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maggies-scribblings · 3 years ago

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Yarning For Her

Adrien is smitten with the girl who's always been there, in the row behind him. But when his plans to ask Marinette out unravel, a secret throws him for a loop…

Written for the Miraculous Writer's Guild April Event 2021: Followers sent five emojis as prompts to the @mlwritersguild Tumblr for the writers to pick one to write for. I chose the emojis sent by @ladycat1: ✨ 😊 👀 👩🏻 🧵

Canon compliant up to Season 4, Episode 4: M. Pigeon 72.

👩🏻

It was finally happening. The event everyone was waiting for… well, everyone except the main protagonist of said event.

Marinette could feel it, though she could hardly believe it. She noticed Adrien looking at her with more intensity, when he thought she wasn’t looking. How he had trouble finding the right words when talking to her. All the tiny gestures of attention, like offering to help with a difficult subject or a complex art project, or praising her outfit every day, even if she’d worn it several times before.

Nino could tell, too: questions about Marinette and her favourite colour, food, flower, or whatever else were whispered in his right ear all day.

Actually, the whole class noticed Adrien’s marked change in behaviour. His cheerful hellos were now stuttered in Marinette’s general direction. His head hid on his shoulders whenever Marinette sighed or yawned, as if his neck couldn’t handle her fresh breaths. Even his athletic skills were now replaced with an unexplained jerkiness. The fact that the weather was warmer and the girls’ gym suits gave way to short shorts and strappy tops might have had something to do with it.

In short, Adrien fell in love with Marinette. Hard.

👀

When it started, Adrien couldn’t exactly tell. Ever since that first day of school, Marinette had held a special space in his heart (most of which had been stolen by Ladybug the previous day). She was one of his first and dearest friends.

But now… after getting to know Marinette, her loving and kind nature, after seeing her helping others without asking for anything back, after finally noticing how pretty she was… he wasn’t so sure.

That day at the pool was definitely a turning point.

First there was that unplanned double dive. During those milliseconds when they were falling, Adrien’s thought process went something like this:

Danger!—Why is Marinette here?—Protect!—Wow, she looks so cute in that swimsuit!

As they hit the water, their arms instinctively reached out to the other as they sank, swirling back up to the surface in a soft embrace — just like that night in New York, when they had danced floating in the air, under the full moon.

And when they were leaving the pool, Adrien was so happy and surprised to see she still had the umbrella he’d given her way back then! Sweet as always, she offered to give it back to him, even though it was raining and she had to walk home.

She was standing next to him (she linked her arm in his!) when that pesky umbrella decided to close on them, and they were pulled even closer for a few seconds. Very close. He could smell the chlorine in her hair mixed with the scent of sweets that always surrounded her. He thought he felt her heart beating faster and faster. Maybe it wasn’t. His heart certainly was. He could feel her warm breath through his shirt, and it drove him a little crazy.

When they said goodbye that day, he could hardly take his eyes off her. He even bumped his head on the car door frame. Ladies and gentlemen, here’s the charming, elegant model Adrien Agreste, unable to enter a car (come to think of it, he seemed to have a bit of a problem with doors whenever Marinette was around).

✨

The few weeks that went by did nothing to sort out Adrien’s feelings about the two black-haired girls in his life. His days were mortifying, his nights restless. On one such night, Adrien tossed and turned, but sleep wouldn’t come. The full moon and bright stars shining through the window frames painted his room with grid patterns, a constant reminder of his confined life.

Adding to that, his mind was racing with memories of his (now frequent) clumsiness and embarrassment at school. He recalled the fumble of the day: going into the classroom while trying to look cool, he managed to snag his bag strap on the door handle, causing him to jerk back and hit the ground on his butt in front of the whole class.

Adrien groaned and turned again. Worst thing was, he had no idea how she felt for him. She kept sending mixed signals. Her behaviour towards him wasn’t as weird as it had been, but that didn’t mean a lot. He’d even asked her a couple of times. He remembered the time they visited the wax museum, when she said she didn’t like him like that.

“What’s the matter, kid?” Plagg yawned from his side of the pillow, annoyed by his bearer’s restlessness. “Who is it this time? Spots or bakery girl?”

Adrien didn’t bite, going back into his musings instead.

His mind turned to Ladybug… These days, Spots occupied a much smaller part of his thoughts. He still got the occasional butterflies in his stomach when he saw her, or when she praised him and his humour. She would always be his first love, and not an easy girl to forget… but she was right, of course — she was always right — as long as they had enemies, they couldn’t reveal their identities, much less deepen their relationship. Back when Bunnyx first showed up, they found out that there would be a new Hawkmoth and countless akumas in the future, and who knew when that would end?

Plagg was still grumbling about sleep and cheese. Adrien playfully flicked his kwami’s ear.

“Shut up, Plagg! I’m trying to sleep!”

“Very unsuccessfully, I might say,” Plagg flew out of his reach. “You sighed four-hundred and fifty-eight times in the last hour.”

“Come on… can’t you see I’m in turmoil here?” Adrien turned his back to the kwami. It was no use arguing with a deity, no matter how minuscule.

“Four-hundred and fifty-ni—” Plagg’s teasing was interrupted by a pillow hitting him.

😊

This wouldn’t do. Adrien couldn’t stand his own indecisiveness any more. He decided to ask Marinette out, that very day. After a reviving shower, he got dressed and looked in the mirror. The dark circles around his eyes were evident, but he hated wearing concealer to school. He might as well add a couple of details to his usual get-up: a pair of Gabriel’s new collection sunglasses and his favourite blue scarf.

He arrived at school early, and while most of the class was either chatting in the courtyard or going into the classroom, Marinette was nowhere to be seen. Adrien went into the locker room, and lurked behind the last row of lockers while students got in, got their things and left.

Finally, the hurricane that was late-for-class-Marinette thundered in, scolding herself for oversleeping as she got her books for the morning. When she closed the door, there was Adrien, leaning against the cabinets with his best Chat Noir smirk as he looked over the rim of his sunglasses and greeted her.

“Good morn—”

He didn’t have time to finish his line, as a very startled Marinette squeaked and grabbed his free arm to spin him around and pin him to the lockers with an elbow to his throat.

It took a few moments for Adrien realise exactly what had happened, before she released her hold.

“I’m sorry, I… panicked,” Marinette said, as she stepped back and continued to gesticulate wildly and mumble more awkward apologies.

Still frozen in place, Adrien managed to adjusted his crooked sunglasses.

“Marin—” he had to clear his throat. “No, I— It’s o-ow!”

Adrien tried and failed to step forward, as he heard a ripping sound — his scarf was caught in Marinette’s locker, and the momentum slammed him back into the metal doors with a loud bang.

The proverbial stars that blurred his vision cleared up to show Marinette very close to him, fumbling with the lock to release the scarf.

“Sorry, so sorry, I’m such a klutz!”

“It’s okay, no harm do—”

Adrien stopped talking when he saw that the scarf had a large rip, disappointment obvious upon his face.

“Oh no!” Marinette covered her mouth as she saw the damage. “Your scarf! I ruined it!”

At this point, Adrien would usually smile and say something like ‘it’s okay’ or ‘no worries’, but he couldn’t lie: he really loved that scarf. It was his favourite colour, warm and cosy, yet light enough to wear on a spring day, and a rare thoughtful gift from his father. He pouted a little as his fingers traced the tear.

“I can fix it!”

He lifted his eyes to Marinette as she got on her tiptoes to unwind the scarf from his neck.

“I can make it look as good as new. I know you’re worried, after all it’s your dad’s birthday gift,” she rambled as she delicately folded it, “but I have leftover yarn— I mean, I think I have the same colour, and it’s a simple pattern.”

There was something odd about the way she worded that, but Adrien dismissed it. He must have made a weird face, because now she had a concerned expression.

“I mean, if you trust me with it… I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t after I destroyed it. ”

“No—I mean, don’t be silly, it was an accident… I shouldn’t have sneaked up on you like that!” He managed a relieved little smile. “Still, my father might be upset if he saw I ripped it. Are you sure you can fix it?”

Marinette’s eyes averted his for a moment, as she returned the folded up scarf.

“I’ll do my best! I’m not a pro like your father, but I’m sure I can make it as good as new in no time at all!”

They agreed to go to Marinette’s place after school so that she could start working on it right away, then ran off to class as the second bell rang.

Not exactly the way I planned it, Adrien thought as he scrambled onto his seat, but I guess it worked!

🧵

Adrien reclined in the chaise-longue and looked around Marinette’s bedroom. It was the total opposite of his, huge and aseptic and cold. On the contrary, these walls had warm colours and pictures everywhere, and it smelled amazing, fruity shampoo mixed with glue and ink from her many design projects, mixed with sweets from the bakery, and everything about it was so welcoming and cosy and so… Marinette.

“Yes!” Her delighted voice interrupted his reveries. “I knew I still had it!”

Adrien chuckled as he saw Marinette triumphantly holding a ball of light blue yarn, then get several needles from her yarn basket and sit at her sewing station to start working. He switched seats to her desk chair and rolled close to her.

“Can I help?”

“Sure! Let me just…”

Marinette picked up a long, thin knitting needle and started to thread it on the scarf, just above the tear. She was so concentrated and her movements so careful and precise, she might as well be defusing a bomb. Adrien noticed her tongue sticking out the corner of her mouth and wondered what her kisses would taste like.

“There. I have the brakes on, now let’s get going.”

Marinette found the end stitch at the corner of the scarf and cut it. Giving Adrien the end of the yarn, she continued.

“Hold this. Make a ball while I unravel it.”

“Huh? Un-what?” Much as Adrien trusted her skills, he panicked. “Won’t you make it worse?”

“No, because I’m holding the knitting with this,” she pointed at the longer needle she had threaded through the scarf.

Marinette turned her chair, so they were sitting face to face, knees almost touching, and started to quickly unravel the bottom part of the scarf, while he rolled up the thread in a ball, both enjoying the comfortable silence. He noticed a small piece of fabric falling from one of the edges and bent down to pick it up.

“What’s this?” Adrien thought out loud while examining it.

As soon as Marinette lifted her eyes from her work and saw what he was holding, her eyes went wide and her cheeks red.

“Oh, it’s nothing—” she tried unsuccessfully to snatch the fabric from his hand. “Probably just the washing inst—”

It was not an ordinary washing instructions tag. It was tiny and had been woven into the knitting, so discreetly he’d never noticed it before. He turned the fabric over to see a recognisable signature.

Marinette

“Wait— you made this?” Adrien picked up the other end of the scarf from her lap and examined like he’d never seen it before. “Wha—? How? D-did my father buy it off your website?”

So that’s why she was so confident about fixing it. He searched Marinette’s face for an explanation, but she just shook her head and kept looking down, unravelling the loops one by one.

“No— of course not— your site wasn't set up back then, we only took those photos later…”

Adrien thought back to the time Nathalie handed him the present, neatly packed in a box with a ribbon. He’d never seen that kind of care in his father’s presents, just standard gift bags with expensive pens, straight from a corporate catalogue. His train of thought was broken by a couple of tears falling on his hands.

“Marinette…” he murmured, lifting her chin to look into her misty eyes. “Did you make this for me?”

She nodded with a tiny smile. He moved his hand from her chin to cup her cheek, wiping her tears with his thumb.

“Was this supposed to be your present for me?” Another nod. “How did this mess happen then?”

“I…” Marinette had to clear her throat and finally looked at him. Something in her eyes changed from avoidance to determination. “I wanted to give it to you personally, but I couldn’t gather the nerve… then one thing led to another, and I left it in your house, and I even signed it, but…” she shrugged.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I just… couldn’t. You were so happy with the present from your dad. I couldn’t ruin it for you.”

Adrien made a mental note to find out exactly what had happened, then set all his negative feelings aside. His heart was too full of love to think about anything other than the girl in front of him.

“Oh, Marinette…” he softly chided as he hugged her. How could this girl be so selfless, on top of everything else? She cared for him, really cared for him, even back then. “I wish you’d told me.”

He released the hug and pulled her closer, into his lap. Marinette set the scarf on the sewing table and put her arms around his neck. Her tears were gone and a hint of a smile played on her lips.

“That way,” Adrien caressed her nose with his, “I would have thanked you properly.”

“Oh yeah?” Marinette breathed, her lips very close to his. “You can thank me now.”

They closed the distance between them, their lips melding into a sweet kiss, then another, and then a few more. Adrien’s heart was beating so fast he could hardly bear it. Then he remembered he should probably breathe at some point.

“Wow.”

“If that’s the way you thank a person for a present, I’ll start giving them more often,” Marinette joked.

“Not anyone.” He pecked her lips. “Only you.”

They kissed again, this time more passionately. He kissed her eyes, the tip of her nose, her forehead, her neck, then back up to her lips…

The scarf was left forgotten on the sewing table. It could wait a few more hours before repairing.

Fin

Thanks to @hari-writes and @deinde-prandium for the beta read! ❤️

Constructive criticism is welcome and appreciated. English is not my first language and I tend to use UK English. If you catch any inconsistencies, please let me know.

My AO3. My Twitter. My Instagram.

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sneakers-and-shakes · 3 years ago

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Monthly Checklist: Deep Dive into the May Lifestyle Challenge

This month I’m running the #maylifestylechallenge on my Instagram (sneakersnshakes) and I wanted to take a moment to talk about what this is, where it stemmed from, and why it’s important.

In a previous post (one of my first ones actually) I talk about Setting Goals, specifically what I call Monthly Notes.

I suggest you read that post (linked here) since I’m only going to be brushing over the topic as I outline how I structure my months.

On top of my Monthly Notes (these are the goals more specific to each month) I also follow what I call a Monthly Checklist which is a baseline and applies to ever single month.

The checklist is broad on purpose and encompasses challenges that push me towards growth.

This checklist is as follows:

-something new

-something creative

-educating myself (usually denoted as documentary)

-giving back (usually denoted as donation)

I want to go down this list and talk about different ways these goals can be accomplished.

-.-

Something New

It can sound pretty daunting at first, especially for those who have done a lot of wild things in their lives, it can be hard to imagine what new thing you could possibly do. The key here is it doesn’t have to be a big thing.

Of course, if you’re able to go someplace you’ve never been or skydive or something crazy then that’s great! But your something new can be as simple as ordering a new drink at a coffee shop, or maybe trying out a new restaurant.

The objective of this goal is to further yourself in some way, push some boundaries even if it’s really small, and encourage exploration.

Something Creative

Like all the other goals in the checklist, this is left broad on purpose. Maybe your something creative is as simple as taking a cool picture, or slightly more complex like trying your hand at painting some happy little trees or fruit.

Some easy ideas I’ve used in the past to check this off the list is

-making a card for someone (birthday, mother’s day, thank you cards, etc.)

-doing a photography challenge (I have one on my Instagram if you’re interested)

-practicing calligraphy or trying to write in different fonts

There might even be free art-oriented classes or events at your local library or craft store if you need more guidance. (These can maybe double as your something new)

The objective of this goal is simply to create, add something new to the world that didn’t exist before you created it!

Educate Yourself

As you saw from the picture above this is something I usually do through watching documentaries. It’s the easiest way to learn about something that you might not have heard about or considered. (Or conversely offer a deep dive into a subject you’re interested in).

My go to website for educational and free documentaries is PBS’s NOVA, linked here: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/videos/episodes/

Of course, you don’t have to watch a documentary, here are some alternatives:

-listening to a podcast

-reading a book

-going to a museum

Even watching a deep dive on YouTube is a great option. There are tons of ways to educate yourself.

The objective of this goal is to keep growing and expanding your knowledge base or simply just learning something new!

Give Back

I usually do this by donating. Obviously, it’s important to check up on a charity before you donate but there are great sites like this: https://www.charitynavigator.org/ that will help you gauge an organization.

You also don’t need to donate a lot of money, sparing ten or twenty dollars is still better than nothing.

If you don’t have money to spare, there are still ways to give back, donating old clothes or extra food is always a great option.

Volunteering at shelters, libraries or any charity organizations near you is also completely free and very fulfilling.

I also recommend adding this chrome extension if you want to donate money for free: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/tab-for-a-cause/gibkoahgjfhphbmeiphbcnhehbfdlcgo?hl=en

Basically, every time you open a new tab you get a heart (a few cents of add money) and then you can donate those hearts to various charities.

The objective of this goal is to uplift and help others, to contribute to making the world a better place!

-.-

These four checklist items I set for myself every month is the inspiration behind the #maylifestylechallenge. It’s just a more structured way to accomplish these goals with each week having a different focus.

(Last week was something new and this week is something creative, hence the blog post).

This checklist is a great way to set a baseline set of goals, especially if you don’t have, or want to set, any specific personal ones

So this month, I challenge you to the May Lifestyle challenge and see how it impacts you. Do you feel more productive? Or maybe just better knowing you’ve done something to grow yourself and others?

Please share your thoughts in the comments! I’d love to hear them!

Thank you all so much for reading! And I’ll see you in the next one!

#lifestyle #blog #lifestyleblog #challenge

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crowdvscritic · 3 years ago

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round up // AUGUST 21

Happy 2nd birthday to these Round Ups! For two years I’ve been making monthly pop culture picks, and they’ve included:

More than 200 movies

32 TV shows and specials, plus 8 different Saturday Night Live Round Ups

27 albums, singles, playlists, and more music picks

13 podcasts

12 books

2 concerts

There have also been articles, events, museums, social media bits, trailers, and a service that helps you find movies across streaming platforms. (Find all of them here.) This month I’m adding a few more, like:

2 podcasts

2 albums

5 vampire movies

A conversation between two GOATs

A very funny dead guy

A terrifying Robert Mitchum performance

Another Dumb Rom-Com I Nevertheless Enjoyed

Here’s to another year!

August Crowd-Pleasers

1. Jungle Cruise (2021)

Indiana Jones meets Pirates of the Caribbean with a dash of The African Queen. I like all those movies, so sue me, I had a nice time! Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 7/10

2. Deep Blue Sea (1999)

Genetically-enhanced sharks try to break free of their cages in an ocean research facility, chaos ensues for the characters, and it’s a delight for us. For no intelligent reason, I love movies that make me guess who’s going to get killed off next, so a big dumb shark movie starring L.L. Cool J and Samuel L. Jackson? It’s a particular brand of joy. Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 5.5/10

3. Double Feature — Adam Sandler Comedies: 50 First Dates (2004) + Murder Mystery (2019)

Adam Sandler movies are little like IcyHot for the brain—that is, they’re the relaxing kind of mind-numbing. Thanks to a stressful month at work, I watched six Sandler flicks in August—which I don’t necessarily recommend but also don’t regret—and the Netflix original Murder Mystery (Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 7/10) was one of the the best of the bunch. It’s a silly spoof of Agatha Christie’s work, and it’s a scenic two-hour European vacay. I also gave 50 First Dates (Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 7/10) another try and was pleasantly surprised. Once you get past some of the gross-out humor at the beginning, you’ll find a sweet story all about how we need to keep showing up for the people we love.

4. Double Feature — SNL Comedies: Wayne’s World (1992) + Hot Rod (2007)

My love for Saturday Night Live is more than well-documented, so exactly zero mes were surprised that I loved these flicks from its alums. Wayne’s World (Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 7/10) follows up with Wayne and Garth in the basement we first saw on late night. Now they have the opportunity to make it big on TV thanks to a sleazy exec (Rob Lowe). Brian Doyle-Murray and Chris Farley show up, and so do Laverne and Shirley? Hot Rod (Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 6.5/10) follows Rod (Andy Samberg) as he tries to make it big as a stuntman and impress his stepdad (Ian McShane). Will Arnett, Bill Hader, and Chris Parnell show up, and now I can mostly forgive all those boys in high school who quoted this movie non-stop.

5. Weekend at Bernie’s (1989)

If those SNL comedies weren’t enough silliness for you, how about you add some Bernie to your lineup? Andrew McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman are wannabe-yuppies who think they’ve got their career breaks when an exec named Bernie invites them to his vacation home for the weekend. What they don’t know is that Bernie (Terry Kiser) has been laundering money, is connected to the mob, and, is now, um, dead. The right thing would be to call the police, but then we wouldn’t have a 97-minute high-concept comedy, now would we? Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 7/10

6. Twilight series (2008-12)

I mostly skipped the Twilight phenomenon at its peak, but I��m so glad I hopped on the train years later—this series of vampire vs. werewolf showdowns are ridiculous. But major kudos to the filmmakers who somehow turned a dump truck of nonsensical gobbledygook and unhealthy teenage relationships into something insanely watchable. Also, major kudos to Billy Burke and his understated, curmudgeonly, sarcastic performance. Bella’s dad is the MVP with the only appropriate responses to all of the nonsense he's forced to participate in and the only tether this franchise has to reality. Be sure to watch with a friend so you have someone else to process this weirdness with. Series Crowd: 8/10 // Series Critic: 5/10

7. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers at The Muny

You know what’s great? Live theater! This month I made my first trip back to the stage at America’s oldest and largest outdoor amphitheater, the Muny in St. Louis. Their productions never disappoint, and these performers reminded me of Howard Keel, Jane Powell, and Russ Tamblyn in the best ways.

8. Wimbledon (2004)

Paul Bettany and Kirsten fall in love at Wimbledon! Frankly, that premise alone should be enough to sell you on this very winning rom-com. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 7.5/10

9. Career Opportunities (1991)

This month’s Dumb Rom-Com I Nevertheless Enjoyed! Frank Whaley and Jennifer Connelly fall in love while stuck overnight at a Target—which honestly sounds like a dream scenario—and since it’s a John Hughes script, it’s got some heart beneath its thin premise. John Hughes directing would’ve made it better, but there’s enough Hughes in there to catch my heart. Crowd: 7/10 // Critic: 4.5/10

10. First Blood (1982)

Aka Rambo: Part I. Sylvester Stallone is a tough-as-nails Vietnam vet, and Brian Dennehy is the self-righteous sheriff who ticks him off. It digs a bit into PTSD and how we don’t take care of our veterans, but mostly, it’s just Stallone going ape with a knife and explosives. Oddly, also from the same director as Weekend at Bernie’s! Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 7/10

August Critic Picks

1. TCM’s The Plot Thickens Season 2 (2021)

You know those movies that make you ask, “How on Earth did this get made?” This season of The Plot Thickens, subtitled The Devil’s Candy, is an attempt to answer that question. Pretty much no one thinks 1990’s The Bonfire of the Vanities works as a film—including yours truly—and reporter Julie Salomon documented many of its production troubles leading to the final product. A must-listen for anyone who loves hearing behind-the-scenes stories or just gets a kick out of schadenfreude.

2. Gene and Roger (2021)

Gene and Roger, the summer series on The Big Picture podcast, is an overview and reflection on the work of Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, starting with the launch of their individual careers in the ‘60s through their partnership that lasted into the ‘90s. Another must-listen for movie lovers, especially those who love digging into the history and criticism.

3. Gold-Diggers Sound by Leon Bridges (2021)

Chill vibes and cool groves to transition you from Summer to Autumn.

4. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)

Come for the Clint Eastwood, stay for the Ennio Morricone. Actually you can stay for Eastwood, too, because his humor is at his driest, and for Eli Wallach, whose Tuco is an insanely charming cockroach. It’s almost three hours, but this treasure hunt breezes by like a tumbleweed in the wind. Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 9/10

5. AFI’s Master Class - The Art of Collaboration: Steven Spielberg and John Williams (2011)

Two GOATS talking about making some of the GOATs. They share clips and explain their collaborative process (including on projects like Jaws and Schindler’s List), and they take questions from film students at AFI. I’m only wishing it were 10 hours instead of 1!

6. The Night of the Hunter (1955)

Robert Mitchum’s terrifying preacher elevates this classic into more than just a standard crime thriller. Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 8.5/10

7. Respect (2021)

While a few scenes indulge in melodrama, Jennifer Hudson’s killer performance—both in vocals and character work—more than makes up for it. This Aretha Franklin biopic hits the familiar beats, but it makes you feel like you’re in the room listening to Franklin sing , which is really all you want from a movie like this. Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 8/10

8. Solar Power by Lorde (2021)

At first listen, this minimalist pop record sounds worlds away from the angst of Pure Heroine and the melodrama of Melodrama. At second listen, you realize it’s the Lorde you know and love, just with a Laurel Canyon influence. Carole King even gets a shout!

Also in August…

This month Kyla and I checked out Loveline, a call-in radio show popular during the run of Gilmore Girls. Should our favorite Yale students give up dating OR call into the syndicated radio show Loveline? Should Dr. Drew Pinsky and Adam Carolla give strangers advice OR make fun of them? Oh, and Germany OR Florida? Listen to ep. 107 of SO IT’S A SHOW?

The '40s are coming! Reviews of 1940s Best Picture winners are on their way, and I kicked it off with an overview of the Academy that decade focusing on how they responded to World War II and their new prestigious reputation.

Photo credits: The Muny, The Plot Thickens, Gene and Roger, Leon Bridges, AFI, Lorde. All others IMDb.com.

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heclingmuzik · 4 years ago

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TIMELINE OF PAST AND CURRENT EVENTS

Some dates are inaccurate from the posted date and some don’t have dates, BUT I’ll be changing dates around just to fit her story a bit better and hopefully make sure things are more easier to understand. If I’ve forgotten to add any importantance between your muse and mine, please shoot me an IM!

-----

Arrived in Isola on January 24th, 2021.

Upon arrival these are things that Ismael has gone through

On her first day arriving, Spirale was covered in sheets of snow with diamond creatures and diamond anything that would block the way.

She was rescued by someone from those diamond yetis!

She found out that you can actually break diamond with diamond, and also FOUND KYRIE!

On January 26th, 2021

Curious about the hole, she decides to revisit it.

This is where she meets the unpleasantries of the shadowy figure. She never got his name, BUT that shadowy figure looking thing is the cause of her first death. He pushed her into the hole. to this day, no one knows. To this day, Kyrie does not know that Ismael has a tiny fear of heights now.

{CAN’T FIND DATE} Was hired to work at Lovelyloaves by Mizi

On February 21st, 2021 she joined Big Dipper Talent!

Ismael has met and befriended plenty of people!

On April 1st, 2021

Game time? It’s weird and Ismael still doesn’t entirely understand what was going on, but it was fun. On her birthday, as part of the game, Ismael and Kyrie went diving....from the sky. Certainly a big step in that little fear of her’s!

She got a present afterwards! She hasn’t taken them off since!

She met someone shortly after. Nero.

He’s looking for a way out, and despite hearing that it is impossible he seems extremely hellbent in returning home. Says he’s got someone waiting for him. Someone waiting for him shares the same name as her friend Kyrie. WHAT are the odds, huh! She has been searching for answers since to help aid him in this quest.

On April 6-20, 2021

On her way in search for parts for Nero, she decides to expand her searching by going to Yesteryear, attempt at Mistwood, and going through Fibonacci’s Shadier sides.

April 6 - In Yesteryear, she didn’t find anything, but instead met a man with a strange looking bird. Is it a crow or a raven? She still doesn’t know, but she’s beginning to think the bird is....pretty cool.

April 10 - In Mistwood she didn’t even go in to check it out. This place will have to wait until she’s either with someone who can get them out in a pinch or just...when she feels she’s ready. Badou says there’s Deatheater? Deadeaters? Whatever the fuck. She’s not about to be eaten by no eatereaters.

April 18 (Afternoon close to Eveningish) - Ismael tells Nero she wants to fight alongside him when he brings up that he might actually have to change his plan a bit. Says he’ll have to face the Stars first in order to prevent being brought back here. He won’t let her fight and that upsets her. They have a small argument about it. She’ll have to check up on him. Make sure he got home safe and make sure he’s okay.

April 18 (Nighttime) - Ismael miscalculated the time and got overly cocky. If that’s what you can call it. She got stuck in the crowd and was rescued by a rather tall and scary man. He showed kindness, despite her screaming and lashing out because of fear. Same man decided to show her who he truly is by taking her to some building.

IN an attempt to save the three men that were unlucky enough to meet Yamazaki in the same building for some shady business???? Ismael may have failed and may have actually been the result in them dying.

During the time she is captured and held captive, forced to watch whatever unfolds before her eyes with Yamazaki and these poor unfortunate men, Nero sends in a text about finding someone who is willing to make his arm. She’s unable to get to the message until 2 days after in the evening.

On April 21st, 2021

She finally steps out of her lone house to finally go grocery shopping that she’s been trying to avoid for the past couple of days since she got back from that night. A lot of stuff that she’d suppose to get done neglected.

In her attempt to be quick, in and out of grocery store, she meets Grimm. Someone she’s spent a lot of time with talking about music, playing, and listening. .....If Grimm can see that something is wrong.... She’s really going to have to avoid seeing everyone else.

On April 24th, 2021

It’s proving difficult to be at the house, let alone just the ward entirely. She used to actually enjoy being in Fibonnaci. Some of the people there are nice, but...Well, now she just wants out. No where is technically safe, but man, she really wants out of Fibonacci.

She’s been crashing at....one of the Branches. Yesteryear is one of them. She’s beenn sleeping outside in her makeshift camp for a little over two days. She will stop by her home to get more supplies and the things she needs, but only then.

She’s more than likely going to check with the Stars. See if they will let her move houses.

She wants to ask the stars to move her, but again, the thought of ‘nowhere is really safe’ lingers at the back of her mind. She can move anywhere in the Wards or branches if that’s the case, but....HE will be there....Even if he isn’t.

On April 27th, 2021

Ismael finally gaining the courage after talking to Dune, decides to text Grimm and Nero.

She tells them what happened that night with Yamazaki. She’s not ready to talk to Kyrie about the event and isn’t quite sure when she will be ready.

Currently she is crashing at Grimm’s. Occasionally will crash at Nero’s, because she doesn’t want to just burden the one. Sometimes, she’ll be outside, in one of the branches. Sometimes she’ll tell the two where she’s going and other times she will not.

Kyrie remains to be in the dark about the whole situation, as through text, Ismael can pretend that everything IS fine to a perfect T.

On April 30th, 2021

She hits V up in hopes that he and his friend would be available to help her with a task. She’s been working on her archery skill and decided that in order to work on the small fear of heights, she’d pick up parkouring. Makes sense, right? Let’s see how this all goes.

On May 1, 2021

Ismael was once again debating on if she should venture into Mistwood or not. Only this time, instead of it being Badou to stop her in her tracks, it is none other than V. Where did he even come from? And will she ever actually check the woods out?

Don’t remember exact date

Ismael’s purchase of her Bow and fire elemental fragmentation were delivered to her. She’s been practicing more often. She also received her hoverboard as well.

On May 2nd, 2021

Ismael has once again come across Yamazaki. This time nothing happened and weirdly enough, it...was as if he was trying to help her get rid of that fear? Too bad he’s extremely unpredictable and what’s done is done. Though, she can’t deny that she hopes that ONE day she can actually look at him without fearing. That one day she can say his name without the memories of what happened...Or even if the memories are still there, she’s able to hold her ground and stay strong.

Until then, she’s practicing. She’s working on bettering herself, strengthen herself both mentally, emotionally, and physically.

She is getting a little better. Still nightmares plague her during the night, but she’s able to talk about what happened. May not be in full details, but it’s enough to understand ‘ah, so that’s what Ismael went through.’

Trying to face her fears is a lot harder than she thought. BUT she’s working on it. She’s hoping that even through fear she will be brave.

And every day, Ismael is reminded that she does have people here who cares for her and her them. It just makes these little horrible moments just a tad bit more bearable. She has so many people to thank!

And yes, this very same day she’s made her way into the woods. It may have been because she wasn’t thinking where she was running until it was too late. Whoops. Here, she’s met Mew. The pink cat that Nero helped.

On May 4th, 2021

Ismael decides to ask Nero a favor. She asks him if he would be okay in going to that building where she had been held captive and check for those bodies that she had left behind.

Nero ended up sent to the hospital when an unexpected turn of event led him and another guy there.

She feels guilt and blames herself for Nero’s injuries.

At the hospital on the same day while waiting for Nero, she meets Yamazaki again.

On May 8th, 2021

Ismael takes Nero’s words to heart from before when he got injured. When they were at the park he had said something along the lines of not holding something from someone. That being honest was more better. She decides to tell Kyrie of the things that she had suffered through.

Ismael is significantly getting better at not just archery, but handling things that has been happening in her life. The nightmares are still there. Sometime she catches herself in tears when she wakes, or a yelp in the middle of her sleep. Still, Ismael is doing her best!

On June 4th, 2021

There was an art museum that Ismael decided to attend to. Upon seeing a portrait, she finds out from Kyrie that the art is Yaira.

That very same day, everything in the museum comes to life and starts attacking people, including there being monsters added onto the chaos.

Ismael does not make it through. She ends up being injured fairly badly and passes away from said injury by the very hands of Yaira (an evil portrait.)

In the moment of her passing, she gets to meet Yaira (The good portrait that Kyrie made.)

On July 10th, 2021

Ismael undergoes a extremely life-changing situation. The stars manages to throw Ismael back into her world but reverse time with Ismael’s memories of Isola intact and was told that she’d remember bits and pieces and the more she continued onward the more memories she’d remember.

With the option to leave at any time, Ismael continued through her memory to the end and found out that Yaira was her sister all along.

Currently Ismael suffers from guilt, anger, self-hate, and so much more. She hasn’t been taking care of herself but still continues on with music, training, and her faith....If only to try and push through.

On July 21st

Ismael decides to contact Kyrie after a few days of just sending them texts to ask them about Yaira. She has a lot of questions and hopes that Kyrie can help her with them. She’s not entirely sure how she’s going to take any information if it turns out that Kyrie knew something and kept it from her.

MORE TO BE ADDED

will be updated accordingly!

#tw kidnapping #Tw #Trigger warning #Tw death ention #Tw Murder mention #long post #Timeline

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muteoilydiscolour · 4 years ago

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Year in Review

Yes I’m posting this way into January. HOWEVER, time isn’t real. I started making this post in Dec and then left it in my drafts, which is something I do pretty much every year! So let’s pretend ‘this year’ means 2020

a picture of you taken this year

This was at an fun exhibition in a huge decrepid warehouse, when things were briefly open in October

talk about movies this year

I work in a cinema so usually watch a lot of movies, but that hasn’t happened as much this year! I managed to miss out on two films because of lockdown 1 + 2 - And Then We Danced and Saint Maud, which I still really want to see!

My fav films I watched this year are The Lighthouse, Parasite, David Copperfield, My Own Private Idaho, Ema (I guess, the plot was wild but the production is great), Shirley, Sunset Boulevard and Nausicaa

talk about television this year

GUYS. It’s taken 6 years but I have nearly finished The X-Files! Or, I’ve made it to season 9. I’ve been a bit put off because I hate Doggett but Reyes is cool and there’s still a lot of fun eps! Other faves from this year: Drag Race UK, What We Do in the Shadows, Succession, I May Destroy You, Feel Good, BoJack Horseman, Schitt’s Creek, Ratched, and Pose (not from this year but I finally watch s2 and loved it!)

talk about books this year

I have literally read 3 books this year: Convenience Store Woman, Song of Solomon and The Body Keeps the Score. All good, esp the latter 2. I bought a bunch of books just before lockdown but then my brain dissolved into a fine mush. I’ve just started The Brothers Karamazov, which I’m enjoying! I didn’t realise Dostoyevsky could be funny.

talk about food this year

food is lyf

My birthday is at the end of March so I spent it essentially alone (my housemates were around but they don’t count), and I spent several hours making and icing my birthday cake.

At the beginning of lockdown I got into making myself nice breakfasts of waffles or pancakes with lots of fruit/yoghurt/honey.

Some recipe recs:

Leek, Pesto and Squash Pie (I made this with added peas/kale/veggie sausage, and mashed potato on top)

Jambalaya (I make this without chicken and use veg stock)

Spaghetti alla Puttanesca (I have only recently started to appreciate the greatness of spaghetti)

Salted Caramel Pear Cake

Carrot Cake

talk about music this year

Spotify playlist of songs I’ve enjoyed this year!

Fav albums:

Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters

Sufjan Stevens - The Ascension

Porridge Radio - Every Bad

Rina Sawayama - SAWAYAMA

Moses Sumney - Grae

Yves Tumor - Heaven to a Tortured Mind (this is currently on repeat!)

Perfume Genius - Set My Heart on Fire Immediately

Jessie Ware - What’s Your Pleasure

Dorian Electra - My Agenda

Having some of my favs release albums means I’ve been able to read lots of interviews with them, such as this Fiona Apple interview.

talk about art this year

I was lucky enough to do a London trip at the end of Feb (and met @angelsofashes IRL!) so I got to look at a bunch of art then, although I think just went to the White Cube Bermondsey and the Tate Modern extension which I hadn’t got round to visiting before.

OH and in the National Portrait Gallery I discovered young Charles Dickens is my doppelganger which I still find hilarious.

something that made you proud this year

I finished my Graphic Arts MA in January and got a distinction! I worked so hard on my final project so it was nice to have that recognised even though it’s essentially meaningless. I also was lucky enough to have a final show.

Other than that, proud of everyone for making it through I guess!

something that made you laugh this year

A lot of bad memes, such as:

something that made you sad this year

*Gestures at everything*

something that made you happy this year

Friends, sunshine, watching people walk their dogs

your favorite photo this year

idk, I take so many photos - but here’s a nice cat refusing to face the camera

what you learned this year

I’ve kind of learned how to use After Effects! Slowly getting better at animation

travel you did this year

I managed to do a few trips around Devon/London/Kent in Feb/Mar, which was pretty lucky. Aside from that... uhhhhhhhh

I also bought a railcard in Feb lmao, and they’re not refunding or extending them, of course

Something which caught your interest this year

I’ve been listening to podcasts all the time (as a substitute for actual company I guess!) Literally one of the few things keeping me sane. Some recs:

You’re Wrong About

Museum of the Vanishing Dog (shoutout to tumblr user @boyhood!)

Caraboo Projects loops

talk about politics or current events this year

uhhhhhhhhh

tbh the US election was a welcome distraction, esp as it happened when I had to Covid isolate - nice for an election result to not be disastrous for once

3 goals for next year

Find somewhere to live (I’m being chucked out of my current place this summer because, mysteriously, they want to make it a student flat)

Survive/stay healthy if possible

Maybe search for that elusive 5-figure salary

talk about things you are excited for next year.

uhhhhhhhhhh

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

#year in review

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draco-spencers-paramour · 4 years ago

Note

hey congrats on 200, I love your writing so much :D!! if your requests are still open can I request a cm ship? 😇! i'm 5'1", INTJ-T, scorpio, and slytherin. I'm asian-american with mid length black hair & eyes. I'm pretty quiet and I have anxiety but when I do open up I can talk a lot, though I can get really moody and critical at times. I enjoy digital art, playing fighting games, and researching about east asian history and making up oc worlds in my head. again, thanks & congrats on 200!

Spencer Reid 💼

You met Spencer at your local museum. You were at the Asian art exhibit event the museum was holding that night. Everything around you was stunning. The intricate oil canvas paintings of sakuras, gaichas and the showcase of the night the original painting of Along the River During the Qingming Festival by Zhang Zeduan. It took you breath away and you stood there and gazed at it. You were at peace, quite the opposite to the day you’d had at work. You were a digital arts producer for commercials of big brands, so you were paid very well. Sadly, you did not get along with your tech advisor who hadn’t liked the colour palette you’d chosen for a perfume ad you were working on. Nevertheless you had a fight and stormed out. Just by chance, did you see the poster for the history of asian art exhibit and Spencer happened to be there too. He saw the way you gazed up at the Zeduan’s artwork through your long wispy lashes. You looked stunning as the silver light behind it reflected on your face. He strolled over and stood next to you ‘Did you know that over the centuries, the Qingming scroll was collected and kept among numerous private owners, before it eventually returned to public ownership. The painting was a particular favorite of Puyi, the Last Emperor, who took the Song dynasty original with him when he left Beijing.’ you chuckled ‘Yes I did know that.’ he nodded ‘Oh...cool. Sorry if that was annoying.’ you turned to him and smiled ‘Not at all. I quite enjoyed it. I’m Y/N’ you stuck out your hand. He surprised himself by shaking it, usually he’d be opposed because of germs but with you he was more than happy to do it. ‘Spencer.’ he returned the smile. That night you exchanged numbers and started going out. After your 6th date he asked you to be his girlfriend and you happily accepted by pulling him in for a kiss. Dates were museum trips, art galleries and coffee meet ups. You soon found that you were both literally the same person. Critical but sweet and quiet unless you were surrounded by the people you loved. It wasn’t actually that long before spencer told you he loved you and asked you to move in. You said that you loved him too and wanted nothing more than to live with him. You’d spend your days playing video games together and ordering takeaway and going for walks. Neither of you could imagine loving anyone else than each other.

hope you like it love💓💓💓💓

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apunkagamesin24-blog · 4 years ago

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30+ Free Online Team Building Games

You’ve found our list of the best online team building games for remote teams.

Online team building is the intentional creation of relationships via online platforms. Online team building games are any games that you play online to help foster collaboration and team spirit with employees. Examples of these online games include Spreadsheet Wars, Online Office Games and Virtual Charades.

You can organize your own games for free or at low cost, and we also provide facilitated games via our online free apunkagames.

This list includes:

online games for remote teams

fun online team building games

free online team building games

virtual group games

virtual games to play with coworkers

So, check out the list!

List of Online Team Building Games

Online Team Building Bingo

Online Office Games

Murder in Ancient Egypt

War of the Wizards

Spreadsheet Battleship

Lightning Scavenger Hunts

Lexulous “Scrabble” Style Game

Guess the Refrigerator

“Can Your Hear Me Now?”

Five Clicks Away

Typing Speed Race

Chair Up!

Water Shots

Virtual Charades

Pub-style Trivia

Virtual Werewolf

We Didn’t Start the Fire

Spreadsheet Wars

A World of Risk

Sudoku Throw-down

Something in Common

Quick Draw

Truth or Dare: Remote Work

Jackbox Games

Yellow Submarine

Nintendo Game Night

Ten Strikes

The Ground is Lava

The Question Game

The Channel Closing Game

Below is a list of online team building games. From Bingo to Lightning Scavenger Hunts to The Ground is Lava, you will find games that are fun, free and easy to play with remote teams.

Online Team Building Bingo

One of the best starter online games for teams is Online Team Building Bingo. Bingo, a game played across retirement homes and summer camps everywhere, is familiar, fun, and works extremely well in the online format.

Here is an Online Team Building Bingo board you can start with:

You can “Right Click + Save As” to download the Bingo board.

You can freely distribute and use this virtual bingo board for internal use 🙂

To play Online Team Building Bingo:

Distribute the board to your team

Establish rules and a timeline to play

Track the results and award prizes

Pro tip: Amazon gift cards and bragging rights are usually sufficient prizes for successful online team building games.

Online Office Games (Most Popular)

Online Offices Games is a facilitated series of online games and challenges for remote teams. You can learn more about the various games included on our page for Online Office Games.

The challenges are specifically designed for remote teams and to help develop the essential skills for working from home. For example, each event starts with virtual icebreaker questions, then pub-style trivia and games like “Can Your Hear Me Now”, which is a game that emphasizes the precision of communication you need for working remotely.

It’s fun !!

Murder in Ancient Egypt (Collaborative)

One of our most popular online team building games is Murder in Ancient Egypt. This game uses mechanics of escape rooms, puzzles and problem solving and so encourages your team to work together. This murder mystery also has an interesting twist; the murder is actually a real mystery from ancient Egypt, and after your teams make their guess, our master storytelling will share the big reveal.

Murder in Ancient Egypt is a 90 minute, fully-facilitated event. We provide an energetic host to keep your team engaged, and a co-host that manages the technical aspects. The event is fun, challenging and perfect for groups that want to work both collaboratively and competitively.

War of the Wizards (RPG Game)

War of the Wizards is a collaborative storytelling game of wisdom and magic. The story start that a group of wizards have been at war since ages past, and no-one even quite remembers why. Your people become the wizards’ minions, working together to collect magic items, cast spells and overcome obstacles. For example, you may develop a strategy to leap over a wide chasm, or challenge an ogre to a battle of wits.

War of the Wizards is a little nerdy, and a whole lot of fun. You don’t have to be a Dungeons & Dragons master either; the game is simple to follow and fun to participate for all skill levels. The game lasts for 90 minutes, and is facilitated over video conference by our talented host.

Spreadsheet Battleship (Nostalgic)

If you grew up in the late eighties and early nineties then you will likely remember the energetic proclamation “you sunk my battleship!”

Over 20+ years later, it turns out that Battleship has a perfect format for online games. You can also play the game multiplayer, with three to 10 players or more if you are feeling audacious.

To play Spreadsheet Battleship, each player needs two things: a game board and the placement of ships. You can use graph paper labelled with letters and numbers for the game board, and either randomly assign battleship placement or let each player choose where to place the ships.

Spreadsheet Battleship game mechanics are a little like Go Fish. On each player’s turn, that player chooses another player and names a square on the grid like A-5 or C-10. The receiving player says, “you missed”, “you hit” or “you sunk my battleship!” depending on what happened. The next player then goes in sequence, which could be in order of age or geographic location.

Continue playing until only one player has ships remaining.

Lightning Scavenger Hunts

In the real world, we run scavenger hunts at some of the coolest locations in the world: like the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC and Grand Central Terminal. Scavenger Hunts can be a fun way for your people to work together.

Virtual scavenger hunts are more difficult to find that team spirit with. You might have game mechanics that have your team searching Google, Wikipedia, YouTube and other sites, without really working together.

The solution for successful online scavenger hunts is to throw away the normal and adopt a lightning version instead. For Lightning Scavenger Hunts, fire off a rapid series of clues that have your team members dashing to find objects, solve clues and win points. For example, you could have everyone grab their favorite mug and award points to the best mug story.

The fast paced nature of Lightning Scavenger Hunts is what makes it work for online team building games.

Lexulous “Scrabble” Style Game (Free)

Lexulous is a free online game that is mode led after Scrabble. The main difference is that Lexulous has eight tiles in play at a time, and the value assigned to each letter is a little different.

The main similarities are that Lexulous looks pretty darn like Scrabble, and like me and my brothers: my mom loves them all equally.

You can easily include Lexulous in your options for online games to play with coworkers. You can keep track of points and total scores over a month, and award a Lexulous champion at the end.

Guess the Refrigerator (Quirky)

My refrigerator mostly contains fatty pork, 100% dark chocolate and pears. Your refrigerator may be different. A fun game we could play together is Guess the Refrigerator.

Guess the Refrigerator is similar to “Who Da Baby?” and other guessing games. To play, everyone submits a photo of the inside of their refrigerator to one point of contact. That organizer then posts the photos to a channel where all participants can study the contents and make best guesses at which refrigerator belongs to who. The players submit answers to the organizer, who then tallies up the scores and announces a winner.

Sharing an inside view of your refrigerator takes a degree of vulnerability, which is a factor that contributes to the success of great online team building games.

“Can Your Hear Me Now?”

“Can You Hear Me Now” is one of the most popular games we play as part of Online Office Games. You can play this game 100% online, and as part of a virtual conference call.

To play, name one person as the Describer and the other players as Artists. The Describer must explain to the Artists how to draw an item like a sunflower, kite or calculator using only geometric terms.

For example, you could say “draw a large square” and then “add a line at a 45 degree angle from the top”, but not “draw the letter E.”

You can play each round for as long as you like, and three minutes is usually sufficient. At the end of each round, the Describer gets one point for each Artist that guesses the object correctly, and each Artist that guesses correctly also gets one point. Tally up points and award cool prizes to the winner.

Five Clicks Away

Five Clicks Away is a logic game for online team building. To play, you select a starting topic and an ending topic, which you can decide on your own or randomly generate. For example, the starting point could be Blackbeard the Pirate and the endpoint could be grilled cheese sandwiches.

Each player must start on the Wikipedia page for the starting point, and in no-more than five clicks reach the end point. The idea is that Wikipedia has so many internal links that you should be able to follow a chain to reach the end point in less than five clicks.

Five Clicks Away is difficult to get started with, but as you start to understand Wikipedia’s structure the game becomes easier. Like “Can You Hear Me Now?”, the game is also a proxy for learning a useful remote work skill, which in this case is obscure research.

Typing Speed Race (Competitive)

One of my favorite online team building games is a Typing Speed Race with friendly competition. For the Typing Speed Race, you can use a free tool like typingtest.com and have each of your team members do a one minute challenge. Then, each person posts their test results to Slack, email or another platform.

The Typing Speed Race is a great way to encourage friendly competition with remote teams. You can make the experience more collaborative by doing a Typing Speed Relay, which requires forming your people into teams and then adding the cumulative score from each person to create a team total.

With the Typing Speed Race, everyone wins because typing quickly is an important skill for remote work.

Chair Up! (Positive Powerup)

Chair Up! is both my favorite pun-inspired name for a chair store, and also a fun and easy game for video conference calls.

The game is played over email, messenger or conference call, and is specifically meant to counter the doom and gloom that sometimes guides conversations. Whenever someone calls out “chair up!”, everyone must stand up and do something cheerful. For example, you could do yoga sun-salutations, clap your hands, laugh or have a small dance party.

Chair Up! is silly, fun, and an easy way to get started with online team building.

Water Shots

When you work from home, taking care of your health and fitness is especially important. You can do squats and eat well, and also make sure you drink enough water.

Water Shots is a game meant to fortify your team around healthy hydration. To play, you first choose a trigger, which could be “every time a pet comes on screen in a video call” or “any time someone says mute.” When the trigger happens, all participants must drink a shot of water, which could be a literal shot or a sip.

Team building games that focus on building healthy habits are a great way to support company culture and development with remote teams.

Virtual Charades

Charades is one of those games that nearly everyone plays at school or home while growing up. With this proliferation of Charades, Virtual Charades has the advantages of being fairly familiar while also being moderately fun.

To play Virtual Charades, prepare a set of links that go to Google Image pages or use a random image generator. On each player’s turn, that player must act out what they see in the image and the player’s teammates can guess each one to earn points. Rinse and repeat until you are all out of fun.

Here are some frustrating office words you can use as prompts for your game:

jammed printer

dry pen

empty stapler

squeaky door

full refrigerator

broken heater

company firewall

You can use other words too, but frustrating office words are a good reminder of why working from home is fun.

Pub-style Trivia

You don’t need a pub to play pub-style trivia, and beer and peanuts are also optional. Instead, you can play with at least two teams, a series of trivia questions, and positive attitudes.

Playing pub-style trivia online is similar to the in-the-pub version, with one crucial difference: you need an easy way for people to communicate. Instead of mumbling across a table, we recommend using vivirtual breakout rooms so that each team can discuss the answers openly. Each team can then submit the answers via a web-form and the host can award points as needed.

Pro tip: Playing virtual happy hour games like pub-style trivia give you a unique opportunity to include wildly different clues in the game. For example, instead of “guess that tune”, you could have players guess the tune, find it on YouTube and identify a clue at a specific time stamp. The internet is your virtual game oyster.

Virtual Werewolf (Team Favorite)

Werewolf is a game of cunning deceit and tactful manipulation, and the online version is much of the same. The game relies primarily on the spoken word, which makes it perfect for remote teams.

To play, nominate one person as the narrator and then randomly distribute the following roles to players:

Werewolf: a werewolf has two jobs: eat villagers, and survive to eat more villagers.

Villagers: these are the common folks in the game who have no special powers, but desperately hope to survive the night.

Medic: the medic can save up to one villager each round.

Seer: a seer can peer into the depths of another players soul to reveal whether that player is a werewolf or not.

Hunter: when the hunter dies, the hunter can point a finger at any other player and take that person down with them.

To play, first distribute the roles via private message or email the players in advance. For a game with five people, you should have 1 werewolf, 1 medic and 3 villagers. For each additional five people add 1 werewolf, 1 special role, and 3 villagers. The ratios are flexible, so can modify them to suit your needs.

To start the game, the narrator declares that “night has fallen” and all players must close their eyes and tap their knees or keyboards to create a pitter-patter sound. After a few seconds the narrator says “werewolves wake up”, and any players with the werewolf role must awake and choose a single victim via private message.

The narrator then puts the werewolves back to sleep and has the medic and seer wake up in sequence. During the medic’s turn to be awake, the medic can point to one player to save that player from the jaws of the werewolf. If the medic selects the same player as the werewolf, then nobody dies during the night. When the seer points to a player, the narrator can answer yes or no to whether that player is a werewolf.

After all special roles act, the narrator declares “the sun is coming up” and either the name of the player that the werewolves ate or that no-one was eaten if the medic chose correctly. All players can open their eyes, and then debate on who the werewolf might be. To end the round, all players vote on one player to eliminate from the game or can pass and wait until the next round. Any player that is eliminated either by the werewolves or by vote becomes a friendly ghost that is not allowed to speak for the rest of the game but may observe it in quiet frustration.

Repeat until the only remaining players are werewolves or villagers.

We Didn’t Start the Fire !!

We Didn’t Start the Fire is an online team building game inspired by Billy Joel’s song of the same name. To play, divide the attendees of your virtual conference call into groups of four or five people and then give the groups 15 minutes of prep time. During those 15 minutes, each team writes a verse of lyrics that follow the general melody of We Didn’t Start the Fire.

After the 15 minute breakout session, bring everyone back to the main virtual meeting and have the teams present their creation. Vote on the best one with thumbs up and cheers.

Spreadsheet Wars (Challenging)

Spreadsheet Wars may be my favorite game to play with coworkers. Like other games on this list, Spreadsheet Wars is a combination of fun and skill-building, which makes it perfect for remote teams and offices.

To play, use a collaborative spreadsheet program like Google Sheets and select a theme like “choose your own adventure” or “scrappy recipe generator.” Each team then has up to 30 minutes to build a tool that matches the theme. The best tool wins, and really everyone wins because you are getting better at using one of the most powerful free tools on the internet.

Because Spreadsheet Wars doesn’t rely on any specific video conferencing platform, you can use it for games on Webex, Zoom games, Hangouts and other platforms.

A World of Risk

Growing up, one of my favorite games to play was Risk, the game of global domination that meshes perfectly with my own aspirations. Risk is a game of cutthroat collaboration, friendly competition, resource management and other strategic dynamics that make it perfect for online team building.

The most flexible way to play a Risk-like game online is to use one of the many clones, for example Conquer Club, which provides a free browser based game.

Sudoku Throw-down

In the early 2000s, Sudoku took the world by storm; inspiring nerds everywhere to complete numerical logic games instead of the daily crossword. Today, you can play a version of Sudoku for online team building called Sudoku Throw-down.

Here is how it works:

Send everyone on your team a free game board from a site like Web Sudoku.

Challenge each player to complete the game board as quickly as possible.

The first player to complete the game board with 100% accuracy is the winner.

For Sudoku Throw-down, you can easily up the competitive spirit by including prizes for the top three finishers. I recommend nerd-friendly prizes like more Sudoku puzzles, science kits and white boards.

Something in Common (Icebreaker)

Something in common is an icebreaker game that works on video conference calls and similar. To play, first organize your attendees into manageable sized groups of four or five people and gently push them into breakout rooms. Each group has the goal of finding three similarities they have in common with other members of that group. For example, “we all have cats, no-one was born in Chicago and we loved Hamilton.”

For the next round, keep the same teams and add a restriction that you can’t mention locations or physical similarities. For the round after that, remove pets and preferences. The goal is to make the game increasingly difficult and encourage your remote team to deep dive into what they may have in common.

Quick Draw

Pictionary is a fun game where some people draw while other people guess what the drawing could be. The game includes elements of improv, creative thinking, competition and more.

You can play an online game that is similar to Pictionary:

Divide your people into breakout rooms.

Have each person in each room draw three clues. You can use this random word generator do return three nouns.

Teams accumulate 1 point for each drawing someone on the team guesses correctly. Teams get no points for any clues that players skip or do not guess correctly.

After 15 minutes, return everyone to the main room and compare scores.

You can play Quick Draw over Zoom, Webex and other virtual conference call platforms. You can also mix up the game and rules by varying the number of clues each person draws, and drawing verbs instead of nouns.

Truth or Dare: Remote Work Edition

Truth or Dare is a kind of NSFW game that is a fan favorite of students across Canada, America and other parts of the world. Truth or Dare: Remote Work Edition takes those popular game mechanics and optimizes for team building online.

Instructions:

One person starts by naming another player and saying the words, “truth or dare?”

The receiving person chooses either truth or dare.

The asking person then prompts the receiver with a question or action.

The receiving person responds and then prompts another player with the words, “truth or dare?”

Here are examples of prompts you can use:

Which website do you waste the most time on?

How many browser tabs do you have open right now?

How many unread emails in your inbox?

Make the noise of a dial-up modem from the 90s.

Show us one object within arms reach of your computer.

The major guideline for Truth or Dare is to keep the questions and prompts friendly.

Jackbox Games

A year or two ago I played Jackbox Games with Tasia, Ethan and some other close friends. The game prompted me to lie about “how many beers did you have last night?”, and that was game over for Michael “prefers tea” Alexis.

Still, Jackbox Games provides options you can use for online team building. The game options include trivia and similar, and the games have some unexpected and creative dynamics. To play, everyone logs into a website via a special URL.

Yellow Submarine (Unique)

When I lived in NYC, two dudes at the metro station would play the same two Beatles’ songs over and over. If the train was late and people were standing on the platform longer, sometimes the two dudes would stop playing for a bit. Neither of those songs was Yellow Submarine.

Yellow Submarine is also an online team building game you can play with remote teams. Here is how:

Each of your remote employees needs to craft a submarine. You can use paper, magazine cutouts, or nearly anything else to craft your ship.

Players get one point every time they show the submarine on a video conference call. You can hide the submarine in the background, have it float up from the bottom of the screen, camouflage it into your outfit, or any other incognito method.

You get one point each time you show the submarine.

If someone spots your submarine then you are out. You still get the one point for showing your submarine that time.

Continue playing until everyone is out, and then tally up the points and name a Yellow Submarine Captain.

The game mechanics work because the incentive is for each player to show their submarine as many times as they can. If you wait it out, then you may be one of the last players in the game but you will also need to catch-up on points.

Nintendo Game Night

A few years ago, video game cafes took the world by storm. The idea of going to play Mario Kart or Goldeneye 007 while someone delivers you nachos and beer was a strong pull.

You can host a Nintendo Game Night for your team by using an emulator. The emulator allows you to play games via most modern web browsers. Choose a game like Excitebike, Popeye or Ice Hockey and host a tournament to see who gets the most points. You should probably make the game night “bring your own nachos.”

Ten Strikes (Quick & Easy)

Ten Strikes is a fun icebreaker game, so it’s a good way to get to know new team members, or to build deeper relationships with existing teams.

Here is how to play:

All participants hold up 10 fingers.

The youngest person on the call goes first, and shares one true statement about themselves. For example, “I have a pen pal.”

Anyone that the statement is true for gets to keep their fingers up, while anyone that the statement is not true for puts one finger down.

If all of a player’s fingers are down then they are out of the game.

Play until only one player remains.

The strategy in Ten Strikes is to share facts about yourself that are unique enough that other players will not be able to say it is true of them and will have to put fingers down.

Pro tip: You can also play Five Strikes or Twenty Strikes. Generally the more fingers and toes you start with, the longer the game will go.

The Ground is Lava !!

Anyone who has either been a five year old or spent time with one has played The Ground is Lava. The entire point of this game is to avoid touching the ground at all costs. You can climb from a chair to the couch, to stepping on a book and similar to get to your destination.

The online team building version of The Ground is Lava for adults is exactly the same as the five year old version. Challenge your team members to hunt for specific objects around the house, like a favorite mug or photograph. Participants can scoot on chairs, beds, throw rugs and other barriers to find the objects and return to the video call. Anyone that touches the ground is disqualified from the competition, but everyone gets to share about the object they brought back.

The Question Game

The Question Game is a fun game that requires no prep or special equipment. To start playing, ask someone a question, and that person must respond with a question directed back at you or another participant. If you delay for five seconds then you are out. If you speak without forming a question then you are out too 🙂

Here is an example of how this game might go:

Ally: “It’s a beautiful day, don’t you you think Jackie?”

Jackie: “What do you think makes it beautiful, Michael?”

Michael: “Sorry, I was writing a blog article.”

In this example, I would be 100% out of the game. A more clever Michael would have said, “Sorry, what was that, Jackie?” and kept moving the game forward.

The Channel Closing Game

If your team members are on Slack or another messaging platform then starting to practice channel hygiene is important. Closing channels is a good way to avoid “Slack hovering”, which will increase productivity.

Once per month, post a challenge for team members to close out channels they are no longer participating in. We automate this message using Zapier, and include a prompt that you can copy and paste “/leave” to quickly leave channels.

You could keep track of how many channels each player leaves, and award points of prizes, but The Channel Closing Game is really one where everyone that participates wins. Closing down your excess channels is like the Slack equivalent of inbox zero. It just feels good.

Warning: The Channel Closing Game is kind of a productivity hack for managing remote teams that is masquerading in a list of great online team building games. I love it, and at least one of your team members will love it, but don’t pitch it too hard on the fun factor.

Online Escape Games

Escape games are a popular group activity in person, and are increasingly popular for online team building too. These virtual escape games provide opportunities for teamwork, collaboration, and developing team building skills. There are dozens of options to choose from, including free or DIY escape rooms, and fully facilitated ones.

Virtual Murder Mysteries

Virtual murder mysteries are similar to online escape rooms, but generally have more theatrical flair. Typically, you either download scripts and choose actors on your team, or hire an outside company to perform the murder mystery for you. These online murder mysteries tend to have fun themes that match holidays, entertainment and other interests.

Conclusion

Playing fun online games with remote teams is a great way to do team building and create meaningful relationships while working from home.

You can play the online team building games on this list, create your own, or check out other resources for more ideas. Be sure to check out our list of the best virtual team building activities, and our list of offline team building games too.

With online team building, the most important element is that you dedicate some time to games, because all work and no play makes for a pretty dull time.

FAQ: Online team building games

The following are a few common questions and answers about online team building games for remote employees.

What is online team building?

Online team building is any formation of relationships between team members that occurs via online platforms. For example, you can do icebreakers at the beginning of virtual meetings, or play online team building games.

What are online team building games?

Online team building games are any games that you play online to help foster collaboration and team spirit with employees. Virtual team building games and remote team building games are closely related.

What are the benefits of organizing online team building games?

Organizing online team building games is one way to increase morale and engagement with remote teams. At a basic level, games are a fun way for your people to spend time with each other away from work projects and the requirements of meetings.

What are some fun games to play with virtual teams?

Fun games to play with virtual teams include Virtual Werewolf, Lightning Scavenger Hunts, Water Shots and Chair Up! Of these four games, Werewolf is the best known, and Water Shots is my favorite.

How do you get started with online team building?

An easy way to get started with online team building is to allocate either an entire virtual meeting or at least a portion of one to playing online team games. You can organize some of the games on this list, or create your own to mix up the variety.

Is online team building location dependent?

No! One of the best features of online team building is that it is completely international. Generally, as long as a participant has an internet enabled device and a reliable WiFi connection they will be able to take part in the games and activities.

So, whether your people are in the US, Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, South America or anywhere else, online team building can be a great choice for team engagement.

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osakaso5 · 5 years ago

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IDOLiSH7 4th Anniversary Special Story: Best Wishes...

Chapter 3: Gacchan's Inspection

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5

Momo: Good work this week~! Just a little longer, and we'll have our vacation day!

Yuki: Right. We should go out together on our next off day.

Momo: Really!? I hope you're not just saying that, and planning to sleep through the day anyway.

Yuki: We can go out in the evening. You know, somewhere... in the neighborhood.

Momo: It's our long-awaited day off, so I wanna wake up early and go to the sea or the mountains! I wanna do something recreational!

Yuki: You're so energetic... I'll need five consecutive vacation days before I'm even mentally prepared to go to the seaside or mountains.

Yuki: Let's just watch a DVD together. I can't handle the splatter stuff that you love, but I did like the film we watched the other day.

Momo: Liar, you slept through it.

Yuki: I didn't, I swear.

Okazaki's Voice Through Speakers: Good work today.

Momo & Yuki: .......!?

Momo: What!? Where's Okarin's voice coming from!?

Yuki: Ah... There's a speaker fixed to the ceiling.

Momo: Huh!? You're right!

Okazaki's Voice Through Speakers: Can you hear me?

Momo & Yuki: We can hear you.

Momo: What's up with this?

Okazaki's Voice Through Speakers: That foreign TV show, "Johnny's Venuses", has been popular recently, yes?

Momo: Yeah. It's about an all-female detective agency, where their boss Johnny gives orders to the Venuses.

Okazaki's Voice Through Speakers: Yes, that one.

Okazaki's Voice Through Speakers: Our president said he wanted to try that...

Yuki: Is he an idiot?

Momo: That's the reason he put up speakers!?

Okazaki's Voice Through Speakers: He wants to try giving out orders. I'm sure he'll get tired of it in due time... My apologies...

Yuki: I don't want someone's disembodied voice telling me what to do... Especially Rintaro's...

Momo: But it does sound kind of fun! Okarin, try talking like the boss of a detective agency.

Okazaki's Voice Through Speakers: Gentlemen, I have a new mission for you.

Momo: Like that! That's cool!

Yuki: Crap. I think my heart just skipped a beat.

Okazaki's Voice Through Speakers: Did you like that?

Yuki: I want to do it next.

Momo: Me too, me too!

Okazaki's Voice Through Speakers: Ah, before that, I must tell you about your next job. After you finish filming in Hokkaido tomorrow, you'll go to Sky Blue Mall, which is here in the city...

Momo: Say it like a boss!

Okazaki's Voice Through Speakers: You'll infiltrate Sky Blue Mall and investigate "Anniversary", its new organic café.

Momo: Boss!

Yuki: Boss!

Okazaki's Voice Through Speakers: You're to have a shoot and autograph the walls of the establishment before it opens its doors. A mission that I'm sure is within your caliber.

Yuki: I'm assuming we'll be fairly compensated?

Momo: I'll like, totally do my best, Boss!

Okazaki's Voice Through Speakers: That is all.

Okazaki's Voice Through Speakers: Did you understand what I just told you~?

Momo: Yeah, no problem!

Yuki: Anniversary, how nostalgic. We worked for them after we'd just debuted.

Momo: That's right! We used it for our very first fan meet.

Momo: They asked for our autographs before the opening, but since we haven't had the time to visit, it'll be really last minute.

Yuki: We can finally return the favor. I just hope our plane won't be late.

Door opens

Rinto Okazaki: I'm back.

Momo: Welcome back.

Rinto Okazaki: Oh, about tomorrow. Try to disguise yourselves the best you can, so no one recognizes you.

Rinto Okazaki: It seems Sky Blue Mall is doing many secret events for its re-opening, so they have strict regulations in place to prevent information leaks.

Momo: Really?

Rinto Okazaki: Yes. They don't allow the possession of cameras or smartphones without permission.

Yuki: They're like a particularly strict art museum.

Rinto Okazaki: As acquainted as we are with them, there'll likely be chaos if people know Re:vale will be there...

Momo: Got it. We'll try not to stand out! Though my Yuki is such a handsome man that he'll probably stand out, anyway!

Yuki: True.

Rinto Okazaki: I'm sure it'll be difficult to have to come back here for work after a whole day of filming in Hokkaido, but I'm counting on you!

- - - -

Mall Event Staff: Nice to meet you, ŹOOĻ. We look forward to your concert at the re-opening event tomorrow.

Mall Event Staff: Today we'll have a prep meeting and rehearsal. We'll try not to keep you here too long, but...

Ryo Tsukumo: That aside, why do even I have to give up my phone?

Mall Event Staff: As you've been informed, a permit is required to carry filming equipment here... You may use our internal communications line if you need anything.

Ryo Tsukumo: Yeah yeah, I get it.

Toma Inumaru: We look forward to working with you.

Minami Natsume: We look forward to working with you.

Minami Natsume: There are many workers here. They must be in a hurry to finish before the opening. Perhaps some will even have to work overnight?

Torao Mido: Huh...

Haruka Isumi: It's pretty fun to see the shops before they open.

Mall Event Staff: Well then, allow me to guide you to the space reserved for the opening ceremony and your concert.

- - - -

Riku Nanase: Wow, so this is VR LAND!

Mitsuki Izumi: Our signs are lining up the walls!

Tamaki Yotsuba: And they're playing an ad on the monitor at the front of the place!

VR LAND Staff: IDOLiSH7's VR experience will be held in the main space inside the facility! Please, take a look!

Tsumugi Takanashi: Do you plan to film the footage one by one?

Cameraman: That's right! I'd like to get about 5-10 minutes with each of them!

Yamato Nikaido: Understood. Who's going first?

Tamaki Yotsuba: I wanna go!

Sogo Osaka: Tamaki-kun, you'll get bored if you have to wait too long after your own shoot. Why don't you let others go before you?

Tamaki Yotsuba: I'll be fine. I wanna go first.

Nagi Rokuya: OH! There are so many balloons!

Iori Izumi: They're most likely for the visitors tomorrow. Such cute balloons...

Riku Nanase: There's a VR space exploration experience! I want to come play here sometime!

VR LAND Staff: Would you like to try it right now? As long as you have the time, of course!

Riku Nanase: May I? Yay!

- - - -

Soba Chef Matsuda-san: Gaku-cha... Ah, I mean, Gacchan! Mind checking what's in that box for me?

Gaku Yaotome: Sure thing. It's bowls... Tecchan, help me count these bowls.

Tenn Kujo: OK, Gacchan. Tsuna-chan, can I leave this to you?

Ryunosuke Tsunashi: Yeah, I'll assemble the rest. Go help Gacchan.

Kaoru Anesagi: Massan! I'll leave the tea you asked here!

Soba Chef Matsuda-san: Thanks a lot, Kaoru-chan!

Gaku Yaotome: Phew... This is taking pretty long. I don't think we'll be done by 9 p.m., like we're supposed to.

- - - -

Anniversary's Owner: Ah, I didn't think you'd actually come... Seeing as you're some of Japan's top idols now...

Momo: Shh, we're incognito today. Here's a souvenir from Hokkaido! It's white chocolate!

Yuki: I can't believe you're opening a branch near the station now. What kind of misdeeds did you commit to get a place like this?

Anniversary's Owner: The same as you. Lots of hard work. Ah, try this.

Momo: Wow! This really brings me back! Anniversary's roll cakes!

Rinto Okazaki: Let me take a picture of it, please! Stand together, you three!

Rinto Okazaki: One, two...

Snap.

- - - -

Ryo Tsukumo: Ah. There was a place I needed to call.

Ryo Tsukumo: Torao. Go find an internal communications line.

Torao Mido: Someone from the staff will be here in a minute. Ask them.

Ryo Tsukumo: Forget it, then.

Toma Inumaru: What did you need to make a call for?

Ryo Tsukumo: Oh, nothing big. Several people will only lose their jobs if they don't get an answer from me.

Toma Inumaru: ...Go make that call! I'll find a spot where you can use the phones.

Ryo Tsukumo: Yeah, make it snappy.

Toma Inumaru: Got it.

Ryo Tsukumo: .........

Ryo Tsukumo: Don't you think he's taking too long?

Torao Mido: He just left!

Minami Natsume: Ryo-san, you're not very patient, are you?

Haruka Isumi: Hey, stop tapping your foot.

Ryo Tsukumo: Haruka, go after him.

Haruka Isumi: Just wait until Toma comes back!

Ryo Tsukumo: He might've stopped looking, so he could laze around somewhere. Hurry up and go.

Haruka Isumi: Ugh... I'll go.

Minami Natsume: Be careful not to get lost.

Haruka Isumi: Got it.

Ryo Tsukumo: .........

Ryo Tsukumo: Don't you think he's taking too long?

Torao Mido: He's not.

Minami Natsume: He is not.

Ryo Tsukumo: Hey, one of you could...

Torao Mido: No.

Minami Natsume: I refuse.

Ryo Tsukumo: Do you not care that good people could lose their jobs over this!? You celebrities are so heartless.

Torao Mido: Just wait.

Ryo Tsukumo: Doing what?

Minami Natsume: You could meditate.

Torao Mido: Count your fingers, for all I care.

Ryo Tsukumo: Aaah... I'm so bored without my phone... Aaah, it's so irritating...

Torao Mido: Stop hitting the displays.

Minami Natsume: Don't bite your nails.

Ryo Tsukumo: Fine, I'll go myself!

Minami Natsume: You could just wait.

Torao Mido: It's fine, let him be.

Ryo Tsukumo: This is the worst..! I'll tear through entire floors of brand new goods to find that internal line if I have to!

Torao Mido & Minami Natsume: .........

Torao Mido: Hold on a sec, Ryo-san!

Minami Natsume: Please don't make a scene. Ah...

Bzzt

Minami Natsume: ...A blackout..?

- - - -

Tamaki Yotsuba: Is the shoot gonna be done soon?

Iori Izumi: Not for a while. Are you already bored?

Tamaki Yotsuba: Hey, what do you think that is?

Riku Nanase: I was wondering about it, too! An arcade, maybe..? It's like some kind of attraction..?

Tamaki Yotsuba: Rikkun, you done shooting?

Riku Nanase: I am! Maybe we could go take a closer look.

Tamaki Yotsuba: Let's go!

Iori Izumi: They just told you not to wander off.

Riku Nanase: We won't wander off, we'll be back in a minute. Don't worry, we're wearing our disguises!

Tamaki Yotsuba: Yeah, we'll check it out on our way to the toilet!

Riku Nanase: Yep!

Iori Izumi: ......... I worry about what you two might get up to by yourselves. I'll come with you.

Iori Izumi: Manager, excuse us for a moment. We'll return shortly.

Tsumugi Takanashi: Alright!

Tamaki Yotsuba: Hey, Rikkun! Wanna check what's over there, too?

Riku Nanase: What is that!? A sweets shop?

Iori Izumi: Hey! Wait, you two!

Bzzt

Iori Izumi: .......!

Iori Izumi: ...The lights... Even the emergency lamps went out...

To be continued...

#idolish7 #anniversary story 2019 #translation #i7 #trigger #re:vale #zool #other translations

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absolxguardian · 5 years ago

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My Italy Vacation Photos Recreated in Assassin’s Creed

I’m putting them under the cut since they’re fairly large. I tried my best. A lot of times it’s not 1:1 because proportions were played with due to memory limitations. Oftentimes the piazzas certain monuments are located in aren’t large enough for me to get the same distance from the camera in the game as I did in real life. Also, the lack of a photo mode kept kicking me in the ass. Still, I’d like to think they returned out pretty well. I hope it captures the feeling I had when I was there in person, a feeling of familiarity.

FLORENCE

The Basilica of San Lorenzo, home of the Medici crypt. The street the basilica faces in-game is much thinner than it is in real modern life.

A view of the river Arno and the Ponte Vecchio. In the time of the game, houses bordered the street parallel to the river on this side. Ezio is actually standing in someone’s yard. The bridge itself had too much foot traffic for me to take a photo crossing it.

The Mercato Vecchio, Florence’s market. The covered area still acts as a market place today for street vendors catering to tourists.

The Duomo/Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore. The Baptistery near the Duomo is missing in the game due to technical limitations. The lack of detail on the facade is a combination of technical limitations and that some parts of the decoration had yet to be added.

Palazzo Medici. While the game sizes the palace down, a lot of interior decorations were only added in the preceding decades as the Medici increased in power.

The Palazzo della Signoria. While the shrunk down piazza was one factor that limited my ability to recreate the photos, the gallows that executed the Auditorie family prevented me from standing in the correct position. And that isn’t just something left in the game world from a story event, but historical accuracy. Public executions were held in that square, standard for the time, but a fact I had forgotten and my tour guide didn’t mention.

The Loggia dei Lanzi. In Ezio’s time, it was a public meeting area. With the rise of the Medici dukes, it became an open-air museum of statues. The originals of those (most of) same statues remain there today.

MONTERIGGIONI

Oh yeah, Monteriggioni is a real town, if you were just as surprised as I was when you found out.

Monteriggioni sits at the top of a hill, one that’s barely replicated in-game.

For safety reasons, large sections of the walls of Monteriggioni were removed and the overall height of the walls were lowered. They are still very impressive in person.

Tourists can walk on a small section of the wall. For some reason, walking on metal slats with gaps in them is more terrifying than centuries-old stone.

Modern Monteriggioni feels a lot more open than it’s depicted in the game, even in the modern parts of Brotherhood. Speaking of which, there’s no equivalent to the Auditore Villa, historically or in modern times. And while in the game, Monteriggioni is focused around a main street with all the shops for gameplay reasons, the real center of the town is this piazza. I figured out the game equivalent based on the location of the church.

Attached to the church is a very nice small museum containing replicas of medieval weapons and armor for you to attempt to wear and wield. There are also some dioramas of medieval warfare. And since the town knows that a lot of Assassin’s Creed fans are going to be visiting the city, a good third of the merchandise in the museum gift shop is Assassin’s Creed merch.

There’s also this. Because while the Assassin aesthetic is copyrighted, Templars are not.

SAN GIMIGNANO

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to visit San Gimignano myself and take pictures. I had to use the photos taken by my extended family members.

San Gimignano’s very iconic city skyline. Except for the highways, the rolling hills and valleys of Tuscany and the Romagna in the game remain accurate to the real world. Riding from the Rome airport to Rome on my first day. This was the first time I felt a sense of Deja vu thanks to Assassin’s Creed.

The church Santa Maria Assunta.

Some of San Gimignano’s famous towers. Since I didn’t take the photo myself, I have no idea which specific towers these are supposed to me. I just ran around the city in the game until I could see a similar amount and height of towers.

L'AQUILA

Yes, L’Aquila isn’t a town depicted in Assassin’s Creed, but it should have been. Just look at the name! If AC lore doesn’t have Assassins using it as a base in its very early days, I would be very surprised.

The Basilica Santa Maria di Collemaggio. Why are my photos of it included here? Well according to my relatives who live in L'Aquila, this church was actually built by Templars (hence the red and white facade). At least in English, I can’t find anything online supporting that, so I have to assume it’s just local folklore. Said folklore also says that the Holy Grail is buried under it. In the ACverse, there has to be a Piece of Eden under the church. With the earthquake in 2009 damaging the building and several companies helping to fund the restoration efforts, it’s now my headcanon that Abestergo was one of them and they grabbed the piece.

VENICE

Again, I had to use my extended family’s photos for this. I was only able to use a few of the ones they gave me, simply because neither I nor reverse google image search could even figure out what the rest were, and checking several of the monuments in the game gave me nothing.

The Doge’s Palace, the Basilica di San Marco, and the Campile San Marco. Despite not being there myself, from trying to recreate the pictures, I got the feeling that the piazza is much bigger in real life. And just like with the Signoria, the gallows got in my way as well.

The Ponte di Rialto. Before construction began in 1588, the bridge was made of wood. Today you can see it in its full stone glory.

ROME

The Colosseum. For game design purposes, the Colosseum is circular while the real Colosseum is ovular. The drastic difference in the inside of the arena is due to the fact that archaeological work to uncover the lower levels is currently ongoing.

The area around the colosseum, the forum, is quite different from how it was in 1500. That’s because Rome is built on Rome, and while it was a prime area for grazing in the renaissance, most the classical architecture remained buried under the ground. Archaeological work has drastically changed the elevations of the forum. The last photo isn’t even of the same place, strictly speaking. It’s just a random place in the countryside to demonstrate what was under Ezio’s feet.

It was taking these photos of the Pantheon that inspired me to start this photo project. The obelisk on the fountain was a later edition. Perspective is extra wonky for this one because of my own carelessness. Which I’ve only just realized typing this out as I remembered that the obelisk was on top of a fountain.

“Apparently, most gods had this building constructed in their honour. I, however, recommend worshipping at the modern-day espresso bars surrounding it.”

The piazza around the pantheon didn’t actually seem to have much in the way of espresso. There was a sign for a McDonald's directly across from the pantheon, and that was some cool contrast.

The Pantheon is still an active basilica, and as such, I wasn’t allowed to take photos of the inside.

Ponte Sant’Angelo. Unfortunately, I don’t have any other photos of Castel Sant’Angello because I hadn’t had the idea for this project yet. My dad took this photo for me because I’ve never been able to cross this damn bridge in Brotherhood because of all the guards (I’ve fully beaten the game now, so I just killed them to get the screenshot, but when I needed to get to the Castello I couldn’t).

This was the only photo I was able to recreate from the Vatican, and even then it’s very rough. That’s because most of the Papal complex, museum, and apartments (now Vatican City) was built under later Popes.

So instead have pictures of things I saw in the Vatican that look like Apples of Eden

(The last one is a modern art installation that the artist has refused to explain. It also spins around. Several versions of it exist around the world)

And one last thing is a painting I saw in my hotel in Rome that looks like Maysaf. The label was in Italian and reverse google image search can’t find it, so I can’t tell you what it really is or give you a better scan

#Assassin's Creed #ac #assassin's creed 2 #ac2 #assassin's creed brotherhood #ac brotherhood

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missguomeiyun · 5 years ago

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I’m back from Korea

I feel like October didn’t happen at all .. but at the same time, it happened & it happened too quickly =/

I was away for 2.5 weeks in Korea, & then when I came back, it was a mini series of night shifts so I practically did nothing. .. & by the time I realized it, it was Halloween & I was working evening shifts so I didn’t go out. O_O it has been 1 crazy month. But November is here now, & things are returning back to normal: my vacation withdrawal is over, & I have some “normal” combo of shifts, & it’s time to say bye-bye to the hot weather. It’s gonna be great~

Okay, let’s be real: I’m never “over” a Korea trip lol the other day, I was really craving that budae jjigae. The struggle was real. So I made it for lunch ^^

For my 1st return post, I’ve decided to keep things simple & just share a brief summary of my 2.5 week-long trip with you!

Day 1-4: I stayed at my usual Seoul home, Namsan Hill Hotel. I was unable to book a longer stay at this place =( These 1st few days, I revisited some places in Seoul: Namdaemun (for hand-cut noodles called “kalguksu”); Sinchon/Ewha Womens Univ area/Hongik Univ area for shopping & ; Gyeongbokgung area for Tongin Market & some art museums; Insadong/Samcheongdong/Bukchon Hanok Village for some relaxing strolls around traditional Korean housing. Some new places I went to include:

- a cafe called “Kopi Han-yak-bang” (lit. trans.: “coffee Korean pharmacy”). Look it up! It’s super cool! The owner believes coffee has a healing power, just like traditional herbal medicine, so the cafe is like a vintage herbal medicine shop/pharmacy. It feels as if you’re entering a movie set rather than a cafe.

- The Skyfarm for brunch! Pretty place with amazing view of Seoul.

- Seongsu area for industrial warehouse cafes. It was a valuable & memorable experience bcos Seongsu used to be an area for large factories (making of leather products & shoes, & car-fixing shops), but it’s revitalizing & the large factory spaces are now being converted to hip coffeeshops. Many of which do collabs with local/emerging artists & fashion designers so there’s lots of artsy things to see in these coffeeshops.

- Seoul Forest. There’s like a picnic area, some basketball & tennis courts, walking trails, etc. .. I had a convenience store goods dinner in the picnic area, & watched the sunset there.

Day 5-8: I moved over to Savoy Hotel located in the heart of Myeongdong. It’s ~15min walk away from Namsan Hill Hotel. Great location but also quite loud. My options were slim when I was booking stuff, & I needed to stay close to Seoul Station bcos I arranged 4x 1-day trips! I didn’t realize it at first but then I was like, “I have 4 back-to-back day trips right now.” I was essentially out every day from like 0700h to 2100h.

Trip 1: Paju~ for Heyri Art Village & Provence. I have been to these places before & really liked it so I went back, esp Heyri Art Village. After the day trip, I met up with 2 of my coworkers for K-BBQ in the Hapjeong area.

Trip 2: Jeonju~ I only went to 1 place in Jeonju & that was the Jeonju Hanok Village. It was raining all day that day. However, it was still very enjoyable. The village was a beautiful place, & under the rain, it looked even more picturesque.

Trip 3: Incheon~ for Incheon Chinatown & Wolmido, which is an island connected to Incheon via a highway. Due to its close proximity to China, Incheon became a major port for trades back in the day, & the Chinese immigrants basically settled here, hence it’s the largest Chinatown in Korea. I met up with my friend Ji Yoon in Chinatown & we spent some time catching up.

Trip 4: Gangneung~ For the annual Gangneung Coffee Festival; its title was “Voices of Coffee” this year! It was held at the Gangneung Olympic Ice Arena. I can’t recall how many shots of coffee samples I had that day, but it was a lot. I also went to the Anmok Coffee Street, which is a line of cafes along Anmok Beach - all the cafes face the beach so the view is pretty. Even more so on the day I went bcos it was cloudy =]

Day 9: remained in Seoul today. Went to the Seoul Botanic Garden, which opened its doors in May 2019. Very pretty displays~ Huuuuuge space too. It was like Telus World x Muttart Conservatory x Devonian Botanic Garden. Lots to see, & if you go, allot more time for yourself here. & then in the evening, I camped out by Yeouido Hangang Park for the annual Seoul International Fireworks Festival, which was named “Life is Colourful” this year. So many ppl! I was expecting that before going but it was beyond my imagination. It was truly an experience- the streets were blocked off for pedestrian traffic & literally, it took like 10mins to move 5meters after the show as over! Then at the subway station nearby, there was a bottleneck, where apparently the capacity inside the underground station was reached so we needed to wait outside the exit.. . still, it was fun!

Day 10-12: 1 way train ticket to Busan. Yes, train to Busan ;) I was safe though hehe Busan was beautiful! In hindsight, I should’ve spent more time here but . .. NEXT TIME! I went to BIFF Square & Gukje Market, which was like across from my hotel, Stanford Inn Busan. Gamcheon Cultural Village was super cute; although I would hate being a resident there =/ The Busan Int’l Film Festival was happening then, & I visited the Expo & Convention Centre for the film market. Can’t go into the exhibition, but that whole area was filled with ads/posters of BIFF - it was a big deal! It was cool to witness such a big event & to experience the sheer scale of it. I then went to Shinsegae Centum City, which is the largest shopping complex in the world. Haeundae Beach was also cool. I went on a cloudy day & it was awesome! That same evening/night, I checked out the Jagalchi Fish Market, which is the largest seafood market in Korea. It has 7 floors total, with 3 underground parking levels :O On the last day, bcos I only had the morning available to do stuff, I had Busan fish cake for breakfast & strolled in BIFF Square again.

*Note: I actually hit all the things on my itinerary EXCEPT for the Busan Museum of Art, which was closed on Mondays =( but the security guy let me in to see the lobby bcos he knew I was a tourist. Thank you!

Day 13-17: Flew from Busan Airport to Jeju Airport. I used more time than needed for the whole process- turned out foreigners have their own line at the Busan Airport, so it’s faster than locals. There’s also a domestic terminal & international terminal, so from arrival to being checked in & through security.. . it took less than 25mins. It was great! In regards to Jeju, I did the following:

- stayed in Jeju City for the arrival afternoon/evening, with my hotel being Astar Hotel. Had a street food dinner at Dongmun Market; they were having this night market/festival event so a bunch of street food stalls were open from 7pm-midnight. Smelled like heaven haha

- I did my 1st hike ever on Hallasan Mountain, specifically the Gwaneunsa Trail, & I reached the peak. It was.. . hard. I can’t say I particularly enjoyed it; however, it has proven to me that I am a land person, & I belong in museums, cafes, & street walking lol. Look up the details of the trail! Was it ambitious of me to go on this for my 1st hike ever. .. without any hiking gear? I went with what some ppl would consider gym shoes, a hoodie, leggings, & a backpack with water, juice, kimbaps, 2 bananas, 6 mandarins, & some snacks (cheese crisps & pineapple cream-flavoured crackers).

- The day after the hike, my legs were still okay. But it was my glut that was starting to get sore XD I went to Osulloc Tea Museum & Innisfree Jeju House. The aesthetics <3

- Went to Black Pig Street for black pig bbq. I was hoping a restaurant or two was taking solo-diners & thankfully, the 2nd restaurant I asked did! I ordered pork neck instead of pork belly - it was quite tender & kinda chewy, actually. Later that evening, I went to the Tamra Cultural Festival 2019. It was neat~ There was an outdoor night market, as well as a stage for cultural dance/play/music.

- Jeju Island is actually quite small, & it takes approx. an hour from 1 side of the island to the other side. Thus, for my 3rd (full) day, I went to the Jungmun (Jeju City is north of the island; Jungmun is south coast) & visited the Yellow Cafe, Chocolate Land, Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum, & Yeomiji Botanical Garden.

- From Jungmun, I took a local bus to Lee Jong Seop Street in Seogwipo, the next city over. The street is very pleasant & chill, with artwork along the street, coffeeshops & eateries, as well as little gift shops. Totally my thing! It reminds me Bukchon Hanok Village in terms of vibe, but minus the traditional housing look. The Seogwipo Olle Market is nearby, & is a great place to buy Jeju souvenirs. The pricing, I heard/read, is cheaper than Dongmun Market in Jeju City - it is true! There are also less tourists here, which was what made it enjoyable for me, personally.

- Only the morning on my last day was free for activities bcos my flight to Seoul was early afternoon. I visited the area around Jeju City Hall, which was ~20min walk from my hotel. It was a very leisurely morning, where I sat down & enjoyed coffee at Coffee Finder & had a build-your-own-ramen bowl at a place nearby. The architecture of Coffee Finder was unique; it used to be a 2-floor house, with like a driveway/sidewalk. But the ummm first floor ceiling/second floor flooring was knocked down so there’s a “hole” in the middle of the cafe. The cafe has very homely vibes as the placement of tables/chairs are in what was (at one point) rooms of the house. It’s open but also you can get some privacy at the same time.

Day 17-18: Back to Seoul, & stayed at Namsan Hill Hotel~ Itaewon is a must! I need to go to Passion 5 every time lol. & I also revisited the Leeum Samsung Museum of Art bcos I like it. & then I had my last day as a “free” day, where I didn’t plan ANYTHING. I’m a very intense planner & when I go on trips, I literally plan to the minute haha & guess what, I ended up in Hongdae. Honestly, it’s my kinda place. Sadly, the transportation situation there isn’t convenient for the rest of my itinerary, or else I would choose a hotel that’s in the vicinity. I nearly spent 2.5 hrs at Coin Su Noraebang haha I realized that if you score high enough, time gets added to your paid time :O I can’t let that go to waste =P

There ya go, Korea 2019!

PS: I haven’t decided what/how I’m gonna go about posting my trip. .. There are wayyyy too many photos & it will take me a million yrs to write/upload. Perhaps expect unexpected Korea posts scattered between my regular posts :P I will, however, share with you the coffees I’ve had in Korea. I tried diff ones, from franchise to small local cafes, adventurous flavours & the typical black Americano. I didn’t have any poor experiences but there was 1 particular one that I will likely never order again - tbh, I should’ve expected it but I still went for it anyway *shrugs* so I guess it was all my fault haha ok, I’ll ttyl~!

#korea #korea travel #travel korea #korea trip #korea 2019 #solo travel #vacation #seoul #busan #jeju island #paju #incheon #gangneung #jeonju #tourist

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heyyyharry · 6 years ago

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In Another Life Series: Chapter 1 - The Painting

...in which Harry and Y/N come across a strange portrait in an art museum.

Series description: Y/N and Harry are soulmates and destined to meet in every lifetime, but no matter how many times they reincarnate and find each other again, they never seem to get it right.

AU: reincarnation, soulmate!harry, prince!harry, and assistant!y/n

Warning: There’s obviously no English monarch in history named Edward Rammour (chose the name Edward because duh Harry Edward Styles???) nor a famous painter named Piersilvio, I didn’t want to offend anyone with historical inaccuracies so I made everything up, my apologies. Oh, and Harry’s still famous in this.

~~~

They said in London you were never far from a museum, there were more than 170 of them, including some of the world’s finest which attracted a countless number of visitors every single day. While most people came to these places to witness historical events and people revive in exhibits, some other people, yes ‘some’, showed up, and brought history back to life.

“And this one, this one is my favorite!” a young man exclaimed to his friend as they stopped in front of a big painting of an English monarch in the 16th century.

Just like other royalties in portraits, the man stood tall and proud with his shoulders pulled back and a stern look on his face, still the softness in his eyes was what made him peculiarly human-like.

“Wow, Jason, this painting is so real…” the girl commented. The more she looked into this character’s eyes, the more she was hooked for an unknown reason. Either the artist of this masterpiece was truly gifted for making his painting look so alive, or there was just something not ordinary about this piece.

“This is the work of Piersilvio, a world famous Italian painter at the time, a gift for the King on his coronation day,” narrated Jason as he studied the look on his best friend’s face, feeling excited for how interested she was. Normally he didn’t get this reaction when he told it to the other girls. “Edward Rammour was a great King, he only married once in his entire life, but since the Queen could not give birth to an heir, he was the last monarch in the House of Rammour.”

“Sounds tragic.”

“They said he was cursed.”

“Cursed?”

“Yes, Y/N, cursed. Some documents mentioned that Edward had never loved the Queen, before crowned King, he’d been in love with a peasant girl, who ended up executed. They said she was a witch and before she died, she’d put a curse on Prince Edward to forever live an unhappy life without her in it.”

Y/N looked at her friend with her mouth agape, then suddenly burst into laughter, making Jason so confused.

“You almost got me!” she cried out, in response to which he shook his head fast from side to side.

“No, it was true! Uhm, actually I’m not sure if it’s true, but they did say that online!”

Y/N playfully patted his cheek. “Never trust everything you read online, J.”

“Okay, but you gotta admit it sounds kind of cool,” Jason asserted, staring at the portrait in awe.

Y/N didn’t take her friend’s words seriously, however, she did have a strange feeling every time she made eye contact with the monarch in this painting, it creeped her out and she didn’t want to be there any longer. So she tugged on Jason’s sleeve and told him they should probably go, then both headed towards the next exhibits.

Not so long after the two had left, another group of four visitors also stopped at the same painting of Edward Rammour. They stood exactly where Y/N and Jason had as they admired the work.

“Edward Rammour sure looked hot when he was young.”

“Oh, please, Sarah, I look much better!”

Sarah rolled her eyes at her boyfriend and turned to the others to ask for their opinions. “Jeff, Harry, what do you think? Who looks better, Mitch or this guy here?”

“I’ll go with this guy, because Harry will definitely choose Mitch, right Haz?” Jeff asked, but when he heard only silence, he turned around and saw the youngest member in the group still texting on the phone.

“Jesus, put your phone away, mate!” Mitch grumbled.

Harry was still too occupied to even look up when he said, “Just a minute, I have to reply to Lillie.”

Mitch heaved out a sigh. Without warning, he yanked the phone away from Harry’s hands, causing the famous singer to gasp in shock. Harry’s quick attempt to get his phone back was prevented for Mitch was faster to already had it shoved into Sarah’s handbag, which he was holding.

“Text your girlfriend when you get home, mate! You’ve been on the phone ever since we got into the car!”

“Alright, alright, no more texting,” Harry gave Mitch his word, then crossed his arms and turned to the art work at last. “What were you guys saying about this painting again?”

“Sarah said this guy over here looked better than me!”

Harry breathed out a chuckle as he assured his older friend, “It’s only a painting, he probably didn’t look like this in real life. So I’d say you are more good-looking.”

“No way! These facial features seem pretty real to me!” Sarah argued, then leaned a bit closer to get a better look at the details on the piece of art. The moment she turned back and locked eyes with Harry, her smile vanished all at once.

“What?” Harry was so confused by Sarah’s reaction. She had to look back and forth a couple more times at the painting and then at him to make sure she made no mistake before drawing the conclusion.

“Harry, the eyes in this painting are identical to yours!"

Sarah’s discovery caught the attention of the whole group. Everyone stepped closer to observe the features on the masterpiece to compare with their friend’s. No one, apart from Harry himself, could disagree, for the eyes in the artwork were indeed Harry’s carbon copy.

“I don’t see it! You guys are just messing with me!” Harry breathed out a heavy laugh in response, still his friends insisted him on taking a second look because they were all sure there was not a single difference.

Mitch said something, then it was Sarah, then Jeff added something else in the conversation and all three of them burst into laughter. However, Harry could not make out a single word they said. All of their voices seemed to be muffled by his own thoughts for he was now too drawn to this unusual painting to pay attention to anything else.

Out of nowhere, a random person bumped hard into Harry, forcing him to snap back to reality in an instant! He didn’t even catch a glimpse of her face because the girl ran off as soon as she’d mumbled a quick apology to him.

“Y/N! Wait, I’m sorry!” A young man called out when the girl reached the exit of the room, apparently he was going after her.

The pair disappeared behind the door, leaving four people here confused, and a bit amused by what had just happened. It wouldn’t have been something too bizarre if they hadn’t been in an art museum, but dramatic couples could cause a scene any where so Harry didn’t think much of that. He turned back to his friends and suggested they should probably go now.

So the group happily moved on to the next painting. For an unknown reason still, Harry couldn’t stop thinking about the King’s portrait.

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acehotel · 6 years ago

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Just/Talk: Justin Strauss with Jenny Schlenzka

Jenny Schlenzka was writing her Master’s Thesis at NYU by day and waiting tables in SoHo by night when a friend mentioned a job as a German-speaking assistant for a curator who had just started at the Museum of Modern Art. That person, Klaus Biesenbach, would later become the Chief Curator at Large at MoMA and appoint Schlenzka as the first Curator of Performance ever at the storied institution during his tenure. For this edition of Just/Talk, Schlenzka, now the current Artistic Director of Performance Space New York, chats with legendary DJ and longtime Ace friend Justin Strauss about reimagining apocalypses with queer artists of color, using performance art to engage with the world and trusting her intuition when building with new artists.

Justin Strauss: How did your journey begin, ending up here in New York and working in the arts?

Jenny Schlenzka: It wasn't planned. I came to New York in 2002 to study at NYU. I had a year-long scholarship and was supposed to go back.

Justin: Had you been here before to visit?

Jenny: I had been here once to visit a good friend of mine who was living here, so I really wanted to visit her. I was 23 or 24.

Justin: And where were you from?

Jenny: From Berlin. My university in Berlin was a partner university with NYU. I applied for this exchange and I got it. I was deeply confused about actually what I wanted to do professionally with my life. I was only supposed to stay for a year and for a while I went back and forth but ended up moving here and waiting tables, mainly in SoHo to pay my rent. I was studying for my master’s, so I was writing my master’s thesis during the day and then waited tables at night.

Justin: What part of town did you live in?

Jenny: I literally lived all around. I started out in Financial District, which was a year after 9/11, so it was very different down there. And then I moved to SoHo and then moved to the Lower East Side, East Village, Brooklyn, Tudor City, Midtown, Upper West Side.

Justin: Wow. Pretty much everywhere.

Jenny: And then Long Island City, and now back to the East Village. I came here in 2002, so that's like 16 years ago. It's been a while. And then, I was writing my thesis on actually film and television. I did a lot of media studies, so my studies were very broad like everything and nothing. And then two friends of mine approached me and said, “There's this German curator who just started at MoMA, he needs a German speaking assistant, would you be interested?” And I was literally like, “Curator? What exactly am I doing?” I was like okay, can't be worse than waiting tables and the curator turned out to be Klaus Biesenbach. I went there and started working for him.

In the beginning because Klaus was still involved with Kunst-Werke in Berlin, I was traveling to exhibitions between KW in Berlin and PS1 in Queens. But he was a curator at MoMA, so my office was with him at MoMA. In a really quick time, I got the most amazing insight into what a curator does and met all these great people and artists and pretty instantaneously fell in love with the idea of working with artists. What I also really like about this job is you keep learning because every project is completely different and it needs different knowledge and skills.

Justin: And so working with Klaus, he was a kind of a mentor but you also just learned as you went along.

Jenny: Yeah, I always say he threw me in the cold water repeatedly and I had to learn swimming quite quickly. I think it was a point where his career really took off, so he became a curator at MoMA and then was still deeply involved with PS1 and KW.

Justin: What's KW?

Jenny: Kunst-Werke. It's the equivalent of PS1 in Berlin. An independent alternative art space that was founded in an empty deserted building. He had so many projects that eventually they fell off and I picked them up and ran with them. Pretty naively, which in hindsight I think helped because I was just trying to get things done and dealing with it. And then he became the Chief Curator. They basically created a department for him first for Media and then Media and Performance. And then he was looking for a curator for performance and he basically gave that job to me. At first I felt shy and insecure about it. It was a weird mix between being naive, not even understanding what a big position that really was, in a historical place like MoMA to be the first curator to deal with performance. At the same time, I didn't know if I could do it, but just went with it really.

Justin: Did you have any background or interest in performance art?

Jenny: I was always interested in art. My parents would go to museums and I had an aunt who was a filmmaker and she would expose me to art and films. But really my background, was mostly film and video, so not performance. However, when I was at NYU I took a PhD class and a grad class at the Performance Studies program. So there was definitely some interest, but it was not something that I ever... as I said, when someone told me about this curator, Klaus, I didn't even know what a curator was really doing.

Justin: So then you just learned on the job.

Jenny: Yeah, and he was great in a way that just kept throwing things at me and I had to figure them out. Of course he was around to help me. And then I rose through the ranks. At some point, he left from MoMA to PS1 and I stayed at MoMA. I think for two years or so we didn't work together, and then he asked me to build the performance program at MoMA PS1.

Justin: And so that included the Dome?

Jenny: Exactly.

Justin: They had already been doing the Warm Up music series every summer?

Jenny: Warm Up, yeah. That existed. Even when I came here in 2002 it already existed. I built Sunday Sessions, a weekly program of live arts. And because of the sheer amount of programming, it really quickly became very interdisciplinary. So I worked obviously with performers and artists, filmmakers, musicians, chefs, writers, architects, at some point, even comedians.

Justin: Well, doing that, you learned a lot about performance. When you were curating shows, what was your connection to New York? Did you feel like that was important to bring that in or were you just looking from all over?

Jenny: Well, the easy answer is my budget was such that it had to be local. Later after a couple of years we started bringing in international people, but in the beginning it was very New York-centric. The Dome holds 400 people and we really tried to get a good crowd every Sunday. I think that's something that I really learned and now is useful here in my role as the director of Performance Space New York. We would sometimes do several events on one Sunday. For example we could have an architecture book launch and a concert in the Dome and then maybe a dance presentation in the building. And then all these different communities that can be quite siloed in New York would overlap out in Queens. But speaking of Queens, it was not easy to get people out there which is way easier here in the East Village on a weekly basis.

Justin: PS1 already had the Warm Up series going pretty strong. It was packed every Saturday. So people were figuring it out and there were less and less things happening in Manhattan that were interesting and seemed like a lot of the “cool stuff” was happening in Brooklyn and Queens at the time.

Jenny: I know, that's all true. But there's this bridge and tunnel mentality of people, even though it's literally one stop from Manhattan, it makes a difference asking people to come out to Queens.

Justin: Was it your idea to do the Dome?

Jenny: That was Klaus' idea. So he had the Dome and he hired me and said, “I want to have a weekly program changing every week and I want the house packed every week.”

Justin: Good luck.

Jenny: Yes. And you'll have a $500 budget per week.

Justin: And you managed to do it pretty much.

Jenny: Yeah, and we grew. There was also no team really. I learned in hindsight so much on that job. I had to build a team, I had to build a profile and to build this program and needed to market it, and I really learned to think about audience, which when you're at MoMA, the audience is kind of built-in. You never worried at MoMA that people won’t show up. So that was actually really good school.

Justin: And had you been very aware of the history of performance art in New York?

Jenny: Yes. Especially at MoMA. When you work at a place like MoMA, history becomes really, really important and there's nothing you do that is without thinking about lineage, history and influence. So I did a lot of research. I have to say that it was always more pre-80s. Maybe it was just not the time yet, but in the textbooks or history books, the performance art history would usually stop in the 80s. I think one of the reasons for that is that performance art went from the galleries and the lofts to the nightclubs. And so everything was taking place after midnight and there were just less art historians or critics in the clubs. I don't know. It's also changing now. After we've done the 60s and the 70s ad nauseam, people are interested in the 80s. The best thing about this gig as the first performance curator at MoMA in New York City was that the history was alive. So I reached out to everyone whose name I read in any book or heard about and introduced myself and said, “Can I come over and talk to you?” And everyone said yes. So really that history I mostly learned firsthand, which is great.

Justin: There was a strong connection of nightclubs and artists back in the early 80s when I started deejaying that was really inspiring obviously.

Jenny: And that we now really looked at more in-depth with our inaugural season, which we call the East Village Series.

Justin: So you're at MoMA and then PS1 — how many years did you do the performance curating?

Jenny: I think I was at MoMA five years and then at PS1 five years. Something like that.

Justin: Tell me about this building that we are in now and its transformation into Performance Space.

Jenny: So PS122, how we were named until very recently was originally a public school, hence the PS. It was in 1979, 1980 that a bunch of artists who were living in the neighborhood in the East Village came and started doing work in here.

Justin: And it was still a functioning public school?

Jenny: No, not as a school. I think that ended during the white flight probably in the 60s or so. So when everyone moved to the suburbs, they closed the school because they didn't have enough students. So it was an empty building similar to PS1 in Queens. Very similar story. And then artists came in here, started making work. We still have painting studios in the building as part of Painting Space 122, a lot of great painters camp out of here. Keith Haring had a studio here. Peter Halley had his first show. Martha Rosler was here, a lot of really great artists went through the program.

Justin: And was someone organizing this?

Jenny: It was self-organized during the first years.

Justin: So were the artists paying rent, or were they able to work here for free?

Jenny: The city allowed them to be here. They didn't necessarily pay rent, but they had to pay the operating costs. It was legal, it wasn't even necessarily illegal. Maybe there was a short period.

Justin: It seems to me like Europe and other places are way more supportive of artists and art. When here in New York and the rest of the country where there is this great talent pool of people now and certainly was back then, it’s impossible to get funding from the government for art.

Jenny: Well, there's almost no public support. However, the fact that we have this building, it's now been renovated by the city and we don't pay rent, we pay a lot of operating costs but that's already huge for American standards. Yeah, I agree, in Europe we would have this building for free plus a big check every month. So, it’s a different system.

The cafeteria had a wooden floor so it was really attractive to dancers and performers and they started coming here and also doing work and then doing performances for their other artist peers. And slowly throughout the years it became really an institution with grants and with a smaller staff and became really famous and was a very important venue for contemporary performance.

Justin: What years was that taking place?

Jenny: Beginning of 80s. It was more a local phenomena and then I would say end of 80s, beginning of the 90s it really had a worldwide reputation as the place where you come to see contemporary American performance art. There was a lot of very political monologues. Artists like Karen Finley or Spalding Gray or Penny Arcade. Their histories are very intertwined with this place.

Justin: And there was a very healthy scene going on in this neighborhood back then with Club 57, which recently had a retrospective exhibit at MoMA, and the Pyramid Club and others.

Jenny: Exactly, yes. And as I said earlier, a lot of performances took place in clubs back then.

Justin: Right. Like the Mudd Club had an upstairs space, there was a lot of performances and performance art taking place.

Jenny: Which is why we had a show called “Club” by Tiona Nekkia McClodden here for the inaugural season to really look at that history and also how it changed because of the economic or the real estate situation in New York City, clubs do not really exist to such an extent anymore.

Justin: Artists like a Keith Haring or whoever would come here from Nowheresville and get a place for $200 a month on Broome Street or wherever and would be able to work on their art.

Jenny: Yeah, and that doesn't exist anymore.

Justin: So what do young artists do now?

Jenny: Well, in terms of nightlife, they still have parties, but it's not so much run by clubs. It's not bound to particular spaces anymore. It's bound to hosts and parties and they move around mostly outside of Manhattan. But I think there's still quite a scene.

Justin: Like back then it seemed like the galleries were like actively seeking to work with young artists.

Jenny: I think that still exists. It's just different. It's more decentralized. It happens for example more in the virtual space.

Justin: There was definitely like a scene. There were this group of artists that were just hanging together, working together.

Jenny: Honestly, I think that exists still too. It's just more scattered and they don't all live in the same neighborhood anymore. They're spread out. Some are in Queens, some are in Brooklyn, some are up in Harlem or the Bronx. So it's different, but I still think that nightlife is still really a center of creativity in New York City. It's just harder to come by. You have to work for it.

Justin: And how did you end up here? You're at your job at PS1, and what happens?

Jenny: Well, they asked me to interview and I just had my first child. I had a good job at PS1 but it had been five years and I felt like there was not that much more growth in that job. If a prestigious institution like this asks you to come and interview, you do it.

Justin: And had you been aware of this place?

Jenny: Yes. I lived in the neighborhood and walked by this building many times. I've been here only two or three times because the building closed in 2011 for renovation. By the time I became a performance curator, which was around 2008, it was only open another three years. So I was aware of it. I was vaguely aware of the history, not to the extent I am now.

Justin: And who reached out to you?

Jenny: The board was searching for a new executive artistic director. I interviewed and then part of the interview process — while the building was still under construction, they brought me in here to see the spaces and that's actually really when I fell in love. We have this big 3,600 square foot theater with high ceilings with this gorgeous view over Downtown. And then a smaller space, I think it's 2,400, sits up to a hundred people. The big one sits up to 200 and much more standing room. When I saw these big two spaces, it's something that I had always dreamed of at PS1, to work more with juxtaposition in performance, and these two spaces right next to each other.

Jenny: So right now we have an exhibition in there by the American artists Sondra Perry, Caitlin Cherry and Nora Khan. They built this wild structure in there like a “tiny house.” This is all part of the current season, the Posthuman Series, which incorporates perspectives that are beyond the human, the merging of the human and machines, animals and nature, for example. The apocalypse and the end of the world is a big theme too. So they built a tiny house to live off the grid, to be mobile once the apocalypse hits. It’s also a reference to the so called Prepper Movement. I didn't know so much about it, and they did a lot of research. Basically, the premise is, they built a tiny house for queer people of color because usually it's a pretty white heteronormative movement, and what they're saying is that people of color in this country basically have been living the apocalypse, surviving the apocalypse for centuries. So who better to talk about survival and the apocalypse than them.

Every season we have one or two exhibitions in the program and which happen in the bigger space. We just had Ron Athey in there and before that Underground Resistance from Detroit who are about the merging of men and machines. I love having all these very different perspectives in dialogue with each other.

Justin: What's your vision for this place?

Jenny: I think the main goal is to become a truly artist-centric organization, which I think is in our DNA because this organization was founded by artists for artists. I earlier said that in the beginning it was artists making work and the audience was other artists. So really to have a space that listens to what artists actually right now need and what they want to do and how we can support that. Part of that is creating new and supporting existing communities, which also this space has always had... there's always been communities supporting it, running it, and we have the great fortune to looking back over four decades of artist generations coming through here who all feel connected to the organization.

Justin: A lot of them are still connected to this place.

Jenny: Yeah, very much so, which is really great. That's a real gift. Everyone talks about the gentrification of this neighborhood, which absolutely is true and exists but there is still a sense of a true neighborhood with functioning communities. If you walk four blocks further east, there's definitely still a lot of working class — it’s not all rich and bougie.

Justin: Yes. There is still something here, hanging by a thread, but there's still something here whether it's just walking by and seeing Gem Spa or Moishe’s Bakery or just a few things that are still able to survive in this climate is remarkable to me.

Jenny: And being a space for really local people and at the same time make an impact internationally. Talk about what is performance art? Why are people so interested in it? It seems like people are extremely interested in it more than maybe 15 years ago. And how can performance art help us to engage with the world in a meaningful way, so to say. Hence, we have those themes where there are connections between all the individual programs. They might be very different in form and their history might be a different one, but somehow we always try to make connections between them.

Justin: I love how you always seemed to have some kind of musical elements connected to the art, which we were talking about before. It seems to have faded away for a long time. How would a young artist get his work in here? How do you decide?

Jenny: There's not one straight way. We are having several programs where we invite guest curators with the idea to bring in artists that might actually not be on our radar. It's a program that we're announcing actually today called Octopus. You know how the animal has eight arms, and each of the arms has an individual brain. So they actually act and sense independently. But there's the brain and the heart and they all belong together and work together as one body. So, word of mouth, I go out and see a lot. My team goes out and sees a lot. But I try to see as much as possible. If people invite me to see a show, I try to go as much as I can. Honestly, it's really by either seeing something or someone telling me, “You should really check out this work. It's amazing.”

Justin: Instagram?

Jenny: I have to admit Instagram's become actually really important.

Justin: Social media and the arts.

Jenny: I do get a lot of ideas from there, also probably because I'm a mother now and don't go out as much as I used to. I do really follow artists on Instagram more than I would like to admit, but maybe that's just the times we're in. I get asked this question about decision making a lot and I think it's a mix about being informed and intuition. I've given artists commissions who I’ve never seen any of their work but just had a great conversation with them and I felt like I really want to see what this person would do... and most of the time, knock on wood, I've been right. There was always something there.

Justin: And in the current political climate in this country and a lot of places in the world, this place would seem to be a vessel for artists who are rebelling or who have a voice that is opposed to what's been going on. And I guess you are very open to that.

Jenny: Absolutely. And again, it goes back to our history. During the culture wars in the 90s, most of the artists who were under attack by Jessie Helms, who was the Republican senator attacking artists’ freedoms, the so-called “NEA Four” had all showed here the year before the big trials. So this place was always very political, very loud. We have been very involved in gay rights and AIDS activism. I think if anything, looking at our history, and what we could do better, is being more inclusive in terms of race and ability which we're really paying a lot of attention to now. And it also quite frankly I think is where most of the interesting work comes from right now. It's from traditionally unheard voices I'm most interested to hear from right now.

Justin: The world is in such a weird state. What's your feeling about the state of the world right now and what can art do to make that better?

Jenny: I don't know. I think like everyone I have my moments where I get really scared because you think it can’t get any worse. You check the news and then it does get worse. I do feel and know and live it every day that artists have traditionally been and still are the guiding lights to lead societies through difficult times. Activism is something different than art even though there's a lot of people that we work with where that overlaps, but I do feel art has a different role and ultimately it's about telling stories and finding, creating — like this exhibition — “The Wild Ass Beyond: Apocalypse Right Now,” we have on right now is really about creating possibilities for new and different worlds in a world that seems to be over. And I think artists are the people who have always been doing this and will always continue doing it.

#yes #interview #justin strauss #jenny schlenzka #art #moma #ps1 #artists #performance space #performance art #just talk #new york #ace hotel #ace hotel new york #ace hotel nyc #ace new york

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insanely-creative-things · 6 years ago

Text

Big Hero 7: The Series

Failure Mode

(Long Post)

www.fanfiction.net

*In the center of San Fransokyo, there is an Art Museum currently hosting an event in the early evening, cars are lined on the street as many well-dressed people enter the building.*

Fred: San Fransokyo Museum of Art, all is quiet... for now.

*Hiding in a man-hole just outside the museum is Fred in his Kaiju monster suit, while across the street on top of Noodle Burger is Hiro, Honey Lemon, Baymax and Cora.*

Hiro: Fred, why are we staking out at an art party? What could happen-?

Fred: Everything! Museum Galas are like in the top three favorite super villain things to interrupt! Right after big parades and experimental weapon demonstrations!

Honey Lemon: This is so exciting! I can't wait to see the new Shimamoto exhibit!

Baymax: Who or what is a 'Shimamoto'?

Honey Lemon: Lenore Shimamoto, she was an amazing artist and kind of my idol!

Fred: Never heard of her.

Honey Lemon: She painted 'City Rising', the first famous masterpiece they're unveiling tonight.

Fred: Never heard of it.

Honey Lemon: Oh! That's because it was lost for like a hundred years!

Fred: Still never heard of it.

Honey Lemon: ...It captures the city's rebirth after the great catastrophe of 1906. I'm a huge fan!

*The look Hiro is giving Honey Lemon gave her a signal that her phrasing is raising some concerns.*

Honey Lemon: Not of the catastrophe, that was-that was terrible... Of Shimamoto! What about you Cora?

*But when she turned to regard the younger girl, Cora is leaning on her hand dozing off as she stared at the building...that is until a loud sound emitted from the museum. This shakes Cora out of her near asleep daze in a snap.*

Cora: Don't steal my Cranberries!

*The other four stare at Cora's shout as she blushes over what she said, it's quickly forgotten when a guard came bursting through the door.*

Guard: The Gala is under attack by an inhuman freak! Out of my way!

Fred: Inhuman freak wha-?

*The herd of stampeding guests running for their lives closed the man-hole cover, prompting Fred to fall to the sewers below.*

Fred: Oh...there's the floor... Super villain! totally called it...*Collapses again*

Cora: And I think I have a pretty good idea on which Inhuman freak/Super villain both the guard and Fred are referring to. Globby's back.

*Once Fred is recovered from his fall, the five run into the building to face off the intruder.*

Fred: Nice try super villain!

*In front of them is Globby, the chemical human hybrid that Honey Lemon inadvertently transformed, covered in shards of glass from the skylight he broke into.*

Globby: Darn it!

Hiro: You know I don't know if I can call Globby 'Super', maybe Sub-par.

Fred: Well Sub-par villain isn't a thing. So what am I supposed to say?

Globby: *Still picking glass off himself* Oh there should be a warning on that skylight! Glass may shatter!...Time out guys, really appreciate this. You guys are looking sharp by the way...except you there however*pointing to Cora*, are you alright? You look pretty tired there kid. Have you been getting enough sleep lately?

*Cora's eyes widen before she returns to her usual glare.*

Hiro: Sub-par villain.

Cora: What does Globby even want here anyway?

Baymax: Broken glass can be hazardous.

Fred: Fine...we'll wait.

*Once the glass is removed from his body, Globby turns to the team.*

Globby: OK. I'm in on three. One...two... psych!

*Globby immediately uses his elastic arm to grab the Shimamoto painting and run down the nearest hallway to escape. Cora and Hiro climb on Baymax as Honey Lemon and Fred chase after him...but Baymax did not move.*

Hiro: Baymax go!

Baymax: He did not finish counting. Technically it is still 'time out'.

Cora: Ugh Three! Just go Baymax we don't have time for this!

*Baymax flies into the hall to rescue the painting, though Hiro sees that Cora is currently irritable.*

Hiro: Hey, are you feeling alright?

Cora: *Rubs her eyes a little* Yeah I'm fine, just a little tired.

Baymax: Actually-

Cora: Oh look Globby's there!

*Soon they joined Fred and Honey Lemon through the hall.*

Fred: Hey no fair you said time out!

*Globby immediately shoots out pieces of his goop which the team dodged but barely hit on the priceless antiques.*

Honey Lemon: We have to protect the paintings!

Fred: Ha! Fredzilla to the rescue!

*A large ball of goop is fired at the team, but Fred is quick to jump into action. His flame easily burned the goop...but unintentionally melted a water fountain just down the hall.*

Fred: Okay so I did that.

*Globby continues to shoot out more goop balls to which Fred fired back, but Hiro and Cora barely grabbed a painting down another hall from being burned into a crisp.*

Hiro: Fire and paintings, bad combo!

Fred: Right! Good call!

Honey Lemon: Anti-sticky ball ready!

*As Globby is exiting the hall, Honey Lemon pulls out the anti-sticky balls to turn Globby back to Dibs. The anti-sticky balls hit Globby and turn into a yellow foam, but Globby still remains Globby. The only result it had is the chem human hybrid dropping the painting. Honey grabs the painting before it can hit the ground.*

Honey Lemon: *Gasp* I'm holding 'City Rising'!

Fred: *Lands beside her* You talking about the famous painting? I've heard of that!

*Globby slowly slithers away, but Baymax is right behind him.*

Baymax: Do not move, you could be injured from your fall.

*Baymax picks him up.*

Baymax: I will scan you now.

Hiro: Don't worry Baymax, they can take care of him in jail.

Globby: Jail? They don't even make pants that can hold me!

*Globby melts under Baymax's hands and morphs into a ball, bouncing away to the exit.*

Globby: Boing, boing, boing everybody bye-!

*Globby attaches himself to bus just outside the museum, taking him away.*

Fred: Wait, he can turn into a ball? That's new!

*Globby morphs back into himself to taunt the heroes but his head smacks into a traffic light, temporarily dislocating it before it returns to his body.*

Globby: Darn it..

*The next day at the Lucky Cat Cafe, the rest of the gang converse over last night's events. Cora is stuffing her face with the breakfast Cass made and drinking Coffee, sweetened with honey, at a fast rate.*

Baymax: Cora, it is important that you slow down and chew more thoroughly.

*Cora pouted but continues eating but in a slower rate.*

Wasabi: Thank you Baymax. OK Hiro, you mean to tell us that Globby's back?

Gogo: And you let him get away?

Hiro: We saved the painting so let's focus on that!

Fred: The very famous painting, perhaps you've heard of it?

*Just then Cass places a big plate of what appears to be breakfast nachos.*

Cass: Guess what I made? Breakfast Nachos El Diablo!

Fred: Breakfast nachos? The unbalanced part of a balanced breakfast.

*He takes a bite out of the nachos and immediately starts breathing heavily for air to cool his burning taste buds.*

Cass: So what we're you guys doing out so late last night?

Hiro: We um-

Baymax: We were at the museum.

*Cora wipes her face with a napkin as she turns to Cass.*

Cora: Yeah, we saw Shimamoto's painting called the 'City Rising'. Grandmama told me all about it when I was younger, it actually inspired me on what to do with my project.

Hiro: *Turns to his girlfriend confused* Project?

Fred: *Mouth still burning from the nachos* Caliente! Muy Caliente!

Hiro: *Whispers* Smooth.

*While Fred is running to get either water or milk, Baymax's belly lights up to show a clock.*

Baymax: Hiro, this is your reminder that you have a school project due today that is currently 10% finished.

*Cora's eyes widen when she hears the news, worried over Hiro's project being nowhere near complete.*

Cass: What? Shouldn't you have been doing homework last night? Here at home? The work?

Hiro: Aunt Cass don't worry, it's me! I'll improvise.

Wasabi: *Deadpan* You mean scramble?

Gogo: At the last minute?

Hiro: Always worked in high school.

*But Cora's eye brows' burrow as she fidgets her hands over his confident claim. While she never attended high school herself, she has doubts that this will be an easy pass. Eventually they all got to SFIT where the two teens happen to share the same class with Professor Grandville herself.*

Grandville: Alright everyone, settle.

*Grandville activated a few buttons that lights up the chalkboard with a screen.*

Grandville: Good morning, I hope you used your three weeks wisely for this seismic project.

Hiro: Totally wisely.

*Cora spots Karmi, another teen prodigy they met before but never really got along with, present her project onto the table meant to simulate earthquakes.*

Karmi: My prototype uses nickel titanium as a shape memory alloy, which allows it to have increased plasticity under pressure.

Grandville: Very good Karmi, now lets shake it and break it.

*The project Karmi built stood its ground.*

Grandville: Our goal is to withstand an 9.0 or greater on the Richter scale.

*The earthquake scale continues to climb up until Karmi's project finally broke in pieces.*

Grandville: 8.5. Impressive, but Karmi I am confident that you can do better. Let's see version 2.0 next week. Your next Miss Mizichio.

*Cora took a deep sigh as she brought out her project, which by all means looks grey and not impressive looking, aside from the bottom resembling dark rocks. Hiro gives Cora a thumbs up as she takes a deep breath.*

Cora: The Prototype I've built has the adhesive strength of Barnacles that can be often found on rocks, ships, and whales which activate to hold the base. Also, because of the recent news about Shimamoto's painting being found, I want to commemorate the memory of 'City Rising', which is why I also added this.

*The earthquake simulation is turned on as it begins to shake the project which only shook a little. Cora holds her breath as the project begin to shake more. She finally closes her eyes tightly as she waited for the result, whether it'd be a success or a failure.*

Student: Woah that's so cool!

*Cora opens her eyes hesitantly to see that not only has her project survived to the 9.0, but it functioned exactly like she planned. The dull flat surface on top of the prototype transformed into a jade-colored roof with the structure turning from grey to a white pearl surface.*

Grandville: *Very Impressed by the display and the hard work Cora obviously put into it* I have no other words to say...other than you did a truly superb job Miss Mizichio and as for you commemorating this project after Shimamoto's 'City Rising', I'd say you succeeded that as well. You should be very proud.

*Cora's face beamed over the success and praise of her project, that all her trial and error over these last three weeks have not been for naught. She picks up her project and places it back on her desk, her heart still racing over the fact that she-*

Grandville: Your turn Mr. Hamada.

*Cora's happiness shatters in an instant as she remembers that Hiro did his project last minute. Her heart stops in concern over Hiro, but she still gives a somewhat shaky smile to show support for Hiro.*

Hiro: Elastimer Dampers.

Grandville: Is the paint still wet on your model?

*Cora's hands gripped on her skirt as she looks at Hiro with concern.*

Hiro: No... that would imply I threw it together at the last possible minute!

*Grandville however, knew better. But she activated the simulator none the less.*

Grandville: Perhaps your design will save our city from the next 'Great Catastrophe'.

*The model shook for what felt like a few seconds until it begins to break, Hiro tries to place the model back into place but Cora knew that his model building is as good as dead.*

Grandville: Or not.

*The piece completely falls onto Hiro's shirt, to which he immediately smacks his face. Which gives him a red mark, which he notices and nervously laughs. Cora turns her attention to Karmi who has pulled out her phone and is recording it. *

Karmi: And scene.

*Karmi then notices Cora glaring at her with her dagger eyes, but Karmi simply smirked. Cora then wrote on her hand to remind herself on what to do later today. After the rest of the presentations are done, Cora walks beside Hiro, her fist hiding the words 'Exact Revenge on Karmi as soon as possible!'*

*Back at the lab, Honey Lemon is showing Baymax a book documenting Lenore Shimamoto and her famous painting.*

Honey Lemon: Amazing! And we saved it.

Baymax: I do not understand the purpose of art.

Honey Lemon: Well, to create art is to be human, to be alive.

Baymax: *Blinks* I am neither.

Honey Lemon: Oh, I'm sorry.. I mean how can I put this so you'll um.. it could be you know really good for emotional health like art therapy.

Baymax: I am coded to expand my therapeutic capabilities. Perhaps I should increase my understanding of art.

Honey Lemon: Ooh I could teach you! To me, art is about expressing your feelings!

Baymax: Do you mean like this?

*His belly activates his famous pain scale.*

Honey Lemon: Hmm not exactly-

*At that instant, Hiro and Cora enter the lab, the teen girl giving a half-hearted smile while Hiro remained in his paint form.*

Honey Lemon: *Horrified thinking the red paint is blood* Ah! Hiro!

*Honey Lemon rushes to Hiro, thinking he had just been in a terrible accident.*

Honey Lemon: What happened?!

Baymax: Hiro is covered in red paint. Do not be alarmed. This red paint is non-toxic.

Honey Lemon: So I guess your demo wasn't a masterpiece?

Hiro: It's more of a disaster-piece.

Cora: Well Hiro-

Fred: Hey! Check out this funny video I found!

*The video happens to be the same one Karmi recorded earlier.*

Hiro: *Not at all amused* Uh Fred that's me.

Fred: Hey that is you! Maybe you can try to imagine-

*But he stops his voice as he spots Cora's purple orbs become heated flames directed right at him. Fred nervously takes a couple steps back to avoid provoking the young, and at the moment, scary girl.*

Fred: *Somewhat scared* Uhh...you know what, never mind...

Honey Lemon: It's okay Hiro, we learn more from our failures than our successes.

Hiro: Ah! You know what? It's no big deal! I've got a ton of better ideas, I'll just do one of those! The better ones!

*Hiro quickly went towards his lab to plan out his new and better model, but Cora sighs.*

Baymax: Optimism.

*Once the whole gang is grouped up in Hiro's lab, Hiro presented a much better looking model that can be used to counter a hypothetical earthquake.*

Hiro: Check it out! A mag-lev base isolation system.

*The building suspended from the ground.*

Gogo: Yup... that's what I did when I was a freshman.

*This is disheartening news to Hiro, who simply pushes away the table, causing it to fall down. He went back to the drawing board to design another way to protect the model from the earthquake.*

Hiro: And when any fractures appear they're instantly filled by a quick drawing, but flexible foam.

Honey Lemon: *Gasps* That's wonderful Hiro! I'm sure it's super different than when I did the same exact thing!

Cora: *Softly* Oh boy...

*Hiro throws away the other model into the trash as he goes back to the drawing board again, but he finds himself stuck on making sure his model being able to withstand an earthquake and at the same time being an original idea.*

Hiro: These high strength air bags cushion the people inside the building and also prevent floors from pancaking.

*Cora notices that the gang is silent, as if they know someone else that had also done this already.*

Hiro: So just to be clear, no one here has done the airbag thing? Right?

*The gang remain silent as Cora is fidgeting her hands. She is about to speak up until Baymax waddled over.*

Baymax: This approach will be highly effective.

Hiro: *Hopeful* You think so?

Baymax: Yes. This is exactly what your brother, Tadashi did. It was highly effective.

*Hiro groans in frustration as Cora simply face palms. Just then Honey Lemon spots Cora's project sitting off to the side.*

Honey Lemon: Oh my goodness! Cora, is this your project! This is so beautiful!

*The gang turn to Cora's project, impressed over the fact that it's beautifully structured.*

Fred: Wow Cora! This is so sick! Before it was all dull and grey, but now it's all pretty and shiny!

Cora: *Embarrassed at the praising and worried about how Hiro will take it* Guys it's fine-

Wasabi: The structure surely is sticky, whatever it is it defiantly stuck together.

Honey Lemon: It reminds me of 'City Rising'!

*Cora looks at Hiro with an embarrassed and guilty smile as she blushes, hoping it won't discourage him from trying harder to find his own solution. Hiro just face plants into Baymax's belly to which the robot patted his head in comfort.*

Hiro: This is hopeless.

Wasabi: Hey, you can do this little man! Maybe you never had to work this hard for something before.

Hiro: School's never been this hard before!

Wasabi: This place is tough, for everybody. I got lost finding my first class, why aren't the buildings in alphabetical order? Am I the only one who sees the obvious solution?!

Hiro: Wasabi...Is this supposed to be a pep talk?

Wasabi:...Sorry.. The thing is, You got in for being you. Be you Hiro.

Cora: Yeah Babe, you can do it!

Hiro: You know what? You're right! I've got this!

Cora: There's the spirit!

*But when it got time to return to Grandville's class however.*

Hiro: I've got nothing.

*Cora face palms in exasperation. Granville simply writes down on her notes while Hiro groans in exasperation, throwing his notebook away. But he has inadvertently hit another student's project, which causes Hiro to panic. But Cora rushes forward and catches the other student's project, yet in doing so causes her to knock off her own project and land on the floor, breaking it into pieces. The other pieces hit on the other projects, causing them to all break. Cora's face is stricken with a mixture of shock and fear over what happens next, and Hiro is on the same boat. He threw his notebook but because of his careless aim, Cora had to protect the one in her hands but inadvertently broke her own project and others as well.*

Hiro: Oh no...

*Then came a couple of snapshots coming from Karmi and some other students.*

Karmi: Got it!

*After the students pack up the remains of their projects Cora is standing by Hiro's side.*

Hiro: I'm just no good at this...

*Cora places her hand on his shoulder to comfort him.*

Cora: Hiro...

Grandville: Mr. Hamada, I'm the one who gets to tell people they're not good. Don't take my favorite part of the job away.

Hiro: Well go ahead... enjoy.

Grandville: No! I'm not letting you off that easily. You are going to rise to this challenge!

Cora: That's true Hiro, I know you. If anyone can pull this through it's you! Like how you made*Starts to nod off*...microbots...

*But Cora's words slowly turn to muffled words as her eye lids nearly close.*

Hiro: Uh Cora? *nudges her a little* Hey, you doing alright?

Cora: *Snaps back up* I'm fine! Really, I'm alright.

Hiro: But what if I'm really no good at this?

Grandville: Then you fail, after which you try again.

*Just then Karmi butts in with her project.*

Karmi: Professor G, My new prototype is ready to go! But if you want Hiro to say he's not good at-

Cora: *Cranky and aggravated* Karmi do us all a favor and just shut up!

Grandville: *Warning Tone* Cora.

Hiro: *Surprised at his girlfriends outburst* Woah Babe, are you sure you're ok-?

Grandmama: Cora?

*The four people turn to Cora's grandmother, who is looking with concern over Cora.*

Grandmama: Cora, have you eaten at all today?

*At this, Cora just looks down sheepishly and slightly shakes her head no signifying that she hadn't.*

Grandmama: *Sighs in disappointment* Oh Cora... *Reaches into her purse and take out a protein bar* Here.

*The old lady throws the protein bar to Cora to which she catches it with her eyes lit up, but it was thrown between Karmi, which causes her to yelp and drop her project to the ground, breaking it.*

Karmi: Oh no!

Cora: Grandmama what the heck?!

Grandmama: *Sternly* You did not eat your breakfast this morning young lady...again!

Cora: I'm fine Grandmama I'm not mmph-

*She doesn't even finish her sentence as she tears off the wrapper and stuffs the protein bar into her mouth. Confusion is ringing through the other people present.*

Grandmama: It's alright, she'll be fine. This sadly happens every now and then...especially when she hasn't eaten or had a good night's sleep...

*Cora sighs after she finishes the protein bar before she looks at the three, she blushes in embarrassment before helping picking up Karmi's project to put the table.*

Cora: *Somewhat monotone with her head down and her hair hiding her eyes* I apologize for my behavior and accidentally breaking your model Karmi. *Slightly turns to Hiro but not quite meeting his eyes* Hopefully I'll see you later Hiro?

Hiro: *Confused and slightly worried* OK...?

*Cora quickly walks out the classroom in silence with her head still down, leaving more confusion on them but Grandmama simply shakes her head.*

Grandmama: I'll explain later.

*Meawhile, Honey Lemon is with Baymax at the San Fransokyo Museum of Art showing him 'City Rising' as it's being hung back where it belongs.*

Honey Lemon: Ooh this is so exciting Baymax! 'City Rising' is back where it's supposed to be!

Guard: Don't worry! Nobody's getting it on my watch! Not this time!

*Honey gave a positive smile while Baymax merely blinks. Afterwards they walk down a hall to observe more paintings.*

Baymax: Honey Lemon, thank you for teaching me about art.

Honey Lemon: This is gonna be great! Okay, look at this portrait from the golden age what do you see?

Baymax: I see a man who suffers from Rosacea, a lack of exercise, and excessive consumption of red meat.

Honey Lemon: That's not what I-let me put it in another way. To understand art you have to feel it!

Baymax: Oh.

*Baymax turns his attention to a very spiky sculpture to which he is about to touch to 'feel it'. But Honey Lemon is quick to pull Baymax away from the sculpture.*

Honey Lemon: Oh no no no, let's maybe not touch that! Maybe we should try something more abstract... and less pointy.

*The next painting Honey Lemon shows to Baymax is an abstract painting of a man whose limbs are twisted in all directions. There are moments of silence as Baymax blinks at the painting.*

Baymax: This man was in a terrible accident.

Honey Lemon: No Baymax! He's painted that way to make you feel emotions!

Baymax: I am not programmed to feel emotions. Only to monitor emotions in others. You are frustrated.

*Despite her best smile, her eyebrow is twitching.*

Honey Lemon: I'm fine!

Baymax: I detect vocal tones that indicate frustration.

*Just then the two spot Fred heading down the hall where they encountered Globby last week, where the melted water fountain is currently still running like a fountain.*

Modern Shakespeare: Caution: Water Hazard. Such a bold statement about the futility of existence. I would give anything to meet the genius who created this masterpiece!

Fred: Allow me to introduce myself, Fred Frederickson the IV. Master of this piece!

Modern Shakespeare: *Gasp* A pleasure sir! You have moved me!

*The man kissed Fred's hand.*

Fred: Cool!

Baymax: Is this also art?

Fred: Well Duh.

Modern Shakespeare: Well Duh indeed.

Honey Lemon: *Sighs* Maybe that's enough for today. Let's just go.

*But while Honey Lemon drags away Baymax. Up in the air vents, Globby is crawling. He notices that his leg is stretched until it flips forward and hits his head.*

Globby: Ow.

Honey Lemon: *Gasp* Did you hear that?

Baymax: Art must be seen, felt, and heard? Art is complicated.

*Just then out of the air vents came Globby, who has the misfortune to land himself on the spiky sculpture that Baymax nearly touched.

Globby: OW!

Guard: Don't touch! That's all I'm paid to say! Don't touch! Did my job, everybody saw it now outta my way!*And then runs off*

*During all this, Hiro is at his home in the garage currently planning his project. But looking at the blank piece of paper he grows frustrated so he crumples it up and throws it away. Just then Cora, Wasabi, and Gogo come in which the cool woman quickly catches the paper ball and unfolds it.*

Gogo: Did you just crumple up and throw away a blank piece of paper?

Hiro: I was just trying to save some time.

Gogo: OK... This is gonna hurt you more than it's gonna hurt me.

*Gogo raises her hand to slap the sense into Hiro but Wasabi quickly catches her hand.*

Wasabi: What are you doing?

Gogo: Slapping him out of it.

Wasabi: You can't do that!

Gogo: You got a better idea?

Cora: I do.

*The two adults turn to Cora, who is crossing her arms as she walks over to Hiro.*

Hiro: Hey Cora, you...doing any better after earlier?

Cora: At the moment, yes. But I'll be even better after you get out of this funk you're in. Look Hiro, I get how frustrating it is to work on these things and not have anything to work with because you feel so blocked.

Hiro: So what's your point?

Cora: *Rolls her eyes in mild annoyance* So, what my point is-

*Just then Gogo's phone rings so she picks it up and reads it.*

Gogo: Globby's back.

Hiro: *Gets out of his chair* Let's go!

*Hiro runs out to suit up, leaving Cora shaking her head in frustration over failing to comfort her boyfriend.*

Cora: Dang it! *Sigh* Well maybe we can talk about this later.

Wasabi: Uh yeah but.. my car is still at the bottom of the bay?

*The memory of them being chased into the ocean by Callaghan pops in Cora's mind.*

Cora: *Winces at the memory* Oh yeah... oops...

Hiro: So how are we gonna get there?

*After they all suited up, they go and rent a little car to drive to the museum.*

Wasabi: Rick from the self-driving car project said we can use it for an hour.

Hiro: Can't this thing self-drive any faster?

Wasabi: Of course it can, its just programmed not to for safety reasons.

*Gogo, being the famed speed adrenaline junkie she is, looks at Cora who gets the signal. She pulls the wires out of the casing and re-wires them to increase the speed...which it did as it zooms down the street.*

Wasabi: It wasn't me Rick!

*The car zooms past the other cars until they arrive at the museum where Baymax, Honey Lemon, and Fred are waiting outside. The four sprawl out of the small car gasping for air.*

Fred: Tell me you brought our super suits!

*Wasabi opens the trunk to show that they did indeed. He goes to pull out the armor but its currently stuck.*

Wasabi: *Struggling to pull the armor out* It's a little tight!

Hiro: Where's Globby?

Honey Lemon: He's got the Shimamoto, but the museum's on lock down.

Gogo: So he's trapped inside?

Fred: Sub-par villain's gonna sub-par.

Wasabi: Gah! Gotta help me!

*Just then Honey Lemon's helmet hits Fred in the head, knocking him out. Inside the museum however, Globby is struggling to open the steel gates to escape with the painting but is unable to lift it and ends up pulling his arms right off.*

Globby: Ow! Come on!

*He transforms into a ball to break through the gate but is simply bounced into a wall where he is flatten to a pancake until he falls back into the same spiky sculpture from before.*

Globby: Ow! oh..hm nice piece!

*Globby grabs the sculpture to ram into the steel gate.*

Globby: I hope this works!

*But just then Baymax lifts up the gate from the other side alongside Hiro. So in the end Globby is sent running past the team and tumbling into the street.*

Fred: Ouch!

Cora: Sheesh!

Wasabi: Ooh...

Globby: You think?!

*Globby slings his arm and grabs 'City Rising'.*

Honey Lemon: He's going for the painting!

Gogo: Well he's gotta stick-to-itivness.

Cora: But why that painting alone?

*Globby throws his goop balls to which Wasabi slices them into tiny pieces. Honey Lemon brings out a chem ball and aims it at Globby, but he simply dodges it and thus the chem ball freezes Fred.*

Globby: Nope! not this time!

*Once again he morphs into a ball to bounce away.*

Wasabi: Yes this time!

*Wasabi blocks Globby's escape route but is simply rolled over.*

Wasabi: I've got some in my mouth.

Gogo: Just spit him out and lets drop this blob!

*Gogo zooms past Wasabi as Honey Lemon's tosses one of her chem balls to her to catch up with Globby.*

Honey Lemon: Get him!

*Hiro and Cora climb up onto Baymax's back and begin to chase after him*

Hiro: Right behind you Gogo!

Fred: Get on!

Wasabi: Ok.. but just don't jump-TOO HIIIIIGH!

*Fred jumps up into the sky to join the rest of the team. Globby continues to bounce down the street where Gogo is about to take aim. But the appearance of a bus makes Gogo quickly jump up to avoid a collision. The ball misses Globby as he happily bounces away.*

Globby: Hoh it's really happening! My first successful art heist! Who's number one now? I'm-

*Just then he splats right into Baymax in front of him.*

Baymax: That painting does not belong to you.

*Hiro and Cora grab the paining from Globby.*

Hiro and Cora: Thank you!

*Globby falls down to the street splattered until he regains form.*

Globby: Well this isn't fair! Oh why do I even bother?

*Just then Gogo arrives.*

Gogo: Honey! Let's freeze him and seize him!

*Honey Lemon had just arrived using the car Wasabi rented to catch up with the rest of the team. She throws the chem ball but Globby melts into water and escapes through the sewer drain nearby.*

Gogo: Did he just...melt?

Cora: Something tells me this isn't the last we'll see him...

*Later on that day, Globby ends up on land nearby the golden gate bridge.*

Globby: I can turn into water? Woah! What else can I do? Ummm...metal!

*Globby uses his mind to morph his hand into a large piece of metal. It weighs down his hand until he thinks it back to his regular globby self.*

Globby: Yes! What else?!

*Immediately he spent the early evening morphing his body to do whatever he wanted.*

Globby: Ice! Rock! Chocolate! Wood! Brick! Chocolate! Cookie dough! Cotton candy! Chocolate with ice cream and caramel! and whip cream!

*Globby eats his ice cream hand to which he gains an idea.*

Globby: Oh this could be very useful! I'm delicious!

*He then morphs his hand into a hammer to which he breaks the drain he crawled out of.*

Globby: And powerful!

*The next day at the lab, Gogo is testing out her discs with Cora looking over her gloves as Hiro whistles through his way. *

Wasabi: Alright! Someone's in a good mood!

Hiro: Well yeah! We crushed our last mission, we had Globby so scared he wet himself!

Honey Lemon: Not exactly.

*Hiro and the others walk towards Honey Lemon as she is currently using her chemistry experiment.*

Honey Lemon: The volatile chemicals that made Dibs turn into Globby combined with the neurotransmitter.

Gogo: Right?

Honey Lemon: Well, Globby finally learned how his thoughts can control his...mmm...Globbiness?

*This raises concerns for the rest of the team.*

Wasabi: So he can turn into anything? That villain is on his way to being super.

Hiro: I don't care if he's a solid, liquid, or gas! We can take him!

Wasabi: Oh.. I hope not gas!

Cora: Hey, where's Fred?

Gogo: He's at the museum, in case Globby strikes again.

*However Fred is merely guarding the unintentional sculpture he made from the drinking fountain.*

Fred: *Blocking a kid from taking a drink out of the drinking fountain-turned art* Up up up up! Fine art, it moves people. So keep moving.

*Back at the lab*

Hiro: Anyway, it's great to feel like I'm good at something! I really needed that.

*Just then Cora notices that her boyfriend is grabbing some stuff from the lab.*

Cora: Uhh...Hiro, what are you doing?

Gogo: So you're finally ready to step up and crush that quake proofing demo?

Hiro: Totally ready! I just don't have a plan of any sorts so uh..

Wasabi: Well of course you're not just gonna blow it off.

Hiro: I hadn't considered that but...

Wasabi: No no no! Forget I said anything! Stop looking like you're considering it!

*Hiro takes some of the stuff but is blocked by Honey Lemon, and behind him is a slowly irritating Cora.*

Cora: *Slightly growling* Hiro...you better not be doing what I think you're doing...

Honey Lemon: Hiro wait! You can't just quit!

Gogo: Yeah. Do you really want to be known as a genius quitter?

Hiro: No... but at least a genius quitter is probably the best kind of quitter right?

*Cora stands up from her chair as her eyes begin to slowly burn.*

Cora: *Growling more* Don't you dare...

Wasabi: I get it. You think that if you give up, it doesn't count as failing. but actually it's worse.

Baymax: Tadashi failed 83 times before I functioned properly.

Hiro: Well maybe I'm not as smart as Tadashi!

*Hiro storms his way out of the lab leaving the rest of the gang behind.*

Baymax: Perhaps art therapy would be beneficial.

Cora: I'm joining you Baymax.

*Cora walks over and grabs Baymax by his hand, dragging him towards the door.*

Honey Lemon: Umm...You okay Cora?

*Cora turns her head sharply as her purple eyes entered full on flame mode.*

Cora: *Extremely irritated now* No! I am not doing okay! If he doesn't snap out of it, my 'genius quitter' of a boyfriend will become my 'genius corpse' of a boyfriend instead!

*They both leave to follow Hiro to his lab, leaving the other three behind.*

Wasabi: Is it just me or does she seem more irritable than usual lately?

Gogo: It's not just you. Cora's been pretty moody lately and I think half of it has to do with Hiro.

Honey Lemon: And the other half?

Gogo: Can't say for sure, but hopefully getting Hiro out of his funk will help her out with whatever's going on with her...if she doesn't end up killing him first.

*The three than walk over to see what Baymax's painting is.*

Wasabi: *Slightly disturbed* Guh! Should I be worried here?

*The painting is of Wasabi, Hiro, Cora, Gogo, and Honey Lemon. In skeletal form...in vivid detail.*

Honey Lemon: He's painting what he knows?

*Hiro is currently typing away on his computer when he heard the door slam open causing the boy to yelp and turn. There he sees the face of his angry girlfriend and Baymax on her hand.*

Hiro: *Slightly nervous now* Cora! Is uh...is something..wrong?

Cora: *Firm and irritable* You and I need to talk. NOW!

Hiro: *Still slightly nervous* A-about what exactly?

Cora: Look Hiro, we've been dating for almost a year now. Are you seriously thinking of quitting?! Oh no. This 'quitting' is the cowards' way out, and I know you Hiro. YOU are not a coward!

Hiro: *Starting to get irritable as well* Well maybe I am and you just never knew it!

Cora: Oh please Hiro! What kind of a coward would start a superhero team to track down and take down the madman who killed his brother and then go straight into an unstable inner-dimensional portal just to save said-madman's daughter?!

*Hiro eyes widen in shock at what his girlfriend just said to him and than glares hard at her, but Cora glares back just as hard. Neither say a word as they stare hard at each other that you could actually start to see sparks fly between them. Luckily, Baymax speaks up to try and ease the tension.*

Baymax: It is alright to become discouraged.

Hiro: *Having enough, he breaks eye contact with Cora and turns around in his chair* I don't want to talk abou-

*Suddenly Baymax pulls out one of the test videos of Tadashi Hamada, Hiro's brother. Shocking both Hiro and Cora out of their irritation as they watch the video together.*

Tadashi: Tadashi Hamada test number 58, robotics project.

Baymax: Hello, I am Baymax. Your personal healthcare-.

*In the video it seems like his project was finally working until it bursts into flames, which causes Tadashi to panic and quickly put out the flames with a fire extinguisher.*

Tadashi: No! Why? Why do I put myself through this 58 times!? *sighs* Maybe this will never work... maybe I should give up...you're not still recording are you?-

*The video pauses as Hiro looks at Tadashi's frustrated and defeated face, which Cora notices as she looks at the video of Tadashi with sad eyes. *

Hiro: I never saw him like that...

*Cora takes a deep breath before she turns to Hiro.*

Cora: Hiro, you can do this, I know you can. And if Tadashi were here...he'd tell you the exact same thing. *Puts a comforting hand on Hiro's shoulder and gives him a small, comforting smile* Just...look for a new angle, remember?

*Hiro looks at her and gives a half-hearted smile back to her.*

Hiro: I guess...all I can do is..try...right?

*Cora's smile widens a bit as she nods to him. Just then, Wasabi opens the door.*

Wasabi: Fred just called! The museum decided to put the painting into storage.

Hiro: Wise move.

*Just then Gogo comes in.*

Gogo: That means it's in a truck crossing the city.

Hiro: Not so wise move.

Cora: Downright stupid move if you ask me.

*That night, Globby is swinging across the streets chasing after the truck containing Shimamoto's painting. Globby throws his goop balls at the truck and finally manages to causes to skid the truck to a halt, crashing it strainght into a light pole in the process. The driver runs away at Globby's face.*

Globby: Acid!

*He drips one drop of acid to create a hole in the truck and grabs the painting from its casing.*

Globby: Ha! Got it!

*Globby takes a moment to admire the painting before he notices Baymax with Hiro and Cora.*

Hiro: Don't you ever get tired of losing?

*It is also when Globby notices that he's surrounded.*

Globby: No. No I really think today's my day.

Honey Lemon: Aw! I love your positive attitude! Sorry about this!

*Honey Lemon pulls out a chem ball and throws it at Globby, but he uses his elasticity to bounce back the ball and thus splashing Honey Lemon in yellow goo, which causes her chem purse to malfunction. Gogo chases after him but Globby uses his hands to morph into and grow crystals out of the street.*

Globby: Careful! Pavement's a little rough!

*The crystals causes Gogo to fall flat on her face. Then Fred jumps into action.*

Fred: Time for a meltdown!

*Globby uses his arm to form a shield to fend off Fred's flames, he then turns his other hand to block Fred's mouth.*

Globby: Eh shut your fire hole!

*Wasabi comes to Fred's aid as both his fire and jumping abilities had been disabled.*

Wasabi: I got you buddy!

*Globby brings out his own chem balls that immediately encase Fred and Wasabi together. Baymax flies over Globby.*

Hiro: Come on Baymax! It's up to us!

Baymax: We will protect the art that is valuable. For some reason.

*Baymax launches his rocket fist at Globby, but he uses his hand to twist the rocket and land it to the ground, causing an explosion. The goopy debris lands on Baymax's face.*

Baymax: Oh no.

*This causes him to drop Hiro and Cora, but luckily they land into the larger piles of goop safely. They look up to see that Globby transformed into a rock to protect himself. With the explosion over, Globby returns to normal.*

Globby: *Laughs triumphantly* If at first you don't succeed, learn to turn yourself into chocolate.

*Globby morphs his hands into chocolate to which he gives to Cora and Hiro. But that's when Cora brings out the biggest question on her mind ever since this whole thing started.*

Cora: Wait a second! Why do you want that painting so badly? I know it's very famous but you could have easily stolen the other art pieces at the museum! So why just that one painting? What's so special about it that you'd only go after it?

Globby: Ooh look at the time! Would love to chat but my boss isn't the patient type.

Cora: Wait wha-?

Hiro: Huh?

Globby: Enjoy! Catch ya later! Gotta bounce!

*Globby did bounce away into the street, evading the team with his prize. The two unsticky teens rush to help their friends out of the stickiness Globby left behind.*

Honey Lemon: Oh no...that was awful!

Fred: I know! 'Gotta bounce'? I mean it fits but come on! Dig deeper!

Honey Lemon: We've failed! And worse, we failed Lenore Shimamoto!

Fred: I don't know Honey Lemon that kind of makes us sound like losers.

Wasabi: Well we did lose.

*Wasabi and Gogo are currently stuck on the underside of a nearby street bridge.*

Hiro: Ah come on guys! It's not the end of the world! Look at Globby, he failed again and again. But he figured it out... Eventually. It's okay to get discouraged. But you have to pick yourself up and try again... *Looks at Cora when he's says this next part* And look for a new angle.

*Cora smiles and nods proudly at her boyfriend.*

Wasabi: That's a great speech Hiro. But can you get me down? I'm about to pass out.

*Both Hiro and Cora pull Gogo and Wasabi out of their goopy imprisonment as Cora brings up something they learned.*

Cora: By the way guys, when I asked Globby why he wanted that painting so much, he said it was for his boss or something...

Fred: Wait?! Did you say he was stealing it for his boss? Oh man...this is really getting curiouser and curiouser...

*It is the very next day where Hiro is currently working on his demo model with Cora by his side eating her bento. He turns to her and smiles brightly, to which Cora gives a thumbs up back. *

Gogo: Hey how's it going 'genius whose not a quitter'?

Hiro: Honestly not great... but failure worked for Globby. So why not for me?

Wasabi: That's the spirit!

*Just then, Fred comes in with a large check under his arm.*

Fred: Hey Honey Lemon, my art thinging, 'Caution Water Hazard', just sold for a million dollars!

Gogo: Really? I guess art must be in the eye of the beholder.

Baymax: Fred's art evoked many emotions today. It might be more accurate to say art is in the heart of the beholder.

Honey Lemon: Aw you've really learned a lot about art Baymax. That was very poetic.

Baymax: What is poetry?

*Honey Lemon and Gogo look at each other before Cora finishes her food and speaks up.*

Cora: It's okay guys, poetry lessons are next week.

Honey Lemon: What are you gonna do with the money Fred?

Fred: I'm giving the check to the museum. I don't need it and they could use a new fountain. Plus they just lost a priceless painting.

*Just then, Cora's grandmother is standing by the open door.*

Cora: Oh! Hi Grandmama!

Grandmama: Hello Cora...Would it be alright if I borrow Hiro to talk for a moment?

Cora: *Confused* Sure..go ahead?

*Hiro hesitantly walks away to converse with the old woman, wondering what she wanted with him. They finally got outside into the open air where the cherry blossoms are bathed in warm light.*

Grandmama: Do you remember how I came to check on Cora a while ago..you were with the Dean and some other student or whatever...I said I owe you an explanation.

Hiro: About..Cora?

Grandmama: Yes. I already explained this to the Dean a short while ago before I came to you Hiro, and now it's your turn. Did you notice how she's been feeling sleepy lately? Or how the slightest thing would irritate her? Or how she's not been eating much?

Hiro: *Concern* Actually, yeah I have. Is something wrong with Cora? Does it have anything to do with me?

Grandmama: *Sighs*...I'll tell you the full story one day.. but for now..you must know that Cora was born...a little premature...and different from the other children..and that led to having these..effects in her life...But ever since you came into the picture, it seems to have become fewer and fewer, and it just seems to be getting better with all your friends. However, that doesn't mean she doesn't fall into...*Sighs* I suppose the proper term would be..'relapses' from time to time... But as I mentioned before, meeting you, your...brother... and your friends has been helping her greatly. Even though you and her have your disagreements or tiffs from time to time, that's normal from anyone who's in a relationship. If anything it proves that no matter what is going on either between or just one of you, you two always manage to talk it out and work together to make it better. That is the key to any good and functioning relationship Hiro. So to answer your question about whether or not Cora's recent behavior has anything to do with you, I would say it only had half to do with you. the other half was just something she...had to work out on her own. And apparently helping you out with whatever was going on with you seems to have help a good bit. But all-in-all Hiro Whatever you and your friends are doing to help Cora overall, keep up the good work. Now I think it's about time I let you go about back to your business, you have presentation to go to after all.

*Grandmama walks past Hiro, giving a knowing smirk at him before she goes on her way. Hiro raises an eyebrow in confusion and looks back at the old woman for a moment before he runs back inside to finish his project. Time passes by until finally Hiro is ready to present his project to Grandville. He carries his model, peering inside to see Grandville with her notebook and Karmi, who's pulled out her camera ready to see him fail. But Cora quickly gives him a kiss on the cheek as their usual way of saying good luck to each other, to which he smiles brightly.*

*Hiro puts his model on the table. Cora being on his left holding his hand while Karmi is behind him ready to capture what appears to be his next magnum opus. The model puts out two stabilizers as soon as the quake simulation got a little rougher.*

Karmi: What?

Hiro: My building has sensors to measure the seismic forces, then it sends out the exact sonic pulses needed to counteract them.

*The Richter scale simulation quickly goes down in numbers. Cora smiles brightly at Hiro's success.*

Karmi: So your solution is cheating?

Hiro: No! My design was to the shaking by dealing with the problem at its source.

Grandville: Not only will the structure save itself, but it would also save the other buildings around it. This is an excellent solution.

*Cora is quick to pull out her phone and take a picture of Karmi's 'unbelievable* face. Cora and Hiro are walking out of the room once its over to take a walk around the quad to talk.*

Cora: *Smiling evilly* And scene...and revenge achieved.

Hiro: *Looking over at his girlfriend's phone and sees the picture. He than smiles smugly and puts his arm around Cora's shoulders and kisses her cheek.* That's my girl.

*As they walk outside into the quad, they walk in comfortable but still somewhat awkward silence as they both in their own minds try to figure what they were going to say. Hiro then looks over at Cora in a side glance and decides to start.*

Hiro: Um...Cora? There's...something I wanna-

Cora: *Cuts Hiro off as she stops walking, causing Hiro to stop walking to as she stands face-to-face with him and she fidgets with her hands in front of her and looks down almost ashamed-looking and only taking quick glances up at Hiro as she talks* Hiro wait. Before you say anything...there's something I should say first... About what I s-said...b-back at the l-lab...before Baymax s-showed us that video of Tadashi... I just...w-wanted you to know that...I-I was way out of line w-with what I said to you. I w-was just REALLY irritated and annoyed with how you were acting, along with some...other things I was going through. But that's still no excuse for what I said to you... And I just wanted to let you know that I'm sorry for it.

Hiro: *Surprised at his girlfriend's apology, but quickly got over it as he places his hand on Cora's shoulder.* Cora... *Sighs* It's okay Cora, I've already forgiven you for that. But to be honest with you, there's really nothing to forgive with what you said to me, because...you were right.

Cora: *Surprised at her boyfriend's words as she looks up fully to him.* I...I was?

Hiro: Yeah, you were. I-I do admit that I was just...*Sigh* I just felt humiliated... I mean first my model breaks at the beginning of the stimulation, to which Karmi took a video and posted it online.

*Cora frowns at the memory. She wanted to punch that self-absorbed biotech student for humiliating Hiro like that.*

Hiro: Then when I couldn't think of anything to make up for it, I ended up destroying the other students' projects by accident.

Cora: Technically, it was my project that kinda destroyed the others Hiro.

Hiro: Which wouldn't have happened if I hadn't throw my notebook away so carelessly...not to mention destroying your project in the process too...all of which Karmi took a photo of again...

*The teen couple grumble at the memory. Finally Hiro sighs*

Hiro: I just thought that... If I quit I wouldn't be put through that again... B-but you were right...by quitting, I was just acting like a coward...which, as you clearly pointed out to me back at the lab, I'm not. A coward wouldn't have done all the things you mentioned before, and not to mention that it would have made Karmi's day if I really was one.

Cora: Well I'm glad you didn't and that you understand what I was trying to tell you. But the thing about quitting, is that sometimes it's not always cowards who do it. Grandmama once told me this: There are actually two kinds of quitting. One is the cowards' way out as I mentioned before, where you give up because you couldn't handle it and felt it's not worth it at the cost of your own dignity or life. The other one however, is the one where it could save your's and others' lives if you're smart and do it right, where you realize that what you're doing, what your about to do or even what you think about doing could really get you or others hurt or worse and that you simply have to walk away before that can happen, even if others tell you otherwise. Does that make sense?

Hiro: *Thoughtful look in his face* Yeah, I guess.

*Cora smiles as she rests her head on his shoulder.*

Cora: You are not, nor have you ever been a coward babe. You are and always will be, my brave Hiro.

*But somewhere in the dark and abandoned undergrounds, Globby goes through the desolate building and brings in the painting. He then notices that he got a bit of himself on the priceless painting, to which he tries to clean it up but failed.*

Obake: Well? Did you bring it?

Globby: *Startled* Woah! Oh oh ah! Ah yeah! Here it is!

*Obake grabs the painting from Globby's hands and observes it.*

Obake: *Pleased* You succeeded.

Globby: Sorry about..you know...the globs!

Obake: Hm?

*He notices the pieces of Globby's globs.*

Obake: Fascinating...

*Obake grabs Globby's hand and takes off a piece of the glob using small light blue plasma tweezers.*

Globby: Ow! Rude!

*Obake places the glob into a measuring cup to study at a later date.*

Obake: Hmm.. further study might unlock even more potential..

Globby: Potential huh? I told mom she was wrong about me.

*Obake raises the painting up above his head.*

Obake: Lenore Shimamoto the artist is of no interest to me.

*He smashes the painting, causing pieces of wood to break off as it flies off everywhere.*

Obake: However Lenore Shimamoto the scientist, is of great interest... Like with so many things in life... you have to look below the surface to find real value...

*When Obake broke the painting he pealed off the paper to reveal schematics for what appears to be an ominous looking machine that Shimamoto had crafted 100 of years ago...*

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#Big Hero 6 fanfic #Big Hero 7 #Hiro Hamada #Cora Mizichio #Hiro Hamada x OC #Honey Lemon #fred frederickson iv #Globby #Gogo #Baymax #Wasabi #Professor Grandville #Obake #Lenore shimamoto

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