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casuallyimagining · 4 years ago

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Postcards

Jeon Jungkook x Reader

Summary: Jungkook goes on tour without you, and he sends back mementos to let you know he’s thinking of you. Notes: Part of the Long Term Couples series. Read more here

The postcards had started to appear in your mailbox in mid-August. One or two a week, sometimes three, always a few days between to space out their appearance. And while it was October and they had been appearing regularly, you had to admit that each one was a surprise.

You thought maybe eventually the novelty would wear off, or that it would become too expensive to send mail to Seoul from halfway across the planet. But their appearance never ceased.

Sometimes, you would find more than one postcard in your mailbox at a time, the handwriting on each different--sometimes sloppy, sometimes cramped, sometimes tall characters, sometimes short ones--but you looked forward to the neat, even-spaced handwriting the most.

It had been months, and even though you talked on the phone every night, you missed Jungkook more than you anticipated.

Any other tour, you’d be there with him and the rest of his members. Any other tour, you were a valuable member of the crew--working with the stagehands and the production staff to make sure every concert ran as smoothly as possible. But this wasn’t a world tour, and really, it hadn’t been planned too far in advance. So as Jungkook and the boys traipsed across Europe and Asia, you were stuck in your apartment with Kimchi, Jungkook’s Jindogae puppy.

The first few postcards were a little worse for wear. Kimchi hadn’t mastered yet to leave things alone when you commanded him, and the postcards--which were just the perfect size for a puppy to steal from your coffee table--had been punished for the pup’s poor behavior.

You worked harder on Kimchi’s training, and you went out and bought little frames to protect the postcards from any further punishment. You had agonized over which side to display at first--knowing Jungkook, he had really put thought into which postcard image to send--but in the end, you decided that the message was more important than the location. You could always flip them later when you were missing him less.

When a new one arrived, you reread the old ones. After a few weeks, you had most of them memorized. And while you loved and cherished them all, the first one was your favorite. Partly because it was the first and it was a surprise, but partly because it was so different from the others.

The front was a photo of London’s Tower Bridge at dusk, the lights on the supports twinkling in the near-darkness. On the back was an image of the Union Jack with the opacity turned way down. The message was a short and simple “London isn’t the same without you. We miss you a lot. I love you! - Kookie,” but it was how it was written that made you smile. The handwriting was the messiest you had ever seen Jungkook produce. It was almost like he was in a hurry, like it was a last-minute, rushed decision. Like he had seen it at the train station and just had to buy it.

The second had arrived with two friends. One, from Jimin, was a picture of a Scottish Terrier in green and red plaid and simply said “Wish you could have come with us! We met a friendly dog wearing a kilt. You would have loved him.” The second was from Yoongi and had a picture of the Clyde River at sunset on the front. On the back, he told you in a fairly lengthy message about their first of three concerts in Glasgow, how much fun they were having, and how much you would love Scotland. The writing was so tiny you could barely read it, and even then, Yoongi had almost run out of space.

The last one was a cute cartoon of a shaggy-haired Highland cow. On the back, Jungkook’s handwriting was neat this time and evenly spaced. No more rushing. This one was intentional. “We saw these cows in person! They reminded me of your hair in the morning!”

A few days later, a postcard from Amsterdam. The following week, ones from Berlin and Paris. By the time the European leg of the tour ended in Barcelona, you had at least one postcard from each of the six other members. You had started hanging them in the small makeshift office space you had in your living room, 12 in total so far, clustered together in what you hoped was a tasteful display.

The messages were mixed. Some, like the ones from Yoongi and Taehyung, were longer and more thoughtful. Hobi’s was just bright musings about his day and a wish for your wellbeing while they’re away. Namjoon had sent one from Amsterdam that also contained vandalism by Jimin. Jin’s from Paris was simply just a collection of jokes he had picked up along the way. Really, they were all very predictable.

Jungkook’s on the other hand… those were all wildcards. And you wouldn’t have it any other way. In addition to his cow from Glasgow, he had sent you one from Amsterdam in which he mused about clogs and windmills, one from Berlin that was just him saying “I love you” in every language he could think of, one from Paris where he just talked about some ice cream he and Jimin had gotten, and one from Barcelona where he told you how he made some sort of mistake at the concert that he knew he wouldn’t have made had you been there because, in his words, “you always have my back.”

The postcards were chaotic, and stream-of-consciousness, and oh so Jungkook that it made your heart both ache and swell every time you looked at them.

When the boys arrived back in Asia, you could tell immediately just from the postcards you received. Not just the images, either. The messages had an entirely different tone.

From Tokyo, it was a watercolor painting of one of the shrines and a simple message of how much he missed you.

From Osaka, it was a photo of the cherry blossom festival and the desire to make a point to visit to see the flowering trees the following year.

And from Fukuoka, it was from the art museum, and held a promise to take you there as soon as he could because they had works by Roy Lichtenstein and Mark Rothko he and Namjoon both thought you would love to see.

One postcard from Jungkook for every international city the mini-tour stopped in. They had one more concert in Seoul and then he would be home. Unfortunately, they landed early in the morning and then were swept away to rehearse, so you wouldn’t be able to see him until after the concert.

So you sat on your couch, curled up under a blanket, watching reactions to the band’s various music videos and fan compilations on YouTube. It had become one of your favorite pastimes in recent weeks. Currently, you were making your way through one channel’s reactions playlist. Three men sat at a table, two of whom were apparently hip-hop dancers, and they were reacting to “Daechwita.” Clearly they were into it--the two dancers kept making the guy in the middle pause the video so they could rewatch certain bits.

You and Kimchi both jumped at the knock at your door, the dog giving a warning bark, his ears trained towards the door. It was quiet, and then you heard the soft ‘fwip’ of something being slid under your door. Kimchi was up in a second to investigate, and you followed, giving the dog a sharp ‘leave it’ so he wouldn’t destroy whatever it was.

Curious, you bent down to pick it up. It was a piece of thick paper, no more than 16 centimeters in length. Immediately, your heart began to race. It was a postcard. From Seoul.

Kimchi must have sensed your feelings because he gave a confused bark, his attention turned back to the door. You flipped the postcard over. It was blank--no address, no stamp--except for one small line of neat Hangul. “I missed you.”

Without thinking, you opened the door. Kimchi was in the hall in a second, barking at a pair of black combat boots. The man attached to the boots attempted to shush the dog. You laugh as he tried to shoo Kimchi back into the house. His wide eyes met yours then, and he was laughing, too, a smile blazing like wildfire across his lips.

“Kimchi, in,” you commanded the dog sharply, and with one more bark, he retreated into your apartment. You motioned with your head for the man to enter as well. He did as he was told.

As soon as the door was shut, you pulled him to you. He smelled like Downy and vanilla, but also airplane and sweat and rain. His clothes were drenched--was it raining? You hadn’t noticed. His arms wrapped around your waist, holding you to him tightly. You had forgotten how much his hugs felt like home.

A few moments passed as you stood there in your entryway just holding each other. Your mind vacillating between getting lost in him and wandering. Why wasn’t he at the concert? It didn’t matter, because he was here. Did they get rained out? Who cares, he’s home. You felt his lips press against the side of your head.

You pulled back, your hands going to his cheeks, thumbs ghosting against his soft skin. “Jungkook,” you breathed. He smiled softly, his eyes giving away how happy he was to be there.

Silently, you stood there, hands on his face, his own on your waist, as you stared at him, trying to commit him to memory. His hair was longer, the ends turning under slightly as they dried from the rain. His face was a little flushed, though you weren’t sure whether it was from the chilly bite of the late October air or something else.

“Not that I’m not so incredibly glad you’re here,” you began, your eyes meeting his. “But why are you here?”

He laughed, letting go of your waist so he could loosen the laces of his boots. “Rained out. I guess they’ve been having problems with the retractable roof at the stadium.” He shrugged, kicking his boots off haphazardly. Kimchi barked at the noise, running to investigate the shoes. “They’re going to reschedule, I guess?”

You nodded. As soon as his shoes were off, Jungkook pulled you close again, one arm slung over your shoulders as he led you into the living room. You sat on the corner of the couch, and immediately he was leaning into you, nudging your arm up over his shoulders so that you were the one holding him. You could feel him sigh against you, his head falling and resting against yours.

“God, I missed this,” he admitted softly.

“I missed you.” He ducked his head, burying his face in your neck. You felt him smile against your skin, pressing a light kiss there.

With the excitement of him finally being home starting to wear off, you remembered the postcard still clutched in your hand. You made an excited noise and jumped to your feet, scurrying over to your desk. Jungkook protested the lack of contact with a whine, his arms trailing after you as you moved.

He watched you pick up one of the empty frames and slide the postcard into it. “Whatcha doing?”

“Saving it,” you said simply, holding it up to the wall with the others to see where it would look best.

“You framed them?”

“I like them. They’re sweet.”

He laughed, and you could hear him stand and move closer. His arms snaked around your waist, pulling you into his chest. He rested his chin on your shoulder, going silent as he inspected your handiwork. “You really liked them?”

You hummed, placing the newly framed postcard on your desk before reaching up to pat his cheek. “Of course I like them. I missed you guys.”

“Honestly, I don’t even remember sending some of them. We only spent like a day in Amsterdam and Barcelona. I had to grab some of them at the airport.” He squeezed you tighter. “Do you know how hard it is to find a postcard nowadays?”

You spun in his grasp so you were facing him, one hand on his cheek. “Thank you for making the effort.”

Jungkook smiled at you, gentle and sweet. “I will always make the effort for you.”

Read more of the series here

#jungkook x reader #jungguk x reader #jungkook #jeon jungkook #jungguk #bts #bts x reader

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mrcurrygoestospain · 3 years ago

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Camino De Santiago - Round 5

Spain travel log, 2021…

Day One:

September 20 - Depart Seattle for Madrid, by way of London. There were plenty of issues just getting to this point. In addition to the ongoing concerns over COVID-19, or perhaps because of them, I had some serious concerns about whether I could and whether I should do this trip at all. In the end, I think I simply realized that it was totally appropriate for me to go on this trip: I’ve been “responsible” and taken the full round of vaccinations, generally avoided social contacts with people and been diligent about the masks. So I made my reservations and thought everything was fine. About 2 weeks before takeoff, I got an email from Iberia that one of my flights had been changed. When I looked into it, I found that it was the connecting flight from London to Madrid and the schedule had been bumped up by about 6 hours taking me from having a 2 hour layover in Heathrow to needing to be on a plane for Madrid 4 hours before I actually landed in London and would be able to board it… It took attempts at phone calls over several days to get this corrected. Finally, I tried while I was at top work one morning around 5:00 am. I finally got through and a nice lady helped rebook my connecting flight. She found the only available flight on that day that would work; now I have a seven hour layover.

I prepped for my trip, checklists and routes planned. I arrived at the airport 3 hours early, just in case. Although I booked with Iberia, it was a British flight. So standing in line at the BA counter in SeaTac, I saw the sign: “All passengers must show proof of a negative COVID test.” What? I’d already checked multiple times; I only need proof of vaccination to get into Spain. I check the internet. Sure enough, if you’re on a layover in England, you need a negative test…A quick Google search helped me find a testing center at SeaTac airport, so I rushed down to baggage claim number nine to see if I could get a test in time. In all honesty, I really thought I wasn’t going to make it and I’d have to try to contact the airline again to find a way to reschedule my flight. I stood in the line for what seemed like forever, but finally had the privilege of paying $250 for a rapid COVID test. T- minus 2 hours 30 minutes to departure and they promised results in 1-1.5 hours. The test itself was relatively painless. After all of the horror stories I’d heard about the nasal swabs, I was a bit worried. But it didn’t hurt, it just tickled a little bit. I waited, and waited…it seemed like they would never have my results. While I waited, I heard stories from other travelers who had missed flights or rebooking because of these ridiculous COVID-related requirements. One young Canadian lady I spoke to shared that she’d spent over $1000 on COVID tests in the last month due to traveling. I guess my $250 wasn’t so much.

I finally got my negative test results and rushed back to the check in counter, filled out the required government forms and headed through security. The flight was delayed.

After a nine hour flight to London, I had seven or eight hours to kill in Heathrow Airport, Terminal 5, before boarding my flight to Madrid. I shopped, I ate, I listened to podcasts. I took a few naps and generally cursed British Airways for changing my original flight. Some Italian guy made quite a scene at the boarding gate for the flight to Madrid. The gate agent handled it quite well and passive-aggressively punished him for his demeanor.

I arrived in Madrid after an easy flight on Iberia, made my way to the metro and on to my Hostel. It was a nice enough place. After 28 hours of travel, I was ready for a shower and bed.

Day 2:

On my one day in Madrid, I walked from my hostel/hotel to the Museo Nacional del Prado. It’s Spain’s greatest art museum. This was my second time there and I spent a lot more of it. There are so many amazing pieces and, for someone who used to truly despise art, it was amazing. I highly recommend it. I haven’t been to a whole lot of art museums, but it is, by far, my favorite. I followed that with a walk through the Royal Botanical Gardens. I’m sure they’re great when all of the flowers are blooming, but in early fall, it’s just a lot of green. Either way, it was still peaceful. I visited another nearby park, walked around and viewed the statues, and then made my way back towards the hotel and passed it to go to the Cathedral opposite the royal palace. It’s a much more modern cathedral than the ones I’ll see on the Camino, but still impressive.

Day 3:

On the morning of the third day, I got up early and got packed. Took the metro to the train station and purchased a ticket to Leon. After two hours on the train, I took a 20 minute walk to the hotel and dropped off my bag, and then spent the next few hours wandering the city. I found a barber and got a haircut for 9 Euro, quite a bargain. Stopped at the “Taste of America” shop to get a bottle of hot sauce (Cholula, of course), and just meandered around the city until I could get checked in at the hotel. It was a pretty uneventful day, which is just what I needed. I was still very tired from all of the traveling and trying to swap schedules.

Day 4:

I got up late, around 8:00 AM and started walking the city. I stopped for a cafe con leche and met a Scottish couple who had been walking the Camino for the last few weeks. While we waited out the rain under cover, the shared with me some of their other walking adventures, including tales of walking through the Swiss Alps on the Via Francigena, a pilgrimage route to Rome. I may have to look into that for a future trip. I also shared with them my plans/considerations of taking a walk on the “Great Glen Way” in Scotland. The wife had already done this and highly recommended it, along with the West Highland Way. Both are approximately 5-day walks through some of the wild country of Scotland. When the rain let up, we parted ways and I went to tour the Cathedral, toured the Basilica of Saint Isidore and wandered around town, shopping and eating. Inside the Saint Isidore museum and basilica, i had the opportunity to see what is referred to as the “Sistine Chapel of Romanesque Art” as well as a gold and silver cup that some historians claim is the “holy grail.”

Day 5:

Didn’t sleep much…I forgot how much they like to party in Spain. It was LOUD all night long. Anyway, started my walk. Today was about 27 km and it rained through about 50% of the day. It was a mix of roads and dirt tracks. I only saw one other pilgrim, a Spaniard who doesn’t speak any English. I got ahead of him and had stopped for a rest at a picnics table on top of a mountain. He showed up a few minutes behind me and I tried to chat for a minute, but the language barrier…. I offered him half of my tangerine and then he took off again. I passed him up later. I had been slightly worried about where to stay for the night as the municipal albergue in this province/state are currently closed due to the ‘Rona, but when I got to town I found a pension with rooms available. The lovely lady named Susana showed me to a room and also worked tirelessly to make me a reservation for the following night. I hadn’t eaten much for the day, so I ordered big: hot dog and patatas oil bravas. Patatas bravas is a traditional dish in Spain which is made of fried potatoe cubes that are covered in a (typically) spicy tomato sauce. Potatoes Ali Oli are the same fried potatoes but with a garlic cream sauce instead of the spicy sauce. This one combined both sauces. It was nice. The inside of the restaurant/bar/cafe was very loud with a bunch of men playing a card game I’m not familiar with, so I went outside to have a beer. An older Spaniard, named Hilario, came out and started trying to talk to me. I explained that I am American and I don’t speak much Spanish, but he disagreed. So he went inside and got another man, a Hungarian who had been in Spain for the last 25 years, named Fernanco(?) who was extremely drunk, to come out and talk to me. He was so drunk, he introduced himself as “muy borracho” or “very drunk” and the proceeded to tell me that he used to be a muy Thai fighter and a coal miner and now he was just a fat drunk who collected money from the government because he got hit in the head too many times. At least I THINK that’s what they were saying…. I went to bed early to get a good rest and let my aching feet and hips recover before a long day tomorrow….from La Robla to Poladura, should be about 25km or so with some very intense climbs. We’ll see.

I’m currently on the Camino San Salvador, which is a route from Leon to Oviedo. They say “whoever goes to Santiago without visiting Oviedo, goes to the servant but not to the Lord.” This is because Oviedo is famous for having a specific relic. While most people are aware of the Shroud of Turin, which is the burial cloth of Jesus, many don’t know (including me, until recently) that traditional Jewish burial included placing a cloth over the face of the deceased immediately after death and until the body was prepared for burial. This cloth would then be removed and the full-body cloth would be applied. So anyway, this Cathedral boasts possession of the face covering that was placed over Jesus’ head, likely immediately after the spear pearled his side and before he was brought down off of the cross. Once I complete the Camino San Salvador (about 5 days, I hope), I will continue on to the Camino Primitivo, one of the many Camino’s de Santiago. So the Camino San Salvador goes to the relics of Christ and the Camino Santiago (Santiago = Saint James) goes to the resting place and remains of Saint James (the major), also known as “Santiago Matamoros” or “Saint James the Moor Slayer”, the patron saint of Spain.

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isitgintimeyet · 5 years ago

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Road To The Aisles

AO3

Thank you for reading. Hope you enjoy this chapter and...

Thanks to @mo-nighean-rouge @happytoobserve @wickedgoodbooks for their continuing support

This is nsfw below the cut

Chapter 13: A Covetous Situation

“As I must therefore conclude that you are not serious in your rejection of me, I shall chuse to attribute it to your wish of increasing my love by suspense, according to the usual practice of elegant females.”

Jane Austen - Pride & Prejudice

Jamie sat in the living room and waited expectantly.

Claire had returned home from work, her arms fully laden with an abundance of chiffon, lace, velvet and glitter in a wild assortment of colours. She had greeted him with a peck on the lips, swiftly pulling away as he moved closer to prolong it.

Having informed him that the bountiful selection of evening gowns was on loan from Geillis for the black tie fundraiser at Kelvingrove Art Gallery, she instructed him to sit down and get comfortable as she paraded the dresses for his opinions. Before he could reply, she emphasised that although his views were appreciated, the final choice of gown was entirely hers.

Surveying the assortment of dresses now spread over the bed like some sort of high-end jumble sale, Claire could see that there was one clear winner in her mind and a couple that she would never have the courage to wear in public. She wondered when Geillis had the opportunity to wear them, as she didn’t talk about attending many formal events.

Realisation dawned and Claire smiled to herself. With Geillis’ and Dougal’s propensity for role play and other ‘related activities’, she supposed that some of these ‘costumes’ may have been included in said activities. Fortunately, as Claire noticed the dry cleaning tags still on the dresses, Geillis’ passion for sexual role play was only matched by her obsession with cleanliness and hygiene.

And now Jamie was downstairs waiting for the fashion show. Claire picked up the first dress and slipped it off the hanger.

Claire stood in the doorway. The black velvet dress clung to her curves as she walked into the room, her stride restricted by the tightness of the fabric around her legs. Only the diamanté trim on the high collar relieved the severity of the dress.

“What do you think?” Claire asked.

“Weel, ‘tis very plain. It’s no’ bad, but… Christ, Sassenach...” Jamie exclaimed as Claire turned her back on him to reveal the dress was backless, from collar all the way to the cleft of her buttocks.

She wiggled her bottom as he carried on talking.

“I can see yer bum cheeks in that. And ye canna be wearing any knickers, can ye?”

Claire turned her head to look at Jamie, his eyes still firmly fixed on her arse.

“I must admit, my bum is a bit bigger that Geillis’s, so there may be a bit of… er… cheek cleavage, shall we say? And you’re right, I can’t wear knickers with it, or bra either.”

Jamie swallowed hard.

“Aye, yer arse looks mighty fine in that dress. But, I’m no’ sure…”

Claire laughed. “Don’t worry. I’m not planning on wearing this to the fundraiser. Just wanted to see your reaction. Wait there, there’s more.”

And with that she tottered out of the room.

Jamie obeyed her instructions to wait there. In fact, he didn't want to move anyway. Claire seemed intent on putting on a show for him, and who was he to deny her that?

A flurry of red chiffon floated into the living room. Jamie stared at the vision in front of him.

“Wow,” he finally uttered.

“Do you like it?”

“It’s… er…”

Claire gave a quick twirl.

“Christ, Sassenach, I can see half yer boob at the side, and the other half from the front. And jes’ those wee straps holding it up. If one of them should snap…”

“I’ve thought of that. I can carry some safety pins with me, in case,” she teased as she moved closer to him, bending over and placing her hands on his thighs.

The thin shoulder straps slipped down her arms as Jamie lightly stroked her breast. He reached into the bodice, easily pushing the flimsy fabric aside, exposing her breasts fully.

Claire closed her eyes as he cupped both breasts, rhythmically rubbing the nipples with his thumbs.

“‘It’s a fine dress,” he whispered. “But I dinna think…”

“Don’t worry, this isn’t the one. I have already chosen something more suitable. This was just for you.”

She pulled away, ignoring his moan of protest. Gathering up the voluminous fabric of the skirt, she climbed onto the sofa, straddling him.

“Didn’t bother putting any knickers on for this dress either,” she whispered in his ear.

His hands slid under the dress to firmly grab her arse, drawing her closer to him. His cock was hard, almost painful, trapped inside his jogging bottoms. He wanted this to last, but could already feel his climax begin to build.

Claire’s nipples stiffened as he drew first one, then the other into his mouth, his tongue circling each in turn before his teeth lightly nipped the hard peak as he transferred attention to the other. Her low moan drove straight to his cock.

“I canna wait.” His voice quivered with desire. “Are ye ready?”

One hand travelled from her backside, along her hip before dipping between her parted legs, into the moist heat of her very core.

“God, ye are… so wet… so ready fer me.”

Claire wound her arms around his neck, her fingers raking through his curls. “Yes… ready…”

She knelt up to allow Jamie to shimmy his jogging bottoms and underpants down his thighs. Released from its restrictions, his cock sprang free, to be enveloped by the warmth of Claire’s hand. Teasing, she rubbed the tip along her moistness, shivering as it circled around her sensitive nub.

“I need tae be inside ye.” Jamie could wait no longer as Claire positioned herself and drove down against his cock before raising her hips and grinding down again and again, the motion drawing Jamie closer and closer to his release. His hand slipped under her dress once more, his fingers touching their joined flesh and stroking in time with each thrust, every movement building to their shattering climax.

They remained still joined as, panting, they came back to reality.

“Amazing…” Claire breathed.

“Thank ye, Sassenach.” Jamie chuckled. “Ye werena sae bad yerself.”

**************

Claire watched as Jamie sauntered across the room towards her, snagging a couple of glasses of champagne from the tray of a passing waiter. ‘Sauntering’ was a good description, Claire thought to herself, a certain careless elegance in his walk with long lean strides, unaware (apparently) of the admiring glances being cast in his direction.

Well, not totally unaware, as he smiled at her and lifted the champagne glasses to show her his acquisitions. This was the first time she had seen him in his dinner suit and, much as she found his kilt a total turn on, this outfit was proving to be a bit of welcome variety.

To Jamie, Claire stood out like a candle amid a sea of monochrome. The copper-toned dress that she had chosen fitted like a glove. Grecian, Claire had informed him. He didn’t know about that, he just knew that the colours accentuated her hair’s natural highlights, the off-the-shoulder draping displayed her creamy white skin, and the tight bodice held her breasts securely… with just enough cleavage to torment him. He had never seen her in such a formal gown before, and wouldn’t again until... he inhaled sharply at the thought. Until the day she would wear her wedding dress.

“Thank God,” she greeted him, accepting one of the champagne glasses. “I’m parched. Have you spotted Ian and Jenny yet?”

“Nah, Sorry, I was jes’ chatting tae the features editor of Whisky Magazine. He’s at our table fer dinner. I’m hoping they’ll do a feature on the Japanese launch.”

“So, you’re not here to support the hospice then, it’s a business opportunity,” Claire teased.

“Can I no’ do both, Sassenach? Ah, look, see Jenny’s over there, heading tae our table. Shall we?”

She took his arm as they made their way through the maze of white tablecloths and black crepe chair bows to their table.

Jenny and Ian were already seated, along with four guests Claire didn’t recognise. Jamie took his seat with Jenny on his left and Claire on his right. An unfamiliar face was next to Claire. Jamie leant across the table and spoke to the stranger.

“Claire, this is Tom Christie. Tom, this is ma fiancée, Claire Beauchamp.”

Claire smiled politely at the older man. “Pleased to meet you.”

“Allow me to introduce you to my colleagues… Morag, Giles and Mary.” Tom gestured to the remaining occupants of the table.

With the introductions over, the table settled down to the first course of Cullen Skink. The conversation to and fro across the table was polite, entertaining, superficial.

As the waiters collected the empty soup bowls, Tom spoke directly to Jamie. “I believe ye’ve offered up an auction prize… five bottles of yer thirty-year-old Broch Tuarach special reserve. Verra generous of ye. And how much would that cost?”

“It retails fer three hundred pounds a bottle.”

“Aye.” Jenny joined the conversation. “And if the bid is over a thousand pounds, the winner gets a tour and whisky tasting at the distillery, too.”

“What say ye, Miss Beauchamp, should I bid on this lot? Would ye be ma tour guide?” Tom turned to Claire. “Mebbe we should run a feature on the distillery in the magazine.”

“We’d be more than happy to arrange a visit fer ye and yer colleagues at the magazine.” Jenny offered. “And a whisky tasting too. Any time.”

Tom nodded briefly in acknowledgement of Jenny’s suggestion.

As the main course of Scottish reared beef was served, the conversation became sparse, everyone savouring the succulent meat and the smooth red wine accompanying it.

Claire drained her wine. Jamie reached for the bottle but Tom beat him to it and replenished her glass before setting the bottle back on the table with a sly grin. Jenny gave a theatrical cough and held her empty glass aloft. Tom turned his attention back to Claire.

“I trust ye enjoy a dram or two of Broch Tuarach then, Claire? One of the perks of joining the family, eh?”

“Yes, I do like a good whisky,” Claire responded and took a large sip of wine. “And Broch Tuarach is certainly special. Has Jamie or Jenny told you about the launch in Japan? That’s really big news for the distillery.”

Tom moved closer to Claire, his voice now a conspiratorial whisper in her ear.

“I must say, yer eyes are amazing. Jamie is a lucky man.”

On Claire’s left she could hear the scrape of Jamie’s chair as he inched closer to her. His arm moved across to rest along the back of her chair.

“Sae, Tom,” Claire recognised the fake bonhomie in Jamie’s voice. “Who do ye favour fer the World Whisky Awards, then?”

“Gentlemen, if you’ll excuse me for a moment.” Claire stood and looked around for a bathroom sign.

“Aye, that’s a good idea. I’ll join ye.” Jenny followed Claire.

“True tae form. They canna go tae the bathroom on their own,” Ian joked.

*********

Claire shifted uncomfortably in her seat. The large dinner was proving to be a mistake, as the bones in her bodice were digging into her skin and Tom was demonstrating a bit too much interest in her cleavage. She felt obliged to be pleasant and polite to him, hopeful of a Broch Tuarach feature in his magazine. Only one thing to do… she took another sip from her brandy, rested her free hand lightly on Jamie’s thigh and tried to ignore the now slightly inebriated and sweaty middle aged man next to her and focus on the auction up on the stage.

The bids for the whisky climbed higher and higher, quickly reaching four figures before finally settling at two and a half thousand pounds.

“It’d be cheaper for them to buy it off the shelf,” Jenny commented. “But I ken it’s all fer the hospice and they get a whisky tasting… and mebbe we could put them up fer the night too, dinner and breakfast?”

Jamie and Ian readily agreed as the three of them were ushered towards the photographer, ready for the obligatory snap with the lucky bidder.

“Dinner and breakfast, eh?” Tom spoke slowly, carefully trying not to slur his words. “Mebbe I should have bid tae see yer fine eyes over the dinner table… and the breakfast table… and in between…”

His gaze was clearly focused several inches below her eyes.

“If you’ll excuse me, I think Jenny wants me.” Claire walked over to join the others.

With the auction all concluded, the lights dimmed and the disco began. Ian and Jamie were engrossed in an important conversation about rugby as Claire and Jenny headed to the dance floor where they stayed, with only the occasional break for refreshments as the DJ ran through the standard reception repertoire.

Claire loved dancing, it felt exhilarating as the heavy bass beat ran through her body. Any discomfort from her dress was rapidly forgotten. And Jenny was always a willing partner. With two children under five, she was keen for any chance to enjoy grown-up time.

Claire was aware of Jamie, sitting at the table, now with his jacket off, watching her. He didn’t really enjoy dancing but was happy enough to let her go wild to her heart’s content on the dance floor. She was also aware of Tom watching her intently, but tried to ignore him and focus on the music.

Gradually, Claire’s hair, which had been tamed and coiffed for this event, began to break free of its restraints and as she danced, the curls floated around her face and shoulders. Laughing, she pushed them out of her eyes. Jamie loved this wild abundance of curls. He longed to gather them up in his hands and then let them cascade down her neck and back. And, he admitted to himself, he wanted to show Tom that Claire belonged to him. He wasn’t particularly proud of this feeling so he remained seated and tried to ignore it.

Tom, however, had no desire to remain seated and began to boogie his way to the dance floor, joining Claire and Jenny. It was obvious where his intentions lay as he gyrated around Claire, turning his back to Jenny. Claire kept on moving away, getting closer to Jenny.

Jamie watched, growing angrier by the minute. Unable to stand this display, he walked up behind Claire and put his arms around her waist. She turned slightly to smile at him.

He whispered in her ear. “Are ye ready tae go now?”

Claire pouted. “I can’t remember when I last had a boogie. Do we have to go now?”

“Ten minutes?”

“Ok, ten minutes.”

With a kiss on her neck, Jamie strode back to his seat while Claire turned to Jenny and carried on dancing.

#outlander fan fic #outlander fanfiction #Road to the Aisles #modern au #outlander fan fiction #Jamie Fraser #Claire Beauchamp #Chapter 13

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lothiriel84 · 5 years ago

Text

Tracing of sparrow on snow-crested brown

In which I went all the way to Scotland and North Yorkshire, and still found the time to get really excited about The Monster Hunters Halloween special.

It’s been four days, and all the places I’ve seen have already started mingling with one another in my head - but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, I shouldn’t think. At least, when my brain defaults to power-saving mode now, it has its pick of beautiful locations to use as its own internal screensaver picture - doesn’t matter if I don’t always remember which is which.

(It also makes for an interesting game - is this Scotland or Devon, Yorkshire or Colchester? And the answer is, nobody knows, nobody knows.)

Edinburgh

I was in Edinburgh last year for Flying Visit (go figure), but as I didn’t quite get the chance to explore it as much as I wanted, it was nice to be able to go back and wander the place some more. Climbed Arthur’s Seat once again - nearly got blown away by the wind, too - and took the chance to visit Portobello Beach, Dean Village, and Edinburgh Castle.

Inverness, Loch Ness, and the Highlands

I had picked Inverness as my subsequent destination because I wanted to see some of the Highlands, and it definitely didn’t disappoint. Inverness Castle and the Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew are built in beautiful pink stone, and there are a few lovely walks across the Ness Islands - complete with eerie space/alien-themed decorations, as we were getting close to Halloween - the Merkinch Local Natural Reserve, and along the Caledonian Canal. And Inverness Botanic Gardens May be tiny, but they still have a gorgeous tropical house.

As getting about using public transport only seemed a bit of a nightmare, I booked a couple of minibus tours in the area - Eilean Donan Castle and the Isle of Skye for my birthday, and Loch Ness, Urquhart Castle, and the Highlands two days later. And my goodness, I absolutely need to go back to the Scottish Highlands at some point - in that time of the year when it doesn’t get dark at half past four in the afternoon, if at all possible.

York

As you can imagine, I mainly just wanted to retrace the various filming locations from The Atticus McLaren Mysteries: Murder at the Museum, which was shot there last February. (You can watch it here and here, in case you’re interested. Simon Kane is in it, and it stars plenty of talented local actors. Thomas Jennings is absolutely brilliant as the titular character, an autistic museum technician - turned amateur detective - from York.)

I actually managed to complete the York City Walls trail this time around, and without any further damage to my lousy ankles, too. I got to visit York Cold War Bunker, and stumbled upon the slightly incongruous sight that is Holgate Windmill.

As luck would have it, I was also able to see this intriguing staging of Antony and Cleopatra, starring among others Harry Summers (Elizabeth Lockwood) who played as DI Bruce Barnes in The Atticus McLaren Mysteries. And just as I was about to go to bed after the show, I found that The Funeral of Roy Steel had been uploaded to acast - and who am I to delay listening to a new episode of The Monster Hunters?

I distinctly remember very nearly screaming in the dark and scrambling for the light switch, as soon as I heard [SPOILER!] Susy’s voice, which I absolutely wasn’t expecting. Oh. My. Goodness - what an episode.

Scarborough, Staithes, Malton and Goathland

First one who guesses why I went to Scarborough wins nothing at all, in the well-honoured tradition of Yellow Car-adjacent games - and no, it wasn’t parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. By the way, did you know there’s a series of murals on Bland’s Cliff, including one bearing an uncanny resemblance to a certain Bridget of time-spanning reminiscence?

Scarborough Castle is an interesting place to visit, and it’s lovely to walk along the marina, as well as both the South Bay Beach, and the North Bay Beach. Following the advice of one Matthew Woodcock, I also took a trip to the picturesque seaside village of Staithes, and to the village of Goathland in the North York Moors national park - both absolutely gorgeous, though I daresay nothing could have prepared me for the joys of having to wait for my return bus for nearly two hours in the dark, alone, in a village in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by sheep staring at me from the shadows. (All while listening to The Tomb of Arensnuphis of Infinitely Bad memory, which was even more of An Experience™.)

And yes, obviously the entire reason I was in Scarborough in the first place was John Finnemore’s Flying Visit, again - which I thoroughly enjoyed, never mind that it was my second time this year, fourth if you count last year’s tour as well. (This is totally normal. And healthy. What are you looking at me like that for?)

The cast are an absolute joy to watch on stage, and I absolutely recommend you go to the very last show of the tour on December 1st, at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London, if you ever get the chance. Lawry’s facial expressions are a thing of beauty, and Carrie as Patsy Straightwoman surely deserves to get her own show; and I’m still impressed with how Simon managed not to break character while the audience dissolved into laughter for a full minute - and possibly even longer - as soon as he stepped to the microphone for one of the Missed Connections sketches.

(I am still trying really hard to ignore the notion that John not only appeared to remember that I’d also been to the Colchester show, he also actually called me out on me going to shows on people’s birthdays. Which is - yeah. No. Huh.)

I’ll leave you with two blurry pictures of Scarborough at night, taken after the show, I think. Between the salt water and the sea strands, as Simon and Garfunkel would sing.

#Scotland & North Yorkshire #October 22nd to November 6th #2019 #John Finnemore's Flying Visit #JFFV #Edinburgh #Inverness #York #Scarborough #The Monster Hunters #The Funeral of Roy Steel #MH spoilers #this post contains pictures #also - sorry about my face

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fortheheavenssake · 5 years ago

Text

PG MM Anon Interpretation Collection- 11

💜💜🙏🏻🙏🏻PG INTERPRETATION OF MM ANON🙏🏻🙏🏻💜💜

💜🙏🏻🙏🏻THANK YOU DEAR MM ANON🙏🏻🙏🏻💜💜

71: Sept. 30

MM Anon

MM ANON …… PR gestapo returns … the converted are turning …… never a Dull atonement …… “So quick bright things come to confusion”… 🎼 “A spoonful of sugar”🎼 …… a hostage to her fortune … the grey accountants …… “ death and taxes “…… a Scottish invitation accepted …… “Back home old thing, shame!!!”…… old habits…… new evidence has leaked…… a basket full of eggs.

PR gestapo returns

The PR team returns to London to continue their ‘dark arts’ of deception on madams behalf. They are preaching to the wrong crowd. There is no amount of PR that could change things. It’s far too late, even if she got on her knees(go away filthy ideas), in Trafalgar Square and pleaded forgiveness, there would be none, ITS TOO LATE! Leave her to Heaven, by the way that’s a fantastic film and fits perfectly about narcissism. Jeanne Craine and the gorgeous Gene Tierney who plays the narc so amazingly well! I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS FILM!!! Or is this JS hired by PA to do his PR? Likely not because it says returns!

the converted are turning

Many people who were chuffed and liked madam are seeing abs turnings their opinions as they are realizing who and what she really is. That’s the baffling thing about HRC and MO chiming in supporting her. They have no business doing that or do they? Backers??

never a Dull atonement

Atonement,is a reparation for a wrong or injury, (in religious contexts) reparation or expiation for sin. The statement is never a dull moment but MM ANON has changed it and capitalized Dull. We know she has done fake conversion to several religions through first two marriages, now baptized allegedly into the COE prior to marriage . Atonement has never been on her radar. So what of it, is she going to go whiz bang to Balmoral fall on her sword and beg mercy from the Crown? Is that what this means? I highly doubt it. I am struggling with the capital D in Dull, is the opposite of Dull meant? She will never atone, but she’s never dull either, dim yes but dull no.

“So quick bright things come to confusion”

This is why l love the riddles, teachable moments and MM ANON never fails to deliver. Alas we return to our beloved Shakespeare, this theme A Midsummer Nights Dream . Their relationship, to call it that, began at Soho as a hookup, and progressed to now. It was never ever love for either! However, the public, who so badly want Harry happy believed the story, most of them. As time went on certain people like our 💜🐼💜, and others began to ask questions because they saw cracks and inconsistencies. Fast forward to today, madam is hated, loathed, despised in the U.K. and many other places in the Commonwealth and beyond! I have no idea how she can ever do an appearance in public after the final slap of hiding amw and then showing off live baby in SA, final massive F*** YOU to HMTQ, the U.K. and the Commonwealth! The bloom is off the rose big time, just thorns left. Thank you MM ANON for using Shakespeare, l am wondering how many more riddles there will be, l am sensing a real tipping point.

🎼 “A spoonful of sugar”🎼

Julie Andrews at her finest in Mary Poppins, such a shame a surgeon botched surgery and she can no longer sing, makes me angry actually the world deprived of her voice, speaking selfishly. I saw her interviewed, she was so classy talking about how that changed her life. But l digress, the line is a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, in the most delightful way, l can hear her singing it as I type and sing along! So here’s the rub of it, what is the medicine that needs sweetening, is it actually medicine for madam, that’s way too obvious for MM ANON. I think there is something on offer that madam will tolerate return to,London and trip to Balmoral , what is that? It’s the availability of hobby items, that’s the one thing she needs! Like physically neeeds!

a hostage to her fortune

Ha ha this is funny! Having a fortune, speaking money here, and being hostage or tethered to it. Most of it is ill gotten gains allegedly, of course l know nothing, one would owe home country amazing amount of taxes and if unlawfully obtained money, it’s Literally your fortune as in future. If ill gotten gains, the lawmen come a calling. So the use of the word fortune was very clever as usual MM ANON! Fortune as in financials and fortune as in tell my fortune, the future things to come!

the grey accountants

The brilliant men in grey, behind the scenes doing HMTQ work. Intel, surveillance, interviews, AND keeping track of every single coin$$$££££€€€ earned. I can only imagine the total by now. Given the reception President DT received and the intel that he brought, l am certain the US/IRS is working in tandem with the loyal men in grey forever unknown but giving their all to serve the Crown and HMTQ! God bless them!

“ death and taxes “

Two old phrases l love, the only things certain in life are death and taxes. The other one is, you can’t fight city hall. So, if l read this correctly madam has a massive tax bill due from the American tax man. Can you hear his adding machine(those of you of my vintage will know exactwhat l mean🤣🤣) can you hear it Rachel? Can you hear the footsteps of the taxman comets? Can you Rachel? It’s like Poe’s Telltale Heart. Have you even heard of Poe or the story Rachel? Likely not, but the taxman wants his due!!

a Scottish invitation accepted

So, at long last, they will deign to attend HMTQ and give Her the honour of their company at beloved Balmoral, her safe place. . Isn’t that grand and kind of them? I am sure HMTQ is squealing with delight at this visit, NOT!

“Back home old thing, shame!!!”

LG to HMTQ, upon the return of the Sussexes or, since its October, this is the month her respite/vacation to Balmoral ends and she returns to the hectic pace of London life. Although, between BOJO, PA and The Sussexes, l can’t imagine this has been much of a respite.

old habits

Oh old habits die hard! Old hobbies do as well, sniff sniff, snort, snort, swallow, swallow, yes return to London will bring ample time and availability of hobbies and hobby time. I said London, because we ALL know, no one is living at Frogmore except Kermit 🐸. Keep at it, the nose will completely collapse, no amount of plastic surgery can ever truly repair it.

new evidence has leaked…

Is this regarding BOJO ? And his continuing issues of women? I am not aware of any other leaks, but l haven’t read the blog or papers yet. I am still 💤💤💤💤😴😴😴 resting a lot .

a basket full of eggs.

My, my, my, my a basket of eggs is so fragile isn’t it? One wrong move and they crack. The older the eggs are, they are more fragile and they can go off. Now we are definitely not talking chicken 🐓 🥚 eggs here. A woman of her age , those eggs, harvested, must be very near or past their sell by date. When the extraction was done, viable leftovers would have been cryofrozen. Have the 🥚 eggs in the 🧺, cracked, not viable, not healthy? Oh God please intervene make it thus, so no more innocents are created to be used and abused.

GSTQAOBC 🇨🇦

Thank you dear PG! I get lost in your words….like a great turn pager….I want more…more …….more! Thank you, sounding good! I love taxmen talk! 🙏🏻💜💜💜💜💜💜

💜💜addition:

PR Gestapo returns

The SS was the Nazi feared from wiki

The Schutzstaffel (SS; also stylized as Sig runes thin.png with Armanen runes; German pronunciation: [ˈʃʊtsˌʃtafl̩] (About this soundlisten); literally “Protection Squadron”) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe during World War II

SS IS SUNSHINE SACHS!! These things stock in my head and bug me, a light came on, l had to come back to add this.

GSTQAOBC 🇨🇦

Ask Skippy submission

—————-

72: Oct. 1

💜💜🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻THANK YOU SO MUCH MM ANON🙏🏻🙏🏻💜💜

MM Anon

MM ANON … 🎼” back to black”🎼…… uncomfortably reunion …… “ AND THE CROWDS WENT…… home”… “blend in with the POC”🤣🤣🤣🤣…… Pressed for time. …… PR with blinkers… don’t Sue the messenger …… Harry on camping…… background colour …… “ bloody African Queen ‘ don’t think so”…… “ returning after their triumphant tour “…… OMG’ it’s definitely her

🎼” back to black”🎼

Amy Winehouse, what a tragic loss, she was working so hard to get clean. So many talented people, artists, musicians, writers, throughout the ages have struggled with mental illness and addiction of varying types. This song is about lots of sex, relationship where her man comes and goes to other women and her dying inside, the couple using drugs together, extremely dysfunctional relationship. MM ANON , are you equating the current ones in discussion to the type of relationship in this heartbreaking song? I miss Amy Winehouse, they tried to make me go to rehab but l said no no no! RIP AMY🙏🏻

uncomfortably reunion

Return to London and interacting with the press was going to be tough back home. But now, l have no clue what’s going to happen. Reunions with the BRF, l have no words. HMTQ , PP LG everyone must be FURIOUS! I can imagine a lot of cocktails, late nights and foul words. This is all so unnecessary, look how our dear Autumn, she married Peter Philips, she’s Canadian, she has seamlessly adjusted. Hasn’t put a foot wrong. This is all down to one thing , evil, manifesting itself in heavy narcissism!

“ AND THE CROWDS WENT…… home”

We have had this line before. The ‘crowds’ yesterday at Victoria Yards , what l saw photos of two people, one on each side not standing too close and than two photographers. Others had children running up to her, she hugged them, Today, at uni, she has become patron of the ACU, Association of Commonwealth Universities. The comment in the paper said they ‘hailed her partially because she was black”. No huge crowds, the people didn’t linger long or wait hours and hours.

“blend in with the POC”🤣🤣🤣

She has been doing her own thing, likely all prearranged by PR, right down to someone from the embassy ordering bespoke 👖 jeans for her. She did the shopping walk about at Victoria Yards, buying things here and there. She personally went to puck up her jeans, the designer/maker was so excited, he had made a little pair for amw, they were so cute. So she was at the uni today, blending in, as per the comment l wrote .

Pressed for time.

Busy schedule for both of them during this holiday. I was hoping Harry could get into talks with Angolan government officials regarding becoming a Commonwealth member, that was the goal, his first attempt at a diplomatic mission. Pressed, ironing, l know this isn’t it, but gracious both of their clothes have been a mess. Wrinkled, ratty, those brown suede lace ups, Harry please toss them, please! They all need pressing/ironing. I know, MM ANON, that is not what you meant but it fits well. The press had their flight from London delayed about ten hours l think, they were not permitted at amw and DT meeting, it was all privately hired and now owned by the Sussex team. Now with what’s happened today, my mind is whirling in many directions for this clue.

PR with blinkers

Sirens for emergency, police, fire, ambulance. PR blinkers LLOK HERE something great happening. Or don’t look there, nothing to see at all carry on. I keep reading PR firms use the ‘dark arts’. The paper said that about Jason Stein, PA new PR guy, as well. Just what are these dark arts? PR is going off the charts upon return to the U.K. In fact, blinkers/sirens/looky here have just happened today with the letter from Harry and lawsuit filed against the DM for something they did months and months ago. Why now? Is it a last money grab? It’s nearing the end, Winter is coming, winter is coming.

don’t Sue the messenger

Well normally it’s don’t shoot the messenger, but here we finally have it today, lawsuit filed against the DM and it’s parent company. The stony silent press have been sitting on a dossier of lurid information,a stand-off, so to speak is over. The British Press have kept schtum on a dossier so raunchy, l cannot fathom. Today, shots fired off the bow, and battle has begun. I said it last night in my riddle interpretation, we are near a tipping point, well that was last night, today, NOW , the tipping point has arrived. War has been declared, and it’s going to get very very VERY NASTY!

Harry on camping…

Harry was part of National Geographic and was laying on the ground in Malawi, taking the most amazing uplook photos near and of a Baobab tree. He looked in his element, out in nature, enjoying its beauty and taking photographs for his contributions to a joint project with Nat Geo.

background colour

She has always, professionally and socially identified as Caucasian, this has been her background. Seemingly, when convenient, things change, bronzer goes deeper, she calls herself sister to Africans. Interesting, beyond my comprehension how someone can continue and continue to use others, without any regard, none at all. You’re convenient, if l need something from you, l will take it, when you’re not of use bye bye.

“ bloody African Queen ‘ don’t think so”

Great film with Bogart and Hepburn, the African Queen is. But l digress, these are PP, words of disgust as her self perception of being a sister and POC , and thus more relatable and the Queen of Africa. I think she has the same skin tone as before, before the bronzer face overload. You look at today’s photos her arms and legs are pink, it’s especially noticeable when she is standing next to a local person of a different culture. I am boiling at this point. The powder keg has been lit. We wait for response from HMTQ!

“ returning after their triumphant tour “

Yes, like the Prodigal son returns after doing whatever he wanted and was welcomed with open arms! Ah no, that will DEFINITELY NOT BE THE WELCOME, ESPECIALLY AFTER TODAYS EXPLOSIVES LOBBED AT THE BRITISH MEDIA! They have sat silent on what they know for over two years! Taking to court, something called discovery in the U.S., both sides have to share their data. The welcome home was going to be explosive because of madams behaviour and ESPECIALLY because amw was paraded around like an Olympic medal!

OMG’ it’s definitely her”

Allegedly, can’t recall, ?last week, the alleged sex tape salad tape was sold. Is this meaning it’s in good lawful hands and they are convinced it’s madam??

Is this what people said when they saw her just out shopping yesterday, enjoying the buskers performance, surprising the designer and picking up her order? I honestly was happy for him, because he was so excited and he had been so thoughtful to make a pair for amw. He said he was so shocked to see her there in person. Again l am so happy for him. I hope his business increases through this media coverage!

GSTQAOBC 🇨🇦

Thank you dear PG! This looks great! Good things coming! Greatly appreciate the effort you put in on doing the riddles for us! 🙏🏻💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

——————

73: Oct. 2

💜💜🙏🏻🙏🏻PG INTERPRETATION OF BIRTHDAY MM ANON🙏🏻🙏🏻💜💜

💜💜🙏🏻🙏🏻THANK YOU MM ANON🙏🏻🙏🏻💜💜

🥳🥳🥳🥳🎂🎂🎂🎂🥂🥂🥂🥂🥂🍻🍻🍻🍻🍻WISHES FOR THE HAPPIEST BIRTHDAY, JUST SORRY I AM SO LATE AT IT🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳💜💜💜💜💜

MM Anon… Happy Birthday to you!

MM ANON …… A TM visit?…… a pitiful cry for help …… “tears of a Crown”…… “ Philip’ stop swearing!!”…… ink block carnage … a scathing edi-TORY-al……”A Sunday surprise “…… “well,well,well’ fe-MAIL- empowerment”…… Fleet St. circling the wagons …… 🎼 “ Homeward bound, I guess ………” 🎼j…… … ace card archificial …… “SA’ well that was a dud Megs”…… leap-Frog to Calipornia 🤫🤫🤫

A TM visit?

Oh my golly!! Is gramma Tom, Thomas MArkle, going to be visiting?😮😮😮😮 Will this be like when Samantha came to KP, in her wheelchair, that’s was so sad to see, they wouldn’t let her through security. Will TM just show up? I doubt he has that confidence. Ha ha speaking of confidence, did you know that was the original name for con, confidence game, you’d gain someone’s confidence or trust and then use then every which way you can. Anyhow again l digress, back to TM, are they arranging some sort of visit garnering public sentiment? Don’t bother Rachel, the public has developed sentiment and more than a plenty of it, it its far from good! After yesterday, nothing is left, of what little there was. But her MO, HRC AND EDGENERATE LOVE YOU! That makes a perfect life, with the one thing, they’re AMERICAN! Again my American friends, l love you, not bashing you, just a select few. Last time l checked, the titles you bear are British and Commonwealth titles.

a pitiful cry for help

I saw Harry today, in the still photos it was evident, but in the video, l KNOW WHAT HES FEELING BECAUSE I HAVE LIVED IT FOR 12 YEARS, AND LAST WEEK YOU ALL KNOW WHAT L WAS SUFFERING! Something has happened, he has either worked out his anger physically to such a point he’s torn a muscle or he has a slipped disc. The pain, as he stepped up to the podium, this time, him holding onto her, and his involuntary wincing, and trying to cover it up, L KNOW THAT PAIN. Please, PLEASE GET HIM HOME, BETWEEN, his mood, his wasting away, and now this, for goodness sake he needs being seen urgently, an MRI, and REST!! I am certain he has either been given an injectable for pain along with oral meds. Oh Harry, we are slowly watching you falling apart in every way. My heart aches beyond measure, when l saw the pain he is in, the physical pain, l know that, l live it!! Imagine his humiliation having to learn on madam, oh makes me sick.

“tears of a Crown”…

There is an old song, Tears of a Clown, think this is play on that. However, Crown, capitalized, is like the Royal We, it refers specifically to the reigning Monarch. Imagine HMTQ tears, yesterday especially, and today seeing him in pain. She has ruled for decades and decades. Nearing the end of her reign, when life should be treating her kind for her service, it has dealt her a well planned, well financed attack, involving use of her beloved grandson. I feel for her pain, yet l cannot fathom how deep it goes and how it must anger some and pain others in the family. The rage at this attack and the rubble it has left since it began spread far and wide across the U.K. , the Commonwealth and the world. Please let’s once again remember to pray for HMTQ.

“ Philip’ stop swearing!!”

As l speculated yesterday, in the riddle, there would likely be lots of cocktails, lots of foul language and lots of sleeplessness. This clue affirms one, HMTQ begging her husband to cease and desist the language. PP is an Alpha male, strong, Navy man, soldier, stalwart, ever present at HMTQ side. Now in his twilight years, just imagine his anger and feelings of helplessness, he too, is in need of our prayers. How l worry about both of them and their health. All of this woe and strife has to be having a marked detrimental effect on both and all around them.

ink block carnage

Ink blocks can be carved of stone or wood and are used for new beginners or more skilled calligraphers. Now madam has for quite some time put calligraphy on her CV(resumé). This has riled up actual skilled calligraphers who have said what she does, is not true calligraphy, it is flouncy fluffy writing, as girls do in junior high school. This letter, that she dated, signed and sent to daddy has come back to haunt , yet again . The carnage, the use of the media in the U.S. ie p e o p l e magazine, and in the U.K. Funny, it’s ok, for her pals to chatter on in a magazine but the person who the letter was given, to hence his property, cannot. Double standard yet again. The carnage continues. Lawsuit filed, letter supposedly written by a furious PH, accompanied it, all without consulting or informing HMTQ or the Palace. Don’t you worry, not a White happens without LG knowing! Again l remind you of that special wedding ring Harry wears. I will leave it there!

a scathing edi-TORY-al

Piers Morgan, editor of The Daily Mail and host of Good Morning Britain, formally identified as a Tory or Conservative, we call them Tories also, back in 1994. He today, had an editorial ready positive regarding the SA trip. He wrote the editorial but had to add to it. It did include positives, but then turn into a scathing public reprimand of yesterday’s occurrences. I would encourage you all to read it. I won’t repeat it all, but he pointed out the unmitigated gall of madam and the Princess Diana comparison, the usage of the media when on her own terms, madam, l mean. I cannot do it justice, just please read it. It is scathing to put it mildly, he pulls no punches, his cards are all laid out on the table 100%!

”A Sunday surprise “…

Will it ACTUALLY HAPPEN? Finally headlines printing of all the information in the million dollar dossier that the papers have been sitting on for two plus years now! Oh how dee doodee how l hope so! PLEASE PLEASE PRETTY PLEASE WITH SUGAR AND A CHERRY 🍒 ON TOP!!!

“well,well,well’ fe-MAIL- empowerment”

Femail is a subset on the Daily Mail website, fluff meant for women, hence the cute usage and spelling. Madam features heavily there. She spoke about female empowerment and female access to education during her visit to the University of Johannesburg yesterday. Again she raised the idea of paying for university, she said she attended but did not, that l read, mention graduating or a degree. She mentioned families helping to finance the cost. She also announced four new scholarships. Earlier in the week she held a private breakfast for female activists.

Fleet St. circling the wagons

Fleet St(Street), is like the Royal we, it’s the term for British Media.Going back to 1500’s this was the street of printing and newspapers appeared several centuries now. It’s the term understood to represent British or London journalists and journalism. Circling the wagons again goes back hundreds of years, when the first settles arrived and moved out west. They were encroaching on native lands and often were attacked. They literally circled their wagons for shelter and protection. Now the tutorial done l can move on. Fleet st circling their wagons oh me , oh my!! Get ready kittens!!! The previews are almost over the main film, no pun intended, ACTUALLY MAJOR PUN INTENDED 🤣🤣😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣! The main film is about to begin, it’s all ready to roll and l for one am waiting with bated breath!!

🎼 “ Homeward bound, I guess

Again we have S&G(Simon and Garfunkel) homeward bound, sitting at the railway station……. not to Cali. Oh no no no, this is HOME, LONDON, tee here, no delays. The inevitable must happen, play time over and back to the real world. The usage of ‘lguess’, is hesitancy for her because it��s not her home, for him, because l can’t imagine his feelings and what he anticipates his reception will be!

” 🎼j…… … ace card archificial

You’ve got to have an ace in the hole by George Strait. MM ANON, l highly doubt this is the song you meant but it fits beautifully! It’s all about life, secrets, gambling etc etc. The ace card is from wiki. An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the case of the ace of spades. This embellishment on the ace of spades started when King James VI of Scotland and I of Englandrequired an insignia of the printing house to be printed on the ace of spades. This insignia was necessary for identifying the printing house and stamping it as having paid the new stamp tax.[1] Although this requirement was abolished in 1960, the tradition has been kept by many card makers.[2] In other countries the stamp and embellishments are usually found on ace cards; clubs in France, diamonds in Russia, and hearts in Genoa because they have the most blank space.

The BRF have archficial as their ace, she thinks she does🤣🤣🤣😂😂

The whole fauxmegnancy, EVERYTHING that went along with it, finally seeing a real breathing baby in SA, many many ramifications. It’s not Harry’s child, DEFINITELY not of the body, may be her egg but surrogate carried alllegedly baby. The whole doll, thing, l have no idea how all this information will be leaked/shared with public.

“SA’ well that was a dud Megs”…

Dud, funny word, not used much these days but to a certain vintage,🤣🤣😂😂😂 like me , commonplace. It is a thing that fails to work properly, another word is lemon, again my vintage. Something that is worthless. However, when my mum used to say get your duds on, it meant hurry up get dressed, put your coats on. For church or elsewhere fancy, it was said you put your finest duds on. Memories anyone?😊. Here MM ANON certainly means the former, not the latter, although some of the duds, a lot of them have been very wrinkled and on madams part buttoned low at the bust and unbuttoned very high at the thigh. Well for the most part, her machinations aside, they were well received. What occurred yesterday by way of lawsuit announce was most bizarre timing. They just can’t seem to stop getting in their own way. The letter that is identified as being from Harry, has many many Americanisms. Taken only on paper, one could say, despite it being attributed as his words, one can say full stop this was written by an American, no offence. The wordage, sentence structure and the glaring use of the word democracy, when the U.K. has been a Monarchy, albeit with Parliament now, it most certainly is never ever defined as being a democracy. How do they let these things slip? These billion dollar PR firms? I know, we only need look who their client is. Full stop.

leap-Frog to Calipornia 🤫🤫🤫

Frogmore is the official residence, we all know they have never lived there. The locals told and continued to say the only time there were lights, vehicles, signs of life were when the builders were there. Interesting MM ANON Cali PORNIA. Good gracious, is this her plan, to hop across the pond back to Cali and earn $$$$££££€€€€ making porn? That just might be the job a madam is most deft at and qualified for.

GSTQAOBC 🇨🇦

Thank you dear PG! I love your wit! You make reading your interpretations such fun, I get lost in them! Thank you so very much! This is sounding sooooooo good! Love you!🙏🏻💜💜💜💜

Oct 2nd,

——————

74: Oct. 3

💜💜🙏🏻🙏🏻😊😊THANK YOU MM ANON! I HOPE YOUR BIRTHDAY WAS DELIGHTFUL 😊😊🙏🏻🙏🏻💜💜

MM Anon

MM ANON …… rogue withdrawal …… a petulant rattle slays fleet st. …… royal analysis paralysis ……… “ settlement now!!!! ……TM lawyers up…… tabloid utopia …… “ This is a bloody tape diversion old thing “…………“A spitting Halloween 🎃 “……… “ remember ‘remember, the 5th of Nov.” …… “ Philip ‘ this year you give the Queen speech”…… 🎆🎇😱🇬🇧💩⚖️⚖️⚖️…… GBTQ.

rogue withdrawal

They say Harry has gone rogue by marrying against advice. They say Harry went rogue releasing the statement in November 2016 when madam told him she felt unsafe and race was an issue. I never knew she was not Caucasian until this came out. They say Harry has again gone rogue not so much with the lawsuit, which by the way HE IS NOT SUING!! It is in her name the lawsuit has been filed. Back to they say he has again gone rogue by that blistering angry letter on their website that also listed the lawsuit information. So withdrawal, to remove or take something away from a place or position. It can also mean to leave or cause to leave a place or situation. So , this clue is basically meaning, he/ they have left SA on a very angry tone , things will be interesting as they settle back in London. Just wondering are we back to a doll now? Was the baby SA? Or American? Or who, what, where, when, how and why. These are the tenets of being a good interviewer, getting those basics down. Don’t you just hate it when people use the word basically all the time? I do apologize for that!🤣🤣😂😂😂

a petulant rattle slays fleet st.

Well this is basically saying a moody grumpy baby threw his rattle out of his pram and slayed Fleet Street. I explained Fleet Street in yesterday’s riddle, it’s the street in London for centuries where the newspapers are printed. It’s now synonymous with British/London journalists and journalism. There have been a number of editorials penned, PM being the most scathingly critical of PH. They are describing their assessment of his behaviour as entitled, spoilt, selfish, immature, et al, hence the way this clue is worded. To put things short and simple they see him as a spoilt child whose had a bad temper tantrum, for no logical reason, right after he has been given ten days worth’s of gifts ie positive PR. You decide for yourself, l am just explaining this clue.

royal analysis paralysis

Are they really paralyzed? Unable to take any action? The public has been clamouring for months, for HMTQ to DO SOMETHING! Read the comments in the DM, any media, in pubs, in workplaces everywhere, people are wondering why nothing , in their eyes, is being or has been done to rein her in and by virtue of his proximity to her and what’s happened this week, rein him in also. We know very well she called LG back for help. The things like separating of offices, separating the Cambridges and the Sussexes, the Heads together has happened awhile ago. Their office was moved to BP. PC cut off their funds a few weeks ago. I am 100% certain there have been so many things going on internationally in the background, most of which will remain classified we will never know. International security is at play. Then we have PA and JE with GM. So l would encourage people just to have a think before determining their paralysis analysis is correct.

“ settlement now!!!!

Is Harry demanding settlement? He cannot take anymore? Or is this any number of family, PC, PW, PP, who see him wasting away , want this settled and over? This has gone way past a quick settlement and life goes on as before. The whole plan in its evil agenda, still exists. People are demanding rid of her, take their titles away, ship them off to California and live as private citizen celebrities.

TM lawyers up

TM, Thomas Markle, madams father or daddy as she calls him, has lawyered up? I read all the papers about six this morning, l didn’t read that. A family of grifters, sounds like a country music song. There have been those who have had their doubts about the provenance of madam and whose who in this group of individuals. There have been people who believe they are all working together in this alleged project. I have no clue. If he has lawyered up, it is a very wise thing. This thing just is festering and festering for two years now, how much more can it fester before the boil needs lancing or it explodes on its own? I wonder who his lawyer is and who is paying his legal bills. 🤔🤔🤔

tabloid utopia

Let’s define these words so we all know what the basics are. A tabloid is a newspaper having pages half the size of those of a standard newspaper, typically popular in style and dominated by headlines, photographs, and sensational stories.lets be clear tabloid social media is much more common these days. Utopia is defined an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect. So madams PR for , since November 2016 has been thus. Fake relationship kept going through PR, Vanity Fair article. Twitter accounts multiple. All the thousands of PR articles have depicted a perfect marvellous life. Perfect husband, perfect love, marriage, shortly after wedding of perfection followed by pregnancy, fauxmegnancy, that lasted a year, resulting in many a cat and mouse game, born, not born, where, boy? Girl? Name? Photos not photos. It’s craziness. Everyone is fatigued, imagine how Harry feels! He is wasting away and breaking apart right before our eyes. Whether you think him complicit or not, there is no denying, hair loss, weight loss, looks like he hasn’t slept, ratty shoes wrinkled clothes and now the obvious back pain. A caring spouse would not have stood there smugly grinning like a Cheshire Cat next to him while he was giving a speech on obviously agonizing pain.

“ This is a bloody tape diversion old thing “

LG speaking with HMTQ. He is giving her his well educated opinion based upon his knowledge of the intel.This lawsuit is a massive look 👀 here, don’t look 👀 there, nothing interesting to see over there , LOOK HERE ARMS WAVING LOOK 👀 HERE!! This lawsuit is a massive distraction, or diversion to use LG’s words from tape that is now safely secured by LG and in possession of ‘the grey men’. Reassuring her, helping her process all of this stuff happening that is so hard to process. The average person in a lifetime will never encounter a narcissist on this scale.

“A spitting Halloween 🎃 “

Oh my goodness!!!! We heard a week or two back the British satirical puppet television show Spitting Image, was returning. Check old episodes out on YouTube it’s brutally hilarious!Is this telling us Hallowe’en is the first episode? It spares satirizing no one, royals, politicians, celebrities etc etc. Oh my how fabulous this would be🤣😂😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣. Just IMAGINE the costumes each character would wear🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂Oh the wig, the eye lash glue🤣😂😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣. Oh l hope the CBC airs it!! Please share it please!

“ remember ‘remember, the 5th of Nov.”

from Wikipedia, to save my hands, typing more challenging today.

Festivities in Windsor Castle by Paul Sandby, c. 1776

Guy Fawkes Night, also known as Guy Fawkes Day, Bonfire Night and Firework Night, is an annual commemoration observed on 5 November, primarily in the United Kingdom. Its history begins with the events of 5 November 1605 O.S., when Guy Fawkes, a member of the Gunpowder Plot, was arrested while guarding explosives the plotters had placed beneath the House of Lords. Celebrating the fact that King James I had survived the attempt on his life, people lit bonfires around London; and months later, the introduction of the Observance of 5th November Actenforced an annual public day of thanksgiving for the plot’s failure.End of Wikipedia.

Ha ha! Guy Fawkes, BONFIRE NIGHT IN 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 SCOTLAND, This has come up before, l have explained it. In case you didn’t see that, this goes back centuries. This day is still commemorated each year, and in Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿, it’s fabulous fun. Everyone setting off fireworks 💥 hence the term bonfire night, drinks all around and just a really fun night. One time, the house down the road, l don’t think he planned it well, too close to the house and a rocket crashed into the roof 🤣🤣😂😂😂😂. No major damage, likely too much drink involved 🤣🤣😂😂.

“ Philip ‘ this year you give the Queen speech”

HMTQ, speaking to her beloved likely half jokingly and half seriously. The Queen, speaks in the third person, which means she doesn’t say l or me, she says we would like tea or you may leave us now, l hope that makes sense. So with this sentence structure, the way it’s worded, reads to me as if they are having a one on one conversation about the Annual Christmas message. However, it may also be, but l don’t think so, since the word Annual is used,the Reigning Monarch speaks at the official opening of parliament. Since the Courts ruled the proroguing of Parliament was not valid, they can just resume Parliament. I think this is referring to HMTQ Annual Christmas message. I am attempting as l do the riddles, to help the worldwide readership here understand with background information we may take for granted that everyone knows. Each year on Christmas Day, at noontime, we stop and watch HMTQ Annual Christmas message on the tv. It’s a major part of Christmas Day as l was growing up and still watch to this day. It’s about ten or fifteen minutes or so. She reviews the major things that have happened, along with family milestones, weddings, babies etc. She always looks fabulous, but when does she not? She’s amazing! Sounds like things are just hitting her tolerance level and she is leaning on her husband who has been at her side all these years she has reigned.

🎆🎇😱🇬🇧💩⚖️⚖️⚖️

Fireworks times two, Britain will be shocked and mortified at the shi* that will be exposed in this lawsuit! She made a very very very bad move in the game she has been playing, let me rephrase that, her backers instructed her to make a very very bad move. One wonders , the letter from ‘Harry’ says this has been many months in the making. HRC tweet occurred, just before the U.S.Open. Madam jumped a flight to NYC less than 48 hours later. Methinks that was the genesis of this lawsuit.she played nice, sort of, because her nice is still not nice!!! in SA so the press were manipulated so she could say they were sometimes nice sometimes unbearable. My sentence structure is horrid but l hope my points are coming across! So not months in the making but weeks. One needs public sentiments, in a good way in any PR war, and this is war that has moved to the Courts. Remember we heard months ago, rather obtusely that a nephew was encouraged by his uncle to consult his grandfathers mate, regarding the higher courts? I believe it was in a riddle. I wonder if Harry was anticipating this day and action might come and wanted to prepare himself by getting knowledge from a trusted, well advised court. I cannot recall the title of this person, but he is an old mate of PP. This decision is going to turn out the be the final blow-out battle that has been coming for two years. The Mail on Sunday will not back down, and they have their dossier, she has way more to lose than they do. The public will NOT stand for any more impingement on their freedom of speech. For example, just look what happens in the DM comments when comments don’t appear or are removed, sometimes people banned or doxxed. Online, in social media things of a similar nature have happened, to our dear 🐼also. People will resist, they will not stand for it. There has been such outrage over money wasted, privilege, disrespect towards HMTQ and the citizen of the U.K. and Commonwealth.

GBTQ.

GOD BLESS. THE QUEEN!! INDEED!!

GSTQAOBC 🇨🇦

Thank you dear PG! How you can do these riddles is beyond me! Wow! Love it! They get more and more interesting all the time! Thank you, I know today is not a great day, so the effort you put into this for us all. Is so appreciated! You are the best! Thank you!🙏🏻💜💜💜

Skippy

Oct 3rd, 2019

——————

75:

💜💜🙏🏻🙏🏻THANK YOU MM ANON🙏🏻🙏🏻💜💜WISHING YOU A GRAND WEEKEND 💜😊💜

MM Anon

MM ANON …… Meanwhile at CH…… A Family meeting’ o dear!!…… “ One is apoplectic with disappointment “… (two red faces)…… “ this isn’t a game of happy f%#@k families!!!”…… an atmospheric cut…… legs and tails …… They Aga successful …… in the brown Windsor soup……a green beret chum…… nutmeg begs…… happy Harry …… SS documentary’s doom

1255 hrs CST

Meanwhile at CH

CH is Clarence House, the former home of the Queen mum. Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall now reside there and their offices are based there also. The clue reminds me of the saying, when life gets very hectic, meanwhile back at the ranch, meaning change of topic to get your mind off it, or in a movie it’s a complete change of scene. I hope that makes sense. I am desperately trying to make terms, words, phrases, for those who aren’t familiar, I WANT EVERYONE 😊😊😊😊WHO TAKES THE TIME TO READ MY INTERPRETATIONS TO BE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND! That’s extremely important to me. So interpretation, what’s going on at CH? Imagine the scurrying, the SA tour, amw on display like a medal 🎖 won at the Olympics, but not to his home country, a foreign one. Add to that madams lawsuit, and now Harry filing suit, it must be mayhem. Phone hacking must bring back memories of PC and Camilla whose naught naught private conversations were recorded and made public. They were mortified.They are balancing a dozen glass plates in the air , which one first?? Interesting Harry’s suit was filed last Friday but we are only learning of it now.

A Family meeting’ o dear!!

HMTQ has summoned everyone, this must be discussed and dealt with, l am speaking of madam, her lawsuit, but more pressing is the massive security breach allowing their phones to be hacked. I think a massive security overhaul and everyones mobiles, computers etc etc will need securing.I think decisions have been made in how to proceed, it may be explaining what will happen next. Some may say it’s an intervention, for Harry. An intervention, in the way l am meaning, happens when an addict is confronted by loved ones, usually with a therapist, often a surprise to the individual to be blunt in how they have been affected by the addicts behaviour, give them ultimatum, or choice, go to rehab or we severe or cut off all ties with you. I don’t think that way, l am still 100% behind Harry, he shrunken, depressed, in pain, and massively loyal to his granny HMTQ! I will not be dissuaded from my belief.

“ One is apoplectic with disappointment “

Let us review what apoplectic means, it is to be overcome with anger or extremely indignant, feeling or showing anger or being very annoyed at what is perceived as unfair treatment. Here we have the third person usage of the word One, that means it is HMTQ speaking. She is angry and very disappointed by something. I am certain this phone hacking, which was filed last Friday and made public today brings back memories of this happening before. She must be furious! Again many will say it’s about Harry. I am certain she has these feelings about where his initial poor choices and thinking he could manage madam on his own, and where this has led to.

(two red faces)

Harry and Rachel, is it possible those hacked phones and messages were of a very very VERY personal nature not with each other but others and that would be tres embarrassing. Your face reddens or blushes when embarrassed. I can only begin to imagine what they got on her from her phone. Harry, also, where was their security teams. Those phones should be firewalled up the wazoo. Did they learn NOTHING from the squidgy tapes with Diana or PC with Camilla wanting to be her you know the word!

“ this isn’t a game of happy f%#@k families!!!”

PP speaking, nothing is a game, to madam it’s a game , getting $$$££££€€£, using people, smug look when Harry was obviously so much in pain. This is the most serious game, by the way, have you ever read the story,The Most Dangerous Game ? It was mandatory read in my school curriculum, l can’t recall which grade.THATS A STORY! I can only, l have said this with almost every time l write about PP, imagine his rile, anger, fury even, at the goings on. A man’s man as we used to say, rugged, professional naval veteran, lifelong royal veteran, watching this all unfold. I am certain he has had his advice sought, especially from HMTQ, but he’s retired, he is unable to act, to do anything to stop this. I pray for them both.🙏🏻

an atmospheric cut

Atmosphere is defined as the envelope of gases surrounding the earth or another planet or , the one l think applies best here is the pervading tone or mood of a place or situation. I imagine the atmosphere at BP and with the royals, especially the Senior royals you could cut the tension with a knife. That’s a common saying , things get to intense people are almost frozen, cut it with a knife, literally not metaphorically yes.

legs and tails

Heads or tails are the usual when you flip a coin, here MM ANON has given us legs and tails. Well everyone since day one has had comment after comment about madams legs. Tails, well it does have a raunchy meaning, you either know or you don’t, this l am no sharing!

They Aga successful

William and Catherine met with the Aga Khan yesterday at the Aga Khan Centre in King’s Cross. This was to connect before their trip to Pakistan October 14 - 18,2019. The royal visit has been organized in co-operation with the High Commission of Pakistan. William and Kate met community leaders and business figures as well as musicians, chefs and artists from the Pakistani diaspora. Aga Khan is a title given to the Imam (leader) who serves as the spiritual leader of the Ismaili branch of Shiite Islam The current Aga Khan is 83-year-old Prince Shah Karim al-Husseini, the 49th Imam. The Imam role acts much like a royal dynasty, as the same family has passed down the title for the past 1,300 years. I recall reading in the paper his bloodline goes back to the Prophet Mohammed. He is a very revered and respected worldwide. Our PM and his family vacationed with him. They have known him since they were young when their father Pierre was our PM, Justin Trudeau now serves as his father did. This is all planning so that their visit builds on the success of Princess Diana’s trip years ago, in relationship building. This was a very important meeting and one that went exceedingly well. As usual, Catherine dressed completely appropriately, as she does! So this was a very successful prelude to the upcoming Royal tour to Pakistan 🇵🇰.

in the brown Windsor soup

What’s brown Windsor soup, lots of you are asking. It goes back to the Victorian era. Simply put, is a British meat soup that is said by when food was more scarce. Warm and hearty as it could be, warmed an empty belly. We might call it a sort of comfort food. The term brown Windsor soup became shorthand for horrible food and was used as a prop by comics in the post-war years. So if you’re in the soup, your rations are running low. Is madam broke? Or very nearly?

a green beret chum

What is a green beret some ask, was the official headdress of the British Commandos during WWII. It is still worn by members of the Royal Marines after passing the Commando Course and personnel from other units of the Royal Navy, Army and RAF who serve within Third Commando Brigade. and who have passed the All Arms Commando Course. The Duke of Sussex attended the revered has presented them with their green berets at Bickleigh the 42 Commando Royal course. Is Harry spending time with veteran chum to help him with his PTSD and the huge stress and strain he has been under? Only a veteran can truly understand the horrors and be entrusted to be there. I sincerely hope that is what this clue is, because Harry needs help in every facet of his being.l prayed 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 so long for him last night.

nutmeg begs

What is she begging for l wonder?🧐🤔🤔 Is she begging to rescind the lawsuit with the blow-up. Is she begging please please not to share the information obtained from her mobiles, l am sure she has several, after all how many twitter accounts does she have☺️☺️🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂. Fearing the blowback of the MOS revealing what all they have kept schtum on all this time. I don’t think she thought through the ramifications of what she has done by filing suit. But, then again, thinking has never been her forté nor her job, her backers did and continue to do all the thinking, planning and ordering her actions.

happy Harry

This is a crazy clue because the only time l saw Harry happy, like for real happy, in the last two plus years, was the day he attended the Anzac Day service with Catherine. Now, within the last hour, word has been announced that he has filed lawsuits against The Sun and The Mirror and the owners for hacking his phone. This is way more serious that madams issue. There would, if in fact this happened, would have required very skilled intelligence people because of his status l a certain his mobile is very very secured OR IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN!! I cannot fathom what would make him happy, unless her begging is for a divorce and leaving , or just plain leaving. The only rabbit l can pull out of this hat, is that his mission is complete now that the SA and other African country visits are complete. He can now heal and resume some semblance of a life! I hope and pray l am correct!

SS documentary’s doom.

A whole lot of bang for your buck or should l say the backers buck eh Rachel?? One might even think they had two clients, the one that paid more wanted them to pretend to be her PR the while working against!, Dont cry for me Argentina, song from Evita! the play/film 🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂 make that don’t cry for me Rachelina 🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂Since SS has come on board things have gone from worst to unimaginable worse🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂. They’re not long for this world, likely they have already been sacked.

GSTQAOBC 🇨🇦

1430 hrs CST Oct 4

Thank you PG! This looks interesting….fun times coming! Much appreciated

Oct 4th,

—————

76: Oct. 5

💜💜🙏🏻🙏🏻THANK YOU MM ANON🙏🏻🙏🏻💜💜

MM Anon

MM ANON …… chocolate sundae …… don’t give up your day job …… single exit west …… a SMALL diversion … “ is he mine?” …… home alone ………… “ I fear for them Philip” …… Duty calls …… 🎼” you wore out your welcome with random precision “🎼……… “ we must talk Harry”……… jack and Jill went up the hill ……… “ it’s all on This memory stick.

October 5,2019 2030 hrs

chocolate sundae

What’s better than a chocolate sundae? Hmmmmm maybe a chocolate MOS(Mail on Sunday) 😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁 MM ANON are you cleverly telling us that there will be oh so sweet tidbits of final exposure in the MOS and or other media? Chocolate may be colour, or maybe chocolate sauce was used in lieu of salad dressing in the tossed salads! My mind never knew these things before, madam has affected or infected all of us in filthy ways!

don’t give up your day job

This is an expression used when someone is doing something very very poorly like singing at the karaoke, or something like that. I am surmising here that madams performance in the video that allegedly exists is not Oscar worthy🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂. What’s the difference, none of her others have been, especially the penultimate role as DOS,!!! I wish they had a spitting emoji!

single exit west

Is this suggesting that madam will do an exit stage left, as they used to say in the cartoons, and leave by herself and head west across the pond? Please go, we will all pitch in for the one way ticket, just go away!! Is she going to take archficial?? Who will care for him??🤣🤣😂

a SMALL diversion

Diversion, is a distraction, SMALL in all caps, that’s done to elevate that word. So what is the diversion and who is using and needing it? All roads lead to Rome , but in this case all roads lead to madam. She thought her lawsuit was the cats meow, she must have been thunderstruck, sorry AC/DC reference..see l am learning from MM ANON😁! But she must have been thunderstruck to learn Harry had filed suit a week ago bit more now, against hacking. Her proverbial goose is really cooked, as l have no doubt hacking was used to gather intel on him, William Catherine any of them, this plot has been in the planning for years! Her searching for Harry’s mobile so furiously, l am SOOOOOOO glad whoever sought that on film!!

“ is he mine?”

References back to Morocco when Harry made the comment “is it mine” Everyone in the room laughed except madam, l am sure she was seething with rage! So here we have is HE mine? So one wonders at what this means, is this a typo, or did l get it wrong? Nevertheless, the meaning and interpretation is the same.Those who were already sceptical took this as a major clue from Harry. The bulk of people thought he was just being silly. The line he said before that was something like Oh, you’re pregnant?? So we know it’s not Harry’s child, they were never intimate post wedding, grounds for annulment! MM ANON clue is telling us that we are going to shortly find this out, ok shortly is my wish but it’s all going to come out. If madam does a runner to the U.S. won’t that be interesting. She has no idea what her backers are really capable of, she should be afraid very afraid of who she’s tethered to and how much information she knows!

home alone

Poor archficial, all alone, outlived his usefulness. But madam is home alone or not depending whose sofa she’s sleeping on or staying with. Harry is back to Not Cot with his dog, l am sure his dog will give him a royal welcoming. Those of you who have dogs know how therapeutic they can be.

“ I fear for them Philip”

HMTQ sharing concerns for Duke and Duchess of Cambridge as they take on this high risk Royal tour of Pakistan. There are many, including sugars who would delight with glee if something untoward would occur. Security will be very very very tight, the outlay of the tour states it will be their most complex tour yet. The itinerary will be kept close at the best as to where they are visiting specifically etc etc, it will be a pure military and RPO nightmare to keep them safe. They , on the other hand will represent HMTQ with aplomb, they will be relaxed or appear so and l foresee thus being a hugely successful Royal tour. We must pray for all involved!🙏🏻

Duty calls. Harry has several appearances , as Prince Harry on October 10,2019 international Mental Health Day. Back to duty he goes, he , you can never dissuade me , is 100% loyal to HMTQ. He will resume his duties. I hope in the interim there has been time to debrief, talk about what happened in the field upon return to home base . I have led many debriefings, they take place in many firms, people of crimes, military after a tour of duty, firemen or police officers after a bad scene or officer involved shooting, healthcare staff after assault or violent incident etc etc you get it. 🎼” you wore out your welcome with random precision “🎼

MM ANON returns to Pink Floyd, Shine On You Crazy Diamond. Song someone wanting it all willing to do anything, end up dark and exposed by the light. This is a marvellous lyric to describe the situation that is now happening? HOW DO YOU DO THIS MM ANON? YOU’RE BEYOND BRILLIANT! I THINK WRITING THESE RIDDLES FAR JARDER THAN SOLVING, I TAKE MY HAT OFF TO YOU! I AM WRITING UPPERCASE BECAUSE I WANT TO RESPECT HER AND HAVE HER TAKE NOTICE.

we must talk Harry”

HMTQ, His attorney, PC, PW or all talk about what is really going on, make a plan and figure out what the next step should be. I think the most important thing is, talk about how he is appearing, depressed, thin, stressed and in agony with his back. I am certain they are all worried sick at the toll this has taken on him in every way as are many of us.

jack and Jill went up the hill

Old child’s nursery rhyme it goes Jack and Jill ran up the hill to fetch a pail of water , Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after.

Isn’t this a perfect description of where our Harry is at with a lot of people? He paired up with this Jill, sorry to all the Jill’s that read this, nothing personal, and since then it’s been one long for lack of better word sh** show of lack of respect for HMTQ, merch fest, etc etc. Harry’s crown or reputation is in tatters and now the media are furious by his statement, his altercation with Rhiannon Mills of Sky news and on and on. The ultimate fall, for her, is coming. She will tumble lower than low once the dossier on her is in the public realm and the alleged video!! I am waiting with bated breath for the MOS tomorrow!!

“ it’s all on This memory stick.

Yep everything about her, what she’s done, the backers, her calls back and forth with them, emails, videos, her yachting history, the lost years, the ‘Markle family’ everything is on this memory stick and LG has and it will be put to use. They have her, she got cocky in SA and invaded her own privasy☺️🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂🤣🤣. All laughs aside this has been a deadly serious plot to bring down the entire BRF! Justice is coming, the people of the U.K. and Commonwealth who aren’t taking the time to look beneath and take PR as truth will be shocked into disbelief. The process of truth telling will be a measured approach to be sure.

I am in awe of you two ladies! Wow! You speak the same “language”…..this again is amazing, and very informative…things are coming…fantastic! So appreciated! Thank you, dear PG and MM Anon!💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

gstqaobc

Thank you dearest MM ANON for the absolute honour and privilege of interpreting or at least attempting to, your riddles. 💜🐼💜🙏🏻☺️🐼☺️ Thank you for doing me the continued honour of allowing me to do my interpretations of MM ANON’s brilliant riddles and for posting my work! This has been so good for my brain 🧠 and exercising my. Rita al thinking skills! Let this be my small contribution to your blog and to being aTruth Seeker as Christ calls me to be. GSTQAOBC 🇨🇦

———————

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bee-kathony · 6 years ago

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Call Me By Your Name | Ch. 1 - Albicocche

a/n: Huge thank you to @abbydebeaupreposts for being my beta for this chapter and helping me work out some of the kinks! I’m thinking this will be a four parter.

Somewhere in Northern Italy, 1983

John leaned back against the pillows, one hand behind his head, “When is he coming?” Isobel asked and plopped down on the bed beside him.

“Any minute now, his plane arrived this morning from Scotland.” John quirked his eyebrows up, he knew Isobel had a thing for Scottish men.

Every year, John’s family spent the summer at their Italian home and their neighbours, the Dunsanys accompanied them, owning the decently sized house next door. Italy was a nice change from the cold stuffy weather of England. “I wonder what he’ll be like?” John rose from his bed to look out the window, but there was no sign of a car approaching.

“Perhaps he’ll be like the last one, a conceited know-it-all,” Isobel laughed, brushing her hands through her stringy brown hair. John liked Isobel, she was sweet and they fooled around sometimes but he wasn’t attracted to her, it was just a youthful exploration.

“Yeah, let’s hope not.” John said under his breath. John’s father was an archaeologist and, during the summer months, he would hire an assistant come to help him catalogue his findings. They were always young men, working on their PhDs, somewhere in Europe. Just then a honk came from outside the open window and he heard the faint sound of his father’s footsteps on the cobblestone pavement. “That must be him.” John and Isobel ran down the stairs to get a glimpse of the new assistant who would be with them for six weeks.

“Welcome! Welcome!” His father, Gerard said as he greeted the red haired man, “Oh, my, you’re much bigger than your pictures!” He laughed placed his hand on the back of the man’s shoulder. The large man was clad in loose cotton shorts and a billowing half unbuttoned dress shirt with sunglasses hanging between the material.

In a thick Scottish accent, the man replied, “Och, I couldna fit all of myself in the pictures it seems.” John liked him immediately, his clothes, his chiseled jaw and that accent — he could listen to it all day. This was all very superficial of course, but he hoped he would get to know more about him over his stay.

As his father and the man approached him, John stuck out his hand in introduction, “Hi, I’m John Grey.”

The tall man took his hand, firm in his grip, “Jamie Fraser.” He smiled, and there was a warmth that fell over John and he was now very much looking forward to the summer.

Jamie walked past John and he caught a slight whiff of lavender and whisky. “Make yourself at home, Jamie. “La nostra casa è ora la tua casa.” Gerard led Jamie around, giving him a quick tour while John followed closely behind. Isobel waved goodbye and turned to head back to her own house next door, John almost missed her departure due to the fact that he was staring at the back of Jamie’s head, watching his auburn curls bounce with every step.

“John, dear, will you take Jamie’s things up to his room?” His mother, Benedicta, asked him, her hand soft on his shoulder as she shook him out of his daze. She gave him a knowing look, one John didn’t quite know the full meaning behind but as her eyes darted over to Jamie, he blushed and kissed her on the cheek.

John then looked over at Jamie who was staring at him, his own smile plastered on his face. “Follow me,” John called to Jamie and started up the stairs to his room, which adjoined Jamie’s with a shared bathroom.

“’Tis a lovely house ye have, John.” Jamie remarked as they walked through the halls.

“Oh thanks. It’s quite different from our home in England and I love the weather here. I’m sure you’ll find it’s a nice change from the Scottish rain.” He laughed and set the suitcase he’d been carrying on the floor of his bedroom.

Jamie’s shoulder brushed against him as he passed. John watched as the large Scot jumped onto the bed face first with a sigh.

“If you need anything, my room is connected through the bath right there,” John looked down at Jamie but there was no response as he had fallen asleep.

“A lazy one aren’t we.” John smiled to himself and crossed through the bathroom to his own room and sat down at his desk, resuming writing a letter to his brother who was currently back in England. John missed his brother, Hal, it was usually the two of them all summer, riding around Italy, chasing girls and staying out all night. But since Hal got the internship with the Prime Minister, he wasn’t able to join them this year.

An hour later, his mother was calling up for them to join them downstairs for dinner. He stood from his desk, laying his headphones over his journal and crossed through the bathroom to his old room. Jamie was splayed across the bed, arms out and mouth agape. John noticed that Jamie was smiling in his sleep which he found quite endearing.

Walking over to his bookshelf, John picked up a heavy book and “dropped” it on the ground with a loud thud. Jamie immediately jumped and stirred, his eyes opening to stare up at John.

“We’re being called down to dinner,” John said, his gaze never leaving the ocean blue eyes.

“Och, I’ll have to pass this time. Was up all night packing and saying goodbye to friends,” he sighed and closed his eyes again.

John walked to the door, “Oh and could ye close the door?” Jamie said and promptly pushed his head back against the pillow.

++++++

The next morning, John sat outside with his parents over breakfast. The house had a large orchard on the property that grew fresh fruits like peaches, apricots and pomegranates. John took a sip of his apricot juice as he heard the loud steps of what could only be Jamie descending.

“Ah, look who it is,” Gerard said, raising his hands in the air, “Jamie, recovered have we?”

Jamie took the seat next to his father and picked up a boiled egg, immediately peeling the shell off. “Aye, the moment my head hit the pillow, I was out. I didna even hear John come back from dinner.” At the sound of his name on Jamie’s lips, John felt something in him stir, curiosity maybe?

“That’s great, Jamie, I’m glad you could rest,” Benedicta smiled across the table, pouring him a glass of apricot juice.

John sat back quietly, eating the bits of his breakfast and just watched as Jamie took the proffered glass and slowly drank the juice, a little bit of the orange liquid spilling down his mouth and neck.

“This apricot juice is most likely the best thing I have ev’r had!” Jamie sighed and set the glass back down on the table and his mother refilled it to the top. John looked at his father, amused, already knowing what he’s going to say.

“The word apricot comes from the Arabic — it’s like the words ‘algebra’, ‘alchemy’, and ‘alcohol’,” Gerard said to Jamie, “It derives from an Arabic noun combined with the Arabic article ‘al-‘ before it. The origin of our Italian ‘albicocca’ was ‘al-barquq’…”

Benedicta tries to hide her smile and picks up the morning newspaper from the table as Gerard continues, “It’s amazing that today in Israel and many Arab countries, the fruit is referred to by a totally different name: ‘mishmish’.”

The corner of Jamie’s lips quirked and John settled in to his chair, “I beg to differ.”

“Ah, do you?”

“The word is not actually an Arabic word.” Jamie replied, folding his hands over his firm stomach.

“How so?” Gerard replied with a smirk of his own.

“I’m diving into a bit of etymology, one of my passions, so bear with me,” the Scot laughed, “Many Latin words are derived from the Greek. In the case of ‘apricot’, however, it’s the other way around.” Jamie grins over at John, catching him off guard and John felt a blush creep up his neck.

“Here the Greek takes over from Latin. The Latin word was ‘praecoquum’, from ‘pre-coquere’, pre-cook, to ripen early, as in precocious, meaning premature.” John watched Jamie’s lips ast they formed the complicated words.

“The Byzantines - to go on -“ he laughed again, “borrowed ‘praecox’, and it became ‘prekokkia’ or ‘berikokki’, which is finally how the Arabs must have inherited it as ‘al-barquq’.”

The Grey family was silent, sharing looks between one another until John laughed and Gerard said, “Passed with flying colours.” Jamie looks from his father to his mother before settling his eyes on John.

“He does this every year.” John laughed, remembering the one man who came to stay with them one year who had no idea what any of it meant and agreed with his father on his wrong understanding of the derivation of the word.

John finished the rest of his own juice and looked back to Jamie, “I can show you around today.”

“Aye, that’d be great.” Smiling he took another bite of his fourth egg and reached for a piece of toast.

++++++

John led Jamie through the small town on bikes, the sun scorching high in the sky, a gentle summer breeze in the air. They peddled to a small cafe in an unpopulated area and took a seat across from each other at a small table.

“So John, what do you do around here?” Jamie asked, taking a sip of his iced latte, his eyebrows raised in question.

John licked his lips, tasting salty perspiration, “I read mostly, go out at night — play chess.”

“Oh I love chess! We’ll have to play together sometime,” Jamie offered, his legs crossed under the table and bumped against John’s knee.

“Great. I’ll probably beat you, just letting you know,” John grinned and took a long sip of his own iced coffee.

“We shall see about that,” the Scot said, his blue eyes crinkling against the rays of the sun. John stared back into the Scots eyes and thought he saw a flicker of flirtation but it was gone as soon as it came.

“When you go out,” Jamie said, his hand brushing back loose curls that fell over his eyes, “are there girls that go wi’ ye?”

“Of course, there always are. You’ll meet our neighbors soon, the Dunsanys, they have two daughters around my age.”

“A bit young for me perhaps,” Jamie attempted a wink, “How old are ye anyways?” He laughed.

John answered, suddenly feeling like a child, too young to be taken seriously, “I’m nineteen.”

“Och, I coulda sworn ye were at least twenty or twenty-one.” Jamie grinned, taking another sip of his latte, “I’m twenty-three, so only a four year age difference.”

“Are you religious?” John suddenly asked, out of the blue, pointing to a silver cross necklace hanging around Jamie’s neck.

Holding the small cross between his fingers, Jamie smiled, “Och, I’m Catholic, born and raised, are ye religious at all, John?”

“Oh yes, my family is Church of England. Although we don’t necessarily partake in everything – casual you could say,” his lip quirked up at the side, earning a similar smile from Jamie.

It was ease of conversation that John liked when he talked with Jamie. Nothing was forced, no one was trying too hard.

They finished their coffees in silence and both stood to climb back on to their bikes. John was unstable and as he put his foot on the peddle his foot slipped, causing the bike to push against Jamie. His hand reflexively went out and clutched at Jamie’s shoulder to hold himself steady, a wave of electricity went through his body at the contact.

“Sorry,” John stammered and righted himself back on the bike.

“’Tis no worries, mate.” Jamie smiled and together they peddled back to the Grey’s house.

++++++

The next day a few of John’s friends come round to play a game of volleyball in their big backyard. Isobel came and of course brought her older sister, Geneva. John knew Isobel was quite jealous of Geneva, she was beautiful and very charming whereas Isobel was quiet and held back how she truly felt most of the time.

He laid back on a towel spread out on the lawn.

“He seems a big improvement from the last assistant,” Isobel smiled, casting her hand over her eyes to look over at Jamie who was playing a game with some others.

“Yes, indeed he is.” John dropped his book to his chest and found himself staring at the long lines of Jamie’s body and noticed the man had deep scars on his back. He would have to ask him about those sometime.

“And Geneva is quite taken with him, I see,” Isobel scowled and crossed her arms over her chest, pulling her sunglasses onto her face.

John found that he too was jealous of the way that Jamie hugged Geneva, but he pushed that thought aside and told himself he was jealous because he fancied Geneva, not the other way around. “Who wouldn’t be, that is the question.” As he stared over at Jamie, he noticed that Jamie was now on his way over to them.

“John, did ye want to come and play in the next game?” He asked, clasping a large hand over his shoulder.

John shook his head, trying to act casual about the touch, “No. I’m perfectly content to sit out here, soak up the sun.” He stretched his arms out in front of him.

Jamie began to rub his hand over his shoulder, back and forth almost as if he was massaging his muscles, “Well, ye need a bit of sun. Yer quite pale,” he laughed and with a gentle slap against his skin, Jamie turned and left, back to the game.

That brief moment of contact, much like yesterday on their bikes, left John reeling and he spent that night thinking about Jamie’s hands somewhere else on his body.

++++++

One night at dinner, about six days into Jamie’s stay, before Jamie came down, John asked his father what he thought about Jamie. “Do you think he’s a bit arrogant though?”

His father looked up at him, “No, not at all.” He grinned, “Well maybe a little but who isn’t? I actually think he’s more shy than arrogant however.”

“Meanwhile, we have to put up with his arrogant shy arse, for six long weeks!” His mother chimed in which made John laugh.

“I think you’ll grow to like him, John.”

“But what if I grow to hate him?” John replied, but he knew no one could possibly hate Jamie Fraser. It was only his confused feelings that made him say this.

++++++

It was another hot summer afternoon, all of John’s friends had left to go down to the river but John stayed back, too deep in his own thoughts to imagine having fun.

No one was in the house, to his knowledge and John was feeling very relaxed so he laid back against the bed and let his hand wander down his bare chest. He settled it over his boxers, feeling his bulge against his hand. It was thoughts of Jamie that aroused him, picturing his toned back, his wavy curls. Normally if John did this, he pictured a woman but things had changed ever since Jamie came to town. It wasn’t just the Scot’s good looks, there were many handsome men and John wasn’t ashamed to think that. But it was Jamie’s mind that captivated him, and he felt almost like he’d known him his entire life.

His hand slid down into his boxers and he took a firm hold of himself, shutting his eyes and began to stroke himself.

Just as he was about to finish, he heard footsteps in the hallway and quickly pulled his hand out, a deep red spreading across his chest and face.

“Oh, John. There ye are.” Jamie smiled as he came into the room, “Why are ye no’ wi’ yer friends down at the river?”

John sat up from the bed, trying to cover himself, “I just didn’t feel like it.” A poor excuse.

“I see. Well ye wanna go for a swim? Just us two?” Jamie asked, hopeful.

“Sure,” John felt that same stirring deep in his stomach, “just give me a minute and I’ll meet you outside.” Jamie grinned, almost as if he knew that John had just masturbated.

John stood from the bed and walked to the bathroom, grabbing his swim shorts and sliding them on. He looked in the mirror and felt confused, did he really think about Jamie in that way? John thought he must be making it all up in his head, that Jamie could be attracted to someone like him. But the lingering looks at dinner, the way Jamie included him in activities, it had to mean more.

++++++

Jamie hadn’t wanted to admit it to himself, but ever since his arrival he had been taken with John. He’d only kissed a few guys, it was never serious and didn’t amount to much more than making out when he got too drunk. He hoped that John hadn’t seen the way he’d been looking at him over dinner and he prayed to God that John couldn’t read his face. Because if he did, he would learn that Jamie thought about kissing John and wondered what his mouth would taste like on his. John was young and impressionable, Jamie knew he shouldn’t tempt him, so he would try and hold his feelings back.

There was also the issue of Jamie’s fiancée… Claire, waiting for him back home. Jamie hoped this trip to Italy would clear his mind.

#Call me by your name #fanfic #outlander fanfic #john grey #lord john #jamie fraser #wee mention of claire #john x jamie #mclairefras #cmbyn fic #chapter 1 #albicocche #italian for #apricot

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itwasanangryinch · 6 years ago

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3...2...1... Happy New Year!!

For the first (?) time, I’m actually going to make and complete a New Years meme, because fuck it, I had a good year. I’m also going to put much shorter answers for last year since I had wanted to do this then, but then... didn’t.

Favourite new (to me) band: Against Me! 5 favourite songs:

The Ocean

White Crosses

True Trans Soul Rebel

I Was a Teenage Anarchist

Norse Truth

I’ve known about Against Me! since lead singer Laura Jane Grace since she came out as trans in 2012 with her Rolling Stone profile, but I hadn’t heard any of their songs until a couple of years ago. This year was the first year I really got into her music (both here and with The Devouring Mothers) after reading her biography Tranny while on vacation in Melbourne.

Runner up: Miss Guy and the Toilet Boys, seen for the first time at Wigstock 2.Ho

2017′s answer: Ataru Nakamura, the very, very talented trans performer who played Yitzhak to JCM’s Hedwig in Japan (and because of the staging, also played Hedwig for the non-singing part of the script.)

Favourite new (to me) city: Melbourne, Australia.

If you had asked me last year, my answer would have been Tokyo, Japan and this year’s is my favourite for much the same reasons: Melbourne is very easy to get around, very fun to walk around, and I got to see the wonderful John Cameron Mitchell perform there.

Melbourne is absolutely beautiful with so many shops to explore and a free (within the few square blocks I mostly kept to) public transport system.

Runner up: Sydney, Australia. Very similar to Melbourne and might have been the favourite if I had been able to stay there longer, but.... schedules.

2017′s answer: Toyko, Japan. For the reasons listed above. I could actually see myself moving to Tokyo at some point. Not right now, but possibly eventually.

Favourite concert: John Cameron Mitchell: The Origin of Love, Brisbane

This year I have seen this concert seven times in addition to one very abridged show in Portland, Oregon to go along with a double header of Hedwig and How to Talk to Girls at Parties.

On this particular date, the band gelled really well; John was in a great mood, great energy; the crowd was incredible..... Everything just... Worked. (Even tho this was the concert I had the least amount of interaction with John afterwards, lol.)

Definitely looking forward to seeing where John takes the performances for his upcoming stateside tour and at a later, yet to be announced, time in Japan.

Runner ups: (aside from the rest of the OoL tour), Rocky Horror with Mason Alexander Park, Taboo 15 (with Mason), Alice Cooper, and Wigstock 2.Ho where I finally got to see NPH performing as Hedwig.

2017′s answer: Hedwig and the Angry Inch: October 14th, evening. Tokyo, Japan.

In my estimation, this was the best of all of the Hedwig concerts. By this point, everyone had performed this in front of an audience twice before and the show from beginning to end gelled really well. Again, there was an incredible energy between the band and the two lead performers and the audiences for all of the Japan shows were great. From beginning to end, this one was the best.

From about the Tommy monologue til the end, the final Tokyo show (Oct. 15th) was the best because there was this crackling, alive, angry energy that had an almost dangerous feeling to Exquisite Corpse and was the only show (surprisingly!!) where I cried at the delivery of my favourite line “Then love the front of me.” On that show, with the exception of Exquisite Corpse, I cried from that line til John started the encore song, ‘The End of Love’ and I had only stopped there because I had completely forgotten he was doing an encore song.

Favourite movie: Black Panther

I’ve been waiting literal years for this movie to be made and there was not one thing to be disappointed in in its final rendering in my opinion. I realize that unlike a large portion of the audience, this movie was very much not reflective of my experiences and at no point would I claim to be represented by it as anything other than a nerd and a comic book fan.

Being a fan of the Black Panther for years has meant having tone deaf comic lines, sidelined animated stories, and much less content, merch, and even cartoon adaptation than some of his paler counterparts. So to see a film that was technically and narratively perfect being rendered so beautifully and taking the box office for many, many weeks was a wonderful way to start this year.

Runners up: Deadpool 2, Bad Samaratian, and does How to Talk to Girls at Parties even count for this year if I saw it last year in Japan??

2017′s answer: a strong tie between Transpotting 2 and HtTtGaP. T2 because it was so much better than I could have ever hoped it to be. It married themes and footage from the first film perfectly to the characters’ lives 20 years on. It gave me hope for an eventual Hedwig sequel in terms of quality because based on interviews, they share a similar tone in terms of ageing characters. Plus Danny Boyle’s cinematography was truly beautiful with the use of shadows, call-backs, foreshadowing.... A true equal to the most iconic of Scottish films.

HtTtGaP because well.... John Cameron Mitchell’s direction mixed with an alien invasion set against punk rock and the Queen’s jubilee? How could I not love it? To me, it’s a strong second to Hedwig in terms of quality and netted my absolute favourite review via the BBC (‘This is one of the worst films ever made’, trust me Beeb reviewer, if that were true, cinema would be a far more enjoyable art form.)

Favourite vacation: Australia

Long story short: I met my favourite actor five times. It’s very rare in this life that you can actually tell an artist who influenced your life in a very meaningful way just how much their art and they as a person mean to you. This year, after seeing JCM perform live eight times and on video, no lie, thousands of times, I had the chance to actually do this. And unlike how I was worried about for the past three years, I wasn’t actually nervous to talk to him at all. Part of that is that he is a very easy person to feel at ease with, very comforting presence.... And part of it was that during the first Australian show I went to where I’m dressed as the very first Squeezebox Hedwig, John lay on top of me as part of the final number. How could I be scared to talk to him after that introduction??

Runners up: going to see Taboo 15 in New York with my best friend and touring the David Bowie Is exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum (March), going to see Wigstock with Risa. Technically, I ditched work to be able to go, but.... 10/10, I would do it again. I saw a lot of amazing performers for the first time, had a chance to chat with Mason again, and saw the tour de force that is Neil Patrick Harris as Hedwig and Lena Hall as Yitzhak.

Hopefully next year, the Hedwig section will be able to be longer. (Or maybe Yitz will perform by himself. Or multiple Hedwigs. Or just the entire Hedwig script delivered at the end of a seven hour drag festival pre-show.)

2017′s answer: Hedwig in Japan. Not only did I get to meet my friend @miyacantdecide for the first time in person, I was able to see the wonder that is JCM as Hedwig live. Even when he’s not delivering the script, his presence as Hedwig is truly something else. And having seen him perform as himself (but in a version of her makeup) this year, I can honestly say that She has a completely different stage presence to Him and how incredible of an actor to be able to deliver such radically different interpretations of the same material and songs??

Outside of Hedwig, I can honestly say that I came back from Japan a changed person. Better in so many ways than I was a year previous. Almost completely made whole again after past traumas (and completed a year later on a different trip.)

2017′s runner up: seeing RENT 20 live. I had a blast hanging out with my mother most of the days and the RENT 20 cast? Holy shit. What talents. Cried from ‘I’ll Cover You (Reprise)’ til the end of ‘Finale B’. Just goes to show: it doesn’t matter if the show’s set in December and it’s hot As Fuck outside if you have a talented cast bundled up in sweaters for 75% of the script.

Favourite album: Golden by Kylie

Not only does pop’s most talented princess talk about her recent breakup with Joshua Sause (sp?), there’s themes of her ageing as this year our princess turned 50. While I agree with reviewers that this isn’t her best musically or vocally, I find myself replaying this one over and over on my stereo and headphones more than almost any other album this year. Favourite song: a toss up between Shelby ‘68 and Low Blow.

2017′s answer: Pollinator by Blondie. It had been two years since the release of 2014′s Ghost of Download, but unlike Ghost’s offerings that went largely unnoticed by me at the time, every single from Pollinator got me more and more hyped not only because of the excellent music evident on songs such as Fun, Long Time, and Doom or Destiny, but collaborations with artists such as Raja (on the video for Fun) and Joan Jett (the aforementioned Doom or Destiny), the honey-thick entrancing song Fragments, and the wonderful Love Line.

This year has been weirder, queerer, and more wonderful than any year yet on record. I’ve been to a number of technically-but-not-really drag shows, revisited some of my favourite artists in concert, met two of my favourite Hedwigs, and saw four total Heds perform.... I’ve read and learned more about the queer experience that not only deepened my understanding of my larger community, but of my own experiences and how they fit within the community. I’ve become more confident being out to coworkers and customers at my job....

I had the pleasure of meeting two of my close friends @hedwig-in-a-jukebox and @fdelopera in person (with plans to meet up again early-2019) as well as making some new friends.

Here’s to an even better 2019! Onwards and upwards.

#about me #new years meme #((let's see if I remember to complete this before it posts))#((cos I'm writing this when the year's not even 75% of the way done!))

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lizardscuddling · 7 years ago

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MCC Live!

Earlier this month I had the awesome opportunity to fly to London to see my favorite band, MCC. It was their first show in nearly a decade, but you couldn’t tell. Both nights the atmosphere was charged with nervous and exciting energy—both the audience and the band were more than thrilled to be there. Here’s how it went down.

Saturday night I hung out at the bar for a few hours before the show. Fans began congregating by the door about an hour beforehand so we could get a good spot. Although the ticket lady almost didn’t let me in because my tickets apparently didn’t get added to the will-call list, I managed to make it to the 2nd row on stage right: directly in front of the microphone.

Quickly after the opener ended (True Moon, who was awesome and totally worth listening to), MCC ran out and helped to set up their gear. They were all nervous but super stoked to be out there, and as soon as Martin appeared to set up his gear pedals (idk anything about music lol) the entire audience flipped out and cheered for him. His response was to lovingly shush us; “It’s a fucking line check!”

The performance itself was amazing. After the sound check they disappeared and soon ran back out with beer in their hands and smiles on their faces. The audience had great energy; everyone was really excited to be there, and for the most part pretty engaged in the set. Martin made quite a few drunken quips throughout the show. At one point his microphone stopped working and he remarked, “I’m obviously not a singer, so we have to do a lot of things to make my voice sound good, and when tech breaks down that becomes a problem.” He introduced the band, and referred to Arvid as his “Kid brother, who hasn’t played drums since he was 6, and vowed never to pick it up again.” The job of being a frontman is obviously pretty new to him, but he took it up well.

The music itself blew my socks off. Fia Kempe from The Great Discord came out every few songs to lend her voice, and it sounded amazing. She and Martin were not afraid to get up on the barrier and play in front of the crowd, which was a real treat for us at the front. My favorite song was probably Demon King. When played live the band finishes the song with a powerful, uplifting solo. Attending a Midnight Screen was also dope, as was Sway. Honestly I can’t think of a single song that I didn’t think was amazing. The biggest surprise of the night was when MCC played “Sleepy Eye June.” Martin introduced it as “the only love song (he) ever wrote… which turned out kind of dark.” They recorded it on a three piece demo, he said, and the final version will be appearing on their next album, due “2027.” That was an amazing surprise to end the night on—they even kept the voice sample from “Excalibur!”

Shortly after the show I had to run outside to grab money for merch. By the time I came back the band was hanging out at the stage signing things for fans. I first went up to Fia, who was chillin’ and told her how much I appreciate her work. Soon after I made my way to Martin, where I overheard him ask a fan, “was my set too short? I was worried about that, but I was thinking ‘if it were me, I wouldn’t want to hear myself perform for very long. Just in and out.’” Another fan urged him to go to France, and he replied that they had plans to—but they’re secret, so he can’t disclose more than that. I later heard from another fan that MCC plans to tour more in Europe later this year and, hopefully eventually, North America. When it came time for me to get my stuff signed I Introduced myself and told him I was from Seattle. He said that was cool and he loves Seattle; he also really loves Oregon, because of the Goonies.

Eventually I made it outside and hung out with some fans. I found Niels standing at a doorway and joined in on the conversation. Someone asked him if he’s going to continue playing with In Flames, and he replied that he wasn’t sure. It can be fun playing on a huge stage, he remarked, but he prefers the vibes of smaller venues. He’d like to continue playing with MCC, if he can. I told him I really liked his music, his solo stuff too, and was super stoked to see him—especially, being from Seattle, I wasn’t sure if I would ever be able to. He told me he thought Seattle was awesome, and that when he came there with Dead Soul and Ghost their friend from the area drove them around the city and he fell in love. He’d like to return one day. I asked him to sign my poster, and he pointed to a random building in the design, remarked “that’s where I live,” drew an arrow to it, and signed it. At that point another fan asked him to sign his ticket, but he kept talking to me—he poked me with their ticket!—and told me to listen to listen to an American band he likes (sorry Niels I was too drunk I totally forgot who it was). He traveled from Sweden to London to see them when he was young, and asked the band manager if he could meet the singer. He was told no, but got tickets to see them in Sweden. The singer killed himself right after that show. I probably looked at him like “wtf?” and he assured me that he isn’t planning on killing himself. Good!

The vibes of the first night were really mellow. Martin hung out outside and smoked but the fans left him alone; a surprising show of respect.

~round 2~

Night two was even better! The band seemed way less nervous and more sober-- Martin even remarked to the audience, “you seem less drunk than last night. So are we.” Their sobriety was reflected in a much better sound overall. The audience, while less smashed, was still awesome. During a lull in the set a man with a thick Scottish accent remarked “Martin, I fucking love you man!” to which he replied, “I love you too!” Near the end of the set Martin’s announcement that they had one more song to play was met with an “aaaawwwwuuuuuhhhh.” He reminded everyone they’d be back. I yelled, “I’ll miss you!” and he said, “I’ll miss you too!!” It was really sweet and I literally died. At a certain point he invited fans to yell out where they were from. At the end he remarked, “you’re from all over the place! We’re from ten years ago.”

Niels was over the top all night. He started the show by standing on the barrier for a long ass time. After Dollhouse Decoration Niels wouldn’t stop playing the end notes, to which Martin remarked, “that’s Niels Nielsen for you everyone!” During the Sway solo he couldn’t get his pedal to work so he performed the entire thing on the ground, which was pretty cool. Martin kept looking over at him with a smile on his face; you could tell they’re real homies. At the end of the set when Martin was introducing Sleepy Eye June as a love song he wrote, Niels started to play the beginning of “Run To The Hills” by Iron Maiden, and Arvid helped out with the drums. Martin was like “wtf” but it was all in jest.

Soon after the set the band had to kick everyone out to close up shop. I waited around for a big and talked to some cool homies; eventually, the band all came out to talk to fans and sign stuff. Niels recognized me from the night before and asked how I was doing—I told him I was chillin, but it looks like he was going to have a fun night (he was holding a big bottle of wine and some water). Niels told me the water was just for looks, the wine is what he’s really there for. I vibe with that.

Arvid and Par were both really sweet. They genuinely tried to have conversation with all their fans. When I told Arvid I was from Seattle he remarked “Oh! You’re the person he told us about.” (which honestly holy shit that was really cool. Martin told him about a fan from Seattle??? Whaaat??) and wanted to know what it was like to live in my city. Apparently, Martin is always talking about how much he likes the Pacific Northwest and wants to visit. I told them the weed was great. They were really really nice and attentive, and I’m super stoked to see them in future shows.

When I walked up to Martin he was signing some ghost photos for some fans. He looked at an old picture of himself and remarked “Aaaahhh… that’s him, the infamous Omeega.” It was kind of sad watching him look through all these old photos of Ghost, but he seemed to enjoy it. He pointed out which shows he could remember, and his tone was nostalgic. A fan offered him some beer which he declined until the fan told him it was Polish beer; at that point his choice was to chug it. He tried his best to make quips in fans’ native languages to watch them laugh. He’s a pure bean.

When it was my turn I told him, “when I saw you last night I forgot to show you my tattoo!” and stuck my arm out for him. He replied “whoa, let me take a look at that,” and grabbed my arm. I can’t explain it any other way than he held my arm and felt my tattoo with his fingers for a bit. I kind of astral projected through the entire thing; it was surreal. He soon grabbed a sharpie and drew a smiley face into the eclipse. I’m glad he thought it was impressive! He signed my ticket and patch and gave me a hug. Martin’s a super chill dude and was really enamored by all the attention he was getting from fans.

Overall, starting this trip I didn’t know what to expect, but MCC blew me away. They’re all a great group of people and I really look forward to seeing where they go in the future.

#magna carta cartel #mcc #martinpersner #magnacartacartel #omegaghoul #omega #i want martin to kick my ass

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dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram · 5 years ago

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My take on Harry's aesthetic and merch is less along the lines of your post that his style is primarily a product of Harry L and more that I don't think he pays as much close attention to everything within his "brand." His off duty style (including very off duty) still has his unique spin on it and I think we saw some of that even before he tried out for Xfactor - jewelry, interesting layers, etc. The merch has been mixed but he hasn't worn himself the totally awful stuff and I actually 1/2

Think the hoodies are fine, if bland (though recognize opinions can differ on that). I had really high hopes for his merch and surprised to not see better and my gut is that it was, sadly, low on his priority list of attention. I think your theory could be it too of course but I just think we have see enough of his style over time and in diff spaces that some is organic. Curious what video you think is a miss other than SOTT (which I don't think is aesthetically unpleasing just horribly boring).

**************

Thanks for your thougths anon.

For a long time, my explanation for the gap between Harry’s personal aesthetic and his merch aesthetic was the same as yours - that he wasn’t that interested.

Recently I’ve come to doubt that explation. Partly because Alex pointed out that he wore the merch. But also when I think about how Harry relates to other artist’s merch. He’s obviously really into merch in general and other artist’s merch. Given that and his strong personal aesthetic you’d expect him to want to make great merch. I think your high hopes were really reasonable, and it’s worth questioning why they weren’t delivered on. Does he think what he’s got is cool merch? Does it tell us something about how he sees himself or his fans?

I won’t go into a lot of details into his personal style, but what stands out now is how narrow it is and how few things he wears (I’d also throw in that I’ve been wondering a lot about how Harry relates to his body through clothing. And I think there’s a strong possibility that learning to navigate that is as much a driving force of the decisions he makes when he dresses himself as aesthetic. Obviously that’s something I fully support).

As for the videos (my favourite subject), I’d divide them into three different categories. I think Lights Up is absolutely works aesthetically. And while Harry’s clothes are an important part of that, the video doesn’t rely on them. The director has a clear independent aesthetic and the video is using that to good affect. Harry has his usual asethetic and the director brings his aestehtic tot he vdieo.

Both Kiwi and Adore You have a clear aesthetic, but it’s incredibly reliant on Lambert’s work. There’s also some sort of relationship between the two - it’s not exactly my thing I find it a bit twee and decontextualised in ways that bother me - but I think they work on their own terms.

I think the aesthetic of Two Ghosts is an interesting question. The shot of Harry and the weird creature have enough going on to be intersting. But the shots that we saw on the screens during tour were so cheesy and generic that their terribleness was the main thing I remembered from the touring production. (I also think we can probably draw some conclusions from it’s none release - it probably wasn’t the best version we’re imagining).

I really hate the Falling aesthetics - some of the shots of Harry in water are really pretty, but everything else is generic and cheesy in a very similar way to the worst bits we’ve see from Two Ghosts. It doesn’t feel real, but it doesn’t feel unreal in an interesting way. Marble wall and a vase in an alcove - why? Where are we supposed to be? There’s no specificity to the sense of place.

I agree that aesthetics aren’t the main problem with SoTT and it’s hard to seperate out techical and aesthetic differences. But I also think that some of the problems are aesthetically (this case in the editing rather than the setting, because obviously Scottish Islands and a coat are solid aesthetic decisions). And in particular there were bits that I could swear look blue screened, even though they weren’t.

All of this suggests that there isn’t a particularly high level of success in the aesthetics of Harry’s music video, however Harry Lambert’s skill and work can often obscure that.

#Why Harry's music videos aren't better #is as fascinating a question to me #as why Harry's merch isn't better #Anonymous

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tatooedlaura-blog · 7 years ago

Text

Mudler-sense

the series read as follows:

Superman … Monday … Cheezy Pouffs … Bacon … Stumbling … Trail Mix … Punch … Friday … Preparation … Uncle Mudler … Normal ... Backseat

___________________

The zoo on Saturday was an experience. Ellie got to deal with Maggie and Mulder and Scully got to deal with five kids hopped on sugar and kangaroos, pandas and penguins. It was a sight to behold and by the end of the day, Mulder was torn between buying the stuffed koala or the platypus.

For himself.

Scully quietly ushered him out of the giftshop empty-handed, steering him towards the children who were sitting half-asleep on a bench by the exit, “but I wanted to get one of them. My fish need something to stare at aside from each other.”

“Your fish don’t care. They forget where they are every three seconds. It would probably scare them every time they turned around.”

He hadn’t thought of that and complied, slipping his hands under Betsy’s arms to pick her up, flopping her nodding head against his shoulder gently, “good point. No scaring the fishes.”

Lord, he needed a nap. She gave the kids until they started the car to be asleep and knowing she would be driving, she gave Mulder until they hit cruising speed before he slipped into his own concrete coma. Jake took her hand, “I’m tired, Aunt Dana. When are we going to be able to transport to the car, like in Star Trek?”

“Hopefully sooner than later, Mr. Jake and even more hopefully, transporters will come with Scottish men to run them.”

Ears perking up, Mulder gave her a lear, “got a thing for the Scottish brogue, huh?”

Winking at him, “although I bet you in a kilt would work just as well.”

Sam, stumbling and sleepy, took hold of Hannah’s hand as they came to the parking lot entrance, “you can’t wear underwears, Uncle Mudler, if you’re gonna wear a kilt.”

“Would make summer a lot cooler probably.”

Sam wrinkled his nose and Betsy picked up her head enough to interject, “everybody needs underwears, Uncle Mudler. Mine say ‘Tuesday’ today.”

“But it’s Saturday, kid.”

Head back down, buried in neck, “it’s okay. My underwears don’t care.”

Mulder was forced to hug her tighter, amused by smallness and sleepy honesty, “I’m glad they don’t. I have on my Wednesday socks.”

He felt her smile.

&&&&&&&&

True to her predictions, they were all asleep by the first major cross street, Scully relishing the silence, then realizing she missed their voices, a small ache in her heart at the thought of them going home on Thursday. Reaching absently over for Mulder’s hand, she toyed with his thumb, wondering if he’d miss them too or he’d be glad to have peace and quiet back to hunt his aliens and bitch at the world. Hoping for a little bit of both, she guided them home through traffic and heat, the radio low, the air cool.

&&&&&&&

Sunday was spent under the sprinklers, homemade plastic tarp slip and slide occupying the afternoon, ruining the lawn and grass stains spreading from neck to toe. None of them had laughed that much in a long time, especially when they cajoled Aunt Dana to take a run, soaking her with buckets of water first and creating a slight panic when she slid not on the plastic but across the mud, face-first, legs akimbo, fingers bending, wrists twisting. In the end, however, after that moment of ‘holy shit, am I broken or dead’, she popped up, arms in the air, throwing a ta-da to the world before slipping right back down on her butt.

Mulder had to hose her off.

He enjoyed it a little too much.

Once she was dry again, she disappeared to the kitchen and returned to the deck laden with mounds of vegetables to grill and fat pieces of chicken breast, plump and marinating for future consumption. At one point, grill hot and veggies well-seasoned, Mulder hovering too close, receiving a random swat on the rear end to shoo him away, mushrooms stolen before retreat, wiggling eyebrows aimed at her before un-surreptitiously slipping Toby the accosted vegetable. Wondering whether to yell at him, she watched Toby smile up at her partner, his very own ten-foot tall food-ninja, with heroic adoration.

She gave Mulder another mushroom and part of a pepper instead.

He passed them along to his four-year old friend and received an even bigger smile.

&&&&&&&&&

Everyone, dried, stuffed and relaxed, spread across the yard, some reading in the hammock, one coloring at the picnic table, others simply lying there, watching bugs or chasing ants with blades of grass. Mulder looked out at them, then nudged Scully with his elbow, “Do you think the kids would like a tour of the FBI? See where we work? Maybe take them through the labs and the monitoring area?”

“Tomorrow?”

“Sure.”

Scully shifted, looking out at the playing group, “hey, guys?”

All stopped but Sam answered, “yeah?”

“Would you like to go with Uncle Mudler tomorrow and see the FBI building?”

The resounding ‘yes’ made her smile.

&&&&&&&&&&&&

“Are you sure you want to take them all? I mean, that’s five kids to keep track of, including a borderline ‘shiny things, I’m running away’ four-year-old who occasionally forgets he has to use the bathroom.”

Settled on the pullout, resting his hand on her hip, “have some faith, woman. I’ve wrangled five fish before, I can’t imagine this will be any more difficult than that.”

“Well, now you’re just scaring me.”

About to reach for her phone to text Betty or Janet toto take Maggie to her appointment the next day so she could go along and assist, Mulder read her mind and pulled her back by the elbow, “I’m joking. There were at least 10 fish and we’ll be fine. It’ll be fun. Scare the children straight before they even have a chance to think about going crooked.”

This did not alleviate her anxiety but the voice quietly calling down the stairs did, “Uncle Mudler, do I have to wear a suit? I didn’t bring one. Will they still let me in?”

“Jake?”

“Yeah?”

“Tell Sam he doesn’t need a suit. Just some clean clothes and fresh, minty breath.”

Sam called down next, “how did you know I was up here?”

“Mudler-sense. Go back to bed.”

Scully decided they’d be fine tomorrow and kissing first his right cheek, then his mouth, “Mudler-sense. How did I ever get along without you?”

“Wit. Charm. Smarts. Beauty. Big scary personality in little itty-bitty body. Fists of steel …” Running out of steam, he shrugged, “’cause you’re totally awesome, man.”

“Mulder …”

“Oh, yeah, and you can surf like nobody’s business.”

“I like how that’s my final selling point.”

“Love you, Agent Scully.”

“Love you back, Agent Mudler.”

#his very own ten-foot tall food-ninja #Big scary personality in little itty-bitty body #msr #xfiles fanfic #xf fanfic #Life part 2 series #my writing

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sunken-standard · 7 years ago

Note

Hey! Since you are still taking prompts, here it goes: 2. We’re going to freeze to death and 70. Call me that one more time, see what happens. Please!

So it’s not the funniest thing I’ve ever done, but there might be a laugh or two buried in there somewhere. Set in the Vegas!Married ‘verse.

“We’re going to freeze to death”/ “Call me that one more time, see what happens”

“Loch Ness?”

Honestly, he didn’t know why sheinsisted on repeating everything in the form of a question. "Yes.“

"Did they hire you to find themonster?”

Sherlock gave her the blankest oflooks. "An operator of one of the tour companies hired me toprevent a saboteur. They’ve been having trouble all around the Lochand this one has a film crew booked for next week.“

"Oh.” She soundeddisappointed.

“So, what do you say, thirdhoneymoon?” Maybe the third time would be the charm and they’dactually get to consummate the marriage this time. He suspected shewas holding out on him because he had yet to get her stupid carfixed; she didn’t seem to realize how delicate negotiations offavours could be sometimes. That, and the one mechanic who owed himsomething had gone to Bermuda a month ago and hadn’t been heard fromsince. He couldn’t tell her that, though; she’d probably think he’dgot swallowed up by the Bermuda Triangle or some other nonsense. Fora scientist, she was rather prone to delusion, their one… encounterin Nevada notwithstanding.

“Shh!” She looked around tomake sure none of the lab techs heard.

“Oh right, it’s a secret,”Sherlock said, flaring his hands and bouncing around and making hiseyes wide. With any other man she’d be parading around, Oh, look,I have a boyfriend, isn’t he so great and I’m Molly Hooper,completely and utterly not single, totally off the market becauseI’ve got a boyfriend and we’re having all the sex ever invented. Mrs. Hudson was right about marriage changing people.

She gave him a Look and he rolled hiseyes, but didn’t say anything else because he’d made his point. Maybe he’d start wearing his wedding ring just to aggravate her. Thecontact dermatitis would be worth it.

“And John can’t go because of thebaby?”

“No, he just hates Scotland.”

“Ah. Well, who doesn’t? Even theScottish think it’s miserable.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever been on aplane that small before. Was it built by the Wright Brothers?”she grumbled, dragging her suitcase behind her. She stopped shortand he almost tripped over her, busy as he was cancelling theirreturn flight and securing a spot on the Caledonian Sleeper for thetrip home. White-knuckling it in a crop-duster was not the kind ofdanger he enjoyed, thank you. "Tell me that’s not our driver.“

"I can, though I personally thinka marriage is built on a strong foundation of trust, the cornerstoneof which is honesty in all things,” he said, taking in theclient—or whomever the client had sent—standing in front of a vanwith a cartoon Loch Ness Monster on the side holding a ripped pieceof cardboard that said SURELOCK HOOMES on it.

Eh. He’d seen worse. Usually only oncoffee cups from Starbucks.

“He looks like GroundskeeperWilly. You think he brought us a haggis?”

“Hope not. I’d murder for a friedMars Bar, though.”

“Oh, and do keep an eye out forthe White Lady. They say misfortune befalls whoever hears ‘erwails,” the innkeeper said, handing over the room key.

He made a mental note to check the roomfor hidden speakers, blacklights, and poorly-disguised secretpassages.

“Is the ghost included in the roomfee, or is something we have to pay extra for?” He gave thewoman behind the desk one of his plastic smiles and didn’t wait foran answer before picking up his suitcase and heading for the stairs.

“Londoners. And they say we’recheap,” he heard her grumble as they walked away.

“Molly, quit moaning,” hesaid, groping behind himself to give her a shake or a poke orsomething to wake her up. Honestly, he felt no sympathy for her, hetold her not to eat that second mutton pie. His hand came intocontact with her bum, and oh, that was nice.

“Get my car fixed first,” shegrumbled sleepily, the last word overlapping with another moan thatmost certainly didn’t come from her. "Did you just…?“

"Wasn’t me,” he said,supremely annoyed that he’d missed something in his search.

“Do you think it’s the WhiteLady?” she asked, pushing herself up on her elbows.

“Honestly Molly, you’re woman ofscience.”

“'There are more things in Heavenand Earth—’”

“Yes, yes, thank you Hamlet.” The moaning turned to weeping. "Right, that’s it,“ hesaid, throwing back the covers.

"What are you doing?”

“Finding those damn speakers. Andthen I’m taking them down to the front desk.”

Molly groaned and flopped back onto herstomach, covering her head with the pillow.

“Oh! I see something! Binoculars!” Molly said, yanking him along with the binocularsaround his neck closer to the side of the boat. They were supposedto be looking for places the saboteurs could moor a boat, but Mollyhad other ideas.

“Driftwood or wave?” heasked, bending closer than was strictly necessary to give the strapof the binoculars enough slack to let him breathe; he was sorelytempted to slip an arm around her waist under the pretence of helpingher maintain her balance on the rolling seas (which, truthfully, wasabout as choppy as a bathtub).

“Driftwood,” she saiddisappointedly after a few moments, letting the binoculars thud backagainst his chest.

He surreptitiously made another tickmark in his notebook as he gave the top of her head a little pat toconsole her.

Driftwood ||||

Wave ||

Reflection/ trick of light |||| ||

Animal |

Maybe she’d get lucky and spot a deadbody; at least that would be interesting.

“So I guess I can cross 'low speedboat chase’ off the bucket list,” Molly joked, hunkered behindone of the vinyl-upholstered bench seats.

“Just keep your head down,darling. Don’t give them a target,” Sherlock said, pulling herhead against his chest. It wasn’t strictly necessary, but at leastthis way they wouldn’t get a look at her face if they had binoculars.

“Why did you call me darling? Younever call me darling. Is that some kind of code?”

Of course she’d have to ask stupidquestions. "It’s a term of endearment. Mary calls Johndarling.“

"And we are not Mary and John.”

“The dynamic is close enough. I’mthe smart, deadly one and you’re the short, doctor-y one.”

“I can think of at least sixdifferent ways to kill you in the next 24 hours that no one wouldever question as murder,” she said. "And at least a dozenmore when we get home.“

"Now’s not really the time forforeplay, darling.”

“Call me that one more time, seewhat happens,” she gritted out.

“Is that a threat or a promise,dar—” he didn’t get to finish the thought as a stray shotapparently hit just the right spot on the tour boat’s gas tank tomake it explode.

“We’re going to freeze to death,”Molly after they’d struggled ashore. "Hypothermia, just likeDyatlov Pass. It’s like some kind of crypid-hunter curse. Paradoxical undressing, you’re doing it already!“

"Nothing paradoxical about it, mycoat weighs more than you do now. Probably want to get rid of thatjumper, yourse—”

“Do you hear that?” Mollyfroze.

Oh shit. He looked around forsomewhere to take cover; their would-be killers were coming back tofinish the job.

“Over there!” He pointed towhat looked to be an archway carved into the bedrock under thecastle, long over-grown with vines and brush.

Molly shouted as two red eyes glintedat them from the darkness. "It’s real, I told you it’s real,“she said, clinging onto his arm while leaning closer to get a betterlook. He got the feeling it was less out of fear and more becauseshe was ready to use him as a human shield/ monster snack if she hadto.

"It’s a prop,” he said,holding the lighter (next time she complained about his smoking, heneed only remind her that carrying it had saved her life) higher toreveal the faint outline of a metal framework with a (rather crudely)sculpted head.

“Is that a… submarine?”Molly asked, looking at the rusted heap at the centre of the cavern.

“Hardly surprising, consideringthe tourist industry,” he murmured, noticing the moulderingskeleton wearing what looked to be an old Royal Navy uniform in thedriver’s seat. Oh, what he wouldn’t give to have a proper torch anddry clothing… He’d simply have to come back later. "Come on,I think that’s probably a stairway that leads up to the castle.“

"You were wrong. We’re not goingto freeze to death, we’re going to die in a labyrinth underneath acastle in the Highlands,” he said, completely unimpressed whilelooking at the point where the passage split in three directions. They all looked equally disused, no wear patterns on the floor ordrafts or other signs to indicate which one led to the surface.

“Oh no, we’ll still die ofhypothermia long before hunger, thirst, or lack of oxygen gets us,”Molly said. Stripping to their pants hadn’t done much to providewarmth, but at least they were drier now. "If video games havetaught me anything, one way leads to treasure, one way ends in a pitof certain death, and one is a shortcut to the surface. Go left.“

"Left.”

“People always go right becauseeveryone’s right-handed—”

“John—”

“Is a freak of nature. Peoplealways go right, so that one is the death pit, and the middle oneseems like it would be too easy, so they ignore it because reversepsychology works, so it has to be the treasure. We go left and weget to the surface,” she said, tugging him forward towards theleft-hand path.

“I think my brain’s alreadyshutting down because that actually made some kind of sense,” hesaid, then stopped when something wedged in a crack in the stonecaught his eye.

“If only I had a working cameraright now,” Molly said, looking him up and down. On one hand,it was rather good luck they’d surfaced in the back of a storeroomunderneath the castle’s gift shop, because that meant they didn’thave to wait any longer for warm, dry things to put on.

On the other hand, it was a gift shopin the Scottish Highlands, so those warm, dry things consistedof argyle socks, kilts, Fair Isle jumpers and, of course, theubiquitous novelty t-shirts. At least, for him; Molly was too smallfor most of what they had to offer, so she ended up in a plushone-piece Nessie pyjama-costume-thing. She wasn’t the only one thatwished for a working camera.

At least they didn’t actually have topay for it; the head of the museum seemed rather excited about thering he’d found, something about the Knights Templar or somesuch,went on about it the whole way back to the inn as she gave them alift.

“Am I supposed to pee in this now,or once I’m in the water?” Molly asked, doing a weird kind ofinterpretive dance, presumably to make the wetsuit more comfortable.

“Don’t pee in it at all, it’s ahire,” he said. With any luck, he’d be the only one in thewater this time; hers was just a precaution against another possiblecase of hypothermia. Not that he hadn’t enjoyed sharing a tepidshower with her or the naked cuddle under the electric blanket thatfollowed, but he’d rather repeat those experiences when they weren’tflirting with multiple organ failure. And maybe when his externalgenitalia didn’t look like someone had aimed a cartoon shrink-ray atit.

“Well, I think that should aboutdo it,” he said once he’d removed the mouthpiece and taken offthe mask. The saboteurs would be in for a nasty surprise when theytried to abscond in their boat come the dawn, and they’d be met witha fleet of the remaining tour boats if they tried to swim for it. The mastermind of the original insurance scam was already in policecustody.

Molly started the boat (and really,he’d have to find out where, exactly, she’d learned how to handleone, probably from an ex-boyfriend or something tedious, consideringshe’d grown up inland) and he began to get himself out of the scubaapparatus. A soft splash off to his right caught his attention andhe turned his head, already on guard in case they weren’t as in theclear as he thought they’d been.

He blinked, his brain obviously notcorrectly processing the information his eyes were sending it. Along, slender neck with a head the size of a rugby ball rose from thewater at the side of the boat; it turned its face first one way, thenthe other to look at him. The glowing red eyes on either side of itshead were like a rabbit and probably afforded it both low-light andpanoramic visio—what was he saying?! It was obviously anotherprop, one of the other boat captains taking the piss, probablytesting something for the film crew that was due to show in a fewdays’ time. He took a step closer and peered at it, trying todetermine if it was made of foam rubber or silicone, where themechanical points of articulation were, listening for hidden motors;truly, it looked to be a marvel of craftmanship even in the low lightof dusk. It even smelled like an animal.

He reached out to touch it and itreared back, nearly tipping the boat and sending him sprawling in theprocess. He looked to Molly, clinging desperately to the wheelinside the cabin, then sprang up to look around for evidence ofanother submersible.

“Just a wave,” he said outloud, trying to reassure Molly. Well, mostly himself.

“Thought you were dying for one ofthese,” Molly said from where she was reclined on the bed injust a dressing gown. She held the fried Mars Bar out to him when hesat next to her to take off his shoes.

“Not feeling very hungry, thankyou,” he said, taking note of the pale expanse of her thigh, butstill too shaken by the experience on the boat to attempt anything.

“Didn’t think you were the type toget seasick,” she remarked before taking another bite, thenmaking a noise as warm chocolate and nougat dribbled onto her chin.

He ignored it, and the way she gatheredit with her fingertip and sucked it into her mouth. "You reallydidn’t see anything?“ he hedged.

"No! For the last time, I didn’tdrive us into a rock or a log or whatever it is you keep implying. Imean, I appreciate that you’re trying to be nicer about thingsbecause we’re married and… staying that way… but really,it’s the same as making an accusation, so next time you might as welljust come out and say it.”

He opened his mouth to refute herstatement, but thought better of it; probably best to keep to himselfwhat he’d seen. She’d most likely want to check his head for lumpsor worse, start moping because she hadn’t seen it. He would have hiscrisis of logic all on his own, quietly, in the shower. It was justa Baskerville situation; the explanation was there, he just needed tothink through it.

Of course, no explanation wasforthcoming; nothing had shown on the sonar and there had been nobubbles or other signs of… anything.

He stared at the ceiling long afterMolly draped her very naked self over him and fell asleep (and hereally wasn’t sure which of them was more disappointed in hisapparent lack of interest, but he was going to assume that he couldback-burner getting her car fixed as a priority, now); the Loch NessMonster wasn’t real. And neither were ghosts, even if he hadn’tfound the damn speakers or the hidden projector that made theflickering woman by the window.

One thing was for certain: he was nevertaking another case in Scotland. And he was never taking Molly onanother honeymoon.

#biroba #drabble ask meme round 3 #sherlolly #sunken's secret stash

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daggerzine · 7 years ago

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A HEARTY CHAT WITH THOMAS ANDREW OF A CERTAIN SMILE

I’m not even sure how or when Thomas Andrew and I became Facebook friends a few years ago. Probably through a mutual friend, but then I started seeing posts how he had a band, called A Certain Smile. Hey, I loved Rocketship too so I had to investigate. There were a few songs here and there but he and the band were working on their debut full length, Fits & Starts. Well the record came out a few months ago and it’s a terrific little pop record. Jangle pop with solid songwriting, a healthy amount of fuzz and Andrew’s strong and sturdy vocals. Fans of records on labels like Slumberland and Creation will certainly approve. I tossed some questions Thomas’ way and he gave me the skinny on his musical journey, his love of Scottish women and the beginnings of A Certain Smile.. Read on good people….

Were you born in Philly? Did you grow up there?

Nope, I’m from NY. We moved around a bit. Born in NY then moved to Texas for my first few years, then Long Island, then Upstate. It was a bit of a constant back and forth between the two. And pretty much as soon as I could be mobile on my own, I spent as much time as I could in the City.

What was your first exposure to music? Were your parents into music? Siblings?

Don’t have any siblings, but yeah, My parents were pretty young so most of my first music exposure was 80’s college rock mix tapes my Dad’s best friend made while a DJ at SUNY Albany. I still have a bunch of them. It’s weird, but family road trips were usually marked listening to tapes with New Order, The Cure, Violent Femmes, The Velvets, JAMC, 7 Seconds, old Lemonheads stuff, the Church, and whatnot. My dad also used to like quiz me on what was playing on the local left of the dial station: 102.7 WEQX out of Vermont.

At what age did you pick up your first instrument?

I played Saxophone in grade school, and I always would just sing all the time. I guess I got a bass when I was 16 and played my first show like 2 weeks later. We opened for Violent Society and the Causalities…I was the secret pop kid at the punk shows. I went back to just singing from like 18-20 and then got my first guitar when I was about 21.

Do you remember the first record you ever bought?

I bought 2 tapes simultaneously when I was about 11 or 12: Sir-Mix-A lot’s Mac Daddy and Tom Cochrane Mad Mad World. I can honestly remember everything about that experience. I liked that Life is a Highway song I guess. And I played the crap outta that entire Sir Mix-A lot record. The first actual LP I purchased myself was Sunny Day Real Estate – Diary. I’d had records that were my parents, and I bought a bunch of CD’s but the first piece of vinyl was at the record store I’d end up working for years, and it was Sunny Day.

Had you been in bands back east? Anything the readers might’ve heard of?

I was in some crappy poppy punk/HC bands until I moved to Philly. There I started Ports of Call with my best friend. Ports started out as the original a certain smile, we recorded 4 songs and played a show, and then our bass player bailed and when we started going again we took on different names, till finally Ports happened. We released 2 records, got a little press and stuff. People may have heard of us, we’re on Spotify and Itunes…it’s pretty basic neo-shoegaze stuff, but with a lot of melody and what not. Nicest compliment I ever got was when playing this really kinda boring shoegaze fest thing, someone came up after and was like “you guys totally have a Pale Saints thing I really dig” and as everyone knows the Pale Saints are hands down the GREATEST Shoegaze band there is….so that made my life a little

When/why did you move to Portland, Oregon?

I moved to Portland about 3 years ago. Followed my Ex here for her job. I figured what I do is pretty portable and I had a record about ready, so I could just record it here and find a band…things don’t always work out as planned though. However, in the end the record is out, the band is sorted, the Ex is now just that, and I’m pretty happy in life.

When did you form A Certain Smile? Does the name come from the Rocketship record (I’ve always assumed so)?

A Certain Smile started in 2002 as a bedroom project in college. My best friend Tom and I started recording songs and started a little label with us and our friends. We had a handful of songs and got offered a show with a band I really loved, problem was we needed a name. So we started going through name ideas, and I started flipping through records I had. We would check names online to see if they were taken. Went through a handful of ideas and then hit A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness. I liked how A Certain Smile rolled off the tongue (especially how it may sound coming from an adorable Scottish girl…if ya know any…) looked it up and no one had taken it. So with 3 days to spare we took the name. I shelved it for a while, but would always bring it back out for little one off shows or some new recording ideas I’d have. When I moved to Portland I decided to just use that going forward.

Tell me about the recording of Fits & Starts? Did it take a long while to record? Any watershed moments?

We recorded it in Portland over about 3 days all together. But the songs come from about 10 years of writing. Smile was something Tom and I wrote in college, and Summer Blonde was one of the last songs I wrote for Ports. Most everything else was written before moving to Portland for the record I was about to put out before moving. I think Leisure Class is the only “new” song, written after I got here. Zach had the music for it.

The recording was super smooth at this little studio in Portland, the Magic Closet. Hold on Call and Hushed were recorded with an earlier drummer in 1 day, and then the rest a few months later with Ian over 2 days. No real watershed moments, but a lot of caffeine fueled fun. There is a great little piano thing Zach and Ian did that I’d love to put on something, we almost hid it on the Duffle Coat Single we did.

Do you feel like you fit into any kind of scene in Portland? Any bands in town doing similar stuff?

Yes and No, Portland isn’t the pop town of yore, but there are some bands that I think we fit well with. Like No Aloha and bed. , and a bunch of amazing bands that I think we fit close enough for stuff like Mini Blinds, Havania Wall, Airport, Tender Age, and more. There is a lot of good music in town. But I missed All Girl Summer Fun Band being a thing here…and I will forever be heartbroken over that. I keep trying to push Jen to make it happen again!!!

Tell us about the influence of labels like Sarah and Slumberland on your musical life.

Woosh, I don’t even know if there are words to express that. Finding Sarah and Slumberland was like finding a home, ya know? I remember the first time I heard Another Sunny Day, and the Field Mice. It was like finally hearing something that I’d been looking for forever. Something sweeter and softer than the pop punk I’d keep getting pushed on me in upstate NY. And finding Hood, the Lilys, and Boyracer…it gave me something that felt mine, and when I found people who knew these bands and labels I found instant friends and family. I used to read liner notes a lot as a kid, and pour over the thank yous for recommendations of bands I needed to check out. That’s why I included a bunch of bands we’ve played with or who’ve just influenced us in the liner notes. Cause I’d love to be that door for someone else someday!

Who are some of your favorite current bands?

I really love so many bands right now, like Martha, Kids on a Crime Spree, Rat Fancy, Eureka California, Tunabunny, Suburban Living, Star Tropics, The Fireworks…this list could go on and on. I listen to a lot of music. Recently I’ve been getting a lot of old singles that I never heard so I can play them on my radio show or at my indiepop brunch. I got so many amazing old records from Chris at Jigsaw it’s been amazing!

Who do you think is the single greatest songwriter working today?

I have to say I’m kinda amazed I have an immediate answer to this, like it just came right to my head: Neil Halstead! I swear I love everything he does, even stuff I was meh on for a while I come back and realize it is just amazing. I love Mojave 3, his solo stuff, the Black Hearted Brother record…and obviously Slowdive….though I think I’m one of 10 people who prefer Mojave to Slowdive…but whatever. Yeah Neil Halstead comes to mind immediately.

What’s next for a certain smile? Touring? More recordings?

Well first we have a second press of Fits & Starts, cause we sold the first batch in like 3 weeks. We’re doing a Pacific NW tour with Rat Fancy in December, and we’re hoping to set up a tour down through California soon as well. We’re hoping to play Athens Popfest next year, and if we can we’d love to do Indietracks and play some shows in Spain. We sold a bunch of records in Spain so it’d be rad to go over there. We have a little 3 song EP we’re putting together with the first 3 songs I wrote here in Portland, and we have another like 8 or so songs ready to go. We’re hoping to maybe put out some singles (would love to find a label who may want to help with that *wink wink to any labels reading!) yeah, that’s about it for now. Just playing as much as we can and trying to tour a bit this year.

Any final thoughts? Closing comments? Anything you wanted to mention that I didn’t ask?

Thanks for taking the time to interview us, and for listening to the record. Also for the AMAZING single you sold me J I don’t know, beyond that I guess just thanks to anyone and everyone who’ve checked out the record, it means a lot. We’re really excited to get more stuff out and hopefully meet some of you out on the road soon. Cheers!

www.acertainsmile.bandcamp.com

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parasholidays · 5 years ago

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The 25 Most Unique Honeymoon Spots Around the World

From large tree houses in the depths of South Africa to private isolated islands in the clear blue waters of the Maldives, there are ultimate honeymoon delights where you can fall in love all over again. If you love traveling and exploring new things and searching for an out-of-this-world experience, here are top destinations for the extraordinary honeymoon tour packages around the world!

1. Singita, South Africa

At camps in Tanzania witness the great migration and no event in your life would ever come close to this experience! The collection of safari camps is truly regarded as one of the most luxurious and lavish options, so make sure to start saving your money for the honeymoon of a lifetime! The most famous camp in South Africa is Singita Sweni, and for outdoors camp it will definitely be Tanzania, glamping in tents under the twinkling stars.

2. Nihiwatu, Indonesia

The top three hotel experiences worldwide would always include Nihiwatu, a tree-house, yoga-loving health retreat in Indonesia. Leaving Bali behind, you can escape the madness and find yourself on Sumba Island, with a short duration flight from the busy streets of Bali and reach in the middle of local, rural life. The resort highlights are yoga, all-inclusive meals, horseback riding and a spa retreat separate to the resort.

3. Hotel La Montana, Chile

If you have wild imagination and a sense of wonder, then you must check out Chile as your top honeymoon places! One of the ideal countries to go on a date, Chile is so varied that you can experience hiking in the world’s driest desert one day and stepping inside the thick layers of snow in Patagonia the next. A fantasy honeymoon destinations in Chile is Hotel La Montana complete with a rope bridge in the forest!

4. Chalkley Treehouse, Sabi Sand

Safaris are always considered the most incredible experiences of your lifetime and for those people dream honeymoon destination is to venture back to the continent of Africa and experience more of this majestic land. Can you find anything better than being adventurous and romantic than sleeping under the stars, with the sound of lions and zebras trailing off in the background!?

5. Norfolk Island

If you want a surprising element in your honeymoon destination in the world then in Pacific you have to head to Norfolk Island, you will find yourself on a budget trip, this is a great destination close by 2 hour duration flight from Sydney and affordable to get yourself entertained. Most of the features on the island are natural swimming pools, beaches, or simply wandering and cruising around the island in a make beach buggy. Bliss!

6. Royal Davui, Fiji

Fiji is recognised as one of the happiest and most humble places that you can witness. The people here are warm, friendly, welcoming and will serve out of their way to help you enjoy your time in their country. Royal Davui is one of the most luxurious resorts to check in to, set on a isolated island with just a handful of rooms that each face the ocean with breathtaking views. You can reach by boat or enjoy chartered helicopter flight.

7. Aruba

Imagine beaches filled with flamingos – how could you say no to such a delight? Aruba is quickly gaining lot of popularity as a prime destination in the Caribbean and with capturing insta worthy photos. Surely you will have a great time here with your beloved.

8. Giraffe Manor

You might have come across the pictures of this place and the best part about them is they aren’t photoshopped - Giraffe Manor in Kenya is totally really! The charming estate has become a prime place for honeymooners in previous years, as travelers are seeking special, one-of-a-kind honeymoons off the beaten path. With huge giraffes at your window sharing exotic breakfast would just be serving your senses!

9. Taj Exotica, Maldives

Most of the resorts in the Maldives including Taj Exotica are set on their own gorgeous private islands, seemingly placed in the middle of the ocean. The water is crystal clear, you will find the world over, making it ideal conditions for snorkeling, experience paddle boarding, and kayaking. This would be an incredible experience.

10. Le Sirenuse, Positano

Positano would be great place in all of Europe and truly the most romantic place to be travelled with your love. With amazing sunrises and sunsets in all shades of purples and reds oranges, this was one of the most mesmerizing views to wake up to. As always in Italy, the food was worth trying and the surrounding region is best explored by vespa.

11. Pangkor Laut, Malaysia

Malaysia is never expected to be one of the most romantic destinations but as soon as you reach at Pangkor Laut Resort, you can see why it is added to this list! Just like a romantic movie set, the overwater bungalows are the perfect setting for an peaceful island escape.

12. Zermatt, Switzerland

If you love adventure and a risk taker and don’t want to go to the typical “beach, cocktail, sun” honeymoon, then reverse the psychology and head to the snowcapped slopes! A winter destination is totally romantic in its own right, especially if it includes skiing, hot cocoa, and incredible Swiss food! Zermatt would have to be the best pick for the slopes as you will discover so much in the mountains and numerous things to keep you busy back in the town.

13. Colmar, France

Witness the most magical tiny town you can explore in France. Colmar is filled with romance in the air justifying every sense of the word – the royal architecture, the hearty food, the blooms in Spring and the nearby vineyards to explore by bike makes this destination a must visit.

14. Matakauri Lodge, New Zealand

Over recent years New Zealand has gained the epitome of adventure travel. But the scenery is just the starting! The South Island without a doubt gives adventure down to a fine art - with the likes of bungy jumps, ski slopes and scenic flights being a staple on most itineraries.

15. Explora, Patagonia, Chile

If you want the entire Chilean experience in the lavish setting of an all-inclusive lodge, then you must step inside the Explora. There are three base camps offered in the collection including one in Patagonia, one in Atacama Dessert, and one on Easter Island. Each camp features your meals, daily guided tours, and nice accommodation. Nothing can beat it.

16. Southern Ocean Lodge, Kangaroo Island, Australia

Kangaroo Island is remarkable one of the most romantic places in all of Australia and Southern Ocean Lodge is at the pinnacle of luxury lodge escapes. The lodge major highlights include mini bar, accommodation, meals, daily complete guided tours, and an open bar.

17. Lake Bled, Slovenia

Europe is ideal pick of romantic regions the world over by most tourists. If you do decide to plan Europe your honeymoon choice, you definitely can’t miss the opportunity to explore Slovenia! Not only does this country known as the Europe’s most underrated capital, but it is also home to one of the most romantic experiences all across the globe.

18. Scottish Highlands

Mythical and full of secrets, the Scottish Highlands might not gain the prime destination on your list of potential honeymoons, but if you are looking for something a little different and invariably cooler than other beach destinations, then you will fall in love with an escape in the North of Scotland!

19. Budapest, Hungary

As one of the most entertaining capital cities in all of Europe, Budapest is as romantic as big cities come. With an unforgettable history, one can’t expect to search the same level of architectural beauty as you can find in Paris, but believe us Budapest will be a budget travel compared to Western European capitals. This is the best honeymoon destinations for party animals.

20. Lord Howe Island, Australia

For anyone who wanted to visit on this majestic island a 2-hour flight off the coast of New South Wales, this is one of the best Australia’s hidden gems! Travelers are capped at 400 people at any one time, making this entirely a perfect getaway if you’re looking for entire seclusion and some private time.

21. Mo’orea, Tahiti

When you plan Tahiti as a honeymoon destination, it would be better to think straight to the iconic Bora Bora, one of the most amazing honeymoon destinations across the world. However still the best honeymoon is to be found in Mo’orea! This island is know for more cultural and authentic and offers calm beaches, many of jungle to discover and hearty French cuisine.

22. Freycinet, Tasmania

Tasmania has some of the most blissful natural scenery in the complete world. Undeniably one of the top priorities should be Freycinet, situated on the East Coast but feeling a fantasy world away from reality.

23. Lapland, Finland

If you are planning for a winter honeymoon destination reminiscent of Narnia, Lapland should surely win your list. With reindeers, igloos and everything in between, a trip to the north of Finland will be talked about for decades to come and cherished.

24. The Cotswolds, England

If Road tripping is your thing then you must try around the English countryside known as one of the most romantic drives including the ideal Cotswolds. The region is embraced with rich history, all time charm, and some of the most elegant thatched houses you ever did see!

25. The Norwegian Fjords

Last but not least, the ultimate honeymoon destination would be Norway! Considered as the most expensive destinations in Europe, the perfect way to see the fjords is to book a cruise and hop-on-hop-off as you discover various beautiful villages and fancy towns throughout the coast of Norway.

Source- https://www.parasholidays.in/blog/25-unique-honeymoon-spots-in-world/

#honeymoon tour packages #top honeymoon places #Paras Holidays #travel

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sinceileftyoublog · 7 years ago

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Pitchfork Music Festival 2017: 7/14-7/16

Clif’s Cassette Collage

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Last year’s Pitchfork featured wild-card non-headliners and a deep rest of the festival. This year? Not so much. LCD Soundsystem headlined last year’s Lollapalooza Sunday, and this year saw them headlining the first day of a smaller festival. Saturday featured a massive farewell tour in the form of A Tribe Called Quest. Sunday’s headliner was Solange, an artist coming off of her career best work that held up even in the face of her more famous sister’s equally strong work. There were reunions and rare performers. This was going to be the biggest Pitchfork ever, right?

Well, only if you’re talking about the length of the lines. Instead, Pitchfork somehow retained its intimacy (besides those lines). Much of the music was undoubtedly laid back, even the hip hop sets decidedly minimal as opposed to past ones by the likes of Kendrick Lamar and Chance the Rapper. There was room for the experimental, the theatrical, and the combination of the two. Overall, the festival continues to book daringly and, more importantly, more women and people of color than almost any other major pop music festival. Like last year, there was no one true standout the way there has been in past years, but there were still sets that exceeded, met, and performed below my expectations.

Read on as I sort the many different sets I saw into distinct categories relating to everything from content to how they fit within the quintessential festival experience.

THE NOSTALGIC

Ride

It may have been delayed by over twenty minutes. You may not have been able to hear lead singer Mark Gardener that well. Their new album may be just okay. But as soon as Ride played the opening notes to “Seagull”, you knew exactly why even a 20-years-later version of the band is booked late in the day to play a major festival. Simply put, the songs from Nowhere and their early EPs were flat-out gorgeous.

The Feelies

Talk about a band that takes their time, whether it’s releasing albums or even just building up a song. The Feelies took from their earliest (Crazy Rhythms and The Good Earth) and their latest (2011′s Here Before and this year’s In Between). Lead singer Glenn Mercer’s gentle voice may have sounded a bit weak at times, but the band’s jangly guitar pop and krautrock arrangements were perfect for grooving on a temperate Saturday afternoon.

Arab Strap

One of the best sets of the festival came from a band that I love that I totally expected to not translate live. The Scottish electronica-imbued spoken word from Arab Strap sounded great, with more singing and noise than expected. Front-man Aidan Moffat sucked down Four Star Pilsners and complained how hot the stage was as if they were litanies in one of his songs. His penchant for remembering the lyrics of his own songs is impressive, and even if he had to read them by the time the anthemic “The First Big Weekend” came along, he was just as much the star of the show as the rest of the band.

THE OLD-TIMEY

Hamilton Leithauser

The Walkmen were always a band whose slower songs recalled waltzes or stories told by your grandparents. Hamilton Leithauser & Rostam Batmanglij’s I Had A Dream That You Were Mine one-upped that last year, with its clinking pianos and string flourishes going for an unabashedly retro aesthetic, including everything from doo wop to folktales. Live, Leithauser and his band recreated that perfectly. He’s always had a hell of a voice, his wail equally as strong as his Dylan-esque sneer. “Rough Going (I Won’t Let Up)” was an exemplary intro, “A 1000 Times” a giant sing-along, “1959″ an effective vocal solo as opposed to the duet album version.

As Joey Purp played from the Blue Stage, Leithauser recalled being sonically overwhelmed by the nearby XX. “Everybody left NYC...because they couldn’t afford a practice space without a fucking band next door,” he shared before launching into the gorgeous “Where The Truth Is...” Old and bitter’s never sounded so sweet.

THE MELANCHOLY

Angel Olsen

As a band in matching suits entered the stage, I thought to myself, “Am I really about to see Angel Olsen?” The last time I had seen her was at Lincoln Hall on the Burn Your Fire For No Witness Tour, and apparently, she’s gotten way bigger since then. Her set started out strong with some country-indebted kiss offs: “High & Wild”, “Shut Up Kiss Me”, “Give It Up”, and “Not Gonna Kill You” all retained both the treble-heavy sheen and lyrical rawness of their studio versions. But the back half of the set was enough to put you to sleep in succession. Half Way Home’s “Acrobat” is a great song, as is “Sister”, the laid-back and jazzy “Those Were The Days”, and “Woman”, but after the first four in a row, they only served to bring you down.

Weyes Blood

Natalie Mering’s amazing, Joni Mitchell-esque voice is best suited for a club setting. Even last year’s Weyes Blood album Front Row Seat to Earth, a characteristically upbeat one for Mering’s standards, is not really ideal for a weekend day festival slot. Her voice on “Generation Why” and “Used to Be” was stunning and she either sang by herself on stage or played keys in front of her band, and the lap steel guitar on “Seven Words” gave a haunting quality to that song, but the set overall was too low key to keep non-die hard fans interested.

THE MIND-NUMBING

Colin Stetson

You know what you're getting with Colin Stetson, but that doesn’t stop him from mesmerizing me every time. His Pitchfork set was his most impressive from a curatorial standpoint. Stetson picked songs that showed off his limber playing (“The Righteous Wrath of an Honorable Man”), creative percussion (“Judges”), and even Aphex Twin influences (“Between Water and Wind). Earlier this year, Stetson released an album that was good but didn’t offer much new, but during his Pitchfork set, Not one song sounded like another.

William Tyler

The word “virtuoso” is tossed around a lot, but it’s actually appropriate for William Tyler. With a great band at his side (including Phil Cook, doing double duty with Tyler and Hiss Golden Messenger), Tyler played most of last year’s Modern Country to sheer perfection. From the summery “Sunken Garden” to the described “country meets krautrock” of “I’m Gonna Live Forever”, the set was unexpectedly loud and jammy. The percussion breakdown of “Gone Clear” was even more haunting than it was on record, “The Great Unwind” noisy. He closed with “Highway Anxiety”, whose recognizable opening riffs caused anything but a sense of dread--more a sense of comfort and calm amidst a sea of festival-goers.

THE BLISTERING

Jeff Rosenstock

The most energetic set of the festival came from something I never thought I’d ever hear at Pitchfork: something resembling ska. Indeed, Jeff Rosenstock and his band played songs off of last year’s Worry to devoted fans who knew every single word. Rosenstock took the opportunity to do what he usually does--be a shithead with a sense of humor. The dynamic frontman walked out to Weird “Al” Yankovich Red Hot Chili Peppers parody “Bedrock Anthem”. He had the crowd do two different waves. He had a couple great wisecracks (“I'd like to give a shout-out to the Pitchfork worker who got fired for booking us at this festival.”) and admitted that he and his band received $7,500 to play, a hefty sum for self-labelled shitty punks but not for pretty much anybody else. All this Rosenstock brought with the desire to get the crowd to shout along, mosh, and look out for each other.

The crowd moshes--and cools off with sprayed water--during Jeff Rosenstock

Danny Brown

I’ve seen Danny Brown 3 times at Pitchfork alone, and he gets bigger and better every time. Far from the sex-obsessed weirdo who had just released XXX a year prior in 2012 (ok, not that far), this year’s clean-cut Brown didn’t need much besides his usual DJ. Without much of a breath, he burned through favorites like “Side B (Dope Song)”, “Monopoly”, and “Growin’ Up” before playing off of last year’s landmark Atrocity Exhibition. The four-punch of “Ain’t It Funny”, “Really Doe” (which he impressively delivered considering the best part of that song is Earl Sweatshirt’s verse), “When It Rain”, and “Pneumonia” showed that every time the workman comes to Pitchfork, he has a new batch to add to his growing list of classics.

THE POLITICAL

Madame Gandhi

Four years ago, Madame Gandhi found herself on a Pitchfork stage drumming for M.I.A. Four years later, she opened up Pitchfork on the same stage, this time her own show. She still did plenty of drumming--as did many of her dancers, all clad in yellow hazmat-looking suits--but mostly rapped and ready feminist literature. Too easy? Maybe, but the energy she brought to even a capella performances of her songs attracted crowd members looking to dance and feel empowered.

Priests

"You want something to move away for / A reason to colonize,” belted Priests singer Katie Alice Greer. Her stage presence and siren of a voice may have distracted a festival crowd from how subversive her lyrics are, especially on catchy songs like “JJ” and post-punk stompers like “Nothing Feels Natural”. Priests aren’t a perfect live band, either; the guitars on “JJ” were a bit out of tune, bassist Taylor Multiz’s mic was turned down too far on “Suck”, and “Nicki” was messy. But what’s important is that the same band who released Nothing Feels Natural was on display. (Drummer Daniele Daniele admirably performing the spoken word of “No Big Bang” was certainly a highlight). Love ‘em or hate ‘em, there’s nobody like Priests.

THE DISAPPOINTING

Dirty Projectors

Dirty Projectors played Pitchfork in 2012 at the top of their game, Amber Coffman and company’s harmonies the clear highlight, Dave Longstreth’s melodies and craftsmanship translating to the stage. This time around, even with the help of former Battles member Tyondai Braxton, it was painful. “Impregnable Question” missed Coffman. Longstreth’s singing on “Keep Your Name” was as out of tune as Brian Wilson was last year. “Little Bubble” failed to captivate anybody. “Up In Hudson”, the most in-tune, still ended up boring me to the point that I wanted to wait for Arca more than watch Longstreth continue to fall apart in front of an audience.

George Clinton

I could tell that George Clinton and Parliament/Funkadelic were amazing, great players, funk masters, and rappers. But this was just the classic case of bad sound and mic leveling issues making what could have been a highlight set exactly that: a big “what if.”

THE DAY-SAVING

Nicolas Jaar

At first minimal and noisy, which didn’t go well among the crowd dealing with the uncharacteristically dwindling July evening temperatures, Nicolas Jaar eventually led into a bass-heavy set more dance than anyone could have imagined. He occasionally sang-spoke into the mic but mostly stood at his laptops, his stage lights a blazing orange, his music drowning out American Football on the Blue Stage. For those wanting a party set from The Avalanches, who had to cancel their performance, this was the next best thing.

A Tribe Called Quest

I could have put A Tribe Called Quest’s set in many of these categories, but when they came on, all I could think about was how thankful I was to hear something truly energetic. The pinnacle of all no-bullshit hip-hop sets at Pitchfork, the now-trio launched right into “The Space Program” from last year’s excellent We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service. From there, they played highlights from that album but mixed in all the classics: “Excursions”, “Bonita Applebum”, “Electric Relaxation”, “Check the Rhyme”, “Can I Kick It?”, and “Award Tour”. Q Tip not only rapped but sounded great--at a stage earlier in the day experiencing sound problems, his voice rang clearly to a crowd wanting to hear him preach. Best, when any Phife Dawg verse came up, they let it play sans interruption, the screens on each side of the stage focusing on the empty microphone.

LCD Soundsystem

If I had to withstand any of Dirty Projectors and then leave Arca early, then LCD better put on a show. They did. They headlined in 2010 around the release of This Is Happening, maybe the best show I’ve ever seen. This time around, they played virtually the same set they did last year at Lollapalooza plus the two released new songs, the building “Call the Police” and night-time ditty “American Dream”. They may be a bigger band now, and they’re certainly older, but in the time they’ve been gone, you grow to appreciate not just their live brilliance, but their ability to get even curmudgeons to dance. Murphy may still be snotty; thankfully, he can still write great songs.

THE EARNEST

Vagabon

Infinite Worlds, the debut album from Vagabon, is one of the strongest debuts of the year, so it was quite the move to open with one of its most powerful songs, the slow-building “Cold Apartment”. The rest of the set, though, showed off singer and guitarist Laetitia Tamko’s finger picking and vocals. Her voice in particular was beautiful when isolated among minimal instrumentation, though at times when she tried to rise above louder songs she was out of tune. Even if not picture perfect, Tamko was not only happy to be there but left it all out on stage, performing album highlights like “Cleaning House” and “The Embers”.

The crowd watching Vagabon very intently

Hiss Golden Messenger

Hiss Golden Messenger’s brand of country rock may have fallen on deaf ears at a festival very slowly embracing genres previously maligned by the bleeding edge hip. But that’s not the fault of the band. Running through tracks from Haw, Lateness of Dancers, Heart Like a Levee, and an upcoming album, they may not have won any new fans but confirmed for the faithful why they belonged, their pleasant and easy going instrumentation and lead singer M.C. Taylor’s existential laments making for a reflective set. Their final song, a new one called “When the Wall Comes Down”, is about exactly what you think it’s about (wait six more months for an overabundance of released “wall”-related recordings), but it was none the less powerful and a statement of togetherness.

THE THEATRICAL

Kilo Kish

The set from frequent Vince Staples collaborator Kilo Kish started out with her sitting on a chair reading a copy of The New Yorker, pretending not to notice the audience. You can guess where it went from there. While her voice always sounded good, her interpretive dancing, props, and forced falls to the stage made me want to roll my eyes more than clap. With only a DJ to back her up with tracks--a strange mix of R&B, hip hop, and jazz beats--it made for one of the more disappointing fests of the festival.

PJ Harvey

The last two albums from PJ Harvey--2011′s instant classic Let England Shake and 2016′s mediocre The Hope Six Demolition Project--are both concept albums. When the first nine songs you play are from those albums, and in mixed order, it comes across like a Decemberists set on steroids. Entering with a marching band (her band consisted of both longtime collaborator John Parish and the very active ex-Bad Seed Mick Harvey) and a sax in her hand, Harvey came across as equally witchy and goofy. The jazzy “Let England Shake” went along with the black and white video of the performance, but it wasn’t until she performed three 90s favorites that the crowd went wild--“50ft Queenie”, “Down By The Water”, and “To Bring You My Love”. For how good those three sounded, the set was worth it.

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