#they definitely did a mashup of my two favourites person

[shooting-the-stars]

I don't know if someone else notices,

Technically, this is it

[snailss-fmp]

DESIGN MEETING

I had my design meeting with three others in my class who are also working on Construction specficially. I gave them the brief of my customer, and presented my chosen final eight- those being below.

This was my personal choice, though the views were mixed. While definitely hitting the costume aspect, there were others that fitted more. We put it aside as a definite option for the final design.

These three weren't really noted much, not drawing much attention in comparison to the others.

These two were favorites due to their haunting nightgown appeal, but due to the lack of outright 'horror' weren't chosen. They really liked the silhouette and length, and the bishop sleeves were a big favourite amongst my peers.

The final two are these! It was a difficult decision, the one on the right was the preferred choice hands down but didn't quite meet the costume appeal as the left choice. The one on the left was a good mashup of the nightgowns alongside the sleeves, though the separating seam from bodice to skirt was not favorable for them- we ended up agreeing that I should mash up the two, possibly with removable sleeves for flexibility- this could show progression through the film to represent a decent into insanity.

These are the final results of the mashup! I drew them up the night of the design meeting, showing those I did my design meeting with the following day, getting approval for the design and choices. I couldn't figure out a way to close the sleeves at the back as in most Straight jackets seemed to use clips- so I improvised with a bow to meet the 'innocent' theme wrapped up in sin.

Now just to figure out colours; I'm leaning towards the body being black, representing both simplicity used in nuns and also darkness, drowned in sin. The sleeves would be white- maybe even gradating to black to show corruption? The petrine cross and ribbons are likely to be either gold for grace at her supposed belief it's a godly being that coerces her- that or red, and the belts will be red to show 'Spiritual awakening' being what ties her down.

[towerfandoms]

((not sure if my matchup ask for Black Butler and JJK properly went through, but if it did ignore that pls as I didn't include some stuff there))

Matchup for Black Butler and JJK please? With male adult characters for me, a heterosexual 4'11, Desi, curvy 20 something cis woman. I've been told I have very intense looking eyes even tho they're just a dark brown. I typically dress and do my makeup grungey or gothic, and am always dyeing my hair Purple or Blue-Green. I've been told I really suit the vintage 50s look too since I add a grungey twist to it and make it more vibrant.

I'm an INTJ 5w6. Love purple, tea, cats, tragic stories, personality evaluating, the cold and stormy weather.

I am very introverted but I'm the one who's usually approaching other people who pique my interest, because that way I can control the flow of the initial conversation and figure out if a person and I are compatible in the long run. I can't deal with people insisting on optimism, as they're often giving me toxic positivity or just end up underestimating a lot of things. I consider myself a realist, but idealistic or pessimistic people don't really bother me much.

I'm always using a practical and imagination-oriented approach to evaluating the outside world and then to discuss that with people who I want to have a deep connection with, and that's basically how I spend my Quality Time (love language) with people I like being around. I love occult and mystical topics, but I mostly enjoy discussing, listening, reading and discussing things that deal with ideas in the real world; like economics, politics, or anything regarding the development of modern society and what's likely to happen in our future based on current patterns of things. I also enjoy looking up stuff on psychology, philosophy and sciencey stuff (like the topics you see discusses on Kurzegaht inanutshell, What If or Vsauce on YouTube), politics, Sidereal/Vedic Astrology and things related to some horror, psychological thriller or sci fi anime/show/movie I've enjoyed.

I like working out, structuring and organizing things whilst listening to my favourite mood setting music is a hobby too; it makes me feel more stable and helps with my attention deficiency. I listen to a lot of epic scores (by 2wei, J2, or anything considered 'horror music' lol) to get me pumped for daily mundane tasks, as well as alternative, folk metal (Danheim and Eluveitie especially), punk rock and pop song mashups on YouTube. But for relaxing (which I'll often need since I can be on edge and have anxiety) I listen to a lot of lofi, cello music and indie music (stuff by Novo Amor, Vancouver Sleep Clinic or Sleeping At Last)

Some of my flaws are that I can overthink things, and have a perfectionist side that makes me bad at forming a routine fast enough. I suck at adapting to changes and hate the idea of cutting corners or half assing things.

thanks for requesting !! i match you with:

Nanami Kento (JJK)

- What sold it was the realistic view on life. Sure everyone has hopes and dreams for the futures but that’ll only lead it to disappointment if they’re not practical. I feel you two will definitely be able to help each other set and achieve goals together.

-Nanami just wants to spend time with those he loves. He loves discussing real word problems and i believe he’s very opinionated. You two will be up all night discussing topics you’re passionate about that day. Plus i feel like he’d just love the sound of your voice so you can happily talk about occult and your fave topics and he’ll hang onto every word.

-Nanami loves loves LOVES structure. It gives him a sense of control. So he’ll get on very well with someone who also likes to follow his way of life (not routine specifically but like just say by day tasks)

-I think Nanami can understand perfectionism cuz he has the same problem. He’ll admire your determination to complete a project to the best of your abilities.

-Overall i feel you two give off very similar vibes and when you go out together you’ll have that very much classy couple vibes yknow.

William T Spears (BB):

- First of all your aesthetics would go so so so so well together. I just love like gothic/ witchy with businessman type thing. You two would be the prettiest couple on the streets. Like everyone would stop and wish they could be you.

- Ok so obviously he is a grim reaper so let’s try not to think tooooo deeply about that. He’s a massive fan of quality time. After an annoying day of work there is nothing more he wants than to go home and be with you. You could lit rally be doing anything and he wouldn’t mind. All he wants is to be in your presence.

-Another one who i feel is very opinionated on worldly topics. He’s a slave to capitalism as well (well the underworlds form of it) so he has a few things to say. Again yous will be debating all night long.

-If grim reapers listen to music then i head canon him as a huge fan of horror/ alternative punk. OMG YOU TWO WILL DO THE REALLY CUTE COUPLE THING OF MAKING PLAYLISTS/ THE SPOTIFY COMBINEY THING. well hell act aloof and pretend he doesn’t want to but just ask him once and he’s down to dw :))

(also you are totally my kind of person so if you want to be mutuals pls hit me up i need more desi friends 😭😭)

[harrysdimples]

evermore track by track review (reaction?)

you know what time it is babieeeeeee......

willow

lovely little plucky guitar. I like the piano arrangement in the background. her vocals sound really lovely in the chorus and in the back of the second verse. i’m going to try and judge this as a separate project from folklore because it’s supposed to be just a complementary project but inevitably there will be comparisons. the 1 as an opening track is probably my preference over this I think on first listen. the bridge (?) is probably my favourite part of the song before the 90s trend line lol (just takes me out the song, kinda like the tweet line that’s in the lakes) but her vocals and how mature her voice sounds are just really light and airy and it’s nice to hear. but this is a lot more rhythmic than most of folklore which is something I appreciate and has enough dynamics so that you’re not bored, although the outro could’ve maybe been shortened a bit (but that’s a nitpicky thing lol). that’s her man!

ok I realised half way through happiness that I HAD PUT THE ALBUM ON SHUFFLE BY ACCIDENT WHICH IS BLASPHEMOUS AND SOMETHING I HATE DOING. I apologise sincerely lmao every song after this is in order with the album track list.

happiness

love a synth. ‘I can’t face reinvention’ ok bitch call me out ??? the lyrics are very lovely, as always. what’s/who’s this about ? lmao. it’s very pretty but not sure it’s going anywhere? more instrumentation could’ve maybe elevated this song just because I feel the lyrics are so flowery and beautiful that they deserve to either be in complete isolation (like from the dining table’s production) or some grandiose orchestral arrangement to properly show off how great and genuinely heartbreaking they are. I have no doubt at some point i’ll lie in the dark at some point and sob to this though loooool.

champagne problems 

ah bitch. the opening line already got me. again, the lyrics on this one are cutting me deep and I really like the production in the second half of the song, it really picks up the song when I was worried the production wasn’t going to be for me. the background vocals and harmonies are lovely. I think the lyricism of this song is so important and reminds me of what jack said in the long pond sessions about people with mental health issues never receiving proper recognition for just doing as okay as they can be because to other people, it’s either not enough or they just don’t get how difficult it is to maintain that level of ‘normalcy’. The idea of people dismissing things as ‘champagne problems’ is so poignant when you think of the fact that so many people disregard mental health issues until they’re directly affected by it in some way and treat others as outsiders/bad apples/something to only remember as a cautionary tale and to be forgotten otherwise. the numbness of trying to feel things (like going on the train) and participating in life and trying to believe that you deserve something good, a relationship, love etc but knowing that people are only waiting for you to fail so they can inevitably move on is so sad. my favourite out of the 3 tracks so far.

gold rush

good old jack antonoff production. girl how many people are wanting to get with joe ???? I really like the lyricism again, and the ‘what must it be like to grow up that beautiful’ bit kinda reminds of olivia’s instrumentation for some reason lol. I wish this hit a little harder because it’s on the precipice of greatness but doesn’t get quite there for me, kinda like the archer. loved the production, but I had anticipated it to have this big build up which it didn’t quite hit for me. I am listening to this currently at night with my blinds shut but I know that when it’s in the daytime/sun this will sound so good, so i’m excited to replay this one. update: it’s the next day and I LOVE this.

tis the damn season

hm. this one was pretty middling for me i’m ngl. I don’t think i’ve had enough love/life experience to really relate to this that much (which isn’t taylor or the song’s fault obvs) but I found it hard to ~connect to and the production didn’t really excite me enough to feel too passionate about it. very much enjoyed the “So I'll go back to L.A. and the so-called friends, Who'll write books about me, if I ever make it” line though lol!

tolerate it

I really like this. really encapsulated the feeling of trying your hardest to meet someone’s expectations of you/your relationship and fitting yourself into parameters to suit their needs/what they want and yet you’re still considered on the outskirts of their life. Trying desperately to make that person care as much as you do for them, but in reality your actions just further the reasons why they don’t want you and why your actions are ignored/silently belittled. Feels like this is a good companion piece to a lot of the folklore tracks and could’ve fitted on that album yet is still different enough to stand out. will def be coming back to this.

no body, no crime (feat. HAIM)

ok so taylor’s having her before he cheats moment?? someone should be working on a mashup asap. you know i’m a sucker for country yeehaw bops so i’ll definitely be playing this on repeat lol, so far probably the most upbeat track along with gold rush and this is probably my favourite track so far. the storytelling through the lyricism is fabulous and I really love the little production elements like danielle saying “she was with me dude” lol, I don’t have a lot of experience/references for “real” country music so if this is a little corny idk but I like it anyway lmao

dorothea

this was a sweet song, might be completely off the mark with this interpretation, but I sort of viewed this as taylor speaking to her younger self and telling her how she can always go back to who she was after becoming too enchanted with fame and the troubles that come with it/experiencing the consequences of fame, and that inevitably it’ll be okay in the end. a nice reassuring, pleasant song. not sure how much replay value it’ll have for me personally but I appreciate it :’)

coney island feat. the national

I like this for the most part. I think it’ll be a grower but I can see this moving up in my ranks once I listen to it a bit more. the second half of the song after the bridge is definitely better than the first and I really like it, but the first half isn’t my favourite. I think within some of the lyrics there are some clunky lines and I’m not sure how well the dueting partner works (idk if that’s aaron dessner or someone else?) but I think another softer (?) male voice could’ve gone better with it, or just taylor herself. the instrumentation and production on this song is fantastic though and I really love the bridge (although the idea of joe and taylor coming together to write about all of taylor’s exes makes me lol)

ivy:

the chord progression really reminds me of like 80% of folklore and idk if this track was “necessary” even though she’s perfectly entitled to her art obvs. but in the context of the album idk if this was needed, probably the most filler-like of all of them so far (for me personally). it’s sort of like a long poem to me and the subject matter of infidelity is always interesting when taylor covers it, but idk, this didn’t do too much for me on first listen

cowboy like me

this feels like a movie or video game soundtrack song, I always appreciate a good guitar solo and the instrumentation in this song is great. I don’t know how much this goes anywhere until the bridge but I love the line “now you hang from my lips, like the gardens of babylon, with your boots beneath my bed, forever is the sweetest con”. I think this has the potential to be a major grower on me though purely bc of how melodic it is and how “vibey” it is.

long story short

yeah this wasn’t really for me. I can appreciate it’s objectively a well produced song with some good lyrics, it just didn’t really click for me sadly upon first listen.

marjorie

yeah so this made me sob. as some of you may know I lost my grandma two weeks ago suddenly so...yeah, this song just really hit me. this is a beautiful track.

closure

what is going on here on this day lmao? reaaaaaaallly not a fan of the production and the synthetic (?) drums that were used on this track and I don’t think the use of repetition in the chorus’ lyricism really works that well here. idk it just feels a little unfinished to me

evermore feat. bon iver

I think this is too lyrically dense for my brain to properly intake after the long road it took to get to this track lol so I think i’ll need some time with it. I don’t think bon iver’s addition works as well as exile but I like the second half of the song which he’s in, in comparison to the first half, it does kinda feel like two songs put into one though. taylor’s vocals sound nice though. 

in conclusion:

favourites: tolerate it, gold rush, champagne problems, no body, no crime, marjorie

in between/grower: cowboy like me

meh: tis the damn season, willow, doreathea, evermore

didn’t really like: ivy, long story short, closure

I feel like i’m going to be crucified for saying this but this feels like a lover-fied version of folklore ajfkhsas if that makes ANY sense to anyone but my own brain. I said when I did this same kind of post for folklore that the album did what the concept for lover tried to do (the love letter to different kinds of love) 10x better and I was happy to see this kind of direction from her. I still love folklore and I think it’s a true piece of art and it ranks high in my tiers of taylor albums, but this just kinda misses the mark for me for the most part (on first listen). It’s very lyrically dense, which is nice, but much less accessible than folklore to me in terms of melodies and the overall structure of some of the songs, which is again, fine, but not necessarily what I had anticipated going into this album and generally usually isn’t my thing. for all that i’ve said about jack’s production in some songs on previous albums of taylor’s, his presence here is missed imo. I’ve expressed that I don’t particularly enjoy long albums because eventually the flow of the album is lost, and that is true here. around the ivy/long story short stretch it kinda loses ground which is a shame because there is some beautiful lyricism in there, but it’s even more susceptible to risking being brought down by the sequencing when it’s a sister album to another project and will end up being compared to that and the tracks there. given the style of music this is in, the fact that it’s a sister album and so long, it’s got a lot against it and I don’t know if it manages to overcome those hurdles for me personally. It’s like what harry said about sequencing, the track listing is so important imo to the purpose and arc of the album that you want to tell and I feel like there could’ve been a lot more “editing” of this project to make it stand up to the highs of folklore imo, or potentially editing down folklore to combine it with some of the really strong tracks on evermore like goldrush, no body no crime etc. I don’t know if the narrative of this album is unique enough to stand against folklore and some of taylor’s other albums for me. I will be returning to these songs for sure, but the sequencing and overall structure of this album kinda lets it down. I can’t help but ponder if this album will age well in comparison to folklore, or both albums will age well with the narrative fuelling it being created in quarantine and as a product of boredom. if folklore wins AOTY at the grammys (which it seems it’s secured to at this point), it’s going to be tied to the “corona year” so it’ll be interesting to see where these projects end up and how well received they are in years to come vs taylor’s other projects and how they’ve aged. we’ll see! i’d probably give it a 7.5/10 in comparison to the 9/10 for folklore. 

[nad-zeta]

How’s the most precious girl doin? I’m just here to get a ikesen and maybe ikerev mashup If your ok with that~ Hobbies: - music - comics - bored games - editing - writing My personality: I’m pretty outgoing but I don’t like crowded areas. I like quiet places or just being around a few good friends. I love making people laugh so I’m pretty funny~ and I find it hard to trust others. I’m pretty clumsy and get injured a lot too. I love sweet things and I get distracted super easy. Thx again❤️

Hi, there, dear! I hope you are doing well ❤️ Thanx so much for the request lol! I hope you enjoy it! ❤️ 

So I match you with.......................... Hideyoshi

The first time you got to Azuchi you and Hideyoshi did not get on well, at all. You were by no mean a quiet, meek lil lamb, so you definitely told Nobunaga how it is. You are loud and outgoing, and not afraid to let your opinions be known. Nobunaga found this to be extremely amusing, and as he went to touch your cheek, you legit slapped his hand away, you may have saved him from a burning building, but he was still a stranger. Hideyoshi was shook to his core, how dare you lay a hand on his lord. He saw red, he staked up to you, hand on the hilt of his sword. You stared him down. The atmosphere around the two of you was thick, just then you spotted a monkey playing in the garden. Like Wft, where did a freaken monkey come from? You watched the monkey play, forgetting all about the tense situation happening around you. Your face lit up in a bright smile when you saw the lil monkey chase around a butterfly man it was so cute.

 Hideyoshi cleared his troat still staring you down, shit you got distracted. You started telling him exactly what you thought of him, when all of a sudden, a fawn now appeared in the garden. Like, are these people secret zookeepers or what. You had to resist the urge to run outside and pet the lil cutie. As you were lost in your own world, distracted by the animals, the warlords started laughing and teasing you and Hideyoshi. “Haha, Looks like the lass got distracted again, I told you its boring to listen to your lectures.” “The little mouse certainly is an interesting little thing.” Even Nobunaga laughed “Seems like our new lucky charm has found a way to block out Hideyoshi’s annoying lecture, a skill I wish to learn from her. It might make my candy stealing lectures pass by much quicker.” Hideyoshi legit stood there dumbfounded. Shit, you got distracted again, damn these people and their cool wildlife. You stared up at Hideyoshi, all traces of your anger and frustration had melted away, there is just something about seeing cute animals that just calm you right down. Nobunaga finally decided to chime in telling Hideyoshi to calm the hell down and to leave you be

You worked super hard for the castle and its people, and you loved getting to know all the maids and castle staff. You had a particularly good day one day when you found the castles music room, you were low key surprised at the wide variety of instruments on display. You spotted what looked to be a piano in the corner of the room and couldn’t help but drift to it. Your fingers effortlessly glided along the keys, playing one of your favourite songs. Hideyoshi just so happened to walk past the music room at that exact moment and was awestruck at the beautiful melody you managed to produce. No one around had known how to play the western instrument that Nobunaga had acquired as tribute from his newest ally. He stood for a while and listened to you play. 

All of a sudden midway through the song you fell to the ground. Hideyoshi sprinted across the room and cradled you in his arms. It was the first time he really had a look at you. He saw dark rings around your eyes, and your skin was ghostly white. He had been so busy suspecting you and criticising your work that he had looked past the fact that you were working yourself into an early grave. He effortlessly lifted you up into his strong arms and carried you to your room. He carefully tucked you into the futon. It had been a full month, and you hadn’t done anything shady, sure the way you talked was a lil strange but other than that, you were actually just a sweet, kind girl, trying your hardest to fit in. Hideyoshi felt like kicking himself for being such an idiot.

You woke up the next day and was absolutely shook. Hideyoshi came into your room and served you breakfast and tea in bed. You had to rub your eyes to make sure you weren’t dreaming. He then bowed down low and apologise profusely for being such an ass to you. The way he was apologising you could have sworn he killed your firstborn son or something. You just smiled at him and shrugged saying it was cool and there was no hard feeling. Since that day you got to see the true doting mother-hen come out. He took you to the markets and insisted on buying you everything and anything you wanted. You were a little reluctant… that is, until you saw the candy stand. You sprinted to the shop and examined all the small candy treats they sold. Honestly, the thing you missed the most about home was not being able to eat sweets. You looked up at Hideyoshi with puppy dog eyes. He bought the whole shop’s stock, although he restricted your candy intake like he did Nobunaga. Needless to say, you were not happy about that. 

One night your sweet tooth was acting up, and you just needed to get your hands on some more candy. You snuck your way to the kitchen, climbed onto the counter and reached up to grab the jar. You got a fright when Nobunaga had climbed up next to you and grabbed the jar at the same time as you. “What are you doing here,” “Same as you fireball, stealing candy cause Hideyoshi has restricted me to only one piece a day, a restriction I find unacceptable of course.” After the two of you had munched on a few handfuls of candy, a familiar light flickered down the hallway and just like that Nobunaga disappeared into the shadows of the night, leaving you with the evidence. Hideyoshi came into the kitchen and saw you with the candy jar in your lap. He literally lectured you for three hours on the importance of not eating too much sugar especially at night, what he didn’t expect is that he would crumble under your puppy dog eyes, as since then he would give you some candy every time you went to visit him for tea. TBH he low key favoured you above Nobunaga giving you sweet candy treats just so he could see that cute smile grace your face

You were definitely giving Hideyoshi more grey hairs than Mitsunari ever could with your clumsiness. If you weren’t falling over your own feet, you were accidentally knocking vases down. It was for this reason that Hideyoshi would insist on holding your hand whenever the two of you went out to the markets. You clumsiness truly knows no bounds as one day Hideyoshi took you to one of his fav tea houses to relax and eat some lunch. You were so engrossed in conversation with the mama bear that when you reached out to take a sip of tea, your fingers slipped spilling piping hot tea all over your lap. You tried to play it cool like you didn’t just burn your legs with the hot as hell tea, but nothing gets past Hideyoshi. In an instant, he was by your side, helping you clean up the mess and dragging you back to his manor to evaluate the damage. You were so freaken embarrassed as he rubbed some salve onto the small burn wound that had formed on your thigh, Hideyoshi simply gave you his bright sunshine smile and patted your head. You found it difficult to trust people, but somehow his man now patting your head had managed to break through all your wall. You didn’t know the exact moment you had fallen for the castles mom, but you were definitely in love.

And Hideyoshi had long ago fallen in love with you. You meant more to him than anyone in the world… well, there is Nobunaga, but he loved you just a lil more than him. He had spent hours watching you draw little pictures in a book. You had told him you were busy writing your own comic book. You had shown him your favourite comic book from the future and told you it had inspired you to make your own. 

He got a cool idea of how to ask you to be his lover, when you had one day forgotten one of your comic books in his room. He pulled out a few sheets of paper and started making little sketches with speech bubbles. Finally, his masterpiece was complete. He wasted no time inviting you to his room to give you the gift. You opened the parcel, and your eyes went wide when you saw a small handmade book resembling one of your comics. You opened it up and started to read. It was a book about you and all the things Hideyoshi loved about you, and on the very last page, there was a little doodle of Hideyoshi with a speech-bubble stating that he loves you. You beamed up and him and jumped into his arms.

The two of you were the sweetest most doting couple. You want cuddles and snuggles Hideyoshi has got you. You and Hideyoshi have made it a tradition to have a weekly board game night where neither of you is allowed to focus on work. You know Hideyoshi has a tendency to overwork himself, so you designed this night to help him relax, plus you freaken loved playing board games. Most of the time you would sit in his lap while the two of you played. He would rub your back or gently stroke your hair as the two of you were played. You would make jokes and chat about your days. TBH it was often that these board game nights would lead to something *ahem* a little more steamy.

This man will pamper you day in, and day out, whether it is running you nice warm bubble baths or massaging your back after a long day of work, you can definitely expect to be spoilt rotten. Expect lots of soothing head pats and forehead kisses. His man will also give you a flurry of small lil kisses every time he sees you. His favourite is when you rest your head on his thigh while he gently strokes your hair while working. You truly love this big mother hen, and your fav is to be in his arms, cuddling him for hours on end.

Other potential matches.............. Sasuke 

Hope you enjoyed it, dear! 🥰

[grimelords]

October Playlist

My October playlist is finished and it’s complete from Rico Nasty to Rachmaninoff. I absolutely guarantee there’s something you’ll love in this 3 and a half hours of music, and probably something you’ll hate too! Something for everyone!

If you’d like to have these playlists delivered to your inbox instead of having them randomly appear on your dash, please subscribe to my tinyletter here.

listen here

Santeria - Pusha T: In anticipation of Jesus Is King I relistened to the entire Wyoming Sessions project a few times, and a year removed from all the hype and controversy here's the thing: it's fucking great. The individual albums ranged pretty widely in quality and felt slightly unfinished for how short they were sometimes, but taking the project as a whole 5-album 120 minute playlist it turns out it's a masterpiece. My personal tracklist goes Ye/Daytona/Nasir/KTSE/Kids See Ghosts, which isn't release order but I think makes it flow the best - both Kanye albums bookending it and the less impactful Nas and Teyana Taylor albums buried a bit further in where you can appreciate them now that you're deep in the mindset of the whole thing rather than alone on their own.

Puppets (Succession Remix) - Pusha T & Nicholas Brittel: This remix is such a perfect match: Pusha T’s corporate villainy finally given a context and prestige it deserves. It’s also short enough that it could feasible be the actual theme song next season, which would be a marked improvement imo.

Use This Gospel - Kanye West, Clipse & Kenny G: I am and remain a Kanye stan, even after everything. It’s nice to see him going back to the extremely uneven mastering of MBDTF era, it’s a sound that is uniquely his and it’s fun to see him revisit it. The thick vocoder harmony is so soupy you get lost in it, and the way it opens up to include the full choir in the No Malice verse is beautiful. Kanye reunited Clipse through Christ and we have Him to thank for that at least. The Kenny G break is great, and the grain and dirt on the whole track when the beat kicks in is so gritty you can feel it.

Man Of The Year - Schoolboy Q: I didn't love the Chromatics album they surprise released but it did thankfully remind me of the time Schoolboy Q sampled Cherry for Man Of The Year. Taken exclusively on lyrics, Man Of The Year is a triumph: he's the man of the year and it's all worked out but the sample and the beat underscores the dead eyed melancholy that runs through the whole of Oxymoron of never winning even when you've won.

Cold - Rico Nasty: This song fucking tears your face off. Imagine STARTING your album at this level of intensity. She just goes straight to 100 and burns the house down. Outside of Lil John so few rappers can get away with just straight up screaming in the adlibs but the way she just lung tearingly screams GOOOO through this is fucking sick.

Fake ID - Riton & Kah-Lo: TikTok songs are becoming their own genre, but it’s a very nebulous sort of a mood encompassing everything from aughts pop punk hooks to skipping rope raps like this. It’s a strange new way for songs to blow up that everyone seems compelled to write articles about but my take on it is it’s exactly the same as ads were in the old days. Remember how many songs did absolute numbers because someone put it in a Motorola ad? Same thing except you’re not being sold a phone this time, so in some ways it’s better. Anyway, this song bangs. The spirit of 212 era Azealia Banks lives on even if she’s doing her best ever since then to kill it.

Doctor Pressure - MYLO & Miami Sound Machine: There was a very good era in the mid-2000s where you could just put mashups out as singles and they’d chart, it was sick. My only two examples are this and Destination Calabria but I’m sure there’s more. Drop The Pressure is a masterpiece but as an alternate version this mashup is equally masterful.  

If You’re Tarzan, I’m Jane - Martika: Martika is unfortunately best known for the 1989 one hit wonder Toy Soldiers, a sort of boring overdramatic ballad which is best known for being sampled by Eminem in 2004 in his quite bad super duper serious song Like Toy Soldiers. I say unfortunately because every other song on her first album is great, it’s all hypercolour 80s synthpop and I love this song especially because it is so completely stuffed with activity it becomes dizzying. It gets so lost in itself that they completely abandon the dramatic pause before “I’m Jane” for some reason toward the end and instead just layer three different tracks of vocal adlibs. Every part of this song is great, the weird ‘o we o we o’ chant before the second verse? The neighing horse guitar before the bridge? The musical tour of the world IN the bridge? The part where she says ‘I want to swing on your vine?’. This song has everything.

You Got Me Into This - Martika: Every part of the instrumentation in this is amazing. The bass sound, the main synth, the extremely athletic brass, the wonderful echoing 80s snare that’s as big as a house. I just love it. She also does some really intriguing slurs on the word ‘love’ all the way through, just moving it around absolutely anywhere.

Space Time Motion - Jennifer Vanilla: I love when someone has such a clearly defined aesthetic and mission from the very beginning. Jennifer Vanilla is the alter ego of Becca Kaufmann from Ava Luna who I've had in this playlist before but never competely investigated. Jennifer Vanilla feels like an episode of Sex And The City where Samantha gets really into Laurie Anderson and she is incredible. This video is the best mission statement I’ve ever seen and is currently criminally underviewed so please do your part and support the Jennifer cause by watching these two videos.

So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings - Caroline Polachek: Caroline Polachek said watch me write a Haim song and did it. Apparently the very early versions of this album started when she was in writing sessions for Katy Perry, but then it started to turn into something else and she took it for herself, and I think you can hear that. With more normal production and a little faster this is a hundred percent a Katy Perry song, but instead it’s completely uniquely Caroline Polachek and it’s all the better for it. And also Katy Perry must be furious because her new songs are simply not good at all.

Electric Blue - Arcade Fire: I just love the obsession of this song in the outro, chanting over and over and over “Cover my eyes electric blue, every single night I dream about you”

Promiscuous - Nelly Furtado and Timbaland: I got a youtube ad for one of those Masterclass videos the other day and it was Timbaland teaching production. This ad went for five minutes for some reason and I watched the whole thing and it made me admire Timbaland even more. He’s demonstrating his compositional technique which is basically to just beatbox, and then loop it, and then add some extra percussion layers with more beatboxing and hand percussion, then loop that and add a little melody by singing or humming. ‘It’s that simple’ he says. Then later he goes back in and puts in actual drums or synths or whatever. I was stunned because suddenly a lot of his music makes sense. Without the barrier of instrument or timbre to get hung up on it allows him to write from this instantly head-nodding place of just making up a little beat you can sing and dance to immediately. Listening to a lot of his music now you can hear the bones underneath everything so clearly, all his beats are supremely beatboxable and all his melodies are very hummable, they’ve never overcomplicated by instrumental skill or habits, they just exist to serve the song.

Serpent - TNGHT:  TNGHT are back baby and this song is like nothing I’ve ever heard before. It feels like afrofuturist footwork from another dimension, the mbira sounding lead against the oil drum percussion in this cacophony of yelps and screams that just builds to an irrepressible energy without a bassline in sight.

Ghosts Of My Life - Rufige Kru: I'm reading Mark Fisher's Ghosts Of My Life right now and some good person has put together a spotify playlist of all the songs he mentions. He has a whole essay about why this song is sick so I’m not going to go into it here but it’s interesting to hear about someone growing up with jungle when it’s a genre that has always felt very niche to me. I guess partly as a result of it never really making it mainstream as a genre here, and also me being a little too young for it.

Renegade Snares - Omni Trio: My biggest introduction to drum and bass comes from the game Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition and this really great song from the soundtrack that is finally on spotify after a very long absence. At almost the exact same time as I discovered this song with its spacious piano and repitched snares, I discovered Venetian Snares and breakcore in general. Having no particular frame of reference for breakcore as an offshoot of drum and bass only amplified its appeal to me as a completely alien genre that sounded like nothing else I’d ever heard, and so my personal history with drum and bass is a story of walking backwards into it after the fact which is interesting if not helpful.

Punching In A Dream - The Naked And Famous: The Mark Fisher book also mentions the Tricky song which I’ve never heard from which The Naked And Famous got their name and I thought ‘man remember The Naked And Famous, they were sick?’. The sort of harder edged Passion Pit instrumentation mixed with pop punk, a winning combination.

Vegas - Polica: My favourite part of this song is the unexpected blastbeats after the chorus, using their two drummers to their full advantage and just shaking the song by its foundations every now and then lest you get too comfortable.

Right Words - Cults: I’m beginning to suspect I may be the last surviving Cults stan but if this be my lot I’ll gladly do it

Running From The Sun - Chromatics: The new Chromatics album got me to relisten to their definitive document Kill For Love, and something new I appreciated this time about an album I love a lot is its length. Kill For Love is almost 80 minutes long and it luxuriates in that length. It’s sequenced perfectly so it never feels like it’s long for no reason, but large chunks just completely space out and go out of focus in the soft neon light and the second half of this song is a good example. The whole thing just evaporates into smoke and it feels perfect. If this were a shorter and more concise song that had a proper ending it wouldn’t feel right, this whole album has no straight edges at all and it’s all the better for it.

Chance - Angel Olsen: I cannot belive this song. This feels like she wrote her own version of My Way looking forward instead of back. Instead of the ruefully triumphant "I've lived a life that's full / I've traveled each and every highway" it's “I don't want it all / I've had enough / I don't want it all / I've had a love." before the turn from the future to the present at the end, where she gives up on a forever love in exchange for right now. I love how raw this vocal take feels. It's not her best voice but it feels very very honest as a result. She's just singing her heart out in this huge showstopping closer. In an interview she said "I didn’t love the recording of it very much, and now I just feel in love with it as a closing statement, because it’s a way of saying, ‘Look, I have hope for the next thing in my life.’ I’m not going to anticipate negativity or hate or an end. But instead of us looking towards forever, why don’t we just work on right now?"

Something To Believe - Weyes Blood: This album just keeps paying dividends. I’m systematically going through long obsessive periods with every single song on it and now it’s Something To Believe’s turn.

Don’t Shut Me Up (Politely) - Brigid Mae Power: Without meaning to, Brigid Mae Power seems to have created some incredible fusion of folk music and stoner metal. The way this song absolutely sits unmoving on one deep and resonant chord for so long is amazing. When it does change chords it feels like a full body effort to get up and shift. She has a similar feeling to Emma Ruth Rundle, who more explicitly wears her metal influences, but Brigid Mae Powers' strength is in how much it resembles the traditional folk side of the spectrum. Her voice is also amazing, with the huge effortless runs she goes on about halfway through just coming unmoored from the song completely and floating off into space.

Sweetheart I Ain’t Your Christ - Josh T. Pearson: I had a real problem with Josh T. Pearson for a long time because of how he presents as so authentic on this album, and as I’ve previously discussed in these playlists the concept of authenticity in country music is a source of neverending anguish for me. But his newest album The Straight Hits! has largely cured that for me because it’s not good at all, is extremely contrived (all the song titles have the word ‘hit’ in them) and he’s shaved his beard and replaced it with one of the worst irony moustaches I’ve ever seen. So now I’m free to enjoy The Last Of The Country Gentlemen as a character construction, which allows me a far deeper and truer engagement than the idea of a man actually living and thinking like this which is frankly a little embarrassing.

Codeine Dream - Colter Wall: I love this song, it has that feeling that great folk songs do of feeling like you’ve always known it. The strongest moments on this Colter Wall album to me are in songs like this that chase this particular feeling of morose isolation, and where he leans away from storytelling like his biggest hit Kate McCannon - a kind of cliche country murder ballad. This song is fantastic because of the way it wallows in this black depression not as a low point, but as a reprieve from the lower previous point. Things are as bad as they get now, and they’re always going to be like this, but at least I don’t dream of you anymore.

Motorcycle - Colter Wall: I only just found out about Colter Wall this month and have been listening to this album over and over. When I first heard him I though it was strange I'd never heard of him before because he's obviously some old country veteran based off his voice, but it turns out he's 24 and this is his first album he just sings like he ate a cigar. I love this song especially because it's so straighforward. It's a simple and supremely relatable mood: what if I bought a motorbike and fucking died.

Who By Fire - Leonard Cohen: I watched American Animals a couple of weeks ago and it’s a great movie, highly recommended. This song plays near the end and I waited for the credits to find out what this great song was, and like a rube found out it’s only one of the most celebrated songwriters of all time. I’ve never had much of a Leonard Cohen phase, somehow. In my mind I always get him mixed up with Lou Reed, which I’m learning is actually way off. I love the harmony vocals in this, and the way they move around into the shadows in the ‘who shall I say is calling’ parts.

Words From The Executioner To Alexander Pearce - The Drones: Alexander Pearce was a convict who escaped Sarah Island’s penal settlement in Tasmania with seven other convicts in 1822. He was recaptured two months later alone. In 1823 he re-escaped with a fellow convict, Thomas Cox and again was returned alone.He was executed by hanging later having eaten six men during his escape attempts.

It Ain’t All Flowers - Sturgill Simpson: I found this album going through the Pichfork 200 albums of the decade list and I feel like a fool for not having heard it sooner because now I am completely obsessed. Sturgill Simpson is doing the very best work in country music right now because he's looking backwards with one eye and forwards with the other and this song is a great illustration: a perfect Hank Williams Jr type country song with big voiced hollers that morphs into a surprise psych freakout for the whole second half.

Desolation Row (Take 1, Alternate Take) - Bob Dylan: I’ve always liked Desolation Row a lot as a song but the acoustic guitar on the album version is simply not good, it's just kind of mindlessly playing this long directionless solo the whole time and over the course of a song this long it really adds up to just being annoying. Luckily because it’s a Bob Dylan song there’s a whole universe of alternate takes and mixes and this is a great pared down version I found without it. The best kind of Bob Dylan songs are the ones where he just makes an endless stream of allusions and bizzare imagery, and this and Bob Dylan's 115th Dream are my favourite examples of it.

Living On Credit Blues - El Ten Eleven: This is a groove I get stuck in my head a lot, and this is also a song I think would work well as a theme for a tv show. I've been meaning to do a 30 second edit of it just for my own amusement, maybe I'll do that soon. El Ten Eleven are a duo where one guy plays drums and one guys plays a double necked guitar/bass and looping pedals and somehow against all the odds of that description they manage to make emotional, driving instrumental music of very deep feeling, like this song which is one of my all time favourites.

Dusty Flourescent/Wooden Shelves - Talkdemonic: This is sort of a companion Living On Credit Blues, and Talkdemonic are similarly an instrumental duo with good drums. This entire album from 2005 is highly recommended, it's a sort of halfway between the post rock of the time and a kind of acoustic hiphop instrumentals that ends up sounding very rustic and homemade, like a soudtrack for a winter cabin.

Turnstile Blues - Autolux: This is a perfect song, built around a perfect beat. Every part just fits perfectly.

Fort Greene Park - Battles: The new Battles album is finally out and I absolutely love it. I cannot think of another band that has shed members in the same way as Battles; originally a quartet on their first album, then a trio for their second and third and now down to a duo for their fourth album - and somehow still performing material from their first album live. The paring down has seemingly only servers to focus them and the new album sounds fresh but still distinctively Battles, with no sense of anything lost or missing. This song is my standout so far, and the guitar line in particular is so good and interesting to me because I don’t think I’ve ever heard Ian Williams play something so distinctly guitar-y in his whole career. This is a straight up pentatonic riff with bends and everything. Filtered through his usual chopped and looped oddness it feels like he’s almost gone all the back around the guitar continuum and is this close to just doing power chords next album. And I’ll support him!

Diane Young - Vampire Weekend: I've listened to this song a lot in my life and I only looked up the lyrics the other day to find out that the opening line is 'you torched a SAAB like a pile of leaves' which I somehow never noticed. What a power phrase. There's also this very good quote from Ezra about it: "I had this feeling that the world doesn’t want a song called ‘Dying Young’,“ says Koenig, "it just sounded so heavy and self-serious, whereas ‘Diane Young’ sounded like a nice person’s name.”" and he was right to do it. This song is 100 times better because he’s saying Diane Young than it would be if he was saying ‘Dying Young’. That’s a songwriting tip for you.

Monster Mash - Bootsy Collins & Buckethead: Hey did you hear Bootsy Collins and Buckethead did a cover of the monster mash? Thank god for freaks.

The Dark Sentencer - Coheed And Cambria: There's not that many bands that I absolutely loved as a teenager that I've completely abandoned. I've moved on from a lot but I'll still keep up with them if they have a new album or something. Coheed And Cambria are one that I've almost completely turned my back on. They've had 3 apparently pretty patchy albums since I stopped listening after Year Of The Black Rainbow, which was extremely bad and really taught me what people mean when they say an album is 'overproduced'. On a whim I decided to see what they're up to now and listened to their album from last year and guess what: it rocks. It's got everything you'd expect from them: big riffs, bad and confusing lyrics, his weird high voice, overwrought and overlong songwriting, cheesy muscleman solos. Everything about this band is sort of cheesy and embarrassing and takes itself way too seriously, but I'm discovering slowly that that's what's so good about it. The weird pulp sci-fi story and mindset that underpins this whole band is ridiculous and overwrought and as a result it gives the music a reason to exist the way it does. It’s so big and dumb because the story it serves is so big and dumb. It feels exactly like reading Perry Rhodan or some increidibly long and dense but not especially good series like that, it’s pulp music and that’s what I love about it.

Romance In A (6 Hands) - Sergei Rachmaninoff: Piano works for 4 hands (where two guys sit next to each other on the same piano) have always seemed to tend towards the realm of the gimmick or party trick, and works for 6 hands (where three guys do it) even more so - but this Rachmaninoff piece is just beautiful and I can’t believe I haven’t heard of it before this month. It doesn’t overload everyone with a million things to do, it just builds this very wide harmonic bed for the simple melody to swim in - then the way the melody transfers over to the middle register is just magical before the tension of the final section takes over and builds.

Love's Theme - The Love Unlimited Orchestra: I’m so glad I got to learn about the Love Unlimited Orchestra this month. Aside from having one of the best names in music, they were Barry White’s backing band and had their own solo instrumental records too. Here’s a fun aside: Kenny G was a member when he was 17 and still in high school. This is a genre of music that has seemed to totally disappear into the realm of parody and farce only which is sort of a shame because it is unironically very beautiful and dense in its own way.

Dancing In The Moonlight - Liza Minelli: Can you believe I thought Dancing In The Moonlight by Toploader was an original until the other day when my girlfriend played this Liza Minelli version that predates it by several decades? This also isn’t the original! It was written by a band named King Harvest in 1972, with this version AND a version by Young Generation both coming out in 73 and a whole bunch of others in between (including a Baha Men version in 94) before Toploader finally had a proper hit with it in 2000. Truly the world works in mysterious ways. This version is the finest I think, it just goes and goes, frenetically unwinding at a breakneck pace before opening up into a flute solo of all things and then winding up again even and finishing in a kick line breakdown. Absolutely no limits.

Girls - Royal Headache: The sheer amount of power and melody that this song manages to pack into a minute and a half is incredible, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard a more instantly relatable opening lyric than “Girl! Think they’re to fine for me! Oh girls! And I’m inclined to agree!”

Pov Piti - Matana Roberts: In anticipation of Matana Roberts new volume of her Coin Coin album series that just came out I relistened through the three previous albums and they are even more powerful than I remembered. This song serves as a pretty good mission statement for the whole project, and the heartrending tortured screams that open it set the tone for the rest of it. Matana Roberts sings the injustices of slavery into being, and her sing-song delivery highlights the trauma - her indifferent delivery mirroring the indifference of the world at large. The way she rattles off this story like she’s gone over it a million times and grown numb to the facts only accentuates the pain in the telling, a pain that rises to the surface in the screams of her instrument and herself.  

Kingdoms (G) - Sunn 0))): This new Sun 0))) album is one of my favourites they’ve ever done because it’s so straightforward and back to basics. Every song is just ten minutes of straight up no-nonsense, big, rich, drone. They even put the notes in the track names so you can drone along if you like.

listen here

[firesign23]

Author Interview

Tagged by: @aviss  (And @luthienebonyx while I was answering!)

Name:  Ehh, any variation of my usernames is fine. Or you can ask after we’ve talked. It’s too distinctive to put on Tumblr

Fandoms: I’m currently active in Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries and Game of Thrones, and occasionally still check in on the Agent Carter fandom when I have time. I’ve been fandoming for 18 years though, and couldn’t list all the ones I’ve been active in. I used to think I could, and then awhile back I was suddenly hit with a reminder that I wrote fic for X and had forgotten it entirely. 😂

Where you post: AO3

Most popular oneshot: (every single one of us) still left in want of mercy  for GoT. For Miss Fisher, the answer actually surprised me--by hits it is A Hundred and One, which made some sense because it was my first fic and hit during that huge rush in the wake of series 3. By kudos? It’s Reservations, a Mac POV of Phryne and Jack’s developing relationship. 

Most popular multi-chapter story: in the wild blue yonder, your star is fixed (in my sky)  for GoT, which is unsurprising because I only have two and that is both older and longer. A Glass Splinter for Miss Fisher, which is also unsurprising because it is oldest and longest. 

Favorite story you wrote: I always say Fear Not the Bugle, because it was long and hard and deeply personal by the end, but I think that answer changes a lot based on whatever definition of favourite I’m using.  

Story you were nervous to post: All of them, every time. But, honestly, today’s chapter on in the wild blue yonder was… I told people I was expecting rage quitting, and while nobody’s said so, the subscription count has gone down for the first time. There’s any number of innocuous reasons for that, and of course people can read what they want and interests change and so on, but it doesn’t feel like a coincidence that it came after this chapter either. I am, of course, overthinking the whole thing like hell because that’s how I roll. I’ll be over it tomorrow--the story went the way the story had to go. 

How you choose your titles: I scream at people until something clicks? I honestly… I’m so bad at picking titles. I’ll use song lyrics or poetry or quotes--lots of room for Shakespeare and Rilke with MFMM for obvious reasons, and also Edna St Vincent Millay and Anais Nin. And D.H. Lawrence, but also fuck that guy. Or sometimes I’ll just use a random word. I like to joke that I’m going to post a Phrack story and just call it “There’s smut, we all know you’ll read this regardless of the title”, but I don’t even have that going for me in the GoT fandom. THE HARDSHIPS, Y’ALL. I’m currently obsessed with finding a reason to use The Ballroom Thieves’ Bees for a fic, somehow, but I’m not sure which bit. Or which fic. It is sure as shit not going to be an angsty, canon-compliant Jaime POV of Winterfell though, that’s for fucking sure.

Do you outline: Somewhat? Before my season 8 fixit I was mostly writing casefics for anything longer than a one-shot, and I found that I had to have a super rough outline before starting so I could make sure the places clues were dropped were well-spaced and the resolution made sense on a super basic level. But this mostly took the form of a super general paragraph per chapter, and I didn’t really know how those things would happen until I get there. For yonder I have a list of shit that’s supposed to happen, maybe, and I’m winging it without knowing what’s coming in even a vague sense more than a couple of chapters ahead. Except for the final chapter, which was one of the first things I noted, back when I was telling @heavyheadedgal I wasn’t going to WRITE a fic, it was just satisfying to think about it, and anyway even if I did it would be a oneshot. 

I do, however, sort of outline a chapter when I get to writing it. Outline mostly means a sentence, maybe two, per scene--X happens, the purpose of which is Y, tone might be Z--and any scraps of dialogue/writing that had already come to me during previous writing. 

Complete: On ao3 I have… 150 or so? I think the full count is 152 or 153, and of those one is on hiatus and has been for years, one is complete but not yet fully posted because it’s for the 2019 monthly challenge for MFMM, and one genuine WIP. I have no idea what the true total over 18 year is though, other than a LOT.

In-progress: I am actively working on in the wild blue yonder, your star is fixed (in my sky) and the The Seasons Will Change Us New series (aka Minigolf AU), and have a few things like prompts that I pick at on occasion. 

Coming soon/not yet started:

I have a ton more stories in the Minigolf series--the first on the docket is a one-shot of Brienne and Jaime grabbing coffee (that’s what I’m working on), then one set over the Midwinter holiday where their skiing holiday plans are interrupted by Robert’s death. Then there is the bachelor auction fic, which is going to be great because platonic neck kisses. And a few after that.  

The third fic in the series of smutty character studies, which will feature pegging and domJaime (somehow?) and I have NO FUCKING CLUE what it will actually look like but I need it and nobody else is going to write it, so...

My next “serious” longfic will probably by the Persuasion/Anne of Cleves!AU, which is the weirdest mashup description ever. But the premise could be really great--it’s a canon divergence where Brienne and Jaime meet earlier in the timeline and become friends, then are separated by Cersei’s scheming and the ire of the court, both of them in love but not realising or able to act on it at the time. Then they meet again when she is Catelyn’s sworn sword (I’m handwaving so much politics in this fic and Ned’s death is different so Sansa is marrying Joffrey and UGH I’m not looking forward to that side of things because my grasp of canon is so bad), and there is angst and pining and strained sniping. Addam gets to be Charles Musgrove. It’s only the vaguest sort of take on Persuasion, but… The Anne of Cleves side of things is--okay, I kinda want to really lean into that inspiration, but the real point of that is to tackle Brienne’s ugliness from an angle that acknowledges that it can be a “Yes and…” situation--yes, she’s not pretty, and it can also be a constructed, weaponised attack on her. For example, I’m taking that “More of a woman’s shape” thing and running with it--she’s not feminine in build, but that gets warped into “Entirely indistinguishable from a man” by people out to discredit her, and even Jaime’s memories of her have been shaped by that propaganda.  

Look, we all know I’m writing Cocks and Robbers and it is entirely the fault of @aurora-australis-tumbles 

Do you accept prompts: Absolutely! I can be very slow at filling them though, because I… for a long time I was really struggling with writing for a bunch of complex reasons and I’m still working my way up to being able to write a lot in a day. It’s like a muscle injury that’s slowly healing, but I’m not pushing myself, and that means that I can’t currently sit down and bang out 5 or 6 ficlets in a day like I used to. 

Upcoming story you are most excited to write: Persuasion AU, I think? What I have to say about beauty is probably rather niche and not interesting to the vast majority of fans, but it’s something that I like to explore. Or the bachelor auction AU because TROPES GALORE.

Tagging @whopooh  @scruggzi @aurora-australis-tumbles @renee561 and whoever else wants to do it. I am super bad at remembering who has already done these things

[darriness]

Fic - Like You Wanna Be Loved 7/16

Author: darriness

Word Count: 1710

Summary: Confusion

Author’s Note: I'm just breaking all the rules now lol The real reason I posted a chapter today is because the next chapter? On Sunday? Things start to go 'boom' so I wanted to get there ;) Thanks as always to my beta @darrenismydarcy and this chapter was also supported by ideas from @slayediest.

AO3 Link

Kurt’s fine with being just friends. He is. Really. Would he rather be holding hands with Blaine and maybe kissing? Of course. Would he like to curl up with him and watch musicals and go walking hand in hand down the hallway? In a perfect world, sure. But he’s totally fine with friendship if that’s what Blaine is offering.

It’s just...it doesn’t FEEL like friendship.

As the weeks progress, Blaine’s actions toward him are not what Kurt could call strictly ‘friendly’. He’s begun to sit next to Kurt during glee practice and will more often than not slide his chair right next to Kurt so that they are sitting thigh to thigh. He casually touches Kurt all the time; on the shoulder, on the hand, and a few times even on his lower back. He keeps making flirty comments and Kurt has lost count of the amount of winks that have been thrown his way.

He tries to play it off as nothing. That Blaine is just a naturally flirtatious person and that his actions toward Kurt are no different than his actions toward anyone else.

Except they ARE different.

He’s purposely started watching the way Blaine is with the other people in glee, and while Blaine is friendly, and sweet, and charming, he isn’t what Kurt would consider flirty with any of them.

He keeps what Kurt is coming to see as a professional distance from them all. He interacts with them during glee, and in the hallway, and during classes (if the stories from the other glee members are anything to go by) but he has yet to accept a single invitation to hang out after school beyond Kurt’s bowling invitation. The girls keep trying to get Kurt to ask him to hang out again but Kurt is still a little gun shy, and he’s becoming more confused by the day.

“So I was thinking,” Mercedes says one afternoon near the end of October while they wait for glee practice to start, “that we are long overdue for a girls’ sleepover.”

Rachel turns and nods enthusiastically from the front row, “Great idea!” She says.

“Yeah I’m in.” Tina says, without looking up from her phone.

Mercedes turns to Kurt, “You in, boo?” she asks.

Kurt shrugs, “Of course.” He says, “Just not at my house because then Rachel will spend the whole night with Finn and not us.”

“I will not!” Rachel scoffs, but Tina, Mercedes, and even Finn, throw Rachel dubious looks. She huffs and turns her nose up, “Fine. We can do it at my place. My dads have been asking why you ladies, and Kurt,” She says with a gesture toward Kurt and he appreciates the separation that she may not have afforded him, or even thought to make, a few years ago, “haven’t been over lately.”

“Excellent.” Mercedes says, “What about you, Blaine?”

Blaine has been sitting silently next to Kurt for a few minutes, typing away on his phone even as the heat of his thigh seeps through his chinos and through Kurt’s jeans onto his skin. He looks up with a questioning look and smiles at Mercedes, “What about me, what?” He asks.

Kurt’s heart pounds as he looks between Mercedes and Blaine. He’s not sure why he didn’t think of the possibility of Mercedes inviting Blaine but he’s caught off guard by it and he both hopes Blaine says yes, and no, in equal measure.

“Ladies, and Kurt, sleepover at Rachel’s. We usually do them every month or so. Typical sleepover stuff; painting nails, eating snacks while watching movies, discussing boys. You interested?” Mercedes asks.

Blaine smiles and Kurt has gotten to know Blaine well enough by now to know he’s going to decline, “I’m sorry. I wish I could but I can’t.”

He doesn’t give an excuse or even ask for a specific date that wasn’t provided to him (a blanket refusal?) but just smiles at each of them in turn before going back to his phone where his smile dissolves into a frown.

Of course it was a refusal. It’s always a refusal. Kurt watches Blaine for a moment and tries to figure him out. What keeps Blaine from hanging out with them after school? Does he secretly not like any of them? Is he polite at school because he has to be, but would rather not spend time with them? Or is there something else going on?

Kurt is prevented from contemplating any further by Mr. Schue entering the room with a jubilant cry of ‘Mashups!’ Kurt quickly looks away as Blaine looks up from his phone but keeps looking out of the corner of his eye as the other boy pockets his phone and smiles brightly at their teacher.

“All right everybody, break off into pairs and take some time to rehearse a mashup of your choice as a warm up!” Mr. Shue says, and even before he’s done talking Blaine is turning toward him.

“Be my partner?” He asks with bright eyes.

Kurt smiles, “Yeah.” He says and Blaine’s eyes brighten further at the acceptance.

“Come on, I wanna try something on the piano!” Blaine says, and then he reaches for Kurt’s hand to pull him down the risers.

Kurt looks down at their joined hands and then around at the other members of the club. No one else is touching, not even Finn and Rachel (who never stop touching) who are still in their original seats and Finn looks like he’s getting told what to do.

As they get to the piano, Kurt feels Blaine squeeze his hand gently before letting go and sitting down on the piano bench, “I was thinking we could do something a little...romantic.” Blaine says and there’s another goddamn wink.

Kurt’s head is seriously starting to hurt and he’s getting close to just asking Blaine what the hell is going on.

Except...then he’s afraid it’ll stop, and he really doesn’t want it to stop.

-- -- --

Blaine:

I’ve decided I’m totally a Patrick.

Kurt:

Dated a lot of women in your past then? :P

Blaine:

I’m a man with a lot of secrets ;) No but seriously, beyond the horrible wardrobe, I think he and I are a lot alike.

Kurt:

Well I definitely wouldn’t mind you owning a store where I could get skin care products at wholesale  prices.

Blaine:

:) And you are so obviously David. You know, after he stops being an entitled a-hole.

Kurt is simultaneously assaulted with multiple thoughts and feelings as he reads Blaine’s text during French class. First, that Blaine is adorably unable to swear even in text form. Second, that Blaine just insinuated that he and Kurt are the equivalent to TV boyfriends (fiancés - Kurt’s brain automatically corrects) and that makes Kurt a little breathless. Third, that texting Blaine has become his favourite part of his day (outside of actually talking to Blaine but texting allows Kurt to keep talking to Blaine after school). And last, that Kurt is still incredibly confused about what the hell is happening between them.

The pair have kept up a near constant text conversation since exchanging numbers weeks ago (though at school Blaine will only text during his free period or lunch - which Kurt finds both adorable and frustrating). While Kurt loves the back and forth, and feels like he’s being flirted with even through a phone, he’s still under the impression that he and Blaine are just friends.

“Mr. Hummel, that wouldn’t be your phone out, would it?” Madame Munrow says from the front of the room and Kurt looks up to find his teacher looking at him with a quirked eyebrow. He knows she knows he’s on his phone, but he also knows that Madame Munrow loves him and won’t make a big deal out of it.

“Not at all, Madame.” He says, swiftly pocketing his phone with a smile.

His teacher rolls her eyes with a smile and a shake of her head before turning back to the board and Kurt goes back to listening and taking notes, even as his phone buzzes in his pocket again.

-- -- --

“Who are you texting?” Blaine quickly shields his phone as Bethany leans over the back of the couch later that night.

“No one. Just a friend.” He says, clicking his phone to turn it off.

“Kurt?” She asks with an eyebrow wiggle.

Blaine rolls his eyes affectionately, “So what if it was?” He asks.

Bethany’s expression turns serious as she leans an elbow on the back of the couch, rests her chin on her palm and sighs, “You like him, don’t you?” She asks.

Blaine shrugs, “It’s...nothing. We’re just friends.” He says, defensively.

Bethany’s lip quirks up as she sighs again and pushes off the couch, “Keep telling yourself that, big guy. Maybe if you say it enough, you’ll convince yourself.”

Blaine narrows his eyes at her, “When did you become thirty years old, and a therapist?” He asks and Bethany giggles before looking at Blaine with a soft smile.

“I want you to be happy, Blainers. That’s all.” She says with a shrug before wandering off to her room.

Blaine sighs and leans his head back on the couch as he watches her go. Happy. What is Bethany talking about? He IS happy. What would make her think he wasn’t?

What does she know anyway? She’s nine. Her idea of happiness is getting the puppy she’s been begging for for months.

He sighs again. Who is he kidding? She’s more astute than he is, than most of the people - child or adult - in his life.

His phone buzzes in his hand and he looks down to find a new text from Kurt.

Kurt:

Which one for tomorrow?

The text is accompanied by two pictures of Kurt, both with him smiling adorably at the camera with his hair lightly falling over his forehead, but wearing a different ascot in each.

Blaine smiles softly at the smiling face and can’t deny that texting Kurt is without a doubt one of his favourite parts of the day (beyond seeing Kurt in person).

He’s so screwed.

Blaine:

Well you look amazing in either but I’d go with the blue. It brings out your eyes.

What are you doing?! He yells at himself after hitting send.

[miasswier]

miasswier’s ultimate glee ranking: no 45

45: Big Brother

Written by: Michael Hitchcock Directed by: Eric Stoltz

Overall Thoughts: This was the first official episode of Blee! Or, at least that’s what the media saw it as. Basically, the first episode where Blaine has a storyline outside of his relationship with Kurt. And boy, was it awesome. Now, I know a lot of people were frustrated that so much time was dedicated to Blaine and his one-off episode brother, but honestly, I think they still gave Quinn a lot of screentime, and even managed to fit in a little subplot of Puck telling Finn to think about himself for once, as if he hasn’t been exclusively thinking about himself non-stop since the pilot episode.

What I Like:

Cooper is so goddamn funny. He’s such an awesome character because he’s literally such a dink. Of course, he’s a lovable dink, and in the end he redeems himself. Even though I definitely wish Cooper had come back, it also feels like his story is pretty complete within this episode. It would have been cool to get more, but I don’t feel ripped off because I didn’t get more.

“Lazy idiots”

“First of all I have no idea who Porcelain is referring to, I’m assuming it’s very gay and niche”

Quinn and Artie make pretty cute friends! The scene where Quinn is going up the ramp is particularly adorable.

Cooper’s masterclass

“A-bro-ham Lincoln”

“I just learned to walk three years ago”

Blaine gets a major storyline! I think this is the first time that Blaine is the A plot. I think why so many people didn’t jive with it is because usually when a particular character (not a couple) is an A plot, they still get a lot of screentime with everyone else. Almost all of Blaine’s screentime was with Cooper, who is a one-off character. So, in that sense, I kind of get why some people didn’t like it, but I am not one of those people. I love every second that Blaine is on-screen and I would kill for about twenty more episodes just like this one.

The “Up, Up, Up” sequence is awesome. In particular, Kurt running super fast in the background when they get to Six Flags.

Honestly just all the songs, the music is really good in this episode

The scene when they’re trying to figure out what to do for Senior Ditch Day (until Rachel makes it all about herself in the guise of making it all about Quinn)

Rachel shaking Tina’s arm when Blaine and Cooper are fighting in the master class.

That Klaine scene at the end and how cute it is that Kurt took one of the animals Finn won for Rachel to give to Blaine.

The scene at the end with Blaine and Cooper which is so cute and funny.

All the jokes about pointing your finger

Joe telling Quinn that he’s praying that she’ll find peace no matter her situation. Probably unpopular opinion time, but I think Joe could have been good for Quinn if they’d actually let them explore that relationship. Not so much in an endgame sort of situation, but for where she was at this point in her life.

They do something really interesting with Artie in this episode, which is that he’s trying so hard to get Quinn to accept her situation, but it comes across more like he wants her to accept it because he can’t accept that her situation and his may not be the same. Similarly, they don’t even allow Quinn the chance to consider that maybe this will be her situation forever. She is so hell-bent that she won’t be paralyzed forever, you can’t help but wonder why she feels like her life will basically stop if that is the case. She would never tell Artie that he’s going to be stuck in Lima his whole life because he’s in a wheelchair, so why does she specify that she’s going to get out of Lima when she’s talking about getting out of the chair? I think they dealt with a lot of really complex emotions in this episode, from both Quinn and Artie, and while it sucks that they were kind of left in limbo and basically never dealt with again (I would have loved Artie to confront Quinn about the fact that she can still live her life the way she wants to even if she’s in a wheelchair, but he’s still sorry that he pushed the idea of it on her so hard because he had selfish motivations in doing so), I think it was important that they put them out there in the first place. Neither Quinn or Artie deal with this situation in the correct way, but they’re both trying, and, I mean, they’re teenagers. I always find it so refreshing when Glee allows it’s characters to be real and flawed.

What I Don’t Like:

This episode basically had fuck all to do with Finchel and yet somehow they bookended it. Like, I get the opening scene, because they had to show us that they didn’t actually get married, but that end scene was just like…? Like, why did it end on this and not on the optimistic scene between Blaine and Cooper? Also, why am I supposed to care about Finn and Rachel trying to decide which one of them is more important in their relationship when Quinn and Artie are dealing with real issues that I actually care about? And also way more important stuff is happening throughout the school?

Seriously, though, I hate that Finn’s story for the next few episodes is “Your dreams – even though you don’t have any – are just as important if not more important than your girlfriends”. It comes down to the fact that he doesn’t know what he wants to do. So why is he (and Puck and Will) making such a big fucking deal about how everything’s been about Rachel? Rachel knows where she wants to go and what she wants to do. You don’t. Why should your hypothetical come before her reality?

Also, does Finn really need people to tell him he’s the most important person in the world? I mean, Will Schuester spent the entirety of the first two seasons doing that. Do we really need to be hit over the head with it some more?

One final also, I just don’t care about the fact that Finn and Rachel have both been told that they’re the only people who matter and now oops, they’re realizing that they can’t be the only people who matter because sometimes their desires are conflicting and oh no! How do we decide which one of us matters more when we’re both the center of the universe? I really, really, really can’t stand how they set Finn and Rachel up for these situations, because all of this drama could have been avoided if they just took a second and said “neither of us are the most important people in the world, okay, now let’s deal with our problems”

Ah, the return of old ass ladies hitting on teenage boys and being seen as sexy instead of predatory and creepy as hell.

I do wish they’d dealt more with the fallout of Quinn and Artie’s argument about her being in the chair vs making a full recovery.

Songs:

I’m Still Standing: Such a fun song to start the episode off! I really love this cover

Rio/Hungry Like the Wolf: I really like this mashup and the performance is hilarious, but it still drives me crazy that they included the super autotuned part where Blaine goes “hungry like the wolf”

Fighter: One of the best Blaine solos! Love it so much, and its so fucking extra and dramatic. Ugh, so good.

Up, Up, Up: I like the performance of this one more so than the actual song, but it’s still fun and uplifting!

Somebody That I Used to Know: The original of this is one of my favourite songs of all time, so obviously having my favourite character sing it was a dream come true. I think they did it justice, and I’m really happy with how it turned out, even if the lyrics are a bit weird for brothers to be singing

Final Thoughts: If it weren’t for the Finchel/Individual Finn and Rachel elements of this episode, I think it would be a lot higher. I love the Quinn and Artie story, and obviously I love Blaine and Cooper’s story too. Also, it has a bunch of amazing one liners, like oh my god, I always forget but this episode is funny. Overall an awesome episode, though, and one I’ve watched way too many times to count.

[fantroll-purgatory]

@sartoonis

First drawing was done by an artist on the homestuck/hiveswap amino (forgot name) and second was dont by me.

EDIT 06/30/18: Thanks for the link! For those interested int he first artist, it’s Perla Megpoid over here!

Alternia or Beforus or some type of AU?: Alternia

Name (preferably include how you came up with it and why): Lexrit Kanska

Hmmm so I am assuming that much like Kazmal you picked letters that sounded nice? If we wanna theme it, the two really obvious culinary cannibals are Hannibal Lecter and Sweeny Todd, so how about Swentd Bellac?

Age: 7 sweeps

Strife Specibus: Cleaverkind

Fetch Modus: i dont really know, something like in order to get an item she would have to list out the main conponents that make up the item

I mean she kills people so how about a good ol’ fashioned Jigsaw Modus? Items are automatically split into mutliple captcha cards you’d need to alchemize the final product, and she’d need to jam stuff together to get it back out. Allows for creativity in creating new items, as well as comedy in combining incorrect ones.

Blood color: indigo

Symbol and meaning: Sagmino (Doom + Prospit) i think she might be better as derse but i honestly dont know

Nah, I think Prospit is a good assignation! She’s someone who’s exploiting existing norms rather than rebelling against them!

Trolltag: no clue

How about cookettishManeater? The first being a mashup of “cook” and “coquettish,” and the second being a work that can either mean a cannibal or a femme fatale. Gives a nice double meaning so her trolltag can make her come off as a flirt when she’s really a murderer.

Quirk: she replaces all her Os and 0s with ° Because of temperature, which plays a big role in cooking

S°unds g°°d!

Special Abilities (if any): none that i can think of

Yeah so far all we really have for indigobloods is that they’re really passionate and strong and psychically invulnerable. Which makes her powerful enough tbh.

Lusus: a Vulture (she calls him Vad. Kinda a combination between Vulture + Dad)

Personality: Shes highly manipulative to her moiral (Kazmal) and kinda treats him like utter garbage. However she is extremely sweet, caring and patient with her matesprit. She takes care of her due to her matesprite canabalizing her own arm. Which leaves her handicapped since it is a fairly recent amputation.

Aha! So I was wrong about his moirail being a yellowblood! Lemme whip up a new sprite for him real quick.

God the color clash is atrocious I love it.

I do like that she’s different with her matesprit; I would love for you to write a little more about the reasons behind her behavior in both relationships.

Interests: she love love LOVES to cook! She loves to think of new dishes of exellent tastes with the “help” of other trolls! She is a master at tasting the difference in different blood colours (her favourites are purple and jade). She finds a sort of bliss in deciding when other trolls will die and how long they have yet to live. She loves enlisting other trolls to do her bidding for her so she wouldnt have to get her hands too dirty

Makes sense! She’s like the cook who hires others out to illegally get her truffles.

Title: Witch Of Doom

Oh yeah I can DEFINITELY see that. Especially given the association with witches and cannibalism.

Land: no idea

This one’s EASY! :D Land of Toil and Trouble, dotted with heaps and heaps of calderas!

Dream Planet: Derse??? But i dont know if prospit fits better? I have no clue.

—

First off I adore that you put her in an apron as well since it gives them both a very neat visual tie-in for totally different jobs. And unlike Kazmal, I wanted her to have virtually no trace of purple on her at all, to how how unmoved she is by her moirail. Let’s go top to bottom!

Hair - I used a naphal base for her hair and gave her a very neat topknot instead of a ponytail, the better to keep it out of the way when she’s cooking!

Horns - the ones you gave her fit purpleblood norms a little better than they did indigoblood, so I gave her arrow-tipped ones that curve around her head.

Eyes - this is a basic fan-troll template that I picked for the hooded eyes, since they conveyed the calculated look I was going for

Mouth - we don’t see many “toothy” indigobloods and they tend to have humanoid mouths, so I just gave her a slight smirk

Shirt - kept it the same more or less but wanted the collar for the “line cook” look; sprite is from fan-troll.

Apron - sprite from naphal. I wanted to make it black since stains don’t show up as readily on that, which should make it all the more chiling that she’s cooked enough trolls for them to be visible. I used a sprite seet from fryingpanismyweapon for all the blood spatters. I also placed the symbol on the patch on her chest since it made more sense that it was another symbol-specific piece of clothing instead of one that she presumably painted on using a fellow indigoblood’s blood.

Shoes - from naphal

Aaaaand that’s it for my review of her! I like her a lot.

[iimaginedragons]

track review

“jumpsuit” & “nico and the niners” by twenty one pilots

emo alternative hip-hop rap-rock electropop superstars twenty one pilots dropped two songs a few days ago from their upcoming album “trench” to come out later this year; here’s my take on the two very different but very awesome singles.

a note before i start: i have researched a good deal about the meaning of this song by making mental links to the journal entries twenty one pilots have been posting on a cryptic website and by reading up on genius lyrics annotations as well as a decent variety of clique theories. if you haven’t really done this, some of my review may be a little confusing. 

i’ll start right off by saying this; i’ve had both songs on loop for several hours already throughout these past few days and i have to say that i’m pretty impressed. i think that both of these songs are extremely creative, well written, and well produced, and although each, to me, has a very different energy, i love that many aspects of the “blurryface” era were both kept and switched up. overall, i love both songs a lot, yet i do have a couple of nitpicky issues that i’ll address as best as i can in this review. 

let’s begin with “jumpsuit” which is the first of the two. the first thing i have to say is that i am absolutely in love with the baseline, and when those synths and more powerful drums kick in, it feels very much like a mashup of a “vessel” song and a “blurryface” song, which i am absolutely here for. tyler’s vocals sound excellent on the first chorus, though personally i would have perhaps toned down the effect on his voice a little bit. i also really enjoy the simple verse, especially the way he says “friend or foe?”. another highlight of this song is definitely the bridge -- here’s a place where the vocal effect totally works for me and actually enhances the song rather than taking away from it. the piano here is also beautiful. and of course, there’s tyler’s signature screaming and that extra heavy breakdown, which is my personal favourite part of the song in terms of sound.

lyrically, i find the bridge to be the most interesting. some clique theories are saying that based off the music video, these lyrics represent tyler expressing his intentions to blurryface, which are that yes, he will likely be afraid and desperate and sad and hopeless again, but he will not succumb to these things (ergo, to blurryface) without fighting tooth and nail for his sanity and happiness, an intention which he further crystallizes with the powerul screaming of the common line “jumpsuit, jumpsuit, cover me”. i think this is a brilliant message to send and a very clever way to link the blurryface era and the “trench” era. to me, the yellow jumpsuit represents hope and perseverance in the search for happiness (or in the alternate metaphorical world that tyler and josh present to us, the escape from the fictional city of dema, which i think represents depression). i do find the repetition of that one line a bit irritating after many listens, but not enough for me to dislike the song or anything. i just wish tyler had maybe taken a variation on that particular line at certain points in the song, that’s all. overall though, a very solid track in all aspects.

now onto “nico and the niners” which is my personal favourite of the two. the moment i heard the ukulele in the beginning, it made me incredibly happy. my constant fear is that artists will omit or at least gloss over with too much production some of their signature instruments or sounds in their further work (for example, i always fear that further fall out boy work will lack catchy but intricate guitar riffs (and unfortunately that fear became a reality with the release of “m a n i a”)), so i was glad not to see the disppearance of the ukulele which was so well-used, especially in the blurryface era. the hip/hop reggae mixed hook is absolutely incredible, encompassing a lot of meaning and solid sound in only a few short lines. the bass and vocals also really contribute to that reggae vibe when tyler sings the line “my jumpsuit takes me so high” (among others), while the percussion is what makes me think of hip/hop. i really like those very subtle notes in the background of the second hook, although i still can’t tell if they’re guitar or keyboard. the quick rap part is a highlight of this song as well -- it sounds awesome and it’s incredibly meaningful as well. sound wise, there really isn’t a thing i dislike about this particular song.

in terms of lyrics, i find this track to be stronger than jumpsuit, partly because it has a good bit less of repetition, but also because of the meaning behind the lyrics. the hook is extremely catchy, i love that “east is up” kicks off those first three lines; it really grabs my attention and gets me to listen closely to what he’s going to say next -- sidenote: this is a prime example of repetition being used accordingly and very well. according once again to the clique and to genius lyrics annotations, nico is rumoured to be the name of one of the nine bishops that rule over dema, each bishop representing an insecurity, fear, etc. that holds tyler back from getting out of his depression (aka escaping from dema). what i then interpret is that tyler explains that “dema don’t control us” and that even when the “bishops come together” (when tyler’s struggles rise and become greater and perhaps cumulative), he understands that he can still control his own mind and make his own path away from depression. this part really made me think of the lyrics from “holding onto you” in which tyler describes tying a leash around his mind in order to gain control over it. the entire song is pure lyrical genius to me, especially the quick rapping part, where tyler says that the escape from dema will be “funded” by all the money that razorblade stores have made, and that they have so much that they could “start a concert, a complete diversion” to help them get out. these lines could mean so many different things, both together and on their own. what i get from them is that there’s this vicious cycle of self-harm/suicide, getting clean/bringing awareness to it or mourning the person, and then falling back into it all over again/forgetting about it. this cycle happens so often that if we were to turn around and crush these things by actually using or channelling that strength, time, resolve, etc. that is being taken away from us by depression into working for our escape instead, we’d be able to buy a racehorse, fund a concert, etc., all very expensive things, so basically we’d find the means to get out, and not just be “not depressed” but actually be happy because of this surplus of lost potential that we have. for me it really refers to the ability we have as people to take control of our lives, purely because we are able to be so down and sad and lost; why shouldn’t we have that very same ability to be so high and happy and grounded in our lives and in who we are, seeing as we can be such polarized beings (see what i did there)? instead, however, we fall back into our old habits. basically, i see these lines as a discussion about all of our wasted/buried potential even as depressed humans, which in itself is either sad or hopeful. i could be dead wrong on this interpretation, but either way, overall, these lyrics are extremely deep and incredibly clever.

now, i did say i say i had a couple of nitpicky criticisms. i mentioned one above which was a little sound thing in “jumpsuit” -- my only other criticism relates to both songs, and it is that both of these tracks, though especially “nico and the niners”, have direct references to the entire fictional universe of dema, clancy, the bishops, etc.. since i consider myself a pretty devoted member of the clique, i’ll go out and research all this stuff because i enjoy it so much. however, for someone who enjoys twenty one pilots but is not that invested in them or in music in general, these songs, at times, make little sense. i think anyone could catch onto the fact that the jumpsuit is this idea of shielding yourself from your struggles, of striving towards recovery, but in “nico and the niners”, tyler talks about dema, the bishops, the banditos, etc. and i don’t think that these references are obvious enough for a more casual fan to really catch onto. that is not to say that these are bad lyrics; far from it -- i just mean that i don’t think that they can really be appreciated by those who are not crazily dedicated to this band or to music, and may be written off as meaningless shit that just sort of sounded good, so tyler and josh made it into a song. we had a few direct mentions of blurryface in the past album, in both “stressed out” and “goner” yet blurry was always a slightly more abstract concept than what we’re seeing with dema and the whole rest of the “trench” stuff, making it so that if a casual fan listened to the entire blurryface album, they’d probably be able to understand some sort of progression or evolution in going from “my name’s blurryface and i care what you think” in “stressed out” to “i got two faces, blurry’s the one i’m not” in “goner” even without totally knowing what blurryface himself represents. if you want to argue and say “who cares, this is for the clique anyway” i’ll just stop you right there because i honestly disagree. it’s totally okay for tyler to make all of these direct references to this beautiful and brilliant concept that he’s creating, but i don’t think that a song should require hours (okay, exaggeration, i know) of online reading for just an average fan to even understand. i think that a song should be mostly able to stand alone, without the concept of the album doing most of the work in holding it up as a quality piece of work. i’m not for albums that are all over the place or singles that just don’t fit either, don’t get me wrong; i just mean that i want the song to be cohesive so that it doesn’t rely fully on something that not everyone will research. of course it can (and should, at least in terms of concept albums) refer back to that common storyline or at least theme, but not so much that it’s literally meaningless wihout it. excellent concept albums have been released in which every song can stand alone but also link right back to the common storyline; i mean, look at every single album by my chemical romance (“danger days: the true lives of the fabulous killjoys” does walk that line a little closer than the rest with tracks like “destroya” and in some moments “na na na”, but not nearly as heavily as these two twenty pilots tracks do). for me, “jumpsuit” passes the standalone test with only a bit of difficulty, but “nico and the niners” walks that line quite precariously, leaning a bit towards the side that says that it just doesn’t quite work if you don’t understand the bigger picture.

all this to say though, that is honestly my only criticism of these songs, and since it doesn’t really apply to me as i’m a pretty dedicated fan and proud member of the clique, here are some pretty high ratings for these two tracks:

my final rating for “jumpsuit” is an 8.0/10.

my final rating for “nico and the niners” is an 8.5/10.

if you want me to do more in-depth track reviews like this, just drop a song in my ask anytime and i’ll get it up there asap, obviously crediting you in the process. thanks for reading the whole damn way through!

---mel

[hyercns-blog]

( the cuteST )

a bitch is Tired rn after pulling my usual shit, aka staying up until 5am for no reason only to stick out a two hour lab, cry while doing my connections page on my late lunch/packing break and napping in the car, so excuse the seeming lack of enthusiasm lkfdsjglk. hey i’m kat, i’m 20, canadian, and my current means of life rn are chocolate, drag race ( i.. am team anyone but b*b* rn, no offence but my girl needs to come back to earth and stop rubbing me the wrong way sdfgkjgfd ( i think sh*ngela deserves it most despite being more of a tr*xie stan tho js ) ) and 3am you in me listening parties with myself four months after its release rip !! i’m a uni student and in love with sowoo so you don’t wanna know the agony that comes with picking one over the other. you can hmu on d*scord if you’d like ( just find me in the gc and message me from there fkskf ) and this is so boRING, it’s like the life is sucked out of me omg. anyways hyeran, a whole.. other positive muse bc jesus, how many of these do i have rn ?? this is so out of hand man, but nonetheless here’s a bit abt the brat:

- ̗̀ wait, wait, was that JEON SOMIN i just saw? damn, it was actually just that TWENTY TWO year old MUSIC PRODUCER/BARISTA, YUN HYERAN. speaking of them, did you hear that they’re known as THE VIRTUOSO around gangnam? i guess it makes sense considering they act so EBULLIENT & LOYAL but at the same time so MAGNANIMOUS & DIFFIDENT. they’re also apparently a PANSEXUAL FEMALE OUTSIDER who uses SHE/HER pronouns. ( kat / 20 / gmt-3:30 / she/her )

yun hyeran, a daegu native with an older and younger brother, an ambivert and an all around baby

tbh this is a copied intro from a few months back and i don’t have the time to perfectly incorporate her recently developed bg, so pls anticipate a small bio with that explained HERE

buT she became involved in music through her father, who studied it in uni and ended up becoming a music instructor with a focus on piano, flute and vocals

her and her mom.. also her older brother, didn’t have the best relationship when she grew older, which seemed to die altogether when her parents divorced and her mom left. but her and her brother’s still exists, it’s just that he’s a bit of a toxic influence on her and she tends to distance herself from him

went to uni in seoul to pursue music like her father ( a daddy’s girl too like ) and found her way into the world of production !! by junior year, she’d transferred out of her original program and majored in that instead and has loved it ever since; she recently graduated

moved to gangnam bc.. idk, she just wanted to KDFJSGLGKFD

impulsive brat

would visit jeju island when she was younger bc her aunt lived there

she adores said aunt, her dad’s sister and the maternal figure she Deserves, so overall jeju holds a special place in her heart

for the time being, she works full-time as a barista at the café just a block from her cute little studio apartment while looking into internships at record labels for her to take on a little further down the line ( no rush bc it’s already quite competitive and she’d rather enjoy what she has going now )

she’s also making something of an income as the creator of an acct on youtube and soundcloud for her music, something she’s had for abt two years now

she’s not even close to making it big yet, and she doesn’t mind if she never works for a moderately to highly popular label — though she should if she wants to get by

among the aesthetic, lo-fi music crowd ( one of those yt accts with a livestream for certain playlists that go on for hours, rip ) where for the most part, it’s personal faves mixed with her own works, and has a substantial following as of now. but has an interest in experimenting, with mashups ( as a lover of them ?? i couldn’t help myself sgflkdsjg ) for example, with a small fear of how that change would be received

this is so short now that i’ve shortened it immensely iK, it’s a little infuriating if you ask me ljkgdfjls

in terms of her personality and other things:

she’s a very loyal person, v e r y. while like i said ( and will elaborate on in her bio ), her relationship with her brother is Not Great, she hasn’t completely given up on him. maybe for the time being, but her being someone who’s open to the idea of people changing for the better somewhere down the line, leaves a bit of room for her to possibly change her mind if he does enough to allow her to consider it

so she can be a bit of a doormat in some cases, it all depends on how she sees the person that determines if that’s the case, but she generally won’t let you off if you’re being dumb/an ass to someone or if she gets advantageous vibes from you for example ( given she can.. be a little naive and is a p gentle soul ) so.. idk fgklsj good luck to the 99% ig ??

she does have a slight dependency on others despite her thinking all signs point to the opposite, and even though her and her mom never rly had a good relationship she still reels from the neglect/abandonment some days so handle her with Care if she deems you a close pal

spontaneous tbh, moving to gangnam was a little last minute on her part, for one

she’s a bit reclusive when focused on something, if she tells you she’s working on a track, it’s essentially a head’s up that you might not see her for a couple of days depending on how soon she gets it done — lowkey that bitch™ who makes up an illness to her boss, so she wouldn’t even show up for work if it’s more than just her fucking around

bc admittedly, a lot of what she posts is fucking around and liking it, her more thought-out and effort packed projects are hidden away on her laptop

a bit insecure with her work and just her general disposition ?? those first few points above mess with her a lot and leave her disheartened so.. my poor child

v strong overall, takes people’s shit and if it gets to her, she gets over it p fast. doesn’t dwell on much and will be courteous to you even if she’s declared you too toxic to stick around 24/7

isn’t exactly one to get angry ?? she’s basically just disappointed or annoyed at best 99% of the time, it takes a lot to get her beyond that

positive, ugh. maybe not sickeningly sweet, but still. kinda explained parts of it above and i’m 95% gone mentally rn, gotta spare that for other little details gsjklf

a cute bean who wants the best for everyone

uhhh

has a good understanding of english, her mom’s an american national so she grew up with it being spoken in the house at times

prob speaks it better than i speak french, but still wouldn’t consider herself fluent

plays piano and bass guitar, but knows her way around a flute and tenor sax ( you don’t know how tempted i was to say clarinet bc of jiwoo gjflkgds )

prob had some kind of little amateur rock band with a few music majors and took up bass for the hell of it lmao

loves animals, leans towards cats or big dogs. corgis and those little spaniels get a pass tho

speaking of, she has a cute little calico kitten ( i’m shit with pet names so if lucy sounds lacklustre.. you know why rgkjls ) who she Loves, her baby !!

sweater, ball cap and basic t shirt junkie

those glasses somin’s been wearing a lot of lately ?? hyeran wears them too but.. actually needs them, not even close to a fashion statement

doesn’t don much makeup unless someone’s dragging her to a party or something

thaT’S when she looks a little more like a classy early twenties bitch.. which lbr, is hard enough when adulthood is a whole Train Wreck for the most part LGFJSDL

not a heavy drinker, but the textbook definition of a lightweight so.. she’s always praying for anyone who has to deal with her dgfjklsfg

lattes are her livelihood

a bit of a hopeless romantic, just a bit, but god help her nonetheless

her favourite subject in school was literature/writing and reads quite a bit on her breaks at the café

favourite music genres.. it’s easier to say what she doesn’t like/finds boring, which is prob country and some aspects of edm/pop, not into punk/metal either

these are super basic but.. i’ve gotta get myself together for the day so this’ll do for now i hope ??

so if you’d like to plot, im me here or on d*scord ! i prefer the latter personally, but whichever’s easiest for you. i have a list of a few of the specific wcs i have in mind ( for the time being, catch my lazy ass avoid listing all the basic ones and revising a few i have on an old blog ) for hyeran up now, which you can find here, so just lmk if any of them appeal to you !!

[giannisbct-blog]

Fresh out of a Weet-bix box

So Liam and I have been listening to quite a few Death Grips mashups recently and have noticed that there are some really good ones that have be paired really well and also some not so good ones. The two best in my opinion are the Gorrilaz and Surfaris mashups:

So we decided to set ourselves a challenge outside of this project to make our own Death Grips Mashup/Remix. However, I got really into mine and decided I may as well add it to the EP and follow through with this new found love for 1980′s retro synth, why not just mash the two together. 

The song I chose to sample is Lord of the Game mainly because I think it has the best flow and is a personal favourite of mine,  the acapella for it is also on youtube which makes it an easy download. For the rest of the track I decided to use a classic saw wave synth to give the distinctly 80′s vibe and used a classic arpeggio for the ‘melody’ which initially sounds ridiculously close to the Stranger Things theme song except slower (it may or may not be the same notes). I’m not sure what the correct term is for what the bass does but you will be able to hear that it follows the same notes but always dropping back to the base note of C. 

In terms of the vocal sample, I tried to pitch shift it a couple of semi-tones like I did for the previous track, however it didn’t sound great because of the way MC Ride raps, its like he gets rid of his pauses so it just sounds jittery and jumpy and different pitches. I was going to add overdrive to it or something to alter the voice a little but I felt that because of the way I decided to end the track (see below) it would be more ideal for me to just leave the sample as pure as possible. This worked out very well because something I didn’t notice before I ran it with the synth behind it is the rap actually goes up and down notes in exactly the same fashion as the melody does. All I had to do is line up the sample correctly. Then I just laid a basic beat over it and made sure the snares and hats were cut short and brought down the highs using EQ 8 to give it a very distinct retro vibe.

To finish it off I didn’t just want to fade it out because a) thats boring and b) I want it to have some sort of impact. So what better way to do that than gradually bring in 3 overdrives across the last bit and then cutting all sound at once. To make sure that I don’t cause permanent damage to the listeners though I added a limiter to the master so no speakers (or eardrums) are blown. 

I also tried two different ways of mixing the tracks, the first was just by doing it when I was compiling the track itself which I thought was pretty good. And then I brought each track up from zero one at a time, and boy oh boy it was a whole lot better. It’s definitely a good way of doing it because I thought the mix was fine but it could actually be so much better. Gotta go do this to all the tracks now.

First Mix:

https://soundcloud.com/user-167119002/lord-of-the-80s-pre-mixing

Final Mix:

https://soundcloud.com/user-167119002/lord-of-the-80s

[thisselflovecamebacktome]

Reputation (almost) one month thoughts

So when this album came out, I decided as almost an experiment that I wanted to keep a frequent enough collection of my thoughts of how I feel about the album as time passes. This is mostly due to how quickly I started being real with myself about how I felt about 1989 and fears it would happen here too. Either way, this was meant to come out on the 11th as that would be exactly a month after I felt heard the album, but as I’m going to be interstate, I’m writing them out now. I will warn now that this will have opinions and talk about Taylor’s relationships and how quite frankly I don’t see all the love songs as purely being about Joe nor Karlie, so if you can’t handle that, it’s probably best you skip past now. With that in mind, lets get started.

Ready For It: So I didn’t say this in my first post, but along with being a borderline satire portrayal of her relationship with the media (the main reason I adore it still tbh), this song has always given me, someone who never shipped them, Haylor vibes. Honestly, if I had to guess, I would say that before the concept of 1989 came about, Taylor was going to write the album we guessed about, the satirical one calling out the media. And while aspects of this did show up on 1989 through Blank Space and I Know Places, I do honestly believe Ready For It was also started in this time, maybe even starting as a joke song about how the media saw the two, but didn’t fit on the album so was scrapped until Reputation when it found its place. All speculation of course, but that’s honestly the feeling I get.

End Game: So I’m holding my breath as I can already hear you guys pulling out the pitchforks for what I’m about to say... a song too early in the album for that line? :P Anyway I honestly believe that despite all of our celebrations about Calvin getting nothing on this album that this song started off about him. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t want the song to be about him and I don’t think the end result is about him, but just as I believe Better Man started off about Jake but was modified to fit Taylor’s relationship with Calvin, I believe this song started in the early days of Tayvin and were later modified to fit her relationship with Joe. Once again, speculation at best, but it’s just the vibe I get with some of the lyrics and its placing on a so called linear album. I’ve also come to realise that in many ways, this is the last holding piece of the 1989 era. And by that I mean it’s the last (or at least only on this album imho) song that was written for outsiders as opposed to fans. That’s not to say that fans don’t like it, but at least in my experience, every non fan I have shown this song to adores it, especially the Future verse that most fans hate. And I know people will bring up Look What You Made Me Do, but tbh that seemed pretty split across the board in my experience. Like whether you loved or hated it didn’t seem to be correlated with whether you’re a fan or not.

I Did Something Bad: The more I listen to this, the more I realise this has absolutely nothing to do with Kanye. Like the first listen, I 100% thought it was just about everything, the media, her haters, Kanye, Calvin, you name it. But the more I listen to it, the more I realise that really, it’s only about Calvin. It’s about how he was so willing to stand next to her for fame but ‘dropped’ her name and hence any credit she deserved off the project they did together. It’s about how he believed he had full control over her and manipulated situations (For every lie I tell them, they tell me 3 anyone?). And ultimately, it’s about how he played everyone to the point that Taylor doing the right thing came off as doing something bad. All up, it’s definitely the song that’s grown on me the most. I reckon there’s a high chance for this to be mixed with Bad Blood on tour which, even with Bad Blood being my least favourite Taylor Swift song ever, I wouldn’t mind because I could see it being awesome.

Don’t Blame Me: Another song I reckon was at least started long before most the others. To me at least, while I have my issues with the tracklisting which I’ll talk about later, this definitely feels as if it should be on the same album theme wise as Ready For It, so while they may not have been written at the same time (it wouldn’t surprise me if they were though), I definitely think Taylor had the same vision of “This is what the media sees me as” in mind for the two songs. And while that seemed to be the aim for the whole album, which once again, I will talk about later, these two show it the best for me personally.

Delicate: To be honest, I don’t have much more to say about this song specifically than last time. I still love it and still love the mix of love and anxiety she uses in it.

Look What You Made Me Do: I still give or take feel the same about this song. Amazing production, okay lyrics. I’m sad for Jack’s sake that this wasn’t nominated for a grammy because he deserved it.

So It Goes: I don’t know what the fandom has against this damn song. Like I’m not saying it’s in my top 5, but some of you act like it’s the next coming of the apocalypse and most the rest of you ignore it. It’s a jam and would be amazing for tour... but then again, so was the production of Wonderland and we all know how that went despite it being loved. But yeah, tbh, with how much people are sleeping on this song, I can see it being the only Reputation song not played on tour.

Gorgeous: So a story I never told the first time around; the first time I heard this song, I was going into with the satire mind that Look What You Made Me Do and Ready For It had and flat out spent the first verse thinking it was making fun of Kim and that lifestyle that Taylor pretended to be like to fit into. Like Kim was this alluring figure who Taylor felt she couldn’t talk to/against because she was one of the pretty popular girls, you know, kinda like that scene in Mean Girls where Cady talks about how she can’t stop bitching about Regina but still wanted her to like her. That quickly died off with “You should think about the consequence of touching my hand in the darkened room” but still. Not much else to say outside what I’ve already said about it.

Getaway Car: Someone pointed out not too long after the release that this song has major RED vibes and I’m starting to think that’s why I love it so much. It also kinda gives me I Knew You Were Trouble from the other side vibes so I’d love to see a mashup of the two on tour, but I doubt that’s happening.

King Of My Heart: To be honest, this is the only song I will 100% say I think is about Joe and no one else. The bridge of the song is my favourite on the album and like I said originally, it grew on me quite a bit with time.

Dancing With Our Hands Tied: Honestly, I do get Kaylor Met Gala vibes from this song. However, I don’t think it’s purely about her nor do I think that it is all romantic in meaning. I think the song is about every time Taylor went out and had relationship rumours, true or not, created whether it be with Harry, Dianna, Ed, Karlie, Joe and whoever else. I think it’s about the fact she felt she couldn’t even have friends let alone a lover without anxiety. And most of all, it’s about the regret of letting that anxiety hold her like it did, which is partially why it’s the more grown up and better version of I Know Places. Still reckon that the two will be mixed for tour and even though I get the concept, my dislike for I Know Places is getting in the way of me looking forward to that.

Dress: Honestly? I really like this song but I don’t seem to love it as much as everyone else. I mean nearly everyone I know has this in their top five, see it as the sex song (which it’s not, it’s the intimacy song, So It Goes is the sex song) and label it as a must have on tour. Meanwhile, while like I said, I think only So It Goes is at risk of not being a nightly play at this point, I’d be okay with Dress being a b side acoustic song played once or twice on tour. Maybe part of that is my want for an acoustic version for this song, but yeah, as much as I like it and play it often, I don’t need it on tour like I do other songs.

This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things: What I find the most interesting about this song is despite having wanted an satire based album since RED that this would have fit on perfectly, this is the one song that I feel fits that on this album that couldn’t have happened without the 1989 era. And by that I don’t just mean Kanye, because the beauty of this song is that while yes, it takes its swings at him, when you really sit down and listen to it, that’s only a small fraction of what this song is. This song is basically tearing down everything to do with the 1989 era; the fake media, Kanye, Taylor’s fake friends and Taylor herself. For those of you who got through high school without reading The Great Gatsby, Taylor identifying with Gatsby is not a compliment. It’s basically calling herself out for fakeness among other things. None of this stuff could have happened, hence the song not being able to be written had Taylor not been pushed up to the point of everyone, herself included, thinking she was untouchable. And that’s just so interesting to me and honestly, makes the 1989 era which I felt so disconnected to a little easier to accept because at least for this song, it was necessary. So in short, this was kinda what I thought Gorgeous was going to be after the first verse on the first listen given I went in with that satire mind. While I don’t see it being the case, I kinda hope this is the closer for the tour. Like imagine all the confetti and fireworks and big balloons stuff they could do with it. But to be honest, I still reckon Look What You Made Me Do will be the closer and this will be one of the first songs played.

Call It What You Want: Now about half way through this post when I spoke about how I think King Of My Heart is the only definite Joe song, I can image a lot of you were asking yourselves about these final two songs. I definitely think Joe strongly influenced them both, but I wouldn’t necessarily be surprised if Taylor came out and said that there were other influences too. In terms of Call It What You Want, to be honest, I kinda think a little about Harry and Tom. Now before you all shoot me saying how Harry was a kid with commitment issues and Tom was a rebound, I know, trust me I do. What I mean by them being present for me is that I think that moments of criticisms and the fact that while it may not have been for long, they both stayed with Taylor despite those criticisms is playing a role here. Like 100% the same can be said about Joe and that is going to be the main source of the content, but it wouldn’t surprise me if thoughts about how Taylor was still the one Harry was walking to in that zoo or Tom wearing that top despite criticisms helped pushed that line of “I’m the one he’s walking to” because even if it all became too much in Haylor’s case, there was a time when what they felt for each other overpowered any media or criticism. Once again only speculation, but yeah, wouldn’t surprise me at all if this was one of those songs that took moments from several sources. In terms of personal relation to this song, literally I wrote a 2000+ word post about my feelings on this song and why it means the world to me, nothing has changed. I still 100% adore it and while my top three (this, New Year’s Day and Delicate) cycle from day to day, it will always be one of my favourite Taylor Swift songs ever and most days is my favourite from this album. There’s just nothing more to say.

New Year’s Day: Like Call It What You Want, I imagine that this song has several sources. Clearly a large one is her relationship with Joe, but I kinda also feel like this is just about love in general. I mean in one way, it comes off as a Long Live part 2 which implies a love to her fandom, but also there were moments in it where I actually thought about her family. Like the part about being there even if the person strikes out and has to go back home could clearly be about Joe considering he’s an up and coming actor, but to be honest, my first thought when hearing the line was Austin and the fact he too started his acting career in this time. I mean the ‘babe’ part would be kinda weird to be about Austin, but yeah, either way, that was my first thought. Likewise, it’s kinda ironic that Jimmy Fallon said about his mother on his show because my first thought when hearing the first two lines of the second verse was actually surrounding Andrea’s cancer battle as opposed to Taylor’s media one. Once again, all speculation, but yeah, this song just comes off to me as being about love generally as opposed to TayJoe. Either way though, this is the most “old” Taylor Swift sounding song on this album and I highkey really hope that this is the tour video tbh, but I imagine that that will be Getaway Car or This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things.

General tracklist order thoughts: The tracklist order for this album was all wrong and that made the album seem like a bunch of brilliant songs all just randomly chucked in together until it was pointed out what was wrong to me. Honestly, the first time I listened to it, I only felt like half the songs belonged and the rest, while brilliant in their own right, didn’t fit and were only chucked in to finish the album and should have been on the next album. The issue is that unless Taylor had said that this album was linear to her, I would have never even attempted to feel that at all because I never would have thought of it. I think a better way to achieve that, especially on a sonically diverse album like this where she didn’t have to worry about the songs bleeding into each other, would have been to place the angry, mocking and media based songs first, then go to Delicate and slowly work her way through to New Year’s Day. This would have shown the split between what the media perception of her and the real her better and honestly, I feel like people would have enjoyed Delicate and End Game more. Because if you notice, doing it the way I suggest would mean that a lot of the back end of the album stays the same, and honestly, while there’s no way to prove it, I think that’s why a lot of people’s favourites come from the back end, because they feel like they’re in the right place for this story. Going from Delicate to Look What You Made Me Do feels rough and kinda weird. Don’t get me wrong, I get that Taylor did it to push the idea that Joe stayed with her through thick and thin, and that’s also why This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things is so late in the tracklist, but it just doesn’t work for me personally and I know others who have said the same. I’ve started listening to it in an order I think works more towards this more, and honestly, it’s made me appreciate the album as a body of work more than I did upon first listen. RED still 100% owns my heart and probably won’t be beat any time soon if at all, but Reputation is coming in strong fighting my nostalgic heart to take the second place away from Fearless.

[nad-zeta]

Hii! I’ve been meaning to ask for a mashup! Appearance wise, I’m look like a pretty basic white person (brown hair, eyes, and freckles), but I’m hella small and have a lot of curves (which looks shit when you’re small). I’m also way too pale a I don’t usually sunbathe. I love dancing, baking, reading (be it FF or literature) and I love sports of all kinds (except basketball... height tingz). Part 1 🍎

Part 2 🍎 I’m asexual, Aquarius and ENTP. I do not have a lot of sexual experience, as the boys I liked would turn a blind eye to my PDA dislike (and my asexuality). I’m a pretty outgoing person who tries to get a long with everyone (and I usually apologize immediately after I’ve done smth offending). Cuddles are a big yes if 1. The person is alright with it 2. It’s not in public. Loneliness is not smth I can cope with, and I am fine with quietly sitting beside someone of they are busy   Part 3 🍎 Due to my nonexistent love life, I can only refer to my 2D life lmao. I usually go for the arseholes with character development 😬 (Gaara from Naruto is prob the best instance). I’m very nurturing as i was always the oldest in my classes & friend groups. Age is also my biggest insecurity. Due to a lot of moving across the globe, I have lost quite a few yrs of education, 17 & in grade 8. I’m pretty smart tho (grade school teacher thought I’m gifted 🤡), but I can get arrogant real quick Part 4 🍎 coz I can’t summarize for life. My other fault is that I’m too honest & blunt. I mentioned that i wanna get along with everyone, but if their opinion opposes mine (& & they criticise me for it), then I’ll leave them be. Having relationships based on lies is not smth I want. So I usually like engaging in debates I don’t know which fandoms you make matchups of (do we even pick???). In case I have to choose, I’d go with Ikevamp. I’m hella sorry for all these parts & thank you 🙏

Hi hi, love ❤❤thank you so so much for the request! 🦋Hehe, I’m so sorry for taking too long with it! I hope you enjoy this love and I hope you have a wonderful day! ❤🦋🌻So I was thinking Theo/Motzart  for a while, but then I saw you were an ENTP, and I made up my mind!🌻🦋

So I match you with................ Isaac

The first time you meet Isaac was when all the residents were gathered in the dining room the morning after you arrived. Sabastian had come to fetch you for breakfast, and the second you walked through the dining room door, Comte strode to your side and introduced you to everyone. You were rather social, so of course, you chatted away with the residences.

Breakfast was going well, until out of the corner of your eye, you could see Arthur and Dazai bullying poor shy Isaac. They had placed an apple in front of him and teased him. Isaac shot them an irritated look all while going as red as an apple at the embarrassment. You didn’t know why but you couldn’t help but come up for the hedgehog, so you gave Arthur and Dazai a piece of your mind. 

Napoleon who had watched the whole scene unfold, smiled his brotherly smile and invited you to help him and Isaac at the makeshift school. The former emperor of France low key gave you no choice as before you knew it you were in a carriage on your way to the fountain where they gave the class.

Some children came up to you and asked you for help with some science problems they were having. You took one look at the problem, and you wanted to dig a hole and hide in it. Isaac made his way up to you and the children. and upon seeing the distress on your face, he decided to answer the question for you. You were feeling rather low after that, as education and your age has always been your biggest insecurity

You opted to play with the children instead of teaching, as you loved sports and physical activities. You seemed to have impressed the children with your athletic skills as soon they were fighting over who would have you in their teams. You spent the rest of the afternoon cheerfully playing with the children. As the sun began to set, one by one, the children made their ways back home; eventually, it was only you, Isaac and Napo left.

Napoleon smiled and told you that he was going to get a coach to take the three of you home. It was now only you and Isaac sitting on the fountain wall waiting for Napo to return. Surprisingly enough, Isaac broke the silence. Cherry eyes gazed at you, “Why did you look so distressed when the children asked you for help?” You had told him about how you travelled the world sacrificing your education, and that you often felt insecure about your age. To this he simply nodded, after a few more moments of silence Isaac spoke up again, this time sending you a meek smile, “What if I taught you, that way the month spent here won’t be wasted, and you won’t fall behind on your schoolwork?” You smiled at the kind offer and immediately accepted.

Now every evening after supper, you and Isaac would sit together in the library. Isaac would teach you a variety of subjects ranging from maths and science to English and history. You honestly didn’t feel so alone or insecure, as Isaac was a non-judgemental patient teacher. To be honest, he did such a good job teaching you, that even Jean decided to join the classes. 

After class, you would always make you and Isaac some tea and chat his ears off well into the night. Not that he minded. He didn’t know much about human behaviour or interactions, so just as he taught you, you taught him. As time passed, you and Isaac got to know each other better and better. You found that Isaac had started opening up more and more to you, and your opinion of him when you first met had completely changed.

And Isaac found himself falling more in love with you with each passing day. He loved that you were a fellow intellectual and reader. His favourite thing in the world to do is spend time with you as you both sit quietly in the room together each reading their own book. He loves the little debates the two of you often engage in, and he found himself growing more and more as a person every second he spent with you.

In your free time you and Isaac still help out at Napos school, and although thanks to Isaac, you definitely had the knowledge to teach the children, you always opt to play sports with them instead. At some point, Isaac saw you having so much fun he found himself joining in. Napoleon would always watch the two of you cuties with a found gaze knowing that his friend had finally found someone who could bring him out of his shell and grow into his full potential.

You quickly found out about Isaacs difficult transition from human and vampire and the consequences of that. You also knew that your friend would often go hours without eating as he would be so absorbed in his research. Naturally, the nurturing side of your personality started to show. You made it your personal mission to bake Isaac yummy snacks to make sure his vampire urges are well under control. Although Isaac has never said as much, he loves it when the sounds of your soft footsteps approach his room, and his senses are suddenly filled with the scent of freshly baked goods. He can’t help but softy smile as you gently knock the door and peek into his room. Isaac freaken LOVES you cooking and is always a very happy hedgehog whenever he is nibbling on the snacks you make for him.

Another thing Isaac absolutely loves is when you plonk yourself down in his room and read. He loves the company even though neither of you is talking, as he hates to admit it, but before you arrived, he always felt a sharp pain in his chest that he could never place. And after you arrived, he finally had the word for it, Loneliness. He can’t help but smile a little brighter and feel a little happier whenever you are around him.

One day Comte handed you an invitation to a ball that a friend of his was throwing. You were so excited you decided to run straight to Isaac’s room to ask him to be your date. You loved dancing, and you could imagine nothing better than to spend the evening dancing with Isaac. The second you told Isaac about the ball his face dropped into a frown as he softly confessed that he had never learned how to dance. “Then ill teach you,” you exclaimed brimming with excitement.

You spent many days teaching Isaac how to dance in the garden, and finally, the day of the ball had arrived. Isaac was determined to confess his feeling for you that night. He met you in the mansion foyer, and you honestly took his breath away. The two of you made your way to the ball and spent a large portion of the evening, happily chatting and dancing. 

Finally, Isaac worked up the courage to take your hand and lead you outside onto the balcony. Cherry eyes seemed to peer deep into your soul as he told you he loved you. Honestly, you were overjoyed. You too had long ago fallen in love with him but due to your lack of experience in the field of romance, thanks to boys who never respected your boundaries, you were rather clueless when it came down to it. Isaac smiled and nuzzled his nose against you as he said that the two of you could figure it out together.

Your relationship was very much based on honestly and open communication. 

Isaac honestly didn’t mind that you were asexual if anything he loved it cause this boy loves to cuddle. The two of you are almost always cuddling or snuggling each other. 

Although your title has changed from friend to girlfriend almost, nothing changed between the two of you. As to be honest, the pair of you were acting like a married couple before you even entered into a relationship. Of course, the biggest difference between then and now is, lots of cuddles and kisses.

Isaac loves nothing more in the whole world than to hold you in his arms, as the two of you read together. When you are not around him he feels lonely and empty, so he tries his best to spend as much time with you as possible

This boy will 100% shower you with endless amounts of affection every moment he can get. Whether it’s coming up behind you to hug and nuzzle your neck as you bake yummy goodies or whether you are just quietly reading. It is also not uncommon for the two of you to get into tickle fights especially if you beat Isaac in the sports you are playing together.

Other potential matches……………Theo

Hope you enjoyed this, dear! Sending ya lots of hugs! ❤🌻🌺

[santiagostyle]

1-150 ;)

I definitely didn’t scroll 3 months back in my archive just to find this ask so I could make a point but anyway LET’S DO DIS

1. Who was the last person you held hands with?

Good question lol probably my brother???

2. Are you outgoing or shy?

Both depending on the circumstances - usually outgoing if I’m with friends and shy if I’m by myself

3. Who are you looking forward to seeing?

My best friend from uni (who doesn’t go to my uni anymore), I’m going to a concert w her this weekend I’m supes excited

4. Are you easy to get along with?

Yes I’m a damn delight

5. If you were drunk would the person you like take care of you?

I mean ?? Yes probably but I wouldn’t ever be in a situation where they would be the only person there to look after me. Like my friends would be there first and foremost

6. What kind of people are you attracted to?

UGH people that make me laugh

7. Do you think you’ll be in a relationship two months from now?

Probably not

8. Who from the opposite gender is on your mind?

tbh my theatre lecturer bc i have class in half an hour and haven’t done the reading

9. Does talking about sex make you uncomfortable?

Depends on 1. who i’m talking to and 2. the context in which we’re talking about it but usually no

10. Who was the last person you had a deep conversation with?

probably my best pal from uni

11. What does the most recent text that you sent say?

“Yeah I got some”

12. What are your 5 favorite songs right now?

Four Jews in a Room Bitching - Cast of March of the Falsettos

My Boo (triple j Like a Version) - Flume, Vince Staples, Kučka, Ngaiire, Vera Blue

I Have Confidence - Julie Andrews

Rude Judas (mashup) - Rihanna vs Lady Gaga

Romeo (Bassline remix) - Basement Jaxx

13. Do you like it when people play with your hair?

YeS

14. Do you believe in luck and miracles?

Yes

15. What good thing happened this summer?

I went overseas (although technically that was during Aus winter but it was summer in the US where I was???)

16. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again?

Yes

17. Do you think there is life on other planets?

Probably?? I try not to think about it

18. Do you still talk to your first crush?

Hahahah not unless I see him in person

19. Do you like bubble baths?

Yes

20. Do you like your neighbors?

No unfortunately 

21. What are you bad habits?

I bite my nails and I fidget constantly

22. Where would you like to travel?

Europe!!!!

23. Do you have trust issues?

Y E S

24. Favorite part of your daily routine?

taking my bra off lmao omg

25. What part of your body are you most uncomfortable with?

?????? idk all of it

26. What do you do when you wake up?

Snooze my alarm tbh

27. Do you wish your skin was lighter or darker?

I mean neither but I wish I could tan instead of getting sunburnt

28. Who are you most comfortable around?

my uni friends and my best friend from high school

29. Have any of your ex’s told you they regret breaking up?

I mean not in those exact words

30. Do you ever want to get married?

I mean hopefully yes

31. If your hair long enough for a pony tail?

Yes

32. Which celebrities would you have a threesome with?

Melissa Fumero and Andy Samberg but like only if their spouses were cool with it

33. Spell your name with your chin.

I am,,,, not going to do that 

34. Do you play sports? What sports?

I dance and I do yoga

35. Would you rather live without TV or music?

GOD NEITHER like I listen to music 24/7 but…. brooklyn 99

36. Have you ever liked someone and never told them?

Yes many times tbh

37. What do you say during awkward silences?

Hahaha nothing I’m the worst

38. Describe your dream girl/guy?

two words: Melissa Fumero

39. What are your favorite stores to shop in?

I really like H&M

40. What do you want to do after high school?

Plot twist I’m a uni student (I’m studying theatre, film, and english literature)

41. Do you believe everyone deserves a second chance?

depends on what they did

42. If you’re being extremely quiet what does it mean?

I’m either really like upset/mad or really tired

43. Do you smile at strangers?

I try to most of the time

44. Trip to outer space or bottom of the ocean?

Bottom of the ocean but also fuck that

45. What makes you get out of bed in the morning?

My alarm???? Fam I got class to get to

46. What are you paranoid about?

Literally everything this is a dumb question

47. Have you ever been high?

Nope

48. Have you ever been drunk?

yes many times

49. Have you done anything recently that you hope nobody finds out about?

not that i can think of thankfully

50. What was the colour of the last hoodie you wore?

Grey

51. Ever wished you were someone else?

I regularly wish I was Melissa Fumero does that count

52. One thing you wish you could change about yourself?

I wish I could sing tbh

53. Favourite makeup brand?

probably Too Faced

54. Favourite store?

Was there not an identical question not long ago

55. Favourite blog?

tbh probably @elsaclack but @johnnydora is i mean not terrible

56. Favourite colour?

probably purple 

57. Favourite food? 

BURRITOS

58. Last thing you ate?

a ham and cheese toasties

59. First thing you ate this morning?

…. the ham and cheese toastie

60. Ever won a competition? For what?

ACTUALLY YES I once one a competition to go to a cinema and see a performance of of Iolanta and The Nutcracker (but the nutcracker was a super weird absurd version) 

61. Been suspended/expelled? For what?

Neither

62. Been arrested? For what?

Nope

63. Ever been in love? 

Tbh probably not

64. Tell us the story of your first kiss?

HAHAHA wow I was drunk at a party and the guy who like low key tried to ruin my life a few years beforehand 

65. Are you hungry right now?

always

66. Do you like your tumblr friends more than your real friends?

i mean tbh i like them equally as much

67. Facebook or Twitter?

facebook

68. Twitter or Tumblr?

tumblr

69. Are you watching tv right now?

no lol I’m in class

70. Names of your bestfriends? 

Macy Temiqua Sandra Megan and like. a lot more

71. Craving something? What?

SURPRISINGLY nothing atm

72. What colour are your towels?

tbh depends on the day mostly purple

72. How many pillows do you sleep with?

3

73. Do you sleep with stuffed animals?

nope

74. How many stuffed animals do you think you have?

probably like 7

75. Favourite animal?

meerkats

76. What colour is your underwear?

black

77. Chocolate or Vanilla?

chocolate

78. Favourite ice cream flavour?

cookies and cream

79. What colour shirt are you wearing?

purple

80. What colour pants?

black

81. Favourite tv show?

is this really a question

82. Favourite movie?

Cruel Intentions

83. Mean Girls or Mean Girls 2?

The OG

84. Mean Girls or 21 Jump Street?

Mean Girls

85. Favourite character from Mean Girls?

Ms Norbury

86. Favourite character from Finding Nemo?

Dory

87. First person you talked to today?

@johnnydora

88. Last person you talked to today?

uni pals

89. Name a person you hate?

donald trump

90. Name a person you love?

baby samberg

91. Is there anyone you want to punch in the face right now?

see question 90

92. In a fight with someone?

not atm

93. How many sweatpants do you have?

too many tbh

94. How many sweaters/hoodies do you have?

also too many

95. Last movie you watched?

I honestly don’t remember but probably One of the Greats if that counts as a movie??

96. Favourite actress?

duh Melissa Fumero (but also Sarah Michelle Gellar is fantastic)

97. Favourite actor?

these are stupid questions ok the answer is Andy Samberg but i also love Robert Downey Jr

98. Do you tan a lot?

No

99. Have any pets?

negative

100. How are you feeling?

TIRED AF i was up until 11:30 last night doing an assignment

101. Do you type fast?

yes

102. Do you regret anything from your past?

not really i don’t think

103. Can you spell well?

you bet your ass I can

104. Do you miss anyone from your past?

Yeah I do

105. Ever been to a bonfire party?

Negative

106. Ever broken someone’s heart?

I hope not???

107. Have you ever been on a horse?

No I don’t think so

108. What should you be doing?

taking notes looooool

109. Is something irritating you right now?

not RIGHT now????

110. Have you ever liked someone so much it hurt?

yes sigh

111. Do you have trust issues?

yes

112. Who was the last person you cried in front of?

I very rarely cry in front of people (I very rarely cry full stop) but I think it was my dance teacher

113. What was your childhood nickname?

my parents usually called me Emma Jade

114. Have you ever been out of your province/state?

yessss

115. Do you play the Wii?

we have one but don’t use it haha

116. Are you listening to music right now?

nope

117. Do you like chicken noodle soup?

I do not think so hahaha

118. Do you like Chinese food?

yes give it to me

119. Favourite book?

To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

The A to Z of You and Me - James Hannah

The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera

120. Are you afraid of the dark?

yes

121. Are you mean?

I hope not

122. Is cheating ever okay?

no

123. Can you keep white shoes clean?

lol no

124. Do you believe in love at first sight?

Not love at first sight, maybe infatuation

125. Do you believe in true love?

yeah i guess so

126. Are you currently bored?

a little

127. What makes you happy?

Brooklyn 99; my friends; anything having to do with theatre, film, or literature

128. Would you change your name?

No i don’t think so

129. What your zodiac sign?

Gemini

130. Do you like subway?

yessssss

131. Your bestfriend of the opposite sex likes you, what do you do?

I don’t really have a best friend of the opposite sex but like depending who it was I would either be v happy or a bit weirded out

132. Who’s the last person you had a deep conversation with?

my best friend from uni

133. Favourite lyrics right now?

I’m gonna be free and I’m gonna be fine (maybe not tonight)

134. Can you count to one million?

god no

135. Dumbest lie you ever told?

I told someone I was out with my parents bc I didn’t want to answer the phone haha

136. Do you sleep with your doors open or closed?

Closed

137. How tall are you?

5′6″

138. Curly or Straight hair?

??? I have ?? wavy hair

139. Brunette or Blonde?

Brunette

140. Summer or Winter?

Both for different reasons

141. Night or Day?

Both but probably night

142. Favourite month?

June or October or December

143. Are you a vegetarian?

Nope

144. Dark, milk or white chocolate?

milk

145. Tea or Coffee?

coffee

146. Was today a good day?

so far yes

147. Mars or Snickers?

Mars

148. What’s your favourite quote?

“Everyone who terrifies you is sixty-five percent water. And everyone you love is made of stardust, and I know sometimes you cannot even breathe deeply, and the night sky is no home, and you have cried yourself to sleep enough times that you are down to your last two percent; but nothing is infinite, not even loss. You are made of the sea and the stars, and one day you are going to find yourself again.”

149. Do you believe in ghosts?

Yes

150. Get the closest book next to you, open it to page 42, what’s the first line on that page?

“Speaking personally, David, I want to tell you you have all my sympathy. Really. These things can be hell.”