#you don’t have to include this one in the lineup. I just really wanted to draw this.

[changlingfamilies]

I guess I really liked this prompt because I did another take for Healing. After fighting the titans, many members of the family were injured, including new addition Skrel. Though she had some help from Morgana and Lenora, Barbara did most for the healing and was particularly exhausted once everyone was stable and on the mend.

[f1byjessie]

IN FAIR VERONA ━━ CL16.

things are hard when you're the only female in a male-dominated space, and the newest driver for the newest team knows this best.

( charles leclerc x driver!schumacher!reader )

━━ part one.

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yourusername feeling blue?

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user i am gnawing at the bars of my enclosure right now 

user MOTHER IS MOTHERING SO HARD RN 😩

user y/n schumacher never misses

↳ user let’s be real here user the entire schumacher family never misses

↳ user y’all have seen mick’s most recent post too right??

user she is so gorgeous i am ILL

user god really does have his favorites huh 😭😭

↳ user this is undeniable proof

↳ user people this beautiful don’t actually exist i refuse to believe it

user every day i wake up and cry that i will never be as stunning and skilled as her

user formula 2 silly season has me losing my damn mind i swear 😫 i might as well be wearing a tin foil hat with the number of theories i’m following and the consistent blue themed posts y/n keeps dropping are NOT HELPING

↳ user not to add to your conspiracy madness, but it’s already confirmed that fred vesti is replacing jehan daruvala who’s moving to mp motorsport, and there are rumors that oliver bearman is also getting a prema seat which could mean that y/n schumacher is going to another team as well or leaving f2 entirely

↳ user a good chunk of the other teams have already revealed their driver lineup and none of them include schumacher, which doesn’t leave a lot of options IF the rumours are true

↳ user i can’t see her just leaving motorsports entirely considering she’s worked so hard to get where she is 🤔 which calls into question whether she’s moving to a different racing series

↳ user i really can’t see schumacher leaving tbh, especially since she’s been in f2 since 2017 and has established herself as a prema legend basically

↳ user the fact that she has been at prema for so long (and has gotten p2 in the f2 championship nearly every year since 2017) could also be proof that she’s moving on to bigger and better things

↳ user wait she’s been there HOW LONG??? since 2017??? as in she drove with charles leclerc, her brother mick, AND oscar piastri??? 🤯🤯🤯

↳ user she’s had a very long and successful career there, but it wouldn’t surprise me if she decided to retire from formula racing and move onto some other series that’s more woman-friendly, all things considered 🤷‍♀️. she has been runner-up every year that she’s competed, proven that she has what it takes to make it in a higher level of formula racing, and yet not a single f1 team has even offered her the opportunity to be even a test or reserve driver? 🤨 something isn’t adding up and i don’t want to say it’s because she’s a girl in motorsports but it’s kind of hard to ignore the proof when it’s put right in front of you.

↳ user guys the keyword is “if” here, of course, bc as fun as it is to speculate it is all still speculation and we won’t know for certain until it’s revealed by official sources. silly season is called that for a reason, and for all we known y/n is drawing out the announcement of her continued partnership with prema to stir up interest. she’s been in a very loyal and secure partnership with them for years now, a partnership that both she and prema seem very happy to keep considering just how long it’s lasted.

↳ user f2 is another series that once you win the championship you are no longer allowed to compete in, so prema may have kept her around to help carry her male teammates into first place until females are more accepted in formula racing so that she could eventually move up to f1

↳ user prema’s gonna announce her as their driver with vesti and you all are gonna look so fucking dumb for this 🙄🙄

user blue is HER color now 😍

maseratimsg 💙

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yourusername to the women of f1 that came before me, who paved the way, this is for you.

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maseratimsg When you race, they race with you 💙.

↳ yourusername ����💙

user Y/N SCHUMACHER??? IN FORMULA ONE??? IN 2023???

user i’ve been following her career for years now and this makes me so excited omg

↳ user me too!! she’ll be the first female to drive in f1 in over 30 years 🤭

user HARD LAUNCH BUT FOR THE 2023 GRID I GUESS

user when maserati announced they’d be getting back into formula racing i had no idea that also meant formula one as well?? they’ve got drivers in the 22-23 formula e season right now but this is how i found out about y/n schumacher driving for the 23 formula 1 season? i think i am going into shock

user 2023 might actually be a good year if this is how we’re gonna be going into it

user WOMEN IN MOTORSPORTS

user milf = man i love females-in-fast-cars

user been watching f1 since i was a kid, always wondered why there were no girls out there driving. this year i’ll get to turn on that tv and finally see someone who looks like me

↳ user it’s so fitting that maserati’s original f1 team also had the first woman f1 driver, and now they’ll be breaking barriers again by having another woman f1 driver in their first season back

↳ user i’m hoping they’ve got a good car ready cuz i wanna see y/n schumacher up on that podium telling everyone who didn’t believe she could do it just cuz she was a girl to eat shit and die 😤😤😤

user there’s a reason there aren’t any female drivers in f1. she’s doomed to fail just like all the others smh 🙄

↳ user the biggest reason is sexism, and y/n has consistently proved throughout her career that she is just as skilled if not more than her male counterparts. she works harder to make up for the physical disadvantages she has as a woman, and she still wipes the floor with the other drivers. she’s not “doomed to fail” she’s practically destined to succeed.

↳ user y/n has trained her ass off to be the best, and she’ll prove it when she gets out on the tarmac in bahrain, just you wait 🥱

↳ user she’s literally a 6-time f2 runner up??? sure, she didn’t win, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t still incredibly fucking impressive that she’s managed to get p2 against her male counterparts 6 YEARS IN A ROW 👀👀 her brother got p12 his first season and you know what she got? p2. she’s already raced with the likes of charles leclerc, zhou guanyu, yuki tsunoda, alex albon, george russell, lando norris, and a number of other very prominent formula racing names, and she held her own against them all incredibly well. she gave her own brother a real run for his money when they were teammates in 2019 and 2020, and in 2021 she was only a 9 point difference away from oscar piastri, whereas the p3 finalist was nearly a full 60 points below both of them. get out of here with that “there’s a reason there aren’t any female drivers in f1” bullshit, because the reason is misogyny 😒🙄

user not to be that person but like??? who else is lowkey excited for potential driver x driver romance?? 🫣

↳ user nah cuz i didn’t wanna make this about that but i’m actually totally ready to see who she has the best chemistry with on the grid 🫢 first hope is charles leclerc cuz they’d be a power couple hands down but also mayhaps max verstappen?? maybe??

↳ user totally agree babes a ferrari and maserati romeo and juliet love story would destroy me 😩

↳ user the parallels are already paralleling

↳ user to add to the parallels, her and charles were teammates at prema in 2017

↳ user OMG RIVALS TO STAR CROSSED LOVERS??? 😭😭

↳ user schumacher and leclerc are about to live out THE fanfic dream i can see it now

user can’t wait to see her mop the floor with these boys next year

user 2023 IS GONNA BE CRAZY 💙💙

user if i see any of those lads talk down about her or dismiss her just because she’s a woman, it’s on fucking sight 💀

↳ user they did that campaign in 2021 about equality in racing and i am BEGGING that it wasn’t just a media ploy and that they actually believe what they said about men AND women being able to drive

user this is about to be the best f1 season in history folks

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maseratimsg Prepare for trouble, and make it double ✌️💙.

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user SCHUMACHER TWINS TEAMMATES AGAIN???

user someone pinch me i think i’m in a dream 😳

↳ user i pinched myself and this is in fact very real

user we knew y/n would be driving for maserati but to also have MICK? maserati picked not one but TWO legacy drivers they have an agenda to push and they are certainly pushing it

↳ user yeah, an agenda to win 😌

↳ user genuinely just imagine how much natural talent and skill will be in that garage come the start of the season with michael schumacher’s twins…

↳ user back in 2020 when they raced together at prema, i saw someone joke that they were made into twins because no singular human being would be able to handle having that much racing prowess, so they were split up. but idk how much of it was actually a joke because they were scarily good as teammates? y/n has always finished no more than 10 points behind p1, and mick is a very powerful driver in his own right. putting them together and letting them drive as allies again instead of rivals will be a sight that’s for sure.

↳ user imagine being nerfed at birth cuz fate knew you’d be too powerful otherwise 😂😂😂

user blue is THEIR color apparently

user it’s the schumachers’ world and we’re just living in it

↳ user schumachers vs the entire f1 grid sounds like an insane clickbait article but the fact that it’ll be real in a few months is crazy

user everyone’s talking about y/n and mick but i’m stuck on the fact that there will finally be 11 teams driving for f1 again

↳ user maserati really said fuck the expectations

↳ user maserati’s gonna get a 1-2 with the schumachers in their first year back i’m calling it now 🤪🤪

↳ user first female driver in f1 in 30 years and first 11th team to drive in f1 since 2016, and i’m betting it’ll be first ever female driver to podium in f1 and first ever female driver to win in f1 too because i’ve seen y/n schumacher’s skill and i guarantee that if she’s actually given the ability to go all out then she’s gonna be a force to be reckoned with

user hope they’ve got a good car planned cuz i wanna see these two put up a good fight

user verstappen better watch his back 👀

user Y/N SCHUMACHER WDC 2023

user at least mick got to drive with seb still on the grid, but i’m actually heartbroken that y/n won’t be able to 😔

↳ user and kimi too

↳ user i think the only drivers left are hamilton and alonso no? from before their dad retired i mean

↳ user perez, hulkenberg, and ricciardo too, but they only drove on the same grid as michael schumacher for a couple years

↳ user i imagine it would suck to lose but i personally would be very proud to see my old friend’s kids standing on a podium above me or beside me 🥹

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mickschumacher from beating you into this world, to beating you in karting (both professionally and casually), i'm so proud to have the chance to beat you in formula 1 too

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yourusername those are fighting words micky 🤨

↳ mickschumacher not sure what you mean 😊

↳ yourusername it’s on sight 👊

user GUYSSS JUST THINK ABOUT THE PADDOCK INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THESE TWO

↳ user the media days boutta be crazyyyy

↳ user i’m imagining the chaos of not just having siblings on the grid together, but twins specifically, and i’m already getting a migraine on behalf of whoever their pr officers are 😅😭

↳ user 2023 is the year they make a geneva convention for the grid prank wars and it’s gonna be the because of the schumachers

user baby photos oh i am unwell 🙃

↳ user i’ve caught a nasty case of baby fever i fear

↳ user they’re both menaces as adults, i wonder how bad they were as little kids

↳ user baby fever cured methinks 😶

user 💙💙💙 MICK P1 2023 💙💙💙

user mick being proud to race with his sister but also making it well known that he isn’t gonna take it easy on her is the type of sibling rivalry content i’m looking forward to seeing this season

↳ user i need all the drivers to have this same mentality bc i know mick is gonna recognize her as the threat that she is, but if any of those lads underestimate her just bc she’s a girl, then their karma will come in the form of eating the dust of y/n schumacher’s car

↳ user PREACH 🙌🙏

charlesleclerc cannot wait to have you both on track this year

━━ tags: @maih23 @urfavnoirette @casperlikej

━━ a/n: first and foremost, happy international women's day! i've had this sitting around for a little while now and decided that today would be the perfect day to finally share it, what with the themes of women empowerment and breaking the glass ceiling. my main priority will still be my lando series until i can get that finished, but updates for this might appear in between on occasion. i also wanna take a moment just to appreciate the sheer amount of research that went into this, finding a team that would reasonably work well as an 11th team for formula 1 was a bit difficult, but i'm not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth when maserati fits pretty perfectly. also, as a twin myself, i'm incapable of writing a sibling duo that aren't also twins, and i have zero shame about that. anyways, i'm very excited for this, and i hope everyone else is as well!

[nerdy-novelist017]

Rooftop Conversations (Benny Cross x Shy!Reader Pt 4)

On my drive home yesterday, I heard Zach Bryan's Oklahoma Smokeshow for the first time and I realized it's so Benny x Bunny coded :) I'm curious to know what song reminds you of Benny x Bunny! As always, I so so so appreciate all your comments!

Benny x Bunny Masterlist here!

Word Count- 3.1k+ (longest one yet!)

Summary- Another night spent with Benny was sure to be an adventure filled with firsts for both of you.

******

Benny told you he knew a place to eat that had real food. You were about to tell him that Ricardo’s did have good food, but he all but pulled you into the back of his bike in an effortless move that silenced your voice with a soft gasp. The adrenaline surged through you as fresh as the first time he had given you a ride and you wondered if you would always feel this feeling riding on the back of his bike. 

He drove you to the other end of town again and you couldn’t hide the surprise on your face as he pulled up to a bar, parking next to a lineup of other motorcycles. 

“A bar?” You asked as he helped you off the bike.

“Not exactly what Pete would have picked,” Benny replied coolly as he dismounted. “But the best food ‘round.”

“Well, I’m mad at him so who cares what he’d pick.” You grinned as you followed him to the door. 

Inside, the bar was alive with music, voices and bustling bodies. Benny’s hand found the small of your back and gently guided you toward the far tables. Ignoring the rush of butterflies at the contact, you tried to focus on the familiar faces from the picnic who cheered when you entered with Benny but you blushed, looking down at your feet. A couple people clapped Benny on the back as he passed and you felt sort of like a prize and he was the winner. He found an empty table at the back, and you took a seat, facing the room. 

“I’ll get you a drink,” he announced before he disappeared into the crowd, moving towards the bar. You glanced about the bar, taking in the rustic setting and colorful characters. Then suddenly, the leader of the Vandals himself was in front of you, sliding into the unoccupied chair. 

“You’re Benny’s girl, right?” Johnny asked and before you could correct him – or rather ask exactly what he meant by that – he continued, “It’s nice to see you here again. The boys all really liked your cookies. Sure was sweet of you to bring that.”

You nodded, muttering a soft thanks.

“My wife was wonderin’ if you could give her your recipe – for the cookies, I mean. Maybe you could tell her at another meeting,” he said, tapping his fingers over the tabletop. He’s trying to be friendly, you realized. Trying to include you in the club somehow. Warmth filled your chest at the idea of a club filled with bikers could possibly like you enough to want you around. You wondered if they just aimed to make you the center of every inappropriate joke that would inevitably be thrown out. Regardless, you still felt flattered at the notion.

Charmed, you replied, “I–It's nothing too difficult. I’m sure she could recreate it.”

He hummed. “Well, maybe some of the guys would like to see you ‘round, too. It’s good for ‘em to be ‘round such a civilized lady as yourself. Might even be able to whip ‘em into shape.”

“I don’t know about that,” you grinned sheepishly, rubbing your shoulder. For being the leader of a motorcycle club, he wasn’t as scary as you originally thought. Intimidating, definitely, but not terrifying. 

“You whipped our boy Benny into shape! And hell, if you can do that in just the few hours you spent with him, think of all the good you could do for the Vandals. You’d be like a god amongst men here.” The lines around his eyes creased as he bantered.

Heat climbed up your neck at the implication and you broke his eye contact. “I’m sure Benny acts like that with every girl he’s trying to sleep with.”

“I’ve never seen him act the way he does when you’re around. It’s like you’ve hypnotized him.” A mirthful grin overtook his ruggedly handsome face. “You’re not a siren, are ya? Leading him off to his watery demise?”

You giggled, shaking your head. 

“Good, can’t have that – it’s bad for business.” He stood, using his foot to slide the chair back in. “Plus, ya know, I kind of like that kid. He’s rough around the edges and damn near feral at times, but he’s a good kid. Has a good heart. I think he’d take care of ya. That’s all he wants, I think. Someone to love ‘em and someone he can show he’s capable of lovin’ too. ”

Bemused, you fell quiet and before you could reply, Benny reappeared, two bottles in hand and he nodded at his friend, “Johnny.”

You glanced between the two as you felt the gravity of their friendship sparking. It was clear that Benny had not heard Johnny’s previous words because if he had, you were sure he wouldn’t appreciate the wingman stunt. And though you didn’t know Benny hardly at all, it was clear in the way he nodded at Johnny that this was an important relationship in his life, possibly one of the only friendships he had. Something heartening stirred in you as you pictured Benny going to him for advice, for brotherly connection. 

“Benny,” Johnny returned innocuously and he shot you a secretive smile before disappearing into the crowd again. 

“He wasn’t teasin’ you, was he?” Benny asked lightheartedly as his gaze found you again.

“No,” you replied with a small smile, mind still sifting through the information Johnny had left you.

“Good, I’m the only one that can do that,” he stated and your eyes widened slightly at his confidence. “I didn’t figure you were the type to order a beer,” he explained as he slid the coke bottle in your direction. You wrapped your fingers around the cold glass, internally beaming at the thought of him second-guessing himself when it came to ordering you a drink. 

“Not usually,” you answered as he sat down in the seat next to you, a fresh beer bottle in his hands. “You must think I’m pretty boring.”

“I think you’re anything but.” He smiled, his eyes seeming to be alight with a playful seductiveness. A dare, you realized. That’s what his mischievous look was; a dare, to be bold, to be adventurous. It stirred something in your gut chest that you didn’t know was dormant until now. 

“Well, in that case . . .” You quirked your brow as you slid your coke bottle across the table stopping in front of him and grabbed his beer bottle which he had already opened and took a swig from. You brought it up to your lips, the smell making your stomach flip before you sipped a generous serving. The alcohol burned as it went down and you winced, nearly coughing. 

Benny laughed. You were certainly something to keep him on his toes. He opened your soda bottle and moved it forward to cheers with you. The bottles clinked together and you smiled, making his heart flutter. Without breaking eye-contact, he lifted your coke bottle to his mouth and drank from it and nearly lost it when you mirrored him with the beer bottle. You sip was considerably shorter than his and you screwed up your face at the taste afterwards but he was still impressed by your sudden intrepidity. Just as he thought he was starting to figure you out, you’d surprise him with a new and exciting action. And Benny lived for the thrill of it. It was his turn to surprise you.

“What do you want out of life?” he asked abruptly as he set the bottle down.

Your brows rose at the severity of his question. “That’s . . . a deep question.”

“You don’t have an answer?” 

“I have an answer, it’s just . . . that’s not something I expect on the first date. First date questions are more like ‘What’s your favorite color? What kind of music do you like? If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would you go?’ Stuff like that.” You explained, voice lowering as you played with the wrapping on the beer bottle. A nervous distraction, he realized as he watched your delicate fingers.

“This is our first date?” he quipped, living for the way your eyes shot back up to his, a blush coating your nose and cheeks. “I thought it was when I gave you a ride home last night.”

“No, that was just a ride home.” You stood your ground, but gaze still fluttering back to the bottle.

“Oh,” he pretended to look down as if he were in deep thought. “Then what’s your favorite color?”

He watched as you tilted your head and fought to hold back a smile. “Yellow, like the sunrise in the early mornings. What’s yours?”

He made a mental note of that. “Red, like that red lipstick you're wearing right now.”

At that, your smile grew and he felt a swell of confidence so he continued, “What kind of music do you like?”

You giggled at the realization that he was playing into your game. “I listen to a lot of The Ronettes . . . and Elvis. Let me guess, you like The Rolling Stones?” 

“Are you judgin' me by my cover, Bunny?” He grinned. “I also like Johnny Cash.”

“That makes sense. You seem like a character Johnny Cash would sing about," You said flippantly and brought the beer bottle back up to your lips for another sip and Benny was so enamored by the way your head tipped back, delicate neck exposed that he didn’t even realize you had teased him. 

“If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would you go?” he continued after a moment to compose himself as he drank from the coke bottle, wishing it was something stronger.

You seemed to ponder that for a second. “I’m not sure. I’ve always wanted to go to California.”

“Why is that?”

“I’ve never been to the beach and when I was a little girl, my mom had this magazine that dedicated an entire issue to the beaches of California. It looked so fun,” you described, your eyes lighting up.

Benny imagined the sight of you in a swimsuit – one of those new bikinis he’d seen Aubrey Hepburn wear on tv – and he nearly groaned. 

“What about you?” you asked innocently, drawing him back to reality. 

“The beach in California,” he replied instantly.

“Why?”

“Because you’d be there.”

You blushed, a smile encompassing your beautiful face and you looked down at the glass bottle again. 

Benny leaned forward, his elbows resting on the table. “What other first date questions do you have for me, Bunny?”

******

The night was spent with smiles, stories and plenty of teasing (the latter of which was mostly Benny’s doing) and you hadn’t realized how late it was getting, too absorbed in the attention of the ocean blue eyes of the man sitting next to you. You both ate dinner (Benny insisting on the best meal was their burgers and you had to agree) and you had finished the beer but Benny replaced it with another coke afterwards. Hours passed and the rest of the patrons began to leisurely shuffle out, each calling out goodnight as they went. There were only a few left now, you realized as you glanced about the bar. Then, Benny asked if you wanted to see something. 

He seized your hand in his and took you through the back of the bar, down the hallway and out the back door. The cool nighttime air was a refreshing change from the cigarette filled clubhouse. He led you around back to a closed in ladder leading to the roof. He opened the cage door and motioned for you first. You shot him an expected look.

“I’m not going up first!” You tried to act serious as you crossed your arms playfully, feeling an funny buzz from the drink. 

“Why not?” he grinned, yeilding.

“Because, you just want to look up my skirt as I go.” You quirked a brow at him. “I’m not stupid, you know.” 

“No, you definitely aren’t stupid. And I would never. I’m a gentleman.” He held a hand over his heart as if he was hurt by your insinuation. 

“Yeah, sure you are,” You said, holding your ground. 

He held up his arms in an appeasing way. “Alright, I’ll go up first. Just don’t trip and fall on your way up.” 

You laughed as you began making your way up the ladder after him. You climbed up the two stories, the ladder clinking beneath each heel until you made it to the top where Benny offered a hand to help you up. A gentle breeze guided you to the far end of the rooftop where a generous view of the town lights, each twinkling like the stars above. You’d never seen this perspective of your little home town and it almost looked magical.

Benny went forward and lowered himself to sit down. He beckoned you to follow and, though you were scared, you moved to mirror his seat. He held your hand as you took a seat next to him. Your legs, significantly shorter than his, dangled off the edge, bumping lightly against the brick wall. He was close enough to feel the heat radiating from his body, close enough that your shoulders touched slightly. 

“Wow, what a view, huh?” you said, voice barely above a whisper as the scent of his cologne wrapped around you. 

Benny only nodded and you looked at him with a small smile, falling into a comfortable silence. Your gaze fluttered over his face, taking in the details in this dim lighting. His dilated pupils made his eyes darker and the shadow of his nose blended beautifully onto his lips. The gentle curl of his hair looked so soft and you didn’t even realize that your hand was reaching out. And maybe you tried to tell yourself that it was from the alcohol, but you knew you weren’t drunk. You touched him because you wanted to. Your fingers found the blonde tendrils and a gentle sigh escaped your lips because they were soft. His eyes were locked onto you and he remained unmoving, letting you take the reins. 

“Do you actually want to marry me? Or were you just sayin’ that to get a reaction out of me?” you whispered, hand dropping back to your lap, fingers still tingling from the contact.

“Yes, I want to marry you.” His voice was a low rumble disrupting the silence of the rooftop.

You studied his face carefully, unable to look away. “How could you know that so soon?”

“You make really good cookies,” he retorted playfully and you gave him your best unamused look despite the fact that he left you very amused.  

“I’m serious,” you said, fighting the smile tugging on your lips.

“I know you are,” he murmured, gaze flickering down to mouth. “I’m serious too – about marrying you and about your cookies.”

Heat filled your core. Like the undeniable pull of a magnet, you felt yourself drifting closer to him. “I bake more than just cookies, ya know.”

Benny groaned, “You’re teasin’ me, Bunny.”

“No, just letting you know what you’d be signing up with if you married me.” You smiled. 

“I know exactly what I’m gettin’ myself into with you, Bunny,” he admitted slowly as he dipped his head lower, only a few inches from your face. His thumb and forefinger touched your chin softly. “Why else do you think I ran off Pete?”

You paused, brows furrowed at his words. “Wait, what?”

He didn’t seem to hear you as he continued forward and you lurched back before he could kiss you. “You did what to Pete?”

“I ran him off,” Benny explained as if it were obvious. “Had a talk with him.”

“Oh my god,” you breathed out harshly, a feeling of being drenched in icy water washed over you. “You saw him? Where?” Then it dawned on you. “You saw him at Ricardo’s? He actually showed up?”

He remained quiet, watching as you turned from the ledge, standing and began to pace as you worked through the thoughts hitting you faster than you could process. 

“You ran him off? Oh my god, Benny. Is that code for something? Did you kill him?” You squeaked, the possibility of poor Pete being having to fight for his life played out like a complete disaster in your head. 

“No.” He shook his head as if annoyed.

“Well what does that mean, then?” Your voice raised an octave as unease gripped your heart. “Did you beat him up?”

“I told you. I had a talk with him.” He said simply as he turned, flipping his legs over the ledge and faced you. 

“You intimidated him! You with your loud bike and leather jacket and mean look, it wasn’t just a talk. He doesn’t deserve that. Pete is a good guy.”

Benny lifted his hands up in a placating way but the sarcastic look on his face caused anger to spike through you. 

“What makes you think you had the right to do that?” You demanded as you planted your hands on your hip. “Where do you get off from?”

He opened his mouth to say something but thought better and closed it. 

“You intimidated my date,” you snapped. “A date I was actually excited for by the way. He was kind and . . . had a nice smile.”

“I don’t see the problem,” he mumbled, narrowing his eyes at the ground in front of you.  

“You don’t–” your mouth dropped open in shock, blood boiling at his audacity. You threw your hands up in exasperation as you spun away and made your way back to the ladder. 

“Where are you going?” Benny called out as he trailed after you.

“I’m going home so I can call Pete and apologize.” You retorted over your shoulder. And probably check to see if he's not been put in the hospital because of the biker behind you.

Benny laughed. “I thought you said you were mad at him,”

“Well, I’m not anymore. I’m mad at you now,” You fumed as you shot him a look before you descended the ladder.

“Me?” Benny scrambled down the ladder after you but you didn’t slow your pace as you rounded the outside of the bar, heading for the sidewalk. It would be a long walk home, but you had no interest in getting a ride home from him.

He jogged to catch up, grabbing your arm to halt you. “I didn’t hurt ‘em. I swear.”

You spun around to face him. “That’s not the point. You men all think alike, don’t you? Thinkin' you can stake your claim like women are just . . . just objects, toys.”

Benny’s jaw clenched tightly. “I’m not goin’ to apologize for it if that’s what you’re thinking.”

You scoffed as you wrenched your arm free and turned away. You picked up your pace as you made your way down the sidewalk in the direction of you home.

“Can I at least give you a ride home?” He called out. 

“Nope, I think it’s a perfect night for a walk, don’t you?” you replied without looking back, leaving Benny standing in the middle of the sidewalk in a stupefied silence.

-Tag List-

@imusicaddict @elizabeth916 @jaiuneamesolitaiire @dudii4love @ironmooncat @beebeechaos s @astrogrande @themorriganisamonster @pearlparty @sillylittlethrowaway @ughdontbeboring @penwieldingdreamer @eugene-emt-roe @charmingballoon @sunnbib @semperamans @groovyangelkisses @killerqueenfan @cynic-spirit @pomtherine @tranquilty @m00npjm @twisteduniverse5 @justsomewritingblog @nhlfs @thepassionatereader @rebecca-hvnstn @nethanybear @dreamlandcreations @buckysteveloki-me @simsiddy @zablife @sansaorgana @autumnleaves1991-blog @butler-trouble @lindszeppelin @wavyjassy @real-lana-del-rey @ilovehyperfixating @xcallmetaniax @lovenewfandoms @youngestxhearts @abaker74 4 @ateliefloresdaprimavera @thefallofthedamned @hottpinkpenguinreads

[susansontag]

studio ghibli ranking list let’s go

(will include nausicaä and the red turtle)

the these-are-actually-bad section:

24. earwig and the witch

actually the only one I haven’t watched so it’s cheeky to put it here. but I won’t be watching it and no one will blame me.

23. ocean waves

who sincerely cares about these teenagers they’re so annoying. if the boys had been gay it would have honestly been homophobic.

22. pom poko

this film is about shape-shifting raccoon dogs waging a war on humans and there’s copious jokes about their testicles. so on paper a perfect film. execution wise it’s so long and so boring and you care about none of them.

the cure-for-insomnia section:

21. tales from earthsea

hayao miyazaki was right to walk out of this one even though he probably is a terrible father for having done so. some of the animation was really nice but these protagonists made me yearn for the ocean waves cast because at least they have semi-personalities.

20. castle in the sky

proof miyazaki was judging his son too hard for earthsea because this is basically his version of the same thing: a nice idea with good animation and the most boring boy/girl protagonists imaginable. has got that whimsy he does so nicely however.

the passable-films section:

19. the cat returns

but should he have? was that really necessary? has a scene of cats walking in a procession on their hind legs though so that’s a plus.

18. arrietty

visually gorgeous but otherwise a very run-of-the-mill adaptation of the borrowers, which in something that should feel wondrous is less than ideal.

17. my neighbors the yamadas

some harmless and inventive fun that you can put on in the background whilst eating lunch or doing some light yoga stretches.

the don’t-harm-me-I’m-right section:

16. howl’s moving castle

yes I do in fact understand the intricacies of the plot and I still don’t care. this is one of ghibli’s messiest films for sure, it can’t decide what it wants to be or focus on and the plot just seems to happen and then not happen for no good reason. I also think howl’s a whiny bastard and hate that sophie has to mother him and endure his contemptible man tantrums. a shame because she’s actually cool.

15. grave of the fireflies

it was sweet but I’ve watched more moving animated films set in war-time, even. I don’t have much desire to watch it again honestly but maybe I will at some point.

the this-is-getting-there section:

14. the red turtle

I liked it! an acquired taste but I really felt the harshness of the elements and the cruelty and the love. it's also very beautiful to look at, one of the most visually arresting ghibli productions.

13. only yesterday

a tale of two films with this one. the parts where she's a young girl are much more interesting, but if this had stuck the landing and it'd been more even overall, could have potentially been a favourite. alas.

12. the wind rises

a genuinely weird one in ghibli's lineup, in which miyazaki meshes two different stories together (one of inventive 'genius' and a doomed love story, respectively) in a likely attempt to try and grapple with his having chosen his career over all else, including family (noteworthy is that his wife was not able to retain her career as an animator). as a piece of art it's less whimsical and more mature than many of these films, but I struggle to not let my distaste for what it potentially represents get in the way of my appreciation for it as a film, but it's so blatantly personal that it's impossible.

the that-was-just-a-good-fun-time section:

11. nausicaä of the valley of the wind

aesthetically one of the coolest films on this list but I don't remember the story as well. great protagonist too. must have been great to experience when it first came out in the '80s.

10. porco rosso

I love this film about a tomboy mechanic and some pilot guy who went off to war and was so changed he is now a pig. watching it feels like if the mediterranean was so small it fit into your back pocket and was also populated by all your friends all your enemies and your ex-lover also.

9. from up on poppy hill

I found this one boring the first time I watched it but it really grew on me with subsequent rewatches. I really like her predominantly female household and the community they share in the backdrop of the rest of the drama is sweet. the bit of drama midway through is still batshit though but in a loveable, disney-would-never way.

the near-perfect section:

8. the tale of the princess kaguya

probably takahata's magnum opus with the studio, if slightly overlong. folktales are tricky because they tend to feel moralistic and the characters one-note if you're not willing to build on them but kaguya herself feels very spirited and alive. the prettiest on the list too I'd say.

7. my neighbor totoro

cozy late summer comfort film. perhaps even more special now because I was able to see the london production. cute!

6. when marnie was there

surprised this one has ranked so high for me but that's the power of tomboy lesbians heck yeah etc. also the fantastical element of this one is so up my alley and touches upon a particular kind of childhood nostalgia I have of being in old houses and imbuing them with magical qualities. the image of anna facing the house across the marshland is burned into my retina.

the I'd-die-for-her section:

5. princess mononoke

aesthetically too cool for school and has one of the best ghibli villains and female characters (lady eboshi). they really said all the spirits of the forest are going to die in this one but well it was a nice thought.

4. ponyo

my comfort movie of all-time! heartwarming! with another great female ghibli character in lisa, sosuke's mum who is legally allowed to drive like that apparently. also one I actually watched for the first time in my childhood when I was around 7 or so at an after school club. the subtitles taught me the useful and now underused gem of a phrase "bog off".

3. kiki's delivery service

asks the important questions such as: what if you were a young witch from a dying tradition who moves to a gorgeous town in sweden? what if your remarkable gifts were no longer appreciated due to rapid advancements in aviation technology? what if you could live in a bakery?

2. spirited away

when you're just a timid child who is scared of admittedly a lot and your parents manage to mess everything up spectacularly so now you're forced to work at the age of twelve for people who steal your identity. still one of the best honestly they may never top this as the peak of their artistic achievement.

1. whisper of the heart

have you ever been a struggling artist? have you ever been in love? have you ever been obsessed with john denver's take me home, country roads? in all seriousness love a story of two artistically inclined people inspiring each other and this has a unique feel compared to other ghibli films forever favourite probably. it feels like basically no one has watched it and that's a shame. rest in peace yoshifumi kondō.

[dreamerwitches]

Could you have a three course meal with only Madoka merch?

I've seen things like this before with Pokemon or Evangelion but I wanted to try it with Madoka, it would probably be a little more difficult since it’s a lot less popular than both but here we goooo!

So we’re looking for food and crockery for this! We want a starter, a main course, a dessert and a drink for our food. And for crockery we want a plate, perhaps a bowl (for starter or pudding), a knife, fork, spoon (perhaps for dessert) and a cup or glass.

I’m more confident with the crockery so let’s start there.

There are plenty of plates to choose from! So let’s go with the Broccoli line which includes every girl, Kyubey and Charlotte. Originally sold for ￥1200. I’ll choose Mami :)

I could only find one bowl in contrast but that’s good enough. From Movic, we have to choose a Kyubey for this one... sigh... at least we can pretend we’re drowning them XD This one’s a slightly pricier￥1260.

Now cutlery is a lot harder... I couldn’t find any knives or forks but we can compensate! It may be harder for certain dishes but we can use the Penguin Parade chopsticks! Originally selling for ￥840, we’ll choose Mami again, of course.

However another option is the cake forks from the "I'm not afraid of anything anymore" cake set selling for ￥5880 altogether. Perhaps we could use the forks for our main but it could also be for dessert depending on what we choose (though if we’re buying it all we might as well choose the cake that comes with it too XD )

Even though we have a cake forks, let’s still prepare well with a spoon! This is actually the reason I wanted to do this in the first place XD I saw a set of spoons on a regular ebay trawl! I believe, these are limited from the Madoka Magica cafe. Unfortunately the listings for these settle to around $150 since they’re limited items from a no longer running cafe...

But fear not! Perhaps instead we can choose the spoon from the Kyubey cake set! Now we get two cakes for dessert! This one is certainly cheaper than the first option at ￥3780.

Next let’s choose a glass and a cup! There’s certainly plenty to choose from in this category. Let’s go for the ACG glass set and choose the lovely Charlotte! This set also includes a Kyubey design, a generic fancy design and runes. You can buy three glasses for ￥2800, we can bring guests!

Let’s go a bit more modern for our cup! The glass was from 2014 now let’s jump to 2021! A lovely cup designed by our favourite Inu Curry for ￥1500!

Now we’ve got our crockery, let’s move onto food! I have a feeling this will be far more tricky...

We can’t really have a traditional starter but what about some bread hm? No, what if I put it in a can for you? Canned bread! We’ve got the same lineup as our original plates but sadly missing Kyoko as many early merch pieces do... sorry Kyoko... I know you would’ve appreciated the bread... This is only a low price of ￥700 hooray!

Now onto our starter! What luck, we have a choice! Would you like the curry for ￥683? 

Or the ramen for ￥893? I’m surprised they sold full meals, I don’t know about you

We already bought our dessert with our cutlery so we have another choice of two! Would you like the peach and pineapple Mami cake?

Or the vanilla and raspberry Kyubey cake?

Wasn’t that tasty? Now why don’t we top off our meal with some tea in our 10th anniversary cup! Let’s have the black tea from Mami for ￥525!

So let’s run the maths, how much did our lovely meal cost? A-Ah... ￥40982..? just shy of $300..? P-Perhaps it’s not such a good idea then... shouldn’t’ve bought those spoons...

[judebellvngham]

Hi can I get a Gavi x pedri sister where she’s Ann Olympic gymnast and they go support her and she gets nervous since it’s her first Olympics and he calls her down! Some fluff ty :)

I KNEW YOU COULD, pablo gavi

pairings : gavi x pedri sister!reader

warnings : ngl idk fluff ig

notes: i didn’t really know how to write this im ngl but i absolutely love this request lmao gavi is such a cutie

(i also don’t know anything about how the gymnastics thing works .. so bear with me. it’s fictional anyway.)

not proofread at all lmao

✩

your anxiety was through the roof waiting to walk out with the rest of the teams lineup. there was at least 15 minutes before your team had to go and present themselves in front of over 12,000 people. not including the millions watching on TV. this was your first olympics and the pressure was starting to get to you.

you could never understand how your brother and gavi could do this and not let the pressure affect their performances.

it was crazy seeing yourself here as an 18 year old competing at the olympics, this had to be one of the biggest moments of your life so you couldn’t mess this up.

you sat trying to steady your breathing, placing your hand on your bouncing leg. all these doubtful thoughts just kept running through your mind- it was unhealthy considering you were going up soon. all the noise around you started to drown out as you tried to calm yourself down.. making it impossible to hear your teammate trying to grab your attention.

“y/n..” one of your teammates touched your shoulder, not wanting to scare you but you were so spaced out you didn’t hear her.

she was hesitant to say anything else but your phone was going absolutely crazy. “y/n!” and that finally shook you out.

you were slightly embarrassed and shocked. “i’m sorry, yes? what happened?” you say with a deep breath. she gave you a soft smile and shook her head.

“someone’s here to see you.” she nodded up towards the open door of the locker room and you look over to see two figures standing awkwardly in the door way. all your teammates just stood there looking at them as well out of shock.

you quickly realize that it’s pedri and gavi standing there, gavi with a bouquet of flowers in his hand. you cover your flushed face with your hands and you laugh out confused. It was a rule that visitors couldn’t come down to the locker room- especially not right before the event was starting so how they got here was completely beyond you.

you looked up at your teammate a look of puzzlement on your face as to ask ‘how and why?’ she only shrugged and pulled you up out of your seat by both of your hand, her smile growing bigger— you knew she had something to do with it, she was one of your closest friends on the team and was always there for you.

“go, don’t let coach see you guys.”

you pulled her close to you whispering a desperate ‘thank you’ and she laughed you off.

you quickly excused yourself from the room grabbing your warm-up jacket practically sprinting out the room to meet your boyfriend and brother.

the way the both gasped out of shock when you nearly knocked both of them down while clinging onto them. you guys stayed hugging for a little before gavi pulled away.

“your squishing my flowers i just bought you.” gavi said and you pulled off of him smiling like crazy, and pedri was off to the side laughing.

“how did you guys even get back here?” you felt your nerves slip away seeing the people who give you the most comfort in front of you.

“your teammate led us back here, she’s nice.” pedri said his face turning a little red talking about your friend and you only nodded with a slight smirk you and gavi giving him a knowing look.

pedri looked down at his phone checking the time, “you have ten minutes before you start , you ready?” pedri said with an encouraging smile, and you could physically feel your heart drop. you did not want to hear that right now because you were in-fact not ready.

gavi gave him a side eye, he was wondering if he didn’t see the terrified look on your face.

you stayed quiet starting to pick at your finger nails, “dude, go find our seats.” gavi said to pedri scolding him a little and pushing his shoulder. pedri couldn’t understand what gavi was trying to do, and he didn’t want to.

“since when did you become the boss of me?” pedri said with an small attitude pushing gavi back, and you roll your eyes at the immaturity.

“guys..”

pedri waved gavi off and started to walk towards you with a small smile on his face, his arms out perfectly for you to walk into and you did. he swayed the both of you and rested his chin on the top of your head. for some reason this made tears spring your eyes.

“you will do amazing, don’t worry.” he kissed the top of your head letting you go.

gavi stood awkwardly watching you and your brother interact because he was waiting for his turn.

���let’s go pablito” pedri said after letting you go leaving you standing in the middle of the big hallway.

you and gavi both looked taken aback. “i can’t talk to her too?”

“no.” pedri responded almost instantly, he still wasn’t used to the relationship between you and gavi.

gavi gave him a look as to ‘come on bro’ and pedri rolled his eyes at him and he started to walk away. “remember you are amazing y/n! i love you!” he pointed at you and you giggled.

“thank you pedri” you make a heart with your hands and he walks out of the hallway to the stadium, now leaving you and gavi alone.

your heart starts to beat quickly when he puts the flowers down on the floor and walks up to you, starting to hold your breathe when he is directly in front of you.

“are you okay?” he ask and you let out a breathy laugh.

“do i not look okay?”

“no, you look like your about to cry and shit and the same time.” he tries to joke with you looking down at your shaking hands. he grabs both of them in his in attempts to get them from shaking and it did help.

now your chest was caving in heavier and it was getting harder to breathe, you don’t think you’ve ever felt worse anxiety than this before. gavi face was even more concerned than before. he always knew how to comfort you in smaller situations but this was a life changing experience so it would be harder to help you.

despite feeling like you couldn’t breathe you were able to get a few words out, “gavi what if i mess up out there?” and he just shook his head at you as if it was the most ridiculous thing he’s ever heard.

“no no don’t say that..”

the tears were back, “i mean- these girls are so much better than me, i can’t do this- i’m just going to embarrass myself” you say in between sniffles.

“y/n, no stop it.” gavi voice was stern but soft he hated when you talked down on yourself because you were so talented and he wish you could see that.

you stayed silent so he continued, grabbing your face in his hands wiping the tears that spilled out. “you wouldn’t be here right now if you weren’t good enough. you’ve worked so hard to get here- this is your moment to show everyone how amazing you are.”

you gave him a sad look, doubts still running through your head.

“and guess what? even if you don’t do well- and i already know you will, but at least you can say you made it this far. not everyone has that privilege, but you do.” gavi spoke from the bottom of his heart with a smile that made you almost fall to your knees. his smile could literally light up a whole room.

“me and your brother will always be your biggest supporters no matter what, like he said you are literally amazing and no one does it like you.”

you couldn’t believe you had a person like this in your life he was a gift sent from God himself. A small smile started to appear on your face and once he saw that his smile got even bigger too.

“thank you, i love you gavi.” you pull him into a hug resting your head in his chest and he rubbed your back. you guys hadn’t said ‘i love you’s’ before but to you this seemed perfect. if he was anywhere else in any other situation he would be jumping off the walls but he had to keep his composure.

“i love you too.”

after a while of hugging you looked up at the clock on the time that showed you only had 5 minutes until you went out- so you pulled back with a deep breathe pulling yourself together.

“your right. i’m just so nervous right now.”

“and you have every reason to be, but you are going to go out there and absolutely kill it. this is light work, no worries.” he joked.

“light work? your insane.” you both laughed and he pulled you back into another hug.

“no but im serious, you got this.”

you pulled him into a passionate kiss, you always loved kissing him it was like dream that you never wanted to wake up from. before it could get to heavy he pulled back knowing he had to let you go.

“okay you have to go baby, me and pedri will be watching..” gavi walked and grabbed his flowers from the ground and you let out a small sigh feeling content.

you watched him walk away with your hands wrapped around your body the smile never leaving your face.

✩

and of course you ended up doing great at everything winning gold in the all-around finals. gavi and pedri were probably happier than you were,being absolutely ecstatic. they had no doubts in their minds anyway that you were gonna do amazing.

afterwards they both came running and jumping to you, pedri literally picking you up and spinning you around to show how proud he was of you.

“no way my sister just won an olympic gold medal.. your absolutely insane!” pedri put you down letting gavi scoop you up next. all you could do was laugh and hug him back.

“see? i knew you would do it.” he whispered in your ear plastering kisses all of your face.

pedri just looked in disbelief, “absolutely disgusting.”

[fuck-customers]

kitchen anon back with an ecstatic update!

J finally got fired :)

his hours had been severely cut and he was working more often at a different venue in our collection of businesses. after like a full pay period i finally worked a shift with him again. however, the two new folks in my section (EXCELLENT, by the way, i cannot sing their praises enough, both to the chef and to their faces) had both been scheduled that night. by the time J showed up that night we had already gotten almost everything done and really just needed to make ranch dressing.

so he starts roaming the kitchen, slouching, dragging his feet, hands in his pockets (all of which chef has told him not to do, for various reasons including he’s putting himself in everybody’s way and we don’t have that much space to move, and which chef later confessed to me he had already been considering writing him up/firing him for on its own) instead of like. finding some kind of busy work or something? wipe a counter, sweep a floor, stock something. idk. one way or another we had more hands on deck than were needed for the night and i had to be in early the next morning. however i did get very smug when the line lead told him to get back to “his section” and J got loud and bitchy about “it’s not MY section anymore, it’s [Anon]’s section,” because he’s fucking mad that i make him look bad for giving a fuck about the quality of the work i’m performing i guess lmfao

anyway given my official position as a floater, i asked chef if he wanted to put me anywhere else for dinner service, because we didn’t need four people in a section that two people can handle on a busy night when we’re well-prepared (like we have been since the two new folks showed up). he said no and sent me home, but little did i know he was planning to test J. i learn of this the next morning when one of the new folks greets me with “i need to tell you what happened last night”

the breakdown i got was that after i left, J wasn’t calling back orders, and chef was riding his ass for it all night. he’d call a dish on the fly, J wouldn’t call that he heard and just start working on it, and chef would lean through the expo window to snap at him. he continued to trudge around with his thumb up his ass between orders. later, towards the end of service but before they had stopped seating new customers, still actively preparing food and calling orders to each other, J’s got his earbuds in. line lead scolds him, snaps that “you know better than to have those in during service,” and chef happened to be rounding the corner at the time, and sent him home with like half an hour before service closed. chef made a comment about how he wanted to give him a chance because he’d initially hit it off and worked well with the new girl (who initially relayed these events), and J scoffed, with her standing right there and having to hold her tongue to stay uninvolved, but she revealed later how tempted she’d been to tell him off right there. after he left, chef pulled her aside and assured the section wouldn’t have to worry about him anymore.

chef confirmed these events with me later when he confessed that he’d been considering firing already; he usually only pursues it as a last resort because people tend to look for other jobs at the first sign of trimmed hours in our already inconsistent open schedule, and he doesn’t like filling holes in the staff lineup with temp workers—he’d rather replace them before they leave. J hadn’t quit at our venue, but had been working at the other site; chef confessed to me that he didn’t suspect J would be working there much longer, especially full-time, because the chefs and shift leads in that industrial-scale kitchen over there are going to crack down much harder on those behaviors.

between me, the line lead, and the new folks all coming to chef about J’s attitude and behavior and failure to communicate or cooperate, after so long without him on site chef had hoped he’d take the opportunity to try and show he was willing to turn around. instead J gave him the perfect straw to break the camel’s back on a silver fucking platter, and i remember the way the sun kissed the green hills of the shire.

Posted by admin Rodney.

[magpiemagica]

-Guide to Rainbow High G1.5-

Differences Between G1 and G1.5 dolls:

- There seems to be less of a focus on designer fashion. In leaks, multiple accessories are recolored and reused from other dolls. Not unheard of for fashion dolls but something Rainbow High is not known for doing.

- As far as we know (right now December 2023), Poppy Rowan seems to be cut from the main lineup. This kinda stung. I’m not a big Rainbow High fan (more of a ironic enjoyer) but Poppy was my favorite while watching the webseries. She was the only neurodivergent character (synesthesia) and was overall very cute 🦋💔

- All the main dolls being released in this new gen have forehead glitter. I think it is supposed to make them look more cohesive next to their new pets. I can see this giving ooak customizers some trouble. Along with the forehead glitter, the dolls also have tinsel in their hair (another inconvenience for many collectors and ooaks)

- The elephant in the room, the unicorn/hybrid pets. Based off of the latest webisode and YouTube shorts, these little shits (/j) seem to be a big part of the new series and are going to bring some fantasy elements to the brand (portals, magic eggs, etc.) Whether you find these creatures cute or not is really up to your personal taste and patience lol.

- The slime. The first line of new toys really focuses on slime play and creation. As someone who worked with kids a lot at the peak of the slime trend, I could easily see this going south for sales. Slime is messy, gets in the doll’s hair, is hard to clean up, and very frustrating for parents to deal with. Also collectors of what I’ve seen have little to no interest in the slime too. It could be a hit but I see it affecting the brand more negatively than positively.

- Change of setting. As of the day of posting this, Rainbow high has posted an YouTube short of Sunny jumping through a rainbow portal. Sounds like we might be leaving Rainbow High as a setting. I honestly have no clue where the new series will take place; I’m not too familiar with the “Poopsie Surprise universe”.

- Main character design changes. Amaya (based off of the leaks) has changed the most in fashion and appearance. She now has reverted back to her white and rainbow hair (emphasis on the rainbow). Her clothing is also much more in your face with the rainbow theming. If you are a fan of Amaya in Moschino, don’t worry, she still has a brand inspired bag.

- New webseries. On leaked dolls, there is a sticker “as seen on Rainbow World”. I guess Rainbow World is the name of the new series that will be dropped. It is unsure whether Netflix will pick it up this series like they did with Rainbow High. The webisodes will most likely be posted on the YouTube channel.

- No wrist articulation. Is exactly what it sounds like. The new dolls will not have wrist articulation like the Rainbow Junior High.

——————-——————-——————-——————-

Personal Questions and Concerns For the Series:

- What happens to Shadow High? Will any of characters we know come through the portal with the Rainbow High students? Or will they just disappear from the series as a whole?

- Will members of the main cast missing from the leaked line up be included in this new series like Poppy or Bella?

- How much will the doll prices differ?

- What new characters will be introduced in this portal world?

- What will the plot be and how will the show runners keep the world engaging?

- I am concerned about the characterization of the main cast. Rainbow High was relatively grounded before and now with all of these magic elements getting introduced, I’m worried some of the characters might all blend together in order to focus on the pets. Also just general character butchering.

——————-——————-——————-——————-

Overall, I just wanted to make this post as a general summary of what is going on with Rainbow High right now as a doll brand. There is a lot of different information and I wanted to throw it all in one place for people who aren’t super up to date on this kinda stuff. This is a kind of doll rebranding you don’t really see everyday and I want to document it.

Posted December 12, 2023

[thunderstomm]

Hot Wheels: Let’s Race - Cruise Mini-Redesign

Now that the new season of Hot Wheels: Let’s Race has been out for a few days, it felt like due time to add her into my old lineup I did earlier this year. (You can find those here!) Cruise very quickly became my new favourite character, I love that she poses an actual challenge and threat to the others, particularly Coop. I plan to make a proper post regarding my s2 thoughts, but I particularly enjoy that she is allowed to be a proper enemy for the protagonists. Unlike when Coop had a more intense rivalry with Axle, they aren’t in constant close proximity with Cruise, meaning they don’t have to feign any sort of politeness towards her. She is the perfect adversity for Coop, and I think her just being in the show really benefits his character and motive, and I hope to see them actually have a full conversation at some point, and for that to tie into Cruise’s thoughts about Rearview’s plans for if she wins the Ultimate Garage. She clearly likes racing, what’s to say she necessarily wants it to be destroyed? I guess only time will tell.

I designed two looks for Cruise- one is a redesign of her canon outfit, and the other is meant to match the racing uniforms I gave to the campers. Her canon racing suit is alright, but I do think it is a little monochromatic. Also, I don’t like that her leaderboard colour is purple and she has no purple whatsoever on her? So I made the base suit a dark purple instead of black, and made the lime tone a little more yellow in shade, to match Professor Rearview’s base suit. I like the stripe across the chest, clearly meant to mimic the tire tracks on her father’s suit, but I wanted to make that a little more clear. I also made the shape more akin to a lightning bolt, as a sort of opposition to the hot wheels campers wearing flames. And I added a little more detail, such as pockets and seams, for good measure.

When it comes to the question of her being redeemed, I am split. I would like to see them redeem her, I think it would make sense as a character progression for her to open up to the campers (or at least, Coop, since they’re interacting the most and there is emphasis on their dynamic) and betray her father in the end, but we also haven’t seen much from her yet indicating that she WANTS to switch alignments. Season 3 could easily change this, I’m excited to see, and honestly would love to see her get worse just as much as I’d love to see her get better. I have two theories regarding possible endings where a redemption does happen for her, which will be in my s2 thoughts post. Nonetheless, I wanted to design a camper-style racing suit for her. It’s identical to the other six in terms of design and pattern, with a flame print, and where the pockets, seams and details are. It’s in purple, since that’s her colour on the leaderboard. I kept the green as a secondary colour, thank goodness green and purple look good together. Her racer number is 07, since she would join late, and the others were assigned their numbers via the first level of the camp and where they placed. She probably wouldn’t like it, but everyone is well aware her skill outclasses the little number on her suit. I also thought about possibly changing her hair colour for the switch, but I didn’t want to give her a natural hair colour (I love characters with dyed hair)’ and making it all purple brought back the monochrome problem in the opposite direction. Maybe she’d have different coloured streaks or tips? For now, I have kept it green.

Like the other designs, I’ve included a few headcanons regarding the character! I’ve seen people actually be named Cruise before, so I don’t have any issue seeing such as her legal first name. Her surname is (obviously) Rearview, pointing clear relation to her dad, Professor Rearview. I know someone will argue that “Rearview” is meant to be his first name, considering they all have car part names, but the structure of his title and name leads me to lean more towards it being a surname? Even if we do end up seeing a flashback and they refer to him as just “Rearview”, it doesn’t invalidate it, as plenty of people go by their surnames. Long story short, her full name is Cruise Rearview. Cruise is 12 years old, and is the same age as Coop, Mac and Brights. Cruise uses she/her pronouns, and is 4’10” tall.

Thank you for reading my mini-ramble all of the way !! Feel free to ask any questions about this design, or about more of my HCs regarding her, or any other characters. I’ve been having a lot of fun with these !! Proper s2 thoughts post coming soon, I promise !! 💚💜

[intoloopin-archive]

gimmie numba 8

CONGRATS! YOU GOT … AIR CASTLE!

Air Castle, also known under the acronym ARCT [spelling], is a fictional south korean girl group debuted in late 2019 under media conglomerate MBN Entertainment Group. LINEUP (07): Perla. Hyunju. Jihye. Lihua. Evelyn. Soryeoung. Domi. HITS INCLUDE: Dalla Dalla (2019). Nonstop (2020). Birthday (2022). After Like (2023). CONCEPT: The endless wonder of the REM Realm. NOTORIOUS MEMBERS: Lihua, Evelyn.

I just can’t for the life of me start talking about NPCs with their own little worlds without starting off with my Castle Girls, because they have SO! MUCH! GOING! ON! As does everyone under the big bad MBN empire, a side of the Gioverse that we’re yet to explore (I had plans to do that with Idolmaker, since they’re always right in the middle of the shitstorm, but oh well… Maybe someday?)

Fully gasping how much of a punishment from Hell is having Night Child as labelmates and seniors might be a little hard, since LOOPiN only ever has to really deal with Dongwook (the crowd boos), Gunil (the crowd cheers) and sometimes Code, but Air Castle can’t escape NTCD as a collective horror – we’re talking daily bullship from creepy Jinsoo, disgusting fucking Cain and asshole Josh! Not to mention their branding of being a matching set with Night Child, which is really hitting them hard now that Dongwook’s public enemy number one and their worldwide reputation is going down the toilet.

They really torment the living shit out of these hardworking women that don’t get an inch of the appreciation they deserve, and the sad thing is: Air Castle can’t for the life of them join forces to try to do something about it because they have extremely clashing personalities, and almost no friendship inside the group that takes root in that, but also happens because of exterior factors that, boy oh boy, go way too deep into MBN Entertainment lore.

My biggest star in the group is undeniably Lihua, who you might have seen name dropped/put on some graphics here and there as ½ of ‘J.J’s Awful Friends’ alongside Jiyeon. I’m OBSESSED with her 'laid back but in a way that makes it clear that I've seen shit that would make the devil run off' energy, which lately has taken a lot of inspiration from the character of Klaasje Amandou from Disco Elysium – Lihua has her exact cadence in my head. She also has two slightly crooked front teeth that I always picture to be a little smeared with lipstick, and she’s got constant mood swings about it – long story short, is extremely rare for her to smile wide. Jiahang himself has known her for almost two years and has never seen it. She’s kind of a loner in her group, but fully by her own choice: she thinks the girls are lame as fuck (which in her defence!!!! Perla, Jihye and Domi really are!!!! They’re peaceful women!!!)

She grew close to Dongwook because, true story!, she lightly stabbed Cain at the Night Child’s dorms once when he tried to scalate sex to a point she didn’t wanna go, a.k.a: record her to shove it at Evelyn’s face – at the time his recent ex-girlfriend – as a gotcha moment. It was a whole Thing. Dongwook was completely fascinated, because he always wants Cain to get stabbed – preferably to death, but anything will do. He personally paid for her lift home and, as he does, invited her to go party with him at HYLL, which she was like, “Eh. Why not.”, and there she’s been ever since for reasons that saying here would strip a lot of fun off some future things (I have a WIP mapped out about Jiahang’s major adventures, if you will, on the HYLL nightclub that features her heavily!)

Long story short, Dongwook really adores that self proclaimed “Rude Boy 99” (laaaaaame) to this day shits himself at the mere mention of Lihua’s name, and so does she, and they mainly get off on that – and like, you know, substance abuse, which is as sad as it sounds. Lihua took a picture of Cain crying with his tight bleeding and sent it to the Castle Girls group chat, and that gained her some brownie points all around.

Unfortunately, it still gave Cain an excuse to extract sympathy points from Evelyn, who’s not one of God’s strongest soldiers.

Speaking of little miss prim Evelyn Suh, she’s another very fun case because MBN is trying to make a Bae Suzy out of her, and despite her best efforts to fight the effect that has on her long term bond with her members, by now the tension just keeps on growing. In a way, she’s kind of being pushed into a corner just as lonely as Lihua’s, with the major difference being the lack of choice coming from her side – homegirl is losing actual sleep and a good chunk of her hair over this! –, and I find myself really having big and elaborate thoughts on their relationship progression. I think something really interesting can be said of what it means to be a ‘girl’s girl’ through them if I ever choose to actually explore it. Also, very fun black cat/imagery with these two, which I just love!

And an extra extra fact about Evelyn: she has a little crush on Chihoon, and it’s a bit of a running gag that she always approaches LOOPiN with a very smiley and very pointed, “Hi, Dylan! 🤗🤭🙂‍↔️” But it’ll never go anywhere because she’ll never fuck a loop dude. She has been through enough! I won’t allow it!

[fulgurbugs]

an extremely thorough review of the monster fest draculaura food truck playset

was getting something for my mom today for her birthday, and since now that im home, the target and the walmart actually close together, decided id see if they had Monster fest cleo and the draculaura playset. they had both! i picked them up with some birthday money i got.

this set retails at 59.99.

up first: the box. i’ve seen some problems online me with this doll having her clothes stolen due to the open packaging that allows you to touch her without unboxing her. i respect the lack of plastic, but i doubt they’ll be packaging any future releases like this. the doll herself is near impossible to remove without scissors though.

i will say, she was quite easy to remove from the box. all the sticker decals are separate, and the instructions included have corresponding numbers telling you where to put them.

here’s all the parts the playset comes with. it was too large for my desk, so here it is on my bed lol

all sides before opening (with decals)

the interior of the food truck section. the little door can hold all of the included food accessories, luckily, so they won’t be loose.

the stage section. folded up, it’s like a dressing room, with slots to hold the guitar and microphone. folded down, it’s a stage

also, be careful before you commit to putting those stickers on. i put one of those mirrors on crooked and it did NOT peel off clean

now onto the draculaura. she is certainly…. less extravagant than the other monster ball dolls.

she is 100% polypropylene. oof.

face card. i actually love love love the makeup on this draculaura. green is a rarely used color on her, but it’s cute and subtle in this makeup! her headpiece is separate inside the box, and is not worn on her head in the box, and thus has no head tabs. it falls off pretty easy.

my draculaura is missing her green necklace…. i couldn’t find it any of the bags of accessories she came with either….

budget body. (this seems to be the norm with all playset dolls.) i honestly don’t miss the chest articulation that much, but she already feels a bit barebones….

quick shoe check. i actually love these, they’re a lovely level of shiny irl, with really cute molded details. maybe they just need some green and pink paint to make those details pop?

now to make some proportional comparisons! venus will be assisting today, since she’s one of the larger dolls.

unfortunately, there is no way i could find to make her sit nicely in the driver’s seat :(

the pop up section of the food truck is accommodating to both of their heights though.

draculaura on the stage. it’s extremely hard for her to hold the guitar due to it lacking a string or a second handrest. i bumped her and she dropped it again. also, why is it blue? doesn’t match anything on her outfit….

i do enjoy the bat microphone, though! very cute

ended up tucking the truck away down with my peach riots, but im sure i will eventually put it into storage. i dont have much interest in the playsets. i think maybe displaying some dolls on the stage could be cute though? (maybe catty….)

and that’s monster fest draculaura! honestly, if i wasn’t specifically a draculaura collector, i’d pass. the playset is huge, and the doll herself is not nearly as cool as the rest of the monster fest lineup. i do really want to give her a little tlc and some paint on those accessories to see if i can really make her shine though!

[tomorrowxtogether]

You Can Count on TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s Hueningkai

TXT's youngest opens up about relying on his bandmates, growing onstage, and more

Hueningkai’s advice to people looking to enjoy this time of year, when the world feels like it’s in full bloom, would be to stop and smell the roses — almost literally.

“You know, recently, the cherry blossoms started to fall as it’s gotten warmer,” Hueningkai tells Consequence, seated for a one-on-one interview in a hotel room in Osaka, Japan. “Walk along the street and watch the cherry blossoms flutter down and enjoy the view. It makes me feel sentimental and inspired.”

At 20 years old, Hueningkai is the youngest member of TOMORROW X TOGETHER — such tender thoughts about the beauty of nature aren’t always top of mind for people his age. Hueningkai, though, is not your average 20-year-old; he’s part of a group headlining Lollapalooza whose most recent project hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart.

Speaking about achieving headliner status, he recalls being particularly excited to share the news with his immediate family, including his two sisters. “I’m so happy that I became a proud son for my family,” he says.

While he grew up a middle child, debuting in 2019 with TXT required a shift; suddenly, Hueningkai found himself the maknae, or the youngest in a group. “The other members are only children or the youngest in their family,” Hueningkai explains. “I couldn’t get used to it at first, but gradually it became more comfortable — and it was really nice that I could lean on and rely on the older members.”

Hueningkai spent almost three years as a trainee before the lineup for TXT was finalized. Being introduced to global audiences and setting off on a debut showcase at just 16 years old required the vocalist to mature faster than the average teenager. Present-day Hueningkai is thoughtful and professional, but also seems to have retained a youthful, curious approach to the world. Throughout our interview, he approaches each question intentionally and often replies with surprising levels of honesty.

Consider when he’s asked about the people outside the safety of the TXT membership with whom he feels most comfortable discussing struggles or more difficult periods of his life. “I barely have any,” he says simply. “If I talk to my family, I would only worry them; and if I talk to my friends, they wouldn’t relate to that stuff. So in the end, I only talk to the members.”

It’s true that Hueningkai’s profile has risen higher than many of his peers can relate to. Following 2022’s “ACT: LOVE SICK” tour, he’s noticed an uptick in the group’s public reception. “I don’t really go out much, but these days, when I do, I’ve been surprised that so many people have actually recognized me,” he explains. His eyebrows shoot up, disappearing under his hairline as he expresses his surprise. “Oh, we have gotten a little more famous!”

TXT are back on the road spending more in-person time with their fanbase, MOA, on their current “ACT: SWEET MIRAGE” trek (find tickets here). It’s an even grander adventure for the quintet, and Hueningkai feels he’s progressed a performer between the two tours. “I think I learned how to be more calm and move at a steady pace, and I think I gained more experience when it comes to being on stage,” he observes. “I think I know how to rise to the occasion a little more now.”

As someone who’s already experienced more at age 20 than many people will experience in a lifetime, Hueningkai has an impressive amount of clarity when it comes to his priorities. “I want to be a trustworthy person; someone that people can really rely on,” he says. “I want to be a person that people can feel comfortable being around.”

While it’s clear how dear his members are to him, the other piece of the TXT puzzle is undeniably MOA. Hueningkai describes the relationship between the group and their fans as almost cyclical: They energize and inspire each other. The fans provide the enthusiasm needed for the five young men to perform for nearly three hours, and, in return, TXT leave everything they have on the stage, for every audience on the tour.

And for Hueningkai, in the midst of a truly exciting life, it’s those moments that take on the most enchanted, almost supernatural, quality: “Magical things happen meeting MOA in person.”

[smoshsfavoritepizzaplace]

as much as i like phone it in because i like shows from smosh pit that shows ppl's competitve nature (you posted that, who meme'd it, shayne guesses etc), i fear it would end fairly quickly because of the amount of crew they have. so i'd say around 2-3 more eps of this. or at least very occasionally with a fair amount of gap before a new one.

so im genuinely impressed that they were able to have enough time and content for that pilot episode.

It’s funny you say that bc as soon as I was done watching the pilot, I thought the exact same thing. For it to be 50+ minutes long with Tommy saying they still had more crew/cast that wasn’t shown, it makes me wonder if they have more people there than we think. I don’t remember everyone who was apart of it, but I do remember thinking how there was barely any cast members included. The only ones I can think of were Angela, Tommy (technically), and either Keith or Noah (I think). And if you look at just the vidcon lineup, they have WAY more cast than that. So I’m really interested to see how many episodes they can milk out before they run out of members. They could also maybe do a little spin on it and make it other things phone related 🤷‍♀️? But idk, I just want to see where this show goes, it has over 600k atm so there a chance for a ep 2.

[panoralis]

❝  I  CAN’T  SEE  MYSELF  THROUGH  YOUR  EYES  ˒  𝐢.  astre’s  anatomy

STAGE  NAME  :  gyuri  ❪  규리  ❫

BIRTH  NAME  :  hwang  gyuri  ❪  황규리  ❫

ENGLISH  NAME  :  ruby

BIRTHDAY  :  february  14  ,  1997  ❪  aquarius  ❫

BIRTH  PLACE  :  seosan  ,  south  korea

ETHNICITY  :  korean

KNOWN  FAMILY  :  two  mothers  ,  father  &  three  older  step-brothers

LANGUAGES  :  korean  ,  english  ,  japanese  ,  arabic

⸻  𝐚.  darling  ,  how  do  i  LOOK ?

FACE  CLAIM  :  cho  miyeon  of  i  -  dle

HEIGHT  :  one  hundred  sixty  five  point  one  centimetres  or  five  feet  five  inches

BODY  MODIFICATION(S)  :  standard  lobes  &  upper  lobe  on  right  ear

⸻  𝐛.  watch  myself  bloom  through  the  DOWNPOUR .  

FLOWERS  :  honesty  is  her  most  defining  trait  .  gyuri  rarely  lies  because  she  does  not  like  the  idea  of  hiding  the  truth  from  someone  ,  especially  if  she  cares  about  them  .  she  loves  to  treat  her  friends  ,  especially  the  other  girls  .  they  must  be  careful  of  what  they  wish  for  because  gyuri’s  like  a  modern  day  genie  . 

SHOWERS  :  her  confidence  can  often  be  mistaken  for  arrogance  ,  causing  her  to  receive  plenty  of  haters  .  when  she’s  pissed  off  ,  her  sharp  tongue  can  easily  cut  into  a  person’s  soul  .  if  she  truly  hates  them  ,  don’t  expect  her  to  deal  one  swift  blow  —  she  likes  slowly  digging  into  their  bones  ,  to  make  it  hurt  even  more  .

⸻  𝐜.  you  will  always  be  my  CELEBRITY !

LABEL(S)  :  sm  entertainment  ❪  2012  -  2015  ❫  &  astre entertainment  ❪  2015  -  present  ❫

PROFESSION  :  idol  &  actress

GROUP  :  pandora

POSITION  :  vocalist  &  face  of  the  group

YET  YOU  NEVER  FAIL  TO  PAINT  MY  SMILE  ˒  𝐢𝐢.  and  her  history  ❞

 ❪  tw  :  accusations of nepotism & bribery  ❫

VINTAGE.  little  princess  ,  doll  ,  treasure  —  just  a  few  of  the  nicknames  that  had  been  bestowed  upon  gyuri  ever  since  she  was  born  .  being  the  youngest  &  the  only  girl  really  hits  different  .  if  she’s  not  spotted  being  spoiled  by  her  parents  ,  she’ll  most  likely  be  playing  around  with  her  brothers  ,  hoping  that  this  time  ,  she’ll  be  able  to  dribble  the  basketball  .  elementary  school  came  with  three  bodyguards  who  warded  off  weak  suitors  just  by  breathing  .  the  braver  souls  ?  they  leave  those  to  their  little  sister  who  may  or  may  not  have  picked  up  some  taekwondo  moves  from  them  .

yeah  …  being  the  one  and  only  darling  hits  different  .

CURRENT.  what  she  wants  is  what  she  gets  ;  and  what  she  desires  is  becoming  an  idol  so  of  course  she  played  fair  in  order  to  reach  her  goal  .  the  fifth  member  revealed  to  the  public  ,  gyuri  wasn’t  surprised  to  hear  the  onslaught  of  assumptions  ,  including  her  buying  her  slot  in  the  lineup  .  nothing  much  has  changed  —  she  and  the  other  girls  poke  fun  at  the baseless  rumors  .  wanderers  love  when  friday  and  sunday  roll  around  ,  because  gyuri  opens  mirinae  to  do  ‘  written  ,  send  ?  ’  ,  where  she  reads  wanderers’  personal  concerns  and  does her  best  to  provide  a  reply  .

[heyheyitsjae]

I got the LEGO Lion Knights Castle

So recently I managed to get my hands on this new LEGO Castle set, and they did this cool thing with it where they put little messages from Majisto (the original LEGO Wizard from the 90’s) up in the corner at different parts of the build. But a few of these messages are a tad odd or interesting and I want to highlight them

A) First and definitely weirdest. So normally LEGO pieces are either 1 plate tall (a plate) or 3 plates tall (a brick.) A couple years ago they released this piece I like to call the “Minecraft candle” that’s only 1x1 studs wide, but is 2 plates tall.

The odd thing is that Majisto makes comments along the lines of “hey check out this weird piece” twice in the manual. The first time makes perfect sense because it’s the first time you use one (I think) in the entire build and it is a really weird part. The second time though is like halfway through the second manual, so like 3⁄4 's through the entire build and after you’ve put down like 100 of the damn things. It’s extra odd ‘cause sometimes these messages are like 30 steps apart, sometimes like 5, so they didn’t have to include a message there at all. If they were out of material it’d be fine to leave it blank. 

B) A while back there was this mobile app called LEGO Legacy: Heroes Unboxed. In it it was implied that Majisto used to date Willa the Witch (and also Basil the Batlord but that’s beside the point.) According to this set, however, Majisto is actually Willa’s cousin. It was the medieval era I suppose…

C) One of the characters they had in the retro lineups was The Black Knight. He started off as a member of the Black Falcons before splintering off to start his own faction known as the Black Knights. While the Black Falcons and Crusaders/Lion Knights had a bit of a back and forth rivalry, and you were supposed to root for the Crusaders, but neither was really marked as outright good or evil and they had peaceful interactions from time to time. The Black Knights however were consistently antagonized by the story, and always depicted as enemies of the Falcons, Crusaders, and Forestmen. 

We got some new lore in this manual. Apparently the Black Knight was driven to madness and greed after looking at a magical shard of amber now sealed in the Lion Knight’s dungeon. While the manual never explicitly states this I’m assuming the Falcons and Crusaders went to war over the Black Knight wanting the amber, and when the Black Knight left the Falcons and the Crusader King was replaced by the Lady of the Lion Knights peace came to the two factions. 

D) At one point Majisto describes a gear as “what sorcery is this” and I’m like “dude, you’re literally a magic wizard how is this weird for you.” I don’t think LEGO was including gear pieces in those old Castle sets so it’s probably a meta joke, but I’m like 90% sure knights IRL had gears in siege machines and portcullis mechanics and shit. Majisto makes a similar comment about a wall attached with hinge pieces (again probably a meta joke about LEGO being less boxy then it used to but in-universe it would just be a simple diagonal wall.) and another wall that grows and bends when you open the castle up (and… fair enough for that one.) 

E) The brown frog piece underneath the toilet trough is canonically not a pile of shit, it is a frog who has been shat on. 

F) Majisto has to poop standing up because his minifig has a dress piece and those can’t bend to sit down. 

G) At one point Majisto brags about being able to drop stones off the castle wall if the “dragon army” ever attack, which is weird because he’s the leader of the Dragon Knights!? TBF retroactively, in other LEGO media, Majisto has kinda become a Gandalf type, wandering from kingdom to kingdom helping where he can, so maybe he’s not considered their leader anymore and Burnabus took over/was always in charge in-universe. Also there are like three different groups of Dragon Knights, Majisto’s neutral Dragon Masters and then the evil Green Dragons and Red Dragons so maybe he’s talking about one of the latter two? Also also, if Ninjago is any indication, Dragons are a sentient race in the LEGO world so maybe some of them have militarized? 

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

I went with my dad to see Bobby Watt the other day. He’s a Scottish-Canadian folk singer (has been in Canada since he was about 20 and he’s 70 now, but he still has a Scottish accent so strong that he must be keeping it on purpose, I have music in my collection by several other singers who grew up in Scotland before moving to Canada and all of them have a bit of an amalgamated accent, while Bobby Watt’s got a stronger Scottish accent than Frankie Boyle) whom my dad last saw live at the Edmonton Folk Festival in 1991. Which means I probably saw him live then too; I lived in Edmonton from when I was born until I was 8, 1990-1998, and my parents took me to the local folk festival during every one of those years (including 1990, when I attended as a fetus). So I must have seen him in 1991 as well, but I was under a year old and don’t remember. He then got off the folk festival circuit so we hadn’t seen him since, though we have one of his albums and it’s great.

He was playing this new-ish venue this week that’s local to me (very far from Edmonton, but he lives around here now), and my dad and I went, and it was so good. It was just the right mix for a trad Celtic music night. 85% tradition Celtic songs, only a couple of tunes (that’s just my preference as I like most songs better than most tunes, nice that his preference lined up with mine), three or four more modern Celtic ones, a Stan Rogers cover (White Squall, one of his best ones), exactly one quite left-field Bob Dylan cover, and one even more left field Mark Knopfler cover that surprised me by being really lovely. A reasonable amount of patter between songs to tell us exactly what regions they come from and a few references to economic socialist and pro-union political views. One guy backing him up on fiddle and one guy on mandolin and swapping through about eight different guitars throughout the night. That’s what the people want when they turn up to something billed as a trad Celtic music night. It was perfect.

I’ve been to this venue a few times in the last year, it’s only been open since 2021. It’s such a good place. Small enough to feel intimate, big enough to feel like a community atmosphere (about 80 people). People who understand the technical side of music better than I do have praised the excellent acoustics. And it’s a folk club, of the kind our city hasn’t had in many years.

I went to this city’s local folk festival every year from when we moved here in 1998 until about 2015. In 2012 they sold it to this big company that brought in a bunch of “indie rock” acts to try to draw in a younger crowd, and they succeeded, because it turns out that you can successfully make a folk festival into something that attracts a different demographic, if you make it so that it’s not a folk festival anymore. The only drawback will be that it’s not a fucking folk festival anymore. I carried a resentment toward indie rock over this for many years, until relatively recently, when I listened to Daniel Kitson’s radio shows and said “Actually a lot of this is pretty good, it doesn’t belong at a folk festival or anything but it’s still good, it’s technically not Bon Iver’s personal fault that my folk festival died.” I mean, it die. It just sucked. It attracted the young people it wanted and they all got drunk and shouted things and ruined the atmosphere and the number of folk acts in the lineup got smaller and smaller over a few years until I just stopped going. I still went to folk festivals, just not to that one anymore.

Also, it’s not like traditional folk music is the only thing I enjoy. There are plenty of sub-genres of rock and country and general Americana/Canadiana that I love. I have some mainstream tastes! I really like The Clash and 1.5 Led Zeppelin albums and Joan Jett and even Nirvana. I went through a phase in my late teens/early 20s when I got into a lot of classic rock, and still listen to it sometimes. And at this point my catalogue of American and Canadian alt country is rivaling the size of my collection of folk music from this one tiny Canadian island (Cape Breton Nova Scotia, they make a lot of music there). But there is a time and a place. And the place for anything that can be described as any kind of “rock” music is every single place in the world besides a folk festival. Let us have our one thing!

Anyway. This new venue draws out the old folk festival crowd, just as it was before 2012, I love it. All the grey ponytails are back! It turns out those people never went away, they’ve just been waiting for a venue like this to open so they can go see music again.

The concert was followed by a “jam session”, on which I think my dad and I both had the same opinion: “That sounds really cool and I’d love to stay and see it, but would feel way too self-conscious.” So we left. They do this Celtic night once a month, I’m going to try to go back in April and maybe I will stay. I’m pretty sure you don’t actually need to bring an instrument and play it or sing to stay for the jam session. I just worry that I’d feel self-conscious sitting there with no musical talent whatsoever and watching everyone else play. Also, the audience was clearly made up of mostly musicians and people who know each other through music, and my dad and I are just tourists there. Still, it would be cool.

I’ve now been to see live music five times since last July, which is less than I used to do, pre-COVID, but significantly more than in any other year since COVID happened. I’m really glad I decided last year to start doing this again. Live music has been such an automatic part of my life since I was born, I think I took it for granted. Didn’t realize what a big part of my happiness it was until I stopped doing it. Sitting in a room full of other people who are all feeling the same thing you are with the same music is an unparalleled experience, and rather than taking it for granted, I should feel ridiculously lucky that I got to consider it so normal for most of my life.

I’ve said that there’s a kid at work for whom I play music sometimes, and looking at it through his eyes (his ears?) really is a cool way to remind me of how special things are, even things I’ve gotten used to. The other day I played him Runrig for the first time. They’re a band from Scotland that I know about because for a while their lead singer was Bruce Guthro, who’s from Cape Breton in Canada. For ages as a teenager I just vaguely knew that one of my favourite singers, Bruce Guthro, is in a band in Scotland called Runrig for some reason. Then I actually got into that band and learned that they are much, much bigger than Bruce Guthro, they existed in one form or another from 1973 to 2018, they were very successful and I don’t know why they put some guy from Canada on lead vocals for a while. But I’m grateful that they did because otherwise I wouldn’t have got into them.

They have this compilation album called 50 Great Songs, which is exactly what the title claims and therefore excellent value for money, and buying that was my introduction to them. It has a live version of this song Hearts of Olden Glory, which is breathtaking. Seriously, if you have bothered to spend your precious time reading the insignificant thoughts that I write down, I promise it will be a much more worthwhile use of your time to listen to this song:

I played it for the kid at work, and realized I probably shouldn't expect it to have the same effect on him as it does on me, because he has an extremely limited vocabulary, he doesn't understand the world around him, he doesn't know what a live music gig is. He doesn't know what it means when you can hear the whole crowd singing this together.

But I watched him as I played it for him, and he reacted in all the right places. He stopped and listened and when the music swelled or stopped he froze and closed his eyes and grabbed my hands and shivered. There is something universal there. Even if you don't know what it means, there is something that any human can understand is special.

On the same day I played him Madison Violet for the first time. That's a band of three women who are all from Cape Breton (and one is related to the famous fiddler Ashley MacIsaac), but formed in Toronto. I first saw them at a folk festival in, I think, 2009. I bought their album No Fool For Trying, and it immediately went into regular rotation. (I feel like I only ever mention male musicians on here. I'd like to clarify that while my music collection is more male dominated than I'd like it to be, it is less male dominated than it probably seems according to my blog posts.)

I've listened to this album in lots of years, but it always makes me think of the year I listened to it most often, which was 2011-2012, when I lived in Halifax for a year, and I had my first girlfriend, and I had commitment issues that meant I would hang out at her place for as late as she wanted but would never sleep over, and this was one of the albums I most frequently played while walking home from her place. So whenever I hear it, I still think of walking for 40 minutes through the streets of Halifax from her apartment to my dorm, at 2 or 3 or 4 AM, with a vague feeling of guilt because I knew she wanted me to stay over and be a proper girlfriend but I couldn't bring myself to do that, but also with a feeling of excitement because the streets of Halifax at night are a lovely place to walk and I had this nice music to keep me company. Anyway it's a great album. Every song is strong.

I played it for this kid for the first time recently, and I started with a couple of the faster songs, thinking he'd like those. He wasn't that into them. Then I played him this one, the really slow and melancholic one, and he stopped in his tracks, closed his eyes, and just listened:

I was a bit surprised, because I've always thought of this as a song where the thing that makes it most special are the lyrics. This song gets to me emotionally because it's really lyrically beautiful, but this kid barely understands basic language, he won't know what lyrics mean. And yet, in that moment where the key changes (I think, I don't really know enough about music to say) and it says "Now your father's building you a box" - which is the exact moment that always really gets me and sends shivers down my spine - I saw him wrap his arms around himself and raise his shoulders around his ears and grin at me, clearly affected by the music. Something gets through even if he doesn't understand the words.

Anyway, that's the point of this post. Music is nice. I do not believe in taking video recordings of any type of show, for the usual reasons: it takes you out of the moment when being in the moment is supposed to be the entire point of the experience, and it's annoying for other people if they have to look at your phone screen instead of the event. However, my dad was really excited to see this guy he hadn't seen live since 1991, and he took this 30-second video, and I got him to send it to me, and to be honest I'm glad I have it now. It was hopefully worth mildly annoying the nice old school folk music people who were sitting behind us. This is a cover of what's actually the first Stan Rogers song I ever heard, when I was a kid, White Squall. Great song.