#rio test event

[child-of-the-danube]

I know it was confirmed that episode 5 was Agatha's trial but I don't care, the last one was her actual trial to me and we should have seen the flashback events of episode 9 before it. I consider it her trial because it actually put her skills and smarts to the test and she gained something out of it.

The trial's solution was to create life in a space that offered absolutely nothing. A green witch probably would have solved it easily once they figured what the goal was but the only person left with time running out was Agatha. Agatha who told her own son that she can not create nor can she heal with her magic. Agatha who's child, her only creation, whom she made from scratch without any magic, even he wasn't supposed to live.

How deliciously fucked up is it that Death can create life in making the soil fertile and the flowers bloom, and she can heal wounds, but a living breathing woman with such power as Agatha, can not? And how much more deliciously fucked up is it then that Death is the one to love her?

Rio has been gifting her flowers forever. When she first came for Nicky, when they met again on the road, when she buried her... When Agatha made the flower, she spoke no spell, she said no incantation. Blood and tears and bone - earth and water and a seed were what she used. Things that come directly from nature. And the seed that saved her came from the locket with Nicky's hair. From her own blood and tears and bone. From the biggest most beautiful flower Rio ever gifted her.

That one brilliant moment made her see nature - made her see that Rio IS nature and that she went against herself to give Agatha a few years of happiness. A seed can give life, but eventually, all flowers die and it is sad, but that is the natural cycle. It's not malicious, it's not evil, it just is.

And in that moment came acceptance of what was and she forgave both herself and Rio. This is what directly lead up to the kiss

[impressionism]

Been thinking about the last two episodes of Agatha All Along and how the next trial might be about Billy but also Rio’s involvement cos… William died for that brief moment and I wonder how much Rio is involved with that since she’s 💀 but it’s not a coincidence that it seems like back in Westview (we see Agatha’s house) and either it’s a simulation or “repeat” of events from either WandaVision or post those events to test them.

We don’t see Billy ANYWHERE in those scenes where Rio is on a roof and Agatha’s screaming about her wanting her “prize”.

So where is he? 👀 in Wanda’s reconstructed house? In a void cos maybe Rio wants the body that was snatched from her?

[birdfriend-theband]

SOMEWHERE YOU DID, SOMEWHERE YOU WILL: Bird Friend's Our Gods at 10; or, Last Thoughts on the Albuquerque House Show Scene

Author’s note:

Okay - bear with me on this one. Ten years have passed since the events in this piece occurred. In those ten years I’d like to think I’ve picked up a few scraps of wisdom here and there, and while our culture has built an industry around depictions of untamed youth, I’m inclined to believe that those years aren’t always what they’re cracked up to be. I was far from perfect as a young man, and this memoir is not designed to suggest any differently. It is, however, partly an attempt to express gratitude towards those folks who gave me the opportunity to live something like the rich life of an artist. If this work has found its way to you, I will say this: my inbox is always open.

G. Himsel

Funeral Hill, Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Autumn 2024

I. 

Halfway through the last-ever show at the old Vassar house, someone called the cops.

Cheap Time was playing in the living room when the police banged on the door, and when the hostess took over the mic to warn the crowd, the whole place fell apart. The music shambled to a halt, and the living room - which was painted floor-to-ceiling in graffiti - became the scene of a mad scramble for the exits. Young punks spilled into the backyard, clambering over the cinderblock walls and into the alleyways, or sprinting drunkenly past the squad cars blocking the driveways. Underage kids tossed bottles and dime bags onto the neighbors’ side of the fence before disappearing into the darkness themselves. The band stood around, dumbfounded, as the room cleared, their audience disappeared, and a pair of tired-looking cops wandered into the house with their hands on their hips. The night was over, prematurely - and while the old house’s closing ceremonies were supposed to have some sort of significance, the chaos of the evening was befitting of the chaos of its era. The street was full of wasted kids, running from the cop lights. With three beers in my body, I ran, too - into the cool bronze night of the neighborhood, past the bungalows and pueblo revivals, holding my half-empty pack of cigarettes in the breast pocket of my flannel shirt. It was the fall of 2013 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, I was nineteen years old, and it was the first house show I’d ever attended. 

II.

Albuquerque is about a day’s drive from anything; eight hours east of Las Vegas, seven hours out from Phoenix. Denver lies six miles to the north, and Mexico five hours south. The city rests on a massive alluvial plain and straddles the Rio Grande at its midpoint, where droughts and water-rights battles often reduce the river to a trickle. It’s bright: the sun shines four out of every five days, and at a mile above sea level, the sun can feel intimately close. Isolated by miles of Southwestern desert, it’s nonetheless a city of intersections - intersections of North American cultures, of rivers and railroads, and of highways. I-40 and I-25 collide here at the “Big I,” an engineering feat that doubles as a towering monument to the car culture of the American West. Nearly thirty percent of residents speak Spanish, and another significant portion speaks Navajo or Vietnamese. In the last hundred and fifty years, it’s grown from a railroad depot to nearly two-hundred miles of low-density urban sprawl - and many parts retain an odd 1960s or ‘70s feel. Outside of the city, they make movies and television, and test weapons for the military. Passenger trains still clatter through downtown, and bands play under gazebos in the historic district. In Barelas, Chicano pride shines. In Rio Rancho, suburban tract homes bump up against the stark, high desert. But while the city glows with a sort of mid-century American-ness, it more often feels far, far away from the mainstream culture and customs of the rest of the U.S. It’s a weird place, especially if you - like me - grew up amidst the urban renewal and suburban gloom of post-industrial New England. Out in New Mexico, you sort of get the feeling that you’ve traveled off the map.

I lived in Albuquerque from 2012 to 2016. I wanted to make art and play my guitar, and I got my wish; I spent most of those years submerged in the city’s weird subculture of underground house shows. Our neighborhood of University Heights - more generally known as the Student Ghetto, due to its huge population of off-campus UNM students - was the kind of starving-artist paradise peculiar to college towns. The neighborhood was made up of cheap, low-density rental housing. Landlords and neighbors were generally tolerant of the 18-25 crowd and whatever noise and chaos it generated. Homes were usually single-unit, with spacious yards and a sense of relative privacy. Rents were in the high hundreds, and we often had more space than we needed. The infrastructure supported public transit and cyclists and the whole area was anchored by a commercial strip with cheap food and plenty of intellectual resources.

But while while the Student Ghetto was typical of any neighborhood near a big college campus, the fact that the college campus happened to be located right in the middle of a major city - a city that, in turn, was an isolated stop on the way to the rest of the world - meant that a disproportionate amount of creative energy was funneled directly into the laps of the people living there. In 2014-15 a five-block stretch of Gold Avenue alone boasted five house venues, each with distinct programming, that sometimes threw shows on the same nights. The most important of them, Gold House, changed hands countless times but survived for over a decade as a magnet for nationally-recognized punk and indie acts. I saw Kid Congo play at Gold House, in the living room; I saw Kimya Dawson play on the porch. The loudest show I’ve ever seen in my life was at Gold House: the Cosmonauts blew my eardrums there, on a Sunday night in the summer of 2014.

A culture existed around these places. Different houses were home to different sub-families of the city’s greater punk community, and often had one or two of their own house bands in addition to a few touring favorites. My immediate neighbors hosted murky, reverb-washed psych rock bands like L.A. Witch, while the legendary Bungalow was something like a fraternal organization for strange, outer-limits outsider punk. 

Beyond that, different houses had different philosophies about live music, different levels of permissiveness surrounding drugs and drinking, and varying levels of preparedness for interactions with the police. At some venues, “rules” were looked upon suspiciously. At one Fourth of July show in 2015, the entertainment options were split between outdoor American flag-burning and a basement set by a band that played completely naked. But there were more often attempts to establish some order. At the Bungalow, there was generally a volunteer at the door who checked IDs and marked hands accordingly; this protected the house and its inhabitants when the cops were called, as they were during the second Mountain Blood Fest when one hardcore punk vocalist ended up on the roof. 

My Albuquerque experience eventually reached its zenith at the Bungalow, where Bird Friend recorded Cibola and I probably attended more shows than anywhere else, but it was Wagon Wheel - a miniscule pueblo house on Stanford Drive - where I first found my footing as a writer and musician. 

III. 

Wagon Wheel’s house band was Arroyo Deathmatch, an insane hardcore/folk-punk band that played a weird assemblage of uncommon and handmade instruments and acted as the essential masthead for the local Goathead Record Collective. Besides being the band that I most closely identify with this space, they were the first group I encountered in the Southwest who really completely embodied a DIY ethic. A lot of people coming into music feel as if they need to gather a certain amount of abstract necessities in order to reach a performance level - things like promotional materials, or a clear idea of genre, style, influence, etc. These guys didn’t even need proper instruments. They played a kind of shambling punk on a frankenstein lineup of homemade drums, bass guitars, flutes and ukuleles that was nonetheless really literary and challenging and rousingly political. They hand-printed their own CD jackets, did all their own distribution, and created their own music network before Spotify was a thing and when social media as we now know it was in its infancy. 

The first time I caught them was at Wagon Wheel, on their own turf - in the sweaty, postage-stamp sized living room that felt like it was ready to burst with bodies dancing, jumping, singing along. I have no idea how long they had been a band before I encountered them, but the scene that I wandered into felt completely fully-formed by the time I arrived. Folks knew the words to their songs, knew the breaks, wore the fashion and participated fully in the music. The audience was committed to this local band in a way that I had never considered, let alone encountered, in the fragile, decentralized, conservative and suburban music community back home in New England.

Seeing Arroyo Deathmatch for the first time completely reordered my idea of what was possible as a performer - instead of meeting the expectations of an entrenched music scene, as most fledgling musicians attempt to do, they created their own scene, with its own internal logic and set of rules. Obviously this wasn’t the first time this had ever happened in punk history, but to see it happening on such a grassroots level - and with an audience that was so ready to be a part of their thing - was incalculably influential on my soft, teenage brain. I sent them an email, asking how to be a part of that thing, and they set me up with my first show in town. It was the first Bird Friend show - a last-minute addition to the opening ceremonies of the first-ever Mountain Blood Fest. I banged my way through six or seven solo songs, completely unamplified, met our lifelong friend and collaborator Nikki Barva, and was at a Goathead Collective meeting two weeks later.

IV.

Goathead Record Collective was an non-hierarchical affiliation of artists and musicians that organized gear shares, music promotion, and operated a sort of mobile recording studio whose equipment was free to use amongst collective members. They organized a weekly meeting - on Wednesday nights - where participants drew up show schedules and local promo stuff and organized workshops on everything from tour booking and zine-making to discussions about scene politics and self-policing. The location rotated, sometimes taking place at the Bungalow, sometimes at my own place, Coffee House, and most often at Wagon Wheel. A ton of stuff came out of the GRC: an organized network of merch sales, three iterations of Mountain Blood Fest, countless shows at venues ranging from living rooms to warehouses, clubs, and karate studios. That’s not to mention the recorded output: GRC was involved in early releases by bands like Days ‘N’ Daze, and a distinguished list of Albuquerque artists like the Leaky Faces, Manuka Piglet, the Vassar Bastards, and Arroyo Deathmatch themselves. Using the DIY studio setup and a refurbished 10-CD duplicator from the flea market, the collective did hand-made CD releases and promoted them in local newspapers. 

If it sounds utopic, it was - and the collective disbanded after a few years. But when I stumbled into it, it was in its halcyon days. At Wagon Wheel and the other houses it felt as though there was an endless parade of bands who, although now fading into history, left a permanent impression on us. Far from the cultural centers of the country, and far even from the curated, “professional” music community of Albuquerque, the weirdest bands in the world summoned magic, effortlessly, night after night. These houses glowed with creative energy, and the more music they contained, the more their myths assumed legendary proportions.

V. 

I hoped that some of that magic would rub off when Alexster, of Arroyo Deathmatch, invited Bird Friend to record an album at Wagon Wheel. Our band was - as it’s always been - a pretty loose unit. I had one record out already, a self-titled release that I’d cobbled together with my high school band. It was a gloomy, navel-gazing collection of bummers and breakup songs that nevertheless featured “Parting Gifts,” a song that’d soon become a singalong staple of our years in Albuquerque. I’d been playing solo shows in the city for about six months, and had recruited Cody and Peach of the Leaky Faces to play with me when they were available. My then-roomate (now wife) Carson would sit in on harmony vocals every now and then. 

I booked a weekend at Wagon Wheel to bang out some songs I’d been working on; I’d recently read Hesiod’s Theogony & Works and Days and some of Edith Hamilton’s classic Mythology and become really interested in the weird, flawed gods and heroes of ancient Greece. I was a young dude, very far from home and trying to figure things out pretty much completely on my own; I was very aware that I was going through a transitional period, twenty years old and particularly susceptible to self-mythologizing. I began to think of myself as entering a new epoch of my life, and through my involvement in the Collective and the music community I felt as if I were making a full break from the expectations and orthodoxies of my “old life” in New England. It became very important to me to write down what I was seeing unfold all around me.

Reading the ancient stories - which really feel so contemporary at times - pushed me to mythologize what I was living through. The writers, artists, strangers and cities of the Southwest lived on one hand, with the folks I left back in New England on the other. I started to try and fit them into the contours of very, very old stories. I may have been trying to make some sense of the weird new world I found myself in. But I was more certainly writing to my older self; caught in that present utopia, I had the bright idea to create a sort of Myth of Ages that would elevate that fleeting moment to the status of folklore. After all, the excitement of the music community back then felt so much bigger than the sum of its parts. If this radical moment of mass self-actualization was, in its essence, just a bunch of people hanging out in living rooms, it felt huge, important, essential. That meant the only way to write about it was mythologically. 

Once again, it’s not like this idea was itself a radical development. Storytelling and tall tales are as old as anything in the folk tradition. But if Bird Friend’s love for the folk tradition has often pitted us against the prevailing currents of popular music, it was - in this instant - the most appropriate vessel.

We only had two days to record the material that would become Our Gods. Some elements of my music life never change, and the matter of scheduling is one of them. Alexster had a day job, a venue to run, and other groups to record; Cody had his other band, Carson was still in school, and I worked nights at the 66 Diner. Peach, who at that point had already played shows with us, may have been out of town or otherwise occupied, and didn’t get to join us at all. As it were, we had two days back-to-back in mid-October to crank out whatever songs we could. We planned a double release with the Leaky Faces in December, so the feeling was that whatever we committed to tape that weekend would pretty much be the album. The “the studio” was set up in the empty living room, and was limited to two microphones and a dining room chair. Alexster’s bedroom served as the control booth.

VI.

A few days before the release, the Collective got together in the basement of the Bungalow, and we had a CD-making party for Our Gods and the Leaky Faces’ Freak Tree. We burned blank discs ten at a time on the duplicator, and cut album covers that we’d printed for free with someone’s UNM library card. We did some beers and carefully glued the covers onto plain black CD jackets, each one stamped with the Goathead Records logo. It was December, and it was cold; in photos from that night, everyone’s wearing jackets and sweaters indoors. I wonder now if the heat was on, or if it was ever on in that house. 

We did the show at Wagon Wheel a few nights later - something like eight bands played, and our resident videographer Isaac “Boose” Vallejos got the whole evening on film. That night was Wagon Wheel as I remember it: packed, sweaty, and electric with creative energy. In those days, getting a show at all felt like a blessing - every single performance felt vital, essential, and to attach a whole album to it felt triumphant. I have the videos of the Bird Friend set, and we’re loose, sloppy, full of humor, and backed against the wall by a big crowd of happy people.

The Goathead thing began to splinter apart a few months after Our Gods. Social friction amidst the growing proportions of the scene, not to mention the exhausting undertaking of Mountain Blood Fest II, contributed to a slow drift towards other projects. The atmosphere of idealism was hard to sustain as more people joined the fold, and the collective itself felt more beholden to a sense of expectation and accountability that quickly overwhelmed it.

It was tough to let it all go. It’s not like the shows and the bands simply vanished, but a growing sense of dislocation and disunity began to take over. The essential loss of a mutual support network returned the music scene back to a landscape of unfocused cliques. At this point, I was 21 years old, totally untethered and spinning my wheels. I started drinking a lot, and entered a dark stretch, turning out songs that were long, desperate, and heavy with a sense of doom. I fell down for a while. Eventually I left Albuquerque, in order to hit the reset button before I went too far down an ugly path.

A friend of mine once said that writing is a selfish act. Before he passed away, I often thought about asking him what he meant - and now that I don’t have the chance, I meditate on it often. And writing down these memories so long after the fact, I find myself meditating on it all over again. Maybe it’s selfish to attach too much significance to this brief period of my life. Or maybe it’s selfish to view something that touched so many people through the narrow window of my own, meager experience. After all, the world of New Mexican music was so much bigger than the record collective. Or perhaps it’s selfish to talk about those days like they belonged to some perfect, unspoiled era; for they most certainly did not. All of this history took place against the confused, chaotic backdrop of about a thousand peoples’ early twenties - not generally known as a peaceful or self-assured time in life. Not everyone got out in one piece, or even alive.

Yet I’ve been playing my guitar in front of people for a long time now, and Bird Friend has been around in some form for over a decade. And though I’ve started to suspect that we’re not going to be famous (not that that’s the point), in navigating a whole range of music scenes I’ve started to double back to the questions leftover from the days of Goathead. How do we celebrate each other, and our art? How do we inhabit the role of audience, critic, and creator all with the same grace? And now, in a world whose modernity is more disenfranchising than ever, how do we do it all with dignity?

As musicians, we’re constantly being assaulted by statistics: our plays, our listeners, and their level of engagement is constantly being tracked in extreme, granular detail. Promoters use these numbers to gauge your marketability, an important task in a world where the profitability of a music venue is considered life-or-death. Less people are going to shows, less people are consuming physical media, and the network of music discovery is essentially in the hands of algorithms and AI. The context of a piece of music is often lost when a “user” only spends a few seconds with it on a reel or social media post. The act of creation is its own reward, yet I sometimes find myself asking the most frightening question: what’s the fucking point?

What are we supposed to do as artists? Why do we make music? Who’s it for? In a perfect world, it’s one pathway to building a shared philosophy. That’s what the Goathead era was for me: a forum in which a little music scene was foundational to ideas about culture, community, and mutual support. But what’s the benefit of creating a shared philosophy, if it only exists in a digital space? The town I live in now is supposedly full of artists - and I don’t see a united front against the behemoth of corporate development that’s shuttered a frightening number of venues these last few years. Art as content, art as corporate culture, art supposedly made “accessible” by an internet machine designed primarily to make money are all more dominant than ever - and I sometimes wonder if the concept of an art community actually stands a chance. When I worry, I think of the extremely unlikely success we had in Albuquerque. If it warms me just a little, I also remember that it was all a very long time ago.

Our Gods is not the greatest album ever made. It’s not even the best album Bird Friend ever made. But for myself, and my own personal history (here comes the selfish act again), it represents a little glory that we got to participate in, if only for a while. I wonder if I’ll ever experience that intensity again, but if your time is still yet to come, hear this: somewhere you did, somewhere you will - somewhere you are all together still.

VII. Belated Liner Notes

Listen to “OUR GODS” on Spotify or Bandcamp.

Overture (Muses)

The idea with “Overture” was to start the record with a reference to Greek poetry and to Hesiod’s work by including a rip-off of the kind of invocation that would commonly begin a piece of ancient literature. This little prayer was meant, in the old days, to set the tone and context of a piece and to assure the audience that a storyteller knew what they were talking about.  Performed a cappella in one take, I don’t think this song was ever performed again. I still like the concept, and still think it’s clever to flip this old convention on its head by admitting in the first line of the album that the writer of these songs is an unreliable narrator.

Where Are You?

I spent a lot of my younger years wandering around the woods of New England. This is the oldest part of the country, and if a historical site isn’t preserved, it’s quickly swallowed up by nature. The area I grew up in was clear-cut in the 19th century for sheep grazing, and by the early 1900s was completely forested again. There are really no such thing as historical ruins out here, and if you do find something abandoned out in the forest, it’s probably only a few decades old.  I saw some coincidence in the idea that, in both the Mediterranean and the Southwest, researchers are constantly finding throwaway evidence of really old civilizations - potsherds, petroglyphs, architectural stuff that’s all just been sitting out in the desert for hundreds or thousands of years that gives you an idea of the everyday lives of people who lived and died generations ago. You can actually just wander out into the desert and see this stuff. It doesn’t get washed away by the rain or the ocean or torn up by a tree root after fifty years. That’s the idea behind “Where Are You?,” a song that supposes what will be left of our lives a thousand years from now. When you’re young, you feel things so, so intensely - how much of that intensity lives in the objects we leave behind? What kind of half-life does it have?

Oh, Pilgrim!

This is a pretty straightforward song, message-wise. It was most likely written before I began to fixate on the “concept” of this album, and it’s more of a clear-cut celebration of my independence and my Big Desert Adventure than anything else. It’s very important in our catalog, however, as the first-ever recorded Carson performance. Her natural gift for harmony is obvious here, and I remember Alexster being somewhat stunned that she pulled her part off in one take.  Recording vocals can be the most nerve-wracking element of the studio experience, and her fearlessness in performance and ability to write complex vocal harmonies is as stunning now as it was then. 

The Wheel

I haven’t talked much about the dominance of folk punk in the Albuquerque scene of those days. It had already been around for years by that time, and the blank-canvas nature of the genre was well-suited to the limited resources of our little scene. For a while, it felt like folk punk was all there was in the neighborhood, since it could be played convincingly on cheap instruments, by folks with limited chops, and didn’t require anything as burdensome as an amplifier. The minor-key inertia of “The Wheel” owes something to the prevailing folk punk conventions of the day, and seems to be particularly indebted to The Leaky Faces’ “Steam,” even if it doesn’t match the energy of that band. 

The Road (Forever Returns to the Heart)

“The Road” flirts with bluegrass, a style whose strict conventions and average level of musicianship are completely foreign to a band as ramshackle and inconsistent as Bird Friend. This was one of the songs that was supposed to include percussion, which is blasphemous in the bluegrass world, and there are live recordings out there that include Peach on the drums. Nevertheless, any listener of “The Road” can probably tell that I’d discovered Ralph Stanley by this point.  This is one of the songs from Our Gods that I vividly remember working on; I recall flipping through Tom Robbins’ Jitterbug Perfume as quietly as I possibly could while Cody recorded the freewheeling banjo parts. “The Road” is probably only second to “Parting Gifts” when it comes to its popularity, as well as the number of times it was caught on video during this era. It’s featured in the Before You Burn documentary and on the Mountain Blood Fest II compilation. 

Granite & Gold

This is an interesting track. I don’t remember much of what motivated me to write this one, although it strikes me now as some hand-wringing over the future legacy of the Goathead scene. Ten years later, Goathead is long gone, and the artists that are still active have completely evolved. Looking back at that time in such depth feels like going back to a place you used to live in; everything’s different, and a lot of people are gone, but the light still falls in the same way. An uncanny feeling, I guess. Like visiting your old elementary school. 

The Fear, The Fear

“The Fear” is a weird composite of a lot of my influences at the time of recording. The title is, of course, ripped from the Defiance, Ohio album of the same name. The guitar part is totally indebted to Bob Dylan’s version of “House Carpenter,” which I played often back when I spent my Sundays busking in Santa Fe. I’m not entirely sure where we got the idea to attempt the weird, sitar-like banjo part, but I suspect it was from Mark Fry’s “The Witch,” which was on heavy rotation at Coffee House. I do also remember Cody joking that the banjo part came out “sounding like Donovan.” Our Gods is a pretty spare record, and I think this is the most ambitious we got during those recording sessions. It’s another comment on the fleeting nature of the community and the anxieties and social pressures that motivate people to choose a life of convention over a life of art. 

Our Gods

The title track features Kylee Jo on fiddle. Kylee was staying overnight at Wagon Wheel during the Our Gods sessions; it wasn’t uncommon for house venues to host traveling musicians (or just travelers) even if they weren’t performing there, and Kylee was just on the way to somewhere else when we met. Having never met us before, and certainly never hearing of our band, she agreed to play fiddle on “Our Gods.” I played the song once through to teach the changes, we recorded one fiddle track, I wrote her name down on a piece of receipt paper for the album credits, and we never saw each other again.  Some of the most intimate exchanges of ideas happen in your own home, far from performance spaces, and Carson and I have always tried to keep our home open to other artists. It’s a tough world out there, and a little sanctuary can go a long way. Sometimes you even make new friends, or collaborators. 

Sucker & St. Joan

Sometimes you look back at a song you wrote and surprise yourself, and in revisiting Our Gods after so many years, this song seems to stand taller among the others. The intent behind this album is clearer here than anywhere else, and the composition, harmony, and structure are all about as highly-developed as I was capable of at age 20. The playing’s good, too; but what really strikes me on “Sucker” is its clarity. Hearing the chorus again, recognizing that even a decade ago we were aware of our community as a temporary junction of lives, is awfully moving - and revisiting this song is what encouraged me to write this piece in the first place. When listening to this song, I can feel my present self looking back, my past self looking forward - and we meet each other somewhere in the middle.  I do my best to catch up with people from the old scene, engage with their art, listen to their bands and see what’s going on in their lives. Some folks are still permanent fixtures in the Bird Friend family, while some are like distant relatives. Still others I check in with once a year or so, or catch their shows when they’re in town. Others just cross my mind from time to time, or pass by in the social media parade. 

IIX. 

Spotify, music streaming, and social media all belonged to a very different landscape a decade ago. Many bands of the Albuquerque community never made it to Spotify for logistical or philosophical reasons; others never recorded much at all, or produced anything that sounded like their live performances. Practically none of the bands of those days are still active - although most of the artists involved are still working, the vast majority of them have moved onto other projects. Much of the Goathead Record Collective’s web presence has been lost over time.

Below, I’ve listed a few songs that are representative of Bird Friend’s world during the 2013-2016 era. Some of it comes from bands we played with, and most of it comes from Albuquerque. All of the bands featured were, in some significant way, affiliated with the house show scene. Bandcamp is still the best way to listen to these artists. If you have the paper edition of this piece, the QR code on the bottom will take you to the web version where you can listen to the music.

If you want the authentic experience, you can download these songs as mp3s, drag them into an iTunes playlist, load them onto an iPod Mini with a cracked screen and listen to them on a skateboard.

The Leaky Faces - Steam 

Arroyo Deathmatch - Swimming the Witch

Bella Trout - Coffee Stains

Human Behavior - Crag

Smoke & Mirrors - The Godslayer

Manuka Piglet - Mr. Kelp

Crushed!? - Ethereal Horizon

Soviet Science Fair - Toast (Live 2014)

lemurtween - pee van/no one understands me

Lindy Vision - Bad Things

The Vassar Bastards - Dead Cat

Nobody Particular - Cage Wreck

Colour Me Once - 10,000 Miles to Graceland

Marissa. - Running For The Gates

Klondykes - BTSD

[musingsofaraven]

(Alt text added of the whole screenshot)

And I had more thoughts and decided to move this into a thread of its own.

Each of the witches in the coven represent a direction on a pentacle.

Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Spirit.

We've been seeing the trials go in a kind of opposite order of this. Jen as Water was first. Then Alice as Fire was second.

We'd expect to see Lilia as Air's trial next, and then Rio's Earth trial following that, before finally getting to Agatha's Spirit trial.

So it wouldn't make sense for Agatha's true trial to be next, from an order of the directions-sense.

But also a storytelling sense. Why would you put your main character's true test in the middle of the story (episode 5 is the half way point in the series)?

So it can't be a true Witch's Road trial.

I also saw a video from zachoboy on TikTok today about Teen having been trying to manipulate himself into the coven since the beginning, so he killed Mrs Hart to take her place, but Agatha (thinking Teen is her child) doesn't confront him on it, though she says a couple of things indicating that she sees what he’s doing.

Another popular theory is that Teen put the sigil on himself. I think this is likely.

So here's my thought on a summary of events:

Teen puts the sigil on himself. He writes down his intentions in his book so he can't forget them. And manipulates his way into getting on the Road with the coven.

Agatha sees the sigil and thinks that it might be Nicholas, given that Rio shows up at the same time as Teen shows up in the first episode. And Rio had something to do with Nicholas being taken from Agatha.

Teen tries to get himself into the coven by killing Mrs. Hart, but the coven brings in Rio instead. But, Agatha is clocking on to what Teen has done.

(Editing to add that Teen wouldn’t have had to actually kill Mrs. Hart, but he could be using her death as a way to try to manipulate the coven into letting him in. And Agatha only needs to *think* he’s killed Mrs. Hart)

Teen gets hurt in Alice’s trial, but it wasn’t Jen that healed him. It was Rio, after Agatha pleaded with her to save him.

Rio sees that Agatha thinks Teen is Nicholas, so tells her that he’s not.

I think it’s at this point where the sigil is broken.

They leave the road to escape the Salem Seven.

Teen looses his book, but he no longer needs it, since the sigil is broken.

Now that the sigil is broken and he’s back to whatever full strength he’s at, he’s able to conjure the test for Agatha.

Agatha, after getting confirmation that Teen isn’t Nicholas and the sigil having been broken, confronts Teen after the test basically saying she knows who he is.

So Teen realizes he’s not able to manipulate Agatha anymore, so has her, Jen, and Lilia swallowed up by the Road.

And on to the next episode!

[marleyybluu]

Would you be okay writing some bestfriends brother!rio smut? :)

Don Julio

Best friends brother!Rio x f!black!OC (Honey)

Word count: 1.1k

Content warning: literally nothing, just swearing and hangovers lol, Honey is 21 and Rio is 26 (just testing a little age gap😗)

A/N: I just want to apologize to you anon because this request has been sitting in my inbox, collecting dust because I had no idea how to even come up with anything but here we are bitch.

decided to do OC because... I'm loving the OC streak that I'm on right now.

also, OC is written as a black woman in mind, I don't describe her in detail just yet.

There will be a part 2 yall don't worry

(Not my gif)

And that damn Don Julio made me a fool for you…

•• ••

Sunday mornings were for soaking in the regrets of Saturday night events, they were for dealing with pounding hangovers and lounging on the couch to recover. At least that's how most of her Sundays went and this one was no different. Light snores left her lips while the heat of the morning sun beamed on her bare back warming up her skin. She groaned as the heat became too much, suddenly she wished she hadn't been so drunk last night, she would've been able to close the curtains. She pulled the covers over her body and smiled, that felt better. She readjusted herself, getting in a more comfortable position, she sighed her eyes opening just for a millisecond but, in that quick time, she noticed something off.

Her room was blue... well no it wasn't, her room was actually Sage green. There were posters on her wall of old movies and her favourite artists, this wall didn't have any. Her eyes blew wide open when she realized the lack of softness in her pillow, well it wasn't a pillow at all it was someone's chest—slowlyrisingand falling with sleep. She sighed, of course, she had to start her Sunday in a stranger's bed. Honey sat up slowly, sleep very apparent in her bones as she stretched and her joints cracked, her head felt heavy and her eyes narrowed as she squinted away the bright light of the sun's beams. She groaned tossing the covers off of her legs, her lower half scantily clad, she laughed to herself and shook her head.

Her feet met the cold floor, she grabbed a shirt, she could only assume it was his, oh well-- he wouldn't mind would he?

Honey stumbled through the halls looking for a bathroom, her bladder full of last night's drinks and after pushing every door open she was finally successful in finding a bathroom. She closed the door for privacy while she handled her business as if this man hadn't seen every inch of her business the night before. Once she was done she wiped and flushed, washed her hands and splashed a bit of cold water on her face waking herself up and hoping to stay awake long enough to get home safely. She opened the door and flicked off the light making her way back to the room.

As she walked down the hall she noticed a wall of photos in her peripheral, she was curious and decided to take a quick look at the photos. She smiled at a family picture, two adults and two young children-- a boy with a bowl cut and a little girl with pigtails. Her head tilted. "Kinda looks like Cherry when she was a kid." Honey quietly said to herself. Her eyes scanned the wall, another picture of the children catching her attention, the boy doing bunny ears behind his sister while she cried. It looked... familiar. As if she'd seen it before. And, again, the little girl looked like Cherry. Cherry was Honey's best friend since kindergarten, you couldn't see one without the other, they were attached at the hip. Cherry did have an older brother, Christopher but everyone called him Rio, and if Honey remembered correctly... he did have a... bowl cut when they were younger.

Her heart dropped at the realization, she gasped softly. "No... no, no, no."

She quickly walked back to the room, she stood behind the wall taking in a deep breath before she leered past it to poke her head into the door frame. The not-so-mysterious man was now lying on his side, facing her, eyes still closed. Honey covered her mouth in utter shock, there was no way this was happening. Her eyes fell to the floor, their clothes mixed and scattered all over the boards along with an empty bottle of Don Julio 1942. She had to get the fuck out before he woke up, she quietly thanked God that Cherry was always at her man's house otherwise this would've been a very awkward morning. She tiptoed back inside the room, bending down to scoop up her pants, her top, her bra and her panties... sigh... where were her panties?

Honey shuffled around looking on top of his dresser, inside the drawers and under the bed. She couldn't find them, she'd have to leave them. She pulled on her pants and swapped his shirt for her own, she was putting her faux locs in a quick bun when suddenly her phone rang at a violently loud volume, it even vibrated against the wood of his nightstand.

"Shit! Shut up!" She whined through gritted teeth, in an attempt to quickly grab the phone she tripped over the empty bottle of tequila, just her luck. The loud thud caused a stirring in the bed, Rio groaned and yawned carefully sitting up. He shielded his eyes from the sunlight and shook his head, he had a pounding headache. "What the fuuuck." He grunted at the phone. Eventually, it stopped, and he blindly picked it up to see who it was. A missed call from his little sister, Cherry, but the longer he stared at the screen he noticed a picture of her and her best friend. His eyes popped, his lips parted slightly.

"Honey..." He called out unsurely and with the slight hope that she wasn't in the house.

"...Yeah?" She answered from the floor. "Oh... shit."

"Yup."

Honey got off the floor, stood on her feet and smiled sheepishly. "Hi..."

"Hi..." He returned. Rio scanned the room, his eyes widening at the empty bottle of Tequila, his hands covering his eyes. But even though this was not an ideal situation, his seeming frustration or maybe regret made her feel a way.

She'd always had a crush on Rio, but being her best friend's older brother, it was an unspoken rule that he was off limits. So, Honey just admired him from afar. God, he was... something. He was handsome. So fine. And the older he got, the better. He'd gotten taller, facial hair had grown in but those pretty brown eyes remained the same along with that charming smirk he always had. Then came the haircut and the tattoos and... oof! It levelled him up.

Rio cleared his throat, Honey blinked a few times realizing she'd been caught in her trance. "Sorry... I- sorry." Though she didn't know what she was apologizing for. She grabbed her phone and the rest of her stuff and dashed downstairs. Rio shook his head, "Wait." He mumbled still dazed with sleep and a wicked hangover.

"Honey-"

The front door slammed. Honey fumbled with her car keys, and as bad as driving intoxicated is— she quietly hoped she didn't drive here completely sober. Intentionally pulling up to fuck Cherry's brother? She would never let herself live it down. Fuck.

Her car started, the heavy engine rumbling and vibrating the walls of the Martínez house. Her tires screeched getting herself the fuck out of there.

Once she got home she slumped onto the couch, she checked her phone. Seven missed calls from Cherry, and a slew of text messages asking if she was okay, if she needed someone to talk to. Honey squinted trying to remember what happened, what would have her friend in a panic state. What did she do?

A hesitant finger hovered over her name in the call log, Honey tapped it and the phone rang only once before Cherry picked up. "Honey!? Bitch! Where were you? Are you okay?"

"I'm- Cher, I'm fine. I'm sorry if I scared you. But what... did I say?"

Cherry said, "You called me, you were crying about Julien," Her ex. "And then you left me a voice note like an hour later slurring your words, and then you were talking to someone else but— were you with him last night?"

She threw her head back on the cushion of the couch. "No, I wasn't with him I was with... someone else. Fuck. Look, I need some coffee in my system, my head is killing me. I'll call you tonight, and again I'm sorry for scaring you."

Also sorry for sleeping with your brother.

"It's fine, I'm just glad you're safe and... home?"

"Yes, home, I am home." She said nervously. "Okay, well, I'll talk to you later then. Love you."

"Love you too... bye."

The call ended, she tossed her phone on the couch. She had to at least try and remember what happened last night.

If you liked this fic free to like this fic, likes, reblogs and comments are appreciated.

peace and love, see you in the next one 🤙🏾

🏷: @darqchilddaydreamz @rio-reid-whoreee @skyesthebomb @bigenergy777 @realhotgurlshit @lovedlover

[sunflowervoltwentyeight]

Hi! This is a fic rec of my favorite fics involving sports. These fics are organized by word count from longest to shortest. You can view my other fic recs here. Enjoy!

Unbelievers by isthatyoularry / @isthatyoularry (136k)

It’s Louis’ senior year, and he’s dead set on doing it right. However, along with his pair of cleats, a healthy dose of sarcasm and his ridiculous best friend, he’s also got a complicated family, a terrifyingly uncertain future, and a mortal enemy making his life just that much worse. Mortal enemies “with benefits” was not exactly the plan.

Or: The one where Louis and Harry definitely aren’t friends, and football is everything.

Soft Hands, Fast Feet, Can't Lose by dolce_piccante  (112k)

American Uni AU. Harry Styles is a frat boy football star from the wealthy Styles Family athletic dynasty. A celebrity among football fans, he knows how to play, he knows how to party, and he knows how to fuck (all of which is well known among his legion of admirers).

Louis Tomlinson is a student and an athlete, but his similarities to Harry end there. Intelligent, focused, independent, and completely uninterested in Harry’s charms, Louis is an anomaly in a world ruled by football.

A bet about the pair, who might be more similar than they originally thought, brings them together. Shakespeare, ballet, Disney, football, library chats, running, accidental spooning, Daredevil and Domino’s Pizza all blend into one big friendship Frappucino, but who will win in the end?

Oh Glory by alivingfire / @alivingfire (77k)

Tomlinson looks Liam over, tilting his head. “Are you a swimmer as well?”

“Yeah,” Liam says, a little cautiously. Harry wonders if it’s Tomlinson’s fame or the unimpressed eyebrow that’s making Liam wary. “Distance, I’m doing the 1500m. Harry here’s a sprinter.”

“Ah,” says Tomlinson, turning his glinting eyes back to Harry. “So you’re not an endurance man.” A beat passes, and his grin grows, wide and filthy. "Shame."

Harry Styles is Team Great Britain's newest swimmer, and has spent his whole life training for this moment, a chance at the gold medal in the Rio 2016 Olympics. All his training, hard work, and dedication to no distractions is tested when he's assigned to the same Rio apartment as Louis Tomlinson, British gymnast and Harry's childhood crush.

Summer's In the Air and Baby, Heaven's In Your Eyes by starryhaze / @starryhaze28 (71k)

“So we probably shouldn’t do this.” Louis says, and Harry knows he means staying like this, wrapped up in each other, and he nods, then lifts his head from Louis’ shoulder. His eyes are focused on the ground while he tries to will the tears away.

“We shouldn’t. I’m sorry Lou it’s just-“

“Hey it’s fine, baby.” Louis promises, gently rubbing this thumb over Harry’s cheek. Harry leans into the touch and blinks up at Louis.

“Not your fault.” Louis says, looking around before he presses his lips against Harry’s in a short but sweet kiss. “You’re like my dirty little secret now.” He grins wickedly and gives a wink, making Harry blush and bite his lip as he steps away.

⋆ .ೃ ࿔ *: ･

or a 70s tennis au filled with skirts, pet names and intrigue

On the Edge by zanni_scaramouche / @zanniscaramouche (47k)

Figure skating is as vital to Louis’ identity as his DNA, so when his skates go missing right before the last Olympics of his career there may be a meltdown only vanilla bath salts can fix. Well, that and the stupidly charming hockey player he met on the plane.

Harry’s too old to be the wonder kid and too young to be taken seriously in the NHL. As an alternate thrown in at the last second, he fights to prove himself on the national team at the largest sporting event known to man. Or he will, once he gets off this flight and can focus on something other than the fussy figure skater and his stunningly blue eyes.

A baggage mix-up skews both of their perfectly laid plans for gold, forcing the two to work together as the clock clicks towards the minute they’re expected to shine on centre ice.

The Boys of Summer by afirethatcannotdie / @afirethatcannotdie (45k)

“I mean…we’re gonna have to sneak around anyway, yeah? Like, with that whole rules thing that I guess we’ve decided to ignore. Might make it a little more fun this way.”

AU. In which Louis is a reluctant sports coach, Harry's a fellow counselor who wears tiny yellow shorts, and camp rules say they're forbidden to date.

Bloodsport by tofiveohfive / @tofiveohfive (40k)

“You know how our next game is against the Cardinals, right? You remember how vicious those guys can get. I wanted us to come up with some plays, maybe work on a block from the left—”

Louis stops when he hears a chuckle.

He doesn’t think he’s said anything particularly funny, so he turns to Harry, waiting for an explanation.

“‘S funny, ‘s all.” Harry throws his finished bottle somewhere near the other discarded ones. “This is the first time you’re talking to me in eight months, and it’s still about football.”

Be My Little Good Luck Charm by 100percentsassy (34k)

In which Harry is a promising amateur golfer making his debut at the PGA Championship, and Louis is a Sky Sports anchor who would really rather be commentating on footie.

The other boys are around too: caddy!Niall provides victory pints, Liam is Louis’s Very Serious co-anchor, and poor Zayn just gets his face drawn on.

But Me, I'm Not a Gamble by orphan_account (33k)

A Posh & Becks AU in which Harry is a star on the stage and Louis is a star on the pitch, but they're both inexplicably terrible at articulating their feelings. In the end, it only takes a season's worth of failed matchmaking schemes, platonic dinner dates, road trip holidays, and one very convenient David Beckham cameo for them to figure it all out. And if Niall knew all along? Well, he at least has the decency not to be too smug about it.

Swallow My Words by YesIsAWorld / @louandhazaf (32k)

Senior year is stressful. On top of balancing school work, family, and friends, Harry's lacrosse team is vying to win the state championship, he's not sure where he's going to college yet, and he has a secret boyfriend that no one can know about.

Part 1 of Swallow My Words

Player by jacaranda_bloom / @jacaranda-bloom (28k)

Louis’ job should be simple. Harry Styles, one of the top ranking tennis players in the world, is every publicist’s perfect client. He’s charismatic, enigmatic, and fit as fuck. The darling of the media, a national treasure, and a sponsor’s wet dream. He’s also a goofball with the kindest heart, sweet, and polite, and singularly focused on achieving his goals.

There are just two minor problems. Firstly, Louis’ debilitating crush on said client. And secondly, Harry has just accidentally Instagrammed a picture of his dick to his 18 million followers. So no, Louis’ job is anything but simple.

OR the one where Louis is Harry’s highly strung publicist and has a thing for his client, Harry is an international sports star and has a thing for his publicist, Liam and Zayn have a thing for each other, and Niall wishes everyone would just get their shit together.

You and Me Were Kings by orphan_account (28k)

harry plays football in a small town in west texas. louis might be the only person that doesn’t give a damn. au.

We Made These Memories for Ourselves by supernope (17k)

Breath held, Harry squints his eyes open and focuses on the first stick. A blue line. Harry breathes out an unsteady breath. He’s pretty sure he read that one blue line is a negative, but he fishes the box from the bottom of the pile just to make sure.

“Negative,” he confirms, voice echoing around the small room. “Next.”

Now that he’s feeling a little less shaky, he scans the rest of the tests at once, is met with a headache-inducing mixture of pink plus signs and blue double lines. His heart rate picks up until it’s pounding triple-time in the base of his throat and the pit of his stomach, thundering in his ears and throbbing in his temples. He flips over the rest of the boxes slowly, but he knows what they’re going to say before he even looks.

We've Got Nothing to Lose by iwontseecadyagain (12k)

“Oops!” A deep and slow voice fills Louis’ ears as an arm reaches around his waist, to keep Louis from rebounding into another white-outfitted body – this time a short young girl who could only be gymnast.  “Hi,” Louis replies as he turns to smile up at the person and thank him for preventing Louis’ life from dissolving into a real-life game of Pong, but the words dry up in his throat when he sees.

The person is a boy, tall and lanky with curly brown hair pushed away from his face messily and held back by a gaudy Union Jack scarf, green eyes sparkling from all the camera flashes and impossibly pink lips curled in a wide smile that nearly encompasses his whole face.

And Louis recognizes him instantly. And he thinks that maybe if walking into the Olympic Stadium during the opening ceremony wasn’t enough, having Harry Styles’ arm around him might be the killing blow.   Also known as an Olympics AU where Harry is a pro tennis player, and Louis is a pro footballer. They meet at the opening ceremony and fall in love, obviously.

We Should Get Jerseys by orphan_account (12k)

There’s a lot surrounding Harry, and Louis knows, in his heart of hearts, that there always will be. He just doesn’t know if he’ll manage to equate into the ‘always’ of it.

Harry is a hockey player, and Louis is his slightly melodramatic boyfriend.

And Darling I Will Be Loving You 'til We're 70 by orphan_account (11k)

“Well, you deal with the football team, and we’ll handle everything else,” Teddy answers. He sits up confidently and crosses his arms – Harry always tells them that believing in yourself is 90% of the job – with his head held high. Louis sees a flicker of determination in his eyes, mixed with a bit of mischief and youthful exuberance. It reminds him of himself, when he was younger and even now, 32 years old and married with four children. He’s really fucking grateful for the life that he lives and the kids that he has. (And his husband is pretty alright, or whatever.)

A canon spin on Posh/Becks where Louis coaches their daughter's football team for the very first time and Harry comes back from a summer working for Saint Laurent.

Part 1 of posh/becks au

[ghostflowerhotpotch]

How do you think the events at the end of the movie would’ve played out had Miles actually gotten sent to his home universe (Earth-1610) and Gwen had also arrived there as well when she got the watch from Hobie? How different would that part of the movie be excluding the stuff that happened at Earth-42.

Honestly? That's a good question.

I initially was thinking of someone a fic response like I did with the jealous prompt I got a few days ago, but I couldn't find a way that I could align all the canon elements in the fic in a way that would give a good conclusion. Perhaps I would use that idea for a proper fic.

Regardless, the thing that I keep thinking is not on Miles or Gwen, but Miguel and his allies.

At first, naively so, I thought Miguel and the others were looking for the Spot; perhaps I just wanted to think this a bit more positively; because the idea that this grown ass man roped two other people to capture a 15 year old that wants to save his dad is...a choice.

(I swear I don't hate Miguel, he just tests my patience a lot.)

Now, for obvious reasons these would be a problem for any Ghostflower reunion because Miguel has no chill; and would not wait nicely for this young couple to settle an argument.

Where is he, though.

Not seriously, what is this?

I was thinking he would be in Visions Academy, but this doesn't look like it at first glance. The dark atmosphere and the rain is not helping this either. If anybody has an idea, I am listening, but the only clue I have is that Miguel has a gigantic red sign that says "Welcome."

(Fun fact, the first time I saw this movie i almost expected the sign to say Hell. It wouldn't make sense on a world building sense but that was what going on my mind seeing this situation.)

Riley we know was waiting in front of Miles's house.

Now, this one is not really a problem because in the scenario that they are all in the same universe, this would mean Gwen already dispatched the Meathead (the director's words, not mine;) with Miles just entering his room after that.

Considering the situation, there is a chance Gwen would either see Miles going into his apartment, or perhaps Miles realizing that Gwen is on the alley. However for the nature of this ask, we would not explore those scenarios in this post.

Here is when it gets tricky.

Jessica was following Miles' dad, which makes sense considering they are looking for Miles and he may try to go directly to his dad.

In the scenario the timing tracks exactly the same, Gwen would probably look at the window and see Miles, so she may or not realize Jeff is coming.

What would I think if Gwen got to Miles directly? That things would probably escalate rather quickly.

I think if Gwen saw Miles lying on the floor (As he did when he got home in Earth 42;) she would quickly rush to him. To which I would expect Miles to either adopt a defensive posture, or tell her to stay away.

We need to remember that as far as Miles is aware, she is still working with the organization, last time they saw each other she was attempting to capture him (Well, honestly she didn't try very hard, but it would still be betrayal for him.)

Of course, I imagine Gwen would start with either a "I'm so sorry, Miles," "I am not here to fight, I am on your side," "I know a way we avoid the canon event." Perhaps she would say a combination of all of those things, the problem is that I don't think we would have a chance because problem number 3 would arrive.

(Imagine this is Rio from 1610.)

Now, I am going to be a bit generous here, and I will imagine that Rio didn't hear Miles coming in (unlike Rio from Earth 42,) perhaps the other version of her heard Miles come in because she was picking up laundry and was close to the door.

But I am sorry, every time I try to imagine an scenario where Gwen and Miles get to met here, I can't imagine any of them being quiet enough to not make Rio realize there are people in her house. Emotions are running way too high for either of them to think about that.

In the movie, Miles was on the floor and heard Rio appear, so he had the time to get his jacket on. In this scenario? Frankly I imagine Miles and Gwen would be close to screaming so neither of them would realize of her coming by.

Now imagine you are Rio for a moment.

You all of the sudden hear your son and or/the girl he was with earlier screaming about nonsense you don't know what the heck could be about, and when you open the door you see your son and that girl in Spider suits. No idea if there is any information or pictures of Gwen's as a Spiderwoman on Earth 1610, but that's kind of a moot point when your son not only is dressed up as the current spiderman, but also is sporting these.

(Sorry I don't have a full image, I try to get ANYTHING in the movie that would give me a good visual, and no shot; I couldn't get the complete image of where I got these, and finding these was a pain and a half.)

There is a 50/50 chance that Gwen/Miles may be able to sneak a "is a costume!" lie, but all things consider this would probably make Rio realize a lot of things are making sense all of the sudden. Rio would probably rush to Miles once she sees he is this hurt and freak out, no doubt.

And if things couldn't get worse, is around this time Jeff is coming upstairs, and who came with him?

YEP.

Now, we see that Jess spies on Gwen and Miles' parents thanks a device, not sure if this is the spider thing Gwen used earlier to track the Spot, or something else; regardless, she would definitely see them there, if not hear the ruckus.

Here is the thing, would I think Jess would do something?

...Sadly, yes.

Jess has kind of a soft spot for Gwen, and while I don't think she was the best Mentor (less about what she taught Gwen and more on not being there for her enough, but that's another discussion.) Jess gave the chance to Gwen to go to 1610 in the first place, she also let her try to fix it (thought the circumstances weren't too generous,) and while we don't have a clue what she would do next, I am inclined to believe that canonically, she is not going to snitch to Miguel that Gwen went by, perhaps only mention that Miles isn't in this dimension.

Because here is the thing, she has a soft spot for Gwen, but we can see that she definitely thinks Miles is a problem; and considering she is still helping Miguel, I doubt her mind had changed much in that regard.

So while she let Gwen "go" to get Miles (though there is the chance she is just letting her go so she can track where she is going,) I doubt she would see Miles there and not do something.

Now we have Rio screaming her lungs out about what the heck Miles has been doing, Miles probably trying to explain the situation to her, Gwen may or may not try to defend Miles (honestly the only reason I may think Gwen doesn't say anything is because this is really a conversation she shouldn't be involved.) And Jess then comes out from the window to collect Miles; she may also bring her Motorcycle with her which would cause even more chaos.

Hey remember how Jeff was just going upstairs? I like to think is something like this.

I know is an old meme but imagine Jeff, happily coming back home after an end of his shift; and he finds the house with his son on a Spiderman costume fighting a very pregnant woman (who may have the motorcycle INSIDE HIS HOUSE,) the girl he brought with him earlier shooting webs or something trying to stop the black lady, and his wife probably screaming on a corner.

While writing this, I originally was going to say earlier that having Miguel and his croonies here could make things a tad complicated; no wonder I deleted that earlier because this is just chaos.

Speaking of Miguel, no doubt Jess informed him that Miles was at his house, with no signs of Riley. Depending or where he is, he may be coming by soon enough.

Sorry if you or anyone else was expecting a fluffy or heartwarming scenario, but in this blog I try to adhere to canon facts as much as I can for these analysis, and I couldn't answer with canon possibilities without taking everything into account.

That being said, oh my g-d this was so much fun; I should try to do these more often.

I will see if I use the original fic idea I had in mind, while drafting this I also thought of the possibility of what would happen if Gwen's picture (That as discussed in this analysis, she may have with her) fell off while she was leaving Miles' apartment; if anyone is interested in that last idea please say so because I am on the fence about it.

That's it for today! Hope you folks had fun with this.

[blackfeatherdragon]

YGO Zexal Keyswap AU (AKA an excuse for me to engage in Aztecshipping) (I only thought this out through the WDC arc and even then there's still gaps-)(thanks to my friend usagi for helping me fill in some of these gaps)

(This is a long infodump, look out-)

-While looking for the interdimensional portal, but before adding Kazuma to the team, Byron and Faker made a trip out to a hypothetical location where they thought it would be. Faker didn't find what he was looking for, but Byron did get the Emperor's Key, so that's neat.

-Upon returning home briefly to see his younger sons, Byron gave the Key to Michael, figuring he'd love this kind of artifact.

-(Michael did in fact love it. Little nerd.)

-Byron then returned to his research, and then vanished. Michael and Thomas then end up in the orphanage, with Michael safeguarding what items he has left to remember his father (The Aztec Mask Golem card and the Key).

-Flash forward a few years, Michael is thirteen now, and due to a chain of events I have not worked out yet, the Key is activated and Michael meets Astral.

-(Michael is overjoyed at the interdimensional alien tied to the Key, if a bit annoyed that Astral's amnesiac state means he can't tell him much.)

-Michael also already knows how to play Duel Monsters already, but Astral still tries to backseat duel.

-Insert some Number hunting at the orphanage here. Michael's 'starter' Number is Chronomaly Machu Mech, and the first one he gets off someone else is Shark Drake.

-Eventually, when Michael is fourteen, Christopher/V finally comes back to collect Michael and Thomas from the orphanage. After everyone is reunited at Heartland, Tron performs the rituals to place the crests on Thomas and Michael, then requests that Michael return the Key to him.

-Michael refuses, not willing to sacrifice Astral, and Thomas, realizing that his baby brother and his invisible alien friend aren't safe in this situation, creates an opportunity for Michael to flee by picking a fight with V.

-Michael flees with the Key, only to end up breaking down later because he's now completely separated from his family, so soon after he'd thought he'd have them all back.

-Enter the Tsukumos, who let Michael stay with them for a while while he sorts himself out. He and Yuma start making friends.

-Michael is also encouraged to start attending school due to his age, and he tests into the first year of junior high despite being old enough for second year. This means he's now in the same year as Shark and Rio. This won't be awkward-

--Oh, wait, the whole situation with Shark, Rio, and IV happens. Things get awkward with Shark and Michael having to share a class, especially since Michael can't ask his brother what happened.

-Michael also continues Number hunting, though he's now racing his own brothers and Kaito for Numbers.

-Meanwhile, Yuma has also been getting inexplicably better at duelling? Despite not having Astral to help him? Odd, but okay.

-We finally catch up to where the series would have started. Michael is now fifteen and in second year of junior high, and Yuma has started at junior high as a first year. Finally, Michael and Yuma can be at the same school-

-Yuma also starts getting a bit concerned about the Key and Astral, but doesn't say much about why.

-Number hunting continues. Kaito has a WTF moment when he realizes that the guy scrambling for Numbers is Chris's younger brother

-WDC starts! Michael gets himself entered just fine, Yuma is also remarkably on the ball with entering!

-Michael and IV have at least one run in, then late on the second day Yuma and Michael witness V kidnapping Haruto. Michael only admits that the kidnapper was Christopher before he uses his crest to warp back to the Arclight family hideout in hopes of talking them down.

-But...Yuma is here. Wasn't he with Kaito a moment ago?

-Yeah. About that. Tron didn't like losing a pawn when Michael fled, and decided to just manipulate a new pawn instead of deal with an unwilling participant. And wouldn't you know it, Yuma happened to lose his father to Faker's betrayal, desperately wants to duel, and is kind of gullible, so Tron decided he'd make a good enough target, so long as he doesn't find out about the depths of the plan.

-Yuma got to learn to duel, is promised he'd find out more about what happened to his father, pretty much everything he wanted. Tron also convinces Yuma that the Key is influencing Michael like what the Numbers do to most people, so Yuma is convinced that he needs to help Michael by getting the Key.

-(The only thing keeping Yuma from just grabbing the Key sooner is the fact that Michael keeps it physically on his person as much as humanly possible, a habit picked up in the orphanage since leaving your stuff laying around there was a good way to get your stuff stolen.)

-How did Yuma get there before Michael did? Turns out, Tron decided to crest Yuma too, on the promise that it would let him control Numbers safely and protect him from having his soul taken by people like Kaito. Which was true, but conveniently left out what would happen if he lost while controlling a Number.

-In any case, Yuma, IV, and Michael all spend several minutes trying to convince each other to leave and back down before Kaito finally shows up via Orbital hangglider and forces a duel

-Insert Michael and Kaito VS IV and Yuma duel here. Yuma's signature Number is, of course, Hope.

-Duel ends, IV and Yuma flee, Haruto is returned with Yuma never being told what Tron wanted with Haruto in the first place. Tron claims his plan was simply to try and lure in Faker.

-Michael and Astral are horrified at finding out about Yuma, and end up sheltering with Shark for the night instead of returning to the Tsukumos. It's a good opportunity for Michael to talk to his classmate about what's happening/ask Shark about his interactions with IV and Yuma.

-(Shark got Leviathan Dragon instead of Shark Drake BTW. Michael still has Shark Drake, and IV was tasked with delivering Leviathan Dragon since Yuma wouldn't have wanted to hurt Shark.)

-The next day, Yuma contacts Michael and asks to talk. Talking turns into Yuma trying to get the Key in an attempt to save Michael from its assumed influence, which leads to a duel.

-Yuma finally tells Michael what Tron's been telling him and how he just wants to help/find out what happened to his father, Michael in turn tells Yuma the truth about what Tron wants/what the crest will do if Yuma loses while powerful Numbers are in play.

-They then find a way to loophole the duel's end so no one goes comatose, probably by having Yuma replace Hope with a Number not powerful enough to trip the crest.

-Flash forward a bit to the finals! Michael ends up having to face IV during the course of the finals, during which Tron taunts both of them at once. Michael wins, but is upset knowing his brother will go comatose.

-IV's last message to Michael before leaving is to tell him to keep going.

-IV: "Give Tron hell, Michael, Astral."

-Yuma saves Shark from Tron's influence as per canon, thus revealing that he's defected from Tron's side and knows what's truly up. (Tron's intention was for Shark to beat Yuma and let Yuma be cast aside once his role was done.)

-Michael and Yuma end up facing off one more time before the final. No playing around or loopholes this time, winner faces Tron and they both know it.

-Michael wins, and ends up crying as Yuma goes comatose as a result. However, Yuma does give Michael two new cards before slipping under: his signature monster, Hope, and Chronomaly Atlandis.

-Finally, Michael faces Tron and he's not happy. His brothers and Yuma are in comas, so many people have been hurt by Tron's scheming, and all Michael ever wanted was to have his family back.

-They duel. It's a mess, with Tron and Michael both giving their all, and culminates with Michael and Astral going Zexal.

-(Their Zexal form takes a lot of visual cues from Michael's gladiator outfit from the canon Yuma vs Michael duel, btw.)

-Michael wins, and when Faker takes all the Numbers, Michael attempts to save his father from being dragged in.

-Tron, realizing how far he's gone, releases all the affected souls and lets go of Michael, letting himself be dragged in to at least let Michael live.

-Seeing his father be taken away by Faker for a second time utterly breaks Michael. He decides to enact vengeance on Faker himself, storming off to the tower in a fit of rage, only to be intercepted by Yuma.

-After the breakdown plays out, the two decide to go in together to face Faker.

-Shark and Kaito end up turning up too, with the four all tag teaming against Faker.

-The gang wins, enter the second half of the series with the Barians. The only thing I have planned for the back half so far is Alito shows up and starts trying to flirt with Yuma, resulting in Michael getting jealous for 'some reason'. (He is oblivious to just how he feels about Yuma.)

[covid-safer-hotties]

Paris 2024 Was Supposed to Be ‘Normal’—But You Can’t Compete With COVID - Published Aug 2, 2024

Some athletes are taking their own precautions, but the responsibility shouldn’t be solely on them

In the lead-up to the Paris Games, we couldn’t escape how “normal” it was all supposed to be: Media outlets touted the return of cheering spectators in place of empty stadiums, a hyped opening ceremony packed with hundreds of thousands of fans, arrivals of friends and families to help athletes celebrate huge wins (and process tough losses)—and no masks in sight.

All in all, as the Associated Press wrote at the beginning of July, the Paris Games would mark the return to “post-pandemic” “normal,” following “a stretch when host cities turned into closed-off shells of themselves, depriving those who had earned their way inside the so-called Olympic ‘bubble’ of a true Olympic experience.”

But as we’re learning as the 2024 Summer Games go on, popping that bubble might have been more than a little premature—and the athletes could be the ones paying the price.

To be clear, the lack of spectators, family support, and ability to connect with others wasn’t easy for the athletes. As fencer Kat Holmes told SELF, the atmosphere was “very restrictive.” “In Rio, it was like, ‘We’re here together, we’re gonna get to know each other,’” she said. “In Tokyo, it was like, ‘Oh my God, don’t breathe on me.’” So we totally get the desire to avoid that—it’s just that, unfortunately, COVID hasn’t gotten the memo.

The strict rules of Tokyo and Beijing didn’t exactly make it to Paris. In Tokyo, the rules for the athletes were strict, so much so that the term “intimacy ban” kept getting thrown around. The reason for the “safety first” policies, according to a 70-page playbook released one month before the 2020 Games (which actually happened in 2021), was to protect all athletes, participants, and the people of Japan from the spread of COVID-19. As such, it detailed policies including mask wearing “at all times” (except for sleeping, eating or drinking, training, or competing); avoiding the “3 C’s” (spaces that are confined, crowded, or involve close contact); testing regularly for COVID-19, whether you were symptomatic or not; and isolating yourself if you do test positive, among others.

Strict, yes, but also effective. According to the annual report released by the IOC in 2021, there were only 33 cases of COVID-19 out of 11,300 athletes—and no confirmed spread of the virus between Games participants and the local population. As a result, those learnings went on to influence the policies for the Winter Games in Beijing in 2022, which maintained many of those strict rules too.

Fast forward two years later. We’re now several variants away from the virus that was circulating during the Tokyo and Beijing Games, and while fewer people are dying from the current strain, it’s definitely not “just a cold.” It’s still dangerous, linked to heart problems and lung damage, and the threat of long COVID is real too. Folks with underlying conditions are particularly at risk, and while you may not realize it, that includes a lot of athletes—yep, even those at the top of their game. According to a 2023 review in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, about 15 to 30% of Olympians have asthma, and, recently, athletes like Suni Lee and Katie Ledecky have shared their own experiences living with chronic illnesses. And anyone, even seemingly healthy adults, can get seriously ill from it, whether that’s from the infection itself or the long COVID that can come after it.

Problem is, pandemic fatigue is real, and folks are understandably ready to get back to that elusive “normal.” But you can’t just wish away COVID—something other sporting events have been forced to acknowledge. In July, the Tour de France got rocked by COVID, with several top cyclists getting sick and withdrawing from competition. The Tour even reinstated mask mandates, requiring race organizers, media, and guests to wear them around contact with riders and team staff, Bicycling reported.

While the Games started just a couple weeks later (and in the same country!), the guidelines didn’t follow suit: According to Reuters, there’s no strict policy for COVID-19 at the Paris Games. “We have a protocol (that) any athlete that has tested positive has to wear a mask and we remind everyone to follow best practices, but in terms of monitoring COVID, cases are quite low in France,” Anne Descamps, Paris 2024 chief communications director, told Reuters.

When SELF asked Paris Games organizers on July 15 whether the Tour’s reinstatement of COVID prevention measures and mask mandates would influence theirs, a spokesperson simply said: “Paris 2024 is following the evolution of public health issues closely, together with the French Ministry of Health and Santé Publique France (Public Health France).” On July 19, Julie Dussliere, chief of Paralympics for the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) told SELF that while Team USA was encouraging a lot of “proactive behaviors for people to stay healthy,” like wearing masks on the plane “if they’re comfortable doing so” and “consistently using hand sanitizer,” there are “no specific COVID protocols in place from Paris 2024 for either the Olympics or the Paralympics.”

“Our team USA campaign for the games actually is called Don’t Let A Cold Keep You from the Gold,” Dussliere said. “And so we’ve provided a little travel packet to all members of our delegation athletes and coaches with things like hand sanitizer and masks, eye masks, earplugs for sleeping on the plane, things of that nature, to help with their travel and to try to keep them healthy while they’re traveling.”

So unlike the Tokyo Games, where visual reminders of COVID-19 were everywhere—from the empty stands to the masks athletes wore on podiums—Paris kicked off looking a lot more like a pre-2020 Games. Dig a little deeper, though, and it’s a different story.

To read the rest of the article, follow either link!

[the-void-writes]

Freaks of Preston - Late Night Comfort

Summary: After the stress of their lives finally piles up, Jason starts getting frequent panic attacks. Luckily, his godson is always there to pull him out of it with love and warm food.

WC: 1.2K

TW: descriptions of a panic attack

Jason always tried to be strong. His patients depended on him for training and wisdom and overall care. He couldn’t afford to show weakness around them, especially whenever Vesely decided to rear his ugly head into their training for some asinine test. If he wasn’t at the top of his game, Jason was certain he would lose someone that he held dear.

He buried his fears as best as he could. His stare was cold but calm, his movements were slow and calculated, and his voice never betrayed his fear to his employees. No one would ever notice his true feelings towards Vesely and his company.

There were days, though, when Jason could no longer hide. He would wear through his mask and succumb to the thoughts that had threatened to seize his mind all week. Memories of the accident still haunted him— the events may have been staged, but the loss of his leg was more than real. Years later, he could feel the phantom shocks of pain in his limb, as though the wound were fresh.

But the sting of missing flesh was nothing in comparison to the numb grief that had swallowed him whole. Losing the closest thing he had to a son nearly paralyzed him. Even after getting him back, there was the countless testing, the secret experiments, all the mutations and procedures that chewed up his poor boy and spat him back out. Those memories burned themselves into the darkness behind Jason’s eyes.

Fear, fury, and crippling guilt reduced him to a silent, shivering wreck of a man. He couldn’t speak, or move, or breathe, or do anything other than think— think of the children that depended on him, of the madman that threatened their safety, of the town that was just as vile to people like himself, and of the deteriorating condition of his son.

Then, like the flip of a switch, the voices were silenced. Someone entered Jason’s office— someone who Jason could never hide from, even if he wanted to. They knew each other far too well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The office lights had been dimmed— that was the first sign that Jason was having an episode. The second sign was his hands gripping the armrests of his chair, pushing him back into the seat. The third was the distant, glossy look in his eyes, an expression that broke Will’s heart.

“Jason?”

He didn’t expect to get a response, but he always liked to call for him, just in case. When Jason hadn’t moved for a few seconds, Will carefully approached his desk.

“It’s getting late,” he said softly. “Are you ready to come home?”

Will glanced at the monitor on the desk— a plain blue desktop bathed Jason’s face in light. If he had been working on anything before his episode, it was most certainly finished.

“I tried to make dinner. It’s probably bad, but I figured I’d save you the cooking time.”

He held out his hand and waited patiently. Whenever possible, he tried to avoid simply grabbing Jason and bringing him back to the apartment. In these states, he was prone to panicking— he nearly threw Rio into the floor the last time he tried to help him up. Will would wait for as long as he needed to ensure that Jason heard him, and that he was ready to leave.

Eventually, Jason clasped his shaking hand in Will’s. The boy helped his godfather stand and walk out of the office. A quiet elevator ride led them to their humble little apartment, which felt empty without Henry. The soldiers had special training to complete over the week. Just an excuse for busy work, Will knew, a desperate plan from a petty old man who refused to accept that Jason didn’t love him. That spot in his heart was reserved for his family, for the people who loved him the way he deserved.

Will helped him sit down at the table and handed him a bowl filled to the brim with the pasta dish that Colin had taught him to make. Jason loved it even more when it came from Will because he always added extra peppers. He didn’t understand how anyone could tolerate so much spice, but he was more than happy to keep making it. His chest buzzed with pride each time his skills were complimented.

Jason ate slowly, but it was a miracle he was eating at all. A soft smile worked its way onto his face.

“Good?” Will asked.

“Thank you,” Jason said. His voice was small, barely a wisp of wind, but Will was grateful to hear him speak so soon.

“How do you feel?”

“Tired.”

“You should rest after dinner.”

“I still need to—”

“I sent out your last reports already.” Will gestured to the computer. “It was easier to scan them than mail them. I also emptied the trash and pulled your sheets out of the dryer, so your bed’s all warm for you. Everything’s done, so you can just relax.”

Jason looked as though he was seconds away from shattering. He rose from his seat, shuffled over to Will’s chair, and held him by the shoulders. A small tear fell from his face to the floor.

“Have I told you how lucky I am to have you in my life?”

Will smiled. “It’s nothing, really.”

“No— I honestly don’t know what I’d do without you. I can’t thank you enough.”

“You don’t have to.” Will hugged him as best as he could. “I’m always happy to help you.”

Jason hugged him back, and then sat back down with his food. A bit of color had returned to his face after eating, but he still looked miserable. He was in need of a distraction, or a good laugh.

“Hey,” Will said, getting Jason to look at him. “Did you hear about the king who was dethroned by his subjects?”

“What?”

“Kicking him out was easy, but the execution was a pain in the neck.”

Jason slapped his hand over his mouth, but once he started laughing, he couldn’t stop. His emotional dam finally broke as he gripped the edge of the table, shoulders shaking as he broke down in hysterics.

“Okay, it wasn’t that funny,” Will said, though he was laughing along with him. It always made him happy to get such a huge reaction from his godfather.

“Quite the contrary,” Jason said once he had caught his breath. “I dare say you’re the funniest one here.”

“Don’t let Henry hear that.”

Will stood up and took their empty dishes, but not before Jason took his hand and pulled him into another hug.

“Thank you, Will. I really needed this.”

“Glad I could help,” Will said.

After washing out the dishes, the two of them spent the rest of the evening on the couch watching game shows and cooking competitions, anything that they could laugh at and get invested in. By the end of the night, Jason’s panic attack was nothing more than a memory or bad dream. He couldn’t be consumed by darkness when the boy beside him was constantly sharing his light. As long as he was there, being patient and kind, and making Jason laugh so hard that his chest ached, then nothing could truly hurt him.

[usafphantom2]

Deliveries of the Su-57 to the Russian Air Force with second-stage engine "will occur in the near future"

Fernando Valduga

Russia's Rostec State Corporation is prepared to deliver Sukhoi Su-57 combat aircraft with the advanced Izdeliye-30 (Product 30) or second stage engine.

According to a Rostec statement of May 12, the Su-57 is currently in testing with the second-stage engine, with plans to deliver aircraft equipped with these new engines in the near future.

“The Su-57 is being tested with a second-stage engine. Deliveries of aircraft with new engines are planned for the near future,” the company said.

Although not confirmed, it is expected that all future Su-57 will be equipped with the Izdeliye-30 (AL-51F-1) engine, marking a crucial step to the full realization of the Stealth capabilities of the Su-57 in series production.

Since the end of 2022, the Russian Aerospace Forces have received several batches of Su-57 aircraft, some with the new engine, promising greater thrust and supercruise capabilities.

The Izdeliye-30 engine has a post-combustion thrust of 18,000 kgf and a maximum thrust of 11,000 kgf, resulting in a 1.2-fold increase in the thrust-to-weight ratio. This increases the ascent rates to 330-350 m/s and agility during maneuvers. It also raises the service ceiling and supersonic cruising speed to 2,150-2,200 km/h, with a maximum speed of 2,600-2,700 km/h.

The introduction of the Izdeliye-30 engine is expected to improve game thrust, fuel efficiency and reduce weight and maintenance requirements.

A striking feature of the Izdeliye-30 engine is its exhaust nozzle that increases thrust efficiency, stability, maneuverability and reduces engine noise. The addition of chevron-shaped exhaust nozzles significantly reduces the aircraft's infrared (IR) and radar signatures, improving its stealth characteristics.

The AL-51F-1 (Izdeliye 30) is an advanced turbofan engine with two-axis, low bypass post-combustion design. Notable improvements over its predecessor, the AL-41F1, include fiberglass plastic IGVs and convergent-divergent nozzles with serrated flaps to minimize radar visibility. The AL-51F-1 engine also shows a 19% increase in the thrust/weight ratio, a 6.4% increase in specific thrust and a 9% reduction in specific fuel consumption.

Tags: Military Aviationizdeliye 30RFSAF - Russian Federation Aerospace Force/Russian Aerospace ForceSukhoi Su-57 Felon

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Fernando Valduga

Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, he has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Dayton Airshow and FIDAE. He has works published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. He uses Canon equipment during his photographic work in the world of aviation.

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In terms of power, the thrust of this turbofan engine reaches 107.9 kN (24,300 lbf) without afterburning and 166.8 kN (37,500 lbf) with activated after-combustion. Equipped with a full-authority motor digital control system (FADEC), the AL-51F-1 ensures reliability in various operating conditions.

[discendia]

ASKING FOR YAMAMOTO RIO. (👀)

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🎮

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💯

💤

🔺

🔶

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🎄

🐈

🐷

🌴

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❤️

🤍

💔

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🖤

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TWENTY EMOJI WHAT? AHDKFKG WHAT KIND OF QUESTION MONSTER POSSESSED YOU!? I love you, Marc. ♡ Thank you so much for asking and for asking so much. This is going to be a Rio 101 post, I'll be as brief as possible.

☆ Details about OCs ☆

─────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ────────

Rio

💭 THOUGHT BALLOON — what is your oc's MBTI, enneagram, and/or other personality aspects (if known/interested in)?

I... I think I haven't thought about this before for her, so let's solve it by doing a test. *elevator music for the wait* I see... According to the MBTI test, she's an ISFJ or an INFJ. I don't know how accurate would that be...

🎮 VIDEO GAME CONTROLLER — what are three of your oc's favorite hobbies?

The obvious one: cooking. Like, who in the Yamamoto household doesn't cook?

The supportive one: watching sports. Playing is usually out of the question, but she'll be rooting for Takeshi at every game.

The one not many know about: crafts. Her favorites are cardmaking, lettering, and scrapbooking.

🩹 ADHESIVE BANDAGE — does your oc have any physical and/or mental disabilities?

After an eye injury, her eyesight not only worsened but also became more sensitive to light changes. She needs more time than average to adjust to brighter and darker environments.

💤 SLEEPING SIGN — is your oc a light sleeper or a heavy sleeper? how are their sleeping habits?

She's been a mess since she was a baby. Rio often woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't go back to sleep until a couple of hours later. It still happens to her from time to time, and it's almost impossible for her to rise early in the morning.

🔺 RED TRIANGLE POINTED UP — does your oc know how to use any weapons?

Her main weapons are an iron fan and a katana, but she can give deadly use to a kitchen knife if necessary.

🔶 LARGE ORANGE DIAMOND — does your oc know cpr? do they have any other medical expertise?

She can disinfect a wound and put a bandage on it, but pray Ryohei is close by in case you really need medical attention.

🚫 PROHIBITED — does your oc drink/smoke? do they do it regularly, or is it more on occasion or for special events?

10YL Rio holds her drink pretty well, and if someone challenges her, she'll be up for it. It's usually sake, but after moving to Italy, she took a liking to wine too.

🎄 CHRISTMAS TREE — what is your oc's favorite holiday?

Golden Week and New Year's.

🐈 CAT — does your oc prefer a wide circle of friends or a few close friends?

Although she has a wide social circle due to her job, talks to everyone, and can be pretty friendly, Rio prefers to have a few close friends.

🐷 PIG FACE — what is your oc's favorite animal?

Do Jirou and Kojirou count as animals? She loves them with all her heart 💕 (And Dino's horses, and Hibari's Hibirds, and... Yeah, you know the drill, all animals are cute)

🌴 PALM TREE — does your oc have a green thumb? do they enjoy gardening?

It's not a hobby she's ever considered.

❤️ RED HEART — what are three of your oc's positive traits?

Kind-hearted

Calm

Adaptable

🤍 WHITE HEART — what are three of your oc's neutral traits?

Lucky

Perceptive

Family-oriented

💔 BROKEN HEART — what are three of your oc's negative traits?

Over-dependant

Avoidant

Lacking sense of self

💘 HEART WITH ARROW — what and/or who do(es) your oc consider the most important to them?

Takeshi, without a doubt, to the point she believes like she would be unable to keep on living without him.

🖤 BLACK HEART — has your oc killed or seriously wounded anyone before? have they broken someone's heart and/or broken someone's trust?

She's killed several people. It was an accident, she lost control over her rain flames and things happend™. In some verses, she's betrayed someone's trust too and works hard to regain it.

🥯 BAGEL — what does your oc's typical breakfast look like? do they usually eat breakfast?

Traditional Japanese breakfast made by dad if she wakes up on time (spoiler alert: it rarely happens without external help), or a rushed snack if not.

☕️ HOT BEVERAGE — does your oc prefer coffee, tea, hot chocolate, milk, water, or some other drink? how do they like to take this drink (ex. coffee with milk, hot chocolate with whipped cream, a specific kind of tea, etc)?

Tea and juices are fine, but there's nothing better than a glass of hot milk before going to sleep.

(Takeshi prefers cold milk, and if they accidentally switch their glasses, she'll grimace at first sip).

😞 DISAPPOINTED FACE — does your oc attract others, or do they tend to be left alone?

When she's her social self, Rio's earnest smiles and attention to others attract people, but she usually prefers to make herself imperceptible.

🤒 FACE WITH THERMOMETER — does your oc get sick easily?

Not easily, but her periods are an absolute mess, and when she gets it, she's k.o. for more than a week.

💯 HUNDRED POINTS SYMBOL — share three random facts about your oc that others may not know.

What else do you want to know?? I don't think I have three random facts after all these questions. Let's see:

Her mother named her after a kind of cherry blossom tree, and because of that, Hibari usually loses his will to fight around her after being infected with the sakura-kura disease.

She grew out her hair because the kids at school often mistook her with Takeshi. It kept happening despite it.

She's part of the sports committee of Namimori's student council. She always skips morning meetings, and nobody notices it. (Hibari does notice and is not happy about it, oops).

[freifraufischer]

The New Zealand Problem

Sometimes you can see the issue that will light the gymternet on fire a mile away before anyone has even seen the smoke. And sometimes that fire had always existed.

In gymnastics one of the paths to qualification at the Olympics goes to the single highest all around placement at each continental championship from a country that did not qualify a team already. This is fairly straight forward in most places but gets dicey in one corner of the world. The Oceania Gymnastics Union is essentially a continental federation of 2 countries. Yes there are other members (Guam, Tonga, Fiji, Cook Islands, and America Samoa), but there are no elite gymnasts from those countries. Australia qualified a women's team to the Olympics, so by default that means a Kiwi WAG gets an Olympic spot. At least according to FIG. But they aren't the only ones who get to decide who is an Olympian.

I've talked about "No Olympic Tourist" Policies before, and people may have run into them in regard to Sweden and ice skating, but many small to medium sized countries have policies to limit the size of their own Olympic teams for budget reasons. These national Olympic committees (NOC) set criteria that are higher than the general qualification rules for a given sport. Sweden's is often considered the most extreme (you have to show you are in the top eight in the world, meaning you can make an Olympic final and contend for a medal. The reason they're called No Olympic Tourist Policies is because you wont be sent to the Olympics just to be there.

New Zealand has had a No Olympic Tourist Policy for decades, and while their criteria is less extreme then Sweden's it works similarly. You have to convince the NZOC that you are within the top 16 in the world (the ability to make a semifinal in athletics or swimming where races are 8 lanes wide). In 2012 Jordan Rae was one of the last gymnasts to qualify at the London Test Event, but NZOC turned down her spot and it passed on to Đỗ Thị Ngân Thương of Vietnam who finished behind her and who went on to compete in London.

In this interview from 2016, Rhythmic gymnast Tanya Moss-Barry who represented New Zealand in Los Angeles describes how initially they believed that New Zealand would send no gymnasts to the Olympics that year. Only a top 8 finish at an event in Tokyo convinced the NZOC to send her, and she believes it was at the expense of equally deserving WAG and MAG gymnasts. They would send only one of them.

It appears that Courtney McGregor was sent to Rio on the basis of her vaulting competitiveness. Which itself suggests that the people making the decisions at the NZOC don't really know much about gymnastics. McGregor came in 4th on vault at the Rio test event and 17th at 2015 Worlds. But as anyone who knows gymnastics knows... vault fields are much smaller than other apparatus and a finish in the teens doesn't mean you are as competitive as one on the other apparatus. But more power to them if they were able to get the Olympic committee to send her on that basis.

So the problem for 2024.

The WAG Olympic Qualification road has handed an Olympic spot to New Zealand by default. There are no other elite gymnasts in the region it can go to and no mechanism for that spot to be reallocated to anyone outside of Oceania. And based on the results from Worlds it is highly doubtful that the NZOC will consider either Madeleine Marshall (93rd in the AA and 110th on beam) or Reece Cobb (102nd in the AA and 56th on beam) to be competitive. Courtney McGregor is making a comeback but without competing elite in years I'm not sure how she makes that case either.

Georgia-Rose Brown recently changed countries from Australia to New Zealand but she almost certainly is banking on making an argument for her competitiveness based on her bars results (she came in 4th and 5th on bars at two World Cups in 2023). Maybe the people making a choice at NZOC wont know that 2023 World Cups aren't evidence of competitiveness. Her best bars result of the entire quad would have put her in 22nd on bars at 2023 Worlds. If she qualifies here is to hoping she can make a case. But it does raise the question of if she knew about the NZOC policy before changing countries or if she saw the automatic NZ WAG qualification spot as an opportunity and didn't realize there was an extra step. I have to believe she went into it knowing though. The NZOC is pretty well known in Kiwi circles.

So what happens to this spot if it goes to a Kiwi and the NZOC turns it down? Well... that's not clear. It could go unfilled. Or FIG could ask the IOC permission to let them revert it to the Worlds AA results as Australia's team means that Oceania already had representation.

Or some smart cookie NCAA gymnast with ties to Guam or Fiji could make a country change REAL soon and find themselves at the Olympics with a relatively easy path.

[mera-k1]

Spooky Season/Cozy Winter Event

made it to the second event!! my one year anniversary for this blog is actually on the 15th of october but i really didn't have anything planned for it.. so this event will hopefully make up for it!! some general guidelines below so please read them before requesting~

prompts are provided for both events. you do not have to pick a prompt to request! you can come up with your own ideas instead if you have smth specific in mind~

the deadline for requesting for either event is august 31st. please don't send in any requests for it afterwards, it will not be added to the line up! any unfilled slots will be cut from the final set of slots!

any gender for the reader is allowed, ofc. just be warned that if it's more fluffy or if the gender of the reader doesn't directly effect some part of the situation then it unfortunately might come out gn:(

for some fairness and well, more variation, i would like to keep half of the slots paralive and half of them as hypmic!! just so it's not dominated by one or the other.. if you send in a req for a slot that's already been filled (ex. paralive is full and you send in a req for paralive) then it will unfortunately not be counted..

Spooky Season Prompts

♡ carving pumpkins (fluff) ♡ haunted house (fluff) ♡ horror movies (fluff) ♡ bondage (smutty) ♡ sexy costumes (specify suggestive or smutty) ♡ marking (smutty) ♡ trick or treating (fluffy) ♡ test of courage (fluffy) ♡ pranks (fluffy) ♡ succubus/incubus au (specify fluff, suggestive, smutty) ♡ ^^or just plain simple demon au (specify fluff, suggestive, smut) ♡ vampire au (specify fluff, suggestive, smutty) ♡ witch au (specify fluff, suggestive, smut) ♡ ghost au (fluffy) -> optional specify plot for any au prompts!! ♡ or any other au or prompt you have in mind!

Spooky Season Slots

october 1st

mtc x reader [suggestive]

october 3rd

kanata yatonokami x reader [fluff]

october 8th

rosho tsutsujimori x reader [suggestive]

october 10th

hajun yeon x reader [suggestive]

october 15th

samatoki aohitsugi x reader [smut]

october 17th

allen sugasano x reader [smut]

october 22nd

ichiro yamada x reader [smut]

Cozy Winter Prompts

♡ presents (fluffy) ♡ mistletoe (fluffy) ♡ snowball fight (fluffy) ♡ bondage (smutty) ♡ ice play (smutty) ♡ toys (smutty) ♡ 'all i want for christmas is you...' (specify fluffy or smutty) ♡ new years eve (specify fluffy, suggestive, smutty) ♡ snowed in (specify fluffy, suggestive, smutty) ♡ baking (fluffy) ♡ unwrapping (specify fluffy, suggestive, smutty) ♡ christmas day (fluffy) ♡ cozy cuddles (fluffy) ♡ warming up (specify fluffy or suggestive) ♡ or any other prompt you have in mind!

Cozy Winter Slots

december 17th

hifudoppo x reader [fluff]

december 19th

kanata yatonokami x reader [smut]

december 24th

nayuta yatonokami x reader [fluff]

december 26th

hajun yeon x reader [smut]

december 31st

naoakira saimon x reader [fluff]

january 2nd

kuko harai x reader [fluff]

january 7th

rio mason busujima x reader [smut]

[musingsofaraven]

A collection of random rambling musings and thoughts about Agatha All Along and possibly where the show is going. So if you don’t want possible spoilers, look away.

I don’t think Teen is intentionally harming anyone, but I do think he’s using opportunities to try to let the others let him “join” the coven, because he very much has something he wants by completing the Road.

I saw someone postulate that the way episode 5 ended with the deliberate slowing down of lines being delivered and the way Agatha and Teen were filmed meant that the show was going to start focusing more on Teen as the lead, but I think that’s not very likely. One reason is there was an interview with Jac Schaeffer where she was talking about how they were playing around with leaking different titles to the show, but it was always intended to be titled “Agatha All Along” because the focus of the story *is* Agatha. And also, this show is so incredibly focused on women’s relationships with and to each other, why would they make such a heel turn to focusing on the one guy character? Knowing who Teen is now, there’s no way he won’t be in future Marvel productions. They don’t need to make him the whole focus of the show.

Part of the reason so much was happening in the episode 5 “test” was because they weren’t paying attention to the rules of the Ouija board. It clearly said that once a contact was done, you had to say “goodbye.”

But none of them ever did that.

We had Agatha doing a fake Sharon, someone (👀) spelled out “death” which made Rio laugh, and then Agatha really was possessed by her mother, but none of them moved the window piece to the goodbye.

But Nicholas Scratch did.

He saved his mother. His calling out to her distracted Agatha from continuing to drain Alice. It was too late, but she did stop.

And then he moved the window piece to “goodbye” ending the trial.

We’re at the midpoint of the story, and that’s usually where the main character is at their lowest.

What if the point of this test-ish thing was to drag Agatha to that low point? But at the same time give her the tools to rise out of it?

She heard her son call out to her to stop what she was doing, and then said “goodbye” to her. So, it’s 100% confirmed for Agatha now that he’s still dead.

Then you have Teen, who she’s figured out that he’s Wanda’s son, and she’s thinking about all of the actions and possible manipulations he’s done, which were so like his mother (another low point for her being the events of WandaVision).

We’ve seen Agatha almost obsess over her son. In her fake world, she’d go and look at his room. She named her rabbit after him. She *hoped* that Teen was gonna be him.

So what’s the turn she’s going to have? Maybe it’s her needing to say goodbye to Nicholas and let herself start to heal. Maybe it’s also growing closer and building a better relationship with Teen in order to somewhat repair the divide between her and Wanda?

I would bet MONEY that we’re going to see what actually happened with Nicholas’ death, and I would also bet money (but less of it) on it being a tragedy, not something where she directly murdered him (at least with the intent to murder him). At worst, I think it could be a scenario where she’s told in order to get power she had to sacrifice her son, but she thought she could outwit the agreement. But I still don’t think she was the one to kill him. I think it’s a bit more likely that Agatha got the powers, she truly couldn’t control them (and she wasn’t lying to Teen in the last episode), and some accident happened where Nicholas was killed. They’ve been setting up the whole thing of Agatha not really being in control of the power just enough for me to think that has to come into play again.

And Rio had to do her job, which Agatha resented her for, and it harmed their relationship. I would also bet money on Rio having been in a relationship with Agatha at the time of Nicholas’ death. Rio certainly knows Agatha’s mother and is INCREDIBLY protective of Agatha against her mother. Maybe their queer relationship is why Agatha’s mother was so cruel to her in episode 5, and why she was so certain in the WandaVision flashbacks that Agatha was evil. Queerness was considered worse than adultery in puritanical New England, and would bring a death penalty.

And part of what this show is doing is showing how women were persecuted in history for being themselves, but that each of those things were actually strengths. Jen with being a midwife and rootworker, and it’s those things which Agatha outright tells her were *so important* and why she left her alone, and it was Jen drawing on that knowledge that passed that trial. And Alice’s was the relationship with her mother, and it was her healing that internal relationship with her mother that passed the trial. So why not showing Agatha and Rio being persecuted for being queer, and the way they pass that trial is healing that relationship?

But I don’t think that’s Agatha’s trial. I think that’s Rio’s trial.

So I think the final trials are:

- Lilia and healing her from her persecution for divination.

- Rio and healing the relationship with Agatha connected to their persecution for their relationship.

- And Agatha finally starting to heal from the death of Nicholas by making a connection with Teen.

And yeah. Thinky thoughts and random musings done for the night.

I’m REALLY enjoying this show

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Taylor Swift tour puts spotlight on Brazil’s mega-event negligence

The Eras Tour, the world’s largest this year, served as a magnifying glass for the problems created by the draconian relationship between event organizers and fans

“I don’t know what my purpose in life will be after I see Taylor,” said Ana Clara Benevides on X (formerly Twitter), ten days before U.S. pop supernova Taylor Swift was scheduled to begin three days of concerts in Rio de Janeiro, between November 17 and 19.

Ms. Benevides traveled more than 1,700 kilometers from her hometown in Mato Grosso do Sul state and arrived early in the morning at the Nilton Santos Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, where the show took place. 

During the night’s opening number, “Miss Americana and The Heartbreak Prince,” Ms. Benevides and her cousin hugged each other. It was a much-awaited dream coming true. But during the second song, “Cruel Summer,” she fell to the floor, unconscious.

A few minutes later, medical teams confirmed that Ms. Benevides was dead after going into cardiac arrest. According to a preliminary coroner’s report, she had suffered a pulmonary hemorrhage. More tests are being conducted to determine the cause of death. Ms. Benevides had no pre-existing illnesses and experts say that the most likely reason for her death was a reaction to extreme temperature.

Undergoing an extreme heatwave that increased temperatures by an average of 5ºC, according to the National Institute of Meteorology, thermometers in Rio de Janeiro went above 40ºC on the day of Taylor Swift’s first show. The heat index inside the stadium was close to 60ºC. According to extreme weather researcher Maximiliano Herrera, that was “arguably the highest” index in the history of the Americas.

Fans inside the stadium said that ventilation outlets were covered so that those milling around outside could not watch the concert for free. A metal plate was installed near the stage railing to protect the grass but created an inferno that baked spectators. Pyrotechnics used during the singer’s performance ended up turning the stadium into an oven.

To make matters worse, Time for Fun (T4F), the company managing the event, prohibited fans from entering the premises with water bottles. Plastic cups of no more than 200 milliliters were sold for BRL 8 (USD 1.64), four times the regular price. At one point, Taylor Swift herself stopped the show to hand out water to the fans.

Continue reading.