black.

ygnus @ 2008-05-29T00:12:00

2008-05-28T23:24:48Z

[torn out of the paper with the relevant section spelled a bright red]

PUREBLOODS, A-Z

The best thing about being the event correspondent of The Snitch is all the invitations I get to get my hands on. Especially at this time of year, because nothing says party as much as All Hallow's. And when you're young, rich, and oh-so-jaded, only events like the Samhain Blackout at the exclusive Gossamer Club will bring you and your mates out en masse. Your dedicated reporter made the rounds and asked her targets for instant answers, which became more eyebrow-raising as the evening progressed and the drinks flowed.

Accio another Butterbeer, says the lightweight Bela Greengrass, and then maybe my tongue will be loose enough to dish out on these people!

Bela Greengrass, confides a red-haired source who asked to remain completely anonymous, only lost all that weight because of a strict Butterbeer-only diet.

Can I pass? asks my next victim while chancing a deer-caught-in-headlights look at the next man over, but concedes and tells me cognac is his poison of choice.

Dancing is the excuse Druella Black gives her husband Cygnus when questioned about her activies for the night explains Mr. Lestrange, a glass of whiskey in hand.

Empty beds is all Cygnus has to go home to after a long business trip!

...

Explain.

ygnus @ 2008-04-15T23:20:00

2008-04-15T22:25:33Z

Rarely was anything Cygnus did directed by instinct, but the final letter Alphard sent him had done the impossible. The exchange between the brothers had been marked, at least on Cygnus' side of the correspondence, by the scratching of quill against parchment as he set about replying in a tense scrawl that became ever more severe as the discussion drew on -- but on reading Alphard's last petty, hateful, petulant words, the paper was suddenly balled into his hand as his fingers coiled into a sudden fist.

Is that so much to ask; support from a brother I've been there for and who I'd hope to be there for me when I needed him?

Oh, Alphard, so typically obtuse. So willfully ignorant. His accusations were not something Cygnus wanted, nor, indeed, needed right now, not after a night of being screamed at by a woman he could barely recognize these days, and being held back by her animal of a husband as thread after thread was burnt from the stitching that made up Alphard Black's name. The drama that'd played out in Grimmauld Place drained him, but Alphard had always had a talent for plucking just the right string: and now, with the letter clutched in the unrelenting vice of his fist, Cygnus was white-faced with anger, a loud thud resounding across the study from the chair that fell back as he stood in one violent motion and --

Apparated directly into the living room of Alphard's flat.

"Take it back," came the half-snarled command as he advanced on his brother, his free hand coming out to grip and painfully twist at the fabric of his shirt and the underlying skin, while the other thrust the letter responsible for this rare show of anger in his face.

ygnus @ 2008-03-30T22:52:00

2008-03-30T22:03:25Z

[The handwriting is initially shaky and verging on illegible, but evens out toward the end.]

~~Alphard~~ ~~Alphard BLACK~~ Alphard,

You could not even begin to imagine where I've spent my evening.

You owe me so many explanations.

ygnus @ 2008-03-30T02:25:00

2008-03-30T01:35:25Z

Alphard,

I have to say, the silent treatment from you is most off-putting. You're not actually purposefully neglecting to stay in touch with me, are you? Or has one fortunate damsel managed to keep your wandering gaze on her and her alone, and so causing you to forget the art of staying in touch?

It's the latter, no? Details, man, details.

consider it a belated easter egg!

2008-03-25T16:34:56Z

the men & their wives

ACT I

THE IMPERFECT ENJOYMENT / Michael Nyman
[instrumental]

ARE YOU TEN YEARS AGO / Tegan and Sara
when you felt like this, when you saw it all come crashing down
subtle but not underground, I was there
I saw the signs I saw unfair and so I wrote to you through other means
I let myself finally feel taken
like I was yours

MISSED ME / The Dresden Dolls
missed me missed me now you've got to kiss me
if you kiss me mister you must think I'm pretty
if you think so mister you must want to fuck me
if you fuck me mister it must mean you love me
if you love me mister you would never leave me
it's as simple as can be!

missed me missed me now you've got to kiss me
if you miss me mister, why do you keep leaving?
if you trick me mister, I will make you suffer

WINNING THE BATTLE, LOSING THE WAR / Kings of Convenience
even though I'm not her minder,
even though she doesn't want me around,
I am on my feet to find her,
to make sure that she is safe and sound.
even though I'm not her minder,
even though she doesn't want me around,
I am on my feet to find her,
to make sure that she is safe from harm.

COLORBLIND / Counting Crows
I am taffy stuck and tongue tied
stutter-shook and uptight
pull me out from inside
I am ready

THIS MESS WE'RE IN / PJ Harvey & Thom Yorke
night and day
I dream of
making love to you now baby
love making on screen
impossible dream
and I have seen
the sunrise over the river
the freeway, reminding of
this mess we're in

THAT HOME / The Cinematic Orchestra
where the windows are breathing in the light
where the rooms are a collection of our lives
this is a place where I don't feel alone
this is a place I call my home

ACT II

0048/0729 / Ólafur Arnalds
[instrumental]

DYING / Hole
our love is quicksand, so easy to drown
they steal the gravity out from moving ground
remember, you promised me
I'm dying, I'm dying please
I want to, I need to be
under your skin

and now I understand
you leave with everything
you leave with everything I am

MY SKIN / Natalie Merchant
because I've been treated so wrong
I've been treated so long
as if I'm becoming untouchable
well, content loves the silence
it thrives in the dark
with fine winding tendrils
that strangle the heart
they say that promises sweeten the blow
but I don't need them, no
I don't need them

KISS / Scout Niblett
oh darling let me dream
cause somewhere inside me
I have been waiting
so patiently
for you
so don't you cry
don't break my dream

IF YOUR KISSES CAN'T HOLD THE MAN YOU LOVE / Rasputina
don't cry for him or chase him
just go out and replace him
with some good looking tom, dick or jack
cuz if your kisses won't hold the man you love
then your tears won't bring him back

THE DARKER DAYS OF ME & HIM / PJ Harvey
I pick up the pieces
and carry on somehow
tape the broken parts together
limp this love around

promises, promises
I'm feeling burned
you taught me a lesson
I didn't want to learn

COUNTING THE STARS / Nick Cave & Warren Ellis
[instrumental]

RENCONTRE / Goran Bregovic
[instrumental]

!ZIP
(songs are either .mp3 or .m4a)

for Aloki!

2008-03-10T02:59:37Z

HEY YOU HANDSOME VULTURE / Sunset Rubdown
You handsome vulture
With all your charm and wit and escapades
You're making me pick
You son of a bitch
You're making me pick one

You ask me about my absences
Then you make some of your own

FUCK WAS I / Jenny Owen Youngs
Love tears me up like a demon
Opens the wounds, then fills them with lead
And I'm having some trouble just breathing
If we weren't such good friends I think that I'd hate you
If we weren't such good friends I'd wish you were dead

FOOL / Cat Power
It’s just that it is on the tip of your tongue, and you're so silent
Wanting to live and laugh all the time
Sitting alone with your tea and your crime
Children with kids, and people with parents
Anywhich way there’s no past and no presence

HANDS AWAY / Interpol
Will you put my hands away?
Will you be my man?
Serve it up, don't wait

LAST FLOWERS TILL THE HOSPITAL / Radiohead
And I can't face the evening straight
And you can't offer me escape
Houses live and houses speak
If you take me there you'll get relief
Believe, relief, believe, relief

Too much
Too bright
Too powerful

MINOR SWING / Django Reinhardt

JEALOUS OF YOUR CIGARETTE / Hawksley Workman
I'm jealous of your cigarette
And all the things you do with it
I'm jealous of your cigarette
And how you wanna suck on it
And not me

FOR REAL / Okkervil River
I want to know this time if you’re really finally mine
I need to know that you're not lying so I want to see you tried
And I don't want to hear you say it shouldn’t really be this way
'Cause I like this way just fine

STARING AT THE SUN / TV On The Radio
You're staring at the sun
You're standing in the sea
Your mouth is open wide
You're trying hard to breathe
The water's at your neck
There's lightning in your teeth
Your body's over me

THE REAL YOU / Joseph Arthur
You can see it in my eyes
You can master me
You can master me alive

The real you
I knew the real you
I miss you

LOVE'S A CLICHE / The Karelia
Feels like i’m falling, I’ve been falling for a mile
Took time to realize I’ve been falling for your smile
Love’s a cliche
Love’s a cliche
Well hey
So dark and dreamy

METAMORPHOSIS ONE / Philip Glass