#we all know they loved Queen and David Bowie they would have been crazy over this song

[moonythepotato]

James and Lily died two days before ‘Under Pressure‘ was released in the UK. So they either managed to find a way to get an early copy from the US or they never got to listen to this masterpiece and I know they would have loved it.

[borisbubbles]

Eurovision 2022: #10 - #6

10. UNITED KINGDOM Sam Ryder - “SPACE MAN 2nd place

Decade rank: 18/79 [above Last dance, below Je me casse]

UP IN SPACE MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN

There are moments I forget Sam Ryder and Space Man are real things that happened. A good song representing Union Jack colours, by an influencer who looks like a labrador superimposed onto the face of Janice the muppet through deepfake software. Are we sure this was not a fever dream? 😳 Are we sure this is the BBC ? 

So uh yeah, the UK had a pretty good entry last year. 🙂 At last, a British hopeful who isn’t embarrassing right out of the gate and could unironically be described as enjoyable. If The UK were winning a jury vote any year, then 2022 was that golden opportunity.

The crazy part is that they did AND it felt earned? “Space Man” is so unequivocally British-sounding. The score effortlessly conjures up that unique Brit-rock vibe that we know from Queen, David Bowie, the Beatles, and turns it into something that sounds like a clarion of triumph thundering gloriously over the Turin 2022′s remaining proceedings.

I feel like Space Man’s inherent sense of achievement and of victory - despite the lyrics dealing with the dark side of success and the return to the simple life - (you know i love a clever lyrical contradition) made so many people flock to it. There WAS some lameness to be found (”searched around the universe / been down some black holes” did the songwriters look at grindr bio’s for their material?) but overall Space Man stood up as the rare Good UK entry.

So if you have all that empowerment jazz in your song, you need a good act to bring it out? Fortunately, the BBC for once did well there too. As soon as I saw they had built a spacecraft out of scaffholding (clever lateral staging btw), had stuffed in Ryder into a swarovski-studded leotard and forced him to perform a cheesy guitar solo I knew. I knew they had managed to summon the spirit of Ziggy Stardust to bless Ryder with winnerness and that he would steer his rebar rocket into a top finish. And so he did. 

Now, as for my reservations because I have a few

One, Ryder. Yes, Ryder had the best vocal out of anyone this year, period. I have no doubts he’s a genial young man too. Cool if you care about these things. I however do not, because I don’t find him charismatic. 🙂 First of all, he does fucking look like a deepfake what the hell is up with that? Secondly, the adlibs. Normally I like it when contestants go full ham but here I find it irritating. Space man is good and doesn’t fucking need embellishment. Therefore the adlibs must be some kneejerk instinct Ryder inherited from his influencer days, which ew. The BBC have taken Ryder out of the TikTok but they have not managed to take TikTok out of the Ryder. 

Two, The Social Media Craze. You already know I feel about that stuff and how it interacts with Eurovision, although I mind it not so much here - Space Man came fifth in the televote and not first (and thankfully, also not seventeenth), and was also adopted by the radio stations ahead of its viralness. Also Space Man went less viral than Snap. Its popularity was a natural evolution.  All of these things are preferable when you’re solidly into “Good Not Great” territory. 🙂 Still, any mileage derived from braindead spyware apps is a sin on principle, so ::ding:: 

Three, Irrespective of anything else I’ve written above, I’ve always solidly liked, but never fully loved Space Man. This applies to both the song and its staging. I don’t mind that it got second, but it did beat better entries while doing so. Eleven months later I still feel that way, and as we go forward in this ranking, it has to leave within this update. If I have to choose who to rank higher between an annoying influencer with a good song and a bunch of lovable randoms with clown fiesta music, the randoms always win! 

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09. IRELAND Brooke - “That’s rich” 34th place

Decade Rank: 16/79 [Above Destiny, below Natalia Gordienko]

NO TITLE SCREEN?! ROBBED!!!! RIGGED!!!

God I wanted it for Brooke, I really, REALLY wanted it! In the same vein as Ryder, finally an entrant for Ireland that isn’t a walking cringe, or a dead on arrival lamus or an offensive sap. Finally an Irish entry that isn’t fucking HOPELESS. (um ignore that I believed in Maps until it crashlanded into last place lol)

But of course, less hopeless than the average Irish entry only meant "another solid NQ, just not in last place this time”. lol. 😥 

I greatly enjoyed Brooke though. Here’s yet another flawlessly flawed combination of song and singer, united in holy floptrimony. “That’s rich” is a trash baby of the finest camp qualité, and at least half of its sassy vernacular belongs in an Almanac for All Time Eurovision lyrics. LOSER LOSE YOUR ATTITUDE I’M DOING GOOD YEAH THAT’S ON ME and BYE BYE FOOL are and will forever be a part of my brain-to-post jargon from this Brooke onwards. Me and the friends even conjured up a French version called “C’est Riche” which is the ultimate high honour you can get, as I’m sure you’ll agree.

The way Brooke and That’s Rich synergize together spoke to me. The song is very sassy and feisty and playful, whereas the singer is kind of... a dorky shrew (<3). Reminder that Brooke is a friend to all Spanish Customs Officers and dedicated enough towards maintaining that friendship to greet her Italian audiences with  “OLÉ OLÉ OLÉ” . She went ALL IN on channelling ALL the emotions during her live performance. Unlike Ryder’s, Brooke’s adlibs felt genuine enough to adore. Let the GIF reel commence: ´

É, CRETIN

C’EST RICHE, J’EN AI EU ASSEZ DE VOUS

C’EST RICHE, T’AS UNE AIRE DE CLOUN

C’EST RICHE; TU N'AS QU’AUCUN CLOU

DONC C’EEEEEEEST RIIIIICHE

VA T’EN, CON 🙂

Ryder dead in a ditch. Brooke broke from her betadom to live the ALPHA LYFE on that stage and based on merit, I thought she had it. Yet almost nobody (of relevance) cared?! How? Well ok I know why (it’s eurotrash <3) but honestly how difficult was it to just penalize all the cheaters on the spot? I guess garbage like Fade to Black and River absolutely DESERVED those algoritm points!!! In the end, I can accept this outcome because WRS also served edible fun and I sorta nibbled, but Europe denied us a feisty feast here! Another year were Ireland deserved better! WILL IT EVER END?!

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08. AUSTRIA Lum!x ft. Pia Maria - “Halo” 36th place

Decade rank: 14/79 [Above Natalia Gordienko, below Senhit]

LEMME BE YOUR HAY-LA HOOOOOOOOOOOOO

There you have it. This year’s best non-qualifier. And its journey was through Eurovisionland was WILD. 😍

Where to start? Like always and more pressingly than usual, at the selection.  Imagine waking up to Austria declaring that a 20 year old Gabry Ponte protégé with no solo experience will be their rep, accompanied by something or someone called “Pia Maria”, a name that gave you zero hits if you put it through google or spotify. So of course me and the gang instantly started spec’ing whether “Pya Mariyah”  was a huge untapped talent discovered through chance by Lum!x (not implausable! Janet Grogan is, after all, a better vocalist than Adele), a highly advanced neural net or Philipp Kirkorov in disguise.

Then “Halo” was released, and it doled out BpM at a faster pace than most nightcores and had an absolute word casserole for lyrics. 😍 “Philosophers like Socrates go find something to get on your feet. Go sharpen your teeth” lmfao what?! 

 And like that, the journey dove head-first into hilarious absurdity. WHAT IS THIS ENTRY?! This was chosen by the SAME people that bored us with Cesár Sampson and Vincent KinderBueno? HOW did ORF land on Pia Maria? Where did they find her? Did they select her via a raffle, or was she in the room when Lumix realized he needed a vocalist? Was she a random they snagged off the streets? Is she someone’s secret nepobaby? It honestly fries my brain that this was deemed a serious attempt at a qualifying entry by the fandom.

So yeah the second they had set a foot in PalaOlimpico,  Pia and Luca immediately immolated themselves to death in a blaze of chaotic neutral. I hope everyone saw this coming because I sure did and relished every nanosecond of it. Pia became winded approximately 40 seconds into the performance and spent the rest of the performance running a losing race against her vital capacity.

Luca meanwhile, oh man. Pia gets a bad wrap for her vocals, and she was Not Very Good, but like what do you expect from a newbie cajoled into performing a litany of jibberish. What really took “Hayla Ho” on a ride down Hysteria Lane for me were Luca’s jubilant adlibs juxtaposed to Pia’s visible failure. Every time Pia missed a note she at least looked a bit disappointed with herself. Luca went on a fucking runner’s high with every passing beat, blissfully unaware to the hellscape forming itself around him and Pia.

He absolutely CANNOT contain himself. 😍 So much so that his voice cracks THREE SECONDS INTO HALO. 😍 The true insane asylum heights of fusedmarc were never reached, but they came sorta close.

So yeah, like That’s Rich, Halo was instantly ironic eurotrash. Unlike That’s Rich, I not once thought Halo would do well lmfao. How could anyone think that?! Its entire purpose at Eurovision was to be a great and memorable trainwreck. They passed with flying colours <3

Oh and as all great morality tales go, this one ends with Pia deleting Luca off her social media mere hours after the live performance, having accomplished her goal of getting a three-week free holiday 😍  If that doesn’t cement her as the most relatable neural net of this decade, then idk what will. 

K and now for a MASSIVE leap in quality: 

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

07. THE NETHERLANDS S10 - “De diepte” 11th place

Decade rank: 11/79 [above Manizha, below TBA]

🦉😂 -- S10, me.

Yep, above Manizha who was top five for me in 2021. 2022 is strangely top-heavy, where the good entries are all GREAT and the rest of the contest simply doesn’t exist. 

So yeah, time to discuss a few Real Songs before the final countdown. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that Eurovision is a music contest. This selectful forgetfulness is achieved when great music fails to reach the top 10! 🙄 And people wonder why juries are important. Forget the Die Togethers and Fade to Blacks of this world - THIS is sort of interpretation juries ought to reward. 

Anyway, “De diepte” is kind of my jam and you may think this would make the write-up easier and you’re so so so wrong. Stien dwells deeply (ahem) in that Victoria zone where the quality is so obvious it renders further words redundant. WHICH IS PERSONAL RANKER HELL!!! 

 “De diepte” is not some dreck-wreck featuring several layers of mass hysteria (some of which only exist in my head <3) that I get to describe in various degrees of colourful language. "De diepte” is a song. A real song. It’s emotionally layered, intelligent, well structured and easy to listen to on repeat, and I have for several hours total. The moment RIGHT after the big note, when S10 looks almost overwhelmed with emotion and is about to cry man, I Felt That. I Felt it in my core, in my bones, in my soul. I’m not made of concrete. The contrast with Botmanda couldn’t be greater:

Now as far as my random things I specifically loved about S10 go, they include: her nom-de-plume which caused several people (including Matt 🥴) to pronounce her name as “Season Ten”, the fact that AVROTROS wanted to push a song in Dutch and then came up with a chorus that can mostly be summarized by two emojis, and of course this:

It’s not quite the Tinkara sorcery, but the intent is there, and I appreciate it. 

Other than that, “De diepte” is a very good showcase of Dutch indiepop, which -living 30 km from the NL border- is a genre I know very well and fucking love. It’s what I would call A Real Song, a song that actually speaks to people and has legs outside of the contest. It’s defo something I would listen to during the off-season when i’m detoxing from ESC if it had not been ESC itself.

However, I have to also put my Big Ranker’s Pants on and make my Big Ranker decisions: When picking who I rank ahead of other entries I like roughly the same, I need to assess the contest. 2022 was light on europulp spectacle and heavy on the”“Good Musical Quality” type of entry. So in a sense, I feel like i need to prioritize spectacle over song to a certain degree. Or at least those I am able to praise with more profound terms than “this is very good, not a top 10, REALLY, Europe?”.

And on that note~

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

06. PORTUGAL MARO - “Saudade, saudade” 9th Place

Decade rank: 10/79 [Above S10, below TBA]

Ok so, S10, Maro and the 5th placer are basically three acts I like equally much, and they’re ranked based on how much I can talk about :-) 

THOSE ARE THE RANKER’S RULES, SORRY! Speaking of things that rule, I present Maro: a woman who forgot to stage her song in the semi of FdC because she assumed nobody would like her and then won the final in an overwhelming landslide <3 

and for good reason because “Saudade Saudade” is berry gud. Like “De diepte” i feel like its appeal is just very obvious? It’s clever, it’s emotional, it’s very well performed. It is one of those songs that would find their way to an audience even without the exposure of the Eurovision Song Contest.

That said, Maro *very* narrowly edges out S10 for me for a handful of reasons. First off, while beam sorcery is a nice staging trick, I do find the circle of wymyn powah a slightly stronger visual representation. It creates some interaction on the stage,which translates to spectacle, which translates to good television. 

Secondly, the vocals: Systur’s harmonies were already outstanding. Maro and her backings are even better. Maro’s own hoarse vocals holy heck. t’s difficult to fully engage into praise because Cornelia exists and we’ll get there in the next post, but talk about a song whose rawness came alive through sheer vocal timbre. Anyone who can sing is able pull off a “De diepte”. The list of people that are capable of doing a “Saudade Saudade” is very short.

Thirdly, both songs deal with break-ups and letting go, but I find Maro’s methods more wholesome.  “Saudade, Saudade” is literally an attempt at unspooling raw thoughts being put into little word blankets, and coming to the realization that the best memories and strongest emotions cannot be turned into lyrics. They exist in the heart. And that I can feel.

Ok some other little details here include Maro recruiting her former rivals Ginger Ale Lady and Woman’s Corpse Lady into her backing cabal, the fact that her fucking insta handle is or was @ItsAMeMARO and her growing disbelief that people really *truly* liked her as much as they did, and you know you have a pretty awesome contestant on your hands. Maro feels humble in a genuine and endearing way that you rarely see in Eurovision where most contestants are inexperienced, ambitious or huge fans. 

Overall though, Maro runs into the same ranker curse as S10. There just isn’t much to discuss beyond the music, and the music is really darn good. Still, it’s a very positive sign that the juries recognized that by giving her 5th place (without a single 12? lol?) and countered her bad position in the R/O. In the full picture she falls a bit short for me though. 🤷‍♀️

CONGRATULATIONS TOP FIVE!!!

WHO. WILL. WIN?!

[beepboop358]

A Prom in S4 Theory & Music Coding Predictions

Some leaked set pics indicate that there MAY BE a junior/senior prom at Hawkins High, which they are calling the "Lover's Ball". It's unclear if this prom will be included on screen, or if it will just be mentioned as an event coming up at Hawkins High because this flyer could just extra set decor. Regardless if the prom happens on screen or not, there will probably be some tension about 'who's asking who' to the prom that we will see in s4. Given that this picture was just leaked a few weeks ago, it probably falls closer to the end of the season sequentially.

Having a big school dance in s4 is suspiciously close to how they had the Snowball scene in s2. This would certainly follow the even/odd season patterns, (and actually add to the list of the patterns), which kind of makes me think we will see this prom on screen, or at the very least it will be mentioned in the course of the season.

The Duffer Brothers love Steven King and reference his work and especially 'IT' a lot in the show, but they haven't done anything with Carrie yet so maybe we will get a Carrie moment this season at the prom...

Carrie was on the video store fridays movie inspiration board for ST4.

At the "Lover's Ball", there will be definitely be some music coding relating to Byler. Since music coding is kind of a key thing in the show, I've been rifling through 80's songs to try and find some that may fit with s4's themes/character storylines (and I may do a seperate post about that later), but for this post I'm just gonna focus on what they might use at the prom for relating to Byler.

Since the season is most likely going to take place in 1986, I only selected songs that had a compatible release year so it would be historically accurate. (these songs would also be great for a byler playlist!)

Some strong contenders for the songs that might play at the prom to reference Mike and Will's relationship could be:

"True Colors" by Cyndi Lauper (1986)

This song is honestly too good of an option for them not to use. I'm reallllyyy crossing my fingers for this one.

It's hard to take courage In a world full of people You can lose sight of it all And the darkness inside you Can make you feel so small

"And I see your true colors Shining through I see your true colors And that's why I love you So don't be afraid (don't be afraid) To let them show your true colors True colors are beautiful (you're beautiful, oh) Like a rainbow Oh oh oh oh oh like a rainbow"

If this world makes you crazy And you've taken all you can bear You call me up Because you know I'll be there

"Heaven" by Bryan Adams (1984)

This first verse is literally just the story of Byler... 😭 The rest of the song applies but that verse verse is just sooooo accurate. (I'm crossing my fingers for this one too)

"Oh thinkin' about all our younger years There was only you and me We were young and wild and free Now nothing can take you away from me We've been down that road before But that's over now You keep me comin' back for more

Baby you're all that I want When you're lyin' here in my arms I'm findin' it hard to believe We're in heaven And love is all that I need And I found it there in your heart Isn't too hard to see We're in heaven

Oh once in your life you find someone Who will turn your world around Bring you up when you're feelin' down Yeah nothin' can change what you mean to me Oh there's lots that I could say But just hold me now 'Cause our love will light the way"

"Take My Breath Away" by Berlin (1986)

This song is on Will's Spotify playlist, and I thought it could also be used at the prom since it's a romantic song. I see it as an 'entrance to the prom' moment song, almost like a 'first look' - like the Mike and El moment at the snowball when she first walks in, but with Mike and Will this time. I think the lyrics clearly hint to this kind of 'first look' moment as well.

"Watchin' every motion in my foolish lover's game On this endless ocean, finally lovers know no shame Turning and returning to some secret place inside Watchin' in slow motion as you turn around and say...take my breath away"

Watchin' every motion in this foolish lover's game Haunted by the notion, somewhere there's a love in flames Turning and returning to some secret place inside Watchin' in slow motion as you turn my way and say...take my breath away"

"In The Air Tonight" by Phil Collins (1981)

This song was originally meant to be included in the snowball scene from s2, but it ultimately was not used and "Every Breath You Take" was used for this scene instead. Since it was intended to be a part of the s2 dance, that's why I think it may be used at the prom this season. (you can read the scripts on 8flix)

——— I forgot to include this explanation originally BUT, I think this song might be used to show some anger/resentment between the two, and to show a decent amount of tension, depending on their development this season. Like maybe Mike is kind of leading Will on in private by continuing to initiate intimate scenes between them, but in public Mike is still trying to put on his “straight boy act” and kind of being a jackass about it, and this song could be used to show the tension between them that has caused.

"And I've been waiting for this moment, for all my life, (Oh lord)

Well, I was there and I saw what you did I saw it with my own two eyes So you can wipe off that grin, I know where you've been It's all been a pack of lies.

Well I remember, I remember don't worry How could I ever forget It's the first time, the last time we ever met But I know the reason why you keep this silence up

No you don't fool me The hurt doesn't show, but the pain still grows It's no stranger to you and me"

"In Your Eyes" by Peter Gabriel (1986)

Some of the lyrics in this song just SCREAMS byler, just look at the 1st, 2nd and 4th paragraphs. I would be suprised if they didn't use this song in either s4/s5.

Love, I get so lost sometimes Days pass and this emptiness fills my heart When I want to run away I drive off in my car But whichever way I go I come back to the place you are

All my instincts, they return The grand facade, so soon will burn Without a noise, without my pride I reach out from the inside

In your eyes The light, the heat (in your eyes) I am complete (in your eyes) I see the doorway (in your eyes) To a thousand churches (in your eyes) The resolution (in your eyes) Of all the fruitless searches (in your eyes)

Love, I don't like to see so much pain So much wasted and this moment keeps slipping away I get so tired working so hard for our survival I look to the time with you to keep me awake and alive

"Heroes" by David Bowie (1975)

David Bowie was bisexual. A cover of his song “Heroes” is used in the show twice already, sung by Peter Gabriel. The song plays when they pull Will's fake body out of the water in season one and Mike cries in his Mom's arms, with some very queer-coded lyrics in the background, and after Hopper's letter in s3 (which is very Byler-centric)

"I will be king. And you, you will be queen 'Cause we're lovers, and that is a fact. Yes, we're lovers, and that is that. Though nothing will keep us together. We could steal time just for one day We can be heroes forever and ever. What d'you say? I, I wish I could swim, like dolphins, like dolphins could swim I, I can remember (I remember) Standing by the wall (By the wall) And the guns shot above our heads (Over our heads) And we kissed as though nothing could fall (Nothing could fall) And the shame was on the other side. Oh, we can beat them forever and ever. Then we could be heroes just for one day We're nothing, and nothing will help us Maybe we're lying, then you better not stay But we could be safer just for one day"

I just thought the above songs might be some highly likely possibilities given that they fit the year of the s4 and also make references to not only love, but the idea of hiding, pain, shame, longing, etc., and can make some (partially stretching here) references to other things in the show such as:

RAINBOWS and TRUE COLORS, SHINING THROUGH (rainbows imagery is always associated with Mike & Will in the show and a is symbol of lgbtq+ pride, True Colors shining through = who you really are on the inside finally coming out)

IF THIS WORLD MAKES YOU CRAZY ("crazy together", "only love makes you that crazy" and references the "world" motif in the show)

YOUNGER YEARS, ONLY YOU AND ME, YOUNG, WILD AND FREE (references "not wanting things to change" and wanting "to make things go how they were" part in Hopper's letter, and the "But we're not kids anymore" comment during the Byler fight)

ENDLESS OCEAN and SWIM, LIKE DOLPHINS (references water's significance in the show)

FLAMES (Will in front of the burning car in s4 teaser?)

LIES and LYING (Mike lying to El about how he feels)

INSTINCTS RETURNING, FACADES BURNING, WITHOUT MY PRIDE, I REACH OUT FROM THE INSIDE (Mike's feelings for Will are his instincts, the facade is the act he put on in s3 to seem straight, burning could reference Will & fire, and I think the last 2 lines of that 2nd verse reference vulnerability- perhaps in an apology/confession)

I GET SO LOST (confusion about his sexuality, feeling lost without the other) and SO MUCH WASTED TIME (known each other since kindergarten but were unaware the other felt the same way/was dealing with same things, they could have been even closer)

KINGS and QUEENS (the d&d game mike wrote where he has king Tristan give him a medal in s1)

STEALING TIME (references "turning back the clock, to make things go how they were" part in Hopper's letter and the time theme in s4 and time is central to the s4 plot)

AND WE KISS - AND THE SHAME (references the shame they both feel about being gay since it was so stigmatized in the 80's)

Byler @ Prom Possibilities:

If Mike and Will did dance together at the prom, they will probably get bullied because they live in a small conservative town. They will probably either run out, upset, or Eleven will step in to protect them which could lead to the Carrie moment.

Or Mike and Will will not dance together in the actual dance room, but instead sneak off to somewhere else in the school and have a private Byler dance moment where they can't be teased and it's just them together.

OR Mike and Will are still acting weird at this point in the season because neither of them is communicating what needs to be said out of fear, or one of them has confessed or done something to indicate how they feel, but the other hasn’t so everything is weird between them. There would be lots of tension from this and we would get lots of longing looks and adoring moments between the two of them from the sidelines. (I think this one is the most likely)

[therealladylucifer]

Anyways here are my thoughts on the season 6 premiere

Ava first noticing Sara is gone because she didn’t get tucked into bed has me so soft

Damn John starting off the season at an 11 huh

I- Is this what he’s like when he’s happy?

Wait Ava didn’t know about them? I mean it’s been a while since I’ve seen season 5 but I thought Constantine and Zari were known?

Ava vomiting when she realizes it lmao

Still not sure how I feel about Astra but she’s a badass bitch either way and I respect that

I ship Behrad and the guard

David Bowie?

Lmao “Hi Zari”

Damn this show coming for me with that proposal… not Ava finding out while her girlfriend is missing

Is Mick responsible now? Is that what’s happening?

Anyways I feel like some of them do know about aliens. I mean Nate’s never a big part of the crossovers but Sara and Mick have been a part of the show since the beginning, and several of their crossovers have included aliens. I guess Sara’s the best candidate, since when there are crossovers she’s usually one of the only ones crossing over. I know there was at least one, with those big ugly aliens that put everyone in the happiest versions of their lives, but I can’t remember if Mick was a part of that or not.

Ava my organizational queen I adore you

“She’s not lost she’s pre-found” I’m using this from now on

Having John use magic was step two lmao and obviously Ava knew it was best to drive him there instead of ask him cuz John’s just like that. I love her so much

Zari honey we all know why you’re going with John no need to hide it

Step 4 what is Astra’s deal please this is so accurate

Ava’s steps are my new favorite thing she really knows this team huh

The DEO? A crossover? Now? OMG

Hey what the fuck is going on in this creepy ass spaceship

Spartacus? Really? I love this dumbass show so much

Wait why does Astra care

Wait what happened to the DEO I haven’t been keeping up with Supergirl

Damn those Romans weren’t exactly geniuses were they

I love Sara so much

Hey what the fuck is John on because it seems like more than just whiskey

Alistair Crowley? David Bowie? Spartacus? How many more names are going to be dropped

Oh shit is Gary coming back too? Lowkey forgot about him oops

What. The. Fuck.

She’s lowkey kinda hot. Wait I remember someone new is joining the cast this season is this her?

“Guys we don’t understand” I don’t understand either

Okay why am I attracted to Zari-as-Gary

I am very confused

GARY CONFUSING THE SPACESHIP WITH AVALANCE PLEASE

I would be very concerned about this if I weren’t still stuck on Gary being an alien

You guys GARY IS AN ALIEN

Legends has reached peak crazy. Nothing can top this. Nothing can top Gary being A FUCKING ALIEN

“You think we’re weird, wait until you meet John” please this is so accurate

God please let this work

Zari trying to act casual like she doesn’t care

Oh neat so this season is going to be aliens. Cool

Sara and Ava are still separated oh my god no

[queerlennon]

Lesley-Ann Jones Is Untrustworthy

So I’ve seen some people in the fandom reading and citing Lesley-Ann Jones’ biography The Search For John Lennon recently and to be honest it’s concerning to me. Lesley Ann Jones has proved in the past to be an extremely untrustworthy source for info about the people she writes about. I understand that it’s exciting to have a book about John that’s not written by the typical “Lennon biographer” type (aka an ageing straight man) and for said book to also promise to shed light and focus on his bisexuality but, if we’re going to analyse John respectfully and accurately, it’s important to identify sources that are biased and untrustworthy, even if they’re technically within our favour. Especially when it relates to his queerness. And seeing as LAJ doesn’t have the best record when it comes to writing about rockstars’ sexualities in a respectful manner, it’s best to treat her words with caution.

Info about exactly how she’s a bad source is under the cut

Firstly, it's key to talk about LAJ's journalistic background when discussing what sort of writer she is: she's worked for papers such as The Sun, The Daily Mail, and The Mail On Sunday. Essentially, the bulk of her work has been for tabloids and traditionally the writing style for those kinds of publications place an emphasis on sensationalism and gossip. Now obviously that doesn’t discredit her work immediately, authors are usually able to write in more than one style so it doesn’t necessarily mean the tabloid style is going to carry over to her biographies; but it’s good to keep in mind when discussing and analysing the legitimacy of the narratives she creates and the stories she recounts in her work. 

LAJ has received criticism in the past, particularly from the queen fandom of often overexaggerating, or just straight presenting false information in her bios about Freddie Mercury. She is the champion of the claim that Freddie was bisexual and not gay. Her evidence for this is over-exaggerating and (seemingly intentionally) misinterpreting the nature of the relationship between Freddie and his friend, Barbara Valentin. LAJ claimed that the two had a relationship and even lived together:

“Barbara was very open with me about the sexual relationship she had with Freddie.”

(x)

(x)

However, no-one in Freddie’s life has ever corroborated that Freddie and Barbara were anything but friends. As for the claim they lived together, according to Peter Freestone, an extremely close friend of Freddie’s:

In the event, Freddie never actually lived there although Barbara fulfilled a huge role in Freddie’s life at that time... Freddie became very disillusioned when with more and more frequency articles were appearing in the German press’s gossip columns... about the relationship between him and Barbara... After one article claiming to have knowledge of him and Barbara getting married, Freddie... concluded that it could only be Barbara who was providing the information.

(x)

This exaggeration of their relationship and the insistence LAJ has on presenting Freddie as bi because of it has attracted criticism from queen fans for obvious reasons. For one, it’s borderline homophobic to essentially lie about a gay man having a relationship with a woman while downplaying his relationships with men. No, she’s not portraying him as a straight man, however it’s still erasure of the specific struggles Freddie would’ve faced being a gay man in his time, therefore those who want to analyse him would be missing some of the picture when trying to understand him and his life

LAJ’s research methods are also... questionable. This is a post from Crystal Taylor (one of Roger Taylor’s roadies) about her methods for her David Bowie bio which, if to be believed is particularly concerning.

(x)

LAJ is also known to greatly exaggerate her own relationships with her subjects. She often claims to have been friends with the people she writes bios about (coincidently the people she does this with are dead.) Back in the day she would meet with artists while on tour so the idea is convincing enough. However besides her word there’s nothing to suggest that she had close friendships with Freddie or Bowie, two people she claimed to be good friends with. There’s also this comment from Brian May which actually goes against the idea that she was close with Freddie:

(x)

So with all of this in mind, let’s look at the quote from The Search For John Lennon that’s been circulating around Beatles tumblr:

That Bowie worshipped Lennon is no secret. He'd banged on about it often enough. The ex-Beatle had gone to his hedonism. They'd met in Los Angeles, during John's Lost Weekend. I lunched from time to time with David in New York while working there as a music journalist, before he married Iman. He lent me his house in Mustique, to write the first draft of my first biography on Freddie Mercury.

The crazy pair went out to play, according to David, when John was on yet another break from May and far away from Yoko. They genderbender-ed about, John indulging again that 'inner fag' of his. What larks.

They later 'hooked up': 'There was a whore in the middle, and it wasn't either of us,' David smirked. 'At some point in proceedings, she left. I think it was a she. Not that we minded.' By the time they made it back to New York, the ambisextrous pair were 'lifelong friends'.

I’m suspicious of this story for several reasons but first I want to make it clear that none of them have to do with John having sex with men or being bisexual. I’m a very firm believer of John’s bisexuality (my username is literally queerlennon lmao) but once again I think it’s good to examine the legitimacy of sources, even when they favour our position.

Firstly, LAJ’s source for this story is the claim that David told her, which considering I can’t find any info about them being friends besides her word, combined with the fact that she’s lied about having close relationships in the past raises a lot of flags.

But even if we assume LAJ isn’t lying and did know Bowie, the quote is still suspect, particularly the line “John was on yet another break from May and far away from Yoko.” According to May in her book Loving John, her and John had only one break from their relationship (the phrase “yet another break” implies multiple) that lasted a week, and for the entirety of that week, John was with Yoko. (x)

Finally, the language LAJ uses to describe John and David’s sexualities not only puts me on edge but very much makes me question her intention. Phrases like “the genderbender-ed about,” “indulged his ‘inner fag,’” and “ambisextrous,” all come across to me as fetishisation. Bisexuality is already very highly fetishised and sexualised and LAJ is most definitely not concerned with deviating from that representation. That phrasing combined with the way she also discusses Freddie’s sexuality, where she’s alleged highly sexualised claims about him having threesomes:

And quite often that involved other people as well. Other men, other women. There would be a number of them in the bedroom at any given time. In fact they were raided by the police once and the police stormed in and they found more people than they were expecting to find in the bed that morning.

(x)

— leads me to believe that LAJ is an author less concerned with exploring John’s sexuality as apart of his life, something that made him who he was, and more concerned with including details about “bisexual threesomes” as shock value, as a sensational point she can use to to promote her book in press tours and interviews. Like a tabloid writer. And this sort disrespect representation of John’s queerness, imo isn’t that much better than the biographers who dismiss or underplay it. I totally understand that for a lot of us, finding out new info about John’s queer identity is exciting, especially for those of us who are queer and identify with a lot with John for that reason, myself included. But we shouldn’t be giving credence and legitimacy to someone who firstly, isn’t trustworthy and secondly who’s reason for talking about it is gross and exploitative at best and biphobic at worst.

tl;dr, LAJ is an incredibly untrustworthy source of info and in her own over exaggerations, treats discussions of queerness in an extremely problematic and exploitive way so please take anything you read from her with a massive grain of salt.

[scuttle-buttle]

Dann Sind Wir Helden

Niki Lauda (Rush 2013) x Catherine/Reader

WC: 756

Rated: G

Chapter Tags: a little angsty? existential, fluff, David Bowie greatness, Niki knows more than he lets on

A/N: David Bowie holds a special place in my heart, which inspired this fic. Very long story very short, I had extremely bad mental health issues when I was 15/16, I heard the song Heroes, and my life actually changed. I’m the kind of person that is extremely emotionally affected by music, and the song just overwhelmed me in the best way. I kept going because of it, 10 years later I even have a tattoo for it to remind me of my own strength. So this oneshot is really just self indulgent for me.

🌌

Your birthday fell on a Friday this year. Niki had requested that you came home promptly after work. You had no idea what he was planning, you weren’t really pressed on celebrating your birthday. Nevertheless he insisted you had somewhere to be.

Watching as he closed a small piece of luggage in the trunk of his black sedan, you eye him curiously. “Still not telling me?”

“You will see when we get there, liebe. Have patience.” Huffing, you got into the car. He was too good at keeping secrets.

The drive was pleasant enough. Niki left his hand on the inside of your thigh; your own rested atop his. The sun dipped low in the sky. Blues met pinks, oranges, and purples.

If you had to guess, you would have said it had been at least two hours since you left.

“Are we at least close to whatever secret location you are taking me to?” you ask, breaking the silence.

“Yes.” It’s all your husband is willing to give you.

The first notes of the song begin over the car radio. A soft guitar intro flows through the speakers; leaning forward you turn the dial to increase the volume. You hum to the tune before opening your mouth to sing along.

There’s a starman waiting in the sky, he’d like to come and meet us but he thinks he’d blow our minds.

There’s a starman waiting in the sky, he’s told us not to blow it ‘cause he knows it’s all worthwhile.

You let out a wistful sigh. “I would absolutely die to see him in concert someday. I don’t think I’ve gone to a concert since before we met. He’s on a world tour right now too.”

“Who is this?” Niki plays dumb. He knows exactly who it is. Just like he knows exactly which tour you are referring to. The very same tour he’s currently driving you to see.

You gasp in shock at his question. “It’s David Bowie! I play his records all the time! I made you listen to his latest just the other day, Niki. Maybe you should get your ears checked after being around those loud cars all day.”

“Ah. The English guy with the crazy outfits,” he nods. “My ears are fine, I just did not remember his name.”

“Well, you’d do right to remember from now on if you want this marriage to work,” you tell him in your hautiest voice, sticking your chin up at him.

Soon after Niki pulls into a jam-packed lot of cars. Teenagers and young adults roam around outside the giant building. There is an air of excitement in the atmosphere. As Niki parks you spot someone in the distance with neon orange hair and a red-blue lightning bolt painted across their face. Turning the other direction there is a teen in turquoise eyeshadow and a bright blue jacket. “Niki where-? Why is everyone dressed like Bowie?” What is going on? Did he…?

Your gaze returns to your husband next to you. In his hands are a pair of tickets. David Bowie tickets. I must look like a damned fish with my mouth hung open, you think.

“You mentioned it a month ago. We were sitting in the living room and you were playing the new record. The last song came on and you looked up from your book. You said ‘Niki. This is the song. This is the song you go hear him sing and it changes your life.’ I bought tickets the next day. A coincidence that it was your birthday.”

There are no words to express your shock and excitement. So you kiss him, your hands plastered to his cheeks.

🌌

You were right that day. Hearing Bowie sing the song awoke such emotion within you that there was nothing you could have done to stop it. His lyrics resonated throughout you, the music sending tingles along your spine and goose pimples over your flesh. Your entire being was alight.

I, I will be king.

You felt as though every single emotion had taken over all at once.

And you, you will be queen.

Every sorrow, every joy, every hope, every ounce of love overwhelming you.

Though nothing will drive them away.

You felt everything.

We can be heroes, just for one day.

The universe had collided within your soul, obliterating you in the process. Niki just rocked you gently, his arms wrapped around your middle as the tears slipped down your smiling face. You were limitless. Cosmic. You were heroes.

Tag list: @ay0nha @apparrio @livvyshmiv @fictionlandslanddreams @vinylrosess @typical-bistander @ntlmundy @mymagicsuitcase @anteroom-of-death @somethingthatsaysbubbles @lieutenantn @multiversemarielle @trashbin2 @whatawildone @metalbreakfast @laura-naruto-fan1998 @greeneyedblondie44 @godidontevenknowwhat @marchingicenotes7 @loliissmut

[joe-mazzello-archive]

The Bet

Rating: 18+

Word Count: 1.5k

Warnings: language, dirty talk, sexual themes, no actual smut but it’s described lol

A/N: HAP BIRTH @brianmays-hair​!!! this is my birthday gift to you as if you didn’t know this was coming hehe. thanks for letting me rant about pedro pascal and for being a shady bitch with me and for putting up with my anons. i’m so thankful for your friendship. ily my bridge troll <3

ps: this is my first time writing for queen, so go easy on me gang! also i assumed that this pic was taken before their performance? apologies if that’s incorrect.

You had assumed that one day you’d become used to being married to one of the members of Queen. You would become numb to it, nothing surprising you or throwing you off. The fans, the parties, the tours...the fact that practically everyone in the world knew who your husband was. It would all become routine for you.

But then you went to Live Aid.

The size of the crowd alone shocked you. You knew just based on the lineup for the event and the fact that it was being held in Wembley Stadium that Live Aid was a huge event. But you didn’t realize just how huge.

You had held Brian’s hand tightly as the lot of you were escorted through backstage areas and cramped hallways, weaving through crew members and people with badges who seemed important. As someone who had been along for the ride for quite a few Queen tours, you were somehow extremely overwhelmed. But Brian’s tight grip on your hand, offering comforting squeezes every once in a while kept you grounded.

Eventually, Brian was swept away, needed to answer reporter questions or shake hands with music industry heads. You had just begun to feel a little lost when an arm slid around your shoulder.

“You look positively stressed, love,” Crystal’s voice sounded in your ear, the familiar timbre relaxing you a bit.

“It’s a lot to take in,” you replied, wrapping an arm around his waist for a side hug as the two of you watched the scene before you.

“Well, I’ll keep an eye on you, Mrs. May. Make sure you don’t get swept up in the craziness,” Crystal declared with a nudge to your ribs. You chuckled at the moniker, giving the techie a playful shove.

You knew he meant it. Crystal had somewhat taken you under his wing during your first Queen tour a few years back. Brian, only your boyfriend then, had asked you to join the group on the American leg of the News of the World tour, claiming he couldn’t bear to separated from you for an entire month and a half. Crystal had recognized the lost look in your eyes even back then as you experienced what it was like to go on tour with a rock band. The two of you had struck up an unlikely friendship, keeping each other entertained on bus rides while the boys caught up on much-needed sleep.

An hour later Brian grabbed your hand once again, bringing it to his lips for a soft kiss before announcing that him and Roger wanted to go watch some of the performances.

And that’s how you found yourself sitting in the VIP section of the stadium, seated between Brian and Chris. Had you been a few years less experienced, you may have been shocked when David Bowie took the seat next to Chris, offering you and the boys a handshake greeting. But you had had the pleasure of meeting Bowie a few years back.

No, the thing that made your eyes go wide with shock was when you realized that Princess Diana and Prince Charles of Wales were sitting right in front of you. Maybe a yard away.

Crystal noticed your reaction right away, offering a small chuckle and a loving head shake in response. He leaned closer to you, signaling you to do the same.

“I’ve got a bet for you,” he whispered, and you rolled your eyes. Somehow along the way, bets between you and Crystal had become commonplace. The two of you had bet on arguments between the band members, card games between roadies, and to your shame, you once even bet on how long one of Roger’s flings would last.

“Lay it on me, Taylor.”

“I bet you can’t get Brian all hot and bothered in front of Princess Di,” he responded. You let out a quick burst of laughter before clapping a hand on your mouth. Brian shot you a confused look that you returned with a nod towards Crystal. He immediately understood, knowing Crystal’s antics full well, and he turned his attention back to the performance.

“That’s not a bet, that’s just torture!” you argued. “And besides, you know I’d win.”

“Fine, twenty quid if you get him flustered enough to excuse himself.”

“I’m not doing that!”

“But it’ll be fun!”

He had a point. You did get a bit of satisfaction from reducing Brian to a needy mess. But you usually only pulled the trick of out of your pocket if he hadn’t been giving you enough attention lately.

But the more you thought about it, the more excited the prospect of a needy Brian made you. Get him all riled up and then have a quick and dirty fuck backstage before he performed for thousands of people? The idea was definitely intriguing.

“Fifty quid,” you countered, the gears in your head already turning. That earned you another chuckle from Crystal before he held a hand out to you.

“Deal.” The two of you sealed the exchange with a quick handshake.

Then you got to work.

An innocent smile on your face, you turned to Brian, tapping him gently on the shoulder to get his attention before leaning in close to his ear.

“Briii,” you murmured, laying a hand on his knee. He smiled at your show of affection, but his focus remained on the stage before him. “You know what I’m thinking about?” He hummed questioningly, still not giving you his full attention. “I’m thinking about the Hot Space tour.”

You let your statement simmer and you watched Brian’s eyebrows furrow in confusion as he tried to work out what you were referring to.

“Remember that time you were in a mood, and during one of Roger’s drum solos I pulled you into a closet and went down on you?” You slightly shifted your hand an inch higher on Brian’s thigh as you felt him tense next to you. But his eyes didn’t stray from the concert being performed. So you continued.

“And then after the show as a thank you, you took me back the hotel and absolutely destroyed me with your tongue?” An inch higher. You heard him let out a shaky breath before leaning closer to you.

“Darling, what are you doing?”

“I was so wet for you that night. You make me so wet, Bri,” you practically purred into his ear. Another inch higher; you were almost mid-thigh. You began to caress the fabric of his slacks with your thumb, tracing small circles. Brian shifted in his seat slightly, but the man was determined to watch the performers.

“If only Roger had a long drum solo in your set later tonight,” you continued. “We could recreate that. Licking every inch of you before I take you into my mouth completely. Maybe even let you take control. Let you fuck my mouth.” Another inch. You could see Brian was sweating now, and you knew it had nothing to do with the weather. Your eyes flicked over to Crystal, who was watching the band’s performance with a knowing smirk.

“Or maybe instead you can just fuck me. Push me up against the wall, wrap my legs around you can let you plow me until I’m a whimpering mess,” you whispered, slurring your words slightly. Brian’s cheeks were beet-red. “You always make me come so hard.” You shifted your hand another inch higher, but this time Brian’s long fingers wrapped around your wrist. And for the first time since you began your game, he turned to look at you.

“Love,” he whimpered, almost desperately. You fluttered your eyelashes innocently, a soft smile on your face.

“Yes, dear?”

His eyes flashed downward briefly, and you followed his glance. A prominent bulge had formed in his trousers. You gazed back up at Brian, your guiltless grin fading into a knowing smirk.

“Would you like some help with that, Bri?”

In a flash, Brian got to his feet, practically yanking you with him. You knew he was probably thankful he had elected to wear loose-fitting pants that day.

“We’re going to grab something to eat,” he announced, his voice a bit shaky. Roger’s eyebrows furrowed as he looked up at the tall man standing next to him.

“We just ate like an hour ago,” he revealed. You couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Well, I’m hungry again,” Brian snapped back quickly. I’m sure you are, you thought to yourself. Brian’s hand landed on the small of your back, urging you to start sliding past the seated audience members.

As you scooted past Crystal, he discreetly whipped out a fifty-pound note and held it out for you with a grin. You pocketed it and kept moving, past David Bowie and the other crowd members. Once the two of you finally made it to the aisle, Brian gripped your hand tight, pulling you along as he sped towards a bathroom. You could barely keep up; Brian’s long legs giving him an advantage.

“So, you’re hungry, huh, Bri?” you teased as you picked up the pace to walk in-line with him. Then in one swift movement, you were pulled through a doorway and spun around, your back pressing into the door to close it.

“I think you know exactly what I’m hungry for, you little minx.”

✧✧✧

Perm Taglist: @queenlover05​ @mrhoemazzello​ @madamsledge​ @sadhwstudent​ @johndeaconshands​ @stardust-galaxies​ @im-an-adult-ish​

[jasmine-tea-latte]

I’m going to be completely self-indulgent and promote myself a little during Self-Love Saturday for @zkfanworkweek​ (Zutara Fanworks Appreciation Week).

(Click here to see my earlier post about my favorite Zutara fics as well)

As I’ve said before elsewhere, I discovered ATLA shortly after it premiered in 2005, back when I was in high school. I enjoyed the show on occasion, but it wasn’t until Fall 2006 that I rediscovered it and got bit by the Zutara bug hard.

I still remember spending hours browsing and saving my favorite fanarts on DeviantArt and chatting with fellow fans and shippers on the Distant Horizon forums (side note - rereading some of my old posts on there is a total cringefest. Ugh.)

I stepped away a year or so after the show ended and dived into other OTPs and fandoms. Then earlier this year, I decided to return to the Avatar fandom once more and created this side blog so I could post all the Zutara/ATLA stuff to my heart’s content.

Anyways, I’ve enjoyed reading so many wonderful fics over the years, and I’m being serious when I say that I still have certain lines and scenes from some of them memorized.

Yet until this year, I had never sat down to write any fanfiction of my own but then, everything changed when the pandemic attacked.

Since I live in a big city and was under self-imposed quarantine (my husband is a non-medical essential worker, I get to work from home), I suddenly found myself with a LOT of free time, all alone save for Zoom calls and Facetimes with family and friends. So, after hyper-fixating and rewatching one of my favorite shows, I decided there was no better time to try my hand at something I’ve always wanted to do.  

And so, my series The Phoenix and the Dragon was born, based on the Zutara Week 2020 prompts. It all started when I thought up an idea for the prompt “Celestial” and sat down to write a one-shot where the Gaang teaches Zuko how to dance in the days leading up to the comet, and he ends up dancing with Katara under the starlight and moonlight.

Once I finished that (and split it into chapters for my own sanity), I realized I needed to know what happened next. So I plotted out the remainder of the series, one fic that corresponded with each prompt, and the rest is history.

Want lots of fluff, a dose of the occasional angst, and tons of symbolism and callbacks/foreshadowing/all those other literary tropes? That’s what you get with The Phoenix and the Dragon.

(Side note - if anyone were to animate or draw either of the sun shower scenes from this series, you would make my YEAR, and I would tearbend over you forever.)

Since Zutara Week ended a few months ago, I’ve added several extra entries to the series, including a fic that explores things from Mai’s POV and her own personal journey to find happiness.

~*~*~

I’ve also written a handful of one-shots and am finishing up on a 3-part series as well.

My one-shots (all are rated M, so minors beware):

Snuffed Out

This is what happens when I decide to dive into angst. I’ve actually been called a monster for this one, and frankly, I’m quite proud of that. The opening and ending scenes were inspired by Metallica’s “One” and the rest by Slipknot’s “Snuff” - hence the title. Fair warning that it gets dark.

Just For One Day

A return to fluff and happiness - an AU of sorts inspired by David Bowie’s “Heroes.”

Because these lines now forever make me think of the Last Agni Kai, and I get all in my feelings listening to this song now:

“I, I will be king / And you, you will be queen /  Though nothing will keep us together / We could steal time, just for one day /  We could be heroes, just for one day...”

Sweeter Than Honey, Stronger Than Whiskey

A self-indulgent modern AU Blutara fic entirely inspired by a dream I had while sleeping off the crud, under the influence of decongestant medicine.

AKA, the Blue Spirit actually saves the Painted Lady from the pirates.

~*~*~

It sounds crazy, but diving into writing this series, as well as my other fanfics, has truly helped keep me sane during this difficult year. It’s become my own personal little slice of happiness, and I’m so thankful to each and every one of you who has left a comment or Kudos or expressed their love for my work.

Seriously, you guys mean the world. Love you all, fellow Zutarians.

[mirkwoodshewolf]

We will rock you assistant; Queen x teen reader

*Author’s note*

Hey all, well here I am with yet ANOTHER UPDATE YAAAAAYYYY!!! Okay so in this fic that was requested on my Wattpad, I had made you the reader, Roger’s sister (they asked for either Bri or Rog and I went with our fabulous blondie hehehe). Anyways not really any big warnings except for the FLUFFINESS, but if I had to pick individual warnings I’d say swearing, mentions of P**l Pr***ter, scars (NOT SELF INFLICTED), animal attacks. So enjoy my lovely darlings :)

Taglist:

@psychosupernatural

@plethora-of-things

@ixchel-9275

@geek-and-proud

@queendeakyy

@coolcxt

@waddles03

____________________________________________________

It was 1977, I had finally returned from my 4 year study abroad program that counted towards my shot at a biology major.  And there was an offer saying that if you wanted to complete a 4yr program rather than a full college career that was also an option, so I actually got spend the rest of my secondary school year (years 10-13) down in Queensland, Australia to study in the Zoology program.

I’ll admit it was hard the first year I was there because I had never been that far away from home ever in my life on my own, but I made some really good friends and the professors there were amazing that they became parental figures for us rather than just our teachers.  I got to learn a lot about Zoology and the study of the animals of South America. But it was so good to be home.

Especially now since I get to finally see my big brother after 4 years of not seeing him. And some of you may know him, blonde hair, blue eyes, incredible drummer. Yep I’m talking about the famed Roger Taylor, drummer of Queen.  

When I first told him about the program he at first being the overprotective big brother that he was, refused to let me go.  We fought about it constantly until that’s when our mother made the final decision and allowed me to go because she thought this would be a good experience for me. Especially now since she couldn’t afford another kid going to college at the time.

He was also outnumbered because the rest of the band thought it was also a good thing for me to experience.  Oh yeah, did I not mention that I’m real close with the band? Yeah I’ve known all of them since they formed Queen, but besides my brother, Brian is the one I’ve known the longest.

In fact he was the first to agree that going to Australia for this program would be wonderful to get a full experience background and it would help in future job applications in the future.  Brian’s like a second brother to me so I know that if Roger won’t give into my ways, I can always fall back on Brian to be ‘Brother of the year.’

And Freddie and Deacy were a blessing to have around as well.  Freddie was known to the world by now as the frontman of Queen, but to me he’ll always be known as Freddie, King of the cats and lord of fashion.  He’s always been there to help cheer me up whenever I felt a little blue or after a big fight with my brother, and Deacy was the band’s bass player and mediator if things got chaotic, but whenever it was just the two of us, we got to share an interest of our studies so if he had to do anything regarding to biology I was there to help him as best as I could and he taught me a little bit about electronics and how they worked.

So even though there were tears shed on the last day of spring of 1973, I told the boys I would keep in contact and write every single day and they promised the same thing.  Of course people in Australia knew who Queen were by 1975 when their 4th album ‘A Night at the Opera’ came out.

All my friends couldn’t stop talking about it and some couldn’t stop listening to it, and I was the same way.  But it also helped me out whenever I got homesick and missed them too much.  Just hearing their voices and instruments play brought me back to home and back to them.

And now here I am, standing before the studio where mum said they rehearsed and recorded their albums.  While I was beyond thrilled to finally see the guys again, I was also really nervous.

Cause I mean last time I saw them, sure they were popular but only just through England, Japan and America.  They were still rising stars, now ever since A night at the Opera, they’ve completely exploded to the levels of Elton John, David Bowie, ACDC, the Beatles, and a hell of a lot of other rockstars.  And sometimes egos get in the way or they just forget about who their families are and never talk to them anymore once they’ve hit it big.

I was worried that with as long as I’ve been gone, the four of them probably forgot all about me, or just didn’t want to have anything to do with me anymore. I stood before the door of the studio about to go in but I stopped and set my bags down.

“Okay, calm down (y/n), you can do this. You’ve known these guys since forever. You gotta make this reunion right.” I then did a practice mock turn and said with the most angelic voice, “Greetings my brothers.” I groaned out.  Pathetic.

I then tried another tactic, a simply grand gesture wave but making my voice all high and strange sounding but that didn’t work.  Then I thought, maybe a simple hide and suddenly appear as they come out.  I managed to find a shrub tree so I grabbed that, set it in front of the door and hid behind it before practicing peeking out and saying oh so casually.

“Oh hey guys, didn’t see you there.” I groaned and muttered to myself, “None of this is going to work.” I sighed heavily. “Maybe just a simple, sincere welcome back. Yeah, yeah that’ll do it. It’s only just the most important reunion of your life, what could go wrong?”

*3rd Person POV*

After waiting for over an hour and a half for Freddie, the remaining three members who had come with their wives all decided that they should return home since this rehearsal didn’t seem important enough for their lead singer.

“All that waiting for nothing.” Exclaimed Roger.

“Well we should’ve expected this, I mean after all since—well you know he and Mary broke up and Paul weaseled himself into his life, he’s been a bit….off.” Brian said.

“I only just wish he hadn’t made such a big deal about coming to rehearsal and then not show up himself.” Stated Deacy.

“He’ll come around love, meanwhile why don’t we all head out for some lunch. Our treat boys since you all have worked so hard.” Offered Veronica, his lovely wife.

“No love we can’t ask that—”

“She’s not asking. We’re offering.” Stated Chrissie, Brian’s wife.

“Thanks darling.” Brian said softly as he softly pecked her cheek.  That was until Dominque, Roger’s wife took a hold of the door and they were all shock to reveal a young teenage girl with bags and suitcases behind her.

“Sup party people I’m back in the hizz-hou—ohh no! God that was so American of me to say, why did I let Zack convince me to talk like that? I’m so sorry that was terrible, can I get a do-over?”

*My POV*

Well I totally fucked that greeting up. Hizz-house? Really? God next time I see that boy I’m gonna strangle him.  I saw my brother with a raven-haired girl standing beside him, in fact Deacy and Brian all had girls by their sides.  Deacy was arm to arm with a beautiful blonde woman while Brian had a brunette.  

All three of my boys looked at me, almost like they were ready to bawl, especially my brother.  I smiled softly and said.

“Hey Rog.” He just stood there.  All was silent then just before I could say anything else, Roger rammed himself into me, picking me up in his arms and spinning me around.

I let out a shriek at first but immediately hugged my brother back as he cheered happily, hugging me as tight as he could all the while kissing all over my face.  After what felt like eternity, he finally set me down but refused to let go of his embrace. Not that I minded anyway, I missed him just as much as he missed me.

“Oh (y/n) I can’t believe it’s you. You’re—you’re actually here. Home at last!”

“I know, 4 years seems like forever.”

“You have no idea lovie, god I’ve missed you like crazy.” He hugged me once again before getting a second look at me, “Ohh look at you. You’ve grown so much. Last I saw you, you were this big.” He gestured playfully as he placed his hand to his waist.  I playfully shoved him and exclaimed.

“I was never that short, you overgrown blonde giant!”

“Don’t you raise your voice at me little Ms. Thumbelina!” The two of us glared at each other for a brief moment before I let out a giggle and hugged my brother one last time saying.

“Oh I’ve missed you so much big bro.”

“And I you little sis.” It was then my attention turned toward Deacy and Brian. I got out of my brother’s arms and slowly walked towards them cautiously.  Okay so the reunion with Rog was an immediate check point, but I guess that’s to be expected because he’s my brother, but what about the two guitar players of Queen.

“Bri, Deacy. Been a long time. I hope you hadn’t forgotten little ol—” but then just like Roger, but instead of one of them coming up to embrace me, both of them did. Sandwiching me between them.  I smiled as I leaned my head against Deacy’s chest and tried to hug both of them with each arm as best as I could.

“Oh love look at you. You truly have grown into a beautiful young woman. Last we saw you, you were just a kid and now just look at you.” Said Deacy.

“Well how about you? Last I saw you your hair was down to here, now you’ve cut it to a true man’s hairstyle.”

“Do you hate it?”

“No this look suits you just fine. Though I can’t say I’ll miss braiding your hair in secret while you sleep.”

“So it was you who was doing that!” he exclaimed.

“Hey Rog goaded me on. He said I couldn’t do it without waking you up.”

“Don’t you drag me into this!” my brother exclaimed.  I playfully stuck my tongue at him when I was pulled away by Brian. He spoke not a word but just smiled lovingly down at me as he placed both of his hands at each side of my head before gently caressing downward around my face till he cupped each side of my jawline.  A common sign of affection he always did with me.

“They weren’t lying. God you’ve really become a woman now.”

“I know, but I also know that like Rog you can’t help but imagine me as that little girl you first met when my brother joined Smile.”

“That I do.” He smiled softly and gingerly kissed my forehead before hugging me close to him.  It wasn’t until a throat cleared and that’s when my attention turned towards the three women standing there.

“Hate to spoil the reunion, but just letting you guys know we’re still here. And we would like to know just who this famed young girl that has our husbands’ wrapped around her finger is.” The blonde spoke up.  There was no trace of malicious or jealousy in her words, but there was a hint of teasing towards the end.

“Sorry. Chrissie, Veronica, Dominque. This young woman is our biggest fan, future zoologist and Roger’s younger sister, (Y/n) Taylor. (Y/n), this is Brian’s wife Chrissie, Dominque, your sister in law and my lovely wife, Veronica.” Deacy said introducing us.

“Ohh so I’m finally meeting the three famed wives of Queen. Each of your husbands have told me a bit about you, I can’t believe I didn’t put two and two together when I first saw you.” I spoke as I walked up and stood before them.

“Believe us, the boys have told us all about you, especially Roger.” Said Dominque.

“Oh god I swear if he told you any embarrassing stories about me, forget them they didn’t happen the way he says they did. And he’s responsible for most of them happening.” I shook hands with my sister in law and she smiled down at me and she whispered.

“Don’t worry I had your back in defending your honor.” Before winking at me.  Oh I like her already.

“I can’t believe we’re finally meeting the famous (y/n). I especially have been looking forward to this moment for 4 years. The way my husband talked about you I expected to meet a little girl, but you my dear are so grown up.” The brunette Chrissie said.  I smiled and said.

“They all still see me as that little girl, guess it’ll take time for them to see me now.”

“Lovie no matter how big you get you’ll always be my baby sister.” Roger teased as he wrapped his arm around my neck and playfully pinched my cheek.  I whined and shoved him off and that’s when I began looking around.

“Where’s Fred?” at the mention of his name, the guys went either stoic or pissed off.

“C’mon in the studio love, there’s a lot you need to catch up on.” My brother lead me inside the studio while Deacy and Brian grabbed my bags and we all went back into the studio.

It was then I was filled in on everything that had happened.  Apparently now Mary and Freddie broke up with each other and his assistant Paul Prenter had slowly began to move into his life.  Now I vaguely remember meeting Paul a couple of times, but even then I knew there was something about him that I didn’t like.

“Geez, poor Freddie.”

“Paul’s poisoning his mind.” Stated Deacy.

“I wouldn’t doubt that. I mean, even with the couple times I’ve actually met him, I knew I didn’t like him. One look into his eyes and it’s like a Taipan is staring right back at you.”

“Taipan?” asked my brother.

“One of Australia’s most dangerous snakes. One of the boys in my group got bitten by one about a year ago. We never saw it coming; it was wrong place, wrong time.”

“Jesus was he okay?” asked Dominque.

“Yeah, luckily we managed to get him to the hospital where they gave him anti-venom.”

“What’s that?” asked Chrissie.

“They milk venom from the snakes and with the help of some brilliant chemists and scientists, they can create a potent to counteract the venom in the body. If they are given it in time, and it has to be from the same species of snake or spider or whatever venomous creature you’re getting it from. If you use black mamba anti-venom to counteract a rattlesnake venom, it does nothing.”

“Wow, the things science is doing for us nowadays.” Said Veronica.

“Okay so we’ve established the fact that Paul’s a snake, but what can we do to help Freddie?” my brother demanded.  No one spoke up until I said.

“I guess the only thing we can do is just be there for him as much as we can.”  The guys were hesitant but they agreed solemnly. “So what were you guys up to before I got here?”

“Well we were supposed to rehearse at Freddie’s request but of course he decided to not to show up.” Answered Deacy.

“So we were gonna head out and treat the boys to lunch, would you care to join us?” asked Veronica.

“Yes please, if you don’t mind. I’ve been on a plane for over 12hours with only snacks to keep me happy. And don’t get me wrong but plane food can only go so far.”

“Then have no fear sister dear, let’s get that tummy of yours filled with some real meat.” Roger as he poked my stomach making me curl up and push his hand away. It was then Brian spoke up.

“(Y/n), what’s that scarring on your leg?” I looked down and sighed.

“Well let’s just say Cody, the boy who got bit by a snake wasn’t the only one who experienced an animal attack. Mine however was a bit more vicious.”

“What happened? What hurt you and how come you never told me about this? How long ago was it?” Roger began frantically asking questions in a demanding tone.

“Rog relax I lived. Aaron got a bit cocky thinking that just because he was from Texas he could wrangle any pig. So he snuck out away from the school grounds and found a trial leading to a herd of wild feral pigs. Nearly got himself killed had I not been there to save his sorry ass. Thankfully before the pig could tear a main artery, the professor came and fired a gun into the air which scared the boars away. Had to be given over 20 stitches and 4 weeks of bedrest, but at least I didn’t end up with an amputation.”

“Did they call mum and inform her what had happened? How long ago did it happen?”

“It happened 6 months after joining the program, and yes they did. They always inform the parents of anything that happens to the students, and critical injuries or hospital visits are immediately told to the parents.”

“Well why didn’t she call me about it?”

“Weren’t you guys on the American tour around that time?” He shrugged before wrapping his arms around me bringing me close to him.  “Hey, I’m alright. Just hurt like a bitch but I’m okay.” I said softly as I rubbed his forearm.

“I just wish I could’ve been there. I could’ve saved you, helped made you comfortable as you were on bedrest. Kissed your boo-boos away.” I groaned out his name he softly chuckled and said, “still scars or not you’re still every bit the baby sister I know and love. I’ll take you no matter what.” He stroked down my hair and leaned his head on top of mine.  I smiled and nuzzled into his neck until Brian spoke up.

“We’ll try coming here again tomorrow, but for now I say let’s celebrate our best girl’s return with a well-earned English lunch.”  Everyone was in agree so we took my bags, placed them in the trunk of my brother’s car and we all headed out to lunch.

Throughout the entire day, we spent the day at my favorite restaurant and I told them more about the program and how my official diploma would be shipped to me in the next month or so.

The next day it was pretty much like the same thing as yesterday.  I was sitting between Chrissie and Veronica on the couch. Roger and Dominque were sitting together on a chair looking through a boating magazine.  Deacy who was sitting on the other side of Veronica were talking together while Brian sat on the drum risers.  I’ve noticed that for the past hour he’s been softly tapping his foot twice and softly clapping his hands.

“What about this one?” muttered Roger.

“This one is for me.” Dominque spoke.

“I don’t see how you can buy a boat Rog, and most importantly where would you keep it?” I questioned.

“First of all it’s a yacht, totally different. And second down by the docks of course. We’ve got a lake house that we bought about a year ago.”

“How come you always get the good stuff when I go away?”

“Aww don’t worry love, I’ll buy you one soon enough. Till then you can take the basement whenever you come and visit.”

“Roger, don’t you boot your sister down there, it’s not even finished.” Dominque said.

“Thank you Nicky, you’re the best sister I could ever ask for.” I reached out for her hand and she took mine.

“Everyone up on the drum risers.” Brian suddenly stated as he now stood up.  We were a bit confused a bit till Brian emphasized his point once more, “Up on the drum risers.”

“Finally some action!” I moaned out as I sat up and as I walked up Brian said.

“Thank you (y/n), showing some enthusiasm.” As I stood beside him, he wrapped his arm around me and kissed the top of my head as I hugged him around his waist. It was then Deacy spoke up.

“Just (y/n), or all of us?”

“Yes, yes c’mon John. Everyone up, I’m not waiting any longer.” Soon everyone got off their butts and walked up onto the drum risers.  Chrissie stood to my left while Dominique stood to my right.

“Bass?” questioned Deacy as he made the gesture of holding his bass guitar in his hand but Brian told him and even gave him a mock kick to his bum.

“No don’t need it, get up. Well c’mon Rog take your time.”

“Alright. What’s this about?” Roger spoke as he was the last to get up on the stage and that’s when Brian said.

“You remember our last concert? The crowd were singing our songs back to us. I mean it was deafening but—it was wonderful. They’re becoming a part of our show. I want to encourage that so…..I’ve got an idea to involve them a little bit more.” He then began stomping the ground twice before breaking on the third beat. He did that a few times before John sneered with sarcasm.

“Genius.”

“Thank you John.” Brian spoke mockingly.  I just rolled my eyes at their interaction before Brian urged all of us again, “C’mon.” Soon everyone started to stomp along with Bri.  I felt a little out of place and I was just about to slowly back off when Brian spoke again, “That means you too (y/n).”

“R-really?”

“Yeah, now c’mon join the ranks.” My brother then pulled me between him and Deacy and I joined in on the rhythmic stomping.  “Good. Now I want you to clap on the third beat.”  Soon it formed into a STOMP, STOMP CLAP. STOMP, STOMP CLAP.

“Don’t speed up!” My brother claimed but he looked down at me and playfully bopped my nose.  I glared playfully up at him as Brian said.

“Rog keep that time.” We all continued the tempo following my brother’s lead when I heard Brian speak up again after he had turned toward the piano to play a single key, “No Prenter? It’s unusual to see you without your clone?”

“It’s unusual seeing you be so bitchy.” I looked up to see the last Queen member I didn’t see the other day, the front man himself Freddie Mercury.  He looked different as well, much like Deacy his hair was now shorter.

“That’s usually me.” Deacy spoke as he pointed to himself and I playfully bumped into his arm.  Brian turned back around toward us and playfully teased my brother.

“Ahh you’re keeping time Rog, good.” I heard my brother playfully scoff and that’s when Freddie stood beside Bri and asked.

“What’s going on?”

“You’d know if you were on time.” Said my brother as we all ceased our stomping and claps and he wrapped his arm around my shoulders.  Freddie turned to look at my brother as he said.

“I’m a performer darling not a Swiss train conductor.” He then turned to Brian and said, “Sorry I’m late.”

“Again.” Deacy spoke bluntly.  Fred turned back towards us and when he finally took notice of me he said.

“And just who is here with us today?”

“If you were here yesterday Freddie, you’d realize it’s me.” His eyes widened and he said.

“No way, (y/n)? Little (y/n) Taylor?” I nodded and grinned at him.  He grinned back at me and stated as he pointed at me, “Afterwards, you and me, outside. We’ve got some things to talk about.” He then turned back to Brian and continued, “Now back to the matter at hand, will you please tell me why you’re not playing any instruments?”

“I wanna give the audience a song that they can perform. Alright? Let them be a part of the band so what can they do?” Brian then resumed stomping and clapping two times before we all resumed and joined him.  Even Freddie joined in at one of the claps.  “Imagine….thousands of people. Doing this in unison, hmm?” Freddie had a processing look in his eyes before finally saying.

“What’s the lyric?” And it was then a new Queen hit was being born.

As the day went on, I walked over to Brian who was at the controls with pieces of paper scattered around him, pencil in head connecting it to his brain trying to get the right lyrics.  I slowly walked up towards him and asked.

“So this is how the great Brian May works his lyrics?” He turned to me and he smiled.

“It’s how we all work. Though you should’ve seen us when we went to Rockfield farm to record a Night at the Opera. Sheet music everywhere.” I chuckled and sat down next to him in the extra chair.  I grabbed one of the lyrics sheets and read the lyrics.

“This is good Brian.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah, I mean just based off of the rhythm you had going down, made me think about all the sporting events that happened back down in Australia. You think London is fanatic when it comes to football, you clearly haven’t seen the Aussie’s do it, along with rugby. Those fans get insane.”

“I can imagine. But I’m unclear of which order to do some of the lyrics.” I stood up and placed the lyric sheet I had back down and leaned over his shoulder to read what he had so far.

“Why not do it like an evolution type thing.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean like you’ve got each new stanza starting with man. But why not go in age order. Start with a young boy who once started off in the schoolyard kicking mud around, then the young ambitious young man thinking he was gonna rule the world someday, kinda like what my brother envisioned.”

“Before finally ending it with an old man, after all is said and done all he wants is peace. Love you are brilliant!” he gasped before bringing me into his lap and hugged me tightly.

“What would you guys do without me?”

“Probably have another car song by your brother.”

“Oh don’t even get me started on that.”

“So you agree with me?”

“Yes, infinitely. I was embarrassed at just hearing the song being played by some of my fellow zoologists, mainly the boys who were also car nuts like my brother.”

“Oh I see how it is!” We looked up to see my brother standing there with his arms crossed over his chest.  He walked over to me continuing, “You also think my song’s stupid? Siding with this rotter here?”

“I’m sorry Rog but you’ve got to admit it makes you sound like you’d have sex with a car.”

“At least one Taylor sees the problem with your song.” Brian pipped in.

“You keep out of this!” Roger pointed to Brian.  He then directed his attention to me, he gestured with his finger a ‘come hither’ motion, “You come here.”

“No, no Rog I know that look! Back away from me!” I warned him as I got off of Brian’s lap immediately recognizing the sign of what he was going to do.

“You’ve got nowhere else to go (n/n). Only one way out of here and you gotta get by me to get to it.” I backed myself into a corner as he kept walking toward me.  I quickly looked around before running to the left but he followed and blocked my path.

However what he didn’t expect was for me to go to the right and race out but just before I managed to get out of the door, Roger grabbed me around the waist and threw me over his shoulder.

“Oi yah big goober! Put me down! Roger I’m not kidding I’m not seven years old anymore you can’t do this to me!!”

“Not till you apologize, ready for the helicopter?”

“No! Please Rog anything but tha—HEY!!” As we were now in the middle of the studio, he began to spin me around.  “Stop it! Rog I’m not kidding put me down!”

“Not till you change your mind about my song.”

“Never.”

“Okay then you’re not getting down.” He kept the act up for about 10 minutes till I finally relented and gave my brother what he wanted, even though my opinion didn’t change.  I just wanted to stop the room from spinning and the blood from going to my head.

After helping the boys record the song, I was allowed to go to my first Queen concert in over 4 years.  We were at Madison Square Garden and I was up in the front row in a special center-stage reserved seat that the boys managed to swindle for me.

And getting to see them on a bigger stage with a larger audience and more fans than they did when I last went to a Queen concert at the Rainbow back in ’74 before I left for my program.  They were now full-fledged Rock-gods and I was honored to be apart of their close circle, hell I’m lucky to be related to one of the band members themselves, and a surrogate sister to the other three.

[girlobsessed21]

The 100 6x11 discussion - burning desires of change

Hey guys, as usual, here’s my breakdown of the episode. Props to Mr. Bob Morley on his directing debut - insert applause emoji here. All in all, it was great, I enjoyed it, albeit a little weird. But it’s to be expected of a conversion episode taking us into the finale.

Like I explained in my 2nd predictions post, “Ashes to Ashes’ has Biblical connotation and it’s also a British crime drama about time traveling back to the early 80′s as well as David Bowie’s 1980 hit single about addiction.

Apart from Ash being Echo’s real name, I struggled to find the link to the title until it hit me with a wrench from behind. It’s about cycles, repetition, doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results (which Einstein did not say btw). Only now, it’s breaking that rotation. Demons are overcome (apart from Madi), and it’s time to do better.

Octavia’s no longer Bellamy’s responsibility, Clarke refuses to kill innocents, the children of Gabriel learn the truth, Miller disobeyed to transcend and Echo (or Ash), well, I’ll talk about her later. To Monty! Will this also be the end of the ‘will they, won’t they’ dance for Bellamy and Clarke? See my thoughts on this.

That said, let’s fall into the recap.

A child possessed

Okay, Sheidheda was a lot creepier in this episode than the previous ones. if Madi wasn’t completely overthrown before, it seems like she is now and her driving force is pure vengeance. The bond between Madi and Clarke is harder to break than diamonds, which we saw in season 5 and here again.

For six years, all they had were each other. Since the little Natblida was only six when Clarke found her, she won’t even remember her real family all that well. To Madi, Clarke was her savior, her family, her protector, her mother and basically everything else. Having such an influence taken away from you is artery-slicing.

The demon in her head knows this, plays on it and manipulates in a way an abuser lures children in with sweets. Given her age and lack of experience, she follows blindly. I have a feeling this might continue onto season 7 but I hope Raven finds a way to eliminate him. That face freaks me out. For now, he’s gonna cause a lot more damage than we anticipate and will probably be a spoil of war for the peaceful plan.

John Murphy - court jester or hero?

Yeah, he’s been a fence-sitter the entire season, but you have to admit, Murphy provides some much needed comical relief. Granted, the writers have turned up the humor via Bellamy, Clarke, and Diyoza, yet Murphy’s sarcasm should never be taken for granted. “Houdini Miller.” He might not make it to the end of the season.

If someone threatens the life of the person you love, will you protect everyone else or only that person? Ask Bellamy, he did the exact same thing. Risked the lives of everyone else to save his girl, of course Murphy will do the same. He wants to marry Emori, he’ll face hell to ensure her safety.

Still, he warns Echo in good old Cockroach fashion. Don’t let them find out I’m on your side, there’s but one side and it’s mine - and Emori’s. As long as the primes think that, he’ll have a chance of being spared. Murphy is such a great character, sure, he has deviated from being good, but that’s what makes him interesting.

The more layers and substance a character has, the more convincing and relatable they are. All of us have flaws, Murphy’s biggest one is his selfishness, does this make him a bad person? Absolutely not. He struggles and sometimes stumbles due to it but he still cares. Only the size of his heart’s in question, not the existence and it gets them out of some serious syrupy situations.

The makes of the Blakes

So, Bellamy doesn’t care about the delusional cult followers, he merely wants to save his people, to hell with the rest. In a sense, he betrayed them to rescue his love? soulmate? person? and has to make up for it. Now, Bellamy, did Monty not teach you anything?

Being so determined, he calls his sister the queen of cannibals. Killing her own people to ensure their survival. She did what she had to do, why can’t he? I didn’t know Bellamy even knew about this, why didn’t they show his reaction to finding out? Wouldn’t it have led to him cutting her some slack? He was in the exact same situation many times before. 

Probably not. His whole life has always revolved around her, everything he did was to protect his sister to the point of borderline, unhealthy codependency. Octavia was his purpose and yet she threw him in a fighting pit to die after he once again tried to save her - from herself.

Gabriel then tells Bellamy his sister is special, she returned from the greatest mystery of Sanctum. If I remember correctly, Lincoln called her special too when she was unaffected by the biological warfare. There’s more to it though, in my opinion, I still think Diyoza will return, they were both called by the anomaly, why would only O survive? That anomaly is going to be some crazy wow-factor, I’m certain.

I believe a cult won’t be too happy to find out that its leader is the exact thing they’re rebelling against. And the children of Gabriel seemed pretty pissed, especially Xavier’s sister. That is until Bellamy gives them a plan to fulfill their cause. Unfortunately for him, it means teaming up with O to find the powerful red sun toxin. For once the cultists weren’t useless!

Poor Gabriel, all he wants is peace. I thought Jordan would be a Monty reincarnator but apparently, that’s Gabriel. Or he’s more of Lincoln II? Either way, I hope he doesn’t die. Speaking of Jordan, I miss him in his recovery bed. 

Anyway, “what do you say when sorry isn’t good enough?” Despite Bellamy’s countless efforts to keep O occupied, she won’t stop breaking down the walls around his heart. Those mushrooms were strong, Bell, we saw it. Octavia’s speech was so deep, honest and touching that Bellamy’s stray tears hardly seem enough.

The way it was resolved though, is more than satisfactory. After everything that’s happened, it wouldn’t be enough development for him to simply accept what she’s done and move on. But, he’s willing to give her a chance to prove herself while no longer being the core of his world. “You’re my sister, but you’re not my responsibility, not anymore” is probably the best metamorphosis I’ve witnessed on this show. It clips the umbilical cord for both of them to emerge as individuals.

Echoes of a cold-hearted spy

So, I assume Echo protected Ryker thinking she could bank on his morality to spare her. And of course, she keeps scraping at the flesh wound. But Ryker believes saving his family keeps the peace, killing Echo saves everyone else. One life instead of thousands - it’s for the greater good, right? Wrong. The acting here was great, I was totally convinced of Ryker’s bouncing morals.

Off-topic, I completely forgot Miller used to be a thief and I’m glad we got to see his pick-pocketing skills in action. He deserves some credit and screentime, since being a part of this show for six seasons. Oh, and the transcending moment between him and Gaia was super sweet.

For a second I thought Echo would become Simone and then I remembered that she also took ALIE’s chip and they wouldn’t rehash the neural mesh storyline. Meaning my fears were quickly soothed.

Onto the important part, what was that back story supposed to mean? All I got out of it, is that Echo’s cycle isn’t broken. That leopard hasn’t changed its spots. Don’t get me wrong, it broke my heart that she had to kill her friend and resume her identity in order to survive. But, it felt like a turning point in Echo’s character that plunged her into heartlessness. Will she become that person again?

I know Echo might not be a fan favourite, but she’s really grown on me this season. She’s smart, loyal and fierce, I like her. Not Bellamy and Echo together though, I can’t see a semblance of a connection between them. And their relationship is only hurting their characters.

Why would they build her up as a great character just to show that she cares about no-one, not even her friends? I mean I get why she killed Ryker, leaving him alive was too much of a risk - he would tell Russel about her, Miller and Gaia being at large. Though that murderous glint in her eyes tells me that was purely for revenge and completely against their newfound lifestyle. Maybe I’m wrong.

I’m curious to know what being a nightblood will mean for her now and how her character might change after being held at gunpoint.

Meanwhile, Monty’s mantra rings through Clarke 

Oy, Bellamy risked everything and everyone to save Clarke and if she can’t play the part of Josephine convincingly, that was all for nothing. And our boy’s not happy about it - at all. Only, Clarke refuses a Mount Weather do-over.

I just need to mention Bellamy’s face when Murphy come’s through the tent - priceless. Then Jade finally gets a chance to knock someone out too. Yay for her!

The moment Clarke’s safe, she goes straight to Bellamy for reassurance and goodbye. Backtracking to the start of the episode, the way he flung to her side when she woke, touched and comforted her was toothachingly soft and way too intimate to be non-romantic. 

Bellamy gets this shy, ‘aw it’s nothing’ expression when Clarke thanks him for saving her life. Because to him, it really is nothing, there’s nothing he wouldn’t do for her. And while he’s making heart-eyes at his friend, his girlfriend is being prepped for a blood transplant and murder. I cannot see how there won’t be any followthrough on this. 

If there’s not, it’s altogether bad writing, showcasing and wasted potential. Right now, there’s too much going on for a decent conversation that’s years overdue and I’m hopeful they’ll get it. In the synopsis of the finale, there’s a hint at romance and I truly believe it’s theirs.

Well done Eliza! For playing Clarke and Josephine, Clarke as Josephine and vice versa. She’s an amazing actress and has come a long way from, “Stop, the air could be toxic!.” 

The woman must have been devastated when she walked in on Madi strapped to a chair, being drained for her blood. Yet, in the scheme of greater good, she acts oblivious. She plays the part of a nonchalant sociopath so well, while sparing Madi via a sedative and shifting the focus to her mind drive. 

Those newlyweds sure know how to act and direct!! Like always, I’d love to hear your thoughts, did I read the Echo backstory correctly? Till next week, bye!

[thepinkwriterr]

Loner // IT 2017 Chapter Twenty - Eight

David Bowie - Let's Dance

--

If you say run I'll run with you And if you say hide We'll hide Because my love for you Would break my heart in two If you should fall into my arms And tremble like a flowerLet's dance Let's dance For fear your grace should fall Let's dance For fear tonight is all Let's sway You could look into my eyes Let's sway Under the moonlight, this serious moonlightAnd if you say run I'll run with you And if you say hide We'll hide Because my love for you Would break my heart in two If you should fall into my arms And tremble like a flower

//

Danielle's POV

Unlocking the door, I sang the lyrics to Starman under my breath. "Bowie?" I smiled. "Yeah. It's been stuck in my head all day." "I like Bowie too. He's pretty cool." "Oh yeah. And hot too." I laughed as we walked up the steps.

"Wow..." Richie murmured as I opened my bedroom door. "What?" I laughed, setting my backpack on my bed. "You have so many records and cassettes." "Oh. Yeah. I've been collecting them for a while now." I pulled the stereo from my closet and sat it on my bed.

He sat the basket of cassette's on my bed behind the stereo. "Okay, first, you pick a tape you really like." I plucked Let's Dance by David Bowie from the basket. I handed it to him. He stuck it in the player slot.

"Now," He grabbed my hand and put it to the buttons on the stereo,"Press the play." He guided my hand around the stereo until we got to recording the first song. "And then repeat." He laughed, pressing the stop button.

We spent half an hour making the first tape. "Wow," I breathed out after we were finished,"I can't believe you do this all the time." He laughed, fumbling with his lighter and cigarettes. "Now I feel bad about the one you made me."

He shook his head, taking the tape from the stereo,"I had fun making it. You have a really good taste in music." I smiled,"Thank you."

"Now," He pulled a sticky label out,"We write the songs." I grabbed a pen from my desk, turning back to him. "I would help write them, but my handwriting is shitty." I laughed,"I think it has character."

"And...we're done." He grinned, handing me the tape.

Side One

David Bowie - Let's Dance

David Bowie - China girl

David Bowie - Space Oddity

David Bowie - Rock N Roll Suicide

David Bowie - Eight Line Poem

David Bowie - Starman

David Bowie - Life On Mars

David Bowie - Fill Your Heart

David Bowie - As The World Falls Down

Side Two

Queen - Fat Bottomed Girls

Queen - Somebody To Love

Queen - Killer Queen

Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody

Queen - Crazy Little Thing Called Love

T. Rex - Debora

T. Rex - Cosmic Dancer

T. Rex - Jeepster

T. Rex - 20th Century Boy

T. Rex - Girl

"Well, thank you." I grinned at him, looking into his eyes. "No problem." He smiled, staring right back into my eyes. Our faces were centimeters apart. "So um..." I trailed off, then laughed. He laughed as well.

He leaned in, closing the gap between us. Revisiting his soft lips was like going back to my childhood vacation home. The blush left behind on my cheeks was the souvenir I took home in my suitcase. His hand lingering on my flushed cheek was the sunburn that coated my shoulders.

When we parted I could tell his hand was on my cheek, but I couldn't feel the sensation, my face was far too hot.

Kali's POV

"How does a date sound? Uh-uh-Saturday." I laughed at her nervous state,"Yes. Of course, yes!" "Then it's a date." She smiled. "It's a date." I repeated.

I watched her walk away, feeling my heart gush for her. I can't believe I'm going on a date with the most beautiful girl in Derry...

Danielle's POV

He was smiling at me when I stared into his eyes. I knew I was smiling as well. He leaned back in, but I pulled away. His brows knitted together in confusion when he realized I hadn't kissed back this time.

"Richie," I stood,"I can't keep doing this. You kiss me and then pretend like you hate me!" He stood to meet my stance, towering over me.

"Because I love you! You make me such a fucking mess! I love everything about you! Your hair, your smile, the way you smell, your freckles, your cute little waist, the way you walk, your voice, how you look at me. How you can forgive me even when you know you shouldn't. I love every single little fucking detail about you and it's fucking ripping me apart." His face was sullen.

I was at a loss for words. "You know what," He grabbed his things,"I'm just gonna go." He started to walk out, but I stopped him. "No. Stay. Please." I grabbed the lapels of his jean jacket.

He sighed, looking down at me. "Richie...I-I..." I stuttered, not being able to get what I wanted to say out. The sunlight pouring in through my window reached his eyes, lightning them into an inhuman beauty.

Those beautiful eyes. Those Sienna eyes that I had grown to love. Love? Really Danielle? Do I love him... No, no I couldn't. I can't. But god, those eyes were so inviting and made me feel so warm that I could look into them at the depths of the sea and still feel at home.

Maybe I do love him. No, I know I love him. I mean, how could you not love someone who made you feel like they built the sun, just for you? How could you not love someone who made you feel that every breath you took was the first that had ever been taken? How could you not love someone who made you feel as if they didn't need music, that your voice was the only melody they ever needed. So how could I not be in love with him?

"-I need you." He sighed again, looking down at me through his thick glasses. I wanted to tell him what I felt, but I couldn't bring myself to. Looking at his cold, pale face brought me an uneasy feeling I couldn't get rid of.

He stepped back, nodding,"Okay." The doorbell sounded. I ignored it, wanting to soak up as much Richie as I could. It stopped, but I heard the door open and James's steady voice ring out,"Hello Sista'!" I sighed at the sound.

"Hold on." I rushed down the stairs, seeing him standing in the living room. "Hey." He grinned. "I-um-I'm still not ready to talk to you." He sighed, looking dejected. "C'mon, I'm grieving over here." "Grieve somewhere else." He groaned,"Well, I'm just here to check on you. Dad's orders." I rolled my eyes,"Don't care. Leave me alone."

I traveled back up the stairs, opening the door to my room. "Can we go back to your apartment?" He nodded again, "Get your stuff." I slipped my shoes on and grabbed a light jacket.

When we made it down the stairs James was tucked away in his room, Chili Peppers blaring. "Ready?" He asked, standing at the door. I nodded.

[jq37]

i know you posted your thoughts on the big arguing scene in “we need to talk about pete” but i was wondering if you were going to post a full breakdown? that episode was a lot and i love hearing your thoughts on eps. ignore this if you have done a breakdown and i’m dumb and just missed it lol

**spoilers for the war of bugs and rats and we need to talk about pete**

What’s up denizens of Magic NYC? Now, I unfortunately live in normal NYC where I have to pay bills and stuff so I’ve been MIA with recaps for the past few eps but, no sweat. We’re gonna do a double feature of the above two eps and then I’ll group in the last battle episode with the upcoming episode. So lets catch up on what’s been going on in The Unsleeping City There’s a LOT to get through so vámanos y'all.

First up, we have our big bug fight in Queens, which Sophie enters with a camelback full of box wine because Emily is Emily.

“I’ve heard of gentrification but this is crazy!”

Brennan enjoys making those gross, chittering, bug noises way too much.

Have we talked about Pete’s cowboy hat? Because, for real, what is up with Pete’s cowboy hat? It seems absolutely apropos of nothing. Was he just like, “Sick,” and he decided to wear it everywhere? That seems to be how he makes all of his decisions.

“Butthole 2: Electric Boogaloo.”

Emily clocks the cat *immediately*. Like to the point where I’m almost thinking, “Did this cat exist before Emily mentioned looking for one?” And I want to say yes because La Gran Gata seems very fleshed out, specific, and intentional. But folks, we are living in a post-Avanash world so idk what to think. (Edit: The cat does have a mini now that I’ve gotten to that but idk, that insert shot could have been shot post ep so like, who knows?)

Anyway, Emily’s entire mission objective immediately becomes saving this cat she’s vaguely aware of.  

“5E you crazy.”

The Cast, Knowing Emily just rolled a 25 and still has a 1d8 Bless in Her Back Pocket if She Needs It: Brennan, Just Ask.

The horror on Emily’s face when she realizes that she just called an attack on the cat cocoon.

So Emily goes off on a very Emily side quest to rescue a random cat but happens to unlock a very cool NPC–La Gran Gata–who is like the spirit of all the bodega cats out there. Sophie immediately calls upon the entirety of her limited Spanish skills to try and make friends with the cat, and succeeds.

The, “To arms, to arms my brothers!” thing kills me every time. Are all rats just Like That? Is that what they’re like when they’re out and about too?

Kingston rolling a nat 20 to literally walk across the store is wild.

Oh also, Pete failed a wild magic surge roll which just lets him fly. So far, those wild magic surges have really been working out for him.

Anyway, Bug Boss Becky turns Ricky into a “buff-ass” dog.

Zac playing dog-Ricky with almost exactly the same self-awareness (or lack thereof) as normal-Ricky is so funny. He’s an Akita and I was expecting Dalmatian but that makes sense too. Ricky, the very good boy, attacks Becky and–as a Sentinel–stops her in her tracks.

Emily does a ton of damage and Brennan, about to describe her attack, is like, “Are you still drunk?” Emily shuts down the opportunity to look cooler and is like, “I am a messy, drunk bitch. Describe that.” Emily isn’t here to be cool. Emily is here to roleplay.

I had never heard the word brindled before now and Brennan uses it to describe two separate animals in this ep.

Siobhan rolls a nat 20 to dispel magic on Ricky which is objectively good but also I would have loved for him to be a dog a little longer. Also, this moment makes me really, really want to get some backstory on Misty. Like, clearly there are some serious Fae Shenanigans going on with her and I need specifics yesterday.

Also, Ricky comes back with pointier ears and wolfier senses and I’m just picturing Channing Tatum in Jupiter Ascending.

Before I forget, Sophie, Pete, and Misty yoink magical items from the magic bodega within the bodega La Gran Gata opened up. Sophie’s is a magic ring that amps up her punches. Misty took a mirror and Pete took a grill (like for your teeth). Not sure what those do yet.

The fact that this whole fight wasn’t under the Umbral Arcana and there are people out there that remember is a little concerning for me. I can’t quite tell if it’s the sort of thing that will come back or more of a warning of what can happen if the U.A. goes down again.

Post-fight, Sophie asks La Gran Gata for mismatched David Bowie eyes like the cat has. Siobahn goes, “That’s what you’re gonna ask? You drunk bitch.” But Sophie has her wish granted. I’m sure that won’t raise any questions with people who have known her her entire life. 

“She’s gonna fuck that cat.”

So the fight’s over and they realize that the Key to the City is missing which I can’t imagine is a good thing.

This brings us to the RP ep, We Need to Talk About Pete, which picks up directly where the previous ep ended.

Ally and Emily go for the exact same joke of getting Guinness’s post-fight. Kingston–as a medical professional, Vox Populi, and sanest adult of this troupe–loudly objects (smacking the beers out of Pete’s hands multiple times) and wants to know what the hell is going on with the bugs they just fought.

Sidenote: Sophie took a level in Warlock with La Gran Gata as her patron because of *course* she did. I wonder if this was the plan from the beginning or if Emily was watching all her friends spellcasting and started getting the jitters from magic user withdrawal.

Murph’s “What?” face when Emily says, “I’ll be waiting, but not in an impatient, desperate way,” is gold.

They search the bodega and find a thing of 1000 Hour Energy and Kugrash gives it to Ricky over Pete’s objections. They also find Holy Grail Laundry Detergent (Kingston pays for it), The Grill I mentioned earlier (Kingston hates this), and this bagel. 

All the magic users show up. Alejandro wants an explanation pronto and everyone points a finger at Pete who explains everything in his typical, nonchalant, vague, kinda spaced out way which Alejandro is not digging at all. He starts to go off on the enormity of the situation and Pete starts dropping acid.

I’m gonna stop here for a sec to talk about how Ally is playing Pete. There are moments when I feel like Ally is doing something as a comedian for a bit. And there’s kind of a sense of, is this funny? Obviously. But what are the in game implications of this move? Like the running joke of Pete constantly being high on something is funny, out of game. But,  in game, it’s massively concerning. And I’m really curious about where Ally is choosing to draw the line between doing the funny thing and doing the prudent thing. I almost said the in-character thing but Ally made a character so consistently bonkers that whatever he does could plausibly be the in-character thing. Pete is kind of a massive disaster.

Anyway, Alejandro drives home the point that Pete’s actions have consequences and have caused actual deaths at this point. Pete’s magic is internally going wonky as he gets more distressed (I really wanted to see a wild magic surge fail here but alas). But he’s still outwardly like a 4 on the giving a damn scale when the situation is a 13 out of 10. Pete is only half listening to this because he’s halfway out the door, smoking. Alejandro plans with Kingston to discuss Pete later.

Misty, always sowing seeds of chaos, suggests Alejandro stock up on Juul pods before they stop selling them completely. Kingston hates this (this is basically his mood for the episode).  

Outside, Pete gets a text from Priya which ends with them planning a meet up for later after leaving her on read for a while. Pete dips without saying anything to anyone but Kingston who ignores him (and also Sophie who Emily hilariously guilts Ally into including out of character). Dipping on the conversation about how to fix YOUR mess isn’t the wisest move but Pete isn’t the wisest guy.  

In the meantime, Ricky does the Twilight Bark to summon a dalmatian (yes!) to help him find the stolen key to the city. Kugrash turns into a busted ass dalmatian who has trouble keeping up.

Ricky doesn’t have the plate mail armor that usually makes a Paladin so unstealthy but he is so hot as to have the same lack of stealthiness which is one of my favorite adaptations of the game for this setting. Anyway, Ricky does the superhero thing of running through the city, helping everyone with a problem along the way, and loses the key in the Financial District which smells like death (feels about right).

Siobahn playing Misty as, “Oh, I can’t believe I didn’t realize it was Emma Lazarus,” when, in reality, she was the first person who made the connection was great. S/o to ppl who separate player and character knowledge. Misty partied w/ Emma of course because she partied with every historical figure that’s passed through NYC since she showed up.

Post adventure, people need to go to their day jobs. Misty has a +10 to performance but rolling a 3 is rolling a 3. It’s not her best work. Later, her assistant brings her holly, silver, and assorted other stuff which sounds like Fae BS if I’ve ever heard it. Misty cuts her off before she can elaborate more. I know we’re getting a secret spilling episode next time so I’m really hoping we get some Misty lore because she is being frustratingly cagey. She talks so much but says so little that means anything.

Kugrash sneaks into his son David’s house (while Emily learns a rat fact she clearly didn’t want to know) and Murph  and Brennan tag team go for the proverbial emotional jugular.

Murph rolls a nat 20 on his investigate and so he gets a lot of his old files and puts together that Robert is Robert Moses–a famous historical figure in NY who I actually heard about for the first time very recently. Or maybe I should say infamous. He did a lot with NY infrastructure–especially highways–(Emily connects this to the Highway Hex immediately) and he wasn’t exactly the warm and fuzzy type. His bread and butter was working the system. There’s a Pulitzer winning book called The Power Broker about how he was able to amass power and influence. I don’t know enough about NY history to run my mouth off about the guy but the little I do know is in character with his T.U.S. incarnation. Also, just FYI, irl this dude died in the 80s. So, you know. That’s interesting.

Brennan, I guess: Why invent new bad guys when history is full of terrible people I just have to give magic to?

Brennan, continuing his tradition of letting people get emotionally destroyed by nat 20s, has Murph find a crushing letter from David to Kug which was never mailed.

Note: So, as I was writing this, my video timed out right at the line, “I don’t expect this letter to find you before my funeral,” which is kinda good bc idk if this is what I need at 1 AM. Anyway, back to the pain.

The letter reveals that David has devoted his life to stopping crooks like him (Kug) and that he’s mostly upset about how his leaving has affected the younger, more fragile Wally.

“I leave the letter because I’ll remember it.” Yeah I bet you will.

It looks like Kug is gonna confront Wally next ep which I am now even more excited to see.

So let’s move onto the SECOND big gut-punch of the episode. Kingston goes down to the station to give a statement about the Santa Incident. He sees a shit elemental in a lineup which isn’t super relevant to the main events but I can’t not mention something like that.

Anyway, guess what? Kingston’s ex (Liz) isn’t dead! She’s an attorney for the justice system of The Unsleeping City and she’s pissed the hell off. During their interview, he stops the tape recorder to cuss out Kingston for going on a “date” with Misty and for getting her involved in all the magical junk which means she has to do things like fingerprint shit elementals instead of being on track to be D.A. like she originally was. The way she described it made it sound like she was press ganged into it which seems like it shouldn’t be how this works, you know? Is there no blue pill option here? Also, not to be all grass is greener but I actually am a lawyer in NY (closer to Kug’s job, minus the crime) and I would swap with Liz in a heartbeat.

The fact that anything Kingston says as Vox is per se admissible is a cool detail. 

Sophie fights an old man (Jackson) in a CVS and joins a monastery which sounds like a shitpost but it isn’t. With La Gran Gata’s blessing she is now a member of the Order of the Concrete Fist.

I saw the Staten Island joke coming the second Brennan started talking but it was still hysterical when it landed.

At the same time, Pete is getting knuckle tats because, sure. And he also goes to see Priya who I am baffled was with him for any length of time. Maybe it’s the artist thing?

Also, Sophie keeps postponing her meeting with Mario which is concerning to me. The story is still happening when you’re not interacting with it. Brennan specifically said when she texted him that she got no response which doesn’t make me feel good about what’s going on with him.

Ricky has three super jacked, fratty firefighter bros, all named John who are like woke as hell. I wish I could follow the dude around for a day because every single facet of his life is wild.

Well, this episode promised we were gonna talk about Pete so let’s talk about Pete.

The gang, sans Pete, meet up with the magical powers that be to discus the destruction the newest Vox his leaving in his wake.

Sidenote, wild that Sophie has been magic for like 15 minutes and got to go to this meeting.

Alejandro wants to know what the plan is for if Pete’s powers go off the rails again. Kingston, who has clearly seen Old Yeller, offers the most drastic solution immediately: if it comes to it, we take him out. (Cut to Ally’s “Yikes” face). Kug, Sophie, and Ricky push back on that.

Misty, hilariously (and also suspiciously), is mainly concerned about NY because she needs theater to keep happening. This woman is chaotic something and I’m not convinced it’s chaotic good yet.

Anyway, I already did my big write-up on this part of the episode, but I’ll say it again: Kingston is right. He’s harsh but he’s right. This is some Phoenix Force BS that’s happening and do you know how that arc ends (the OG one, not the million other Phoenix Sagas that have happened since)? It ends with Jean Grey killing herself so she doesn’t lose control and eat another planet. Ricky is too dangerous for his own good and he doesn’t seem to have the emotional maturity to care (or at least to care at the correct level). Like, he was a drug dealer when this started which is already not ideal. He caused a huge mess and then just bounced without trying to help fix it. He thought that a week was enough time for human casualties to be water under the bridge. Frankly, not considering the nuclear option and just having to figure out if killing him is something the group is willing to do on the fly would be the more irresponsible option.

And not including Pete in the discussion would bother me more if he hadn’t openly blown off every serious discussion people have tried to have with him so far. If he’s not going to take things seriously, it makes sense they don’t invite him to the serious discussions.

The version of this story where Pete accidentally gets a bunch of people killed, finds out what he did, cries about it for a full day, and then finds out they’re talking about possibly killing him is a story where Pete is more sympathetic imo. But still, finding out that people talked about killing you under any circumstances has got to be rough.

IMO, the order of things that should be done right now are (1) putting magical training wheels on Pete, (2a) getting Pete trained or his powers transferred if it’s possible/he wants out, (2b) either way, getting Pete into therapy (like, he needed therapy before he got magic. now it’s just a matter of life and death–besides just his own), (3) talking to Pete again about the stakes and telling him point blank but not in while heated that there’s the possibility of a scenario where his powers go out of control and you have to understand that at that point it’s a matter of saving as many lives as possible. Like, Kingston can say, with conviction, “If I go rogue, you should do the same to me.” They’re in the same boat. Kingston’s just been rowing longer. Well, similar boats anyway. I imagine the Vox Populi powers are less inherently chaotic. And maybe the knowledge that a nuclear option is on the table would make Pete not want the job or want him to have his powers muted or something. Cool. Then you have that discussion at that point. Just, these are the conversations that need to happen. And maybe his own mortality will be the thing that helps get Pete’s head in the game. 

What jewel did Ale take out of his pocket during this conversation? Taking note of that. (Juul, not jewel. Duh. Thx thethief )

Pete gets in touch w/ Alejandro’s granddaughters who tell him that Alejandro’s still pretty pissed (which is surprising to Pete but like, bro. People died). Then, Robert shows up to sweet talk Pete and show him the video (that he somehow has) of Kingston talking at the Pete Meeting. When I was watching this the first time I was like, “How long before this blows up in their face–oh, almost immediately. Cool.”

He takes Pete to his vampire nightclub and hits him with Pete’s own “I didn’t create the demand” line that you just know Brennan put a pin in to hit Pete with that Uno Reverse card.

Robert tries to get Pete to summon Nod and then just does it forcibly with some kind of blood magic when Pete is hesitant. Pete wild magic surges, kills a bunch of vamps, and Nod (super injured by being in the waking world) teleports them both to the subway.

The group (including Alejandro) meets them there so they can catch the L train to Nod but Epona shows up. And you already know from Fantasy High that Brennan is on the ACAB train (or is that AFCAB?). Epona is now wearing a crooked badge–crooked badge for a crooked cop. She wants Nod. No can do. The gang gets ready to–to quote Mr. Cubby-make some bacon while Alejandro tries to cast a spell to summon a train to Nod (the place not the person).

So I’ll see y’all next time (whenever that is) for some subway fighting and some backstory unlocking! 

[ldybluerse]

My Heart and Head Hurt.

So Very, Very Much

I am Asexual. I like cuddling, kissing, loving touches, I even love to make inappropriate sex jokes. Okay, I can make some pretty lewd sex jokes but that’s what happens when like 90% of your friends for the past ten years identify as pansexual. I just don’t feel sexual attraction and I am mostly repulsed by sex (ehhh it’s too much to explain).

At the first of the year, I moved to Texas from Michigan. Leaving behind all my friends, which with the internet isn’t terrible... but also my friends are shit at peopling on the Internet. Not angry or blame, they all have depression and anxiety. I get it. Just saying it’s hard to pretty much completely lose that connection with my friends. My friends are also the type where we would all pile into my bed and watch videos while cuddling with each other and my dogs. They spent so much time caring for me after my surgeries.

Being handicapped, and still learning how to live with it (it’s a relatively recent thing and takes relearning how to live life in a way that works for your limitations) I live with my parents. They are great but... they have their own mental health issues that really fucked me up as I grew up. It means that I don’t feel like I can open up or talk to them about anything because of what happened back then. I love them and I know they would do anything for me, but it’s just this thing I have. Heck, I have trouble opening up to my therapist for a long time. My therapist, who I also had to leave in Michigan. And Texas Medicaid? Kind of non-existent. Plus, I’m too old for my parents to be taking care of me, you know western standards and all, so I can’t have insurance through them.

Basically, I ran out of some of my medicine months ago, which means I live in near constant pain too. I can’t go see a therapist, because I can’t afford it. I haven’t run out of my depression medication yet, so there is that.

Since my accident (I will do another post on that later, because that will take a while), I haven’t been able to work. The accident was in December 2011, since 2013, I have had ten surgeries. I started back to school because it doesn’t seem like I’ll ever be up for any type of manual labor. But it also means I feel useless because physically I’m limited and mentally I am so fucked up I can’t do what I can handle doing. I graduated with my Bachelor (really proud of) but Texas has some different requirements that will add a lot of time towards getting my Masters, because Michigan didn’t have those requirements. This means I am going to enroll in an accredited online program, hopefully. Have to get accepted, fingers crossed.

To summarize, for ten months I have been isolated in a different state, dealing with body trying to adjust to different weather and medicine changes. Self isolation isn’t helping but the other problem is when I do reach out, there isn’t someone there...

Background info done, now to what’s troubling me:

My best friend and girlfriend is also Asexual. We’ve been together for almost eight years, but it’s always been long distance (we’re Ace, it doesn’t bug us too much) and I have gone to visit her. We started “talking” through Role Play and until recently, whenever there was lulls in life when a lot wasn’t happening, we could lean back on the Role Play to stay connected. There wasn’t a day when we didn’t talk to each other, even during the hospital visits we both went through, we stayed connected in some small way. And we talked about everything and anything. Our fandoms didn’t always match up, but it was fun listening and learning... I thought...

She was dealing with a lot of stuff, and for a few years was out of work, probably why she had so much time and energy for me. It was really bad for her for a while, where she even verbally attacked me on a few occasions. I know it wasn’t her but her mental illness, so I forgive her for it. But it was bad.

She was raised super Christian (DONT celebrate Halloween because it’s evil type Christian), and she has always been Christian even if she yelled at God a lot in her low days. Yeah, the good Christian girl is dating the Goth Pagan Celtic Witch... whatever you will call me. I’ve been Pagan for about 2/3rds of my life by now, so it’s not like she didn’t know she I was one. She’s never tried to shame or convert me.

My Bachelor is in Religious Studies, I know how good a religion can be for someone’s mental health if they are religious. I would talk to her about rekindling her faith. Finding a church she could at least go sit and listen to, so she could reconnect. She did! And it’s been amazing for her mental health. She has held a steady job for a while, actually is the poster child for the program that helped her move foreword and get her life back in order. I am so very proud of her and I do love her so much.

I just think... she’s outgrown me. The only fandom she talks about anymore is... Christianity. She doesn’t talk about LoZ anymore. She doesn’t talk about Tolkien. She doesn’t watch anime or cartoons anymore. She has no interest in Role Playing, as I said a big part of staying connected.

She talks about work, her cats, crocheting, and her religion. The thing is, I can’t fault her for any of it if it’s what’s best for her. She deserves happiness and stability. But...even when I’m back in school and when I get a job I don’t think I could leave the world of fantasy and fiction behind.

I grew up going to Ren Faires, my dad wearing tights. My first boyfriend I met at Ren Faire, while he was in tights. Labryinth and The Last Unicorn are still my favorite movies of all time! I collect Dragons of all sorts. I’ve watched the whole series of Fraggle Rock a few times, because it’s just wholesome and sweet.

My parents are Trekkies, my mom has had some of her fanfiction a published in old Starlog Zines. We watch fantasy, fiction, actions, cartoons... my mom has always loved the world of books, especially fantasy. She collects unicorns, so many unicorns. When I got into Anime, so did my mom. Kenshin is still her favorite, although to be fair she loved Ultron and Speed Racer when they first came to the states (she says Speed Racer was her first ever crush).

My brothers love the same thing, my oldest brother still fans for Jason David Frank. My other brother, well, he named his cat Pandea after WoW, we have his LotR sword collection, all his movie memorabilia...

We’re nerds and dorks and not afraid to be so.

Since the move the only thing making me happy has been my animals (Gods and Goddesses the fluffy bastards are clingers and just want to love you and be loved which is something I need) and fantasy. I’ve watched several animes I just want to gush about, but if you don’t have someone who is watching it too... you don’t want to ruin it. I want to just talk someone’s ear off about Steven Universe or Miraculous the Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir. Hell, even Ducktales and Tangled. Do you know how AMAZING they have made Ducktales?! I watched the original series when I was younger but...! And all the inside jokes!!!!

The books! I probably read about thirty or forty in one month when I went on a book binge. They were all trashy romance novels, and admittedly the sex scenes were... meh... I’m Asexual, what do you expect?! Okay... some Aces like sex and stuff. It’s not that important to me. What is, is the connection two people have to each other. The love. And trashy romance novels aren’t the best at giving that... but it’s something.

Oh and the Webcomics. I have always, always loved Webcomics. I used to have the folders on my old computer organized down to the day of the week the comics updated because I so many, that I had to organize them just to get the right updates! Right now Lore Olympics. OMG Lore Olympics. Be still my heart! I am reading several on WEBTOON. I have a few I follow through DeviantArt; Erma is so frikken cute! Daughter of the Lilies, ahhhhhh so amazing and the artwork!!! Pincushion! Constructs will always have a place in my heart!

I just got into the Good Omens fandom, because I’m a Whovian and Tennant is defiantly one of my most favorite of Doctors. He was just so beautiful in it. And when I took my Shakespeare course my teacher had us watch Hamelt and ohhhhh Tennant. Ohhhh you really can’t tell if Hamlet has gone crazy or it’s an act (which he claims it is!!). Sir Patrick Stewart was also just... oh!!! I entered Good Omens because my Instagram was all Ineffable Husbands (I think because of my Doctor Who love). Finally, finally i watched it.

That was like three weeks ago I got into Good Omens and I still am completely in love. The tenderness, the loving looks. I have to read the book! And the script book! (Depression, yay!). I need to listen to the radio adaptation and revisit Queen (I was raised on rock’n’roll. And I mean, David Bowie has probably been the only Rock Star I ever went heart-eyes for... also kinda sad he wasn’t mentioned in Good Omens because he did work with Queen and let’s face it, Bowie was so gender-nonconforming!). I just want to ramble and babble on and on about the series with someone. About all the hidden bits and pieces and theories and things in my head!!!

But... I don’t have anyone. My girlfriend sort of shuts down when I talk about any of the fandoms I like. She will just skip those parts of the conversation and comment on the animal videos I send her or something else. She will talk about work or God. Again, I’m know Religion and people. If there is something I know best is you can’t dictate what someone else’s beliefs are. So while I know the Bible and Christian theory, when she talks about it and tells me stories I can only “nod” and “smile” because if a persons religion isn’t harming themselves or others, and it’s helping them, I don’t think it would be right to argue theory and philosophy with them over what is mostly fairytale stories in a book. I’m not saying their isn’t a Christian God, or many Gods, or things in the Bible didn’t happen, but not all of it is factual nor was it ever meant to be seen as strictly factual. I try to show I am at least paying attention to what she says.

At the same time, with the state I have been in, I probably haven’t given her what she needs when she is telling me about stuff.

Fantasy and fiction has been the only thing keeping me afloat. Religion and work has been helping her. I just can’t see a world without the magic of make-believe but that’s not where she is anymore.

So... I’ve been thinking for a bit now maybe we’re no longer what we need for each other in our lives. Not that we don’t love each other, and not that we can’t still be friends... but maybe it’s time we adventure out? We were what we needed from each other for years... maybe we just aren’t that anymore.

[blondecarfucker]

Bed of Roses (Last Chapter - 21)

Roger Taylor x Reader

BoRhap!Roger Taylor x Reader

Fic Summary: It's 1971. You just moved to London to study, and you find a band on a local pub after a bad date. The encounter doesn’t go the way you expect it, and neither does what follows this evening as you try to deal with loving Roger Taylor.

Fic Note: So I’ve had this story in my head for the last three weeks and finally decided to write it down. It’s completely planned. It will have 21 chapters and it’s divided in three acts: Dusk, Night and Dawn. It’s will be a bit angsty in the future, and it will most likely have some smut as well. I hope you guys enjoy it! Tell me what you think about it in the asks/comments/messages. If this is your first time stumbling upon Bed of Roses, thank you for stopping by! The rest of the story is in my masterlist, the link is in my bio - can't put the link here or else the post will disappear from the tags.

Chapter's notes: THE LAST CHAPTER. I CANT FUCKING BELIEVE. i feel like before i start my thank yous i could give you some weird trivia on the story. i wrote the entire outline for the fic at a weekend shift at work, where i always have free time. i had some smaller ideas - them meeting at a bar and not seeing again, the whole kensingon-taxi-class thing from the beginning - but there was a sudden burst of inspiration and in like twenty minutes the outline was done, and very little has changed, i mostly just added some more details. also, i imagine the reader as alicia silverstone in the 90s?? idk. i just do. also, the reader thing with new york comes from the fact that i lived there for a while and i miss it so much, so thats why theres so much detail about places and stuff - its my form of revisiting my favourite spots there. also, will (REMEMBER WHEN) was written with sebastian stan in mind, and liv tyler (in her lord of the rings days) was poppy. i did too much research for this fic on queen history, and everytime i had to change something (especially in the first act) so the dates made more sense, it KILLED ME.

anyway, now the thank yous: SHIT THIS FIC IS SUCH AN IMPORTANT CHAPTER ON MY LIFE. its my first time writing such a long story without abandoning it, and my first time writing fiction in english, so i learned so much!! i was doing some research the other day, and the great gatsby is like 47k words long, and the first harry potter is around 70k words long - bed of roses is around 60k words long. this is crazy.

it's also my first story to get this many readers interacting with me, and i'm so grateful for you all!! i thought about thanking you all by name, but i dont want anyone to feel left out so i just want every and each one of you reading these words to know: if you read my story, thank you. thank you for giving me your time of the day, thank you for connecting with what i wrote, thank you for telling me in any way possible that you've enjoyed it. thank you. a writer must write, but theres not a lot of joy in talking to an empty room. you filled my small room with warmth and love and there's not enough words to express my gratitude for you all. thank you.

about my writing: i plan on FINALLY DOING THE MANY REQUESTS I HAVE IGNORED OVER THIS FINAL ACT OF BED OF ROSES - requests are still open, too! i'm also outlining a smaller roger x reader fic where she's one of the videographers on the news of the world documentary, so keep an eye out for that! i'm gonna open a permanent taglist for the requests (and eventual new fic), so if you want to be added, hit me up in the ask box/comments/inbox!

anyway i'll finally wrap up this chapter's note cause you have the final chapter to read. enjoy my loves

Words: nearly 4k

Warnings: none??? part of their dialogue is inspired by some of my favourite movies and books like her and the wife and almost famous and before sunrise and the fault in our stars and eternal sunshine of the spotless mind and maybe more I DONT KNOW ITS BEEN AN EMOTIONAL RIDE OK I CANT EVEN REMEMBER WHERE DID I PULL THIS FROM EXACTLY. some errors too cause i didnt revise it completely my bad im crying ok

 ACT 3 - DAWN

"It's the moment night time seems weaker and everything seems easier to figure out"

 Chapter 21

Roger lit a cigarette in the train cabin, and tried to open the top window, the one you can usually pull open.

"Rog, it's not gonna open, you know", you told him as you watched him fiddling with the glass.

"I guess you're right. Hope you won't be bothered by the smoke", he said, taking a puff.

"I won't if you share it with me", you answered, and with a half smile on his lips, Roger lifted the cigarette to your lips, and you breathed in the smoke while looking at him through your lashes.

"Don't look at me like that. Especially if the cigarette smoke is going to leave the cabin sultry and hot", he told you, and you laughed.

"Yeah, and we won't do anything about it", you said, trying to make yourself more comfortable in your seat.

"And why is that?", he asked, batting his lashes innocently at you, you you lightly elbowed his ribs.

"We need to do something else, something we've been ignoring the whole trip", you said, and he raised his brow. "We need to talk about us", you told him, and he breathed out, smoke coming out of his nose.

"I guess you're right again", he said, then slid a bit down on his seat.

You didn't think much about talking about your future with Roger while in Paris, so now has to be the time, on a train that will take you to London and to a whole month of Roger being away, promoting News Of The World.

While in Paris, you never talked to Roger about the future, and talks of the past where subtle - you talked about how you felt with the development Doctor Who took over the years, but didn't think much about the fact that you were separate during years of the show.

You enjoyed the city, but most of all, you enjoyed each other's presence, not only going to museums, churches and castles around you, following them up with fancy dinners and walks along the Seine, but you also spent time inside the room, in your pajamas, ordering take out from restaurants you found on the phone book, having a hard time trying to speak french as Roger tickled the sole of your feet and kept trying to distract you.

You would always remember the peace you felt as you ate cheap chinese food on Roger's shirt on the balcony at night, the Eiffel Tower shining over your meal and Roger's electric blue eyes as he hummed early David Bowie's songs under his breath, or how at home you felt sitting on the couch, Roger on the floor with his head on your lap, his soft strands on your fingers as you tried to braid them while watching re-runs of I Dream of Jenie, Roger focused, trying to understand the french dubbing until he noticed what you were doing.

"Babe, are you trying to braid my hair? Think I'd look better if I'd look more girly?", he said, moving his head back so he can look at you.

"Yeah. Always thought so, but I'll have to keep imagining, since your hair is too short to braid", you pouted, and he laughed.

"Don't you like my new hair, then?", he asked, pouting back, and you moved your head to his level so you could press a quick kiss to his lips.

"I love it, Rog. Especially cause since it's shorter, it looks even messier after I pull it", you said, and he smirked. "My favourite look of yours is when you're all dishevelled after sex", you winked, teasing him.

"That's my favourite, too", he said, turning completely around and pulling you in for a kiss, his hand on the back of your neck.

But now, while in the smoke filled train cabin, you needed to make a few things clear.

"I've been avoiding this for a reason", he said, looking out the window, and you raised your brow, waiting for him to explain. "I have this weird, innate fear of you telling me it's all good but you don't want to see me again, or something", he said, and you gave him a half smile.

"I don't want to do this, Rog. And I won't do it", you told him, and he sighed in relief.

"Even though loving you is a bit complicated, I'll admit. Especially if you're me", you shrugged, and he turned to you, confused.

"Let me explain. I loved your idea for a bed of roses, a few days ago, cause it can exemplify our relationship so well. The roses feel so good against the skin, the smell is so intoxicating, it looks so beautiful - maybe too beautiful, ethereal, even. But then there's always a few thorns here and there, and they hurt so much when they lodge themselves on my skin, but I'm so intoxicated by the whole experience that I don't mind - I convince myself that it's nothing, and even that it's already part of me already, cause the thorns fit so perfectly on me, on my little stabs made by myself, by my own insecurities", you say, and he stares at you.

"What I'm trying to say is that every minute that I'm with you always distract me from the issues that come with being with you - the fact that there's a few expectations that come with being your serious girlfriend, be them always travelling with you while we're young, or eventually staying home once we have kids, knowing that you'll eventually cheat on me with a younger version of myself, while I'm too tired of taking care of the babies to even think about my sexual needs", you said, and you watched him frown.

"I'm not sure where you're going with this-", he started saying, but you cut him off.

"Let me finish, I promise it will get better", you said, fixing your posture as you start again. "But the thing is, I love you. I always have, ever since I started talking to you, you always trying to outflirt me, always seeing me as your equal. You desire me, but you also listen and see me as another human being, you never back down or ignore me if I challenge one of your beliefs, and you never treat me as a trophy-wife-to-be", you say, and you can feel your eyes fill with tears, but you're smiling. That's what you always loved about Roger. He smiled back at you.

"And because I love you, I don't want to deny myself the pleasure of being with you. I'd rather be in a bed of roses than in an empty bed - or worse, a blank bed, someone being there just so it's less cold at night. I want to be with you, Rog", you say, and he pulls you in for a hug, and you hold him back for a few moments before pulling away and looking at him in the eye.

"But also because I love you and I want to be with you, Rog, I don't want us to try to fit into this type of relationship I just mentioned. I don't want you to make me the other woman, either, when you eventually find someone so you can settle down, if it's not me" you said, rubbing your nose. "I guess I want to settle down with you, eventually, as we planned before, but this whole thing - living together and cheating if we're away for too long - it kills me, and I think it kills you, too. I respect you too much to want to cheat on you again, cause if I ever do and you never find out, I'll lose respect for you, and the same thing will happen if you cheat on me and I don't find out. And these are ugly truths, but this isn't our first time together; we know each other, we need to think about this", you told him, and he nodded.

"And I need to make it clear that I'll never be a simple rockstar housewife - I'll never be able to quit my job and look out for the kids while you travel the world and I make them lunch. I'll never be able to sit down on a dinner table on some award show with you and when someone asks me what I'll do, I'll smile as I say I'm a king-maker. I'm not", you said, firmly.

"And I'll never be satisfied with dumb spa and shopping trips as you do the actual work when we travel. If I have to live this life, I'll resent you, and I don't want that. I like being domestic with you, but this type of forced domesticity will poison us again - we're both too wild, too career-focused, for this. We've always been similar", you said, and he gave you a smile as you sighed. "I guess that's all I have to say", you shrugged, and he laughed. "Not much, right?", he said, running his fingers on his hair, pulling the strands back.

"Guess it's my turn now", he said, and you nodded, encouraging him. "When I saw you again, at the pub, there was so much that I wanted to say. I mostly wanted to apologize - it got lost as I got infatuated with you again, and tried to get you in bed - you know, usual stuff", he winked, and you laughed.

"But yeah, I kept looking at you while you updated me on your life, your skin glooming under the stars and the moonlight, and I couldn't stop thinking about all the things I wanted to apologize to you for. All the pain we caused each other. Everything I put on you. Everything I needed you to be or needed you to say. Cause no matter what - even if you had decided on never seeing me again after all this - I'll always love you, because we grew up together. And you helped make me who I am", he said, moving strands of your hair behind your ear.

"I just want you to know that there will always be a piece of you in me, always. Whatever someone you become, wherever you are in the world, however this" he said, pointing his finger to the two of us "works out, in whatever form it might take", he said, sighing "I'll always send you love. Before being anything else to me - and I hope to God you're always something more - you'll always be my friend, to the end", he told you, and the tears were already streaming down your cheeks. His cheeks soon mirrored yours.

"And now, after you so eloquently told me all your fears about our future, I need you to know something else, too", he said, as you wiped the tears under your eyes. "I always loved you for being the way you are. You always challenge me, you always make me work harder, try harder, to be better. And it's not even something you force me to do; I just follow your lead. The way you look was what first got into me, I won't lie, but the way you are is what made me stay. It's what will always make me stay", he said, a genuine smile on his lips. He made you feel warm, like the sun.

"You're the smartest person I know, you're funny, you enjoy sex, you're unapologetic, you're proud of who you are, even proud of your insecurities. And you have such a huge importance in my life: you made me who I am. Whatever way you want to make us work, I trust you. I just want to be with you, in whatever form it takes", he said, smiling, and then getting up and opening his bag.

"I forgot to give you something", he said, pulling a string out of the front pocket. You recognized the red glimmer. It was the heart necklace. "It's still yours to keep. Even though it's not in its original glory, it will always be yours. The necklace and my heart", he said, and you couldn't help but smile at him.

"Always so cheesy, Taylor", you said, joking as you moved your hair to the side so he could put the necklace on.

"You always loved it", he winked, and you laughed. "I do", you said, smiling.

"So, what does it all mean? Where are we?", you asked, and he shrugged. "Wherever you want us to be. I just hope that you keep me around", he told you sincerely.

"I will. So, we're not going back to our old ways, right? We're not back at sharing a flat and stuff", you said, and he nodded. "Sure".

"And you're going to spend a month away, all around the world. I don't want you to feel pressured not to cheat", you said, and he nodded again.

"Yeah, and you're back in London, starting a new job. I don't want you to be worried, too", he said.

"So, maybe no exclusivity, this time? At least not now. This is still debatable, in the future", you said, and he agreed.

"Makes sense. But I'll have a hard time desiring anyone but you", Roger said in a low voice, and you laughed to break any mood that might have settled. You needed to get things clear before making out in the train cabin.

"Me too, Rog. But I don't want to create any expectations of loyalty because we know each other too well, and I don't want a stupid fight to break this thing we're building together", you said.

"It's a good idea. So, no titles, too? I can't call you my girlfriend?", he said, and you laughed.

"You can, if you want to", you told him, and he pulled you closer to him.

"Good, cause I want to call you that on the News of the World launch party, that I'm hoping you'll go as my date", he said, pressing a kiss on top of your head, breathing in your fruity smell.

"Of course I'll go. I need to see the boys again", you told him, and he laughed.

"So you're not going for me, then?", he pouted, and you laughed again.

"No, I'm just going so I can meet Deacy's kid", you told him, and it was his turn to laugh.

-

Once you got to London, Roger offered to go to the airport alone - he had to get on his flight, and he was late. He knew you had to go home and get ready for work tomorrow, but you wanted to spend as much time with him as possible.

He looked relieved when you got on a cab with him to Heathrow.

"Big day tomorrow, huh", he said, rubbing your arm.

"Yeah, I still can't believe I'm finally going to work at the British Museum. It's so surreal, it feels like a dream. Like I'm living someone else's life", you said, looking out at the window, the early sunday morning reminding you of fresh starts - you were in the middle of one.

"Well, it's your life, and it's your job, cause you deserve it, babe. I never met someone who worked so hard to get where they want", Roger said, smiling, proud.

"I did. You and the boys", you said, and he huffed. "Guess you're right. Me and that pack of idiots, we turned out okay", he joked.

Once you got to the airport, you followed him to his gate.

You were feeling nervous - you had him for a week, and now it's time to say goodbye again.

You're both aware that the rest of the band is already waiting impatiently in the jet, but you can't help it - you hug him, dropping your luggage on the floor, and he does the same, the hug soon turning into a kiss as you rub your hands on each other's body, as if you're trying to remember how every inch of the other feels like, as if you're both about to disappear.

But the airport worker clears her throat, and you break the kiss, looking at each other longingly.

"Don't say goodbye", you beg Roger, putting your hand on his lips as he opens his mouth.

"See you soon", he says between your fingers. You smile at him, grateful he found a way with words so you're not repeating the same old goodbyes.

"See you soon, Roger", you say, hugging him again for a few seconds, just trying to capture every detail - his smell, the feeling of his arms around you, his body against yours.

And once he has to go into the jet, you go to the glass wall, and you can swear you see some familiar faces from the windows of the jet.

But before you can focus, soon Roger's well known face takes over the window you're watching, and he puts a hand on the glass.

You can't help but think about the last time you did that with him, him being on your place as you were inside the plane, moving to another country, your heart weighing down on you, filled with doubts.

But now your heart warmed you up, filled with joy and love, and you could feel Roger's crystal heart on top of your chest. He was right. There would be always a piece of him on you, too.

-

Epilogue: News of the World Launch Party

"Y/N! You're back!" Brian's voice welcomed you to the ballroom.

You squeezed Roger's hand - it was the first time you saw the band in years, and you couldn't help but feel a bit nervous about it.

"Darling, you're really back! We thought Roger was getting high too often and hallucinated a week in Paris with you. But I guess you did come back to him", Freddie said, hugging you by the side as he held a glass of champagne on his other hand.

"I'm back with him only so I can see you all again, of course", you said, winking at Roger as he pretended to be offended.

But then you heard Deacy and Veronica scream your name in unison, and you turned to see them.

"So you're really back!!" Deacy said, but your eyes were on the baby boy on his lap.

"This is the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life.", you said, trying to get his attention. Roger looked at you, adoringly, as you moved your eyes to Veronica.

"Ronnie!! You're so big!" you said, trying to hug her through her belly. "It's coming out in a few months! It's a boy, Michael. Someone our young Rob can play with", she said, and Roger frowned.

"I could swear it was a girl", he said, and John smiled. "Maybe next time", he said.

"Hey, Bob. Do you want to play with me? C'mon", you said, and he motioned to go to your arms. You picked him up as he started playing with your hair.

"You'd be a good mom, Y/N", Veronica said, and you got tense. "God, Ronnie, don't even joke about this", you said, and Roger chuckled. "It's a sensitive topic at the moment", he explained.

"The moment will take quite some time, you know", you told him, the youngest Deacon pulling your earring before playing with the crystal heart on your neck.

You talked to the boys and Veronica for a while, updating each other, but no one brought up how you and Roger got back together. It just felt natural - no need to question.

You stayed with Roger for the whole night - behind the cameras as he did press, by his side during dinner - where he was back at his old ways, teasing you lightly with his hand under the table. You felt good in his arms, getting back into his life.

He was interested in getting back into your life, too. He came back to London last night, and went straight to dinner with you. You were trying different food, and now was time to try Indian food.

As he ate his Chicken Tikka Masala, dipping the naan in the sauce, you invited him for a party your bosses would be throwing next month to celebrate a new exhibit.

He gave you a bright smile. "I'd love to be your date, my love", he said.

And after the Deacons went home - Robert was asleep on his father's lap - the party got louder, the dance floor more full. You could swear you saw an angular face that could only belong to Bowie pick someone to dance - was this Princess Leia? - but before you could process the whole situation, Roger pulled you to dance.

"Thought you didn't dance, Mr Taylor", you told him, wrapping your arms around his neck as you tried to slow dance to All The Young Dudes, by Mott The Hoople.

"I don't dance very well, indeed. But it's just an excuse to be so close to you in public, and God, I'm dying to call you Ms Taylor", he said, and you chuckled.

"Take it slower, Rog", you told him, and he leaned in to rest his head on the curve of your neck. "And why do you want to be close to me in public? Is it still one of your weird fetishes?", you joked, and you felt him laugh against your skin.

"No, it's just that you've been killing me with this dress of yours, and you've been killing a lot of the guys here, too. Could swear I saw Bowie checking you out", he told you, and you gasped.

"Taylor, don't even joke about this. I'd have a heart attack", you said, and he laughed. "You'd leave me here for Bowie, is that it?", he asked, and you laughed.

"Of course not. I just have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that he might acknowledge my existence", you said, and it was his turn to laugh. "The only eyes I really like to feel on me when I look away are yours, Rog", you said, and he gave you a quick kiss.

"Okay, had enough of trying to dance. Let's get some fresh air", he told you, and you followed him to the balcony.

As the cold, fresh air brushed against your exposed skin, you heard the first notes to Tiny Dancer, by Elton John. You walked to the balcony, leaning in and taking in the view of London at night.

Roger soon took you into his arms, hugging you from behind, and you felt safe, his body heart making you warm in the cold evening as he jokingly whispered "Pretty eyed, pirate smile, you'll marry a music man" into your ear, and you scoffed. "Slower, Taylor", you told him, and he laughed.

"However you want it, babe", he said, now paying attention to the view, focusing on the feeling on you in his arms again. Finally.

 But oh how it feels so real

Lying here with no one near

Only you and you can hear me

When I say softly, slowly

 "I could die right now, Y/N. I'm just... happy. I've never felt this type of happiness before. I'm just exactly where I want to be", Roger said in his husky voice, and you nodded lightly in agreement.

Because in Roger's arms, you feel home. You feel what you hoped to feel for years - what got you to move to London in the first place. You feel like you belong.

---

1988 Special

Taglist:

@taylorroger-s @sarai-ibn-la-ahad @its-nessi @anamcg317 @frenchieswiftie @queen-danielle-dani-dan @minihemo @shutup-sorry @theyrealllegends @killerqueenisthebest @ashagracelove @hardy-s @fuckinghurricanesoul @secretsweetscollectionblog @mrswinterhater @11mb0 @tamtam-go92 @derptatosaur @brianandthemays @phantom-fangirl-stuff @the-hysterical-queen @rogerofmylife @notevenlxvely @discodeakyy @x1975sos @16wiishes @jennycidesstuff @partydulce @melros-e @onevisionliz

[moviestorian]

Rock Montreaaaaal 1981 - Liveblog!!!

Hi there, it’s me again, did you miss you! I certainly did miss you! <3

Let’s get straight to the liveblog, shall we???

- OMG this is so HD - I'm EXCITED - the candles are a nice touch - of course they start off with a series of dramatic explosions and thunder-like sounds XD my fave band is so extra and dramatic and I live for it - Roger's face on a drum kit! - this version of WWRY rocks - finally a cameraman that doesn't fail to show a fair amount of Deaky power - the godly lighting department - Freddie with a Superman t-shirt? Give me that DC spinoff with Queen members as superheroes - they'd fight with evil producers, stupid critics, close-mided people - "you wanna get crazy?" Heck YES - Brian, please STOP making that face... I'm feeling my sin - "We'll give you crazy performace" I BET YOU WILL - Deaky seems to like blue as uch as I do, also he looks SO HOT - Roger's backing vocals are everything - Freddie: *takes off his leather jacket* crowd: *cheers* - man, the cinematography is better in this concert than in some movies I've recently watched - I adore the colouring - this version of Play the Game is far superior to the album version - okay, I'm totally gonna screencap this concert like crazy - Brian looks so elegant, oh my - YASS Roger, bang the drums! - SOMEBODY TO LOVE! - Freddie looked directly into the camera! - Oh my, this is killing me... I can't start crying on the train, please stop making me feel - ROGER'S VOCALS ARE DIVINE, you can't change my mind - all of them are pouring their hearts into this heart, you can SEE and HEAR it - now this is what I call the perfect performance - slay that guitar solo, Bri! - THE DRUMS OH MY - this HD and high sound quality is too powerful - Find me...somebody to love...find me...somebody to love... - *gulps beer* - Freddie cries - I cry - I died BYE - "shift your asses" XD "take off your clothes" XDDDDD - KILLAH KWEEN - where's the triangle!? - perfume came. *naturally*. from PARIS!.! - daaaamn, that transition! - Christ, Roger's killing it - he sounds a bit tired but STILL GOOD - Brian, please remove yourself from camera when they're showing Roger pls - Roger's drumming... I'm dead and in love - that drumset looks amazing, so sparkly and silver - sexy Deaky - Get down make love - cringy lyrics but it sounds pretty cool - ESPECIALLY live - Freddie & Roger are the most powerful vocal duo on earth - the lighting-mist-drumming coordination: POETIC CINEMA - some crazy sci-fi shit going on on - I feel I'm being abducted by aliens - awww, Brian on a piano - their tiny interaction, I MELT - "how I loved you, how I cried" - daamn, Freddie, I didn't know you were singing about me and my love for Queen - I want to offically apologize to everyone for forgetting how beautiful "Save me" is - I love that you can totally hear how better Freddie's control over his voice and vibrato become (compared with Rainbow and Odeon) - HeRe I sTaNd *dum dum* - oh hi shirtless Freddie - hop Deaky Deaky hop Deaky doo - Freddie and Roger - the ultimate brotp - YEAH! YEAH!  - I love those interactions with the audience - Freddie & Rog looking at each other. I'M CRY - Roger was doing a weird thing? Are u okay babe? - LOL Roger back spitting - some fine ass drumming - "are you in a mood for singing?" sure I am - "This is love of my life" NO YOU - the lady in the audience: *heart eyes* SAME GIRL, God I wish that were me - SLAY thay bassline, John! - okay I love this version of Under Pressure better than the David Bowie one (and you know, I LOVE the original!) - Rog smiling at Freddie <3333 - that falsetto, maaan - well, Freddie didn't do the highest note... I'm not surprised though, after 50 minutes of continuous singing I wouldn't expect him to hit a super high falsetto note, and he’s doing a splendid job all the same so - ...the.best.version.of.Under Pressure - Keep Yourself Alive always slaps - especially when Rog is banging his drums like that - noooo he threw the tambourine! He has no RESPEC - this shit is better than the entire Greatest Hits compilation - Roger's legendary drum solo strikes again - Maaaan this is extraordinary - the concentration! the SKILLS! - where you going, Rog? Come back! - OH HELLO THERE - how can he do it so fast??? - and some people still don't remember his name jgajgsdjhgsdjhgsdjhsd - *bows* *thumbs up* Roger, I'm coming to get you!!! - I can sense the longer guitar solo approaching - scratch those strings, Bri!!! - I love how you can see the audience's enthusiasm, and when you compare it with the relatively cold applause at the Rainbow, it's so uplifting and beautiful that people's love for them kept growing and growing - this one guy in the audience hyping Brian... bless you, man and your positivity - Crazy Little Thing Called Freddie with his gutar - love his vocals here - you know, how he rapidly makes this super high and quick sound - "ready Freddieeeee?" - give me a proper shot on Deaky! Yes, that's what I wanted - licky Deaky - Brian changed his clothes, still looking very nice - they really liked Jailhouse Rock, didn't thye? - "move it you fuckers" OMG so mean - Freddie & Brian <333 Brian's smile <3333 - Roger must be really hot in that shirt....in every possible sense - it's Bohemian Rhapsody time! - my mum would cheer, it's her second fave - the best thing about the live versions of Bohemian Rhapsody is that they always play my favourite parts - I'm actually gonna turn up the volume for that godly guitar solo - Oooo they played the operatic part via playback??? - I didn't see that coming actually - Nice touch! - SPARE HIM HIS LIFE FROM THIS MONSTROSITY - ROGER'S DRUMS - okay that hard rock section SLAPS hard - this is my favourite version so far - please tell me there's a CD version of this concert? I want it all (no pun intended)on my phones - I'm totally gonna search for a victim who's gonna watch this with me again - Sensing my mum or my flatmate - SMASH THAT GONG ROGER BOY - the flowers Freddie deserved - I'm pretty sure I'm watching this way too loud (on headphones but still), considering I'm on a traine...I have no regrets though - the editor knew what he was doing, unlike the Odeon one - they have more energy than me, - more explosions...SO EXTRA - Another one bites the dust! - Deaky's time to shine again - Freddie...I'm in public..stop taking off your clothes - AOBTD should be a Freddie/Roger vocal duet, change my mind - "Are you happy? Are you satisfied?" I SURE AM - "How long can you stand the heat?" I'm not sure, you guys are too good - wow Brian, how did you know I love guys wearing black trousers and white shirt? - those people who got to stand so close to the stage... they're blessed - now I'm reminded of the people from that facebook group I’m a member of...They all hate Sheer Heart Attack...BUT HAVE THEY HEARD THIS VERSION? - Me: man I wish I was born the same year my mum was so I could attend this concert  Me: reminds myself that if I were, indeed, born in the early 60s, I'd spend my entire youth in the communist Poland and I certainly wouldn't be allowed leave the country and go to Montreal to attend the rock concert  Me: *laughing hysterically* - Freddie and Roger brotp strikes again! My crops are watered - We Will, WE WILL ROCK YOU! - I lowkey wanna sing along but I'm public and I'd totally embarass myself - I DON'T WANT THIS CONCERT TO END - We are champions - again, my mum would love this concert - I'M EMO - Roger looks kinda sad, I wanna hug him - I think my brain has been forever scarred by that cursed WATC crack video - I can't unhear it XD - Freddie shaking hands with people...THIS IS TOO MUCH - I feel like my life hasn't been complete before I watched this - yes Rog, come forward! - the person who got Roger's sticks..jealous me - "thank you for being such a good sport" I CAN'T Freddie's too adorbs - In short: my expectations were very very high and yet they were grossly EXCEEDED, I'm nostalgic, emotional, happy at the same time - SO WHOLESOME OMG - Like, LIVE AID WHAT? - and they managed perfectly well without any synthesisers, because THEY ARE GREAT and SKILLED MUSICIANS, there was literally not a single weak spot in this performance??? - The bar is set very high for the Hungarian Rhapsody and Live at Wembley, hopefully I can watch these very soon! :D

[mccoys-killer-queen]

This Week’s Playlist (2/21)

As promised, the 80′s list! This week I thought I’d pick a song from each year of the decade. I probably should’ve done this last week for the 70s but enh oh well thought if it too late. Next week I’ll be doing underappreciated/niche songs from artists.

Warning: since this is an 80s list, get ready for a ton of cheesy music videos

1.) In Your Letter- REO Speedwagon (1980) Hey, you’re lucky I don’t make entire lists of these guys every week. This song is for EVERYONE- a total fan favorite. Everyone only focuses on Keep On Loving You or Take It On the Run when it comes to Hi Infidelity- but I think this should be up on the high list with those. Talk about being catchy as all fuck! The story this tells is so sad, but this song just makes you wanna bop! (the music video is by far the cheesiest thing I’ve ever seen, so get ready).

2.) In the Dark- Billy Squier (1981) The title looks mysterious, and believe me, the song sounds that way, too. “Life isn’t easy from the singular side, down in the hole, some emotions are hard to hide”- starting off a song with that really makes the mind ponder on things. What really gives me chills is the line “will you love me in the dark” *shivers* I’m not sure why. The lyrics get more serious as they go on, and with that being the last line of the song- with everything coming down to that line- it just hits something. It’s a great song if you’re feeling unsure of things. If you haven’t already, PLEASE listen to the rest of this album Don’t Say No- it’s a legendary classic rock classic.

3.) Dancer- Queen (1982) HOT SPACE, LET’S GO! The title lives up to its name (and this is yet another Brian May baby).It’s songs like this that raise the question “How the HELL can you hate Hot Space??” Whether you like it or not, you’ll have your own dance made up to this song by the time it’s over. They were really vibin when they made this (at least, some of them were). The overall sound of this is just the definition of an 80s song. Is it disco? Is it not? That’s up to you. Either way, get groovin. And give Hot Space a chance!

4.) After the Fall- Journey (1983) Holy mother of internal conflict. “So now love is gone, and I can’t go on” that REALLY sets the stage for the meaning of this song. It’s full of regret, but it’s done with so much passion (as Journey always does). Passionate harmonies, passionate keyboards, and passionate outro guitar solo. To me, the ending is just as great as the outro of Who’s Crying Now. I’d like to call this the Who’s Crying Now of Frontiers. It’s kinda like if you mashed like four songs from Escape and Frontiers together. If you’re looking for a good, solid 80s vibe that’s not Don’t Stop Believin, then try this song for a change. (This music video is also one of the cheesiest things I’ve ever seen, so get ready. Once you’re one watching, check out these memes I made about it a while back).

5.) You Might Think- The Cars (1984) Yeah, this is my favorite song from 1984. If you’re in need of some good ass 80s trash then look no further (music video is also included as 80s trash). Here’s the DEFINITION of 80s pop music imo. Why is it that everything Mutt Lange produces is amazing? Def Leppard, Foreigner, The Cars- he’s just a GOD. I always wondered why this song was a masterpiece. Everything about this song is just so much fun! If you just say the verses out loud- it sounds like a fun song! Watch the music video- it’s cheesy but super lighthearted! I can guarantee everyone reading this that you’ll like this song if you haven’t heard it yet.

6.) Money for Nothing- Dire Straits (1985) GoD, does this slap. (I know they say f*ggot like three times in this but I try to ignore that because despite that- this song is still a good one.) It’s really a staple of 80s culture, if you ask me. It’s in the perspective of someone mocking MTV, so how could you ignore that in 1985? It totally makes a whole lotta sense though- like “all they’re doing is playing music, that ain’t working!” I totally get it. How can you POSSIBLY ignore that intro guitar? This song is a goddamned RITUAL. You’ll be chanting “I want my MTV” at the end for sure. This song is super iconic, so it had to make this 80s list. (The music video is also another top notch animated music video (by 80s standards))

If you wanna hear the full song (not the radio/music video edit) click here.

7.) Underground- David Bowie (1986) Whether we knew it or not, the Classic Rock Fandom has totally claimed the movie Labyrinth as our own. This is the theme from the movie and (and imo the best song of the whole movie). Time to be wooed by Jareth the Goblin King. This song is also done with a lot of whimsical passion- being perfect for the fairytale it was made for. It’s not a children’s song, but it does its job to carry childlike wonder to whoever hears it. It’s more of gospel than anything else if you ask me. Gospel gone Bowie- that’s what it is. Would also highly recommend the movie Labyrinth (take it with a decent sized grain of salt, though).

8.) Hysteria- Def Leppard (1987) Okay, I really, really, really restricted myself when it came to putting this song in a list right away. I’ve waited long enough. This is by far my favorite song of all time (and you can quote me on that, I’ve been saying it for years now). There’s just something about this song that is unbelievably calming and- again- whimsical/dreamy. I was hooked the very first time I heard the “I gotta know tonight if you’re alone tonight, can’t stop this feeling...” It’s the perfect song for anytime, for any mood, but it’s the best when you listen to it at night around a fire under the stars. To me, it’s perfect. It’s absolutely perfect. Fall in love with this song or else. Create a new daydream to this song. Absorb the music video. Feel every note. Take all the lyrics to your soul. Ascend to a higher plane of existence. Spin around your room and shake your hips at the “oh can you feel it”s (that’s what I did the day I started listening to this). It’s the best five minutes and 55 seconds of my life. The intro and outro will totally lift you off your feet. Seriously, I think everyone will be hooked right off the bat.

9.) Bad Medicine- Bon Jovi (1988) Get your hair huge, get your makeup heavy, get tacky as all fuck, because it’s time for Bon Jovi. As soon as this song starts I’m always blown away and all the things I just listed become a reality. Stadium rock at its finest. Who doesn’t fall in love with all of them every time they come on the radio? You can headbang to this, you can groove to this, you can bop to this, you can jump to this with all your might, and best of all, you can scream to this. The 80s definitely wouldnt’ve been complete without this song. Time to go all lovey dovey for some hair music heartthrobs for a little while.

Full song

10.) Kickstart My Heart- Motley Crue (1989) I haven’t broken the Motley Crue ice either (also woops). I have such a love/hate relationship with Crue (won’t get into it) but I always come crawling back to songs like this one. There’s so much turbo energy here you can’t ignore this song if you tried. This is one of those songs that you’re just supposed to go absolutely batshit crazy to (whatever that means to you). Start a bar fight, do a donut with your car, run from the cops, just go absolutely fucking nuts. And give it up for MICK FUCKING MARS HOLY SHIT. I always like to go out with a bang with these playlists so I feel like this is one of the biggest bangs I could go out with (especially for an 80s list).