#shit I think the theatre just made me political

[rustic-ghoul]

NYE was phenomenal!!!!

Laughing, crying (throwing up?…is that the saying?)

A truely moving piece of theatre.

Made me both proud of our National Health Service and incredibly angry at its current state and lack of support.

Michael was outstanding (obviously)!

I just really loved this production. Everyone did so well. Feel very lucky I got to see it in our local cinema.

[reignpage]

yesss please tell us everyone’s major 😭 I’ve been trying to figure out tojis

Okie dokie, I'll pair it up with their readers too

Gojo

Economics 3rd year Hates it though Only does it cause his family made him So he can take over the business and shit

Reader

Philosophy 3rd year Really loves it Her favourite is Marxism

Geto

Philosophy dropped out Just ended up pushing him away tbh No one could explain the reality he saw

Reader

Classics 2nd year Loves to read Romantic She loves theatre and greek mythology and latin Always in the library when she's not at work That's how she met Sukuna's reader She was in her first year, all lost and trying to find a book, she ran into Sukuna's reader who was a second year and knew the library like the back of her hand They hit it off

Choso

Art 2nd year Doesn't like to go to lectures and classes though Thinks they're a waste of time lowkey Would rather be painting and sketching

Reader

Art 2nd year Loves it Lives and breathes it Always looks for Choso when they have a shared class/lecture Scolds him every time when he doesn't come in

Toji

Business lol 3rd year He chose it because he didn't know what else to do And it seemed simple enough

Reader

Journalism 3rd year She likes to write Always been a gossip But she's finding it hard to make a career out of it since her works are trivial and silly (that's what she thinks, truth is she suffers from confidence issues)

Nanami

Physics duh 3rd year Just likes how practical it is There are rules and laws It's all about making sense of the world Only science he likes tbh Hates chemistry with a passion

Reader

Also physics duh 3rd year It's surprising to people she meets when she says she studies physics Because they assume she's a bimbo And obviously her general unserious personality and need for tutoring might make you guys think she's not very smart But she is She just can't learn from the way physics is rigidly taught in lectures Hates that they read from the PowerPoints and talk slowly And hates the pretentious way researches write She's very smart guys She's just not focused

Sukuna

Politics and International Relations 3rd year Mostly because of his family But he enjoys it Top student too

Reader

Okay please don't accuse me of self-inserting cause I promise im not 😭 But she's a law student 3rd year IT MAKES SENSE She puts a lot of pressure on herself to be the very best She's rigid and strict and she likes the security of law She can't stand things like philosophy and sociology because she thinks they're pointless (so judgy fr) She likes things that are concrete

[melrosing]

got bored made some Lannister ocs

besides Stafford we don’t have names or deaths or anything for Joanna’s other two brothers and her two sisters so since everyone else has ocs I decided I wanted some and it was free real estate ✨ names/ages/personalities under the cut

joanna lannister (247AC - 273AC) guess what i didn't actually make her up but not like we have much detail on her anyway so w/e. eldest child of Jason Lannister & Marla Prester, and just a frustratingly perfect girl (at least as far as Cerella is concerned) who always seems to get her way. has always enjoyed gossip and that becomes an interest in court and politics once she moves to KL at 10 to become one of Queen Rhaella's companions. as a child at the Rock she was best friends with Genna, but it was a complex relationship where Joanna was slightly resentful of Genna's power over her (as Tytos' daughter) and Genna was resentful of Joanna's apparent perfection, and the way she seems to wring an affection out of Tywin where he has none for his siblings. Joanna isn't exactly a mean girl but is well aware of the effect her charisma has on others, and can make you feel like shit by looking straight through you (albeit w a smile on her face) if she doesn't feel you're much worth her time.

stafford lannister (248AC - 299AC) i didn't make him up either but canon says he's a blundering idiot so we'll go w that. Stafford just had the luck to be the firstborn son of a Lannister knight, so he gets wealth and riches with little responsibility to show for it. he's thought of as a bit of a Tytos 2.0 but without his humour or heart of gold. thinks he has a fascinating life but is just rich. tells dreadfully boring stories but never seems to notice the snores. constantly landing himself in shit and waiting to be rescued. that's all there is to say about Stafford.

gerold lannister (249AC - 280AC) yay my first oc. well he's just a bit of a creep really. twin to Cerella, born first of the two. Gerold thinks he's the perfect Lannister specimen (he's more like.... weedy handsome squidward) and figures he ought to have been born in Tywin's place. but somehow he ended up the second son of a fourth son and nothing much is expected of him. he's not much good at anything and noone likes spending any time around him because he's perpetually consumed by bitterness. he's not close to his sister Cerella either, bc he seems to treat her worse than anyone, constantly talking down to her etc and mocking her crush on their cousin Tywin. in his final years, as his other siblings are growing up and moving on w their lives, Gerold remains bitter & stagnant, and no-one cares to see what's up except youngest sibling Loren, who has never been close to his brother but takes pity on him, believes maybe Gerold just likes men (specifically he suspects he likes TYWIN) and Loren is a theatre kid all his friends are gay it's fine. he decides to reach out. except Gerold isn't gay and in a confrontation between the two, Loren discovers that the true object of Gerold's affections is: their sister Cerella!!! who has already been married off to Sumner Crakehall. his secret out, Gerold kills himself shortly after, and Loren never tells anyone what he learnt but is consumed by guilt and disgust for the rest of his days.

cerella crakehall née lannister (249AC - 295AC) younger twin to gerold. Cerella has a cold demeanour but the heart of a romantic. when she was a small child she was in awe of Joanna and followed her everywhere, and Joanna likewise enjoyed Cerella's hero worship and treated her as a mini-me. however, as Joanna blossomed, Cerella felt ugly and awkward by comparison. Joanna only seemed to verify this by gradually ignoring Cerella in favour of Genna, and later in favour of her friends at court it KL. Joanna seems to get everything she wants before she can think to ask for it, whereas people seem to forget Cerella is in the room. and the one thing Cerella has always wanted is Tywin: she thinks they're entirely alike, and she's even modelled herself on him in hope that one day they would make a perfect match. except Joanna gets Tywin too: she has his attention without even seeming to ask for it, and takes him because she can. Cerella thinks she might have got her comeuppance when Jo is sent home from court, after Aerys affections for her become a little too heated. Tywin won't want her now. except he does, and they're betrothed not long after. Cerella, despondent, doesn't argue when she's married off to Lannister bannerman Sumner Crakehall (his second wife), and never returns to the Rock thereafter. she notices Joanna's son training in the yard at Crakehall but wants nothing to do with him; Jaime Lannister will wonder why in all those years his mother's sister never deigns to speak to him.

rowena cary née lannister (255AC - present) her father's favourite (though he dies before she turns six), Rowena looks the spit of her grandmother Rohanne Webber. Jason never knew his mother, and so has highly idealised notions of her (whilst the rest of the Lannisters loathe her for leaving without a trace). he likes the idea that Rowena is Rohanne born again, but wouldn't get away with naming her Rohanne - so names her an approximation. and she's just a fuckin disney princess lol. extremely amiable, not a girl of any great talents but does her best to please everyone. she never sees much of her eldest siblings, who are at court or squiring by the time she's old enough to engage with them, and the twins pay her no particular attention, but the adults around her love indulging her, and she's close to her younger brother Loren. there are no great expectations of Rowena, so despite many great westermen begging her hand, she marries for love to a wealthy merchant of Lannisport. sadly, they're unable to have the children they long for, but enjoy entertaining at their Lannisport manse, and enjoy welcoming nieces and nephews into their home (Tyrion is a regular visitor uwu). w her red hair, people tend to forget she's a Lannister at all, and so does she tbh.

loren lannister (257AC - 297AC) born in what many thought were finally past Marla's childbearing years, Loren is the youngest of Jason's brood. there are no great expectations of Loren, and Loren has none of himself - but in some ways he ends up being the most successful of the bunch, besides Joanna. he likes writing plays, acting in his own plays, and generally getting merry with the folk of Lannisport. the Lannisters of the Rock tend to forget Loren exists because he's seldom there, always in the city instead - till he moves out of the Rock entirely with little fanfare, and uses his inheritance to build a theatre in the middle of town. his plays do well and he's popular with the people, but very much a rich kid cosplaying poor lol. he never marries but has affairs w men and women, and when he hears of a bastard that might be his he throws a load of money their way without checking to see if it's true. Loren enjoys attention and pays close attention to others in turn, but is largely estranged from the Lannisters besides Rowena. after trying and failing to help his estranged brother Gerold, Loren falls into something of a depression for a time, doubting himself and all his instincts - his estrangement from the rest of his family becomes much more definitive as a result. anyway after a fairly prolific career Loren falls from some theatre scaffolding to his death at 40 years old, to the misery of Lannisport and the faint bemusement of the Rock

[winwintea]

Belladonna! fourteen ↬ the price of greed

You met Renjun outside of the theatre, after waiting for about 15 minutes. His outfit looked cute. He greeted you with a smile, and as his beanie almost fell off of his face and you couldn’t help but giggle as he tried to fix it turning his head to the side. You took a few sips of the coffee you had, and ate some of the breakfast you had ordered already. With him nearby, you had managed to relax a little and just ignore the situation at hand for a while...

"Sorry I took a while. I tried to hurry back as quickly as I could." Renjun rubbed the back of his neck.

“You’re perfectly fine. Coffee?” You grabbed a bag sitting at your feet, bringing it up to present it to Renjun.

"Yes please, you don’t have to tell me otherwise.” He grabbed the bag out of your hands and quickly took a sip of the warm coffee inside. His eyes lit up, “Wait this shit is good?”

“Made it myself, from yours truly!” You winked at him, basking in the praise Renjun had given you. “I always make my own. Buying it is too expensive these days.”

“I’m certainly impressed.” You couldn’t help but feel your heart soar from the praise. He took a few more sips of the coffee, before turning to the door, “You ready?”

"Ugh. The sooner this is over, the better. I still think there’s a potential murderer out here," You sigh.

As you two both entered the theatre once again, you couldn’t help but nervously shake at the idea of confronting your friend like this. How would he react? Would he scream? Yell at you?

Your thoughts were interrupted by Renjun’s hands upon your shoulder, giving you a gentle smile. “It’ll be okay.”

“Y/N! Renjun!” Jay greeted the two of you politely, and your heart twinged a bit. Oh god you felt so guilty about doing this.

“Jay… Hi…”

“What’s up? Why are you two here so early?”

You absolutely want to die right then and there. Like could someone just kill you right now? This was by far harder than any breakup you’d ever been through. You had known Jay for so much of your life. To choose between right and wrong? and just friend code in general?

But with Renjun next to you to comfort you, you felt like you could do anything. “Yeah, actually there’s something I have to tell you Jay…”

"I will assume that means-" Jay said, before... breaking into a fit of coughs.

"Jay?" you asked, frowning. "Are you alright?" Jay continued coughing.

"J-Jay...?!" Renjun moved to his side, but he just continued coughing, his hands wrapping themselves around his throat.

One of Jay’s hands let go of his throat and grasped for something in front of him...

...then he slumped down in front of us, the glass of his glasses cracking.

prev ↤ belladonna! ↦ next

SUMMARY ↬ you've been tasked with visting and inspecting the grand rose theatre, a theatre that's been plagued with mysteries over the years. all seems well, until a string of murders follows your visit. as you further investigate, you find yourself falling for huang renjun, the beautiful male lead, and your mystery murderer who leaves you love notes and clues about who they could potentially be. will you be smart enough to be a step ahead of the killer? or will you find yourself caught within their trap?

TAG LIST ↬ @aquaphoenixz @lyvhie @nerdsungie @nanaxwi @itsashley127 @layuhsblog @syatchy @p-d1ddy @galacticnct @neocrashed @multifandomania @lotties-readings @odxrilove @clockwork--fandoms @hyuckies18 @kaciebello @marvelahsobx @injunnie-lemon @busy-daydreaming02 @h-aechanie

[clegfly]

Woo, it’s about time I made one of these… *cracks knuckles*

MORE ABOUT ME!!!!

HIIII!!!! My name is clegfly, or just cleg!!!! I’m an artist/ writer / professional paint drying critic/j. I’m just a silly person doing silly things, don’t mind me. I use they/them pronouns and I am aroace!!!

LIKES

BULLET POINTS BULLET POINTS BULLET POI

Pancakes. All day. All the time. Everywhere, anywhere. Pancakes

That goes for bacon too

JELLYYYYYYYYYY!!!!1!1!1!

Why are these all foods what else do I like uhhhh

Warm. And cosy bed. And fire. And all that stuff

OLD COMPUTER AESTHETIC!!!!!! N64!!! WINDOWS XP!!!! ALL THAT SHIT

Bugs in theory

PLANTS

MUSICAL THEATRE

Graphic novels

Video games… ough my beloveds

Books

Okay now this is too long

Oops

Sorry

JELLYFISH JELLYFISH JELLYFISH

The ocean full stop actually

In theory

CHINCHILLAS

Uh

Yapping

Analysis

DISLIKES

anything on my DNI >:((((

Bugs in practice

Sport

Exercise

I’m literally hero omori

Commitment

Stress

Internet drama

Anyone who gatekeeps like. Anything.

INTERESTS???

All day every day, baby.

MAINS

OMORI- main interest as apparent by one peek at my blog… The brainrot is immeasurable and everlasting. Send help. It’s been almost four years. I love this game, its characters, story, EVERYTHING so fucking much. I’m like a billion pounds in debt to it also. I will be homeless but at least I will have my big ass heromari collection.

PMMM/ Madoka Magica- my favourite show! Consisting purely of sparkles and sunshine!!!! Why are you crying??? I’m sure not!!!!

DDLC/ Doki Doki Literature Club- another favourite of mine!!! I see a well-written cast of characters I deeply relate to go through extreme horrific horror beyond any of their comprehensions and I’m SOLD!!!

Coraline- the horrors are all consuming, but at least it’s both a visual and extremely well-written treat!!!!

TADC/ the amazing digital circus- won’t lie, watched this show when the pilot dropped and LOVED it, but forgot about it after a while as it didn’t stick with me. Then episode three came out and I’m now reduced to a blubbering mess whose brain is now significantly comprised of two fictional chess pieces. What happened? I don’t know. Send even more help.

LITTLE GUYS THAT HURT MY BRAIN SOMETIMES

Petscop

Fnaf

BATIM/ bendy and the ink machine

BSD

Deltarune

Undertale

Hawaii: Part II

SUBJECT TO CHANGE BECAUSE IM PROBABLY FORGETTING LIKE 20 AND ALSO HAVE LIKE 20 STILL TO DISCOVER

HOBBIES?!2!2!

Ya!!!! :D

Art

The main thing I do on my silly little page!!

…in which the art is mostly unfinished doodles… but that’s okay!!!! We ball anyway

YOU CAN SEND THE CLEG REQUESTS!!!!! ALL DAY ANY DAY UNLESS I SAY OTHERWISE!!!! Do not expect premium quality though lmao. (And also nothing related to DNI. Shouldn’t have to say this but. Uh. Yeah)

You cannot yet commission the cleg :(

Writing

Currently on a writing hiatus and have been for a little while (5 MONRHS WHAT) but… i do!!!! That!!!! Aka I write fan fiction AGH

Mostly. Heromari stuff. Actually all heromari stuff. I think I have one fic that isn’t heromari and it’s one I co-authored I love them your honour…

Yeah

DNI

Bit of a bummer, but I gotta set my boundaries to keep the weirdos out!! That being said, do NOT interact with my blog whatsoever if you:

Are a shotacon, lolicon, proshipper, pedo, etc etc etc. (yucky. Yuck yuck yuck. Fuck off)

Are homophobic

Are transphobic

Are aphobic/ arophobic (why. Why are you even still here)

Queerphobic in general actually get OUT!!!!

Actively shit on any of my main interests. Like ACTIVELY go out of your way to tell me how bad it is (what. What is the point. Just go)

NSFW is on thin ice but I will likely just block the tag if you post about it... however PLEASE keep it away from me I am very sex repulsed and WILL block you ON SIGHT!!!

Are racist/ xenophobic

There is likely LOTS more I’m forgetting so I will update this later… also just saying I reserve the right to block ANYONE no matter if you fit into this criteria or not. If I don’t vibe with you I will politely block you and look the other way!!! No theatrics required

Anyway with all the negative stuff out of the way… I really hope you enjoy my blog!!! I’m just here to have fun honestly and express my ideas and passions and work on a little page of the internet so!!!! Hope you have fun too!!!! :D

[joesalw]

All of Taylor's albums were tailored to the most popular aesthetic at the time. She didn't make shit popular, she just adapted. Especially when she made the transition into pop music.

True. She's currently jumping fences with rep as well. Making it out to be a goth punk moment and using trendy words like 'female rage'. The album has the most romantic songs she's ever written. C'mon now. The whole record is electropop with some R&B elements thrown into the mix.

She portrays 'Lover' as her social justice warrior era. 'If I was a man, then I'd be the man'. Yeah, we've seen it Taylor. Miss 'me becoming a billionaire is good for the world because I'm a woman'. She makes herself out to be this 'feminist girl's girl' when in reality it couldn't be further from the truth. She's not a feminist and she doesn't want to be the woman that's advocating for women's rights and leads the path for the future generation of women. She wants to be the man at the top. Her motto is literally 'gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss, greenhouse gases'.

Another thing is her queer allyship. She's mentioned it when and only when it was profitable to her. During her tour she hadn't said a thing when the number of states signed anti-trans bills and the state of Tennessee where she says she lives *according to her own documentary* banned drag. I don't think she said anything about the anti-abortion legislation either. Her activist era started and ended in 2019.

Don't get me started on her position regarding the BLM movement. She only posted something because her own fans started calling her out and then declared that she's 'ferociously anti-racist'. She positioned herself as an advocate *by herself* and then immediately dipped when it stopped being as profitable. If you don't want to be dragged for your silence about social and political crises, don't proclaim yourself as an activist. Simple as that.

I've also seen the video on Youtube about TS being a narcissist (someone posted it on your blog earlier I think). And the guy in the video brought up her guitar teacher. So I looked him up and found an article where he talks about his experience with the Swifts which he got sued for later. According to the man, Taylor's mother was interested in him teaching her daughter how to play country music and was just a stage mom in general. And TS says that she'd been begging her parents to allow her learn how to play guitar and that she's self-taught. She wants her success story to be a rags to riches so bad I can't even.

She's a woman with an extremely fragile ego where millions of people could be praising her and a single negative comment would set her off. She can't handle any form of criticism, break ups or inconveniences like a grown woman simply because she doesn't have enough emotional intelligence to do so. Her being surrounded by yes men also doesn't help the situation. If i were her, I'd rather invest in a good therapist rather than 2 PJs. She drowns herself in work and relationships so she doesn't have time to go inwards and sit with her thoughts.

I kinda feel bad for her, honestly. She's been in the industry since she was 15 and her success was almost immediate. She doesn't know what the world's like because she's been sheltered her whole life and then had other people do things for her. I don't think she has many real friends as well. By real I mean people who aren't afraid to tell you the truth and are able to call you out in your face. Instead she has a bunch of people who appease her afraid of pissing her off and ending up on her bad side and as a result her vanity grows and she completely loses any sort of perspective whether in her friendships, romantic relationships or maybe even her own family.

I also wonder what she thinks about her fandom pirating her concert film instead of paying to rent it. I sort of hope that her fans are starting to wake up to her conning schemes. I mean, you've already made a shit ton of money from the theatre release, why charging 20$ more to RENT IT?Not even buy it. Or is it another narrative about how 'no one can own my work but me'?

This woman sells well but her cultural impact is almost nonexistent. She hadn't done any good for the world causes or inspired several generations of performers like Michael Jackson has with his philanthropic endeavors and incredible performing skills. The artists like Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Justin Timberlake (bleh) and The Weeknd were hugely influenced by MJ. These artist create their own unique legacy and impact on their communities. Especially the ladies. Gaga's been an avid LGBT+ advocate since the beginning of her career and created a foundation that focuses on issues like self-confidence, well-being, anti-bullying, mentoring and career development. She also participated in anti HIV and AIDS campaigns, spoke against immigration laws in the US, contributed to 2011's earthquake and tsunami relief campaign in Japan. Beyoncé's a huge advocate for the black community and black women especially which always finds its way in her work and visual art in particular. She's been platforming black culture and history for her whole career (2016 Superbowl and Coachella performance are the brightest examples of black american culture and releasing her Lion King album to showcase African artists' excellence). She also has a foundation where she provides black youth scholarships, clean water for communities abroad and housing to families in need in her home state.

What exactly makes Taylor Swift's cultural impact? Thousands of tons CO2 emissions? Music labels putting a clause in the contract so the artists can't re-record their material for 10 years now instead of 5? Making several versions of the same CD or vinyl so the sales are bigger? Mind you, that's all excessive plastic and paper. Some countries and US states are banning gas stoves. Her position regarding artists being paid during the early days of streaming (when the platforms were launching with a free period tial) was right but no one really benefited from it but her. She was shitting on Apple Music, then they offered her money, filmed an ad and released her 1989 Tour DVD exclusively on their platform. She shat on Spotify, then when LWYMMD came out, she was all over their biggest playlists all of a sudden and recorded Spotify Singles later on. Spotify's always promoted her every release like a motherfucker shoving her in every corner of the platform. Especially for the past 3 years. She doesn't have any memorable outfits or unique style to be called a fashion icon either. She's not a trailblazer she thinks she is. She is only popular because a lot of people *mostly ww* who peaked in high school see themselves in her. She's average in everything she does, her writing topes are also the same (only now she started using compound or uncommonly used words to mask it) but she's extremely commercially successful so that those people can see themselves in her. She doesn't have unique music style or chameleon-like discography like Gaga, Bey, MJ, Madonna, Shakira, Kelly Clarkson, Miley Cyrus or Nelly Furtado. She doesn't have a unique singing voice like Bjork, David Bowie, Freddie Mercury, Janis Joplin, MJ or Bob Dylan. She's no instrument prodigy either. And swifties say that 'Michael couldn't play any instruments'. Well, he was an exceptional beatboxer. She can strum 4 guitar chords and play basic piano, that's it. She doesn't have an outstanding dancing and/or vocal skill.

What is she gonna be remembered for? Her numerous relationships with famous men? While that might be misogynistic or sexist to some degree, she's the one who makes her relationships the centre of her music and public persona and brings them up even 10 years after they ended. Her public feuds with men and women that she can't get over years after? This woman is certainly can hold a grudge and is extremely vindictive. The leader of a parasocial cult that blindly defends her bigotry? I believe so. I don't think I've ever seen a fandom as toxic and as hive-minded as swifties. And again, it's Taylor's own creation. She's the one that constantly says 'look closely for the easter eggs' in her content making her fans theorize on every aspect of her life, or 'if you're very loyal I might invite you to MY HOUSE and you can listen to the new album early, we'll take pics and I'll bake you some cookies'. Of course they'll follow your any order. I'm glad I escaped.

Oof, I'll stop here. That's a very long one already

sorry hehe

.

[holly-louisexox]

Ribcage X Andy Biersack- Part 33

Masterlist

"There's one thing you should know about me Delia Vincent, I don't date. Got no heart to break and emptiness is safe, keep it that way."

He was adamant in his choices...

...But then things changed.

"Delia, it's so nice to meet you, I'm Amy." Andy's mum gushes as she carefully pulls Delia into a small and welcoming hug before letting go again. "Please, sit down love, make yourself comfortable."

"Thank you, it's nice to meet you too." Delia smiles back politely as she sits on the sofa in the living room.

"Andy told me what happened and I saw the news articles online, I'm so sorry dear. If ever you need anything you can always come to us, now that you're with Andy you're a part of this family." Amy explains warmly just as Andy sits on the sofa next to Delia.

"I appreciate that a lot, thank you." Delia continues to smile to show her gratitude.

"Alright mum, no need to get all sappy." Andy laughs awkwardly whilst looking at his mum.

"Andy, she's just being nice." Delia shakes her head slightly whilst playfully whacking Andy's arm which makes him laugh more.

"You must be Delia!" Andy's dad exclaims as he walks into the living room "Andy has told us so much about you, don't worry all good things. I'm Chris by the way."

"I forgot how embarrassing parents can be at times like this." Andy shakes his head slightly before regaining his composure "Dad was actually the original band manager before the band signed to the first record deal."

"No way, that's so cool! I apologise, I wasn't aware." Delia was in slight shock and awe knowing Andy's dad helped the band get to where they are now.

"No worries Delia." Chris grins as he goes to sit down in the unoccupied armchair "It was fun whilst it lasted, I couldn't do it now at my age, that shit is tiring."

"Yeah, it's definitely a lot, although I did enjoy seeing all of the different sights." Delia explains as she thinks back to all the cool things she had seen on the road.

"We saw Phantom of the Opera together whilst in New York." Andy tells his parents whilst grinning ear to ear; it was very clear how much Andy loved the musical.

"Again? Andy how many times have you seen that show now?" Chris pokes fun at his son "Seriously, this guy could probably quote the whole musical word for word at this rate, wouldn't surprise me if he did know it that well."

"I think about 6 times live now?" Andy questions himself clearly trying to recount the times he's seen it "Delia had expressed her love for the show though and said she hadn't seen it. I wasn't about to turn down the opportunity to see it live again, so I managed to get some last minute tickets in a box."

"A theatre trip for a first date, when did you become so romantic Andy?" Amy laughs and joins in on the teasing that Chris had started.

"It wasn't actually a first date." Andy begins to explain as he gently takes Delia's hand as if to make a point. "I actually didn't want to fall for Delia so I made a plan of taking her to see Phantom to let her down easy. Safe to say that did not work to plan, but I'm glad it didn't."

"Sometimes we don't realise what's right in front of us before we could potentially lose it." Chris nods slightly understanding Andy's choices "It's good to see you happy again though son, I'm glad the old you is back."

"Yeah, it's good to be back." Andy is sincere in his words as he awkwardly looks down at his and Delia's entwined hands.

"So Delia, do you live in Cincinnati or are you just here visiting?" Amy asks trying to change the subject and rid the slightly awkward silence of the air.

"I do, I live here with my parents still but I may be moving to LA soon." Delia explains whilst discreetly squeezing Andy's hand.

"Oh that sounds lovely!" Amy grins "Have you always been in Cincinnati then?"

"Erm, no actually, When I went to university to study production and tech I went to Italy." Delia reveals.

"Italy! Oh I've said to Chris many a times I want to visit there, it looks gorgeous. What was it like? How long were you there for?" Amy gets a little excited at the mention of the country.

"Oh Italy is gorgeous and I would love to go back myself at some point, 5 years just wasn't enough." Delia laughs slightly at Amy's excited mannerism "I went there because the university offered a really good course and I'm actually half Italian myself. My dad was born and raised there."

"Oh how lovely, I've always been interested in the idea of tracking back family and making a family tree but Chris just laughs at me and claims the websites for the files can be too expensive." Amy reveals which makes Chris role his eyes.

"I don't think it's that expensive depending on what website you use, I just know it's extremely time consuming and addictive. Mum made our family tree and tracked it all the way back to the 1600s but she spent hours doing it." Delia clarifies.

"Delia, as lovely as you are, please do not give Amy ideas." Chris laughs.

"Dad, don't be boring." Andy smirks "Mum, if you really wanna make the family tree tell me how much the documents are and I'll pay it."

"Oh thank you dear." Amy smiles at her son before looking at the clock that was sat on the living room wall "Crap, is that the time? I need to get dinner started. Chris, you put the potatoes on a slow cook earlier right?"

"Yes, I sorted the potatoes dear, don't worry." Chris confirms with a nod.

"Delia, you're staying for dinner right dear? It would be wonderful to get to know you better." Amy expresses

"We're here for dinner mum, remember I said Delia was staying tonight." Andy verifies to his mum.

"Oh right, yes, of course." Amy stutters as she makes her way to the kitchen "Sorry, it's been a crazy few days with making sure everything is ready for Christmas, it is only a week away now."

"Mum is a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to Christmas." Andy mutters to Delia.

"I heard that!" Amy shouts from the kitchen.

"How?" Andy laughs in shock.

"Mother's just have that super hearing ability, my mum is the same." Delia laughs alongside Andy.

"She's right, although I think it's just women in general. God forbid I say anything bad about your mother." Chris joins in on the laughter.

"You wouldn't dare say anything bad Christopher!" Amy jokingly calls from the kitchen again.

"Of course not dear." Chris calls back trying to conceal his laughter which just made Delia and Andy crack up laughing even further.

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

"So Andy, just remind me again, what date are you flying back to LA?" Amy asks.

As Delia swallowed another bite of the lovely dinner Amy and Chris had made, she felt her heart stop momentarily. Of course she knew Andy would go back to LA at some point, after all, his life was there now; she had not had that conversation with him yet and the thought of him leaving Ohio made her heart hurt. Maybe the ache she felt was a sign that she should go to LA with him, she felt safe and complete with him; she wouldn't want to lose that feeling by having him be a 4 hour flight away from her.

"I'm flying back on the 30th of December, CC is hosting a New Years Eve party this year and wants us all there." Andy nods "Oh yeah, Delia, this was planned way before the tour so we need to message CC later to say you'll be there too, it's CC of course he'll want you there."

Andy wants her at the party with him, Andy wants her in LA with him. The thought alone made her heart flutter as she turns to look at him sending a shy smile. Despite the battle she was still fighting in her head about moving to LA, the side of wanting to move there was winning more and more by the day.

"Yeah, that sounds like fun." Delia nods trying to ignore the butterflies she was feeling in her stomach; although Andy noticed the way she looked at him and sent a small smile of his own.

"Oh that's good, at least you'll till be here a few days after Christmas then so there's no big rush to get back." Amy smiles.

"Got anymore tours coming up Andy?" Chris asks to completely change the subject; he saw the way Delia and Andy looked at each other, like love sick puppies, and as much as he wanted to tease them about it he bit his tongue.

"At the moment nothing is set in stone, but I suspect management are already planning a UK and Europe tour." Andy nods.

"Will you be working that tour Delia?" Chris continues to question; Chris was always wanting to know about the tours the band went on, what could he say, he was the typical proud father and admired Andy for all the hard work and dedication he put into the band.

"I'm not sure, although I would very much like to as I would love to visit England one day." Delia smiles "It depends if I'm hired again or not."

"Of course we're going to hire you again Delia, don't be silly." Andy chuckles lightly "You're great at what you do and the band all love you, plus I'm going to want you there."

"You two are adorable." Amy blurts out.

"Mum, that's embarrassing." Andy groans slightly as the moment was ruined.

"That's not embarrassing, if you want embarrassing I'm sure Delia would love to see some of your earlier performances, especially your in home performances of Phantom and Sweeney Todd." Amy jokingly threatens.

"Mum you wouldn't." Andy continues to complain.

"Don't test me Andrew." Amy winks which just makes Andy roll his eyes.

As much as Andy wanted to protest, he did in fact miss his parents. Being back with them and being able to joke around and chat was refreshing to him. He'd never fully admit it to himself or anyone else, but for the first time in a long time he genuinely felt happy; and he had Delia to thank for all of that. She restored his faith in love and human connection, helped him fix the relationship with his parents and helped him patch up the hole in his heart. He knew none of this was going to be easy because he still had his fears and Delia had her new found fears, but he was willing to do whatever it took to preserve what he had.

Now he just had to hope that nothing was going to come along and take that happiness from him...

[thessalian]

Thess vs The Shooting

About recent news: I'm not going to enjoy the next few news cycles very much? But while this might be problematic short term, I don't think it's going to be the disaster people say it is. At least, not if everyone follows the advice that has been given all along - don't decide your vote doesn't matter, don't decide that third-party protest votes will be your best course of action, just vote and vote blue.

Here's why:

Look, at this point, everyone that's going to vote for Trump is going to vote for Trump no matter what - there is no getting them off that particular Titanic. Marginals? I'm sorry, but Trump does not appeal to marginals. Trump appeals to ... well, MAGA types, and there are a few too many of those. Getting shot at does not make one a viable political candidate, no matter how many people talk conspiracy.

And let's face it - Trump is not going to pull the "Biden conspired to have me killed" card. Not because he doesn't want to (and no one's going to gainsay it because the man who allegedly fired the shots is apparently dead), but because it would probably have that stupid decision the Supreme Court made about what kinds of immunity a president has being relevant sooner than Trump wants it to be. He wants to be able to pick up that tactical nuke that the Supreme Court dropped outside the White House. If anything, if he gets the presidency, he's going to pick it up and use it to round up political enemies "for his own protection" because "he got shot at once, you know". But that entirely relies on his being elected. Which, because of the above, can be stopped by the simple method of a bunch of people actually getting out and voting blue in November.

Plus ... seriously, this is going to eat a couple of news cycles and die no matter how hard Trump tries to capitalise on this. He's currently yelling that America must "stand united" when he's the one who went to such lengths to deepen the divides in the first place, but at the end of the day, it's a piece of news, and most of the news will move on. The ... I don't remember what the American equivalent of GB News is (the one that's worse than Fox), but that one'll run conspiracy theories for as long as it's allowed, and it'll be all over Truth Social and probably Twitter, but news cycles are way different than they were when I was a kid. They blow up fast and blow over faster, and this probably won't be any different.

Basically, I'm not going to panic. I'll keep a half an eye on it, but at the end of the day, news is theatre at this point. It's "what makes good TV" or whatever. It's put together by people who believe (sometimes rightly) that the populace has the collective attention span of concussed goldfish and about as much memory capacity. There's a lot we don't know, and news outlets will spend a fair bit of time analysing what we do know (and why we aren't able to know more, and I'm looking at the ones who apparently killed the alleged shooter, because now we can't ask that individual the kinds of questions that would indicate whether it was politically motivated or it was just like that guy who shot at Reagan to impress Jodie Foster). But after they've wrung out the last bits of information, it's going to fade away no matter what Trump does to keep it alive. And he's basically painted himself into a corner there because he's got that whole "toxic masculinity" thing going on and any attempts to drag out how brave he was in the wake of being shot at after the fact? They're going to look like whining.

But it's going to be a fairly gross week in the news while this gets processed, I'll give you that. I just can't afford to panic until the world proves me wrong about how shit like the news works.

Anyway, life goes on. (I admit to some very uncharitable thoughts about that whole situation in the immediate, though. I generally find it distasteful to wish death on anyone, but I do admit to being uncharitable enough as a person to have a few exceptions, if you see what I mean. But I'm not going to harp on about it at the end of the day because it doesn't help.)

[dark-and-kinky-hetalia-scenarios]

Hello :) Could you write a scenario for a mochi reader x mochi 1p Ancient Rome in which Ancient Rome tries to woo the reader by applying Ovid's dating tips from his Ars Amatoria, the reader thinking Ancient Rome's approaches are silly but he finally wins them over because they're so knowledgeable of the classics?

And can you go nsfw when the mochis get steamy and smush together and fuse into a single mochi, and give a headcanon as to what happens as their consciousnesses merge into one?

Thankss :**

Why must you torture me with this kind of ask?

The politeness in the ask is greatly appreciated tho

This is going to be shit btw because I really don't wanna do it but here you go

If anyone gets horny from this I will die of terror, please don't okay, I'm not trying to make it hot, I'm just trying to survive

Okay so a little background knowledge before we start

Ancient Rome is like 50 years old body wise and has the mind of a 20 year old, so his mochi form is a little bit weird, not like old old looking but mature looking, a very strong mate for any lonely mochi

Also have I mentioned that I hate you for making me look up Ovid outside of university?

Okay I don't, but Ovid is a dick

This takes place in Ancient Rome times because I do not want to deal with Ovids fucked up ideas in the modern world!

I know that it isn't logical but that's what I'm going with

There is going to be a weird sex scene, don't like mochi sex then please don't read it, I already feel weird enough writing it

If you only want the sfw part then scroll down until you find the second pair of ---- line

Have fun

Also I respect that you requested this off anon, but like wow that's wild

POV what POV????? It's everyone's point of view because I hate myself

-----

It was a hot day in the ancient Roman capital, Mochi Rome was doing his best trying to get his owner to help him with a specialised mochi bath. It was one of Ovid's most important teachings, keeping good hygiene.

Rome had read the Ars Amatoria out loud for this dear mochi pet, and Mochi Rome was determined to sway you with his new found dating and literary knowledge, because his normal approach had not worked, which frustrated him beyond measure. You were simply too cute to be without a mate.

Luckily Rome was already ready with a Mochi bath and mochi Rome became very clean

Mochi Rome was anxious for his owner to bring him to the play area where his and your owner had arranged a play date for the two of you

Mochi Rome had a plan though on how to seduce you, it involved a theatre, well a home made one with sticks but that had to be close enough. He just needed to convince his owner to go earlier. A feat in itself since Rome was not good at showing up on time anywhere

So mochi Rome was going to start very early with bugging his owner into actually taking them both to the meeting place

He jumped around, made mochi noises as loud as he could, nibbled on Rome's fingers, overall he went nuts. it took a while but eventually Rome got the hint and brought him to the area with his sticks

Mochi Rome spent an hour preparing the stick theatre and was very proud of the result

In reality it was wobbly and did not even resemble a theatre. It was a pile of sticks.

Mochi Rome also decided to make a circus with sticks, actually everything was made with sticks

He was very proud of himself.

Rome thought his mochi was acting very odd recently, but did not pay much notice to it.

Finally mochi you and your owner arrived, (y/n) put down mochi you and walked over to Rome to let the two mochis have their play time

Mochi (y/n) went over to mochi Rome and greeted him happily. Then your mochi eyes caught sight of the theatre, the Circus and all the other whack things he built out of sticks, and built terribly as well.

Mochi you laughed at him because you thought it was silly and you were jumping away to do something else.

Mochi Rome however did not let this deter him from winning you over

He followed you and started reciting the Ars Amatoria. You looked at him, positively surprised he could remember anything from that very interesting book. Your human had also read it to you. Of course it was a silly book, but it was still cute he thought he could use it to woo you. Okay it was really cute, you looked at him and winked. Thus began the chase around. Mochi Rome ended up catching you.

--------

Nsfw starts here, be warned it's just uh, it's weird okay, I don't like it either

--------

Mochi Rome caught up to you and started nibbling on you, it was very nice and you made happy mochi noises, which soon turned to horny mochi noises.

You rubbed up against mochi Rome to excite him, and yourself.

Mochi Rome started to get very excited and he nibbled more intensely on you to make you show your entrance. Not after long he succeeded and he pushed his mochi appendage into your entrance. He started to hop back and forth to make friction. It felt very nice for you and opened up more for him

Mochi Rome made rather loud happy mochi noises. Surprisingly none of the humans heard it.

As you were both getting close your mochi flesh started to move oddly and you started to absorb each other. You both welcomed this, this meant your were true mochi mates. It was meant to be!

Mochi you and Mochi Rome became one mochi, of bigger size and with a mix of your features.

You were happy and so was he.

--------

Sfw again

--------

Rome and your human self were too busy talking to notice what was going on with the mochis, it wasn't until Rome out of the corner of his eye saw that there was only one mochi that did not look familiar that he snapped out of the conversation he was having with the very attractive human.

Shit

That was not a good outcome for two dotting mochi owners, your mochis had become one, not something that happened at a normal rate.

(y/n) looked over to see what Rome was staring at and when they realised what was going on they looked horrified. Not a good way to get to know you more personally and up close. He should've known his mochi would fall for the mochi of the human who was the target of his affection.

Rome got cockblocked by his own mochi, and now neither of you had your own mochi.

You looked at him for an awkward amount of time before finally speaking

"uhm... Can this be undone or?"

"... Not by anyone but them"

More awkward silence.

Or maybe it didn't have to be bad

"well one of us can't just take the mochi, they'll be sad regardless of who has it, it'll miss the other owner"

"....what are you suggesting?"

"well the house next to mine is empty, you could move in there and we could share a garden and have that as it's home and then it can be close to us both!"

You looked at the cheerful older man who had definitely been trying to seduce you for a while now. You were certain now, he was an idiot.

"... Fine, temporarily"

"Of course!"

This was like going to the theatre and watching a drama that was poorly written, but it seemed you had no other choice, for now at least.

------

The end. I am not continuing this.

------

I hate myself for writing the worst scenario ever, I don't know what's going on, I'm too sick for this, anyways that was your cursed request and now I re-evaluate my life choices

Have a cursed day.

This is definitely my curse

Fucking Tumblr wouldn't let me edit this shit on the app, I hate this fucking place

All I have left to say is this:

fy fy skamme skamme

[youngerfrankenstein]

Nobody asked for it but fuck it. Some thoughts on TF1 now that a bunch of new info and the second trailer is out. As with seemingly everything in this godforsaken (mostly affectionate) franchise, my opinions are kinda mixed.

So first the things putting me off I guess. For one the humour is… eh. Some of it looks kinda cute but on the whole pretty annoying. I know this is just a normal thing in Transformers, after all they are made for kids so dumb humour is to be expected. And I doubt it will get half as obnoxious as something like Bayverse, which straight up felt like an Adam Sandler flick at times. I also wouldn’t be too surprised if this is a movie where a lot of the humour gets dropped by the third act. And speaking of which… eh, not sure about the plot. I’ve made it clear I have complicated but mostly negative opinions about trying to give the Decepticons initially sympathetic motivations and given this is apparently mostly pulling from Aligned ehhhh… not sure. I know it’s been a thing in a fair few of the major instalments in the last 14 years and I think it could be an interesting way to explore how easy fascist thinking can be fallen into but in reality it’s always kind of felt like a cheap way to get more money from fans of the space fascists. And I kind of hope we move past it someday.

(Side note, this is one of the main reasons the IDW comics hold no appeal, it sounds like they did their best to clean up a bunch of the major ones (bar the hate-sinks) and make everyone else look worse for… some reason. Favouritism or money most likely.)

Then again Aligned was also pretty clear about the Cons being Fucking Evil and the director has at least been clear about Mega ending up as utterly ruthless and power hungry so I may be getting ahead of myself but eh. A lot of it also comes from that being a pretty common type of JRPG villain who at this point I cannot stomach. I’ve seen it too much and I’m tired. That said, I DO like it inasmuch as it can mean interpersonal conflict which I will get to in the next bit.

Also curious what the Quintesson’s role in this all will be? So long as they don’t try and make robot politics a thing I’ll probably be fine.

Onto the positives holy SHIT I love the character designs so fucking much. They manage to be both sleek and blocky and they’re clearly made of metal. I am a person who VASTLY prefers it when the bot designs are chunkier so this is a big win for me! Also the animation is just *chef’s kiss* the fight scenes are gonna look so good. And I’m still glad as heck Elita-1 is here. Then there’s the fact that I am a fucking SUCKER for tragic friendships, and I am already digging what I see of Dee and Orion’s dynamic. It looks fun turned to pain, and I like it. I think putting them in the same starting point, longtime buddies in a crappy situation, is easily the best way to do something like this. Makes it wilder when they become robojesus and robohitler. And it means we get a full-on throwdown between Optimus Prime and Megatron with the budget and animation of a modern movie where I can see what’s happening. FUCK. YES. Let them fight!!!

So… I dunno. Things that look interesting, things that look annoying. I almost certainly won’t even see the movie until after it leaves theatres so…

I’ll keep with my earlier opinion I hope it’s a good time for the kids.

[magicalyaku]

Happy new year! After the slump of the previous months and my last artist alley of the year, I finally had a lot to read in December! I bought so many books in November, I had to get at least through a few in order to include them in my yearly awards. xD Work was still shit but reading was fun again. :D

Dark Heir (Dark Rise 2) (C.S. Pacat): This was my last book of 2023 and easily my most anticipated. And did it deliver! Left me emotionally devastated for days! xD Seriously, I don't want to know what my neighbors thought what was going on, in case they heard me going "Aaah! No! No no no nooooo! Kya! NOOOO!!" during two certain scenes. /D The nice thing about this series is that I have absolute faith in Pacat's ability to write it well und give me an outcome I am satisfied with. I mean, go look at Captive Prince. The way the relationship between Damen and Laurent develops (even after MAJOR shit going on between them!), the political threads and all that, it's just done very well. And now, here's the Dark Rise series and I sit and watch the spiral of doom the characters are caught up in it and apart from maybe Sinclair not a single one of them is fully good or bad. And it's sooo interesting (and emotionally devastating)!! Hng!! I would actually like to write much more about what I loved and suffered through, like the whole thing with the Visander situation and how Sarcean made all of his worst enemies because he just couldn't keep it in his pants. And James. James. And Cyprian! And everything. But I can't because whenever I try I still feel the excited giggles in my brain and can't have a coherent thought. It's great, but also ... Hnggg!!

The First and Last Adventure of Kit Sawyer (S.E. Harmon): This was fun! At some point early on I looked up what other books the author has written and it's more than ten and I thought "Yes! It feels like being written by someone with a lot of writing experience!" There's just something about the liveliness of the characters and the dialogues. Also so much adventure with a slightly different flavor than usual being set in the jungle and all, I loved it.

By any other Name (Erin Cotter): I wonder why all of my historical fiction books are set in England. This is another highly adventurous story. I was a bit surprised as one thing that's mentioned in the summary already only appears like after half the book. But other than that it was pretty good. It has spies and theatre and pretty nice characters. And I did not anticipate everything that happened which is good!

Wren Martin Ruins it all (Amanda deWitt): The author's previous book Aces Wild: A Heist was one of my top books in 2022, this one does not quite reach those heights but it was still very good and very enjoyable. Wren is such a messy and fun character. As reader I absolutely knew what was going on and who was writing with whom but it was nice to follow the characters' path to awareness. In a way Wren's aceness is not as heavy as in other books (see the next one for instance) but at the same time it deals with a few of the social issues a_spec people are faced with which was nice.

Just Lizzie (Karen Wilfrid): This is a middle grade book about a girl coming to terms with being ace. The heroine has a really nice character arc. And the other characters are sometimes what you expect them to be and sometimes they are not. And maybe … that's ok, right? And I loved it and I cried through half of the book. I guess, it hit home a little more heavily than I expected. :'D (Like that one time where Lizzie is wondering how she will spent Christmas when her parents aren't around anymore? Haaa. It had just been Christmas when I read this and I'm in my 30ies and my Dad is above 70 now so that is a concern I actually have, you know. It's not nice to be reminded. :'D) It's a really good book, I think, thoughtful and well put together and empowering, too.

A Hundred Vicious Turns (The Broken Tower 1) (Lee Page O'brien): Now this was difficult. The cover is gorgeous. Easily my favorite one this year. I only lament that there's no real gold printed. The wasted opportunity. yAy The content is … difficult. I like the story on a whole. The premise and the magic system are really interesting. The characters … were interesting as well? They're fine, their motivations are not easily seen which, in a plot full of mysteries, is actually quite okay. I just didn't build the emotional connection. There's also a lot of anxiety, especially on Rat's part. There was one bit in the writing style that irked me a little. The overuse of pronouns. Because Rat was the only one with 'they' and in most scenes it was only one other person with them, so there often really long stretches where only the pronouns would be used instead of the names. It wa snot confusing because you could easily tell the characters apart, but it felt weird. I'm very used to reading the names a lot. Oh well. It's not a fun read, but it is intruiging and I will read the next volume to see where it goes.

A Magic Steeped in Poison (The Book of Tea 1) (Judy I. Lin): I managed to squeeze in a YA heroine inbetween all the gay boys! And I liked it better than most other female-led YA fantasies I read recently. Doesn't mean I loved it, but Ning was pretty okay as a heroine. The thing is, the circumstances under which I started this book weren't the best and that probabbly reflected on the whole experience. I picked up the German audiobook for a very long bus trip, but listened to it only later while doing some hours of very boring tedious work. The audiobook itself was okay, except that the reader could not decide how to pronounce some names. For instance, Kang was Kong first, then Kuang before she settled on Kang. And that kind of thing drives me mad. How am I to connect with a character when I am left this uncertain how their name is?! The German translation also decided to leave some of the names in English (especially the teas) which in my opinion doesn't make sense because why would the teas in Fantasy-China have English names when everything else is either translated into German or left Chinese? D: I couldn't stand it and finally switched to my printed edition (in English). /D It got better from there, but it's hard to forget the echo. As for the story, I don't really like court intrigues. Cruelty and injustice are just things I really struggle with to read about. (They make me angry and I don't want to be angry at my books.) But it never tipped over the edge into annoying area. I have the sequel at home as well, so I'll it. The covers are beautiful after all.

That was 2023! Next up is my big Best and Worst award ceremony! uAu~

[writingfics-passingtime]

For the mixtape drabble:

I hear a symphony + bucky or loki (ur choice)

Plsss :))

Who We Really Are

This drabble is part of JJ’s Mixtape - a mini series based on my followers’ favourite songs and characters. You can read more of them here!

Song Prompt: I Hear a Symphony

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x reader (platonic, no pronouns used)

Word Count: 1700

CW: Mentions of relatives passing away, mentions of HYDRA/neo n*zi groups, guns, very mild violence

Note: Thank you for this beautiful song, anon. This story idea came almost immediately and I couldn’t quite imagine it with Loki but I think Bucky fit so very sweetly. Hope you like it 💜

“Thank you,” the bespectacled theatre manager gushed his thanks towards Bucky and then, in turn, to you. “Thank you both,” he nodded and smiled as much as he could, revealing lines of worry etched so deep he must have been managing people for most of his career.

“It’s no problem,” you nodded back before you all got distracted by the commotion of some beat cops hauling the suspect through the lobby and out the front door.

Bucky’s breath turned heavy next to you. He pulled his handgun from his concealed carry holster to check the rounds left; it was a sure fire sign he was uncomfortable and wanted to leave. Besides, you two weren’t even supposed to be here.

Sam Wilson had been in contact a few days before to deliver some intel on a fringe neo-Nazi group based out of Chicago that was starting to stink of HYDRA. Could be some descendants of the original genocidal maniacs, or just some wannabe badasses, but in the past year you worked together you’d never seen Bucky so restless. Which, you supposed, was the reason Cap put you both on the job.

You two were walking down the street to find food and debrief when some uniformed workers had scrambled out of a grand stone theatre building.

Then, gunshots.

You both bolted inside, fearing the worst.

It turned out to be a jilted ex-lover of one of featured performers of tonight’s symphony, who “just wanted to have a conversation” with the woman who’d left him months ago. The gunshots had thankfully been towards the roof, as a warning, as a demand for attention. The man was so distracted delivering his monologue that he barely noticed Bucky had effortlessly disarmed him… until he was on the ground with a knee against his upper back and a metal arm smooshing his cheek into the carpet.

Some real hero shit, you’d mumbled to Bucky and he’d given you some side-eye. But now that the threat was in custody, Bucky was itching to go.

“Local PD will handle it from here,” you straightened up and shifted on one foot, Bucky relaxed now knowing you two wouldn’t be stuck here. You had an important job to do.

Bucky nodded politely after being thanked again, and let his shoulders drop when the manager had walked away, now knowing you three wouldn’t be trapped in an awkward loop of gratitude and reassurance.

The recon trip you and him were on wasn’t urgent by any means but the mere thought of a HYDRA resurgence made his skin crawl. He had to admit, when Sam pointed out that The Vanishing was a good distraction, a good cover for these people to regroup, Bucky felt like he had fire ants burrowing through his veins.

He turned to leave but saw your eye catch something. “What?” He asked, snapping his holster shut with a gloved hand.

Your mouth hung slack but you quickly closed it and physically shook away some memory. “N-nothing, it’s just-” you paused and shook your head again. “Nothing,” you turned and smiled to him. “My grandfather was a concert pianist and my grandma took me to this show when I was younger. I was just a kid when they died, and I think it was one of the last times I ever stayed with them.”

Bucky saw you smile, but this was different. There was a sadness swirling in your eyes, and a longing for some piece of the past. Everything was so different now.

It was hard to admit to himself, because he was desperate to make bigger strides in the potential HYDRA investigation, but that nagging feeling whispered what he should do.

“Well, do you wanna go tonight?”

He knew it was a stupid question the second it left his lips. Of course you’d say no; you’d seen how agitated he’d been and there was no way in hell you’d let this mission be steered off-course for one more second.

As expected, you shook your head. “We’re not here for that,” you gave a firm look and started walking towards the entrance.

He caught up and matched your step, sighing, “They owe us, you know. They’d let us in for free-”

“Barnes,” you halted and turned to him, levelling him with an honest stare. “Let’s be real for a second: we keep the world safe so the public can come to shows. We don’t wear the fancy clothes and sit in the audience. That’s not who we are.” You turned and kept walking, throwing over your shoulder, “C’mon, we have a job to do.”

Bucky clenched his jaw at your stubbornness, and he internally mapped the layout of the theatre, the exits, the seats, the stage.

He knew was he needed to do.

You had no idea what he was planning.

Not even later that day, when he let himself into the room of your hotel suite. You shot a look from where you were lounging on your bed and reading through an updated dossier Cap had some analysts draw up. “You forget how to knock?”

He tossed your jacket and it landed right on top of the tablet in your hand. “Get up, we need to go.”

Your heart rate spiked. “Did something happen?” You turned and slipped on your boot, already with one arm in the sleeve of the jacket.

“We’re gonna be late,” he called from the living room. Key twinkled in his hand.

“Barnes!” You scoffed and rushed to follow him. He was already in the hallway walking towards the elevator by the time you caught up. “What’s going on? Shit, my gun’s in the-”

“You don’t need it.”

He jabbed the elevator button and it opened immediately. Your impatience manifested in you planting your feet, crossing your arms and sticking your tongue against the inside of your cheek. “Tell me what’s going on.”

Bucky rolled his eyes and snatched your wrist just before the doors started to close, hauling you inside as you protested with more scoffs and grunts. “Hey!” He released your wrist after you shoved his shoulder. “What’s going on?”

With a decisive turn of his body, his stormy blue stare descended on you, halting the protests rising up from your belly.

“Do you trust me?”

A wave of abashment swarmed over you, because despite his behaviour he looked more gentle than you’d ever seen him.

“With my life.”

He almost smiled.

“Good,” he eased, though his voice was low and gravelly. “No more questions.”

It was several blocks of walking in silence before you put together the pieces of what must be going on. To your credit, you figured it out before the theatre came into view but still, you stopped in your tracks when it did.

“We can’t,” you protested weakly. Bucky stopped and turned to you, taking another step to turn his body into a shield from the cold-snapped wind. “Look at those people,” your hand gestured from within your jacket pocket. “We’re so underdressed.”

Bucky looked at the line of people filing into the theatre and then back to you. Worry was etched into your forehead, into the way your mouth shut tight, and how you drew your arms further into yourself. You locked eyes with him, and he nodded towards an alleyway. So you followed.

There was a fire escape and a ladder hanging down, about twelve feet off the ground, and you saw Bucky look at it.

“Oh, no way,” you smiled despite yourself. “We’re not really sneaking in, are w-woah!” You spluttered when Bucky’s hands gripped your waist, and after a few more steps he was effortlessly hoisting you up towards the ladder. You grabbed on and swung yourself up onto the metal-framed escape before clearing the way for Bucky to use his super-strength to jump up and join you. He was by your side in a second, and he’d left a dent where his vibranium fist had gripped the balustrade. You chuckled, shook your head, and challenged him, “So what now, Sergeant?”

“Follow me.”

With the natural finesse of an agent trained in reconnaissance, you followed Bucky as he led you up the escape, through a window, down a hallway, through another door that had a sign with all kinds of warnings about safety, and then onto a darkened metal walkway. The theatre was still dimly lit, alive and buzzing when you two began sneaking across the suspended tracks that housed various cables, wires and coloured lights.

A show like this wouldn’t have dramatic moving lights so you could be certain that no one would be manually operating them. Hence, you had the whole floor to yourself.

After waiting a couple of minutes for the lights to dim to near-nothing, you once again followed Bucky’s lead as he snuck towards the centre of the walkway that stretched over the middle of the audience. He took a seat, lazing his elbows around his knees, and you sat cross-legged next to him.

You didn’t really know what to say to him, but you didn’t have much of a chance; the second the music began, you were hooked in. The melodies transported you back to all those years ago.

Your hand clasped around your grandmother’s. The buzz of excitement as patrons filtered into the show. The room going dark, the music starting, your grandfather’s solo performance, the applause he got, how he was one of the stars of the show but all he wanted to do afterwards was sit in an ice cream parlour and talk about how soccer tryouts went.

Nothing could’ve prepared you for the flood of emotions that surged with the dynamics of that same piano solo, played by the hands of someone who’d never personally known the greatness that’d graced those notes before. It brought you closer, your heart pulling you into the music. You leaned in, gripping the safety rail. You couldn’t tear your eyes away. It was magnetic, melancholic, joyous in parts, vibrant and nostalgic but hopeful.

When it ended, you looked at Bucky. He was a little blurry and your eyes felt sort of strange and tender.

He shifted closer, you rested your head against his shoulder, and as the music played on you let the tears fall.

[khaleesiofalicante]

Okay so last week, I went out with a friend (we both enjoy reading books and obsessing over fictional characters) and we went to this coffee shop that's also a book store of sorts. Since we both love writing we decided to buy a notebook that we would carry everytime we went out so we could write whatever we wanted.

After that we walked through the town a bit and we decided to sit outside an ancient theatre (it's called Odeon of Athens) because an orchestra had a show, and we could hear the music and the vibe was great. We sat in a bench and the guy next to us asked us to save him his sit so we did.

And all of a sudden this priest shows up (in Greece priests are supposed to be wearing their robes all the time so we can tell they are preists) and we tried to explain- very kindly!- that we're saving the sit for someone else. Apparently he didn't like that because he said we have no ethics or respect for priests and it's clearly our parents that's at fault because they didn't raise us right.

We of course immediately got triggered- my friend and I aren't religious- and told him that we respect all people and not just priests and that someone could argue that he was the one that was being disrespectful- again not in a rude way, I can't be rude when I argue I have this need to be liked ugh- but he just kept going. And then he left.

And it just really really pissed me off. Like, seriously, how entitled can a person get? You don't respect someone's request and you're insulting two perfect strangers that were nothing but nice to you and made a polite request. Who do you think you are?

Fortunately triggering us meant he inspired us so my friend wrote a poem and I wrote a short story. And it felt really good! Like the story just jumped out of us but it was really gratifying. I haven't felt like this about writing in a while so I'm pissed at the rude person but also kinda grateful? Life is complicated.

All in all everything happens for a reason, people that annoy you can help you in ways you never expected and entitlement doesn't look good on anyone.

On a side note, I'm almost done with LDV and I loved it!! Like my notes are filled with comments and phrases and feelings and thoughts and it's gotten kinda messy so I'm sorting them out a bit before sensing you the highlights (otherwise you'll be answering asks for the next month😅).

And the water bottle idea was actually very smart, drinking water is annoying but a fancy bottle? That helps🌼

Omg the entitlement of some of these people-

It's SO fucking cool that you and your friend did not take his shit! I'm so proud of you!!!

Writing is a great way to deal with triggered emotions. I'm glad you had someone who you could work this through!

Hope you are enjoying LDV and I'm gonna have to take a break from work to giggle about all the asks because I always enjoy listening to your thoughts 🩵

And yay good news I finished the big bottle and the tiny one. The middle one was too much for me! Hopefully, I'll get there soon x

Sending you great vibes for this week 🌼

[velvetwastaken]

Hello velvet, i see an ask meme therefore i send numbers hhh. feel free to pick and choose ofc: 7, 17, 20, 33, 39, 55/56

Hiya ridl! Thank u for always indulging me when these ask memes come around lmao!

Answers under the cut!

7. Any groceries you've been getting into lately?

I’m on a blueberry kick lately. Been buying fresh ones and frozen ones and dried ones. Just all the bluebs. Otherwise my groceries are pretty well the same week to week. Kinda boring lol

17. What's a movie you saw recently that you liked?

I’m a failure as a former film student, but I don’t watch a lot of movies these days 😬 The last one I saw in theatres though was amazing and I do recommend it provided you’re not squimish lol. It’s Dev Patel’s Monkey Man. It will be a crime if it doesn’t get some Oscars nominations, but considering the political themes throughout, I could see it getting snubbed entirely.

20. What's in your freezer right now?

I sadly only have the tiny freezer attached to my fridge, and so a full quarter of it is taken up by my compost bin (frozen food scraps mean no smell! No fruit flies!). The rest is mostly taken up by various fruit, veggies, and meat. I also have a small tub of frozen yogurt for smoothies and some homemade protein booster snacks.

33. What's something you collect?

I did answer this one, but the cliff-notes version is I don’t think I collect anything, really. Not seriously. But if I had to give an answer, it would be craft supplies lol.

39. What little treat do you always get when you run errands?

Usually a little chocolate. If I’ve been especially good, maybe I take myself out to get a specialty doughnut or something on the weekend. It’s like saving up my little treats for one bigger treat.

55. Favorite high-effort meal that you make?

I’m not into the high-effort life LOL! But maybe the bastardized mora meat recipe? It’s not that hard, but it feels high-effort since the little flat breads are made from scratch and I have to plan ahead to have enough time to let the dough rise.

56. Favorite low-effort meal that you make?

Something I call ‘Unhealthy Pasta.’ It’s fusilini noodles with ranch dressing and shredded cheddar cheese. It’s more like a depression/comfort food maybe lol. But idk if you can get lower effort than ranch dressing as a pasta sauce 😂 I should note that while I think it tastes good, I do generally feel like shit after eating it lmao Maybe I should add some chopped spinach?

[the1975attheirverybest]

not to come across as a performative leftist like you can't make these jokes aaahhh. obviously don't make jokes that actually hurt people but i think from a white cis male inherently those jokes come across as hurtful even when not intended to be. and while I think there could be a case for looking at the bigger picture also i think if you are hurting people you should be critisized and yes allow mistakes but when you are super privlaged and saying that while having made mistakes it comes across as saying you should ignore those doing harm. like a lot of the jokes are arguably not wholly harmful like i dont think he would have genuinely had anything to follow on from trans people in sport but when you are not trans (i am) it comes across as a bit tone deaf especially considering the state of politics in the US currently.

and like critisize the right and question the left but when you are privilaged and you do it by making racist jokes and nazi solutes it comes off across as genuinely hateful and like i know ur not and ur fans know but also do they? because you are a guy on stage who we don't know and when you don't adress anything (other than saying its a performance and a bit) or sit down with anyone other than white men to talk about it it comes off as hateful. and it's really hard to come across as critical when it seems genuine and you have to do the 'well but actually he is a good guy but he is pretending' like look at jshlatt because that's a 'bit' but its fucking harmful.

though i do think the idea that music and concerts should be more widely seen as an art space is interesting because if it was someone in a movie/theatre production doing a nazi solute you wouldnt hate the actor. but i think when thats not assumed because its a gig and you say risque shit and you dont necessary put the work in (like obviously he has morals and has been vocal about misogyny and racism previously but thats not always super apparent especially when they don't know you. and like when he attempted to coerce amelia into a kiss or he posts about hot women which comes across as weird and objectifying that is what people know him for to an extent (or at least my irls) its hard to explain to people that he's not like that.

as an aside I also think its interesting that he's gone super masculine 'I'm a man I'm a male I'm a he' after so many years of being disintrested and saying that he isn't interested in masculinty. like saying that being a leftist man is confusing despite saying previously in response to that sentiment 'just existing is confusing' so like is it all just a bit? we will never know and its both very cool and incredibly frustrating and i genuinely struggle to reach a solid conclusion and put it into definitive words

i think overall his performance is based on trust that he is not a bad person and while i believe that its difficult if you don't know him personally and as a white cis man he has privilege so he doesn't have to worry about the repercussions of his jokes

(sorry if this is all a bit much i have a lot of thoughts) - 🐸

Thanks for offering this alternative perspective! I really appreciate it! I am, myself a woman of color, but I’m a cis woman, so I can’t speak for the experiences of trans people and how they are affected, nor would I ever want to invalidate your feelings. If that’s how you feel, and you genuinely find fault in the things that he does, I think you are well within your right! And you can be a fan of someone AND also criticize them. Like I hate that a second of the fandom is like “if you’re saying this it means you don’t get the band” or whatever. That’s not my intention here at alllll.

The way I see it is this, and please please please feel free to disagree with me! I think disagreement is healthy and helpful when done respectfully and I don’t mind it at all.

1. Matty has a lot of blind spots. Because of the very things you mentioned. I don’t wanna get us off track by bringing up a separate issue, so I won’t get into all the debating, but, like, his stance on “nepo babies” is kinda faulty and a little dumb, lmao. But I think he thinks the way that he does because he grew up around art and artists so those things come intuitively to him. Also, just bring a white, male, wealthy person makes him inherently privileged so his stance may not always be representative of most peoples. So, I agree with you that, sometimes, the jokes, well intentioned though they may be, come off as tone deaf. Like, let’s take the Japanese accent nonsense as an example. Matty isn’t racist. We all know this. DH represents a lot of poc and artists of Asian descent and we know he supports them fully, etc. his music actively tries to point out the ways that society marginalizes black and queer people. We know all that. But, my thing is, would he make that joke in front of a Japanese person? As a white guy, would he feel comfortable in doing that accent and have it come off as “just a joke” if the person sitting across from him were Japanese? My guess is he’d say no. Well, then, that’s a good measure for a joke that shouldn’t be told. If you can’t say it to the people it’s about, then maybe stfu. Like, he just straight up fucked up there. There’s no beating around the bush. He shouldn’t say it was art or whatever. He should just say he’s sorry.

2. I think your point about trust, and about people who don’t know his heart reacting differently, is EXACTLY why Matty does what he does. Like, progressive politics and standing up for the rights of marginalized communities should not cancel human decency. We shouldn’t be in a position, as a society, where we have to even say “no, no, listen, guys! He’s a good human! He actually wrote songs like Jesus Christ 2005, and Love It If We Made It! He’s a good guy!” Like why is that even necessary. Why is not the default of society to say “I don’t hate you as a person and want to cancel you, but, look man: what you did/said is fucked up. And here’s why.” Like, his thing is based on trust because trust SHOULD BE the norm. (Obviously, don’t extend that trust to the Epsteins and Weinsteins and Cosbys of the world, they don’t deserve it). Like the norm should be saying “no. This is bad. Here’s why. Do better.” Without all the moral outrage and performant I’ve nonsense that we do around it, you know? I think that’s what frustrates Matty and that’s why he does that stuff. It’s also unfortunately why it doesn’t work. Cuz people who don’t know him ARENT trusting him. So it’s not gonna work. Perhaps the goal here is to point out the problem within our society. But I’m not sure that the people who hate him are seeing it that way. They don’t realize that they need to be more compassionate. They’re patting themselves on the back for “canceling” him. So…is his goal accomplished? Not really. Sadly.

3. I think it’s inherent in his job as an artist to criticize culture, to ask uncomfortable questions, and to observe and react to his surroundings. I don’t think he’s suddenly saying “I’m a man, I’m a make, I’m a he.” I think, as he has said in the past, he grew up privileged enough to be in a position where he didn’t HAVE to question his sexuality. Cuz he was surrounded by artists, queer people, liberal values, etc where progressive ideals were the norm. That’s not the experience of all of us. I think he took the fluidity of gender and masculinity for granted when he was younger cuz he’s been lucky enough not to have to assert his identity day in and day out cuz nobody is writing legislation to criminalize him. However, as he has talked about before, seeing his own gender react the way that it has post- Me Too, and seeing how the right has capitalized on men’s issues, and seeing how western societies here in the US and elsewhere have been rapidly regressing, he feels more aware of his position, wants to express the frustrations, and wants to think about the issue alongside the culture. I think that’s a function of maturing and growing up, and also just being alive in 2023. If you’re a thoughtful person who is concerned about the future of mankind, then you can’t really not get socio-political. How could he remain silent when all this shit is happening? The 1975 has never been the type to be silent. So, I don’t really think this is a recent thing nor do I think he’s asserting his own masculinity. I think he, like all of us, is going “what is the role of the leftist male in todays world? Especially if you reject performatism , fake wokeness, etc.” that’s a valid question that he has every right to ask!

Does that make sense? Just how I’m viewing it. But like I said, please do feel free to disagree with me!

[ankhlesbian]

Kingohger ep 1 overal thoughts under da cut ^_^ feel free to reply w ur own

CGI-wise: i really liked the feel it brought to the throneroom / castle scenes, very epic and kingdom establishing. But it definitely felt underwhelming and lackluster in crowded scenes like the festival walk/big invasion at the end. I hope they stop going /as/ hard and do dressed up/just blatant japan ground locations for more scenes so it feels more real

The ranger ground fights as a whole felt kinda meh, though tbf they were clearly making the mechha debut the Big Thing TM. Karma for donbros just skipping it half the time/not giving a shit.

Speaking of mecha i thought i’d be into the cockpit rig but it just made the actor parts in there feel kinda sluggish and stiff. Tbh i usually skip/speed thru the mexha fights anyways sooooo doesnt affect me much tbh

Also ngbl the crystal transform thing was nderwhelming. All those armored pieces we gotta see those slap on proper yknow

I jnow it’s the inouepilled brain but i really thought we’d do just a little but if secret identity ploy. But ig thinking abt it more the kingdoms prob know enough abt wach other that cant really have their leader be a secret. Ig they were more isolated initially in my mind. Speaking of inouepill imagine how funny it wouldve been for just one episode for them to be like wow racles nice fight! And for him to go what the fuck are you talking about

Character-wise: Fair enough intros imo, nothing to write home about in particular though. seems like we might do a 1 charrie focus an ep gauntlet at first since yanma was real hyped up. I actually liked him a lot more than i thought i would. Cocky delinquent tch guy

I’m also really curious about Gira, he was much less of a straightforward yells red TM than i thiught he’d be. The whole shaking arm almost in tears to AHAHAHAA I AM EVIL KING scene gave very much theatre kid i am choosing my role vibes. I would love to dig into his psyche. Also while i am all for the whole same actions different reasons foil/well-intentioned extremist villain thing they really did not properly establish racles’ world conquership vs gira’s i will conquer the world thing. This beetle is just showing blatant favoritism their stated desired are like exactly the same. Also please no secret royal bloodline gira thing. Tho i highly suspect it is coming.

Appreciation for racles getting cucked. I love it when a toku guy gets cucked out of transformation

Overall it was a lil style over substance but there’s def some cool stuff happening. Will it be able to follow donbros act? I think there is potential for some goodass character arcs and fun vague politics shenanigans (rebel on the run gira! Allying w kingdoms who make enemy of his home kingdom now!). Realistically i fear it may end up conpletely style over substance but hey im havin fun