#Inspired by a funny post by ayes on twitter

[piratefishmama]

Vibe Check - Oneshot

Eddie would never claim to enjoy his job. It’d be far too strange for Eddie Munson to admit to enjoying a government based job but there was something fundamentally exciting about getting to see all the little gizmos and random shit that people tried to take onto aeroplanes with them.

Of course there was the usual, bottles of liquid over a certain amount, tiny scissors or nail clippers from grooming sets that they absolutely had no idea weren’t allowed on a plane. There were the fun days with the drugs, the weird days with bagged ashes for scattering purposes that looked like it could conceal drugs and thus had to be tested. Nothing like telling a family you had to test grandma for concealed cocaine cause the computer said no.

There were the shared looks between co-workers when they spotted a dipshit in line, be nice to your fellow flyers folks, the TSA might grab you for a full cavity check for funsies if you don’t!

But then, then, you’d have those people. The people who everyone would automatically judge by their cover because the cover was all they had. Eddie didn’t usually do that, he’d often stick with the vibes and let his co-workers base their hunches on looks, it worked for Eddie nine times out of ten but today..

Today he was off his game a little. The vibe check on this one guy was coming back ?????

Call a lawyer the guy looked like every suburban mothers' wet dream, the kind of guy who wore polo’s and sweater vests, and the type to have a yacht and actually go to the clubs for it on the regular, probably had a membership to his father’s golf club that he actually used. Maybe had a fancy corner office job in Indy, he looked like the corner office type. But the vibe check came back saying NAY, believing it on this particular occasion seemed like a stupid thing to do.

Like sure he was stunning, literally, just a beautiful specimen of a human being, which Eddie would quietly mourn never seeing again, but he looked so straight laced that even holding hands might be a stretch for him.

So Eddie was reduced to book cover judgements because the vibes were wonk. No big deal.

The guy was in his line, he didn’t look nervous or uncomfortable, taking his watch off, putting it into a tray, a ring not on his wedding ring finger went in, his members only jacket, his belt, and shoes, into a second went his phone and a small tablet plus their chargers. And into another went the carry on bag, he was prepared. He flew often enough to know about separating things into their own trays.

Probably some high-level business exec. He looked the type.

“Through here sir” his co-worker directed waving him through, the tray containing the guys carry-on was last, so he was through the detector clean as a whistle before Eddie had seen what was in his case.

Probably a good thing because Eddie nearly choked on his own saliva when that case rolled through.

Holy shit.

“Uhm” he squeaked. He. A grown man. Squeaked. He’d deny that later, even if his currently heated complexion was giving him away.

That... that was an entire carry on full of sex toys. What. The fuck. Was that a whip held together by handcuffs?

Maybe the vibes hadn’t let him down after all. His co-worker walked over, Mr Sex Pest in disguise cast them a raised brow.

“Holy shit...I’ll uhm ill just—”

“No the fuck you won’t” Eddie was up, scrambling around him after flagging the bag for checks. “I got this.” He had this. He was already in front of Sweater Vest before his partner could stop him from making the potentially career ending move of approaching the sneakiest sex loony ever with interest in mind. Sweater Vest could easily complain! Eddie had no real reason to flag it, they were all contained, no bottles, no concerning substances, just toys.

“Problem, sir?” Oh boy the airport was hot. Sweater Vest had moles, cute little moles, moving on.

“Just a few checks regarding the contents of your carry on.” Gloves on, he half expected the guy to try and stop him to save face, but no, he stood there with a raised brow and an amused little curl of a smile on his lips.

“Go ahead.” Zips open and holy shit. It was like Eddie had stepped into the back room of a sex shop. Floggers, a whip, plugs, vibes, clamps, shibari ropes, dildos, both fluffy and actually decent handcuffs, why have two pairs one shit and one not? They were all so neatly organised too, the man was tidy. Was that a sounding rod?!

Could be a creep, could be a creep, coooould be a creep.

“So...”

“So... sir?” Sweater vest seemed to be challenging him. Fine, he could play ball.

“Any liquids in here that I need to know about? Drinks? Lotion? Industrial sized bottle of lube?” At least Sweater Vest laughed. A surprised little giggle snort of laughter that sounded beautiful. Eddie couldn’t help but smile.

“Nope, that’d be in the checked case.” Oooh Sweater Vest had a sense of humour “sorry I know it looks a little whacky, I’m a panel runner at the BDSM convention in Illinois this weekend, i know i'm headed in early but panel runners have to get everything set up properly if they're there for the whole weekend.” Eddie’s eyes widened, holy shit the vibes WERE right, haha fuck you supervisor who called him arrogant when he claimed to just be able to tell with people. “These are for the demonstrations.”

“...Demonstrations, on...?” He had absolutely no right to ask these questions what so ever, his colleague was already probably planning on ratting him out, but while curiosity did indeed kill the cat, satisfaction brought it back!

“A friend, A willing member of the audience, a dummy, depends on the insurance the convention has, this one allows me to pick a very lucky member of the audience since my usual convention partner is in Hawaii on her honeymoon like a traitor.”

“So... you’re a uhm... a—” not okay not allowed big nope so very unprofessional he was so fired.

“Not a Dominant, no. I’m a Submissive, both professionally and personally” didn’t need to tell him the personally bit, didn’t need to tell him that at all but he did, it was there, Sweater vest seemed pretty happy about it being out there too “I co-own an adult shop in Indy, one of the best for this kind of stuff but I have plenty of recommendations if you're not interested in my shop, here,” Sweater Vest pulled a gods honest business card out of a small compartment in the case, which listed him as the managing director/owner of one of Eddie's favourite sex shops of all time, a shop he’d only ever ordered from online so he’d never seen the owners. They had an incredible BDSM range and also delivered discreetly, they were a privately owned small business run right out of Indianapolis, also on the card though, was an Only Fans account, holy shit. “That ok with you, sir?” Sweet Cheesus on toast, had his pants just shrunk?

Steve. Steve Harrington. God that was such a golf club guys name, Steve leaned forward onto his elbows at a slight bend, eyeing Eddie up like he wanted to eat him alive, any other situation, Eddie would have let him. He wanted to bend that little brat over his knee. He loved bratty subs.

“Illinois huh?” Eddie zipped the case right back up again, as if he’d actually checked anything. He hadn’t. “Was thinking of going to that one actually, more of a dominant myself though...” trying so hard to be nonchalant to the most beautiful and confident Submissive he’d ever seen in his life “this a beginners panel?”

Steve smiled, clearly not angered by this deeply unprofessional halt to his journey. “Beginner, intermediate, pro, it’s more new toy and prop range demonstrations and a Q&A mainly, a variety of folks usually attend so... no matter your experience level you should come, maybe I’ll even make you my lucky audience member.” Steve took that card back, just to make a show of slipping it into Eddies chest pocket, tapping it once for good luck. “Can I get to my gate now, sir? Or do I need to be detained? I’m sure a cavity search would be awfully entertaining for me...considering...”

He couldn’t not ask “Considering?” His throat felt so dry, where was a confiscated bottle of unopened soda when you needed it?

“There’s four plugs in there, I actually have five” he winked, he winked. “The fifth wouldn’t fit.”

“Fuck...” Eddie breathed, much to the man’s amusement. “You’re ah—you’re free to go” he couldn’t actually hold him there and his co-workers were already starting to glare at him.

Steve grinned broadly at him before moving to grab his things, calling out a cheery “see you this weekend!” before he was off, and Eddie was taking his break early to book the next flight out to Illinois.

[theoniprince]

If you had to pick one name/alias/moniker to go by, fandom-wide, what would it be?

Where, besides Tumblr, can people find you doing fannish things? (Obviously only mention sites and usernames you actually want to be found at. Don’t expose your secret identities on my account.)

What other names have you gone by on these platforms, including Tumblr, if any?

When did you join the IT fandom? And what got you into fandom, to begin with?

What are your favorite ships, or characters, if any, and why? What do they mean to you?

In what ways do you participate in fandom? (ex. Posting memes, reblogging/commenting on content, writing fanfic, making fanart, creating fanmixes, etc.)

Do you have any in-fandom inspirations? Other members of the community that drive you? (And if you have the time/energy, in what ways do they inspire you?)

Name and link some of your favorite works, please!

Do you have any works of your own that you feel particularly proud of, or wish more people would’ve consumed? Please provide links if possible.

Have you ever participated in a fannish event (ie. IT Week, a fic Big Bang) or applied to be a part of a fanzine? If so, which ones, and can you please link them?

Without any form of bashing or lashing out, what is something you feel this fandom is missing?

First of all thank you so much for asking me!!! 8D It was a pleasure to answer all these questions. During this I got quite emotional (haha Stanpat, Eddie). It showed me again how much I love this 8DDD

( I apologize in advance for all misspellings and my sloppy English =_=)

If you had to pick one name/alias/moniker to go by, fandom-wide, what would it be?

Oh, what a start XD I'm not that into nicknames. Generally people using my first name to address me or my username which is mostly onyprince (in reference to a character from Hakuouki) ID Sometimes they say Oni or J(ay) (Nickname for my first name). Do as you wish (though I like ‘J’ the th most) 😉

Where, besides Tumblr, can people find you doing fannish things? (Obviously only mention sites and usernames you actually want to be found at. Don’t expose your secret identities on my account.)

Twitter. But everything I post there is also here. Feel free to follow my account, but you don’t have to. https://twitter.com/oniprince_

What other names have you gone by on these platforms, including Tumblr, if any?

Oniprince_ (Twitter) yeah… you see, I am pretty boring XDDD

When did you join the IT fandom? And what got you into fandom, to begin with?

Actually 23 years ago (haha I am old XD) When I was eleven I saw the miniseries with my cousins for the first time. The horror factor wasn't that important to me or maybe I didn't see it that way. It was more like an adventure story with an unfunny and nasty clown. A group of friends who had to endure an adventure. In any case, it entertained me well, even if I was not aware of some elements like that it’s a story about growing up, friendship, love and all these issues around becoming an adult XDD Then with 13 I read the book. It was a  new experience, and I loved every single word. Over the years I talked with friends and Kingsianer (XD) about it and read it for a second and a third time. At this point I could start a list with things I don’t like about the movies, but I’d rather mention on thing I really appreciate about them: they are a good opportunity for a new generation to explore this universe. Every adaption like the book itself is a reflection of a specific decade and what is more yeah… immortal, universal and diverse than a story about growing up. It was a discussion with a dear friend about book to movie adaptions some weeks ago that probably brought me back to this fandom

Nevertheless there are things from the book I would have loved to see in the movies. Let’s be honest at this point if you want to adapt such a brick of a book you simply have to cut some elements. You can’t please everyone

What are your favorite ships, or characters, if any, and why? What do they mean to you?

Ships:

Stanpat - orz q__q they are such a sweet couple and it is so heartbreaking, they never ever had a real chance to become parents. They would have been excellent parents. Imagine them on a beautiful summer day. They have a picnic with their children and Stan would watch birds with them. He would tell them all about the birds and keeps a journal about their observations with his kids

Reddie - Despite the constant teasing their realtionship seems like a natural, casual und easy thing from the start. And Eddie likes the nicknames. These secret names are like another identity. He can be someone else. They take care of each other. Their relationship is a deeper friendship that runs mostly on an emotional level and is sometimes expressed through small, physical gestures. The chemistry between them is indescribable. It is cute when 90s Eddie immediately starts to giggle as soon as Richie makes a dumb joke at their reunion. And thing about the little moments when Richie pokes Eddie and calls him cute. I am won’t quoting this one passage in the book that leaves much room for speculations, but there is no doubt their special bond is official. In any case, the decision to make Richie gay in the movies gave the ship another push. I don’t complain. I love it. Though I still think Eddie would have been a better option. There are already some scenes in the book which are like an invitation to speculate about his sexualityTheir chemistry is very obvious and believe me, there is nothing I would more appreciate than a happy end for them Q__Q

Benverly  „Your hair is winter fire

                   January embers

                  My heart burns there, too

This is one of sweetest things I have ever read in a book and that is all I need to explain why I love this ship.

Fav, Characters:  Hmm when I read „IT“ for the first time I had a crush on Bill. He ist the born leader and in my childish, pre-teen way found his stuttering cute. There is something about him that cast a spell on you. It is perfectly understandable that he was a role model and an inspiration for his friends – especially for Eddie. In my personal opinion book!Bill ist the best Bill.

Richie - I love this chaotic megane dude. He is this silly type who use jokes, pranks to protect himself. His voices are like safe heaven (the same goes for Bill, whose stuttering almost disappears, when he pretends tob e someone else). He hides himself and his insecurities behind them. It is a shame that he doesn’t know what an impact he had on his friends. Richie seems to never ever shut up and sometimes his trashmouth is still talking, when he better should be quite. And I am famous to fall for funny characters. He can lights up the mood immediately ( and OMG…. I love Harry Anderson in the miniseries. A real entertainer, BUT BILL HADER…. Bill Hader…just to make it clear BILL HADER  did such an amazing job. He rocked the movie and I still think, not just because I love this dude since over a decade, without him… the movie wouldn’t  have been so entertaining)

Eddie - He is in these abusive relationships. First with his mother, who keeps him small and makes him believe that he is weak. At the end her own fears of beeing left behind prevented her son from becoming a self-confident adult. Eddie always thought he is weak and fragile. Although he knows that he doesn’t need all this medication, his childhood experience were the reason for his coping-behavior as an adult – he still uses his inhaler. He married a woman who is like his mother. Mike's call was something of a turning point. Until this call Eddie could not overcome his fears and had to face them again as an adult. I can remember. While reading the book there were several moments of silence and I stopped reading and thought: poor Eddie.

Ultimately, his story is about a hero who surpasses himself, overcomes his fears and by sacrifice himself he protects what is most important to him - his friends. It just touched me. Eddie gave his life for his friends and I think you can say he's my favorite character. His death may be a tragedy, but it was necessary for his character arc. My theory is that Eddie represents someone who has lost track in his life and prefer to stick on old but unhealthy patterns.It is almost like Eddie stands for missed opportunities, but at the same time it is never to late to change something. He is a hero. There are so many things I would like to talk about, therefore I should start an own thread XDDD

Oh and Bev - I could always identify with her (not bc of abuse or domestic violence. My childhood was amazing). She is the only girl around the losers and I was the only girl in my  favourite clique too. We spent most of our time outside ��- it was great. Of course I had other friends (female) as well, but with my boys… it was always special).. As you know as an adult she falls back in old patterns. Her husband is tyrannical man like her father. Again Mike’s call is a turning point.  Maybe the Benverly arc is the most satisfying. I was… I am very happy that Bev got her happy end.

Last but no least - I like Ben, Mike and Stan too. They have all there unique character treats and you sympathize with all of them. The Loser’s club is bunch of adorable idiots who just doing their best to become adults. I think it is normal that their friendship feels more intimate in the book – I highly recommand the book.

In what ways do you participate in fandom? (ex. Posting memes, reblogging/commenting on content, writing fanfic, making fanart, creating fanmixes, etc.)

Mostly fanarts, but recently I thought about posting my own theories and sharing my hcs and random stuff about the characters and the different relations.  

Do you have any in-fandom inspirations? Other members of the community that drive you? (And if you have the time/energy, in what ways do they inspire you?)

The fandom is full of amazing artists and writersand actually it would be a, but i want to name those who inspired me the most (mainly artists – hopefully I copied the links correcty):

https://tonyofthetrees.tumblr.com

https://meowsteryyy.tumblr.com

https://slashpalooza.tumblr.com/ ( you have to check out ‚Loose Ends‘)

https://coldcigarettes.tumblr.com

https://vvanini.tumblr.com/

https://eggocrumbs.tumblr.com

https://twitter.com/10_sgan

https://twitter.com/kasphacked

https://twitter.com/tac_nor

(oh.. the list got longer than expected IDDD)

Do you know this?

https://ragnarozzys.tumblr.com/post/189890790551/those-early-hours-after-a-sleepover-when-you-wake

Have you ever seen something as cozy and cute before I///D? – me neither XD

Trust me they are all worth a visit and I am sure most of us already know them 8D

Do you have any works of your own that you feel particularly proud of, or wish more people would’ve consumed? Please provide links if possible.

My art I provide on tumblr can be found here:

https://theoniprince.tumblr.com/tagged/myart

Honestly I like these the most:

https://theoniprince.tumblr.com/post/649446311120273408/my-first-reddie-sketch-now-scanned-the-quality

https://theoniprince.tumblr.com/post/649548606679007232/close-to-you-now-scanned-with-coloured

https://theoniprince.tumblr.com/post/650697175346593792/hammock-iconic-richie-is-reading-a-monthly

Have you ever participated in a fannish event (ie. IT Week, a fic Big Bang) or applied to be a part of a fanzine? If so, which ones, and can you please link them?

Oh… unfortunately I am not feelin‘ very confident about my own artworks. Sometims I have the feeling I am not creative enough and that my ideas are more or less boring. Nothing special ID Totally dumb – I know. As I mentioned before I came back lately to the fandom… I guess I missed many amazing IT weeks. I participated in some weeks/mainly shipweeks in other fandoms (Yakuza/Ryu ga Gotoku, FFXV) If I find an interesting annoucement I can imagine to participate in the future ; )

Without any form of bashing or lashing out, what is something you feel this fandom is missing?

In general… the fandom is really friendly – I hope so. Lately I have seen some salty comments on different stuff, topics… and well.. I have just an advice: life can be exhausting enough and time is always running. Don’t spend time on things you don’t like. Discussions can esclate quickly and worde can hurt too. So, just thing about before you jump in.

Thanks again! <3

(Special lil sketchy piece of art I did for this ask)

[supersizemeplz]

Partner in Mischief

Shuri & Black PlusSized Reader

Another #supersizedfic short. In a world where you both are best friends and dating Erik. For the my girl @alexundefined . Somewhat inspired by this video. Enjoy!

A gentle breeze passed by, dancing past the workers that tended to the garden. Five little wooden tables occupied the patio area close to the palace, each holding a large umbrella to shelter anyone at the beneath from the Wakandan sun. Closed off by a decorative iron fence to the rest of the vast garden. The table you and Shuri occupied was the farthest to the right of the door. Beside a group of large rose bushes.

Laughter filled the air, mostly from Shuri as she bent forward a bit. Slapping her leg as she covered her mouth. You chuckled at her, sitting your cup of tea down. "That wasn't my fault, Shuri! Erik set me up." Brushing a curl behind your ear, you rested your arms on the table. "He knew I didn't know Xhosa and used it to his advantage. I gave him the silent treatment for a week after that."

"Eh, I remember that too well. He was moping around like a sad puppy and asking me to help him get in your good graces again.." She grinned as she stirred her coffee. Deciding against the tea because she'd never liked the taste. "I have really missed you around here, best friend. It's about time you'd moved out here permanently. Erik had mentioned something about you getting flewed out, but I wasn't sure when."

You choked on your tea, laughing as you patted your chest. Assuring Shuri you were fine. "What'd you just say?" You grinned, sitting your cup back on its saucer. She repeated herself and you cackled louder.

"I said he'd mentioned something about you being flewed out, but I didn't know when.." She chuckled at your dabbling your napkin under your eyes. Tears of laughter seeping from your ducts. "Did I say it wrong? It is pronounced flewed, correct?" The young princess had been introduced to the term by Erik. Finding it a bit funny, herself, and looking into it on her Twitter.

"Yeah, you said it right girl.." You sighed happily, fanning your face as she grinned. "It just caught me of guard. Whew chile.." Your accent made the young royal smile before she remembered something.

"I also looked at a few other things on Twitter and learned that dance from the last time you visited.." She beamed, pulling up a song on her phone to dance to. "Erik helped me as well. With hitting them folks and what have you.." The princess went on to tell you that she'd wanted to do the little routine with you. To post it to her instagram.

After setting up the camera, Shuri backed away from the propped device until she stood by your side. "Ok, you ready?" She looked to you, watching as you nodded and adjusting your jumpsuit. She instructed her beads to record before playing her music. You started off slow with her, getting into the rhythm before she started the little two step.

"Aye!" You chanted as you both hit dem folks, making her chuckle. "Try this one, Ri." Getting your footing right, you started doing the 'shoot' dance only moving a one fist. She watched you a few times before she joined in. Dancing in sync with you before teaching you a few moves as well.

Okoye and Ayo stopped to watch you both, standing at the large open doors. Both smiling at the interaction. "I knew she'd be a perfect fit into the family.." Okoye chuckled, giving one last glance to the duo before they both went on their way. "Not to mention she keeps Erik in line.." The two generals laughed at that, knowing how much of a handful Erik could be.

The music stopped and both you and Shuri caught your breath. Smiling as she replayed it for you to see before posting it. You looked at the time on her screen as she tagged you in the post. "You got time to come with me bother your thick necked cousin?" Adjusting your outfit, you glanced at her. Mischief in your eye. "I'm sure he's out of that meeting by now and stowed away in that office."

Shuri locked her phone and slipped it in her pocket, smirking as she met your gaze. "That sounds like a plan. I'll race you there?" She took off towards the palace before she ended her sentence, her braids bouncing against her as she ran. Her long legs creating a distance with ease. You slipped off your heels, talking off after her as you laughed out that she cheated. You'd really missed your little partner in mischief.

________________

Taglist: @sisterwifeudaku @kumkaniudaku @elaindeereads @wawakanda-btch @theunsweetenedtruth @hold-me-like-a-heart-beat @unholyxcumbucket @purple-apricots @marvelpotterlove @onyxvixen-writer @chaneajoyyy @disneysdarlingdiva @wakanda-inspired @justanotherloveaffair @cmonkillmonger @princesskillmonger @theblulife @airis-paris14 @fonville-designs @liviy00 @cosmicmelaninflower @whoramilaje @yaachtynoboat711 @yofavcocoa @teheeboo @alexundefined @kaykay0829 @terrablaze514 @iwrite4poc @truglori @muse-of-mbaku @killmongerdispussy @jozigrrl @thedelightfulone @bugngiz @fiercedeception @tinyelfperson @ashleychristina73 @ikeea-world @desireatatyana @amethystbutterflie @chefjessypooh

[loveandcigarillos]

FDT

T’Challa x Black!Reader (ft. Shuri, Agent Ross, and Okoye)

A/N: Inspired by @brianabreeze and @wakanda-4evr with their T’Challa imagines and cannons. 

Warnings: Like 6 curse words.

“I like white folks but I don’t like you…”

Shuri and Y/N silently bopped their heads to YG’s lyrics as they busied themselves with their separate projects.

A visitor was on the way to Wakanda and each of them had presentations to make to the latest world leader to enter the once isolated nation. Usually they’d be excited to discuss their respective departments but today was different.

“Fuck Donald Trump! Yeah, nigga, fuck Donald Trump!”

“This song is so profound. Such poignant lyrics.” Shuri remarked with a smile causing Y/N to let a out a few chuckles. Before she could respond with equal amounts of praise for the Californian’s diss track to the leader of the United States, her husband walked into the lab.

Instead of being dressed in his normal traditional attire, he held two ties in his hand, studying the options to decide which one he would pair against his deep blue suit and white button down.

“My love, which of these would you-. What is this?”

“This is poetry!” Shuri answered increasing the volume as Nipsey Hussle's verse began. “Don’t you like it, brother?”

“Shuri,” he started with a smile. While his sister’s antics were funny, the song was inappropriate for the occasion. “while your friend YG’s music is rather poetic, this is not the time for this particular song.”

“Pick the kente one, baby.” Y/N answered in between laughing at her younger sister. She gently pulled the piece of cloth from T’Challa’s hands and positioned it around his neck to begin the process of tying it for him.

He gave her a thank you in the form a forehead kiss and turned his attention to his sister.

“You don’t like Mr. Trump, eh?”

“No, and neither should you! He shouldn’t even be here. Do you see the things that he says on Twitter?”

“I am not familiar with the platform. You run my account, remember?”

Shuri declined to verbally answer his question, instead showing him a series of tweets that were fired off at ungodly hours of the morning about matters that a world leader normally would not entertain.

T’Challa gave the tweets a curious look, not sure what he should do with the information. “Maybe he is just passionate?”

“Or maybe he is an idiot.” Y/N spoke up after doing the final adjustments on his tie and slightly lifting her body on her toes to kiss his nose.

“Do not tell me you have objections as well, uthando. I can not have you upset during this. You are set to entertain his wife.”

“And I will do just that. I will do everything in my power to support you. Still, he’s an asshole.”

“Listen to the outsider.” Shuri sneered.

Y/N playfully rolled her eyes and turned to meet T’Challa’s confused expression. “This man is not good. Do you know how he feels about nations like the one we are standing in right now?”

“I think the expression is ‘shithole country’?” Agent Ross answered strolling into the lab. T’Challa had requested Everett’s attendance to act as an advisor for the day. T’Challa claimed that it was because Agent Ross is an American but Y/N knew better. The King needed a bridge between himself and the white man he’d be greeting in mere moments.

Ross greeted everyone in the room with the customary bow before handing T’Challa the tablet with the afternoon’s pertinent information.

“Shithole?”

“That’s not even the worse part. He says he grabs women by the pus-“

“What Shuri was going to say,” Y/N said loudly enough to stop Shuri’s sentence. “,is that Mr. Trump frequently says inappropriate things. Be careful.”

T’Challa’s eyes shifted between the three of his advisors,wondering how they had allowed him to put his beloved country in such a volatile situation. If he had been privy to this information even a day ago, he would not have allowed this man within Wakanda’s borders.

Before he could inquire further, Okoye cleared her throat to get the King’s attention.

“My King, your guest and his wife are here. He is touching things and my desire to impale him to the wall is growing more and more by the second. Please, join us.”

Y/N placed one more kiss against his lips though he was too distracted to return it. She firmly grasped his shoulder to turn and push him towards the laboratory’s exit, giving Agent Ross a non-verbal cue to make sure that her husband would be okay. Everett gave her a reassuring look before following T’Challa to the main foyer.

“Are you ready, little sister?” Y/N asked while collecting the materials that she would need to make her presentation on Wakanda’s innovative education system.

“As ready as I’ll be. But, if he gets out of hand…” Shuri said trailing off and lowering her voice. “I’ve created a remote catapulting system that will send him flying all the way back to the Oval Office.”

The day was relatively mild once the group split off into their own jobs. Y/N spent much of her time explaining how Wakandan pupils matriculate at the nation’s post secondary institution though Melania did not seem to be paying attention. In fact, the dead look in her eyes translated to more of a lack of understanding than lack of interest. Her only responses were her unrelated questions about the Queen’s jewelry or about the decor in one of the palace’s sitting areas.

“You are American, no?” Melania asked abruptly, cutting Y/N off in the middle of her sentence. Though she was internally ticked off by the interruption, the Queen remembered her promise to her husband.

“Yes. I’m originally from Georgia but spent the latter half of my adulthood as the head of the education department at Teachers College, Columbia University.”

“We are very similar!” The First Lady answered reaching to grab Y/N’s hand. A swift movement allowed the Queen to escape the unwanted contact causing Melania to awkwardly clasp her hands in front of her.

“You were the head of an education department?”

“No...but we both married very rich men to get to get to where we are.”

“I…,” Y/N trailed off deciding whether or not she wanted to gather the woman walking beside her. “...sure. Of course.”

Her answer was given through gritted teeth presenting themselves as a forced smile. Before she could go on, T’Challa rounded the corner ahead of President Trump and Agent Ross clenching his eyes shut and rubbing his temples in tight circles.

When he finally opened his eyes, he was met by a sympathetic yet amused look from his wife. She new exactly how he felt.

“Back so soon, handsome?”

“Ay, beautiful, the two hours, 37 minutes and 14 seconds I spent away from you were far too long.”

T’Challa placed an innocent kiss on Y/N’s lips, simultaneously whispering ‘help me’ against her mouth sending her into a fit of giggles.

From the outsider's perspective, it looked like the newlyweds were harmlessly flirting. President Trump, not wanting to be outdone, made an attempt to grab his own wife. Mimicking Y/N’s maneuver earlier, she quickly dodged his advance, preferring to examine her nails for the 100th time that day.

“Uh, hi lovebirds,” Agent Ross said gaining the attention of everyone in the vicinity. “Yeah, Shuri says that lunch is ready. Shall we?”

“Ah, yes, lunch. I had my staff prepare a fusion of Wakandan and American dishes. I hope that they are up to par, Mr. Trump.”

“President.”

“Yes...President.”

The group proceeded to walk idly down the long corridor to the formal dining room, making small talk as they inched closer to the large doors at the end of the hallway.

“Shuri has the system prepared whenever you’re ready, T. I have the remote. Just say when.”

“That won’t be necessary, Y/N.” He laughed, slyly removing the small remote from his wife’s hand and intertwining his fingers with hers. “Only lunch is left and this day will be done.”

“More than enough time for you to make it up to me, hm?”

The two of them wiggled their eyebrows at each other, sharing a loud laugh while rounding the corner to enter the spacious dining room.

T’Challa pulled his wife’s chair out before making his move to the head of the table. Noticing that the president had already sat down before doing the same for his own wife, T’Challa graciously pulled out her chair earning another amused look from Y/N. She would tease him about that later.

“So little girl,” Donald said directing his statement towards Shuri. “What’s your name?”

He spoke to her in slow measured sentences as if she were a child that had not yet grasped how to properly communicate.

“I am Princess Shuri. You may address me as such from this moment on. Thank you.”

Muffled coughs and amused laughs were scattered across the dining room. Trump opened his mouth to speak again but closed it, instead preferring to address Y/N for the first time that day.

“Y/N -“

“Queen Y/N” She corrected, stealing a glance at a smiling Shuri.

“Right, Queen. Are you planning to produce a son for the King? I’m not sure how you people do it here but, in my country, a son takes over for his old man when the time comes. You want that for your husband don’t you?”

She opened her mouth to speak but felt a hand grip her thigh, advising her to let her husband handle this one. T’Challa could handle the microaggressions but would not allow his wife to be disrespected.

“When the time is right, an heir will be born. It does not matter the gender of the child. They will inherit the throne barring some unforeseen circumstance.”

“I see.” Trump answered. It was evident that he had more to say but decided to turn his attention Agent Ross instead. “What department do you oversee here? Must be big considering you left the greatest country in the world to come here.”

“Well, actually, I don’t -“

“He runs nothing in this country. Why do you assume that?” Y/N piped up. The entree had not even been brought out and the meal was already spiraling out of control.

“He’s an American. He came over here to help you people. That’s what we do.”

“You people, eh?” Shuri inquired. “Tell me, Donald, what kind of people are we?”

“This is adult business, princess.” He said, laughing. “Kids, I tell ya.”

Everyone one in the room watched in shock as the outsider took the back of his hand and lightly tapped T’Challa’s chest. All eyes followed T’Challa’s as he looked to the spot that had just been touched and back to the offender.

“Yep. I’ve made that mistake before.” Agent Ross said while shaking his head and sipping his water. “The nice bald lady won’t like that.”

“Kumkani wam, ndimele ndibeke isandla sakhe ngomkhonto okanye ngamazinyo?” Okoye had asked the King about the proper method to dispose of the target hand while staring at the now pale man.

T’Challa only raised his hand as a signal to stand down. He calmly removed the napkin from his lap and stood, causing everyone to stand along with him in anticipation.

“Mr. Trump, I believe it is time for you to go. Perhaps we can continue our conversation through an email? Allow my wife and I to escort you all to the loading hangar.”

Though his tone was pleasant, there was no mistaking the firmness in his statement.

The dignitary quickly stood up, making a move to shake his peer’s hand but receiving a blank stare in its place.

Y/N latched on to her husband’s left arm, discreetly turning to Shuri to give her the thumbs up.

The couples quickly made their way to the aircraft responsible for returning the unwanted guest and his wife back to the U.S.

Hasty goodbyes were offered before the older man and considerably younger woman were completely out of sight.

“You know, I feel bad for her. It must be hell having to wake up to that every morning.”

T’Challa let out a belly laugh while pulling his wife close to place a kiss on the top of her head. Once he had settled, he used his Kimoyo beads to reach his teenage sister.

“Shuri, play it over the palace speaker system.”

“Play what, brother? There are no announcements in the queue.” She replied confused at her older brother’s request.

“Play the song.”

A devious smile played at the princess’s lips before she emphatically pressed play on the board in front of her.

“Fuck, Donald Trump. Yeah, nigga, fuck Donald Trump!”

[antiques-for-geeks]

Review Special : Talking to Stuart Benny of Benny Games

It’s all the rage these days, tracking down the authors of games you used to play to find out more about them, their game and what happened to them. As you’d expect, some are more difficult to track down than others and even when you do, not all of them are willing to speak with you about the past.

Surprisingly, Stuart Benny was quite easy to find - a quick search on LinkedIn turned up a profile and a quick exchange of messages later, he agreed to do a short interview over Skype as like the rest of us, he’s isolating while the latest Pandemic plays out.

We caught up with Stuart from his home in the Midlands to find out more about Benny Games, how he came to write the seminal On The Busses, the aftermath and were intrigued to hear that he is back on the development trail.

The familiar, minimalist logo of Benny Games as it adorned software shop shelves for those fleeting few years in the 1980s. 

AfG : Hi Stuart, how the devil are you?

Stuart Benny : Not bad thanks. I’ve managed to avoid this Corona thing that’s going around up to now thankfully. Seeing all the news stories, it’s quite scary.

Yeah, it’s quite something isn’t it? We’re all working from home which seemed a bit inconvenient, but at least we no longer have to put up with Meat reading Twitter out loud at us all day and telling us every five minutes that we need to buy more bog-roll.

Fortunately I work from home these days, so not a problem for me. I don’t miss sharing an office.

So what do you do today?

At the moment I work with development teams out in India building commerce software. These days I don’t write the code, I just prepare a specification for the off-shore coders and talk to the clients here in the UK. IT is not as much fun as it used to be. Back in the day I worked in a team of coders that wrote the software the team in India now extend. Seems to be the way of the world.

Your early work led to a career?

Yeah. To be fair Benny Games ending was a good thing as it meant I was able to do things like go to University. I think I would have missed a valuable experience, but it would have been brilliant to have been up there with Peter Molyneux or David Braben.

Tell us about it. Pop, Meat and I tried our hand at a lot of programming but didn’t get very far.

It’s not an easy business.

How did you get involved in it?

I had gotten hold of a Spectrum in 1984, it was one of the rubber key ones that we got from my cousin who changed his for a Spectrum+. I’d played games round my friend’s houses but really wanted to create my own so I spent my lunch break learning how to write BASIC on the school computers. Getting the Spectrum was the final piece in the puzzle because now I wasn’t limited to an hour a day on a computer and had a proper manual that showed you how to write programs.

So I studied the manual and experimented. I created a basic Space Invaders clone called, imaginatively, Invaders from Space and sent it to budget labels, but they weren’t interested. That’s when Benny Games were born, I thought the game would be able to sell so I took some money I’d earned from my paper round, bought a pack of ten computer cassettes from Boots and my brother duplicated the game on his tape-to-tape. My friend Martin [Freeman, no relation to the actor] drew a cover, which I got photocopied on the machine down the library. Once they were all ready, I put a classified ad in the local paper and waited for the orders to come in.

And was it a success?

I managed to sell the ten tapes eventually.

I guess that not having the advertising push didn’t help.

At the time I was really disappointed, but I think that it was definitely a learning experience. It didn’t occur to send a review copy to a magazine, but to be honest, it was probably for the best.

But it still sold, so that must have been a small encouragement.

Maybe, but it underlined that I couldn’t do it all by myself. So I asked Martin if he wanted to help me on the next game. He had a Spectrum too and things like a joystick interface.

And that game would be Star Crash?

Star Crash, Yes. Martin had got a copy of the film on VHS from his Uncle and we used to watch it. We wanted to make a game that closely followed the plot, but we didn’t really know how to make it work, so we focussed on the space battle at the end of the game and made a shoot ‘em up. I did the code for the game itself as well as the sound effects and Martin designed the in-game graphics and box art.

It was a nice little game, influenced a lot by Galaxian, but subconsciously. There was one of those machines at the youth centre and Martin played it a few times. The big difference technically was that we did it in machine code, which sped the game up.

Again, we sold it direct for £4.99, but this time we put our money together and bought an ad in one of the Spectrum magazines and got more orders than the first time.

Looking back, at the time it didn’t occur to us to think about licensing for Star Crash. We were working in such a niche and at such a small scale, we got away with it I guess.

I must confess I struggled to find Star Crash. It’s not on sites like World of Spectrum.

No, I think it’s been largely forgotten. I think that Martin sent a review copy to Crash, but we never heard back from them. Must have got lost in the post.

I recorded over the original tape I saved the game on in the 1990s with a Menswe@r album.

So when would this be?

Probably 1995.

No, I mean when was Star Crash released?

That would have been 1985.

You’ve released two games now, so how did you go from that to writing On the Busses?

Well, Martin and I decided to leave school at 16 and set up for ourselves. We got a small loan with my Dad from the Local Government Enterprise scheme and set up in our garage.

Our plan was to release our own games, but a couple of our mates wanted us to release their efforts. That’s how Fletch (Andrew Fletcher, musician for On the Busses) got involved. He had written a text adventure version of a Doctor Who story called The State of Decay on the Commodore 16 and gave it to us. We changed the names of the characters and the planet and put it out as The Vampires of Proximus 3. It had this in-game music that really added atmosphere. It sold pretty well.

We also were sent a rough and ready version of Track and Field for the Spectrum by a local man who had bought one of the copies of Invaders from Space and wondered if we’d be interested in releasing his game. That was an ego boost. It had this weird bit in it where if you medalled, you had to negotiate with the doping control about why your wee smells funny. No-one else was doing it, so we left it in.

We tried to tie it into the buzz about the 1986 Commonwealth Games. It was called Edinburgh Games ‘86. That was less successful because we rushed it out.

Again, we struggled to find any trace of them online.

Yeah, I’m not sure where they ended up in the end. When Fletch sold his Commodore 16 in the 1990s, he sold his development tapes too. Probably someone out there still has it.

Point is, we were a bit fed up having to compromise bits of our games because we didn’t have access to the IP so decided to set our aim much higher. We were all better at coding, we had better hardware. It just seemed the right thing to do.

A scan of the cover is the only trace of The Vampires of Proximus 3 that we could find. Anywhere.

While Vampires is not licenced, On the Busses is. How did you come by that licence?

It really annoyed Fletch that we changed his game because we didn’t have a licence. My Dad, who was basically acting as manager for our company, said it was too risky to release it without the consent of the BBC as it was.

So, with the monies from Vampires we decided to see what we could do.

Initially we were going for a licence for OutRun. I was writing a game based on the arcade already - the busty woman sprite in On the Busses was originally for that game - and had a version of the first level done. It wasn’t very complete as I had to do it from memory, but it proved the point. At this stage it had no music.

We had no idea that US Gold had that relationship with Sega all sewn up, so after a very polite exchange of letters with Sega to see if they would do a licence with us, it looked like the project was going nowhere.

However, my mind cast back. My Grandma used to love watching On The Buses on a Saturday evening. When I was little we used to go round to hers for our tea and it would be on. I loved the antics that Stan and Jack got up to. So the thing held good memories for me.

I called the film and television company and they weren’t interested in doing a licence. After searching in the library, I eventually found a defunct publisher who had got the rights to produce new fiction books based on the series, but had never used it so I approached them.

The liquidator was only too happy to sell on the licence as they thought it was worthless.

Did it cost a lot?

I think it cost us £500 at the time. The liquidator was just pleased to get something for it.

What inspired the game?

Well, OutRun played a massive role obviously, but also games like Maniac Mansion with it’s dialogue and Infocom games like Hitch-hiker’s Guide with their in-box feelies that we copied in a unique way [the game infamously came with, amongst other things, a “used” condom in the box].

We wanted the game to be as close to the series, in spirit at least, as it could be. We wanted it to be like a new episode. Martin was doing a course in the evenings at the local college where they were digitising video, which is how we got the pictures of Stan and Blakey in and Fletch spent ages learning how to code for the AY chip in the [ZX Spectrum] +2 to get the music right. It took up so much memory though, we didn’t have anything left for the in-game music we’d planned. He was always a lot happier coding for the Commodore 16.

And the droop meter to monitor Stan’s ardour?

Yeah, we got that from Martin’s Mum. She said that she had no idea why young women in their twenties would be attracted to middle aged men with a gut who probably had the droop when there were plenty of virile young men about. Martin’s Dad shuffled awkwardly when she said it.

We put it in there because it was funny. If I did the game again today I’d probably leave it out because you can get Viagra now so there’s no need to worry about that kind of thing.

Yeah, I think that there might be other reasons.

How do you mean?

I mean, it’s a bit inappropriate isn’t it?

Loads of men have a wives half their age. You see them all the time in the celebrity pages of the papers. I think that Stan and Jack were proved right in the end.

Erm, the attention to detail in the game, like the digitised cut-scenes, were a bit of a breakthrough for the time and lauded in the reviews. How long was development in the end?

It was something we were all proud of, the lengths we went to to recreate the experience. It meant development took ages though, like nine months in the end. To get the dialogue for the arguments between Stan and Blakey, I spent ages watching tapes of the original series and writing it down. Things like that ate in the schedule and we were lucky to get it out for April 1988.

Why is the name spelt wrong though?

This again. I’ve had to explain this so much over the years. It was spelt wrong on the licence document we had so we followed that on my Dad’s friend’s advice; he was a solicitor.

So when the big moment came, the launch, were you happy?

I was thrilled. We rented a room at the local pub and invited the gaming press as well as the local paper and some people from an On the Buses fan group.

We had a bloke turn up from Video and Computer Games and he went very quiet when he saw the game. He took it away and after some negotiation with my Dad, we managed to get a full page advert opposite the review. We scored 91% from them which we were all ecstatic about.

The local paper did a nice article on us - you know, local boys done good - and said some nice things about the game. The On the Buses fan mob put us in their quarterly magazine for Summer 1988 complete with a glowing review.

Which was absolutely useless as we were out of business by then.

Out of business?

Well, yes. After we put out the game, it became clear that we’d not followed the rules of the licence. It was for original content only. As we’d used the digitised grabs and also the dialogue from the episodes, it didn’t count.

Ah, I can see why that might be a problem…

Always read the small print. After a couple of days on sale, we had to pull the entire thing for risk of getting sued.

So what happened then?

We ended up with a load of tapes duplicated that we could not sell, promotions we couldn’t run that still had to be paid for and so on. We were not able to absorb the cost of all of it and with no money coming in to fix it or release new games and try to keep going, we had no choice but to pull the plug.

Everything we had relating to the retail version of On the Busses ended up being thrown away, it had no value.

Closing the company must have been tough.

Fletch took it hardest; he had nearly finished a Commodore 16 game called Road Racer that was an unofficial port of OutRun. It was seriously good considering how weedy the system was. Our plan was to release it to the duplicators when the first payments for On the Busses came in. We’d have cleaned up with that one. It had started as a port of On the Busses, but we quickly realised it would be better to make it it’s own distinct game.

After we collapsed, he took it to a couple of other labels but could not find a market for it; everyone said it was two years too late. No doubt he felt like he’d wasted a year of his life, I know I did.

And you all left the industry at that point?

As I said earlier, I decided to quit while I was still not too far behind and get myself to University while Fletch and Martin decided to carry on with another company of their own. Sadly theirs didn’t see out the transition to 16-bit, but they had some success with a couple of budget games on the Commodore 64. Not sure what they are up to now.

Benny Games was a name that seemed to disappear without much explanation and there is precious little on the internet about them.

Now you know!

Are you involved in the retro scene these days?

Not really, I’m aware of people streaming games and things like that, but I’ve not sought the limelight.

I have been doing some coding though to keep my skills sharp. I’ve wanted to go back to OutRun for some time and do it like I wanted to back in 1987. Now there’s stuff like MAME I can see the reference material without shovelling 20p coins into a machine and get your mate to make notes.

Sounds interesting. We can’t wait to see what happens next. Thanks for your time Stuart!

Thanks; it’s been nice. It’s not often I get to talk about Benny Games these days outside of a job interview.

[shazyloren]

The Dragon Club: chapter 36 - Writing and Warnings

Link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/12018519/chapters/28216638

----------

Tuesday brought about a day of struggling with writer's block for Jon. He was worried about Rickon, missing his sexual encounters with Daenerys and Ghost had been more whiny than usual, refusing to leave his side at all times. He'd only gotten three paragraphs out of the twentyish he'd usually do, done on his current piece. Wednesday however brought about a better writing day although he'd received a phone call from Daenerys niece Rani who was struggling on her editorial piece. Daenerys' had wanted her to do one for the magazine and Rani wanted to know what he did when he was suffering from Writer's block. He'd explained that you cannot force yourself to write, sometimes it was good to just get outside and look for inspiration. He always found it when walking his dog.

Thursday was the day he'd enjoyed the most, he got to take Dany out for dinner (even if that meant Rani had to tag along) and got to enjoy human interaction with his girlfriend without work getting in the way. He also ended up finishing his article on the cruelty of dogs in China by the time their dinner engagement came about so he was happy to help Rani with hers, even if Daenerys wanted her to do it by herself. "How will she get better if it's just your words?"

"I'm not writing it, i'm proof-reading" Jon said with a slight humpf. "There's a difference"

Daenerys had just rolled her eyes and he'd ended up telling Rani that while it was a good article, if she wanted it to stand out it needed to not be so flat. It needed more of an emotive quality. She'd decided to do a piece on the history of indian fashion as Elia herself is of indian descent and always wore interesting dress pieces. Rani had said she did not know how to write more emotively. "It's always objective when I write"

"It's a lot simpler than you think, you need to use the material you're working with and think about it's history. Where does the saree come from, what are the clothes trying to portray?" Jon was enjoying a classic lasagne and a glass of red for the meal. Daenerys hair was in his favourite braid, and while he was enjoying his food, he'd sure like to be eating her. She had been very warey of his touch the past few days, as if she almost couldn't control herself around him and as she always liked to be in control (or at least she tried to be) she'd stayed away.

"Thanks Jon" Rani politely spoke as she wrote down his comments when she should've been eating her paella. Daenerys glared at them both, and understanding the look they both stopped talk of work and soon began to speak of family. "Tell me, is your brother okay?"

"He'll be fine, thankfully. Stupid boy wasn't looking what he was doing" Jon snickered. He sipped his wine. "Tell me about your family, Rani. I've met your father, what is your mother like?"

"She's... intense sometimes. But she's very loving. Aggy got told off the other day for putting a frog in her bed, her snake-like nature came out then. She apologised to him later for making him cry but you should've seen her. She was almost green with rage" Rani chuckled. "Not really funny if you were in Aggy's shoes but as it wasn't me she was shouting at I found it hilarious. Father calmed her down, he was always so good at that"

"Strange" Jon agreed. "It's usually the Targaryen's who have a fiery temperament" He said in tongue and cheek.

"Hey!" Daenerys huffed. "Have I not got better?"

"Much, actually" Jon nodded as he spoke sweetly to Dany, tucking her lose strand of hair behind her ear before kissing her cheek. "Still my little fiery dragon though"

"Guys, I don't need to see a public display of affection thank you" Rani grumbled as she pretended to cover her eyes up. She then pretended to make sick noises to which Daenerys found herself sighing deeply. Jon wondered if Rani had been a handful to love with, especially giving Dany wasn't used to anyone living with her day to day. Jon visited most nights and stayed over most nights, but they didn't work together either, they had a perfect balance.

Friday came about and it was Rani's last day with Daenerys and her company. Her father would be picking her up early Saturday morning so Jon left them be and spent the day with Arya and Gendry, helping them paint their living room. Gendry had wanted yellow and black theme which arya had instantly dismissed. So they'd con for a black feature wall with the fireplace one and painted the other walls cream. The room had black leather sofas but with deep green cushions. It looked much better than the all white room they'd had the past 14 months since moving into their house.

Jon had got home that afternoon to a message from his mate Sam who said he and Gilly were in town and wondered if he wanted to go to the pub for a catch up. Friday night meant it was going to be quite leery but with nothing better to do considering daenerys was busy he agreed and said he'd meet them at the pub on the crossroads at 7pm. This meant Jon had plenty of time to grab some dinner and take Ghost for a walk before leaving him asleep in the study and walking down a few roads to the pub. He was a few minutes late, but Sam and Gilly had already got him his favourite pint.

"Sam!" Jon exclaimed and embraced his friend in a bro-hug. Jon accidently knocked the table in the process and luckily only a small amount of beer spilt. It was crowded, the football crowds hanging around after the matches had finished. King's Landing united had come out as winners 3-1 against Dorne FC. Jon didn't care much for sport, but surprisingly Gilly was obsessed. She was joining in the chants. "How are you both?"

"We're good thank you, not as good as you, I hear" Sam chuckled.

"Who told you? Gendry? Hotpie?" Jon sighed. Daenerys, his relationship with her was everywhere.

"Neither, Arya did"

"Of course, I should've known" He'd have to bully his sister later on.

"Sorry, I don't mean to pry! I'm just happy for you, it's about time you got someone special in your life" Sam clapped him on the shoulder before they bot took their seats on the table. Gilly was swigging a lager. Jon noticed something on her finger, something shiny. It clicked instantly.

"Sam... Are you both-"

"Yes" Sam nodded.

"Congrats, man!" Jon was ecstatic for his friends. They'd been together nigh on twelve years, it was about time they tied the knot. "How did you do it?"

"Well I asked Gilly's foster father first, he said he'd been waiting for that day to come a long time and was happy for me to give Gilly away at our wedding. Then I organised a nice picnic under the stars near Horn Hill, we had a little fire burning and there was some wine and it just sort of happened" Sam went slightly red, Jon wondered if it was because he was starting to sound like a soppy man in love.

"It was the most romantic thing he'd ever done for me" Gilly swooned as Jon got confirmation she was definitely already tipsy. "He's a very romantic man"

"What about you? How did you manage to land, Daenerys Targaryen?" The next hour or so, Jon filled Sam in on everything that had happened in his life since January. He'd only seen Sam once this year, at Arya's wedding and even then he didn't get a proper catch up.

So he told him everything, the interview, the chance meetings afterwards, his evening with her friends at her dinner party, how he come to do her magazine cover and how they'd slowly fallen for each other and how they'd been official for roughly three months now. Sam was enthralled with the whole tale, he made the odd shocked sound after something went not at all how he expected. Gilly on the other hand was laughing her head off at Jon's awkwardness throughout the story. When Jon had finished, he found himself realising he'd been talking non-stop for close to two hours.

"That almost seems like a made up story except I know it's true because of all the media coverage I've seen" Sam nodded impressed. "So she's not as much a mad person anymore?"

"She has her moments, but honestly guys I find them funny more than anything. She's short and when she gets angry she's like this fiery puppy and I just love taking the piss out of it" Jon laughed in honesty.

"We need to meet her sometime" Gilly said nonchalantly.

"She's met most of the crew, she likes Sansa and Arya but she did say Bran was a bit too weird for her on the first meeting" Jon laughed. "I told him to keep the conspiracy theories at bay but does he listen, no"

"I heard he and Meera had a falling out over it" Sam nodded.

"Aye, but they made up in about half an hour" Jon cackled as he got up out of his seat. "I'm going to get another pint, you want one?" Sam and Gilly nodded so Jon made his way through the football hooligans towards the bar where he had to wait a few minutes to be served. "Two pints of Guinness please and a lager"

Jon waited for a few moments, browsing twitter as he did. He saw a picture Daenerys had put up of her and Rani in her office working on something or other. She'd put the caption 'Going to miss my niece, @RaniRainbow, working with me in the office, hope you've had a good work experience!'. Jon smiled at Daenerys in the picture. It was black and white and Dany was still smiling the most brilliant smile he'd ever seen. She almost made the photo look colour. She was hugging Rani in the photo who looked just as happy while the office desk behind them is covered in papers. Jon commented: 'Great picture, it as nice meeting you this week, Rhaenys!'

It was as this message was posted on the photograph that he got a text from an unknown number. He opened it and as he read it, he felt a chill run down his spine. He felt sweat form on his brow and a sense of dread build over him. Who was it, how did they get this number?

Stay away from my Daenerys.

[lbat1901]

2019 Review

I’ve never posted an end year review on Tumblr. I only post on either Facebook and DA, buuuuut it’s time for a change.

Also I couldn’t decide whether or not to separate it into two parts. I decided to say f**k it and post the whole thing.

Anyway, welcome to the first ever year end review where I recap 2019. Just a side note, I am doing this so you won’t have to. Also there a lot of ranting in this.

Quick thing to know is that I can become very brutal when comes to ranting. Trust me they’re not pretty. Oh and I tend write these things like at either towards the end of June and mid July about the stuff that just happened before coming back to it in late October and early November while adding even more information. That’s how things work.

Anyway with that out of the way, I present to you, Lbat1901’s review of 2019 broadcasted worldwide on this day of December 31st (or either the 1st of January and/or December 30th depending on your timezone).

2018 was a good year despite a few thing here and there. Now 2019 was a tad bit better but we lost the OG actor of Chewbacca from Star Wars. Well this isn’t a bad thing, there’s another actor to play the part.

If deaths weren’t always there to make a year bad, then it would be a person’s own downfall. I’m talking about the downfall of the one and only ProJared. Oh god….when I heard the news that he and his wife were filing for a divorce, it wasn’t good at all. Well it was bad at first, but it got worse when his ex-wife stated that he cheated on her. That took me by surprise, but I was all like: “Ah well. Things can’t get any worse than that, right?”. Unfortunately things did got much much worse.

ProJared was reported for doing some sexual activity on Tumblr. He actually DMed a minor and said some explicit stuff to them. Oh boy….that was a shocker. Due to this, everyone and his fans couldn’t find it in their hearts to forgive him. By the way ProJared at the time reached the milestone of 1,000,000 subscribers. That…later went down. A couple of months later, ProJared posted an apology on Twitter which didn’t make any sense. In reality doing that kind of stuff like that could land you in some legal troubles and you won’t be able to recover from it.

It really sucks and it hurts me a lot when it should be considered that ProJared is one of my favorite gaming channels on YouTube and one of my inspirations for all that sweet comedy gold. His videos are so good along his random commentary and jokes. Plus him working together with PeanutButterGamer, another YouTuber that I like, gave out some great positive vibes of collaboration. It’s going to take me a very long time to get over this and find it in my heart to accept his apology, but for now, I’m taking a break from ProJared.

…Aye I’m just kidding! It turns out that in late August, he uploaded a video explaining what really happened which means I can forgive him. I rate ProJared’s explanation video: “a fixed reputation out of 10.”

Another thing that happened was the suicide of another well known YouTuber that I like, that goes by the name of Etika. You see Etika is known for his reaction video especially when it comes to stuff like Nintendo such as Smash Bros. His DLC reveal reactions were priceless and hilarious. At the time, I never knew he had mental issues since it wasn’t clear onto why he always acts up giving off this destructive behavior. I’ve always believed that he did this for to be funny, but now I look back at it, his reactions were a bit too much. Shockingly before his death, he was went to some mental place and even came out from suffering from depression.

Soon afterwards, his family and his fans all reached out to him, but Etika pushed them all to the side. After that, he released a video saying how sorry his was shortly before he took his own life out. When I first heard about it from IGN, I didn’t believe it. But after awhile it turned out to be true. Etika really did killed himself.

I’ll say this once: killing yourself isn’t an option. Sure it maybe a solution to end your problems but in reality it makes everyone around you fall in deep despair. This is coming from a person who had depression in the past along with some forms of PTSD and schizophrenia. If you’re suffering from depression don’t turn down help. There’s always a light at the end of tunnel waiting for you to go towards it. Don’t stop waking to it. And Etika if you’re reading this, from wherever you might be, I hope you’re doing better than you were before since your now considered to be free from your troubles. All of us are going to see you again. Even though I haven’t meant you in person, you’re still a cool guy to me. Stay awesome.

Okay enough of the heavy feels. You all know what’s coming up next. It’s the part where I rant about the things that have happened this year. And hey, new people, you get to have a front row seat for this. The ranting part always gets my reviews a whole lotta views, making them somewhat popular. Here we go!

Alright…I’ll get this part out the way. Is it just me or was it that January 2019 was a very painful month to get through? No? If you’re living in a part where it’s warm everyday for the full entire year, good for you. You don’t have to suffer. But….can we like trade places? I want 90 degree weather all year long. Why you such lucky things. January, according to parts of the world that snow, is considered to be one of the slowest yet worst months of the year. Plus it doesn’t help that fact that it’s still winter and it’s the first month. I have always believed that January is a very slow month, but January 2019….oh my lord, it was brutally slow. Also January is also known to be the month of severe depression since nobody can hold onto their New Year resolution.

January 2019 felt like a drag. Plus I was still lingering to some of my depression after trying to recover from it after November 2018. It was a really bad time for me even though November is usually fast, but it felt I was being stabbed repeatedly. January 2019 was no different. Oh and don’t come to me stating that February comes after January and that it’s a fast month. That is true, but 2019 had to drug up February with depression pills making that a month of total despair. At least once it hit March 2019 things got better and much smoother.

January and February 2019, umm…what the f**k happened to you? January, I don’t expect anything magical about you, but February 2019, my god, you were supposed to be a better month. You had one job and failed at it that’s for sure.

This year’s review would like to take the attention and put it on Venezuela for once. During the first half of the year, many countries around the world has talked about the crisis in Venezuela. Venezuela is known to be a country in South America to have an oil industry which helps the country be successful. The current president is Nicolás Maduro and let’s be honest here, he’s a horrible person. Why? It’s because all of the things that he has done were quite questionable and he has said some controversial things mostly being related to storages. So far there has been several riots, people getting killed in some of those riots, nobody can get any food or medication due to power outages. It continues to get worse as time goes by. Most Venezuelans fled the country because it becoming a sh*thole and I don’t blame them. I would be fleeing from the country too if I can’t get anything. As I said before, countries around the world have been talking about the issues happening in Venezuela. There are some countries that support Maduro while other countries such as the US supports Juan Guaidó who vows to oppose Maduro. This kinda triggers the 2019 presidential crisis in Venezuela; however Guaidó has been given support by 54 countries as of June 2019. Although there is some competition, nobody should be getting in the way since this is Venezuela’s fight and it’s basically their freedom of speech. They must fight the powers that be.

What’s coming up next is something that I refuse to ignore. Article 13 getting passed. You heard that right folks, they did it. They actually f**king did it. In March 2019, the EU were having a debation on whenever or not to pass Article 13. If you don’t know, the EU created a whole bunch of rules for each country in Europe to follow. Some are good and some are just plain stupid. Article 13 is kinda like Europe’s version of Net Neutrality…only if it were on steroids. Article 13 has some tight restrictions but the most controversial thing to come from is that it kills off anything that has to do with copyright. Anything like music, video games, and of course memes won’t exist and guess what? Those motherf**kers in the EU actually said “f**k it!” and let the thing pass and all thanks to this lovely son of a b*ch, Axel Voss

*sighs heavily*

Axel Voss…why? Why? Just why? Why would you say yes? Months before the voting in March, you were supposed to be hope. I trusted your word. I thought you knew what to say, but you had to say the complete opposite. And do you want to know what my reaction is? Do you really want to see it? Oh I’ll give it you you. Here is goes. All I have to say is….wow, you really f**ked everything up big time and here’s my message towards you all:

F**k the EU! F**k Article 13! F**k everyone who allowed to let this thing get approved and have it take effect two years later! And finally, f**k you Axel Voss! F**k you all! I hope all you will burn in hell for this.

Now it’s time for the star of the show and the main topic I talk about every year, Trump.

Oh my where I do even begin? 2019 was the year on how low Trump can go as a president and as a person. Well he already is low.

I know that there’s a huge like and dislike ratio with this man. If you support Trump and would like to dismantle any argument that I make that is totally against everything he says and does, then that’s great! Now do me favor: GO F**K YOURSELF!!!

I had enough of this man and I am sick of this nonsense! Hell I’ve been sick of it already. He’s done way too much and he’s been tripping all over the place as well.

Why are there still people out there supporting this guy? Like seriously, what is wrong with you people?

I have a feeling that you’re going to say this: “What makes him bad to you? He basically done a lot in the past three years. He lowered my taxes so I won’t have to pay that much”.

Um excuse me? Does it look I f**king care if you don’t have to pay that much for taxes? Abso-f**king-lutely not. I don’t give a sh*t if you’re paying less in taxes along with telling me that it’s raining tacos. Must I remind you that this man ordered a government shutdown for the first part of the year which, bear in mind, lasted 30 days all because he wanted a wall to be built between the Mexican and American borders? Let’s not forget that the president of Mexico already said no to paying that wall.

So yeah, Trump was throwing a tantrum over it. Why not you just build a wall of Legos? It’s cheaper.

The more I think about this, the more I pay attention to the audience in Trump’s rallies. What do I see, I hear you ask? Nothing but basic white people and that’s exactly my point. In most of Trump’s rallies, you don’t see any black, Hispanic, Asian, or Somalian people in the stands. That’s because would they support Trump? All you see is just white people and the majority of them have blonde hair and blue eyes.

They’re not just any white people, they are the ones with the guns, Trump hats, the pick up truck, and the Confederate flag. They are also known as those die hard rednecks that love to spread hatred and racism. I do have to admit that I love rednecks with their Southern accents and charm (expect for the racism), but not the rednecks that love an orangutan that cares about himself and money.

This orangutan is also businessman who seems to have an obsession on running a business to the ground which is exactly what he’s doing to America. Plus he doesn’t think that global warming is real. Uh huh, you might want to tell that to California and its many wildfires, the farmers who had so much rainfall this year and can’t sell their crops due to tariffs, and pretty much to the entire world or you can just act like an idiot which leads into me calling you, and say it with me, a whiny little b*ch.

Oh Trump honey, you and you’re little friends are in so much trouble when it hits January because you’ve got impeached and you were basically whining on Twitter about it. All I heard was doom and gloom and the sounds of a baby crying. Awww….does little Trump want his nappy wampy? Might as well tell your queen Mike Pence that you need one, because you’re losing this chess game.

I can’t get the image of Trump showing off a map on where Hurricane Dorian was going to hit out of my head. He may got the part on where it was going to hit Florida right, but he pointed out that it was going to hit Alabama. Technically that map was outdated and Hurricane Dorian didn’t hit Alabama, but he didn’t say that he was wrong. Instead he just circles on where the hurricane was going to hit with a white sharpie and had a proud look on his face saying “Look what I did, daddy. I’m smart”. He pretty much made the entire state of Alabama fall into a panic.

He was so proud of himself that he phone called his best friend Putin about it. I swear that Putin has something on him and the reason why he wanted Trump to win is so that he can get Trump to do whatever he wants. Trump is basically Putin’s b*ch.

Plus Putin rewrote the Russian constitution which Trump doesn’t even seem to care about America’s own constitution at all. Even his own party members don’t care about it. They seem to care about the 2nd amendment more and it’s a dying shame that all of them will be voted out of office when 2020 hits. Can’t wait for it.

Unfortunately, when there’s a new president, there’s going to be a lot to fix since no one trusts America anymore since Trump ruined everything especially getting out of that deal with Iran. That had to be the most dumbest thing that he’s ever done. Big mistake, Trump.

All he did was claim that Obama gave them money? No he didn’t. The agreement was to see what America was giving to Iran along with unfreezing their money just so they feed their people. But no, blame everything on Obama because why not.

Honestly the current Republican party blame things that happened on former presidents and the Democrats. People also say that the Democrats have gone way too far onto the left, but here’s the thing, the Republicans were the party that actually had the balls of steel, but now they’ve gone completely off the rails allowing their own president to break the constitution just get information on a political rival from a foreign leader which is a violation and illegal. Do the Republicans seem to care about rules being broken? Of course not. What are these people on exactly? Dope? I would sure love to have some of that just so I won’t have to deal with crap.

Most of my year end reviews on what Trump did is hard. Why? It’s because he doesn’t know when to keep his mouth shut. Again, why is there people out there who support this man? He’s a crook. You might argue with me that he’s a businessman. And? You’re point is? Listen, how can he be a businessman when filed for bankruptcy several times? That’s not a good businessman, that’s a bad one. When are you people going to get that through your thick skulls?

Can you imagine if it were Obama doing the crap that Trump had some so far? Oh god, the Republicans would have his head. The Republicans now? Nah, they don’t want to bother since they don’t want to lose their power. Ahh….that’s too bad, you’re going to be losing that during the senate trail next year.

Speaking of Alabama, they were the first state to pass an anti abortion law, but guess what? Women don’t know if their pregnant in six weeks so why bother. Oh wait, I keep forgetting that the American government is being run by old white men that like taking a giant step back in time where woman didn’t have any rights. Back in the 1960s, doctors wouldn’t tell women about their health but only told it to their husbands. Yeah that’s right, women weren’t treated as as people and it was pretty messed up. Now a few decades before that time period, women couldn’t walk around unless they were with their husbands. Can you imagine that being written in law in this current time period? It would be f**ked up even though it was back then and it still exist in other countries to this day. What’s even worse is that women weren’t taught how to read or weren’t sent to school. That was centuries ago mind you.

2020 is going to be the start of whole new decade. The 2010s weren’t that bad, but it was till the near end were it got bad. 2020 is going to be the year of adios Trump.

Anyway, this has been Lbat1901 reporting last time in 2019. See you in 2020.

[chescaneo]

BLOG POST: “When A Dream Finally Came Into A Reality”

Life is full of uncertainties. We will never know what’ll happen in the future and that is why the saying “Expect the unexpected” was known by many. We never know if dreams will be just dreams. We never know if our dreams will come true someday… But one thing is for sure, God is there. He will make it all possible. He’s with us, always… He always listens to our prayers. Even if we don’t say it through prayers, He knows what our hearts desire, deep inside us He knows what we needed, wanted and longed for. He knows what’s best for us, even if it means we’ll be broken along the way.

Dreaming is easy but making it come true is hard. Challenges are along the way, testing you if you could make it ‘til the end and it’s your choice if you’ll give up or continue your journey. Thing is, if you wanted something, work for it. If you got tired, take a rest.. But never stop, NEVER give up. Just like what I did.. I never gave up and did my best to make it happen.

So yep, here’s my Coldplay story:

At a young age, all I dreamt was to have a complete family. But while I was getting older, I found it impossible. I got broken, of course. I was sad, hopeless, and felt really empty. Who wouldn’t? Family is everything and knowing that mine was broken made me feel broken inside, too. I lost myself.. I was so broken that all I thought was, “Don’t I deserve to be happy?”

I start questioning God and whenever I remembered that moment, I felt really bad. Because who am I to question Him? Who am I to question His ways, His plans? When all He did was to give what’s best for me?

Time passed and the pain inside me grew even more. Every night I was crying, wishing and wondering when will this pain end. I sought God and asked for help. I wished for something to ease the pain. That’s when I met Coldplay.

“The Scientist” was the first song I discovered. That time, I felt that it really was for me because of its lyrics. “I’m going back to the start” was the line that made my heart fell in love with their music. Then I found myself listening to that song on repeat. I then started listening to their other songs and “Fix You” was the song that made me really cry hard. It was like Coldplay was telling me through that song that everything’s gonna be fine.. That they’ll fix me pieces by pieces. That was when the time that I promised myself that I’ll watch them live, I will hear their songs live and thank them for inspiring me through their songs.

2016 when Coldplay started touring for their new album “A Head Full of Dreams”. August 2016 when I heard that there will be a livestream of their concert in Rosebowl, L.A. on Youtube by Globe Telecom. While watching it, I cried and promised myself that one day, I’ll watch them live.

April 4, 2016 when Manila badly wants Coldplay. Filipino fans, including me of course, were hoping that Manila, Philippines will be included in their tour.

November 2016 was when I got the news that Coldplay will be having a concert here in the Philippines on April 4th, 2017! Unfortunately, tickets were too pricey and the bronze and gen ad section were the only sections that I can afford since I’m only a student. The worse part? The concert will be held in the SM Mall of Asia Concert Grounds, which only means that it will be hard for me to see them properly since the venue was not elevated.

As a super fan, I was so excited to buy their concert ticket. But here comes the worst part.. There was an announcement that Globe users can reserve tickets during the pre-sale. So when that day came, I immediately sent a text message to reserve two gen ad tickets. Then, I received a text message informing that gen ad tickets were sold out already and I was like “What? Wala pang 5 minutes, sold out agad? Seryoso?!” Then I saw that “#ColdplayManila” was trending on twitter and found out that I wasn’t the only one who got that text message. There were also a lot of disappointed fans tweeting their complaints. But some still scored tickets despite what happened, lucky aren’t they? I had no choice but to WAIT for the public selling and I was REALLY REALLY hoping this time, I’ll score tickets. November 24 came, the day every Filipino Coldplay fan like me have been waiting for, our last chance to score tickets and finally make our dreams come true — in short, the public selling of tickets. HUHUHU. (Yaw q na, magtatagalog na ako. Super nose bleed. I ran out of English na HAHAHA) So yon nga, nagkataon na we have a school project na gagawa kami ng news ganon. Kunwari we’re news reporters and news anchors. Intramurals that time and na-assign ako as sports reporter so ico-cover ko ‘yong intramurals. Sa sobrang focused sa project, I forgot na 10:00 AM nga pala ang open ng SM and I have to go there early as possible if gusto ko agad makabili. But grabe, I didn’t know na madami rin pala fan ng Coldplay dito sa hometown ko. Kaya right after matapos ko ‘yong sa project namin, I think that was 10:45 AM dumiretso agad ako sa mall. Thankfully, malapit lang ‘yong university na pinapasukan ko sa mall. I ran fast as I could simula ground floor up to the third. Then boom, ang haba ng pila! HUHU. Nawawalan na ako ng pag-asa non but I still managed to think positive pa rin. ‘Yong nakabili na girl, nagtatalon pa while saying “Yes, nakabili na tayo!” That time, I really wish that it was me who’s jumping out of joy! Nakapila ako for almost 3 hours then suddenly, sabi nong staff ng SM tickets, “Silver, bronze, gen ad, sold out na po!” To tell you the truth, hindi sa pagiging OA, napatulala na lang ako that time. I can’t think straight. Umalis ako sa pila at habang pababa ako ng escalator I’m fighting the tears in my eye. “No, don’t cry. Don’t cry” was all I can say to myself that time habang paalis ako ng mall. I was alone pa non kaya super pinipigilan ko umiyak. Ayaw ko pagtinginan lalo na’t wala akong kasama. I was thinking “Is this the end? Hindi ko na ba sila mapapanuod live?” Funny part? Nong nakasakay ako sa jeep, may katapat akong girl. She’s wearing shades and namumula mukha niya. Sumisinghot siya, akala ko may sipon lang but nakita ko medyo tinanggal niya 'yong shades and pinunasan niya 'yong mata niya. I realized na she was crying pala and I wanted to cry, too. Inisip ko, umiiyak kaya siya kasi naubusan din siya ng ticket? Dahil nga hindi pa tapos 'yong sa project namin, kailangan ko ulit makipagkita sa groupmates ko. Kahit nanghihina ako, pinili ko pa rin makipagkita. Nasa iisa kaming group ng best friend ko kaya nong makita ko siya and when she asked me if nakabili ba ako ng ticket, umiyak lang ako sa kaniya. I can’t speak. Sobrang broken hearted ko that time na parang gusto ko na lang umiyak all day. My group mates were telling me na 'wag mawalan ng pag-asa kasi who knows? December came and I tried my best na kumpletuhin ang “Simbang Gabi.” Sabi kasi ng mga matatanda if nakumpleto mo daw 'yon, matutupad ang wish mo sa 9th mass, meaning sa Christmas. Minsan inaatake ako ng katamaran, minsan ang lakas ng ulan, gabing-gabi na, and to tell you, mag-isa lang akong sumimba. 3 days lang 'yong sumimba ako na may kasama. That time parang may nagsasabi sa'kin na “Ano, kaya mo pa ba?” Sabi ko sa sarili ko, nagtipid na ako para makaipon pambili ng ticket, pumila ako, nasimulan ko na ang simbang gabi, ngayon pa ba ako susuko? This is for my dream and I know God knows how much I wanted it to happen. Fortunately, nagawa kong makumpleto ang siyam na gabi na 'yon at sinabi ang hiling ko. Yep, hiniling ko na mapanuod ko live ang Coldplay. This was the first time na ang winish ko ay parang hindi worthy. I mean hindi health, peace and more blessings. But this is my dream.. after all the struggles I’ve been through, don’t I deserve the best? May nakilala akong seller and she’s selling gen ad tickets for Php 3,500. Sakto lang sa pera ko since ang balak ko nga bilhin ay alin man sa Bronze (Php 3,500) or Gen ad which is Php 1,800. Pinatulan ko na. Doble ng original price but wala na ako pakialam, desperada na ako e HAHAHA. Super nag-thank you ako kay Lord non kasi He granted my wish. Pero hindi pa dyan nagtatapos ang lahat. Hindi porket may ticket na ako ay makakapanuod na ako talaga. There were guidelines posted regarding the concert, ang problem is minors are not allowed to enter unless may kasama silang ticket-bearing guardian. 17 na ako, isang taon na lang e! Super na-stress ako on that part kasi solo ako manunuod. Sinong guardian ko? HUHUHU. I travelled from Lucena to Manila ALONE. Wala e, solo nga di ba ako. Super kabado na ako while I was on my way to MOA. I was thinking, papasukin kaya ako? Wala akong guardian, wala akong kasama. 'Yong supposedly kasi na kasama ko na mag-aact as guardian ko hindi ko na macontact kaya SUPER KABADO na talaga ako. Baka masayang ticket ko HUHU. Luckily, during the concert I met two Ate’s na super bait and maalaga. They’re sisters and feeling ko kapatid rin nila ako. Binigyan nila ako ng snacks and water habang naghihintay sa pila. Hindi nila ako pinabayaan mapahiwalay sa kanila nong nakapila kasi kagulo na non e. And I was really thankful that time kasi I asked God na sana may makasama ako sa concert and He listened. *tears of joy* May Kuya rin akong nakasama which is friend nila kaya ayon tatlo na 'yong nag aalaga sa'kin since minor nga ako. Tapos after the concert, sinigurado nila na safe ako makakauwi. But eto ang nakakainis, HINDI NAMAN PALA TINITINGNAN SA ENTRANCE KUNG MINOR O HINDI E. Or mukha lang talaga akong 18 years old na HAHAHAHA! So during the concert, umiyak ako. Because after all the struggles, sabi ko sa sarili ko, “Nandito na ako, pinapanuod at pinapakinggan na sila LIVE.” Sa wakas, napakinggan ko na ng live 'yong mga favorite songs ko. I cried my heart out, I sang along, nakitalon at nakisayaw and I lived the moment. Until now, it felt surreal. I never knew that day will come but then naniwala ako e, hindi ako nawalan ng pag-asa. I stayed positive and look where it got me. “I tried my best and I succeeded.” In life, no matter how tough the challenges are, you have to be strong and ang kailangan lang ay HOPE. Kahit minsan we’re getting hopeless, don’t think na wala nang pag-asa kasi palaging may paraan. Challenges make life interesting. They are made to make us strong. They are not an excuse to quit following your dreams. So NEVER give up on your dreams.