#Jam Session! {IC Update}

[reactivatedrockstar]

"Happy New Year, Rockstars! This year is going to be whatever you make it, so you had better make sure you make it rock!!"

[absolutefilthimsosorry]

Spoilers for DnP Incohearent!!!!

I’m having so much fun trying to solve these that I made a list to keep track! Message if you can help me fill in any I’m missing or if I’ve got any wrong!!!

Also lmk if you see any I’ve missed!! I’m going to keep updating this and have it unrebloggable but you can reblog this post to have a link to it!

These are all gathered from this post and this post so check the notes on those first to try to solve them then look here if you need answers!

Sow march cheer ray = so much cherry

Wee nay urn for uke oye yer tub = we’ve never fucked on youtube?

Ta fold in fig = the golden pig

Feed hay hid eho = vday video

Tat he won ape hit morse him he = daddy want a bit more simmy

Watt ken ice hay = what can I say

North key bus teabag king = naughty busty baking

Fool tie enter nit hobo / fall tie mint her nepo moe / fault aye mint earn are ohm owe/ foul thyme inch hermit hole mold = full time internet homo

Cumin mile aid deed or = come in my ladydoor

Hum hay zinc tan = amazingdan

Elven ower fug sedge own = eleven hour fuck session

An berry moth ribeye adam stir = and every month we buy a hamster

March rest array = Manchester eye

Cyst herding yell = sister daniel

Add a ding teps = editing tips

Cop dubai khaki luna = topped by kakuna

Late eat tore = ladydoor

Half tugger etch two eggs cyst = have the courage to exist

Perish she end wink = Parisian twink

Coal ten big/ goal then pick = golden pig

Cyst ordain yell = sister daniel

Train youth inks = try new things

Gay mean moss/ gain ink mass = gamingmas

Soften need = soft and neat

A wools lied = owl slide

Topper bought them hill = top or bottom Phil

Coat fit firenze = golf with friends???

Few ours pig meow fits = viewers pick my outfits

Read less tar = red lester

Eye eight soup igloo = I ate super glue

Insight youth era too walls = inside you there are two wolves

Mine amy stan = my name is Dan

Clap hella = glabella

Hiss teeth rent = hits different

Eel eyes apron kay kiss = Eliza pancakes

See pram haze ink bra jet = super amazing project

Feels lie yawn = phils lion

Fuel ease snot dawn fair = Phil is not on fire

Jaw shush ear son = josh hutcherson

Ball bull him tour food = bauble in your foot?

Sure eck = shrek

High ate dust = hiatus

Add a dink deps = editing tips

Ga hay shoom air age = gay shoe marriage

Pope eat plate aim = poppy playtime

Eat aches stu = it takes two

Goo gal few ed = google feud

Baze ick lee eye meg ay = basically I’m gay

Ko min yout ti ew = coming out to you

Ender knit subvert grew oop = internet support group

Phylis turn yar a sheen yes = PHIL LESTER YOU’RE A GENIUS

With Audi intern yet wean ed brr wood halve mat = without the internet we never would have met

Gum ban yins drool I’ve = companions through life

Reed sons wide answer flail = reasons why dans a fail

Ewan dam ah some are reed = you and Dan are so married

Denver sis fill/ Denver cis full = Dan vs Phil

Or lawn huffing = all or nothing

Dunk rye core raft = don’t cry craft

Mortal jester roam and thick/ Morph adjust row antic = more than just romantic

So wall how debris poll light = swallow to be polite???

Oar hinge art = orange heart

Foray virgo em = forever home

Chai reel loop/ share real oob = cherry lube

Cad boyd anne = cat boy dan

Far turf ill lip = father philip

Tess lit hen ink = the slittening

Forth house indie rolled or touches = four thousand year old tortoises

Hey moth swish roundup floating = a month without uploading

Jam march let pet tea an farms = Je mange les petit enfants

Day lion howl tour = Dalien Howlter

Ima let all kit = I’m a little kit

Feel pearl lays shell ter = Phil plays shelter

Fewer blue key app ending = viewer spooky happenings

Hell low iam tour reel = hello I am Toriel

Laugh tuh gey mile kuh = left to get milk

Villas eek wreck why vuh = Phil’s secret wife

Footy strain gin said dent = ___ strange incident????

Snow core play sum = snokoplasm

Nope puts cereal sleeping mage innit = no but seriously imagine it

Tear rip pulling flu hence = terrible influence

Jeff why eye aisle hike vague liner = fyi I like vagina

Eggs intense all cry cis = existential crisis

List of contributors

@fletthewreck @dandp @deadandphilgames @manchesterau @thephouseplants @awrfhi @jonsaremembers @rachosaurusrex @dapgolf @dan-whoell @dnphobe @dreamingalto @steveandscraggy @phanbeats @danandfuckingjonlmao @pepper-pastry @yonpote @un-interactive-introvert @spaniel-trowel @sisterdanieldyke @queerdnp @morganadelacour @amid-fandoms @spectral-kitkat @goingpheral @angelzonearth @wdapteo @2009phan @dansevilpianotea

[tgmsunmontue]

It's all academic darlin' PART 5/10

12k+ Hangster AU. Updating 2-3 parts per week and will be finished by 31st January 2024. (Each part is ~1500 words).

Bradley is a professor but living his best life with IceMav parents. Jake is a pilot. Maverick sort-of tries (and fails) to play matchmaker, so he tries again. Touch of epistolary and sprinkling of one-sided unknown/mistaken-identity.

For the emails in this part (because bold (Bradley Bradshaw) and italics (Jake Seresin) aren't super obvious) the beginning and ending of emails are also marked with this: <>

PART 1 PART 2 PART 3 PART 4

                The semester kicks off eight days later and Bradley is covering one of the freshman engineering courses for a colleague who has gone on sabbatical. Freshmen aren’t his favorite cohort of students, he prefers the more seasoned ones, the ones who have the end of their qualification in their sights rather than just starting out. Know how much blood, sweat and tears they’re going to have to put in to get the most out. His life falls into the usual rhythm of teaching-research-administration, with far too much administration for his liking, although he’s sure to stay on the good side of the engineering school administrators, who help make his life so much smoother in all respects.

                He has a fairly fixed routine, knows it’s entrenched in his upbringing, like the need for all his plates and mugs to match. He has quiz night with his colleagues and some postgraduate students every week, and they never allow him to duck out unless he’s sick. He goes rock climbing at least twice a week, sometimes three times. Runs three or four mornings a week. Plays music to unwind and because it forces himself to switch off other trains of thought; has a jam session with others every month. Goes hiking every other week. Mav has started joining him at either rock climbing or for the hike. He’s started joining Mav at the hangar occasionally, either working on a bike or some other piece of junk (and no Mav, my Bronco is not junk!)

                He has a meal box delivered every week on a Sunday night just before he usually heads out to Sunday night dinner with Mav and Ice. It’s meals for five nights, meant for two people. He just takes leftovers for lunch the next day except on the nights one of his friends comes over. He’s had a couple of long-term relationships and he knows Mav worries, but Bradley really doesn’t see it. Bradley likes his life. It’s over-flowing with friends and family. His job is interesting and challenging in equal measure. He’s well-liked and respected in his field, students from around the world want him to supervise them to do their own doctoral study, which is a huge compliment. He’s never had to put a relationship before work before, and while maybe with hindsight and the maturity that comes with age he was maybe a little insensitive about a couple of things he can’t go back and change things. He has his priorities and the people in his life know what those are. His hobbies and friends are important to him. His work is very important to him.

                He doesn’t expect to hear from Jake, although realizes he’s a little disappointed that he hasn’t. After talking properly with Mav he wants to meet the guy Mav knows and not what he suspects was a heavily curated version, although he doesn’t think the version that Mav knows is really the real one either. He thinks about it occasionally, a little puzzle in the back of his mind that he cannot ask Mav about, because he for sure as fuck would jump on any sign of interest and shove him in Jake’s path (again!) and he’s fine with his dad not being involved the next time he goes on a date.

                It’s a few months later when he opens his emails and spies the name Jake Seresin and it throws him a little, unexpected.

&lt;>Dear Professor Bradshaw,

I recently read your article about the mechanical and tribological behavior of particle reinforced matrix composites, particularly those used in aircraft structures for the less weight to strength ratio, low wear rate and high creeping behavior. I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind answering some questions around the physical and mechanical properties, specifically the pros and cons between silicon versus titanium composites and the potential microstructure evaluation.

I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Lieutenant Jake Seresin<>

…             …             …

                Jake hadn’t known why Mav had given him the print-out of the journal article, he’d been too surprised at the time having someone waving him off as he deployed for seven months. A late deployment for reasons that were never explicitly explained but it’s what his orders were after he was physically recovered and undergone all assessments to ensure he was fit to fly. Some light reading material while you’re away… Mav had said, grinned, as he’d slapped the paper to Jake’s chest. Who even used paper these days? Trust Mav to print something out.

                It had taken him a couple of read-throughs to get to the end, the first time it had put him to sleep, but he’s sure it’s because he was so tired. Although Characteristics Study of Physical, Mechanical and Tribological Behaviour of SiC/TiB2 Dispersed Aluminium Matrix Composite isn’t his usual reading material. He had a couple of questions though, had seen the email address for the first author and just thought… why not? He had nothing to lose. Besides, Mav has recommended him to be a test pilot, and while he’s never had an interest before, if he does get into testing it would be good to understand more. Mav obviously thinks he should know more, or he wouldn’t have given him the article.

                So he shoots off the email, not wasting time with his actual questions incase the email goes to a dead-end and is never answered. He’s surprised he gets a reply within a day. Or what feels like a day on the ship, the rostered shifts making him lose time.

&lt;>Hey Jake, nice to hear from you. Glad you liked my article, surprised you even found it to be honest. Happy to answer your questions though. Do you want to do this via email, over the phone or in person? I always find in person a bit easier when I'm explaining complex problems. I've got some really good hands-on examples I can show you, happy to give you a private tour as well.

Let me know!

Kind regards,

Bradley B.<>

                Bradley. Another freaking Bradley. He wonders how popular that name is for him to have met another Bradley and now be emailing another one. Although he feels for this man, his parents naming him Bradley Bradshaw clearly wanted him to grow up and be able to take some hits. He reads the email a couple more times. It’s very familiar. Friendly. The temptation to shoot back an email brimming with innuendo is there, but he has no idea if he’s reading into something that isn’t there. He sits back and cracks his knuckles. This guy is a professor at SDU, there must be photos of him on the University website. Maybe that’ll help him determine how to reply.

                It doesn’t work though. He gets plenty of pictures, even some of Mav’s son which is fucking weird, but there are apparently more people called Bradley Bradshaw than he thought, although Bradley Shaw seems to be Google’s first fucking preference. He narrows it down by adding further criteria and finally ends up on the staff landing page listing the staff with little professional photos beside each one.

                Except for one Bradley Bradshaw.

                Instead it’s a picture of a fucking rooster of all things. The little cartoon one from Moana of all things, which he will deny knowing the name of with his last breath if he needs to. What kind of person doesn’t have a professional picture up? Okay, this one obviously. It makes Jake think he might be fairly young, or maybe really old? Fucked if he knows. He reads the little blurb and does some mental arithmetic and figures he must be around 40, maybe up to 45. He frowns, wondering how else he can find information about his personality and then he has an idea. He’s never used it, but he knows about Rate my Professor and he jumps into it, wondering what kind of information he can find. Maybe some idea about the guy.

Prof Bradshaw is a very good professor, he cares about student learning. While I found him to be a tough grader, he was engaging and thought-provoking. He constantly challenged us and didn’t take any BS.

Dr Bradshaw tends to give pop quizzes, so stay on top of the material. I liked his teaching style.

Would it kill him to dress properly? Demanding but fair. Somehow a hardass and a soft touch at the same time.

This was a difficult class, some classmates really struggled through it. Professor Bradshaw seemed to care about all students and went out of his way to help. His tests are hard, but he gives clear understanding of what he expects. The material can be really overwhelming and it’s hard to follow it, but I think if I’d had any other professor I would have failed.

Great sense of humor. Terrible taste in clothes. And facial hair.

He clearly enjoys teaching this subject and he wants his students to enjoy it just as much, which sucks when it’s a compulsory and you actually don’t want to be there. Respect for him though because he still helped me pass.

Demanding but fair. Show up to class, read the course materials and you’ll be fine.

Knows his shit.

Having a professor who is fluent in asl was a godsend. He went above and beyond to help me with my degree. He’s now one of my doctoral supervisors. Awesome educator and amazing person.

I know we’re not meant to comment on looks, but Prof B oozes confidence, and that’s attractive by itself. A++

               It’s that last comment that makes Jake grin slowly, think that this guy is maybe on the younger side.

&lt;>Hi Bradley,

Thanks for the prompt reply. I know I'm no expert, but I'd really appreciate your time. I'm not currently in the country, so we’ll just have to deal with emails for now. We can talk about that private tour and hands-on example when I'm back.

Kind regards,

Lieutenant Jake Seresin<>

                After he’s pressed send he feels a flush of unexpected embarrassment. That felt like too much. Unable to read the facial expressions, no idea if it was far too flirtatious, or just plain weird. He frantically looks for the recall button, knows he has about one minute to stop the message from going. He can’t remember where that particular setting is though and he stares at his screen. Okay. It’s fine. In his experience people who don't know they are being flirted with don't know. So hopefully there's no harm done. And if he gets a flirty reply? Well. He's okay with that too.

                He doesn’t have to wait very long.

PART SIX

[janekestrel]

As an update, we finished our playthrough a few days ago and it was an extremely good time, here are some more highlights:

"I don't know what to tell you bone man, they fell off the elevator in the Gauntlet of Shar and perished in a chasm"

jam sessions

The Emperor eating shit on some leftover ice when he showed up for a cut scene

Sarah threw the runepowder bomb at the Netherbrain, here's how that went:

In the end, Reeve went back to hell with his girlfriend Karlach, but before they left they stopped by to occupy the same space as Maeve and Astarion while they had their nice romantic chat and for some reason we got to see it with a flycam view. Maeve didn't seem to enjoy this

In conclusion, every RPG should let you play it like this.

bg3 multiplayer is very good

Just some of my favorite moments so far from the bg3 multiplayer game @icapturedthecastle and I have been playing:

Sarah constantly asking "what are you stealing???" when my Durge and Astarion are running around somewhere she can't see us and the activity feed says we succeeded on a sleight of hand check

Me making Sarah do every interaction with Gale because I cannot be trusted not to romance him

"Gale's kinda petty when he's drunk" "You shouldn't even be talking to Gale, you know better than that" "I WAS LEFT UNSUPERVISED"

Sarah making us reload like three times because Shadowheart kept rejecting her at the tiefling party - "how do I accidentally romance her EVERY TIME but when I'm trying to do it on purpose she turns me down???"

Giving every character either the magic violin or the Performer feat so they can be in a band with my Bard Durge - except for Sarah's character who she prefers to have bang on a drum with us like an "enthusiastic toddler"

We were having fun with Boo the hamster and throwing him around our Elfsong hotel room, but then Sarah threw a health potion at him to heal him and every single companion went hostile because they thought we were attacking him

Yelling at Gale for being too handsome with the bun mod we both went out of our way to download

"I'm sorry Gale. I just... be around you when you look like this, I'll catch you on the next playthrough" "Every time you walk past Gale it's just that one song by Rascal Flatts playing"

I'm in the temple talking to Orin as Durge for the first time and Sarah just goes "oh by the way this is a duel. Sorry, I should have told you that. Before the duel was starting."

My cat turning off my computer by stepping on the power button right after the Orin duel before I'd been able to quicksave

During the second attempt at the duel, managed to do 75 damage to her with one Disintegrate scroll and felt super badass, then Sarah accidentally attacked one of the priests and turned everyone aggro at all of us

(Third attempt at the duel went fine and took like three turns)

In the underwater prison we both forgot to have our characters go up the ladder which led to this hilarious screenshot

Racing after every long rest to see if I can put my Lesser Restoration amulet on and heal my Bloodless condition faster than she can get Paladin!Karlach over to my character to do it

Heckling Gortash after casting Otto's Irresistible Dance on him

Sarah hoarding explosive barrels in huge OSHA-violating stacks

"Um, this Steel Watcher is definitely about to blow up right next to all your barrels" "NOOOO, MY BARRELS"

The barrel hoarding majorly paying off in the House of Hope

Me blearily using a fire spell on some enemies in the House of Hope and Sarah going "fire damage? really? we're in hell"

(after Sarah learned I just didn't even try to solve the Act 3 murders in my first playthrough) "So now we go talk to this lady and she pays us a bunch of money. That's why we help people." "That's why we... do quests? Got it"

Breaking into Dammon's house to find his smutty literature

[4dtk]

also sorry anon i did general mark hc’s too!! after those are the mark as a bf headcanons :^) the hc’s are all over the place hhhhngnd i apologise

general mark headcanons:

scrunches his nose when his glasses are falling off his face

scratches his head excessively when he doesn’t know what to say

can’t sleep with the air-conditioning on bc he’s sensitive to cold ;;

likes it when you praises him, he’s subtle about it though

randomly strikes poses in the middle of conversations like… mark wth

BITES into his ice cream (theres this super old video of the boys visiting an ice cream shop in the US but i forgot what he did so i headcanon that he does that)

loves to act out the bohemian rhapsody guitar solo when he’s alone in his room

has a cup he brings around everywhere that has water or like… herbal tea or sum idk he’s used to carrying around this one cup anywhere in dorms

thrashes around A LOT in bed

has weird fucking dreams all the time

proceeds to narrate out said dreams to the 127/dream group chat…

the hyungs mostly leave him on read, taeyong is adamant on finding out the meanings of the dreams and jungwoo reacts with a cursed emoji

johnny and haechan shouts across the dorm to acknowledge his dream but the dreamies seem to be into it

they have a ‘mark hyung’s weird dreams’ archive

this mf never cleans his room it takes like having to have lost an important thing to motivate him to clean up but then it just goes back to how it was until the cycle repeats

mark chews with his mouth closed like a gud boy

breaks out in freestyle rap when he’s stressed or excited

occasionally checks out the fans’ fanfiction and he likes the fluffy ones but the dirty ones always make him cringe and make weird noises like he always does

mark as a bf:

always mf nervous when he holds your hand, not sure why

he likes the feel of his hand in yours

he likes your kisses too

mark has the habit of whining when he doesn’t get something when he’s with the members and it increases tenfold when he’s with you

no cuddles? whine

no kisses? whine

no attention? of course the mans whining

but you find it rlly cute and mark will be caught dead before the members find out how much more whiny he is with you

gives you the last watermelon on the plate

likes basketball dates where you both fail to make the hoop

“this one’s for y/n!” [mark misses]

“mark this is for you!” [you miss way worse than mark, going over the basketball post]

kisses on the forehead

kisses on your neck

kisses on your fingers

helps you to paint ur nails if you do!!!

you two also do impulsive things together

exhibit a: dyeing your hair together

exhibit b: cutting said hair together

mark offers to do a undercut for you but his hand is too shaky that you ask him to stop immediately

the man hates horror but can sit through thriller movies with you, although thriller still has those… jump scare elements

he likes detective/action movies

mark takes you to this outdoor restaurant once, kinda like that hit the states vid with haechan in dallas

there’s fairy lights and soft music playing and the food is really good too!

the ambiance is really beautiful and you can see the stars above you

it’s your favourite date with him to date

mark’s favourite date of yours was the first time you “went” out

he had busy schedules the next day and couldn’t stay out late so you two had to stay in the dorms for a first date

you opted for movies and maybe a small cuddling session to find our your boundaries and you two ended up liking it a whole lot

mark was very flustered which was the reason why he wanted to be hugging you form behind when watching the movie

the members left you alone, mostly

johnny wouldnt stop “accidentally” coming in for something he forgot just so he can update the others on what you two were doing

he doesn’t mean any harm, he’s just stoked to see his friend having someone more intimate to confide in other than the boys

mark plays the guitar for you and does a little jam session for you as well, but mostly the two of you hung out and talked about what you liked and disliked

mark would’ve loved to be at your place if he couldn’t go out but his manager said it might be better to stay in for fear of paparazzi and stuff like that

he also wished he could’ve introduced the boys a little later bc he wanted you to himself but he can’t always get what he wants

the members are nice to you but everyone’s ultimately a stranger to you so the next day you decide to stay in for another night for a movie night with the boys

its their off day the next day so its ok

mark has his hands in yours and squeezing your hand so tight bc he doesn’t want someone to see how fond he is of you

he’s shy please understand uwu

he becomes more comfortable towards the end of the night despite the teasing and when the movie ends he turns off the tv and leaves the boys be

and you two sleepily walk to his room

they blame him for all the unnatural cramps in their bodies the next day

the auntie who cooks for them is fond of you too

when you help its like delicious food galore part two

you can only do a few dishes tho, but it’s still delicious

mark likes to pepper kisses over your face when you’ve just woken up

his kisses are soft but his hands love to wander

his lips are very soft too

facetiming when he’s on tour/on lockdown/after a show

usually he’s in the car back to the hotel or washed up on his bed

but either way he looks really good

sleepy, raspy voice which always makes your heart beat faster

failed pickup lines that make you smile

mark likes to go on picnics with you, too

you met via a picnic, actually

your mats were across each other and the members were celebrating someone’s birthday and they decided to do it at a not-so frequented park bc they missed being out of schedules

your friends just wanted a day out

the ball they were playing with… landed in the brownies and you were ready to throw hands for your friend who was so excited about bringing those brownies

(she said it was ok she brought two trays of brownies)

you took one look at mark and swallowed your words, not knowing what to say

you shoot him a glare, more harsh than you intended and handed his ball back

mark had to get his hyung to say that he didn’t mean it bc he was pretty scared of you

and yes that’s how u met

all in all, mark loves you a lot and wouldn’t trade anything

mark loves all of you and isn’t afraid to show it behind closed doors when he’s kissing you with both your laughters laced into it

[bangtanstorytimetheater]

Virtuoso - A MYG Story

CHAPTER ONE

ONE

"We've decided to transfer you to the Chattanooga store."

My manager's words felt like a bad breakup. I felt my heart sink in my chest. This transfer, though unexpected and utterly terrifying, was going to be a huge leap in my career.

The music company I worked for was a small, but very well-respected chain in the tri-state area. I was proud to hold a position there, hosting field trips for elementary-aged children, and helping students demo instruments to find the perfect one. It was a rewarding job that I looked forward to every day, and I was eternally grateful for the opportunity. This transfer would have me leading the new field trip program that the company was getting ready to roll out at the other store.

I had worked at Bangtan Band Box, or BB's as the locals called it, for nearly four years. It was a great place to work, and I had watched business really take off over the time I'd been there. Thanks to a recent year-long renovation project at the store, all of the studios were now equipped with gorgeous new digital pianos and state-of-the-art soundproof walls. Everyone was thrilled with the way it turned out. We even had a grand re-opening block party. Of course, without fail, there was always at least one person who still had a complaint about something.

"The sound on these things just isn't the same. The keys don't feel right. It's not a piano..."

Ninety-two year old Jane Young was the sweetest little lady I had ever met. She was probably the only person at this store whose complaints didn't annoy me. We had grown incredibly close over the past few years I'd worked there. She was a sort of relic, being the very first ever piano teacher to teach lessons at BB's original location. Mrs. Young was the childhood piano teacher of the company CEO, and he had insisted on bringing her onboard when he opened up shop over thirty years ago.

"Jane, I completely understand where you're coming from," I said, reaching out to place my hand over hers on the counter, "They really don't feel the same as acoustic pianos, but admittedly they are pretty nice. At least we'll save a few thousand dollars a year on tuning. And I suppose all we can do at this point is just make the best of it, right?" I smiled, hoping to pull her out of her funk. Jane had been through so much over the years, spending nearly every day of the past three decades in this place, and she was not keen on all the sudden changes.

"You really are wise beyond your years, Faye. I suppose I could at least appreciate the new carpet. That iced tea stain from three years ago will certainly not be missed." she chuckled.

There's the Jane I was hoping to see today,  especially  today. Should I tell her? No, not yet.

The Following Monday

"Faye! How've you been?" Jin flashed his familiar warm smile and casually held up a hand in a lazy wave. He was always so soft spoken, but still cracking quiet jokes that had you in stitches. He'd worked at the Chattanooga BB's for a few years and we'd known each other from district meetings. He was still fairly new to being an assistant manager, but seemed to be pretty comfortable in his position.

"A bit nervous about the sudden change, but I'm looking forward to working with you. Glad that you're here on my first day. Makes it a lot easier, that's for sure." I sighed. Despite years of auditions and stressful interviews in my music career, meeting new people was still sometimes a bit stressful for me.

DING!

This store had a very loud door chime, entirely different from the one at my previous store. It was jarring, making me jump. Jin let out a louder laugh than I had ever heard come from him. I suppose being in his own store, he probably felt more at-ease than when he was attending the stuffy district meetings. It was nice to hear him laugh so genuinely.

"Didn't you guys have a bell like that at your store?" he asked, setting down his keys next to the register and taking off his coat.

"Nope. And I startle easily, so this will take some getting used to I bet."

"Hey man!" I heard a booming, but cheerful-sounding voice from somewhere over my shoulder. I turned to see a beautiful man with warm, honey skin walking towards me, his dusty blue sweater and light blue jeans accentuating his perfect tan. He had just walked in through the front door and was sweeping his wind-blown golden brown hair out of his eyes. He had a guitar case slung over his shoulder, covered in happy stickers - rainbow flowers, smiley faces, Korean hearts, and the words HOPE WORLD in big, bubbled letters across the center of the case lid.

He must be a teacher here.

"Hope! Hey, this is our new transfer, Faye Jansen. She just moved here from the Woodland Hills store. Faye, this is Hope." Jin said as he motioned towards the statuesque man in blue who was now standing face to face with me at the counter. Hope flashed me a huge, toothy smile as he carefully dropped his guitar case to the floor next to him and extended his hand to shake mine.

"Pleasure to meet you, Faye. What a nice surprise!" he smiled and squeezed my hand gently, "You can call me Hobi."

Why do I feel a little flustered? Is it warm in here or...?

Nevermind.

"Y-yes. Thank you. The pleasure is all mine. It is wonderful to meet you, Hobi. What instrument do you teach?" I asked, trying to turn the attention away from myself. I had seen the guitar case, so he was obviously a guitar instructor, but I was too flustered to think straight. I wasn't normally shy around anyone, but he was strikingly handsome, in a way I had not seen in real life before, so I almost needed a moment to catch my breath.

He seemed to notice that I was feeling a little flustered, glanced down at the guitar case then back up at me and smiled, seeming a little amused.

"Guitar. I assume you play something as well?" he asked, his fingers fidgeting with the strap of the clear plastic messenger bag slung over his shoulder.

"I studied classical voice in college, but I also play oboe and piano. I did all the demos for the field trips at the Woodland Hills BB's." I was proud of what I did, but I wasn't trying to sound too proud. Musicians can take perceived cockiness to be a huge turn-off.

"Ah, wind instruments. I envy that. I could never get past my initial few trumpet lessons as a kid. I thought I was going to pop a blood vessel in my face!" he laughed, "So instead I break old peoples' hips."

"Oh yeah?" I laughed, "That sounds terrible. Care to elaborate on that?"

"A group of us here have a jazz ensemble. We play shows every Thursday and Saturday. The older folks love to get up and dance. Let's just say that sometimes they dance themselves right into needing a wheelchair the next day. Anyway, we get pretty decent paying gigs at The Yeontan Lounge, playing all the old jazz standards. You should join us sometime. We love having other artists step in. Speaking of, Jin will you be at practice tonight?" Hobi said, suddenly turning towards Jin.

"You're in the ensemble too, Jin? That's amazing. What do you play?" I asked, excited to hear more about the group, and especially excited to hear them play.

"Upright bass. You should sing with us tonight, Faye. I heard you sing karaoke at the company party a few years ago. You sounded great. Are you still performing these days?" Jin asked.

"I haven't performed in quite a few months, but I'm sure I can manage a casual jam session tonight. What song should I prepare for you?" I asked, my disciplined mind already scrambling to come up with the perfect piece for my vocal range.

"Why don't you sing At Last by Etta James? That's a classic. Can't go wrong there." Jin suggested, glancing over at Hope for approval.

Hobi stuck out his lower lip and nodded, raising his eyebrows. He seemed pleased at the song suggestion.

"Hearing a classical singer take on At Last is going to be something special, I bet. Looking forward to it," he said. "See you tonight."

"Likewise," I said, watching him walk towards the hall of studios.

DING!

There's that goddamn door chime again.

Startled at the sound, I clumsily dropped the pen I had been holding against my notebook, and it loudly clinked on the glass countertop.

As I reached to pick it up, embarrassed at my unintended slapstick routine, out of the corner of my eye, I could see someone walking in my direction from the front door.

I looked up, and it was as if time slowed to a crawl. My eyes met the gaze of a tall, slender man with shaggy black hair and smooth, porcelain skin, wearing a button-up denim jacket, skinny jeans, and converse - all black. He didn't stop walking, but our eyes locked until he was out of view.

Instantly, I felt this surge of electricity throughout my body, as if he physically touched me when he walked past me. It was strange... and exhilarating. His deep chocolate eyes had so much fire behind them, they burned straight into my soul.

I had to know his name.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for reading the first chapter of my book! I'll be updating every Sunday at the very least, but hopefully more frequently than that.

Looking forward to your feedback and suggestions!

This first chapter is dedicated to the lovely 0o_pervy_noona_oO who started me on my Bangtan ff addiction, and inspired me to write my own.

[flowerfan2]

Context Is Everything

Part 3 of the Group Texts Are Forever series

McDanno, T, A03

Summary:  After Steve is injured during his walkabout, Danny shows up in Seattle and for a moment, it seems like the boys are going to get their fairy tale ending, complete with a magical kiss.  But nothing is ever quite that easy.  Featuring Kono POV as well as Danny POV.                 

Chapter 1

August, 2020

CK:  Hey Danny, how’s it going?

DW:  Chin, did you finally join our group text?  Beware, my friend, it’s wild.

CK:  No, it’s just you and me, brah.

DW:  Can’t believe you said brah in a text.

CK:  You can take the boy out of Hawaii, but you can’t take Hawaii out of the boy.

DW:  If you say so.  You know you guys should visit more often.

CK:  Since you mention visiting, I wanted to see if you and Steve needed a place to stay after he gets out of the hospital.  Abby and I would love to have you.

DW:  Thanks, Chin.  Not sure of the plans, yet.  

CK:  How soon will they let Steve fly?  You guys just going straight back to Oahu?

DW:  I really don’t know.

CK:  Ok, well, keep me posted.  And give Steve a kiss for me.

CK:  Danny?

CK:  Sorry, did I overstep?  Kono implied it was common knowledge that you guys were together.  And I couldn’t be happier for you, to be clear.  You’re meant for each other.  In the best way.

DW:  You’re fine, Chin.  But I gotta go.  Sleeping beauty’s waking up, and he’s cranky.

 ****

 CK:  Cuz, you there?

 KK:  Howzit, Chin.  What’s up?

 CK:  Just wanted the update on Steve and Danny.

 KK:  Steve’s on the mend.  They’re keeping him for observation for another day or two.  And he might need another procedure on his eye.

 CK:  How’s Danny?

 KK:  Tired of the crappy food at the hospital, but okay I guess.

 CK:  I’m afraid I upset him.

 KK:  You?  How is that even possible?

 CK:  I told him to give Steve a kiss from me.  

 KK:  Oh.

 CK:  You told me they were together, Kono.  That everyone knew.  What’s going on?

 KK:  I’m not sure.  Steve’s had a rough few days.  I’ll talk to Danny.

 CK:  Let me know if I can help, ok?

 KK:  Always.

 *****

Kono meets Danny in the hospital cafeteria.  His face lights up when he sees that she’s brought a bag from a nearby café that’s known for its excellent coffee – although that’s not hard to find in Seattle.

 “Kono, you’re the absolute best,” Danny says with enthusiasm, taking the cup from her and sucking down a long sip of the iced vanilla latte.  Danny has always had a sweet tooth, whether he denies it or not.

 “There’s some food in there, too. Some kind of strawberry rhubarb thing I thought you’d like.”

 Danny wastes no time pulling the pastry out of the bag and taking a bite.  “Delicious.”  He sighs, leaning back in the stiff plastic chair.  “Honestly, Kono, thank you.”

 Kono doesn’t really think that coffee store pastries deserve quite this level of gratitude, but she gives Danny a quick hug around the shoulders anyway.  “You’re welcome, Danny.  How’s our patient doing today?”

 Danny shrugs.  “Kind of loopy.  He had trouble sleeping, so they gave him something to help, and it’s hasn’t really worn off yet.”

 Kono grins.  “Amusing?”

 “Unfortunately not.”

 Kono feels the grin slide off her face, and she waits for Danny to go on.

 “It’s not a big deal,” Danny says.

 If it wasn’t a big deal, Danny wouldn’t look so miserable, Kono thinks.  “It might help to talk about it,” she says softly.

 “I just…”  Danny taps his fingers against his thigh.  “I’m not sure I should have come.  I didn’t ask or anything.  He left on purpose.  What if he doesn’t want me here?”

 “Danny, why on earth would you think that?”

 “I dunno.”  Danny stands, abruptly, and sucks down the last bit of his iced coffee.  He’s clearly done talking for now.  “I should go back up.”

 “Want me to come with?”

 “No, I’m fine.”  Danny takes a step away from the table to toss his empty cup in the trash, then turns back to Kono and wraps her in a tight hug. “Thanks for being here,” he whispers into her ear, and Kono squeezes him back.

 “You’ll come back to my place tonight,” she says when they part, her hand still on Danny’s arm.  It’s not really a question.  Danny’s been at the hospital nonstop, and it would drain even the most determined of them.  “I’ll pick you up around seven?”

 “Yeah, okay.”  Danny gives her a small smile, and heads off towards the elevators.

 Damn it, Kono thinks.  Chin was right (he’s always right).  All is <i>not</i> well with Steve and Danny.

 *****

 Kono looks out through the kitchen window at Danny sitting on her back porch, the now familiar mountain view framing the sight.  Her little house is less than an hour away from Seattle’s bustle, but remote enough for some much-needed space at the end of a long day.  She wonders if Danny is feeling how different this place is from Honolulu.  For that matter, it’s a far cry from New Jersey, too.

 Kono liked it, at first, how the pine covered mountains were so clearly a world apart from palm trees and tropical shores.  She needed a change.  And when the novelty wore off, she had her work, which kept her engaged (some would say, she knows, obsessed) in a way she had never been before.

 It’s still her passion, this work, and she’s grateful for it.  She wonders if it will wear thin at some point, when the pain of the losses becomes too much to bear, even if she can help save others in the process.  It doesn’t seem like she’s putting much of a dent in the tragedy of sex trafficking, but at least for right now, she’s going to keep doing what she can.

 She’s not really sure what’s up with Steve, why he’s left the island and his ohana.  She can’t tell if he has simply grown bored with his job, or if there’s more to it.  She suspects the latter, and the sad detective on her back porch strongly supports her theory.

 For all that Steve looks banged up, Danny looks like he’s been through the wringer too.  She could swear he’s aged significantly more than the actual number of years since she’s seen him, the lines around his face deeper, his short hair hardly hanging on to any remnant of blond.  She knows Danny was injured back in the spring, just before Steve left Oahu, but that doesn’t seem to be what’s weighing him down.

 Kono grabs a quilt from the back of her couch and goes out to join Danny.  Danny’s sitting on a wooden swing, leaning over with his head in his hands. He looks up as she approaches.

 “Hey, Kono.”

 Kono sits next to him and drapes the quilt around them both.  It’s chilly here at night, and Danny’s just wearing a dark t-shirt and jeans.  He smiles at her, and runs his fingers over the quilt.  It’s green and white, in a traditional hibiscus pattern.  It used to lie on her bed, back in Hawaii, and it still reminds her of home.

 Kono scoots closer to Danny, and he leans against her side, letting his head rest on her shoulder.  She pushes her toes against the cool grass, just enough to start the swing rocking gently.  The moon is bright, turning everything a glittery silver.

 Danny doesn’t say anything, but he seems content, as they rock gently back and forth.

 After a while, Kono decides that if anyone is going to speak up, it’s going to be her, so she might as well. “It’s really good to see you, Danny. I missed you guys.”

 Danny nods against her arm. “Missed you too.”

 She breathes in deeply, then out again. Danny smells of hospital and stale sweat, there’s none of the island clinging to him at this point.  Fish out of water, just like her.

 “Anything I can do to help?”

 Danny fidgets, and then straightens up, the weight of his head lifting off her shoulder.  “Like I said.  I may have done the wrong thing, coming here.”

 Kono holds her tongue (it happens occasionally).  She couldn’t disagree more, but then again she hasn’t been home in a long time, hasn’t been part of Five-0, hasn’t seen Steve and Danny on a daily basis like she once had.  “Why do you say that?”  

 “Steve left for a reason.  He knew what he was doing.  I’m… interfering.”

 “Steve seemed pretty happy to see you.” This is an understatement – Steve was ridiculously happy to see Danny when he first appeared.  That kiss was spectacular, and plenty mutual.  The love-struck expression on Steve’s face could be seen from space.

 “Could have just been because of the pain meds.”

 “Do you really believe that?”

 Danny shrugs.  “I’m not as oblivious as some people think.”  He pokes his foot at the ground to get the swing rocking again, jiggles his knee up and down.  “We’ve got a pattern, me and Steve.  Steve gets into a jam, does something ridiculous, and I go and get him. It’s so familiar, there’s a rut in the dirt to show for it.  Doesn’t mean anything’s going to change.”

 “Change?”

 Danny glares at Kono, his creased brow clear as day in the moonlight.  “My after the fact rescues haven’t ever been rewarded with a make-out session before, no matter what drugs Steve was on.”

 “Danny,” Kono shifts, turning towards him.  He’s clearly miserable, and she can’t figure out why.  “Has he done something to upset you?  I thought you’d be, you know, happy about this.”

 Danny rubs a hand across his face. “I am, don’t you get it?  I want to be, so much, God, I really do.”

 Kono bumps her shoulder against Danny’s.  “It’s normal to be nervous about the start of a relationship.  Give it time, you guys will work it out.”

 “That’s the thing,” Danny says, letting his hand fall to his lap and catching Kono’s gaze.  “I’m not sure Steve wants to.”

 *****

 The next day, back at the hospital, Kono can see what Danny is talking about.  Steve is feeling much better, more like himself, grinning at the nurses and exuding confidence as he powers through some preliminary exercises to plan out his physical therapy needs (he’ll probably ignore all attempts at physical therapy later, but he’s playing nice with the staff now).  He brushes off the doctor’s hesitance when he talks about the potential damage to his eye, and cheerfully eats the red jello and tasteless chicken they bring him at lunch.

 But he hardly looks at Danny.

 Kono excuses herself for a few hours – there’s paperwork she still needs to do on their last op, and she has visits scheduled with several girls living in a group home nearby.  When she returns around dinnertime, she finds Danny waiting for her in the hospital lobby.

 “You can go up if you want,” Danny says.  “But I’m ready to go, if you just want to head home.”

 Kono stares at Danny for a minute, trying not to let her surprise show on her face.  “Are you sure?”

 Danny gives a sharp nod.  “Yeah.”

 They don’t talk much on the car ride back to Kono’s house.  At one point Danny shakes his head and looks over at her, a lost expression on his face. “I asked him if he wanted me to give him some space.  He said yes.”

 “Oh… so…” She’s at a loss, too. ��Did he, um, elaborate?”

 Danny pressed his lips together. “He told me to come back tomorrow. He’s probably getting discharged. So I guess I’m allowed to be there for that.”

 “Danny…”

 “Don’t worry about it, Kono. It’s just Steve.  He gets pissy when he’s in the hospital.  He’ll mellow out.”

 But Danny doesn’t look like he believes his own words, and it is breaking Kono’s heart.

 ****

Steve is in fact discharged the next day.  Kono and Danny show up at the hospital just after lunch to find Steve sitting on the edge of his bed, dressed in the clothes Danny had brought him the day before, and raring to go.

 He smiles at them both, apparently having mellowed (as Danny predicted) with the news that he can leave the hospital, and Kono sees hope in Danny’s eyes.

 The car ride back is taxing. There’s traffic, and Steve is holding himself stiffly in the front seat, the movement of the car aggravating his injuries.  Danny’s sitting in the back behind Kono, doing his best to distract Steve with random bits of trivia about their friends back home.  Steve doesn’t respond much.  Finally Danny asks if Steve wants to take another pain pill, and Steve snaps out that he’s fine.  

 A few minutes later, however, Kono glances over and sees Steve grimacing, pale and sweaty, his head in his hands.  He’s clearly not fine.

 “Hey, Steve,” she says quietly.  “Want me to pull over for a minute?”  She had always thought Steve was joking about being susceptible to motion sickness, but the stop and go traffic would get on anyone’s nerves, even if they didn’t have a recent head injury.

 Steve’s got his lips pressed tightly together, and he gives a quick nod.  Kono is able to pull off on the shoulder a minute or so later, and by this time, Steve is breathing through his mouth and looking decidedly green.

 She rolls down the window on Steve’s side, but they’re still getting more fumes than fresh air.  Danny leans forward from the back seat, looking worried. Steve just continues to take long breaths, pressing his hands against his forehead.

 They sit in silence for a few uncomfortable minutes, the car shaking as the traffic speeds by them on the highway. Danny digs a water bottle out of his pack and hands it to Steve, who takes it and sips carefully.  

 “Want to try lying down in the back seat?”  Kono asks. “You might feel better if you got horizontal.”

 Steve apparently likes this suggestion, pushing the car door open and grabbing the back door before Kono even finishes her sentence.  Danny is glancing out his window, calculating whether he’s got enough space to open his door without getting run over, when Steve climbs into the back seat and stretches out, planting his head firmly on Danny’s lap.

 The look on Danny’s face is priceless. Kono can’t help smiling at him as Steve presses his face into Danny’s stomach.

 Danny slowly lowers his hands from where they had flown up into the air when Steve barreled into the car.  One hand lands on Steve’s shoulder, the other gently falls to his head.  Steve shivers, leaning into Danny’s touch.

 “It’s okay, babe,” Danny says, still disbelieving, as he cards his fingers through Steve’s short hair, careful of the strap holding Steve’s eye patch on.  “You’re all right.  Just relax, this is good, you’re good.” Steve clutches Danny’s side, Danny’s t-shirt bunching in Steve’s hand.  Danny rubs Steve’s back.  “We’re okay.”

 Kono smiles at the sight, and then turns around in her seat and pulls the car back onto the highway.  She doesn’t mind playing chauffeur one bit, not when things are so clearly heading in the right direction.

 Kono and Danny get Steve settled back in her spare room, where Steve was staying while they were working together. It seems like it’s been weeks since Steve showed up to help her take down the latest bad guy.  Steve announces that he’s not hungry and is just going to sleep, so they make sure he’s got a glass of water and his pain meds, and let him rest.  Danny hangs back for a moment, and Kono sees him lean down and brush a kiss against Steve’s cheek.  She can’t help letting out a sigh of relief.  

 Kono and Danny go through the motions of putting together dinner from leftover chicken and pasta, and retreat to the back porch again, this time with a six-pack of beer.  Danny finishes two as they chat aimlessly about how Grace is doing in college, Charlie’s developing skills at a pitcher in little league, and whether Lou’s niece is going to make the varsity basketball team this year.  Kono updates Danny on how her family back on Oahu is doing, and Danny asks polite questions about her father.

 “Do you ever think about coming back?” Danny asks, reaching down to place an empty bottle on the ground and open another.

 She knows he means to Oahu.  “Of course.”

 “Then why don’t you?”

 “My work is here.”

 “But…”  Kono can tell Danny is looking for a way to say this that isn’t too abrasive.  She’s not sure there is one.

 “You don’t even come to visit. Not for holidays, special occasions, anything.”

 Kono takes a sip of her beer. She can’t really deny it.

 “Is it because of Adam?  You wouldn’t have to see him.  We could keep him away from you, you know.  We’ve got skills.”  Danny quirks a grin at her, and Kono can’t help smiling back.

 “It’s not because of Adam, exactly.” She blows out a long breath. “It’s just easier to make a clean break from everything that happened there, that’s all.”

 Danny gets a quizzical look on his face, studying her carefully.  “Do you feel like you can’t come back?”

 Kono feels a wave of shame, something she thought she had come to terms with raising its ugly head again. <i>You ran away. Coward.  You left your family.</i>  Shaking her head, she squares her shoulders and turns to Danny. “My family was pretty hard on me, for a while, for leaving.  My father especially.  But I think they understand now.”

 She’s pretty sure they still hold it against her.  But they talk on the phone as if nothing is wrong, so at least some progress has been made.

 Danny leans back and rubs his chin with his hand.  “What if Steve is doing the same thing?”

 What, running away?  Kono thinks to herself.  Or feeling guilty?  “Is he?”

 “I don’t know.”

 “Danny…”  Kono lets out a long breath.  “I know why I did what I did, why I’ve been staying away.  Some good has definitely come of it.  But I’m not sure it was worth it.”  She might never know.

 “Wherever you go, there you are?” Danny asks, his half smile apologizing for the attempt at humor.

 “Maybe.”

 Danny fusses with the label on his beer bottle, until he gets it off with a satisfied tug.  “Isn’t home the place where they always have to take you in?”

 Kono smiles.  She’d like to think so, but… “Don’t they also say you can’t go home again?”

 Danny snorts.  “I studied economics, not English lit.”  He sighs, waving his hands, his empty beer bottle along for the ride.  “I just want Steve to be okay, whatever pearl of wisdom applies.”

 “Me too, Danny, me too.”

[soysaucevictim]

Week 3.

-

Mar. 27

I woke up around noon today.

Spent a bit of time on the usual and getting some iced coffee before doing my exercise.

First, today’s DD. 1′ side plank hold with EC (30″30″). Took some focus, but manageable. It was a bit more challenging with slightly sore lats and pecs.

(After spending time to update some logs...)

Second, Day 13 of the SOP. Level 3, no rest, no assist. A fun sequence to focus on balancing work with.

Last, Day 13 of the RbP. Level 3, 1′ rest. I honestly think I probably could have gotten away with nixing the rest periods entirely, this time. But ah well. Definitely had some faves in involving jumping jacks and more balance work on the legs.

After some dishes, I made today’s Hello Fresh Meal. Rainbow Thai noodle toss. I probably should’ve cooled the noodles a bit more thoroughly to have them not stick together as much. It was otherwise just okay. Not quite as glowingly received to put this on reprisal list.

Spent rest of night on the usual stuff. I got to bed obscenely late, again...

-

Mar. 28

I woke up after 1AM and the first thing I did today was my exercise.

First, today’s DD. 2′ jumping jacks with EC. I counted exactly 130 reps by the end. Very dun and manageable work. Though I was tempted to do more jacks or bounces I decided to reserve my energy for other stuff today.

Second, Day 14 of the SOP. Level 3, no rest, no drops. Even if this was an arm day with un/clenching fists - i was able to keep mental count of my sets in current headspace. Otherwise fairly breezy.

Last, Day 14 of the RbP. Level 3, 1′ rest. More arm work. Got pretty intense and had a few lapses in thinking and tried transitioning to the horizontal scissor exercise instead of that frontal arm raise hold. I usually caught myself quickly though.

Spent a good chunk of the day chatting and having movie night again. We watched Little Shop of Horrors & Dodgeball. Martin’s scenery chewing was one of my own highlights from the former movie.

Spent rest of night doing some of the usual and some reading. I got to bed a couple hours earlier than yesterday, still in the red zone.

-

Mar. 29

I woke up around noon.

Was a bit uncertain about some appointments this week, including ability to have today’s therapy appointment via phone. But things got straightened up and had a pleasant phone session.

After a bit of the usual, did some exercise.

First, today’s DD. 30 leg raises with EC. Doable, a bit intense for the neck, needing to hold it up

Second, Day 15 of the SOP. Level 3, no rest. Flexibility/balance-oriented work. Breezy and fun.

Last, Day 15 of the RbP. Level 3, max rest, with allowance to let head drop to floor. Because I just did not have the energy for putting up with excessive neck strain. Regardless, abs really felt that (a bit of quads too)! One thing I liked, despite flirting with strain/fatigue was some fun sensory feedback I was getting here. Kinda making me like leg raises more, tbh.

I decided to bake some shortbread cookies to have with Logan’s jam... and it was so good. (I may consider baking another batch for Roman’s jam, and baking that on top into a glaze of sorts... maybe.)

Spent rest of night on the usual stuff. I got to bed obscenely late again...

-

Mar. 30

I woke up around noon and one of the first things I did today was exercise.

First, today’s DD. 40 balance side lunges with EC (20/20). Just about doable.

Second, Day 16 of the SOP. Level 3, no rest, no assist (only took a seat for the leg raises here given that I wasn’t sure about essentially doing a single-leg squat or wall-sit for those.... might try that next time though!) Pretty manageable, despite having modestly stiff quads.

Last, Day 16 of the RbP. Level 3, max rest. Tendon strengthening day. Took a couple sets to get things warmed up and limber, given the quads situation, but manageable. Tough work, but rewarding!

Hi the showers and made today’s Hello Fresh Meal. Oven-ready cheesy salsa verde chicken. Getting kind of annoyed that prescribed cook-times for the oven-ready chicken dishes being under-estimated. I was already grouchy about needing to cancel tomorrow’s trip reservation (under dubious circumstances) and other shit... (Despite that, food was just okay.)

So I was too angry and tired to avoid taking a nap after that was eaten...

Spent rest of night on usual shit. Got to bed a bit earlier than yesterday, but still in the red.

-

Mar. 31

I woke up around 10AM.

Bro took me to group today. Seeking Safety went alright. Still exhausted about Everything.

Got home, did a lot of the usual and some writing, I did today’s exercise.

First, today’s DD.40 single arm climbers with EC (20/20). This was a tiny bit awkward arm placement throughout. Planted hand position was off-center, so remaining balanced whilst pumping the legs was a bit concerning. Probably could’ve done better form if that was a bit more on lock. Ah well, done at any rate.

Second, Day 17 of the SOP. Level 3, no rest, no drops. Arm work, I kinda like challenging myself with this program like this, I feel like my current level of fitness gets more out of it this way. :Ic

Last, Day 17 of the RbP. Level 3, max rest. Lotta up/down with it being high knees and single leg plank holds. After the first set or two, I’m glad I took time to get my ankle popped right so it wouldn’t hurt to keep up the toe-striking and jumping for the hidden burpees (probably was a tiny bit unstable/subluxed). Feeling good about that!

Spent rest of the day on reading fics and the usual. Got to bed around the same time as yesterday.

-

Apr. 1

I woke up after 1PM.

Spent time reading and whatnot before exercise...

First, today’s DD. 80 [standing] side leg raises with EC (40/40). Happy I manged to do this whilst holding my balance the whole way through it - even if it wasn’t specified.

Second, Day 18 of the SOP. Level 3, no rest. A bit more of a flexibility-oriented day, breezy work.

Last, Day 18 of the RbP. Level 3, max rest. Had to mod-down over half the upward dogs to cobras just to mitigate built up straining (and avoid triggering some ETD). Was also worried about heartburn after some food choices beforehand - but at least that wasn’t an issue and I will consider it a small mercy. Also another workout for every second of rest was met with gratitude.

Spent rest of night reading fics and whatnot. I got to bed a little bit earlier than yesterday, still in the red zone.

-

Apr. 2

I woke up a bit before 1PM, today.

Spent some time filling out some stressful legal shit.

After I took a break on that, the only planned exercise today was the DD. 200 punches with EC. I swapped stances at 100. This was a fun and breezy DD. I appreciated it given how tired I was feeling...

Spent time updating my logs, while watching YouTube after that.

Then a few rounds of dishes around making today’s Hello Fresh Meal. Szechuan beef noodles. This was just okay. I may opt to “cheat“ a little bit by putting a lil bit of sesame oil in the cook water for the ramen noodles. Still haven’t quite nailed executing them without excessive sticking-together. Would be a bit more appealing texture and flavor-dispersion. But it wasn’t bad.

Spent the rest of night getting some writing and writing plan/notes done.

Got to bed a bit later than yesterday.

[reactivatedrockstar]

"Pardon my French, but what the heck is a rizz???"

[coralinehecc]

Corals Monthly Update #2

Hello!! I almost missed the date but funny December update! >:D Before I jump into December however, let me quickly talk about November and to also say I’ll probably move these to the end of the month like the 30th or 29th since having to dip back into the previous month can get annoying. The only thing about November really worth talking about was the Walten Files Trivia Charity Stream I was in. It was super fun! You can find some clips on Waltenews’ twitch channel but this out of context screenshot is my favourite lmao. Overall November was a solid 8/10! It had it’s moments but I mostly had a good time hanging out with friends and mutuals >:]

But anyhow, moving onto this month! December!  This month started off pretty strong, as I had my birthday on the 6th! I got a lot of art and goofy gifts from my friends and I love them all. I was off school a day before my actual birthday so myself and a few friends went out ice-skating and it was super fun!! I had so much fun I didn’t get many photos, though this one was really good hehehhe. I’ll scan it later down the line but here’s a photo of it for now.

My good luck thankfully transferred to my actual birthday the next day as most of my actual busy classes were either free or we didn’t do any work. However that luck ran out like literally the next day. I wanted another day off school like last year (a huge storm hit and we got 2 days off school) but I guess I got monkey pawed as I then fell sick for like a week. Wednesday was the worst of it but I slowly got better as that awful week went by. Thankfully I can say I’m at least 99% better! I just still have a lingering cough though. I also got terrible nose bleeds. I’d show a photo but it’s gross so I’ll spare you the visual info lmao! After I got better things went back to normal until this Monday, when my school had it’s yearly 6th year fast! TL;DR you don’t eat for 24 hours and sleep over in the school itself to raise money for charity by collecting money from sponsors aka the people you asked to donate. Sit back for this one, as it’s a long story! I’ll start off by saying while it wasn’t bad per say, it certainly wasn’t good either. We arrived at school as normal (minus the extra sleepover stuff we all packed and not being in uniform) and it was overall a normal school day. Then we were all gathered into the canteen area for a role call and told the basic structure of how the night was organized. Girls slept in one room and since there were more guys than girls, the boys were split up into 3 classrooms. All the messers and annoying cunts went into one room, my friends and I went into the library and the rest of the guys went into the 3rd room to play Mario Kart n stuff. One of my friends and I both brought our Quest 2′s and we played Pavlov Shack for like an hour. It was fun! We spent another hour basically trying to bypass the schools admin restrictions in order to get Beat Saber mods Side-Loaded onto my friends VR. It failed sadly, but still fun to try none the less.  Here’s some photos of our spot hehehe (I hope my friends don’t mind me posting these here)

After that is when the night begins to hit the fan as we’re all called back down to the canteen area and are forced to watch the TY (Transition Year for my non Irish followers) and let me say now that it bored me to tears. It’s got it all from the same basic Irish tunes you’ve heard since 3rd class to every single rehashed Christmas song. Mind you they were preformed really well but to be forced to sit there and listen to it for 3 HOURS is so mentally draining it’s not even funny. We arrived there at like 7pm and it ended at 9pm. Finally after like 2000 years somehow jammed into 3 hours went by we were finally allowed leave and head back upstairs. Only to be told we’d have a fucking mass session at like 10pm because catholic school. So me being mentally drained from the concert did the only logical option. Hid in the bathroom for the entire session with a friend. We were in the same stall for like half an hour and you know what? We weren’t caught! So finally we were allowed head back to our rooms.

All seemed decent for a bit after until the annoying fucks started going from having a rave in their room to outright anarchists in the span of like 20 minutes. At one point they burst into our room, turned the lights off and started throwing the tables around like they were Legos. After that they all ran out to the schools green house and tore that thing to shreds. I was able to get a glimpse at it coming home from town today and it looked like it was slashed with a knife with all the duck taped holes! Keep in mind, with two VR headsets, a couple of switches and someone's Xbox, there was probably over 1,500 euro in that room. So I’d say it would be reasonable that we all mutually agreed to go “DEFCON 3″. This basically consisted of barricading the door and basically black-listing people we didn’t trust. (The doors in our school don’t lock from the inside. This is in place because I’m pretty sure younger kids kept locking classrooms to stop teachers from coming in. So we had to settle for this.)

Eventually the dumb cunts were found, dragged back in and the teachers said they’d charge them for the damage they caused if no one owned up. So yea after that we were all worn out and got ready for bed. Eventually I fell asleep at around 2:30am? Would’ve been fine until all the annoying fucks once again burst into our room at 3:30am!! This time it was because they had trashed their room so badly that they were forced out by teachers. That meant they funnelled into our room, talking as loud as humanly possible all without any consideration for the fact literally everyone in that room was fast asleep. Two of my friends and I got so pissed we grabbed our sleeping bags and just left to sleep somewhere else. Two assholes fucking mocked us as we were leaving and it took so much restraint to stop myself from turning around and stomping on one if them I swear. In total we got like 3 hours of sleep that night as they began to call us to wake up at 7am. We luckily got an extra hour as the teachers who came in that morning mistook us for teachers who supervised us. Eventually we all slowly get up, pack our shit and at that point I was mentally flattened. I was so exhausted I was basically had a full body resting bitch face. Eventually like an hour later I called home, was picked up and went straight back to bed. Overall that whole experience was like a 4/10 on it’s own. It had it’s good moments but they were overshadowed by the shit we had to deal with. I won’t rate this month yet as I still have Christmas and Softy and Vi coming over so I’ll rate it next month! If you read this far, thank you so much for reading! And I hope you enjoyed my wacky antics! See you next month! 

[goldstarnation]

AUGUST 2018 GOLD STAR MEDIA SCHEDULES & REVIEW

Note: As always, individual schedules are up to roleplayers within reason. Any major individual schedules, especially those related to points claims, should be cleared with the main first. These schedules may be updated throughout the month if new information needs to be added.

Overall company.

Gold Star’s financial prospering has led to growth for the company and happy, but ever-greedy executives and investors.

August Company Schedules:

August 23-25: All artists encouraged to attend BC City concerts at Seoul World Cup Stadium. (event)

Silhouette

The group finishes preparations for the Japanese album and tour this month, with most of their work happening behind the scenes.

August Schedules.

Early preparations for Korean comeback throughout month.

August 2: Performance at Korea Music Festival Day 2 at Gocheok Sky Dome.

August 11: Performance at K-FLOW concert in Taipei, Taiwan.

August 15: Member Nami releases non-promoted Gold Star Portal single “Kawi Bawi Bo”.

August 22: Release of Japanese debut single “Up & Down”.

August 30: Silhouette 1st Japan Live Tour concert at Zepp Tokyo in Tokyo, Japan.

August 31: Silhouette 1st Japan Live Tour concert at Zepp Tokyo in Tokyo, Japan.

(September 1: Silhouette 1st Japan Live Tour concert at Zepp Osaka Bayside in Osaka, Japan.)

(September 2: Silhouette 1st Japan Live Tour concert at Zepp Osaka Bayside in Osaka, Japan.)

(September 8: Performance at HallyuPopFest at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore, Singapore.)

Aria

The group will be back in the studio for just a couple days this month to test out some demos, but other than that, they’ll have a couple of public performances, including the beginning of their Asia Tour.

August Group Schedules:

August 2: Performance at Korea Music Festival Day 2 at Gocheok Sky Dome.

August 11: Aria Asia Tour in Hong Kong.

August 23: Member Jynx releases “Rose” and begins solo promotions, solo promotions continue until September 13.

(September 7: Performance at HallyuPopFest at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore, Singapore.)

(September 8: Performance at DMC Festival Concert.)

(September 9: Aria Asia Tour in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.)

Origin

The month is packed with last minute comeback and tour preparations before the release on the final day of the month. They’ll be given a few slower-schedule days at a time throughout the month to relax before they kick their tour into full gear, but they’re as busy as ever, if not more so.

August Group Schedules:

August 30: Soribada Best K-Music Awards.

August 31: Release of single & Love Yourself Answer showcase, limited promotions continue until September 30.

(September 1: Love Yourself tour concert at Olympic Stadium in Seoul, South Korea.)

(September 2: Love Yourself tour concert at Olympic Stadium in Seoul, South Korea.)

(September 10: Love Yourself tour concert at Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA, USA.)

(September 11: Love Yourself tour concert at Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA, USA.)

(September 12: Love Yourself tour concert at Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA, USA.)

(September 13: Love Yourself tour concert at Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA, USA.)

(September 14: Grammy Museum “Conversation With Origin” event at Clive Davis Theater in Los Angeles, CA, USA.)

(September 15: Love Yourself tour concert at Fort Worth Convention Center in Fort Worth, TX, USA.)

(September 16: Love Yourself tour concert at Fort Worth Convention Center in Fort Worth, TX, USA.)

Impulse

Touring remains the group’s main focus this month, but they’ll get a break in the form of actually being in Seoul on break for most of the month

August Group Schedules:

August 4: 2018 Impulse World Tour - Eyes on You concert at Zepp@BigBox in Singapore, Singapore.

August 17: 2018 Impulse World Tour - Eyes on You concert at AsiaWorld-Expo in Hong Kong.

DIARY

August’s promotions for DIARY’s latest comeback are relatively lax. The song appears to be doing very well, although not quite as well as their previous comeback did, and Gold Star wants to avoid overworking the group when they’ve got more comebacks scheduled for this year. They’ll begin very early preparations for their fall comeback this month, too.

August Group Schedules:

Early stages of comeback preparations throughout month.

August 1: Performance at Korea Music Festival Day 1 at Gocheok Sky Dome.

August 11: Fansign in Gangnam

August 18: Fansign in Noryangjin.

August 23: End of music show promotions.

August 30: Soribada Best K-Music Awards.

Element

Element is the group under the most pressure from higher-ups to up their ante with the comeback they’ve been, seeing as they’re currently the company’s least popular group domestically by quite a margin.

August Group Schedules:

August 1: Performance at Korea Music Festival Day 1 at Gocheok Sky Dome.

August 8: Release of mini-album + showcase, promotions continue until September 8 with variety show and music show appearances.

August 11: Radio show appearance.

August 12: Radio show appearance.

August 13: Fansign in Gangnam.

August 20: Radio show appearance.

(September 2: 4lement Tour concert at Yes24 Live Hall in Seoul.)

Femme Fatale

They’ll be releasing their comeback single at the end of the month as the first of a hopeful double hit to the charts for the company between them and Origin. After they wrap promotions for this comeback, the company’s plans for the rest of the year are to push them in Japan.

August Group Schedules:

Preparations and studio recordings for Japanese debut throughout month.

August 20: Filming for Moonshot Lip Feat CF.

August 23: Release of “As If It’s Your Last”, promotions continue until September 23 with variety show and music show appearances.

August 26: Performance at A-Nation concert in Ajinomoto Stadium in Tokyo, Japan.

August 27: Radio show appearance.

August 29: Radio show appearance.

August 31: Ice cream party fansign in Bundang.

(September 3: Radio show appearance.)

(September 5: Radio show appearance.)

Soloist 1

Some studio recordings continue. They aren’t rushed, but Gold Star would like her to have a comeback relatively soon and have begun working on preparations for a concert before the end of the year.

August Schedules:

Studio sessions for next album throughout month.

August 3: Performance at Haeundae Summer Festival.

Soloist 2

While slow comeback preparations continue, she continues a few public schedules here and there to continue keeping her somewhat in the public eye.

August Schedules:

August 8: Performance at KCON LA Pre-Event at Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, CA, USA.

August 11: Performance at KCON LA in Los Angeles, CA, USA.

August 18: Performance at Leisure Chuncheon K-Pop Mega Concert in Chuncheon.

Soloist 3

After his jam-packed schedule for his North American tour, things settle down again this month with minimal public schedules and some time to take a break after working so hard since his album came out.

August Schedules:

August 3: Performance at K-Food Fair in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

[jbankai89]

Never Let Me Go [39/41]

A/N: Next update scheduled for May 3rd, aka my birthday ^.^

All the italic segments in this chapter will cover Otabek's experiences. These scenes will contain Electroconvulsive Therapy, torture, violence, starvation, sleep deprivation, disassociation, infanticide-related hallucinations, gory hallucinations, abuse, and some gross things that I'm not totally sure how to categorize. If you wish to skip over it all, just avoid the italics.

Chapter Thirty-Eight – Otabek's Tale

The floor of the police car rumbled. It vibrated so hard that Otabek thought that he was being transported over uneven road or a bed of rocks, but after a moment, he realized that it was not the car trembling, but him.

Otabek stared ahead. His fear was so acute that though he was aware that the policemen were speaking, he could understand none of the words. They were oddly muffled, as though he was hearing them from behind a thick pane of glass.

Yuri was gone.

Yuri was pregnant.

Yuri had betrayed him.

The three thoughts did not aid in calming him, and he felt his eyes sting at the thought of it. It was true, as Otabek had always suspected—Yuri had never loved him, and only used him as needed to keep himself safe.

Otabek blinked. Tears leaked from his eyes and streaked his cheeks. He heard the policemen laugh, but he ignored it as he allowed the tears to drip from his chin and into his lap. He felt as though he was traversing the road to Hell, and nothing helped to calm him or bring him peace. Everything he had ever done was a selfish act; everyone he had ever loved had either left him or never loved him in return.

Sheshe, Otabek thought miserably, I wish I knew what to do.

The police car stopped in front of a grey, rectangular building, with bars on its windows. It was surrounded by a thick fence made of brick walls, and it was topped with curls of barbed wire. The interior of the landscape was strewn with bodies and splatters of blood staining the snow. Some of the figures were moving feebly, others were still and screaming, while the rest were black—frozen and dead, left to rot in the harsh elements of Russian winter.

Otabek was dragged from the cab of the car, and though he could hear the tone of the police officers' voices as they spoke scathingly to him, the words refused to register, and he would not answer them.

Angry and disgusted, they shoved Otabek to the ground. The alpha grunted with pain as his chin bit into the asphalt, hard enough that he felt the skin break, and a thin rivulet of blood trickled from the small wound and down his throat, before it soaked into his shirt.

Dragged to his feet again, Otabek was frogmarched to the door, where he was transferred to the care of a thick, heavyset man, visibly strong despite his girth, with a bald head and small, beady eyes.

Otabek was shunted into a locked cell with thick bars over the window and door. Once inside, he was forced out of his clothes. It was only then that Otabek realized that the inside of the building was almost as bitingly cold as the outside, and as he looked around the cell, the gravity of his situation began to hit him.

Nothing.

Save for a pail in the corner, Otabek had no bed, no blankets, and the floor was made of ice-cold concrete.

What is going to happen to me? Otabek wondered as he rubbed his hands up and down his arms, and gazed out of the barred door of the cell. One year in this place...will I even survive it? Do I have any reason to?

Otabek had no answer, and shifted back to the farthest corner of the cell, the move reminding him chillingly of the only time he had beaten Yuri in punishment, and he felt a sick sense of bitter irony wash over him. Yuri had been so scared—terrified—during that encounter, and now he was getting his just rewards. Otabek sank down into the spot, buried his face in his knees, and tried to forget Yuri Plisetsky.

 Days passed. Otabek was given no food or water, and his stomach ached in protest. His lips were cracked, and the inside of his mouth was sticky and uncomfortable. Swallowing was difficult, and his head spun from the lack of nutrients.

On the fifth day, he was given a bottle of water. As desperate as he was, he chugged half of it down too quickly, and threw it all back up again into his bucket. The second half he took much more slowly, but his stomach still ached and protested the sudden intake, and Otabek struggled to keep it down.

No food. Otabek began to try and not look at himself as his body fat and muscle seemed to dissolve, and after twenty days of no contact—save for the occasional bottle of water or scant bite of food—he began to wonder if they would simply allow him to starve to death.

“Time for your education to begin,” a scathing voice said, jerking him from a fitful sleep the very next morning, exactly three weeks into his incarceration.

Otabek was marched still naked and shivering down a narrow hallway. He was too weak to fight even if he wanted to, and felt a wave of panic nearly overwhelm him as he was led into The Room.

A wooden chair sat in the centre. Steel cuffs upon the arms and legs of the chair were affixed to curls of wire, and there was a steel dome set upon the top like a hat. More wires with suction cups dangled from the wall, and upon a table there were a row of dowels, all marked with deep tooth marks in the pale wood.

Electroconvulsive Therapy.

“No,” Otabek croaked, and tried to back up, but the man at his back merely laughed and shoved him forward.

“You seem to be under the misapprehension that you have a choice, Mr Altin,” the man sneered. “You don't. A lowly omega deprogrammed you, and it is our job to fix that crass mistake. When you leave here—”

The man broke off, and laughed.

“Or, should I say, if you leave here, you will be a better, stronger alpha, and more than capable of taking an omega, and keeping him firmly in his place.”

“And my child?” Otabek rasped shakily, “my omega—Y-Yuri, he was pregnant, I—ah!”

Otabek crumpled to the ground as the man hit him across the face. His cheek ached, and he looked up at the man as he wiped off the hand he'd used to hit Otabek with with a handkerchief, as though Otabek was carrying some sort of contagious disease.

“You have no child, and no omega,” the man snapped. “You shall never see that beastly omega ever again.”

 ~*~

 The electricity of the chair was not designed to kill, only to hurt—but excruciatingly so.

The dowel in Otabek's mouth muffled his screams. His body was frozen by the electricity as choked cries escaped him from a blinding pain that he had never previously known. During his sessions, he tried to remember how much electricity the body could take before the heart gave out, but he could never remember. His skin was pink and smoking when he was finally freed, and he always had to be carried back to his cell at the end of it.

His feedings were sparse and irregular. He could discover no pattern, beyond the fact that they were meant to keep him feeble of mind and body. They were small, barely a mouthful at first, and gradually they went up to a roll of bread every couple of days, fed only when it became impossible for Otabek to stay conscious without some form of sustenance.

 “Today we're going to have fun, fun, fun!” chirped his guard in a terrifyingly chipper voice one day, though Otabek had no idea when it was—the days had all begun to bleed together, and Otabek was no longer able to pick one out of the din. “It's a movie day, isn't that exciting? And, on top of it, we got you a front row seat. It's called, A Good Alpha.”

“Somehow, I doubt this film is one I'm supposed to enjoy,” Otabek rasped as he dragged himself across the floor, far too weak to stand on his own. “I think I'll pass.”

“Now, now, we've discussed your backtalk. If you keep it up, you'll have to be punished again. Is that what you want?”

Otabek fell silent.

“Yeah, that's what I thought,” he sneered. “You're too weak to withstand multiple beatings, and we don't want you to keel over on us. So if you keep it up, I have a really nice punishment in mind for you.”

“I can take it, do your fucking worst,” Otabek snarled, though his voice was so soft and whispery that it did not sound very threatening.

“If you wish,” the man said with a high giggle and clapped his hands twice. “Vladimir! Dmitri! Punishment Number Fifty-Three for Mister Mouthy Tough Guy.”

“Oh, another one, eh?” chortled one of them as they sidled into view. Otabek had anticipated another guard, and he felt a cold chill run through him as a doctor and nurse stepped up to his cell. “Shall we do it here, or would you rather we do it in the examination room?”

“I shall have one of the guards help you move him,” he said, “there will not be enough space in the cell once he starts thrashing around.”

“Oh, yes, stitching a mouth shut certainly gets messy...”

Otabek froze, and his guard smirked when he spotted the reaction out of the corner of his eye.

“Oh, did we not tell you?” he asked sweetly, “that's the punishment. You wanted our worst, well congratulations, we're giving it to you.”

 With the two guards bracketing him, Otabek was dragged screaming and thrashing out of his cell, down the hall, and up two flights of stairs to the infirmary. A number of the beds were already filled with alphas recovering from burns, severe frostbite, and a number of broken limbs, but there was one empty bed at the end that there were dragging him towards remorselessly as he continued to cry out.

The guards all but threw him down onto the cot, one holding his wrists, the other his ankles as he was strapped down onto it. Otabek struggled, but in between his weakened limbs and the strength of his captors, he could do little more than scream as the nurse grabbed his head and jammed a needle into the space around his mouth, numbing his lips.

“Can't feel...I can't feel...” he mumbled, his words clumsy and slurred.

“Of course not, idiot,” the doctor scoffed as he stepped up to him, snapping on a pair of rubber gloves as he went. “Wouldn't want you to faint, now would we? This is supposed to be a punishment, after all, and it is not very punishing if you're unconscious for it.”

“No...” Otabek moaned as he watched the doctor thread a thick suture needle and bring it close to his face.

“Now, hold still,” the doctor said, “if it tears, this will take twice as long, and I don't want that local anaesthetic to wear off...”

Otabek stared at the ceiling with tears streaming down his cheeks. He could feel no pain, but he could feel the faint tug of the thread as his mouth was steadily sealed. He tried to move it experimentally, but half of it would not open, and that fact sent a horrifying chill through him. Otabek began to hyperventilate while the doctor and guards laughed merrily, and soon, he couldn't open his mouth at all.

“All right,” the doctor said abruptly, “gas him.”

Before Otabek was able to react, a mask was placed over his nose, as well as his bloody, sealed mouth. He blacked out, and when he woke again there was a capped tube jutting from the base of his throat, surrounded by thick suture thread—a feeding tube inserted into his throat, and he could feel it go all the way down into his stomach. Otabek buried his face in his hands, and let out a muffled scream.

 The months progressed with a new torture every day. His mouth remained stitched shut, and it took what felt like ages to heal. He was fed through the tube, tiny portions of some sort of liquefied meal and water, which made his breath taste like the inedible parts of a chicken. It made him feel sick, but he couldn't vomit it up—he'd lost the number of times he fought his own gag reflex to keep the vile meals down.

He was shown the video after he'd acclimated to his sealed mouth. Special dull hooks, like paperclips, were slipped under both lids of his eyes, forcing them to stay open, with an eye-drop apparatus above it, misting his eyes periodically to keep them from drying out. The video in question was nothing short of horrific.

Not unlike the fifties-style American how-to videos, it showed graphic images of an alpha beating and raping his own omega, with an upbeat narration paired with every action.

“This is Kyev,” the narrator said, “he is The Good Alpha. Kyev rules his household, and keeps his omega in line...”

“Here we see the omega acting out. Shame on him! Kyev knows what to do, and punishes his omega accordingly for not preparing the evening meal correctly...”

“And once a month, the omega goes into heat. Here is the naughty omega resisting the advances of Kyev, but Kyev knows what to do! Tying down an omega is an easy way to stop his pesky struggling, and shows the omega that the easiest thing to do is just give in. It is more pleasurable for everyone involved...”

Foolishly, Otabek thought that if he just shut down, it would help him to cope with everything that was happening. His mind descended into a dark void, and he stopped listening to the film. When he brought his mind back to the present, it wasn't by choice, but by painful cold. He was outside, still naked, his skin red and blue from laying in the snow.

His pained cries were muffled, and he blacked out again. When he woke, he was back in his cell, his skin red, but thankfully, all his limbs were still attached. He disassociated again.

His disassociation was not looked on kindly by the educators and guards. He was ripped from his peaceful dark by any means necessary—beatings, whippings, cutting, boiling water thrown on him, food restriction, and at last—sleep restriction.

The sleep restriction, while technically painless, was the worst. His yawns tugged at his mouth sutures and made them bleed. Every time he started to nod off he was beaten into wakefulness, and felt sick and dizzy from the lack of rest. Dark shapes floated into his vision, making him scream inside, still unable to vocalize the horrors of what he was seeing—visions of Yuri with no eyes, Yuri with his stomach cut open, and a bloody infantile corpse in his bloody arms. Vacant, dead faces of his friends and family, every horror imaginable brought before his sleepless eyes.

When he was to be moved, Otabek was convinced that the vision of Georgi was simply another illusion. He was like a messenger of death, and Otabek welcomed it.

Except, it wasn't death. It was a doctor—a real doctor. He mended Otabek's wounds, he carefully removed the tube from his throat and sealed the hole. He snipped the mouth sutures away and cleaned the wounds, on the cusp of infectious, they'd barely caught it in time. Otabek's various wounds and broken bones were tended to, and under the doctor's care, he was taken care of day and night, until he was deemed healthy enough to travel, and brought to the airport where his friends were waiting.

 ~*~

 “You know the rest,” Otabek said dully, while Yuri stared up at him with wide eyes, his mouth dropped open in horror. Otabek would not look at him, and instead kept his eyes down in shame. His shoulders were slumped, and he was picking at a loose thread on the blanket, his entire form tense, as though he was bracing himself for something.

He's bracing himself for me to leave him, Yuri realized as he gazed at his alpha. In the dark, it was difficult to see all of Otabek, but Yuri had seen him enough times in recent months to know that he had many new scars, and knowing where they came from made Yuri ache with sadness.

Yuri reached for his alpha, his hand skating over the back of Otabek's arm lightly, and though he jumped at the sudden contact, he did not pull away.

“I love you, Beka,” Yuri murmured as he trailed his fingers down the alpha's arm to his hand, and threaded their fingers together. “Knowing what you went through...I can't help but be in awe of you; you're so strong for enduring that and coming out the other side of it in one piece. You've been here for our daughter, and for me, and now it's my turn to be here for you. You don't have to carry this all on your own, not anymore. Thank you for telling me.”

Yuri leant in to kiss him on the forehead, and felt his alpha trembling like a leaf. Like he'd done so many times with Alvinia, Yuri pulled Otabek close and pressed the alpha's head to his shoulder. He rocked Otabek slowly, and a choking sob slipped past his mate's lips. Yuri rubbed his back, hushing him gently while Otabek clutched onto Yuri and wept.

“It's all right, my alpha,” Yuri murmured as Otabek continued to cry and clutched to him desperately, as though he was afraid that Yuri might suddenly disappear. “You have been strong for long enough. I'm here, I love you—I will always love you. Just let it all out.”

Otabek wept, holding tightly to Yuri as all the pain, all the anguish, and all the trauma was leached from his body like poison from a wound. Yuri held onto him, rubbing his back and rocking him like a child while he tried to process everything that Otabek had told him. It was even worse than he could have imagined, even knowing beforehand all of the tortures that Otabek had been exhibited to, it could not have prepared him for the horrifying truths of what Otabek had endured for the sin of treating an omega like a human being, instead of chattel.

The alpha was quick to exhaust himself, and once he seemed to have finished crying, Yuri eased him to his feet, walked him back into the house, up the stairs, and into their bedroom. Once inside, he helped Otabek change into his pyjamas before putting him to bed, then returned to the back deck to retrieve the blanket and baby monitor and extinguish the candle, just as the first few drops of rain tickled his nose and began to paint dark spots upon the wad of warm fabric in his arms.

Yuri made it back inside just as the rush of heavy rain began to fall, while the sky rumbled with thunder and flashes of sheet lightning, which, amazingly, did not disturb Alvinia—if the silence on the other end of the monitor was anything to go by.

The omega headed upstairs in silence, Minami and Phichit having apparently gone to bed, and amidst the soft rush of summer rain and rumbles of thunder, his mate and his daughter slept on peacefully.

Yuri draped the blanket over Otabek, and smiled as the alpha let out a soft sigh of contentment as he rolled over, hugging the blanket like a treasured childhood toy. Yuri smiled at the sight, and reached out to brush his fingers across Otabek's forehead before he leant in to kiss him gently, and finally changed out of his own clothes and into his pyjamas before he joined his mate, curling up and smiling more broadly as Otabek hugged him close, the demons of the past finally abandoning their host, and it seemed as though Otabek was finally beginning to forgive himself for enduring such a horrible ordeal.

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NLMG Masterpost

[bigseuegsobtob]

[171202] VIXX Open Press Conference updates; 

The MC has taken the stage and fans are awaiting for VIXX’s arrival soon~

VIXX’s arrival [VIDEO]

They’re in their loose white, long sleeved shirt & black slacks combo.

N said it’s been some time since they’re back in Singapore & they’re glad to be here. Ravi mentioned they tried Chili Crab & Ken said he even bought Kaya Jam ^^

VIXX has to keep their future concepts as a secret.... and they think they can pull off any concept so there isn't any that they can't do ^_^

Hyuk mentioned that there will be special performances tonight, along with interactive sessions so they hope fans will eagerly anticipate the concert this evening!

They were able to visit the Merlion, Marina Bay & and even tried mango ice kachang~

Ken said the greatest memory they had of Singapore was meeting Starlights ❤️ (this sweetheart omg) 

N pointed out that they all have different sides on and offstage but that they’re all gentle offstage :>

Ken is the most mischievous & playful member of VIXX (in their unanimous opinion LOL)

Using one word to describe themselves; Ravi: Passion (keeps him going) Leo: Age (mature and seasoned) Hongbin: Fun (재미) N: Starlight (they are his all) Ken: Chameleon (adaptable, versatile) Hyuk: Two words, young and youth!

Leader N, on behalf of VIXX, says he's thankful for everyone's warm welcome and hope everyone enjoys as much as they do, and to look forward to their show tonight!

[reactivatedrockstar]

It was the last show of the night, and Bonnie found a secluded place to watch his friends unseen. It looked like so much fun. Monty was enjoying himself, Chica was so into it, Roxy rocked her confidence, and Freddy was clearly having so much fun. Bonnie was...

Well, he was happy for them. He was! He really was... and yet... he missed it. He missed jamming out with them all up there, and he was so excited for the day he was fully repaired and able to join them... but....

It had been a month now. A full month since his initial repairs, and nothing else had been done. He still had exposed wires, his left ear still couldn't move, his arm still wasn't at full capacity, and his casing still had so many holes in it. Yes, he was up and walking around, and he was grateful for that, but he was stuck backstage, unable to do anything to help or entertain the guests. It was driving him mad! Why was he not being repaired?

Surely there had to be a reason. Was it expenses? He was an expensive animatronic.... Then again... the only mention of him anywhere in the Pizzaplex was Bonnie Bowl.... But why?

Maybe he was being impatient. He was severely damaged, of course it would take time for him to get repaired! Surely they'd get him fixed up in time to help with the face paintings for Halloween! Although, he wished he could do something to help out in the meantime....

[pure-silicon-eye]

Blog

So a lots happened since the last blog update. Crimbo and new years was fun. Had to work new years though. As for art we had a "friendly task" set by one of our lecturers two weeks before the Christmas break. Thought it was a bit of fun and was highly implied that it was a bit of if fun and not serious. So have been working on finishing up some loose ends from the mid term review about riot. Such as changing the crowd sprites to make it look more varied and interesting. The task was to draw a city scene that was snowing and had strong festive signifies with fairy lights and the sugar-coated as a theme. I was able to bust out a couple of thumbnails as well as trying a photo bash and an alchemy piece. The ohotuibash was fun, it reminded me of my graphic design days and the alchemy as always I hated and when we had a surprise criticism session on Monday people liked it! And were saying they saw an ice cave and all these crystals. And thats my problem with alchemy. Yes it's really good for generating ideas for a standalone drawing but for something like this, I find it very hard to work with. But I tried. Over Christmas I didn't do as much drawing as I'd hoped but I did eat an astonishing amount if mince pies. The games jam was without a doubt though the most fun I've had recently. Amazed at how much we learned about making a game and definitely hyped for making another and / or finishing the one we already made. It's enjoyable to see it being made so quickly. You almost instantly see results. And obviously it needs a LOT of work yet but who knows?

[hellolittlefoxie]

With You - Part 1

Sometime in the early morning hours of December 31st, our first year together officially began. It was nothing extravagant, no flowers, no romantic dinner. It was just in the intimacy of sitting alone while the the city slept that it began.

Our first full day together was surprisingly casual, not to be surprised given the circumstances of the time but it was a day I cherish very much. Running errands, such as picking and dropping of your momma, a workout session along the Embarcadero, a meet up with a friend for dinner, and watching the city glisten from a new viewpoint as we brought the new year together in the calm and quiet of your living room, giving each other a smile as we looked out the window to your neighborhood. 

January

The first day of the new year was a bittersweet one. You took me to Chinatown, where you got me some hong kong milk tea, and some deliciously flaky egg tarts. And then drove me across the the bridge to show me Sausalito for the first time. Here I fell in love with the small town vibes, and serenity that came from viewing SF from the distance as the windows turned to gold while the sun set. But that night would be a lonely one as I had to say good bye to you a and drove down the darkness of the 5.

The 2nd adventure of the year took us to the legendary Bill Graham to see none other than your favorite trance DJ, with BJ and the rest of Norcal Anaho. A blurry night where we broke our necks you broke your neck as you complained about it for the rest of the weekend. Had some wonderful family time with Anaho as we did a photoshoot at an abandoned bunker, had dinner at my fave place in SF, San Tung, chilled at Amanda’s house, explored new areas of the city, and had one of the more memorable nights at Travelodge with our first wine and snack night. 

February

“Are we celebrating Valentine’s?” “No not really.” 

Was basically the gist of one of our conversations. But that weekend after Valentine’s  had us back together, me dressed up a little nicer than usual, and you glowing in your pretty gray dress, and coat, as we spent our first “non valentine’s day celebration” in the middle of downtown. A night where we explored LA’s downtown night life together for the first time, where I pointed to to you the Denny’s I went to after prom, a geography lesson on LA’s layout on top of a rotating bar. Then home to celebrate with some sparkly you had given me as part of my gift. Our cravings the next day took us to Koreatown for KBBQ, with Evelyn and Steven, the nicer side of Melrose for some disappointing milk tea from Alfred’s Teahouse, and a spontaneous double date with Jazz and Danny to some pizza diner in Hollywood. A little detour to Little Tokyo, and to find the instagram hotspot with the red and blue lights and our weekend came to an end as we waved good bye to each other as your bus pulled away taking a sleepy you back home.

March

After a commitment that was made at Snowglobe more than a year before, this was the month we traveled across the country to finally walk the fabled grounds of Ultra. The whole month was full of kandi making and anxious anticipation of what would it be like to finally be at the festival both of us had only been able to experience from livestreams, and youtube videos. Finally on the third weekend of March we saw each other at the airport with Ben and Amanda cockblocking my hug to you. Waking up at 5 in the morning that day felt like a distant memory as I had gone from LA to Austin to holding your hand in Miami after a 12+ hour trip. That night as it is the usual for Anaho to do after a long time apart had everyone talking loud, challenging each other to drink more shots, and of course the night wasn’t complete without a few people throwing up. The next three days had us jumping up and down to Tiesto, vibing to Kaskade, getting wild for kayzo and being had us in awe at the reunion of SHM, and every night had us wandering through downtown Miami as we raced everyone else back to the airbnb to see who would be able to shower first. Dressing up as Jasmine and Aladdin, having matching outfits with your silver top and my gray camo for day two, munching on some expensive festival food, getting lost in the crowd of internationals while you held my hand, downed at least three red bulls a day, and I couldn’t have asked for a better rave bae or better way to experience Ultra. 

April

A few weeks back you had asked me if I wanted to go with you to the the AKPsi formal, not wanting to miss out on this I excitedly said yes, that weekend in April I flew in late in the afternoon where you drove us down to the outdoor shopping mall in San Jose, after not being able to go to the rooftop bar you initially wanted to take me to, we ended up at a different bar, you seemed flustered at that but it’s okay because we still had a great time, especially after a seafood dinner, and some ice cream. A boba pitstop later and our second road trip began we made our way to our hotel in the good ol’ Central Valley. Two hours of your Merced playlist, and singing our hearts out to some throwback songs, and before we knew it we were checking in and drinking wine at our surprisingly nice hotel, too bad for the squeaky bed though. The next day we found ourselves in Merced, a coffee shop and a creepy antique store later and we found ourselves at the banquet hall where I started to meet some of your Merced fam. We helped out for a while and realized how much it felt like college, helping out and setting up for a banquet, and it brought back good memories. After saying bye to my new friends we headed out to explore the bustling metropolis that Merced is, you were the boss and tour guide here as you showed me around telling me stories of where you would go hang out, where you used to run, your old apartments and every now and then I would interject telling you “HEY I’VE BEEN HERE TOO!” It was great hearing your stories from college and made it easier to imagine 2011-2015 Tiff and all the wonderful memories you made there. After a Tacobell snack at the park we went on to your little’s house to prepare for the banquet. The rest of night consisted of me admiring you in your little black dress, and hearing other people rave about how good you looked as well, seeing you with your line, and your fraternity and people saying, “I’ve heard so much about you!” Was heartwarming as we ate and danced for a bit at the banquet. However the real party would be afterwards and it felt like I was transported back to my college days as we stripped down to comfier and more fitting house party clothes. The pregame began, and the warmth from the alcohol went hand in hand with the warm night in Merced. It was amusing to see how our night unraveled as we snuck in the back of the house to avoid bouncers into a dark and humid room with a bunch of dabs grinding and dudes being bros. Then as soon as the alcohol ran out, we jumped over to the next party, until the college drama started and we ended walking out and back through the neighborhood to our pregame spot. A few shots later, and a few lines as well and everyone was having a great time with both new and old friends. After a the cops showing up, and people knocking out or being too drunk the party started to dwindle down and we found ourselves on the couch you and your hot pocket, and me in tears about how much I love you. After waking up and getting ready a quick photoshoot with my film camera and we found ourselves on campus for your little’s grad shoot. Some quick thai food after and a couple of good byes to both your littles we were back on the road to the bay. Our April weekend coming to an end up on the hills of Berkeley, with the sunset and some “vegan pizza.”

May

The first half of May, you found yourself halfway across the world, exploring the old continent. Your two week cruise vacation across Europe would bring you to Denmark, Norway, Germany, Estonia, Russia, Finland, and Sweden. You explored new and old cities, and we would be in touch sparingly as you were in and out of wifi connection, we would webcam at odd hours, but either way it made me happy you were back in Europe because you speak so fondly of it. And despite not having a good connection you still managed to send me constant videos, pics, and updates while I was sleeping or in class, and it made me excited to be able to webcam you even if it was for like 5 minutes. Once you were back in the States, it was a struggle for a couple days for you to make it past 8 without knocking out whenever we would webcam.

The second half of the month was filled with many adventures as we saw each other not once but twice! In a weekend full of firsts I can’t help but highlight how amazing it was to experience camping with you in such a picturesque part of California, the visuals in your car and just melting in your seat as the music took us to a different dimension, and then the journey through middle earth that we undertook while on shrooms, even though we probably only walked like 100 yards in real life, dying at Jared’s exaggeration of “Car… Car… Car…” and Steven’s “IT’S A MILLION MILES AWAY.” And then our intimate bath experience under a sky full of stars and the waves crashing beneath us was truly a magical moment. Showering naked in public and smelling the earthy body wash and looking over the darkness is something I will hold onto because it was such a unique experience. And coming back to cuddle in the tent until it was time for us to leave and do another mini road trip. A drive that took us to the little underwhelming McWay Falls, Sharkfin Cove, Carmel, Santa Cruz there’s nothing better than driving back to SF jamming out to Christian music. This time our good bye didn’t feel too sad because we would be seeing each other the weekend after.

The last weekend of May was wild as all of Norcal came down to “surprise” Ben for his birthday. Even though the surprise failed it was still a great way to show our best friend how much we appreciate him as we got lit to wine, met and fed a few friendly floofs, and rented out an Airbnb to continue the party for the rest of the weekend. Four full days of you and I was feeling quite spoiled. My favorite memories from that weekend were exploring the south side of OC, and playing spikeball as the sunset, all the cuddle sessions of sleeping for four nights together, letting you drive Aria down to our airbnb as I DJ’ed, and feeling like our time together was never going to end, playing table tennis, and basketball with you , and having the opportunity to share so many different plates of food with you everywhere we went.

June started off great as well as I saw you for the third consecutive week, this time you decided to pull of an Illenium like I had done last year and had decided to surprise me to go see my favorite dubstep DJ, MaRLo, at the almost legendary Exchange. We decided to surprise the trance fam squad after getting some dranks up somewhere in the LA skyline and then going back to the car so you could change and we could pregame a little more, and I remember that while Char spazzed out over you, some people weren’t that happy to see you *cough.* And even though our time this weekend was short lived I am grateful that you were so down to do something like that for me.

Our first official summer get together was coming up to see you! My first time at Temple, and to top it off having a table with bottle service, seeing Jazz get litty like we hadn’t seen, and then singing Cinema with Steven as lit you got the better of me and we ended up having an argument outside El Faro. A little funny now that I think about it, but like every other argument before this it always ends on a positive note with one of us seeing the mistake in their reasoning, apologizing or compromising and learning from our mistakes, a walk through the hood, and we found ourselves back at Evelyn’s where you accidentally stayed the night by knocking out on the couch after stuffing our faces on El Faro burritos. I remember the day after was a really warm one as we wandered the Castro to Dolores park a little high on brownies. Thinking how great it was to experience one of SF’s unique festivals with you and some matcha ice cream from your favorite spot. The day after was probably one of favorites too as we walked around the main parade but had to end the day early because Bryan had to leave early. But this didn’t stop us from coming back to the celebrations, except this time we had some fizzy Rosé to accompany us as we walked back to Civic Center where the main event was taking place. Taking in the atmosphere of such an event and having you there to talk about which one us would make it to 90K first made my flight down a happy one, as I reminisced about you, the cherry cooler we bought later on, our time in the backseat next to the park, and the delicious lasagna.