screaming, cussing, shoving, breakdown

Relief filled your body as you got out of your car and walked up to the shared house with your girlfriend. You couldn’t wait to go inside and relax after having one of the worst weeks. You unlocked the front door and your ears heard laughter fill the whole house. Confused, you walked further in the house, stepping into the living room to see billie and her friends cutting up. You felt your heart drop down to your stomach and watched as Billie was cuddled up between two friends.

You remembered Billie telling you that she had to focus on her music. That was her excuse for not having a movie night with you this week and now here she is, out of her studio and cutting up with her friends. You saw Billies eyes look over at you and a frown takes over her face. She knew she had fucked up. Immediately Billie told that it was time for them to go so she could spend some time with you and they all awed at how cute that was. You didn’t even pay attention, you were so deep in your head. When her friends left that’s when all hell broke lose.

“Y/n listen-“ Billie began but you didn’t want to hear any of her bullshit. “N-no! Fuck you billie! You kept saying “oh I need to work on my music” blah blah blah. Yet, here you were, hanging out with your fucking friends when I’ve been trying to hang out with you one on one for weeks!” You shout as you start to walk away from her. “Hey! Don’t walk away we need to talk about this. Please let me explain.” Billie begged as she gently grabbed your arm to keep you from walking away. “What’s there to explain! You don’t want to hang out with your girlfriend!” You spat out as you yanked your arm away from her and stomped up the stairs as tears burned your eyes.

Billie sighed and followed closed behind you. “I do want to hang out with you! They texted me last minute to see if I was free and I was!” Billie explained and you scoffed. You went to go to y’all’s room when Billie ran in front of you to block you from going in. Filled with rage and annoyance, you pushed her out of the way which caused her to stumble away but she stood back up easily and looked at you with a glare. You pushed past her and slammed the door shut and Billie immediately started banging on it. “Y/n…open this fucking door!” She yelled out and you didn’t say anything so she kept banging. “Fuck you billie!” You cry out and she smirked on the other side of the door. “Okay. Then unlock the door so I will.” She said, trying to lighten the situation.

“Please babygirl unlock the door. I’m really sorry.” She begged and you sighed. You went up to the door and unlocked it then went to sit on the edge of the bed. Billie opened the door slowly and peeked her head and spotted you. She went over to you and sat down beside you but left a little gap in the middle to give you some space. “Do you still love me?” You ask with a shaky breath as you look up at her. Your eyes showing vulnerability and fearfulness. “Babygirl…of course I do. You’re the love of my life.” She breathed out as she scooted closer to you and took your face in her soft hands. “I am so sorry that im making you this upset. I absolutely hate it. When they texted, I was getting done with work early so I could spend time with you when you got home but I didn’t know when you would be home so I said yes to their message. Plus I haven’t seen them in a while and I missed them.” Billie explained and you nodded your head.

“I-im sorry…” you whimpered out as fresh new tears blurred your vision. “Princess…don’t be sorry…I know you were extremely upset and acted out on it. We will work through it together but im not mad at you so don’t worry your pretty little head about it.” She said softly, reassuring you. “Now…why don’t we go downstairs and have our movie night hm?” Billie said smiling at you. She stands up and extends her hand out for you to take and you grab it, her helping you up. The two of you went downstairs and started the movie night, finally spending some quality time together.

A/n: thank you anon for this request! I hope you and everyone else enjoyed it. GUYS OMG IM ALMOST AT 3,000 FOLLOWERS OMG! Remember to stay hydrated and to rest! Take care of yourselves. I love y’all :)

[slayfics]

Explosive tendencies a slow burn fanfic about the readers developing relationship with Katsuki Bakugo.

Chapter one: You stalk Katsuki’s social media page.

Chapter links

Your phone lit up with a notification buzzing on your desk. You pick up your phone to see a notification from Instagram and see that Izuku has followed you. You curiously look at his page and see that it has an overwhelming amount of All Might photos, then click over to see who else he is following and quickly realize he has followed everyone from the class.

You had just recently started your first year at U.A. and still hadn't interacted too much with your other classmates. So curiosity got the best of you as you scrolled through Izuku's following list to look at some of your classmate's pages to get a better understanding of them.

You glanced at many of your classmates pages. Mina's page was super pink and most photos were either selfies or her or her out with friends. She seemed to have an easy time making friends and getting along with others. She was probably the classmate you had the most interactions with. Purely because she would come up to you as if she had already known you her whole life. Much like she did to everyone else.

Shoto's page was empty expect for one picture of soba.

Eijiro's page had only two photos. One of the pro hero Crimson Riot and another was a selfie with his bright red hair. You couldn't help but wonder if some of your classmates deleted their old photo's to start over fresh at U.A.

Kyoka had a bunch of pictures of concerts and band albums with a few pictures of herself in between.

Tenya had a bunch of picture's of books he read and recommended.

Continuing to scroll through Izuku's following list you stopped when coming across Katsuki's page.

You clicked on his page and scrolled through the few pictures he had. Your cheeks flushed ever so slightly looking at one of the selfies he had posted.

You weren't sure why but something about him had caught your attention. Ever since being in the same group as him in the U.A. entrance exam, you had found yourself curious about him. All of your other classmates seemed to be put off by his constant angry demeanor, but something about his tenacity made you want to know more about him.

You pulled your knees into your chest as you stared at your phone. Your phone was unlocked sitting idly on Katsuki's Instagram page. The bright screen illuminated your dimmed room.

You twirled your hair absentmindedly as you debated following him. Just do it, don't be a coward you told yourself. You swiftly picked up your phone and clicked follow then locked and dropped your phone down back on your desk.

To your surprise, your phone buzzed again shortly after, you quickly looked and felt your heart flutter. He had liked one of your pictures. Not just a picture, but a picture of yourself you posted a few days ago.

Your face flushed as you held your phone in your hand. Suddenly, your phone dinged with another notification making you jump.

He had followed back.

You gripped your phone in your hand harder as you scrolled over to direct message him and stared at the page feeling your cheeks get even warmer. Come on just say something, you tried to hype yourself up.

He liked your picture and followed you back so obviously that means something right? Fuck it just do it you said to yourself and typed out a message.

"Hey I never got a chance to ask what happened after we split up?"

You typed and sent swiftly before you lost your nerve. During a training for your class at USJ some villains had broken in and attacked the class. You were split up with Bakugo and Kirishima for a short time before the two boys decided to go after more of the villains while you went back to the exit with the rest of the class.

You set your phone down not expecting an answer any time soon but you were surprised to see three dots appear almost immediately. Your heart dropped at the next message.

"What’s your address? I’ll Come over and tell you all about it."

What?! Were you reading that right?? You never expected that response. Your hands started to shake a bit.

It was late and surely the others in the house wouldn’t approve of having him over at this time. Fuck- you knew you were supposed to be on your best behavior since starting U.A. but… how were you supposed to say no.

"You ok with sneaking in?"

"Yeah just hurry up and send your address."

Before putting any more thought into it you typed out your address and pressed send.

Oh crap- You looked around your room and noticed all the stuffed animals on your bed. You quickly shoved them all in the closet along with some loose clothes that were around your room.

It wasn't long before you heard a loud explosion from outside and your phone dinged again with a notification.

"Which window is yours?"

You opened your window and saw Katsuki standing outside, within a split second of spotting you he had used his quirk to be at your window seal. You backed up as he jumped into your room.

"Uh- Hi," You greeted him trying to sound confident but it was evident in your voice you were nervous.

Katsuki sat on your bed leaning back against the wall.

"So you want to know what happened?" He asked, his face adorned with his usual smirk.

"Yeah," you said, as you sat down in the chair at your desk facing Katsuki.

"We found the other villains and I took down that warp gate villain, which slowed the rest of them down."

"Wow really?!" You said, amazed. You knew All Might had shown up and taken over so you didn't expect to hear that Katsuki had played that much of a part in the fight.

"Fucking Deku got in my way though!" Katsuki yelled.

"Hey are you alright?" You heard someone else in the house call from outside the room as they approached your door.

"Shit!" You grabbed Katsuki by his shirt and shoved him into your closet. Just in time for them to knock on your door.

You opened your door, "Yeah sorry it was just the TV- didn't realize it was gonna be that loud." You lied.

"Oh- ok-," they said, slightly suspicious since your TV was off but having no other evidence decided to drop the subject. "Well goodnight don't stay up too late," they said as they started to walk away.

"I won't don't worry! Goodnight," you called back, shutting your door quickly.

You opened your closet door and a few of your stuffed animals fell out.

Katsuki had one of them in his hand, "This is a cute little guy," He said with a smug smirk on his face.

"Shut up," you said, reaching trying to grab the stuffed bear from him, but he quickly avoided your grasp.

"Did you hide these in the closet because I was coming over?" He asked, eyes analyzing you.

"I don't know what you're talking about," You said, stubbornly crossing your arms.

"I bet they were all on your bed, weren't they? Tell me the truth or the bear gets it," He said, sparks flying from his fingertips.

"Quite down! You're gonna get me in trouble!" You pleaded.

"Better hurry up and tell me then," he said, a smirk growing.

"Ok- Fine, yes! I moved them off my bed because you were coming over. Happy?" You said, giving in to his taunts. You tried to grab for the bear again but he moved the bear away from you once more.

"One more question, is this the first time you've had a boy in your room?" He asked. You felt your face instantly light up with a blush, and you averted your gaze looking at his feet.

"Hm- I'll take that as a yes," He laughed and handed out the bear for you to grab. You grabbed it from his hand, your fingers grazing across his when you did.

"Alright well I'll see you tomorrow, wouldn't want to get you in trouble, you're not supposed to stay up too late," He teased as he made his way back over to your window.

You turned around wanting to call out to him but didn't know what to say. As quickly as he came in, he left you alone in your room once more.

Thank you for reading! I’m very excited to share this series~

Tags: @unofficialmuilover

[fabled-fiction]

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder (Hobie Brown x Spider!Reader)

Summary: When Hobie hasn’t seen you in a while, he starts to come to the realization that he might be missing you for the wrong reasons. So when you come back, all those feelings reasons come bubbling up to the surface.

Word Count: 2.5k

Warnings: MINOR SPIDERVERSE SPOILERS

A/N: This kinda took a mind of its own, but I LOVED writing every second of it. Hope you enjoy it!! ☺️

Request by @its-me-ig-101: I was wondering if I could request for you to write a fluff Hobie Brown x GN reader, where the reader visits Hobie in his universe, or reverse? (Kind of like what Gwen does)

It had been 127 days since he last saw you,

14 since you last spoke.

It wasn’t like he was counting or anything. Nah…no he was completely able to be his own person. I mean, he had a whole Earth to protect as Spiderman.

But if he was being honest with himself, he didn’t think four months apart would take such a toll on him.

You both were just always together. It didn’t cross his mind that there could be more than two to  three days of you being away…from him especially. Gwen always joked about how quickly you both became so close so quickly. How Hobie was usually a steel trap and you were the key.

And he couldn’t even visit you! You were away on Spider business! Miguel had you consistently going after anomalies. It didn’t help that you had an insanely good success rate. Hell! Hobie couldn’t remember the last time you didn’t catch one of the anomalies!

“I’m sure they’ll be back soon! This is the ultimate test before the big question! Will their relationship prevail over this unexpected test?!”

Pavitr placed his hand on his chest, spinning around before collapsing onto Hobie's bed, where he was currently lounging. His fingers fiddled with his watch, flicking through all the channels. Maybe if he clicked on the right one, he would end up on the Earth where you were. Miguel had stopped telling him what Earth you were visiting, knowing he would just tag along. But Hobie could come up with something on the fly, he didn’t give a damn at this point if Miguel was pissed at him for interrupting your mission.

He would like to see him try and keep you from him any longer at this point.

“Hello, Earth to Hobie. Hey!”

Catching the plush that Gwen had thrown at him, he huffed and sat up. Pav smiled when he caught a glimpse at Hobie’s watch, and the roulette wheel of universes were still going. 

“ Dude, they’re fine! (Y/N) is like…an invincible spider.”

“You know why he’s being more quiet than usual! He’s realizing he’s in looove. Our Hobie is head over he-” A well shot pillow from Hobie landed Pavitr on the floor.

“Am I not allowed to miss a friend? I remember ‘ow upset you were whenever you’d talk ‘bout Miles.” He scoffed, crossing his arms. He smirked when he saw how red Gwen’s face got.

“Ooooh we’re starting to enter the grumpy Hobie stage!” Pav shot up into a sitting position, this time dodging the second pillow that he had thrown.

Scoffing, he waved his hand at them as he pulled his phone out of his pant pocket. Unlocking it, he scrolled through his photo album and sighed.

They always teased him like this when he was down in the dumps. It had just been more recent as of late, seeing as you were rising in the ranks. Meaning you were gone more and more.

That also meant your friendship was tested more and more. He had noticed the change, he wasn’t completely blind to his emotions. He had noticed that as of late whenever you were gone he got a bit more snippy, and a bit more cynical-well more cynical than usual. Some had even told him that his color seemed more drained the longer and longer you were away.

This time had just been the longest. But it was also the most eye opening.

It's odd how you don’t notice how consistent someone is in your life until they’re gone.

He was mindlessly scrolling with a thousand yard stare off into the distance, when his phone suddenly anchored him back to reality.

Specifically your text tone.

Flicking to his messages, he felt his heart rate pick up.

(Y/N): heey! im finally back!! i missed you (cry emoji) (heart emoji)

Before his head could reminisce on the heart emoji and brew up any meaning behind it, he heard Pav gasp. Quickly looking up from his phone, he saw Pav squeal in excitement and Gwen chuckle as she shook her head.

“Look at him G! Do you see how much brighter he is? Ugh! Our boy has it bad.”

Sliding off his bed, he grabbed his bag and mask. Both Gwen and Pavitr could see that there was some pep in his step as he slung the bag over his shoulder. Fastening his web shooters on, he slid his mask into his pocket before entering your Earth into his watch.

“Oh oh! Where you heading Hobie? Thought we were having some serious bro time!”

Flicking them off, Hobie felt the portal open below him. Glancing through, he could see the flickering lights of your Earth.

“Piss off.”

Jumping through the portal, Hobie braced himself as he felt a quick rush before landing on your bed. The flickering and crackling of the portal remained only for a second before it snapped shut, dropping everything in the room along with its departure.

You stood in the opposite corner of the room, barely even unpacked. Your bag sat at the foot of your desk, unzipped with some of your clothes spilling out. You must’ve just texted him, because you were still in your spider suit…with one of his jumpers on.

Turning around, a smile spread across your face in an instant. Whatever you were doing was soon abandoned as you ran towards him. He was quick to stand, enveloping you in his frame. Feeling your aura mix with his, as he buried his nose into your hair felt nice. It awoke whatever nerves that had gone into hibernation after your departure, activating his senses once more.

Because he became highly aware of how right when you entered his arm, the hairs on yours stood under your suit. Your heart rate calmed but also picked up. Hell, he could even feel the blood rush to your cheeks as you buried your head into his chest.

“You really did miss me aye?” He teased, pulling you back by your shoulders to get a good look at his face.

“Mmm, only like…thiiiiiiis much.” Holding up two fingers, he watched as you held them close together and very very slowly pulled them apart. 

“Oh wow, and here I was in absolute agony.” He hummed, sitting on the edge of your windowsill.

“Oh really?” You laugh, leaning over him. He looked up at you, nodding as he placed his hands in his pocket.

“Absolutely, almost died.”

Watching you laugh was something he knew he needed. It wasn’t too hard, at least for him. Your back and forth quips and teases were something that usually ended in you laughing or him chuckling. Inside jokes and knowing stares were usually exchanged to test the waters whenever others were around. It happened so often people usually felt excluded whenever you were both in each other's presence.

It was something he didn’t know he could miss. 

“Wanna go for a swing?”

Watching the way your eyes lit up, he knew he had his answer.

Slipping his mask on, he was quick to open your window. He knew you were right behind him as he swung into action.

This was a dance you both did whenever you visited his world, swinging between buildings and each other. Finding ways to play off the others webbing and moves.

He loved watching you swing and flip. Hearing you laugh as you gave him a heart attack with how close you’d like to fall before yanking yourself back up into the air.

He felt a rush of similar emotions in the two weeks of you going dark. Whenever it was just him alone in his room, his mind would wander. He knew that if anything had happened he would have been the first told, both a blessing and a curse. But it still didn’t stop him from…worrying.

When did his worry for you become such a crutch?

Reaching to your normal hang out, what was atop your Statue of Liberty (which was still bronze here on your earth), both of you sat atop her torch. With shoulders touching, he watched as you leaned back and looked at your city.

“So, how many anomalies did you catch on this little spree of yours?” 

With a big sigh you ripped your mask off and stuffed it into your-no, his jacket pocket. Bringing a knee to your chest you placed your cheek on it as you looked at him.

“Twelve. Probably the most in a row.”

Tisking, he leaned back on his hands now as he also took his mask off.

“Wow, remember which ones?”

“Most of them were Vultures. They were the only ones that could reach the portals that opened in their respective worlds. I might as Miguel if I can take a break though.”

That piqued his interest. But he didn’t show a reaction, in fact he just hummed and watched as you put your forehead to rest on your knees.

“I appreciate how much Miguel…trusts me to keep the multiverse intact, I really do. I went through hell with his stupid tests in order to get into the Spider Society and its…its lead me to meet some of my favorite people but recently I've been more Spider than Person…”

Hobie sat up now, putting his elbows on his knees and smirking. He knew what you needed to hear in this moment. He knew you like the back of his hand, in the year that you two have gotten to know each other it is safe to say he almost knows you better than he knows himself. The same could probably be said about you knowing him.

“Favorite people aye? Where do I fall on that list?”

Watching you lift your head to give him a quick glance, a small smile graced your lips before you lifted your head fully to clear your throat.

“Atleast top…let's say ten? There's a lot of competition BB.” You chuckle

“Oh yea? That jumper you’re wearing says otherwise.”

Your eyes grew almost as wide as the lenses on your mask as you looked down. Your hands gripped the edge of the jacket for a moment before shoving into the pockets.

“Oh I uh…yea I dunno what to say…”

The gears were turning in your head, he could tell. Something was brewing.

“..y’know I didn’t even realize I had packed this until I was subconsciously putting it on the first night. I'm being dead serious when I tell you I only ever took it off whenever I was about to go into battle…I didn’t wanna ruin it.”

He smiled to himself listening to your words. Something similar to what was brewing in your head was brewing in his chest.

These past few months, more specifically the past two weeks where you couldn’t contact him, there was a confession building. Words that were just waiting in the dark until he was at his most vulnerable to come into the light were bubbling up in his throat. The only thing keeping them from spilling right at this very moment was the seal of his lips.

It was nice, having you back. But all these realizations that he was having just in these last few days, especially now in these moments he was sharing with you, told him all he needed to know.

Especially with those words that you had just said to him, he knew his realization was not far from out of the blue.

“ Y’know those two weeks were you went dark were ‘ell. Pav and Gwendy were up my arse the entire time. It irked me how well they read me those two weeks..”

Watching you grow still and turn towards him, and sighed before turning towards you as well.

“I'm sorry about that Hobbie…my communicator died and Miguel told me I wasn’t allowed a new one until I finished my assignment. Which made everything so much harder to do since I had to wait for texts from Lyla and code instead of her just being able to talk me through it.”

“I knew it ‘ad to be somethin outta your control…and I also had a keepsake that ‘elped me keep my cool.”

Pulling back his cuffs, an array of bracelets both woven and made were on both of his wrists. They were all yours, but ones you hadn’t seen in a while and ones you were sure you had left on your desk before you had left.

What he couldn’t show you was the shirt he had of yours that was also on his pillow. He had it for the same reason he was sure you had his jacket for the entire trip…

Though it was starting to lose your scent.

There was a comfortable silence, at least he hoped there was. He could barely tell based off the thumping of his heart…

When he finally made eye contact with you, he saw a dopey smile on your face. It made him smile too. No matter how long you two were apart, no matter how raw the two of you got it never changed anything.

Well, he hoped nothing would change after what he was about to do.

Hobie wasn’t scared of a lot, practically nothing. But you scared the ever loving shit out of him. Both with all the stunts that you pulled and just the way you made him feel. He used to be this hardass corruptor but now? He wasn’t sure what he was without you.

“Hey Hobie..”

“Yea?”

“You should totally kiss me right now.”

“Yup.”

His hand fit perfectly on the crook of your neck, and so did his lips with yours.

Whatever you were feeling spilled into him, and he with you. A full year's worth of pent up emotion exploded into the kiss as he seemingly took your breath away. In recent months he could only imagine how your lips would feel against his, but it was nothing compared to what he was experiencing right now. Yours and his molded together in a flurry of silken passion, fitting together perfectly just like he knew they would.

Your hands found their place resting on his cheeks, just as his found theirs. With one resting on your neck and the other finding its way onto your side to pull you close. So close that he could feel the drum of your heart match his when your chests collided.

He wanted to curse whatever being made it so that the human body needed oxygen. When you pulled away his lips followed yours in chase, and it wasn’t until you held his face in place so that your bruised lips could take in a breath. Your finger ran over his bottom lip, playing with his lip ring as he panted in time with you.

“You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to do that…how..how being away from you for so long made me realize that's all I’ve ever wanted to do.”

“I ‘ave an idea.”

His hand that rested on the edge of your neck came around to hold your throat, with his fingers resting on your pulse.

It was going a mile a minute just like his.

[dapg-otmebytheballs]

All or Nothing and lowave records

Strap in because this is gonna be a long one. This post will try to shed some light on how the whole lowave records thing works, how you can use this music, how it is being distributed, and what all a contract with lowave would include. All this and more below the cut!

Let us start with the basics: What is lowave records?

Quite succinctly summed up on their website as follows:

They make and distribute royalty-free music for content creators - specifically video-format content creators like Youtubers and streamers - they share some streaming revenue (30%, we'll get into that) with the creators who are labelled 'co-artists' and get promotion of their music through the content creators.

So, that brings us to the next big question: What is royalty-free music?

This is music that is free to use. Yes, by anyone, by Dan and Phil, by other creators, by you and me, any of us. This is by no means a new thing of course, anyone who has created content online would have come across other such services. just as an example, bensound.com hosts a large library of royalty-free music which you can use in any video by simply crediting the site in your description. Lowave works in a similar fashion. The music is not copyrighted. However, the rights to the music are held by lowave records and there are limitations on its use, which we will get into ahead.

How is the money working (preliminary edition)?

I will add details to this later when I discuss the contract, but let's see the info we get straight away from the FAQs: You do not have to pay them anything to make music for you

The money is coming in from the streaming platforms, depends completely on amount of streams, and is shared between lowave and the creators

Also from the FAQs: how can this music be used?

Anyone can freely use any of the music from lowave records, which means that yes, you can use any music from All or Nothing for your purposes with credit, it will not be taken down

Is this the only music we will hear on dapg now? Will there be more albums?

Not necessarily! This isn't an exclusive deal, DnP can use any music they want on the channel. As for new albums, seems like it depends on how this one does (and it seems to be doing quite well!) which will unlock future avenues for more collabs with lowave

Okay BASICS DONE if you're still reading you're probably here for the real meat so let us get into it

How is the money working (director's cut)?

Let us start with the terms on the partner agreement:

Content Creators get 30% of the 'remaining income'. This basically means any costs that streaming platforms are deducting, any processing fees, taxes etc will be deducted before the 30% share is calculated. The second point there basically means that the deductions here do not include business expenses of the label itself, ie when the label calculates its own profit production costs and various other expenses are deducted from the income, but these costs will not affect the revenue received by the content creators (You are probably already thinking 'how is this company earning enough to keep going?' and I will touch on that later as well)

Payment installments are simple enough but here we see a third party enter the chat: DistroKid. Who is DistroKid and why are payments going through them, Hazel? I hear you ask. Well I'll tell you dear readers:

It is basically a service that takes a yearly fee for putting your music on streaming platforms efficiently and then pockets 0% of the royalties. The royalties go from the streaming services (eg Spotify) to DistroKid who then send it to the rights-holders (in this case, lowave records). lowave records is using this service for a yearly fee to upload all their music through.

But wait! If DistroKid is working with lowave, and lowave owns all the rights, why is DistroKid making direct payments to the content creators?

Well, over the years they have offered a bunch of services:

I am guessing lowave is making use of the teams feature to send royalties owed to content creators ("collaborators") directly from Diskworld, which makes sense, the less people money goes through the less chances of mishandling.

People have of course been talking about what percentage Spotify even pays for many many years. The short answer: we don't know for sure because it is confidential, Spotify won't tell and artists aren't allowed to. The longer answer: people have estimated from a bunch of publically available data that the share seems to be 70-30 (rights-holders- spotify).

However spotify is not paying per stream anymore so that makes these figures harder to pin down. they are using a 'streamshare' system which is much more convoluted:

That was all about the money, now let's talk Licensing

Creators can use this music in any capacity, and do not have to share any of the revenue from their own content with lowave. They have put a stipulation that it may not be used in a way that is "illegal, immoral, discriminatory or derogatory to [lowave]" but what constitutes 'immoral' and 'discriminatory' is not really defined.

The other limitation applies to the contracted Content Creators only as far as I can tell: they are not allowed to remix, sample, or edit these songs without prior permission. This probably only applies to altering the songs and playing under the same name, so fan remixes should not run into issues here, as long as they are not monetised. (thanks kate @goldenpinof for making me think about this part a bit more, I think it should be safe, but even royalty free music cannot be transformed without permission at least in a commercial capacity)

They will also make more music free of cost if the streaming targets they set are being met by the albums produced. The process:

Other services they provide will be handling the creator's account which they set up (DanAndPhilBeats in this case) on streaming platforms and making changes as required, so the Cheeky Banter -> Project X thing was probably done from their end, possibly an older change that they forgot to update?

Also below are promotional obligations:

The promotion wasn't a one-time thing, it is expected to be ongoing, so we will probably be hearing about this in future videos as well. However, later in the partner agreement it is added that this has to be done as often as possible in a way that is "natural and appealing to their audience" which again, is pretty vague wording

Also the licensing goes both ways, so lowave can also use segments of the content DnP make that has the music in the background to promote their music:

Additional stuff from the contract:

lowave takes the guarantee of creating original works that it has the rights to and which do not infringe on copyrights, and the creators likewise take the guarantee not use the songs in content which infringes copyright. If there are any disputes regarding such infringement in the future the record and the creators have to back each other up (including sharing legal fees)

I mentioned before some parts of the agreement being written in vague language. There is also a clause that says if any provision ends up being illegal/not possible to enforce by a court (eg if a court were to it's impossible to say whether content featuring the songs was 'immoral') then only that provision will be removed, the rest of the contract stands.

The waiver part basically means that if any of the parties decide to not sue or forgo a complaint about breach of contract, that does not mean that those provisions are now unavailable, they can still sue later on or for some other breach if they wish.

That's the contracts done. Some of the framing there makes it seem to me like it's a pretty small company. The revenue they hope to generate does not seem to be very sustainable, especially since the revenue is being shared with content creators but the cost is not and they are additionally paying for other services like DistroKid.

So I looked more into this record label: they started business in 2022. If you go to their socials though, twitter and instagram they have followers in double digits and post very sparsely. Their tiktok seems to have nothing on it at all (thanks @lesbiandanhowell for the screenshot) and you may have noticed, Dan did not tag the lowave account at all when he announced the album on twitter

The agreement never mentions creators promoting lowave's social channels or tagging them either (and it is quite odd, I have worked with a bunch of organisations in their infancy and this is, now more than ever, a common requirement from collaborators). lowave records does not seem to be actively working towards promoting themselves on social media or building an online presence, even though they have been operational two years producing music throughout.

There are three people involved with the company on public record:

Benjamin Johnson listed as 'Head of Production' is probably the 'Ben' Dan has been talking about who made the songs. Seems like their scale of operations is not very big and possibly not a lot of producers in the records at all (despite the spotify page saying they have 'producers' plural, but that doesn't have to mean a lot many lol). Anyway, that would solve the mystery of 'how are they playing their employees?' if there aren't many employees to begin with (not even an intern to manage their social media it seems).

Look at the last person in the screenshots though: Robin. I looked at what other companies Robin is associated with and several of them - yeah several different operations that he's involved in - have the same correspondence address of '60 Thorpe Road...', so probably operating out of a ghost office (just to have a registered address and receive mail at etc). And one of these businesses that Robin is associated with is RWD, the business that made lowave records' website for them:

The no-cost production of royalty-free music, little attention to social media presence, vaguely written contract, seemingly small scale of operations with technical assistance like website design coming from an affiliated organisation makes me think that lowave records might be a side project. A labour of love, possibly, hoping to sustain itself enough to keep putting out royalty-free music in a time of extreme crackdown on copyrighted music use.

It makes sense to use content creators for promotion, gets you way more streaming than making your own music and putting it out. And the incentive of unique but guaranteed royalty free music at no cost is great for content creators of all sizes. It is far from sustainable on its own though, especially with streaming revenue being basically peanuts, and I do not think there's much interest in gaining a following or putting in that effort either, so it's probably a very small business by a few people. How long it manages to sustain itself as a project I am not sure, but it certainly isn't looking like something particularly geared towards profit and growth in its current state.

We are at an end! If you read this far, leave me like an A+ or a star for my essay so I can have academic validation from this please. Of course I probably have not covered everything possible in connection to this so if anyone has more info feel free to add on! And if this was all very long and there's something particular you wanted to know you can drop an ask into the inbox about it!

Thank you for coming with me on this journey! Back to the important things, which was your favourite song from the album? I think mine is Arcade Admission

[twice-inamillion]

Night With Mommies

Smut (deep penetration, oral, and creampie, g x g oral)

Chapter 208

1972 Words

(Late-night sex with Mina and Dahyun. They want to give you a little something before your wedding day. )

Jihyo comes to you and asks, “Could you sleep in the other bedroom? Some of the girls are getting together for some girl talk, and I don’t know what time we will finish.” 

Mildly offended by being kicked out of your room but won’t want to argue with Jihyo with only a few days from your special day, you agree, “Sure, babe. Let me just get some of my things.” 

You grab your duffel bag and basically drag it across the room, annoyed with being kicked out of your room, but what else can you do? Placing your bag on the bed and then decide to shower before going over some emails and some work for the next album.

With the lights dimmed, you scroll through your laptop, you hear a sudden knock, “Come in, it’s unlocked.” The door opens and two silhouettes appear, which brings back a sudden memory. 

“I suggest you put that laptop away, Oppa” says Dahyun as she steps into the room. You see both Mina and Dahyun in matching see-through black lingerie. 

“What’s going on?”

“What do you mean? We want to spend some time with you. It’s been a while since us two have had time alone with you, so Jihyo came up with the idea of three-way as your bachelor gift. What do you think?”

You watch as Mina and Dahyun climb onto your bed, crawling towards you. “You do want to spend some time with us, right? asks Dahyun.

You have no words, but none are needed when they see your member rising up under the bedsheets. Mina pokes at it and says, “I guess our little friend here is excited to fuck two lovely mommies, right?” 

Dahyun and Mina look at each other with a devilish smirk; they pull the bedsheet down and go for your shorts. With your shorts being pulled, your cock springs out, at standing tall and proud. “Daddy is so big already, right Dahyun,” says Mina. “Yes, you can tell he really wants to fuck the both of us.” The two of them get close to your cock, and look at each other with a smile before planting a small kiss on the tip of your head. 

Mina takes the initiative and puckers up her lips before taking you in her mouth. She looks at you as you watch her go down on you. Taking a fourth of your cock she focuses on the head and your shaft, giving it small licks. She then turns and looks at Dahyun and tags her in. Dahyun takes your giant cock into her tiny mouth, pressing it against her cheeks which makes her cheeks puff up. Dahyun then continues to swallow half of your cock, causing you to moan as she gives you a small preview of what’s to come. 

After playing with your cock she releases you and looks at Mina, signaling to come cover. Mina and Dahyun stare at each other and begin to kiss, Dahyun sharing the precum she collected from you. 

You watch as the two mommies make out with each other and can’t help but lower your hand to your groin and stroke your meat. You get startled when they catch you in the act and give you devilish eyes. 

“Since Oppa is good and ready, I’m going to call dibs on this bad,” as she begins to stroke your cock. She mounts you, grabs your member, aligns it to her entrance, and penetrates herself. “Fuck!!” she pinches your thighs as her cunt swallows you whole. You feel her walls choke you cock as it wraps itself around you. 

Mina gets jealous that only you and Dahyun are enjoying yourselves and makes her way to your pillow, takes off her panties, and mounts your face. “Oppa, I’m going to ride your face, so make sure to eat me out good,” as she buries her cunt against your face. 

You feel her wetness on your lips and Mina wrapping herself around your face. The smell and taste are sweet, causing you to grab onto her legs and eat her out. Your tongue penetrates her insides, licking every inch of her walls. Mina grabs onto your hair as she’s overwhelmed by the ecstasy. “Ahh… just like that. Fuck, keep eating me like that, babe.” 

Dahyun, on the other hand, is having fun with your cock as she rides you slowly and increases the pace occasionally. She plays with her breast, kneading them and squeezing them when your cock hits her deepest parts. You can’t see Dahyun’s facial expressions, but you know she’s a mess since she hasn’t had your cock in a while. “Babe, you’re cock is so big, it’s stretching my small pussy out!” 

Being attacked from both sides, you’re reaching your limit. Dahyun’s tight cunt and Mina’s love nectar make you reach your peak faster than usual. Mina’s nectar is like an aphrodisiac that flows down your throat. It causes your body to get hotter and your cock harder, making it more pleasurable for Dahyun. You increase the pace at which you eat Mina out and go all out, making Mina orgasm. Her legs tighten even more around your head as she force-feeds you her special juice down your throat. You can’t do anything but take it all in as fuel for what's to come.

When Mina’s orgasm dissipates, and she loses strength in her legs, she slides onto the side of the bed. Filled with energy, your attention is on Dahyun as you suddenly flip her over into a mating press. Frighten, she looks at you with eyes wide open and yells, “Oppa, w…wait…!” 

With her legs in the air, you start to thrust deep inside of her, making her moan out loud, “Ahh, oppa, you’re fucking me too rough!” Mina makes her way next to you and watches as you pound Dahyun, “After you’re done with her, it’s my turn, okay?” 

“Not until h…he cums” moans Dahyun. You adjust yourself to a better position and grab onto her breast. Kneading her breasts with your hands, her breast releases her precious white liquid. It runs down from her chest to her belly and eventually towards her cunt. After playing with her breast, you give her nipples a slight pinch which makes her tighten up her walls around your cock. 

Your core feels extremely hot, signaling that your orgasm is approaching. You give Dahyun one last warning, “I’m going to cum.” She wraps her arms around your neck and gives it one last thrust, “Fuck!” 

Dahyun immediately feels your cum flood her womb and yells, “So hot! Yes, fill me up with your cum!” You feel a throbbing sensation as your cock fills her small womb, and Dahyun spasms as she has an orgasm. “Ahh, ahhh,” moans Dahyun as her eyes roll back from the ecstasy. 

After pouring your hot cum inside of Dahyun, you get off the bed and grab a bottle of water to refuel yourself for the next round. When you turn around, you see Mina crawling towards a passed-out Dahyun and buries her head into Dahyun’s leaking cunt. She begins to lick the oozing cum while lifting her firm ass up in the air. 

“Mina, your ass is so good,” you whisper as you walk towards the bed. Mina doesn’t seem to listen, not realizing what’s to come. You give your cock a few strokes and align yourself to her entrance. You grab onto her hips and immediately insert yourself into her leaking cunt. 

“Ahh fuck!!” yells Mina when her body realizes your cock is inside of it. With a firm grip on her hips, you give Mina no chance to adjust to your length and begin thrusting deep inside her. “Oppa, I’ve missed your cock inside of me. Please fuck me.” You do as you are told and begin to fuck her doggy style.

While she’s getting railed from the back, she turns her attention back to Dahyun and continues where she left off. “Let's do you cleaned up, don’t want to waste this tasty meal,” as she uses her small tongue to lick off the oozing cum. 

Looking at Mina’s back, you notice how perfect it is: no marks or blemishes, just pure art. You trace your finger from her back to her ass and give it a nice grab and focus on your thrusting again. 

Dahyun wakes up and sees Mina’s head buried in her cunt and feels her small tongue against her folds, “Mina unnie, it’s dirty down there.” Mina lifts up her head and says, “I’m just cleaning you up.” Dahyun can’t believe that her unnie is eating her out and is embarrassed but then realizes how good Mina’s tongue feels. Dahyun starts playing with her breasts as she enjoys getting serviced by her older member. 

Suddenly, Dahyun feels Mina’s face crash into her cunt when you pull out and crash back inside. “Oppa, you made me fall,” whines Mina. You can’t help but laugh, and her face covered with your cum. “While it seems like you were focused more on Dahyun than me, so I’m going to pick up the pace.”

“Wait… fuck” she feels a jab in her stomach when you stab her with your cock. You increase the pace of your thrusting and hold Mina down. Her ass jiggles every time your body crashes onto hers, and you decide to give it a nice smack. “Ahh!” Mina yelps when she feels your large hand on her cheeks. She turns around and glares at you, telling you it isn’t nice, but that makes you want to do it even more. You lift your hand again and smack her again; she yelps from the sting. You repeat this again and again until her ass is entirely red. “Who’s ass and pussy does it belong to?” Mina, who’s flushed red and entranced in pleasure (heart-shaped eyes) replies, “Yours. My ass and pussy belong to you,” and crashes onto the bed. This gets you pumped, and you place her into a better position (jockey doggy style). 

While you are on top of Mina, you hold her hair with one hand as you thrust deep inside of her. Dahyun gets turned on and watches Mina’s expression as you straddle her. It doesn’t take long until you warn Mina of your upcoming orgasm, “I’m going to cum, Mina. Where do you want it?” You already know the answer, but you want to hear it coming from her mouth.

“In…inside. Cum inside of me!” 

You bury your cock deep inside of her and unload a thick load of cum. You pull Mina’s hair, tilting her head up as she feels your hot, steaming cum invade her womb. “Fuck!! You’re going to get me pregnant!”

Your heart is pounding a thousand times a second when you notice Dahyun masturbating to you fucking her member. “Did you like that show?” Dahyun nods and watches a worn-out Mina lying on the bed. 

After your session with the two, your energy is gone. You can go for another round but are not at your best. If you could have prepared beforehand, you could have gone all night, but now you’re tired. 

You head to the bathroom to clean yourself up and see a passed-out Mina and Dahyun when you come out. You don’t want to wake them up, so slowly pull the dirty covers and throw in the one that was on the floor before going to sleep.

It’s morning, and you wake up to Mina and Dahyun sleeping in between your arms. You can’t help but thank them for a good night and think about the big day. 

[pollyypocket]

𝐃𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐒 𝐎𝐍 𝐌𝐘 𝐓𝐎𝐍𝐆𝐔𝐄 (𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝟐)

𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 : billie eilish x fem!reader

𝐒𝐘𝐍𝐎𝐏𝐒𝐈𝐒 : Claire is best friends with billie eilish but what happens when she finds out she has a song written about their complicated relationship

𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 : alcohol

PART 1 HERE

                                         ︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

“Obviously it is…” she then rambled on about everything until she got shut up with a kiss…

Claire pulled away instantly… shocked. She wasn’t expecting the girl to kiss her. Not that she didn’t want to kiss Billie. She wanted to talk. She wanted to understand the other girl's point of view. 

“I shouldn’t have done that” Claire was stunned with tears in her eyes. She felt a sense of guilt and worry. . “I…” speechless was all she felt. 

“Let’s just speak” with that Billie pulled Claire outside into her garden. People were dotted around smoking, drinking or just chatting near the pool.

The girls sat down together under a tree. A decorated blossom tree that the girls used to sit under all the time and write together. It held special memories for the both of them. To others it was just a blossom tree that stood in the corner of her garden. The garden was lit up with fairy lights scattered around to create a homely feel.

“Talk to me” 

Claire was pretty straight forward when it came to confrontation. She knew it could be positive or negative but preferred to talk to others about how each of them feel rather than pushing them away and never solving whatever was happening. Years ago Claire used to push away anyone that became close to her; she never spoke to anyone about how she felt and thought it was easier to not mention it than speak. It was a way of protecting herself from many previous friendships or relationships that had negative impacts on anyone she tried to speak to before either shut her down or not listen to her at all. Billie opened up to her one day about something that was going on in her life. It made her realize that talking is better than ignoring everything with the right people. She was grateful for it, it taught her to keep in touch with people more and that it made everything feel more relaxing and mature.

The girl sighed before speaking…“Lunch is about you. I’ve liked you for ages. I wanted to tell you straight up but I was already writing the lyrics to lunch as a way to express my feelings in my diary but I tried to push everything down and away thinking that it was silly and that it would ruin our friendship. I mean my family already loves you, and I don’t want anything to change between us. The song was me expressing my feelings of what went on between us that one night. I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Finneas said he could tell I liked you after that night. He knew everything by just watching the way we interacted”

“I understand where you’re coming from but you could have just told me”

 Claire leaned close to Billie’s face making intense eye contact while flicking her eyes down to her lips. “I like you too Bil” The two girls kissed, both giggling in between. 

“Hor-fucking-ay” they snapped their heads toward the boy stood across the garden who was walking towards them. 

“It was about time this happened” Finneas sat down next to them, jokingly ruining the moment. He joined them both sat under the tree. “I’ve been waiting for this my whole life… Anyone could see how in love you two were” Billie pushed his head while all 3 of them laughed in unison just enjoying the moment of her favorite people being in the same place.

 “I’m off. Proud of you both” with that Claire got up and walked back into the house but not before pecking Billie on the lips which caused Finneas to fake gag. 

                                         ︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

The next day Claire couldn’t stop smiling. She danced around the house to the newly released album attempting to sing the lyrics until she heard her doorbell ring. Claire walked towards the door unlocking it to reveal the ocean eyed girl. 

“Hey” “Hey!”. The two walked toward the living room both throwing themselves on the couch. It was silent. Not an awkward silence but a comforting silence until Claire started giggling. 

“What are you laughing at?” Billie replied with a laugh. The girl didn’t answer but kept laughing which caused the other girl to start tickling her. 

“Stop Bil stop, I can't breathe, '' the girl said in between breaths. Suddenly the girls' faces were close together and soon closed the gap. 

“I love you” Billie smiled ear to ear “I love you too.”...

Liked by billieeilish, radvxz and 1,394,304 others

claire: oh i love you miss.

billieeilish: i love you.

user: THE LAST PIC... HELLO?

A/N : idk what to write for part 3 so might leave it as this for now 😔 TYSM FOR THE LOVE xx

[lokischocolatefountain]

Picture || Mister Miller

Part 2 of Mister Miller. Read Part 1 here.

Fandom: The Last of Us (HBO)

Pairing: Joel Miller x Reader

Rating: 18+ (masturbation, nudes, looking at someone’s nudes without consent, girthy age gap, boyfriend’s dad!Joel, pervy Joel, potential future infidelity, no outbreak)

Word Count: 960 words

Summary: Joel knows he shouldn’t, especially with the guilt of his shameful secret sitting heavy in his chest. But there are so many pictures of you and he is just a man.

A/N: Day 1 was so much fun! I hope everyone is having a good December. Thank you to everyone who reblogged, commented, and liked. It means a lot 🥹. Now here’s our favorite old man for day 2. Tomorrow will be my OG, the one who got me into this Pedro Pascal mess- Javier Peña... Keep a look out for more in the Masterlist. Aaaand leave your girl a comment please🥺🥺

“You should get a new one,” Matt said, typing something up real fast on his laptop.

Joel snorted and said, “Sure, I’ll sell that little computer of yours and buy myself a nice iPhone with the four cameras and shit.”

“It’s three cameras and a LiDAR scanner, dad,” he snarked, finally unlocking his spare phone and sliding it across the table to Joel.

“What’s that? Like the scanner on printers?” He asked, confused once more by technology. The kind of things that came out these days were too much for him to be able to wrap his mind around. Chat GPT, hyaluronic acid, iPads, this fucking scanner thing.

“It’s this sensor that projects invisible lasers and gets data on how far every single thing is. And that way, it can map an entire room,” he said, using gestures to mimic laser beams shooting into a room.

“Sounds like it’ll be more useful in construction. The fuck you need that for?”

He shrugged and went back to his work, the clacking of keys filling up the room once more. Whatever. He needed a spare phone to replace his shit blackberry Sarah got him eons ago. The thing had been through a lot with him and honestly, he couldn’t be too mad at it for dying on him. In all the years he had it, he had taken a few pictures here and there of his kids. But everything else in his gallery was filled with pictures of worksites. Broken pumps, proof to send clients that they were at the site that day, pictures of sample tiles to show clients… Nothing personal. It was the only thing he did on that phone other than making calls.

As he retired for the day, he thought to learn about his new old phone a little. See if the camera was any better. He propped a pillow up against the headboard and leaned back. When he finally found the camera app, he took a couple pictures of his room. Looking back at them, he was a little glad that his old phone died. The camera on this thing was better. It was newer than his old one, so maybe that was it. He didn’t have complaints about his old one, but damn this was it. It was so fucking good.

He swiped his thumb against the screen, looking at pictures, not stopping when he went back to pictures of his son. Pictures of him partying that he had never shown his old man before. He smiled, going through pictures of a side of his son’s life he never knew. Shit parents never got to see.

His heart leapt out at the next swipe, the screen filled with a picture of a nude woman.

You, he realized as he looked at the face. You had a smile on, the same sweet one you always sent him when you exchanged pleasantries and thanked him for letting you crash at his place for the summer. But the picture of you was anything but sweet.

He swiped to the previous picture, an identical one. Except you were biting your bottom lip and looking at him—at the camera with a sultry gaze. His mouth watered as he focused on your tits. Fuuuck they were good ones, he had to admit. He wasn’t a boob man. Or an ass man, frankly. He was just bad at the whole thing. But yours ignited something in him.

He found an entire album full of nude pictures of you. Pictures you posed for. There was a variety. You nude, you in bikinis, in figure hugging dresses that drove him crazier than the first category. In high heels, sideways pictures of your reflection where you stuck your ass out. One with you sucking on a fucking popsicle. Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck.

He’d told himself it was wrong. He’d found his pleasure in others. But fuck he couldn’t get his mind off of you. And now here you were, naked on his phone without your knowledge.

As he wrapped his hand around his hardening cock, he knew that he’d lost the fight. He should not be doing this. But just this once. It was his phone now after all. A justification. Weak, but it was all he had in the moment.

He pumped his cock, eyes trained on the pictures of you. He swiped back and forth between the pictures, desperate to have you in all your forms. In the cocktail dresses and the ratty old t-shirts. Wearing the bright red lipstick and the soft pink one. He imagine you, whimpering quietly the way you did that night when he found you fucking yourself in his living room.

He groaned, his cock twitching at the recollection of his creepy voyeurism. He wondered what you sounded like when you had a man. When you didn’t have to rely on your fingers, but had a good girth cock thrusting in and out. When you had a finger rubbing your clit softly. He imagined his large hand full with your breast, his lips sucking on the other one.

On your knees, right here in his bedroom, his cock in your mouth instead of in his fist. As your licked his balls with his cock deep in your throat in his mind’s eye, he exploded, coating his hand in sticky white ropes of his cum. He groaned and pulled out a few tissues, wiping off the mess you’d created.

His perverted mind imagined you still there, eagerly licking up his release. His mind was no longer pleased with such sinful images of you. The clarity that came after his orgasm tasted bitter on his tongue.

He would have to delete the photos. Tomorrow. He’d do it tomorrow.

.

.

.

Advent Calendar Masterlist

Main masterlist

[giveafike]

Picture Perfect Moments - B.T.S

TLDR: Making memories and keepsakes. This is part 9/12 of Azzie's Advent Calendar 2024!

Word count + info: 2.4k + dialogue.

Warnings + Content Ahead: SFW! No warnings : )

Azzie Notes ✚: This is a little shorter, but the next few ones are prettyyyy heavy and/or longer! FINALLY FINISHED MY FINALS TOO - still have 2 assignments. Made a taglist too, I won't be tagging anyone here just yet, but for the next ones + new year's, that's gonna be for that! it'd be nice to have some of u guys on there, esp since Ben is basically my whole acct atp.

————————————————————————

The evening was peaceful, the warm glow of the Christmas tree casting a cozy light over the living room. The TV played a stream of festive recipes, but no one was paying much attention, either scrolling away or immersed in conversations until a recipe piqued interest for a bit. Emma was sprawled on one end of the couch with Halo at her feet, scrolling through her phone. At the same time, Ben sat beside you, half watching the screen with his fingers swirling your hair, the other hand fiddling with his own phone, watching some NFL edit on loop. Bryan and Lisa were seated nearby, Lisa was flipping through a holiday magazine and some letters from the mail while Bryan was casually checking his emails, muttering the words as he read along.

Then, all at once, a familiar notification chime went off on everyone’s phones, including yours.

“Group chat,” Emma announced, sighing without looking up.

Ben groaned, already unlocking his phone. “Please don’t let it be another chain message, when is someone gonna send a PSA to let the old folk know they won't get bad luck if they don't send every scam message they see?”

It wasn’t, but it was close to a chain message. The Shelton family group chat had erupted with a series of holiday photos from Ben’s uncle, his wife, and their kids, all decked out in matching red and white outfits in front of their fireplace.

“Oh, how cute, look!” Lisa exclaimed, holding her phone up as she squinted through her reading glasses to study the photos while leaning in to show Bryan. Then, as if struck by a sudden realisation, she gasped.

“We haven’t done our holiday photos yet!”

“Mom,” Ben groaned, “we don’t need holiday photos. You make such a big deal every year, and it’s always chaos.”

Lisa shot him a pointed look. “Of course we need them, Ben. You guys grow up so quick and I can't keep track. You know we always print and add them to the family album. The rest of the family does it too, why shouldn’t we?”

Emma smirked. “You mean to say, the rest of the family is showing off, why can't we?”

Lisa ignored her, already standing up. “We need a plan. Everyone, get ready and I'll see you in the car in 10. We’re doing this tonight. And yes Ben, before you start, I mean everyone.”

Ben groaned dramatically, but you couldn’t help but laugh as Lisa rallied everyone into action. Within a few moments, you had all piled into the car, a bit crammed, and headed to the store for matching outfits. It didn’t take long to settle on a fully plaid theme: you, Emma, and Lisa had versions with bows and tailored fits, while Ben and Bryan stuck to classic pyjama sets. You had even found Halo a tiny plaid dog coat, as you pictured him wagging his tail.

Back at the house, the chaos resumed as Lisa set Bryan to study up the living room and sweep away any spare pine needles shed from the tree while the rest started getting everyone ready. You smiled in the mirror, seeing the matching outfits with soft white lace frills and bows on the hem and collar, then caught eye of Emma and then Lisa too. It was heartwarming to be involved in such a way, and though you couldn't imagine wearing this set anywhere else, you're glad you at least had a physical keepsake, a reminder that you were here, that you belong here. They claim you as their own just as much as Ben does.

You couldn't let it linger for too long however, as time was of the essence - Halo would conk out at any given moment if you delayed any longer, that is, if he didn't somehow tear apart the plaid winter jacket first. And Bryan and Ben would be huffing with a lack of patience only family men could possess. You, Emma, and Lisa worked on your hair and light, Christmassy makeup in the bathroom, music playing softly in the background. As you swept your hair back and secured it with a cute red bow, you called Lisa in to get herself in sorts. She managed to do her base but asked for some help with her makeup, while Emma got started on straightening out her hair.

As Lisa sat in front of you, her cheeks turned slightly as you brushed on some blush.

“A little more here?” she asked.

“Got it,” you said, smiling as you leaned closer. “And close your eyes for the eyeshadow too, Lis.”

On the other side of the bathroom, Emma was carefully straightening her mom’s hair, humming along to the music.

“Not too much, Emma!” Lisa warned.

Emma rolled her eyes. “Relax, Mom. I’ve got it.”

As you worked, Lisa glanced at you in the mirror while you stood to her side, gently sweeping across her cheek. Her expression softened, and she hesitated before speaking. “Can I be honest with you?”

You paused, meeting her gaze. “Of course, always.”

“I don’t want to scare you or anything,” Lisa began, her voice low and gentle, “but it’s a big deal, spending the holidays away from your own family. I know it can’t be easy, but... how are you finding it here? With us, I mean? Be honest with me.”

You smiled warmly. “It’s been wonderful. Honestly, I feel so welcomed. You’ve all been amazing, truly.”

Lisa’s eyes softened further, and she reached for your hand, giving it a squeeze. “I just want you to know how special it is that you’re here. I was telling Bryan the other day, that you and Ben- the two of you just work so well together, like in tandem. I know you've been good to him during the tournaments and the ups and downs and- well, seeing it in front of me, how he looks at you? I haven’t seen him this happy, this confident, in such a long time, maybe ever. And I know that’s because of you. It's like I have my sweet little boy back, the one who believes in magic and saves cookies just for Santa.”

You felt your throat tighten with emotion as she continued. “You’ve been such a perfect addition to this family. I know I’m just his mom and I'm partial, but I can see it, feel it. You bring out the best in him.”

Unable to hold back, you leaned in and hugged her tightly. She held you just as tight, rubbing your back soothingly, her warmth and sincerity bringing tears to your eyes. When you pulled back, she held your face in her hands, looking into your eyes with a soft smile.

“I honestly see you as one of my own,” Lisa said, her voice thick with emotion.

“Thank you, I-I have no words,” you whispered, your voice breaking slightly.

She smiled, brushing a strand of hair from your face. “Alright,” she sighed and scanned you once over before she got up, her tone shifting back to practicality, “I need to find the tripod and the camera. Don’t take too long getting ready, girls!”

As she left the room, Emma leaned against the counter, packing away the straightener, watching you with a knowing smile. “She’s right, you know.”

You turned to her, tilting your head.

Emma shrugged. “You and Ben. You’re so good for him. Honestly, you’re like a Shelton already.”

You laughed, shaking your head. “Em, not you too..-”

“No, I mean it!” she interrupted, her tone sincere. “As his older sister, I know I can be... claws out. Protective, y'know? But I haven’t had to be with you. Not once. You just fit, right from the start. And that’s rare.”

Her words hit you harder than you expected, and you felt the sting of tears in your eyes. “Em, stop,” you said, laughing through the lump in your throat. “You’re gonna make me cry.”

Emma laughed and pulled you into a quick hug. “Well, let’s go then. Don’t want to miss Mom’s photoshoot extravaganza.”

You both left the bathroom, arm in arm, ready to face the evening and the inevitable chaos with full hearts.

Downstairs, the scene was already set for what promised to be a hilariously chaotic photo session. Halo sat proudly in the centre of the room, his tiny plaid coat fastened snugly around him, his tail wagging excitedly as if he knew he was the star. Ben and Bryan were lounging on the couch, phones in hand, but they looked up as you and Emma entered, their expressions brightening.

Ben’s gaze softened when he saw you. “Look at you,” he said, his tone warm and teasing. “Stealing the show already.”

You rolled your eyes playfully, but you couldn’t stop the smile creeping onto your face as you leaned up to peck his lips.

Lisa bustled in with the tripod and camera, barking orders like a seasoned director. “Alright, everyone, let’s get this organised. Bryan, Ben, phones away! Halo, stay put!”

“Because he’s going to listen,” Emma quipped, earning a snicker from Ben.

Eventually, Lisa arranged everyone: Lisa, then Bryan beside Ben and to his side, Emma. You stood between Ben and Bryan, front row and centre while Halo sat at your feet, his tail wagging in delighted circles.

The first few attempts were a disaster. Halo decided to chase an imaginary speck of dust, Bryan blinked, and Emma leaned behind to whisper something to Ben, making him laugh right as the shutter clicked.

“Ben! Stop laughing!” Lisa exclaimed, exasperated.

“Emma started it!” Ben shot back, earning a pointed glare from his sister.

It took at least five more tries before you managed the first decent shot where everyone was in it, no one was blinking and it wasn't blurry. By then, everyone was either laughing or rolling their eyes at the several attempts, but the photos started to flow out now as you all got into the swing of things.

“Okay,” you said, brushing your hands together like you were in charge. “Now we are really gonna get the family shot, let’s go!”

“Do we have to?” Ben groaned.

“Yes,” Lisa said firmly, her mom voice in full force. “Get over here.”

Grumbling, Ben moved to stand between Lisa and Bryan, while you scooped up Halo to keep him in frame. After some good shots, you coaxed everyone to get some photos of just the four of them and Halo, everyone smiling genuinely despite their initial reluctance. It was frustratingly endearing how conscious they were to include you in the family, they felt bad for taking that set of photos without you.

“Bryan and Lisa, your turn,” you suggested.

Bryan raised a brow. “We’re doing couple shots now?”

Lisa shot him a playful glare. “You’re lucky I didn’t ask you to do all this when we were dating.”

That earned a laugh from everyone as Bryan relented. They took a few pictures by the tree and on the sofa, one with Halo on Bryan’s lap and one without.

Next up were Ben and Emma. They posed reluctantly in front of the tree as Bryan held the camera, their arms crossed, pretending to look annoyed with each other.

“Smile like you like each other,” Bryan teased as he clicked the shutter.

“Never,” Emma replied, but right as they both grinned for the camera, the battery died.

“Oh, for crying out loud,” Bryan muttered, inspecting the camera.

"That photo would've been up on the fridge" Lisa sighs as she sinks into the sofa, petting Halo who sat between her legs.

Emma suddenly brightened. “Wait, I have a Polaroid camera upstairs! Alex gave it to me last year. I think it’s got film!”

She dashed off, returning a few moments later with the camera in hand.

Bryan examined it with a nostalgic smile. “Man, I haven’t used one of these in years. Let me do the honours.”

He snapped a Polaroid of Ben and Emma, capturing a rare moment of warmth between the siblings. The photo developed slowly, the colours warming into a perfect, slightly vintage frame.

“Not bad,” Ben admitted, tilting his head to inspect it, squinting at the brand name.

Then Bryan turned the camera on you and Ben. “Alright, you two. Smile!”

Ben slid his arm around you, pulling you close. You rested your head on his shoulder, and he leaned his head against yours, grinning wide. The result was perfect: effortless, warm, and priceless.

Lisa smiled softly as she watched, pulling a small box from a nearby shelf. “I know what this needs.”

From the box, she pulled out an old Santa hat and reindeer antlers. She handed the antlers to you and plopped the hat onto Ben’s head, fixing a tuft of his curls to poke out, before adjusting your hair around the hairband.

“This is from when Bryan used to dress up as Santa,” she explained fondly. “Ben and Emma loved it as kids.”

Ben adjusted the hat with a mock sigh. “If this isn’t Christmas spirit, I don’t know what is.”

As the photoshoot wrapped up, Lisa sent the best ones to the family group chat, the camera now charging up while the polaroids sat on the coffee table while the parents sunk onto the sofa with a satisfied sigh. You and Ben plopped onto the other couch, his arm draped lazily around your shoulders.

You took off the antlers, smoothing your hair, when Ben grabbed a second Santa hat from the box by his feet and tugged it onto your head.

“Perfect,” he said, brushing your hair so it framed your face.

You laughed softly. “What, now I’m Mrs. Claus?”

“Exactly,” he teased, leaning closer. “And Mrs. Claus needs a kiss for puttin' up with all this.”

Before you could protest, his lips were on yours, soft and sweet, the world around you fading for a moment.

“Alright, you two,” Emma said, snapping a Polaroid with a smirk.

As the photo developed, she grinned. “Lisa, add this one to the group chat. It’s too good to leave out.”

You felt your cheeks flush as Ben pressed kisses to your cheek, grinning against your skin.

“You’re ridiculous,” you murmured, trying not to smile.

“And I’m glad I get to be ridiculous with you,” Ben replied, his voice full of warmth. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

[liminalpsych]

So the EPIC: The Musical concept album is fully released and finished now. Ithaca Saga (the final saga) dropped on Christmas Day, and it's probably one of my favorites in the musical. Some of the most solid storytelling, and really consistently good music across the whole saga. I can't turn my writing brain off, though, and part of how I work on my own writing is dissecting what makes something work for me in media, and what doesn't work for me. So I figured I'd share instead of keeping it all bottled up. ;>

The Challenge: Beautiful, perfect, no notes. Anna Lea's vocals - incredible. "Though I never thought that these would be the lengths we'd go for love" hits so hard every time I hear it.

The only part that listeners seem to get confused on is "But I don't know how much longer I'll last since I saw that storm / And though it was so close to our kingdom, it was far from the norm / unless / Oh, could it be some kind of sign / that my world is all about to change" - many of the reactors I've seen spend a long while going "does she mean the storm from the Ocean Saga or the storm from 600 Strike? Does she think Odysseus is definitely dead or does she think he's maybe coming back soon?" - whereas I thought it was obvious that Penelope was talking about the 600 Strike storm, was hopeful that it was a sign that Odysseus was returning, and was buying him time to get back. Probably the right staging/animation/choreography would fix this confusion just fine.

Hold Them Down: Everything I hoped it would be and more (but that animatic by mircsy??? holy crap I did not expect that. incredible yet horrifying, as perhaps I should expect by now from mircsy). Appalling yet catchy villain song. Ayron Alexander's vocals are unfairly good. (I wasn't taken by surprise at the lyrics, I'd thoroughly spoiled myself with the demos.) Also that faltering cello at the beginning that seems to symbolize the failure to string the bow??? Brilliant. Jay's at his best when he's doing compositional/musical/instrumental storytelling, imho.

The brief, swift exposition of "don't you know the prince is not around / I heard he's on a diplomatic mission / and I heard today he comes back to town" works really well, I think, even if you don't know the Odyssey. Gives us a reference point in time, context, events. We don't have to linger on what he was doing, why, how long, etc; we don't have to follow the diplomatic mission; we just need to know he was gone and now he's coming back into town.

Lines that go unfairly hard: "break his pride, his trust, his faith, and his bones", "When the crown wonders where the prince is / Only the ocean and I will know", .....the entire sexual assault "hold them down" section but I'm not gonna quote it because holy crap it was also incredibly icky (but that's why it goes so hard, it was so effective at doing exactly that, while staying in the realm of allusions/imagery instead of explicitly stating it).

(I have been exercising such self-restraint at not engaging with people who are trying to use the Antinous depiction as fuel for Calypso discourse. So much self-restraint. I might have to rant about it on tumblr to avoid responding to people on other social media platforms. Engaging will not be productive and I need to continue to exercise this self restraint. aaa)

Odysseus was a wild ride, though probably the song most in need of revisions. So many callbacks that worked so well! The "O-DY-SSE-US" in the background mirroring PO LY PHE MUS? The lower register that I didn't realize Jay could even reach? Athena hints? Telemachus?? Scylla torches reference??? So good.

This song has some of the strongest and weakest lines in the whole saga. It could be easily solved by just scrapping the whole discussion of the weapons room door being unlocked. It's just confusing, everyone gets confused by it, it's unnecessary complication, I don't know why it needs to be emphasized so much. They find the weapons in the room where Odysseus hid them, no one comments on doors being locked or not because it's not important, Telemachus still shows up, fight ensues, song is now no longer 5 and a half minutes long, everything is improved.

Seriously. this line and its meter/scanning is just. bad. talky in a bad way. "I find it hard to believe that the sharpest of kings / Left his armory unlocked / So what?" ... Actually, you know what? They could even keep "Brothers, we've got company and he's made a grave mistake / Left the weapons room unlocked, and now they're ours to take" - like, I think that'll cover the whole "Telemachus unlocked the weapons room, not Odysseus" just fine. Mentioning it earlier, and mentioning Odysseus being sharp, just leads listeners to think it's a trap by Odysseus, and then because of that mental priming, it's really hard to pick up that the later line indicates that Telemachus left the door unlocked. (I didn't catch it until someone pointed it out, and then it seemed obvious afterwards.)

Strong lines: "I come back and find my palace desecrated, sacked like Troy", "In the heat of battle at the edge of the unknown", and ESPECIALLY "My mercy has long since drowned / It died to bring me home" like WHAT. what. that's so good. ("And as long as you're around / My family's fate is left unknown" is a little weaker, feels a little clunky, but I wouldn't know how to fix that one.)

I Can't Help But Wonder felt eerily like Dear Theodosia from Hamilton, though it was still very good in its own right. (Seriously though. Try singing "Dear Theodosia" while playing "I Can't Help But Wonder" - so many parallels and they overlap amusingly well.) Athena showing up was delightful. Loved the poignancy and bittersweetness. And was it just me, or did Athena's quickthought and piano sound almost... wounded? Limping, faltering? Heartbreaking. Again, Jorge's instrumental storytelling is so good.

Something about Odysseus's response to Athena bugs me. It's the delivery, maybe. I really like the approach of "Odysseus doesn't get to see a world where we don't have to live this way, he can't imagine it for himself, he's been through too much" and the long pause between Athena's verse and his response with the slow ticking. I looove that. I guess maybe I want the ache of it to be more emphasized on Odysseus's part. I think it really would just take a slight delivery difference to make it hit for me, which is a singing choice. Or an adjustment to that last pair of lines ("But I've got one endeavor / There's a girl I have to see") which just feels... not quite where it could be, I guess. (The A/B/A/B rhyme scheme with short lines sometimes feels amateurish and clunky to my ear, I think, especially if the phrasing feels a bit forced to make a rhyme.)

Could You Fall In Love With Me Again: Wonderful except for one clunky section, and I have a probably-controversial quibble with the end. Also, Gigi animatic in full color????? omg. So poetic to end with a Gigi animatic. I didn't recognize the style at first until Odysseus came on screen, because of the fully colored linework wtf. It was beautiful. And that swelling "Just A Man" instrumental reprise of specifically the section talking about the desire to go home?? aaaaa so good. I sing the lyrics every time even though it's an instrumental, I can't help myself: "I'm just a man / Who's trying to go home / Even after all the years away from what I've known / I'm just a man / Who's fighting for his life / Deep down I would trade the world to see my son and wife / I'm just a man".

The wedding bed / olive tree section... I was super excited when I heard the first line ("See that wedding bed"). I had thought for a bit there that we weren't going to get the olive tree reference, and I love that part of the original Odyssey. How outraged Odysseus is in the poem when Penelope asks him to move the bed. >D And he was just as outraged in the song! It was great - but the lyrics were... mm. It felt clunky. The line "How could you say this" could be cut entirely, the sentiment is shown just fine in the rest of the stanza and feels kind of forced/doesn't quite scan, he could just start with "I had built that wedding bed with my blood and sweat" - the rest of Odysseus' verse there is fine though.

Then Penelope's response of "Only my husband knew that / So I guess that makes him you" .... "so I guess"? really? ......it bothers me every time. EVERY TIME. It feels out of place, overly modern even for the modernization of EPIC, and it also weakens Penelope's (beautifully) impassioned response. Same vibe as "Dumbledore said calmly," you know? She's not guessing. She knows. "Only my husband knew that / Now I know that makes him you" maybe (I'm spitballing here, there's got to be something better. let Teagan at it, she's a stellar lyricist). Or, if the point is to prove to Odysseus that he's the same man, that he's not a monster / not an entirely different person than the man she fell in love with, then "Only my husband knew that / Don't you see that makes him you" could work to emphasize that point. But "I guess" does noooothing but undermine the tone.

This is probably just me (well, and a couple other people I listened to the musical with): I really. Really. Really feel like this song could have ended with "waiting, waiting... for you" + swell of Just A Man instrumental reprise. That felt like the end. It was a really good, solid end. I don't like the "how long has it been / 20 years / I love you" - we have reiterated that it's been 20 years so many times in this saga alone, they obviously love each other, that was shown beautifully in the entire "Would You Fall In Love With Me Again" song prior to this, they even said it - "I would fall in love with you over and over again" ... the afterword is extraneous and imho weakens the power of the ending. It feels like an afterthought. It feels tacked on and it feels inauthentically saccharine. Buuuuut in every reaction video I've seen, people seem to get extra emotional at it and seem to love it, so maybe I just have too little romance in me. ;)

...I actually do love this song, I think it's very strong, but that's why the above things stand out so much, because the rest of the song is so strong that they're jarring in contrast. Lines I think are incredible: "your smile torn", "left a trail of red on every island / as I traded friends like objects I could use", and of course "would you fall in love with me again, if you knew all I've done".

But overall, it was very satisfying, and I can't wait to see what the final version looks like after theater workshops and/or animation studio workshopping or... whatever form the final productions take.

...I should probably make multiple posts so I don't turn this into an even longer essay. Let's keep this one focused on Ithaca Saga and I'll post thoughts on the entire musical separately. (I might make one of these for each saga. We'll see how long the hyperfixation lasts.)

[rosecoloreddesire]

Not A Lie ~ Elvis Presley

Summary: You could never imagine THE Elvis Presley to show up in your little diner. How can you tell your parents that…he’s your fiancé??

Note: IM BACK! I’m going to be graduating in February so I’m hoping I can get some writing out! I’m so sorry if this is a bad come back? I haven’t proofread yet! But I think it’s good 💙 missed you all so much!

Warnings: FLUFF!

“Y/N, you gotta stop lyin’! You know how much your daddy loves Elvis!” You huff out as you chase your mom around the kitchen island.

“Mama! Just listen to me! I’m being honest! I am enga-“ she put a finger to your lips as you both hear the front door unlock, opening to your daddy whistling a soft tune of Blue Suede Shoes.

“Not a word in front of him, got it?” You sigh loudly not wanting her to put you down.

“But mama! He’s comin’ ton-“ she cuts you off with an ice cold glare. You finally let it go, walking past your father to your room.

“God damn it all! Why won’t anyone ever listen to me?” The small phone in your room begins to ring, picking it up you sit on your bed. A certain southern drawl cheers you up.

“Hey there, lil’ lady. How’s my girl doin’? I’ll be there soon I promise. My parents are wantin’ us to get together and do some photos here at Graceland for the family album.” He chuckles while you heard his grandma in the back.

“Hi grandma! Um, pictures? Like engagement pictures?” You nervously hum, twirling the phone cord around your finger.

“Well, I did get you that pretty rock on your finger. And I think that means your stuck with lil’ old me, baby.” Your cheeks flush as he lowly whispers.

“I’ll see you soon. Lest your flirtin’ make my face flush!” His giggles are cut off as you hang up. Your face aglow. Your phone rings once again.

“Elvis Presley- if you don’t stop-“

“Elvis Presley?! I knew it!” Your best friend Amelia was on the other line….her screams of joy influence you to push the phone as far away from you as possible. You wince as she continues.

“Amelia Jones! You needa keep it down! What’ll you do if your mama says she won’t be gettin’ you into my mama’s salon this Thursday!” The other line dies down.

“You know your mamas the only one you can actually do my hair and make it look good!” You chuckle as she tries to explain herself.

“Yes! That’s why when I tell you the boy I’ve been datin’ all year and last year is Mr. Elvis Presley.” You state confidently as she squees softly.

“That’s why you wasn’t impressed when we saw him for the first time! You were kissin’ him!!!” Her giggles and squeals made you roll your eyes. Amelia was always into the whole romance and love at first sight tropes in the movies.

“Y/N! Get down here! Your mother and I need to have a talk with you!” You grumble and hope your mom hadn’t told your father about the whole engagement.

“Gotta go, Ames! Bye!” You hung up, smooth your skirt and make your way down the stairs.

“You know the policy we have on lyin’, young lady.” Your daddy was sitting on the couch with your mother.

“Daddy, I ain’t lyin’ to you! I really am-“ your mothers laugh breaks you off again.

“We are supposed to believe that Elvis Presley is coming tonight to meet us after askin for your hand?” She fans herself. Your mom usually was so supportive but you do have to hand it to her. This was kinda crazy.

“I ain’t! He’s really sweet! His mama and daddy are arranging a photo shoot for us to be in the Presley family album! I’m gonna be a Presley, daddy!”

“I wanna believe you but how did you even meet?”

—

“And will that be all for you today?” The man in front of you was clearly flirting as you wrote off his receipt.

“Uh actually this is gonna sound weird but are you an angel?” You rolled your eyes, waving your hand.

“Hm, I’ve actually never heard of that one but I am very aware thank you. Bye!” You spun around on your heel and grabbed a new pad and paper. You fixed your hair in the reflection of napkin holder.

“You handled that well, Darlin’.” You jump a little. The voice was low and oddly familiar. You turned with a flush to your cheeks.

“ yeah well creeps like that don’t like the word no so-“ you paused as you finally saw the person speaking to you.

“It’s a shame cause he ain’t wrong. But he forgot to say you look like a goddess.”

“You’re-“ you stuttered holding your hand to your chest.

“Your future boyfriend I hope.” You must have looked like a tomato with how warm your cheeks were getting.

“Uh- are you serious? Is this a prank?.”

“Here’s my number. Use it wisely.” And with a wink he was gone as fast as he came.

——

“I’m supposed to believe he came to our family restaurant when your mama and I were gone?” You nod desperately. You take your mothers hand and show her your ring.

“Oh my god, Y/N. That’s a real ring! How did you-“ your doorbell is going off before you can explain.

“Do you want to get that, daddy?” You ask softly, praying to whatever god that Elvis was standing at the door. He huffs as he sits up, making his way to the door.

“Afternoon- OH MY GOD. You-“ Your father brings your fiancé into a bear hug. Your father squeezes the poor boy as you giggle. Your skin flushing at the display.

“It’s really Elvis! What in the hell?” Your mom grasps your hands tightly as the boy walks into the house, more like pulled. You giggle as he finally sees you, a bit frazzled. He detaches himself from your father as he makes his way to you. His lips soft against your cheek as your body warms.

“Uh, mom, dad, this is my fiancé.” You spout awkwardly as Elvis slips his arm around you. Your father gleams with excitement.

“I understand why you didn’t ask for my blessin’, son! You can marry my daughter!” You’ve never seen your father so ecstatic in your life. Except the one time he won a ticket to see Elvis. Or the one time he heard Heart Break Hotel on the radio in his car. Huh….you are sensing a running theme…

“I really do love your daughter. It’s jus’ been rough tryin’ to get a time together to meet y’all.” He smiles boyishly at your parents. Your mom still reeling in the fact that you were telling the truth.

“D-did ya enjoy our family diner?” Your mom stutters out. You stifle laugh placing your hand over your mouth. You look at Elvis awaiting his answer.

“Of course, ma’am! Great atmosphere, great food, and even greater waitresses.” He bumps you with his shoulder as you blush.

“Well, don’t be a stranger, Mister Presley! Come on, we were just gettin’ ready for our meal!” Your father pushes Elvis to a chair at the table. You shakily sit next to him as your nerves still haven’t fully settled.

“Why our daughter?” Your breath hitches as your mom starts to plate the food.

“Lord, where do I start? She looks as if she walked right out of a Hollywood movie. An absolute starlet.” Your skin flushes as his hand drifts to your thigh.

“I wish! We met up with some of his Hollywood buddies and they were super sweet! They think Elvis has a real shot of hittin’ it big!” You smile as he laughs. His gaze focuses on you the whole time. How could he have found the most amazing thing to have come out of him having to hide from fans in a local diner? His eyes never leave your lips as you continue to sing his praises.

“I really think it’s a great idea to see you two married! Can you believe it, honey? We’d be related to the Presley’s!” Your dad claps as he excitedly dug into his food. Your mother still seems a little hesitant.

“What’s gonna stop you from chasin’ other girls around town? My daughter hasn’t even dated before you!” Your eyes widen as you take a bite of your dinner. You hadn’t really had that conversation with Elvis yet…

“I’m your first boyfriend?” You wince at his surprised tone. You turned to face him.

“Uh, yeah. I, uh, never really thought about the whole dating thing. Until you kissed me at that charity concert…I-“ his lips are soft against your cheek. Your hand shaking in his hand.

“You don’t need to explain nothin’, darlin’. Thank you so much for the lovely dinner but I best be goin’ soon I only had a it of time to spare.” He began to get up as your father rose from his seat.

“How about you go with him, sweetheart? Your mom and I are gonna have a talk about all this.” You nod, hugging him quickly. You all but ran up the stairs to get away from the tension.

“How cute. Pink really fits you.” Elvis smirks as his fingers traced your bed sheets. You scoff as you pack a small bag.

“I haven’t gotten to change my sheets since I was like 10, E. Give me a break. Do you really want to do this?” Elvis’ hand caresses your face, pushing a few stray hairs out of your face.

“I want you. Every day. Afternoon. And night. You are all I think about.” His voice just a bit above a whisper. Your eyes were heavy as you stare at his lips.

“Can I be yours forever?” His lips were soft as he pulls you close. The kiss was delicate but passionate as he grips your hair slightly.

“If you’ll let me.”

[remidyal]

I feel kind of bad about doing this, but it's not really much more information than we already had and I mean, it was in the preview. The back of Lou's sheet here is readable in a way that the one Siobhan was holding up the other week wasn't, because this is in a close-up on Lou instead of a shot of the whole side of the table. There IS one thing on here that has been heavily heavily hinted at but not happened yet that I would class as a spoiler, so I'm putting my reading of this below the read more:

Likely skills: Extracurricular Dependent Mechanical Benefit: Extracurricular Dependent Examples: Owlbears Practice (underlined), School Clubs, Elven Oracle, Running(?) the Bottomless Pit, Cassandra's Church

MYSTERY: Likely Skills: Arcana, Investigation, History, Perception, Insight Mechanical Benefit: Success gives a Small Clue, +10 to DC is a Large Clue, +20 DC is a Breakthrough in the Case Examples: Lucy Frostblade, investigating the Rat Grinders, etc

Proposed Tracks: Gorgug: 4 academic tracks, Owlbears Fig: Warlock, Barbarian, (?), Sophomore Album, Archdevil, Security Fabian: Bard, Fighter, Owlbears, Popularity (all circled) Kristen: Cleric, Popularity, Goddess Riz: Rogue, Tons(?) of Extracurriculars, Popularity Adaine: Wizard, Party Time Job, Oracle, AV Club

Miscellaneous Rules Having an MCAT (signed permission from teacher to multiclass) means all Academics rolls(?) made after the first are rolled(?) with Advantage Fig and Kristen are in danger of expulsion - failing an Academic Track by more than 5 will see(?) them expelled from the school. If Gorgug hits a Nat 20 on an Academics roll, he can unlock the Barbificer Subclass Adaine makes(?) Academics rolls with disadvantage unless she can get to well-off monetarily.

Much less is visible of the other pages, but one appears to be a rundown of Fabian's various maneuvers, one is handwritten notes, and the last is a character sheet.

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 7/2/2024

as of friday i have lived in texas for a full year. that's the most neutrally diplomatic thing i can say about my time in this state so far

listening

i did a lot of driving last week and had the first album from genshin impact's legally-not-France nation on loop bc it's a lot of vivaldi inspired stuff and i find that soothing. however! one of my favorite pieces of music from this nation is this battle track. i don't have any music words but i do like the.. pipe organ emphasis? on the little flourish at 0:28. catholic brain go brrrr

-

reading

thank you mackintosh.

i liked gotham city: year one! many many many callbacks but framed in a way "and this is the start of the blueprint for how everything would go" which made me less annoyed than callbacks for their own sake. a very chandler-esque take on noir, by which i mean a fundamentally good (but tired) man gets beaten to shit and survives a doublecross as he unravels a fucked up little family dynamic for the pure nosy sake of unraveling it.

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watching

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024, dir. Ritchie). a spy/action/comedy thing about Operation Postmaster, a wwii special operation off the west coast of Africa to disrupt nazi u-boat supplies.

i did not like this at all.

i generally like a guy ritchie film-- the holmes duolgy are movies i would happily rewatch at any time, but this one is very flat. there's very little banter and remarkably little dialogue-- long stretches of this film are of people getting from place to place in perfect silence. even the soundtrack is remarkably toned down. most of it sounds like ai-generatred morricone (very few of the musical passages like. resolve in any sensible manner. there is no theming and no noticeable leitmotif. one of the worst covers of mack the knife ive ever heard is at the climax of the fuckin film. what if someone ominously tapped a hihat to create tension for literally half the movie with NO other accompaniment). when it doesn't sound ai-generated and kind of off (morricone's cowboy western work is not what i expect for a largely seafaring wwii movie) it sounds like they rented a jazz five-piece for a weekend. one of the worst soundtracks i've ever heard. it was extremely distracting.

this is a heist movie that never really figured out how to effectively intercut actions its team is independently taking. there are also a lot of places where the cuts are very strange, especially in the final harbor scene flicking back and forth from the land crew to the boat crew. just felt very underbaked as a movie. i was frequently bored. not an effective comedy, action, or spy movie. just barely a coherent war movie, though not a very enjoyable one.

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playing

the breath of the wild to genshin ripoff pipeline is pretty clear, esp in the legally-not-India nation with lots of legally-not-koroks. u get a bunch of chests and achievements if u find all 76, i finally sat down on friday with an hour-long walkthough video and found them all. every single four-leaf clover sigil is where one of these fuckers was. and to get to this point, i had to do a whole DIFFERENT quest chain with different collectibles to unlock some of the legally-not-koroks and also make room on my map to free up 76 markers. very annoying process. i fucking hate collectibles for the sake of collectibles and padding out gameplay. i could not imagine doing this if i were employed

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making

cross stitch update.

i got this belt for the ren faire when my sister came down, finally got around to pulling it out of the freezer and cleaning it the other day, and it was what i can only call yucky-disgusting. an inordinate amount of scunge for a belt with very few signs of wear. it's impossible to photograph bc it's quite late and i did not think to take a before shot, but it straight up changed color. it is much lighter now

[earlgreytea68]

So I was like, Why can't I find any footage of the Magic 8 Ball song? What did Patrick play for the piano medley?? I eventually gave up and went to look at the set list.

And at first I was like, ...they played Bang the Doldrums for the Magic 8 Ball song? That's it? All Patrick played was Golden?

And then I paused and repeated those sentences to myself: They played Bang the Doldrums. Patrick played Golden.

Like, if you had shown me this set list a year ago, I would have told you it was an impossible Fall Out Boy set list. They played Dead on Arrival? Calm Before the Storm?? I remember the first time they played Calm Before the Storm on this album cycle, I almost fell out of my chair when it started, it was so shocking. Hum Hallelujah into Headfirst Slide????? Another song we absolutely COULD NOT BELIEVE when they first played it live, it was so shocking that Pete told the crowd he expected faces to melt off. Then they played Golden and Bang the Doldrums and THOSE ARE SONGS I SHRUGGED OFF????? They have now played these songs so often that they barely registered as things they were playing until I stopped and thought: They played BANG THE DOLDRUMS??? When I joined this fandom, that song had such mythos around the idea that they would never play it live and now they clearly love to play it live, they trot it out all the time.

And it occurred to me, as I contemplated all of this, that this was, in fact, probably the point of the astonishing summer tour they went through. They have already detonated most of the emotional bombshells of their career, and now they can just...play them. Like, that's the wonder of what they did: They unlocked their entire catalog, embraced all of it, in one shocking six-week dash through their history. We called it the tour of healing, and this is what it means to be healed: to come out on the other side of the apocalypse and casually slide Hum Hallelujah into Headfirst Slide, with Golden and Bang the Doldrums lurking in the wings, and it's no longer a big deal because it's healed, the way that that broken bone from the summer you were 12 is no longer a big deal anymore. It may twinge from time to time when the weather gets iffy, but by and large, it's just another of your bones again.

It's amazing, what this band has done for itself. They smashed all of the walls they'd put up around the tender vulnerable parts, they dragged them out into the light...and they not only survived, they thrived. Now they just play them, because everything they have ever been is something for them to cherish now, nothing for them to hide away.

And at the end of the day, Pete Wentz leaned his elbow on Patrick Stump and wiggled to the beat of their love song. Their throughline through the whole thing, and it was there for them again last night, at the end of an extraordinary set list that they have made feel ordinary. How lovely for them, to once again be at "Saturday," and for the ordinariness of all of it to be as ever the most extraordinary part for them: me and Pete, once again, one more time, forward into their future. "Saturday," still there for all of us the way at the end of the day the way it has been for twenty years now. Nothing could be more ordinary at the end of a Fall Out Boy show. How utterly extraordinary.

[possibilistfanfiction]

Chef Au! A date night with fast food (chosen by Ava) and cheap wine (chosen by Bea)

it's not that beatrice's little chef outfits aren't simultaneously endearing and also hot, but when you open your front door and see her in sunglasses and a comfortable crewneck sweater, light, loose pants cuffed casually — although you're sure she was exacting about those too — and sneakers, you realize that you've kind of been missing out. or, really, maybe, she's a fuller person that you could've ever really imagined, only seeing her at her restaurant and a few vineyards nearby you'd tasted at together.

she smiles, a little hesitant, and hands you a simple, beautiful bouquet of lavender wrapped in newspaper and tied with twine. 'from my garden.'

'that's so gay,' you say, before you can stop yourself — but then she laughs and scratches at the back of her neck and you lean forward to kiss her cheek. 'i love them,' you amend. 'thank you.

she nods. 'of course.'

'let me put these in some water and then we can head out.'

'you can dry it, if you want.' she clears her throat, nervous and fidgeting with her watch. 'it's good for simple syrups and reductions. or baths.'

'that sounds dope. i love baths.' you wink and know she's blushing as you put the bouquet on your entry table — artfully cluttered — and then lock the door and turn back to her. 'ready?'

'yes,' she says, unlocking a practical and perfectly spotless electric small bmw suv, and then opening your door for you.

'why thank you, sir knight.'

she rolls her eyes and closes the door, then walks around to her side. 'where to, your royal highness?'

you grin, take her hand in yours while she starts the car. 'arby's.'

'fair enough.'

'i was going to pick panda express, but that seemed... weird?'

she laughs, which delights you. you don't think you've ever heard her laugh like that before. 'i love their orange chicken, honestly. but that's a god tier secret, okay?'

you mime zipping your lips and throwing away the key, which keeps a smile on her face. while she's driving, you get to take in the whole of her, greedily: her dark brows and the gentle sharp of her jaw, the soft buzz of her hair, the tattoos peeking out from under the sleeves of her sweater, the freckles across her cheekbones and the bridge of her nose. and her hands: sure and precise, even just on the steering wheel. she's beautiful, and you're a little overcome. you count your blessings that you wore your favorite bralette and overshirt, wide-leg jeans that make your butt look incredible. your eyeliner is perfect and when you're at a red light, she turns and smiles at you like there's no one else in the world.

it knocks the breath out of you a bit, and you cannot start crying over how pretty a girl is within seven minutes of a first date; you thank your lucky stars when she fiddles with her phone and then some music starts to play.

'shit,' she says, scrolling desperately.

'carly rae?'

'i didn't mean to play that. i don't even know why it's in my liked songs.'

'here,' you say, and put your hand out for the phone because the light is about to turn green. you laugh when you see every single carly rae jepson album fully saved in her liked songs, and you take in the delicious pink of her cheeks when you look over at her with a laugh. 'well, emotion: side b is probably the best album of all time, so no judgement here.'

she bites her bottom lip.

'what were you trying to play, though? what did you think would, like, seduce me?'

'who says i'm was trying to seduce you?'

'well, the gay little flowers, for one. and the fact that you agreed to this silly plan in the first place.'

she waits until the next red light to lean over the console and kiss you — short, and gentle, and very sweet — and you revel in the feeling.

she backs away and turns her attention back to the road in front of you as you start to move again. 'is it working?' she asks.

you laugh.

/

you settle into her trunk after she parks on the overlook; she's put comfortable blankets and pillows in it so you can eat and watch the sunset, and it's tender and thoughtful and she puts a little fisherman's beanie on that softens her, even more, and it's all driving you a little bit crazy.

'well,' you say, after you both settle in with your chicken fingers, curly fries, and ranch — your order, which she'd promised she would eat — 'please break out the perfect wine to pair with the best dinner of all time.'

she nods very seriously, going along with your antics; beatrice is ultimately extremely serious in the kitchen, even if her food is playful: she hasn't gotten to where she is — one of the youngest chefs to be nominated for a james beard, among a billion other accomplishments she refuses to mention and you had only found out about through a recent write-up about the soft opening of her restaurant — without incredible determination and focus.

she's more playful than you had imagined, full of laughter and willing to be silly; willing to indulge the goofy idea you'd had for this date. she reaches around behind her and pulls out a small cooler filled with ice, then presents the wine with a flourish: 'only the very finest three dollar trader joe's chardonnay. it pairs wonderfully with chicken.'

her little posh accent and her genuine smile make the whole routine even better. 'that is... incredible.'

'you know,' she says, 'i've never failed an assignment.'

'now that i believe.'

she fishes out two red solo cups — which makes you laugh even harder — and unscrews the top of the wine before pouring it carefully. 'do you want to give your review?'

you go through the motions of how you would normally taste a wine, all a little exaggerated. you're one of the most sought-after sommeliers in the world: you can make or break vineyards and their yearly releases; you've been a part of a handful of opening restaurants that have won every award in the book. and, even with all of that, 'this might be one of my favorite bottles of wine i've ever had.'

bea scoffs. 'this wine is absolutely horrendous.' she pulls apart a chicken tender and dunks it in ranch, though, eats it without any complaint.

'sure,' you steal one of her fries even though you have a whole pile of your own. 'but the company elevates the entire thing.'

she turns toward you, the sunset fading orange behind her, turning her eyes gold. 'you make everything better.'

it makes you a little breathless. 'plus, you have to admit, these chicken fingers slap.'

it gets her to laugh, just like you'd wanted. just like you think you could spend your entire life wanting. 'maybe we'll put this pairing on my menu, then.'

'lilith would love that.'

'you know, it could be worth it, just to see her face.'

you scoot closer to her, talk about how her partnership with a local farm is going, how she's sourcing her cod from a fisherman nearby; you talk about your favorite vineyard, a tiny one tucked into the oregon coast — and those things are safe. those things are more of what you already know: she cares deeply about the earth and how her food fits into it; you want to share a stormy grey day and perfect pinot noir at a firepit with her.

and you eat your greasy fries and drink wine that is surely going to give you a headache in the morning. you talk about how she felt finally herself when she finished cooking school and took a job on the line, young and eager and fabulously talented, at a kitchen where she had support, where no one yelled at her, where she had a mentor that cared. you talk about the wine grapes you remember your grandfather growing in your small back yard, how you would eat them when you were small and describe the taste while you sat on your mom's lap. she teaches you her favorite word in chinese and you teach her your favorite word in portugese.

the sun sinks below the river, and you love her.

'do you — ' she bites her bottom lip — 'do you want to come back to my place? for dessert?'

'depends,' you say, and watch her face fall for a split second; you kiss her jaw to rectify that, 'what's on the menu?'

she huffs a laugh. 'i bought nestle chocolate chip cookies, for the occasion. they're in my freezer.'

'oh, fuck yes,' you say. 'i'm so in.'

'and, my company.'

'well, yeah, sure.' you roll your eyes playfully and pull her in for a kiss: cheap wine and grease and the softness of her skin under your fingertips. 'and that too.'

[jamsjamznjellies]

Between The Lines fan art! Is it weird to make fan art for a fandom that probably doesn't exist? Is it even weirder to like a musical but wish you could write it "In Other Words" I love Between The Lines and its concepts, but it doesn't feel fully baked. There's a lot of cringy dialogue, a little bit of pandering to queer audiences, and seems confused on what it wants to be (it wants to be mean girls, it wants to be next to normal, it wants to be an edgy subvert of fair tales, ect.) It has great bones but it could be better. I would suggest you go read the script on the MTI website and listen to the cast album and you'll see what I mean. I have a whole script written out in how I would change/ "fix" it. Anyway, here's my own designs for Delilah and Oliver. There's a key in the middle because I like to imagine the book "Between The Lines" having a little lock on the side that you have to unlock with a key on the end of the book mark tassel thing. I am very normal about this show lmao.