#seriously that tag is 90% classic rock

[rascals-forthememories]

Alex V. “Ajax” Johnson moodboard + random headcanons

🎸⋆➤Imagine him to be born in the early 80’s, ok 1988 which makes him a millennial of course, raised in very supportive but sassy asf parents, he could've been from the hood but he's too nice for hell. His momma is very good at coming up with insults, but she's got a very good voice, and dad is clever dude who knows life hacks n shi then they all moved to a citylife. He has to be a city boy...

🎸⋆➤He and Keegan were either childhood best friends bc they were neighbors, went to the same school, playing pranks and causing trouble but always having each other's backs. Their moms being friends is also a nice touch, maybe they even used to arrange play dates for them when they were younger.

🎸⋆➤Being a bit of a 90s video game nerd. Maybe he had a SNES and Genesis when he was a kid, and now as a teen he's moved on to the 360 or PlayStation. (challenging Jemima to random games or competitions, just to see who can be the more competitive) He might even have a Game Boy stashed away somewhere for all those late-night gaming sessions. He'd probably be the one to drag the others into retro gaming binges where they'd spend hours playing old school Mario or Zelda, until Merrick or Keegan finally puts a stop to it. Always trolling Keegan at Mariokartt, Ajax's goal isn't to win the race, his goal is to green shell Keegan in game.

🎸⋆➤Ajax as the 2nd bassist in the band, making it a duo with Keegan. Maybe they bonded over their mutual love for bass, spending hours practicing together and jamming out to their favourite songs. They could even have a friendly rivalry going on, trying to outdo each other during rehearsal and constantly one-upping each other's riffs and licks.

🎸⋆➤^And considering Ajax's "cheesy goofball" personality, I could see him always coming up with the cheesiest bass-related puns and jokes. Like when Keegan asks him to play a funky bass line, Ajax might respond with a cheesy line like "Oh, you want funk? I've got the funk, baby! I'll hit that note so hard, you'll hear it in your bones!" or "You want to make the bass sing? Well, I've got the perfect recipe - a pinch of slapping, a dash of popping, and a whole lot of attitude!"

🎸⋆➤Can beatbox decently but only to the point he can impress people who don't beatbox, not the crazy sounds. Hes just very good with rhythm and beat.

🎸⋆➤DEFINITELY be all over Keegan for having Jemíma, just picture him constantly teasing Keegan about her, saying things like "Hey, look who's got a pretty girl tagging along with him lately!" or "Hey, loverboy, can you spare a minute from your little date to focus on the music for once?" Maybe he'd even write a cheesy love song about Keegan and Jemima, just to get under Keegan's skin. "Love Ballad of the Bassists," anyone?

🎸⋆➤Ajax's bassist skills would pair with Keegan's - both of them are pretty damn good. But where Keegan is more technical and focused on precision and technical skill, Ajax would be wilder and more energetic, playing with raw energy and power.

🎸⋆➤Loves indie rock and the classic boy band sound of the Backstreet Boys. And the drummer covers are a great touch too! Maybe he stumbled across a video of a sick drum cover on YouTube one day and got hooked, spending hours watching and rewatching the performance and trying to mimic the insane beats. Now, he's a total drum cover enthusiast, always keeping an eye out for the latest and greatest covers on the internet. (Meanwhile, Merrick might roll his eyes at Ajax's love for drum covers, saying something like "Seriously, man? You're more obsessed with those drum covers than you are with actual music. But Ajax would just wave him off and say, "Hey, you're not the one playing the thunder-making instrument here)

🎸⋆➤Has a few other quirky habits and interests outside of music. Maybe a secret love for collecting vintage action figures or sports memorabilia, or a hidden talent for painting or drawing. A weird addiction to eating way too much chocolate or candy and strange obsession with collecting rare bands vinyl's like ''Yo check this out''. He’s also a bit of a wisecracker and loves to banter back and forth with his friends. Habit of accidentally dropping his bass during rehearsal and blaming it on the other guys, saying they spooked him or something.

[notasapleasure]

Doctor Who special: The Waters of Mars (2009)

Ok, I know there have been proper screenshots of this in the tags already, so just a quick one for completism’s sake, in case anyone gives a shit about how it fits into my elaborate ranking...

Dr Tarak Ital MD, part of the ill-fated 2059 Bowie Base One colony that Ten just...stumbles upon in time to see everything go to shit!

Basically: GREAT episode of DW that I remember fondly. I adore Captain Adelaide Brooke. Bad times if you’re *checks notesfriends’ tags*...Mars’ first lesbian

What the absolute bejaysus is this backstory?! Is his history as a 400m runner why he came zooming out to see the Doctor like a labrador puppy at playgroup?

....sorry what was the question I got distracted by the head-shot

The Martian pioneers! Basically the Doctor knows the mission is going to go tits-up in an unknown and horrible way and he rocked up here by accident. It’s an unchangeable event that has ramifications for future space travel, so he keeps saying he needs to leave because he can’t alter this part of the timeline and....keeps getting compelled to stay by curiosity/Adelaide Brookes being a badass. But he knows everyone is supposed to die that day and funnily enough....things begin to go wrong.

Look I’m taking advantage of all the background shots I can get before the thing happens (the thing being a Martian water parasite that zombifies its hosts). He follows procedure! He’s more careful than 90% of people in the Alien franchise films!

Quizzical eyebrows squad goals

Andy Stone is very much already a zombified host for the Martian water parasite

Tarak finds Andy uhhh dripping

It does not go well for him

Yep. That sure is. A scrceenshot.

I’m not so into the new look, sorry monsterfuckers - texturally unappealing.

But he does roar. And gush.

I’m. I’ll stop now.

---

Rating

Dead? Yeah, I don’t think you come back from this parasite even if they’d found a way to contain it, there’s no chance of looking for a cure (not when your genius MD has been zombified)

Evil? No, Tarak seems lovely! And applying human morals to the Martian thing inhabiting him is kind of pointless

Affects the plot? Not at all :’)

Seriously you guys this is an excellent episode: classic DW, classic Ten, David Tennant gurning and declaiming and having a whole emotional dialogue with Time itself!!! But if you just want to look at Joplin Sibtain’s pretty face, this is the sum of it. So 2.5/5 because look at that hair it’s luscious.

[izzyhandsgf]

I posted 1,613 times in 2022

That's 1,613 more posts than 2021!

144 posts created (9%)

1,469 posts reblogged (91%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@cromatheskeleton

@bansq

@werenotacoupleyesyouare

@what-when-where-and-y

@metkapop

I tagged 139 of my posts in 2022

#tnt duo - 96 posts

#tnt duo brainrot because i love them - 90 posts

#quackity - 88 posts

#tntduo - 84 posts

#wilbur soot - 80 posts

#quackbur - 79 posts

#tw quackbur shipping - 74 posts

#dream smp - 72 posts

#dsmp - 71 posts

#wilbur - 70 posts

Longest Tag: 70 characters

#seriously tho if you have ideas please tell me writers block  h u r ts

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

I love to think that when either Wilbur or Quackity is questioned about the nature of their relationship with the other that they’ll be all like “WHAT??!! H-HIM??? My relationship with him is PURELY business, I want absolutely NOTHING to do with the likes of HIM,” in utter indignation at this suggestion and then cut to five minutes later where they’re making out against the burger van.

205 notes - Posted January 2, 2022

#4

you’re in his DMs, I’m terrorising the casino he owns whilst simultaneously trying to fix every mistake i’ve made in the past. We are not the same.

212 notes - Posted August 22, 2022

#3

Ok but like- I’m just saying if a Revived Wilbur and Quackity had a wedding (yes I know of the multitudes of trauma, I’ve thought this whole thing out lmao), then you can’t tell me that Wilbur would just show up in the most gorgeous, lacy, fitted, ivory-white dress ever, and then just throw his filthy old trenchcoat on top and act like he’s a fucking fashion icon.

He’d just be walking up the aisle and everyone there would just be like smh Wilbur couldn’t you go one day without the trenchcoat you bloody JD kinnie.

Also Tommy would most definitely be the flower boy and throw cactuses and shit at people he didn’t like, Niki would be Wilbur’s maid of honour (we love ignoring canon to make fluffy scenarios /hj), Slime would be Quackity’s best man and naturally, it’d be a classic church prime wedding as per tradition.

256 notes - Posted January 10, 2022

#2

the men of the dsmp really just knew that straight relationships weren’t gonna be a thing so just said fuck it and went about dating men

281 notes - Posted July 13, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

i am starting to genuinely belive that my mans c!wilbur just had a massive sexuality crisis in limbo- 

like he comes out of complete and utter sexual depravity almost 100% gayer? my guy probably didn’t have much to do, and when the mind gets bored, the mind starts to think of homosexual things.

i picture him just like sitting alone in the train station, absent-mindedly throwing a rock at the walls, when his brain is just like- “Ok but hear me out- what about men?”

“and what about quackity in particular?”

LIKE- you cannot tell me that this man wasn’t on Wilbur’s brain 24/7, where else do you think this sudden urge to go see him came from?? C!Wilbur definitely had nice thoughts about a certain pretty man, questioned his sexuality ten times a day, and with a splendiferous revival ended up almost 500x more homosexual. That’s just how it works now.

i also have like another million theories about how he changed during the course of his limbo but we’ll save those for another tumblr post shall we-

289 notes - Posted March 12, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[leapinarmadillo]

I don't follow any classic rock tags, I just follow the tag "pornstache"

[woodsfae]

Previous episode (B5 the Gathering) here!

Alright, I’m posted up with my oral surgery recovery-friendly pudding and ep 1! I decided to pick a tag for all my first time Babylon 5 watching, which is the first one I’ve tagged below, so y’all can follow or blacklist that as you like.

Babylon 5: Midnight on the Firing Line

I’ve definitely watched too much classic sci-fi because these extremely dated visual effects make me so happy. I love them.

Garibaldi is here, Centauri Ambassador is here, there’s a new crew member...where’s Laurel?! I need her to be in this.

 I hated Londo every second in the Gathering but he’s hilarious in this so far.

I really have to get the main alien species and ambassador names down. In my head they’re Hair, Spots, Rock Garden, and Vorlon.

Hair: Centauri - Londo Mollari Spots: Narn - G’Kar Rock Garden: Minbari? Delenn? Vorlon - Kosh

I caved and googled Laurel and am utterly devastated to find out that my beloved will not be a series regular. This is so unfair. I have strong words to send 29 years into the past.

Ivanova has the same eyeliner style that I did in 2007. Not sure if she’s ahead of her (series release) time, or I was way behind mine (probably the latter).

Mister Garibaldi. You are sitting at my station, using my equipment. Is there a reason for this? Or to save time should I just go ahead and snap your hands off at the wrist?

Ivanova is growing on me. I support women threatening disproportionate, gratuitous violence. And Garibaldi is such a limp rag (affectionate). I wanna see her wring him out over the hydroponics.

This is so homoerotic.

Will someone please say Rock Garden’s name and species? Why are all the characters so averse to using her name? Is this Delenn? I’ve seen gifs that I think are of her.

Oh shit Ivanova is sexy as fuck with her hair down and that dangly choker necklace.

whoof. Girl.

It’s so hard picking what to quote/gif, because I want to quote and gif practically everything Ivanova says in this scene. So I compromised by making two gifs with no quotes.

Now. Kiss. Seriously. Because that is not a straight look. They gay.

“When they discover what you are [...] you can join the Psi Corps, or go to prison.” damn, that’s dystopian as fuck.

Holy shit. 😳🥵 I’ve shipped on less. This is from the 90’s so if it’s queerbaiting I won’t be surprised but holy hell, these two are queer as hell for each other.

I am so relieved that the thing Garibaldi wanted to show Rock Garden is old Daffy Duck cartoons. This is only reinforcing my opinion that he’s a wringable dishrag (affectionate.)

[end episode]

My final thoughts are: 1. the series writers have a serious aversion to using female characters’ names. Tumblr tags suggested Susan Ivanova for me, but I had to ecosia-search “Babylon 5 telepaths” and then the suggested list of names to get to Talia Winters. I am now pretty confident that Rock Garden is actually named Delenn.

2. This show is exactly the sort of thing I love, and I’m pleased that I’m watching it right when the remastered version is available. So crisp! So pretty!

3. How rampant are spoilers? I already saw something about Ivanova being a clone, so I’m assuming I should avoid looking things up. Hence why I don’t know what probably-Delenn’s species is called.

Also, I figured out how to make HBO play on firefox, which also fixed the screen recording for gifs issue! Huzzah!

Next Episode

[welcometowcwmondaynitro]

WCW Monday Nitro 09/09/1996

Shit be exploding, so you know what time it is.

Yes sir.

Once again we are not given a location this week, which generally means the town is too small-time for the big shots at WCW to even consider giving a shout out to. My research tells me this broadcast comes from the Columbus Civic Centre in Columbus, Georgia.  

As always we are introduced to our first hour announce team, Schiavone and Zbyszko.

Tony is looking quite smart this evening. Larry as expected has a horrific multcoloured abomination on underneath his jacket. It’s basically his gimmick a this point so whatever. 

They talk about how the balance of power has shifted to the nWo and Larry says Giant is “the biggest traitor since Benedict Arnold”, nice ancient reference there, Larry. We get a recap of last week’s awesome show-ending brawl. 

Once they’re done wrapping this up, Goldberg’s music plays. What? I check my file - yes, definitely 9th September 1996. Has Goldberg time travelled back to 1996 and changed history by debuting early?

Well, either that is one hell of a disguise or no, actually Goldberg’s theme music was first used by this Japanese guy called Pat Tanaka. It’s really weird seeing this random fella walk out to Goldberg’s music. The crowd boo mildly - I guess just because he’s Japanese? I don’t remember there being any storyline reason to boo him, anyway. 

Pat’s opponent is... this.

Looks like a mascot from a early/mid-90s video game brought to life. If this is Super Calo then I am curious as to what regular Calo is like. I am unsure as to what makes this version ‘Super’, but maybe we’ll find out in the upcoming match. Mike Tenay joins the announce crew because it is Calo’s debut and Tenay is the only one likely to know anything about him.

Pat Tanaka vs Super Calo

I was kind of hoping Tanaka would start the match with a spear and then jackhammer Calo into oblivion, but no such luck. 

As one would anticipate from a man dressed like a stereotypical kung-fu master in an 80s movie, Tanaka starts the match off with some kicks.

Calo jumps around pointlessly and then gets kicked in the face. Bants.

Tenay tells us Calo’s name and look comes from the “top rap group” in Mexico. He does not name this group. Confusingly wikipedia claims Calo is named after a Mexican rock group with the same name, but his image is meant to convey a rapper. So, just... what? Also what rapper has ever looked like Super Calo? In Mexico is that how rappers dress? 

Well anyway this odd fellow somersaults over the ropes onto Tanaka outside of the ring. 

The screen then cuts to this.

 Then we’re back to the match. OK then. 

Tanaka hits Calo with a powerbomb, which leads to Tony talking about him being “so schooled in the martial arts”. Yes, because we all know that classic martial arts move the powerbomb. Often followed by a leg drop and a scorpion deathlock. 

The ending to this match is beyond ridiculous. 

First, Tanaka puts Calo onto the top turnbuckle.

Neither man seems to know what is meant to happen next, so they awkwardly wrap their arms around each other.

Tanaka then lifts Calo up like he’s going for an inverse piledriver and falls backwards.

Apparently he knocks himself out, gets pinned, and loses.

What an idiot.

Super Calo defeats Pat Tanaka via Pinfall.

Nothing too super about our friend Calo in this one I’m afraid. His victory came largely because Tanaka is a super dunce.

We got some lads in the front row who are big fans of the classic moustache.

They seem quite pleased that Calo emerged victorious.

Just under seven minutes in and we throw back to Mean Gene in the locker room with Rick Steiner. This should be good.

Shirts hanging out of the lockers behind them, as you do. 

Gene asks Rick Steiner about Nick Patrick’s questionable officiating - referring to the incident last week where Luger was disqualified in seconds for basically nothing. Rick says that he had Luger, and Gene saw it. Total bullshit as the match had barely started, and Gene does point that out. 

Luger walks into the frame as we see last week’s replay. Rick is continually going on about how he was going to win, sounding like a mentally challenged three year old. On the other hand this is a guy who also genuinely thinks he’s a dog, so... I should probably be impressed that he is able to form words and put them into a somewhat coherent structure.

Gene says that Steiner is “a little confused” in the understatement of the century, 

Luger tells Rick that he’s “a great tag team wrestler” but he feels like he has the edge in a singles environment. Rick continues to fail to understand basic english and keeps repeating “I can beat you, ask Sting” and then starts calling for Sting.

Gene then ushers Rick away like an unruly child as Luger walks off as well. Gene says that Luger was alluding that Rick “doesn’t have it upstairs”, pointing to his head. Wow, what a dick. Luger didn’t say anything like that. All he implied was that he was a better singles wrestler than Rick. Not sure where Gene has gotten his interpretation from, but my guess is he just wants to stir the pot as usual.

Next it’s nWo announcement time.

Just the usual t-shirt ad with Nash saying “all proceeds go towards the Ric Flair retirement fund”. Joke’s on him, that fund must have accrued some serious cash before it was finally paid out.

We’re back and...

Somebody buy these poor kids some real nWo t-shirts. 

Where did these people come from? Did they decide to stop by Nitro after a corporate dinner or something? 

Are these pilots in the audience as well? Wtf? Why are all these people coming to the show dressed in their work clothes? Is this a common thing in the States?

Oh, hey, guess what - Glacier debuted. I would say “remember all that hype” but if you’ve been reading this sad collection of nostalgic drivel then you will indeed remember the many Glacier adverts that have been on every Nitro broadcast since May or so. We’re now in September and Glacier finally had his first match... on WCW Pro.

Seriously.

WCW Pro is like... Sunday Night Heat or Velocity in WWE terms. It’s below WCW Saturday Night for fuck’s sake.  Tony calls it “one of the most eagerly anticipated debuts ever” - which is why he made his first appearance on WCW FUCKING PRO. Oh WCW, what are you like?

Larry says Glacier will be “a force to be reckoned with”, which, spoiler alert. turns out to be the opposite.

  Oh good, these two walking charisma vacuums.

And these two lumbering idiots. WCW, the best wrestling on the planet. How could WWF in 1996 find no way to entice people away from Pat Tanaka vs Super Calo and The AFC vs the Nasty Boys? Seriously. It isn’t that difficult. 

The AFC do their usual schtick of singing the Canadian national anthem badly and the crowd get angry because ‘Murica fuck yeah and whatever. The Nasty Boys say “fuck this” and attack the AFC after about 10 seconds of this bullshit, getting the match started.

The Amazing French Canadians Vs The Nasty Boys

You don’t care about this match. I don’t care about this match. Let’s just skip to the end.

Knobbs whacks the eyepatch guy with the flag the AFC brought out. Saggs pins for the win. 

The Nasty Boys defeat The Amazing French Canadians via Pinfall.

Mean Gene comes scurrying out to interview the Nastys, for some reason.

Saggs says everybody has been pointing the finger at the Nasty Boys, accusing them of being with the nWo (can’t imagine anybody really cares but OK, sure). Saggs says the Nasty’s are only worried about the tag titles which are in WCW, ergo they aren’t interested in joining the nWo. Does he not realise that faction affiliation is irrelevent as far as challenging for belts is concerned? I mean, Hogan is literally WCW Heavyweight champion at this point in time. 

Knobbs says that the Nasty’s don’t care about the nWo, they’re in WCW and they’re coming for Harlem Heat to take the tag team titles. Short and to the point, which is fine by me, even if the Nasty’s appear to be under the mistaken impression- that joining the nWo would invalidate them from challenging for the tag titles. 

We’re back from a commercial break to find Scott Norton and Sgt Craig Pittman in the ring.

Sgt Craig Pittman Vs Scott Norton

The commentators bill this as a “hold versus hold” match and I’m not sure what this means, as I was under the impression every match is hold versus hold. But whatever. 

After some back and forth Pittman decides that it’s time to ram his head into Norton’s sternum. 

It looks pretty painful and not especially effective, but Pittman enjoys it so much he does it again. 

They head to the outside of the ring. Norton gets whipped against the guardrail, the entirety of which moves upon impact, but then Norton regains control by slamming Pittman’s shoulder into the ring post. 

Norton locks in the armbar but the Sarge will not give up. Long gets onto the ring apron to beg Pittman to give in, but he won’t. WCW, for reasons beyond my understanding, is very careful about protecting Sgt. Craig Pittman. He never gets pushed, as far as I remember, but this man WILL NOT QUIT.

Then... 

Ice Train wanders out wearing this abomination. Seriously - what the fuck? It’s like a demin vest with a backpack built in. It’s something you would expect to see an eight-year old girl in the mid-90s wearing over the top of a t-shirt or something. What clothing brand figured that this design was suitable for huge, beefy dudes? I don’t know, but they clearly have a customer in Ice Train.

Train throws in the towel for Pittman.�� 

Scott Norton defeats Sgt. Craig Pittman via Forfeit. 

He enters the ring and stares down at Norton, who is looking at Train’s vest top and moobs like “dafuq?”

The two former amigos have a staredown which doesn’t lead anywhere. 

Pepboys Power Pin of the Week is a submission. Go figure.

We head to the locker room where Gene-o is with Ric Flair, Arn Anderson and Lex Luger.

Three of these men are dressed appropriately. The other is Lex Luger.

Apparently Sting is supposed to be a part of this interview as well but is nowhere to be found. Luger assures Flair & Arn that Sting is in the building, but the Horsemen are having none of it and are concerned that Sting doesn’t have his head in the game. Flair starts going crazy and practically flings himself into an alternate dimension with his erratic movements.

Like a jet propeller is being put directly in front of his face.

Anyway eventually these two sad sacks come lumbering in...

Mongo looks like he’s about to explode, whilst Benoit as usual appears barely awake. Mongo yells about not being able to count on Luger and Sting. Luger reiterates that Sting is in the building somewhere, he’s just not around for the interview. The Horsemen do seem overly paranoid here - how hard would it be to track Sting down and talk to him if they are this pissed off? 

Arn says he’s called ahead to Winston, Salem (where Fall Brawl/War Games is being held) to pre-book himself a hospital room as he assumes he’s going to need one. Seems like a somewhat pessimistic thing to do, but is it even possible to pre-book hospital room? Arn is talking like he’s booked a hotel room for the night. Strange lad. He also suggests Hogan uses battery acid to burn out his eyes which... I mean, don’t give the guy ideas, Arn.  

Interview ends with everybody talking over each other and Flair wooing a lot - so, the same as most Horsemen interviews.

People in the crowd are holding these signs which say “nWo - you haven’t seen bad... but it’s coming!” - indeed, Hogan Vs Piper is coming.

We get a recap of this thrilling DDP/Eddie/Chavo storyline which nobody cares about, but why this is recapped is beyond me as the next match has nothing to do with any of those three. 

Instead, out comes “the desparado” himself, Joe Gomez.

Somebody throws a wad of paper at him as he enters. Obviously not a fan.

His opponent is Juventud Guerrera,  who Tony repeatedly refers to as Juventud Guerrero. 

As Juvi enters he runs past these ladies, who appear both baffled and unimpressed with him.

Cold.

Joe Gomez Vs Juventud Guerrera

The match starts off okay, but descends into disaster fairly quickly as Juvi starts trying various lucha things which poor Joe is clearly not comfortable with. First Juvi stands on the apron, jumps onto the ropes as Gomez slowly walks towards him and does this...

It’s clear from this angle alone that there is no way in hell Juvi is going to reach Gomez. In fairness to WCW they switch camera angle just in time to make it look slightly less terrible, although I imagine it was more down to luck than skill. Nonetheless Gomez at least tries to sell the move, falling backwards theatrically.

Weeee! Points for effort if not execution. 

This happens next, and thanks to Uproxx “Best and Worst of WCW Monday Nitro” series (check it out, it’s great) I have a GIF to put into pictures what I would struggle to put into words.

Speaks for itself.

After this Juvi seems to want to go for a hurricanrana from the top turnbuckle but I‘m not sure if they botch this as well or it was the plan, but Juvi ends up backflipping away from the turnbuckle and then catching Gomez with a weak looking dropkick as he jumps towards Juvi.

Juvi just about manages to hit the finishing move...

But even that looks a little bit dodgy. At least Joe just had to lay there for this one. Ref counts to three and mercifully this one is over. Not sure if Gomez or Juvi are to blame for this shitshow, but either way I advise never putting them together again.

Juventud Guerrera defeats Joe Gomez via Pinfall.

For some reason Mean Gene is on the ramp to interview Nick Patrick. Oh good, more of this storyline.

Before they start the interview though, as Juventud walks past Gene and Patrick, Gene says “very good match there on the part of Juventud Guerrera”, then gives Juvi a disdainful look and mutters “guy just kind of... wanders around here”. LOL. Why is Gene throwing shade at poor Juvi? “Guy just wanders around here”, like he’s a lost child or something. I guess Gene is still salty about the interview with Juvi that went wrong a couple of weeks ago, but come on, that was hardly Juvi’s fault. Obvious Gene is still holding a grudge though. 

I don’t think anybody really wants to hear from these two ballbags but here we are anyway. 

Gene is accusing Patrick of making too many controversial calls for it to just be coincidence, whilst Patrick is accusing Gene of being a shit-stirring cock cheese who needs to get a life. Neither are lying but nobody really cares either. What is funny is that Okerlund is very haughty and dismissive of Patrick - until Patrick threatens to take Gene to court - at which point Gene stutters “well I-I hope that doesn’t happen” before saying “thank you very much Nick Patrick, sir, thank you” to Patrick as he walks off. Pathetic. 

Meanwhile Hogan, Hall, Nash and the Giant are outside in the pouring rain putting those nWo flyers with the “you haven’t seen bad... but it’s coming” slogan on random cars. This seems like a total waste of time as by the time the car owners get back to their vehicles the rain would probably have destroyed those flyers anyway.  Do these guys really have nothing better to do? Tony tells us the nWo are “literally” in the parking lot - as opposed to what, being there in spirit?

Ted DiBiase is the smartest of the lot as he 1) has an umbrella and 2) isn’t wasting his time putting up useless flyers in the pouring rain. He’s talking to somebody in the car, and the announcers are shitting themselves as to who it might be, as they tend to do. For all they know DiBiase might just be talking to the driver. 

“HERE’S A STORY OF TWO BROTHERS, RICK AND SCOTT!”

Just Rick tonight. He comes out doing that sad half-bark he does whenever something is troubling him. 

His opponent, of course, is Flexy Lexy.

Rick Steiner Vs Lex Luger

These two are not exactly known as ‘ring generals’ so I am not expecting a classic here. Let’s see, though. Perhaps we will all be pleasantly surprised. 

After various arm drags, headlocks, shoulder blocks, and so on, this happens.

Uh...

Yeah. Rick is basically molesting Luger in the ring and keeps this up for a disturbing amount of time. I guess it’s meant to show his amateur wrestling background but it basically just looks like sexual assault. Rick’s hands are going to places they really should not. 

Hour two begins with the usual fireworks. Bischoff, Heenan and Tenay come in on commentary for the rest of the show. 

Rick hits Luger with a nice powerslam, and Randy Anderson cannot bear to watch the impact. The crowd bark their approval which, personally, I don’t think is helpful. Rick’s clinical lycanthropy is only going to get worse if people bark at him when he does something good. Or bark at him in general, really.

More cuddling. Back away, Rick. Even Randy Anderson is telling him to cut it out at this point.

Luger takes control with a powerslam and signals for the rack. However, before he can attempt his finishing move...

This dicksplash comes running out waving his arms around. Looks like he’s doing the sieg heil there but fairly sure it’s just the timing of the screenshot.

Anyhow, Patrick tells Luger to follow him out the back, yelling something about the nWo beating up Sting.

Considering Patrick’s recent behaviour, Lex, it might not be wise to...

OK. Never mind. Of course Luger goes running after Patrick, abandoning the match entirely and getting himself counted out. 

Everyone looking towards the entrance way like “where’s he going?” 

Rick Steiner defeats Lex Luger via Countout.

We get a shot of DiBiase talking to the mystery man in the limo. Sting’s voice is heard but it is blatantly piped in from some other promo. He says he’s “tired of the DTA stuff, don’t trust anybody”, so I guess he’s not a fan of Stone Cold Steve Austin. DiBiase pretends to talk to the pre-taped Sting voice until Lex shows up.

A guy who is clearly not Sting gets out of the limo and starts beating up Luger whilst Bischoff screams “NO! NO!”

I have the advantage of hindsight and my monitor is probably bigger than most people’s TVs back in 1996... but still, it’s really obviously not Sting. Were people genuinely fooled by this? 

The nWo along with “Sting” beat Luger down and leave him laying in a broken heap in the rain...

It has not been a good night for Luger. First he got yelled at by the Horsemen, then he spent ten minutes getting inappropriately touched by Rick Steiner during their match, then he gets smacked around by the nWo and left on the ground in the pouring rain. Bad times for sure. Although if you’re stupid enough to follow Nick Patrick anywhere... 

Luger does manage to get back up but ends up just kind of wandering around in the rain looking confused whilst the nWo flee, leaving the limos parked outside the building.

These bois are not impressed by what they have just seen. Tenay looks like a dad who is about to grab his belt and put a whippin’ on somebody. Bischoff is indignant. Heenan wears the expression of a man who was just forced to sit through every Raw from 2015. Pure torture. 

Bischoff says he has an update which is literally “we don’t know where [the nWo] are. I’m sorry. I don’t know”. Well thanks for that. Very helpful. 

We get a long recap of last week’s angle including more footage of the amazing all-out brawl that ended the show. Then we get another nWo advert for their t-shirt. 

A bunch of random jobbers are outside with Luger and Rick Steiner milling around the limo yelling out “DIBIASE!” - as if he’ll just pop up and be like “sup bois?” - pointless endeavour. Rick Steiner is the only one smart enough to bring an umbrella outside. Let that one sink in. Luger chucks a bunch of stuff out of one of the limos onto the floor which seems unnecessary. 

Out comes pre-Flock Billy Kidman. The commentators could not care less, just droning on about Sting’s supposed “defection”. 

The other combatant in this contest is Cruiserweight champion Rey Mysterio Jr.

Rey Mysterio Jr Vs Billy Kidman

The announcers spend the entire match in ‘sad voice’, like their dogs have all collectively died. It’s really annoying.

The match spills to the outside very quickly. Rey gets the advantage and rolls Kidman back in. He attempts to jump off the ropes from the apron, but Kidman knows what’s coming and meets Rey with a dropkick to the chest.

Kidman slams Rey in the centre of the ring, runs over to the turnbuckle and leaps off.

Just a two count though. Rey wins the match soon after this by flipping off the ropes onto Kidman.

It looks weak but whatever. This wasn’t anything special.

Rey Mysterio defeats Billy Kidman via Pinfall.

We come back from a commercial and the Dungeon’s of Doom’s “music” is playing, and I put that in inverted commas because it isn’t really music, just a pseudo-creepy OTT villainous laugh accompanied by some kind of chant. Whatever. Normally any sign of the Dungeon is enough to make me want to hang my head in despair, however!

If Meng is involved, it might be somewhat entertaining. Just to note those aren’t two random arms sprouting out of Meng’s shoulders – the Barbarian is behind him.

The announcers are still going on about how tragic Sting’s supposed betrayal is – and Bischoff apologises for “not giving Rey Mysterio the attention he deserves in his match”. I mean, kind of tough to take that apology seriously considering how often this has happened and will continue to happen until Nitro goes out of existence. It is the only time I can recall any commentator in WCW actually apologising for the routine ignoring of the cruiserweights in favour of talking about/complaining about the nWo, though.

These two are the opponents. Yeah, Public Enemy, they definitely deserve that pyro. Sure. Look at them waving their hands in the air like they just don’t care.

By the way, the commentators are still going on about Sting. I wonder if we’ll get another apology for ignoring this match as well? Not that I’d necessarily blame them here.

Some diehard wrestling fans here. I think we saw them previously – seemingly someone in production has taken a liking to these ladies. They look like they got lost on their way to a PTA meeting, but fuck it, might as well enjoy themselves now. Watch out for the dude behind you though, ladies. That smile worries me a little.

The Faces of Fear Vs Public Enemy

We go to a commercial break, and as soon as we come back Bischoff says “I hate to keep repeating this, but apparently Sting has joined forces with the nWo”. Bullshit, if you hated it that much you’d have shut up about it by now. I mean, jeez, we get it.

This contest is just a brawl, as you’d expect. Not exactly a match for the ages, but all of a sudden, randomly…

This dude on the left appears and begins running/skipping around the ring.

The fuck? It’s like Rockstar Spud’s demented uncle or something. 

He briefly chases Jimmy Hart, then just… vanishes? Oh, and by the way, the commentators make no mention of this. They do not acknowledge this at all. Why? Because they’re talking about everything except the match itself. Literally, I’m not kidding, it’s like this match is not happening. It’s like listening to a radio show or a podcast spliced together with unrelated WCW footage.

Wait, what? What’s happening now? The match is ongoing and they just cut to the back. Judging from the faces of these lads you’d think someone died. It’s a sombre scene to say the least – but seriously, why even have the match in the ring? What’s the point? The commentators are acting like it isn’t happening and we cut to an interview as the match is happening. Bischoff doesn’t even note that we’ve cut away from a match in progress, he just says “take it away Gene”, like this is totally normal. Whatever, I guess. It’s not like I’m desperate to see the Faces of Fear versus Public Enemy, but what a bizarre way to structure… everything.

Gene asks Arn to explain what happened in the parking lot earlier. Seemed quite self-explanatory to me and the commentators have not stopped talking about it since it happened, so the viewers really don’t need any extra information.  

Arn says he doesn’t give a shit about Luger losing a friend, or that he’s lost a team mate, he’s just shocked. He brings up Sting’s loyalty to WCW.

They actually move to a split-screen here – I guess someone in the production truck remembered there is actually a match going on. It wouldn’t be fair to deprive the dozens of Faces of Fear/Public Enemy fans the chance to see their favourite grapplers go at it.

Anyway, Arn says he has a sick feeling in his stomach, he’s shocked, and he’s out of words. He’s said quite a few already, though, so not really.

Flair stands there with his arms folded, eyeing the audience like a disappointed father.

Luger says he doesn’t have any answers, and that his “best friend in the whole world” stabbed him in the back. He then says he knows where Sting lives and where he works out, and he’s going to go and find him “right now”. Sounds like Lex is planning to murk Sting. However, he should keep in mind this is a guy who only last week tried to murder somebody by chucking a rock through the window of a limo, then stole a police car. Come to think of it, I’m not sure why Sting isn’t in jail. Regardless, I wouldn’t be chasing after him without a good plan.

Flair screams that he’s “sick of it” and just generally yells about how they’re going to beat up the nWo at War Games (including Sting). Arn says “it’s a fight to the death – yours, not ours”. I suppose that was worth emphasising? Also Arn has a tendency to see these matches as ending in death, even though it never comes close to that.

We return to the Faces of Fear/Public Enemy match. By “we” I mean the audience – the commentators are still talking about War Games. I genuinely don’t think they have said anything about the match – oh, wait a minute, Bischoff does mention the match, finally. Although he says the teams are “literally fighting for their lives” which is not exactly accurate. What is up with these people thinking matches are going to end so tragically?

Anyway, the brawling continues for a while and eventually, somehow, Rocco Rock ends up lying on a table. Barbarian heads for the top turnbuckle.

Guys, I don’t foresee this ending well. Seriously, what is the absolute best result of this? Rocco (who can clearly see Barbarian on the turnbuckle) for some reason lays there and lets Barbarian jump on him. It’ll be brutal for both. Or, Rocco moves and Barbarian crashes through the table. Either way Barbarian doesn’t win in this scenario.

Uh oh. Jimmy Hart is absolutely useless at holding Rocco down, kicked away like an insect as Rocco sits up.

That is a fucking sick bump. It’s funny because Barbarian barely takes any serious bumps at all, on Nitro at least, then he decides to say fuck it and leaps to the concrete through a table because YOLO I guess?

Well anyway he dead. Rocco brings a second table into the ring.

Looks pretty old. Nick Patrick wags his finger in disapproval, but incredibly that isn’t enough to persuade Public Enemy to stop. They lay Meng on the table, then Rocco goes to the top turnbuckle for a moonsault…

He almost misses the table entirely, only catching Meng with his legs. The table is weak enough that it breaks despite the soft contact.

You’d think that would be the spot that ends the match, but no. Meng gets up like nothing happened and starts brawling with Rocco again. Barbarian is also somehow revived and back in the ring fighting with Grunge. This is weird because the outside table spot with Barbarian getting wiped out, and then Meng getting put through the table by Rocco’s moonsault, felt like the end sequence of the match. Now it’s like we’re back at the start again. Keep in mind the match has been going for about 10 minutes now. That’s at least 7 minutes longer than is ideal for these teams, really.

Whilst Rocco and Barbarian are hugging it out in the corner, Meng puts the Tongan Death Grip on Grunge and now this one is over.

No explanation as to what the fuck was going on with that random ginger guy running around the ring earlier by the way. Oh well. During the replay Heenan accidentally calls Meng “Haku” and then goes silent immediately. Oops.

The Faces of Fear defeat Public Enemy via Pinfall.

Suddenly Okerlund appears at ringside, accompanied by the Dungeon of Doom.

Maxx, Jimmy Hart, Big Bubba, Gene, Kevin Sullivan, Hugh Morrus and Konnan. To quote Rufus from Final Fantasy 7 – “what a crew”.

Sullivan is no longer painting his face with those stupid markings, but for some reason is now wearing a white headband. Does he think he’s the Karate Kid now?

He also starts making this derp face - and this isn’t just a screen grab catching an awkward expression momentarily, he’s making this face on purpose.

For some reason we go to Jimmy Hart first, who tells the Giant “it’s the beginning of the end for you, you just don’t know it yet”. I’m sure he’s quaking in his boots.  

Big Bubba then rants about Glacier, talking about him saying he’s coming for “6 or 7 months” and asking if he’s not debuting because he’s afraid. Slight exaggeration on the 6 or 7 months from Bubba, but to be fair it does feel like those vignettes have been running for at least that long. Bubba actually doesn’t seem to be aware that Glacier debuted on WCW Pro, but it’s WCW Pro, so... understandable. Bubba calls the Dungeon of Doom “the masters of intimidation”…

What he means is that Meng is the master of intimidation. The others aren’t exactly adding much to the equation. Maxx is standing off to the side looking distinctly unimpressed by the entire thing.

With that said, bored does seem to be his default expression regardless of what is happening. I imagine he’d have the same expression even if Bubba was in the process of sprouting three heads whilst doing a kossack dance.

After calling Gene “homes”, Konnan calls Sullivan a “hardened veterano”. He then says Sullivan has seen and led gang wars from coast to coast.

Yes, Kevin Sullivan wearing that silly white headband is exactly what I think of when I think of leaders of gang wars. Sullivan’s ‘wut?’ expression here says it all. I’m not sure you can call the Dungeon of Doom/Alliance to End Hulkamania Versus Hogan and Macho Man a “gang war”. I’m not sure two people can even constitute a gang. Also Sullivan may be worried Konnan is unintentionally (?) implicating him in genuine gang wars… which probably isn’t in the Taskmaster’s best interests.

Konnan challenges the nWo to come out and confront the Dungeon, who he calls “the toughest set”. Yeah, sure. The challenge is not accepted, because the nWo are for sure terrified of a “gang” featuring the likes of Maxx, Kevin Sullivan, Big Bubba and Hugh Morrus.

Sullivan says that Savage thinks he’ll owe the Dungeon “a debt” for carrying him out from the ring last week. I doubt it in all honesty – maybe if they’d actually done something to help him before he’d been beaten down and spraypainted. Carrying him out after the fact didn’t really help much.

Anyhow, Sullivan says Savage can repay this fictional debt by first beating John Tenta, because why not I guess, and then by getting rid of the Giant. That doesn’t really seem like a balanced deal. We carry you backstage after you’ve been beaten up, you make it even by beating John Tenta and the Giant. Hmmm.

Time for some nWo propaganda.

Hogan tells us that they “aren’t here for a stinkin’ reason” – directly contradicting Nash and Hall, who had previously made it clear they’d come in specifically to take over WCW. He then randomly says “we’ve got our boss with us” and points to Ted DiBiase, who’s sitting in a chair behind them.

Homely. DiBiase looks like he’s being held prisoner, but whatever. Hogan says DiBiase makes Ted Turner look like a “pauper”. Honestly I could try to recap this whole thing but it’s really just a bunch of random sound bytes ripping on WCW for the most part. They talk about wanting “their own tag team tournament” for some reason. They also want a segment (on Nitro, presumably) where they can “highlight” their talent. What they actually mean is a segment highlighting Hogan, as we’ll discover going forward. Scott Hall says “nWo 4 life” with the hand sign (might be the first instance of this?) and they all end the segment laughing like it was an amazing joke.

I was a satellite dish owner back then – or rather, my parents were - but no WCW PPVs in the UK, sadly. We only got a butchered hour-long version of Nitro on TNT UK during 1996 & 1997. I didn’t find out that I’d been watching an edited version of the show until many years later. At least now I can sit back and relive the glory of the Faces of Fear Vs Public…. eh, maybe TNT UK were doing us a favour after all.

Back with your bois at the announce desk. Tenay once again has that “stern dad” look, whilst Heenan seems to be whimsically remembering something from years gone by. Take a guess as to what Bischoff is talking about?

A)     The upcoming main event

B)     Meltzer being wrong about everything

C)     Blue Chew

D)     Sting’s betrayal

If you’ve been following along thus far, you’ll know the answer. The lad does genuinely hate big Dave though, and loves that Blue Chew. Come to think of it, what is the main event? I can’t even remember. Sting’s supposed betrayal has been hammered into my brain so many fucking times at this point I can barely conceive of any other event occurring at any wrestling show.

Chris Jericho’s music plays, but…

It’s John Tenta? Still got that stupid haircut by the way. Seriously, fish man, you’ve made your point. Get that shaved.

But yeah, I’m confused here. I thought Jericho was coming out. But hold on, that’s Jericho’s second theme, “One Crazed Anarchist”, aka the Pearl Jam ripoff, not the one he’s using at this point in WCW, which I believe is the Journey ripoff. So John Tenta is in fact the OG “One Crazed Anarchist”. For the record, the theme suits Jericho far more than it suits the former Shark.

As he comes out Tenta says “Savage, you’re not putting me down”. You think so, John?

What exactly has that guy in the hat been up to? That is not the look of an innocent person.

Ohhh yeahhh, it’s the Macho Man. The commentators are pretending that the result of the match is in any doubt, which I suppose they have to do.

John “anti-fish” Tenta Vs “Macho Man” Randy Savage

Savage storms to the ring, but that turns out to be a bad idea as Tenta stomps on the Macho Man’s back as he slides in and then clobbers him with a forearm to the back.

Bad strategy, Macho. Tenta’s moobs though… whoa.

That’s an interesting choice of attire for a wrestling event, madam.

Tenta works over Savage in the corner for a bit. Savage then begins to make a comeback, before for some reason attempting to slam Tenta…

Goes about as well as you’d expect. Macho really needs to work on his strategy.

Bischoff actually specifically says here that Heenan accidentally referred to Meng as “Haku” earlier and wants to make it clear Meng now works for WCW and not the WWF. I guess they were really taking this kind of thing seriously due to the lawsuits flying around at this point in history. Funny though, as you hear these kinds of slip-ups all the time. I mean, if TNA or AEW were sued for every time a commentator accidentally used a competitor’s ex-WWE name there would need to be a legal department created specifically just to deal with the fucking volume. At least Heenan didn’t call it “WWF Nitro”.

Tenta hits Macho with a decent looking drop kick – quite impressive considering his weight. Outside of the ring Savage hits Tenta with a steel chair…

He isn’t disqualified because…? He whacks Tenta twice more with a chair. This is not a no-DQ match, but it is WCW, so fuck the rules unless we need them for storyline purposes, right?

Flying elbow drop!

Macho goes up for a second, but then Teddy Long comes to ringside yelling “Macho!” – what could the so-called “godfather” want with Savage? Also where’s my man Ice Train at? Come to think of it, I just remembered what he was wearing earlier… best for him to stay backstage.

Savage still hits the second elbow drop. Long is gesticulating wildly at Savage and yelling something about the nWo. Savage leaps over the top rope with nice agility.

But before we go any further…

Son, I am disappoint. I can’t even say “A for effort” because that is the lowest tier of effort.

Anyway, Savage follows Teddy to the outside of the arena where Teddy announces “YOU GONNA GO ONE-ON-ONE WITH THE UNDERTAKER PLAYA!”

Actually, they run towards a limo.              

The limo drives off as soon as Savage approaches it. What was the point of that?

Flair and Mongo randomly appear as the limo drives away.

There’s another limo there, but only a box of spraypaint inside it. There are a ton of WCW guys out there now – the Horsemen, the Dungeon, Public Enemy, Juvi, Super Calo, Savage… basically everyone who was on TV tonight. They start spraypainting “WCW” on the limo windows… or rather, they try to. Due to the fact it’s been raining and everywhere is wet it ends up just looking like a green smudge. As an aside, if that is in fact not an nWo limo, somebody is going to be in for a surprise.  

For some reason the commentators are all standing up. Tenay is looking more evil every time he’s on camera. It’s like he wants to reach through the camera and strangle each and every viewer.

Seriously though, he is repeatedly making a “pissed-off dad” face.

“Dad, I borrowed your car…”

“Um… and… I got a speeding ticket…”

“And there’s a dent on the front as I kinda sorta knocked over the mailbox…”

Grounded forever.

Anyway, once they all sit back down Heenan goes on a rant about the nWo which concludes with “if we don’t stop them now then they can’t be stopped”. If only you could glimpse into the future and nWo 2000, Bobby.

Oh, by the way, I guess John Tenta won the match against Savage by count out? It wasn’t announced or shown, but Savage jumped out of the ring and never returned, so…

John Tenta defeats “Macho Man” Randy Savage via Countout.

I guess Tenta was right, Savage didn’t put him down after all. Score one for the fish hating weirdo.

Double A suddenly appears on set. Heenan gives Arn his headset. Can’t help but think it’d be better for Anderson to be in the ring with a mic, as the fans in the arena can’t hear any of this… but whatever.

Arn says that the world is “in shock” and “outraged”. The world is probably a bit of a stretch, but OK. Flair turns up as Arn is talking, as do Benoit and Mongo. Arn says that this all began ten years ago with the original Horsemen, and that they paved the way and showed the nWo how to do it. Technically true. Arn says the nWo want to be the Horsemen “when they grow up”.

Tenay continuing to give that evil stare, even at Arn. Bischoff looks kind of sad.

As an aside, I may have mentioned it before, but I really like this shirt design:

Bischoff begins talking about making mistakes, but Flair interrupts him. Flair screams so loudly that the headset seems to take some damage as the volume decreases slightly. Flair explains War Games – although if you don’t know what it is by this point then what have you been doing with your life? – and says Hogan won’t leave War Games alive. Spoiler alert: he does.

Bischoff then talks about how maybe bringing Hogan in to WCW was “a mistake” and that the Horsemen “haven’t been given their just due”. The same exact sentence could have been said in 2000 and been even more relevant.

WCW then ends the show with a replay of Luger getting beaten up by “Sting” and the nWo. I’m sure he appreciates that. A good thing they reminded us, as I think a whole ten seconds passed at the end there without mention of Sting’s betrayal and my memory had started to go hazy.

[mouse-fantoms]

Reach For My Hand, ‘Cause It’s Held Out For You

Read on Ao3!

Tagging (just who I thought would be interested from the post this spawned from): @tmp-jatp @lydias--stiles @1neverendingstories1

More Than A Band but Jatp edition

A top priority when having 90's boys come into your life is of course showing them what they missed out on. It started with Julie putting together a playlist for them.

Another order would be teaching them the terms nowadays. Someone hadto tell Alex that you don’t say ‘periodt’ at the end of every sentence. That though, was a priority for another day.

After showing them music they missed out on, movies were next. It made sense since some of the music she had put on the playlist were songs from movies. She obviously couldn’t show all the movies they missed in the past 25 years, but there were a few that they’d probably like.

Their weekends, so far, had involved Julie setting up the living room for the perfect movie watching experience. A few pillows here and there on the comfy couch, could never go wrong with blankets, a fresh buttery bowl of popcorn, just the essentials.

They were all on the couch, finishing up the rest of Camp Rock. (Luke was immediately hooked on the summer camp with music concept.)

Julie was curled up with a blanket at the end of the couch. Luke was next to her, then Alex followed by Reggie.

“You seriously don’t want a blanket?” Julie asked Luke. She had her knees pulled to her underneath the fabric of warmth.

“I’m telling you I’m not cold.” He repeated another time.

She would have thought it might have just been a ghost thing if it wasn’t for Reggie and Alex constantly tugging at the blanket they shared for blanket space.

“I need it more!” Alex pulled the blanket towards him.

“You have a hoodie on!” Reggie pointed out.

“...I still get cold.”

Julie and Luke rolled their eyes at the pair and were instead more interested at how Mitchie was going to do at the Final Jam.

“Wait, she's singing that song? Wait!” Luke scooted to the edge of the seat, being glued to the tv. “Please tell me he has to recognize it’s her who sang in the beginning. She’s the one!”

Alex put a hand on Luke’s shoulder and pulled him back to the couch.

“I’m sure he will buddy.”

It wasn’t until after the number that Luke noticed Julie dozing off next to him. She’d shake awake a few times when she’d hear the high notes in the music.

“You know we can call it a night if you’re getting tired.”

Her arms came out from under the blanket when she stretched her arms and yawned, “No, no, no, I’m not. I haven’t even shown you guys a favorite of mine yet and I said we’d get to it tonight.”

Once the movie finished she grabbed the remote and went to find one of her favorites.

“This one,” she was interrupted by her own yawn, “is about a band. They form when they’re all in detention together.” A look played on Luke’s face. She sighed, not wanting to be right with an assumption, “...Is that how you guys-”

“No but could you imagine how-” Luke turned to the unamused faces of Alex and Reggie.

“It was always us getting him out of detention.” Alex informed.

She opened her mouth looking to the one in question. “What would you do?”

“He could never put away his journal during class.” Reggie answered.

“It was better than writing on the corners of my papers.”

“How would you get him out of it?”

“Well if the book wasn’t at the teacher’s desk anymore than… no evidence for detention.” Luke summed up.

“Which meant a lot of talking to the teacher while they got it back. ‘Alex, we want you to talk to her.’ ‘Pretend you have a question.’”

“The other option was you guys joining me.”

“Yeah we tried that, they never could give it to Reggie.”

Julie looked curious at the black haired ghost. “Why?”

Alex answered, gesturing to him. “...It’s Reggie.”

“Yeah, can’t argue there.”

She turned her attention back to the tv and brought up the movie.

“Lemonade Mouth? What kind of name is that?” Judged Luke.

Julie laughed to make it even. “What kind of name is Sunset Curve?”

“The kind of one you don’t come up with.” Reggie informed.

“When we were starting out,” the guitarist took the lead in explaining, “we’d play at this street corner. I guess people started liking us and would say to check out the guys at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Curve Street. Then it just kinda meshed into one with people calling us Sunset Curve.”

“We kind of just went with it.” Alex shrugged.

“Funny, well, you’ll see why they’re called Lemonade Mouth in this.”

She put the movie on and the boys seemed instantly intrigued. It wasn’t until fifteen minutes in that her eyes started to feel drowsy. Maybe Luke was a little bit right, but maybe if she just rested her eyes for a second she’d feel better. Maybe if she just made herself comfortable on the pillow to her right, she’d feel better.

“Luke, can you turn it up a-”

“Can’t.”

“What?” Alex looked at him.

“Can’t move.” He repeated, shifting his eyes to the left.

Alex looked behind Luke to try to see if he could see what he was talking about. He saw Julie’s head closer to Luke. Sure enough, when he looked past him he saw Julie with her head on his shoulder.

“Hgh,” the blonde huffed, “fine I’ll get it.” There was no point in arguing so he instead went out of his way to reach diagonal to grab the remote that was on the coffee table.

It wasn’t tell near the ending of the movie when they eventually dozed off too. However they did catch great songs before they did. Classics such as Turn Up the Music, Determinate, Somebody and a song called More Than a Band, She’s So Gone were a few they caught before they went off to dreams.

~~~

She tried her best to not worry her boys. When she tried though, all they did was.

They knew something was off when she didn’t stop by to tell them bye before she left for school. Also when Luke paid her a visit during school she just seemed detached. Reggie noted Ray seemed off and Carlos for that matter too.

The ghost was hanging around with Ray in the kitchen, preparing breakfast for Carlos before he left for the morning. Reggie leaned against the archway to the dining room, watching Ray as he cooked scrambled eggs on the stove. Carlos came down the stairs, his bag slung over his shoulder, and came around to the stool of the counter.

“Do you know what we’re having for dinner?”

Ray looked over his shoulder, as he dumped the pan of eggs on a plate, “You haven’t even had breakfast yet.” He chuckled, setting the plate in front of him and opening the drawer to give him a fork.

“I know but…” He trailed off, taking the fork that was put next to his plate, looking to his dad in hopes he got what he was meaning. From him touching the ring on his ring finger, he got the memo.

“...I can talk to your Tía about bringing something over for tonight.” There was a light nod of his head. Carlos shared the same nod as he dove into his eggs.

Meanwhile Reggie leaned at the archway, suddenly now understood.

~~~

She hadn’t talked to them much the whole day. The studio that turned into her home didn’t feel like much of one today. Just a reminder.

After dinner, she found herself going up to her room, changing into her pajamas and finding comfort on her bed. She sat crisscross, her hand drawn to the scripture necklace she wore. She didn’t appear to catch the familiar poof sound until she looked to the left from seeing something in the corner of her eye appear. She saw her boys, looking sympathetic.

It was like they were a reminder. The reminder that they were here but… she wasn’t.

Luke stepped cautious, taking a seat on the mattress at the foot of her bed. “...Guessing movie night is postponed tonight.” He tried to make conversation.

She answered by turning on her side away from him, her necklace still in her hand, not realizing her foot had accidently hit Luke in the thigh when she turned over. Usually it was a nice reminder when they touched, today though, was not one of those times.

Luke looked to his friends standing opposite of him. Their expressions looked the same as his, wanting a suggestion of what to do, he looked back to Julie.

She was rubbing her fingers across her necklace in the silence until there wasn’t any.

“I can’t pretend,” she was caught off guard by his singing and what it sounded like, “to know how you feel, but know that I’m here and know that I’m real.”

Real. That word got her to look through her curls at him. He looked at the other two to join in.

“Say what you want,” Alex sang, stepping towards her bed, “or don’t talk at all, I’m not gonna let you fall.” He knelt down to be eye level.

“Reach for my hand ‘cause it’s held out for you,” Reggie joined Alex in kneeling next to her bed, “my shoulders are small but you can cry on them too. Everything changes but one thing is true, understand.” He looked to Luke to take the part.

“We’ll always be more than a band.”

They weren’t just singing lyrics. Even when she turned over to face them, they carried on.

“You used to brave the world all on your own.” Alex continued.

“Now we won’t let you go.” Luke added.

“Go it alone.” Reggie followed.

“Be who you wanna be, always stand tall.” Luke leaned in a little towards her, smiling at the two words, remembering the song they finished writing together. She smiled back, not being able to help herself. “Not gonna let you fall.”

They sang together, looking and smiling as they did. “Reach for my hand cause it's held out for you. My shoulders are strong, but you can cry on them too. Everything changes but one thing is true, understand. We'll always be more than a band.” They looked to her to continue.

With a wide smile she followed, “I never knew you could take me so far.” The proud smiles on them were hard to miss. “I’ve always wanted to hope that you are the ones I need.”

They repeated the chorus together, harmonizing, voices blending beautifully. “But one thing is true, understand.”

“We’ll always be more than a band.” They dropped out to let Julie finish.

She couldn’t help but look at her boys, proud smiles plastered on them as she looked at each.

“I didn’t know you guys stayed up to watch that.” She found the words to say.

“You said it was a favorite of yours.” Reggie shrugged as if it was obvious.

“You can’t go wrong with a band.” Luke summed up.

“Also Luke couldn’t move so that’s another reason we stayed.”

She let out a light huff from Alex’s statement. She grabbed her necklace again, looked down at it then back to them.

“...Thank you guys. We’ll always be more than a band.” She dropped the necklace and opened her arms, inviting them.

They made a hug with two people kneeling on the floor, work. She might not have been there but she sent the boys to her daughter. Maybe a reminder wasn’t always bad to have. This would be a reminder that they were a family. Family first, band second.

[graylinesspam]

Ok my No Nuance November hot takes for the Ninjago fandom

Nia has an undercut. Bob or ponytail doesn't matter, undercut.

Her fashion sense is just as awful as Kai's. Just a bit more practical. When she's not dressing like the manic pixie villain in a 90s flick with borderline racist Japanese esthetics then she's walking around in athlesure ware and chunky combat boots.

I'm not all here for the Wu hate but he do be an asshole tho. He's not meant to be a father figure. More like a football coach he's mean and commanding. Dareth is the designated team dad. He's the one who brings them snacks and pats them on the back and tells them how badass they were out there.

Speaking of parents, jay's adopted Nia the second they met her. Even before they knew about jay's crush. Nia calls Mrs. Walker mom and they go on girls trios together and she calls her more than Jay does.

They also don't on Kai like a son but he's a little less receptive to it. It's good for him tho.

Lloyd has two different personalities a lot like Superman does. There's Lloyd and then there's the green ninja. He's usually goofy and soft and defers to nia or cole on most decisions until it's business time and he goes all green ninja. The others fall in line behind him just as quickly.

Cole is team big brother. I know Kai's gone all big brother on Lloyd and I respect that but cole is team big brother. Need someone to vent to? Cole. Need help with homework? Cole. Hugs? Cole. Superior taste in music? Cole. He seriously gives the best hugs.

Nia and Kai function pretty well independently but when they do get together they are scarily in tune. They communicate almost completely non verbally, unless their bickering. Which is terrifying in a fight and confirming domestically. It's not uncommon for her to trudge into the game room early in the morning after a bad night and just curl up against his shoulder.

Also, they do classic sibling shit like stand in the doorway and stare at eachother for no reason other than to be annoying. Sometimes he just opens her bedroom door when he walks by for no reason. They also make up none verbally. They have a blowout fight over dishes that ends with the kitchen curtains on fire and an hour later kai's replaced the curtains and Nia passes him a fucking code red she ran into town for. It makes no sense to the other ninja since their only children.

Lloyd is an alt kid. And he's a bit androgynous. You cannot tell me that boy hasn't worn a fishnet top to the grocery store. Him and Nia are alt fashion disasters together and it's beautiful. So much eyeliner, so many safety pins.

Nia is way closer to the guys after she starts her training. There's no reason for her to not be just as integrated into their schedule just because she's a girl. They've all definitely passed out on mats together. They share a stalled co-ed bathroom in the dojo so you know they're all leaning half asleep over the sink in the mornings brushing their teeth. The boys are fascinated with her hair routine.

They definitely all slept in a ninja pile in the never-realm. I don't care about the bunk beds its too cold for them to sleep separately. They all fight over Kai, and Nia wins because that's her big brother and she pulls rank.

Kai calls Nia mom patronizingly when she nags. It gets to point that all the ninja start doing it except Jay mostly because he doesn't even whine at his own mom like that. Lloyd does it the most even casually calling her mom in public. Sometimes when her and Kai get into it Cole jokes that Mommy and Daddy are fighting.

Eventually, it gets to the point that whatever two ninja are in charge in any given scenario are called mom and dad. Pixel and zayne dealing with a nindroid horde? What do we do dad? Coke and jay dealing with video game monsters manifested into the real world? Jay's whining about why he's the mom in this relationship.

Skyler starts coming around a lot more and her nia and pixel are terrifying when they get together. Girls night is an event for sure on the bounty. But mostly it's just nice to have other girls around more. Especially when you break an arm and need help bathing. Pixel is a life saver when your other top options are your brother or Zane.

Cole while a fan of a wide range of music is the metal head of the group. He's got rock t-shirts and punk bad posters and him an nia bond by going to concerts. She also barrows his t-shirts a lot for alt outfits since they just fit the aesthetic.

The boys have always known better than to go easy on Nia but when they started training with her they knew she was pretty new to spinjitzu and didn't want to seriously hurt the newb so they held back quite a bit. She was having none of it and ended up going really hard against them until in a three on three Cole swung at her thinking she was Kai in the red gei and nocked the living hell out of her. Sent her flying and Broke her nose. She payed him back with a sprained wrist and a trip over the side of the bounty before he could apologize.

Pixel and nia bond over building things, new toys for the boys mostly. Or working on Samurai X. But nia also teachers her how to thrift and alter her own clothes. Clothing wasn't something Pixel ever really had to worry about she just wore them ti make other people comfortable but getting to make things for herself with her own hands is one if her favorite hobbies now. She wears all kinds of aesthetics. Steampunk hippy is definitely a favorite tho.

Lloyd is the token guy allowed in the girl group. Sometimes when they go out to brunch together he tags along. They drink, and gossip, and shop and get their nails done sure. They also go to classes together and compete in races and elemental competitions and go to those businesses where you pay for an hour alone in a room full of glass and you just smash shit.

[fromtheringapron]

Random Notes on Episode #1 of Sunday Night Heat

I miss Sunday Night Heat. I miss wrestling weekend shows in general, but Heat holds some particularly unique appeal to me. Back in the day when I was too young to stay up and watch Raw in its entirety, Heat was usually the place to get my wrestling fix. By the time I started watching it, Heat was pretty much an afterthought, but it would recap the past week’s Raw, so it also helped keep me up to date on storylines. Even in its latter days, you would get a lot of weird stuff you wouldn’t get any other WWE show and, thanks to the WWE Network, some of it is finally starting reemerge.

The premiere episode of Heat debuted on August 2, 1998. Contrary to popular belief, a lot of stuff happened on the show in its first year on the air. As Smackdown did not yet exist, it was actually WWF’s B show for a short while, often furthering storylines and even once saw Mankind win the WWF title in the famed empty arena match. The first episode gave a small inkling of what was to come. Here’s the results from the card that literally nobody remembers:

Edge defeated Jeff Jarrett (with Tennessee Lee).

Droz & The Headbangers (Mosh and Thrasher) defeated Kaientai (Funaki, Men’s Teioh, and Dick Togo) (with Yamaguchi-san).

WWF European Championship Match: D’Lo Brown (champion) defeated Ken Shamrock via disqualification.

#1 Contenders’ Match for the WWF Tag Team Championship: The Rock and Owen Hart defeated Kane and Mankind (with Paul Bearer) vis count-out.

Edge as a rookie! D’Lo Brown as Euro champ! The Headbangers in general! What a time. Outside of the card, here’s what also randomly caught my attention:

Early Shane McMahon is Obnoxious: The early, early days of Heat were our formal introduction to Shane McMahon and, oh boy, it was rough. Thought it wouldn’t be long until he became a mega spoiled prick, the first episode sees him woefully miscast as a babyface color commentator, which is absolutely NOT his thing. First of all, his overall presentation is just weird in retrospect. He comes down to the ring in what would become Jacqueline’s entrance music, which already sets a jarring tone. Not only that, but he’s joined by two women named Alley and Kyla (or at least I think that’s her name? I couldn’t hear it well). Who are they? What’s their relationship to Shane? Why are they more random than The Wrestling Classic’s Susan Waitkis? Then we get his commentary and, woof, if you ever want to hear a human being speak in all caps for an entire broadcast, be my guest. It’s a far cry from the man who’d become known for failing several feet off various structures, somehow avoiding serious injury every time.

Droz’s World: Perhaps the most bizarre segment of the first episode is a segment inspired by MTV’s The Real World, starring everyone’s favorite puke artist Darren Drozdov. He tells the story of how he threw up on Mark Henry’s hand during training. Yep, that’s literally it. Fortunately, Tom Prichard is here to offer some color commentary to the event, saying “IT WAS GROSS!” and how Droz’s puke was filled with “corns and beans.” Oh, and then Droz shows a tattoo of a dog on his ass for good measure. Somewhere, Vince McMahon can be heard laughing in the distance. It’s oft forgotten how much the Real World was parodied back in the late ‘90s, even before the reality TV genre ever really exploded in popularity. Remember how it found its way in She’s All That?

The Val Venis/Mario Lopez Feud: One of the best parts of watching old Raw episodes is having to listen to the commentators awkwardly plug the USA Network’s original series. After all, a plug for Silk Stalkings just doesn’t feel right if you’re not watching an Undertaker squash in jest. The first episode of Heat carries on with this grand tradition and hypes the hell out of Pacific Blue, which I’ve never watched but sounds like some Baywatch/Miami Vice/crime procedural schlock. It takes it even one step further by having star Mario Lopez in the audience, who then proceeds to get into a fight with, um, Val Venis (in the midst of his castration storyline with Kaientai no less)?!? The WWF seriously tried to tease us with a Venis vs. Lopez feud in 1998. I’m not even really sure who the face in that situation would be. It sounds ridiculous, but can’t be any more so than what WCW was doing at the exact same time with Jay Leno.

Bart Gunn and Shanna Moakler: Did you do a double take reading that headline? One half of the Smoking Gunns and one half of MTV’s short-lived reality show Meet the Barkers! In the same room! On TV! If there were ever a more random pair of people to share TV time, I’d like to know it. Anyway, continuing the theme of plugging Pacific Blue as much as possible, we have  cast member Shanna interviewing Bart Gunn (dubbed here as “LeFTY”) about his upset victory in the ill-advised Brawl 4 All against tourney fave Dr. Death. Of course, Bart yammers on a bit about knocking Dr. Death out with his left hook. Blah, blah, blah. I’m sure if you adjust the volume a certain way, you can practically hear Jim Ross seething behind the commentary booth.

The Main Event is a Mess: If you thought they would’ve ended the first episode of Heat with a bang, guess again. It doesn’t even end with a whimper, really; more like a slow, drawn-out fart. The winner of the main event tag team match would go on to face Steve Austin and The Undertaker, example #457 of tag champs who are actually mortal enemies. The match is just a lazy brawl where everyone involved doesn’t seem to give a rat’s ass, despite Shane’s best efforts to once again to bring the excitement by speaking in all caps. The Rock and Owen Hart win over Kane and Mankind (Team Hell Socko?) by count-out, as Owen casually slides back into the ring after an outside brawl. I don’t know how Rock and Owen fared against the tag champs the next night on Raw, but it’s safe to say it didn’t lead to much. I know I have full access to the WWE Network where I can easily watch that but, hey, these guys didn’t put in any effort into this match so why should I? Fair is fair. 

And there you have it⏤the first episode of Heat in the books, ass tattoos and all. I hope the WWE Network uploads more episodes in the future. I personally want the MTV era on there. Anyway, they better upload them soon, or else I may just resort to finally watching Pacific Blue instead.

[charredbrie]

Kurobas Valentine’s Day Event 2020 Day 4: NijiAka

Oh gosh, I’ve finally finished this after a looooong time. And because it’s Valentines, various pairings (MuraHimu, MidoTaka, AoKise, and KagaKuro) appear on this. And it’s time for this pair to make a debut at least for me because the guy who plays Nijimura on the stageplay is my Kubota Hidetoshi. :P Once again, special thanks to @vanilla-daydreams​ and @theuglycrybaby​ for this wonderful event.

Day 4 Prompt: Love Song/I wish you were here.

Title: Valentines’ Surprise

Summary: Akashi has finally realized that greater things come to those who wait.

Rating: T

Words: 4, 009

Also on Ao3

Akashi Seijurou is currently overlooking his team’s practice. Because of their loss, he and the coach have decided to pump up their training regime to get back what’s rightfully theirs for the next Winter Cup.

It has been two weeks since he has woken up from his own body and since Seirin has beaten them. For the excruciating weeks following his comeback, the Akashi Seijurou has been longing. Since he emerges, his first thought after losing is to badly talk to Nijimura-san. He has been longing to see or even talk to his previous captain. He wants to apologize for everything as well as to tell him something important. Something that he couldn’t say or even show before because his other self has gotten so obsessed with winning and being absolute to the point that he has pushed everyone away.

He has been lucky that his previous team, his first real friends, are able to accept him again after all his wrongdoings in the past when they all meet up for Kuroko’s birthday. No words have been said, just a welcoming feeling that he still belongs with them. He feels that he doesn’t deserve it but nonetheless reaches out their hands again because he seriously doesn’t want to lose them again this time. And now, looking at his current teammates, he promises himself that he won’t do the same mistake again.

-x-

Practice ends in an uneventful way and Seijurou just wants to retire to his room for the night.  Although he has been thinking a lot after he comes back but today, he is feeling so pensive and he doesn’t know why. He creases his forehead as he feels an incoming headache. Thinking that he has enough practice for today, he shouts some more last-minute orders for the other first years before he makes his way to the locker room. However, when he arrives there, he is greeted by the usual occurrence with the three second years starting with Nebuya flexing his muscles and he feels like Hayama is a walking bungee jumper with a megaphone attached. Although it is a bit different from Mibuchi. These past few days, Mibuchi finds a fascination for Western slow rock love songs ranging from the 70s-90s. Almost every day, he will give him his most recommended song, he’ll listen to it then he’ll give his input the next day. He actually indulges his teammates with their quirks and whims to get closer and to get to know them better like what he has done with the Kisekis before to deepen the bond and trust among themselves.

“Sei-chan~,” Mibuchi greets him as well as the other two. He nods at them as he goes in front of his locker to change.

“Hey, Akashi, Reo-nee says he wants to go to the convenience store and Ei-chan and I are gonna tag along. Come with us!” Hayama asks him excitedly. He thinks for a bit; he doesn’t have much homework today and he has been meaning to get the Basketball Monthly for this month.

“Okay, I’ll come.”

“Ara, Sei-chan you make me happy~” He sees Mibuchi and Hayama from the corner of his eye do a high five.

A small smile tug on his lips thinking that it’s okay to have fun with these guys.

Their trip to the convenience store somewhat reminds him of what they used to do back in middle school. It is a refreshing feeling. Hayama strongly reminds him of Kise as a ball of energy. Mibuchi is like Midorima who is engaging him in a sensible conversation. With Nebuya, he’s like Kuroko in a way that he will just input on the conversation from time to time less the gross burping. He must admit that he misses Murasakibara’s constant munching with crumbs leaving a trail from point a to point b as well as Aomine’s contagious smile and sometimes, stupidity. He is thinking that maybe, he should hang out with them more after school. They also end up eating dinner at a nearby restaurant near the convenience store because Nebuya wants to eat more meat.

And thus, when they reach their boarding, Mibuchi stops him and gives him his song for the day. He accepts it with a small smile and promises him that he’ll give him his review tomorrow. They bid their goodbyes as he retires to his room. He does his routine: bath, do his homework while listening to classical music, do some stretching before going to bed and the newly added one, check out Mibuchi’s recommended song for the day. He unfolds the paper and looks at the title with Mibuchi’s neat handwriting.

First Time by Robin Beck

Seijurou then opens his laptop and starts searching the song and the lyrics. As he is listening, he thinks that so far this is the best one yet. Mibuchi is giving him songs varying from I Love You Always Forever by Donna Lewis, Love Will Lead You Back by Taylor Dayne to Morning Train by Sheena Easton. He thinks that all of them are good songs but the first one is too cliché, the second one is too painful while the last one is for adulting...kind of.

But this song, First Time by Robin Beck triggers something in him. The fine use of metaphor when you experience your first love is so beautiful as well as the feelings and hesitations that comes with it when you finally have the love you desire. The melody is something upbeat as slow rock music is meant to be and the exquisite timing fits the lyrics properly.

Probably because he’s on a pensive move all day and him, Akashi Seijurou is never really a fan of love songs. Not at all, thank you very much. It’s just so out of his character but it’s quite alright for him because he is actually learning something from it as well as having some bonding moment with Mibuchi. He especially likes these lines:

So mysterious yet so incredibly real

It's an uncharted sea, it's an unopened door

But you gotta reach out and you gotta explore

Even though you're not sure till the moment arrives

There he is and you know you're in love

And it reminds him of Nijimura-san. The guy that he never has a chance to express how he really feels. He is a little bit too late. Nijimura-san has already left when he realized everything. Also, it is one of the reasons why his split personality has gotten worst to the point of emerging so soon. He lost his support system and he got pressured for leading the team to victory after victory. He has realized it too late that it was and it still is Nijimura-san who can keep him in line after all this time.

He repeats the song again as he digs deeper into the metaphors when his phone continuously vibrates, signaling that he has an incoming call. He pauses the music as he reaches for his phone and looks at the caller before answering. His eyes widen for a brief moment because the one calling him is Murasakibara and he is definitely not expecting a call from him by this time just because the big baby is usually asleep as early as 1930 and it’s already past 2300 now.

Curiously, he answers his phone.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Aka-chin. Can you come to Tokyo this weekend? I want to see you. Also, Mido-chin, Mine-chin, Kuro-chin, Kise-chin and Sa-chin are coming too.” Seijurou smiles as he heard the usual childish voice of Murasakibara. After all, even though he is the youngest of the team, he and Nijimura-san always baby him just so he would listen to them when they tell him to do something. He will always have a soft spot for their team’s big baby, after all.

“What is coming this weekend? It’s not like you to actually exert an effort to come to Tokyo from Akita.”

He hears some speaking noise from the other line and he can make up that Murasakibara is talking to Himuro based on a Muro-chin call and Atsushi coming from the pretty boy. “Eh? I don’t know what you’re talking about Aka-chin but come. Everyone is coming so you should too.”

It’s funny that almost everyone he knows is mostly inviting him to something today. He just doesn’t expect one from Murasakibara though.

“Okay, I will come. Where are we meeting up?”

“Do you still remember that court that we always play at near Teiko?”

“Yes.”

“Yeah, there. See you, Aka-chin. Bye.”

He sets down his phone on the desk as he wonders what has Murasakibara has eaten for him to organize this meet-up. It’s normal if it’s Momoi who calls him tonight because she usually arranges the meet up for everyone. He just continues the song and makes up his mind that dwelling with Murasakibara’s peculiar behavior is not worth it for he trusts the gentle baby giant.

-x-

Saturday comes and he is anticipating this day. When Mibuchi caught wind of his plan, he insists that he comes with him because he wants to see the Kisekis too especially Kise. He asks Murasakibara if he can tag Mibuchi along and replies okay since he’s bringing Himuro Tatsuya with him too. And now, they are currently taking a bus going to Teiko. It’s not that he feels nostalgic  but because of the fact that being near Teiko gives him a bittersweet memory. He tries to whisk away all the pessimistic thoughts that he is having. After all, he is meeting his friends and it’s supposed to be a joyful event for him.

When they finally arrive at the street courts, he is greeted by his friends warmly. After he says his greetings to them as well as Mibuchi, he sits down by the bench as he endearingly watches his friends interact with each other.

Midorima is holding delicately an airplane model for his lucky item for the day as Kise wants to play with it because it is his dream to be a pilot much to the chagrin of the bespectacled boy. Aomine has challenged Mibuchi to a one on one which the latter gladly accepts and says “Ikemen Target No. 1: Lock on~”. He chuckles at his teammates but said nothing when he sees Aomine cringing. Momoi is affectionately talking to Kuroko. However, the guy who has organized this meeting is still missing.

“Has anyone heard from Murasakibara?” It is Midorima who asks, obviously irritated.

“Murasakibara-kun is going to come, he just needs to do something first.” Kuroko supplies.

“I wonder why Mukkun called us here. Do you happen to know the reason, Tetsu-kun?”

“Yes, I would like to know that too.” By this time, all heads turn to him when he has spoken. “Do you know anything Kuroko?”

Kuroko looks at him with his usually impassive face as he takes out his phone and calls someone.

“Hello, Kagami-kun?...yeah...they’re coming now? Okay...you’re still with Takao-kun? Right...you can come here with Takao-kun...All right...vanilla milkshake please..thanks!”

After the conversation, Kuroko faces them again and says, “They’re coming now. Probably they have just gotten lost knowing Murasakibara-kun as well as Himuro-san. Even I don’t know why Murasakibara-kun called us.”

This time, it is Midorima who comments, “You’re awfully close with Himuro-san, Kuroko.”

“Yeah. We always hang out at Kagami-kun’s house whenever he and Murasakibara-kun will come to Tokyo.”

“Eh? Really, Kurokochi? Why is Murasakibarachi not saying anything whenever he comes to Tokyo?”

Kuroko mysteriously smiles, “I think you’ll just have to ask him when he comes.”

Aomine then comes and he one arm hugs Kise, “Cmon, Kise. Isn’t it too obvious? They’re always together. Also, they’re in the same room.”

“Eh? EEEEHHHHH???!!!!”

“Too loud, Kise. Aomine, I’m surprised by your perspective thinking only for today, in fact.” Midorima says as he pushes his glasses up with his taped fingers.

“Shut up, megane. Can’t you even say something nice? And yeah, Kise, so stop whining.”

Seijurou, for the lack of a better word, is in fact, shocked. Just because this is Murasakibara that we are talking about. He more or less gets what they are implying. It is as clear as the sky for Aomine and Kise because they’ve been at it since middle school. For Midorima with Takao, they make it painfully obvious during the Rakuzan vs. Shutoku match last Winter Cup. He knows about Kuroko and Kagami because Kuroko has admitted it to him during his birthday. He knows that Himuro is treating Murasakibara like his baby chick and he has thought that it’s platonic. He has decided now that he should learn more about human interactions. He will have to buy a book before going back to Kyoto.

As he is contemplating different books about human interactions and where to get them, Kagami and Takao arrive, with the tiger carrying two big paper bags from Maji Burger with Takao trailing after him who is holding the drinks. He sees Mibuchi joyfully approaches Takao as Midorima shots the boy a glare.

“Yo, everyone!” Kagami and Takao greet them. He nods at the two as they settle the paper bags and drinks on the bench. Takao goes behind Midorima just because Mibuchi has locked on his second target in the form of one Takao Kazunari much to the entertainment of Momoi. Kagami, on the other hand, is greeted by Kuroko with a small smile of his as he hands him his vanilla milkshake. Kise and Aomine are cuddling together much to the sourness of Midorima because he says it’s too vulgar. He, on the other hand, just accepts the food as Kagami is handing out for everyone. But still, Murasakibara sure is taking his sweet time. He is itching to call the tall purple head because although he is with every one of his friends and their other half, it feels like they are still incomplete.

And as everyone starts digging in with their food, they heard footsteps coming in their way. When he looks up, he sees Murasakibara, Himuro and a third person that is awfully familiar. He just can’t tell because the third person is wearing dark sunglasses as well as a baseball cap.

“Hi, everyone~!” Murasakibara waves at then with his usual lazy tone and three sticks of pocky hanging on his mouth.

“The hell you called us early in here and you arrived late?! I should be sleeping.........” Aomine yells indignantly follows by Midorima’s, “You have some nerve to let us wait in here, in fact.” They can see that something like a green smoke oozing out of Midorima’s body as Takao tries to pacify his boyfriend.

“Murasakibarachi, what’s up with the sudden meetup? Why are you late? Did something happen? You know we are worried that you might be lost as always..........”

“Hello, Mukkun, Himuro-san.”

“Hello, Murasakibara-kun, Himuro-san.”

“Hey, Murasakibara, Himuro-san.”

Murasakibara snaps for the constant nagging coming from Kise and Aomine as well as the sharp glare coming from Midorima. The next thing they know, his right hand is already moving to clamp a head as he just tells them.

“Shut up, guys. I’ll crush each and every one of you.”

Seijurou just sighs as he looks at his friends. His crazy friends. By then, he noticed that the mysterious guy behind Himuro is laughing at their display. It seems like he isn’t the only one who has noticed it as the rest of them has stopped talking and look at the mysterious newcomer.

Himuro chuckles at their expressions before saying, “Hey, Shuu. I think they’ve had enough of your disguise.”

It is actually Kuroko who snaps out of their first, “Nijimura-senpai?”

As soon as Kuroko calls that name, he snaps his head to look at the mysterious guy as he removes his sunglasses and cap.

“What’s up brats?” He lightly greets them with a grin.

Seijurou holds a deep breath as he properly looks at him. Nijimura-san is here in flesh and blood. He is snapped out when everyone has started to call out and surround Nijimura-san excitedly.

“Nijimura-senpai. It has been a while, in fact.”

“Nijimuraccchiiiiii!!!”

“Yo, Nijimura-senpai.”

“Hey brats, calm down!” He says as he greets every person there. The guys outside Teiko seems to be confused by the newcomer.

And hesitantly, he slowly moves forward to him and bravely faces his old captain. He lets out the breath that he has been holding as he genuinely smiles.

“Nijimura-san, it’s been a while.” The older boy just grins at him as he pats his head affectionately. “Yo, Akashi. You’ve grown huh?”

“Of course. I am a boy who is hitting puberty. I am supposed to grow.”

Nijimura-san just smirks at him. “You still don’t have any funny bone in you.”

Akashi gives him a small smile as the group settles by the benches, gives him food and from there, a series of conversations have started mostly from Kise asking a ton of questions to Nijimura-san as well as they introduce him to the others.

“Takao, Mibuchi and Kagami, this is Nijimura Shuuzo. Our old captain from Teiko.”

“Ara, what an ikemen, Sei-chan.”

“Heh, he’s the one that Shin-chan is talking about.”

“Ne, ne, Nijimurachi, how come Murasakibarachi knows you’re arriving?”

They all look at him and waits for an answer because everyone is as curious as he is.

Nijimura-san sips his soda before he answers, “Well, I’m friends with Tatsuya. We met in LA. And because he is a sly fox, he finds it entertaining to call me at Skype when it’s really late in America. Turns out he’s roommates with Murasakibara so I’ve been keeping tabs on you guys. They also picked me up at the airport earlier but they were late. I also asked him to set this meet up.”

Himuro chuckles as he retorts, “You know, I’m not quite good with directions and Atsushi usually gets lost so put us two together, of course, we’re bound to get lost.”

Everyone laughs at that but they now know the reason why Murasakibara has set this meet up. It is coming from Nijimura-san after all.

“How come you just visit us just now, Nijimurachi? How is your dad?”

Nijimura-san actually spares a glance on him before looking back at the rest and answers, “My Dad is all better now, thanks. He is actually the one who says that I can have a vacation for a bit because between school, part-time job and taking care of my Dad, I barely have time to spare for myself. Also, I need to see how far my sons have come.” He smirks at them but Seijurou kind of feels offended that Nijimura-san also sees him as his son. Out of nowhere, he abruptly stands up and excuses himself from the rest as he goes on his way to the restroom. He can hear the others calling for him but he doesn’t really want them to see him being so out of character - being fragile and offended. He needs time to compose himself, for goodness’ sake, he is Akashi Seijuro and Akashis don’t show any weaknesses.

Once he is done composing himself, he goes out of the restroom but is surprised to see Nijimura-san standing outside as if he is waiting for him. Seijuro snorts inwardly at the thought. By now, he has learned the hard way not to expect anything from other people or else he might push them more away from him.

“Yo, Akashi, why did you suddenly bailout?”

“And you, Nijimura-san, why are you here?”

“It’s suffocating there, everyone is doing a public display of attention even Midorima and his little bird and otou-san can’t handle it.” He says with a straight face which is amusing if he must say. He can’t help but let out a small laugh.

“Ah yes, I am surprised as well with everyone dating someone especially Murasakibara. I mean he’s our big baby.”

Nijimura-san just chuckles. “Yeah, I’ll kill Tatsuya if he makes our big baby cry, ne, okaa-san?”

Seijurou does something out of his character for he actually widens his eyes and gapes at him for a few seconds. Thinking that he must have heard his statement wrong, he inquires again.

“Sorry I missed what you said. Can you repeat it again?”

He can see that his face has a tint of red showing as he faces him and moves closer to him until they are only a foot away. He actually has to look up at him because he has gotten taller as he remembers him to be. But he couldn’t deny the fact that Nijimura-san has gotten more....dashing.

“W-Well, Akashi, other than seeing our sons, my priority is to talk to you about two things.”

“About what?”

“Well, first, you know Murasakibara told me everything and I want to see if you’re okay now.”

“Yes, better than I’ll ever be.”

“Good, then for the second one.”

“Yes?”

“I’ve been meaning to tell you this before but I’ve seen you getting harder to approach and getting more aloof by that time so I thought that it’s not yet time. But now....” he inhales a deep breath as he looks straight into his red-maroon eyes and continues softly, “...would you be the mother to our rainbow sons again?”

For the first time in his life, Akashi Seijurou is getting a really lame confession and he can’t help but chuckle. Nijimura-san has said it with such a straight face that he really doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry out of happiness.

“That’s a lame confession, Nijimura-san.”

“Shut up. It took me three whole years to say that.” As soon as the older boy says that, he can’t help but blush just because for three years, he has this lingering feeling of love for one Nijimura Shuuzo. The moment is already here and he remembers the lyrics of the song.

So mysterious yet so incredibly real

It's an uncharted sea, it's an unopened door

But you gotta reach out and you gotta explore

Even though you're not sure till the moment arrives

There he is and you know you're in love

He is already here and he just needs to reach out and explore.

“Yes, I’ll be the okaa-san for our rainbow sons again, otou-san.”

Omake

It has been a precious week of happiness that will forever be engraved in Seijurou’s heart once he and Shuuzo are together. The others have teased them to no end once they have learned that finally, their parents are together after three long years. Everyone gives their congratulations and some threats to their otou-san that they will fly to America if he makes their okaa-san cry. Seijurou finds it funny how Shuuzo gets rooted in his place as he listens to every threat that their sons throw on him.

However, Shuuzo is only staying for a week so when he flies back, it is a bittersweet moment for both of them. They hug each other tightly with a promise that they will be in touch at all times with each other.

And now, Valentine’s day has come and he is actually feeling a little bit lonely because his other half is on the other side of the world. He is currently on the rooftop where he has met Mayuzumi-san before, feeling the wind touching on his skin. His phone suddenly vibrates signaling a message and smiles as he sees Shuuzo’s name.

From: Nijimura Shuuzo

To: Mama Sei

Subject: Good morning

Message: Happy Valentines’ Day, okaa-san. I miss you. Don’t let our sons run wild today! I’ll call you later during my lunch break at school.

He smiles as he is typing a reply because he never knew that the Nijimura Shuuzo who always beat up Haizaki into the brink of death could be this sweet.

From: Mama Sei

To: Nijimura Shuuzo

Re: Subject: Good morning

Message: Happy Valentines’ Day too, otou-san. Wish you were here. I’ll be waiting for your call later.

Suddenly, he doesn’t feel lonely anymore.

NOTE: Hello, I'm back again with the fourth installment. This one, I've tried to grasp Akashi's and Nijimura's character as much as possible. Please excuse the long narration from Akashi because after all, he is a man who constantly thinks and Nijimura being the cheeky adorable bastard that he is. Hope you guys like this as I have really fun writing this. That song from Robin Beck is a personal favorite of mine and I feel that it just fits Akashi’s baby feeling for Nijimura. Thanks much for reading and Happy Valentines from my sons and me <3

[girlofthemoon75]

Thanks for tagging 🖤 @windinthewillowsblog​ 

Sorry, it took a while.

100 Truths

1.) Real Name: Pascale

2.) Nicknames: Pasci

3.) Zodiac Sign: Taurus

4.) Male or Female: Female

5.) Nursery:  long time ago

6.) Primary School: was fun

7.) Secondary School: was not so fun

8.) Hair colour: brown

9.) Long or Short: long

10.) Loud or Quiet: Quiet

11.) Sweats or Jeans: Jeans

12.) Phone or Camera: Camera

13.) Health Freak: Yes, but not strictly

14.) Drink or Smoke: I quit smoking 14 years ago, and drinking.. I like to have a beer, some white wine but not very much. My dad was an alcoholic, therefore I don’t like to drink much because of bad experiences.

15.) Do You Have A Crush On Someone: yes

16.) Political orientation: Left wing

17.) Piercings: 5 in my ears and one in my nose.

18.) Tattoos: yes, 5

Have you ever been in:

19.) Airplane: yes

20.) Car *Accident*: yes

21.) Fist Fight: yes.

Firsts:

22) first piercing: ears

23.) First Best Friend: a boy from the neighbourhood (I always had more male friends than female)

24.) First Instrument played: Flute

25.) First award: Swimming award

26.) First Crush: An older boy from school

27.) First Language: Swiss German

28.) First Big Vacation: Toreilles-Plage (Perpignan), South of France

Lasts:

29.) Last Person you talked to: my hubby

30.) Last Person You Texted: my friend for who I made the film 

31.) Last Person You Watched: my hubby

32.) Last Movie You Watched: The Circle

34.) Last Song You listened to: Midnight Moonlight by The Firm

35.) Last Thing You Bought: chocolate and salmon

36.) Last Person You Hugged: my friend i visited today, because I was so happy (he is director and helped me with the film)

Favorites

38.) Drinks: Coke Zero, tea (Earl Grey, fruit teas), Cider

39.) Clothing: Casual dresses, coulottes, jeans, shirts

40.) Book: at the moment I love “The Rivers of London”-books by Ben Aaronovitch and the Alex Verus-books by Benedict Jacka. My favourite writer is Daniel Kehlmann

41.) Color: Black, dark blue, purple

42.) Flower: Callas, peonies, lillys

43.) Music: Hard Rock, Pop, Classic, Jazz, Blues, Prog Rock

44.) Movie: No Country For Old Men

46.) Subjects: Art, History, Music

In the last year

47.) [ ] Kissed in the rain

48.) [ ] Celebrated Halloween.

49.) [ ] Had Your Heart Broken

50.) [ ] Went Over the Minutes on Your Cell Phone

51.) [ ] Someone Questioned Your Sexual Orientation.

52.) [ ] Used a Weapon

53.) [ ] Breathed fire

54.) [ ] Had an Abortion


55.) [x] Done something you’ve Regretted  

56.) [ ] Broke a Promise

57.) [x] Kept a Secret

58.) [x] Pretended To Be Happy

59.) [x ] Met Someone Who Changed Your Life

60.) [ ] Pretended To Be Sick

61.) [x] Left The Country

62.) [×] Tried something you normally wouldn’t like, and liked it.

63.) [x] Cried Over The Silliest Thing

64.) [x] Ran a Mile

65.) [x] Went To the Beach

66.) [ ] Stayed Single

Currently

67.) Eating: nothing

68.) Drinking: Coke Zero

69.) Getting Ready To: nothing. Too tired for getting ready to anything

70.) Listening To: silence and the noise in the house

71.) Plans For Tomorrow/Today: Tomorrow: running in the morning, then working on my film and write some emails

72.) Waiting for: Answers of some emails and Godot

Your future

73.) Want Kids: No

74.) Want To Get Married: No, only if it’s nessecary

75.) Careers in mind: being a photographer and earn enough money for a living (what is very very very hard)

What’s better on a guy or girl

76.) Lips or Eyes: eyes

77.) Shorter or Taller: Taller

78.) Romantic or Spontaneous: Both

79.) Nice Stomach or Nice Arms: Both

80.) Sensitive or Loud: sensitive

81.) Hook-up Or Relationship: Relationship

82.) Troublemaker or Hesitant:  Hesistant

Have you ever

83.) Lost Glasses/Contacts: No

84.) Ran Away From Home: Yes - for 10 minutes in the middle of the night. I really did! But in my dreams I ran away a thousand times. Want to know why? Read answer 14.

85.) Held A Weapon, For Self Defence: No. I’m pacifist

86.) Killed Somebody: No.

87.) Broken Someone’s Heart: Yes, two times.. I’m sorry..

88.) Been Arrested: no

Do you believe in

90.) Yourself: I should more often.

91.) Miracles: Yes

92.) Love at First Sight: Yes

93.) Heaven: Not the christian heaven but something similar

94.) Santa Claus: No

95.) Easter Bunny: I should say yes just for fun!

96.) Magic: yes

97.) Is There One Person You Wanna Be With, Right Now: Yes

98.) Are You Seriously Happy With Where You Are, In Life: I’m ok with it, I knew what is going to happen and reality hit hard but I can handle it. But I have everything I wanted, a lovely hubby, a cool job (with no payed jobs at the moment), I’m healthy and fit, I have some really cool friends, so what do I want more?

99.) Are You Happy With The Person You’re With: yes

100.) Post as 100 Truths and Tag five People: @noisy-kitten @tremble-and-shake ​ @basementmermaid​ @jointhesinful @ledoftherings and anyone who wants to do it. Have fun!

[brownskinsugarplum76]

100 Asks

I was tagged for this by @basementmermaid quite some time ago… 😬 Here are my answers.

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

1. Real name : something other than Sugarplum. 😉

2. Nickname: Sugarplum

3. Zodiac sign : Aries gang! 🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽

4. Male or female? Female

5. Nursery: I was out during the day as a youngun.

6. Primary: nerd time!

7. Secondary: awkward nerd time! 😞

8. Hair color : brown

9. Long or short: medium

10. Loud or quiet: me? It depends on the day and who I'm around.

11. Sweats or jeans : jeans and yoga pants / lycra leggings

12. Phone or camera : phone

13. Health freak? Kind of. I'm on that almond milk / stevia wave, but I still love my chicken fingers and fries… I would love to exercise more, too…

14. Drink or smoke: drink

15. Do you have a crush on someone : yeah…

16. Political orientation: liberal

17. Piercings: just one set of ear piercings

18. Tattoos: one, on my shoulder blade

19. Airplane? I would love to have a ticket to somewhere right now! I do get nervous during takeoff, but I'll deal with it to go on an awesome trip.

20. Car accident? A few. Thankfully no major injuries, no totalled cars. 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

21. Fist fight? I fought over a book before I was like 11, but it was more like slapping. That's it.

22. First piercings: ears

23. First best friend: in kindergarten

24. First instrument: I dabbled on a keyboard that my parents bought

25. First award : won a drawing contest with a fire prevention theme in like 2nd grade

26. First crush: celeb was Prince; IRL, 2 boys in middle school

27. First language : English

28. First big vacation: Miami

29. Last person I talked to: a coworker

30. Last person I texted : my SO

31. Last person I watched : didn't really need watching… 🤷🏽‍♀️

32. Last movie I watched : probably Guardians of the Galaxy 2, on TV. Theater was Secret Life of Pets 2.

34. Last song I listened to: Finer Things, J*Davey

35. Last thing I bought : a bunch of snacks from Trader Joe's, including dried chile mango and jerk-flavored plantain chips

36. Last person I hugged: my SO

38. Favorite drinks: water, iced tea, diet cola, rum & Coke, dark rum and ginger ale

39. Favorite clothing: skinny jeans, maxi skirts/dresses, cute athlesiure clothes and shoes

40. Favorite book: just Finished American Gods and really enjoyed it

41. Favorite color: blue, red, pink, purple

42. Favorite flower: Tea roses, tulips, orchids

43. Favorite music: classic rock, R&B, reggae, Afrobeats, electronica

44. Favorite movie : Love Jones, Guardians of the Galaxy 1&2

46. Favorite subjects: English/Creative Writing, Spanish, French, Biology

In the last year, have I…

47: Kissed in the rain? No

48. Celebrated Halloween? Yes

49. Had your heart broken? No 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

50. Went over cell phone minutes? No (but yes on data)

51. Someone questioned your sexual orientation? No

52. Used a weapon? Probably hit someone with something in a joking manner, but not a legit serious injury weapon

53. Breathed fire? If I ate something really spicy… 🤷🏽‍♀️ My mouth was on fire today from Singapore mei fun

54. Had an abortion? No

55. Done something I regretted? Probably, but nothing large scale.

56. Broke a promise? Yes

57. Kept a secret? Yes

58. Pretended to be happy? A little

59. Meet someone who changed my life? Through books, yes

60. Pretended to be sick? Yes 🤷🏽‍♀️

61. Left the country? No.

62. Tried something I normal wouldn't, and liked it? Yes.

63. Cried over the silliest thing? Yes.

64. Ran a mile? Nah.

65. Went to the beach? I think around this time last year? I'm overdue this year.

66. Stayed single? Nah, taken.

Currently:

67. Eating? Nothing.

68. Drinking? Water.

69. Getting ready to: mentally prepare for a trip to the gym today.

70. Listening to: a podcast called The Friend Zone.

71. Plans for tomorrow: work on my fics ; today: gym.

72. Waiting for: the end of the work day. I have nothing left to do!

The future

73. Want kids? Yes.

74. Want to get married? Yes.

75. Careers in mind? Author, independently wealthy 😩😩😩😂😂😂

What's better on a guy or girl:

76. Lips or eyes? Can't decide! Love both.

77. Shorter or taller? Taller

78. Romantic or spontaneous? Both is a dream…

79. Uve stomach or nice arms? Arms

80. Sensitive or loud? Both are useful at different times.

81. Hook-up or relationship? Relationship.

82. Troublemaker or hesitant? Both have their uses.

Have I ever…

83: lost contacts or glasses? Glasses at an amusement park; hate when contacts creep up high on your eye and you have to work them back down.

84. Ran away from home? No.

85. Held a weapon for self defense? No.

86. Killed somebody? No.

87. Broken someone's heart: Yes. 😔

88. Been arrested? No.

Do you believe in…

90. Yourself? More than I used to.

91. Miracles? Yes.

92. Love at first sight? Yes.

93. Heaven? I do believe there's more after this life.

94. Santa Claus? Not for years.

95. Easter bunny? Same, it since I was a kid.

96. Magic? It's is.

97. Is there someone I want to be with right now? Yes.

98. Am I seriously happy with where I am in life? Yes, I think so. There are ways in which I want to improve, but I feel like I'm on the right track and have some general ideas on how to get there.

99. Am I happy with the person I'm with? Yes.

Please consider yourself tagged if you want to do this!

[the-captains-ayebrows]

Yet another tag meme

Haven’t done one of these in a while so why not?

Tagged by: @thisonesatellite Helloooooo! Nice to meet ya! Y’all go read her fic. It’s quality stuff.

Put your playlist on shuffle and name the first four songs.

I can’t remember the last time I made a playlist or really even played any music that I’d bought/downloaded. I do the Pandora thing or listen to other people’s playlists on 8tracks.

Lately I’ve been seeking out 90’s country and classic or southern rock. There have been some “Winchester Brothers” playlists…

Grab the nearest book. Turn to page 23, line 27.

“I glanced at the floor. The orange lines of Greg’s ward had grown so dim, I could barely see them.”

— Magic Bites, Ilona Andrews

(I haven’t actually started reading this book yet, but I have much love for the authors, so I’m looking forward to it)

Ever had a song or a poem written about you?

Ahhh... this is kind of cringey for me. I dated too many musicians and artistic types. Ok. Here goes.

I had a guitarist FWB for a while who wrote some indie rock song that he said was about me, but there were no lyrics, so ...? *shrugs*

Another dude I dated claimed that he wrote a song with a highly suggestive title while we were together. I call bullshit on me having anything to with that one, though, because we did not ever engage in the acts described in said song. Ahem.

Also my ex-fiancé told me after we broke up that one of his grad school buddies made a student film about our relationship and break-up and I’m pretty damn sure I was the villain of that piece. I’ve never actually seen it. So basically, I’m “Jed Mosley” from “The Wedding Bride.”

When was the last time you played air guitar?

Probably within the last 48 hours. I also sing really loudly in my car.

Celebrity crushes?

I’m not crushing hard on anyone right now, but Colin O’donoghue will always have a special place in my heart. I like looking at pretty pictures of pretty dudes, though.

Sounds I hate/love?

Love the sound of little kids laughing, cicadas in my backyard, ocean waves.

Hate the sound of alarm clocks/phone alerts and the sound my cats make when they’re hacking up hairballs.

Do you drive, and have you ever crashed?

Um, yes and yes. No one was ever seriously injured, but I’ve totaled 3 cars in my lifetime.

Last book you read?

Heartless by Marissa Meyer. It’s an origin story of The Queen of Hearts and I LOVED it. Really well-done slow descent into madness. Same author that wrote the Lunar Chronicles which I also loved dearly.

Do you believe in ghosts?

I don’t NOT believe in them.

Do you believe in aliens?

Yes. I think there’s life out there.

Do you like the smell of gasoline?

This is, perhaps, oddly specific, but I like the smell of gasoline powered lawn equipment. Or… now that I’m considering it, maybe I just think it’s hot when the hubby does yard work.

Last movie you saw?

Avengers: Endgame in the theater. Crazy Rich Asians on streaming.

Do you have an obsession right now?

I’m binge watching Supernatural on Netflix, if that counts. I’m up to season 10. There you go - Jensen Ackles is my current celeb crush.

Do you tend to hold grudges?

I do, but a person against whom I held a grudge would likely never know it. I don’t really do anything with my grudges. I just kind of have a grudge box sitting in the back of my mind.

I hereby officially tag anyone and everyone who wants to play!

[greeneyedgirl357]

100 Truths

Once again I have been tagged by my pal @basementmermaid so here goes nothing:

1. Real name: Robyn

2. Nicknames: I have a lot lol my mom calls me Robsy or Robsykins, and she used to call me Squirt and Robynski. Squirt is my favorite tbh.

3. Zodiac sign: Scorpio

4. Male or Female: female

5. Nursery: if you mean my room it was lit I had a mobile with dinosaurs on it but I did also go to nursery school and that was lit too we had snax

6. Primary: yeah! I dug it all right.

7. Secondary: would have been cool if I'd had more friends but it was otherwise pretty okay.

8. Hair color: brown

9. Long or short: mid-length?

10. Loud or quiet: quiet

11. Sweatpants or jeans: jeans

12. Phone or camera: camera

13. Health freak: not as much as I'd like to be haha

14. Drink or smoke: I don't smoke but I'm a sucker for wine coolers and a self-proclaimed beer snob.

15. Do you have a crush on someone: nope.

16. Political affiliation: registered unaffiliated. I try to be open-minded, whatever that means.

17. Piercings: two holes in my ears

18. Tattoos: none yet

Have you ever been in:

19. Airplane: I have actually

20. Car accident: thankfully no

21. Fist fight: no hehe

Firsts:

22. First piercing: my first ear piercing; I want to say I was about 9 or 10.

23. First best friend: my pal Mackenzie from pre-school. She used to get me in trouble all the time but eh we had a lot of fun together. We kind of lost touch after kindergarten and I don't really know her super well anymore.

24. First instrument played: piano I think

25. First award: A Honor Roll in the first grade probably.

26. First crush: I want to say pre-k? I was friends with two boys I really liked a lot but I wasn't really very forward and I kind of only saw them as friends.

27. First language: English

28. First big vacation: I flew to Arizona for a family wedding when I was a wee one, perhaps six months old?

Lasts:

29. Last person you talked to: my mom

30. Last person you texted: my mom and my sister (I was talking with both simultaneously)

31. Last person you watched: I watched some dude in a gas station parking lot go inside the store, get a Pepsi, and then leave

32. Last movie you watched: it was either Glory or National Treasure unless you count the video recording of a church musical I was in

33. Last song you listened to: "You Never Give Me Your Money" by The Beatles

34. Last thing you bought: glittery cat stickers

35. Last person you hugged: I think it was my sister

Favorites:

36. Drinks: Chick-fil-a lemonade, sweet tea, gas station slushies, root beer, and strawberry soda

37. Clothing: skinny jeans, my black converses or vans, or a button-down and my sperrys.

40. Book: oof that's hard to say but one big one is probably The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. It's one of the most formative for me anyway.

41. Color: all sorts of blues, peach, purple, certain greens

42. Flower: peonies, hydrangeas, roses, carnations, gladiolas, daisies

43. Music: certain classic rock, 80s new wave, 60s jams, current alternative/indie, classical, lo-fi beats to study to, vaporwave

44. Movie: A Hard Day's Night, That Thing You Do!, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Back To The Future...lots of 80s movies and some way back classics too

45. Subjects: history, English, science

In the last year:

46. Kissed in the rain: nope

47. Celebrated Halloween: yep! Pulled a last minute costume out of my ass and went to a bonfire.

48. Had your heart broken: nope

49. Went over the minutes on your cell phone: nope and I have unlimited data too

50. Someone questioned your sexual orientation: not that I know of

52. Used a weapon: I used a knife on a roast last weekend does that count?

53. Breathed fire: no

54. Had an abortion: nope

55. Done something you've regretted: yep

56. Broke a promise: I don't think so, I don't make a lot of promises.

57. Kept a secret: yes

58. Pretended to be happy: yes

59. Met someone who changed your life: no

60. Pretended to be sick: no

61. Left the country: no

62. Tried something you normally wouldn't like and liked it: no

63. Cried over the silliest thing: yes

64. Ran a mile: I jogged a mile on a treadmill

65. Went to the beach: yes

66. Stayed single: yes

Currently:

67. Eating: nothing

68. Drinking: strawberry Berlinerweisse (told you I'm a beer snob) mixed with strawberry lemonade

69. Getting ready to: either play the Sims or watch Gilmore Girls

70. Listening to: the album Talking Is Hard by Walk The Moon

71. Plans for today/tomorrow: game a bit, make dinner for my mom.

72. Waiting for: someone to express interest/attraction in me lol

Your future

73. Want kids: absolutely, at least 2-3.

74. Want to get married: yes

75. Careers in mind: librarian/writer/comedian

What's better on a guy or girl

76. Eyes or lips: eyes. I'm a sucker for nice eyes, and they're always the first thing I notice.

77. Shorter or taller: taller is nice but shorter is okay too.

77. Romantic or spontaneous: romantic

78. Nice stomach or nice arms: both

79. Sensitive or loud: sensitive

80. Hookup or relationship: relationship

81. Troublemaker or hesitant: neither

Have you ever

82. Lost glasses/contacts: not as of yet but I'm getting my eyes checked next week so that could change

83. Ran away from home: yes, twice that I can remember. I was probably 7 or 8? I got to the end of my street and then turned around. It was probably because I only packed pants in my bag. I remember only packing pants for some reason.

84. Held a weapon, for self-defense: not for self-defense but I threw a small boulder at my sister once.

85. Killed somebody: only in The Sims

86. Broken somebody's heart: not that I know of

87. Been arrested: no. I did get pulled over once though.

Do you believe in

88. Yourself: sometimes

89. Miracles: no not really. I'm a bit of a skeptic and I have to see physical proof of something to believe it.

90. Love at first sight: yes and no. The hopeless romantic in me really wants to say yes but I don't think you can really know if you love someone without having spent a lot of time getting to know them. I believe you can be attracted to someone at first sight but whether it's love really just depends. Who knows if that's true for everyone but that's my opinion.

91. Heaven: yes

92. Santa Claus: no but I like the idea of him and I'll still leave out cookies even though I know it's just my grandpa eating them

93. Easter Bunny: no but I like the idea of him too

94. Magic: yes

95. Is there one person you want to be with right now: yeah

96. Are you seriously happy with where you are, in life: yes, for the most part. It fluctuates, and to be honest I thought I'd be a little further along in life than I am right now, but I'm perfectly content to be where I am at the present.

97. Are you happy with the person you're with: I am single but my cats are pretty cool and I'm happy hanging with them.

100. Post as 100 truths and tag 5 people: I nominate @foryoublue46 @alloftimeandspace10 @thesearentthedroids94 @opidiod and whoever else wants to go for it hehehe

[noisy-kitten]

I was tagged by the lovely @girlofthemoon75 to do this tag, I’m sorry girl for taking me so long to do it!

100 Truths

1.) Real Name: Sophia

2.) Nicknames: Don’t have one.

3.) Zodiac Sign: Cancer

4.) Male or Female: Female

5.) Nursery:  Can’t remember much.

6.) Primary School: I had a good time, I met most of my friends back then.

7.) Secondary School: Really good memories, lots of fun.

8.) Hair colour: Dark brown

9.) Long or Short: Long

10.) Loud or Quiet: People always think I’m very quiet but I can be very loud.

11.) Sweats or Jeans: Jeans

12.) Phone or Camera: Both

13.) Health Freak: Yes.

14.) Drink or Smoke: I don’t smoke, occasionally a drink or two.

15.) Do You Have A Crush On Someone: No

16.) Political orientation: Nowadays it’s complicated.

17.) Piercings: 2, one on each ear.

18.) Tattoos: No.

Have you ever been in:

19.) Airplane: Yes

20.) Car *Accident*: Yes but minor ones.

21.) Fist Fight: No.

Firsts:

22) first piercing: Ears

23.) First Best Friend: A girl when I was 4, we were best friends throughout all our school years until we were 18 but after that we lost touch.

24.) First Instrument played: I can’t play any instrument.

25.) First award: Didn’t get any, ever.

26.) First Crush: A boy that was living right next door to us.

27.) First Language: Greek

28.) First Big Vacation: Somewhere in Greece for sure but I can’t remember.

Lasts:

29.) Last Person you talked to: My mother

30.) Last Person You Texted: My brother. 

31.) Last Person You Watched: Hmmm can’t remember lol

32.) Last Movie You Watched: Spirited Away. It was the second time actually, it has been 15 years since the first time I watched it and I forgot how incredible it is.

34.) Last Song You listened to: Arctic Monkeys - Knee Socks

35.) Last Thing You Bought: An orange strappy top.

36.) Last Person You Hugged: I think it was my mother.

Favorites

38.) Drinks: Ginger Ale and Coke Zero for non-alcoholic ones and Mojitos and beer for alcoholic ones.

39.) Clothing: Mostly casual, jeans and t-shirts or tops most of the times or long dresses in the summer.

40.) Book: I don’t read much but my favorite will always be The Island by Victoria Hislop.

41.) Color: White, black and peach-coral.

42.) Flower: White roses.

43.) Music: Mostly R&B and house but the past year I tried to expand my musical horizons with classic rock.

44.) Movie: Oh gosh I have so many: Amelie, Spirited Away, Pride and Prejudice, Inglourious Basterds, Good Night and Good Luck and so so many more!

46.) Subjects: History

In the last year

47.) [ ] Kissed in the rain

48.) [ ] Celebrated Halloween.

49.) [ ] Had Your Heart Broken

50.) [ ] Went Over the Minutes on Your Cell Phone

51.) [ ] Someone Questioned Your Sexual Orientation.

52.) [ ] Used a Weapon

53.) [ ] Breathed fire

54.) [ ] Had an Abortion

55.) [x] Done something you’ve Regretted  

56.) [x] Broke a Promise

57.) [x] Kept a Secret

58.) [x] Pretended To Be Happy

59.) [ ] Met Someone Who Changed Your Life

60.) [x] Pretended To Be Sick

61.) [ ] Left The Country

62.) [ ] Tried something you normally wouldn’t like, and liked it.

63.) [x] Cried Over The Silliest Thing

64.) [ ] Ran a Mile

65.) [x] Went To the Beach

66.) [x] Stayed Single

Currently

67.) Eating: nothing

68.) Drinking: Iced Peach Tea.

69.) Getting Ready To: Relax in my room, I just got back from a long day.

70.) Listening To: My noisy neighborhood.

71.) Plans For Tomorrow/Today: No plans whatsoever.

72.) Waiting for: Summer vacations.

Your future

73.) Want Kids: Maybe yes, maybe no.

74.) Want To Get Married: Not sure, it depends.

75.) Careers in mind: Nowadays, anything that can provide me a decent salary.

What’s better on a guy or girl

76.) Lips or Eyes: Eyes

77.) Shorter or Taller: Taller

78.) Romantic or Spontaneous: Both

79.) Nice Stomach or Nice Arms: Both

80.) Sensitive or Loud: Both, just like me lol

81.) Hook-up Or Relationship: Relationship

82.) Troublemaker or Hesitant:  Hesistant

Have you ever

83.) Lost Glasses/Contacts: No

84.) Ran Away From Home: No.

85.) Held A Weapon, For Self Defence: No.

86.) Killed Somebody: No.

87.) Broken Someone’s Heart: Not that I’m aware of.

88.) Been Arrested: No.

Do you believe in

90.) Yourself: Depends.

91.) Miracles: No, I’m very pessimist.

92.) Love at First Sight: Yes

93.) Heaven: Yes, in a different type of heaven though.

94.) Santa Claus: No

95.) Easter Bunny: No, we don’t have that in Greece lol.

96.) Magic: Yes

97.) Is There One Person You Wanna Be With, Right Now: No.

98.) Are You Seriously Happy With Where You Are, In Life: Definitely no!

99.) Are You Happy With The Person You’re With: No because I don’t have one.

100.) Post as 100 Truths and Tag five People: I don’t have 5 but I tag @mademoiselle-katie, @tinambc and anyone who wants to do it!

[landofgay]

@ghostatm0st tagged me in a top 10 movies thing so here i go!! (literally all of these are comedies get ready)

this is my #1 favourite movie since i was little!!! i used to want to be riff randle so bad (also i high key had a crush on her)

this movie is fuckin 90′s gold and is so fuckin funny. 37!!!!

i love EVERY movie john waters has ever made and ever will make but i needed to pick just one so i went with the most outrageous lmao. but seriously do yourself a favour and watch any of his movies (especially the ORIGINAL!! hairspray!)

all 3 cornetto trilogy movies!! but worlds end is my favourite honestly

the only non comedy in my list of favourites. this movie is so pretentious but it stuck with me for years its so good

this movie is like rock n roll high school in that i didnt realize it was dumb until i got older. its also been one of my favourites since i was a kid and they both deserve more appreciation!!!

what can i say, i love these idiots. also this movie has another girl i had a crush on as a kid (joan of arc)

another movie i probably shouldnt have watched as a literal 3 year old but listen its so fuckin funny idgaf.

cant believe i almost forgot about this fuckin movie. what a classic

finally, one of the best teen movies ever. i just love everything about this movie

idk who to tagggg for these things so i tag anyone who wants to do this! go nuts!