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deannaroxannewrites · 3 years

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Tropetember Day 2: Coffee Shop / Tattoo Parlor / Flower Shop / Other Retail AU

Coffee and other ways to heal the soul.

Pairing: Spencer Reid x GN!Reader

Fandom: Criminal Minds

Rating: General Audiences

TW: Valhalla arc (mentioned), coffee, NCIS cameo

AN: Day 2 of @tropetember. I was really struggling with the coffee shop AU but once I got going, really got way too into it and could probably pad this out into a short series. Is that something people would be interested in?

Also, not really sure if I managed to capture Spencer but remember this is an AU and that's my excuse!

Enjoy!

Find this story on Ao3 here.

Word Count: 2.4k

One of the biggest advantages of owning one of the few coffee shops in Quantico that wasn't part of a massive chain, was the constant stream of senior FBI and Navy personnel desperate for high quality, well made coffee. It had become such a lucrative venture in fact that you could afford to hire enough staff to rarely even have to be behind the counter at all.

The surge in popularity has even allowed you to convert one of the spare upstairs rooms into a meeting room. In hindsight, you should have converted more because once your regulars found out about it, there had been outright war between the Navy and FBI to try and get meetings booked in. A couple of your regulars had even managed to get both institutions to hardwire connections so they could host even more briefings and meetings in the friendly, comfortable space.

Today's winners were a Unit from the FBI, who had booked it out for a whole day. Aaron Hotchner, the BAU chief, came in most mornings and was a real sweetheart. You'd been trying to get him to drink something other than his normal americano since his return from Afghanistan a few months ago, but had not been successful so far. You were excited to meet the rest of the legendary team. He always spoke fondly of them when he bought extra coffees to boost morale.

With that in mind, you quickly throw together the pastries and beverages he'd preordered for the start of their session and head in to do a quick check that everything was ready.

Like any meeting room, there was a large table in the center but you'd made sure to surround it with comfy and artfully mismatched chairs. The floor was a deep walnut colour and matched the numerous floating shelves which were covered in plants and books. The place was homey and extended the cosy chic look you had been trying to achieve throughout the shop.

After a little bit of organising, including making sure the FBI cables were accessible and tidying any of the Navy’s equipment, you head downstairs to the main space.

Charlotte and Jessica were behind the tills this morning, making quick work of the line and exuding friendly helpfulness out of every pore. They were both grad students and you were already dreading them graduating. Their natural effervescence would be impossible to replace.

To pass the time until your booking arrives, you catch up with NCIS Agent McGee who is on the coffee run, trying not to hold him up too long in case he ends up getting in more trouble with his big bad boss. Apparently Agent DiNozzo had knocked over Gibbs coffee but McGee had then slipped in it and done some minor damage to some of the equipment. He told you he much preferred coffee run to door knocking duty round a 6 block radius like DiNozzo.

As you wrap it up, a group of people enter the shop, led by a woman in colourful clothes and a sunshine demeanour. It's not until you see Agent Hotchner's suited and booted presence bringing up the rear that you realise this is the infamous BAU.

Donning your friendliest persona, you politely excuse yourself from McGee and head to greet them, calling Aaron's name across the way.

The profilers seem surprised by your use of their bosses name but quickly shake it off as introductions are made. You receive hand shakes off most of them with the exception of Penelope, who gives you a hug because of course she does, and Dr Spencer Reid who gives you a shy wave and looks like he'd rather be anywhere else.

It didn't take a profiler to see the physical distance between the genius and the rest of the group. He was always a step away from the nearest person and automatically avoided any physical contact from them.

How strange.

Brushing it off you lead them upstairs and get them settled, letting them know that they're welcome to come and go in the shop as need and that all their drinks would be added to the discounted tab and left them too it, all the while trying not to puzzle over the handsome loner and his cute sweater vest.

-----

If there was one thing Spencer Reid hated more than anything, it was team building.

Normally, back before everything happened, he would just grit his teeth and bear it. That's been a lot harder after finding out that Emily was alive.

Processing the joy at her being alive and the rage at being led to believe she was dead in the first place, particularly by the people he trusted the most, was not easy. He was trying to forgive them. He was trying to let it go, to accept the damage but move forward.

It was still a work in progress.

That's why, when Hotch announced a team building/meeting day, he had momentarily considered resigning. Though there was no longer outright hostility between himself and Jennifer, things weren’t exactly comfortable between himself and half of the team. The only bright side to this whole endeavour was the location. No coffee shop lasted long in Quantico unless the coffee was actually good. It was a small mercy.

He followed the rest of the team into the coffee shop, eyeing the surroundings and taking note of the other visitors. As the rest of the team joked about, he stayed back, simply waving at the nice owner of the shop when Hotch introduced them.

They appeared to be about his age which was very impressive considering the success of the café. And there were a couple of sci-fi references hidden in the décor that he would have loved to ask about, but he doubted they’d appreciate him going off about Star Trek this early in the morning. Instead he just gave a tight-lipped smile and followed the team upstairs.

Spencer tried his best to concentrate throughout the morning but to say he was relieved when they were left to their own devices for lunch would be an understatement.

-----

After a productive morning in the office, you wander back out to the main part of the shop to check on things. The lunch rush can be unforgiving but the girls seem to have it in hand. Nothing out of the ordinary for a Tuesday lunchtime.

What you didn’t expect to see was Spencer Reid hidden away at one of the back tables with a ginormous book in front of him, a small scowl on his face and the rest of his team nowhere in sight.

You agonise silently with yourself for a few moments before you decide to head over. You figure if he doesn’t want company he’ll let you know but you feel drawn to him. It was strange. Maybe it was just your instinctive need to collect strays.

You smile gently at him when you reach his table, indicating the seat opposite him in question. He gives a quick nod but doesn’t fully look at you.

“Everything ok?” you ask.

He takes a moment and seems to be considering his options. He looks at you with a little tilt of his head, likely questioning your motives.

Finally, he seems to decide you have no sinister intention and quietly replies “I just wish things could go back to how they were”.

You had heard about the events involving the BAU in the last year or so. It had been a hot topic of gossip in the shop numerous times. Aaron also occasionally talked about his guilt at what he put his team through when he stopped by, needing a friend to talk to. It’s the first time, however, that you think in depth about how faking a close friend's death likely affected the team members who were unaware.

This isn’t to say you didn’t care or didn’t think that it must have been terrible for them. You did, but had agreed with the justification that it was for Agent Prentiss’ safety, that finding out she was alive would make up for it. It’s apparent in the sadness of Dr Reid’s expression that that isn’t the case.

“Can I touch you?”

His eyes shoot up in surprise and he hesitantly nods. You gently grasp his hands, wrapping your fingers around his.

“I can’t even imagine,” you begin slowly, “how difficult this must be. But if you ever need to talk to someone, you’re always welcome here”

He gives a short, sharp nod and squeezes your fingers which you take to mean thank you.

“Also, this is totally not my place but, a therapist, one outside the Bureau? Might not be such a bad idea?” You give a sardonic grin and admit ” It worked for me”

After you give his hands another quick squeeze, you leave him to ponder your statement and head back to your office. Paperwork doesn’t do it self after all.

You hope Spencer manages to find some support though and decide that if he wants it, you’d be more than willing to help him.

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

It was a few weeks before Spencer Reid showed up in the coffee shop again.

It was early evening and you only had a few people in. You’d opted to close up tonight to ensure Jessica, who had been on the afternoon shift, had time to work on her assignment for class. She’d been complaining about it for the last few days.

The sound of the front door opening distracts you from your thoughts and you glance up to see who has entered. When you realise who it is you can’t help but smile.

“Fancy seeing you here Dr Reid” you say in greeting. He gives you a small smile in return.

“Well, it’s good coffee and, erm, the company’s good?”

You understand the question implicit in that comment and glance around at the few remaining patrons. They all have a beverage and it’s a quiet night so you can afford to take a step out behind the counter between orders.

“Sure, let me make us both a drink and then I’m all yours.”

You take his order (how much sugar?!?!) and get you both sorted out and settled into a small booth. You look at him, taking in the nervous expression on his face and let him settle in and start the conversation.

“I, erm, I took your advice”.

“That’s good. Are you finding it’s helping? Having someone outside of work to talk things through with?”

He nods his head.

“One of the things she pointed out was that so much of my life is wrapped up in work, that when things go wrong I don't have an external support system. Not that I didn't know that already but, someone else pointing it out made me realise how much if an impact it has.”

You bob your head thoughtfully, acknowledging his comment but not forcing him to say more.

“She suggested I try to find people outside of work to talk to. I was... I was wondering if you could be one?”

His nerves seem to have failed him slightly as he can’t look you in the eye, but you give him a big grin. Of course you want to spend time with this lovely man.

“I’d love to” you say, which gets him to look up and give you a smile in response.

You spend nearly an hour, with occasional breaks to serve customers, chatting to him before it becomes necessary to close up. He starts gathering his things but you’ve been enjoying his company so much you can’t bear to let him go. Instead, you check if he’s in a rush and, after confirming he has nothing else planned, invite him to hang around and grab something to eat from the diner down the street.

By the end of the night, you’re glad the diner is 24hr. You completely lose track of time, fascinated by the sheer amount of information he can provide and the passion with which he infodumps. It’s extremely endearing.

“I had a lovely time tonight” you tell him as you walk towards your apartment. You don’t live too far from the coffee shop and he had very gallantly offered to walk you home. “I’d love to do it again some time?”

He smiles and nods in agreement before asking for your phone number.

“I don't really like technology that much so I don’t have a smartphone and I don’t really check it that much and prefer speaking to texting…”

“Spence” you say, a little laugh in your voice as you interrupt. “Whatever works best for you. I’m not going to suddenly vanish on you, promise.”

You seem to have hit his worries a little too closely as he sways a little awkwardly, gaze wandering down to his feet.

“Can I hug you?” you check. His answer is to wrap his arms around you and you gently sway the both of you side to side.

He lets go and turns to head back out into the night as you call out “If you’re ever missing me, I know a place you can get great coffee. I can get you a good discount.” A laugh stutters from his lips and he wishes you a good night.

Leaning against your door you sigh happily to yourself. It’s always a good feeling making a new friend.

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

It had been over a year since the last time the BAU had booked (and managed to attend the booking). In that time, you’d converted another room upstairs into a meeting room, as well as setting up a shared work/study space in a room out the back.

You grin as you see them all enter, fascinated by the way this family of agents interact with each other. There’s even a tall, handsome genius who stands within the group, laughing and joking along with the rest.

Spencer greets you with a gentle kiss to your lips and it causes uproar from his colleagues. You don’t react much, you just turn to them and shrug.

“Do you know how many germs are passed in a handshake? It’s much safer to kiss.”

Your genius just laughs and wraps an arm around you, guiding the whole group upstairs, his friends playfully demanding details the whole way.

#Trope: Coffee Shop AU #Criminal Minds #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x y/n #spencer reid x you #tropetember #fanfiction #unbeta'd

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littlemisssquiggles · 4 years

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So ...about "The Warrior in the Woods"...

Okay so this morning, this squiggle meister took a read at a preview for one of the stories that would be featured in the upcoming RWBY: Fairy Tales of Remnant set to release this year September 15th. It’s titled “The Warrior in the Woods”. If you haven’t read the small preview of the tale for yourself, you can find it right here on kobo.com where you can also preorder a digital copy of the book.

Speaking of, does anyone know where one can preorder a hardcopy version of this book? Or do I have to wait till it comes out in September to order the hard copy version then? Of all the upcoming RWBY-related projects that I was most looking forward to, it’s definitely this one and I’d definitely love to own a tangible copy of the book for myself if it’s available.

Anyways let’s talk about “The Warrior in the Woods” story specifically. Obviously I read it and without spoiling much from the short story, all I can say is that I definitely loved it. I think right out the gate, I’m going to peg this one as one of my favourites of the fairy tales purely because I found it to be a rather sweet one.

[SPOILERS AHEAD! NUFF SAID]

Plot-wise, the tale focuses on a young boy who ends up getting lost in the woods after wandering out too far from his home village while out playing with his friends. Basically the gist is that the people of this boy’s village have lived in peace away from the Grimm; so much so that the villagers; as well as its youths had never encountered a creature of Grimm before.

While lost in the forest, the boy is attacked by a Bolbatusk Grimm (I believe) during which he is rescued by a woman with silver eyes. In a nutshell, the boy is saved by a Silver Eyed Warrior which leads into a routine where every year from the day they met, the young boy would always return to the forest in the hopes of meeting the Silver Eyed Warrior again.

Let’s get into what I liked about this tale: The whole relationship between the young boy and the Silver Eye who I will hereby refer to as “Warrior”. From the get-go, it’s very evident that the Boy is infatuated with the Warrior but what I found adorable was that this boy’s interest in the Warrior was what encouraged him to brave the forest in the hopes of seeing her time and time again for two to three more years (I believe if I’m remembering correctly). And what I thought was interesting was that each time the boy ventured into the forest, he was described as being much braver and stronger than previous encounters.

During his first encounter with the Warrior, the boy was completely powerless during his first run in with a Grimm but as the years went by, the boy would learn from his experiences and would go in a little more prepared each time. While he still needed the Warrior to come to his aid (which she always did in spite of saying she wouldn’t save him and telling him never to return), I definitely dug how much the boy began to mature with each time he met the Warrior as reflected in his growing combat competency.

I liked the angle of the Boy being motivated to become a stronger person thanks to his meeting with the Warrior. I liked that just as much as I love the angle of how much the Warrior in turn grew to care for the Boy in her own way.

When we first meet the Warrior, she described as strong and beautiful (by the Boy) yet hardened and reserved due to her past experiences since according to her story, her kind were known to be hunted and slain by humans because of their power (as we the readers are aware of from the main series as of V4-V6).

So due to this, the Warrior has basically settled into a life of solitude and survival. This is even reflected in her initial attitude towards the Boy since after saving him the first time, she warned him never to return again.

Unfortunately for the Warrior, she had underestimated the Boy’s persistence since he did return to her and each time they’d meet in the woods upon her saving him, the young boy would bring her gifts as a token of his appreciation and fondness of her as well as a symbol of their growing bond.

And in spite of pushing him away at first and all the times they would “meet” afterwards, I liked how it was shown how much the Boy had grown on the Warrior and how his compassion had warmed him up to her to the point that I think she began looking forward to seeing him in a way---or rather she expected him to always return to her in a sense.

Until one year when the boy returned to woods, he would find his Warrior gone. Whether that meant the warrior had eventually met her fate or simply moved on, I don’t know. It is of my assumption that the Warrior was ultimately killed in battle. The ending of story in regards to the Warrior’s fate felt a bit ambiguous to me. The story mentioned the possibility of the Warrior being dead but honestly never confirms it. Not really. So for me, I’m only assuming that the Warrior did die since that’s how the tale left her conclusion.

Now for the real meat of this post---the comparison that I’ve already seen my Rosegardening peers make after reading this tale and now I’m going to chip in and basically say the same thing too.

Yes, the Boy and the Warrior definitely remind me of Oscar Pine and Ruby Rose.

It’s actually kind of hard to NOT make that stark comparison.

After finishing the tale, my theory is that the Boy was probably around the same age as Oscar is currently when he first met the Warrior. Probably 14-15 years of age and I’d like to think that he was probably 17-18 years old by his third and last encounter with the Warrior since later in the story, the author began referring to the boy as a “young adult man” (I believe).

As for the age of the Warrior, that one has me stumped to be honest. In the story, she is described as “woman”. I also recall the author describing the Warrior having strands of silver in her hair which made me think she was probably a much older woman---probably in her 40s.

Then again…women in their late 20s to early 30s can start showing signs of grey hair. Not to mention that people as young as 18 can start greying out due to family background and stress.

So…in that case, I dunno. Going off the featured artwork of the Warrior in the preview, she doesn’t look to be that old at all. So I’m going to safely assume, that compared to the Boy, she was probably in her late 20s or so.

That’s my cookie crumb deduction.

Either way, here we have yet a second example of a RWBY content featuring an adolescent male expressing romantic interest in an older woman with the writers behind the tale treating this dynamic as something wholesome and rather quite sweet. I would be lying through my teeth if I said I wasn’t rooting for the Boy and the Warrior to end up together-together. I am NOT sorry. My hopeless romantic of a shipping heart couldn’t help but find the boy’s interactions with his Warrior to be adorable since the story treated it that way.

It’s for this reason why despite the story’s ending, a part of me is still kind of hopeful that the preview isn’t the whole story for that specific tale; y’know what I mean? Like I’m kind of hoping that once the full book is out, there will be more to the Warrior in the Woods story that potentially reveals the young boy and the Warrior reuniting and having their happy ending together.

I could be completely wrong here but dagnabbit, they got me again folks. Not gonna lie. I want this now. I need Roosterteeth to adapt this book into a new animated series like World of Remnant. These characters don’t even have names and already I adore their bond and story together.

Overall, as you can tell, I’m smitten with the relationship between the Boy and his Warrior. And the ending where the boy; now a man, professes his love for his Warrior since the day they met only made me gush even more over this pair. In the squiggle shire, we stan “A Boy and his Warrior”. That’s what I’m going to call this pair.

I guess the point that I’m trying to make here is that it’s nice to see a love---even if it was unrequited in a sense---between a young man and an older woman be treated respectfully in literature. We live in a time when people would screech over the slightest age difference while ignoring the context of the relationship itself.

Though only a short story, I’m happy that the author of Fairy Tales of Remnant portrayed the rapport between the Boy and his Warrior as a sweet relationship.

It’s here where I’m reminded of the Rosegarden dynamic. For the most part, the CRWBY Writers have always treated the bond between Ruby and Oscar as wholesome. It’s what makes the arguments against it in regards to their small 2-year age different sound so silly in my opinion.

So that being said, thank you CRWBY and E.C. Myers for creating yet another sweet dynamic between a young adolescent teenage boy and an otherwise “older” and much more experienced Silver Eyed Warrior.

“…I wish I could have been there for her,” he said slowly, “the way she was there for us.” If she was dead, she had died alone.

“Why did you keep going back there, year after year?” a village woman asked him. “Because she saved you?”

“For that reason, and for many more,” he said slowly. “But I believe she knew the deepest reason of all.”

The group waited. He gazed into the fire.

“I fell in love with her the moment I saw her silver eyes.”

- “The Warrior in the Woods” | Fairy Tales of Remnant by E.C Myers

I would like to say more about this story but I’m afraid right now, all I can give are my first impressions. In a way, my mind is all a tizzy with how much this tale got me thinking in respect to the growth and potential future of the Rosegarden relationship.

I’m not trying to imply that I’m taking this as a sign of their endgame. Nah. That would be too premature of me. But it did get me thinking and excited for them in respect to Oscar’s continued development.

I think what I loved and enjoyed the most out of this tale is how much the Boy reminded me of my favourite little prince and how his endearing love for his Warrior made me think of how much Oscar looks to Ruby as someone to believe in and perhaps, even fall in love with.

And what got me the most was the line about the Boy wishing he could’ve been there for his Warrior the same way she had been there for him and by extension the people of his village.

That line hit me deep since that’s exactly how Ruby has been with Oscar from the moment the two met!

Out of everyone amongst the hero team, Ruby has supported Oscar the most from the start. She’s always stood by him. Looked out for him. Protected him and believed in him or supported him even when others were reluctant about that.

She was the first person to mention how brave he is in spite of his fears. And above all else, Ruby inspired Oscar to be a stronger person. Not just for himself and the huntsmen in his care; like his teammates. But for her.

The Boy was inspired by the Warrior to become a stronger man, not just for himself but also the people of his village. Not only that but I loved how the young man even wanted to be strong enough to support his Warrior too

“…I wish I could have been there for her,” he said slowly, “the way she was there for us.”

I love that. I love that line because it reminds me of everything I’ve been saying about Oscar and his inspiration from the Little Prince.

What was the lesson the Fox taught the Prince? Love and responsibility. To be responsible for the people who love and support you just as much as you love and support them.

I got the same vibe from this story from the relationship between the Boy and the Warrior. The sad reality is that the Boy never got a chance to be there entirely for his Warrior and thus she was believed to have died alone; never truly knowing the whole truth of how much she meant to him and how much he loved her.

This is a parallel that I’m hoping for in V8 in respect to Oscar’s side of the story with him on his own in Mantle with only Oz. I’m hoping that during his journey back to Atlas; Oscar comes to terms with his feelings for Ruby. What would even be amazing is if at some point, the tale of the Warrior in the Woods is brought to life and told in the main series.

I would absolutely love it if at some point Oz would tell Oscar the Tale of the Warrior in the Woods when the little prince starts thinking about his rose. Even better, what if…“The Warrior in the Woods” is how Oscar learns the “Fox’s lesson to the Little Prince”?

Imagine if…Oz, fairy tale and it through hearing that story and learning of the Boy’s dedication to his Warrior that it helps Oscar realize how much Ruby means to him!

Overall, what I’m mainly anticipating is for Oscar to come to terms with his true deepest feelings for Ruby. For me, I would love it if Oscar really is no different than the Boy in the fairy tale.

What would even be more of a trip is if Oscar is a descendant of the Boy or meets someone in his travels who is related to that boy in the tale and it’s a story and lesson that’s been passed down throughout their family for generations.

I know that might be pushing it a little bit but it’s not a bad concept. Either that or…Oz is the one who tells Oscar the Tale of the Warrior in the Woods. It would make sense for Oscar to hear that tale through Oz since, ironically, isn’t he the one who compiled the Fairy Tales from Remnant book? Correct me if I’m wrong. I know his notes are a feature of the book.

Anyways, either way, I want to see Oscar realize how much he loves Ruby and it’s his love for her that further fuels his drive to support and protect her.

The Boy never got his chance to be there to protect his Warrior. While he kept her legacy alive through her story, the sad truth is the Warrior died alone never knowing how the Boy felt for her.

This is something I’m expecting NOT to be repeated with Rosegarden. I want to see Oscar promise to Ruby that he will always be there for her; fighting by her side for the cause they both believe him: Saving humanity. And above all else, I want to see Oscar realize his love for his rose in the hopes of one day telling her that to her face.

While I don’t know if we’ll have Ruby return Oscar’s feelings. Regardless, this is what I’m anticipating to see at least for Oscar’s side of things and this fairy-tale gave me more believe for that. Then again, it’s just a story and only time will really tell for what the CRWBY Writers have in store for V8. But a squiggle meister can wonder and hope, right?

In the meantime, like I said, I’m excited for the official release of Fairy Tales of Remnant.

I don’t plan on reading any more of the previewed stories though. I don’t know about some folks, but for this squiggle meister, I more want to wait till the book is out so I can hopefully get a hard copy because I do want to own the book itself.

That way I can read it through, make notes of things and always have that stuff on hand when I want to make a point of analysis for future musings and headcanon posts. Plus I really want that book. This is one of the sure-fire times where RoosterTeeth will actually get my money. (Still waiting patiently on dem Oscar merch though).

So with that being said, I think “The Warrior in the Woods” will be the ONLY story preview I will read and talk about for now.

I know there are previews for the other stories available but I’d rather not read them now. I think I’ll wait for the full book to go through and give my official thoughts then. We’ll see. Until then, this is all I got to say for now folks.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2020)

#rwby #oscar pine #ruby rose #oscar and ruby #rwby rosegarden #rwby fairy tales of remnant #rwby remarks

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twi-sight2020 · 4 years

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Chapter 11, OH FUCK ITS MIDNIGHT SUN, and Why I won’t be getting in on that particular discourse this week

So first, brief bit of HOLY FUCK NEW TWILIGHT IN 2020! I’m prepared to go be trash, i’ve got this shit preordered, and will probably not leave the house till I’ve finished it. I’ve seen a lot of things going around about the ethics of giving SMeyer money considering certain sexist things she seems to endorse, her treatment of natives, etc. Frankly, i’m sue I could do whole post on this but right now guys....I’m tired. I got the new this weekend that my father was involved in a motorcycle accident and did not survive. the rest of this week has been a cluster of funeral planning, trying to figure out his estate, family drama, people messaging left and right and...you know, dealing with my own emotions on top of it all. So, quite frankly, I’m going to let myself enjoy this little bit of happiness and not bother being “woke “ for a few days. I’ve spent time being shamed for what i liked as a teenager, I’m not gonna be drug into that now as an adult. All that being said, it means I had to postpone my liver test and, considering the week I’ve had, I’mma enjoy my last week of not knowing and enjoy a nice sangria while writing this. Ok, enough me, I know what we’re all here for! _____________________ Today is movie day in class and Bella and Edward are suffering from serious repression, each doing there best to ...not touch the other, you know, in case being that close makes Edward want to EAT her. Like, really can’t wait for Midnight Sun, because if it’s anything like the bits of the draft she had on her site....wheeeew, Eddie really wanted to kill our girl. Like...Murder. Like he was gonna murder the whole damn class if he had to, alright? Boy was HUNGRY. So it’s no surprise the two of them have to sit close without...actually touching. of course, when he drops her off for gym, he traces her cheekbone and...damn if this didn’t seem pretty hot to me when I read it the first time, hell, even now it conjures up those butterflies of first love and how one touch felt like magic and took your breath away. Say what one wants about the writing in these books (and we all know it’s not perfect) but she does a good job of capturing how fucking overwhelming first love (and all those other first) can be. Mike tries to be a good boy and offers to be Bella’s partner in gym, despite the fact she literally hits herself in the head with a racket.... bless and I thought I was uncoordinated. Matt then says how he doesn’t like Bella being with Edward because ”He looks at you like...like you’re something to eat.” Even Bella is laughing at this and has to run off because it’s fucking hysterical. Like, bless it when poor humans have a moment of clarity in these books, because most mortals come off as hella dumb in this series. Like...maybe not as oblivious as the denizens of Sunnydale in the Buffyverse but...still pretty unaware. Edward meets her afterwards, and he is pretty pissy knowing what Mike is thinking...but Bella is more ticked because of the fact Edward was listening in in order to spy on her in gym class. She forces him to apologize and wants him promise not to do it again but...he counters by saying she can drive on Saturday instead. And she ...gives in. Dammit Bella, I was rooting for you to tell his ass off more, make him realize what creep he was being but...no, can’t have that, gotta get back to “A more pressing question” Which, is this case is just Bella wondering if he’ll tell her now why she can’t watch him hunt. Well, gee Bella, you think it may have something to do with how you’re the most yummy prey he can think of? Maybe? Just a lil bit? And, of course, it is. Edward lets her know that the hunt mean giving over to instinct...and that his smell would be leading the way. The two have a stare down where Bella...literally stops breathing? Like damn, I’ve lost my breath before but... girl...that’s unhealty. Edward walks her in and tells her tomorrow he’s gonna be the one asking the questions. Oh, goody, more about the human instead of the vampire, right? But it will be nice to know more about the main character. we live in Bella’s head, but that gives us very little input on WHO she was before the book. After all, I don’t spend every day waking up “My name is AJ, that not my real name, just a nickname, i am 29 years old, and I like YA novels because I’m trash, Comic books, because I’m trash, and I’m a crazy cat mom who drinks wine and takes lots of meds.” See what I mean? First person might give more insight to a characters thought process, but as far a letting us into all these bits and pieces, it can fall flat. She goes home, dreams of Edward, avoids answering her father’s questions about Seattle and the dance...and Edward picks her up the next day where he begins to question her. Her favorite color changes from day to day, but today is is Brown, because it’s warm and she..hates the green stuff that grows here. Wow Bella that uh... huh. Odd but, she’s a quirky critter. Apparently Edward has electric taste in music and has the..same CD Phil gave her(WHAT THE HELL IS IT?) and then we get...skimmed over all the things about books and movies that could have ACTUALLY gave her more personality outside Edward, SMeyerDammit! Instead we get her favorite gemstone being Topaz (his eyes) and how it would probably be onyx in a week. that’s uh...that’a bit much, but again...teenagers man. We get another quick run through of another movie day in bio, a gym class where Mike refuses to talk to her, and then...more question, most glossed over, though we do get a bit of insight on how Bella feels about her home in Arizona, how she finds it hard to describe why it is so beautiful to her. That i can understand. My childhood home, was not in a beautiful or glamorous area. It wasn’t the largest house on earth, it was very much lived it...but it’s the most beautiful place on earth to me. Because of the memories, because it was the place that made me...so yea, I get Bella here. And then we get the “It’s Twilight” line that explains the whole damn title of the book. It’s the safest time of day for them, blah blah, Bella likes nighttime even though Edward finds it sad and predictable... “Hello Darkeness my old friend...” Yea, sorry, whenever I hear that it reminds me of Edward. Then, Edward begins to act like a freak and bounces out of there faster than I preordered Midnight Sun. “Another complication.” he says. But what is the complication? Well it’s Jacob rolling up in there....with his daddy in tow. And Billy, Billy does not look happy, in fact, Bella is quite certain-from his look alone- that Billy 100% believes the “legends” of his people. Yea...Billy has a pretty good idea that the Cullens are straight up vampires... and he is not having it. And that’s where we leave off for the day. Next chapter we hit the halfway mark, so that’s gonna be an adventure. Till then, Stay Safe, AJ

#Twilight #stephanie meyer #edward cullen #Bella Swan #twilight reread #twilight reread 2020 #twilight chapter 11

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zydrateacademy · 4 years

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Current Activities in Gaming #222 (and life in general)

Do I even have anyone left to read my stuff? Alright, I’m gonna be real here. There’s a few variables that led to my inactivity on Tumblr. Let’s break down a few. 1) It’s not as fun. And not just because nudity was removed, though let’s be honest that’s certainly a variable. Ever since the Tumblr company shuffling of leadership there’s been a few choice updates that just don’t lend well towards the community. My activity feed is mostly just memes at this point. Also, I love blogging but I’ve yet to find a different platform to do so on, but I’ll be sure to google some alternatives soon enough.

2) I’d rather just be playing. These bigger CA posts typically take an hour or two to write up. I don’t plan them, I just open the post up and let my thoughts just get dumped. An hour or two is a lot of time, and that’s plenty of time to make some headway in certain games. Maybe pausing during an MMO during a dungeon queue or a raid party reset, but I don’t think I’ve touched an MMO in a couple of years so that window has closed. As a 2a, you could also just say I just very simply haven’t been in the mood to dedicate an hour or two every couple of days.

3) Schedule switchup and fatigue. A few months ago I transferred out of front end at the grocery store I work at, and into the produce department. There was more than one chance. For one, I no longer work morning shifts (often was 7am to 1pm or noonish). That’s 5-6 hour shifts and that gives me my day to play around with. However the produce department needed a closer, so now I’m up to 8.5 hour shifts, typically 1:30 to 10pm (EST, in case that matters). I was getting 40 hours a week but I asked my boss to downgrade me to 32 instead, which is still a few more than what I was getting on front end in addition to a raise, because front end is typically the “bottom” of the retail totem pole for some reason, despite them being pretty damn important to customer experience. Regardless, at the end of almost 9 hours, I typically just come home, turn on an ASMR video on my second monitor and basically shut my brain and body down as I mindlessly plug away at whatever game I’m playing. And yes, apparently I’m ‘essential’. So I’m still working during the pandemic.

Now then. Let’s get to what I’ve been up to, and none of this is in any particular order since I’ve last posted. I must have hopped to two or three different Conan Exiles servers while ultimately settling on Oasis of Pleasure, a very ERP driven place. I spend a good month or two being active and then I just gotta wait for the next server reset and let my personal CE batteries recharge.

I’ve gotten back into Skyrim, and I really should do some scrolling to find my last CA number for that. I’ve more than doubled my hours on the special edition, and apparently it’s been just under four years since I touched it last. Right now I’m playing a sort of nonlethal thief. The Ordinator perk overhaul (which is a must have, honestly) gives the light armor tree some big bonuses to hand to hand and makes it incredibly viable even in higher difficulties. She keeps a bow and knife around for “monsters” but ultimately uses her fists against most humanoids. I’ve been trying something different during the thieves guild questline: Actually sneaking by everyone and not murdering the fuck out of every humanoid you run into. Which is an option, fun enough. You can fail the radiant quests by murdering the homeowners but most of the questline is filled with mercenaries and you can’t really ‘fail’ the main missions (though I wonder what happens if you kill that argonian?) otherwise players could block a shit load of content from themselves.

I’ve also played a hot barbarian werewolf girl, some kind of Nazgul looking woman, and some other stuff.

Hilariously I’ve yet to get a decent screenshot of my current nonlethal thief. Her kit is pretty damn basic, wearing a custom set of the guildmaster armor with the black bandoleers. Honestly she looks pretty unassuming, which is kind of the purpose. Maybe I’ll go take her hood off and get a screenshot. Some day.

After that, I will say I’ve done some preorders. I still await Bloodlines 2 and Cyberpunk 2077. Delays notwithstanding, last time I checked they’re being released at roughly the same timeframe. I also preordered Horizon Zero Dawn which I am enjoying but must admit that some elements of it are a tad underwhelming. Maybe it’s because I played a good chunk of AC:Odyssey again recently, but I grow tired of the random garbage pickup game for basic crafting. Games just can’t really stand on their own two legs anymore, and open world games seem to be stuck on a few trends they can’t shake. Running around mining for ore and picking at tree branches is not fun. It’s a side effect of HZD indeed being four years old already, but I’ll still probably get a good few dozen hours on it. Not sure if I’ll bother beating it, but I do like Aloy and her story, though I’ve been treated with some spoilers since its release so I kind of know where it’s headed. After that... Let’s check my ‘recent’ list on Steam.

So we got some Town of Salem, which has become my go-to night closer before bed most nights. Last time I made a post on it I probably only had 10-20 hours played, of which I now have over 200. I’m sure as hell a lot better than I used to be, but the All Any gamemodes still manage to make my headspin, but they lead to some hilarious moments. All other modes makes it very difficult because of the “no claim space” meta, so I like hitting AA so I can claim whatever the hell I want. I’ve wanted to get back into Dying Light but it does something dirty to my computer that always demands a hard restart. You basically can’t tab away at all, even in borderless mode. And when I try exiting, I can no longer click any tabs. So hard power button it is. It’s such a good game and it feels really good to play, but I just can’t let it force me to do hard restarts anymore. I’ve dabbled into many others and some aren’t worth mentioning too much. We got Star Wars Battlefront 2, which I was approaching with some level of skill. I like the Co-Op modes but it feels like there’s only like three maps for that. Was fun with my brother for a while but that mode needs like ten new maps. But I believe development has stopped (a while ago, too), as the team is probably working on the next thing. I’ve already posted my dealings with the likes of Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord and Generation Zero. I never got around to beating GZ’s Alpine expansion. I got my 40 hours of it and frankly... that was enough. Good game, just lacks some depth. Some reviewers mentioned that the loop became too shallow and I can kind of agree, even though it took me 40 hours to get to that point. As for MNB, I’m sort of waiting on the more final phases of its early access. It’s basically getting patched every since week and I had trouble keeping up with all the mod downloads. So I’m thinking of doing a full uninstall (mods and all) and waiting longer down the development line. Maybe with workshop support, playing and updating will be more stable. That’s about the last I have within the last few months. I’ll probably get around to finding my last Skyrim post and pick up from where I left off.

#Gaming #PC Gaming

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courtneyranes-blog · 4 years

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Hey hey people! I’m really excited about todays blog! So I’m sure you saw a few days ago Stephanie Meyers, aka the queen who gave us Twilight, is releasing another book for the twilight series and it comes out in August!! I am so super excited, I already preordered my copy and I can’t wait!! Anyway the whole point to talking about that was to bring up todays blog theme and its, my favorite Young Adult (YA) books!!! Most of these books are ones I read in high school that I still love to go back and read today. Also they are in no particular order!

The Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer

Since we already started talking about this I might as well continue! So I love all of these books and the movies but my favorite book from the series that I’ve read multiple and have made notes in is the OG, Twilight! The book is sooooo much better than the movie, not that I don’t love the movie because I 100% do, but they just left so many amazing scenes front the book out of the movie! Especially my favorite one when Bella has to prick her finger for a dna test in school and ends up fainting and having to go to the nurses office and Edwards sees Mike taking her and decides to literally sweep Bella off her feet and carry her there *swoon*. I’m getting carried away, anyway, the Twilight series will forever hold a special place in my heart because its the first book series I ever read! P.S. I’m Team Edward!!

2. The Summer I Turned Pretty Series by Jenny Han

You might recognize the author for this series! She also wrote the To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before series, which will also be on this list, but before that series came my favorite coming of age teen girl romance novels! The first book, The Summer I Turned Pretty, came out in 2010 followed by two more books; It’s Not Summer Without You and We’ll Always Have Summer. These books are why I believe I’m so picky when it comes to guys and had really high expectations for summer vacation in High School. I mean this girl never thought of herself as pretty, as we all did back then, but had a huge crush on a boy she’s known basically her whole and when not only he starts giving her attention she’s not used to but his brother does as well, well she has no idea how to handle it or what to do! Will she fall for the sweet boy she’s always secretly loved or the bad boy who has secretly loved her? I guess you’ll just have to read them to find out! Also if I’m not mistaken, I think I recently heard a rumor that The Summer I Turned Pretty is being turned into a movie, which would be awesome!!

3. When It Happens by Susane Colasanti

This book, even though it came out in 2006, I didn’t discover it until my freshman year of high school and it honestly was my holy grail in high school. It’s all about first times with so many different things while going through high school, hence the title, and its just simply a great read! I think I’ve read it maybe 10 times in my lifetime and I would still read it over and over again. This is definitely a book I would love to experience again for the first time.

4. The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins

I mean, who didn’t think these would make the list? I seriously believe these books are a right of passage for every pre-teen/teenager, boy or girl, out there! The Hunger Games came out when I was a freshman in High School and let me tell you, the hype was REAL! And very well deserved! These books are so good and I’ve read all three a few time through and actually just rewatched all the movies as well and since I hadn’t seen them in a hot minute it felt like I was watching them again for the first time! I don’t know if it’s because I’m older now since I first watched them but I feel like I was a lot more emotional watching them again a few months ago then I was when I saw them for the first time in theaters a few years ago! With the book to movie adaptation I think they did a really good job! And there is a fourth book coming on this month on the 19th called The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which I’m pretty sure is supposed to be a prequel to the original Hunger Games book. I may or may not have pre-ordered my copy for this book as well and I can’t wait! I really hope it gets a lot of hype again to where they make it into a movie!!

5. To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before series by Jenny Han

My last but not least favorite YA book/series is of course To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before (TATBILB) If you have not read these books but have seen the Netflix movies, what are you doing with your life? Yeah the movies are super good and Noah Centineo is very yummy but the books are amazing!! But also I honestly can’t wait for the last movie because they have done a really good job so far with the other two movies! Funny story about TATBILB is I actually didn’t read these books until December 2017 I believe and when I really like a book I google to see if its being turned into a movie or tv series because, why not?! Anyway I just happened to get very lucky for this one because when I googled it they just happened to announce that it was indeed being turned into a Netflix original movie and to tell you I was obsessed when I found out was an understatement, just ask my friends. These books, and movies, are so well done and perfect for a high school romance read! Now I’ll be patiently waiting for the third movie while wearing my Team Peter Kavinsky crew everyday that I got from My Oh My Supply Co.

This was a fun blog post and a fun little photoshoot I did as well! I really like doing these kinds of blogs where I share my favorite things! Make sure you like this post and maybe even comment below if you’ve read any of these books! And Subscribe so you never miss a post!

For next Tuesdays blog I’m going to let you guys decide the topic, so in the comments below please let me know whether you’d like to see a blog about my Morning Routine (Quarantine Edition) or a blog about my Favorite Eyeshadow Pallets. Whatever one gets the most votes between the comments on here and the poll I have up on my Instagram story will be my blog post for Tuesday! Thank you so much for reading and as always...

Positive Vibes. Positive Mind✌🏻

#book blog #twilight #photography #selfpotriat #books #positive thoughts #blogger #new blog #blog post #quarentinelife #coronavirus

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usaghinanami99 · 5 years

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Hugh Jackman’s world tour: a personal comment

Hi, everyone! I know I'm a bit late, but I'm here to post a not-so-brief coverage of Hugh Jackman's world tour The man, the music, the show, or at least of the performance I've been able to witness myself. To be precise, I attended the concert held inside the Hallenstadion, Zurich, on the 19th of May, which, by a lucky coincidence, also happened to be my 20th birthday. It's been a long trip by train to reach Zurich, and I want to deeply thank my mum for being the kindest parent in the world and going through all of this just to give me the best birthday present I'll ever have had. Oh, please bear with my English, which is less than stellar, unless I’ve written something absolutely incomprehensible (in which case, please don’t hesitate to contact me!). I must say I’m very grateful that Hugh, knowing he was in a non-Anglophone country, purposefully spoke at a very slow rhythm. Thanks for being so considerate and kind. [Edited to put all this wall of text under a cut]

First things first, I have to say I had never been to such a big event, and concerts I had previously attended were nothing like this one. I mean, the only non-classical music concerts I had been to before were shows by Cristina D'Avena and/or Giorgio Vanni (who are Italian national stars specialized in anime theme songs), where the relationship between the artist and the public was completely different, in the sense that it was a given that, after the performance, they would have got plenty of time to meet every fan who wanted to do so for signing sessions, answering questions etc., with no additional price or need to preorder whatsoever. Well, things are obviously different when one's level of fame goes from "national" to "global", so what I felt was lacking more from Jackman's show was a real contact with the public... save a few horribly lucky exceptions. I mean, it's not like I thought he could do a signing session with over twelve thousand fans, but all in all, I reckon that seeing a concert with so little first-hand contact is not all that different than seeing said artist through a screen (which, BTW, we still had to do, since it was not humanly possible to see Hugh and the dancers from the furthest places without the aid of the maxi-screens). I'm sorry to have to start this post with a negative opinion, but I also have to say that this was absolutely the only bad thing about this concert; that, and the fact that Hugh always had a shirt on. Because, otherwise, I was totally blown away by the majesty of the music, as always happens when my ears are graced with hearing Hugh's fabulous voice, with the added bonus of the spoken intermissions, which were endless fun to listen to (and quickly translate to mum).

The show, as probably expected, opened in medias res, with no sort of introduction (apart from a very brief on-screen montage of various scenes taken from Hugh's filmography), but directly on the notes of The greatest show, which, thanks to the meta nature of its lyrics, may very well work as the most fitting show-opener of all time. The first verses of the song already worked very well when the film started at the cinema, but were no less than perfect to introduce a real-life show like the one that Barnum was about to start in-universe. Unfortunately, the version performed was the one from the official soundtrack – I say "unfortunately" because I prefer the film version, where The greatest show is actually two different songs and we manage to hear sad!Barnum's amazing verses at the end of the first part – albeit tweaked a bit to cut Zac Efron's solo lines out. Nevertheless, this song is breathtaking in every rendition, as are all songs from TGS, at least in my opinion, so I was still blown away right from the start of the show, and I remained in a state of hyper-excitation for its whole duration. After the show-opener ended, the first spoken intermission came, which made us understand from the get-go that this was going to be a little bit more than a normal concert, with the inclusion of these short but interesting comedic numbers by the star. This sketch consisted in a weirdly long declaration of the importance of numbers, which in the end was only functional to Hugh declaring in a depressed tone that he's fifty. A fact which matters not, seeing how he is still the sexiest man alive (disclaimer: I am not a gerontophile by any means, I usually lust over younger men and women, but Hugh's sexiness is something that transcends this, also because he objectively looks at least a decade younger than he is) and how insanely athletic he is for his age, a thing which we can confirm first-hand with all the crazy dancing he did on stage... and dancing while singing, may I add. And always with his shirt on, to boot. Man, that must have been hard. Oh, and he also said that, in case we were those horrible people who left before the show ended to have an easier time with the traffic, he would tell us when there'd be only two songs left. I wonder who on earth could have been that insane.

Immediately following this, Come alive came next, with its usual irresistible catchyness. The only negative side is that PT didn't actually put his red coat on in the epic and sexy way we see him do in the film, but I think I can live without that. I really liked the following transition, because, right after starting the show with his latest musical project, Hugh took us back to the start of his thetrical career, telling us how he still can't believe he won the audition to portray Gaston in the Sydney 1995 version of the Beauty and the beast stage musical (the theatric adaptation of the 1991 Disney Classic), seeing how he still had to take singing lessons. Now, the following part was my personal favourite of the whole show, given the fact that B&B is, in my opinion, the very best film ever created, as well as featuring my eternal OTP and sporting Alan Menken (the greatest composer alive) at the very highest of his career, who graced us with the most breathtaking songs I've ever listened to; oh, and Marjorie Biondo is my favourite singer on earth, to boot. So, you may imagine just how elated I was at the perspective of my favourite film meeting one of my favourite singers/actors! I had obviously already listened to Hugh's rendition of Gaston's songs from the official recording of the Sydney cast, just how I also watched Beauty and the beast in every language it's ever been dubbed into, because that's just how much of a fangirl I am; the only other film I've got such an extensive experience of is Frozen. That being said, I honestly reckon that Hugh's singing skills have dramatically improved during the almost-24 years that passed between that recording and this concert, even if he was already an excellent singer at the start of his career! Well, to put things shortly, Gaston was the musical number that followed, and it was undoubtedly the one that I enjoyed the most. The one performed was obviously the stage musical version, which is a bit longer than the original film version because of its lenghty dancing-only intermission; well, the crew didn't actually dance on tables, but the atmosphere was still there, thanks to Hugh being very in character as the sexy but sexist asshole that is Gaston, and the choreography involving tons of fake beer. That being said, since there was no LeFou present, the song was presented in a somewhat abridged rendition, starting from the "When I was a lad..." lines, but then recuperating some of the earlier stanzas and putting them out-of-order before the finale. The visual highlight of the number was Hugh lifting one dancer per arm to prove that Gaston has indeed "got biceps to spare", but sadly he didn't open his shirt like Gaston does in the film to show that every last inch of him's covered with hair. That was the saddest thing ever, imho. Still, I can confirm Hugh Jackman as being on the second spot in my ranking of the best Gastons ever, right after the inimitable Carlo Lepore, not to mention the fact that he's the sole and only baritone I can accept as Gaston. I mean, the character really needs a basso to fit his physical appearance and personality, especially in the film, and a basso also sounds much better in Gaston's songs, but Hugh somehow manages to make a baritone Gaston credible, like no other's been able to. Well, to be honest, maybe he's helped by the fact that he portrayed him in a stage musical and not in a film, so he didn't have to adjust his voice in order to be perfectly glued to the already-present face of a character; still, I regard this feat as something amazing, and you can't change my mind. As a side note, my mum, too, was quite happy during this number, because Gaston was pretty much the only song in the whole concert that she already knew; after all, you can't not know Beauty and the beast if you live with me, since I watch it obsessively every month (I'm still amazed by the fact that the videotape has never broken).

After an introduction with his own music repertoire, Hugh then went on to a small series of covers from different artists, starting with Fred Astaire's classic The way you look tonight (taken from the film Swing time), and on with other songs I had never heard him perform; which was a very nice surprise, because I really didn't expect to listen to anything new that evening! He thanked Switzerland for existing because that's where his parents first met (awww), which means that the country is very important for him, and thanked his public for being there for him, especially those of us who came by train or by plane – which means that Hugh Jackman thanked me, I'm definitely not delusional. But next time come to Italy, pleeease! After this, he performed I've been everywhere, which seems to be a popular Australian song where the singer mentions the hundreds of cities in the country that he's visited; this number was particularly hilarious because Hugh randomly added Zurich to the mix, and because, during an instrumental break, he asked the cameraman to show the audience the small screen where he could read the lyrics... seems that even Hugh Jackman is a human being after all, who would've guessed? Next came two songs from the film Dear Evan Hansen (absolutely watch it if you haven't!), which happens to be scored by the same Benj & Paul of The greatest showman fame, starting with the melancholy, but at the same time uplifting, You will be found, which was my personal favourite among the unreleased covers of this concert. The second song was the tearjerker For forever, a romantic ballad that Hugh aptly dedicated to his wife, and even played by himself on the piano, because apparently there's nothing this man can't do. The number was accompanied by pictures of Hugh, Deborra and their children on the screens, at which I literally couldn't not cry of too many feels... And, at the end of the song, she even went up on-stage to hug and kiss her hubby. Gosh, I envy her so much even as I still totally ship her with her husband, but really, Deborra Lee-Furness may very well be the luckiest woman alive. Returning to Benjamin and Paul, he then told us of how they composed and wrote This is me during a plane trip, one single day before a workshop where the film would be pitched. He then proceeded to recount the famous anecdote of how Keala Settle, who should've only sung this song at the workshop and wasn't to portray Lettie in the film, stunned everyone with her performance so much that she was immediately chosen for the role. This intermission, of course, served the purpose of introducing the night's special guest: the audience seemed to explode when Hugh announced Keala's entrance, to the point that I think that quite a few of them hadn't read that she would make an appearance. Anyway, even without her beard on her impression as Lettie is incredible, and her rendition of This is me was as breathtaking as always (incidentally, she also sang Tom's lines as well as her own). After her number had ended, she briefly thanked everyone who gave her the opportunity to play Lettie, and even the character herself, since she helped her become more determined, all while weeping tears of joy, which caused Hugh to cry, and... I can't. I just can't. These two are so amazing together and I want to see them in thirty more films singing and being happy one with the other.

After Keala exited the stage, a medley consisting of three songs from Les misérables started, introduced by footage from the film of Colm Wilkinson as the bishop giving Valjean the candelabra (you know the scene). The first part of the medley consisted of the aptly titled Valjean's soliloquy, which Hugh soloed with all the amazing skill we've already witnessed in the film. What I wasn't expecting, though, was for a background singer to own the spotlight as a full-on soloist: the second part of the series was none other than I dreamed a dream, in a rendition where a singer called Jenna Lee-James played Fantine. And, oh my gosh... I still have to listen to all versions of the stage musical, but what I know for sure is that I liked this performance even better than the one from the film (sorry, Anne!). I didn't think I would come out of a one-man show determined to check out a never-heard-before artist, but here I am, and it was definitely worth it; Jenna has got such a melodious, angelic voice, that I'm sure you'll be enchanted by her, too. The last number of the medley, as well as the closer of the first act, was One day more (which is already more or less a medley by itself, lol), where basically everyone had the opportunity to shine: since this is such a big ensemble number where almost every main character has got some solo lines, many different background singers managed to step out of the shadow and be recognized for their raw talent. While I'm somewhat sad that Bring him home wasn't included in the concert, this song was a truly satisfying act-closer, thanks to it epic proportions and majesticity.

After a well-deserved pause of twenty minutes for the artists, the second hour-long act opened with the cameraman gracing us with a glorious zoom-in on Hugh's butt (though I prefer his buttshots as Wolverine because here he was sadly wearing his trousers); it doubled as sexy and hilarious when the cameraman started to zoom out, only for Hugh to reprimand him and ask him to keep the focus on. By the way, at this point Hugh was already in-costume as Peter Allen, which means that he was wearing that absurdly sparkling jacket, so unfortunately it was a bit difficult to look at him without being blinded by all the *sparkle sparkle*. The initial musical numbers of the second act consisted in a series of freaking seven songs composed by Peter in various occasions and then posthumously used for the biographical stage musical The boy from Oz (I'm writing it here so that I don't have to repeat the various songs' origins every time), for which Hugh played the protagonist role in the Broadway version. The first one was obviously the legendary Not the boy next door, which was as spectacular as you can imagine, with the highlight consisting in Hugh taking the sparkling jacket off (for which my eyes thanked him in every possible sense) and spend the better part of the medley in a bright red shirt. All in all, this was probably the funniest number of the show; but then came the most irritating part, where Hugh invited a random man from the public to dance with him, and by "dance" I mean "being impossibly close and touchy-feely to the point that it was almost hard to distinguish where one ended and where the other started". I reckon it would've been sexy if the other person had been slightly hotter (for example, Hugh Jackman on Zac Efron brings infinite possibilities to mind), but he was just your regular middle-aged man, so no, there wasn't much fanservice for everyone except for him. I mean, Hugh even stroked. his. chest. Not fair. While rationally I know that it could never have been me because 1) I was as far away from the stage as you can get, since we bought the most economic tickets, and 2) he was in-character as Peter, so he needed a man, I'm still impossibly envious of this random man who's got the greatest luck of us all for no particular reason. Jeez, maybe I'm unneedlessly bitter, but I almost hope he's hetero, 'cause if he's either gay or bisexual, then he'd really have got the biggest luck of his life. Not-so-funny sketch aside, the show went on with a preposterous medley of songs from Peter's repertoire (and, indirectly through the musical, also Hugh's own) with no further interruptions: these were, in order, Best that you can do, the only one recycled from a previous musical, namely Arthur; Don't cry out loud, a pop song that Peter originally composed for a female voice, so it was a bit unexpected to hear Hugh sing it; I honestly love you, another pop piece, this one originally sung by Olivia Newton-John (which happens to be Hugh's childhood idol, by the way); Quiet please, there's a lady on stage, this one written, composed and sung by Peter himself; the iconic I go to Rio, where we found out that Hugh's red shirt actually concealed another layer of clothing – that is, the hilariously iconic pineapple shirt (and yes, he did use the maracas); and Tenterfield saddler, with which the medley closed. As previously mentioned, these songs were created by Peter for various different occasions, either for musicals or for more traditional albums, but were later reused for TBFO, sung either by Hugh-as-Peter or by other characters. All in all, this part was really enjoyable, and a totally deserved tribute to Allen's musical legend, even if one can question the inclusion of some minor pieces which kept the much more beloved I still call Australia home from being in the show.

After this, Hugh went on a speech about how dreams are important, and we know what this means: it's A million dreams time! The cutest thing is that this song was accompanied by a woman translating the lyrics into sign language... even though I must admit I struggle to conceive that a deaf would want to attend a concert, so the sense of the operation is a bit lost on me. Anyway, the version performed followed once again the soundtrack instead of the film, and once again I confess I prefer the latter, mainly because kid!Charity is also featured in it; on the other hand, it's true that the soundtrack version has got some additional verses, and the abrupt transition between the kid and the adult Barnum (which is much more nuanced in the film) is breathtaking. The parts were divided between Hugh Jackman as adult!PT, Jenna Lee-James as adult!Charity and another female singer whose name I'm desperately searching for as kid!PT. This song, which was already one of my absolute favourites, is still amazing in this rendition, but Jenna is possibly even better than Michelle (who is awfully talented in her own right), and now I really want to hear her sing Tightrope.

Following this, it was the turn for another long medley, this time a set of five covers from classic US musicals; this part of the show was introduced by Hugh confessing that he's got a very difficult upbringing... because there was only one TV channel when he was a kid, so he watched the same things over and over again (not that we do things differently even now that we can choose among many different channels), which led to his infatuation for old-style musical comedies. The songs composing this medley were: Luck be a lady tonight from the film Guys and dolls, then made even more famous by Frank Sinatra; Gene Kelly's preposterously famous Singing in the rain from the homonyme film, complete with fake rain and real umbrellas; I got rhythm from the film Girl crazy; Fred Astaire's Stepping out with my baby from the film Easter parade; and Benny Goodman's crazily-paced Sing sing sing. Needless to say, Hugh totally owned all of these songs, and I think this is the part of the whole show where his unadultered love for singing, dancing and generally being on stage shone through the most; of course the man is an excellent cinema actor, but you can clearly see that he's more elated when in a theatre or otherwise in front of an audience.

Immediately after came what was very probably the most physically prowing number for the cast, as well as the only non-sung one: after narrating that his brother was so much of an asshole that he discouraged him from taking dance lessons when he was a child, he proclaimed his happiness for having finally managed to study tip tap, which transitioned into a full-fledged tip tap routine with accompanying background music. This was admittedly the part of the show that I enjoyed the least, even if I did like it well enough (that's just to say how much I love this concert), because of the lack of singing and because I'm not the biggest fan of tap dancing. The funniest thing is that, at the end of the routine, Hugh exclaimed: <<Do you think that Ryan Reynolds could do that?>> and then did his Wolverine shtick using the battery sticks. Absolutely amazing. Oh, and after this exhausting number he turned back to drink, and even lampshaded the fact that we could take advantage of his tiredness to enjoy the view.

Then some brief footage from Australia was shown to introduce the members of a humanitarian organization called "Nomad two worlds", which made up the serious part of the show: the number in question consisted of a few men singing while two other men played the didgeridoo and a woman recited a poem. I should mention that all of these people were Aboriginals. After the end of the performance, it was explained to us that the woman who was on stage next to Hugh was actually a member of the Australian parliament who had a key role when their nation finally asked official forgiveness to the Aboriginals for the prosecution of their people. It was a very touching moment, indeed. With this over but still keeping on theme with Australia, Hugh performed a cover of Somewhere over the rainbow from the film The wizard of Oz (like his colleague and friend Nicole Kidman did in that film), and I wouldn't be lying if I said that I honestly prefer him over Judy Garland.

Then cam the most unexpected number of the whole concert, i.e., a cover of Mack the knife from Bertolt Brecht's Three-penny opera, which maybe would've fit better earlier in the programme; after which, Hugh actually told us that there were only two songs left, in case anyone wanted to leave early (I mean, does he think we’re crazy?). The following one was From now on, which I honestly expected to be used as the show-closer, but was nevertheless incredibly breathtaking; this is my favourite song of The greatest showman, in particular because it lets Hugh Jackman show everyone that he's truly the best belter of the world. From now on is also one of the two cases in which I prefer the soundtrack version of the song over the one from the film, since, like Tightrope, it features a bunch of additional verses. Unfortunately, though, Hugh performed an abridged version of the song, only starting with "I drank champagn with kings and queens...", maybe because it would've been difficult to hear him during the first part of the piece, which is sung while whispering. Anyhow, it was still exciting as heck, and the background dancers were even more amazing than usual. And, right when I was left asking myself what the final number would be, Hugh started singing another piece written, composed and sung by Peter Allen (albeit this time not in-character) and then used for TBFO; namely, Once before I go, which is incredibly fitting as a show-closer thanks to its lyrics. Thus the concert ended, with the main star, the special guests, the singers, the dancers and the orchestra bowing in front of the audience. I was appalled by the lack of an encore, and especially by the fact that no one in the public was apparently screaming for one like you usually do at a concert, but I was still utterly satisfied by the experience. Every member of the crew was simply fantastic, not just Hugh, and I'm very happy I've been so lucky to witness this show. ...I'm just still wondering why What a beautiful morning wasn't included in the programme, nor any other song from Oklahoma. That's jarring, I think.

Believe me, I would've totally stayed and bought some souvenirs, if it weren't for mummy, who wanted to go straight to bed; but, after all, she's already done so much for me, in exchange for nothing, that I can hardly believe it. She is the person I have to thank the most for this out-of-the-world trip and I couldn't be happier of being her daughter. So, many thanks to Hugh Jackman and all the others who made this concert possible, but even more thanks to the only one who made me being at this concert possible. Anyway, I simply cannot wait for Hugh to come back where he belongs to, now that his partecipation in The music man has been announced; I obviously won’t be able to go to Broadway to see the musical, but you can be sure I’m going to purchase the soundtrack album as soon as it comes out. What can I say, I love the man and I’m very happy he’s been able to realize both his personal and professional dreams.

If you've come this far, congratulations! I hope you've liked this totally unprofessional coverage, and I'd love it if you could link me to someone who's written a similar piece about a different performance, because I'm very interested in knowing how they differ between one another. Thanks for reading!

#hugh jackman #the man the music the show

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a-passion-for-florals-blog · 5 years

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A Blooming Business

It’s a cold, rainy Friday in the town of Beverly located on the North Shore of Massachusetts. At the very end of Cabot Street, the downtowns main road- sits a greenhouse set back from the street. Away from the hustle and bustle in what seems to be its own world. A stark contrast of the busy brick and excitement of the street surrounding it. An old worn wood sign painted black with engraved gold letter reads WARD’S in all capital letters. Open for the past 32 years, Ward’s is run by a colorful and extremely personable woman by the name of Nicole Kelly alongside her husband Matthew.

From a young age, Kelly had a pretty good idea of what she wanted to do with her life. A native to New England growing up in Norfolk she had always found an interest in flora. When asked how she got started in the floral business Kelly lets out a laugh “Well my mother certainly wasn’t too keen on me wanting to… I believe she used the phrase ‘peddle flowers’ for a living- that’s for sure!” following her mother’s orders Kelly went to school to pursue financial planning. There she quickly discovered that although she wasn’t studying floristry at school, she could start her own business. “I ended up working at a local flower shop near my school. There I was able to learn the trade first hand.” After school, she continued working at the shop until one day she decided it was time. With her husband’s help, the pair opened up shop. When asked how her parents took the new she smirks and states “I think they both finally realized they had raised a flower child and reluctantly decided to give up.” At the end of the day, flowers are what she wanted to be surrounded by every day. “There are few people” Kelly states “… that are able to be surrounded by something that can instantly make you happy all day, every day.”

An average day for a florist starts early. “We are usually up around 4 a.m., sometimes earlier. If we aren’t going to the market to pick up flowers then there is always paperwork to do, plants to be tended to and of course- arrangements to be made.” Although bouquets and smaller arrangements can be made in-house, Wards also prepares preordered arrangements. That is what occupies the larger aspect of their morning before the store opens for the day. Valentine’s Day, as well as Mother’s Day, are always the busiest time of the year for them, with all the orders stacking up.

The most surprising thing about owning a flower shop I learned involves the different aspects of the business. There is the greenhouse, handmade bouquets but also arrangements. “Way back in the day we used to do weddings- that only lasted for a few years.” As one can imagine Kelly explains that the wedding business is incredibly stressful. “I understand it completely!” she quickly clarifies, “They want what they want! I was a bride too once upon a time! What we realized was that with all the stress and how our business was doing, it wasn’t all that important to continue to arrange for weddings.”

She is still able to create with both bouquets and regular arrangements, however. It’s her favorite part of her job. “I am incredibly passionate about my designs” she elaborates “There is an incredibly large amount of detail that goes into floristry which people seem to overlook. Not to sound arrogant but there is a reason at home bouquets that your mother picks from the garden outside doesn’t look as good a bouquet coming from my shop- or even a grocery store for that matter” she states while making elaborate gestures with her hands. “The way we place flowers takes technique that yes- one can master on their own relatively fast. But to create better arrangements takes years to perfect.”

When I asked where she drew her inspiration Kelly say that when stuck in a “rut” the first thing she does is go outside. “I don’t care if it’s the middle of February, 23 degrees out and there isn’t a blade of grass to be seen; I go outside. There is so much clarity and inspiration we as inhabitants on this earth can draw from nature.” A beautiful sentiment.

Apart from arrangements; there then is, of course, the greenhouse, which has all the potted plants; herbs, flowers, succulents and such “Obviously we don’t hand grow them, we have them imported.” As much as I love creating floral arrangements, if I’m being honest they aren’t sustainable. Especially now with the topic on the future of the environment seemingly becoming a harsh deadline, a lot of florists, myself included are incredibly conscientious of what types of products we are purchasing. That’s why the greenhouse is great- because it provides consumers with a long lasting product, which they will be able to enjoy for longer- maybe even forever.”

At the end of my meeting with Kelly I had asked what makes her business so successful. The flower business she said is simple because no one really needs flowers. People purchase them for aesthetic purposes. “It’s the joy that they bring that keeps people coming back.” And it all makes sense. Ward’s itself is an enchanting store that is hard to leave because of the peace it brings the customer. “… [As} I said earlier, nature can do wonders for the human body’s mind and spirit” Nicole declares “…there is absolutely no substitution for the sensation it leaves you with.”

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kitto-toberu-sa · 7 years

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Digimon Stage Play - Part One

Sorry, my friend introduced me to Tiger and Bunny, which is why this was delayed ;;; This is everything up until curtain for half time, rest will be up within the next 12 hours, sorry!!! Aight, so tl;dr: great show, actors are perfect, Yamato is beautiful beyond belief, Mimi is UGHHHHHH in the good way and I’m bitter that the whole show isn’t sold out and whoever was in charge of promotion should be forced to eat nothing but the hottest of hot chillies for the rest of their life.

Venue/Goods: a little out of the way, small. You couldn’t buy goods unless you had a ticket, which sucks. Goods were sold on the inside, line was small pre-play, massive after. My store clerk couldn’t count to save her life. People were trading, everybody hated that everything was random and there were so many types of things. Friend and I ordered dvd – no blu ray option, it’s being released in December. Had to downpay 2000 yen, which this and dvd only option has never happened before when I’ve seen other stage shows – not a good sign. No postal option, so my friend has to pick mine up for me – poor form again. (Pick up is only at animate – my nearest one is 2+ hours away :/)

Promotion/sold out: four shows sold out. Tickets reduced to 7000 yen, which is insulting for us who went through lottery. They advertised low prices at fes too. Promotion was done badly. Digimon isn’t massively popular, but Toei isn’t small either. Get a cast twitter, post rehearsal pics etc. Promotion doesn’t need to be costly. Fes advertisement (last weeks vid) was too little too late. Theres events with Miyazaki and AiM and seiyuus, which also seems last minute and an attempt to sell out. Again insulting to those of us to preordered. Shonichi didn’t sell out. Must be tough on actors. Promotion video (August 5th? 6th?) is kinda bad quality – the stage itself looks and sounds better than the video may lead you to believe.

Seating: nice, comfy. We were second row, left hand side, aisle. If we had been one or two more to the left it would have been really bad (same if you’re too overly right). The cast faces back/sideways too often, so we saw a lot of backs. Need to work on being diagonal, basic stage stuff there. However, pros of our seating were: Yamato being right in front of us when he sang, Jyou fishing in front of us and making eye contact with Etemon to the point where it was creepy lmao

Play Y’all. Y’ALL. THIS IS THE GOOD SHIT. A+ A+ A+ A+!!!!!! Agumon is twitchy in the start, scene is a little long. He’s basically like ‘my body can’t move/is moving on it’s own???? Wat? Why???’ (both happen, not a bad translation on my part). He wakes up and Gabumon’s like ‘yeah me too’ and some of the other Digimon agree but Palmon’s like ‘yeah same but it’s because I’m not a morning person lmao’.

They all go to where the kids are. So this is set sometime after Koushirou makes the cyber space for them. Mimi and Koushirou talk about camping and Mimi ends up throwing his laptop on the FLOOR. Koushirou looks heartbroken and the entire audience was ?!?!? but sasuga Mimi and Koushirou’s like … well, moving on. Mimi is perfect beyond belief. Right voice, face, mannerisms. I know that’s what acting is, but she NAILED IT. She’s all like ‘camping is about feeling the breeze~’ then acts like she has wind her face, ‘about being hot’ (ahhhh, it’s hoooooot, she says), about monsters! (she says as she stalks towards the Digimon). We then get the scene where Sora talks about the importance of August 1st. While she speaks, on the left and right sides we see actual scenes from the original anime, which is really touching. Sora mentions that although there were good times, there were bad ones too (CUE GIF OF LEOMON DYING BECAUSE THEY HAD TO HAVE IT SOMEWHERE) All the mons wanna go camping which obviously, is cool.

Hikari invites Taichi and they talk. Jyou calls Hikari but Taichi answers and Jyou doesn’t realise. ‘Damn that Taichi, he isn’t coming? Leave it to me!’ Eventually Taichi is like ‘it me moron’ and Jyou convinces him to come after Taichi’s like ‘I BET UR NOT COMING’ because Jyou, as always, has exams. Jyou is a smart ass? He’s like ‘Taichi, next year, you’ll be in my position. And if it’s you… well… you’ll be in trouble.’ SUCH A GOOD SCENE JYOU IS MVP IN THIS PLAY Y’ALL. He gets his creep on here and it’s so funny.

Next is Knife of Day. Yamato sung and you could tell he was nervous but he did really well. Yamato talks technical stuff (music wise) and then he high fives and fist bumps one of the band mates?? CUTIE PATOOTIE ALERT!!!! Honestly, he’s so pure and beautiful? One of the band mates tried to go ‘Knife of Day is… well, the name isn’t…’ ‘HAVE CONFIDENCE IT’S ALL GOOD FRIEND!!!!’ ‘Yamato that’s not what-‘ ‘WITH THESE MEMBERS WE’RE KNIFE OF DAY! WE’RE GOOD!!!’ ‘but the name-‘ ‘THESE FOUR MEMBERS. KNIFE OF DAY. HAVE CONFIDENCE!!!!’ Takeru comes along and talks about camp. Yamato is very cute toward Takeru who is worried a little about him. Very sweet scenes. Yamato explains both the band and August 1st are important to him. Later, Takeru buys Yamato a pink sleeping bag because he’s a shit head lmao

Everyone’s at camp, Mimi forgets everything. She’s adorable. People set up camp, which is cute. Yamato runs the kitchen and Hikari is chased by Agumon because she has meat. Etemon is the camp ground guardian? (What do you call these guys??) He takes their money (OF COURSE) and keeps going ‘there are MONKEYS around here!’ and everyone’s like k cool story. Eventually he’s like YOU WANNA SEE A MONKEY?!? But everyone’s like nah bro we good, so he runs off dejected.

The kids talk about the future. Mimi just wants to be a kid forever, but Palmon says she wants to be an adult lol. Koushirou isn’t sure what he wants to do, but says he likes computers. Jyou really talks about why he wants to be a doctor and it’s such a good speech! Yamato and Taichi are both like ‘well, I like my hobby I guess??’ Sora deflects the question, Hikari doesn’t know.

Yamato and Taichi try to converse later (it’s just the two of them because Koushirou said something to ruin the mood so Takeru dragged him away even though he was like ‘I’ll stay awake as long as you’re up bro’). It’s mostly Hey Yamato Yeah? …. … . … Yeah?! …Nothing -silence- We have a lot to talk about, huh Yamato? -plays harmonica-

dumb morons lmao

Mimi: Sora, you awake? …SORA Hikari: aye what up Mimi: GHOST STORY TIME Hikari: starts telling an old experience Mimi: NO TOO SPOOKY STOP STOP LET’S TALK ABOUT LOVE!!!!!

She tries to get info out of Hikari who tries to get info out of her back. They both start going ‘what about Sora’ who stays asleep but Mimi is about to ‘reveal’ who Sora likes when she shoots up and is all like I DON’T LIKE ANYONE!!! They’re all lying down in sleeping bags, so Hikari and Mimi were jumping around in their sleeping bags and Mimi does the CUTEST wiggle!!!

They talk about their dreams and Mimi is like ‘I like lotsa stuff??’ but she thinks it’s stupid and is kinda embarrassed but they’re like?? No? it’s cool to have multiple interests and dreams? WHICH IS A VERY IMPORTANT MESSAGE

Jyou leaves early for his exam the next morning. Shit goes down and people split up to solve the problem. Etemon ends up revealing himself to Taichi and co. He’s super strong and is basically like “it’s been six years your time BUT I’VE BEEN SUPER SUPER LONELY FOR 100 YEARS I JUST WANNA CHILL”

There’s a gate so everyone (bar Jyou) is stuck at camp. Etemon forces Tai, Hikari, Sora and Mimi to bbq with him. AND THE ETEMON FIVE. YES YOU READ THAT RIGHT – ETEMON HAS FOUR COLOURED MONKEY BOY BAND FRIENDS. THEY SING AND EAT AND PLAY TOGETHER. THEY’RE THE ETEMON FIVE, COMING TO A TOWN NEAR YOU!!!

Anyway, there’s a fight and Etemon wins and gets the above group together and the bbq happens. Etemon is super happy to see Hikari (“oniichan!” “eh? You’re the only dude… YOUR SISTER?! HOW ADORABLE!!!”) and she’s like ‘stop fighting’ and he’s like ‘girl? That’s all I want???’ but later they eat all the food and Etemon whips out yakisoba and offers some to Hikari.

“No. I don’t want it?” –awkward silence- Etemon 1: Eh? Why? Etemon 2: -idk- Etemon 3: Don’t push her! Etemon 4: Is it… you’re dieting? If that’s it… I totally understand…

Hikari is done with their shit. She wants to go home. Mimi wants a bath. Sora’s done with this bullshit. They realise time has gone whack. Tai and Sora have a tiff, Mimi makes Sora back down when she tries to comfort him so Hikari can do it instead. Time is whack so they’ve been there forever, Etemon is like I SAID I WAS LONELY YOU CAN’T LEAVE EVER!!! He then tries to make Taichi be his bestie.

By forcing him into a kiss.

Curtain close.

(Honestly it was the funniest thing – it was a non-sexual kiss, but y’all, consent is consent. I mean, you probably shouldn’t take dating advice from a man in a monkey suit who low key resembles Piko Taro, but like. This is a weird site, Idk where some of you learnt to romance. I feel I need to say that.)

#Digimon #Digimon Adventure Tri #Digimon Stage Play #Ishida Yamato #Tachikawa Mimi #honestly everyone had good screen time and moments but Jyou was MVP for sure

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mrmissmrsrandom · 7 years

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Together We Ride Volume 3 Short Story Excerpt

Hello everyone! Here is a part of the short story focused on Celica from Gaiden/Echoes and Lewyn from Genealogy of the Holy War I wrote for @togetherweridefanzine Volume 3! Here is a link to where preorders will be open until Nov. 1st.

The man looks up and meets her gaze, eyes bright green like his hair. The latter is held back by a long strap of decorated cloth, adorned with a white feather. His coloring reminds her of Alm, but little else about the man did. His clothes are quite different from the designs she has seen in Valentia.

“Well, what a surprise. Not used to having company here.” Despite his words, the man doesn’t look particularly shocked. His posture is relaxed, and he gives her an easy grin. He puts the instrument down and ushers her to approach. Celica places a hand of her sword to draw for defense, only to find that it isn’t there. Celica looks down, her face going pale. “But, how did…?”

The man’s eyebrow raises at her fumbling. “Looking for something?”

“...My apologies, but there used to be a sword attached here.” she replies carefully, hoping he doesn’t take her words meaning that she wants to fight. Surprising, how cautious she now is of strangers.

Yet the man is nonplussed, whether by the loss of the weapon or implied threat of it, Celica isn’t sure. “Yeah, I didn’t come with weapons either. Then again, there isn’t really any use for them here.”

Celica frowns, clasping her hands in front of her instead. She will worry about the loss of Beloved Zofia later. “Excuse me, sir, but what do you mean? Where are we?”

But the man waves off her questions with his hand. “It’ll take awhile to explain. For now, let’s start with some introductions. The name’s Lewyn, I’m a travelling bard from the kingdom of Silesse.” Lewyn places a hand on his chest and bows his head in greeting. “What of you, miss?”

“Then, is this Silesse?”

Lewyn shakes his head. “Far from it. Silesse is a country in the mountains of Northern Jugdral. Its nearly always covered in snow. Nothing like this place.”

Celica grimaces further, confused with how relaxed the man seems around the ruins despite for all sense and purposes not belonging there either. “...My name is Celica. I’m a priestess in the Order of Mila, in the kingdom of Zofia. ”

“Mila? Huh, haven’t heard that name before.” Lewyn rubs the back of his head. “Never heard of Zofia either.”

“To be honest, sir, I’ve never heard of your home either,” Celica sighs. “I don’t know how I came to be “here.” It it the same for you?”

Lewyn laughs again with that same easy going smile. “Hah, actually, how I came here is the only thing I’m sure of. I died.”

Celica blanches at such a frank answer. “You… died?”

He nods. “Yeah, guessing by how flabbergasted you look, it wasn’t the same for you?”

“No! Well, yes- I mean, I, oh no.” Celica groans, holding her head in her hands. If your soul is not in your body, does that mean you were dead, alive, or something in between? And… is she even in her body right now? Is this the place where witches went? “I’m not sure.”

“Hey, don’t fret,” Lewyn assures her, still smiling, something that is starting to unnerve her. “It’s a lot to take in. Have a seat, I’ll tell you what I know.”

Celica remains cautious, but sits on a piece of stone in front of Lewyn. Once she looks comfortable, he begins to speak.

“Like I said, the last thing I remember before coming here is dying, which is not a pleasurable experience, mind you. When I came to, I found myself in a field. The closest place to it was this, so I settled here.” The bard’s face grows more serious. “...Not long after that, I realized that this place wasn’t just another country, but a new… well, I never thought I’d explain it to anyone, but world, it might be called? One where no matter how many times I rolled in the grass my clothes were never dirtied, no matter how many hours seemed to pass I would never feel hunger or thirst. Save for the color of the sky, nothing in this place changes, along with anyone in it.”

Celica’s first instinct to this bleak explanation is to refute it. “That’s not possible. No place can be unchanging. Mother Mila provided Zofia with an endless bounty with her powers. Perhaps this is the work of something similar.”

Lewyn’s eyebrows raise, before he snorts. “You think this is the gods’ country? If that were the case, wouldn’t it be a little more, I don’t know, splendid or something? And if this is where the gods are supposed to be, where are they?”

“I never said this was the home of the gods.” Celica objects. It looks far too different from the dwellings of either god she knows of. Despite the decay of Duma Tower, there still remains a sense of power that she feels in every stone of it. Even the ruins, despite how grand they had probably once been, are also too different from the Temple of Mila. There is an absence of that power here.

“Well you compared it to what your Mother or Mila or whatever could do.” Lewyn points out sharply, before realizing his tone, and raising his arms placant. “It was just an assumption. It’s not like anyone can tell us for sure what this place is. All I know is that there’s no way to get in or out of it.”

“If what you say is true, then that’s… very troubling.” Celica answers. She has been willing to give her life for the good of Valentia, but she never thought once what would happen afterwards.

Lewyn shrugged, but Celica sees how withdrawn the bard’s face becomes. “Well, Lady Celica, it’s better not to dwell on it. Believe me. And look, I’m sure your Order had a bunch of hymns you sang for Mila, right?” He gestures to the fife in his hand. “Care to teach me a few?”

“I’m not a very good singer, if I’ll be honest.” Back at the priory, Sister Silque had been the best singer. Her voice held both strength and gentleness, and before Silque went on her own pilgrimage, she would finish morning prayer with a song. Celica tries to remember if she’d seen Silque among the faces in Alm’s army, if she had completed the quest Celica selfishly entrusted to her, but all she can remember is the look of agony on Alm’s face.

Lewyn’s voice breaks her free of her thoughts. “Don’t need any lyrics if that’s tough, just hum it. I’ll pick it up all the same.”

Celica blinks, but then smiles. Despite only knowing her for a few minutes, perhaps the bard can tell how distraught her thoughts are. She began to hum. After she goes through the song twice, Lewyn joins in on the fife. Celica closes her eyes, imagining the waves break along the bluffs of Novis.

Once Lewyn is finished, he ushers her to hum a new one, and she does. She knows dozens of hymns that Nomah taught her in her studies to become a priestess, but she also hums the songs of fishermen that Mae and Boey taught her from their childhoods, the shanties she’d heard sailors whistle at port, the tavern songs Jesse would sing on nights their group needed some good cheer while walking through the Rigelian swamps. Before they know it, the sky grows dark and is littered with stars. Celica is surprised that despite the obvious passing of time, she doesn’t feel hungry or tired. Lewyn had been right.

Speaking of Lewyn, from what she can make out in the darkness, the bard had tucked the fife into his tunic and is making himself comfortable on the ground.

“What are you doing?”

“Hunkering down for the night. We don’t have any good light left, and I’ve already searched the stars here. Can’t find any familiar constellations, so no point stargazing. I’m going to sleep, which is something you can do here, at least.”

“Oh, well then, good night, Lewyn,” Celica replies. “And thanks for playing for me.”

“Heh, all part of the job. Night, Lady Celica.” he says, closing eyes and resting his hands under his head.

To Be Continued in the Zine...

#together we ride zine #celica #lewyn #fire emblem echoes #fire emblem genealogy of the holy war #together we ride volume 3

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shell-senji · 7 years

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Gajevy Week 2017: A Surreptitious Suitor, Chapter 3

Third chapter of my Gajevy Week story (find Chapter 2 here).

Thank you to all of you who’ve read, reblogged, liked, commented, etc. It is very much appreciated!

Read HERE on fanfiction.net.

Days 3 & 4 Prompts: Pillow Talk and Trouble Twins

Fortunately for Levy, the Fairy Tail gossip/rumor mill had barely enough time to process the story of Gajeel carrying her home before other, bigger news took its place.

Crime Sorcière had been in town, and in the wee hours of the morning, someone—Mira—had caught an extremely inebriated Jellal and Erza in the throes of passion.

In the guildhall.

On Laxus’s desk.

Meredy and Mira were nearly foaming at the mouth happy, already planning a wedding, honeymoon, baby showers, the whole nine yards.

Laxus was threatening to burn his desk, if not the whole damn place, in order to “sterilize” it. Freed had cornered an uncomfortable-looking Jellal and was ranting about them disrespecting Laxus. Evergreen and Bickslow had tried to maintain fierce, disapproving glares, but only lasted about two minutes before dissolving into a fit of giggles over the entire situation.

Erza was the same color as her hair, and she kept apologizing and telling Laxus he could hit her. And of course, Natsu happened to walk into the guildhall at the tail end of that conversation and, being Natsu, had assumed it was an opportunity to fight Erza, Laxus, or both.

Levy felt a smidgen of guilt about being happy that better gossip had overshadowed her embarrassing story, but more than that she was relieved.

With a day off from volunteering and no job with her team at the moment, she opted to let the drama run its course before venturing out and planned to have a nice relaxing day in bed. Just her and a good book or two.

Perusing her own personal library, she spied a title that she didn’t recall buying. Wait, this is an out-of-print first edition! But…how…

Her first thought was Bickslow, as he’d become some bizarre sort of reverse book thief, sneaking books into her stacks at the library. But surely he wouldn’t stoop to sneaking into her apartment.

Besides, this wasn’t some kinky fetish book or a grotesque culinary anthology. This was a book she genuinely wanted, one she would appreciate, by one of her favorite authors. There was no way Bickslow would’ve even known she’d like the book, much less gone out of his way to find a first edition.

Maybe I bought it and I don’t remember? Wouldn’t be the first time. Hmm… Maybe Lu-chan got it for me and forgot to mention it?

Whatever the circumstances, Levy figured it didn’t really matter, though if it was a gift she’d like to thank the person.

Shrugging, she curled up in bed and cracked open the newly acquired addition to her collection, sighing happily as she began reading.

Three or four days later, after things had wound down from the “Great Desk Defilement”—as Laxus had taken to calling it—Lucy bounced into Fairy Tail, a wiggly Plue at her heels.

“Good morning, everyone!”

The cheerful blonde received a few waves and greetings in response, but her cheer was dampened when she spotted her friend Levy.

The bluenette was seated at a table in between Jet and Droy, which was perfectly normal. What wasn’t normal was the fact that Levy had her shoulders slumped, head down with her forehead grazing the table, her hands tangled in her hair and her signature headband in a crumpled ball on the floor next to her. Lucy could swear there was a dark cloud hovering over her.

Lucy made a beeline for her friend. “Levy-chan? What’s wrong?”

Levy lifted her head and stared blankly at Lucy, her eyes glassy and lips pressed in a flat line.

“Vendor error. Back-ordered. Don’t know availability date,” she said brokenly.

The celestial mage struggled to make sense of what Levy was saying, and then suddenly the proverbial lightbulb went on.

“Oh, Levy, no! They messed up your book order?”

Levy nodded briefly before dropping her head into her arms on the table.

“I know I’m overreacting, but I’m just so bummed. Let me wallow in my misery for a little bit longer, ’kay?” The edges of her lips quirked up slightly.

Relieved that it seemed her friend would recover, Lucy nodded and patted her on the back before walking over to her team.

Just as she sat down, she felt a tap on her shoulder.

“Hey, Bunny Girl, what’s wrong with the shrimp today?”

“Oh, evidently Book Land messed up her preorder of two new books coming out this week that she was really looking forward to. Said they’ll have to back-order them from the vendor, so she’s not even sure when she’ll get them now.” Lucy gazed at her friend, feeling both sympathy and disappointment. Truth be told, she’d been looking forward to borrowing them after Levy was done.

“What books?”

She stared at Gajeel, eyes wide. “Ehhh? Umm, one was Lazuli Le Fer’s new novel, Pillow Talk, and the other…” Lucy pursed her lips, thinking. “Oh! Dr. Flint Azure’s Trouble Twins, a study of twin archetypes in mythologies around the world. Why?”

The iron dragon slayer shrugged. “Just wonderin’ what was so special about them that she’s so bent outta shape.”

Lucy twisted in her chair to glare at Gajeel. “Listen here, mister. She’s entitled to be upset, even if— Hey! Where do you think you’re going?”

Gajeel smirked. “C’mon, Lily. Let’s go take care of that, uh, job we snagged earlier.” Then he scooped up his Exceed and strode toward the door.

“Whaaa— Ch-chotto matte!”

Gajeel didn’t pause to explain, just kept walking.

A week or so later, around 10:30 am, Lucy pushed open the doors to Fairy Tail. She’d barely stepped a foot inside the guild when she was attacked by a pint-sized, blue-haired, overcaffeinated whirlwind.

“Lu-chan! Finally! I thought you’d neverrrrr get here, and I would’ve called, but I didn’t know what time you got in last night, and it would’ve been totally rude to wake you up just because I never went to sleep last night, so—”

“Wait, what? Why didn’t you go to bed last night?” Lucy interrupted.

The wired solid script mage thrust two books into Lucy’s face so excitedly, she almost smacked her friend square in the nose.

“Wow… Okay… I can’t read the titles if they’re that close.” Lucy backed up a step, refocused, and then her eyes grew huge.

Pillow Talk and Trouble Twins

“Are you serious?”

Levy nodded vigorously, somewhat resembling a bobblehead doll, before speaking rapid-fire. “Lu, they were in my room when I got home from volunteering yesterday, must be from that mysterious admirer of mine, and gods, you have no idea how good they are! Pillow Talk is precious and hilarious—precarious! No, that’s already a word, heehee… But you’re going to love it. And this!” She grabbed Lucy’s arm and dragged her over to a table.

There, Levy flipped open Trouble Twins, turned to a marked page, and stabbed her finger at it enthusiastically.

“Look—it’s about Gemini! I mean, it’s a tiny section, and they acknowledge that not much is known, but can you believe it? It’s about your spirits! Though they don’t cite you as the current contract holder, which is probably good…”

Lucy squealed excitedly in the middle of Levy’s outburst and hugged her friend’s arm. Then a thought occurred to her.

“Matte, Levy… Don’t you have to work at the library today?”

Levy twirled a piece of her hair around her fingertip distractedly. “No…”

Lucy gasped. “Levy! Don’t tell me you lied and called in sick!”

Levy blushed scarlet to the tips of her ears and planted her hands on her hips defiantly. “I didn’t lie, okay? I just told them I had trouble sleeping—which is technically true, except I never actually went to bed—and asked if they absolutely needed me today. They said no, not to worry about it.”

Behind them, Gajeel burst out laughing. He’d been eavesdropping and observing their antics—the whole guild had—and Shorty’s forced confession of how she’d weaseled her way out of work without technically lying had been too much for him to keep the “gi hi hi” from escaping.

“Oi, Shrimp, how much coffee’ve you had, anyway?” he choked out between chuckles.

“I don’t see what that has to do with anything.” Levy huffed. “Mind your own business.”

When his amusement had faded and the ache in his sides from laughing so hard had subsided, Gajeel called out to her.

“Hey, Shorty.”

She and Lucy had their heads pressed together, leafing through the book, but only Levy glanced up at him.

He gave her a genuine smile, one so rarely seen. “Glad you got your books. Nice to see ya smile.”

Then he left to browse the job postings without awaiting her response.

Levy felt her cheeks grow warm and butterflies take flight in her stomach.

I really hope it was you, Gajeel.

Author’s Note: As I’m guessing you figured out, these books don’t actually exist (to my knowledge). And I hope you’ll allow me the bit of leeway taken with Jellal and Erza, since alcohol does loosen inhibitions and getting them both laid, finally, pleases me to no end…

#gajevyweek #gajevy week #gajeel redfox #levy mcgarden #fairy tail #gajevyweek17

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jenmedsbookreviews · 7 years

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Well. What a week that was. Not quite sure where it went but, despite it feeling like only five minutes since the last weekly wrap up, it has, in fact, been seven whole days. Yup. I can’t believe it either. And in spite of the skies doing their best to bring us down, it wasn;t a complete washout as the above picture from my walk about town on Saturday goes to show.

Nothing too exciting to report work wise. We continued with training and group two went live with the new app on Friday. So far so good. Work does continue to cominate all I think about right now, mainly becuase I am running from meeting to meeting, my emails are stacking up (I gave up counting after I went past 1400 in the in box) and I have no idea at which point this month I am going to have time to start thinking about budgets, something I am usually well into the planning of by now. Still. Could always be worse.

Because I am so overworked and stressed, it was a more than welcome reprieve I took advantage of on Thursday afternoon, grabbing a mid afternoon train down to London for the launch of Felicia Yap’s stunning debut novel, Yesterday. I hit town at about half four, just a flying visit this time, and met up with Victoria Goldman, taking in a lovely sunny walk along the river down to Carmelite House. It’s the first time I’ve ever been there (I don’t do too many of these book launch type things) but I have to say I was so lucky to have been invited by Felicia as the evening was wonderful. I am starting to think that there is literally nothing that woman cannot do (don’t believe me then look up her bio – she’s incredible). It appears she can even control the weather as after a shockingly bad Wednesday, you couldn’t have asked for a better evening for the launch meaning everyone was able to avail themselves of the rooftop terrace with some stunning views over the Thames.

See what I mean? It was a brilliant evening and I was able to catch up with a number of fellow bloggers, including Rachel Gilbey, Linda Hill, Jacob Collins, Sharon Wilden and Ayo Onatade. I also finally got to meet the lovely Chris Whitaker (who may or may not have another book entering my Bookvent countdown this year) and Matthew Blakstad too.

Felicia looked absolutely stunning (as always) and was witty and charming as always. I should probably hate her as she makes everything seem so effortless (jealousy is a terrible thing) but she’s far too lovely for that. I absolutely ate up Yesterday, such a unique concept and so well done, and I wish her every success with it. I know she’s going to do brilliantly and can’t wait to read the follow up.

As I had to be in work again by 06:00 on Friday I was back on a train home at 21:45. Told you it was a flying visit. Despite taking the afternoon and evening out, it didn’t hamper my reading too much (got a good half a book in on the train) and I’ve had another fairly productive week. Go me.

I have been typically restrained on the book buying front this week (yeah right) with most of my purchases being around my Christmas feature month or being preorders. No Netgalley and no Audible either. And no book post. I am once more unloved, but I’ll get over it as Chris Whitaker said he loved me, in a purely platonic blook blogger appreciation kind of way. I don’t care though as he still said it and I have witnesses. 😀

So what did you buy, I hear you ask. Well you probably don’t actually care but I shall tell you anyway or what is the point of the post? For ‘Christmas’ I purchased The Advent Killer and Cold Christmas by Alastair Gunn (sound cheery and festive don’t they lol); and I also pre-ordered She Did It by Mel Sherratt; Don’t Tell a Soul by D.K. Hood; Come and Find Me, the latest Marnie Rome thriller by Sarah Hilary and The Woman In The Wood by John Connolly, both of which are so new as pre-orders that they don’t have an official cover yet. Muchly excited about that last two.

Six books. Barely counts now does it? Reading wise – well I managed to finish four full books and two short story books which given everything that is going on I am more than happy to live with.

Book I Have Read

Thorne at Christmas by Mark Billingham

Underneath the Mistletoe Last Night

When young Jack finds ‘Father Christmas’ dead beneath the tree, DI Tom Thorne, who has volunteered to work on Christmas Day, must get to the truth with the help of his reliable team and some incriminating evidence.

Stepping Up

When a retired boxer is persuaded to join an exercise class by his daughter, he sees a woman whose face has haunted him for forty years. He used to be a minder for underworld criminals and Zoe was always in their circle. So when she gets in trouble with another class member, he’s there to protect her, as he used to – whatever it takes.

As you’ve probably guessed, I’ve read this one in readiness for my Christmas feature so you’ll have to wait a while for my thoughts on it. If you fancy a bit of a Tom Thorne quickie though, then you can bag yourself a copy of the book right here.

…

Yesterday by Felicia Yap

There are two types of people in the world: those who can only remember yesterday, and those who can also recall the day before.

You have just one lifeline to the past: your diary. Each night, you write down the things that matter. Each morning, your diary tells you where you were, who you loved and what you did.

Today, the police are at your door. They say that the body of your husband’s mistress has been found in the River Cam. They think your husband killed her two days ago.

Can you trust the police? Can you trust your husband? Can you trust yourself?

Now I had been desperately trying to find a way to fint in reading this prior to the book launch as as I have a quieter period comign up on the blog, I was able to do just that at the start of last week. Boy am I glad I did and you can find out just how much in my review here. Such a unique idea for a novel creating the ultimate in ticking clock investigations this is quite possibly going to divide readers but for me was a brilliant piece of writing. You can bag your own copy of the book right here.

…

Dead To Me by Stephen Edger

How do you catch a killer who knows your every move?

The woman lay flat on the table, her face to one side, her wrists bound with thick tape. Deep scratches marked the wood beneath her fingers, now resting cold and still…

When a woman’s body is found in an abandoned bar near the Southampton docks, Detective Kate Matthews is called in to lead the investigation. She must solve this case to prove she is coping with the death of a close colleague.

Kate knows a pile of ripped up newspaper cuttings discovered at the victim’s house must be a piece of the puzzle, but her team keep hitting dead-ends… Until she finds a disturbing clue that convinces her of three things: The murder is linked to the body of a man found hanging in a warehouse, she is on the hunt for a calculated serial killer, and the killer is watching her every move.

Kate realises there will be another victim soon, and that her own life is in grave danger, but no one else believes her theory. Can she find and stop the most twisted killer of her career, before another life is lost?

Wowsers. This book marks the start of a new series featuring DI Kate Matthews and what a start it is. Featuring a death which kind of put me in mind of the film Seven. Faced with a serial killer whose agenda is far from clear, Matthews faces a race against time to prevent her family being hurt. This was a very intriguing premise and you can hear my thoughts next week as part of the blog tour. In the meantime, why not pre-order a copy of the book here.

…

Behind Her Back by Jane Lythell

Liz Lyon is a television producer and busy single mum to a teenage daughter. She works at StoryWorld, the UK’s favourite morning show. As both confidante and team leader, she is the person tasked with controlling the conflicts and tantrums that flare up off-air. Having just started dating again, she’s also having to deal with a few conflicts and tantrums at home…

Following a blissfully peaceful two-week holiday in Italy, Liz has returned to find a new colleague has joined the station. Lori Kerwell has been brought in to increase the show’s profitability. But Liz is not sure that’s the only thing on Lori’s agenda.

As Lori builds her power base with the bosses, Liz finds herself wondering what’s really going on behind her back…

Set in the wonderful backstage world of the television show Storyworld the story centres on TV Exec Liz Lyon whose battles both on the studio floor and at home with her teenage daughter would be enough to break anyone. Between co-presenter rivalry, a new exec who seems intent on getting her out and a new romance to keep her on her toes, something has to give. I thoroughly enjoyed this look into the world of TV with some key personality types on show that people could easily recognise from current daytime presenting teams. The book was released on 10th August and you can grab a copy herehere. I’ll be sharing my thoughts as I round out the blog tour on Friday.

…

99 Red Balloons by Elizabeth Carpenter

Two girls go missing, decades apart. What would you do if one was your daughter?

When eight-year-old Grace goes missing from a sweetshop on the way home from school, her mother Emma is plunged into a nightmare. Her family rallies around, but as the police hunt begins, cracks begin to emerge.

What are the secret emails sent between Emma’s husband and her sister? Why does her mother take so long to join the search? And is Emma really as innocent as she seems?

Meanwhile, ageing widow Maggie Taylor sees Grace’s picture in the newspaper. It’s a photograph that jolts her from the pain of her existence into a spiralling obsession with another girl – the first girl who disappeared…

This is a gripping psychological thriller with a killer twist that will take your breath away.

What a story. I was pulled into this one from the very first page and raced through it in a matter of hours. Young Grace has gone missing, lured away on her way home from school. But no one can begin to understand just why. With a definite and totally surprising sting in the tail, this is one heck of a gripping debut. I’ll be sharing my feelings a little closer to release day but do yourself a favour and grab a preorder now right here.

…

The Last Resort by Steph Broadribb

Done with a life of exploitation and violence, Lori Anderson is training to be a bounty hunter. Holed up in the Georgia Mountains with her reclusive mentor, JT, Lori is determined to put her new skills into practice. Behind JT’s back, she breaks his rules and grabs the chance she’s looking for. Will her gamble pay off, or will she have to learn the hard way?

Short and sweet if you are looking for a bit of a Lori Anderson catch up then this is definitely the short story for you. Joining Lori as she starts out on her Bounty Hunter career, and for those of you who haven’t read it, featuring a sneak peak at Deep Down Dead, this is a brilliant introduction to a brilliantly sassy and strong character. You can buy the short here.

…

So that was it. My reading week. Not too busy, but not to slow either. Busy week on the blog thought and you can catch up on anything you may have missed right here.

Cover Reveal: Broken Bones – Angela Marsons & Bookouture

#BlogTour: I Know A Secret by Tess Gerritsen

#Blogtour: Transition by Jo Huey

#BookLove: Louise Walters

Review: Yesterday by Felicia Yap

#BookReview: Impeding Justice by M.A. Comley

#BookLove: Abbie Rutherford of Bloomin’ Brilliant Books

Guest Review: Follow You by Richard Parker

I’ve another pretty busy week ahead too. Three blog tours/blitzes this week starting with The Good Sister by Jess Ryder on Thursday. Next up is Behind Her Back by Jane Lythell on Friday and then Dead To Me by Stephen Edger on Saturday.

I also have a couple of reviews planned and will be sharing the Book Love with author Anne Coates and blogger extraordinaire, Noelle Holten aka Crimebookjunkie.

And for those of you mad enough to care, I have finally drafted chapter four of my spoof thriller, Killer and it will be published alter this evening. It even has a banner now.

You’re impressed. I can tell. ;D

Have a brilliantly bookish week all.

Rewind, recap: Weekly update w/e 13/08/17 Well. What a week that was. Not quite sure where it went but, despite it feeling like only five minutes since the last weekly wrap up, it has, in fact, been seven whole days.

#Book launch #Rewind Recap #Weekly Round UP #Yesterday

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floraexplorer · 4 years

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I’ve Written a Book – About Grief, Loss, and Becoming an Orphan

The secret’s out. I’VE WRITTEN A BOOK!

Surprise! I’ve been working on this book for over a year: drafting, revising, editing, pulling my hair out, sending it to beta readers, working with editors and cover designers and proofreaders. And yet I haven’t spoken much about it online, aside from the occasional veiled tweet or Instagram caption. Perhaps because of the subject matter, I’ve needed to move through this process in my own private way.

And then when the global lockdown began, I took a definitive step back from blogging and posting on social media. Many of my heaviest grief moments mirror what’s been happening – a fear of stepping outside, a need for isolation, worries about uncertainty, too much time spent with your own thoughts. It’s been tough on everyone, in a myriad of different and unique ways.

I’ve had some internal struggle about whether it’s OK to publish a book in the midst of a pandemic, too. Particularly one about grief and loss – a topic that’s already pretty sad, but maybe more so during such a tense time.

But then again, I’m acutely aware of how many people’s grief has been amplified over the last months, be it fresh grief or years-old wounds opening up again. There’s been a rise in people messaging me with their own stories of loss, and I know, deep down, that personal stories of navigating grief are perhaps more necessary than ever now.

So during the last few months, while ‘isolation,’ ‘lockdown’ and ‘social distancing’ became mainstays in our vocabulary, I’ve been working frenziedly to get this book finished.

And now it’s here. My first ever book. I’m still a little bit in shock.

Introducing ‘The Adult Orphan Club’ – a book about learning to grieve the loss of your parents

What is ‘The Adult Orphan Club’ about?

As the title may suggest, ‘The Adult Orphan Club’ is about what it’s like to become an orphan. Part memoir, part guide, the book takes you through the journey of grief. It combines practical advice with my own lived experiences about what to do before, during, and after the death of someone you love – along with all the emotional, mental and even physical overwhelm which kicks in, too.

Early Goodreads reviewers have said:

“It feels like Flora is gently but firmly taking you by the hand and leading you down the path she has already travelled, to show you that the journey will be hard beyond all else but you will survive.”

“Clearly-written and well-paced: a real guide to the worst of grief.”

“A vitally necessary book.”

Is ‘The Adult Orphan Club’ an upsetting read?

It’s hard to say. I’ve written honestly about the experience of my parents dying, the emotional responses I’ve had, the difficulties which grief can throw at you, and the realisations that grief has eventually allowed me to understand. While I wouldn’t say it’s an upsetting read exactly, I’ve tried to maintain a level of clarity, truthfulness and sensitivity throughout. And sometimes that may hit hard.

Basically, if you’ve read any of my grief articles before, this book is written in the same style.

Who is the ideal reader of ‘The Adult Orphan Club’?

I’ve written about the grief I know intimately, which stems from parental loss. But I think the experience of intense grieving is usually rooted in the same set of responses for all of us. We all go through the same overwhelm, confusion and sadness, even if the specifics of our grief are unique.

Many people have written to me over the years because they’ve been searching for stories which mirror theirs. These people have usually lost one or both of their parents. So while I’d say this book is written primarily with them in mind, I think anyone who’s suffered through grief will find parallels with their own experience. And I hope you’ll find comfort in it too.

What made you write ‘The Adult Orphan Club’?

This is the book I needed to read when my parents died. It’s emotional and raw, and it digs really deep, but it’s necessary. The amount of unexpected trauma you struggle with during grief simply is not talked about – not enough, at least – and I really want that to change.

I’ve read many grief books with a psychological or therapeutic slant, and an absolute ton of grief memoirs. Although they’ve all been invaluable during my grief journey, I still felt that there was space for a book which combined personal experience with structured help – just without the psychoanalysis.

Plus I figured I’ve written enough blog articles about grief to warrant creating a much longer piece of writing!

But the biggest reason was because of the messages I still receive every week from those of you who’ve read those grief blogs. I tapped into something unexpected when I wrote about my parents dying before I turned thirty. I never expected that article to become the most-visited one on my site – but it opened my eyes to how many people needed a resource to help them feel less alone in grief.

Hopefully that’s what I’ve created with this book.

How can I read ‘The Adult Orphan Club’?

The book will be available in both digital form and in print. Book publication day is June 20th – chosen because that date is my mum’s birthday, and I wanted it to be something meaningful. As a result, the ebook is available to pre-order now, and the paperback will be coming soon.

Ebook:

If you click through and buy the ebook today, it’ll automatically download to your Kindle on June 20th. Easy! Pre-orders are really important for showing the potential of a book, so if you’d like to preorder I’d be really grateful.

UK pre-order

US pre-order

International pre-order

The ebook is available exclusively on Amazon for a few months because I’ve entered it into the Kindle Storyteller contest (so if you’re a member of Kindle Unlimited, you can read the book via their subscription too). After the contest is over at the end of August, the book will be available on other platforms too – Kobo, iBooks and any others I can think of!

Paperback:

The printed version of the book will be available soon – I’ll announce the date when it’s confirmed. I’m unashamedly staggering the release dates so I get to savour two different publication days!

Goodreads:

While you’re waiting to read the book, Goodreads users can add ‘The Adult Orphan Club’ to their shelves here.

So, I’ve written a book.

I’m really excited, nervous and proud to be publishing ‘The Adult Orphan Club’. I’ve built this book out of the hundreds of conversations I’ve had with other grieving people, all of whom needed a resource to accompany their grief. I firmly believe that it does those conversations justice.

I also wish I could tell my mum and dad about it – but then again, I couldn’t have written it if they were still here. Life is funny like that. Still, publishing it on my mum’s birthday means I’ll be giving her a present for the first time in eleven years, which is pretty special too.

Now the only thing left is for you to read it.

I can’t wait to hear what you think!

The post I’ve Written a Book – About Grief, Loss, and Becoming an Orphan appeared first on Flora The Explorer.

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noiseartists · 5 years

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Whimsical Releases Third Album 'Remembers The Early Days'

For fans of Whimsical, a shoegaze/dream pop band that has been around since the summer of 1999 and released two successful albums, the good news is a third album is coming your way Nov. 5, 2019.

“Bright Smiles, Broken Hearts” will be released in digital and CD formats, and—fingers crossed— vinyl, if presale orders reach their goal. Vinyl lovers take note, order your copy now or forever lose the opportunity to have a real record. Go Here by Oct. 28. If the minimum is not met, there will be no vinyl.

Whimisical: the story

I recently talked to Krissy Vanderwoude, vocals, and Neil Burkdoll, guitar/music about how the band got started and where they are today.

Although Vanderwoude and Burkdoll grew up in the same town (St. John, Ind.) and went to the same middle school, it wasn’t until high school that they became friends. “I was a huge fan of Neil’s first band Mystified Thinking. It was comprised of all my friends,” says Vanderwoude.

One day in 1995, Vanderwoude went over to Andy Muntean’s house, who was the drummer for Mystified Thinking, where they were working on what would be the band’s last recording.

“I remember showing up in Andy’s basement and Neil says, ‘Hey, do you want to put some guest vocals on this song?’” says Vanderwoude.

“So with no preparation or practice, I recorded these vocals. And that was the first time I was ever recorded singing.”

The band broke up when everyone graduated from high school and went their separate ways. Meanwhile, Burkdoll decided he wanted to start a new band that was the opposite of the music he had been writing, which centered mostly about depression and sadness.

“Whereas my previous band came from a darker side, Whimsical was supposed to be the lighter, more pop side,” says Burkdoll. “And my thinking was, ‘Krissy can sing and I will play guitar.’”

So over the next few years and after a few false starts, where lineups changed as he tried to find the right musicians, in the summer of 1999, the guitarist finally landed on the right combination. That ended up being Tim Fogle on drums and Joe Santelik on bass, and they were finally ready to record.

The last unknown element to Whimsical’s birth was whether Vanderwoude could write melodies and lyrics to Burkdoll’s songs.

“I had been writing songs for years,” he notes, “but Krissy had absolutely no experience. There was no guarantee that she could do this, and I couldn’t write lyrics to save my life.”

But destiny fulfilled her role, because as it turned out, despite her lack of training and experience, Vanderwoude took to the task like a duck takes to water. “She was immediately able to write melodies and lyrics that I thought were great,” says Burkdoll.

To this day, Vanderwoude does not know how she was able to do what she did back then and still does today.

“It perplexes even me,” she laughs. “Remembering back to this time, I can’t believe I was even confident enough to try. I had zero background. If you showed me a sheet of music and asked me to read or sing it, I would not have a clue.”

“Even today, I don’t have a technical approach” she continues. “I’m very grateful this is so natural for me, because I don’t know where it comes from. I guess it’s the same with anyone who wants to write a song. You hear a melody and try it. I’m just grateful Neil heard something in that first Mystified Thinking song to take a gamble on me,” she says.

And so the band released its first 11-song album “Setting Suns are Semi-Circles” on Oct. 1, 2000 through Seraph Records.

The second album, “Sleep To Dream” did not come out until 17 years later and even then, destiny once again played a role. From 2000 to 2005, the band was playing regularly at least once a month in the Chicago area. Although Whimsical opened for bigger bands, the audience was not growing.

“It turned into a job,” says Burkdoll. “It didn’t seem like anything was happening for us. We started thinking ‘Why are we doing this?’” Another factor for him was being pulled in other directions. “I’d always been in two or three bands simultaneously, and the other bands were more fun at that time.”

Vanderwoude also was now married and pregnant with her first child, and her priorities were changing as well. So despite writing and recording 90% of the album, the duo decided to take a break at the end of February 2005.

“We just needed to take a step away, because our hearts were not in it,” she explains.

Fast forward to 2015 where Burkdoll was now living in Carpinteria, Calif. with a wife and two kids, and Vanderwoude was in Griffith, Ind. with her two kids. One day, Burkdoll is rummaging through some old boxes in the garage and what does he find? The hard drive with all the Sleep To Dream songs on it.

Destiny came into play again when Wyatt Parkins, founder of Saint Marie Records, who had already agreed to release Sleep to Dream, asked if Whimsical still wanted to do the album.

“So that was the catalyst,” says Burkdoll. “Krissy and I only had to finish that last 10%. Unfortunately, I could not access the files. I ended up having to pay $500 to have a computer IT guy extract them and upload to a new hard drive. But sure enough, they were all in there. I hadn’t heard any of those songs in more than 10 years.”

And so “Sleep To Dream” was released in February 2017 on Saint Marie Records. It featured Andy Muntean on drums and Brian Booher on bass and Mark Milliron on guitar.

The decision to work on a third album did not come without its challenges for the musical duo. For one, while Burkdoll had been in other bands that released albums since 2005, he had not written any Whimsical music. “I finally wrote ‘Last Dance,’ which was me trying to see if I could even write this style of music anymore,” he says.

The second challenge was the space between them. “We lived nowhere near each other,” notes Vanderwoude. “And, I had no clue how to record. So Neil helped me set up a home studio to record my vocals. I would not have been able to do anything musical without his help.”

As a way to practice learning how to record herself and to get used to working with one another again, they decided to record a series of cover tunes as well as some older songs that had never made it onto any album. This collection came about as “Brought To Light,” which released in May 2016. It included covers of Slowdive, Siouxie & The Banshees, Lycia, the Lilys and even Tommy James & The Shondells.

“We were doing a ton of cover songs for fun and releasing them one at a time,” explains Vanderwoude. “It was a way to get me set up to record at home, and have Neil help me perfect the process,” says Vanderwoude.

Burkdoll estimates he finished the last song for the third album sometime around Christmas of 2018. Although Vanderwoude had been recording vocals along the way, this meant that she had to finish the album by spring of 2019, all the while continuing to write with her other band The Churchhill Garden.

Krissy has done several collaborations in the past, by singing with bands such as Seasurfer, Fir Cone Children, Xeresa, Echolust, The City Gates and Black Swan Lane, but she decided to put any additional collaborations on the backburner, in order to fully focus on writing and recording for Whimsical.

The album mastering, done by Andrew Rose of Pristine Audio, Saint-Méard-de-Gurçon, France, was finished in April 2019. Since then, the pair has been working on everything it requires to self-release an album.

The video for the first single, “I Always Dream of You” was released on Monday, September 30 along with streaming-only versions on Bandcamp and Soundcloud.

This will be followed by a remix of the song by The Daysleepers, which will be premiered on DKFM on Friday, Oct. 11 at 8 p.m. Eastern. Second single, “Earth Angel,” will come out before the official record release on Nov. 5, and then two more singles after that.

After the official release, also look for remixes by Blush Response for the song "This is Goodbye," "Solace" by The Churchhill Garden, and Airiel is putting its own spin on "Trust."

Where to listen and buy

For a variety of reasons, the decision was made to self-release rather than go through Saint Marie again. And while the digital and CDs are a sure thing, the expense of having vinyl pressed required going down the crowdfunding route.

Qrates was chosen as the vendor, and if pre-sale orders reach the quota by Oct. 28, the record will be manufactured. Fans should expect to wait at least two to three months before they will have a copy in their hands, but can be enjoying the digital music in the meantime.

For new fans not familiar with Whimsical’s sound, you can hear a 5-minute preview of the nine songs by visiting the vinyl preorder at the link above or by going to this link to listen to the pre-release video on YouTube.

To preorder the digital or CD versions, go to Bandcamp. While there, you can also check out all their earlier releases.

Even Slowdive is waiting for the album’s release (see tweet above) :-)

Social Media

You can connect with Whimsical at:

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

#USA #Dream pop

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skell0t-blog · 5 years

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Slipknot's Dark Side Of The Moon

My phone rang yesterday afternoon. Local cd and record store (They still exist!) had gotten my preorder of Slipknot's new album 'We Are Not Your Kind' 2 days early. The store clerk presumably echoed 'sir are you there? Sir?" As I was already backing out of my driveway and speeding over there.

Got home and realized I didnt have a cd player... Literally went back out and bought a $25 cd player from best buy. (They still exist!) Got back home and was finally ready to settle in. Brought some pillows into a carpeted room (a nursery to be, but pretty empty right now). I grabbed my favorite headphones. They're actually gaming headphones but they sound great for music. I turned the lights off. This is how I was taught to truly listen to music from a music teacher I had in highschool. Its part of the reason I dont really listen to songs before the album comes out. I want to experience the album as one cohesive piece of work first. I was ready now. I hit play. Aaaand Nothing happened. I Felt around for a power button. A blue light lit up on the cd player illuminating my dark room of ritual. Ah there we go. I hit play.

Track 1: Insert Coin: *click* The heartbeat of the album begins. Beautifully sinister. The scrambeled tech noises that have permeated songs throughout slipknots reign were placed through this album in such a way as to be thematic and tie the album together song to song and this intro foreshadows this. These sounds layered over a drone like background led my imagination to wander. I envisioned an old radio sitting on the counter of some lost space ship. Detuned and searching for a signal before grasping the next song it found. Also Im a sucker for sirens (welcome to the jungle) and alarm sounds (solway firth) and this intro delivered.

Track 2: Unsainted. The only reason this wont be considered the best song on the album is because we all listened to it 100 times before we heard the album. Its a song in the same vein as one of slipknots best songs, psychosocial. Its a banger with a beautiful refrain. Nothing has so consistantly given me goosebumps as the final scream of "YOU'VE KILLED THE SAINT IN ME!" before the final chorus kicks in. I love the heretical lines interspersed. "Your bible don't work on me." is lovely and the meaning of the chorus speaks to me a bit too. "Ill never kill myself to save my soul." To me "kill myself" is metaphorical and the idea is that of someone is telling you they know how to save your soul and that involves changing who you are at your core whether its believeing things you dont really believe, or being against things you dont want to be opposed to, then what they are really saying is you have to abandon who you are or kill who are inside in order to save your soul. This song says fuck that noise. 10/10

Track 3: Birth Of The Cruel.

It may be my new favorite line:

"I'M ALL FUCKED UP AND I MAKE IT LOOK GOOD."

I cant help but feel this would be a great theme for danarys targaryen when shes burning down kings landing. The almost sludge metal of a riff when the screaming kicks in with sids wildcat sounding scratches is some awesome layering. I love the serenading vocals throughout. Great lyrics. I could headbang to that verse riff when played by itself all day. 9.5/10

Track 4: Death Because Of Death. So this is where I first heard it... Now hang with me on this one. I get a small vibe of "Ghost" on this track and honestly It made me pause thinking of the choir in Unsainted as well. I cant help but think of "La mantra Mori." This might be sacrilege for some to hear but as an avid ghost fan it was a more than welcome surprise. I love little fills like this in general ever since Before These Crowded Streets by Dave Matthews Band (dont judge me) where every song had some little interlude. Great way of adding cohesion to an album even if the interlude its self sounds nothing like the rest of the album. I dont really want to pin a rating on this one. I just love it for what it is.

Track 5: Nero Forte. OH THANK GOD. Look we were all excited for this album and we knew the released songs were good but you have to have that tiny fear that we had already heard the best of the album and the rest was going to be supporting material. I excised that fear, exhaled, Smiled, and broke my neck when I heard "WATCH THIS!" That bass slide early on is just filthy. The chorus just a breath of fresh air. It's reminiscent of "My Plague" and is sung beautifully with Corey's full vocal range on display. 10/10

Track 6: Critical Darling. Back to back bangers. We get multiple vocal styles from #8 on this track. The prechorus is a great buildup and the chorus is just beautiful. The chorus almost feels like a nod to chester bennington. The lyrics "we tell ourselves it cant be hell if theres no heaven." Really made me think. I feel like the message of this song opposes Unsainted a bit. The bridge reminded me of ghost again. A little more nasaly and higher register than we usually hear corey. How does he keep the new stuff coming? The ending riff is filthy. And as always I love the segues after songs. 8.8/10

Track 7: Liar's Funeral. Another one with multiple vocal styles. These songs have 3 different singers and theyre all the same dude. Just amazing. I think we're meant to take this as a mix of feelings one could have and then self reflection or someone else calling out these feelings. Whoever it is saying that things are too hard and they should die is the liar. Corey is calling them a liar. Hes telling them to get a grip and stop pretending this is a warranted reaction to whatever they are going through. "LIAR! LIAR!" Its gutteral. Reminds me of "FRAUD! FRAUD!" on "Liberate." Not the strongest track but on an album like this where the bar is set so high even supporting tracks are great and like I said the mix of vocal styles is impressive and the "CLOSE YOUR EYES AND JOIN THE BLIND" part will keep me coming back to this. 8.5/10

Track 8: Red Flag. Apt name for a track with a series of warnings. Almost as if the person from the previous track is moving on from their troubles and recognizing the toxic environment they were recently trapped in. Coreys flow here is just perfect. The chorus is... scary honestly. Its beautifully terrifying. The stocato high pitch beeping from sid is great. The ending verse is amazing. And... another segue! 9/10

Track 10: Spiders. So we got a groovy ass track here! A suspenseful piano sets the tone. I swear I get a weird depeche mode new wave feel from the chorus. Has an occult rock feel once again. I get that feel quite a few times on this album when things slow down and get softer. Tracks like this give album enough variety to have some real staying power. Groovy. 9/10

Track 11: Orphan. When Corey growls "everyone has something, someone here has everything" i could just listen to that on repeat. Another banger with beautiful clean chorus. "If you wanna know my story, take my pain" Sounds deep and id like to know the full meaning behind these words. 9/10

Track 12: My Pain. On its face seems like another song about a toxic relationship. Love and pain are set up as 2 sides of the same coin. Musically its a great drone track that helps keep the atmosphere of the album consistent while still being in a different direction and mixing things up a bit. Super creepy chimes add a great effect. Again we get corey with a growl which Ill ways love. Another one that doesnt really necessitate a rating. Just a cool tone establishing song for the album.

Track 13: Not Long For This World. Corey mustve been really delving deep into some troubled times during the writing of this album. Just really dark lyrics. Sid makes the last riff splendid. Love the segue. 8/10

Track 14: Solway Firth. And I'm fucking headbanging! This track slams. Bangs. Whatever you want to call it. People are blind to tragedy when it happens to everybody else. Until it happens to them its not real. I know this song is about "the boys" comics and its a great representation of what billy butcher would be thinking and feeling. "ANOTHER NEEDLE IN THE BACK THROUGH PURIFIED SCARIFICATION." Is one of the best sung lines on this album and really makes this track the finale. 10/10

I know its still shiny. Its still new. But this is a masterpiece. A term id only endear to a handful of albums. An album can have all great songs and not be a masterpiece. It needs cohesion and running themes to take it over the bar to that next level where it stands as one piece of artwork. The constant frequency and feedback sounds are so perfect for Slipknot going all the way back to their self titled album.

My Rating: 10/10 would insert coin again.

I listen. I smile. I headbang. I feel something. Thats whats important.

SUPERLATIVES

Favorite Song: Unsainted

Favorite Riff: main riff of birth of the cruel right after "WATCH THIS!" My neck still hurts.

Favorite Line: Still sticking with "I'M ALL FUCKED UP AND I MAKE IT LOOK GOOD!" The way he delivers it with such tenacity is fucking perfect. Makes me mean mug everytime.

Favorite meaning: Liars Funeral. If my interpretation is reasonable than I really like the idea that you need to take a step back from what youre feeling and ask if youre really justified in taking it as far as you are. Its one of the toughest things to get past a feeling of victimhood as we hear in Solway Firth "it wasnt somebody else, you fucking did it to me." That may be true but to then think youre entitled to be a shithead, or selfharm, or whatever is bullshit. Youre lying to yourself.

Favorite mask: Corey. Mostly because his side eye in Unsainted just looks so bad ass.

Thank you for reading.

#Slipknot WANYK We Are Not Your Kind Review

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