#purely to get a loose idea of how many songs there are

[seasaltmemories]

Top AMVs of 2024 - 30 - 21

A more in-depth breakdown of what I am doing can be found here, but if you just want to get to the main entries then:

30. Cuff It by uv catastrophe (fray-adjacent)

Audio: Cuff It by Beyoncé

Visuals: Reunion: The Sound of the Providence

There are two words that best sum up this vid: fun and flirty. The source material seems concerned with a grand adventure of some kind, but this vid is more focused on the journey and small bits in between the action set-pieces.

Each member of the trio gets loving focus for a verse. Lots of attention is given to hitting all the sexual innuendos of the song, with my fave moment being the intense close ups of a hand tracing the outlines of a wall for a more innocent type of opening. The editing is similarly loose and relaxed while keeping the pacing engaging and energized. This is one of my favorite types of tribute because it is so easy just to see what individual moments and expressions the editor themselves loves. By the end, I was just as charmed with this polycule as I expect the fans are.

29. Pink Friday by FallChild42

Audio: Friday Night from The Yakuza 0 Soundtrack

Visuals: Revolutionary Girl Utena

I participated in an MMV exchange this summer, and there were so many cool and creative vids made for it, so beware this is just the first off the list. I know FallChild42/Dr. Dinosaur for his comedy vids and only heard a few stray comments about what he had planned for his giftee, so I didn’t know what to expect. But it certainly wasn’t for him to go all out for a motions graphics lyric video.

Utena and Yakuza are two series I love, but I never thought to cross them like this until he pulled it off. Suddenly I was like, “yes Utena deserves all the fun friday night parties, yes please.” The editing is both professional and slick, yet expressive and charming (especially with her little dance). A lot of the fun from exchanges is watching friends go the extra mile for each other. With such impressive tech work and clear joy and affection for his frequent collaborator/friend Ileia, it is difficult to walk away form this vid without a smile.

28. Bonnie & Clara by Camichan19

Audio: Runaway by Against the Current

Visuals: Princess Jellyfish

I came up in amv fandom from the side focused on making their paper dolls kiss (regardless if they interacted in canon or not), so I a sucker for just a good romance amv that knows what it is doing. And what do you know, Camichan19 is an expert in exactly that.

Pacing is one of those rarely spoken about, pretty vague elements of editing. You can use a metronome file or the waveform but when it comes down to choosing when and where to cut, especially on a scene by scene level, there’s only so much guidance anyone can give. Yet Camichan19 always seems like she knows exact the perfect place to make the cleanest cuts. Her smart and subtle scene selection in this vid specifically shines in how she is able to use Princess Jellyfish’s comedic moments for actually romantic development. This vid doesn’t make me laugh out loud, but it does make me smile in how it show that even these goofy slapstick moments do build something real and important between our two leads.

27. Transcend-Dandy Cha Cha Cha by Aqua Sky Productions

Audio: Transcendental Cha Cha Cha by Tom Cardy

Visuals: Space Dandy

Tom Cardy has been supplying a good portion of the amv community’s comedy audio for the past few years now. Honestly, you could make a panel purely of Tom Cardy amvs, and a part of me is worried the bubble is gonna burst before I can get my own ideas out. When his new album dropped with its own animated music video for this song, a part of me imagined it was some sort of challenge on his part to see how a inter-dimension dance party could get reinterpreted as anything else. But Aqua Sky Productions rose up to that challenge and knocked it out of the park. Of all the lyric sync I expected in this vid, I was not expecting the “french dandy” line to get something.

But most of all, I admire she was able to capture the over-the-top party attitude without simply recreating the original mv. In contrast to its existential horror, Aqua has most of the characters role with the punches as long as they have a place to rave. It’s more tongue-in-cheek in comparison to most dance vids, but the more lowkey humor makes it a fun party anyone feels like they could join.

26. MEDUSA by JAKEH (CW: Sexual Assault)

Audio: Follow You Into the Dark from Alan Wake II Soundtrack

Visuals: Heavenly Delusion + Multisource

I say this not to disparage any of the many dedicated coordinators we have in our community, but I feel like we’re still in the figuring out stage of grappling with amvs focused on more heavy and sensitive topics. Considering the public nature of much of the con circuit it is understandable to limit showings to all ages material, and I understand staff that does not feel equipped or does not want to engage with such topics for personal reasons. Still even in NFSW spaces, sexual assault tends to be the one line drawn (probably because going from horny hentai shenanigans to that and back is a hell of a tone whiplash). I like to emphasize that the con circuit is not the end all be all of amvs, and several people involved in the space (including myself) have taken the time to tackle the subject. However, it feels like many vids that want to seriously grapple with it are forced to live in the dark.

All this to say, if you care about grounded depictions of sexual violence, then MEDUSA is one of the best amvs tackling the subject around. Where it shines is not just communicating the literal events, but representing the feelings of our protagonist. After the drop we get gorgeous composition and composition filled with rage, grief, and profound bodily alienation. I don’t believe the most sensitive depictions are the ones that are the least explicit like some folks, but there is a lot more power and creative control for JAKEH by going this abstract route in a visual medium like amvs.

The ending itself also really gets at the reality of the subject for most victims. While our protagonist does get relief and release in the comfort and support of their loved one, there is also the harsh reality of having to live with the knowledge their assailant is likely simply living their life without any comparable consequences. It’s a harsh truth too many survivors have to face, but in the end, it is this vid’s unflinching stare head on at the subject that gives its dignity and weight.

25. Welcome to the Glam Dungeon🔥👄 by Abyssbreaking Studios

Audio: The Glam Kitchen 🔥👄 Sopita de coditos by Shiadanni

Visuals: Dungeon Meshi

Who’s hungry for a bite? This amv is not my first encounter with the glam kitchen, but I was nervous about the audio would translate for a vid, as most of the humor comes from the delivery of a dramatic Mexican diva.

The solution, make the delivery of the audio through the text part of the joke. While Kia doesn’t skimp out on adding jokes in through Marcille’s funniest moments, her subtitles are the star of the show. There legible and easy to read while having plenty of cute and charming flourishes (my fave is the custom Falin emoji). Overall it recreates the fun of many viral cooking videos, basking in the vibes and energy as the real work goes on in the background, in a way I didn’t imagine possible in the form of an amv. Kia’s enthusiasm and energy overall cooks up a tasty treat for us viewers.

24. a heart’s a heavy burden by Biotic

Audio: Medusa by Kailee Morgue

Visuals: Fruits Basket 2019

Rin is one of my faves of Fruits Basket and I’ve adored this particular song for years. The only way a vid with this combo could be more up my alley is if a creative editor like the BioticAMVS was the one to edit with it. Really no matter what source she works with, Biotic always adds her own unique compositions and visual flair to create amvs with very particular singular visions.

And as a fan of the sources, I really love the extra meaning created here. It is telling that the positive memories are layered in a mosaic-like haze, once good ones are shattered, broken, and ruined while the only thing Rin sees clearly is her own pain. Casting Tohru as “Medusa,” the figure that turns her to stone, is such an interesting choice that demonstrates just how much what it is that paralyzes her is something internal as much as her external circumstances. It is a nice treat for fans, but wrapped up in tight sync that can be enjoyed by anyone.

23. Curtain Call - by BanjoKazooie64Fan (James Blond)

Audio: When the Curtain Falls by Tessa Violet

Visuals: Perfect Blue

Perfect Blue is one of those intensely iconic pieces of art the imagery takes a life of its own. But rather than focus on stalkers and doppelgangers, James took the time to focus in on Perfect Blue lady’s quiet loneliness.

It is a unique and creative take on the source, as most Perfect Blue amvs aren’t all that character focused, (and even after watching the movie less than 3 years ago, she is still “Perfect Blue lady” in my head) but it is one that works wonders. By cutting out most of the thriller elements, it really emphasizes how even before the bodies started piling up, this was a young vulnerable woman getting eaten up by the industry with seemingly no support system at all. The scene of her fantasizing about talking with friends over near silence at 0:56 is so powerful in its dissonance, emphasizing how it really is a fantasy since it “breaks” most amv rules. I also like the cut of her staring blankly in the middle of directing the night club scene at 1:56. There is this running theme of almost watching life happen to other people around her, pulling so much depth and emotion I am not used to feeling about a character at all.

22. Retro Never Ends by Roseclipse AMV (Ophelia)

Audio: World on Wheels by Duckwrth

Visuals: Yu Yu Hakusho

Last year, a studio by the name AMV Clamp (since then renamed Roseclipse AMV) came on to the scene with killer taste in anime and a strong editing voice/style. They were my rookies of the year for 2023, with Ophelia being a particular prevalent member. I loved her mmv work last year, so when she participated in the summer mmv exchange I mentioned earlier, I was excited to see what she would pull together.

With its bright color palette and paper edge borders, Retro Never Ends oozes style. For a medium where ever inch of movement is costing you loads of time and effort, the vid is so energetic, lively, and slick. There are so many great standout motions, such as the flying animation at 0:31 and the Botan mask at 0:47, but a more subtle element I admire is how Ophelia is not afraid to play with the aspect ratio. At moments like 0:16 and 0:42, you can clear see the edges of the original manga panels. But the brisk pace and smart scene composition turns the negative space from a distraction and into another nice visual flourish. Frankly when it comes to amount of polished tech work per a frame, this vid might get you some of the best bang for your buck on this list.

21. First Measure by Xophilarus

Audio: Magik Mike - Shake If Off but Taylor Swift stays up WAY too late (Shake Off Those Notes), Shittyflute - Love Story, Tom Wallace's arrangement of Shake It Off.

Visuals: Hibike Euphorium

I don’t know when “Shake It Off” became the default Taylor Swift meme song, but I’ll never get tired of “nothing in my brain,” as a punchline. Xophilarus’ commitment to the bit here is to be admired. They are dedicated to syncing every off note, using ever zoom, speed ramp, or flourish to accentuate some truly awful musical moments.

And while for some folks, two and a half minutes of that might be more grating than entertaining, what really ties it together for me is the underlining story-line of these kids trying to put on a half decent performance. I’m not used to getting emotionally invested in comedy amvs, but it is funnier and more compelling to highlight these smiling cheerful faces thinking they absolutely nailed it while the crowd looks on in horror. While their eventual triumph is still tongue in cheek, I genuinely felt proud of them.

[banquetwriter]

୨୧ Cinnamon ୨୧

pairing: Johnnie Guilbert ♡︎ Reader

warnings: ୭̥⋆*｡ Johnnie and reader don't get together, sorta a unhappy ending (tho its unclear whether Johnnie is into reader)

summary: ʚ after texting Johnnie for days straight a party doesn't go how you imagine ɞ

Words: 1502

An: this didn't go how i wanted it to… you get a star if you can guess which song this was very loosely based off of.

SUPPORT ME

There are so many unique feelings humans feel that have names. Such as opia​, the feeling of looking someone in the eye and feeling an intense feeling of vulnerability. As if someone is looking through you.

Or exulansis, the tendency to stop talking about something in the middle of talking. Often when the listeners do not seem interested or relate at all feeling the storyteller is jealous.

Of course, there aren't an endless amount of words. Like for example there is no word to describe the feeling of breaking up/getting broken up with over text late at night when you're young and having to act completely normal at breakfast with your family the next morning. As they had no idea you were even seeing someone in the first place.

There are no single words to describe that feeling. A very unique one. It's a similar feeling to what you feel now. Dumb, maybe a little excited, and egear. You met Johnnie Guilbert almost two weeks ago at a party. Being a mutual friend of Tara’s it was bound to happen at some point.

You immediately felt a pull towards him. He was funny, had good style, and above all else was nice to you. Not a common thing among most men nowadays. Knowing the nature of Tara’s friends you googled him as soon as you got home.

Immediately found his Instagram and followed him. You weren't sure it was going anywhere but one day he followed back and another party the two of you had been to led to texting for almost 4 days straight. Often replying in between tasks never taking more than a few hours to shoot another text back.

You had felt electric. You had kept most of the conversation platonic and respectful but as the sun went down and the days went on the conversations got so much more real. Talking about both of your struggles, your hardships, and your successes. It felt so natural and nice.

Tonight happened to be another one of Tara’s parties. You had not subtly put on one of the most amazing outfits yet. Your hair, makeup, accessories, and clothes fit you so well, perfectly showing off your style. You however were not radiating the confidence your outfit dripped.

You were so nervous to see Johnnie tonight you felt like you could have a heart attack from how fast your heart was racing. It had been almost an hour and a half since the party really started and almost everyone was there already. Except Johnnie.

It was stupid really. You hadn't even done anything super romantic or anything to suggest that toward him when texting. And you two certainly weren't exclusive. And you didn't dress for men so really the fact you felt so sad and embarrassed was bothering you.

So there you sat. One shot in. Shoving down a slice of cinnamon-flavored cake. You numbly shove the fork into the slice of pure sugar and place your fork in your mouth. It was then that you looked up and saw that Johnnie arrived. He was being greeted by Tara and a few others.

You felt a second wave of confidence folding the paper plate and tossing your items in the trash, passing the microwave’s reflective surface to ensure you still looked good. Nerves ran through you, your heart racing so fast you almost couldn't see.

You sat against the kitchen island waiting for Johnnie to walk by you and see you. You casually sipped on a drink slightly moving to the beat of the music coming from the music in the living room. The small crowd of people with Johnnie made its way towards you. This was your moment!

You tried to not look at him as much as possible. That inevitably failed when you finally looked at him, he was in a black button-down. The first few buttons were undone with several metal necklaces. He gave you a tight-lipped smile, nodding his head at you in acknowledgment. You looked at him and you could swear your eyes lit up with a flame.

He was so cute. But that feeling I was talking about earlier? When you break up with someone but can't say anything to anyone about it? That's what you felt as Johnnie brushed past you and went outside. He didn't acknowledge you.

You didn't move, just stared at the floor with your red solo cup in hand. Instead of your eyes burning with fire they burned with tears. You felt so goddamn stupid crying over a boy you aren't even with. You quickly pull your phone out to have something to stare at, not just look at the floor.

The tears gather in your eyes and at this point, you can't hide the fact you are crying. You quickly make a break for the bathroom. You slam the door shut. Tears spilling out of your eyes as you sob. Your fake eyelashes collect the brunt force of the water.

You let yourself cry for a moment. You eventually could hear the house music again. Your breathing slowed down. You used a piece of toilet paper to clean up the tears and retouched your makeup. You let yourself feel how sucky this was.

But if he didn’t want to be with you he didn’t want to. Oh well, what could you do about it? You step out of the bathroom. You move to one of the rooms further back in the house, finding a group of people smoking. You decided you weren't gonna let him ruin your night entirely.

“Yo! Y/n…” someone called out. You turn and see one of your old friends. They offer you a blunt and you happily oblige, holding the smoking plant to your mouth and inhaling.

Letting the cloudy smoke fill your lungs. You let out a breath. Your head buzzed with the hit you took. You decided to take just a few more. You were definitely buzzed, maybe even high.

You weren't gone by any means but you weren't all there. You made your way to the backyard through the kitchen. Seeing Tara, Jake, Johnnie, and Colby all sitting around a little campfire. There were other people too around but you either didn't know them or didn't care. “Hey guys.” you slightly slurred out.

“Yoo.” Jake laughed out looking at you. You could smell the weed on you, your eyes squinting with red. “Shut up.” you giggled out sitting down next to Colby and Johnnie. “Hey, where's Sam?” you asked, grabbing Tara’s drink from her camping chair cup holder.

Tara shot you an annoyed look as you took a swig of the soda. Jake giggled into his eyes and had never seen you high before. “Oh Sam has a meeting tomorrow he needs to be at so he didn't wanna drink a bunch tonight,” Colby said smiling at you with a small nod.

You only nodded your head in response. Staring down at the campfire. It wasn't really cold outside, more just chilly, but the warmth of the fire felt really nice. Your friends went back to their conversations as you looked at the fire crackling. You felt a jolt on your left side.

You looked to your side seeing Johnnie peering at you. “You ok?” he asked you, obviously referring to that you were staring off into space. “Yeah I'm good,” you mumbled out with a smile.

The orange glow of the fire made him look so good. Giving a slight shadow to his eyes. There were so many things you wanted to say to him. Tell him how pretty he was or maybe how funny he was. None of them were appropriate so you stayed quiet. You were getting very dizzy.

“Dude seriously,” Johnnie said, his hand holding your shoulder. Maybe you were showing how much you had a little too much as you realized you had been leaning almost over the fire. “Let's get you some water,” he said standing up.

You followed him with a small smile on your lips. You wanted to live in this moment. Share a giggle and relish the fact the boy you liked was taking care of you. Let it feed into the delusion that he liked you back. But that wasn't fair. So you didn't.

You just silently watched him pour the glass of water into a new solo cup. He turned around and in your current state, you couldn't figure out what his expression was like. Was he happy? Mad? Concerned?

You decide not to figure it out. You take the water cup from his hand and thank him. Intentionally looks away, still feeling his eyes on you. It's like he wanted to say something. If he wanted to be didn't just slowly walk away.

You felt horrible about not taking that moment to flirt with him. But you knew it wouldn't end well if you had. So in a way you had lost but in another way you had won.

[yuseirra]

No but really.. the guy(yeah, you know what guy I'm talking about, THAT GUY I KEEP TRYING TO MAKE SENSE OF, THE KAMIKI HIKARU GUY...this is ridiculous) has literally no will to live!! He doesn't have any attachment to his life!! That much was made really clear and it's stated that he's been despairing.

He ORIGINALLY CAN'T HURT PEOPLE. He was so passive about people taking advantage of him in the past, he could only stand wide-eyes when people were so cruel to him, the only thing he could do as those things happened back then was reach out and hug Ai for support and that was enough for him to recover and smile very happily. He has the widest smiles when he's with her, he just.. adored her that much. He really thought that having her would be enough for him to bear these irrational and horrible loads of misery he had to put up with and IT WAS.

AND THEN SHE GETS MURDERED because he trusted his friends to send a bouquet to her in his behalf. So he takes the entire blame for it, it's so messed up.

The way I see it, he would have died then. He would have followed Ai. He really would have lost every power to live then, the way Aqua became depressed after Ai's funeral(they are really similar in many aspects in terms of what they go through) But I feel like something made him live. And didn't Aqua get his first black star eyes when he started thinking of revenge?? What if something really convinced him to have the idea that he can't die there just now??? The exact same way Aqua was?? But the direction was, "I will fix everything. I will have Ai return to life. I will have Ai back."

but you can't usually have these thoughts. You CAN'T bring back the dead or feel their presence or whatever. So why did he start getting these ideas?? What caused him to believe it could be a reality?? The only consistent element I can blame on IS the black star. IT IS THE BLACK STAR. You know how this series has a logo with the の < having the star eyes in it. The star eyes are an important element in this piece. I just.. feel they have to do with him. The black and the white eyes. His company has the name EYES. He talks about eyes having these powers. There's definitely something up with this that they feel the need to bring it up regardless of how illogical it'd seem in real life. This story IS FICTION. IT HAS FANTASY IN IT. Can you see where I'm coming from and what I'm going for?

This can't be it. The guy MAY die here maybe, but what's been shown so far isn't all there is to it and even without these weird ideas about stars (come on, there's just so many throwbacks about it and they basically rub it in Fatal and Mephisto and IDOL.) There's something I can't quite put my finger on yet but there IS an underlying element here that can bring this all together. Or maybe I'm expecting too much from a loosely written piece but no, what the songs are indicating are TOO SPECIFIC. They direct to this idea.

I really do believe we need to look into the idea of gods who don't realize they are gods, and the star eyes. It's about time. I just have a feeling I've been catching about those in a pretty accurate sense. Please do look over my theories, I may be getting at something here, I IMMEDIATELY got this idea after having listened to Fatal back in July. This idea has been introduced TOO recently for it to be brushed off as irrelevant, they WANT to tackle this idea.

If there's "a fallen god" in the series, it's Kamiki. He's just too weird. He starts out really innocent and pure, it's almost like he's so unknowing in fact because he's confused about even the most basic things and he even tried to regard malice positively and it's like he's turned into some evil spirit or some sort of devil. THEN IT'S NOT JAIL HE HAS TO HEAD, HE NEEDS TO UNDERGO PURIFICATION. I KEEP SAYING THIS, SALTWATER MAY HELP HIM LOL. THE ONLY WAY THAT'D MAKE SENSE FOR AI TO WANT TO SAVE HIM IS THIS

AND HEY, AI EVEN SAID IT HERSELF IN THE NOVEL!!!! I BOUGHT IT!!! SHE SAYS SHE MIGHT AS WELL BE A GODDESS!!!! I THINK SHE IS ONE!!!

I AM TOTALLY SERIOUS ON THIS. WAIT TILL I GET THIS RIGHT. TRUST ME, THEY WILL BRING THAT IDEA UP ABOUT GODS AGAIN, THEY HAVE TO. It's just too out of place to be just addressed and then thrown out the window like it's nothing, WHY talk about this in the first place?? There are SO many things in this comic that can be explained with divine elements meddled into it, but are almost impossible to be interpreted otherwise. There is also a scene where Ruby says she could be favored by the gods. They pray. So yeah.

[hupla222]

Episodes 90 + 91: Some Thoughts

They came out together so it's only fair that I talk about them together. What a build up to this one! The hype was real and this two parter did not disappoint. Emotions were raw, tensions are high, a lost feeling has settled across them all. There's something so blanketed in sadness about the kids doing this all on their own now. Also brief Spinal being an absolute maniac makes me want to punt him (this is a good thing).

We got our first look at Ult. He seems fine enough, although we know little about him other than he likes battling, he's reckless, and he's pushy. But the intro implies something quite sad about him so I'll keep watching to see where he goes with interest.

Speaking of that intro, what a banger! Great music and stunning visuals. And oh boy, do I have many many thoughts about the appearance of my boy Sidian. Buckle in because that's all I could focus on. Just off the bat we can see he has a new outfit (mostly).

His jacket is completely new. It looks to be made of a softer material this time around, seemingly more free to move around in and certainly less constricting on him. It's baggier and hangs more loosely on him, especially his collar. Seems like he can move more freely now. I wonder if this could be indicative of a shift in his character, more free to show his emotions now perhaps. He does seem especially angry here.

(Also side note, he and Coral have matching white stripes and that's really adorable and also shows that they still have a connection)

Speaking of this shot, I'm absolutely boggling over the lighting here because it could mean so much. We see Coral right up front in the spotlight, soaking it in. This probably implies that she's living up being the hero in the public's eye, loving the adoration and attention regardless of whether or not she earned it. On the other hand Sidian is in the shadows, in the back. This implies that he doesn't share these thoughts, that he hates being seen for what he's not. Maybe that's why he's so angry. He's living a dishonest farce, one that he probably can't escape from.

Later on we see him and Liko and oh my goodness I'm loving this. Look at them!

Look at how determined she is against him. And just look at my boy! This is the most animated we've ever seen him. I meant what I said when I said he can express himself more freely now. Just look at the pure anger he's seeping. Look at his body language. Something has got him more emotional than we've ever seen him and he's looking right at Liko. They're rivals! It's happening! Liko and Sidian finally get to have the attention they deserve when it come to their dynamic. He's out to get her, perhaps he even blames her for all that has happened. They've both lost someone during Laqua. Maybe the both blame each other.

It wouldn't surprise me (although I'm not hopeful) that all of this may mean we get a role reversal of sorts with Coral and Sidian, with Sidian now being the more unhinged one that Coral must control. He certainly doesn't seem to like being a "hero" and thus wouldn't care how the public sees him but Coral would, if she really is soaking in the praise.

And before you say Coral is there two check this out.

Look at the way the camera pans. Meowscarada may be facing them both but she's in front of Garganacl. Sidian is up front here while Coral is in the back this time. This is his fight. This is their fight. I am so unbelievably hype for this you have no idea. And look above at the previous batch of three. He's so determined. This feels personal. SidianLiko rivalry redemption arc. Or at least Sidian backstory. Or at the very least Sidian motivation incoming. Gah! The way his pupils slit whenever he gets fired up. The way he's in Liko's section of the song. It's so hype!

Anyway, I think that's more than enough rambling from me. Overall this arc looks really good and I can't wait for more!

[razzle-zazzle]

can you tell us more about branch villainous parent idea you have?

Had to put this one under a cut bc it got long sorry.

tl;dr ancient troll sorceress who kinda made herself immortal but then spent centuries trapped underground adopts one (1) small gray trolling when she escapes in the hopes of using him as an agent in her big revenge plan

Okay okay so. I was listening to "The Monster Under Your Bed" by Madame Macabre (among some other songs) and somehow ended up creating a silly little AU where Branch is adopted and raised by something a little bit eldritch and a lot bit unsuited to taking care of a child. So meet Lola (<- placeholder name)!

Lola's a Pop Troll... or at the very least, she used to be. Her backstory starts a good few centuries before the Bergens even show up, but just long enough after the splitting of the genres that most Pop Trolls at the time only had a vague idea about the existence of other genres. Lola was just like any other Pop Troll, really—in fact, she was even quite a catch! A love of singing and dancing, a clear voice and pretty face; she had quite a few admirers.

But, well, her story's not as well known, in the days of Trollstice, but for those who do know it, it's a cautionary tale. Because Lola, like any Troll, was able to use her song to affect the world around her. And she pushed the limits of this power, often in... well, it was more carelessness, at first. A descent into destruction that started slow and snowballed, until she was pretty much a step away from Evil Sorceress. At the end of her tale, in an effort to put a stop to her, a small band of heroes used the Pop String to defeat her, sealing her body underground in the roots of one of the many Troll Trees of the time. Thought dead, Lola became a cautionary tale about the dangers of using one's song to destructive and selfish ends.

Except she didn't die. She was already beyond death, at that point. So for centuries, she remained trapped, unable to pierce the barrier sealing her in her tomb. And in those centuries, the Bergens came, discovered the Trolls, and Bergentown formed. In those centuries, the number of Troll Trees diminished down to one, caged in the center of a dreary town.

Enter Branch. From stage top, falling from the tree after being pushed out of the way by Rosiepuff. Branch, who's small and scared and curls up in the crook of two roots, where a small patch of either-lobelia-or-rhododendrons-I-haven't-quite-decided-which-flower-works-best-yet are growing. The barrier containing Lola has eroded slightly, over the centuries, and the slow genocide of the Pop Trolls by the Bergens has only sped up the process. She's still trapped, but now there's a small hole that light can sometimes get through.

When Branch first falls into Lola's tomb, he almost doesn't make it out alive. Why does she stay her hand, though? Is it because she could see a kindred spirit in the Trolling that had lost all hope? Because she saw in him an opportunity to escape her tomb and finally enact revenge? Because centuries buried underground can tire a person out immensely, and the thought of expending energy to kill one little Trolling was too much for her that day? Whatever the reason, Branch manages to climb back out. But he comes back, again and again, just to... talk. The scary lady trapped underground understands grief, after all, and Branch feels safe underground where the Bergens can't reach. No matter how much the shadows move and hiss and cry. But going in and out stretches the already weak barrier to its limits...

There's only a week or so between Rosiepuff's death and the Great Escape, in my headcanons (something something Chef randomly going in and eating Trolls outside of Trollstice in flagrant violation of rules or tradition purely because she can), so only a week or so after their first meeting a Bergen's shovel both clears a path and snaps what little remains of the barrier, loosing Lola upon the world.

When she "adopts" Branch, it's with a clear goal in her mind: raise this little gray Trolling to be an instrument of destruction, groom him for the eventual role he'll play in her revenge scheme. There's just one problem:

She gets attached.

[rockethorse]

Get to know you: Sims Style

I was tagged by @goatskickin

Yippee! Talking about myself!!

Q: What’s your favorite Sims death?

Probably running with scissors. It's really just dying of fright (like when a ghost gets ya) but it was such an easy way to cheese the "defeat Death"/"be rescued from Death" Knowledge Sim Wants. Electrocution also feels kind of rare to me, though I'm sure it's far less rare than other deaths, and the yellow ghost is radical. Death by flies is also a classic.

Q: Alpha CC or Maxis Match?

I think I'm known as a Maxis Matchhead, and I do love MM, but it's not because I dislike realistic CC. I actually really like it when it's well-done and I respect realistic CC makers a bunch. When I first dipped into CC, I played a more semi-realistic game myself. I love how flexible and adaptable every Sims game is depending on what CC you load yourself up with. But, MM always has a special nostalgic place in my heart.

Q: Do you cheat your sims weight?

Only when I'm making a Sim to be a Townie or NPC or some other sort of character. If I'm doing regular gameplay, I won't use cheats, but I might put a Sim on an enforced pizza-and-cookies diet if I feel like my neighbourhood is severely lacking in minuscule body diversity.

Q: Do you move objects?

I literally can't play without it any more, lol. I'm always stunned when I pop in to a lot to "just quickly make a minor edit" and realise how soon I need to turn moveobjects on.

Q: Favorite Mod?

Hands-down, it's Shiftable Everything. It completely changed the way I decorate since not only is it less tedious than fiddling around with OMSPs but it allows lots to stay CC-Free and thus more easily shareable. I adore that mod lol, and buyable accessories + Nopke's walk-under spiral stairs mods for the same reason.

I also really like Phaenoh's holiday calendar (which I consider to be a mod, even though it's purely flavourtext and doesn't affect gameplay) and the version I use with modified holidays. It gives me mini goals to keep my gameplay exciting and I haven't taken it out of my game since I found it.

And lastly, it's not an exaggeration to say Meduza's mod to make hobby blogging increase social as well as fun made my week when it was shared. It may not be the most game-changing mod in the world, but it scratched an itch I had been holding in for DECADES.

Q: First Expansion/Game Pack/Stuff Pack?

I strongly remember my first - and, for a while, only - TS1 expansion pack was Superstar, and I hardly learned how to properly use a lick of it. I was young and TS1 was ridiculously hard for a sandbox game. But sooo many of that game's objects and functions and songs are instant nostalgia bait for me because of it, moreso than TS1 already is. (Also, like many it seems, I was never allowed to get Hot Date, LOL. I remember my mother promising I could get it when I turned 13 and then chickening out of that promise when the time came.)

I played without any TS2 EPs for an unnecessarily long time. A friend at school who also played TS2 mentioned something about Lifetime Aspirations and I had no idea what they meant, which was highly confusing to the both of us. I think my first Sims 2 EP was possibly University...? I remember the first time I got the "your teen can go to uni!" message I panicked and thought it meant right now, so I sent my poor Sim off to Young Adulthoot on, like, day 2 of teendom. The guy never got to let loose! Nowadays I don't let move my Sims off to college until they're on their final day of teendom anyway.

Q: Do you pronounce live mode like aLIVE or LIVing?

I always and still do pronounce it in my head as liv(ing). On the one hand, (a)live mode - as in, the game is no longer in stasis, and time has resumed - makes more sense and is probably what the devs intended. But in my defense, build and buy are both verbs, so to me, it makes sense that "live mode" is where you go after building and buying to live in the house that you just set up.

Q: Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made?

Most of my favourite Sims tend to be born-in-game, so not really ones that I've "made"... I do like the townies I've made with the semi-randomised method, though. It was always hard not to keep them to play with myself, but so far none of them have had great chemistry with my Sims to become playables, LOL. I'm gonna have to say Iris Kopper will forever be special to me. (Not that the Koppers are done yet!)

Q: Have you made a simself?

I tend to make a Simself first in every new Sims game I play as a way to test the system, but I usually don't play them. I had a Simself running around in my old TS2 'hood as a Townie, and I let myself wander around unbothered in TS3 until "I" aged up into a hot pink minidress and I had to interfere.

Q: Which is your favorite EA hair color?

I like making MM black hair recolours because they're the easiest and soooo satisfying, but I think my favourite is brown, especially the more complex ones that have purple/blue cool undertones. It's always struck me as such a tasty mahogany treatment that bown hair usually doesn't get.

Q: Favorite EA hair?

Since there are so many to choose from, let's go by age group!

For EYAM Sims, it was hard to pass up the classic Rocker, but i think Caesar is a very classy handsome hairstyle that suits a wide variety of Sims, and it's nice to have been given the option by EA.

I've always really liked this TM hat-hair from TSS and the fact that it came with a matching hatless version too. I like teens having their own styles, I just wish EA had given it to us for TF Sims too.

For EYAF Sims it was a difficult skirmish at first - I've always had a soft spot for the silly pointy-ear hat that came with M&G, and the matching hatless hair it came with, but that's so similar to longpart from BV I also enjoy - but in the end I realised it was clear;

Sweep sweep. It's versatile, it's nicely modeled and textured, it can be sexy or professional, it's as gender as you want it to be, it's TREMENDOUS on Elders, and it reminds me of Sailor Uranus. What's not to love? Other than its lack of age options.

For TF, JUST LOOK AT THAT. How perfectly Y2K! The fact that it reminds me of Minako "PGSM" Aino is just an added bonus.

Combining CU into one tier - look at these. Look at how precious the little doggy face is. Augh.

And finally, for PU, the most perfectly darling hair in the entire game they knew they had to limit to toddlers or else nobody would ever bother to use anything else. No wonder we all immediately converted it for other ages. It's the perfect boho pigtail look. No notes, Maxis. (Wait, it was introduced in Nightlife?? Why? Whose baby is that on the dance floor?)

And an honourable mention for updo, which would be my favourite EYAM hair, if not for the fact it's technically an EYAF hair.

Q: Favorite life stage?

Probably teens, because they were such a fascinating introduction to me when I shifted from TS1 to TS2. Sims aging and passing away intrigued and terrified me all at once, but the unique middle-ground of autonomy vs. immaturity of TS2 teens must've resonated with me. They could have a job, but not a great one. They could date and go steady and make out, and it could be deathly serious to them, but they couldn't cross the line or get married or start a family. They could look after younger Sims and drive and drink (probably illegally) and buy things and run the household if need be, but they were still trapped with limited freedom or opportunities.

I know other games have given teens more agency and there are mods to do the same in TS2, but as a pre-teen who was just playing TS2 for the first time, it was a really perfect encapsulation of the middle-ground between adulthood and childhood and the excitement but frustration it brought.

I also really like Elders for similar reasons. In many ways, they often have more freedom than Adult Sims, but they can also be harder to play in other ways. Plus they get the short end of the stick in terms of content so I gotta cheer for them.

Q: Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay?

I used to hate building (or at the very least, think I sucked at it) and was 100% dedicated to gameplay. Gameplay is still important to me, which is why I'll probably never move on from TS2, but these days I've really been enjoying building and decorating a lot more. It's also something I enjoy being able to do in TS4. Setting myself limitations like "CC Free" also adds interest to the challenge.

Q: Are you a CC creator?

Yep! Try to be at any rate, lol! It's interesting to see how I used to almost exclusively make build-buy content and now a lot of it is BodyShop CC.

Q: Do you have any Simblr friends or a Sim Squad?

Not on a private/personal scale. I have lots of people I recognise from Simblr who I chat with and reblog from frequently, and I think we have a good rapport, but I'm not around enough to really engage 1:1 with other Simmers like that. But I'm also really happy and proud to be a part of the little TS2 Simblr community and always smile when I recognise the same URLs and new posts popping up.

Q: Do you have any sims merch?

Other than physical copies of the games, not really! I've been meaning to invest in some fan-made merch like a pair of earrings or something. Any recommendations? (I also want that unofficial cookbook so bad.)

Q: Do you have a YouTube for sims?

No, but I keep thinking about it...

Q: How has your “Sims style” changed throughout your years of playing?

I've always been a rotational player, whether it be a specific challenge or not. I think the most interesting change in my style has been my intentional choice to cut CC back as far as possible. It's really pushed me to not only embrace a Mega Maxis Match aesthetic but it's also encouraged me to get more creative with the content already in the games.

Q: Who’s your favorite CC creator?

If I listed out all my favourites I'd be here all day and then I'd forget someone and feel terrible. I'm so lucky to be around at the same time as so many incredible CC creators, builders, storytellers, and modders here on Simblr who still make for TS2, and trust me, if you're here still posting updates for TS2 in the year 202X, I see you and I love you and I'm sending you all the positive energy you could ever use.

As a CC creator, though, I'd say my biggest inspiration is @crispsandkerosene. Their textures, models, animations, and especially their eye for the Maxis Match aesthetic are everything I aspire to some day, especially in their authentic TS1 recreations.

Q: How long have you had Simblr?

Since 2011... wow.

Q: How do you edit your pictures?

With The GIMP mostly just to resize. If it's an important screencap I might edit lighting/saturation for clarity, or mess around for storytelling purposes, but mostly it's just to crop and resize, lol. You guys all have to put up with my game's borked lighting.

Q: What expansion/gamepack is your favorite?

For TS1, I never had Makin Magic, so probably Pets. The animals themselves were fun but I was always transfixed by Old Town and gardening. Vacation is pretty close in my nostalgia, though.

For TS2 it's Bon Voyage. It's just such a jam-packed and well-thought-out EP, and you can tell it was Maxis's final love letter to the Sims franchise before they knew EA would put out their fire. Obviously I love Seasons and OFB as much as the next guy, but I think BV adds a surprising amount of replayability.

For TS3 it's 100% World Adventures. I love those gimmicky little tombs, lol. I always yearned for more life sim/time management elements to other exploration games, but I had never considered adding exploration/puzzle elements to a life sim instead. It's the perfect balance for me, lol; the tombs themselves may not be the most difficult puzzles, but having to manage your Sim's needs, finances, time, etc on top of those puzzles is exactly the kind of gameplay I was waiting for. (Why is the vacation EP basically my favourite for all these games?)

I don't have any TS4 EPs and I doubt I'll ever buy any, simply because I don't play the game enough, only decorate, but the one I'm most tempted by is the Tiny Living pack. I think I like the concept of it more than I like any of the objects it actually comes with, though, and technically I don't need an EP to make a tiny home.

Thanks for letting me ramble so much! For anyone who wants to do this, I add the following new questions:

What's your favourite in-game Sims food/meal?

What's your favourite supernatural life state?

What's your favourite way to grind for each skill?

If you haven't done it already then I tag @sixamese-simblr, @persimmonthusiast, @vegan-kaktus and @tvickiesims!

[yeyinde]

Hi I sent in the original moss ask and I just wanna say it turned out so much better than I could’ve even imagined, like I don’t have words to put towards how fucking important that piece is to me. You captured the feeling and vibe of forests and seas so well, I mean I literally live in Alaska but you painted such a perfect picture of it. And the fae aspects, the macabre undertones, the longing, the nostalgia,, like I really can’t even describe it all cause I get choked up. It almost feels like you wrote it for me personally, like I know I requested it but you detailed how the forest and the rivers call for you in an ancient romantic rumbling and I didn’t even mention that, I’ve felt that all my life with no words to put to it. I especially loved the part describing all the little trinkets he leaves, and how the house starts to overgrow with vines and moss. It was so so perfect. It felt like a song that manages to touch all the parts of your soul and describe how you feel perfectly even when you can’t quite decipher it yourself. I’m sorry to ramble. It just means so so much to me, thank you for writing it. Easily my favorite piece of literature I’ve ever read and I can’t believe my stupid little moss bed thought inspired such pure poetry. I can’t go visit the forests or the ocean as much as I used to because I’m chronically ill, and I miss them more than anything, so this feels like it helped heal something in my longing heart. Thank you.

Thank you so much for this. I needed to have a giant cry before I could really sit down and respond, and so. Here I am. Stuffy nosed and red-eyed and still weeping.

The imagery you used in your ask, about the soft bed of moss below your fingers and the forest arching above you, was really what made everything click into place. I could see this massive shadow over everything, enclosed by a huge canopy. The cold forest floor. The soft echos through the treeline. And when I got to Alaska, I immediately knew which forest I was going to use. It did end up becoming a mishmash of all my favourite things - especially Giant Sequoia, which does not natively grow in Alaska - but it was largely meant to capture the same hauntingly beautiful atmosphere of Tongass National Forest, particularly the inlet near Ketchikan. I'm a bit obsessed with the PNW - especially the coast with these massive trees so close to the waters.

The fae aspects were very loose, admittedly 😅 I wanted to go full out with that aspect of mythology but I couldn't really see Price giving them something to eat, so I switched it to something modern. A pub that might not even exist, and a drink you can't refuse. Little things showing up at your doorstep that are too pretty to throw away so you put them inside but now they have a life of their own, and grow up the walls and across the floorboards. The haunting sense of something urgently calling you. A whisper of your name in a quiet room. The wind howling at you between the trees.

It got a bit dark, in many places, but I loved the idea of Price pining away while you have his chiseled heart locked in your childhood jewelry box. The most precious trinket of all.

I saved the ask to my phone so I could keep coming back to it while I wrote everything down, trying to capture the atmosphere you inspired. The lush descriptions of the forest, the moss, the sense of ease and languor - it immediately ensnared my attention and made me almost desperate to write this down as quickly as a I could.

This would not have existed if you didn't send in such a beautiful ask, so it is, without a doubt, yours. I just put the words together.

I agonised a lot over whether or not you'd enjoy this, so seeing this in my inbox honestly made me so incredibly weepy. I felt like it was taking ages to put together, but ahh, the way you laid out the scene made me fall in love with the idea of this little world trapped between the unforgiving ocean and a sprawling forest full of secrets. It wasn't a want, but a need. I needed to make this come to life. I needed to try and capture an iota of beauty you painted, and to try and transcribe the feelings I felt reading it into this. I'm honestly so incredibly happy I managed to do that for you. Thank you so much! I'm gonna go cry another river now 🖤

[freyito]

Head so full about your band AU rn, I have to share the connections my brain has been making

First of all, Kung Lao getting his bass all bloody? This reminds me so much of Sodo from the band Ghost who did this (multiple times, might I add) and his white guitar was all bloody.. yummy

Then Sento as the drumsticks? Dude that's so smart and the crack potential is unreal (the fans will learn to ignore all the weird stuff happening during concert with time I'm sure lol)

Also, I know I will never hear Raiden's death growl or angelic voice, but in my head it's so clear how amazing he sounds, I can bet how many fans the guys have just purely after hearing him and not even knowing anything about the band itself

AND THEN THEY KISS YEAH (sorry I had to)

The Lin Kuei boys and the whole "guess's who's popular now" is making me remember being an old Hollywood Undead fan and seeing Deuce loose all his reputation lmaoo

Then Havik's growl.. this is making me feel things I didn't know I could

And God I love LOVE Crane Wives, and you are so right about the vibes and how they fit perfectly together, you're so big brain my friend

And please the girls.. Wish I was a girl kisser rn, they all sound so dreamy

Also I can't just ignore this: Shang Tsung and Lady Gaga? Honey, I'd be in the front row at every concert praying he looked at me while serving absolute cunt are you kidding me

AND A FUJIN MENTION OMG!! It's like when you heard a song in the supermarket circa 2016 when you were out shopping with your mother on a hot summer day and heard it exactly once (1) since then. You can remember the words, the rythm, but no matter how hard you try, you just can't find it.

I'm so sorry for all this, I just love all of it so much and have so many thoughts.. Please tell me you're planning to make more

- <3 anon

kung lao was partially inspired by that (ive listened to ONE ghost song i apologize)... but also I PLAY TOO HARD... as for Sento im a big fan of the little(?) details but also i am actually sentos #1 fan move over kenshi. Raiden would have those real sweet and soft vocals outside of the death growl but all i can really imagine in my head is him throwing his head back and leaning down and putting his entire heart into it. ON THAT THOUGH... there's a very specific reason as to why i put kenshi on drums and kung lao on bass... these two are the heart of the band but in comparison to johnny and raiden they always fall short of the love?? so like. just saying. ahem.

also used to be a fan of hollywood undead but i have no idea what happened to them i was like 12 and they were just bangers for me at the time.

EVERYTHING ELSE THO IM SO GLAD U ENJOY IT... i remember when i first started participating in fandoms i always wanted to make an au... but also like i was like 10 and bad at writing but also. fandoms around that time were less than savory. KNOWING PEOPLE LIKE THIS ONE IS LIKE. little undertale obsessed frey is so happy LMFAOOOO. i could probably write so much. soooooo much about it. i might. but i have like 50 asks to catch up on not to mention my drafts sighs

BUT SERIOUSLY IM SO GLAD PEOPLE LIKE IT AUGHGGSGHHDGHHHH IDC HOW MANY TIMES I SAY IT I MEAN IT EACH AND EVERYTIME

[loulits]

✨How Far From Completion? The Official WIP Scale 💀✨

So after so many kind words from the first chapters going live (thank you so much btw!!), I’m feeling extra motivated and definitely want to keep things transparent and full of fun vibes. 🌿

Here’s a handy-dandy scale to keep track of how my latest fic is slowly stumbling its way from feral braincell disaster to something resembling a coherent story. 💀🌀 Check out the scale, and you’ll get a glimpse of the chaos I’m currently calling my WIP. 💫🔍

See the scale below to track our progress! 👇

💀 0% – No clue what’s happening. Just vibes, suffering, and one (1) feral brain cell.

🌀 10% – A chaotic swirl of ideas. Random dialogue snippets, vague concepts, and zero structure. But the brainrot? Unmatched.

📌 20% – Some thoughts are forming! Maybe a loose outline or a few scattered scenes, but it’s mostly just ✨vibes✨.

📝 30% – A rough outline exists! Some scenes are drafted, but the structure is questionable at best.

✂️ 40% – Things are starting to come together! Key moments are written, but transitions? Who’s she?

🛠 50% – A full draft technically exists! It’s ugly. It’s chaotic. It needs a ridiculous amount of editing.

🤡 60% – Major edits are happening! The fic makes sense now, but it’s still rough around the edges. Some lines are pure gold. Others? Straight to the void.

🔍 70% –. Almost there! Just refining, tweaking, and wondering if this word choice will haunt you forever.

🎶 80% – Finalising the playlist (this may take a while). Agonising over which song truly captures the emotional devastation

👀 90% – Proofreads. This is the “does this actually make sense or am I just deeply invested” stage.

🚀 100% – Ready to upload! Time to scream, cry, and launch it into the void.

And that’s how we’re doing it, folks! Just a lil’ quirky way to stay accountable and keep y’all in the loop while we tumble toward the finish line. 🍃 Thanks again for all the love—super excited to keep you all updated 🦊🎉

[eltonjohnslegacy]

A Single Man (By Claude Bernardin)

"Door to Door they would whisper, will they ever get together..."

(Bernie Taupin/Elton John from Two Rooms, 1980, on 21 at 33)

http://www.whizzo.ca/elton/articles/ASingleMan.html *

This album's title came from Elton's state of mind at the time. Originally the title was to be Shine On Through. However, a lot of loose ends were being tied up, and he was co-producing, writing lyrics and melodies and even playing electric keyboards at the time. This, A Single Man.

Elton and Bernie had parted ways after Blue Moves, and Elton teamed up with Gary Osborne for what was to be his next album. However, John/Taupin leftovers from Blue Moves made it onto singles from A Single Man, as B sides.

Initially, when Elton went into the studio on March 10,1978, only a one-off single release was planned. Clive Franks reminisced, "Elton was tinkling away on the piano, between takes, and by the time we had finished recording the single, Ego, Elton had ideas for six more songs." In all, 28 songs were written and recorded for this album. Ego, Flintsone Boy, Shine On Through, I'll Try and Smile That Smile were all written ahead of time. Ego was left over from Blue Moves, a song Bernie tried to fit lyrics too, written first as a melody by Elton. All songs during this session were written the opposite way Elton was used to writing with Bernie Taupin. This time it was melodies, first, before the lyrics. Elton also helped write all the lyrics. He also wrote most of the titles on this album. Eventually, so many songs were written, that Elton's initail intentions were to release a double album. In fact, in a November 4, 1978 Billboard interview with Ed Harrison, Elton claimed that at least six very good John/Osborne songs remained from the Single Man sessions, but did not fit the style of this album. He was sure they would appear on the next studio release.

Elton had problems with his record company during the making of this album. He wanted to release the instrumental track Song For Guy, and MCA was dead set against it. MCA's viewpoint was that already the charts had one successful instrumental (Music Box Dancer), and they felt the charts would not support another one. Eventually, Elton and the fans won out, and the single proved to be very successful. The artistic struggle only frustrated Elton. He would sign a recording contract with David Geffen Records soon after.

The period of 1975 - 76 did not pass lightly in the lives of Bernie Taupin and Elton John. In 1975, Bernie and his first wife Maxine broke up. Maxine was soon linked with Kenny Passarelli. Guitarist Davey Johnstone was experiencing strange issues, and People magazine as well as Elton expressed a possible link with Kiki Dee, sharing a flat in London. (See the solo Scotland Edinburgh Show 1976). In 1976, Elton admitted his bisexuality and his loneliness in an October Rolling Stone magazine interview. The pendulum that brought good fortunes from 1972 to early 1975 had certainly begun to swing the other direction.

Even Producer Gus Dudgeon, fed up with Record people and Elton agreeing to change Blue Moves from a good single disc album to a bad or weak double album made him decide to split. Gus would later also express a rather bad day in the recording studio trying to get Elton to cut the lengthy Bite Your Lip Get Up And Dance, which Gus expressed as pure rubbish. Gus loved Crazy Water. So eventaully even producer Dudgeon moved on from the studio session work leaving Elton alone.

So it went until Elton begged Gus who was doing studio time ina room down the hall to join them. Elton was struggling to get the session for Song For Guy down. They just couldn't figure out how to mic the piano correctly. Elton begged Gus, Gus relented with no credits and helped out. Gus later expressed humor in watching as the tape in the recorded was going round and almost ran out, the studio technician had negelcted to replace the reel with a fresh reel. So, literally the final notes of the song played and the tape end flipped off the machine.

Gus told all of this in a private interview to then East End Lights reporter, John Higgins.

Music critics had been "Elton John-ned" out around Blue Moves and were waiting to bury any new album he'd release. But interestingly enough it was also a highly creative period for Elton and Bernie. Unfortuantely, the only way Bernie could deal with his personal problems was hitting the bottle or write about it. A problem Elton shared. This heart-on-your-sleeve writing process, coupled with Elton's own personal turmoils, did produce some marvelosuly desperate songs such as Tonight, and Sorry Seems. But even Elton recognized that Bernie's lyrics were begining to slip into too much despair when he admitted that many lyrics were rejected during the recording of 1976's Blue Moves album because of their overtly personal tendencies.

It was during this time period that Elton and Bernie began to experience their first period of creative differences. Bernie wanted to write more country western songs and Elton wanted to write more uptempo disco songs. Throughout 75/76/77 Elton tried to sidestep much of Bernie's lyrical opneness, but many songs still revealed Bernie's personal struggles, such as Bullet in The Gun and Someone's Final Song and Between 17. The most honest of these songs only ever appeared as a B side to Part Time Love. I Cry At Night was the MOST revealing lyric Bernie would write, but it was also soon to become the last Taupin/John release for nearly two years. Witihn the song's marvelous lyrics, Bernie writes ....

"This Man holds a hand that shows a tremble

This man that I live in bares his faults.

He has a heart and a well worn soul

Ten years a slave to rock n roll!, But he has to tremble."

The song stands as a gem for die hard fans. The melody and vocals Elton delivered still stand as some of the most touching he's ever recorded.

In a Billboard interview, Ed Harrison pointed to a framed quote from London's Evening Star hanging on the wall of Elton's Benedict Canyon home near LA. The quote read, "If the public ever heard what Elton John is without Bernie, his career would die over night!" Elton's reaction jokingly, "Oh, God imagine if it comes true?" Then he went on to say...

" Bernie and I havn't really fallen out, it's just a temporary situation. But since Taupin moved to LA and I remained in Engalnd, writing songs through the post has become very difficult. I'm sure Bernie is hurt."

During the late 1970's Bernie went on to write some marvelous lyrics for the likes of Alice Cooper, Melissa Manchester and Rod Stewart. The highlights of these were songs entitled How You Gonna See Me Now? with it's classic Taupin lyric line, "Like a Hobo in the snow", and For The Working Girl ( which later even inspired a TV movie). And arguably all of those musical collaborations with different songwriters were far better than those of the John/Osborne team. But mention should be made of the fact that all through 1977, and up to 1980, Elton still wrote melodies to Benie's lyrics, so they never officially broke up. The trouble seemed clear, Elton just didn't know how to write an uptempo tune to a song lyric with a title like Lovesick. A one-off B Side that illustrated the conflict well, a thuddingly harsh song title, and yet a quirky uptempo, happy Elton. The mix was growing odder over time. That change in thought process however was a trick that Elton had once used well in songs such as I Think I'm gonna be a teenage Idol, Better Off Dead and Texan Love Song was now not working for the team in the mid 70's. Ego was the fire that started it all. A song filled with so many tempo changes it was screaming out to have been recorded by Queen or the Who, not Elton John. Although to this very day it remains a popular live request number among die hard fans.

With the change of songwriting partners, The Rolling Stone interview revelations and the mass radio appeal of his earlier records, A Single Man never stood a chance of success, critically or musically. The album was not welcomed by FM radio at all, although Madness and Shine On Through did receive some airplay. Nonetheless, the album did climb to #15 on the U.S. charts and #8 in Britain. In 1981, Elton's Love Songs compilation album was the top seller of his library of music in Italy. But it was A Single Man that topped the Italian Association of Musical Critics Awards Ceremony. The album won top honors for production and arrangements, no doubt due to the overwhelming response to the European hit Song For Guy. It went on to sell over 1,565,000 copies worldwide.

Now, more than ten years later, the album is merely regarded as an interesting creative experiment on Elton's part. And the only stand out track is the instrumental Song For Guy. The song is highly respected in Europe and is a concert favorite. The American fans all seemed to agree that It Ain't Gonna Be Easy, Shine On Through, Madness, Oh Georgia and Shooting Star also merit serious listening.

Fans and music critics did not welcome the change of lyricist with open arms. The same media backlash that surrounded Elton's laying off of drummer Nigel Olsson and Bassist Dee Murray in 1974, now attacked the new songwriting partnerhip of Elton and Gary Osborne. But Elton realized the change was necessary, for if he had remained writing soley with Bernie, they both might have burned out creatively.

Elton's first lengthy meeting with Gary Osborne occured during the 1973 recording sessions for Kiki Dee's Loving and Free LP (Osborne penned the lyrics to Kiki's U.K. hit Amoureuse). Their friendship blossomed in the fall of 1976, when Osborne began fiddling with lyrics to Shine On Through during the Blue Moves sessions. Elton had the melody lying around and would periodically play it on the piano, he soon sent a tape to Osborne. Smile That Smile was the first official song Gary and Elton wrote together however. Later released by another singer. Gary Osborne spoke of this meeting to Randy Alexander in 1992: "Well, the first time I met Elton was down at the Cromwellian Club, when Elton and Long John Baldry were performing as Bluesology. I was maybe 15. Then in 1971, I again was introduced to Elton by Kenny Jones (drummer for the Faces and the Who).

"In 1973 we began work on Kiki Dee's first album Loving and Free. The single, Amoureuse, was actually a lyric that I had written back in 1971 about Veronique Sanson, a French recording star and Stephen Stills' former wife. It was Kiki Dee who began introducing me to Elton. We really became good friends. Elton would come round to my house, and at some point in the evening, we'd play a lot of poker together. Just the two of us, for days on end. Elton would say, "One day we'll write songs together." And I'd say,"Don't say that because I don't want to be embarrassed. That's not why we're friends." Elton asked me to collaborate on an entire album with him just after I'd written the album for War Of The Worlds, (1977)."

Elton did tremendous promotion for this LP. In fact, on one day he did 20 press interviews over a seven-hour period while visiting Los Angeles, California. One Saturday in early October of 1978, Elton surprised 250 MCA executives at their national convention by performing live for the first time in a year. He did a two- hour solo set that included much material off A Single Man. However it was quite obvious he'd been drinking. Forgetting the words to Return to Paradise in mid performance. He also played Ego and apologized for it's failures. Tape does exist of this entire show, and highlights include, Candle In The Wind, Roy Rogers, a wonderfully inspired rendition of Shooting Star coupled with Song For Guy and a quirky joke song called The Benedict Canyon Boogie that only lasts 1 minute but is hysterical.

Shine On Through still stands as one of the albums lost gems. Many fans compared it to Your Song. Elton appeared on the Moracombe and Wise British TV comedy show and did a stunning solo rendition of the song. The melody Elton had written back during the Blue Moves sessions. Although Bernie tried several times to write a lyric to it, it was Gary who was able to finish it. The album's first single, Part-Time Love, was Elton's catchy pop tribute to the 1960's R and B hits of the Four Tops as well as the 1966 hit single 96 Tears by Question Mark and The Mysterians.

Song For Guy was written and recorded on the Sunday afternoon of August 18,1978. Elton found out the next day that a Rocket Records messenger boy named Guy Burchett had been killed on that same Sunday in a motorcycle accident. Elton had felt it was a song about death; hence the song title and lyric line "Life isn't everything."

Earn While You Learn was originally supposed to be the B side to a promotional 12" single for A Single Man, but it was never released. The lyrics to Madness were Elton's sentiments about the strife in Northern Ireland as related by Gary Osborne. Elton despised the ludicrousness of innocent people dying from bombs placed in their cars or stores. In the Billboard interview, Elton said of the album:

"Everything in Madness is just what I wanted to say, even if Gary wrote it. I had ideas for words here and there. Gary didn't mind changing things. My thoughts were never able to come out until now." That being said, Elton did find time to clown in the studio during the recording of this work. There is a version of Madness featuring Elton joking with himself as he lays down vocal harmonies, and he jokes about the songs lyrics, coughing when the bomb goes off and such, the results are quite funny.

Later on in the same interview for Billboard in 1978, Elton said, "It all goes back to being lucid and more clearheaded. Writing and recording the songs for this album was the most fun I've had since doing, Honky Chateau." He went on to say, "I've always had crossroads in my career, and I think Blue Moves was one of them. You can't follow a successful album with another unless you wait three or four years. I've got in the routine of doing albums. You can't maintain huge selling albums. There must be a break."

Return To Paradise is a tongue in cheek look at British people who go away on holiday wishing not to return. It is also a tribute to horn player Herb Albert and his classic songs like The Lonely Bull. Both Return To Paradise and Song For Guy were later featured in the Chevy Chase movie, Oh, Heavenly Dog.

Although Elton kept musically active in the studio with the Thom Bell sessions, Ego, and this album, the actual center point of the years 1976 - 1978 was a sudden change of heart and new planned solo world tour for 1979. The germ of the idea sprouted from Elton and percussionist Ray Cooper's week long series of concerts at London's Rainbow Theatre in November 1977. Soon after those series of shows, Elton and John Reid began making contractual negotiations with Russia for shows in Moscow in 1979. So Elton began to use any appearance as a warm up for that tour. Combining this idea with a need to promote this album took Elton to RTL studios in Nice, France where Elton performed a phenominal 45 minute set to a small studio audience. Ego and Candle In The Wind were definite highlights. Elton's announced retirement from Rock N Roll touring only lasted a brief time. Because he soon realized the solo shows were more challenging artistically, but allowed him more stage flexibility. It was also less headaches than a full tour with band and entourage. The fun was indeed returning, or was it just Elton's work ethics kicking in? This would all soon change with a new record deal.

The art design and Promotional Departments were also hard at work at MCA and Rocket Records. Among the items produced up front for fans and behind the scenes for promoting Elton John again were, a white piano ash tray with the words Rocket Records and Elton glasses sitting on the keyboard, a Leather Jacket and other Jackets with the words A Single Man, a leather notebook, small pad with similar logo, a pencil and pen set, buttons, badges, a neon glass wall hangin sign with the words in script "Elton John", a huge poster and stand up posters featuring Elton, Mobiles, picture disc's, (one rarer than another .. the one featuring his back.)

According to a 1978 French Disc interview, one John/Taupin ballad written during the 1977/78 period is a thowback to an earlier event. In 1976, Frank Sinatra appeared at the Royal Albert Hall in London. During the concert performance, Sinatra sang Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word. After the song, he had Elton and Bernie take a bow. Both songwriter's were so respectful that they told Sinatra later that they would like to write a song specifically for him. That song became Remember (I'm Still In Love With You). Fans of Little Jeannie will see Elton must have been remembering this song when he wrote the title for that later hit with Gary Osborne. Bernie's lyrics for this Sinatra inspired track were very "Blue Moves-ish", a factor that may have made Elton reconsider it's release with it's obvious reference to Maxine, "I fell in love with you one September.... When I was young and so secure... I wrote to you of romance made in heaven." But Elton's melody is pure Sinatra, especially the repetitive title, "Remember", "Remember" and the particular phrasing of the line "When I was Young and so secure." Unfortunately, Sinatra's version of the song has never been released. It probabaly remains as one of dozens of studio sessions Sinatra aborted throughout 1977/78 for Reprise Records. Elton later repeated all this with Blue Eyes.

An Elton piano demo of Remember exists but remains unreleased and in the private collections around the world. Elton's emotional vocal is the highlight of the recording. But this song did resurface in 1981 on Donatella Rettore's album Estasi Clamorosa. Rettore, a well known female Italian singer, recalled meeting Elton in a period interview:

"I went to London in the Summer of 1981 to meet Elton because he had listened to my previous albums, and he really wanted to meet me. I was so excited because I was such a fan of his; Elton was my Idol. Elton told me that he liked my voice and style a lot and that he had written a song he thought suited me well. He told me Bernie Taupin had written the lyric in only one night. We passed several days just drinking beer and talking about music, he was great."

(Note - The song Remember was first released on Donatella's Estasi Clamorosa LP on Ariston, #ARLP012387, in 1981. In 1983, Donatella again recorded an Elton John song; this time with lyrics from Gary Osborne; Sweetheart On Parade appeared on her Far West LP , #CG - 20384.)

Addendum

Ego

As mentioned earlier, the initial songs for the LP had their birth in the recording of a stand alone John/Taupin composition, Ego, which was released between Blue Moves and A Single Man. To celebrate this single's release, MCA and Elton's management prepared an involved promotional campaign. Red and white Ego pins were passed out. 75 lucky MCA executives received a specially printed watch showing a red -suited, red - eye glassed Elton playing a piano. The watch , like the pin, also spelled out Ego. This promotional item alone has been valued at close to $350.00 today. Eeven the average movie-goer at the time of the single's release could not miss out on the short video of the song, which introduced any new Hollywood film in American Theatres. The video was also broadcast on the US Midnight Special TV Show. But radio stations in America had little room on their playlists for a new single by Elton John. Even when it did air, it was the rare DJ who did not take the opportunity to throw a snipe or two at the song's composer. The song quickly became a victim of all the critical backlash and only reappeared in Elton's live concerts in 1979 and 1980. Today, it is highly regarded by Elton's biggest fans.

Ego nearly became a bad case of the pot calling the kettle black when Elton told the London Daily Epress, "Ego is deciated to the Jaggers and Bowies of the world - especially to Mr. McCartney. I like most of the stuff the Stones have done, but they're one of the worst live bands I've ever seen. David Bowie is so psuedo-intellectual, and I can't bear psuedo-intellectuals. And McCartney's music has gone so far down the tubes, I can't believe it..." In another interview, Elton went on to say,

"Ego was just something I'd had lying around, and I wanted to release it for a long time. Unfortunately, the time wasn't right. It's been disappointing. I really had hoped it would do well because I really liked it. I wrote the song jointly with Bernie Taupin, and we never thought of it as an autobiography until it came out. It's about the silliness of rock n roll stars, and the video film was supposed to show just how stupid rock n roll can be. It's the grotesque side of rock n roll. And it's turned out to be one of the most sincere songs we've ever written."

The single's quirky, repetitive B - side was Flintstone Boy, with melody and lyrics by Elton. Lyrically the song seemed subtly tinged with bisexual references, a fact that did not help the single's success, (or lack). But oddly Flintstone Boy recieved more radio airplay than the A side in some cities for the first two weeks following the single's release. Most of Elton's die hard fans smile fondly at the song's silliness, but years later it still sounds stronger than some tracks on Leather Jackets, and other later career releases.

Bernie Taupin & Alice Cooper: From The Inside

During the period of 1977/78, Taupin kept very busy with new close friend Alice Cooper. Both men decided to admitt to their addictions to drugs and alcohol and to get help. Bernie quietly took care of his problem, but Alice actually checked himself into a rehab center. Soon after, both friends decided to write one of the most honest and disturbing records of 1978. Cooper's From The Inside LP was critically slammed, but the album is painfully honest as well s lyrically and musically sound as well as brilliant. Very reminiscent of Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon. In How You Gonna See Me Now, Bernie refers to himself as a "Hobo In The Snow". Within the lyrics to From The Inside, the album's title cut, Bernie wrestles with his foolish rock n' roll abandonment:

"I'm stuck here on the inside looking out

I'm just another case

Where's my makeup,

Where's my face on the inside."

The album contains some great songs such as the obvious Elton inspired, Jackknife Johnny with Kiki Dee backing vocals. and the dark love ballad... The Ballad of Milly and Billy, We're All Crazy with it's shockingly hummable melody and equally shocking lyrics.. "All sliced up and chopped up in baggies, guess love makes you do funny things!" The two years or so that followed Blue Moves remain as creatively active years for John/Taupin but seprately they were actually having more success's than together. All that would soon change with the next release that nearly ended such a great career.

Texto by

Claude Bernardin

https://www.lostdogsfineart.com/meet-claude-w-bernardin

Rocket-Man-Elton-John-Z/dp/0275956989

EGO Cash Box. 8 April 1978. page 16.

By Claude Bernardin

EGO Cash Box. 8 April 1978. page 16.

https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/70s/1978/CB-1978-04-08.pdf

* Paul Maclauchlan (paulmac@vex.net) Last change: Mon Aug 8 16:42:54 EDT 2005

Record World. 8 April 1978. page 1

https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Record-World/70s/78/RW-1978-04-08.pdf

[yoi-koto]

Listening to love songs is... Yeah. Not doing great things to me. Every time I bring up, relevantly, that I just can't and don't date anymore, and anyone asks me why, I just say I'm sick. In no particular, specified manner. Just... Sick. I feel as if my soul itself is stretched thin and split irrevocably in places.

Clinically, I'm mentally sick. Depression/anxiety combo. Borderline personality disorder. Issues with no real name. A lack of care and empathy, sickening need to control, nauseating guilt and regret that drags me back to an inability to function and dig myself out. I feel perpetually haunted by my past, and frightened by the bleak nature of a future. I dance with self destruction, to a point where I don't notice, because the behaviour is so ingrained in me. 'Healing', to me, is not being so bad, that I can no longer damage control and keep my shit from affecting others. I never have been able to shut it all down. I think I just think too much. I've said this before, but me sharing 5% feels like it's 50% of anyone else. Always overwhelming. Always too much. I remain seemingly unchanged, despite the years of work. I no longer recognise the person I was 4 years ago, and yet it brings such sharp nostalgia. I raise my voice, and I feel 17 again. I feel volatile, unrecognisable. Then again, when was the last time I recognised myself?

I... Flirted. Barely. Put my best foot forward in an interaction because he was attractive, is more apt. And I sit now, and think that I can't think of that me and me as I am now as the same person. So many acts. I'm not sure which is the act anymore. I am bubbly, and confident, and easygoing, and sullen, and explosive, and pensive, and clinical. I am every human emotion misshapen into a clay ball that, when mixed, gives a greenish brown. Artists know the one. They all exist as seperate entities with seperate experiences and thoughts and feelings and presentations, at this point. All isolated intense emotions. Finding a partner feels like lying to them. You wanted this upbeat, outgoing person, with buzzes of energy and ideas? You're going to get a rabid dog that exists in a muzzle more often than not, and bites when let loose.

I think of relationships, and I think of endless fights. Frustration. Love is so precious, and I have romanticised it so much, that I cannot imagine a reality where love so pure exists. Loving someone so deeply that you will change with each other and grow, where they matter above you but never ask you to sacrifice yourself. Where you are wanted, even on the worse of days.

This is the worst worded thing I've ever written, but I have no spark left. The things I write are never poetry, but I try to convey the emotions through images and touch and scent. How love smells like country air and tastes like fresh bread and feels like... I don't know. I feel it all intangibly, but no words come to mind. It feels like the visual texture of smoke and silk and varnished wood. But that makes no sense.

I'm also just physically chronically ill. So, that's that. My brain is badly whisked eggs. And I can't date a person when I feel so... other.

[purecantarella]

A Moments Indulgence

this is coming out a little later than i would have liked but i hope you enjoy this short little prompt!! title based on another poem and i loved that poem sm :> park rosé x reader disclaimer/s : none, pure innocent fluff. not even cursing :D

Rosé admired so many things about you when you first met, the way you smiled, the way your voice sounded, the kindness you displayed to her and the girls when they walked in. All culminating into someone that she wanted to know more.

But nothing compared to the way your dark hair flowed.

It was absolutely gorgeous. Barely styled or touched but the lustrous sheen that danced across it somehow entrapped the singer. In a way it had made her a bit insecure given that with all the times she's dyed her hair, how much damage it had taken.

Which lead you two to this night.

She walks into your shared apartment, surprised with their latest song playing on full blast as she entered. You stand there with the small speaker in hand with a proud and amused expression on your face while she laughed.

Rosé watches you sloppily dance along to the beat of the song as she takes her shoes off and walks over to you, wrapping a secure arm around your waist. She takes the speaker from your hand, gingerly tossing it towards the couch. With your free hands, you wrap your arms around her neck, the smile on your face warming her heart.

"So I assume you liked the song?" You look up, pretending to think before the singer started peppering light kisses on your ticklish neck. You giggle, throwing your head back playfully, and slowly pull away from her. You move your hands from the back of her neck to her soft cheeks, "It was well worth the wait, Rosie."

She grins before leaning down to take your lips between hers innocently. You smile before pulling away, caressing her cheeks gently. "Since this is going to be our last night together before promotions eat you up," Rosé can't help but laugh before you continue, "What'll it be miss Park, dinner, movies, night on the town, you name it."

You pause, running a hand through her faded-blonde hair lovingly, "Tonight is about you, anything you want to do. Consider it done."

Rosé's eyes go wide and she thinks for a moment. Before an idea hits her. She smiles sheepishly before you tilt your head curiously. She pulls you closer by the waist before whispering, I think I know what I want to do..."

"We could have done this any other time, love..." You whisper in her ear while she drags her finger across the top of the bubble filled water. She shudders at the feeling of your hot breath hitting the back of her neck, you grin to yourself as you see the effect you have on her.

You pull away briefly, taking the time to slowly strip your clothes in front of your now flustered girlfriend. Before she knew it, you'd slipped into the warm water behind her, shower head in hand. You turn the water on abruptly making Rosé jump a little, the water sloshing around the both of you.

"Cold!" She whines which made you giggle. You continue to dampen her head, "I'm sorry, love."

Once her hair is completely soaked with water, you reach down and get your conditioner, lathering the expensive product in your hands. "The dye really screwed your hair up, huh?" You ask as you begin to massage your girlfriend's scalp, instantly relaxing her. She nods silently while you add more of the product into her hair.

Once you lather her hair in the product you pull her hair into a loose ponytail, exposing the back of her neck. Mindlessly, you press your lips to the exposed skin. An audible gasp echoes through the spacious bathroom. You continue to leave feather light kisses on her skin until you hunched over her, lips pressing against her cheeks.

"I love you so much, and I'm so proud of you..." Rosé looks back at you, boldly taking your lips between hers. You smile against her lips before you pull away to stare at your girlfriend lovingly.

Soon, she settles calmly against you as she hummed the group's latest comeback softly. You both sit there entangled with one another, allowing the stress of the outside world fizzle away while you play with her fingers.

"We should do this more often." You mutter while rinsing out the cream out of her now smoothening hair. Rosé smiles fondly

"I agree, I like being this close to you, N/n..."

"Oh, well yes that too, but your hair is just so damaged and I—Park Chaeyoung!" You squeal as she turns to tickle your sides, you giggle as she chastises you for mocking her.

As the laughter died down, you smile at her as her legs straddled your naked torso. You smiled up at her, not even paying attention to the fact that her chest was on full display to you. Ever chaste, you leaned up and kiss her soft lips. "Now that your hair is settled, love, shall we order in some dinner?"

She nods as she leans down to peck your lips again before quickly stepping out of the bath, wrapping a towel around your body. "Go order some food, I'll just clean up here." You say as you drain the tub, like a puppy Rosé nods quickly and hops in her own axis excitedly.

The singer slips on your baby pink hoodie, and watches you from the bedroom as she dials your usual place. You're scrubbing the bathtub gently while rushing across the bathroom to put the products away and grab another clear bottle.

Rosé speaks into the phone as you walk up to her in a white towel, "I'll give this to you for the dorm, apply this to your hair once a week..." You whisper before going over to the wardrobe.

She smiles fondly as she watches you get dressed. This was truly what she needed before another round of schedules.

You were all she needed to get through it all.

i'm soft and i hope yall liked it too!! i will see you all vv soon, i love you and keep safe everyone!! byeee!! - r

[pulisicz]

Will you write something for Christian again?!!!?! I’m so sad he’s injured I miss him :’( I don’t have a specific idea but if you need one I’ll come up with something!! 💓🌟😚

one thing - christian pulisic

cause you’ve got that one thing

summary - christian and you were merely aquanauts. you had met a couple of times, but never properly. although the two of you had said no more than 10 words to each other, he still managed to catch feelings for you

pairing - christian pulisic x fem!reader

song inspo - one thing (one direction)

warnings! - none, pure fluff

word count - 1.9k

note - thank you so much for your request! and i miss christian too! i hope he is able to heal soon.

-

“coach berhalter, how many more water bottle do you need filled?”.

you had been working as a managers assistant for the us men’s national team, and apart from being away from your family, you enjoyed it a lot.

you had been a manager for your colleges basketball team which gave you some experience, but getting to be an assistant for the us men’s national team was something you never expected. you weren’t even studying anything in the sports field, in fact, your major was english.

“give me 20. i want them to last a good 30 minutes. thank you”.

you grabbed the wagon of the empty water bottles and started bringing them to the us locker room area. there was a room next to the actual locker room that had supplies, and the water station. you had started filling up the water bottles when you heard someone behind you.

“excuse me, hey, sorry, coach told me to bring you these 5 bottles to fill up”.

you turn around to see christian pulisic holding 5 water bottles, standing there, just a little awkwardly.

“oh, thank you! tell him i’ll be right out!”

christian gave you the bottles and ran back to the field. you finished filling the bottles up and hurried back to the field.

-

“hey coach, she said she’ll be right out”.

coach berhalter nodded and christian got back to practicing. they team had a good 3 hours of practice, which was good considering this world cup was a big one, and the boys were ready to bring their all. it was england v usa, and tensions were high. they couldn’t loose this.

y/n brought the waters out and like clockwork, all the boys ran to grab a bottle. after everyone had gotten their bottles, y/n made her way to the bench and sat down. she always had to stay relatively close incase coach, or any of the players needed something.

-

practice has come to an end and the boys went to their locker room to pack up and have a short team meeting. while they were in there, you cleaned up a bit on the bench, and the field, making sure everything was put away and organized.

the boys piled out of the locker room as you were finishing cleaning up. you could hear their loud laughing and music. “we’ll see you tomorrow, y/n” coach yelled.

“see you tomorrow coach!” you yelled back, still cleaning. it was just you on the practice field now. all alone. it was kind of nice though. all quiet.

“hey” you heard a voice from behind you.

“i asked coach if i could practice by myself a bit”.

it was christian pulisic. of course. you had nothing bad to say about christian, he was a nice person from what you could tell, and a great player. you just found it a little ironic that this is your second run in with him in one day.

“okay cool. do you need help setting things up again?”

“yeah that would actually be great if you don’t mind. sorry i’m asking this, i know you just put everything away”.

you could tell christian felt awkward about asking you to take everything back out again. you really didn’t mind though. you knew that these guys would train for 24 hours straight if it meant winning the world cup. it meant everything to them, so helping christian set things back up again was no problem at all.

the two of you started setting up cones and hurdles, placing them into straight and zig zag lines, making sure they were lined up correctly. you got a couple bosu balls out and practice dummies.

christian was practicing independently for a good 30-45 minutes. you sat in your usual seat near the bench and read a book, until christian came over to you.

“i have another favor to ask. can you be my goalie?”

you were taken at back, especially because you had never done anything goalie related before, and you certainly didn’t want to get hit hard.

“i promise i won’t hit you, at least not on purpose”.

you nodded your head and got up to go be goalie. how fun. being a practice goalie was never in the job description, but you have to go off book sometimes.

you spent the next hour practicing with christian. the two of you had done free kick, you obviously being the goalie, 1v1’s, passing drills, and then doing the cross bar challenge. you and christian had a lot of fun, although, you didn’t know if christian got anything out of this. regardless of the practice being helpful or not, the two of you had fun, and you got to know one another better.

“so you majored in english, you went to NYU, you work as an aspiring author, with the day job of working at a cafe? that’s honestly living the life of you ask me”.

“says the one who’s a famous soccer player, living in england, best friends with other famous soccer players, being in the usa men’s national team, and being rich”.

the two of you have a laugh while you get water and cool off. you both start picking up the cones, hurdles, and other random things on the field, putting them into various bags and bins.

“you know, you’re a pretty good player. did you used to play or something?”

“i played all throughout my childhood and into high school. i stopped freshman year of college”.

“oh that’s sick. what position?”

sick? that’s sick? you took a second to process that christian pulisic said you playing in high school was sick, as if that’s not what thousands of kids do in high school.

“center mid”

“i could’ve guessed. your footwork is really good!”

getting complimented by the christian pulisic would be your personality trait for the next, forever.

“this is kind of random, but would you want to go out to dinner tonight. the guys were planning on ordering in, and i’m up for more, you know? plus i think you’re really cool, and i wanna get to know you more”.

holy shit.

christian pulisic just asked you out, in probably the chillest, and most casual way possible. it took your brain to process what just happened. you obviously want to go out with him. who wouldn’t?

“i would love to!”

“okay cool. there is this place near our hotel that looked pretty cool. we could go at like 7:30? would that work?”

so this is for real. you are going on a date with christian pulisic before one of the biggest days of his life. he could be spending tonight with his teammates, but he wants to go out with you instead… unreal.

“that’s sounds great”.

—

christian was running late. he was never early, but definitely never late. he wanted to make sure he was down in the hotel lobby before y/n.

christian was getting more nervous by the second, which was rare for him. nervous christian was not a common sight. he only really got nervous before games, but for everything else, he was also calm about.

christian had wanted to ask y/n out for months, but since they had never really talked, it seemed weird to ask. ever since they first met all the way in august, he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her. he didn’t know what drew him to her, all he knew was that she had something in her that he wanted. there was just that sparkle in her eye that he feel in love with.

at 7:25 y/n came down the stairs of the hotel to get to the lobby and christian was mesmerized. she wasn’t wearing anything too fancy, just a simple black slip dress. but there was something about her presence that out christian in a trance. when she finally got to the last step christian walked over to greet her.

“you look amazing! i mean, you are so gorgeous”.

y/n couldn’t hold back her blushing. she couldn’t believe this was real. the whole situation was spontaneous and a little funny, but nonetheless, she was over the moon.

“you don’t look too bad yourself”.

christian was wearing a simple black suit with a white button up underneath. the restaurant they were going to was definitely a fancy one, but not so much so, where they felt underdressed. when the two walked in, they were greeted with an amazing smell of food. it was warm inside, and had an amazing atmosphere.

-

the hostess seated you two in a booth, and to your surprise, christian took a seat next to you rather than across from you, which made you blush once again.

you had ordered your food and the two of you talked about your lives, simply enjoying each others company. at not point was dinner awkward. you both always found a topic to talk about or a joke to tell.

“so why did you want to ask me out?” you blurt out. the question had been on your mind since you left the field earlier in the day.

christian took a minute to gather his thoughts before he spoke.

“i noticed you a while ago. there was just something about you that i was so interested in, but i couldn’t figure it out. i’ve been thinking about you a lot, and after today, i realized that i do legitimately like you. not to say i didn’t like you before, but today i saw a new side of you. a non-working side of you. you’re funny and nice, and you are definitely a good soccer player”.

you turn to look at the table, trying to hide your dorky grin and blushed cheeks. you didn’t expect to hear christian say he’s liked you for a while. you always thought you went unnoticed on the team.

you didn’t know how to respond to him, not wanting to make things awkward. but as if christian had read your mind, he cupped your face with one hand and pulled you closer.

“you have no idea how long i’ve waited for this”.

and with that, he locks your lips together. the second you kiss him back, christian deepens the kiss. your hand makes its way around his neck as the two of you sit in the booth.

christian was the one to break the kiss, both of you grasping for air. the two of you couldn’t hold in your giggles. your foreheads are pressed together to block your laughing faces from others seated nearby.

you get the check from your waiter, and after paying you two decide to walk around before going back to the hotel.

you’re arms were linked with one another as you two talked. before you knew it, you were back at the hotel.

you gave christian a peck on the lips before walking towards the steps.

“y/n! same time and place tomorrow?” christian calls out. you give him a nod, which earns a shy smile from him.

“it’s a date”.

[centralperkspoison]

the way i loved you | e. munson

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Reader (She/Her)

Warnings: Fluff, kissing, slight hints towards sex, taking off clothes, no actual smut though, hints towards underage drinking, and yeah!

Summary: Inspired by the song, "The Way I Loved You," by Taylor Swift. Reader is Eddie's ex, who is currently talking with and seeing Steve. While everything is amazing with Steve because he treats reader so wonderfully, and they're thinking about officially getting together, reader can't help but miss the chaos and madness that they had with Eddie. Everything in readers head is decided when she speaks to Eddie for the first time in months at school. (Takes place the year before S4, and reader is a Junior).

Other: I got this idea in the car yesterday when i was screaming The Way I Loved You by Dr. Swift in the car with my bestfriend yesterday. This is all because of her adding it to the spotify queue, so ty &lt;3

(update! me and the person i had previously mentioned and i are no longer friends, so you wont be hearing about her anymore :))

Word Count: 1.8k

---

The lunch room was extra loud today. The chit-chat of students still contained little details about you and Eddie's breakup, which hurt for either of you two to think about, much less see each other daily. He seemed to become quieter during lunch, obviously bothered by the distance between his first, true love, and him. There was no more hopping up on lunch tables or pounding his fists on them, tossing food at his friends, or even making fun of the bitter people who belong to the 'Cult of Baskets,' or 'The Darkside,' as Eddie liked to call the basketball team, but now pure silence on his part. Which you couldn't say much about because you too were moping around after your breakup.

It's not like one of you decided it you lost feelings and cut the other off. It was a long time coming.

There was screaming, fighting, breaking down, coming undone, it was a rollercoaster.

But secretly, to you, that was everything.

The two of you had gone to a huge party the night before at a girl named 'Tina' 's house, where you drank a lot, so Eddie let you sleep at his house. You two both woke up the next morning naked, and with a hangover. At what point in one of the many conversations you two had that day had it taken the turn into a conversation about your entire relationship, you weren't sure, but you two decided it would be best to split up.

So here you were, avoiding the Senior side of the cafeteria at all costs, for what you thought was going to be the end of the year.

Until you weren't.

You had known Steve Harrington for a while, seen as you were (Y/N) Henderson. He was your favorite one out of your brother's friends, (Of course other than Suzie, El, and Max. You loved them.) But you never realized that he was the supposed, "King Steve," That everyone in Hawkins High talked about, so once the two of you started going on dates, the uproar of rumors and gossip that contained the two of your names surprised you.

But you weren't even worried about that. You didn't care how Hawkins High reacted, all you cared about was what he would think. The boy you spent hours with just making fun of the 'top of the food chain' kids, the 'first to die in a horror movie kids', the 'coming from good money shouldn't be your only personality,' kids. The kids like Steve.

You sit in your normal seat by one of the many windows on the Junior side of the cafeteria, staring out of the dirty glass and looking at the sky. Bird watching had become one of the few hobbies you have yet to discover, but you still recognized a few of the pretty birds that flew among the wisps of white in the sky. You had already finished your lunch, and you were just waiting for the final bell that was destined to ring at any minute until you felt two, large arms wrap loosely around your neck.

You quickly turn your attention to the culprit, Steve.

"Done with lunch?" He asks, attempting to remove his arms, but his watch gets caught in your ponytail. "Yep," You respond, moving your hands to his watch so you can stand up. "How are you?" He asks as you untangle his watch from your hair successfully. "I'm good, you?" You answer, standing up to throw away your lunch tray in the trash can five feet away. Once you come back, you notice Steve is already sitting in the seat right across from where you were seated. His expression seemed so genuine in the way he admired you, you loved it.

"So, are you busy babysitting my brother tonight?" You ask, a small smile playing on your lips as you see his flustered reaction. "First of all, (Y/N), I don't babysit him, I just happen to enjoy his company, secondly, if what you were asking was if I'm free tonight, then your answer is yes." He says, smiling. "Great," You respond, giving him a huge, child-like smile. "What for?" He asks, smirking. You pull out a piece of paper with some foreign looking language on the front.

"I wanted to check this restaurant out, see if its as good as I heard it was." You respond, shoving your messy handwriting into Steve's hand. "Okay, cool. I'll pick you up at seven." He responds, giving you a kiss on the cheek as the bell for next period rings.

TIME SKIP

Seven o' clock doesn't take too long to come around, but you still have to do your mascara. You run to your desk and pull out your eyelash curler, and bring it up to your eye as your mother yells for your brother instead of you.

"Dustin, your older friend is here!" She calls, and Dustin comes out of his room shouting. "Mom, what?" He replies, walking out of his room, and locking eyes with Steve. "What are you doing Steve? And why are you all dressed up?" Dustin asked.

Dressed up?

You felt your heart skip a beat at those words. He got all dressed up, just to go try out a new restaurant with you.

After applying your final coat of mascara, you grab your purse and throw on your shoes before running out of your room.

“Hi.” He says once he sees you. “Hey.” You respond, smiling at his starstruck expression. He clears his throat then turns his attention to your mother. “Can I take your daughter out on a date tonight?” He smiles nervously. “Yes, honey. Just at least bring her back before tomorrow.” Your mother smiles, clearly charmed by Steve. “I’m sorry, what?” Dustin calls out, clearly pissed off at the two, “You two are together?” He asks, crossing his arms.

“No, we’re just hanging out Dustin,” Steve smiles. “Alright, well hang out with protection please, (Y/N) is loud enough as it is.” Dustin says, turning around to go to his room. “What he said.” Your mother agrees, turning around to go to the kitchen.

Steve and you open the door and walk out to the car, and he runs to the passenger side with you.

“Let me get that,” He says, "You look beautiful tonight." He finishes, smiling.

He opens up my door and I get into his car, and he says, “You look beautiful tonight,” And I feel perfectly fine.

You can't help but think back to all of your memories with Eddie. While Steve is sensible, and so incredible, and he calls exactly when he says he will, he's close with your mother, he's charming and endearing and you're comfortable. Eddie gifted you a lifetime of memories. While there was so much chaos and craziness imbedded in your relationship, you loved it.

The screaming, the fighting, the kissing in the rain... you wanted it all. As long as it was with Eddie.

But you refused to let that cloud your judgement. You were on a date with Steve, not Eddie.

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

The rest of the date went by in a blur, and for the most part you were quiet. It was incredibly awkward. After he dropped you off, back at your house, you ran up to your room.

Once you enter your room you hear a very familiar yet static-y voice come from your desk that catches your attention. Upon further inspection, you discover it's coming from the walkie-talkie that Eddie gifted you for your seventeenth birthday, on the channel that only the two of you use.

"(Y/N)?" You hear him say. Impossible. We had mutual agreements to not speak to each other ever again. You walk closer to the silver box and hear him speak again. "(Y/N/N)?" He said. He never used that nickname for you, it was only the popular crowd that called you that. "(Y/N), please." He said, starting to sound hopeless. You pick up the walkie-talkie, pull on the antenna, and press the button on the side, "Eds'?" You ask, the nickname that only you ever called him rolling off of your tongue as if it was the most important thing in the world. "Hey," he said, relief apparent in his voice, "Hi," You respond. "Can I come over?" He asked, voice shaky.

You shouldn't. You know you shouldn't.

"No Eddie... You shouldn't." You say, breaking your own heart. "Oh." He said, connection being a little too clear for him to be all the way at his house. "Eddie?" You ask, "Yeah?" He responds. "Where are you?" You ask. You flinch at the knock on your window.

You shouldn't.

But you do.

You unlock the window and knock twice, signaling to him that its open, and you walk over to your bed. Once he reseals the window, He takes about three steps towards you, still being at least five feet away from you. He takes a deep breath, then looks up at you with sad eyes.

"It was a mistake." He said, causing your eyes to water. "It was Eds'. I miss you." You say, standing up and taking a step towards him. "I miss it all." You say.

"I miss screaming, and fighting, and kissing in the rain. When It's 2:00 a.m. and I'm cursing your name over the phone. So in love that we acted insane, Eddie. You were wild, and crazy. Just so frustrating, and that's one of the reasons I love you Eddie. I know I said I couldn't take how chaotic we were, but that's what makes our relationship ours." You say, looking up at him with sad eyes.

He finally closed the space between the two of you, and wrapped one his arms around your waist and pulled you in, and used his other hand to cup your cheek. He used his thumb to wipe the tear off of your cheek. "I missed you too." He said, pulling your face to meet his lips.

His lips were just as you remembered them. This wasn't a goodbye kiss, it was a hello kiss. One of many to come. This kiss made all of the ones that came before it feel like childsplay. He was, and will always be yours, and vise versa.

The kiss grows deeper, his lips feeling like silk against yours. You move your hands up to his hair, allowing your fingers to rake through, and grab on to each piece. He lets out a soft moan as he feels you grip his hair into your soft hands, while he allows his calloused ones to play with the hem of your shirt, finally deciding to tug it off.

"I love you." He says in your ear, allowing his hands to trail up your torso.

(A/N): Okay I like this one... specifically the beginning though, I feel like I got a little lazy towards the end. I hope everyone likes it though?! Also, two posts in one week? Look at me go! Anyway, please leave questions/suggestions in my requests box!

[ladykissingfish]

drunk Akatsuki hc? 🥺

Ask and ye shall receive! ((Sorry it took so long to get to/finish this. Also get the nagging feeling I did a post very similar to this before but 🤷🏽‍♀️ piss poor memory so))

Drinking with the Akatsuki

Kakuzu

Takes a lot to get him drunk; his alcohol tolerance is pretty damn high. And when he does reach that point, he becomes … very unlike himself. Friendly, smiling, and extremely loose with his precious money. Kakuzu being drunk is the best time to ask him for an advance on your pay, or a personal loan. Another bonus: drunk Kakuzu is storytime Kakuzu. When he’s sober, the others don’t really like listening to his stories because they’re all boring as hell, and are usually centered around some point that he’s trying to nag everyone on. But drunk Kakuzu, well, he’ll tell you about brawls, dangerous stunts he pulled when he was a kid, sometimes even old lovers. He can keep the rest of the Akatsuki enraptured for hours with his intoxicated tales. The morning after a night of drinking is a different tale, though. He’ll remember loaning money to people and hunt them down to make sure that know they have to pay him back, and he’ll deny like crazy any story tidbits that the others bring up to him. Will also go through several pots of pure black coffee in an effort to de-hangover himself more quickly.

Pein

The Pein bodies don’t drink, but Nagato will, very rarely. Beer is his drink of choice, and he’ll opt for foreign rather than domestic. He’s not really the type to get full-on drunk (no matter what he’s the Leader and he carries himself as such), rather he’ll just get slightly tipsy. If he gets tipsy enough he’ll rant a bit to whoever’s closest about pain, and the unfairness of life, and anything else that would put a downer on happy drinkers’ moods. He always hopes that the alcohol will help him to sleep (he’s a horrible insomniac) but most times it just gives him a slight headache while leaving him wide-wake and dry-mouthed.

Hidan

Nobody wants to be around this guy when he’s had too much to drink, because the normally violent Hidan becomes even more so after hitting the booze. He’ll be willing to take on any and everyone, from teenagers to old men. And being immortal doesn’t help matters any; he could literally get torn limb from limb and his mouth would still be taunting his opponents with “Is that the best ya got, bastard??” Drinking also brings out his creative side when it comes to his human sacrifices and Jashin rituals; he’ll think up new (and horrible) ways to torment and kill his victims. Is the type to finally, FINALLY just completely pass out after reaching his final tolerance point, and the others will (reluctantly) drag him to his room and put him in his bed. Not many are willing to do this, however, as most times before he passes out he’ll have stripped himself completely naked.

Tobi

An emotional drunk. Gets sad and cries over practically anything. And it doesn’t take much to get him tanked, either; his tolerance level is embarrassingly low and he’ll be ready to sob after just a couple of glasses of wine. Tobi tries to avoid drinking when he can because he knows there’s a good chance of him dropping his persona and letting the others see Obito Uchiha. In fact this HAS happened a few times, where he’a taken off his mask and everything; fortunately for him the others were so gone that the next day they either didn’t remember, or believed that had just imagined the whole thing. Likes to soothe himself by slurring sad love songs at the top of lungs, joined most frequently by Deidara and Hidan. Will also drunkenly stuff his face with meats, which is a complete opposite from his sweet-loving sober self. He can throw down a dozen burgers when boozed up, the results of which will likely be in puddles all over the floor the next day. Will go to his bed and turn around in circles a bunch of times, like a dog, before finally going to sleep. “Tobi” will be the quietest he’s ever been the next day, as he fights a massive headachy hangover.

Konan

For being such a thin, delicate girl, Konan can hold her liquor right up there with the likes of Kakuzu and Kisame. One might never even know that she’s drunk to begin with; she walks perfectly straight, doesn’t slur her words, has almost perfect reflexes and normal mannerisms. One thing always gives her away, however; drunk Konan is hungry Konan. Under normal circumstances the little lady sticks to a healthy diet and isn’t one for over-indulging in anything. One shot or beer too many, and suddenly the gloves are off. Konan will make pizza, hotdogs, gigantic sundaes, cakes and pies … and devour almost all of it. She’ll share with the others if asked … but most times she’s eaten so much that there’s not much left to share. When she’s finally had her fill, she’ll go to bed … and wake up feeling sick as a dog the next morning. After the nausea passes, she’ll force herself to go for a long run or walk, no matter how much her head may be aching, in order to work off her excessive calorie intake.

Zetsu

Zetsu doesn’t drink, because alcohol interferes with his plant genetics, acting as literal poison to his system. But he enjoys being around the others when they’re drunk, to see the different types of personalities that emerge. Likes to hang around Hidan in particular, as the man’s sacrifices pick up significantly when he’s drunk, meaning Zetsu has more of a smorgasbord of leftovers to pick from

Sasori

As a puppet, Sasori doesn’t drink. But when he was a human, it was a different story. He turned himself into a non-human at a very young age, much younger, of course, than would have been the legal drinking age. But his grandmother kept a variety of wines in their home, and when she was away, he liked to pour himself a glass. Always only a single glass; he was intelligent enough both to know that his grandmother would notice if any larger of a quantity was missing, and, already dabbling in making poisons at this point, he understood the concept of “tolerance” better than most. But the single glass was enough; it seemed to comfort him during those nights when he was missing his mother and father. The wine also served as a brain-opener for him, of sorts: it was over wine that he first got the idea of turning himself into a puppet.

Deidara

Being young and so slender, and not having much experience with alcohol before joining the Akatsuki, the blonde is a bit of a light-weight when it comes to the hooch. He doesn’t really care for beers or ales (he compares the taste to “cat-piss”) and instead goes for the fruity mixed drinks that don’t SEEM that strong … until you’ve had about three or four, and they put you on your ass. Deidara becomes very lovey-dovey when drunk, and not just in a romantic sense. Alcohol makes everyone in the world his friend, and he’s suddenly interested in what others have to say about life and art. He’s even nice to Itachi, going so far as to hug him and tell him that he smells good, something that he will vehemently deny the next day. He’ll go to Sasori and cling to him and gush about how he appreciates his friendship and his guidance, until Sasori gets tired of him and tells him to go to sleep. Deidara can get to his room on his own, but once the door closes, he’s more likely to pass out on the floor than in his own bed. Also, if he didn’t think to tie up his long hair beforehand, he’ll be in for a nasty, messy surprise when he inevitably wakes up to vomit at some point.

Itachi

Itachi isn’t one to ever let himself lose control of his senses, no matter the situation. Therefore, if he’s drinking with the others, he’ll stick to one or two beers or a single shot before cutting himself off for the evening. He plays much of a “mom” role in the group, making sure the others are okay, lending a shoulder to cry on for the emotional drunks, and, if they’re out somewhere, making sure everyone gets home safe and sound. On the rare, RARE occasions he drinks by himself, and lets go of his hesitation, he’s just as emotional a drinker as Tobi (which is quite possibly an Uchiha trait). He’ll cry into his pillow, he’ll sit and lament over the choices he’s made in life. Sometimes he’ll find and put on the saddest song or movie he can think of, just so he has something to get emotional over. Although this sounds bad, this is actually a helpful bit of therapy for him, as it allows him to release emotions that he normally keeps bottled up. He’ll end a night of solo drinking with a cup of tea, then go quietly to bed, sleeping like a rock until the sun comes up and things go back to normal.

Kisame

Right up there with Kakuzu as being a guy that can hold his liquor like a champ. In fact his ability to do so has won him many drinking challenges at bars, as well as a formidable reputation as “one bad ass son of a bitch”. It also helps him confidence-wise; normally the half-shark is very reserved and keeps to himself, as he feels that his appearance is off-putting and scary to “normal” people. But alcohol loosens him up and gets him talking, and being bold, and many people find this switch in personality to be highly attractive. Ladies especially take notice of his smile, his eyes … and his muscles. He even scores several phone numbers from interested parties … but by the time he’s sober again, he never follows through with calling anyone. Also helps Itachi in that he keeps an eye on the others when they drink, to make sure that they’re safe.

[goldencherryhazz]

Touch

A/N: I went a little wild with this one, it a little messy but I hope you enjoy. Notes would be much appreciated, pls don’t copy my work! And as you can see I couldn’t think of a title lol.

Warnings: smut, masterbation, degradation, daddy kink, squirting, pure filth!

You know Harry didn’t like it when you played with yourself, the only acceptation he would make was when he was on tour but even then he would get you to FaceTime him so he could watch and guide you so that you would have the best orgasm, he always wanted to control your pleasure and to be fair any appendage of his body was ten times more pleasurable than your own. His fingers were longer and thicker and reached spots you didn’t even know existed, his tongue did wonders and flicked your bud just the right way, his cock was a whole other story you could only describe it as magical and you would never argue against that.

In your defence you knew that Harry recording vocals for his album this week and he was tired from countless late nights at work, he would always be frustrated with himself if he didn’t get a note for a song pitch perfect, and then he would just get mad at himself trying it over and over again but still not happy with it, then Jeff and the team would force him to go home after a while in fear that he would wear his voice out and have to go on vocal rest and the fact that he was probably going to burst from his pent up anger, and when he got back home he would just want to cuddle and go to sleep so you thought you would take care of yourself before he got back.

Once he did get home he had calmed down slightly, driving always seemed to calm him down for some strange reason. He got inside aiming to go straight to bed where he thought you would be, but when he goes past the bathroom he heard a small whimper, he had to do a double take at first but when the same sound comes from you again he was ready to burst through the door but decided to wait a few minutes to let you have your fun, because after this you wouldn’t be cumming for days.

Your moans start to get a little louder through the door and when he hears a loud shout of his name, well the preferred name you always called him when it came to doing anything sexual (‘daddy’) he burst through the door knowing you were probably about to cum, to find you sat on the edge of the bathtub fingers buried deep inside your head thrown back, which slowly lifted up in shock. You hadn’t even heard him come in the house, you thought you would of had plenty of time but you had obviously lost track being so lost in pleasure. The stern look on his face told you that you were in deep shit, so you opt to remove your fingers from your pussy and put both hands in your lap.

‘Well what do we have here baby’ he saunters in coming to stand right over you from your perch on the bathtub, he immediately noticing the pool of your juices on the floor.

‘Harry I didn’t’ you started before he made eye contact, the fury in his eyes was enough to shut you up.

‘First of all it’s daddy to you, and secondly how many times did you cum?’

‘Sorry daddy, I came twice’

‘hmm twice to many baby don’t you think, I see you squirted aswell didn’t you’

‘Yes d-daddy’ his eyes boar into yours and you couldn’t help but feel slightly intimidated.

‘You know daddy doesn’t like it when someone else touches his pretty little peach don’t you’

You nod, ‘my pussy belongs to you daddy, I’m sorry for touching myself’ you say quickly knowing that any excuse you had as to why you were playing with yourself wouldn’t work.

‘Hmm, now that’s what I like to hear’ he couldn’t help but get slightly hard at that but he quickly thinks about something else to not give you the satisfaction.

He averts his eyes to the floor quickly taking in the pool of your clear juices once again, a cynical smirk overtakes his features which instantly made you panic knowing he had something brewing up in that head of his.

He looks back at you ‘I want you to clean up your mess for me’ he says reaching his hand up to your jaw his thumb resting heavy in your bottom lip making it snap back when he released it again, ‘don’t want you to use a towel or anything like that, want you to use that pretty little mouth of yours, do you think you can do that? He asks even though you didn’t really have a choice.

‘Yes daddy’ you comply getting down on you knees still only wearing a t-shirt, hissing as the cold tiles make contact with your bare legs. You lower your head so your nose is just above your juices your hair falling onto the floor which is quickly resolved when Harry crouches down beside your form and grabs it and makes it into a makeshift pony tail at the back of your head before lowering you head down practically pressing you face into the wetness almost a signal to start cleaning up.

You lips start smacking against the tiled floors, the slurping sounded quite disgusting and made the heat rise to your cheeks in embarrassment, but you knew he wouldn’t let you out of the bathroom till you had licked up every last drop.

‘Such a filthy fucking whore aren’t ya, doing anything daddy says’

Your hair being yanked slightly at every word to accentuate his statement as you hum again the floor, not being to come out with a proper respond without it being muffled.

Once Harry sees you are done he pulls your head up by your hair so that you are sat on in your calves, your chin slightly wet, your eyes had this fucked out look in them from being that submissive for him. He kissed you on the lips for the first time since he caught you, dipping his tongue into your mouth to have a taste, the kiss ends just as quick as it started just as you were starting to enjoy having his lips on yours, he runs a finger along your chin collecting the remainder of your juices and then dipping it into his mouth before moving to stand up.

‘C’mon come to bed where you can dream about cumming, cause if you think I’m touching you for the next week you can think again, you’ve been a very bad girl’

Before you even got the chance to get up off the floor he was already walking to the bedroom, he was angry from earlier and you had just added fuel to the fire and he had contained it very well if he said so himself. At the same time he couldn’t keep the small smirk off of his face, cause he was definitely going to have fun with you.

//////

Fast forward 3 days and your clit was throbbing and in desperate need of a release. To make it even worse Harry had had a few days off so the teasing was constant, he walked around the house in little to no clothes, made sure to leave the bathroom door slightly open to make sure you heard his moans when he jerked himself off in the shower almost loud enough that you would hear even from the living room. The way he would spoon you when you were cuddling or in bed, he would shuffle around and press his cock right between your ass cheeks so that you felt him even through layers of clothes.

The sexual deprivation was driving you insane to say the least. You were currently in bed reading a book Harry doing the same, well you were reading that was until you caught the sight of your boyfriend, before he was sat with his legs straight out infront of him but being the fidget-bum his is he had now moved his knees towards his chest and spread them slightly his feet planted on the bed. The fabric of his shorts tightened over the area between his legs, outlining his cock and balls perfectly, his thighs looking deliciously thick, the muscles of his tattooed arm flexed as he flicked through the pages of his book, the shirt he was wearing was practically skin tight making you ogle his figure at the head of the bed, from you spot on your belly further.

You don’t realise your shifting your legs together as you watch him, your panties now getting undeniably wet, trying to relieve some of the ever building pressure, the movement catching Harry’s attention.

‘What are you doing darling’ he looks at you knowingly.

‘Nothing’ stopping the movement of your legs, shying away from his gaze, staring at the words on the page you were currently on but not actually reading them.

‘Staring at me weren’t you, rubbing those soft little legs together’

‘Can’t help it, you look really good sat like that’ she says innocently.

‘What about a the rest of the time, do I not look good then’

‘Course you look good, it’s just- I can see the outline of you cock really good from here, making me soo wet, pretty sure I’ve ruined these panties by now.’

Well to bad baby, shouldn’t have been a bad girl the other day’ he retorts going back to reading planning on ignoring her desperate pleas.

‘Pretty please daddy, will you touch me’ making him huff and look back up at you, getting a little frustrated.

‘Oh it’s daddy now is it, you have your own fingers don’t you baby?’

‘But it’s not the same as when you do it’ she also knew that if she did touch herself again it would only prolong her punishment, but at this moment in time you was close to loosing it with how horny you were.

‘Well that didn’t stop you the other day did it’ he points out.

You whine ‘no baby don’t you get all bratty with me, I could’ve had you over my knee spanking your ass right now, would’ve made you feel it for days, but I bet you would have loved that though, cause you’re such a filthy girl, aren’t you’

‘Answer me, are you a filthy girl?’

‘Yes daddy I am’

‘Good now we have that established I am going to carry on reading, and I suggest you stop speaking before I have you over my knee, is that clear baby girl’

‘Yes daddy’ you say submissively doing as he said.

20 minutes had passed when an idea popped into your head, you had been warned not to talk and you knew the consequences but your mouth was moving before you had time to process it.

‘Daddy can we touch ourselves together, I-I mean like masterbate together’ you explain even though Harry already knew what you meant.

He looked at you in annoyance, but in his head he was absolutely pining at your suggestion. Getting to watch you touch yourself all spread out for him, and him doing the same. The past few days had also been torture for him too, he tried to replicate your touch when the was running his hand up and down his cock in the shower, but it wasn’t even close to the way your soft hands would stroke him, he had to resist pounding into you multiple times from just watching you do daily tasks, yesterday you were bending over the dining-room table to reach the vase of now dead flowers to put a new bunch in, you were wearing leggings so when you bent over he got a perfect view off your ass, he really wanted keep you bent over it as he pounded you into the table, he had to take himself to the small gym he had set up in the basement to calm himself down.

He closed his eyes and let out a angry sigh. He hated how much he was caving right now. He was adamant he wasn’t going to let you cum for the next week but your suggestion was too hard to resist. So if he wasn’t touching you he would still be carrying through with his punishment. Right?

He hadn’t said a single word yet, and you were almost certain he was going to say no, but when he marked the page he was on in his book and threw it down into the bed it brought a flicker of hope within you.

‘C’mere’ he murmured, making you scramble up the bed kneeling between his spread legs.

He cups your cheek ‘you were a bad girl the other night, made daddy upset. Didn’t think I was good enough, that I couldn’t satisfy you’

‘Daddy you always satisfy me, make me cum so fucking hard, no ones ever touched or fucked me the way you do’ you say truthfully.

‘And who do you belong to’

‘You daddy, always been you’ this tips him over the edge his cock hardening making a tent in his shorts.

‘That’s a good girl, now I’m going to let you cum, but on one condition, we don’t touch each other whatsoever, still gotta keep up with your punishment even if you did say all those nice things to daddy’

‘Okay, thankyou daddy’ a wave of relief washes over you, itching to just get on with it now.

‘Strip for me then’ you immediately start shuffling out of your clothes as if he had read your mind.

He does the same, moving to the middle of the headboard so that there would be more room, once you are finally naked and turn your head towards Harry again you gawk at him, he looked soo hot with his legs spread, his pretty cock hard up against his belly, he looked delicious. You catch yourself staring, quickly snapping out of it, moving to sit across from Harry replicating his position only being inches away from his form, your juices had made your pussy nice and slick practically glistening.

‘God you’re so wet haven’t even touched you, shit you’re such a filthy little slut’ he groaned, desperately wanting to reach out and run his fingers through your folds to get a taste.

‘Open’ he instructs quickly placing his fingers onto your mouth.

You were about to say something about the no touching rule but decide against it cause in reality he was going to do whatever he wanted anyway. So you let his fingers enter your mouth and happily suck on them, humming as you do. Just as quickly as he put them in he retracted his hand and brought it down to his throbbing cock, spreading the wetness from your mouth up and down his length.

‘What now daddy’ you ask knowing that if you did anything he didn’t want you to do he would probably stop all of this immediately, so you decide to teed carefully.

‘Touch those pretty tits for me’ he says going straight to tugging his leaky cock. So you bring your fingers down to your nipples, the coldness of them making you hiss when the come into contact instantly hardening them, you slowly begin to tweak the nubs between you thumb and index finger.

‘That’s it, just like how daddy does it except he’d have his mouth on you tits sucking and biting them marking you up just the way you like’ he says knowing this was getting you even more riled up.

After a couple of minutes he stops you ‘now I want you to tease that sweet cunt of yours, don’t you dare put a finger in your tight little hole until I say, is that’s clear’

‘Yes daddy’ you say making eye contact with him as you start to touch your clit.

The sight could have made him cum right there and then, his beautiful girl touching her perfect pussy like daddy had told her to, it got him impossibly harder as he was now moving his hand up and down faster, circling the sensitive head every once in a while.

Moan after moan was pouring out of your mouth, rubbing deep circle into your clit, the sight of your boyfriend getting himself off at the same time was incredibly hot.

‘You can dip those finger into your sweet pussy of yours now baby, doing so good for me’ he was desperate to see your face morph into one of pleasure.

You moan again at his words instantly slipping two finger inside of you, not having to be told twice. You bury them to the hilt curling them up, hitting your g-spot, the sensation making you bite your lip to suppress you moans but it was no use as one escaped you and your eyes roll back. You start building a rhythm which was subconsciously at the same time as Harry ran his hand up and down his length.

‘Go faster sweet girl, just like daddy does’ you whimpered already getting close to falling over the edge, you feverishly grasped the sheets trying to keep you body up.

‘Nobody does it like you though daddy’ you were never able to replicate the actions of his fingers and the way they worked at your cunt.

Harry groans and moans had increased as he got closer and closer ‘shit I’m gonna cum’ he says his cock twitching, a long purple vein bulging as his hand now stroking himself faster then before, you really wanted to lick up the underside of his length you practically drooled at the thought.

‘Can I please cum with you daddy’

‘No baby, daddy’s gonna cum first. Wanna cum on that pussy of yours, seeing as I can’t cum inside you. C-can you spread you folds for me, can you do that for me’ he slurred out inching closer to you.

You do as he says removing your fingers then spreading you folds for him ‘want you to cum on my pussy daddy, want it soo bad’ he reaches his spare hand to fondle his balls and with a few more pumps, that mixed with your words he was done for ‘shiiit I’m cumming’ he shouts rope after rope landing on you cunt and thighs, the sensation of his warm cum on your pussy making you feel all fuzzy and bringing you to the brink once again.

His legs start to shake from the oversensitivity, his hand slowly riding out the waves of his orgasm, eyes clamped shut, his mouth still hung open soft moans tumbling out of it. ‘You good daddy’ you ask as he finally opens his eyes again.

‘Hmmm, made me cum soo hard, such a filthy little thing, look at you pretty pussy covered in my cum, looks soo good baby’ he swipes some sweaty curls that he’d fallen onto his forehead.

‘Can I have a taste daddy’

Course baby, as long as I get one aswell’

You quickly bring your fingers and collect the mixture of you twos juices, bringing them to you mouth, humming at the taste that now laid heavy on your tongue, you replicate the action again but this time bring your fingers to Harry’s awaiting mouth, he took your finger in sucking in them greedily, his soft moans making shiver run up your spine.

‘Can I cum now daddy, please daddy’ you whimpered.

‘Been such a good girl for daddy, been waiting for soo long, bet your poor little cunts aching by now. Make yourself cum for me baby’

You instantly plunge your finger into your hole, Harry’s cum making you even slicker but sticky all at the same time, the area between your legs must have looked a mess, but Harry thought it was the most hottest and beautiful things he had seen, his cock getting excited again but he would deal with that in a bit.

You fingers move inside of you at a quick pace, even adding a third the sting of the stretch morphing into pleasure. ‘Tell you what baby, if you squirt for me we can cockwarm later, promise I won’t make you clean up the mess like I made you do the other day’

You whimper, how could you deny that it was impossible in fact, the last part would have made you laugh but you were too caught up in pleasure ‘okay daddy, I’ll s-squirt for you’

Your fingers were now going frantically fast, and when you feel like a balloon was forming in you lower belly you cried out in relief ‘found the spot haven’t you, gonna soak the sheets, gonna soak me angel’ he moaned. You were seconds away from your sweet release when you threw your head back breaking eye contact with Harry which he didn’t like one bit ‘look at me baby, wanna watch you fall apart, gonna cum for me, cum for daddy’ and with that you couldn’t hold it anymore your orgasm collapsing on top of you, the balloon inside you also bursting resulting in you squirting over the sheets and part of Harry’s lower half ‘thankyou daddy, thankyou, thankyou, thankyou’ was all you managed to get out, Harry swore he could have cum at the sight of you, fingers still slowly moving in and out of you pulsating cunt, trying to come down from your high. You looked utterly fucked out and it boosted his ego knowing that the majority of you pleasure was coming from him and he hadn’t even touched you. You eventually collapse flat in the bed not being able to hold yourself up any longer, still out of breath like you had tuna marathon.

‘Fuck you’re soo hot baby, came soo hard and squirted like daddy told you, now you get to have my cock in your tight little cunt later cause you’ve been such a good girl for daddy’ you moan at that.

‘Mhhh love being your good girl, don’t know if I like being your bad girl more though’

‘Let’s stick to being good shall we, don’t think I can handle not being able to be inside you and it’s only been 3 days, think I would shrivel up if I have to do it again.’ He chuckled making you laugh tiredly. Soon you feel him crawl up between your legs before leaning over you until you two were face to face. ‘Kissy’ he asks puckering his lips making you smile wildly, leaning up to kiss his plump lips, the both of you feeling as if you were on cloud 9 now indulging in one another as their lips pressed, and tongues danced with each other.

Maybe all that torture wasn’t soo bad after all.