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toraashi · 4 years ago

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‘tis the damn season (ft. oikawa tooru)

Pairing: Oikawa x Reader

Genre/Warnings: angst, fluff, implications of sex (there’s no sexual dialogue, the most explicit it gets is i use the word “whimper” once but theres not even graphic descriptions like i rate this PG-13), a couple swears

Word Count: 1.5k

Summary: part two to this fic. Oikawa visits for the holidays after leaving for Argentina years ago. Catching up with his old flame brings back memories and reminds him of a love lost

Author’s Note: this is inspired by ‘tis the damn season by Taylor Swift. It’s so good, please listen to it, it’ll add so much to the story because I reference it lots :) also i’m dedicating this to @hikariakaashi bc she agreed to be my valentine this year hehe 🥰 also @u-make-my-heart-tsumtsum thank you for hyping this up in the discord :))

“the road not taken looks real good now, and it always leads to you.”

"Hey, it's Tooru. I'm in town for the holidays. I'd like to see you."

The sound of his voice as the audio repeated left an unpleasant feeling in his chest. It burned like longing but twisted and lurched like nervosity, a sensation he pretended he wasn't familiar with. Oikawa wasn't a nervous person. He was a confident, suave man with the world in his hands, but for some reason, leaving a voicemail for someone this dear to him, who could see through him like glass, left a slight tremble in his fingers.

The ding of his phone startled him, muscles growing taut.

10:36am

It's been so long! I'd love to see you. Would 4 at that old coffee shop work?

received

Holy shit.

It was almost embarrassing how his breath caught and his heart stuttered. It had been years, but yet here he was, hooked in with every word.

10:40am

I'll make it work

sent

10:42am

That's a first ;) i'll see you then

received

The coffee shop hadn't changed much since he'd last been. The walls were still straining with the wooden roof's weight, the floor still comprised of creaky floorboards that screeched at each drag of a chair. Sparkling red and green lights decked the rafters, hanging low and casting unique shadows across the residents. The lobby was relatively empty, and he was seated quickly at a metal table near the window. The round teapoy rocked on uneven legs when he put his arms on it, but nostalgia made up for the shoddy furniture quality. The poignant smells and whispers of piano music wafted over him like a tender memory, leaving him with visions of your sunrise smile and golden touch breezing over his fingertips. Content was the next emotion that settled over him, but before he could melt too far into it, the bell on the door jingled. Chilly winter air rushed through his hair, waking him up from the dream that was the last few years and bringing him back home. In the blink of an eye, a familiar arm was pulling at the seat in front of him. It took his brain far too long to process the rosy cheeks and snow-dusted hair before him, but once he did, an infectious grin tugged at his lips.

"Long time, no see." Your gaze was cautious and guarded, and it burned holes in his euphoria.

"Long time, no see," you repeated with a light smile, "How have you been?"

"Ah, you know, just capturing the hearts of every person in Argentina, how are you?" That earned him a tinkling laugh, and his heart beamed at the reward.

"I'm doing okay, just living my life." You greeted the waitress, plainly speaking your order, pausing to glance at him before ordering his old favorite. Honey hues glittered with unspoken fondness when you caught his gaze; he couldn't help it.

"You remembered my order. I feel special."

"Shut up. You are special, Mr. Pro Volleyball Player." You teased, inching your fingertips towards him on the table. It wasn't enough to be wanton, but he noticed, and he couldn't help but reciprocate. Eyes flicking to his hands and back up, that cautious glaze returned. "So, are you staying in town?" A warm hum in affirmation thrummed in his throat.

"I'm staying at my parents' house."

"For how long?" The words seemed full, but he wasn't sure with what.

"Just the weekend." He held your gaze like a taut string tugging you closer and closer. The air felt heavy, and his heart ached with a longing he'd suppressed for years. You opened your mouth to speak, but before anything came out, he interjected boldly. After all, what was he, if not bold? "I got your letter." Hues big and lips parted, a pink flush climbed your cheeks. If he was the same person he was years ago, he would've teased you, but now? With his heart on his sleeve and your eyes staring into his soul, how could he muster that courage up?

"And?" The single word was meek and tentative, fragile like the little bird of your unyielding love.

"Well, for one, your attempt at scratching out the last line wasn't great." There was the teasing. He couldn't hold it back for long.

"Shut up." You shied away from his crinkled eyes, pinker than you were when you stumbled in. God, he missed this.

"I won't." He drawled, closing the narrow distance between your fingertips and enveloping your hands like it didn't electrify his nerves. "And for the record, I missed you too."

"Did you?" He rubbed a calloused finger across your knuckles, holding your eyes confidently.

"How could I not miss that pretty face?"

"Stop teasing." You pouted.

"I'm not." Pensively, you stared back at him, and he admired the furrow of your eyebrows, the puff of your pouted cheeks. Your smaller hands were quaking in his, and just as he considered laying off, you spoke a conglomeration of words that shuddered up his spine.

"Would you like to stay at mine for the night? We can catch up more? I don't want to leave you just yet." A genuine smile simmered up his lips, and he linked his fingers between yours.

"You know I can't say no to you."

"Didn't seem like it when you left." The magic in his chest faltered at the blow, but the regret was evident in your expression. "I'm sorry, that was uncalled for. I know it was about more than me." he hummed, the affectionate graze of his thumb against your knuckles resuming.

The conversation felt much too short, every move you made clenching his heart, brimming it with innocent nostalgia and longing. Before long, you were tugging him out the door, leading him to your apartment in a movie-worthy montage. The silver moonlight caught your hair like silk, your gossamer grip on his wrist balmy and familiar.

"My, you're eager." When you glanced back, your eyes sparkled like the sequins on your prom getup from so many years ago.

"Is it stupid that I missed you so much?" The way his heart caught in his throat was almost painful. Chest aching, he concluded that this was what happiness felt like, a hummingbird flutter he'd never find in the falsities of fame. You, who knew him like the muddy road to your secret high-school hangout spot, looked ethereal beneath the moon's knowing smile. As you approached the door, he couldn't help but dip his toes into the subdued desire he'd grown to ignore.

Your chest pressing into his, your back to the door, his fingertips firm against your waist, and finally, the brush of your reposeful kiss against his needy lips, it left him with frantic desperation clawing up his body. You broke away with a similar gleam tucked into your gaze like a secret just for him. Swinging the door open and fumbling with your jacket, you found your place in his arms again, a mutual craving for a love that was cut so short.

He did many things that night he'd only remembered in dreams, his frame pressing your familiar figure into the bed, lips tracing every line of your silhouette, the dips and curves in your skin, sealing each forgotten memory in an envelope for him to read later. Just for tonight, he'd bask in your entirety, the glow of your smile, the whimpers that spilled past your pretty lips, everything that was purely you. When everything was done and gone, the flaxen glow of your lamplight flickering out, you pulled him into your arms, twirling the chocolate strands of his hair, breathing in his adoration, your own lulling him into a long-awaited, dream-filled slumber. He dreamed of his past self getting lost in the empty arms of another, the void carved out by your existence impossible to fill. He dreamed of the life he'd lead if he'd remained in your embrace, waking up to you every morning instead of cold sheets.

He awoke with the December sun, your bare skin blinding in the morning's glow. Glancing at the red numbers on your nightstand, he stretched his arms. It was almost ten, but the warmth of your body reeled him back in like a fishing pole, his mouth splattering kisses across your visage like freckles. Swelling with delight, he collected you into his arms, setter's fingers revisiting the map he drew on your body like the ink was still drying, greeting you with a grin as your eyes lolled open.

"Morning, babe." Oikawa scanned the love-struck expression painting your features, the scrunch of your nose, the quirk of your lips; he inhaled it like it was his last breath, coming to terms with the time and its draining sand. Raising a lone finger, he followed the shape of your jawline, locking your chin between his thumb and forefinger. "Sleep well?" You neglected to respond, searching his gaze.

"If this is the last time I ever see you, I want you to know that I've always loved you, and I won't ask you to stay." The last grain of sand in the hourglass tumbled through the glass gap, the alarm clock on your nightstand beeping abruptly, stealing Oikawa's breath.

And as he looked upon your effervescent figure, shattering his own battered heart at the realization, Oikawa decided the road not taken never looked more appealing than now.

#hqradiostation #oikawa x reader #haikyuu x reader #oikawa tooru x reader #oikawa tooru #oikawa imagine #oikawa scenario #oikawa haikyuu #oikawa fluff #oikawa angst #oikawa fanfiction #hq x reader #hq oikawa

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eienias20 · 3 years ago

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Bioshock The Collection Thoughts

For my birthday i got Bioshock the Collection on PS4 so i finally got to play through all the Bioshock games.

After all the time i’ve put into them (3 runs of Bioshock, 2 for Bioshock 2 and 2 for Bioshock Infinite) i gotta say that Bioshock 2 comes out on top for me personally.

Check it out 100%!

Scattered thoughts go, SPOILER WARNING

First off for the original Bioshock. I really did enjoy it, I already knew about the Little Sisters ending, i think it was in an old “best video game endings” type of video i saw years ago but i never forgot it cause even without context its a really nice ending. Earning it myself, yea it is.

One issue i kept bumping into for Bioshock 1 was that you had to swap hands and reload independently with specific presses. So during intense firefights i would swap to a hand that needed to reload and get stuck on the reload while stuff is shooting me. Usually the plasmid hand.

Beyond that, the game was really entertaining, getting the audio diaries and learning about the world was fascinating. My first run was just a normal playthrough, 2nd was getting all the diaries with a guide, third was a survivor run with no vita chambers. Thanks to NG+ it wasn’t that tough.

The plot twist that goes down when you reach Andrew Ryan was like WOAH that’s a twist! I really liked it. Couldn’t stop playing the game until i saw the resolution. Only game with a final boss, even on Survivor he wasn’t super hard but it felt good beating him every time.

Bioshock 2 / Infinite under the cut

Bioshock 2 is my favorite. The hand issue i had is nonexistent in two since both hands are active at the same time. No need to swap and it felt super good in combat.

Being a big daddy, adopting little sisters and protecting them. Really cute. Drill dashing into enemies always felt good. 1HKOing almost every splicer just YES!! I really wanted to see how Delta and Eleanor’s story ended so i played that game A LOT. Of course i had to run through the first few areas A BUNCH cause the game had a save file issue where i created too many saves between Bioshock 1 and 2 and it didn’t let me create any more.

My issue with 2 is only really centered around the antagonist. I freaking hate Sofia Lamb and not in a ‘love to hate’ kind of way just HATE. every time she sent a message or i got an audio diary from her its like ugh i hate her attitude and everything about her. The debates between her and Andrew Ryan were so infuriating. I couldn’t wait to kill her at the end of the game only to have to watch Eleanor save her. Big bummer.

As opposed to 1 having a gameplay snafu, 2′s is more a story bump. Everything else flowed well for me i just didn’t like Sofia Lamb. Also the game gave you every opportunity to save/kill Grace, Stanley, Gilbert and even Sofia but Sinclair, your stalwart partner thru most of the game. Nope. Putting him down bummed me out so much.

Nothing made me happier than getting the Eleanor Vigor and the prompt saying BRING UR DAUGHTER TO WORK DAY XD

Then there was Minerva’s Den which i did AFTER all the Infinite content, fantastic. Absolutely loved it. Cemented 2 as my favorite. No complaints on that one, it was great!

Last we’ve got Bioshock Infinite

Moreso than Bioshock 1, I watched an LP of Infinite years ago. I don’t remember who i saw play it but i remember the ending and the weird timeline mumbo jumbo that goes on but playing it myself helped me better put it together.

I found Infinite super fun to play, i really liked the feel of the combat. Firefights were a blast. it was really enjoyable! Story wasn’t nearly as difficult to follow as i thought it might’ve been. I understood it all well enough and i thought the ending put it all together nicely.

I will say my 1999 run was the opposite as i hated it. Enemies with crazy aim, losing 100 dollars every death. I stopped buying gun/vigor upgrades halfway through the game because i didn’t want to wipe. Handymen on 1999 made me despise the game completely. I was mad and not having fun. I was dedicated and pushed through to get the 1999/Scavenger Hunt trophies but i wouldn’t recommend. D:

“What about Bioshock Survivor / Bioshock 2 Hard?” well i didn’t do Survivor from scratch, NG+ alleviated a lot of difficulty. Bioshock 2 Hard just wasn’t that bad. oof 1999 tho. oof.

Last thing, Burial at Sea. Long post long, i’ll summarize. I liked playing Burial at Sea, once again i love the gameplay of infinite. i was interested in where the story was going but after finishing Part 2 i can definitely say, i did not like it. Bioshock 1, 2, Minerva’s Den and Infinite i like! Burial at Sea i do not.

The story resolution while the closed loop going back to Bioshock 1 felt like a nice bookend, i don’t like that it felt like it sacrificed everything about Infinite’s characters. It felt like it just negated any achievement in my completing Infinite and the end of Infinite’s story. it wasn’t a bittersweet ending it was just a bummer and i didn’t like it.

Watching Eleanor drown Sofia made me feel much better tho!

So there we have it. Ranking

Bioshock 2 :D

Minerva’s Den :D

Bioshock :)

Bioshock Infinite :)

Burial At Sea >:C

I still have a few trophies left to complete all the games.

For Bioshock, its the trophies tied to the Challenge Mode (i have some but not all)

For Infinite, i just have to complete Burial At Sea part 2 on 1998 mode. sigh.

#bioshock the collection #bioshock #bioshock 2 #bioshock infinite #minerva's den #burial at sea

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latibulesims · 3 years ago

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Hey Lati!

I’m so sorry to press you for more information, but I’m so fascinated by your filming process and I have some additional questions if that’s okay. Specifically around your sets that are just individual rooms, are these just multiple secular room sets on one lot, or do you use a different lot for each set? Like with the River’s house when any family member is coming downstairs, is Tresor or Raign’s room not on that lot? The living room and kitchen? Lol I’m just so fascinated by this if that’s the case, and if so it’s extremely impressive because they look like they all could actually be one complete set. Sorry if this makes zero sense, I’ve just never thought to try this and now I really want to! ☺️ Thanks so much!

Haha no you make total sense!! First of all thank you for watching my series, and don't worry at all about asking questions! I know filming with The Sims 2 can be difficult bc of how often it crashes and its loading time, so any tips I can give to help the game crash less, im happy to share 💖

The sets are actually on different lots entirely! So, when Tresor "comes downstairs", or the characters go from the living room to the kitchen, I load an entirely new lot! I think the only exception I make is with bathrooms because they're so tiny haha, but any time you see the characters going from one room to the other, it's usually a different lot all together. :')

It may sound exhausting to some, having to jump from one lot to another, but over the years (I've been doing this since 2017, at least!) I've managed some tips that help, for those that are interested:

1) I make multiple sims of the same character, so that every sim belongs to every lot! So, if Tresor for example needs to be in her bedroom, the living room and Simons bar within the same episode, I create 3 Tresors (TresorBED, TresorLIVING, TresorBAR), and that way I don't have to move her around.

I should also note that I change neighborhoods every episode (more on that in tip #3), so it might sound like a lot of sims over the episodes but really it's usually just 3 versions of the same character in one neighborhood at a time.

You might find it's easier to just move the sims from one lot to the other, but in my experience moving the sims around (or using the tombstone to extract them) always ends up crashing my game so this is a really good way to avoid it all together!

2) I don't film chronologically, but by sets! This is my #1 tip. I basically gather up all the scenes I have in 1 set and I film them. That way i dont have to go back and forth between lots, instead I just finish off all the scenes I need using a lot and move on to the next! Sometimes a set has so many scenes I end up filming in one set for weeks at a time (usually Simons bar, haha, that S2E1 Christmas episode needed like 3 sets (Simons bar, Simons living room, The Rivers living room), and I spent two months just filming in Simons bar).

The only time I won't recommend this, is when you havent yet found your own style. Then you might risk something like this happening: You're just starting to film, and you have the 1st and last scene in the episode in the same set. So, you film them both. Then you film a couple more scenes after that, and then you reach the final set and by then your filming skills have changed (if you haven't found your style and take months filming an episode - which is completely valid, BTW - this could mean a drastic change). Then, scene #1 (which you filmed at the very beginning) could have a completely different filming style than scene #2 (which you filmed at the very end), and so on. You wouldn't want that.

I had something like that happen to me, where I discovered reshade mid-filming an episode, so the scenes I filmed at the beginning of the episode didnt have it, and then the scenes I filmed at the end did it. It made the epsiode look incosistent, which is something I don't really care about (and neither do my viewers, really), but you might so letting you know as a heads up! Some of these tips do compromise the "professionalism" of the episodes, but it's how i manage to film and pop out episodes with (relative) quickness :').

Thats why for many reasons, including should you want to film by set instead of chronologically, I suggest you find your style before filming an episode or starting a series all together. This can be done through creating small machinimas, filming tests, music videos, etc. Take it from someone who can't even handle sitting through the first 8 episodes of my own series because of how much my style back then. The way it drastically changed from one episode to another irks me so much! 😅

3) And this is my most controversial one, LOL, but I always build sets + new neighborhoods from scratch with every episode. As I mentioned above, I change neighborhoods with every episode because, in my experience, neighborhoods get corrupt with time so starting with a fresh neighborhood every episode helps avoid crashing. Previously, neighborhoods would get so corrupt, they'd stop loading at all mid-filming an episode, so im forced to interrupt my filming streak and build the sets and characters all together which absolutely wrecks any motivation I have to film afterwards. Once, this happened mid-filming a scene and so I had to rebuild, and let me tell you: Theres a difference between sets looking a bit different because I had to rebuild between episodes, and sets looking different within the same scene. At least when you rebuild the set with every new episode, you can blame minor changes on the fact that time passed from one episode to the other.

Also: I make sure to build all the sets I need for the episode before I start filming, because I dont want anything to interrupt my filming once I start it. If Im forced to build when I'm motivated to film, I end up losing that motivation in the time I spend building, if that makes sense. As u probably already know as a machinima maker, we do the work that is usually required of a team (writer, director, editor, and also stylist and set designers), so I like to do things one at a time so I can have a clear understanding of my schedule and timetable. So, I dedicate 2 days to style all the sims, a week or so to build all the sets, usually months to film the episode, then another week to edit and audio edit. I try my best not to have all of those parts overlapping, otherwise it gets too overwhelming.

The reason I rebuild from scratch, as opposed to just extracting the lot and installing it in a new neighborhood is because, again, I prefer a fresh start and have found that lots are less likely to get corrupt if they're "new". A lot of people think im crazy for it LOL, or that it's a colossal waste of time, and maybe it is! But it's the process that works best for me, and I end up filming really fast with much less crashing and hiccups because of it!

Hope that helps!!! :') Let me know if you have any other questions about my filming process or any other tips 💖💖💖 I'd love to help!

#latips #ask lati #the sims 2

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blazehedgehog · 4 years ago

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So, I'm sure you're aware of Jammin' Sam Miller (The guy who does these DKC Trilogy music Restorations). He said that he can't do the Game Boy Advance version of DKC3 due to GBA music files being unhackable at the moment. I did always wonder what gripes some people had with the GBA's sound hardware (Aside from the fact that it's on a handheld).

Yep, I know of Sam Miller. A lot of his work is pretty good! Some of his earlier renditions rub me the wrong way a little bit, but I think he realizes that and has gotten better at restoration over time. I know from personal experience that just because you have notation on hand doesn’t mean it’s easy to get it “right.” There are specific samples and specific effects that have to be respected.

It reminds me of the early days of Guitar Hero and Rockband, back before Harmonix had the clout to just get the song stems directly from bands. When they’d have to make their own covers, they’d actually do extensive research to figure out what settings different bands would use on their instruments, because trying to approximate that kind of stuff by ear was incredibly difficult. I remember maybe either John Drake or Eric Pope appearing on a Giantbomb podcast and talking about how they’d spend hours looking at concert photos, trying to see where the knobs on amplifiers were set so they could dial it in to exactly the same place for their covers.

So, y’know, this restoration work isn’t just drag-and-drop. There’s a bit of guesswork involved, and there’s a bit of “I’ve heard this same section three hundred times and I’ve lost all ability to tell whether it sounds correct.” I’ve been there. I can empathize. You’re talking to a guy who has done seven different versions of specific troublesome songs, multiple versions of which are on his bandcamp.

Back to your point, my understanding of this is limited, but the Gameboy Advance sound hardware is just... weak and limited, I guess. Or, I guess, more specifically, the GBA sound hardware could do more than just process sound, so a lot of games made for the GBA will borrow the sound processor to do other things.

(Hiding the rest under a “read more” tag because I embed a bunch of video)

This, for example, is the reason given for why Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance uses chiptunes. The way the development team told it at the time, they dedicated the entire GBA hardware to rendering the game, and ran sound and music through the Gameboy Color sound chip. That way, music playback and sound effects wouldn’t drag down the hardware.

Developers were also just cheap. The GBA used cartridges, in a time where cartridges were still considered expensive to produce, so heavy audio compression was used to squeeze these games down as much as humanly possible. This was especially noticeable in SNES-to-GBA ports, where sampled instruments that were once clean now hissed and crackled from the compression. Compare for yourself:

youtube

The Gameboy Advance version sounds more dry, more crunchy, more tinny. That’s the compression in action. Here’s another example, from Final Fantasy 6:

youtube

The important thing to keep in mind here is that the Gameboy Advance could actually still do these songs justice -- there are rom hacks out there for people with flashcarts that restore the higher-quality SNES instrument samples. It’s just that, y’know, applying that patch will basically double the size of the rom file, and when you’re trying to save on production costs, every byte can matter.

Remember, some Nintendo 64 games were like $80 or $90 new, because cartridges were just that expensive to make back then. A $90 cartridge of Conker’s Bad Fur Day would be $135 in today’s money. Brand new, and fresh off the shelf.

By comparison, suddenly it makes a lot of sense why THQ would publish some Gameboy Advance games, but remove their ability to save. The hardware required to save progress (the SRAM chip) cost extra money on top of basic cartridge production, so in order to save money, they chopped it out. Sometimes they were generous enough to replace the save function with a password screen, but not always.

So the sound quality on the Gameboy Advance was trapped in this unsavory position where it was often the first thing to get chopped down. Sometimes so they could dedicate compute cycles to other game functions, and sometimes simply to shave off enough space to fit on a smaller, cheaper cartridge. And occasionally, both at the same time.

Anyway, there are people out there taking it upon themselves trying to restore and remaster the DKC3 GBA soundtrack, but they’re doing it by effectively remaking each song from scratch. But they sound incredible!

youtube

#questions #music #videogame music #sam miller #donkey kong country #gameboy advance #nintendo #clovershroom

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staylovehearts · 5 years ago

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Headline: Dating Scandal - New celebrity couple?

Han Jisung x Reader

Word Count ~ 2.5k

Summary: “And how are you supposed to defend what sometimes you are not even sure of yourself?”

Tags: Idol x Producer, kinda, well Jisung is like a solo rapper artist, y/n is a producer/ low key singer, also they are secretly dating, whoops, warning for insecurities and self-doubt, but I promise it’s all fluffy

"Are you really sure about this?", you ask, for maybe the tenth time already in the past hour. Jisung is spinning around in his office chair next to you but halts the movement to look at you and roll his eyes.

"You know, with how often you are asking I'm starting to believe that you want to back out after all", he laughs but upon noticing your grief expression he stops and pushes his chair closer to yours so that he can grab one of your hands with both of his and give it a little squeeze. "Hey, we don't have to do this if you are uncomfortable. We can still stop the whole project. I would totally understand if you don't want to do this after all."

And that is exactly the part that is killing you so much. Jisung is so sweet about all of this. So understanding and loving and absolutely perfect. You don't deserve him. You don't deserve being with someone as wonderful as him at all. And yet here he is, squeezing your hand tight and reassuring you and being overall the sweetest person you have ever met. He made it near impossible for you not to fall in love when you first met. And he didn't even do much. All he did was be himself. But when you're Han Jisung that is probably already more than enough.

When you first met he was a rising star, rapper and idol, good at dancing as well and always funny and charming on variety shows. He'd pull funny faces for the camera and cutely whine over punishments just to turn around and spit several syllables of fire per second into the microphone. A reverse charm is what the suit-clad people in the pr department call it, but you think that does not quite fit right. Jisung is just a natural with the camera and the audience because he is just the same with ordinary people. He is nice to everyone he meets. Makes polite conversation and laughs about stupid jokes. Also, he's ambitious enough to make it in this dog eat dog world. You were eager to work with him and pretty much agreed on the spot when the project was proposed to you. Producing a track for his upcoming album. An amazing way to get your name out there. But an even better way to get to know your idol up close and personal. Actually, you were just curious at first. Eager to find out the dark secret behind the honey boy rapper with the sunshine personality. You wanted to know how everybody's darling acted with no cameras about. Because he seemed just to perfect to be true. Well, truth is, that Han Jisung is just that. Too good to be true. And way too good for you.

You fell for him on the spot but you tried to not let it show. Continued work as usual. Went to meetings, pitched in ideas, made beats and changed them according to feedback. Just the same way you'd work with any other client. Well, except that usually you are not that stuff. Usually you don't insist on using honorifics and being formal and never before have you turned down a client inviting you for dinner after a day of work. You tried to put distance between Jisung and you, but despite you playing the stone-hard professional he remained his sweet, charming self.

Months after you actually started dating Jisung told you, that he was actually intimidated by you at first. But he fell for you eventually. After you sent him the final guide audio with your voice in it. The one he liked so much that he called you in the middle of the night only to ask if you were down with him using samples of your voice for harmonies and stuff like that. You said yes. And that would not be the last crazy idea you agreed on.

"Hey, you're kind of zoning out there, is everything alright?", Jisung asks, pulling you back into here and now. The end of the latest crazy idea. You quickly shake your head and then immediately nod because you are not sure what to answer. A deep sigh escapes your mouth.

"I just got lost in thought a little", you admit. You have been doing a lot of thinking the past few days. Weeks. Months. Basically, you have been racking your mind non-stop since meeting Jisung. And he always seems so carefree that you don't want to drag him down with all of it. Another sigh. "I'm just a little... anxious I guess. That's all. I mean you are so popular and you have all these crazy female fans that are obsessed with you because, let's be honest, why wouldn't they be? What if they'll hate me? What if the press tears us apart? What if this hurts your career?"

It's a risky move. A stupid move. But once again you found yourself agreeing to produce an album together the second Jisung placed a notebook with some handwritten lyrics scribbled in it onto your desk. You did not even read through the song entirely, the chicken scratch handwriting sometimes hard to comprehend, when you had the baseline for a beat in your head that would work great with that. Agreeing to do the album together was one thing. But agreeing to open up about you dating as part of the promotions was an entirely different thing. And yet all it took was one puppy eye look from Jisung for you to agree to it. Right now he is puffing up his already chubby looking cheeks even more and rolling his dark brown eyes like a child that is frustrated by an adult not grasping a concept that is so simple and straightforward when looked at with innocent eyes.

"If they say anything mean about you I'll make sure to defend you. You know that I am really grateful for my fans, but they don't own me and I don't owe them anything. I'm an adult and I can date whoever I want. And it's not like the press isn't constantly trying to dig up dirt on me either way. Do you remember two weeks ago when they made up these crazy rumours about me and some actress that I shook hands with like once at the set of some drama where I did a small cameo? I think us being official is actually going to help because then they can't make shit up anymore", he huffs, visibly annoyed. Not with you of course. Never with you. Although sometimes you wish he would be frustrated with how indecisive you are. How unsure and moody you can become. Sometimes you want him to get upset with you because you think that's what you deserve. But Jisung never gets mad. Not at you. Towards you, he is always so sweet and compassionate and understanding. And that makes it so much harder to convince yourself that it's actually alright for you to be with him.

It was easier when no one else knew. Of course, you were already nervous when the whole thing started, constantly stressed about paparazzi catching you with your new celebrity boyfriend. Even though technically you belong in the industry as well, have even worked there for longer than Jisung has been in the spotlight now. But you have always been a more behind-the-scenes kind of person. You may appear in some interview every once in a while but for the most part, you are just a name on the credit list. Prod. by. That is where you belong. The occasional feature maybe. A SoundCloud link on your personal twitter. A few dedicated hardcore fans that like the tracks you make. But you are by far no big name. You are not in the public eye like Jisung is. Yet, it's not unusual for dating within the industry to happen. Artist and managers, stylists and producers, artists and other artists even. And the agency you and Jisung are currently under is a very lenient one when it comes to dating and giving you leeway for your private life. As long as it does not damage the image of the company what you do is pretty much up to you.

But for the sake of not wanting to cause a scandal so early in Jisung's career, you still kept your relationship pretty much a secret from everyone. Of course, the people working with you know. As well as some close friends and family members. But you never really thought about going public with it. You were just fine with busy schedules that rarely allowed for secret alone time and hastily arranged dates in the middle of the night. Empty family dinners past midnight with grumpy waiters that ask no question as long as you tip them enough and overly crowded coffee shops where there is too much business to pay attention to two more people with masks covering half of their faces. A piece of cheesecake for Jisung and a piece of chocolate cake for you. Because you don't care too much for either and since you are sharing he gets to take a bite from both of his favourite cakes.

But going public with the relationships mean that other people are going to judge you. And how are you supposed to defend what sometimes you are not even sure of yourself?

"Hey, I can see those gears turning, tell me what you're thinking about", Jisung hums softly. One of his hands reaching up to gently cup your face and tilt your head up a little, forcing you to make eye contact so he can give you the concerned puppy look. Big round eyes filled with worry. You let out another deep sigh.

"I'm just really not sure about the whole thing. About us." The second the words leave your mouth you already know that you could have worded that differently. Should have worded that differently. It's all wrong. You always mess everything up. Jisung looks hurt and you are flailing around your free hand as if you could catch the words midair and stuff them back down your throat to unsay them. "Not like that! I love being with you. I want to be with you. It's just... sometimes I don't feel like I actually deserve it. And I'm not sure if I can take it when your obsessed fans start attacking me for stealing you away from them when I don't even believe that I should be with you sometimes. You could do so much better. You're so sweet and talented and hard-working and just... ugh, you're so perfect it's almost irritating. What do I have to offer that could compare to that? I'm just... me."

"Hey, don't say it like that", Jisung sounds mad. For the first time, he actually seems to be upset with you. The sudden change of his expression and his raised voice actually makes you flinch back a little and he immediately softens again. "You know that I like you for being you, right? You are really amazing. Even before we started working together I always liked your music. I was actually following your SoundCloud, did I ever tell you that? And then I got to work with you and I was so excited about it because I've always admired you and when we met you were so cool and you put so much effort into our project. And I had the stupidest crush on you pretty much from day one but after you sent me that vocal guide it was completely over for me. I still have that by the way. I like to listen to it sometimes when we are both to busy to really spend time together. You're an amazing producer and probably work even harder than I do. You've put so much effort into our first album together and when you sent me that final mix I knew that it was the best thing we've ever made. I'm so proud of this album. And I'm really proud of you and I want to show you off to the whole world. But if it makes you uncomfortable we can just pull the project. You are what's most important to me."

After the whole rant – or should you call it a scolding? – you remain silent for a moment, not quite sure how to handle your emotions properly. You are somewhere between hiding your face and squealing and actually bursting into tears right on the spot. But neither seems like a proper reaction at the moment so you just sit there stunned and confused. The longer the silence drags on the more Jisung seems to become embarrassed by his own outburst and dramatic declaration of love. Just now he was saying all this super cheesy stuff with a super serious face, acting all cool and tough but now his face is mirroring the blush that is spreading on your cheeks. You can't help wanting to tease him when he looks like that.

"So, you followed my Soundcloud? Could it be that you were the fanboy all along?", you chuckle. Jisung rolls his eyes but secretly he seems to be glad that he has got you to smile again. You will have to talk this whole thing over again with him later. But right now you two are expected to go live in a couple of minutes to promote a new album. And announce a relationship.

"Oh shut up", Jisung scowls, but there is still a hint of a smile on his face. You smile back at him. "So, we have a live stream in five minutes. Are you ready?"

You nod your head without saying a word. You're ready for it now.

Jisung has just turned on the live stream but you can already see the numbers of viewers rising, surpassing hundreds within just a few seconds. The chat at the side of the screen is blowing up with comments and while Jisung is smiling and waving into the camera you anxiously read through the stream of words. It's almost too much to keep track off, comments just keep flying by, an endless stream of words and heart emojis, but every once in a while you manage to lock onto something and read it before it disappears again. Oppa, I love you! someone comments, for some reason the whole sentence is in English, including the very not English word Oppa. A bunch of viewers are just spamming hearts or trying to get attention with comments like Say hi to Brazil pls. But the comment that you see appearing most is some variation of who is that??? Jisung must have noticed it as well, he's chuckling a little to himself while he is scanning the comments.

"Oh, you want to know who this is?", Jisung looks over at you with a wide smile before he turns back to grin into the camera, a stream of comments and hearts flooding the side of the screen. His natural charm amplified with the live audience happy to interact with him. "This is my partner. We have some really exciting news for you!"

#stray kids #stray kids scenarios #stray kids x reader #han jisung #jisung x reader #han #jisung #jisung fluf #idol au #scenarios

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sleepless-in-starbucks · 5 years ago

Note

Can I have a Virgil and Logan getting a reptile or any type of anphipiom? Thanks hun. 🖤

Of course!Warnings: There is a snek, Deceit’s there too but he’s not named and it’s a blink-and-you-miss-it appearance, mostly just a lot of fluffPairing: Analogical

Virgil tried not to grumble too much as he fought his way down the street, winds strong enough to uproot a tree fighting back as rain poured down. Frustrated, he slipped into the nearest doorway he saw, happy for even a second partially out of the awful conditions.

Running a hand through his absolutely drenched hair, Virgil let his mind wander to the more important matter of the day: his tenth year anniversary with Logan. Ten years ago today he and the cutest nerd he had ever met had gotten married, and Virgil wanted to get him something special for the anniversary.

He had already bought a unique selection of ties he just knew Logan would love, and had dedicated many hours of his life to convincing a certain jelly maker manager to produce a certain jelly for the day. But after every amazing thing Logan had done for him, even just being honored enough to be married to him… Virgil just wanted to make this an amazing anniversary.

The door he was almost leaned against opened, startled him out of his thoughts. He looked to find a man holding it open, visible eyebrow raised, the other covered by a snake that was lazily coiled in his hair and over his face.

“Can I help you?” He asked, the snake on his head hissing quietly as he spoke. “Because otherwise, you’re in the way of my customers.”

Virgil was about to apologize and face the storm once again before he caught a glimpse behind the man. The store behind him was filled with terrariums filled with lizards and snakes. Virgil’s eyes widened slightly as he got an idea.

“Actually, I think you can.”

Virgil closed the door as quietly as he could, hoodie draped over the box under his arm in case that failed.

“Virgil? Is that you?”

Looks like it failed. Deciding Logan must be somewhere in the kitchen, Virgil quickly dashed for the living room, throwing a blanket over the box as he put it next to the coffee table, where his other gifts and Logan’s were.

Logan came out into the living room, hearing the noise. He tilted his head when he saw Virgil wasn’t in his hoodie and, consequentially, even more soaked than he had been earlier. “Virgil, dear, you’re drenched.”

Virgil smiled awkwardly at Logan, scratching the back of his neck. “It’s really stormin’ out there.”

“Why isn’t your hoodie on?”

“I, uh…” Virgil hesitated, searching for a viable answer, “I thought holding it over my head would work better?”

“With this wind?” Logan asked, incredulously, stepping closer to Virgil to rest the back of his hand on his forehead. “You’re not sick, are you?”

“What? No!” Virgil responded, though he made no move to get away from Logan’s touch. Ten years married and he was still a touch-starved gay disaster.

Logan tutted. “You normally only make stupid, boring decisions when you’re running a fever. Doesn’t matter, you’re definitely going to get sick now.”

“I’m insulted. What do you mean by stupid, boring decisions?”

Logan smiled and moved his hand from Virgil’s forehead to cup his cheek. “I am the only one in this relationship with, as you might put it, any brain cells. You just normally make stupid decisions for some sort of odd thrill. Holding your hoodie over you instead of wearing it was just plain stupid.”

Virgil placed a hand over Logan’s. “And yet, you married me.”

“And I’ve only regretted it a few times.” Logan said, chuckling at Virgil when his expression became laughably indignant. He kissed him before pulling away and heading towards the kitchen. “Get changed, and we can have dinner.”

“Can dinner wait?” Virgil asked, flinching to himself when Logan turned back around, looking both confused and concerned. “I uh… want to open gifts first.”

Logan still looked confused, but he nodded. “I confess, my plan for dinner went…less than admirably. We’re waiting for the pizza anyways.”

Virgil smirked. “I thought you had a master plan for the best anniversary dinner yet?”

Logan looked away from Virgil, though he still caught the tiny smile he had along with an embarrassed blush. “Surprisingly, my dedication to the night and you did not, in fact, give me the ability to cook.”

Virgil laughed as he headed up the stairs to change. “I could have told you that, Lo. I think I did, actually.”

“Oh, just get changed.” Logan called back, trying to sound annoyed, knowing that Virgil caught the obvious warmth in his tone anyways.

After a few minutes, Virgil returned in his softest pajama pants and a black sweater. Catching Logan’s light disapproving stare, he said, “I’ll get changed for dinner, but right now, I am cold and partially wet. I deserve this.”

“And so much more.” Logan added softly, smiling when Virgil flushed, expecting a mock and not a compliment.

“Just open your presents, dork.” Virgil responded after a moment, trying and failing to sound as collected as he had been a minute ago.

Logan did so, marveling over the ties and talking about how they happened to compliment every outfit in his wardrobe in some way. He then almost fainted when he pulled out the jelly- a jar of Crofter’s specialty ‘Loganberry,’ this one with the silliest photo of him Virgil could find on the lid. It also happened to be Logan’s favorite flavor.

“I thought they stopped making Loganberry?” He asked, in awe.

“I have my ways.” Virgil responded slyly, deciding he didn’t need to talk about how he both begged and threatened the Crofter’s representative he had talked to in order to get them to search the warehouses for an extra jar.

“I don’t deserve you.”

“Aw, Lo, as much as I love the humility-”

Logan glared at Virgil, though he looked too amused for it to mean anything. “I wasn’t talking to you.”

Virgil held a hand to his heart when he realized Logan had been looking at the jelly. “I’ve been replaced by a jar of jelly?”

“Yes.” Logan replied as seriously as he could muster while he put the jar to the side.

“Fine, then.” Virgil said, crossing his arms and looking away. “I demand gifts to honor my passing as most important thing in your life.” Virgil continued, deciding to keep the box a secret gift to give very last. Because as loathe as he was to admit it, Virgil may have picked up a few dramatic tendencies from his brother.

“Well, one of them is burnt in the kitchen.” Logan said, glancing in the direction of the destroyed gift. “I really should have guessed that would have failed.”

“So far, your gifts displease me.”

Logan chuckled before pushing a box at Virgil. “Try the not-burnt one.”

Virgil opened the box, pushing aside a sheet of tissue paper to pull a sheet of metal. It wasn’t very large, roughly the size of his hand (much too small for the box, actually), with a line running through. The line was completely horizontal save for a single vertical wave line through the middle of it. He raised an eyebrow at Logan, who had a hand over his mouth. “What is it?”

“A g note.” Logan confessed, laughing a little as Virgil frowned at him. “Don’t hate me! Roman gave me the idea.”

“First he ruined my life by being born in the same womb, now he’s ruining my marriage.” Virgil complained.

Logan rolled his eyes. “You think too little of me. Look under the second layer of tissue paper.”

Virgil put the sheet to the side, doing as his husband said, wondering what he would find. Beneath the tissue paper was a second metal sheet, this was as large as the box, with two lines running through it. These ones were clearly audio lines. He looked up at Logan, who was still smiling, but softer now. “What is this one? Death of a Bachelor?”

Logan scoffed, but the tender look in his eyes didn’t change. “It’s our wedding vows.”

Virgil looked back at the metal, noticing now tiny inscriptions of ‘Logan’ and ‘Virgil’ for the top and bottom lines, respectively. “Oh.” He breathed quietly.

“It’s good they weren’t very long, too- I got the biggest sheet they had, and even then the nice lady doing the work was worried it wouldn’t wor-”

Logan was cut off when Virgil, now clutching the metal to his chest despite the awkward way it rubbed against his arms, moved forward to kiss him. When they broke apart, Virgil smiled, eyes only a little watery. “Love, it’s perfect.”

Logan smiled back. “No, Virgil, you are. This is just a reminder of the day I got lucky enough to call that perfect mine.”

Virgil laughed. “You’re so sappy. Besides, I’m the one who got lucky. You’re my universe.”

“And you’re my starlight.” Logan returned. Virgil blushed before pulling away from Logan, gently putting the metal sheet down before reaching for the covered box.

“Alright, listen, this was supposed to be a surprise gift for you at the very end, but now you’ve gone and done this, so even if you have another gift just- eh- just take this.” Virgil said rapidly and partially incoherently as he shoved it at Logan.

Logan smiled as he pulled the blanket off. His smile grew wider, and more shocked, when he saw what it was. “Is this…?”

“A blue-tongued skink?” Virgil finished. “Yeah.” He then itched his neck again, awkwardly looking away from Logan. “I hope you like him. The breeder said that they’re good for beginners, so it shouldn’t be too much of a hassle, and I thought the blue tongue, eh, kinda looks like yours after you’ve had a lot of Crofter’s? Maybe this was stupid-”

“No, no it isn’t!” Logan said, stopping Virgil by grabbing one of his hands excitedly. “I love him, Virgil, really.”

Virgil let out a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding. “Good. I’m glad.”

Logan then chuckled, and Virgil raised an eyebrow. “Actually…it’s a little funny you get me him.”

“Why?” Virgil asked, worried.

Logan, still holding his hand, helped him up and pulled him to the guest bedroom. Virgil was still confused until he saw the glass enclosure sat on the desk against the wall. Within, there was a red snake with black and yellow stripes.

“This was my secret present.” Logan confessed as he and Virgil approached it. “A milk snake. They’re easy to take care of, and I hope the red colouring is bright enough you won’t have to worry about accidentally losing him. He stands out.”

“Wh-when did you get him?” Virgil asked, trying not to feel guilty that his own living gift was a spur-of-the-moment buy.

“About a week ago. I know you don’t really come in here, so I set him up in here.” Logan said, looking thoughtful. “We probably will have to go and buy him more supplies tomorrow, however, seeing as I only purchased the basics to keep him a secret.”

“I barely have enough stuff to keep your blue-tongued friend for a week.” Virgil said. “He’ll need a store run too.”

The sound of a doorbell rang just then, and Logan nodded as he headed for the door. “But that can wait for tomorrow.”

Virgil smiled and followed. “Yeah, it can.”

Half an hour later, they were curled up on the couch, Logan’s blue-tongued lizard (named Berry) moved to live next to Virgil’s milk snake (named Danger Noodle, though Logan strongly opposed the name). The pizza box was sitting on the coffee table, their own plates haphazardly set on the couch as they slowly abandoned eating to snuggle, only partly paying attention to Parks and Rec as it played. Logan was even in his unicorn onesie after Virgil insisted that proper attire for eating pizza on the couch was, in fact, not nice clothes but pajamas.

“Hey, Logan?” Virgil said, nestled as closely to Logan as he possibly could be.

“Yes, Virgil?”

“I love you.” Virgil said quietly, leaning his head on Logan’s shoulder and somehow getting even closer.

Logan smiled sweetly, gently pressing a kiss to Virgil’s forehead. “I love you, too.”

#the cryptid speaks #the cryptid answers #analogical #snake #deceit mention kinda #sander sides #fanfic #prompt fill

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mindfulwrathwrites · 5 years ago

Text

Lowry (Part 1 of ??)

26 June 2213 – Final entry

I have made a terrible mistake.

Everyone is gone. They . . . they're gone. I'm sure it's not that hard to guess what happened to them. I'm not sure anyone will find these logs to guess. But on the assumption. On the off-chance. On the . . . hope. I'm not sure hope is the right word. It's been a long time since I had any of that.

I don't know how much time I have, so I'll try to keep it short. I set the self-destruct, which—five minutes. Five minutes. So, I have five minutes, at the outside. Less, if Lowry finds me before then. Hahah. I'm shut up in the sim chamber, which is practically impenetrable, so maybe he won't be able to get in. Not, you know, surviving-the-self-destruct impenetrable, but. . . .

Deep breaths. No matter what, it'll be over soon.

My name is Simon Lowry-Davis. I am the last—to my knowledge, the last surviving member of the LudoCorp UpCarnate team. We were stationed at the LudoCorp Meridiani base. I was—I am—I was in charge of data management for the project. We . . . succeeded. We did exactly what we were sent up here to do, and we shouldn't have, and I—I didn't know it was going to go like this, I couldn't have known it would—

[unintelligible]

Oh f—

1 April, 2203 – First entry

O-kay, looks like it's working. Test test, audio test, one-two-three, one-two-three. This is Simon Lowry-Davis, new data manager for the UpCarnate team, recording live from Meridiani Basin on this beautiful April Fool's day on Mars. The weather's cold, the sky is clear, the base smells like feet. Arnette said everybody keeps audio logs around here, so . . . here's mine! Don't really . . . know what to talk about, but I guess we'll figure that out as we go, hahah.

Rrrright. Well. Today's activities included getting our storage set up, which is nooooot a small task. Best calculations are that human brains can hold, mmm, a hundred terabytes? Which wouldn't be that bad, except you wouldn't believe the amount of meta-data that comes along with. We have a whole room full of hard drives, and then an extra second room to store all the data about what's on the hard drives in the first room. I've been saying, right, that quantum computing is gonna be the way to go with all this, but apparently we don't have the money to send any of the supplies up from Earth, so it's either print-your-own computer or make do with the hard drives.

Didn't have the money to send two data managers, either, although it's my professional opinion that if you want any of this to get done before we die, you—anyway. Anyway. Obviously, I am . . . not going to be building my own quantum computer from scratch on Mars. That would be in direct violation of LudoCorp policy and also almost impossible. But also they would own it and anything else I make up here, so. Hell, they'll probably listen to these logs, if they ever get ahold of them.

Might have been nice to mention that, Arnette.

Ahem. Anyway. Nice thing about living on Mars is that you really don't have to worry about cooling your server banks. Comes free with the territory! So that's one good thing. That's the one good thing. Not that I'm complaining. Y'know. Cutting edge of technology, technically I'm an astronaut, pushing the boundaries of human innovation . . . and it's cold and it smells like feet. What're you gonna do, I guess.

So I guess that's gonna do it for my first audio-log. I have . . . way too much to do, here, I'm kind of hopping on this project late and there's a lot of unmanaged data already stuffed into every corner of the place, so—best be cracking on! Hahah. Super grateful for the opportunity and all the support, LudoCorp. Super grateful.

Anyway. Simon Signing Off. Cheery-o, or whatever.

4 April, 2203

What a fucking mess.

Ahem. Test test, one-two-three, yada yada. Yeah, so, it's worse than I thought. Hey, whoever at LudoCorp is trawling through these things for—signs of a psychological breakdown, or whatever—THIS IS NOT A ONE-MAN JOB. This isn't even a two-man job, this is a—this would take a team of, like, a dozen people. It would take a dedicated team a decade to get all your shit together for you, up here, okay, not just me. Like, I know I'm awesome, I know I'm the bestest little code monkey you ever did see, but this is balls-to-the-FUCKING-wall, you guys.

Sorry. Okay. Got it out of my system. I'm done, I'm good.

So, uh, in an effort to actually enable the project to move forward in a reasonable . . . human lifetime . . . I've started working on a system for organizing all this shit—ahem, all the scan data, and an algorithm for re-mapping scan data to the shells. Kind of like defragging a hard-drive. I'm gonna keep saying that until somebody goes Oh yeah gotcha Simon that makes sense.

'Course, that means spending a lot of time with the shells, which I did not sign up for, by the way. Those things are some real pieces of work, I tell you what. Leave it to LudoCorp to get the aesthetics up the other side of the uncanny valley before the software is even an inch off the starting line.

I—think I'm just gonna stop recording, here. For today. Before I say something really dumb that gets me fired. Have to wonder if they could spare the funds to come collect my sorry ass from Mars or if they'd just. . . .

Anyway. Simon Signing Off. Cheery-o, or whatever.

#09 Nov 2019 #sci-fi #horror #original writing #if i were to make a podcast

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dippedanddripped · 5 years ago

Link

Stüssy’s official launch date is anything but concrete. Don Letts, the musician, filmmaker and OG-affiliate of the brand says it all started in 1984, but Shawn Stüssy first remembers scratching his infamous punky scrawl in 1979. Without an official logo, per se, Shawn was making surfboards and branding them with a signature scribble -- a practice that, though he was unaware at the time, teemed with potential. He later applied it to T-shirts, earned cult acclaim, and a few years down the line, what is arguably the original streetwear brand was in business.

Underground culture was inherent to Shawn’s work, as was a William Burroughs-esque aptitude for combining scenes, ideas and tastes in simple, effortless clothing. Hip-hop, reggae, graffiti, surfing, skating, punk: a span of influences and urban cultures were brought together to create graphic-heavy garb, at a time when these influences weren’t as widely catered to. Before Stüssy, the youth were reinterpreting, borrowing and cutting garments up -- or, in the case of those seeking out higher-brow attire, stealing Ralph Lauren Polo. Stüssy filled a void; his work reflected what people wanted to buy.

Shawn’s ideas developed organically, spurred on by the ever-expanding network of individuals he came across. “He just kept on meeting like-minded people that were interested in similar things,” Stüssy’s former creative director Paul Mittleman says. “It just kept on going.” The International Stüssy Tribe, a club founded by Shawn, was the beating heart of the brand. One of the original members, Alex Turnbull AKA Alex Baby, remembers the first time he and Shawn met. Originally from London, then a hip-hop DJ in New York, Alex was hanging out with Jules Gayton, a DJ and part-time assistant to Jean-Michel Basquiat. They were routinely flying between London and New York, shuttling rare record collections across the pond. On one visit, Paul invited them over to the Stüssy warehouse. “It was basically a couple of rails of clothes in a space for something else, and Paul was just sitting there,” says Alex. “I remember leaving with a T-shirt and a pair of the beach pants, and they were just mind-blowing.” Never before had he seen such hip-hop amenable clothing. Not long after, Shawn would make a visit to London, attend a nightclub Alex was playing, and initiate six or so members with the now-infamous tribe jackets, complete with logos, names on the front, and ‘Staff’ stitched on them. Not your average hiring process.

With time, the tribe grew. In London, there was hairdresser James Lebon, Gimme 5 founder Michael Kopelman, streetwear scenius Barnzley Armitage, The Clash’s Mick Jones, Big Audio Dynamite’s Don Letts, and jungle pioneer Goldie. In New York, skater Jeremy Henderson, hip-hop A&R rep Dante Ross. In LA, thrasher Tony Converse. Not to forget streetwear kingpin Hiroshi Fujiwara in Tokyo. It was a network of taste-makers, skate rats and musical vanguards, spread across what Alex considers the world’s most culturally adept cities. “With the exception of Kingston, Jamaica, of course,” he’s quick to note. Through his tribe, Shawn had innocently stumbled upon and mastered a communication method that a good proportion of brands are still eager to decode today. “Shawn even pre-empted the whole 'viral’ thing, foregoing big budget advertising and trusting in the organic process of word of mouth,” Don Letts remarks.

Profiling the brand in the 90s, BBC 4’s The Look interviewed Shawn, as well as some of his associates in an effort to unpick the fashion phenomenon. Shawn’s modest attempt to explain his craft was “pants and shirts… and jackets and hats.” But behind the brevity of his response lay a firm confidence; after all, his formula of quality over quantity had garnered enough interest to warrant a BBC feature. “A lot of people collect them -- like these, there’s ten of them, and some people buy every single colour”, explains then-Stüssy’s store manager James Jebbia, pointing out the ‘S’ logo baseball caps. As you’ll likely know, he would later go on to found Supreme, streetwear’s eminent household name. And just as Stüssy had done before, sampling, ripping and re-appropriating became key components of the Supreme creative vocabulary. The former’s infamous interlocking Ss, a humorous ape of Chanel, would foreshadow the latter’s cease-and-desist Louis Vuitton rip skate decks. Looking back, it was oddly prescient, given that both would work with top-tier conglomerate fashion houses years down the line.

Paul draws a parallel between Shawn’s work and 80s postmodern art: just as Jeff Koons placed submerged basketballs in the gallery space, Shawn placed lyrics from American hip-hop duo EPMD on clothing. ‘I get goosebumps when the bass line thumps’, reads a now-coveted T-shirt. In introducing aesthetics and cultures deemed low-brow into public consciousness, Shawn’s graphic style also shared much with graffiti writing, which, as Alex is keen to note, was still considered mere vandalism at the time: “You were still a criminal, it wasn’t accepted as art,” he says. Regardless of public opinion, that confluence of cultures it implied made it widely wearable, as Dante Ross echoes: “We could wear it to a thugged-out party, to a trendy event or to go skate in, all depending on how we wore it.”

At a time when streetwear is unarguably ubiquitous, it’s easy to forget that streetwear was counterculture. “Without Shawn, there would be no streetwear”, says Ross Wilson, an acclaimed streetwear collector who sold a 1,000+ piece Supreme archive in 2018. “Shawn Stüssy is the reason I became immersed in this culture in the first place.” And it doesn’t seem like Stüssy’s contemporary relevance is in decline -- if anything, the opposite is true. ALYX creative director Matthew Williams grew up a Stüssy fan, citing it as “the first fashion brand outside of huge sportswear brands that I became aware of." He now regularly collaborates with Kim Jones at Dior, and his work featured alongside Shawn’s graphics in the house’s Pre-Fall 20 menswear collection. And then there’s Kim himself, who grew up working at Gimme 5, one of Stüssy’s first UK distributors. “He’s part of the community; he’s not just an observer,” Paul says.

While today the internet has allowed everyone, wherever they’re from, the opportunity to engage with street culture, things were trickier in the 80s. But despite the developments since, Stüssy has far from lost its lustre. If anything, the past decade has reiterated Stüssy’s position as a subcultural fixture. Whether throwing parties with Boiler Room or spotlighting Kiko Kostadinov, Stüssy has been – and still is – a driving force in contemporary culture and fashion. Nonetheless, its core values remain: quality clothing, radical graphics, and international community dedicated to representing the brand. As the network has expanded, it’s only grown stronger. The launch of Stüssy’s London Chapter store was a case in point: a BBQ attended by old disciples and a fresh batch of new ones. One of the newcomers to the brand, Jordan Vickors, is grateful for its illustrious history. “It’s been my home since the second I joined; everything Shawn, Alex, Goldie, Paul have built over the years has provided me with a hub of creativity and energy. I can’t thank them enough.” Indeed, as a print on a particularly iconic Stüssy T-shirt, referencing Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry”, reads: ‘In this great future, you can’t forget your past.’

#stussy #streetwear blog #surfwear #fashion blog

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rkevent · 5 years ago

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It’s a brand new weekend and a brand new episode of the Mnet Global Auditions. It’s already the third one and, for the first time in years, the show brings back the duo challenges to check what the contestants have to show for themselves when they’re with someone else. Some of the more memorable performances from the previous episode get a second to shine as small cuts appear on the screen before the public is reminded of who was sent some. In a survival show, not all will survive.

“What were your thoughts on last week’s episode?” The interviewer starts asking the contestants. “I thought my heart was about to explode. No, seriously!” LEE SUWOONG lays a hand over his chest and feigns exasperation. “I was terrified,” CHWE HANSOL comments. “I really thought that it was the end of the road for me. The fact I’m still here… I’m grateful for it every day.”

It’s CHOI MINHO’s face on the screen now. “I think there’s a lot of talent on the show this season and it’s amazing that the judges can narrow down the top 3.” HWANG YEJI appears next. “Getting told by Tiger JK himself that I am a good dancer- made me really happy and honored, honestly, I never imagined that I would be mentioned in the top performances. Let alone chosen the best dancer?” She nods her head. “I was confident that I wasn’t going to be grouped in with those who were eliminated,” JEON HEEJIN says, “but I wasn’t expecting to be picked as the best that day- like, not at all. I can only hope to keep meeting their expectations as we go forward.”

The camera spins around the set, showing the small modifications for the new episode. The contestants are all seated next to their partners and, as majestically as always, the CEOs make their way to their seat, officially starting the episode. From one of the corners, a judge picks up his microphone.

“Let’s bring the first performance of the day, please.” Hyun Bin asks and a camera zooms in on the duo sitting in the furthest corner. It’s pixelated, but it’s clear that one is a tall man and the other is a much smaller girl. The two make their way to the stage, and their identities can be confirmed. “CHOI MINHO checking in,” the man says with a grin. “I’m LEE NAKYUNG! Please watch us nicely!”

There’s a couch prepared for them and the girl is the one to lay down on it while the man chooses to lay on the floor. Before the song can start, the screen shows Minho in his interview. “How was it working with your partner?” They ask him, and he opens a wide grin. “Nakyung is the best. I couldn’t have asked for a better partner for the duo stage.” And then it’s the girl’s turn on the interview. She places a hand on her chest, her eyes shooting up while she smiles. “Ah, I really…” She looks back to the front where the camera is. “I’ve been a big fan of Convex since before their debut so this is… this was really something to me!”

They focus on her face while she’s laying down before showing Minho again on the floor. The audio around them is of someone leaving, closing the door behind them, and then driving off. The man takes on the role of a dog and goes pester Nakyung, the cat. At the start, their performance is cute and theatrical, incrementing their animal’s behavior to the dance. Suddenly, instead of running to the other’s arms, the girl pretends to hit him in the face. With this, the song takes a complete turn to something more energetic and the duo truly gets to show off what they got. In the end, however, had left at the start of the song comes back, and Minho drops his partner on the floor before laying down as he had at the start. To pay him back, Nakyung steps on his stomach before reclaiming her spot on the sofa.

It all ends as it had started, and the man appears again on the screen for some final comments. “We got to show different sides of us. Doesn’t Nakyung make a cute cat? I hope we get to work together again someday.” And the girl appears again, adding her own thoughts. “I hope that if there are more group opportunities in this season, that they pair him with someone else. I think most contestants could really learn a lot from working with him, just like I did.” Before they can call out the next duo, the camera shows the two in their seat once again. “I think we did well,” she’s the one to whisper to him.

“I enjoyed their performance a lot,” PARK WOOJIN says, “and I think that kinda routine needs good teamwork to pull off.” He stares blankly at the camera before continuing. “From an audience’s standpoint at least, it was just enjoyable to watch.”

The second duo to perform is two girls who make their way to the stage together. On their way there, KIM MINKYUNG gives CHOI YEWON an encouraging pat on the back. For their introduction, the two speak in unison. “Hello, we are Minwon.” Then, they move on to their personal introductions. “I’m Yewon the cutie rapper,” she says her words as cute as possible before winking at the judges. “I’m… just Minkyung, but I’ve never received any complaints!” The other jokes and then both move to get in their positions.

Choosing a song from Global Icon meant that you needed the charisma to make it work, and both girls show no problem with it. Yewon is in charge of the rap, and Minkyung is in charge of singing, and the dance isn’t too hard for both of them to follow along. If that wasn’t enough, the dance break is given to their cute rapper who shows off the skill she decided to move away from the last episode. She does her moves cleanly before stopping with a hand on her hip and a smug look on her face.

Once the song ends, the two share a hug before leaving the stage. Soon it was time for another pair. CHOI YOONA and WANG JACKSON take on the stage, and before they get to introduce themselves, the man appears seated for his interview. “Oh, I really enjoyed working with Yoona! She’s a really nice person and she’s also dedicated.” The girl also gets her turn. “Jackson's a sweetheart,” she says smiling. “We got along great — I think I got lucky getting paired up with him.”

She’s the one to open up the stage, the rapper in their duo. Their standing side by side, holding to one of each other’s hands. They get close a lot during their performance. There are times when one will cup the other’s face, while others when someone will touch the other’s nose, or pull them closer together. Therefore, the dance choreography is saved mostly for the chorus. It’s nothing too challenging, probably to fit their skills. Overall, it’s clear that they’re having fun from start to end. The performance ends with finger hearts that are aimed at the judges up on their seats. They hurry off the stage when they're done, but their faces appear again for some final thoughts.

“I think it was easier to work with one person, rather than a group?” Jackson comments. “Last year… there were a lot of opinions, and a lot of tension, but when it’s only me and her, it’s really easy and fun to work. We can only hope we delivered a good performance.” Yoona is shown as well. “Is it okay if I say I think we did well? Jackson and I wanted to do something fun and upbeat, we wanted to enjoy ourselves onstage — and I think we did. I did, at least.” She says, smiling.

Two more make their way to the assigned spot on the floor. The girl makes sure to give herself a proper introduction. Waving both hands, she grins brightly. “Do you see me? I’m SIA KIM!” When the camera moves over to her partner, CHWE HANSOL, he’s smiling. “Hey, I’m Vernon. Hopefully, this gets you thinking about your first love in the best of ways.” While they get ready to start, the boy appears somewhere else. “How was it like working with your duo?” They ask him.

“With Sia? She’s amazing.” He says without hesitation. “It was like two peas in a pod. Our heads were always in the same space.” Sia gets to share her thoughts as well. “I was a little nervous at first? I’d never met him before. We ended up working well together, actually! I helped to pick a song that I thought was good for both of our skills. We just really complemented each other, I think.” And so the lighting changes to accommodate their performance.

The girl is the one who starts by singing. Instead of going with a complete cover of their chosen song, they do some of the smaller movements so that it fits their own skills. The colors of their outfits match as if they’re a real couple and their voices work together to show their puppy love story. It’s during the chorus that they truly make use of the original choreography. It isn’t too hard to keep up with and it matches their skills well while they have fun. In the end, Sia rests her head against Vernon’s and looks out to the cameras, her hands lifted up to show a pair of finger hearts. “How do you think you did?” It’s the boy on the screen again being asked questions.

“I mean… isn’t that for the judges to tell me?” He scratches his head lightly before they move on to his partner. “I think we managed to show a bright side of ourselves today, and it was really fun to work with Vernon. Either way, I won’t have regrets but I’ll… cross my fingers. I think it’s all I can do.” HWANG YEJI appears to share her thoughts. “Chwe Hansol’s performance with Sia really had me captivated when I watched. They looked like a couple in love, right?” She smiles.

Followed by them, is two boys this time: DO KYUNGSOO and KIM YUGYEOM. They introduce themselves briefly before getting ready to perform. The two wore plaid shirts, but Yugyeom had a beret on his head, while Kyungsoo simple let his hair messy. “I will admit, I’m a pretty shy person.” Kyungsoo is the one to say it in his interview. “So I was nervous about the fact we were going to work in pairs.” Yugyeom seemed to have shared some of these thoughts as well. “I was nervous at first, you know? He’s a singer who I haven’t seen any dancing from. We both went into this unsure of what to expect. A singer and dancer paired who can’t do the other skills? Talk about a work in progress.” He laughs a bit at his joke.

When their performance starts, though, it’s clear that they plan on showing all of the skills they own. They’re both dancing, and they’re both singing, even if there was a claim that they weren’t good at each other’s skills. At some point in the chorus, Kyungsoo walks forward and shows the palm of his hand. On it is a red heart taped right at the center, and the boy shakes his hand excitedly before returning to the rest of the choreography. Once the chorus is over, Yugyeom puts in more energy on his dance, showing what he got. The ending pose is a heart that the two make together. “This was the most difficult performance for me to date,” Kyungsoo says. “I haven’t danced much in the past and it was hard. I think it is important to keep challenging yourself. One does not grow by staying comfortable.”

Yugyeom says the last few words. “I think we really came together as a good team.” LEE NAKYUNG appears to comment. “Kyungsoo didn’t have the skills to keep up with Yugyeom and it didn’t feel like they had harmony at all. Kyungsoo’s performance last week was so creative and eye-catching… I’m sure it was Yugyeom’s fault, though. I don’t even remember his performances, at that. I doubt he’ll make it far, and if he brings Kyungsoo down with him then that’ll be a shame, really. I liked him.”

The camera zooms in on HA SUNGWOON as he wipes his palms against his tights. “Nervous?” He asks the one beside him, his partner for the week. NA JAEMIN looks over to him and smiles a bit, humming as he nods his head slightly. “It’s now or never, though…” It’s the first of the two who takes on the interview. “I only vaguely knew of Jaemin in previous rounds,” he admits. “When our pairing was first announced I was pretty anxious. I didn’t know if we’d be able to work well or not. And admittedly, some of my fears were valid — I mean, we definitely clashed in the beginning. We both have strong opinions and we’re stubborn not to back down.”

Returning to the two on their seats, their names are the ones called. Sungwoon gives his partner a double thumbs up and a smile. “Let’s get it done!” They make their way to the stage, and start off with introductions. “We’re your lucky stars, Sungwoon and Jaemin.” Sungwoon is the one to finish it. “We’ll be performing with our own spin, courtesy of Jaemin. We hope you enjoy!” They choose to perform a rearranged version of a song originally performed by a female vocalist. The change in keys makes it easier for him to sing it, and while he does so, Sungwoon looks Jaemin’s way from time to time. The rapper gets to show off his skills in a long verse, and after their performance is done, the two share a one-armed hug.

After them comes what could be considered one of the more unusual combos. HWANG MINHYUN and SONG YUQI stand on the stage together as partners for this week’s mission. “I had fun,” the male admits in his interview. “I wasn’t sure what to expect when the names were called, but we got along well, and I think it translates well in our performance.” They take their seats on the stage this time, Minhyun holding onto his guitar. He gives her a nod before he starts playing.

They chose an acoustic version of a group song and, while he plays, Yuqi moves her head around waiting for the cue to her first lines. While the lyrics are gloomy, they try to keep the melody somewhat upbeat. They change glances throughout the song and move their bodies along to the rhythm. After they’re done and have to leave the stage, the two hug each other. “I’m so proud!” Yuqi tells him. “No matter what…” the girl holds onto his hand. “You’re amazing.” And so they show the man back in his interview. “I’ll be cheering her on for the indefinite future. You can count on me, Yuqi,” he says to the camera with a thumbs up.

“I could’ve done better, shown more of myself maybe, and I have some regrets looking back. It was nice to be able to play on stage.” KANG DANIEL appears on the screen next. “I really liked Minhyun and Yuqi’s performance. Their arrangement was really nice, and I thought it showed off their styles well. They’re both really strong and it was… a bit graceful? Elegant.”

This time is for HWANG YEJI and PARK JUNHEE to take over the stage. “Junhee oppa has been amazing,” the girl nods in her interview. “He has a great voice and is very underappreciated. He is in the same boat as Minho… not as known maybe but he’s amazing as well.” Junhee introduces himself first, followed by the girl. “Today, I want to show another side of myself.” She looks over to her partner who nods her way, and just like that they’re ready to perform.

The boy starts in the center singing acapella. After his first four lines, the song starts to play, and Yeji appears from behind him. She starts to sing as well, this time also dancing along to her words. Even with their song being in English, the duo does a good job at it, expressing the strong feelings that came with the musical song. When they finish, the two are standing side by side. Junhee swings an arm around the girl’s shoulder as they bow, and then exit. “I’m so proud of you,” he says to her. “We did well, didn’t we?” The girl chuckles, this time back in her interview. “I don’t think I can talk about how thankful I am to Junhee oppa. Thanks to him and my hard work I can say that I’m proud of myself.”

“Yeji had a lot of confidence when she walked on that stage,” DO KYUNGSOO comments on the performance. “I think that helped with her performance. Honest, I think she might win this whole thing.”

The next few names are called: JEON HEEJIN and KANG DANIEL. The boy looks over at the one beside him and gives her a grin. “Let’s do this.” He slings his bass over his shoulder as he stands up, and the scene cut to show him in his interview. “Heejin is great. She’s younger than me, but I admire her a lot. She’s self-assured and knows she’s meant to stand on stage, and she is. I was really scared of her at first,” he admits with a laugh. “Just because she- she won the title of best singer! And that’s entirely justified!”

“Working with others has never been an issue with me,” the starts on her own interview. “But I will say I do tend to perform better when I’m able to do exactly what it is I want to do- no one knows your strengths and weaknesses as best as you do.” They both stand on the stage, each with a different instrument. While Daniel chose his bass, Heejin carries an electric guitar. Just as worthy of the title given to her, the girl starts off by singing. The duo also decides on changing a more popular song into a dance remix, making it their own. While Daniel sings as well, the boy is also given some rap to perform as he did in the previous episode. Their voices eventually echo around the room, finishing off strongly. “I’m really proud of this,” the boy is the one to say it.

“I feel like this is where I really shine. I’ve put ‘instruments’ as my main skill on my MGA form for two years ago,” he laughs. SOHN YOUNGJAE appears on the screen. “If I remember right, Daniel hyung was involved in a band remix last year as well… Doesn’t it feel like a repeat? Honestly, I can’t help but wonder what he’s doing in a competition like this. Him and the rest of the band guys as well. I mean are they trying to become idols or do they just want to promote themselves? If they’re just here to promote their band… I think they should have let people who actually want to be here have a chance instead.”

“Let’s do this,” LEE HOHYEON mutters under his breath, sending a small nod towards JO YURI, his partner. Once on the stage, they take care of introducing themselves. “Hello, we are Riot!” The boy continues alone. “I’m Riot’s cool rapper, Lee Hohyeon.” And the girl finishes it off. “Hello, I am Riot’s main vocalist — Jo Yuri.” She smiles and waves towards the judges. “Please enjoy our performance.” Before they can actually start it off, it’s time to show some of the boy’s interview first. “I have to admit, it wasn’t easy at first.”

He lets out a small laugh. “We really didn’t hit it off on the right foot. But we managed to make it work and with a lot of hard work.” The cameras are back on the stage, focusing on each of their faces before their chosen song starts to play. “I want to see you all moving in those seats.” Hohyeon starts by looking at the CEOs before turning towards the other contestants. Yuri is the one who starts singing, voice deeper than what she had shown before. While the girl is in charge of reaching each pitch, the boy takes on the rap. When their gazes meet, they smile. During the chorus, the duo decides on following the choreography which is simple but adds a little extra to the whole performance.

They bow in thanks at the end of their performance before returning to their seats. Yuri gets her moment, too. “I was honestly surprised that we ended up working together. Plus, we definitely killed that stage, so uh…” she shrugs.

The next performance is by two girls, KIM JUNGEUN and JUNG EUNJI. “We’re Kimjungeunji,” Jungeun says in the safety of her interview, not in front of everyone else. “I haven’t shown much of my singing yet but she encouraged me to do my best.” But then a rather different question is asked. “So, did Shin Yuna’s comment about your dye get to you?” The girl who, now, has brown hair rolls her eyes and the scene is perfectly cut to show one from the previous episode. “Jungeun was a trainwreck.” One of the eliminated contestants, SHIN YUNA, says in the black-and-white filter. “Even her dye job couldn’t help her performance.” Back to the present, Jungeun comments about it. “Well, it seems to have helped. I’m here still,” the girl states. “She isn’t. Maybe she should have dyed her hair blonde, so she could stay in the competition.”

On the stage, both Jungeun and Eunji stand with their back to the camera, a hand on each other’s hips. With the start of the song, the girls turn around, and Jungeun is the one who starts singing, something she hadn’t shown before. They dance throughout the song, but it’s after the end of the chorus that things get serious. There’s a switch on the song, and what’s happening is a dance break which incorporated many aspects such as floor choreographies, wacking, and tons of hair-flipping. When Jungeun attempts a high note, Eunji joins her soon after, showing off her own set of abilities.

“It was a perfect remix to showcase their vocal talent.” CHOI MINHO says. “I think I was hooked the whole performance.”

Next up is a couple of boys, KANG HYUNGGU and SEO CHANGBIN. “How was it like working with your duo?” They ask Changbin first. “Oh, with Ggu - I mean, Hyunggu-ssi?” He laughs awkwardly at his response. “Please cut that first part out.” It’s on his partner’s interview that the other’s supposed mistake makes some sense. “I was surprised that I was partnered with Changbin, actually,” Hyunggu says. “I didn’t think that out of all the people here that I would be paired with someone that I’ve known for most of my life?” He grins then cups his mouth, leaning closer to the camera. “Binnie-ssi, I know you like to pretend you don’t know who I am, but we both know it’s a lie.”

They are each standing on their spots before their introduction. Hyunggu starts by screaming, running, and then doing a cartwheel, before hopping into Changbin’s arms. “The floor is on fire!” His partner replies appropriately. “It’s okay, I’ll freeze the floor, then.” Changbin spins, pretending to get rid of the lava and sets down the other boy back on his feet. “Hello, we are fire and ice!” They properly get into position this around, waiting for their song to start. It starts off with them both singing together. There’s a choreography that goes along with it and they start together with it as well. While Changbin raps, Hyunggu stands to the side, adlibbing and moving his hands to the beat. The dancer eventually gets his own chance to shine with a dance break of his own.

After being done, they high five each other before sitting down.

“Prepared, hyung?” KIM SEUNGHUN asks the one beside him, KIM HYOJIN. “I’m as prepared as I could be,” the other replies. It’s their turn on the stage, and they stand there together before introducing themselves. “Hello, we’re Spicy Pork! I’m Kim Hyojin,” he says. “And I’m Kim Seughun!” The other says. “Like our team name and our hair colors,” Hyojin gestures at their head, his with a red color and the other with ash brown. “We’ll make sure to burn the stage with our spiciness!”

Before they can start their performance, Hyojin appears in his interview. “It was like a dream,” he laughs. “Have you seen Seunghunnie? He’s handsome, tall, good at singing, charismatic - wow. He’s like my soulmate. I love you, Seunghunnie.” The boy flashes a finger heart to the camera and the other side of this romance, Seunghun, also gets to add his own thoughts. “I call him my soulmate,” he can’t help but cringe. “I’m embarrassed!” The boy hides his face behind his hands, laughing at himself. “Hyung, I love you!” he ends it with a playful and exaggerated tone.

The moment the instrumental starts, the two begin to sing in harmony. They carry fiercer, more serious expressions than the ones they were showing off before. It’s a rock remix of a more recent song that plays, and they have to live up to the part. The playful duo of soulmates has a new intense gaze to show off. Their tones are different but they don’t crash. They harmonize for the high note and then intercalate. When it finally comes to an end, they hold their charismatic poses before leaving the stage.

The next duo walks over to the stage, LEE CHAERYEONG, and NAM JOOHYUK. “To the top, we’ll be iconic!” The two say at the same time before introducing themselves individually. “How was it like working with your duo?” They ask the male of the group, Joohyuk. “Honestly, a bit daunting,” he admits. “I mean, you know at the end of the day you’re working not just for yourself anymore but for someone else’s dreams too. But I’m insanely grateful to be paired up with Chaeryeong-ssi. She was amazing to work with and she’s one of the most talented contestants around.”

They smile at each other before the start of their chosen song. It’s a popular song even these days, proven by the fact they had chosen it. The two manage to carry the skills to execute it properly, Joohyun with singing, and Chaeryeong with rapping. Having ranked as one of the Top 3 in dancing the week before, she also manages to show off in that area, even if the choreography isn’t the hardest for someone like that. Once they’re done, the girl gets to share some words from her interview as well. “It was very interesting to work with a complete stranger, but I think we worked together well and created a really nice performance. It was also really nice to show everyone on stage!”

Two more appear for their turn. It’s LEE SUWOONG and WONG YUKHEI wearing matching outfits. “Prepare for trouble,” Suwoong starts. “And make it double,” Yukhei continues, both of them pointing to the camera. “I’m Lee Suwoong,” the first one introduces himself by pointing a thumb to his chest. “And I’m Wong Yukhei!” Just as it often goes, there’s a break for comments, this time starting with a few words from Suwoong’s interview. “It’s like we’re platonic soulmates! At first, I was a little intimidated, because he’s tall and handsome, but he’s easy to talk to and doesn’t get stressed at all!” An image of his partner appears on the screen, a heart matching the ones on their matching shirts floating around him.

Yukhei appears after him. “I hope we can remain friends.” The heartbreaks, but the boy continues to speak. “He’s a fun guy and I think we go well together. It was sort of like working with an old friend.” And so they’re back on the stage, a bench appearing behind them. Yukhei starts off by singing first. Suwoong brushes his chin, and this wouldn’t be the only romantic moment between the two of them. They take a few steps back, sitting on the bench. When Suwoong begins to sing, the two hold up a sign with ‘I ❤ U’ written on it and then pretend to kiss behind it. They dance together, and the romantic duet carries on like that. It ends with them sitting back on the bench and a hand heart.

Taking a bit of a twist in the performances so far, two beings walk to the stage. They both have boxes on their heads as they bow down and then finally take them off, revealing their identity. It’s MIYAWAKI SAKURA and SHIN RYUJIN. “How was it like working with Sakura?” They ask the other member of the duo. “It was honestly the best thing that has happened to me in this show so far!” Ryujin says. “I enjoyed my time with her the whole time and whether we were practicing, out shopping for our outfits or making our cute boxes I had a pleasant time.”

The song they chose is fun and different. Both girls get to show off their rapping skills, starting with Sakura, and then eventually getting to Ryujin on the second half. When it’s the chorus and instrumental is what takes over their performance, the two girls dance together in a dorky, goofy way, feeling the rhythm of the song. It’s silly but refreshing. When they’re done, Sakura appears in her interview. “She really complimented my style of rapping, she has a deep voice that meshes with my soft voice!” She giggles softly, placing her hand over her mouth.

“Ryujin and Sakura were both cute. DO KYUNGSOO comments. “I appreciated the change from regular hard rap songs.” HWANG YEJI also has thoughts to share. “I doubt anyone imagined two girls to pull that off so well. It was like made for them and they had fun on stage. It was contagious.”

After the two girls, come two men. There are only three duos left, and with the boys come two chairs to the top of the stage as well. They introduce themselves as PARK JINYOUNG and YOON JEONGHAN. They each take a seat but, right before the song starts, it cuts to Jinyoung’s face. “We worked on musicals together in the past. I looked forward to being with him on stage once more,” he pauses. “I think we connected easily and shared ideas that strayed away from our main comfort zone. We took a risk. He made taking that leap a lot easier.”

Back to the stage, the song starts to play, and the two follow the same choreography, except mirrored. Jeonghan is the first one to sing. The dance is sensual but not sexual, and the two try to keep it like that. Without the presence of backup dancers like in the original choreography, they are bound to use each other instead. Jinyoung cups Jeonghan’s chin, one of the changes needed to be made for them to fit. They stand up from their seat and the dance gets more intense while they harmonize together. Their expressions follow the concept of the song with intense gazes and grins. With its end, Jeonghan appears in his interview as well. “I’m very happy with the stage Jinyoung and I put on. I don’t think I could’ve had a more suitable partner.”

With each performance closer to an end, the next duo is composed of PARK WOOJIN and ZHOU JIEQIONG. “I hope I don’t embarrass you up here.” She grins, elbowing her partner as they rise from their seats. “Let’s have fun, yeah?” And to that, the boy replies with a “yeah.” They are up on the stage now, and the girl is the one who starts them off by speaking in Chinese. “Hello!” She greets. “We’re the Cuties.” As she says this, the look on Woojin’s face is of pure regret. “We spent the week choreographing this ourselves so we hope you all love it!”

The look on Jieqiong’s face is of excitement during her interview, though. “I was so. freaking. excited.” She says. “I love working with other dancers, and Park Woojin and I worked really good together. He’s a cute and a talented kid.” Woojin shares his thoughts right after. “Her talent for choreographing is really cool. I’m grateful to her for guiding me along. I know I must’ve been a bit of a drag,” he chuckles nervously, rubbing at the back of his neck. Back on the stage, the two are crouched next to each other, side by side while the song starts to play around them.

They interact with each other, which is a notable amount, just as much as they do with the audience at the start. The choreography starts strong, and that carries along as the song progresses. They aren’t scared to get close to each other either, but it all stays in the lines of playfulness. The fun and upbeat song seems to be a good pick and one that matches the name of their group with their dance. Even at the end, they get to play a bit, following the fading music.

“They did a great job.” LEE NAKYUNG comments. “There was a lot of interaction between the two of them. They didn’t worry with getting close and I think that helped make it very refreshing.”

When it’s time for the next duo, SON HYEJOO giggles as SOHN YOUNGJAE offers his hand for her to take. They link hands and sway between them on their way to the stage. They bow dramatically before the start of their introduction. The girl introduces him first. “Give it up for our main boy, Sohn Youngjae!” And then he is the one to introduce her. “And this is Son Hyejoo, AKA Olivia in the house! Together we are Sons of Anarchy!” The team name is a pun on both of their surnames. “Please take care of us!”

The girl takes her position on the floor and the boy remains standing. With the start of the song, the two start stretching and yawning. When Youngjae lays down, Hyejoo sits up and starts to rap. Youngjae had his lines to sing, and then jumps into the chorus, both figuratively and literally. The original choreography that served for nine people was adjusted to fit only the two of them. When the song ends, the two of them fall to the ground dramatically. “Noona is a really cool person, don’t you think?” The boy says in his interview. “I think girls who rap are totally awesome!”

Hyejoo speaks a bit as well. “I’m really pleased with how this week turned out. I think we were able to show a different side of us.”

The final performance arrives. “It’s nice to see you again!” TAKADA KENTA greets with his partner, YOO TAEYANG, by his side. “We are Taiyo. It means ‘sun’ in Japanese, which is our name because we’ll be burning you up today.” The other boy wraps up their introduction. “Please enjoy our stage.” They face away from the judges, prepared to start.

Kenta starts it off by walking away, turning around and walking towards the judges this time as Taeyang comes rolling in beside him. They move around each other, following the same routine but giving each of them the chance at the spotlight. Taeyang gets his time to dance alone, followed by Kenta’s turn. They reach toward the judges, making a gesture with their hands. For the last piece of the song, they dance next to each other, but with their movements mirrored. In the end, they stand back to back in the middle of the stage. “I think that we did good,” Taeyang comments with a few small nods. “I think we complement each other well.”

“I think, um…” Kenta says in front of the camera. “We were really sexy. That’s all I can think about.” LEE SUWOONG appears again. “When you look at them… you don’t really think ‘sexy.’ Taeyang is always too serious, and Kenta’s cute. I told them to show off their abs during this part, but they didn’t listen!” SON HYEJOO has some thoughts to share as well. “I really enjoyed the powerful dance duo. I think it’s the perfect opportunity to watch these amazing dancers both of who have their own styles within the same category come together and produce something that sharp and precise.”

Bringing an end to the performances, the camera pans over the judges slowly before Tiger JK picks up his microphone. “There were a total of 20 duos, and you were all judged as a package, not individually. All of you gave your best here today. Even so, we’ve come to an agreement that some did better, and some did worse.”

“Who do you think is the most likely to make it to the next round?” The interviewer asks. “I mean, isn’t it kinda obvious?” JO YURI comments. “I feel like everyone who placed first in their skill will. Other than that, it’s a game of chance, really.” DO KYUNGSOO adds his own thoughts as well. “I think SUWOONG and YUKHEI had great energy together.” He puts an emphasis on the last word. “I really thought they looked like a couple.”

LEE HOHYEON comes next. “Also…” he chews on his bottom lip. “I do think it’s a little unfair. Of course, Mason is going to be one of the best. He was previously a debuted idol and had proper trainee training. How is everyone else supposed to compete with that?” CHWE HANSOL appears on the screen this time. “People keep mentioning Minho having been in Convex before makes the playing field unequal but wouldn’t it be held to a higher standard for him competing with rookies when he already debuted? He had expectations that had to be met and now he has to exceed those plus the expectations of others here too. Plus his fanbase is no joke. Even I am a fan of Convex.”

The screen shows the set again, this time slowly coming closer to the judges. It was time.

“We’ll start off today,” Tiger JK continues, “by announcing the top 3 performances.” The camera shows the contestants this time, all of them probably wondering if it’s their name that will be called. “I’d like to invite to the stage three duos. These are CHOI MINHO and LEE NAKYUNG, CHWE HANSOL and SIA KIM, and LEE SUWOONG and WONG YUKHEI.” The man nods slowly as the top best contestants of the week make their way to the stage. On each of the duos, one half was part of the top 3 on the previous week, each for a different category.

With all of them lined up, the man proceeds with his speech. “All of you showed that you could not shie on your own, but that you could also complement each other well. The six of you managed to show your own skills, as well as highlight that of your partner and deliver a good performance. However, only one of you can be considered the best of the week.” He takes a pause, staring at the contestants below him before he shares what’s on his mind. “The best duo of the week is… CHOI MINHO and LEE NAKYUNG.”

The man nods again, the corner of his lips only raising slightly. “You did not only show off your abilities regarding performance skills, but you put on a creative performance. While the two of you are very different, you managed to come together and use that to your advantage.” His gaze moves to the other contestants on the stage. “Of course, the four of you also did a great job. Congratulations to all of you.”

With the end of the announcement, all were looking forward to, it was time to break the news people were trying to avoid. Another judge picks up his microphone getting ready to speak.

“Unfortunately, not everyone can win.” So Jisub nods, scanning the room with narrow eyes. “Just like last week, there will be eliminations today. You were all evaluated on your performance as a duo and, because of that, we’ll be eliminating both members that took part in the performance.” This was already known information but that the CEO makes sure to remind everyone of. “While last time 10 contestants had to go home, this time it’ll be 6 of you. This means that from the 20 duos here today, 3 will be eliminated.”

The camera pans over some of the contestants' reactions before returning to the judge. “And the first duo to leave us is…” The usual tense song that plays exactly in moments like these gets stronger, everyone in the room nervous to know who it’ll be. “PARK JINYOUNG and YOON JEONGHAN.” So Jisub nods in their direction. “While you two seemed to have worked well together and complimented each other, I think you just complimented in a way that made you both seem mediocre. You’re both talented individually, but it felt like your performance overall wasn’t as great as we had expected it to be. We hope that, in the future, you’ll find something that works best for you.”

Jisub looks down once he’s done, confirming who is next that he needs to call. “The second duo to leave us is… CHOI YOONA and WANG JACKSON.” The screen shows some of the random reactions from the other contestants. “While it was clear that you were having fun on the stage, there are more factors to a good performance than that which, of course, you didn’t get to reach. You can’t just do what you like because you like it, but it needs to be something good, too. We may have had some expectations for you so, this was truly a shame.”

And so there can only be one elimination left. “The last duo to leave us today is… HWANG MINHYUN and SONG YUQI.” If the last duo could have been considered a surprise, this is at least a little bit harder to believe. “Considering Yuqi was one of the top contestants on her skill last week, this was a tough choice to make, but one we all agreed with. We could see that your previous stages could be considered a bit different from the other, and we were looking forward to seeing what you could come up with. It’s safe to say that wasn’t what we expected and also not better than it, either. It’s a shame that the result had to be this, but it’s what it must be.”

When the man finishes speaking, someone else picks up the microphone. This is usually the time they congratulate the ones who passed and say goodbye to the ones that are gone, but Katie Lee says something instead. “Except… this may not be the end of your road just yet.”

To see all the of this season’s contestants, click here!

And now, let’s see what’s in store for our fourth episode!

After the announcement of the latest eliminations, those who moved on to the next challenge were once again organized in duos, but this time with different partners. Both of the people involved should show at least one of their performance skills. The theme is to impress and to manage to show your colors even when sharing the stage with someone else. A list of the duos can be found below:

#5050 - ZHOU JIEQIONG #5032 - LEE SUWOONG

#5048 - YOO TAEYANG #5035 - NAM JOOHYUK

#5047 - WONG YUKHEI #5038 - PARK WOOJIN

#5045 - TAKADA KENTA #5033 - MIYAWAKI SAKURA

#5043 - SON HYEJOO #5029 - LEE HOHYEON

#5042 - SOHN YOUNGJAE #5027 - KIM YUGYEOM

#5040 - SHIN RYUJIN #5026 - KIM, SIA

#5039 - SEO CHANGBIN #5011 - HWANG YEJI

#5037 - PARK JUNHEE #5023 - KIM MINKYUNG

#5034 - NA JAEMIN #5013 - JEON HEEJIN

#5030 - LEE NAKYUNG #5022 - KIM JUNGEUN

#5028 - LEE CHAERYEONG #5014 - JO YURI

#5025 - KIM SEUNGHUN #5002 - CHOI MINHO

#5020 - KIM HYOJIN #5017 - KANG DANIEL

#5018 - KANG HYUNGGU #5007 - DO KYUNGSOO

#5015 - JUNG EUNJI #5008 - HA SUNGWOON

#5006 - CHWE HANSOL #5004 - CHOI YEWON

Eliminations will be made in duos which means that if a performance is considered sub-par, both contestants will be eliminated. Therefore, make sure to work well together and choose something that fits the two people involved. Or not! Take your risks if you’d like to.

The twist this time seems to be that those eliminated on this episode may still have another stage to show what they got. Those six people were organized into three new duos and will arrive earlier than the rest for the recording of their part of the episode. Only one duo will be allowed to return. After the results are announced to them, they’re allowed to wait backstage where a TV can be found and watch the rest of the recording. Those who don’t get a chance back on the show will only be allowed to leave after the other contestants are already on set to avoid breaking the surprise that’ll be the revelation of the returning duo at the end of the episode. Both of the people involved should show at least one of their performance skills. The theme is to impress and to manage to show your colors even when sharing the stage with someone else. A list of the duos can be found below:

#5049 - YOON JEONGHAN #5010 - HWANG MINHYUN

#5046 - WANG JACKSON #5036 - PARK JINYOUNG

#5044 - SONG YUQI #5005 - CHOI YOONA

All contestants are supposed to make their own way to the recording studio prepared specially for this episode. The set will be the same as last round and will look something close to this. On each side, 18 chairs will be prepared for the contestants to sit on and watch each other’s performances. The duos should sit together and, to ensure so, the seats have been marked with their numbers. Starting from the first chair on the left and going all the way to the last one on the right, the numbers will follow the list of duos found above. There will be an empty pair of chairs which are to be taken at the end recording with the announcement of the returning duo. Just because most eyes will be on the performance doesn’t mean no one will be paying attention to you. A set of cameras will have their lenses ready to capture any sort of interesting reaction from those watching (beware of the evil editing) while a couple more will allow different angles of the main performance to be captured.

Sitting on the higher ground, much more comfortable chairs are lined in front of the stage — five in total. This is where the CEOs of each big company will be sitting to make sure only the most captivating contestants will continue their journey to make this the best season yet.

Tune in next Saturday, the 20th, for our fourth episode!

MGA Season 5 episode four preview: It’s the second week of duo performances, and things couldn’t be more interesting! Will the contestants get to work well with new people, or will this be their new demise? If your favorite contestant got eliminated on the last episode, will they manage to come back? Tune in next week to find out!

[ All of the performances were aired in their entirety. Cuts from the show itself were uploaded to Mnets’s Official Youtube Channel. ]

If you made it this far, either if you were eliminated on this episode or not, you may add +3 POINTS IN A PERFORMANCE SKILL to your points tally. Make sure to link back to this post for verification.

Contestants have until midnight EST at the end of Friday, the 19th, to post their 200+ words solos about the duos challenge in front of the CEOs. Please tag all related posts with #rkmga5 and #rkmga5duos2. They’ll have two minutes to perform their chosen skill to capture the attention of the CEOs (as long as it doesn’t break any laws). Good luck! Song choices should be submitted to the rkevent inbox. Two duos performing the same song will not be allowed and this will be chosen on a first come first serve basis. This applies to the returning duos as well.

After the last performance is done, the CEOs will leave to discuss their thoughts privately. While this happens, the contestants will be taken one by one into a small room to be interviewed on their thoughts of the current state of things. They will be asked a variety of questions and some may be included in the list found below! Feel free to come up with your own questions if you think they can be fitting.

What did you think of the results last week?

How was it like working with your duo?

How do you think you did?

Were there any performances you liked?

Were there any performances you didn’t like?

What did you think of ___’s performance?

Which duo do you think complemented each other the most?

Was there anyone you think that brought their partner down?

Who from those eliminated last episode do you think will return?

Is there anyone you are certain will move onto the next phase of the MGAs?

Is there anyone you are certain will be eliminated today?

Once they’re done, they’ll be taken back to their seat to wait, or may go to the bathroom if needed.

You may also write an extra 200+ words solo about your muse’s interview, as explained above, to also be posted until midnight EST at the end of Friday, the 19th. For doing so, you may earn +2 CHARISMA OR CREATIVITY POINTS and these can be added to your points tally as soon as it is posted. Please tag all related posts with #rkmga5 and #rkmga5duos2. Please link this post as verification.

#rkmga5 #rkmga5duos

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